Lifestyle

This West Texas Mayor Guzzles Beer… and He was Castrated for It

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Lajitas, Texas, is known far and wide for its mayoral election. That’s because they elected a lazy, beer-drinking… goat. What was once a thriving town has since become practically a ghost town after the fall-out of the failed mercury mining boom. When World War II ended, so to did the popularity of Lajitas and other neighboring Texas towns that experienced the business. Now it’s known for having a goat for a mayor, and this is one politican who’s quite popular with just about everyone.

When mercury was discovered in the region, miners began pouring into Lajitas. Even Pancho Villa was known to frequent the place. It was reported that, at one time, his gang hid out in this West Texas town leading to a visit by the U.S. Cavalry and the establishment of a Cavalry Post. Despite the uptick in traffic, however, the town couldn’t be saved when the bottom fell out of the market on mercury.

This West Texas Mayor Guzzles Beer… and He was Castrated for It

Photo: Facebook/Bobby Dale Howell

Some of the original buildings still remain, and the town’s ownership has changed hands over the years. In the 1980s, Lajitas was the scene for a mock mayoral race between a local goat by the name of Clay Henry and a Houstonian. The Houston man won the first vote, but the goat took the second by a landslide. So it came to be that the town had a goat mayor that went by Clay Henry. Following that, of course, there was a goat mayor named Clay Henry II. He was killed by his son, who is now the current goat mayor of Lajitas, Clay Henry III. He drinks beer (35-40 each day, allegedly) and has even been featured on the TV series entitled “Streets of Laredo.” He’s got the life of Riley, and he’s famous! Sadly, this hasn’t kept him from being castrated, which resulted from a Sunday drinking incident—something you would never hear tell of with any other Texas mayor… we hope.

This West Texas Mayor Guzzles Beer… and He was Castrated for It

Photo: Facebook/Jason Weingart

Over the years, the town of Lajitas fell into the ownership of a wealthy businessman. In the past three decades, he has slowly been turning it into a golf resort property as opposed to the near-ghost-town image it had earned. But, regardless of the high-class people it attracts to some high class installations (such as an espresso and wine bar,) folks still look for the goat mayor it became famous for having, in an effort to share a beer and a laugh. Clay Henry III happily obliges.