Following Attack by Teachers Union, Torrance County Commissioners Defend McCall's Pumpkin Patch
The rumors surrounding McCall's Pumpkin Patch began circulating via social media on Monday, October 6, 2025. Numerous individuals messaged the Mountainair Dispatch, stating that County Commissioner Kevin McCall was bringing ICE agents to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. One called and advised that "Albuquerque's teachers' union" had told them about a boycott of McCall's Pumpkin Patch. Online research revealed criticism of McCall and his business in an email posted on the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF) Facebook page, which described McCall as "an unquestioning supporter (literally) of using the Torrance County Detention Center to house people detained by ICE." The email makes no mention of a boycott of McCall's Pumpkin Patch.
The social media reaction was adverse for McCall and his business. On Reddit, in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Santa Fe sub-reddits, users posted responses to the ATF's statement with varying degrees of both accuracy and vitriol.
At 11:31 AM on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, McCall's Pumpkin Patch posted a response to the ATF email and to other social media commentary generally.
McCall's Pumpkin Patch posted that McCall had "voted to keep the community jail open, which also houses immigrants." The business said that Torrance County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Ryan Schwebach was "outraged" by the ATF email "trying to link [McCall's Pumpkin Patch] to the Detention Center & the politics exploding across the country today."
On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, approximately an hour after the McCall's Pumpkin Patch post, Torrance County posted an unsigned letter on its Facebook page that expressed the intent of the Torrance County Commission to discuss at the October 8, 2025, county commission meeting "communications being made on social media platforms by the Albuquerque Teacher's Union [sic] and other community groups regarding the County Commission's historic votes to support the Torrance County Detention Facility through the approval of an intergovernmental agreement with ICE, and how that vote is being used to discourage individuals from attending McCall's Pumpkin Patch."
On October 7, 2025, the ATF provided a response to Torrance County's Facebook statement at 2:54 PM. ATF wrote that McCall mischaracterized his vote to "keep the community jail open," as McCall had really voted to extend the county's contract with ICE.
At the October 8, 2025, meeting of the Torrance County Commissioners, Commissioner McCall and Chairman Schwebach discussed their position in support of McCall's Pumpkin Patch. McCall made a statement in support of his family's business and in opposition to allegations that ICE had a connection with McCall's Pumpkin Patch.
"Discussion in response to social media ... connecting ICE with McCall's pumpkin patch. Our [the McCall family's] business is no way communicating or working with ICE. This is utterly false. From its start, 28 years ago, our mission at McCall's Pumpkin Patch has always been to provide fun, family friendly place for our guests to make cherished memories. And we welcome all families - and I say all families - to McCall's to make it part of their New Mexico fall tradition. And that concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman."
Chairman Ryan Schwebach also made a statement in opposition to the ATF.
"[M]y goal has always been to solve problems, not create new ones. I'm not so sure that is what the teachers union wants to do. I mean, I got to throw that out. That's why I wanted this discussion. We're 50th in education in the country, and I find it ironic that the union has the ability to throw these out, to hamper economics, to mislead students, to create fear.'
The Mountainair Dispatch asked Chairman Schwebach to identify who wrote the unsigned letter from the county defending McCall's Pumpkin Patch, and Schwebach stated that he and county manager Jordan Barela had written and posted the unsigned letter. It also asked Schwebach whether he thought it was ethical for the Torrance County Commissioners to use county resources in defense of a private business.
"It is very prudent to use county letterhead to address this issue, because the county and the agenda is what triggered the attack upon the pumpkin patch. And so as chairman, it is very prudent to do it. As for signing it, the county manager has authority, through direction of the Chair, to put it on [Facebook] without my signature, because I've been working about 18 hours a week trying to get my harvest out [it is believed that Chairman Schwebach intended to say 18 hours per day was spent on the harvest], and time was of the essence, and so the county manager had full authority through the chairman to put that out."
Sidebar: When Does Defending Your Business Cross the Ethical Line?
What New Mexico law says about ethics, conflicts of interest, and county resources.
The Legal Basics
Under the New Mexico Governmental Conduct Act (GCA), public officials, including county commissioners, must “advance only the public interest” and avoid using their office for private benefit. See NMSA § 10-16-3 (2024). The law also bars use of any public property or resource (like county letterhead, meeting time, or social-media accounts) for private purposes. See NMSA § 10-16-4 (2024).
Conflict of Interest
A commissioner who owns or profits from a private business holds what the GCA calls a “substantial interest.” That doesn’t automatically bar them from public service, but it does trigger duties:
- Disclose any potential conflicts of interest in writing;
- Recuse from participation in public discussion or decision-making that could affect the business; and,
- Avoid even the appearance of using their office to promote or defend that private interest.
Amelia Bierle, MPP, MBA, Deputy Director of the New Mexico State Ethics Commission, said that the agency would not comment specifically on McCall's Pumpkin Patch, but said generally that New Mexico law "... requires public officers to treat their positions as a public trust and to use public powers and resources only for the public’s benefit. [The Governmental Conduct Act] prohibits a public officer from taking action primarily to advance their own financial interests and requires recusal from matters that directly affect that interest."
Schwebach denied that any employee of the county had been in communication "with ICE and field agencies," in response to the Mountainair Dispatch's questions regarding whether he or Commissioner McCall had communicated with the federal agency.
Following the discussion of the rumors concerning McCall's Pumpkin Patch, the county commissioners went into executive session to discuss unrelated litigation against the county.