The Billy Joe effect

You can practically hear the sales pitch.

“BJ Enterprises (that’s Billy Joe for y’all out of the know) brings you the latest and greatest in resort design. As the one-time owner of the Minnesota Vikings and San Antonio Spurs, BJ “Red” McCombs is no stranger to victories. By sparing no expense (and greasing a palm or two) the Village at Navajo Canyon has come to represent one of Red’s top victories.”

That’s right, folks. Durango’s favorite Texas billionaire has been a busy man this year. He’s gone back to the Village at Wolf Creek drawing board; tried to sneak a revision of said Village past the Forest Service and the public; and is currently managing the nation’s sixth largest auto conglomerate during a time when turbo diesel is sucking serious exhaust. And as it turns out, Red has also been getting his fingers dirty on the Navajo Nation. Apparently the man who also owns Clear Channel Radio wants a foothold in all Four of our Corners. According to a recent letter in the Navajo Times, Red’s “lieutenant” Bob Honts has been pushing for a giant, new development along the shores of Lake Powell.

“The Village at Navajo Canyon is set upon a mythic 50,000 acres of sandstone on the edge of Navajoland in a realm that has inspired the likes of Hillerman and Ford,” the sales pitch is sure to continue. “The village will offer discriminating buyers their personal piece of desert solitaire (sorry, Ed). A quality project by Snake Oil Ltd., the Village at Navajo Canyon includes three Five Diamond hotels, plush casinos with favorable odds, two championship golf courses (all true) and your choice of an executive homesite with views that Red himself would be proud to call his own. The Village’s private airport (also quite true) accommodates the largest private jets. Daily flights from Dallas-Fort Worth will have you out of the board room and into the board shorts before cocktail hour.”

For those who have followed Red’s Village at Wolf Creek escapades, the behind-the-scenes on the Navajo project will ring a bell. Never ones to play by the rules, McCombs and Honts are using every means at their disposal to bring their Lake Powell paradise into being. According to the Navajo Times correspondence, the pair is in the process of bending a nearly 40-year-old agreement in order to permit the massive development along Powell’s shoreline.

“Dine at the sumptuous Wolf Creek Buffet, a classy but down-home restaurant that features Red’s own famous catfish recipe,” our brochure will continue. “Host your next conference in the Desert Rock Conference Center, the cleanest, most state-of-the-art facility of its kind in the nation. Tee it up on the Lone Star and Pearl golf courses, both fed by rich waters pumped at great expense from the San Juan River. And visit the Vanadium Recreation Complex, guaranteed to be free of gamma radiation by the year 2050.”

Apparently, several high profile Navajo politicians are already along for the ride (never mind that 62 Navajo families would be squeezed off their properties). And that familiar call of Navajo self-determination (the one we’ve all heard tied to the Desert Rock Power Plant) is surely not far off. Who knows? Desert Rock spokesman Frank Maisano may even be looking for work in coming weeks (shares for the power plant’s financial backer, the Blackstone Group, have fallen by more than 70 percent in the last year).

“Delays in the Village at Navajo Canyon project only hurt the Navajo people,” we’re all sure to hear. “This is the same old story of rich, white people in Durango denying the Navajo much-needed jobs and revenue.”

Whatever happens, it looks like the Four Corners is in for another round of Texas two-step. For some reason, Lone Star developers are drawn to our rustic part of the country. But they clearly have yet to learn their lesson here in the Four Corners, and that’s especially true for good, ole BJ.

The fact is that Texas billionaires don’t carry as much weight in the board room as they do in the back room ’round these parts. And if Red McCombs thinks he can sandwich Southwest Colorado between his two “villages,” the Clear Channel Radio baron might have to tune back in.

– Will Sands