RISK-TAKING AND MURDER - by Dan and Dot

A Soaring Morning - Dot

What a full and fabulous day this has been! We got up with the sun this morning and made our way to a field in the north part of town where some balloonists had gathered for a “fly in.” This was sort of a substitute for the Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally, which was scheduled for this weekend but had been canceled due to economic concerns. Although there were only 12-15 balloons instead of the 50-60 there would have been at the Rally, it was still exciting and beautiful. I had been looking forward to our second year at the Rally, which we had enjoyed so much last year, and I was very disappointed to learn that it had to be canceled. How appreciative I was that these balloonists decided to “do it anyway” and share their sport with those of us who braved the early morning chill.

Ballooning has its own culture. Before dawn there are “groupies” out with the balloonists and their teams to help lay out the large balloons and prepare them for flight. It is fun to see people greet old friends that they have not seen since the last balloon festival. There are also usually a few males in some sort of formal attire – tuxedos or similar clothing. I have not researched what that’s all about. We only saw one person dressed up today but last year there were a number of them.

I took dozens of pictures of the beautiful balloons and wondered what it would be like to soar into the sky in one of those wicker baskets. What a thrill that must be! However, they are braver than I am and I likely will never have that experience.

We hurried from the balloons to make a quick stop at the Farmer’s Market where I was able to find some locally grown winter lettuce. Since we were going on to a morning movie at the old Fountain Theater in old Mesilla at 10 we did not linger today to look at the arts and crafts, which make up most of the farmer’s market this time of year. It was a good thing we got to the theater early, too. There was already a line at 9:15 and by 9:30 they had started turning people away because the small theater was full.

JIMMinY CRICKET! - Dan

This morning we went to a small theater in Mesilla that shows documentaries, AND off beat and “artsy” films. Today’s was a documentary on the 1949 still-unsolved murder of eighteen-year-old Ovida “CRICKET” Coogler near my hometown of Las Cruces, a city of about 13,000 at that time. The murder had caught my attention, even though I was only nine at the time, because a) there were not many murders in our town, even though illegal gambling and prostitution flourished and very rowdy bars lined both sides of Main Street; b) suspects were the sheriff of Dona Ana County, the head of the New Mexico State Police, a sheriff’s deputy and a Pittsburg Steeler; and c) the first two of these suspects had tried to get a confession out of an African American with very brutal torture. (Fortunately the man recovered and was never indicted.). The Las Cruces Sun News, The El Paso Times and radio KTSM treated this like CNN does “breaking news,” only not just for five days but for months and months. Moreover, the above-mentioned deputy died two years later of a bullet wound to the BACK of the head. The death was officially ruled a suicide! Did I ment..no I didn’t mention that the deputy’s stepson was one of my best friends at the time. Hence little Danny’s vivid memories.

Filmed in the documentary were newsmen and women, lawmen, lawyers and jury members recounting their memories and their theories about the murder. Their main message was that corruption in law enforcement and the courts in my hometown and county was so bad that the seemingly impossible happened: the grand jury called to hear the case took over the entire enterprise. This after weeks of witnesses clamming up and the judge failing to rule on anything. (The judge, incidentally, was the father of another good friend of mine.) With great effort and sacrifice of job time and money, somehow they got a judge with some integrity and backbone from out of the area, and were able to proceed. They at least were able to get the convictions and one-year sentences for the sheriff and the state police chief for violating the civil rights of the African American. They served out the sentences!

What was brand new to me today was the identity of those grand jurors. It turns out, although I didn’t know much of what was going on at the time, I did know three of the seven: George Hay, merchant and husband of Edith Hay, secretary of our church, St. Paul’s (with whom Dot worked as Director of Education in the early 1960’s), Parker Davenport, electric utility employee and our next-door neighbor, and JIMMY Vermillion, barber shop owner, who cut my hair at that time and for years afterward.

I bought the book on the case, which was for sale at the theater and talked with the author for a few minutes after the film ended.

The rest of the story - Dot

We missed the first half of the Duke-Georgetown game because of the movie and the discussion afterward. (That 1:30 game started at 11:20 here!) We did enjoy the second half while we ate lunch. It was good to be able to celebrate another Duke win, too.

Now it was time for our own exercise. Our hour at the gym felt good and we enjoyed the relative quiet that a Saturday afternoon produced.

In the evening we were saddened to get news of the unexpected death of my sister Jean’s stepson, Guy, who first came into our family as a 12-year old. His death at 57 was too early and very shocking. It is not clear at this point what the cause of death was. Arrangements are up in the air at this time but my brother-in-law hopes that they can have a memorial service in the spring at their farm near Charlottesville and that Dan will be able to participate.

A full day of joy tempered with sorrow.