City employee brings pistol into courthouse

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake and Bill Donovan
Staff writers

GALLUP — City Director of Golf Operations Robert Weekes may lose his privilege to carry a concealed gun.

Weekes brought a concealed gun into the district courthouse June 12 for a city-requested restraining order hearing against Independent Publisher Bob Zollinger, according to a report filed by McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Diedre Gonzales, a security guard at the courthouse.

At the entrance to the courthouse is a large sign that warns any guns or knives brought inside will be confiscated. In fact bringing a gun into a courthouse is a crime, for which Weekes could have been arrested. Gonzales told him the next time he will be arrested, according to the report.

“The whole security system is going to be changed at the courthouse,” McKinley County Sheriff Frank Gonzales said Wednesday. “That gun should never have gone to the second floor.”

The deputy’s report says that Weekes approached the security desk on the second floor and placed a “leather pouch” on the desk. The deputy wrote that it looked like a wallet. Weekes told security to hold it for him.

When the deputy said that they will not hold it for him, “Mr. Weekes stated that we will want to hold this because it’s a gun.”

Security then allowed him to return the illegal weapon to his car.

On at least one prior occasion, a reporter for the Independent had his pocket knife confiscated on the spot when going through the same security checkpoint on his way to cover a hearing.

Agent Felix Valdez with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, which is ultimately responsible for administering the Concealed Carry Act, said anyone with a concealed carry permit knows the law.

“Even Albuquerque Police officers are not allowed to bring a gun into the court,” Valdez said Wednesday. “They are not allowed in courthouses, schools, anywhere they serve liquor ... not under any circumstances.”

Weekes’ action has not caused any investigation within the city government.

City Manager Gerald Herrera said no investigation has been started. Weekes has not been asked by anyone in the city government about why he took a gun to a courthouse. There has also been no inquiries, Herrera said, into whether Weekes habitually brings a gun to work or to the city council meetings.

There is no city policy dealing with employees who have concealed carrying permits bringing guns to work because this has never come up before. He admitted, however, that there is a concern that this could become a liability issue for the city if something should happen and a city employee were to use a gun he brought to work.

Because of that, he said he was looking into the issue and expects to make a decision in the next couple of weeks as to whether a policy on this matter needs to be established.

Reporter Phil Stake can be reached at philip.stake@gmail.com, or by calling (505) 863-6811 x223.