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	<title>New Mexico Independent &#187; Elephant Butte state park marina</title>
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		<title>Was alcohol involved in Elephant Butte houseboat crash?</title>
		<link>http://newmexicoindependent.com/42262/was-alcohol-involved-in-elephant-butte-houseboat-crash</link>
		<comments>http://newmexicoindependent.com/42262/was-alcohol-involved-in-elephant-butte-houseboat-crash#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:55:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Trip Jennings</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog/Center Well]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bloody Mary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Briand Condit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elephant Butte state park marina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gov. Bill Richardson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Katherine Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leon "Skip" Fay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Floating Irish]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p>Minutes after a houseboat piloted by <a href="http://www.governor.state.nm.us/index2.php">Gov. Bill Richardson</a>&#8216;s chief of staff Brian Condit had crashed into another boat Sept. 5, a woman called 911 to report: &#8220;<a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/252141584064upfront11-25-09.htm">The people who are driving it are drunk</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>So writes Tom&#8230;</p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Minutes after a houseboat piloted by <a href="http://www.governor.state.nm.us/index2.php">Gov. Bill Richardson</a>&#8216;s chief of staff Brian Condit had crashed into another boat Sept. 5, a woman called 911 to report: &#8220;<a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/252141584064upfront11-25-09.htm">The people who are driving it are drunk</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>So writes Tom Cole in the Albuquerque Journal today, pushing the story about the <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/35837/its-like-they-tucked-their-heads-and-said-see-ya">boat crash at Elephant Butte park marina</a> back into public view and raising still-lingering questions.<span id="more-42262"></span></p>
<p>In case you&#8217;ve forgotten the details of the crash, here&#8217;s a short recap thanks to a state incident report. A man later identified as Condit was seen operating “Bloody Mary,” a houseboat owned by Leon “Skip” Fay of Rio Rancho. Condit piloted the houseboat into the marina, but came too close to C-dock, sideswiping a houseboat. Then the “Bloody Mary” accelerated. At this point Fay took control from Condit, but it was too late, witnesses said. The houseboat, thrust by momentum, headed across the slip toward D-dock and smashed into a second houseboat, “The Floating Irish.”</p>
<p>In an interview, the unidentified woman told Cole last week <span><span title="E-mail reporter Thomas J. Cole!"><span>&#8220;That was more of an assumption on my part&#8221; when asked </span></span></span><span><span title="E-mail reporter Thomas J. Cole!"><span>why she told the 911 operator that the boat drivers were drunk. </span></span></span><span><span title="E-mail reporter Thomas J. Cole!"><span>She declined to comment further when asked why she made the assumption, Cole added.<br />
</span></span></span></p>
<p>Condit, who did not talk with investigating officers the same day of the crash, <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/35948/houseboat-crash-prompts-lawmaker-to-urge-change-in-boating-law">told authorities two days later</a> that he <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009-10-0094B.pdf">had not been drinking while piloting the houseboat</a>, according to the incident report.</p>
<p>But his statement has not put questions to rest.  And the governor&#8217;s office hasn&#8217;t exactly been open and sharing about the crash. It waited several days to comment on the crash and pretty much has stayed mum on the issue.</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t help that an eyewitness told the Independent that the governor, Condit, budget secretary Katherine Miller and security officers <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/35837/its-like-they-tucked-their-heads-and-said-see-ya">were gone within minutes from the scene of an accident</a>.</p>
<p>Or that Condit didn&#8217;t talk with investigating officers the same time as witnesses, but waited two days.</p>
<p>Or that Richardson confused matters when he said <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/35837/its-like-they-tucked-their-heads-and-said-see-ya">he and his party stayed around the scene</a> for 30 minutes, only to have a spokesman later tell the Journal that the governor&#8217;s party had stayed in the vicinity, not the scene, for 30 minutes. Where exactly in the vicinity is still  unknown.</p>
<p>Or, finally, that it was <a href="http://sec.nmdfa.state.nm.us/content.asp?CustComKey=198218&amp;CategoryKey=198260&amp;pn=Page&amp;DomName=sec.nmdfa.state.nm.us">state budget chief Katherine Miller</a>, and not Condit, who returned to the scene after the accident to make sure everything was OK. Miller was on the houseboat that day.</p>
<p>Why didn&#8217;t Condit return to the scene? We still don&#8217;t know. The governor&#8217;s office <a href="http://newmexicoindependent.com/36336/the-governors-office-ignores-questions-on-boat-accident">hasn&#8217;t said despite repeated questions</a>.</p>
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