Jack Henderson, the mayor elect, said, “I am presently interviewing marshals, Talvy is one of them.”

Whether Talvy remains might come down to the simple issue of bad blood: several members of the group that will take over in November have less than a friendly history with the marshal.

This begs the question what kind of candidate Talvy is for the job.

Talvy boasts significant arrests this past year. He nabbed six people on drug charges, arrests that claims are leading to finding more suspects. Two have been indicted and face prison, another one is going to trial.

“We hit them where it hurts because we arrested the dealers in the town,” said Talvy. “We hit them hard. We’re still continuing to battle that problem, and we do have some targets currently, and hoping to make another significant arrest shortly.”

Talvy says he tries to emphasize community involvement, which has given him more eyes on the streets than just him and his deputies.

“I love the people of the community,” he said. “The most important part is of this job is being able to help out in the community.”

One of Talvy’s proudest moments was helping save the life of Garret Larson last May, a 16-year-old male who was alerted as a missing person by the Tuscon Police Department.

A deputy stopped a vehicle registered to Larson that was being driven by a man named Steven Townsend. When there were inconsistencies in Townsend’s story as to why he was driving Larson’s vehicle, he was arrested.

Townsend was questioned about Larson’s whereabouts. According to police reports, it was not until Talvy convinced Townsend he would be better off telling the truth that Townsend revealed he had dumped Larson in a wash after bashing him in the head with a plank of wood. He gave Talvy directions to find Larson in the desert. Townsend later hanged himself in the Cochise County Jail.

When Larson was found, police reports described, “[he was] in very bad condition. Both of his eyes were bruised and swollen shut. His mouth appeared to have been sealed closed with a mixture of mucus, blood, and sand. He was breathing through his nose in short gasps.”

Larson was airlifted to University Medical Center in Tucson in critical condition.

Talvy recently discovered that Larson had recovered. He praises his deputies for helping that happen. “Without their hard-earned effort, this juvenile could have been deceased,” Talvy said. “That’s one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve gotten out of my job, other than saving the lives of other individuals.”

Talvy gave another anecdote of performing CPR on a woman at Six Gun City who had stopped breathing. His efforts saved her life.

As far as the popular vote goes, he’s won the appreciation of some Tombstone townsfolk, and the scorn of others.

“He’s the best marshal we’ve had,” said Tombstone resident Jack Jackson, 41.

Jackson praises Talvy for following up even the most humble requests, and for his nice and friendly attitude.

Alex Lozano, a bartender at the Crystal Palace, grew up in Tombstone and came back five years ago. He went to school with Talvy’s brother.

“He’s very personable and treats tourists right,” said Lozano. “He’s a good guy and has a good heart. He does his job well takes it seriously.”

Lozano related an experience of a disturbance by his house a couple of weeks ago that he called in. He said the marshal responded quickly.

“He’s good with that part of his job, he shows up quick and he takes care of things pretty quickly.

Not everyone has the same praise, however.

“We’ve been at odds,” said Mike Carrafa, owner of the Six Gun City, a bar on 5th Street that holds reenactments of shootouts for patrons to watch. He’s also in the running for city council.

Carrafa has a stack of documents from the last two years that show how Talvy has cited him, arrested him and shut down his establishment even though time and again judges have dismissed the charges.

It started with ordinances that limited the ability of businesses to advertise themselves on Allen Street, the main drag where Tombstones most historic bars and theaters are open for tourists.

Carrafa lists his complaints as first being told he couldn’t hand out menus on the streets, and he was cited for doing so by Talvy.

Next he couldn’t have cowboy performers advertise it by word of mouth, which Talvy cited him for also.

Then he was told by Talvy he couldn’t let performers advertise near the establishment in too loud a voice.

Talvy even arrested Carrafa. On April 6, 2009, Talvy came to Six Gun City to force all the patrons out and close down the establishment for not following the city ordinances. Carrafa, who had already read up on the city laws at the time, found that there were two conflicting ordinances, one allowing the passing out of handbills and one opposing it. With the lack of clarity he continued to give out menus.

Video caught of the incident show Talvy shouting at people to get out, while a crowd of people refused to comply. “We’re allowed to be here,” an anonymous woman’s voice shouts. Eventually the doors are shut, and in a struggle to maintain power over the situation deputies begin cuffing people and escorting them off screen.

Talvy said how he handled this incident is his one regret.

“I was ordered to close it up because it was not complying with the building codes,” he said. “I had to call for back up as people were getting into a riot type of situation. I should have seen it coming because they had people ready to roll with cameras. Then it just really turned bad after that because people were expecting me to be there.”

Recently Talvy told Carrafa he couldn’t advertise unless it was at the establishment’s front door, even though Carrafa had leased a property expressly so that he could have performers on Allen Street calling out when shows were starting. Talvy cited him for this as well, another charge that was dismissed.

“Every time you’d do something new they would try to limit it,” said Carrafa. “The marshal does what the last mayor wanted.”

Whether or not Talvy’s record will keep him his job or lose it will be decided by the new mayor, and then the four-member city council votes on the decision.

Until then Talvy plans on working as he has every day for the last two years.

“We work hard and we do what is required of us,” he said. “We’ll keep that going regardless of what the new mayor and council or going to do. I need to continue to focus and so does my department and we’ll keep on going.”