Clerk George Barnes said he does not suspect "any skeleton in the closet," but he is asking Chamber officials to do their duty.

Repeated calls by the Epitaph to Chamber Director Pat Greene and Chamber President Don Taylor were not returned. When the Epitaph went to the Chamber offices, Greene was not there.

Barnes says he remembers a time when locals buzzed about Boothill Graveyard, the money it brought in and who reaped its benefits.

But for the most part, that's stopped now, he said.

"The Boothill thing had been very contentious in the years before. Of course there was the who's making money and who's not and where's it all going?" Barnes said. "And all of that is kind of gone now."

So, what changed?

About three and a half years ago the Chamber of Commerce, a not for profit corporation, entered into a contractual agreement with the City of Tombstone that lets them run the gift shop at Boothill.

There are some conditions, of course.

First, all the money the chamber makes must go toward promoting the city.
Second, the chamber must periodically provide financial reports to the city.

And although Barnes said he doesn't think "there's any skeleton in that closet," he said the chamber is behind on its financial reporting.

The fifth stipulation of the chamber's contract with the city mandates that the chamber give the city a financial report by the second Monday of each quarter.

The report includes the chamber's goals, incurred costs and reached milestones.

The date came and went and the city still doesn't have a report from the chamber.

A letter addressed to Taylor and photocopies of the contractual agreement sat atop Barnes' desk a few weeks ago.

As Barnes pointed to the letter, he said he'd already contacted Taylor and Greene and reminded them of the chamber's contractual agreement.

Barnes called his contact with Taylor and Greene reminders, not an official audit. Based on the contract, however, the city can audit the chamber.

"If you can get it done with a velvet glove, it's better than a hammer," he said.

Asked when the chamber had last filed a report Barnes said, "it hasn't been done in awhile."

Even so, Barnes said he suspects the reason is far from sinister and suggested instead that the chamber is behind on reporting, because it's been so busy at work.

"As is typical in most things, you get so busy doing the business at hand you don't always pay attention to that," Barnes said.

Although there seems to be a void of any real numbers, Barnes said that running the gift shop at Boothill gives the chamber a "real revenue stream and a real place to work from."

So, just how big of a revenue stream is it?

An employee at Boothill, who answered the phone Monday morning but said she preferred not to be named, said some 92,500 people visited Boothill in the first six months of this year.

Those numbers are recorded at the visitor's counter, which is located in the gift shop.

She pointed out, however, that not everybody who stops by actually makes a purchase.

But, if even half of the recorded visitors made a $10 purchase, the chamber would be bringing in close to $1 million a year.

When asked about the gift shop's yearly revenue, Boothill Manager Dave Askey said, "we have nothing to hide." He suggested talking to Greene for specifics, however.

Greene didn't answer numerous phone calls over a span of two weeks.

Barnes said he expects to get the reports within a month or so and that he thinks the deal works well for both the city and the chamber.

"Frankly, I've been personally a big fan of the stuff the chamber's done for us and I want to keep doing it," Barnes said. "I'm trying to keep the boat going nice and steady and straight."

Many locals don't seem to have much of an opinion at all on Boothill or who's running it.

Bea Jay, an employee at the Shady Lady, said she hasn't been to Boothill in a while and doesn't really know how it's changed since the chamber took over.

She did say, however, that she notices more cars in the parking lot than before.
Although he thinks the relationship works well, Barnes said he knows there still may be some skeptics.

"I don't think anybody ever got rich at Boothill, but still there's all those doubts that people surmise about and being Tombstone that's typical," Barnes said.

"Two sides to a cup of coffee here."