The stormy relationship between a councilman and the town’s trolley owner continues to rage.

The latest skirmish happened during Helldorado Weekend adding to a series of injunctions the men filed against each other in Cochise County Superior Court.

Ward 2 Councilman Jim Doherty and Lee McKechnie, co-owner of Helldorado Town and Tombstone Trolley Tours, used to be friends and coworkers.  That changed dramatically and publicly since Doherty’s election last year.

Here’s the latest. On Monday, Oct. 24, Doherty served McKechnie with an injunction against harassment, ordering McKechnie to maintain a 25-foot distance from Doherty.

According to the injunction filed in Cochise County Superior Court, Doherty alleged there were five instances during Helldorado Weekend on Oct. 22 and 23 when McKechnie sought confrontation with him:

• “Twice during the day… I was walking down the boardwalk on Allen Street and Mr. McKechnie banged my shoulder with his. He then said ‘Excuse me councilman Doherty.” Doherty wrote that a similar incident took place the next day.
• “I was watching the parade and leaning against a fire hydrant. Lee (McKechnie) came up on my left side and cocked his gun and said ‘Councilman Doherty, would you like to be in the show?’”
• “As my wife and I were walking home on Toughnut Street, Mr. McKechnie fired his gun in the air and screamed at me, ‘Hey you yellow bellied hayseed, why don’t you come over for the show?’”

Doherty declined to comment for this story, “I’d rather you put something positive in the paper than this revolving nonsense,” he said before Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

This is the second harassment injunction Doherty filed against McKechnie this year. Since May, McKechnie also filed two harassment injunctions against Doherty.  All three previous injunctions were dismissed or withdrawn, according to Cochise County Superior Court documents.

Their feud stems from disagreements when Doherty worked for McKechnie’s Tombstone Trolley Tours. “He (Doherty) was the ideal employee,” said McKechnie. “He treated the business like it was his own.”

But McKechnie said Doherty “changed” after being elected to the city council in last November.

“He became a councilman, and his head got huge,” said McKechnie.

The relationship between Doherty and McKechnie completely disintegrated this spring when, after what McKechnie termed as repeated acts of insubordination, McKechnie and his wife, Marla, made the decision to fire Doherty from his job driving the trolley.

McKechnie said he thinks Doherty’s firing motivated the placing of an agenda item from the April 12 city council meeting that would have eliminated parking for his trolley from the historic district and essentially put him out of business.

When the item came up for discussion, Ward 3 Councilwoman Stacey Korbeck-Reeder asked it be removed, according to the minutes from the meeting.

“Personally, I think this item is set up on the agenda as a vendetta item,” she said. “And it does not belong under the city council to do that.”

The item passed by a vote of 3-2, with Mayor Jack Henderson, Councilman Randy Davis and Doherty voting to approve.

McKechnie said the only time it was enforced was over Memorial Day weekend.

“I’m breaking the law every single day,” he said.

Korbeck-Reeder said the incidents that took place over Helldorado Weekend are “disturbing to say the least,” and she thinks Doherty still holds a grudge over being fired by the McKechnies.

McKechnie said Marshal Billy Cloud visited him three times over Helldorado Weekend. He said the reasons for Cloud’s visits ranged from Doherty’s accusations of assault to questions over whether or not McKechnie obtained the proper licenses and permits to operate Helldorado Town’s new amphitheater, and a paid parking lot on the property.

The Epitaph filed a public records request with Cloud, asking to see any incident reports from Helldorado Weekend containing McKechnie and Doherty’s’ names.

Cloud said the Marshal’s office has one incident report relating to McKechnie and Doherty, but cannot be released it until it is “closed.”

“This report has not been completed due to one of the involved party’s failure to provide documentation they believe to be pertinent to this incident,” Cloud wrote in a letter responding to The Epitaph’s request. “I will contact this person to see if they are going to follow through with providing the documentation.”

Meanwhile, McKechnie said it didn’t take long for word to spread about his Helldorado showdown with Doherty, and he was asked twice by locals on Allen Street if he struck or pulled a gun on a councilman.

“It’s defamation of character,” he said.

According to the latest injunction, Doherty asked that McKechnie be denied access to city council meetings because Mr. McKechnie “does not pay taxes, live (in) or have a business license in Tombstone.” The request was denied.