Sheriff Vigil says interruption at town hall “inappropriate”

Wednesday’s town hall explaining what would happen if Sunland Park disincorporated, fired up a lot of residents.While it seemed the meeting was dominated by those against the effort, disincorporation supporters say they’re still confident.

“So they come out, they make a lot of noise but yet they’re not registered to vote,” Mary Gonzalez, a disincorporation supporter said. “So yes that was a happy ending for me because they really have no say.”

But Sheriff Kiki Vigil tells ABC-7 he left Wednesday’s meeting feeling differently. He said he was taken aback by the attitude from some officials leading the town hall.

“But the question is do, I have enough troops? No I don’t.” Vigil said during a question and answer portion during the meeting. “That is the honest truth. The reason I don’t is because we’re one of the lowest paid…”

Vigil’s comments were then disrupted by a county official on stage. Residents in the audience began shouting, “Let him talk!”

“I was going to go into the reasons and Nelson Goodin got on the microphone and told me to hush and sit down,” Vigil said.

Despite the turmoil, Vigil tells ABC-7 he’s gotten a lot of support from residents who were there to witness the exchange.

“A lot of people came up to me and say how dare these county officials come down to our town and threaten us by getting escorted by the state police for speaking out,” Vigil said.

The county would not comment on what happened Wednesday.