Each city within the nation, no matter dimension, has some entity in place to deal with political affairs. Most have a mayor, whereas others depend on a metropolis council. However when a city is so small that it doesn’t technically qualify as a “city,” who runs the present?
Properly, it relies upon. These locations, formally often called unincorporated communities, usually exist in rural areas or on the fringes of bigger, established cities. Most of the time, unincorporated communities have populations of fewer than a pair hundred individuals, and are each ruled and policed by officers of the county wherein they reside. Typically, a state’s army department is in cost. Whatever the state of affairs, these communities want no mayor, however that doesn’t imply they will’t have one — even when it’s only for enjoyable.
As such, there are lots of unincorporated communities throughout the nation which have, or have had, animals as mayors. We’re not saying that these officers are ruthless, moralless individuals. They’re actually four-legged, furry creatures. There’s even a Wikipedia web page that chronicles all of the animals which have held political workplace within the U.S. over time. None, although, are as iconic as Clay Henry and his kin: an extended line of beer-loving goats which have served as mayor of Lajitas, Texas, for many years.
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From Goat to G.O.A.T.
Again within the early ‘80s, a Houston businessman named Walter M. Mischer owned all of the property in Lajitas, a small unincorporated group with fewer than 100 residents positioned alongside the Texas-Mexico border.
In keeping with Texas Heritage For Dwelling journal, Mischer believed that Lajitas had a promising future as a resort city, so he invited some associates from Houston to return go to and assist him determine the way to make that dream a actuality.
Towards the tip of their keep, an sudden freak snowstorm pummeled Lajitas, so Mischer and his buddies sought refuge on the native watering gap. Over drinks, they determined that Lajitas wanted a municipal authorities. Step one was electing a mayor.
Considered one of Mischer’s visiting friends and the proprietor of a Houston development firm, Tommy Steele, appeared like the appropriate man for the gig, so Mischer and his cohorts inspired him to run. Nevertheless, when phrase obtained out, a Lajitas native named Invoice Ivey obtained up in arms. He figured that if some hot-shot out-of-towner may run the present, his goat would be capable of do it simply as nicely. It appears like a joke mentioned in a match of frustration — and possibly it initially was — however Ivey then really nominated his goat, Clay Henry I, to run for mayor.
Ivey introduced in his pal Jim Woodward from Uvalde, a metropolis outdoors San Antonio, to assist run Clay Henry’s marketing campaign. Woodward obtained Ivey a number of radio interviews to advertise the marketing campaign, however the competitors proved to be fierce, as Steele promised to purchase a snowplow for Lajitas if he obtained the job — a deft and well timed proposition.
Certain sufficient, Steele secured the victory, however lo and behold, when the following election rolled round a couple of years later, Clay Henry took his rightful place because the mayor of Lajitas. It stays unclear why the locals turned on Steele, nevertheless it’s probably that they didn’t need their humble group to show right into a full-blown resort city flooded with vacationers.
Lone Star Beer, Cage Brawls, and the Clay Henry Dynasty
And so the lengthy line of goat mayors had begun. Clay Henry’s municipal cage was — and nonetheless is — positioned a stone’s throw away from the native bar, which was dubbed “The Thirsty Goat Saloon” in his honor. Allegedly, it grew to become commonplace apply for bar-goers to choose up a couple of Lone Star Beers and take them over to Clay Henry’s cage, the place he would voluntarily chug them in speedy succession. Studies declare that he as soon as drank between 35 and 40 beers in sooner or later.
Nevertheless, Clay Henry was not exempt from the pitfalls of extreme alcohol consumption. In 1992, he had a son, aptly named Clay Henry Jr., who was additionally a fan of the sauce. Presumably in a drunken state, the 2 fought over a feminine goat, and Clay Henry Sr. was left useless on the finish of the brawl. Nonetheless, Jr. assumed workplace, however resigned — whether or not that was by his personal accord or not — in 1998.
Though Lajitas was with out a mayor for a couple of years, issues returned to weird normalcy within the 12 months 2000. One other election was held, and Clay Henry III needed to duke it out with a picket Native American statue from an area buying and selling submit and a ranch canine named Clyde for the mayoral place. In some way, a way, he clinched the win, reigniting the household legacy.
The Legend Lives — and Drinks — On
Clay Henry III’s tenure started as a clean trip, however he ultimately fell sufferer to some controversy. There have been some skeptics in Lajitas who believed that he wasn’t a direct descendent of the opposite goat mayors — an uncertainty that was by no means formally debunked. He was additionally critically wounded throughout a notably violent altercation in November 2001, however he miraculously recovered and retained his function.
That is when the story will get considerably murky. Sooner or later over the following few years, Clay Henry III stepped down, and Lajitas was with out a mayor. In 2013, the workplace — or cage, technically — was nonetheless vacant. Fortunately, order was restored a couple of years later when Clay Henry IV was elected mayor, ushering in a brand new period of political stability in Lajitas.
As of February 2024, Clay Henry IV was nonetheless in workplace, ingesting beers like the numerous Henrys that got here earlier than him. These days, it’s unclear whether or not or not he’s nonetheless mayor, however there stays a Clay Henry (both IV or V) holding the peace in Lajitas, bringing vacationers in from faraway lands, and chugging brews like no person’s enterprise.
*Picture retrieved from Creaturart by way of inventory.adobe.com
