TOWN HAUL

Stauffer defends the two detectives who handle the department's investigations, but says their job would be made easier if they had the proper equipment. "We had a suicide, and we didn't have...what's that called?" the chief asks, turning to Hamilton. "A gunshot residue kit," the captain responds.

The criticism and pressures of the job seem to be wearing Stauffer down. In the year before gaming came to town, he says, he never worried that he couldn't handle the job. "Now," he says, "I got doubts." His troops are clamoring for better benefits and "all that stuff." Those aren't issues he's used to dealing with. "When you have three people on your department," notes Captain Hamilton, "there aren't many personnel problems."

For now, Stauffer is sticking with Cripple Creek, and Cripple Creek is sticking with him, confident that the chief's Mayberry-style approach will weather the storm. "So far, we seem to be getting along pretty well, and we felt we should more or less run our own department," says Mayor Hack. "I know that things have not been done according to the way Suthers thinks they should be done, and maybe we didn't handle things right."

But, adds the mayor, "we've had an awful lot of compliments about the way things are handled here. The only thing we get yelled at about is tickets."

end of part 2