Realizing Success in a Dying town: Out with the Old.

During a recent visit to the once thriving southwestern town of Tucumcari,New Mexico, located in Quay County on “Historic Route 66,” I wondered howbusinesses were surviving there during this floundering economy, especiallysince the town had been sputtering towards failure for more than a decade. Theuniverse answered my mindful inquiry by presenting this example of how onebusinesswoman was making it, while an elder businessman was not.

Once named “Six Shooter Siding,” Tucumcari was founded in 1901 as arailroad construction camp. The 2000 census was 11 people short of reporting apopulation of 6000, but the count has since declined. The town occupies 7.5square miles. Businesses in Tucumcari that exude a level of success are rare;they are few whose windows aren’t barred or boarded up. The prominent onesare banks like Wells Fargo and Everyone’s Federal Credit Union. (Yes, that isthe credit union’s actual name). Set apart, with its clean, almost modernarchitecture, Mesalands Community College seems as though extraterrestrials hadplopped it down one late evening unbeknownst to the local inhabitants. [But Icould only logically equate such an event with Roswell, New Mexico, far to thesouth.]

On Main Street of Tucumcari’s “downtown,” the only business front thatsaid, “successful” was Pajarito Interiors, owned and operated by RuthNelson, an interior decorator who (according to local news articles) earned herdegree from the University of Hawaii and moved to New Mexico from Oregonseveral years ago. Pajarito Interiors’ Santa Fe adobe-style facade was clean,its paint fresh and stucco walls free of cracks. It had obviously been recentlyredesigned and updated compared to the buildings, up, down and across thestreet that sat in sad shape, windows boarded from vandal attacks, and havingbeen long abandoned. An emaciated, feathery carcass of some now unidentifiablemedium-sized bird-of-prey lay, splayed out in a display window where the raptorhad accidentally flown in and failed in its escape. There it remained, inmemoriam to its long suffering; for how long was anyone’s guess. The buildingadjacent to Pajarito Interiors, connected by a shared wall was Sands-DoseyDrugstore. It had burned a year ago. Its partially scorched-black wallsremained half standing, reminiscent of a bombed-out structure from a recent warno one had heard about. Its long history destroyed in what must have been amatter of hours.

Ruth Nelson’s store is stocked with high-end home furnishing and decoratoritems. The interior walls hold a neutral hue that complements every other colorfound on unique, seemingly one-of-a-kind tables, sofas, chairs, and objects dearte . The ceiling lights softly light partitions that showcase specialfurnishings like a fashionably high table with a pair of plush-upholstered,matching chairs. In Tucumcari, with an estimated 80% of its population livingon public assistance, it was an immediate mystery as to who among the localscould afford such exquisite items.

In an interview, Ruth Nelson said she moved to Tucumcari when she found aman with whom she thought she could spend the rest of her life; that beingDonald Schutte, an attorney and now former state district judge. (Having beenoriginally appointed by the governor, Schutte had lost last November’selection with his opponent winning nearly 2 votes to 1.) In local newsarticles, Nelson and Schutte have expressed plans to greatly improve downtownTucumcari as they have filled key roles in the “Main Street” initiativewith its mission to “bring back Tucumcari.” Nelson said her business wasdoing okay, but there was a time when she was realizing $7,000 to $10,000 insales per week. That number sounded suspiciously exaggerated so I investigatedfurther to find out the secret of how a businesswoman could be so successful inwhat appears to be a dying town. The answer came as a surprise.

In July, 2006, Ruth bought a home furnishings business from businessmanStanley Jennings. Stanley was 81 years old and thought it a good time toconsider retiring. A veteran, and retired serviceman, Stanley was born in 1925in his family’s ranch house home in Quay, New Mexico, about 17 miles south ofTucumcari. He grew up there. Stan (as his friends call him) remembers as achild having just one shirt which his mother would quickly wash every nightwhen he got home from school. She would iron it in the morning right before heleft to attend a one room school house that was located on an adjacent ranch acouple of miles away. He would walk or ride a horse to get there. As ateenager, Stan was a “soda jerk” at Sands-Dorsey Drugstore whose abandonedbusiness location was the bombed out building, previously noted. He served inthe Army Air Corp as a P-51 fighter pilot in Alaska, and was once statePresident of New Mexico Young Democrats, a time he was being groomed to run fora higher, future office. He attended pharmacy school in Albuquerque but quitwhen he got a C in one class believing that it disqualified him to graduate. Hedidn’t understand that is was a Grade Point Average (GPA) of a C or less thatwould have disqualified him. Unexpectedly, Stan’s father died far too young,and left Stan’s mother to cope with running a cattle ranch that was on thesmall side, as cattle ranches go. The ranch was encumbered with a large taxdebt, as well. Stan accepted the responsibility, supporting his mother, wifeand child.

Stan gave up pursuing ambitions outside of Tucumcari: the new, flourishingairline industry needed pilots, pharmacies were short-handed, and state levelpolitics continued to beckon, but he kept busy on the home front. He waselected to the office of Quay County Assessor for several terms, continued onas a 4th generation rancher and founded a business in Tucumcari that hemaintained for over 30 years. Tucumcari became home. He had married there; hisonly child had been born there. Janie, his wife, a school teacher who hadtaught for 26 years in Tucumcari, died there just short of their 50th weddinganniversary. Although now remarried, Stan has a burial place reserved besideJanie’s “place of rest.” He was an active member and held offices in theKiwanis Club and currently holds the position of Chaplain in the local MasonicLodge. Bottomline: Stan is a long-standing member of Tucumcari’s history. Adedicated community leader, he did everything expected of, above and beyond,many of his friends and peers who have passed away over the years. Sinceselling his business at the age of 81, what has happened to Stan in his goldenyears, within this small community he’s loved and served all his life ?

Now a jolly-round man with a quirky little smile, and friendly disposition,Stan owns and operates Fort Bascom Trading Post, where he is a seller of usedodds and ends. At a glance, one would describe it as a southwest curio and junkstore with a few interesting “pieces” scattered here and there. A private45 rpm record “juke box” rumored to have belonged to movie star GrearGarson, a Bally’s nickel slot machine, and a coin-operated orchestrian thatplays a tune for a quarter. There are the numerous Model As in various statesof disrepair (rebuild); a couple look pretty complete. The business is housedin an old building whose interior is lighted by parallel rows of garishflorescent lights that burn (a couple flicker) all day since the building’slarge picture windows were permanently boarded up after being broken out byvandals.

Who’s buying this stuff? Nobody. “Economy’s bad,” Stan explains,“And I could sure use some sales, right now.” Since he used to offerfinancing (credit) to his customers, a lot of people still owe him money fromthe former business, and most of them aren’t paying. Stan has to file a claim(to garnish wages) against them, but can only do that if he has the extra $40it costs to do so. Why don’t they pay? “People are hurtin’ here.They’ve been hurtin’ for as long as I can remember, and can’t afford topay much for anything.” Most of Stan’s customers can’t qualify for acredit card, don’t have checking accounts, and “most live from paycheck topaycheck, if they’re lucky enough to get a paycheck,” he adds.

In 2006, Stan was approached by Ruth Nelson who wanted to buy his homefurnishings business and transform it into her own decorator studio andinterior design business. The deal was struck and Nelson’s live-in malecompanion (then district judge Donald Schutte) bought the building from Stanwith no hitches. Schutte apparently gave the building to Nelson as she issingularly listed as the owner of record at the Quay County Tax Assessor’sOffice. Nelson produced and presented a contract to Stan stating the termsunder which she would purchase his business and inventory (valued atapproximately $118,000 which Stan was discounting to her for approximately$63,000). Nelson was buying only the new merchandise from Stan and sheunderstood that Stan would retain the used items to sell as used merchandise.Nelson was to pay for the inventory over time… or at least that’s what Stanbelieves one of the contracts stated. You see, Nelson presented a number ofversions of the contract to Stan over several days. Trusting, and in goodfaith, Stan signed each version of the contract that Nelson presented to him,but Stan was never given a copy of the final contract. Stan repeatedly askedNelson for a copy, but those requests were ignored.

In 2007, Stan spent 30 full days in hospital battling and overcoming a caseof pneumonia from which most people his age would have died. While Stan wasstill recovering at home, Nelson wrote a letter charging Stan with breach ofcontract, citing that she had seen a (free, courtesy) phone listing (not anadvertisement) for his business in a telephone directory, and that Nelson hadbeen told by a customer (hearsay) that Stan’s staff had offered to order newitems for them. For Nelson, these two events justified charging Stan withbreach of a non-compete clause that was allegedly part of their terms of sale.This alleged breach therefore justified why she had the right to (abruptly)discontinue making payments to Stan for the inventory. Stan wasn’t offered anopportunity to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, Stan was slowly recovering from his illness and graduallyreturning to work. Stan continued to struggle to make payments on the originalbusiness loan he had obtained to buy the inventory that Nelson had bought, butnow refused to pay for. Nelson was selling that inventory for pure profit andwas realizing huge success in a faltering economy. This may explain how therewere times when Nelson was able to sell $7,000 to $10,000 worth of merchandiseeach week… for a while.

Now comes the rub. Stan’s family attorney (and CPA) refused to involvehimself with a lawsuit against Nelson, not unlike five other attorneys acrossthe state of New Mexico who, likewise, cited “conflicts of interest.”Apparently, Nelson’s live-in male companion (Schutte), the former New Mexicodistrict judge and attorney also holds a seat on the New Mexico Bar AssociationReview Board, a position that could be politically dangerous for an opposingattorney to twiddle with.

Stan met with the sixth attorney in Albuquerque, a specialist in elder abuselaw, who requested a $2000 retainer which he had borrowed from family members.To begin, the attorney requested a copy of the contract three times from Nelsonwho ignored the requests. The attorney wrote a letter of demand for payment toRuth Nelson and Don Schutte. Schutte responded that he had nothing to do withthe contract between Stanley Jennings and Ruth Nelson, and that Nelson wouldprobably respond through her own legal counsel. (Keep in mind Nelson was livingwith Schutte, an attorney and former district judge capable of advising her inmatters regarding business ethics, best practices, and taking appropriate legalactions.) Nelson did not respond to the letter.

The attorney told Stan that she would initiate a lawsuit against Nelson (andNelson’s attorney-judge-pro-bono-legal-counsel boyfriend for his role) ifStan provides a $10,000 retainer… which will only pay for “discovery” andfiling initial paperwork. A subsequent trial or further legal action would beat an additional expense to Stan. With what Stan owes already on the businessloan for the inventory, and borrowing the initial attorney fees, the old manwould be looking at $100,000 of debt at age 83. This level of debt he’d neverexperienced in his life. The attorney voiced concern that Stan might not beable to physically weather the depositions, inquiries, interrogation,investigation, trial, or trials to come. [In the event that Stan died, hewouldn’t be alive to pay for services rendered by the attorney, whichprobably explained the reason for such a large, up-front retainer.]

So now this elderly cornerstone of the community is caught in a no-winsituation. Why? The attorney outlined Stan’s options and possible options ofoutcome:

1). If Stan initiates a lawsuit against Nelson (along with herattorney-judge-pro-bono-legal-counsel boyfriend), and wins, it may be ruledthat Nelson must pay Stan’s legal fees, court costs, intangible and tangibledamages that could total in excess of $100,000. Could (or would) Nelson paythis? Not if she demonstrates the inability to pay, and that might be prettyeasy for her to do. Game over. Stan loses… and he would still owe court andlegal costs… and would have to continue to pay on the business loan for theinventory.

2). If Stan initiates a lawsuit, odds are, Nelson (and herattorney-judge-pro-bono-legal-counsel boyfriend) would counter-sue Stan withthe pointed strategy of elongating the legal process, thereby financiallybreaking and/or out-living the old man Stan. Game over. Stan loses with hisdebts being transferred to his estate, or to his elderly widow who also loses…along with his children and grandchildren (who may have had some sort ofinheritance prior to such a lawsuit).

3). If Nelson counter-sues Stan and wins, Stan would probably be required topay Nelson’s court costs, tangible and intangible damages, as well as legalcosts to her now exorbitantly expensive attorney-judge-NOTpro-bono-legal-counsel boyfriend who will have suddenly transformed into themost expensive legal counsel on earth. Stan loses absolutely everything becausethe attorney-judge-legal-counsel boyfriend would probably file a lien againstevery asset Stan has.

New Mexico Attorney General, Gary King advocates a strong stance on theprotection of elders against abuse, both physical and financial. Yet arepresentative from the New Mexico Adult Protective Services Division statedthat Stan’s situation isn’t really a case of financial elder abuse and thathis case should be handled by law, through the legal system. If you review theoptions that the legal system offers (stated above), it is fairly easy to seethat it offers little, if any, hope or opportunity for Stan to prevail in thissituation.

Stan’s retirement “plan” was simple. He wanted to spend his last daysrestoring Model A Fords, the kind he admired as a young man, but could neverafford. Stan owns more than one shirt now, but his eyes tear up when hereflects about the moment when he had saved up enough money to buy two newshirts to have at one time. He gets up every morning, showers and shaves,checks his blood sugar, takes his insulin and other prescribed medications. Heeats a little breakfast and feeds a group of cats before “going to work” atFort Bascom Trading Post as a seller of used odds and ends, in an effort tomake ends meet. For him, the weight of the world seems far heavier than it had30, 40, 50 or 60 years ago. And he realizes he lacks strength. It seemed thatStan was headed on the same doomed path as the burn-gutted drugstore where hehad once worked as a young man, only his suffering is lasting quite a bitlonger. Stan is fast becoming the sun-dried hawk that fought for its life inthe store display window until it could fight no longer, when no one eithernoticed or cared or tried to help it survive.

This is one of those little stories about the unknown underdog featured ontelevision’s 60 Minutes, 20/20, 48 Hours or Nightline. How can an elderly,almost gone, and nearly forgotten man get noticed by those globally viewed andrespected programs? Who can help him, and who cares for guys like this anyway?If you’re reading this article and have the answer, please let me know,before Stan claims his place beside his wife Janie who died almost 20 yearsago.