Smart moves

Thomas Mayes and a woman thought to be his wife worked for The Boys/Girls Clubs of Santa Fe. They taught drug prevention at Alemada Middle School and seemed to have good raport with the kids. The drug prevention program was called "Smart Moves." Thomas was also an employee of Boys/Girls Clubs of Santa Fe and was a van driver for the kids to go to various activities. Last week Thomas was driving some of these kids to an event when he was stopped by police who found 60 grams of cocaine wrapped in a tee-shirt in the van, an additional 120 grams of cocaine was found in his apartment. Thomas Mayes, a former police officer, had served 8 years in prison for shooting and killing his common-law wife, Teachers at the school were "horrified" and "saddened" to hear about Mayes' arrest last week. "I did have a couple of teachers say that looking back, maybe when he presented (the program), he was almost glorifying drugs," Coopwood said. "But nobody at the time came to us and said they were concerned about the curriculum." Mayes, she said, was "well accepted" at the school. "He handled kids well. There were no discipline problems," she said. "There were no confrontations with kids, which has (sometimes) happened when streetwise people come in. It appeared he was very successful."