An Interview with Sheriff Will Diaz – Part 8 – RJ

Richard Muniz: Why don’t you want to talk about Max and Eva yet?

Sheriff Will Diaz: Maybe it’s as simple as I don’t want to. Maybe I’m not ready. You pick.

Muniz: My apologies. So, how did you meet RJ?

Sheriff Diaz: Have you ever had a friend or someone like that, and you can’t really recall how you met. I mean it’s like they were always there.

Muniz: Can’t say so.

Sheriff Diaz: Well, that’s how it is with RJ. I can remember when my brother came home from the hospital. Same with my sister. I know RJ and I had never met before 1982, and yet it was like he was always there. And that’s how it is with Jonesy, Terri, and . . .

Muniz: You almost said Max.

Sheriff Diaz: I know.

Muniz: You sure you don’t want to talk about him?

Sheriff Diaz: Not yet. I promise we’ll come back to him.

Muniz: You’ve said many times he’s closer to you than a brother.

Sheriff Diaz: So true.

Muniz: What does that term mean? Closer than a brother.

Sheriff Diaz: There’s people in the world you meet and you call them friends. Then there’s those who are a part of you. That’s RJ.

Muniz: I guess I don’t understand.

Sheriff Diaz: There are relationships that go beyond friendship. Even family. They even seem to transcend time and space. I have trouble even trying to define it. But that’s how it is with us.

Muniz: Anyone in history you can think of that might help me understand.

Sheriff Diaz: Just two people in the Bible. David and Jonathan.

Muniz: I remember them. The Bible said they loved each other like they loved themselves.

Sheriff Diaz: True.

Muniz: So you got history together.

Sheriff Diaz: Lot’s of it. Some of that history I’ve dictated to you in the books.

Muniz: But that’s not all of it?

Sheriff Diaz: Well, driving around and smoking cigars is hardly the kind of stuff most readers would be interested in.

Muniz: You never know. So what did you guys talk about?

Sheriff Diaz: Oh, the usual stuff. Sports. Chicks. Monster trucks.

Muniz: You’re not telling me.

Sheriff Diaz: It was just two guys talking. While we covered important topics, none of it was earth shattering. Most of the time he was trying to teach me Spanish. Best he did was teach me all the bad words.

Muniz: RJ is a teacher. Correct?

Sheriff Diaz: And a very good one. When we first meet, he was going to school at Adams State and was working part time for his dad. When he graduated he went looking for a teaching job. And while I was off keeping the world safe from Democracy, he was teaching up in Ignacio.

Muniz: How did that work for him.

Sheriff Diaz: He loves teaching. Just because he couldn’t teach me doesn’t make him a bad teacher. And he enjoyed pointing these kids to what they could be and helping them get there. He’d made a lot of good contacts with the community and the folks who lived on the reservation. I’d say he did more good for the human race than I could ever have hoped to do.

Muniz: So, you think teachers are important.

Sheriff Diaz: Absolutely. Teachers can inspire people to strive for the impossible. Have you ever seen a movie called A Million Miles Away?

Muniz: Heard of it.

Sheriff Diaz: Watch it. And then read the book it’s based on. I think you’ll agree with me, a single teacher changed his life. Teachers are the most underpaid, underappreciated, overworked people in the world. Which is really sad considering they can inspire someone to reach for the stars.

Muniz: So what happened to him there.

Sheriff Diaz: What else happens in school systems. Budget gets a little tight, they start laying people off. The way I see it, their lose was my gain.

Muniz: Are you referencing the El Perrito case?

Sheriff Diaz: That among others. He played a very key part in getting out SRT (Special Response Team) together and trained up. His and Albert’s fast thinking kept a bad situation from getting worse at the Ortiz incident.

Muniz: Does he still teach?

Sheriff Diaz: He never went back into the High Schools or Grade Schools. He did teach on the college level. And he and Andy Deshong taught homicide investigations together for years. He’s also lectured at various academies.

But he still enjoys working with kids. Molding the minds of tomorrow is something he enjoys. Even today, after he’s retired, he mentors at risk kids. He helps them with their homework, plays games, and teaches them guitar.

Muniz: Did he ever try to teach you guitar?

Sheriff Diaz: Yes. And like Jewell trying to teach me piano, he failed miserably.

Muniz: But RJ said you and he used to sing together.

Sheriff Diaz: Well, I sang. He played the guitar. He and Pam both play. They’re very good. They recently did a concert out in Napa and blew everyone away.

But he’d bring in his guitar and we’d sing old Gordon Lightfoot songs.

Muniz: Really! Do you remember any?

Sheriff Diaz: (Begins singing Don Quixote):

Through the woodland, through the valley,

comes a horseman wild and free

Tilting at the windmills passing,

who can the brave young horseman be?

It would sound better with him on the guitar.

Muniz: Why that song. Why Don Quixote?

Sheriff Diaz: Because we both sometimes felt some kinship with him. We were both trying to embody something that the world had no use for anymore.

Muniz: Such as?

Sheriff Diaz: Integrity. Community. Compassion. Courage. A sense of right and wrong. A caring about what happens to the common person.

Muniz: But the world still values those?

Sheriff Diaz: Oh? Take a good look at the crap posted on the internet and then see if you have the same opinion.

Muniz: I’ll get back to you on that. Did you guys ever preform in public?

Sheriff Diaz: Yes. We preformed twice in public. Once we did House of the Rising Sun at a benefit. Another time we did Canadian Railroad Trilogy for Steam Days.

Muniz: What’s Steam Days?

Sheriff Diaz: It’s a ceremony held for the first running of the Train on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad. It’s the start of the season when the train can run up to Chama.

Muniz: Wait. You can sing, but you can’t play a musical instrument?

Sheriff Diaz: Yep. I just thought of something. If Roxette was the soundtrack of my military days, then Gordon Lightfoot provided the soundtrack to my days with the Sheriff’s Office.

Muniz: Why?

Sheriff Diaz: I guess his music is so peaceful. And I needed that.

Muniz: Dumb question. Why does he call you “Perkins?”

Sheriff Diaz: And why do I call him “Mr. Ewings?”

Muniz: Exactly.

Sheriff Diaz: I don’t recall who started calling who what. “Perkins” was one of the deputies on the Dukes of Hazzard.

Muniz: Never heard of it.

Sheriff Diaz: Your education has been neglected. Bo and Luke Duke were cousins who raised hell in a mythical county. They drove an orange Charger called the General Lee. And they had another cousin played by Catherine Bach. Truth be told, she was the only reason I watched the show.

Muniz: And your handle for him.

Sheriff Diaz: It’s a play on his name. JR Ewings was the multimillionaire played by Larry Hagman on Dallas. One Christmas I got him a case of “JR Beer.” To this day, we call each other that. I really appreciated him calling me that when I pinned on the Sheriff Badge. Kept me humble. And when I was in the Senate, it helped remind me there was life outside Capitol Hill.

Muniz: How come he didn’t become your Undersheriff.

Sheriff Diaz: Just to make sure everyone knows, an Undersheriff is a bit like the XO on a ship.

Muniz: And?

Sheriff Diaz: RJ is too much like me. I asked Tony, that’s his dad and the Sheriff I took over from, his opinion.

Muniz: What did he say.

Sheriff Diaz: Just that. RJ and I were too much alike. You want an XO that balances you out. Add to that a lot of the admin side of the house is handled by the Undersheriff.

Muniz: Such as?

Sheriff Diaz: Like reviewing cases, creating schedules, and interfacing with the troops. That’s handled by the Undersheriff and not me. RJ hates that kind of paperwork.

Muniz: And that’s why Pam got the job?

Sheriff Diaz: Yes. She did a lot of that in the Marines. She also knew how to be a road supervisor. I wanted her to teach the kids how to do it right.

Muniz: But RJ stayed in charge of the Detective Division. Right?

Sheriff Diaz: Right. He enjoyed chasing the bad guys. And he was very good at it. Also, he’s fluent in Spanish. That really helped.

Muniz: But aren’t he and Pam married?

Sheriff Diaz: Yeah?

Muniz: Didn’t that put a lot of power in their corner?

Sheriff Diaz: Yeah. So? They’re two people who go beyond that family thing I told you about. I’ve trusted them with my life and the lives of my children and the Love of my Life. And had things turned out differently, we’d have all gone to jail together or been buried together.

Oh. I’m not supposed to talk about that yet.

CONTINUED

Imagery AI Generated

Excerpt of Don Quixote by Gordon Lightfoot

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