Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sorted by date Results 226 - 250 of 1682
The administrator for the Quay County Detention Center and county manager said the jail likely will be converted to a scaled-down model that will lower the county’s costs. Jail administrator Johnny Reid said employees would undergo training in Roosevelt County after Thanksgiving that would give them a mandated pay raise. Reid and county manager Daniel Zamora said more county inmates are being taken to larger facilities that offer more certified services. As of that morning, there were 16 inmates in the Quay County Detention Center that soon w...
LOGAN - The Lady Longhorns defeated top-ranked Melrose for the first time in two years and notched their first district championship since 2018, though they didn't know the latter until about 20 minutes after Friday's match ended. Logan, ranked No. 2 in Class 1A by MaxPreps.com, prevailed in a 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-16, 15-13 epic in the regular season finale for both teams that took about two hours. Melrose (20-3) and Logan (17-5) each finished district play with 7-1 records. Logan athletic di...
Tucumcari's volleyball team won its second district title in three years Thursday night, and they did it at home this time. The Lady Rattlers conquered defending district champ Ruidoso 18-25, 25-15, 25-19, 26-24 in front of an estimated 600 people, the largest volleyball crowd in many years at Rattler Gymnasium. With the fourth set tied 24-24 and the Warriors trying to force a fifth and deciding set, Tucumcari's July Lafferty executed a kill to give her team a slim lead. Next, senior Haisley...
The local district’s attorney announced his office will not file charges against a Quay County sheriff’s deputy over the July shooting of an armed Tucumcari man during a domestic dispute. Deputy Joseph Otero shot Mathew J. Dimas, 38, three times early July 19 during a standoff in the backyard of a Logan home. Dimas died while being transported by ambulance to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari. District Attorney Timothy Rose sent a letter last month to New Mexico State Police Agent Justin Tiemann and other state police officials, stating no...
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board rejected a $20,000 funding request from a cannabis-themed Smoke Currency Tour scheduled to make a stop in the city next month. After hearing a presentation Wednesday by La Casa Verde co-owner Steve Farmer, board Chairman Matt Bednorz three times asked for a motion from fellow board members on the request. None was made, and the proposal died from the lack of action. Board members voiced reservations about the size of the funding request and questioned how effective an advertising or social media...
Tucumcari's volleyball team ran its winning streak to 11 and tightened its grip on first place in its district with a 25-11, 25-22, 25-15 victory over visiting Dexter on Thursday. The Lady Rattlers, who improved to 17-4 overall and 4-0 in District 4, knocked the Lady Demons (10-11, 1-3) out of district contention. Tucumcari can wrap up an undisputed district title with wins Tuesday at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell and at home Thursday against contender Ruidoso. The Lady Rattlers,...
The resurrected American Legion Post 20 of Tucumcari held an open house Saturday in a resurrected building - the former Hardee's. Post Treasurer Lorraine Romo signed up several new members to the post, which was reactivated this summer after it went inactive in the 1990s. Contractor John Pacheco, a Tucumcari native who lives in the Houston area, acquired the Hardee's building at the corner of First Street and Tucumcari Boulevard earlier this year with the intent of it serving as Post 20's...
LOGAN - For the Foxes, what a difference three weeks - and two healthy starters - make. Fifth-seeded Fort Sumner-House scored early and often against fourth-seeded Logan during a 52-0 victory Friday in the eight-man football playoffs. The game ended midway through the third quarter due to the mercy rule. The Foxes avenged a 38-34 district loss to the Longhorns on Oct. 6 where Fort Sumner blew a three-touchdown lead in the third quarter. One of those Foxes players who didn't play during the earli...
The boards of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation are considering hiring of one manager to oversee both organizations. Robert Hockaday, president of the EDC board, informed Quay County commissioners of the proposal during their regular meeting on Monday. Both organizations lost their leaders this summer. Chamber director Scott Crotzer resigned in July to take another position in Georgia. EDC director Pat Vanderpool resigned June 1 to take another position with the Regional Dev...
The Tucumcari Public Schools board unanimously tabled the final reading of policy advisories regarding gender identity and reproductive or gender-affirming care after hearing opposition to them from seven residents. Board member Jerry Lopez made the motions during the Oct. 16 meeting to table both items until near the end of the calendar year, when lawyers or state lawmakers might provide more clarity on what to do about those issues. The advisories were written by lawyers with the New Mexico School Boards Association. Both were one-sentence...
Nearly five months after a severe hailstorm, numerous buildings at Mesalands Community College still are awaiting repairs. That frustrated board of trustees member Phillip Box, a local insurance agent. “It concerns me that it’s dragged on so long,” he said during the board’s Oct. 17 meeting. “We should have had the claims taken care of by then. … We’ve not getting the service we pay for.” Mark Martinez, the college’s executive director of operations and procurement, said its insurance comes through the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Author...
The reactivated American Legion Post 20 of Tucumcari will host a trunk-or-treat event and an open house from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at its new headquarters in the renovated Hardee’s building. The event also will sign up area veterans as new members of the post. John Pacheco, the owner of the building and vice commander of Post 20, said in a phone interview last week he had nearly 20 members already signed up. “Our goal is to be a fully activated post, which allows us to have the bar and bingo facility,” he said during a telephone inter...
Longtime Tucumcari High School boys basketball coach John Span is temporarily stepping down from his post this coming season because he's recovering from major cancer surgery in August. During a school board meeting Oct. 16, athletic director Wayne Ferguson said Span would not coach the team this season because he is not yet able to handle the rigors of those duties. It would have been Span's 21st season. Span had been listed as the Rattlers' head coach on their schedule just a few weeks ago....
Both Tucumcari and Dexter were walking wounded during their district game at Rattler Stadium on Friday, but the Demons showed how strong their depth was during a 62-7 victory. Tucumcari (3-5, 1-2) lost starting safety and slotback Kamren Apodaca due to a concussion during the previous week's Hope Christian game. That forced coach Tarik Embrack to start a freshman or eighth-grader in the secondary. Dexter exploited that repeatedly during the game. "I wasn't surprised" by the outcome, Embrack...
SAN JON - About 50 residents attended a public forum last week to discuss a proposed bond issue that would lead to a $22 million state grant to build a new school and replace a deteriorating facility. San Jon Municipal Schools seeks an additional $250,000 in general-obligation bond debt in the Nov. 7 election. If voters approve it, the district would qualify for a match waiver and a $22 million grant from the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority to build a new school. After a free lasag...
Tucumcari city commissioners on Thursday accepted a $393,750 state grant to hire more police officers, though the mayor and police chief expressed a mild difference of opinion on how it should be spent. The city received the money from the state’s Law Enforcement Recruitment Fund, which funds 100% of new officers’ salaries in the first year, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third year. It is part of a $58 million statewide initiative to help police departments hire more personnel. During a work session Thursday, Police Chief Patti Lop...
SAN JON — Quay County’s manager told the San Jon Municipal Schools board last week that “great strides” had been made between the contractor and architect on insurance talks regarding a washed-out bridge. Flash flooding in late May destroyed a $4 million low water bridge on Old Route 66 just days from completion. The contractor, Vital Consulting Group, claims its contract from architect Stantec Engineering did not require builder’s insurance. Stantec disputes that. The 1931 bridge still stood after the flood, but county manager Daniel Za...
LOGAN - The Buffs were just too tough. No. 1-ranked Melrose, scoring three touchdowns on its first five plays from the line of scrimmage, rolled to a 54-0 district victory over Logan during the Longhorns' Homecoming game in eight-man football action Friday night. The game ended midway through the third quarter due to the mercy rule. The Buffaloes (8-1, 3-0) came into the game known as a running team. But second-year coach Drew Hatley added a wrinkle by opening his squad's passing game. Melrose r...
The Arch Hurley Conservancy District board of trustees last week voted not to allocate water, which means local farmers and ranchers likely won’t receive any more until at least spring due to freezing weather fast approaching. Board member Larry Perkins said he’d received a few calls requesting more water, “but not enough to allocate more.” Board President Robert Lopez said by shutting off the canals now, he said farmers would be more likely to receive “a nice charge” of water in the spring. The board in July allocated 3 inches of water per a...
Quay County commissioners on Monday approved agreements to receive a total of $9.8 million in federal funds over two fiscal years to build a new bridge on Old Route 66 between San Jon and Endee. The funds would include about $2.92 million for a design pact. The total project cost would be $10.22 million, according to documents in the commissioners’ packet. It would include a local match of $426,030. County manager Daniel Zamora said the current 1931 bridge, called Bridge 1042, for years has been listed as one of the state’s lowest-rated bri...
The Tucumcari school board heard a sales pitch last week from representatives of the New Mexico School Boards Association to help the board search for a replacement for its retiring superintendent. TPS superintendent Aaron McKinney gave the board verbal notice last month he intends to retire on Jan. 1 after 18 years of guiding the district. McKinney has signaled his retirement date might be fluid because he wants the ongoing baseball and softball ballparks redevelopment project to be substantially finished before stepping down. Tom Sullivan...
LOGAN - Logan's gymnasium wasn't close to being full Saturday, but the crowd noise and especially the play on the volleyball court resembled a state-tournament atmosphere. In the end, fourth-ranked Logan (10-4) emerged triumphant in an epic 25-21, 20-25, 26-24, 19-25, 18-16 non-district battle against second-ranked Legacy Academy of Albuquerque (11-2) in what likely will be a preview of the Class 1A state tournament. The Silverbacks' only previous loss was to No. 1-ranked Melrose in four sets...
Tucumcari's football team finds itself in an unfamiliar spot - in the running for a berth for the Class 3A playoffs. After a 12-7 victory over district foe Ruidoso on Sept. 29, the Rattlers (3-3) were ranked 11th in Class 3A in last week's MaxPreps.com ratings formula. That's a decent position for the Rattlers, as the top 12 seeded teams earn a postseason berth. The last time the Rattlers made the playoffs was in 2017, when they went 2-9 and lost in the first round to Tularosa. First-year...
Don't expect light reading from a local pastor's new book about Moses. Gordan Runyan, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari for the past 13 years and a faith columnist for the Quay County Sun, said readers probably will be "challenged" by the recently released "Radical Moses: The Amazing Civil Freedom Built into Ancient Israel" (self-published, 140 pages, e-book available). Runyan said during a phone interview that his book, published in late August, explains the libertarian type of gov...
SAN JON — It’s footwear worthy for King Kong if he’d been a Jimmy Buffett fan. Along the main drag of Route 66 in this eastern Quay County village sits a 40-foot-long behemoth under construction that aims to lay claim as the world’s largest flip-flop. It’s the brainchild of Jumah Culhane and wife Caryn Grzegorek, who in a few weeks will open a flip-flop-themed gift shop called Fun-Key Junk Emporium at the site of a long-closed gas station. Jumah said in a phone interview he and his wife, last ba...