OK--What happened????

OK what happened?

This blogging thing has turned out to be a lot more challenging than I thought—I am WAY behind!

First things first… In case you don’t know, we did win! For the hard numbers, go to:http://www.sos.state.nm.us/sos-2008PrimResults.html.

I do have an opponent in the general election whose name is Mary Francis Barron. You can find out more about my opponent if you go to the Roswell Daily Record web site http://www.roswell-record.com/ and select the politics category.

I hope to do a better job of blogging during the general election, so please check back often.

"Where is Dennis?"

You have probably been wondering "Where is Dennis?" because I have not added anything to this blog in ages. While the campaign has been very hectic, that is not the only reason. Right in the middle of the final month I have had to drop the campaign and return to my role of "crime fighter." I was subpoenaed to federal court to testify in a case from 13 years ago. The case was amazing in that it involved over 1100 pounds of cocaine, over a half a ton.

I spent a couple of days the week of May12th in Trial Preparation or "Trial Prep" at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Las Cruces. Then I returned to Las Cruces for a the trial which started May 19th. Now I am back in Roswell trying hard to play catch up with your calls, visits and e-mails. I owe people yard signs and will get them out while the supply lasts. I am working on the phone calls. Please be patient. I appreciate the offers of help. They mean a lot to me. Finally I will work on the e-mails. I will work to respond to your questions. Thanks again for your encouragement.

For those who want the details of this case, read on...

On June 1, 1995 units of the NMSP stopped two vehicles on hwy 70 about five miles west of Roswell. One vehicle was a Chevy S-10 Blazer pulling a Jayco pop-up trailer. The other was a blue Toyota pickup. The stop was the culmination of a multi-day surveillance by NMSP narcotics agents and Task Force officers from SE NM. The agents had been watching a residence in Las Cruces because they had developed information that a large load of cocaine would be transported from that location to Chicago. Officers watched the house for days and observed the coming and going of a number of people later identified as Richard Orosco, Danny Golay, Edwina Coddington, Rhonda Sieberlist and the boss Carlos Armendariz.

Armendariz was seen arriving at the residence (occupied by the others) driving a Chevy Celebrity accompanying a van driven by another person. The cocaine was in the van and was unloaded and sealed into fiberglass forms. These forms were then placed into the pop-up trailer and the group left late on the evening of May 31st. Surveillance observed the Toyota pickup in convoy with the load vehicle. It was a "scout vehicle" driven by Gerado Ocoha of Deming New Mexico.

When the vehicles were stopped at about 4:00 AM on Friday June 1st, the load vehicle was driven by Sieberlist and in the vehicle were Edwina Codding, her husband Richard Orosco, their 5 year old son and Danny Golay. Ochoa was alone in the "scout vehicle".

At 6:30 that morning I got a call from Agent K.C. Rogers, NMSP-Narcotics, who told me to come out to their office. He would not say why, "just come out." I came out and did not get home again until late Saturday evening. Once I got to the office and saw what they had, I contacted my DEA counterpart Special Agent Steve Woodson. My wife ended up bringing me an over night bag out at the state police office.

The load vehicle occupants, except for Sieberlist, admitted their involvement in the shipment. Sieberlist was Coddington's cousin and had been recruited to come on a trip without being told all the details. Based upon the statements of the others Siberlist was not charged. Ochoa denied any involvement.

K.C and the surveillance team were exhausted after five days of almost no sleep. At this point Steve Woodson and I headed to Las Cruces. This was fter we arranged to have the prisoners transported to Las Cruces and the dope hauled there too (by National Guard helicopter). Coddington made a consensually recorded call to Armendariz and told him they had been arrested. By this time Armendariz was back in Mexico where he would hide for the next 13 years.

When we arrived in Las Cruces we spent the night drafting search warrants for the house in Las Cruces and the home of the scout vehicle driver, 1312 Encanto Circle, Deming, NM. We also put together teams of agents to go to the two locations. I lead the team to Deming at 10:00AM Saturday morning. The team of DEA and FBI agents secured and searched the home of Gerado Ochoa. A number of records were seized but the two most important were a simple post-it note with "800" number and pin number for pagers used by the organization, as recorded in Coddington's address book and a rental unit contract for a self storage place in Mesa, AZ, in the name of Carlos Armnedariz.

Subsequently a search warrant was done on a trailer house used by Armendariz in Anthony, Texas. At that location fiberglass forms were found along with flatbed trailers with secret compartments in the bed. The fiberglass forms were designed to slip into the secret compartments.

Further investigation determined that Ochoa was encountered by law enforcement in Arkansas driving a red pickup (used previously by Richard Orosco) pulling flatbed trailers.

Ochoa took us to trial (everyone else pled guilty), and I was on the stand a total of almost eight hours spread over two days as the defense tried to suppress the search. The court upheld the search and Ocoha was convicted.

This became the beginning of a series of cases involving me, K.C. Rogers - NMSP and Steve Woodson - DEA. We worked with other guys from local task forces and we each had separate cases but the three of us from different agencies really clicked. Eventually Steve transferred to Wyoming, K.C. retired and then I retired. Suddenly from out of the blue Carlos Armendariz pops up and is arrested entering the U.S. (he is a U.S. Citizen by birth).

Steve, K.C and I all get called back to court. We spent days last week in trial prep and then the trial began Monday, May 19th. We all testified and Carlos was convicted.

Comments and E-mails

We are a bit new to this "blog thing," but we have come to realize that if you send us a comment about a blog entry, we are unable to respond directly to you.

If, however, you send us an e-mail through "Ask Dennis," we can respond to your question, and we can also update the blog if it's something that might be of interest to others as well.

To summarize, if you wish to communicate a question to us, please use "Ask Dennis," but if you wish to just make a comment about a blog, continue to use the "comment" entry at the end of the blog.

I really appreciate your sending me questions and comments. It helps me to know what the concerns are that you, the voters, have. Ultimately, you are the people to whom we (the elected officials) are accountable.

Deadbeat Dads

The other day I got an e-mail question about "deadbeat" Dads. Curiously the question began with a reference to "Government Regulation" and my belief that everyone is accountable for their actions. Fundamentally personal accountability is not a "government issue," it is a "moral" issue.

It is incredible the amount of pain and misery caused by men who will not be MEN. One of the most powerful books I have read is Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. Eldredge puts forth the premise that a true man does not run away and abandon his wife and children nor is the true man a door mat. Eldredge writes that "in the heart of every man is a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue."

In his chapter on "A Beauty to Rescue" is this paragraph:

"If the man refuses to offer himself, then his wife will remain empty and barren. A violent man destroys with his words; a silent man starves his wife. 'She's wilting,' a friend confessed to me about his new bride. 'If she's wilting then you're withholding something,' I said. Actually, it was several things--his words, his touch, but mostly his delight. There are so many other ways this plays out in life. A man who leaves his wife with the children and the bills to go and find another, easier life has denied them his strength. He has sacrified them when he should have sacrified his strength for them. What makes Maximus (from the movie Gladiator) or William Wallace (Braveheart) so heroic is simply this: They are willing to die to set others free."

When the high school seniors from our youth group graduate in May, I will give a copy of Wild at Heart to each of the young men. If you are a man, you should read this book.

If you are the wife of a man, give this book to him. If you are the mother of young boys, you might try reading this yourself. Be warned--there will be much you will not comprehend or like. In the first chapter, this passage appears:

"A judge in his sixties, a real southern gentleman with a pin-striped suit and an elegant manner of speech, pulled me aside during a conference. Quietly, almost apologetically, he spoke of his love for sailing, for the open sea, and how he and a buddy eventually built their own boat. Then came a twinkle in his eye. 'We were sailing off the coast of Bermuda a few years ago, when we were hit by a northeaster (a raging storm). Really, it came up out of nowhere. Twenty-foot swells in a thirty-food hoomemade boat. I thought we were all going to die.' A pause for dramatic effect, and then he confessed, 'It was the best time of my life.'"

Most women will be confused--most men will understand immediately.

The ultimate point is that men have an inherent NEED to be AUTHENTIC men. When they fail to be that for their children, they should be held accountable by the state, their community and the culture as a whole.

The Definition of Marriage

Recently I received an e-mail question about my position on the definition of marriage. It is sad that the question even needs to be asked. My Webster's unabridged dictionary defines it as "the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife." That pretty much sums it up in my mind: one man--one woman, united.

I wonder if this attempt to redefine marriage is due in part to the devaluing of marriage that we have witnessed in our culture. Truthfully we must work at marriage. We all tend to be selfish and self-centered. Success in marriage requires us to not be so self-absorbed. Carol and I have made a commitment to work on our marriage. Beginning in 1994 we started attending Fall Festival of Marriage conferences (now called Festival of Marriage) put on by the Southern Baptist Convention. These are held in numerous locations around the country. Check out the website:

http://www.lifeway.com/ev/events_detail_mainpage/0%2C2232%2CE%25253D96%252526M%25253D200975%2C00.html

This year over the weekend of April 11-13 we will be involved in supporting a Marriage Enrichment weekend put on by Grace Community Church in Roswell.

We also have read some great books on marriage relationships including His Needs Her Needs, The Five Love Languages, and Love and Respect. I recommend all three of these books, and suggest reading them together with your spouse.

As a society we need to value marriage. We need to hold it in high regard. Healthy marriages produce healthy families which produce healthy children who turn into well-balanced successful adults.

Having written this, you probably assume I am a skilled husband. That, however, is not the case. Recently I had fallen into a pattern of selfishness. It brought home the fact that just because one has "head knowledge" does not mean one understands the concept or engages in that behavior. We all need "refreshers" training--me included!

My Link to the Republican Party

Where does one begin their first blog? Here I am running for public office as a Republican seeking my party's nomination for a State Representative seat. Some people might wonder about my commitment to the Republican party. They might ask, "Who is this Dennis Kintigh, and why have we not seen him in party activities?" The answer is that my career as an FBI agent prevented me from being involved in partisan politics. My family has been tied to the Republican party for many generations. I guess one could say we've been Republicans since there was a Republican party.

This gentleman to the left is my father's grandfather. I never met the man as the generations in my family are a bit spread apart (my father was 47 when I was born, and his father was 38 when he was born). If my father was alive today, he would be turning 103 in May. My great grandfather was George Weddell. He was a farmer in Western Pennsylvania, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army. George Weddell rose to the rank of corporal in the 105th Pennsylvania Infantry regiment. He served with distinction in many terrible battles.

His regiment was part of Sickle's III Corp, and fought at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg. On the second day at Gettysburg, the III Corp was on the left side of the Union line. George Weddell's regiment was in the Peach Orchard. In the picture to the right, I am pointing to George Weddell's name where it appears on the plaque for his regiment at the Pennsylvania Monument on the grounds of Gettysburg. I cannot begin to imagine the horror this man witnessed. My father was a young man in college in the mid-1920's and told me that "Grandpa Weddell" used to have reunions of his Army buddies at his farm in the summertime. How fortunate my father was to have known such heroes, but in reality we have heroes walking among us today. They are the men who have volunteered to serve their country in a time of war. I urge everyone to express thanks to any serviceman they meet.

If you get the opportunity, you should visit Gettysburg. Before you go, I would strongly suggest you read Bruce Catton's Glory Road. It is the second volume in his trilogy on the Army of the Potomac. After you read the section on Gettysburg, and walk the grounds, you cannot leave that place without being moved.

George Weddell is not my only ancestor to wear Union Blue. I can count at least eight great great uncles who served. One was Anthony Kintigh of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Anthony was killed in a skirmish just prior to the Battle of Stone's River. Just over four years later, his nephew, my grandfather, was born.