Elida loses lawsuit against sheriff

PORTALES — The town of Elida lost its lawsuit against Roosevelt County Sheriff Malin Parker on Friday.

District Judge Fed Van Soelen denied Elida’s request for declaratory judgment regarding the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office and Parker interfering with Elida police business.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2016, claimed that Parker interfered with Elida police business on at least three occasions with the most recent incident involving former Elida Police Chief Joe Alford, who was enforcing a town ordinance related to dogs killing livestock on Sept. 27, 2016.

Alford took the animal to the Portales animal shelter, but Parker then took custody of the dog and returned it to the owner.

The lawsuit asked the sheriff’s office be prohibited from interference with “the lawful discharge of and enforcement of town of Elida ordinance by the town of Elida Police Department.”

Van Soelen’s judgment filed in court on Friday contained the following statement:

“Elida has the right to enforce its ordinances. The sheriff has the right to enforce, among other things, state laws. In this case, comparison of the ordinance at issue and the state law regarding animals running at large shows that they could be in conflict, such that a possible challenge to Elida’s ordinance might find that it isn’t enforceable. In that case, it is possible that the sheriff would have every right to enforce state law regarding animals at large.”

Parker informed county commissioners of the judge’s decision during their Tuesday morning commission meeting.

“I’m pleased with the ruling and just glad we got it resolved,” County Attorney Randy Knudson told commissioners on Tuesday.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to keep paying to fight these frivolous lawsuits against one person,” Parker told commissioners.

Elida Mayor Durward Dixon declined comment Tuesday, saying he was not aware of the judge’s decision.