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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Man Says Auction Selling State's Old Supplies Was Unfair
By Jackie Jadrnak
Journal Staff Writer
An auction of old state supplies, including police cars, attracted 1,500 bidders who spent about $1.3 million on the used equipment this past weekend, according to Peter Olson, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
But one unhappy bidder claims the state could have collected a lot more cash if the auctioneer hadn't been in such a rush.
"A lot of people were really disappointed," said Walter Johnson, a retired man who lives in Tijeras. "They'd put a hand up (to bid), but he'd hammer down: 'Sold!'
"He wouldn't let people make up their mind what they wanted to spend," Johnson said, adding that he has attended a lot of auctions.
The Journal's calls to James Cecil, whose Hobbs-based auction company ran the sale, were met by an automated message saying that his voice mailbox was full. But Olson said that a police captain who was monitoring the sale and was with the auctioneers "about 90 percent of the time" didn't notice anything unusual or questionable about the way items were sold.
"He said it was very fast-paced, and if you didn't act quick, you were left in the dust," Olson said.
He said he didn't know the exact number of items auctioned but said 500 vehicles were up for auction, along with furniture, computers and other items. Olson said the auctioneer had indicated he would be selling one car every 30 seconds to a minute. The auction, held at the State Police headquarters in Santa Fe, began at 9:04 a.m. Saturday and wrapped up around 8 p.m., he said.
"There was a Harley Davidson (motorcycle) that sold for a little more than $9,000. That was the high item for the State Police," Olson said. "I saw it, and it looked really sharp."
Johnson complained that he placed a bid on a car, the auctioneer declared it sold and took his bid number — but then reopened bidding when he saw other people still were interested.
"People were yelling 'Foul!' when he did that to me," Johnson said, claiming that was one of several times something like that happened during the sale. He claimed many people got disgusted and left.
Olson said he didn't hear reports of anything like that happening. The only source of turmoil he heard of, he said, was when people tried to switch items from one pallet of sale items to another.
"I don't think there were any arrests," he added.
These sales of surplus state equipment are held annually, according to Olson. Although bids are taken each year for the auctioneer who runs the sale, Cecil has done the job "for almost all of them," Olson said. He's often the only one to bid for the job. "He's about the only one willing to do it ... He told me he's been doing this since the '70s," Olson said.
The final listing of items sold and their winning bids hasn't been completed, and the auctioneer's bill hasn't come in yet, but the auctioneer gets between 8percent and 10 percent of the money raised in the sale, Olson said.