Week of May 29, 2024
Week of May 29, 2024
A house fire at midday Friday in Tucumcari rendered a couple homeless and killed three of their dogs. One of the occupants, Sandra McLain, said she briefly was hospitalized for burns to her arms, shoulders, back and feet. The blaze apparently started shortly after noon when McLain said she was in the shower. Surrounded by flames, she barely had time to leave the house. "My shirt was melting on me," she said in front of the destroyed home on Sunday afternoon. "I didn't have time to put on any...
The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday greenlighted an initiative to create a Hometown Heroes Park at the Sand Dorsey site at Second and Main streets. Anthony Kent and Tucumcari MainStreet director Connie Loveland presented the idea for a memorial to recognize noteworthy Tucumcari residents. The idea for a park to honor local heroes sprung from Kent, who two years ago proposed a downtown memorial for deceased New Mexico civil rights activist Alice Faye Kent Hoppes, a Tucumcari native. Kent was Hoppes’ nephew. Loveland said New Mexico...
The Tucumcari Public Schools board approved a revamped salary schedule for the 2024-2025 school year that brings more retention and performance incentives and more equity in pay - especially for supervisors who might be earning less money than their workers. The board's approval last Monday of the salary schedule was a key component for eventually approving a budget for the next school year - due to be submitted to the state by June 4. A special meeting to approve the budget likely will be...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from May 21 to May 23: — Mark Vernon Lawrence, 41, Logan, battery against a household member. — Adrianna M. Apodaca, 33, Tucumcari, burglary of a vehicle, possession of burglary tools and larceny (over $250). — Nathan J. Lucero, 28, Tucumcari, parole violation. — Justin Ewel Gorham, 37, Logan, burglary of a vehicle, conspiracy to commit possession of burglary tools and larceny (over $250). — Neil Vanwyck, 46, Tucumcari, probation violation. — Michael Roger Lucero,...
A Tucumcari business owner was one of 10 recent grant recipients from the Route 66 Extraordinary Women Micro-grants Program facilitated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Flora May Cordova of the Route 66 Welcome Center and Gift Shop will receive a $2,000 grant. Cordova said the money will be used to restore a longstanding neon arrow atop her business. The arrow went dark after a severe hailstorm in May 2023 damaged it. In a telephone interview, Cordova indicated recent neon-sign restoration efforts by the Route 66 Association...
LOGAN - Described as an open house, Saturday's event at the Shollenbarger Building was as much as a celebration of the saving of one of the village's oldest structures. John and Jo Brown of Amarillo purchased the long-vacant red sandstone building, formerly known as Shollenbarger Mercantile, at 818 Martinez St. about a year ago from a grandson of the family that owned it. John, an attorney at the Mullin Hoard & Brown law firm in Amarillo, and Jo, a teacher, own a lakeside cabin in Logan and...
A former Logan Municipal School instructor recently was inducted into the New Mexico Agriculture Teacher Hall of Fame. Jack Wiley, now the dean of instruction and an agriculture professor at Trinidad State College in Alamosa, Colorado, was inducted into the hall's Class of 2024. Wiley taught agriculture at Logan and guided its FFA chapter from 1986 to 1989. Before that, he taught ag and FFA at Moriarty. He became an administrator at Clayton Municipal Schools, first as a principal and then as...
A hiccup Friday during the Mesalands Community College Iron Pour may have led to an inadvertent twist for future events - the prospect of working more with the molten metal during nighttime hours. A balky electrical generator kept the 24th Iron Pour from using one of its kilns at midday as planned. A phone call from Mark Martinez, the college's executive director of operations, to an electrician resolved the situation hours later, but the pouring of iron lasted well into the nighttime hours....
A year after a severe hailstorm, Mesalands Community College still is trying to repair buildings damaged by it. Mark Martinez, the college’s executive director of operations and procurement, during the board of trustees meeting last Tuesday detailed his ongoing efforts to repair campus buildings. Martinez said he is working to have repairs completed to four Mesalands buildings. He said repairs would begin on Building E in August. He said the former armory building, Building A and Building. D would require $61,900, $142,890 and $74,000 in...
On this date ... 1974: Tucumcari’s satellite campus of Eastern New Mexico University-High Plains Area Vocational-Technical School became a reality when 13 students began their Business Office Occupations (Secretarial) courses at the former Coronado Elementary School. Students were set to attend classes six hours a day, five days a week, over a period of 44 weeks. Carolyn Leak was the instructor. Students who enrolled were Gloria Gutierrez, Bertha Garcia, Martha Mendez, Gloria Salas, Karla Lopez, Debbie White, Katie Gutierrez, Dorothy...
June 8 — Doc Powers Memorial Car and Motorcycle Show. This free, family-friendly event will be hosted by the Tucumcari Elks Lodge 1172 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration of cars will begin at 10 a.m. with a $25 fee per vehicle, which comes with a free lunch. A prize raffle will be held every 30 minutes. It includes hot food, snow cones and music by the Junction 432 Band. For more information, email [email protected] or call (719) 217-8544. June 8 — Tucumcari Rotary Club Lobster Dinner & Dance. This event at the Tucumcari Elks Lodge...
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees recently agreed to a settlement with its fired athletic director that includes a $80,000 payout. Milan Rasic was among four former Mesalands employees who filed lawsuits in May 2023 against the college after they claimed they were unjustly fired from their positions. Though former Mesalands president Gregory Busch was not named in the suits, the firings occurred during his tenure. A news release from Rasic’s attorney, Daniel Apodaca of the SaucedoChavez law firm in Albuquerque, concerning...
A group of people is undertaking the formation of the first American Legion baseball team in Quay County in 40 years. Anthony Kent, who said he one of the region’s last Legion players as a sophomore in 1984, will be one of the coaches for the newly formed American Legion Post 20 squad. Kent said the local team will be called the Rebels — the same nickname as four decades ago. He said they have signed up 10 players so far and need a few more. Players age 13 to 19 who reside in Quay County are eligible. In addition to players from...
Six players from Logan's state runner-up baseball team earned all-district honors in voting announced after the state tournament. Seniors Brock Burns, Kaeden Stoner and Izaiah Kneitz, junior Diego Sanchez and sophomores Mason Wallin and Devin Kotara of the Longhorns earned the top honors in District 3, which had four teams qualify for the Class 1A tournament. Wallin, a first baseman, led the team in batting average (.547), home runs (six), hits (41), slugging average (.973), RBI (45) and tied...
Three players from Logan’s softball team earned all-district honors after the Lady Longhorns tied for first place in their district and made the postseason for the first time in years. The Longhorns’ all-district picks were junior Marilyn Moreno, eighth-grader Zaiyana Grijalva and senior Camryn Cantrell. Moreno, a catcher and shortstop, hit .696 with a 1.140 slugging average. Grijalva hit .455. As a pitcher, she struck out 84 batters in 71 innings. Cantrell hit .514 during her final season with the Lady Longhorns. Honorable mentions were...
The most popular Google search about the Bible is, “What does the Bible say about cremation?” The short answer to that: Nothing. When God decides not to give us a rule, this is because, either way, there is no harm done and we should not be in the business of making rules to govern non-issues. The bottom line on cremation seems to be, what we do to deal with the remains of our lives is only a temporary solution. The Bible teaches a future, general resurrection of the dead. It’s called general, because all the dead will be raised to life...
Eastern New Mexico Pride, hosted by Eastern New Mexico Rising, will return for its second year to Curry and Roosevelt County. A question I am asked constantly as a gay woman is, “Why do we need Pride?” First, to honor those who fought for our freedom to be who we are at the Stonewall Riots and the first gay pride marches. Pride began June 28, 1969, with the Stonewall Riots, where police tried to raid a gay bar in New York City. This raid quickly got out of hand and erupted into more protests in the following days, with activists demanding...
To state the 118th Congress is an exercise in debasement, dereliction, and dysfunction would be an understatement. But what happened on the House Oversight Committee this month took things to a new low. House Republicans were advocating for holding Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in contempt of Congress — an action the committee chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, gleefully promoted in a fundraising appeal. They would eventually get “to the business at hand” but not before a back and forth by none other than Georgia Rep....
EPCOR and the city of Clovis celebrated another successful event on May 7-8. This year’s two-day Clovis Water Carnival drew participation from 12 local elementary schools, engaging approximately 550 fifth-grade students, and benefiting from over 500 volunteer hours contributed by EPCOR employees and community volunteer partners. For the second year, EPCOR and the city partnered to bring an interactive educational platform focusing on teaching the principles of water conservation and management through a series of engaging and fun...
