Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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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 sched...
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...
Quay County's sheriff fatally shot a rural Tucumcari man who was brandishing a firearm at healthcare personnel and law enforcement officers on May 14. Sheriff Dennis Garcia volunteered the information about his involvement during a phone interview two days after the shooting of Aubrey James Osteen, 77, at Osteen's home on Quay Road 49 about a dozen miles south of Tucumcari. "Because I was involved, I feel the I need to be transparent about it," Garcia said in a phone interview with the Quay...
SAN JON — San Jon Municipal Schools during a special board meeting Wednesday chose Formative Architecture of Albuquerque to design its new school. Superintendent Alan Umholtz said a district committee looked at 11 architectural firms that expressed interest in designing San Jon’s new school. He said he was “amazed” at how many firms showed up at the initial meeting about the project, though two declined to submit packets to the committee. He said the committee whittled the list to four. Those applicants were interviewed a day before the mee...
ALBUQUERQUE - The Logan baseball team wasn't going to pull off a second miracle in as many days. Dathan Yeary and his Melrose teammates made sure of that. Like he did last year, Yeary frustrated the hitters of top-seeded Logan in a complete-game 9-1 victory Friday in the Class 1A baseball championship at Santa Ana Star Field at the University of New Mexico. The Buffaloes (14-6), seeded third, captured their second state title in a row. Melrose vanquished previously unbeaten Logan in the 1A...
At least two members of the Quay County Commission on Monday said they were amenable to giving $2-an-hour pay raises to employees after the county manager said such increases were doable with the 2024-2025 budget. The commission likely will approve its budget with those raises during its next meeting on May 27. County manager Daniel Zamora said he examined the financial effect of giving $1 or $2-an-hour pay raises for hourly employees and department heads for the forthcoming fiscal year. Zamora said he was moderately surprised to find the $2...
The Quay County sheriff admitted to fatally shooting a rural Tucumcari man who was brandishing a firearm at healthcare personnel and law enforcement officers earlier this week. Sheriff Dennis Garcia volunteered the information about his involvement during a phone interview two days after the shooting of Aubrey James Osteen, 77, at his home on Quay Road 49 about a dozen miles south of Tucumcari. “Because I was involved, I feel the I need to be transparent about it,” Garcia said in a phone interview with the Quay County Sun. New Mexico State Pol...
Art City no longer is just a concept in Matt Monahan's head. It's now reality. Three months after announcing at a Quay County Commission meeting his intention to build the large-scale sculpture park and campground on 40 acres a few miles north of Tucumcari off Highway 104, Art City held a soft opening in late April. Eleven of 14 of the large sculptures planned for the site have been installed, with at least two more coming by the fall. Art City is selling day passes at its visitartcity.com...
ALBUQUERQUE - Tucumcari senior Haisley Huffman added two Class 3A track championships to her resume last weekend, including her third straight in the long jump. Huffman ended her storied THS career with a total of five individual state championships - three in the long jump and two in the triple jump. In her last two previous championships in the long jump, Huffman either barely won or needed a strong final jump to win it. This time, there was little drama. Huffman's first effort in the...
ALBUQUERQUE - With a Class 1A team championship on the line, Logan's 1,600-meter boys relay squad came through. The Longhorns edged district rival Melrose by a two points for the state title Saturday after Hayden Bruhn, Diego Sanchez, Devin Kotara and Kaeden Stoner won the race - the final event of the meet - in a time of 3 minutes, 38.50 seconds. Logan led almost wire-to-wire, prevailing by 2.4 seconds. Melrose and Logan had been tied at 90 points apiece going into the race. The relay win gave...
SAN JON — The superintendent of San Jon Municipal Schools said Wednesday he believes a lawsuit against the Public Education Department’s its 180-day instruction rule will be in court for up to two years. Alan Umholtz told the San Jon school board during his superintendent’s report that lawyers for the New Mexico School Superintendents Association “feel very good” about its suit against the PED. The association and more than 50 school districts in New Mexico sued to block implementation of the PED’s 180-day rule, which would increase in...
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees approved a 2024-2025 budget that projects the college still climbing its way out of red ink after financial troubles surfaced in late 2022 and early 2023. The budget, which begins July 1, specifies $7.67 million in unrestricted revenue and $1.86 million in restricted revenue. The 2024-2025 budget states the college’s ending balance starting at a $250,998 deficit at the end of the current fiscal year on July 1, with it being $162,270 in the red in June 2025. That would be an improvement of a...
Free apparently is popular. Facing slow ticket sales for a Cinco de Mayo concert and complaints on social media, a committee of city and Mesalands Community College officials decided to make it a free event less than a week before it was scheduled to take place. By 9 p.m. Saturday night, well over 100 people had gathered in the Tucumcari Convention Center to listen to and dance to the music of Colorado AllStarz, with more streaming through the venue's front doors. Jonathan Brito, a city commissi...
LOGAN - The Longhorns baseball team nabbed another district title Friday in dramatic fashion - a walk-off, three-run home run in extra innings by sophomore Mason Wallin, capping a 6-3 comeback victory over defending Class 1A champion Melrose in the first game of a doubleheader. Wallin also scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Buffaloes were one strike from securing the win. That run forced extra innings. Logan finished the day at 16-4 overall and...
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board refused to cover half of the lodging cost of mural artist Doug Quarles when he was in town assessing the condition of the city’s murals and repairing others, including two at the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce building. Board member Michael Carlson voted to recommend reimbursing half the $2,620.61 cost for 26 days in April and May 2023 at the Motel Safari that was initially covered by the chamber. “It does benefit the city,” Carlson said of the repairs to the murals, which are popular photo...
Tucumcari city commissioners during a Thursday work session discussed possible changes to the animal control code, including higher fines for owners of dogs or cats not neutered or spayed and a requirement to hold a license for breeding animals. City manager Paula Chacon, Tucumcari Police Chief Patti Lopez and Paws & Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County President Kathi McClellan have met regularly since last fall to discuss possible changes to the code. The amendments to animal codes weren’t acted upon during Thursday’s regular meeting. City com...
More than 50 school districts, including all four in Quay County, joined a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the New Mexico Public Education Department’s 180-day instruction rule set for this fall. The 90-page suit, filed in Curry County, seeks a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to keep the rule from taking effect on July 1. The suit had been expected for weeks. The PED’s rule, announced in March, essentially would force nearly all school districts with four-days-a-week schedules to move to five days. Four-day districts can app...
The Tucumcari Film Festival capped its annual awards ceremony Saturday night with a surprise award to the owners of the historic Odeon Theatre. Bobby Hockaday, the festival's chief organizer, announced the Curtain Call Award to the husband-and-wife team of Robert Lopez and Christy Dominguez, who have owned the venue since 2013. The Odeon, which dates to 1936, is under contract to be sold to an unnamed local resident. Hockaday described Lopez and Dominguez as "stewards" of the theater. "Your...
Newly hired Tucumcari Public Schools superintendent Carl Marano said he’d talk with teachers, staffers and parents in the district, but he said his first priority is students. “A lot of times we forget about listening to the students,” he said shortly after the school board voted to hire him during a special meeting on April 22. “And I think that’s No. 1.” Marano, 52, said he learned that approach during his quarter-century in education, including at his current employer, Santa Fe Public Schools, where he is an assistant superintendent. He’s al...
The prospect of a possible five-day work week this fall at Tucumcari Public Schools already is leading to the departure of several educators. Interim superintendent Dave Johnson said during the school board’s regular meeting last Monday at least five to seven teachers or staffers “are not coming back” for the 2024-2025 school year. He said five to seven educators are looking for positions at another school district or another vocation because they don’t want to commute to Tucumcari five days a week. He said some of those teachers reside...
Quay County manager Daniel Zamora said Monday during a budget work session he would advocate a $1-an-hour raises for employees for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, plus additional pay for hard-to-fill positions. Zamora said he considered $2-an-hour raises across the board, but “I don’t see having that wiggle room.” He said he wanted input from commissioners before proceeding. Commission Chairman Robert Lopez agreed with generally keeping raises at $1. He said there were indications that growth in gross receipts tax revenue was beginning to level...
GRADY - Look out for the Longhorns. Logan's baseball team dominated formerly No. 1-ranked Grady during a district doubleheader Friday by scores of 14-0 and 12-0, setting up a key clash at district rival and defending Class 1A champion Melrose on Monday. In the first game, the Longhorns belted five home runs - including two each by Mason Wallin and Jace Jackson - and scored in every inning against the Bronchos. Logan ace Kaeden Stoner needed just 55 pitches for a complete-game, five-inning...
Last fall, the owner of a Tucumcari automotive repair shop offered to crowd-source repairs for a teen's pickup truck for free in exchange for showing the rebuilt vehicle at a street-rod show. He called it "The Dream Build." Nine months later, the teen's parents filed a lawsuit, alleging the repairs hadn't been completed and that the truck be returned. Tony and Rosalee Olguin filed the complaint for return of property and damages on April 11 in Tucumcari District Court against Robert Moore Jr. an...
Four possible updates to Tucumcari Public Schools' five-year facilities master plan would lead to the tearing down of its middle school due to stagnant enrollment and underused buildings. TPS held a community meeting last Monday in the Mesa Cafeteria to discuss possible options for the district. About 30 people - many of them district employees or administrators - attended. Susan Miller, a senior director of strategic consulting for Ohio-based Woolpert, led the meeting. She said her company was...
The Tucumcari Public Schools board interviewed three candidates for superintendent on Friday, though a decision on who to hire probably won’t happen for another 10 days or so. The board interviewed current Tucumcari Middle School principal Lendall Borden, Santa Fe Public Schools assistant superintendent for instruction and school support Carl Marano and Explore Academy of Albuquerque assistant principal Anthony Branch for the position. A fourth candidate scheduled to be interviewed, Lovington Municipal Schools principal Steve Barron, dropped o...