The $3 bill was intended as a satire of President-elect Barack Obama, but instead became another blemish for a mayor who recently snatched a 15-year-old boy off a moving motorscooter.

Greeley Mayor Ed Clark, a former police officer who also is the head of security at the University Schools charter school, said today that he has apologized to the family of a student that he showed the bill to.

“I apologized to the family,” Clark said. “I think I’ll leave it where it is.”

Clark did say that he showed the bill to students in the school cafeteria Nov. 14 when one of them asked if had an extra dollar for lunch.

According to the Greeley Tribune, the fake $3 bill is emblazoned with an image of Obama wearing a Middle Eastern headdress Clark describes as a “prince’s hat.” He showed it to a girl, who then showed it to classmates.

He took the bill back from the student and has since discarded it, he said.

“It was political satire,” Clark said Saturday. “I’m not going to talk about it. I’ve got to go. sir.”

School director Sherry Sue Gerner could not be reached for comment. She was quoted in the Tribune as saying that the matter is over, but would not say whether Clark was disciplined.

Clark, elected to a two-year term last year, has been the subject of controversy before.

Fifteen-year-old Remington Stitt sought a permanent restraining order against Clark in July, claiming the mayor assaulted him for joyriding on his motorbike in a neighborhood where the two live.

Clark won the court fight but also vowed never to go near the boy again and to call police when he witnesses a possible criminal act.

A permanent restraining order against Clark was denied.

In an August court hearing, Weld County Judge Timothy Kerns admonished Clark and Stitt for allowing tensions to escalate in their Greeley subdivision just before the June 23 incident.

Stitt and his parents claim Clark grabbed the teen off his motorbike and threw him to the ground before police could arrive. Clark and his neighbors claim Stitt and his friends were cursing and driving recklessly through the neighborhood.

Clark said Saturday that the case was resolved and he didn’t wish to comment about it.

On Sept. 27, 2007, Clark brandished a hand gun and pointed it at 18-year-old Rudy Joseph Valenciano Jr., 18, after the young man drove girls from Greeley West High School to fight girls at University High School. Valenciano was charged with several counts including contributing to a delinquency of a minor, a felony.

After a fight broke out, Valenciano, who is not a student at the school, got into his car. He refused to get out on Clark’s orders; Clark drew his weapon.

Clark then handcuffed Valenciano and draped him over the car’s hood to await police.

The action became an issue in the Greeley mayoral election last year.

Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com