Think our local politicians are involved in some strange scandals? Just wait until you hear what may be bringing down the mayor of one small Texas town. It's a Shih Tzu (similar to the one pictured at left) and it could force a recall election in the city of
Alice.
This bizarre tail - er, tale - began last summer, when
Mayor Grace Saenz-Lopez agreed to take care of little Puddles, a small dog owned by Rudy Gutierrez and Shelly Cavazos. The couple had left on vacation and asked the mayor and her twin sister to look after their pooch while they were gone.
But the day after their departure, the pair got a phone call that sent them into shock and despair. Saenz-Lopez allegedly phoned them and told them their dog had died suddenly. The distraught owners were beside themselves but tried to live with the tragedy.
And then three months later, one of Cavazos's relatives called her to say she'd just seen Puddles at a local groomer. When she went in to inquire, the owner told her the dog was named Panchito - but she was sure it was the same canine. His original family sued and filed a criminal complaint against the mayor, but this bizarre story wasn't over yet.
On Friday, the local politician claimed the dog had run away and she had no idea where it was. But then on the weekend, some enterprising reporters found the animal at the home of the mayor's twin sister, about 20 kilometres from Alice.
That led to charges against both of them, and the two felony counts of tampering with evidence could see Saenz-Lopez turfed out of office.
The dog, meantime, is being kept in the office of the defendant's lawyer, Homero Canales, pending a February 4
th hearing about who has legal custody of the creature. Why did the pair allegedly steal the pooch? "The taking of the dog was to save it from certain death," Canales explains somewhat cryptically. "It was going to die. They had left the dog with her to take care of it. She took it to the doctor. She decided if she gave it back it would die."
Whatever happens, it appears the mayor will do everything in her power to keep the animal, even if her power goes out. "She loves the little dog," Canales insists. "She told me that if she were a single woman, she would not care if she went to jail for the rest of her life before she would give the dog back."