,~ Village of Taos Ski Valley• PD Box 100, 7 Firehouse Road, Taos Ski Valley, NM 87525

________ (575) 776-8220 (575) 776-1145 Fax

— E-mail: vtsv(~vtsv.org Website: www.vtsv.org

• — Mayor: Neal KingTHE VI L. L.A GE OF Council: Kathleen Bennett, J. Christopher Stagg,

Taos ski Vai[eyjClerk/Treasurer: Vanessa Chisholm

March 5,2014

Cibola National Forest

Attn: Law Enforcement

do Mr. Dan Reed

2113 Osuna Rd NE

ABQ, NM 87113

The Village of Taos Ski Valley (VTSV) has received many complaints from residents,

businesses, and tourists about the enforcement operations carried out in the village, i.e. the ski area

over the weekend of February 22h1d1 and 23rd It was not necessarily the operations that were

performed, but how those procedures were conducted. All the complaints we received stated that the

United States Forest Service (USFS) law enforcement officers were not personable andJor polite, but

were overbearing and aloof. People felt threatened, bullied, and because of this intimidation, felt

violated and that they had no choice but to comply with the USFS officers.

The VTSV does not dispute the right, or question the jurisdiction of the USFS law

enforcement to uphold the law on USFS lands within our village limits. The Village actually

supports the presence of additional law enforcement in our village, but would prefer a much lower

show of force, or presence.

Unfortunately VTSV had no information for the reasoning behind the operation and was

unable to give any positive responses to the many inquires we received during and after this event.

In the Taos News it was stated, “The operation was planned after complaints following an

altercation near the base area...” In this vein, the operation definitely sounds like it was retaliatory

in nature. But our question would be against whom? The USFS received complaints so now they

came back and randomly harassed ski area employees and patrons. This doesn’t seem like good

business and seems draconian in nature.

In a bad snow year when the local community, and state, is fighting for every tourist dollar,

bad publicity such as this does not help. With social media, this instance spread like wild fire. We

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understand that no constitutional rights were violated, but we can assure you that many feathers were

severely ruffled. We must impress on you that people were livid, outspoken, and talked about this for

days; we were put on notice that people will not be returning to our ski valley because of this

unwarranted operation.

Unfortunately this whole episode has had a very detrimental effect on the public’s image of

the local USFS personnel however undeserved. VTSV looks to get past this, and looks forward to our

usual good relations and cooperation with our local agencies.

Because the law enforcement officers were federal government employee, the Village feels

the need to apprise our federal delegates of this situation; for your information, the delegates

contacted are cc’ed on this letter.

Sincerely,

Neal KingMayor

cc: Senator Heinrich,Senator Udall,Representative Luj an,Buck Sanchez, Carson National Forest Supervisor,Robin L. Poague, JD, Special Agent in Charge,Gordon Briner, CEO TSV Inc.,