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Ski Apache has developed a new marketing program to lure law enforcement, medical, and other "homeland security" workers. Bruce Timson, chief marketing officer for Go West Marketing LLC, which markets Ski Apache, says they intend to help up their midweek numbers by targeting people who work irregular hours. Firefighters and doctors, for example, will work long stretches then have several days off.

"Everyone needs a little more midweek business, the hotels, the restaurants, the shops need it, and this is a way to reach a group that is doing special things in the community," Timson says. "It really is designed to impact skiing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and these are the types of people who can come during the week."

Go West's campaign gives these civil servants half-off lift tickets and 25 percent off of equipment for groups with at least one member presenting an appropriate work ID - to hospitals, police and fire stations and emergency medical facilities in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, in communities close to Ruidoso.

The New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police handed out the discount coupons in gift bags for the 400 law enforcement officials who attended the organization's annual conference the first week of December in Albuquerque. "I think it's a great idea," he says. "These are jobs that bring very little recognition. Law enforcement and any public servant job doesn't care if it's a weekend. Most of them work on the weekend anyway. These are public servants putting their [lives] on the line each and every day, and certainly, it would be beneficial for them to relax and get some of the stress of work off their minds."