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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Friday, May 07, 2010
You've Got Some Apologizing To Do, Val
By Kathaleen Roberts
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
It's been seven years, but actor Val Kilmer's anti-New Mexico quotes in Rolling Stone magazine are coming back to haunt him. Again.
The San Miguel County Commission won't allow Kilmer to open his ranch to paying guests unless he appears in person to explain what county officials consider "incendiary" comments about northern New Mexico attributed to Kilmer in a 2003 article.
And some residents want more than an explanation. They want an apology.
"He has never, never apologized to anybody," said Abran Tapia, who was born and raised in Rowe, near Kilmer's ranch.
Reached by telephone Thursday, Kilmer said he'll go before the commission to address the controversy within a month. He has applied to open three cabins on his 6,000-acre Pecos River ranch as guesthouses.
In Rolling Stone's profile of Kilmer in 2003, Kilmer was quoted as saying he lives "in the homicide capital of the Southwest" and carries a gun in his car.
"Eighty percent of the people in my county are drunk," he said, according to the magazine. "So driving home on the highway, especially with kids it's (having a gun) just a precaution." Kilmer has long contended that he was misquoted.
On Tuesday, the commission tabled the actor's plans for the guesthouses southeast of Santa Fe, citing lingering resentment over the old Rolling Stone quotes.
In a letter to the actor's ranch manager, San Miguel County Planning and Zoning director Alex Tafoya said Kilmer's application will remain tabled until he appears "personally" before the County Commission to answer questions about the application and about "matters pertaining to remarks attributed to Mr. Kilmer and still reported in the media, which were the subject of much of (Tuesday's) hearing."
Kilmer on Thursday again disputed Rolling Stone's report, which the magazine stood by when his comments blew up in a New Mexico controversy in 2003.
"As I recall, the article was presented as if it was (an) exact quote, when in fact it was edited to sound derogatory to my community," Kilmer said.
Rolling Stone also reported that, when asked how he spends his time in New Mexico, Kilmer put on a "hick" accent and said, "We shoot the automatic weapons at the trespassers and people a different color than us."
"The article was clearly intended to present me in a very negative way as a person," Kilmer said Thursday. "I've never made a racist comment in my life that wasn't me portraying a character. I married a woman who was one-eighth black."
Kilmer's biographies on the Web do not show him to be currently married, but he was married to actress Joanne Whalley from 1988 to 1996.
County officials are worried about how the ill will left over from the Rolling Stone article might play out, according to the commission's attorney.
"The County Commission voted rightly in the exercise of its police powers and determined until and unless Val Kilmer explains his incendiary remarks they will continue to create a clear and present danger threatening public safety," said County Attorney Jesus Lopez.
On Tuesday in Las Vegas, 10 to 15 people protested the San Miguel County Planning and Zoning Commission's 3-2 decision from about a month ago to approve the Kilmer ranch's lodging business plan.
Tapia led the opposition. On Thursday, he said in an interview that Kilmer's proposal amounted to an attempt at segregation to keep out Hispanics. He called the actor's reported statements "racist."
"The statements that he made that he had to carry a rifle or a gun in San Miguel because he doesn't feel safe — it's inciting the people. I don't believe the people will let him off on that," he said.
Tapia dismissed the actor's claim that he was misquoted.
"Nobody will buy that," he said. "I've got assurances (Rolling Stone) is going to send me their tape. We've got kids; we've got families that have died for this country. I've got a rainbow family — I've got white kids; I've got Indian kids; I've got black kids; and I'm proud of it. I don't know how he could repair that.
"I'm not saying he has to leave, but don't say those things."
Tapia also said Kilmer has been a bad neighbor. "He has 10-foot fences. He claims the river for himself; that river belongs to the people."
Kilmer, known for roles in "Top Gun, "The Doors" and "Tombstone," insisted that he has been a good neighbor, primarily through anonymous efforts. He said he had assisted in wildlife preservation, helped local schools and had helped boost ambulance response times in the rural area.
"It's very upsetting for my friends," he said. "I'm not worried at all about the reaction because I just see it as an opportunity to bring people together. No one would make a false statement like this statement of racism if they knew what we were doing."
In March, Kilmer ranch manager Pam Sawyer said that just a few people were angry they could no longer roam the ranch property, and some, who have asked, have been given permission to fish on the ranch.
Kilmer said he has owned the ranch along the Pecos River for 15 years and has been in New Mexico for 25 years. As recently as last year, the ranch was on the market for $33 million.
He said he intends to use any income from the lodging business toward conservation efforts, particularly along the Pecos River. He's also looking to develop a catch-and-release program.
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