Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1701
The city has spent a lot of time and money improving the Tucumcari Recreation Center this year, and it decided last week to show it off the the public. The city hosted an open house on Dec. 9 at the revamped facility - a former New Mexico National Guard armory - at 900 E. Laughlin Ave. The city received a $2 million state recreation grant earlier this year and spent over half that renovating the building, city manager Paula Chacon said. Funds also were used to renovate the Little League fields....
The president for Mesalands Community College said the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor would continue to perform audits for the financially distressed college through at least the 2025 fiscal year. President Allen Moss told the board of trustees during its Dec. 10 meeting he talked with State Auditor James Maestas about future audits. Moss said state-performed audits on the college would be more expensive than an independent auditor, but such reports would have more consistency. State auditors have performed the college’s audits for fisc...
The manager of the Arch Hurley Conservancy District last week said he would consider a tentative water allocation in January because of the highest levels at Conchas Lake in years. Robert Evans attended the Dec. 10 board of directors meeting and asked whether it could allocate water that month so he and other farmers could make plans for the spring growing season. Larry Perkins, serving as chairman for the absent Robert Lopez, said the board probably would allocate water in February. District manager Franklin McCasland said the board might...
Simply put, Tucumcari didn't have an answer for Logan's big guys. The Longhorns' big men of 6-foot-7 Hayden Bruhn and 6-foot-5 Mason Wallin combined for 39 points and a truckload of rebounds during a 73-44 victory Saturday in the annual Quay County bragging rights battle at Rattler Gymnasium. Wallin scored many of his game-high 22 points after offensive rebounds. In addition to being another big presence inside, Bruhn made two 3-point shots and slammed home a dunk during a fastbreak during the...
For the second time in less than a week, Tucumcari senior Caylee Benavidez's free-throw shooting helped preserve a victory - this time, a 42-39 nail-biter over Quay County rival Logan on Saturday at Rattler Gymnasium. With the Lady Rattlers clinging to a 40-39 lead, Benavidez made both foul-shot attempts with 10.8 seconds left to give her team more of a cushion. In the final seconds, the Lady Longhorns attempted two shots - including what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer - but both...
SAN JON — San Jon High School won’t host basketball games at the Ed Lee Activities Complex for a few more weeks because of problems with its gym floor — again. Athletic director Bobby Kandel told the school board during its Dec. 9 meeting that cupping in one corner of the floor worsened after heavy rains hit the region starting in late October. It is believed that water intruded underneath the floor in that area. Kandel said that same corner of the gym has experienced problems before. The affected area involves about 500 square feet. Kande...
Quay County Commissioners on Monday approved a fee proposal to finish the final 10% of the design for a new Dr. Daniel C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari. The proposal from Arizona-based Stantec Engineering would cover drawings, permits and bidding to replace the nearly 60-year-old hospital. According to county documents, the total cost would about $1.855 million. County manager Daniel Zamora said he would use $1.1 million in federal American Rescue Act coronavirus relief funds for the...
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday discussed with the city's tourism marketer possible designs for banners that would be placed on Main Street, First Street and the Route 66 corridor. John Echols, account executive of Gray Digital Media in Amarillo, brought three mockups of potential banners that would be hung from light poles along those streets. Each of the banners mention Route 66's upcoming centennial in 2026. One banner, stating "Celebrating 100 Years" of Route 66, was...
The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday approved a nearly $2 million construction agreement for a new fuel farm at Tucumcari Municipal Airport. Project manager Ralph Lopez urged approval of the pact, or else about $1 million in state funding for it would be rescinded in about five months. Lopez said the city is short about $55,000 to cover the total cost of $1.97 million. He said the New Mexico Department of Transportation has pledged to cover that shortfall. The commissioners’ approval of the contract is contingent on the state coming up w...
Quay County, the Village of Logan and 19 other parties filed a lawsuit last week to halt construction of a long-controversial water pipeline from Ute Lake. Logan attorney Warren Frost on Nov. 26 filed an eight-page complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, which seeks to build a 130-mile pipeline from the lake to Clovis, Portales and other nearby towns. In addition to the county and village, other plaintiffs are Quay County landowners who would be affected by the pipeline: Cox River...
How is Tucumcari High School boys basketball coach John Span feeling? He's fine, thank you very much. Inquiries about Span's health aren't just for pleasantries. He missed about 1 1/2 seasons due to life-threatening cancer in his liver and bile ducts that required major surgery in August 2023. Though he was declared cancer-free since the operation, he'd lost at least 60 pounds and admitted he was too weak for the rigors of coaching during the 2023-2024 season. Assistant coach Gary Hittson...
Tucumcari High School boys wrestling coach Tim Clark thinks his team will have a pretty good season. But he has to get his athletes into shape first. Clark said many didn't begin practice in early November in the best of condition. Since that time, Clark says he's held two workouts a day and will continue to do so until the Rattler Invitational on Dec. 21. "We've been going to the weight room, and then Tuesdays and Thursdays we've been doing conditioning here in the gym. The biggest reason I...
The Tucumcari High School girls basketball team likely will have another excellent season, though it will have to fight its way through a rugged non-district schedule first. The Lady Rattlers begin their season Thursday at the West Las Vegas tournament against Santa Fe Indian, the same team that knocked them out in the Class 3A quarterfinals last season. Tucumcari's non-district schedule also includes its first home game against Texico on Dec. 10, plus clashes that include Class 1A runner-up...
The superintendent of Logan Municipal Schools announced last week he is retiring at the end of the year to return to politics. Dennis Roch, 51, a former state representative, told the school board and staff on Wednesday he was retiring effective Dec. 31 so he can become the caucus chief of staff for New Mexico Senate Republicans. Roch sent the Quay County Sun a copy of the retirement letter he submitted to the board. "I've been blessed to served the students, staff, and families of this...
Mesalands Community College received an unmodified opinion — the best attainable — in its recently completed audit for fiscal-year 2023. Though the audit’s number of findings edged up from nine to 10 in the 2023 audit, its unmodified (or “clean”) opinion signaled a marked improvement from the disclaimer, or second-worst, opinion from the college’s FY2022 audit. It was a sign Mesalands is emerging from its fiscal crisis that came to light early last year. During the Nov. 19 board of trustees meeting, board Chairman Richard Primrose said he’d a...
Tucumcari Public Schools’ new community liaison had been on the job for only two weeks, but he already received praise from principals and the superintendent. Charles Newman was hired to the position of community engagement specialist, aka community liaison, shortly after superintendent Carl Marano announced its creation during the board’s October meeting. Marano said he saw the position as a way to address students who are chronically absent from school. During the board’s Nov. 18 meeting, elementary school principal Deanne McKinney said...
Tucumcari city commissioners seemed to come to a consensus it needs to hire a structural engineer to determine whether the long-closed Princess Theatre can handle planned facade improvements and other long-term renovations. Commissioners discussed the Princess Theatre with two members of the venue's task force during a work session Thursday. Art City owner Matt Monahan, one of the leaders of the Princess Theatre Task Force, said the city has spent about $200,000 to remove lead and asbestos from...
LOGAN - Logan now boasts a new sport where it's won a state championship. The top-seeded and undefeated Longhorns dominated No. 2-seeded Grady 54-14 Friday in the finals of the New Mexico six-man football tournament. Logan had captured state championships in volleyball, boys track, girls track and both boys and girls basketball. But its first title on the gridiron proved elusive until Friday. Longhorns senior running back Haden Judd ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns in 10 carries....
RIO RANCHO - Logan had conquered Gateway Christian, Roy-Mosquero and Pine Hill, and it didn't have to worry about facing longtime rival Melrose again at the Class 1A volleyball tournament. But Logan couldn't get past an upstart Quemado squad. The third-seeded Eagles stopped the top-seeded Lady Longhorns 25-20, 25-20, 25-18 in the 1A title game Saturday at the Rio Rancho Events Center. Quemado (24-4) rarely trailed in any of its sets, winning its first volleyball state championship since 1977....
Quay County will have a new commissioner and a new assessor after Republican challengers triumphed over current officeholders Tuesday during the general election. Republican challenger Dallas Dowell, a rancher and retiree from NuStar Energy, won by nearly a 2-to-1 margin over Democratic incumbent District 1 Commissioner Robert Lopez, a farmer who also is serving as chairman of the body. Dowell gained 2,311 votes to Lopez's 1,233 in unofficial results announced by the Quay County Clerk's Office...
LOGAN - Nearly two years after receiving a multimillion-dollar state grant for the project, Logan village officials and contractors broke ground Friday for a recreational complex not far from the shores of Ute Lake. In as little as 18 months, the village could have a new softball or Little League field, a multiuse sports field, a large building that contains concessions and a pavilion, courts for pickleball and other amenities. With large earthmoving equipment serving as a backdrop, about 50...
One of the organizers for a drag-racing event in Tucumcari said he is optimistic he still can host an event on Route 66 in October 2025 - with a state senator's help - before a bigger event during the highway's centennial in 2026. Those developments were revealed during a visit Thursday by state Sen. Pete Campos (D-Las Vegas) at Quay County Democratic Party headquarters in Tucumcari. About 25 people - many of them business owners or local officials - attended. Campos, who has served in the...
SAN JON — State officials signaled they were receptive to a proposal from San Jon school officials and their architectural firm to build two full-size gymnasiums instead of preserving the two existing gyms for a new school. Several members of the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority chatted by videoconference with San Jon school board members and administrators, plus two representatives from Formative Architecture, during a work session Wednesday. Voters in the San Jon district last fall approved a $250,000 bond issue, making it e...
LOGAN - After spotting eighth-seeded New Mexico School for the Deaf an opening-possession touchdown, No. 1-seeded Logan tallied eight unanswered scores during a 62-7 victory Friday in the quarterfinals of the six-man football state tournament. The game ended midway through the third quarter due the 50-point mercy rule. The Roadrunners, which lost to the Longhorns 54-0 the previous week in a regular-season game, ended their year with a 3-6 record. The Longhorns (10-0) will host fourth-seeded...
Tucumcari's volleyball team captured another district championship with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 victory Saturday over Raton during an often-emotional final home match for THS this season, especially its seniors. The Lady Rattlers (17-4 overall, 8-0 in district) won their second straight district title and third in four years. Tucumcari has won eight in a row and is ranked fourth in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com. Sophomore Cambree Benavidez's match-high 14 kills paced a THS attack that totaled 39 kills...