The three of us — Andy Davis, Warren Goodman, and myself — were sitting in the middle of what was previously a Medicine Wheel structure, created on the property at 187 Bill’s Place by long-time resident Warren Goodman. Someone had recently vandalized the circle of stones, tipping over the larger stones and displacing the smaller ones. The central “tower” had been dismantled.
Around us were the piles of rubbish that had accrued during the years that the property had belong to Warren Goodman, but which now belonged to Andy Davis’ mother, Verna Davis. Beyond the ruined Medicine Wheel sat a yellow backhoe, and nearby, one of the huge rubbish piles appeared to be maybe half the size it was a few days ago, when I’d done my interview with Warren Goodman.
Andy and Warren appeared to have put a small dent in the trash problem. A small dent. But much work remained to be done.
A couple of cats wandered past as we chatted. I understood them to belong to Warren, who no longer lives on the property. In fact, it appeared that no one was currently living on the property, other than the cats. Warren’s son, Burlin, who had previously lived in one of the five travel trailers on the property, was now staying with a friend, I was told. Warren’s wife, Joanne… well, she had vanished from the scene. Neither Andy nor Warren seemed to know where she’d gone.
Warren’s 13 little dogs were still absent — housed at the Humane Society shelter.
Near the conclusion of our hour-long interview, Andy Davis cracked a joke.
“I’m wondering if Richie Valdez is running for Sheriff — or for Dog Catcher?”
As I’d driven through the Aspen Springs subdivision, on my way to the interview that morning, I’d passed several political yard signs urging me to vote for “Rich Valdez For Sheriff.” Sheriff Valdez is running for re-election following four years heading up the Sheriff’s Office — and after being groomed for the job by our previous Sheriff, Pete Gonzalez.
“Dog Catcher?”
Sheriff Valdez’ deputies had indeed removed Warren’s 13 dogs from the property a month ago — on August 22 — as a response to numerous complaints from numerous neighbors. The fate of those dogs is unclear at the moment.
Andy Davis now has the task of cleaning up 187 Bill’s Place, on behalf of his mother, the new property owner. But he’d taken a break from the work to allow me to record an interview. I’d never met Mr. Davis previously, but he seemed quite willing to share numerous details about his life in Pagosa Springs.
Most of the details he shared that morning concerned the alleged incompetence of the Archuleta County Sheriff Office, including two incidences where Mr. Davis had guns pointed at him — but where no one was ever prosecuted as a result. In one case, multiple gun shots were fired in Mr. Davis’ direction — he told me — by someone attending a party in a neighbor’s yard.
According to Mr. Davis, the Sheriff’s Office official report on the incident does not include the name of a single person who’d been at that party.
Another complaint by Mr. Davis concerned the theft of weapons from his home, which he says were recovered by the Sheriff’s office but never returned to him, until he did his own private investigation into their location.
Mr. Davis was clearly familiar with the various deputies involved in these incidents, and freely gave out names and dates. If Mr. Davis’ stories were accurate, they paint a picture of a Sheriff’s Office that has been — for many years, both before and after Rich Valdez’ election — at best incompetent, and at worst, possibly corrupt.
Mr. Davis seemed more than willing to include County Attorney Todd Starr in his list of incompetent County employees.
Mr. Davis also shared, at some length, his ideas about who is running the illegal meth industry in Archuleta County.
“Felons are treated with more respect than me,” he said, near the end of our interview. “Trespassers are treated with more respect than me. Everybody is treated with more respect than me. I’m about sick of it. I want to get that tape and have the recording published, because I want people to know how Richie treats the senior citizens in this county. Because there are a lot of us senior citizens here.
“There are so many alternatives to what they are doing. In La Plata County — they are violating our rights in every single way, by forcing us to drive 60 miles each way to attend court, when it’s just going to be postponed until next week anyway.
“This new jail that they’re talking about, is absurd. The problem is, the Town Council is so busy building recreation centers… and ignoring the fact that the infrastructure of this community is about 140 years old and deteriorating more rapidly than the Sheriff’s Office is.”
But, regardless of how interesting (and unsettling) these tales may have been, I had not come looking for stories about Mr. Davis’ numerous dealing with the Archuleta County justice system, or with gun-wielding neighbors.
What I was hoping to understand were his intentions regarding the property at 187 Bill’s Place. Over the past couple of months, the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners and their administrative staff have apparently obtained court approval of a plan to clean up the trash piles on this Aspen Springs property. The “trash” would include the five old and dilapidated travel trailers that Warren Goodman and his family had lived in, and used, during their 25 years in Aspen Springs.
The dollar amounts I’d heard mentioned — had the County truly decided to do the trash removal itself — were in the $20,000 to $40,000 range. Public discussions by the BOCC made it clear that the County did not expect to be reimbursed for this expenditure, considering Mr. Goodman’s impoverished lifestyle. So the plan would have included a lien on the property — a property without running water or septic system, that might be worth $10,000.
To put $20,000 into some perspective, that’s a typical wage for a working class person in Pagosa Springs. For an entire year’s labor.
Surely, Mr. Davis can clean up a few large piles of rubbish, and remove five old travel trailers — in less than a year’s time?
I asked Mr. Davis if he was worried that, any moment now, Hart Construction was going to arrive — under instructions from the County government — and begin doing trash removal?
Mr. Davis: “No. Hart isn’t coming. I won’t allow him on this property. I’ve initiated a clean-up.” He motioned towards Mr. Goodman, seated next to him. “I’m not to be judged by standards he’s been held by. I’ll have my day in court, if that’s what they want.”
Mr. Davis regards the County’s efforts to place a lien on 187 Bill’s Place as a “land grab deal out here in Aspen Springs, forcing the poor people out…
“This is selective enforcement. They’ve decided who they’re going to enforce the laws on. That’s as illegal as hell. And I’d like to get this out to the public, before this election, so we can get a new start around here.”
