Enge resigns

Joe Enge has resigned as deputy director of the governor's energy Office.

The resignation, submitted today, is effective Friday. Energy Director Hatice Gecol said the decision was Enge's and that no one asked him to resign.

Enge's appointment was criticized by a number of people who questioned what his qualifications for the position are. He is a former high school history and government teacher and currently a member of the Carson School District Board of Trustees.

Enge has been at the center of several education controversies for a number of years. His battles with school officials over history course content at Carson High eventually resulted in a negotiated settlement in which he resigned as a teacher in 2005. He has authored a number of research and opinion papers on the subject of public education for the conservative think-tank, the Nevada Policy Research Institute and testified on education issues before the Nevada Legislature.

But most of the criticism focused on Enge's personal history which includes two DUIs, a third DUI charge which was dismissed in 2006 and his recent early morning Nevada Day accident in which his car took out more than 30 feet of a back yard fence.

He was originally charged with leaving the scene of an accident in that case but the charge was reduced to speeding after he paid for the damage.

Enge also filed complaints saying he had been attacked by people on two different occasions. The most recent was when he claimed three men attacked him in a bathroom at the Carson Nugget. That case was closed by Carson Sheriffs as "unfounded" and Nugget general manager Brian Smith said he has barred Enge from the Nugget because of it.

"He's not welcome in the Nugget for making false accusations," said Smith.

Enge was named to the $65,000 a year deputy's position Nov. 12.