Politics Going to the Dogs
December 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Uncanny canine coincidence or something more biting? Remarkably, two South Texas mayors have recently become enmeshed in squabbles with their constituents over lovable mutts.
For Grace Saenz-Lopez, the mayor of Alice, the scrape involves her neighbor and a shih tzu puppy named Puddles. According to local media reports, the mayor agreed to babysit Puddles while her neighbors were on vacation. When Rudy Gutierrez and his family phoned Mayor Saenz-Lopez to check in on their puppy, she broke the news that Puddles had met his maker while they were enjoying their vacation. Lo and behold, since Alice has a population of about 19,000 people, it didn’t take long before a friend of Mr. Gutierrez’ noticed a puppy with a striking resemblance to Puddles at a groomers downtown. An angry Rudy Gutierrez demanded his dog back. The groomer called the cops. In the end, the shih tzu was released to the mayor and has been rechristened “Panchito.”
The Puddles/Panchito scandal does not look like it will resolve itself anytime soon. A group of citizens has already stormed two city council meetings demanding that Mayor Saenz-Lopez return Puddles/Panchito to its rightful owner. The mayor’s lawyer has muzzled his client and she refuses to comment. We wonder if this will dog her into the next election?
Needless to say, the story has resulted in a number of questionable leads and headlines at the local Alice Echo-News – our favorites being the “Shitzu Hits the Fan” and “Council Meeting Pawsed by Puddle Protestors.” If you care to vote on whether Puddles/Panchito should be returned to the Gutierrez Family or stay with Mayor Saenz-Lopez you can participate in an Echo-News‘ online poll. So far Mayor Lopez-Saenz is trailing badly.
Meanwhile, southeast of Alice in Brownsville, Mayor Pat Ahumada Jr., a well-known animal lover, escaped bodily harm by a whisker when his efforts to rescue a dog went awry. Ahumada, who recently had to give up several dogs because he exceeded the city’s pet ordinance, grabbed what he thought was a stray he encountered while driving the streets of his hometown. Before scooping up the Labrador mix, he left his business card at a nearby home and tried to contact a number on a pest control truck parked in the driveway. According to Ahumada, no one returned his call so he placed the dog with a neighbor.
A few days later, a Daniel Chapa arrived at the neighbor’s door demanding that his dog “Rocky” be returned to him. The neighbor called the cops who decided to release Rocky to Chapa. That night, Ahumada went to Chapa’s home to confront him about Rocky. “ I’m the one that rescued the dog,” he announced, according to his account in the Brownsville Herald.
Chapa got aggressive, says the mayor, who fled the scene for fear of being hurt. Chapa jumped in his truck following in hot pursuit. The mayor called the police. This would be one of at least four calls made to the cops in the tug-of-war over Rocky’s fate.
Fortunately, this story has a tail-wagging ending. Rocky, now named “Chiquilin,” is under the permanent care of his foster home and the mayor says it’s for the better. “We’re glad Mr. Chapa made the right choice about giving up the dog,” he said. “He’s a very beautiful dog. He’s got long legs like a faun.”
January 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[…] When the family phoned to check in on their pet, the Mayor dropped the bomb that the puppy had died. For the back story see a previous Observer blog post. […]
April 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
[…] I wasn’t going to do it. But after chronicling the travails of Puddles/Panchito for several months, it seemed fitting to write an epilogue about […]