LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Val Kilmer got approval Wednesday to rent guesthouses on his Pecos River Ranch after the actor apologized for his remarks in two national magazines about his neighbors being drunks and criminals.

"I'd just like to say from my heart that I love it here," he told a packed meeting of the San Miguel County Commission. "My children were born here. My grandfather's buried down in Truth or Consequences. I got married here."

Earlier this year, the commissioners approved Kilmer's application to rent out three guesthouses on his 5,332-acre ranch. But a neighbor, Abran Tapia of Rowe, appealed the decision, citing Kilmer's comments published in 2003 in Rolling Stone and in 2005 in Esquire.

In the Rolling Stone article, Kilmer said he carries a gun and called San Miguel County "the homicide capital of the Southwest." He also was quoted as saying "80 percent of the people in my county are drunk."

In the Esquire article, Kilmer was quoted as saying he understands the Vietnam War better than veterans there because many are "borderline criminals or poor ... wretched kids" who "got beat up by their dads" and "couldn't finagle a scholarship."

At a May 4 public hearing, more than a dozen people spoke against Kilmer's plans for his property and three spoke in favor before the issue was tabled to give Kilmer a chance to speak for himself.

State police escorted Kilmer to the county courthouse in Las Vegas on Wednesday. More than a dozen law-enforcement officers were in the commission chambers. Police allowed in only 37 spectators, leaving some people waiting on the courthouse steps.

One who got inside, Miguel Pacheco of Las Vegas, said he wanted to speak about Kilmer's "lack of respect for the local people." Paul Martinez of Amalia said he wanted to talk about how Kilmer's land encroaches on land grants. Joe McCaffrey of Las Vegas said he just came to listen as a "news junkie."

Tapia, who was the only person allowed to speak besides Kilmer, used his five minutes to complain that it's unconstitutional to deny other speakers. He accused the commissioners of creating a "police state" by packing the room with officers, who he said were intimidating some people.

Tapia said he doesn't believe Kilmer's previous claims that he was misquoted by Rolling Stone and Esquire. "They have it on tape," he said. "They know what he said and they're prepared to defend that."

Kilmer, 50, dressed in a dark suit with no tie and his blond hair tied back into a ponytail, began by apologizing for any offense to New Mexicans.

"I understand that a lot of the drama over that is because of simply my job — that I'm a public figure," said the star of such films as Batman Forever, The Doors and Tombstone. "I was recently in Switzerland and a reporter came up and asked me about this meeting, and I was able to be good-humored about it."

Over the 25 years he has lived on the ranch, Kilmer said, he has tried to be a good neighbor, donate to charities and help attract more movie productions to New Mexico. He said in-state filmmaking has gone from $3 million a year under former Gov. Gary Johnson to $3 billion a year under Gov. Bill Richardson.

"That's the fastest growth since the atomic bomb," he said. "I'm very proud of that."

In response to questions from Commissioner Nicolas Leger, Kilmer said he hopes to rent out the guesthouses as part of a fundraising effort for a wildlife center in Española and "local concerns about the river." He said family and friends now stay in the guesthouses, so he doesn't expect commercial rentals to bring an increase in the number of people.

Kilmer said he felt "the sting of my words" when he read them in the two magazines. He said his remark about drunkenness was made while urging a visitor to drive safely after a Santa Fe judge had told him about the high rate of drunken driving and his mother was hit by a drunken driver.

Reading from a prepared text handed him by his lawyer, John Silver of Santa Fe, Kilmer said he takes issue "with the way the reporter chose to transform our earnest discussion" and believes his words were "misconstrued and taken out of context" for the sake of magazine sales, but "I take full responsibility for the results and the consequences."

Regarding the comments on veterans, Kilmer said he was talking about acting and did not mean to disparage people who fought for their country. "I literally just don't understand how can anyone speak poor of veterans," he said.

After Kilmer sat down, Tapia asked to speak again. After he was granted a few more minutes, he noted that Kilmer said several times that he had lived in the area for 25 years.

"I want to remind Mr. Kilmer my people, the Hispanic people, have lived her for 400 years and we've treated you gringos all good," Tapia said to applause from the spectators.

County Attorney Jesus Lopez said some commissioners had received "hate mail" and angry telephone calls from Kilmer supporters who said they had no right to consider Kilmer's published comments in their deliberations over land use, as well as pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Lopez, a former district attorney and county Democratic Party chairman, praised the commissioners for delaying action until a second hearing. But he said the application meets every requirement and it would be folly to deny it. "Let's put this to bed and live as good neighbors," he said.

Leger moved to approve the application, June Garcia seconded and the six commissioners voted unanimously to approve it.

Police led Kilmer out of the chambers and through a back door to his maroon Honda sedan, parked in an area cordoned off with yellow tape. Asked for comment, he only said, "Lovely day," before driving away.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.