Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sorted by date Results 1708 - 1729 of 1729
Raton and Tucumcari made plenty of mistakes during their volleyball match. It was the Lady Rattlers who made a few more of them during a 25-27, 25-18, 18-25, 16-25 loss Thursday night at the Snake Pit. In the fourth and deciding game, Tucumcari (1-8) fell behind 21-12 and never quite recovered. In the first game, the trailing Lady Rattlers rallied for a 5-0 run to take a 25-24 lead but surrendered the next three points, including the clincher. Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez was frustrated by...
Artists Doug and Sharon Quarles, known for dozens of murals they painted in Tucumcari since 2003, recently returned to town to stay after spending five years in southern Arizona. The couple announced on Facebook in mid-August they were moving back. They largely were responsible for Tucumcari officials describing their town as the "City of Murals" in the last 15 years. Last week, the Quarleses talked about their return over coffee and water at a local restaurant. "We know so many people here...
Plateau Telecommunications announced Friday it will purchase Comcast’s cable television assets in Tucumcari and expand its Plateau Fiber high-speed internet services in that market. In a news release, Plateau stated it expected the deal to close by the end of the month. Launa Waller, regulatory manager for Plateau, stated in an email Monday the company will hire the Comcast employees, “so there will not be a decrease (or increase) in local employees at this time.” Waller said terms of the sale were confidential. The news release also state...
Residents of Logan will see hikes in their property tax bills while those in the House area will see a decrease after Quay County commissioners on Monday approved rates for 2018. Homeowners in Tucumcari will see a slight increase in their property taxes, while landowners in the Tucumcari area will see no change. Janie Hoffman, chief deputy of the county assessor’s office, said Logan property-tax rates will rise about 38 cents per $1,000 assessed value. She attributed the increase to a collapse in lot values for the lawsuit-embroiled Ute Lake Ra...
FORT SUMNER — Defending Class 2A state champion Fort Sumner scored early and often and suffocated Tucumcari’s offense during a 55-0 decision Friday night that ended at halftime because of the mercy rule. After overwhelming their opponent the previous week, the Rattlers (1-2) were the ones who became overwhelmed. The defense of the Foxes (2-0) allowed just 59 yards of total offense and forced five turnovers. Fort Sumner, which has a cooperative agreement with House and has three players from tha...
Logan staked its claim as the best high-school volleyball team in the area — at least for now — by winning the Tucumcari Invitational tournament on Saturday. The Lady Longhorns (6-1) defeated Grady/San Jon in the title game 25-7, 25-10, 25-16. Logan’s Jordan Hines was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and three other Lady Longhorns -- Karli Webb, Kesleah Shields and Harlie Roach — were voted to the all-tournament team. Host Tucumcari (1-7) finished fourth, falling to East Mountain...
With mixed feelings, the owners of the Blue Swallow Motel - Tucumcari's most famous Route 66 motel - said they have decided to put up the property for sale as their eighth tourist season there comes to an end. Co-owners Kevin and Nancy Mueller announced the listing on Facebook last week. The Michigan natives bought the motel in 2011 and made numerous improvements to the property, including new plumbing, new subfloors, new tankless water heaters and, most recently, a new roof. Hamilton Reality...
The administrator at Tucumcari’s hospital said the facility would be forced to cut expenses — including possibly jobs and medical services — if Quay County voters in November reject a renewal of the gross-receipt tax for the hospital. The current one-eighth percent tax raises about $200,000 a year to help operate Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital. Quay County commissioners in late August voted to put the tax-renewal measure on the Nov. 6 general-election ballot. The tax first was approved during a special election in 1987. A new state law requi...
Tucumcari's speed in the backfield and on defense overwhelmed a young Albuquerque Academy team 44-0 on Friday night during the Rattlers' home football opener. The Rattlers (1-1) passed the ball only twice - mostly because they didn't need to amid 359 yards rushing. Seth Martinez led Tucumcari with 159 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 10 carries. Robbie Hartmann ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. "We lost to a clearly superior team," longtime Academy coach Kevin Carroll said....
LOGAN — Three teams from Quay County advanced to the semifinals of the annual Logan Lady Longhorn Volleyball Tournament, but it was a team from Texas that won it all Saturday. Friona conquered Class 2A defending state champion Logan 25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20 in the semifinal, then downed Grady/San Jon (2-2) in the title match 20-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-16. Logan (2-1) won the third-place game against Tucumcari 25-17, 25-7, 25-12. The Lady Rattlers fell to Grady/San Jon 8-25, 14-25, 17-25 during the semifinal. Tucumcari (0-5), despite advancing d...
With his team trailing with less than a minute left, Ethan Short of San Jon/Grady recovered an onside kick, then scored the winning touchdown as time expired in a 76-71 six-man football victory Friday at Lake Arthur that featured eight lead changes. The Coyotes (1-1) took leads of 44-26 and 52-32, but the Panthers (0-2) chipped away in the second half and seized a 71-64 advantage in the fourth quarter. Coyotes coach Adrian Jones acknowledged exhaustion played a role in his team's lead evaporating. But he also said his squad showed resilience, a...
LOGAN - More than 50 surfers tested their skills in Quay County, and they didn't even need an ocean to do it. Ute Lake on Sunday hosted its first wake-surfing event on a cove near the 12 Shores Golf Club. The lake itself didn't make big waves, but specially made boats create a wake a surfboarder can ride for up to hundreds of feet behind the boat. Laurie Strebeck, co-owner of Beck's Boats in Logan with her husband Layne, said she was hoping for 20 participants for the inaugural event. Instead, i...
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce talked extensively about local and state issues - especially jobs, education, health care - on which he believes he can make an impact if elected. Pearce was dismissive, however, in discussing state tax reform and President Donald Trump's mounting legal problems. Pearce said he doesn't want to waste his time trying to persuade a Democratic-controlled Legislature on the former, and he says has no control over the latter. Pearce, a congressman in...
Tucumcari’s coach could have come up with several reasons the Rattlers lost a back-and-forth 28-26 game Friday night at Escalante that wasn’t decided until the last minute. But he directed most of his ire on his team drawing untimely flags from the officials. “We killed ourselves with penalties,” Tucumcari head coach Wayne Ferguson said. Tucumcari was flagged eight times for 65 yards against the Lobos, a small-school power that’s won three state titles since 2012. The Rattlers lost a 58-yard touchdown run by Seth Martinez early in the secon...
Longtime Tucumcari cross-country coach Gary Hittson likes the talent level of his girls team. Trouble is, only four are participating so far this year, and the Lady Rattlers need five runners to qualify for team competition. “We’re beating the hallways, trying to get girls out (for the sport),” Hittson, in his 14th season, said. Both the Tucumcari boys and girls cross-country teams open their seasons Friday at the Clovis Invitational. The starting gun will sound at 3 p.m. at Ned Houk Park in Clovis. Hittson said he has three runners on the g...
Tucumcari's volleyball squad opened the season with losses against perennial area power Melrose and Route 66 rival Santa Rosa. On Saturday in Santa Rosa, the Lady Rattlers fell 8-25, 19-25, 22-25. Despite the loss, Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said she saw improvement from the previous match, including better play in the final two sets against the Lady Lions (2-0). "We passed well, but we couldn't get the ball down to score," she said. "Santa Rosa is a good defensive team, and they picked up...
SAN JON - When Vaughn senior Morgan Berumen didn't pass over the San Jon/Grady defense, he ran around or through it during a 61-21 victory Friday over the hosting Coyotes during the season-opener in six-man football. Berumen accounted for well over 300 yards of total offense for the Eagles, which scored touchdowns on eight of 12 possessions. "We couldn't contain him," Coyotes coach Adrian Jones said. "That's something we're going to have to work on. We've got a long of young guys and not a lot...
Quay County commissioners on Friday unanimously voted to place the renewal of a hospital gross receipts tax on the ballot for the Nov. 6 election. The current one-eighth percent tax raises about $200,000 a year to help operate Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari as a county facility. The tax first was approved in a special election in 1987. However, a new state law requires the consolidation of most local elections into general elections, so the hospital tax now must be voted on amid other general-election races in November. County...
During my duties as the new reporter for the Quay County Sun, I met quite a few area residents. They asked questions. "Where did you come from?" "How long have you lived here?" "How did you end up here?" One question often arose: "Why Tucumcari?" I tried to answer that as succinctly as possible. But a few responses had me mentally backtracking and thinking a proper answer should have been: "Why not Tucumcari?" The Cliff Notes on my background: Grew up on a Midwest farm five miles from the...
Mesalands Community College not only wants to keep student enrollment growing, but it wants to keep even more of the students it has. Aaron Kennedy, vice president of student affairs, gave a report on Mesalands' enrollment statistics and presented a 63-page enrollment plan during the college board of directors' meeting Tuesday. The college's institutional headcount and full-time equivalency numbers have increased in each of the last five school years, the report showed. The number of credit hours also has increased four of the last five years....
A big thunderstorm - the fourth in as many nights - dampened bidding somewhat during the Junior Livestock Sale on Saturday night at the Quay County Fair in Tucumcari. Forty-nine animals sold for a preliminary total of $131,450 - less than the $133,000 a year ago. The torrential rain, lightning and some hail struck about halfway through the auction, sending spectators on the outdoor bleachers scurrying for cover. Justin Knight, president of the Quay County Fair board, acknowledged the storm...
If the Tucumcari varsity volleyball team doesn't see a lot of improvement, it won't be from a lack of effort. Following a 4-17 season marred by injuries and inexperience last year, third-year coach Dana Benevidez said her players took several off-season steps to improve their skills. Those included a players' camp at Eastern New Mexico University, a team camp at Adams State University in Colorado, a "play day" event in Texico and open-gym workouts in July. "We have much higher expectations,"...