County and Deputies' Union

The state supreme court has mercifully ended the County's appeal of an adverse arbitration result; but questions persist.

The DASO deputies' union prevailed in a compulsory arbitration in August 2016. The County appealed to district court. Judge Manuel Arrieta, in a thoughtful opinion, affirmed the arbitrator's decision in January. Modern courts give great deference to arbitration results. Such results are difficult to overturn if any evidence at all supports them. 

That should have been it.

The parties differed by $780,000. Appealing had already cost both sides a lot. Further appeals were unlikely to succeed, and would cost more. And would deepen the rift between Deputies and Commissioners. We don't have to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but we do have to work together.

Deputies were leaving to make more money elsewhere. That wasn't the only reason people were leaving. Several of the 11 officers leaving DASO for LCPD told their new employer or me they were leaving because of Undersheriff Ken Roberts. (I think one took a pay-cut.) But as I wrote then, “county residents deserve reasonably capable law-enforcement, and should, within reason, pay for that. I don't mean give in to any and all demands; but when a federal arbitrator tells you in an 86-page decision and Judge Arrieta agrees, maybe it's time.” 

Meanwhile, deputies getting stiffed saw high county officials get big raises. 

The County appealed to the Court of Appeals – which was so unimpressed that it tried to affirm summarily. That is, “This one looks easy. Union should win. Don't waste resources on further briefing or oral argument.” The Court called the Arbitrator's 84-page decision “thorough and thoughtful.” Still, the County filed a memorandum opposing summary affirmance. Filed more papers. Lost.

Reading the Court of Appeals decision, I thought Vegas odds-makers would favor the Union by six or seven touchdowns at the next level. But the County petitioned for certiorari. The Supreme Court promptly denied the petition, letting the Court of Appeal decision stand.

The Commission is left looking like a small child being repeatedly told “No!” and given cogent reasons why not, but insisting anyway – or just screaming pointlessly in frustration in the corner.

Regarding the long-shot petition for cert, the commission did a weird dance – after several closed meetings, the three newest commissioners tried to suspend the rules to reverse themselves. They needed a fourth commissioner to agree, but neither Ben Rawson nor Billy Garrett would do so. Exemplifying the deputies' view, Union President Benito Casillas said Rawson “claims to be pro public safety, and yet his actions don't support that.” Too, the three newer commissioners must at some point have voted for the petition, or there'd have been no need for a redo. 

I asked commissioners “Why?” and didn't get convincing answers. One said that the arbitrator had overstepped his bounds by awarding more than the County had authorized; but Judge Arrieta's decision disposed of that issue, and the Court of Appeals didn't bother really addressing it, but praised Arrieta's work. Clearly the Supreme Court sure wasn't going to get excited. 

Rawson mentioned that Deputies were “getting paid to bargain.” He said that violated the anti-donation clause. But negotiating a peaceful resolution of a public union dispute does serve the community, and I believe deputies were only paid half-time for that work. Houston reportedly pays police negotiators their full salary. And an Arizona Supreme Court case decided the same issue in favor of the Phoenix police union.

This is not Doña Ana County's finest hour. I'll be interested in whether the deputies get decent interest on their back pay. They should.

                                                      -30-

Community Radio and Community

Recent experiences have strengthened my respect for what local people, with good ideas and energy, can accomplish with little money.

Southwest Environmental Center, La Semilla, and the Mountain View Market Co+op are all locally-created. None is the local office of any state or national group. Each fends for itself. 

Same for Friends of the Taylor Family Monument, The Beloved Community Project, Doña Ana Communities United (with its Timebank), and The Great Conversation. Neat ideas getting implemented on a shoestring. Dreams being realized. 

My own experience? More than two years of hard work and uncertainty, collaborating with a great group of people, grumbling over frustrations along the way, all to put a community radio station on air. Two years feeling like an idiot, wondering if it would ever happen.

Now I'm humbled and grateful to be listening to people do interesting local interviews and an astonishing variety of music shows on KTAL-LP, 101.5 FM. Some are pros. Others, with little experience, always kind of thought they could do radio – and they can! It's delightful.

Tuesday, Nan Rubin interviewed two local men doing some interesting local film-making. Doing it – not just talking about it. Wednesday, I was privileged to host the three municipal judgeship candidates, each sounding as if s/he would make a great judge; then the articulate District 6 City Council candidate Yvonne Flores, whose opponent declined to appear; then representatives of the Potters' Guild and El Caldito talking about the annual Empty Bowls event. (Potters make bowls, local restaurants donate soup, and folks like us contribute money to the soup kitchen and get in return a handmade bowl, tasty soup, and enjoyable conversations.) 

Thursday, Kari Bachman treated us to a wonderful hour with Florence Hamilton. At an age most folks don't reach, Ms. Hamilton spoke movingly about growing up in segregated Kansas City, Missourahh, struggling to find work in a world where young black women were meant to be domestics or elevator operators (“Light-skinned only,” read the newspaper ads), and later watching her kids experience the mixed bag that was school integration after the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. Her comments were a welcome respite from the steady drumbeat of mostly white male pronouncements that all that racism stuff is past.

I'd stack those three morning shows up against the three morning shows most any other local radio station did this week in any comparable or much larger city. 

Our trials in getting “Que tal!” on air also enhanced my sympathy for the great group of people I watched working for months to make the recent SWEC gala the best ever; and for the folks who created and sustain the Timebank, where people contribute what they can do and get something done for them in return. Same with Beloved Community, now coping with a loss of funding, yet still committed to making young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities feel uniquely beloved. And too the Progressive Voters Alliance, where people confronting changing political realities gather to exchange ideas – with two minutes or less per speaker. Then there's El Caldito, community staple, feeding more needy people each year.

A recent radio interview also gave me insight into how hard folks work so that Las Cruces has a symphony of exceptional quality for our size.

With globalism all the rage, and Washington a playpen, these local efforts are truly heroic. And I could name many more! Fellow Las Crucens struggling to survive and do right. 

Add in a vibrant and generous arts community, and our desert home is rich in the stuff that really matters.

                                                                -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 22 October 2017, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air periodically on both KRWG and KTAL-LP.  (Speaking of which, at 9 a.m. this morning on KTAL - 101.5 FM - "The Sunday Show" features an interview with Roman Catholic Bishop Oscar Cantú.)]

[Mostly, I felt delighted by how the radio station is doing.  It desperately needs money; but people are getting a chance to host radio shows are doing so quite well.  I run into people who enjoy the station, for both its local programming and the acquired show, and tell me they listen to it all day.  It's strange.  I remember wondering more than once whether we'd ever even get on the air.  I still worry how we'll survive.

Meanwhile, I had recently watched friends go through intense planning for or work on successful events for non-profits.  (I think some folks are more active than ever because of distress over last fall's national election results.)  We have a pretty fine community of caring people here.  Some we're hearing from in radio interviews as well.]  

Basketball in Las Vegas -- on Doña Ana County's Nickel

In late July, some Doña Ana County Sheriff's Deputies played in a basketball tournament in Las Vegas, which you and I helped pay for.

 

Some other deputies weren't too thrilled. Nevada seemed too far away for the event to help improve cop-community relations. They also found it odd that, although the players who'd been scheduled to work initially put in for vacation time, approved by their supervisors, their time records were later changed to reflect regular work. (Union President Sergeant Ben Casillas changed all the time records except his own, and Undersheriff Ken Roberts changed Casillas's.) Other deputies had actually worked 10-hour shifts for their money. 

 

Some felt it was unfair and illegal: that if the trip was a departmental activity, it should have been more widely advertised within the department; and that if it wasn't, why did the public end up paying for it? Further, it's well known that Roberts and Casillas are close. Adding to the confusion, around that time Casillas sustained a leg injury that reportedly required changes in his duties for awhile.

I got curious, of course. I asked for and received documents, including Kronos records that confirmed the belated change from vacation to regular time. ( I also received emails I haven't been able to open yet.)

Casillas confirmed some of the information and denied some. He admitted there was no department-wide advertising of the tournament, just “word-of-mouth.” He said that participating in the Police and Firemen's Games was a positive thing for the department, and that he'd spoken to Sheriff Enrique Vigil (not to Roberts) about that. Vigil authorized the change to regular time.

He also denied that he was injured in the tournament. He said he was injured playing basketball, but not during the Vegas tournament, which he didn't play in because he was sick. (He declined to say whether he'd put in for workman's comp, but his statement that he hadn't been injured while working seemed to suggest strongly that he hadn't.)

I asked him how the trip benefited the department. He said that “law enforcement agencies participate in a lot of other things that do not involve your typical work duties.” He cited local events, including Law Enforcement Night Out and participation in the Law Enforcement Torch Run, plus representing the department at funerals.

I said I could see calling, say, a neighborhood versus DASO softball game as a community activity. But Las Vegas, Nevada?

He said that there was a benefit to the department. That playing enabled deputies to mingle with other law-enforcement entities, and build relationships with some of those entities, some of which were from neighboring Arizona. He said these Games were “like the law-enforcement Olympics” and that participating “put the department on the map” with others, including big-city agencies. (It was a highly-competitive tournament.)

He also pointed out: that although men scheduled to work who'd taken vacation time ended up getting paid, no one who hadn't been scheduled to work those days was paid anything for going; that having the agency pay for players to participate was common, according to what he heard from players from other cities; and that while DASO's players paid for their own travel and got only their regular pay if they'd been scheduled, some larger-city departments paid for the trip and gave their players per diem as well.

Talking to Casillas, I got the sense that there's some dissension in the union. I'd heard long ago that some members weren't keen on his closeness to management, and thought he'd gotten special treatment from management. (Roberts preceded him as local union president.)

                                               -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 15 October 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and KTAL-LP.]

[Certainly some at DASO were displeased with the way this trip went down, and the belated change to the way people's time was characterized.   On the other hand, Casillas says it was reasonable and that the change wasn't intended to be belated.  Not my job to decide, just to shine some light on these events.]

[I got the sense from Casillas that he viewed the complaints as related to a possible challenge to his presidency of the local union.  If there is such a challenge, it may prove interesting to see how that comes out.  There's an unusual history: Sheriff Vigil fired his previous undersheriff and appointed then-union-head Ken Roberts undersheriff.  Roberts and Casillas are reportedly pretty close.  (Certainly some have complained about cronyism.)  Whether that level of closeness between management and the union is healthy or unhealthy isn't for me to decide, although it would seem a bit unusual.  Since many have complained about Roberts's management, the results might suggest something about how widespread the negative feelings are.  I forget whether or not it's a secret ballot, although I think it is.]

[For those keeping score, it was a very competitive tournament, with teams from Los Angeles, Chicago, and other big cities.  DASO's team stood little chance against some very tall teams that had played together in such tournaments a lot over the course of several years.]

Fresh Eyes

We love New Mexico, but seeing home through a new visitor's eyes is always invigorating.

Our 17 year-old niece visited recently from New England. She landed in El Paso marveling at the unfamiliar landscape she'd seen as the plane descended. Trans-Mountain Drive yielded a satisfying mix of cell-phone-camera clicking and exclamations of “Incredible!” Plus questions about whether people hiked in the Franklins. It was a particularly showy day, with late-afternoon sunlight striking peaks wearing bright white cloud-caps. The road itself felt like a roller-coaster.

We had to go to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Dixon Awards luncheon and some meetings Wednesday morning. We transformed the trip into an adventure, driving up Tuesday by way of White Sands National Monument, Casa de Sueños Restaurant in Tularosa, Three Rivers Petroglyphs, and the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

We don't always brag to visitors about what we're going to see. The strange, stark beauty of White Sands can only be enhanced by surprise. “Oh, we're gonna stop at a monument.” “OK.” Then suddenly that vast expanse of brilliant whiteness, the sand's cool feel on bare feet, and a bleached earless lizard posing for a few pictures under a bit of vegetation. 

“We'll get some Mexican food then look at some old

graffiti.” After her vegan calabacitas enchiladas, sopapillas are a new treat. Gary, the volunteer host at Three Rivers, is a genial gent with a big smile, a friendly dog, and a lot of new knowledge to share. His introduction enhances our niece's experience. She walks a good ways up the trail, contemplating images someone chipped into volcanic rock long ago and feeling a new connection with a long-dead civilization.

Wednesday's NMFOG luncheon is reassuring, a roomful of people, including some heavy hitters, focused on transparency in government in New Mexico.

Then we're on the road again. We reach the Bosque visitors' center just before closing, disappointed by the absence of water in two ponds where snow geese and sandhill cranes spend their nights, using the water as a protective moat between them and hungry coyotes. From late October to January, they land at sunset, sometimes struggling in high winds, and awaken at dawn to fly off to forage in nearby fields.

It's a bit early for the cranes. But there's water at the Boardwalk, so we take a look.

Our brief stop becomes one of those afternoons that take control of you. Lines of turtles are sunning

themselves on floating logs. More than a dozen white pelicans perch in a straggly line on a sand bar, along with ducks and geese. The pelicans, passing through, are a rare sight. The light catches them just right, accentuating their whiteness against the dark blue water, the golden reeds, and the mix of clouds and blue sky. We're captivated. We watch and photograph for what I'd call “a very long time” if I even

remembered time existed. Through the long lens, the pelicans' postures, and the varied shapes their beaks assume during a yawn, are goofy, but oddly beautiful.

Then we hear the unmistakable purr of sandhill cranes. Eleven circle high overhead, then fly further south.

Our guest is . . . uhh . . enchanted. The sun sets, and the full moon watches over us as we hurtle south toward Las Cruces. Watching our niece come to appreciate our desert home is like introducing beloved friends to each other and watching them share laughter and secrets.

Before dawn Thursday morning, as we drive to the airport, New Mexico bids her farewell with a magnificent lightning show.

                                            -30-

[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 8October2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will be aired by KRWG and KTAL-LP 101.5 FM, during the week.]

White Sands - study

Lone Turtle, White Pelicans

Lone Turtle, White Pelicans - as photograph

Lone Turtle, White Pelicans, Watchers

Lone Turtle on Floating Log

Dael and Daisy at the Boardwalk

White Pelican Flying

White Pelican Flying

11 Sandhill Cranes

11 Sandhill Cranes

Bosque - Late Afternoon

Bosque - Late Afternoon

Bosque - Late Afternoon

I wanted to add a couple more quick shots of the shapes a pelican's beak can assume during a yawn:

And a couple of images from White Sands National Monument:

The visit even included a chance to record a station ID for our new community radio station, KTAL-LP, 101.5 FM:

Daisy and Dael at Sunset over Rio Grande River

Regarding football, anthems, and racism:

Trump called NFL players who kneeled in protest “SOB's.” His intent was racist. The players are largely black, the kneelers were almost wholly black, and Trump was speaking to a mostly-white Alabama crowd deciding between the right-wing senator Trump supports and the even more right-wing and racist challenger. The subtext was, “My guy's as tough on n****rs as your guy.”

Meanwhile, his preemptive strike against basketball's championship team, canceling the traditional White House visit because they were likely not to accept, was just Trump being thin-skinned; but he singled out Steph Curry, not coach Steve Kerr, who's white. Steph is a truly All-American good kid, except that he's what US folks call “black.” (When will skin color truly cease to matter in our assessment of fellow humans?)

Trump insults insults peaceful black protesters, but won't unambiguously criticize pro-violence anti-Semitic white supremacists., even when they inspire a killing. 

 

If you were a football player, and Trump was calling your teammates names in a racist context, I think comradeship and self-respect alone would tempt you to join in a statement of opposition, even one involving the flag – unless you're Villanueva, who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He has deeper ties to other comrades, or their memories, and should not apologize for saluting the flag while his teammates stayed inside to avoid the issue.

One thing I learned from all this was that Francis Scott Key was a racist, and the third stanza of his poem “Defending Fort McHenry,” which became “The Star-Spangled Banner”, attacked a group called Colonial Marines, escaped black slaves who fought with the British as a route toward freedom. Can't blame 'em. Key could, though:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave...

They could fight, though, and just weeks earlier had kicked the butts of Americans under Key's command.

What's harder to define is Key's racism. He certainly didn't believe in whites and blacks hanging out together, and he owned slaves, though he opposed violent treatment of slaves and later freed some. He did so many appalling things to defend slavery and so many humanitarian things to free slaves it's hard to keep track. He was vilified as both an abolitionist and a virulent anti-abolitionist. (I discuss that further on my blog today.)

He was, like most of us, a person in a specific time and with a specific background, who did the best he could by his lights, and grew somewhat wiser with time. He was neither as wonderful as he likely thought he was, nor as terrible as later generations might infer, once white society learned certain things.

Players have no First Amendment right as against private employers; and some of these players make phenomenal salaries to be modern-day gladiators, before most end up with knees too infirm to descend stairs, shoulders too painful to lift their children, or permanent confusion, But so what?

Trump, a powerful public official, is exacerbating our divisions for selfish political reasons. Bringing out the worst in us. Whether someone stands during the national anthem, kneels, puts a hand on his heart, or whatever, is irrelevant to either their athletic prowess or the cogency of their political arguments. We're all in this together. In a country built on freedom to protest, patriots can protest Trump's conduct.

                                                            -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 1October2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.]

[I'd intended to add more historical information on Key, but with the confluence of a lot of other things going on, just haven't time.]