It was just a simple question

asked of a 22-year (at the time) education veteran who was then the Acting Superintendent of the Las Cruces Public Schools. Ms. Elizabeth J. Marrufo had been a teacher, a principal, an administrator, and then the Acting Superintendent, who was on the witness stand under oath in the federal civil rights case against the Las Cruces Public Schools for promoting religion.

Defense attorney William Babington had added Marrufo as the surprise witness the morning of the trial to further compound the jumbled courtroom confusion under the leadership of Judge Brack that followed against the pro se plaintiff. Only after the Plaintiff demanded an interview with Marrufo was he allowed to speak to her a few minutes before the trial started. Judge Robert Brack denied the star witness, the only witness, of the Plaintiff because the Defense said they hadn't had time to interview her. This was not true as the federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez had ordered the Plaintiff to submit a new witness list in plenty of time for the Defense to schedule a meeting with the Plaintiff's ready and willing witness. This was just more of the shameless undeniable collusion between the two Judges and the Defense.

Marrufo was agitated from the beginning of the very short 10-minute interview in another room with the lawyer. That agitation was carried to the witness stand. Marrufo was the first witness for the defense as 'she had get back to work' filling in the void left by two fired previous superintendents. The most simple question that could be asked of someone in Marrufo's position and with her extensive experience with the multicultural audience of children in Las Cruces was, "Ms. Marrufo, can you name any non-Christian groups in Las Cruces?" With the steady gaze that would freeze the pounding heart of a wayward child, Ms. Marrufo calmly said, "No, sir."

The stage was set for the rest of the defense witnesses to add their version of the truth to the manure pile encouraged and overseen by Judge Robert Brack. One wonders how someone so devoid of cultural knowledge of the children she is responsible for through the teachers in her position of Director of Elementary Instruction can be effective. Now the local newspaper reports Marrufo has earned her Ph.D. The title of her dissertation is interesting as it carries words like "....District Office....Roles....Relative to Impacting Student Achievement."