Small Town Dogfight Hits New York
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
My colleagues are starting to hound me with these Puddles blogs. I keep thinking it will be my last one — please gawd please. That’s what I get for assuming Alice Mayor Grace Saenz-Lopez will come out of her political nosedive before hitting rock bottom. By the way, in Texas politics, rock bottom still hasn’t been charted by geologists. At this rate, Saenz-Lopez might discover it first.
The downfall of the Mayor’s political career? — a lovable shih tzu mop named Puddles. For previous back story on the tragic tale of the mayor’s obsession with her pint-sized pet see a previous Observer blog post.
The nation loves its kooky Texas stories — and the mayor has been willing to oblige by sending her identical twin sister Graciela Garcia and the shih tzu to the Big Apple to appear on a talk show to relate the Puddles predicament. On the Mike and Juliet Show, Tuesday, the Mayor’s sister and her lawyer, Homero Canales, say Puddles’ previous owners, the Gutierrez family, mistreated the pup. The family on the other hand, says the Mayor wrongfully stole their pet.
The citizens of Alice seem to be siding with the Gutierrez family. A recall petition is circulating to replace the mayor. On Monday, the City Council voted in a symbolic gesture in favor of a no confidence motion against the Mayor. The Council also passed a measure accepting the mayor’s resignation should she offer it, according to an Alice Echo-News story.
“I think we’ve sat aside on this issue for a while, trying to have respect to afford the mayor time to do the right thing and get this matter resolved on her own. But this has spilled over and is starting to encroach on city business. I don’t have any faith in the mayor’s ability to hold the proceedings and carry out her duty as the mayor,” said Valverde. ” I sincerely hope she does the graceful thing, the honorable thing and resigns, so she shows that she puts the city first, as she has done for her whole career.”
Besides possibly losing her job as Mayor of Alice, Saenz-Lopez is also in trouble with the law. Last Friday she was indicted by a grand jury on two felony charges of tampering with evidence after the mayor allegedly attempted to hide Puddles at her twin sis’ house on the outskirts of town. Being a loyal identical twin — her sister, Graciela, is also being indicted for tampering with evidence. Their charges are third degree felonies, which carry a sentence of up to 10 years each — no laughing matter, folks.
But hey, my co-workers want to know if anyone has asked Puddles where he would like to live? Maybe Dr. Phil, on the rebound from his unsuccessful intervention with Britney Spears, could stick his nose into this one?
