Free Republic

TAOS, N.M. -- Searchers have found the body of a former White House chef who had been missing for more than a week after going hiking in the New Mexico mountains, authorities said. The body of 61-year-old Walter Scheib was found Sunday night near a hiking trail in mountains in the Taos area, the New Mexico State Police said. "The body was discovered off the immediate trail," a State Patrol statement said. Authorities did not provide a cause of death or any other details about the discovery, saying rescuers were still gathering information and more details would be released later....

A former White House executive chef to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush has been reported missing in New Mexico’s Taos Ski Valley after a planned hiking trip to the area last Saturday. Walter Scheib, 61, was reported missing by his girlfriend when he did not return home from a hiking trip last Saturday. Authorities discovered his vehicle on Tuesday, and have been combing 20 to 30 square miles of mountainous area for Schieb since Wednesday, according to Bob Rodgers, the search and resource officer leading the search for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. "The terrain is...

If there's one thing Americans won't abide in a White House chef, it's rude behavior. And acting snooty with First Lady Laura Bush over her tastes is just about as rude as it gets. "We've been trying to find a way to satisfy the first lady's stylistic requirements, and it has been difficult. Basically, I was not successful in my attempt," Walter Scheib III was quoted as saying, snootily, just after he was fired. Scheib Three said he would soon get a new job. "I'm not going to be running the local pancake house," he said, his nose in the...

Fancy state dinners aren't all the new White House chef will need to do -- the Bushes are looking for someone who knows barbecue and other good old American fare. Laura Bush told Newsweek she doesn't expect that any of the celebrity chefs with books or television shows will be interested in becoming head chef at the presidential home. But she's looking to fill the job with someone who "can really showcase American foods." The previous White House chef, Walter Scheib III, has left to pursue new opportunities after nearly 11 years of cooking for two presidents, and the first...

Job constraints, politics make White House unappetizing to many Bay Area food stars - The White House is shopping for a new chef. But despite the Bay Area's national status as a culinary capital, no one really expects the search to focus here. "I don't think they'll be calling,'' says renowned chef Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco. "I think my name is on a list of fund-raisers for John Kerry.'' Even food, it seems, comes in red and blue. The idea of going to the White House drew guffaws from many local chefs, staunch Democrats who say they...

WASHINGTON - Fancy state dinners aren't all the new White House chef will need to do — the Bushes are looking for someone who knows barbecue and other good old American fare. Laura Bush told Newsweek she doesn't expect that any of the celebrity chefs with books or television shows will be interested in becoming head chef at the presidential home. But she's looking to fill the job with someone who "can really showcase American foods." The previous White House chef, Walter Scheib III, has left to pursue new opportunities after nearly 11 years of cooking for two presidents, and...

Behind the scenes, first lady Laura Bush is making big changes for the next four years. In the past two months, Mrs. Bush has hired a new social secretary and chief of staff -- and fired chef Walter Scheib III, who had been at the White House for 11 years. "We don't usually think of Laura Bush as firing anybody," said Ann Gerhart, a political reporter for The Washington Post's style section. "She is just as loyal as everybody else in the Bush family. So I think it's very unusual."

Unlike members of the White House staff who maintain the fiction that resigning was their decision, the executive chef, Walter Scheib 3rd, minced no words Friday in saying he had been fired. "We've been trying to find a way to satisfy the first lady's stylistic requirements," Mr. Scheib said in a telephone interview, "and it has been difficult. Basically I was not successful in my attempt."