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Mayor’s Report

February 2004

This past week George Tippin comfortably cranked him self back in my office chair, as if it were National Bring a Hippie to Work Day.  Tugging at his gray beard, he laughed and informed me, in a tone reminiscent of my 8^th grade English teacher, that no one reads the Mayor’s Report.  “So why bother?”  He quipped.  At times, George and I spar unmercifully and are like two drunks meeting in town, one with a can of gas and the other smoking a cigar.  Our sparing is mostly good natured, and like the drunks, we don’t know why sometimes things just blow up.  I think he sees me as one would see a Slinkie, good for nothing but it would make him smile to see me tumbling down the stairs.     

 

About the time Trustee Tippin had me convinced to abandon the Mayor’s Report, Police Chief George called me.  The Chief warned me that he had received information from several sources that the nonworking, sleep all day, steal all night, burglar (my words not his), I had written about in the last Mayor’s Report had been bragging to his friends he was coming after me.  Now, you can’t begin to know how that excited me.  The bony burglar was angry and that tells me three things.  One, the burglar’s friends, if he has any left, knows he’s all talk, because I’m not hard to find, just call city hall at 354-2247.  Two, George, who had been cranked back in my chair, was wrong, at least the burglar was having someone read the report to him.  And three, someone was ratting the thief out to the police.  How else would the police know of the punk’s braggadocios boast? 

 

Some have asked, if the police know who this guy is, then why isn’t he in jail.  You have to keep in mind times have changed.   In the old days of “take no guff, cut no slack, hook ‘em, book ‘em and don’t look back” it would have been a race as to who got him first, the cops or the citizens.  But now, our society has evolved to be politically correct, with a hug-a-crook mentality.  The cops also have to deal with the speedy trial act, forcing them to take the arrested suspect to trial quicker.  Meaning their case needs to be finished before the bad guy is thrown under the justice bus to become grease for its wheels.  So we can only sit back and enjoy the drama as it unfolds. 

 

Once again its election time and we raise the tent on the political circus.  It seems elections come around more often then the coyotes that cruse the chicken coop and it’s hard to decide who to vote for with politicians getting free speech mixed up with cheap talk.  Politics is a world where a substantial tax cut saves you 30 cents and a slight increase cost you $300.  I come down hard on politicians, but since I wear that label myself I feel it give me the right.  Besides, everyone likes political jokes or there wouldn’t be so many of them in office.

  

The Mayor has no vote except in the event of a tie.  It’s the four people you send as Trustee’s that make the policy of this village and determines where this town is headed in the future and how your money is spent.  The last election you chose to send all new faces to city hall.  That’s a decision you must make again.  You have a choice between old and new, you decide between a new direction or the old.  If you want old politics send old politicians, if you want a vision send someone with a vision.  It’s that simple.  I’m convinced we should stop listening to what a candidate says they stand for, look hard at their record and ask what they won’t stand for.  

 

To demonstrate how important your vote really is I hold up as an example of the last election.  Seven votes decided who would be put in office as Trustee.  Which brings me to this little know state election law that has been misused in the past.  The law allows someone to vote in your election that has the “intent” to move to the village.  Now, on the surface, it all sounds somewhat benign, but here’s how someone that plays underhanded used the law in an attempt to sway this election in their favor. 

 

Some of our good business people, who work hard every day, pay taxes and employ people in your village, have no say in what goes on within the Village.  Because they live outside its limits they are not allowed to vote.  Yet, there are those who live as far away as Albuquerque and who proclaim they have the “intent” to one day move to Capitan, are allowed to vote.  These voters with “intent”, blow into our lives once every two years, cast their vote in an attempt to put their crooked cronies into office.  (Bet you didn’t know that one)  It happened in the last election, and it’ll happen again, and there’s nothing you can do about it.  So your vote does count, it is extremely important.   

 

I have met or know all of the candidates on this ballot, and can tell you there are some good, honest, strong forward thinkers in the bunch who can help this village.  I take my hat off to those citizens who are brave enough to step up to the challenge of running for public office.  It’s not much fun, and if your town is run straight there’s no money in it.  Be aware how important one vote is, because I’m sure there’ll be some trashy political tactics in this election.  But talking any more about it would be a solid waste of time. 

 

Speaking of solid waste, as Capitan’s representive  I attended the December 18^th meeting of Lincoln County Solid Waste (LCSWA).  At the close of the meeting I requested Chairman of the Board, Don Coleman, LCSWA attorney and Debra Ingle to stay afterwards in an attempt to work out the differences we have over the landfill issue.  At that meeting it was decided both sides should send people to the table to negotiate and work out this issue and stop spending money on lawyers.  We pledged to remain quite on this issue, and work it out.  However, in the January 2^nd issue of the Ruidoso News, I read Ms. Ingle’s statements that it was her idea to send people to the table, however, she says, “I received no response, so it looks like we will continue to work on this through them (lawyers)”.  I want to be very clear so there’s no misunderstanding.  That statement is a LIE!   Capitan called that meeting, she did not.  She promised to remain quiet and broke her promise.  Capitan is a member a board acting as her boss, and as one of her bosses I would ask Mr. Coleman to remind her she’s the Operational Supervisor, not the media spokesman for the board.  I hope Capitan and LCSWA can work this issue out in spite of all the stumbling blocks the Operational Supervision continues to throw in our path.

 

Vote, because with good people, you’ll get good results.