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“A year long federal investigation revealed the Capitan Police Chief had been trafficking automatic weapons to a third world, Communist country, causing a coup d'état,  overthrowing the existing government and setting himself up as Dictator.  His wife, known in the region as “the lovely Queen Barbara”, had already begun to amass an enormous collection of designer shoes.  During a pre-dawn raid, agents of the ATF, DEA, and FBI, armed with a search warrant, recovered a footlocker of money, illegal weapons, and a barn full of size 7AA ladies pumps.”….That’s the story I desperately wanted to tell the KOB news guy when he called my house asking for the “real” story behind Chief Chuck George’s resignation.  In spite of the fact it was nearly April Fools Day and the story would have been funny enough to have become village folk lore, had it aired, I opted to tell him the truth.  

Expecting a juicy story of the chief’s firing, backed up with reports of nefarious and underhanded activity, disappointment dripped from the big-city-news-boys voice when he said, “that’s it?” After telling him Chuck had done a great job for the village and now wanted to focus on his business, all interest was lost.  For a village noted for over the top, let’s dig up a dead bandit, set the mountain on fire news stories, a man doing a good job must have been an enormous let down for the reporter.  With no gunplay, fist fights or stabbings taking place in government meetings over the Chief’s resignation, Channel 4 decided not to run the non-story on the 6 o’clock.  Doing a good job may not be newsworthy.  Leaving a job on good terms is truly uneventful, but how Chuck got the job, now that’s political comedy of the highest order.  It’s a story I can now tell, besides your not doing anything or you’d have thrown this down by now.          

After being elected, one of the mayor’s first jobs is to nominate a Chief of Police.  I had run for office with Chuck at my side.  If the truth be known, I was elected because the Village loved him.  Chuck is known as an honest Christian man.  Everyone wanted the days of the “list” to be in our rearview mirror. . . well, most everyone.  Those who did not, reached into their old political trick bag and did what they do best, held a meeting at the Smokey Bear Restaurant, the birthplace of many a good local devious and usually illegal political plot.      

They devised a plan that in all fairness was just short of genius.   The “List-Lovers” would allow the nomination of Chuck as Chief to come to the table and then vote him down.  You see, years before the counsel had adopted a police manual and one of the clauses in that manual requires officers to live within the village limits.  Chuck lived 1/8 of a mile outside.  At this point it should be noted once something has been voted down it can’t be brought back before the board.  If voted down Chuck could never be Chief of Police.     

I had only been mayor since breakfast and they had whipped me already.  That night I walked into my first board meeting.  As we reached the item on the agenda, I nervously nominated Chuck George as Chief of Police.  Reluctantly, he was voted in unanimously. 

I know what your thinking, your wondering what happened to the “plan”.   In the police manual not only does it say an officer must live within the village limits but it also states the Chief of Police has the power to “add or subtract” any part of the manual, but since we had no chief it didn’t matter.  However a state law exists giving the mayor the power to appoint anyone of his choosing to any job within the city until the next meeting of the governing body. The next meeting was that night.   

I’m sure you had no idea Officer Danny Feuerstein was the Capitan Chief of Police for about 4 hours in March 2002. When the meeting began, on the table was a copy of a memo stating I had appointed Danny Feuerstein Chief of Police as the law allows.  Under his appointment was a memo from newly appointed Chief Feuerstein removing the requirement that officers must live within the village limits.  The Chief for the day Danny Feuerstein made it possible for Chuck George to take the job as Chief of Police.  Thank Danny next time you see him.  Most folks never knew how this happened.  Politics!    

At the last Capitan Carrizozo Natural Gas board meeting I made the motion to lower the gas rates, yet again, to $7.00.  It would have put the price $5.97 below what the company was charging.  As I made the motion Molly Mason was visibly horrified, “You’ll kill the company!” she snapped, from her usual front row seat.  “Good Golly Miss Molly” she had figured out my plan.  $7.00 is 89 cents less then the company pays for gas.  I may be in the minority here, but I think the company is on life-support, with you paying the health care. The plug should have been pulled a long time ago.      

The Carrizozo Mayor when he saw the dogs nipping at my heels did exactly what I’d have done, had I been in his place, jumped in with light-hearted banner.  “I guess next you’ll want to give away FREE gas!”  To which I replied, “You make the motion and I’ll seconded it!”   Bill Martin’s head hit the table, and you would have thought Ed Davis was playing poker with the deadpan he gave me, with the exception of the nearly indiscernible curl at the corner of his lip.   My motion died on the table for lack of interest and laughter.  Then Martin made a motion to lower the rates to $8.00.   

If you’d heard the weeping in the last meeting over the lowering of the price to $9.75 you’d have never guessed Martin’s motion would have passed.  ZIA charges $7.39 per MCF and has an $8.00 base charge.  Cliff Smith who did a lot of number crunching for the gas company tells me the $8.00 base charge translates to about 80 cents per MCF to the customers, making ZIA’s gas, to the customer’s door, approximately $8.19 an MCF.  Your gas at $8.00 with no base charge is 19 cents cheaper then Ruidoso’s and that hasn’t happened in 38 plus years.

After the meeting I began to think about the Carrizozo Mayor’s statement, “FREE gas”.  Why not?  The more I thought the better I liked it.  The people of Capitan and Carrizozo own the gas company, a company that is about to be sold.  The money from that sale should go back to the people, but state law forbids it.  However, now the company is giving some of the money back in the form of lower prices.  In the last month of the company’s existence and provided the coffers hold up that long, why not free gas?  Why not give the money back to the people in that form?  What a great idea from the Carrizozo Mayor.  Why not an old fashion wake for a dead company, we could block off the street like it was 1956 and have a street dance, that’s after a month of free gas.  Free Gas, the idea is so wild I’m sure the KOB reporter would be prompted to call again, but like the story of the Chief of Police’s resignation,  good stories don’t play well on the 6 o’clock.  Free gas, my dad would be proud.  FREE GAS, have I become a liberal?  Maybe we’re not really that far apart.  I have a dream, FREE GAS!