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This past week I had the opportunity to see my boot sole while my foot was still in it. I had taken a nose dive off a hill and rolled down like a loose rock, coming to rest in a cowboy puddle at the bottom. I didn't move for a second, caught my breath and convinced myself I was alright, a confidence that faded quickly when I attempted to push myself off the deck. My boot was in my face, my knee had bent backward. Now, I'm not a doctor but I was sure this wasn't right. As you read this Mayor Pro-Tem Bobbi Shearer takes up my duties and I'll be testing the skills of the Albuquerque surgeons, who'll be carving me up like a "Christmas turkey

You've not heard from me since before I closed the gas company and Carrizozo whined to the courts that I was killing their cash cow. If I tell you what's going on, I'm sure I'll. be in trouble, so here we go .....

I was in my office a month ago when the phone began to ring with complaint after complaint of how the gas prices went through the roof. They had gone from $8.00 to $13.04 an MCF. I was angry. I marched to the gas company and asked Kay, "Who raised the prices"? She told me she had and "Manny" had gone along. I told her I wanted an emergency meeting and to have the mayor of Carrizozo call me. When he called, I put him on the speaker phone so Anna Gail could hear the reason he was going to give for raising the price without board approval.

Instead of a reason I received a cussing, not my first in this job, but one of the better ones. Laced with a lot of colorful and slurred adjectives the Carrizozo mayor informed me he had raised the price and there was nothing I could do about it and there would be no meeting, after which he hung up on me. The next day I shut the company down.

Here is some background you should know;

1.    After being in office a short time Ms. Ingle approached me with information that when she bought the Smokey Bear Restaurant and Motel it was connected to CCNG gas, but there were no heads in the meters. If this is true, the gas was not being metered to the previous owner. How many more taps are un-metered, with free gas? How could this happen without the billing clerk, the board and at least some employees knowing about it? Ms. Ingle related this same information to Trustee Shearer and our attorney. She claims to have pictures. In the last two Mayor's Reports I talk about free gas, looks like these guys though of it before I did.

2.    Benny Coker had told me he called the AG's office to investigate the gas company when he was Mayor. I contacted the AG and they confirmed that he had my same concerns. They had asked for and received records so convoluted that to this day they have not figured them out.

3.    In June of 2004 the Capitan board of Trustees sent word to the CCNG board that we wanted out of these high prices and wanted to separate from this company. From that day we have been delayed by the slick old guard. Why?

4.    In December, I refused to put anyone on the CCNG board until they would have a meeting to address our issues. Ex-Chief Vega of Carrizozo came to my house and hand delivered a letter signed by the Mayor of Carrizozo that promised if I would put someone on the board to pay the bills they would hold a meeting the next week. Chief Vega then called the Mayor of Carrizozo and he reaffirmed the promise. I upheld my end of the deal and paid the bills; Carrizozo reneged, lying to me again.

5.    The Mayor of Carrizozo fights to keep this company alive. Why? He's not a customer, or at least he's not listed as a customer.

6.    In court and under oath, the Mayor of Carrizozo said he did not raise the price of gas to $13.04. He said he only rolled it back to its original price. I defy anyone to show me one month in the past 30 years the price has ever been $13.04 an MCF. This is the highest price this company has ever charged and his sworn statement in court was untrue.

7.    The Mayor of Carrizozo said in court and under oath he never threatened to carve me up like a "Christmas turkey", yet, he was on the speaker phone and the Capitan Clerk heard every word.

8.    The Mayor of Carrizozo also said in court and under oath the Ruidoso News "misquoted" him when they quoted his threat toward me. Another untrue statement, the reporter tapes interviews.

9.    The customers of CCNG are lead to believe they are paying $13.04 an MCF, this is yet another lie. The company knowingly shorts the customers 22%. Gas expands the higher it rises. This company knowingly does not adjust for that altitude and you are shorted by about 22% yet charged for a full MCF. If you bum a full MCF this company is charging you $15.90. That's over twice what they pay in Ruidoso.

10.    This knowingly shorting the customer 22% fits definition of unfair trade practice. The first time I asked Kay about this practice of shorting the customer she told me she had approached the CCNG board about it and that chairman Leroy Montes instructed her to leave it alone. In a public meeting the Capitan Board pressed for answers and we're told that CCNG has sold 12% more gas then it buys. Sorry but the only way you can sell more gas then you buy is by shorting someone. Now that brings up the question that if the company shorts the customer by 22% and sells 12% more then they buy where did the other 10% of the gas go? (reference item 1)

Do you wonder why they want to drag this out? Maybe folks are nervous and can't afford anyone looking to closely. Maybe, they live in hopes their old cronies will be voted back into office in March so they can continue business as usual and the cash cow will make a miraculous recovery.