Under the B: Brawling bingo ladies

BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) - "B" for bingo turned into "B" for brawl in Belen Friday when three senior citizens got into a fight over nickels at a bingo game.

"We're all old ladies," Emma Baca, a witness to the dustup, said. "It's too sad to see these old people trying to grab each others face or hair."

Baca described what began as a normally relaxing game of bingo at the Del Rio Senior Citizens Center Friday turning ugly as she watched her friends duke it out.

The fighters--two women in their 60s and one 85--had held a grudge for a day before it finally came to a head, according to Baca.

She said the argument was over an accusation by one women that another had not paid for her cards by putting nickels into the pot.

"We play for nickels," Baca said. "We can play a nickel a card. Why fight for a nickel?"

The accuser, according to Baca, went to the player and turned over her bowl of nickels to count them in front of the rest of the bingo room.

A verbal argument soon turned into a bingo brawl, and a Del Rio employee had to break up the fight, Baca said.

The women were told to go home to cool off.

"They're all my friends," Baca said. "We're all friends here, but sometimes, you know, people have their days."

The fight left the players and their egos bruised, Valencia County Business Manager Kenneth Griego told KRQE News 13.

On Monday Griego sat down with the women and suspended them from attending any bingo games at the senior center for 90 days.

"They got into each other's face, and they grabbed each other," Griego said of the Friday fight.

He said he's never heard of such an incident at any of the county's senior citizen centers. Griego suspended the two women central to the dispute plus a third who jumped in to defend her sister.

He said the primary goal is to keep the center safe for everyone. Del Rio is a place for local senior citizens to have a free lunch and play games in addition to bingo.

He added that the women apologized for ruining an otherwise perfect game of bingo.

"They were very understanding," Griego said.