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  • Area students cross stage

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 26, 2021

    A crowd estimated at more than 900 people gathered at Rattler Stadium on Friday morning to see 43 Tucumcari High School students walk across a temporary stage to receive their diplomas. It had been more than 15 years since THS held a graduation ceremony at its football field. Because COVID-19 restrictions allowed 75% capacity at the spacious stadium versus 33% in the Snake Pit gymnasium, school officials took a gamble that good weather would prevail and allow more friends and family to attend...

  • Dog's death leaves trauma, hard feelings

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 26, 2021

    There's an adage in journalism: "When dog bites man, that's not news. When man bites dog, that's news." When a report came over that a local man had fatally stabbed a dog in self-defense, that saying came to mind. Though the adage is a humorous way to describe newsworthiness, this was no laughing matter. The incident left a dog dead, traumatized at least a couple of children and left hard feelings in a northeast Tucumcari neighborhood. The incident involved Isaac Pacheco Jr. and his 2-year-old...

  • Tucumcari baseball hangs tough

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    The Tucumcari baseball team was hanging tough, trailing visiting Santa Rosa 6-3 after six innings. Then the Rattlers were forced to change pitchers, and the roof fell in. After Tucumcari coach Dennis Dysart lifted starting hurler Johnathan Blea after 6 1/3 innings during a May 11 game because of a mounting pitch count, the Lions scored 11 runs, mostly against Rattler position players who'd never pitched before. Santa Rosa's lead ballooned to 17-3, which turned out to be the final score. In the...

  • Sign back on display after a decade

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    A neon sign that once hung on the now-defunct Vorenberg Hotel in downtown Tucumcari recently was recovered by the Tucumcari Historical Museum and is back on display there after it was misplaced and apparently forgotten for more than a decade. An official with the museum hopes to have the sign's neon tubing replaced so it can glow again. Cindy Lathrom, a treasurer of the Tucumcari Historical Research Institute that runs the museum, said she discovered an item about the sign while researching...

  • Official questions the mask mandate

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    A Logan school board member, irked by the boys basketball team’s failure to qualify for the state tournament partly due to COVID-19-related game cancellations, advocated the school flouting the state’s mask mandate and vented against other state restrictions during the board’s meeting last week. Board member Kyle Perez indicated during his comments at the May 10 meeting the pandemic was being prolonged by state-mandated safeguards at schools. “The longer they keep us restricted like we are and keep us masked up, this disease isn’t going away,...

  • Moriarty dominates Rattler Roundup

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    Tucumcari was the host school for the season-opening Rattler Relays track and field event, but it was Moriarty that ruled the roost. Both the boys and girls teams from Moriarty took home titles during the nine-team event Saturday at Rattler Stadium. It was the first track and field event for area teams in more than two years after the COVID-19 canceled the 2020 track season. In the boys competition, Moriarty boys finished with 138 points, well ahead of runner-up Logan’s 88. Tucumcari finished fo...

  • San Jon adds extracurricular options

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    It appears softball and cross country will be added as extracurricular options during the 2021-2022 school year at San Jon Municipal Schools. The district’s board of trustees voted to add those sports during its regular meeting May 10. Superintendent Janet Gladu said a recent survey of students indicated eight of them expressed interest in softball, eight were interested in baseball and five were interested in cross country. For softball, Gladu said the Coyotes’ likely immediate opponents would be Tucumcari and Logan. She said if not eno...

  • Arch Hurley votes no

    Ron Warnick|May 19, 2021

    Despite recent rains and a light mist falling on the morning of its meeting, the Arch Hurley Conservancy District board last week voted again to not allocate any Conchas Lake water to its irrigation system because of persistent drought. District manager Franklin McCasland reported during the May 11 meeting that Conchas Lake’s water level was 4,158.5 feet that morning. Board President Robert Lopez noted that was about one foot lower than the previous month. McCasland said the lake in April had an intake of 398 acre-feet of water but lost 2...

  • Rattler Reunion making return

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 12, 2021

    The annual Rattler Reunion returns on Aug. 5-7 after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still mindful of the virus, the event that typically draws hundreds of Tucumcari High School alumni instead likely will be spread out at several venues throughout the city instead of just at the convention center. The Rattler Reunion's board of directors — meeting in person and by videoconference — voted unanimously Saturday morning to proceed with scheduling the event instead of postponing it to 2022, said event President Joseph Szaloy. Sza...

  • Officials hear business challenges

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 12, 2021

    The executive director of the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corp. on Monday told Quay County commissioners of the challenges of attracting employers to rural communities and the frustrations of businesses getting enough employees. Patrick Vanderpool of the EDC said many prospective companies seeking to relocate seek infrastructure that towns such as Tucumcari cannot deliver, such as being within 10 miles of a major municipal airport, nearby machine shops that can make components, buildings with 25-foot ceilings or 50 megawatts of...

  • Lady Rattlers fall twice in doubleheader

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 12, 2021

    The Tucumcari softball team was much less experienced on the field than West Las Vegas, and it showed during 18-0 and 30-0 losses during the Lady Rattlers' season-opening doubleheader May 4. The Lady Rattlers had other disadvantages, as well. Four players were sidelined for 10 days by a COVID-19 quarantine, and two others remained out until Friday due to another quarantine. Pandemic restrictions also prevented players taking part in many offseason programs. Tucumcari coach CJ Oglesby said other...

  • Track season starts Saturday

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 12, 2021

    The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have adversely affected participation in Tucumcari's sports programs. Track and field is no different. When Tucumcari's track season begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with the Rattlers Relays at Rattler Stadium, coach Wayne Ferguson estimates he'll have only 15 boys and four girls participating. Spring sports were canceled last year because of the pandemic. With participation numbers down with the resumption of those sports this spring, Ferguson said he has no idea...

  • Man accused of injuring two with shotgun

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    Police arrested and jailed a Tucumcari man after he was accused of injuring two people with a shotgun blast Saturday night after an argument in a south Tucumcari neighborhood. Juan Rubio, 40, has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, all felonies, Tucumcari Police Sgt. Shaun Slate said on Monday. The aggravated battery counts were the most serious charge — a third-degree felony that could lead up to t...

  • Jury fails to reach verdict

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    A Quay County jury failed to reach verdict Friday afternoon with a former Logan Municipal Schools teacher’s whistleblower and retaliation lawsuit against the district’s superintendent, resulting in a mistrial. Logan lawyer Warren Frost, representing plaintiff Rhyan Daugherty in the case, said Friday the jury of nine men and three women voted 9-3 in favor of his client, one short of winning the case. The jurors advanced no further after 3 1/2 hours of deliberation inside the Tucumcari courthouse. Barring a settlement, Frost said the lawsuit aga...

  • Governor: Restrictions to be lifted at 60% vaccinated

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday said New Mexico’s red-to-turquoise COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted once 60% of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated against the disease. That is projected to happen by late June. Following guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention earlier in the week, the state also lifted the mask mandate for outdoor exercise. Masks will continue to be required indoors indefinitely. Regarding the projected reopening of the state’s economy, Lujan Grisham said: “We are conquer...

  • Tucumcari, San Jon basketball seasons cut short

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    COVID-19 cases cut short the already abbreviated seasons for the Tucumcari and San Jon basketball programs last week. At Tucumcari, one case among a student forced the school district to send 52 students home who were in close contact to quarantine. As a result, the Rattlers’ final two games against New Mexico Military Institute and Dexter — the latter which already had been rescheduled due to a COVID-19 case there — were canceled. A Tucumcari baseball game scheduled at Robertson on Thursday also was canceled. And several district games for L...

  • Logan loses postseason to COVID-19

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    LOGAN - The Logan boys basketball team on Friday not only lost a chance to down undefeated and defending Class 1A champion Melrose, but it also lost a chance at its usual postseason berth. Melrose's Tate Sorgen sank two free throws with 31.2 seconds left to provide his team's decisive margin, and Garrett Bollinger's 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have tied the game missed during a 54-51 Buffaloes victory. COVID-19 outbreaks essentially prevented the Longhorns from claiming its usual...

  • Lady Longhorns fall to defending champ Melrose

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|May 5, 2021

    LOGAN - COVID-19 outbreaks took away a sizable part of the Logan girls basketball team's schedule and its head coach on Friday. It also effectively took away its usual postseason berth after the Lady Longhorns lost to defending Class 1A champ Melrose 49-31. Logan head coach Glynna Strand was recovering after contracting the disease last month but didn't feel well enough to guide her team Friday. Assistant coaches Dustin Robertson and Robert Young guided the team instead. Playing their first...

  • Mesalands board chooses president

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    Mesalands Community College has a new president. The college's board of trustees announced Friday afternoon after a brief executive session via videoconference it voted unanimously to offer educational consultant Gregory Todd Busch of Tucson, Arizona, a contract. Busch begins his duties May 1 and will work remotely for the first few weeks. Details of Busch's contract will be finalized later. Board Chairman Jim Streetman read from a prepared statement: "We feel Dr. Greg Busch's educational...

  • Officials approve lease for festival

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    The Quay County Commission on Monday approved a lease agreement with Tucumcari Rawhide Days so the festival can use the fairgrounds for the 2022 festival, which plans a Texas Longhorn show in addition to its other western-themed activities. The meeting also was the first attended by new county manager Daniel Zamora, who took over after longtime manager Richard Primrose retired in mid-April. Primrose sat quietly in the audience gallery during Monday's meeting. Karen Alarcon, a chairwoman for the...

  • Date set for Tucumcari High graduation

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    It appears Tucumcari High School’s graduation ceremony tentatively will occur at 11 a.m. May 21 at Rattler Stadium — if weather permits. Discussions over graduation took up a chunk of the school board’s regular meeting April 19. Last year’s graduation took place drive-up style in front of the high school because of COVID-19 restrictions. Each graduate was dropped off in front of the stage by his or her family’s vehicle shortly before receiving a diploma. During her monthly report, high school principal Nicole Bright-Lesly said Quay County’s...

  • Mesalands approves computer purchase

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    The Mesalands Community College board of trustees approved a purchase requisition of 300 Chromebook computers and sleeves that will be given to students as part of a pilot program this summer. Larry Wickham, the college’s institutional technology director, said during the board’s regular April 20 meeting the total purchase of $70,146 would be part of a future 1-to-1 program where all Mesalands students would receive the computers. Wickham said the Chromebooks would be returned at the end of the summer and reissued to new students. He said tho...

  • Grady boys defeat host San Jon

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    SAN JON - After a slow start, the Grady boys basketball team's transition game came alive in a big way during a 59-19 district win Thursday over winless host San Jon. The Bronchos (2-6) led just 7-4 after one quarter but erupted for 24 points in the second period to take a 31-9 lead by intermission. Grady continually pushed the ball rapidly up the floor and kept finding easy shots for teammates against a young and inexperienced Coyotes team. Grady coach Jonathan Langan was happy to his team's...

  • Grady girls take win after sluggish start

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    SAN JON - Grady showed what one highly skilled player could do for a girls basketball team when the other squad lacks the same. Grady senior center Teryn Foote scored 19 points, including three 3-point shots, during a 39-27 district victory Thursday over a San Jon team still searching for its first victory of the abbreviated season. San Jon started strong, leading 8- 5 after one quarter and 11-5 early in the second period. Grady coach Alicia Rush admitted her team, which improved to 3-5...

  • Tucumcari to host season-opening softball doubleheader

    Ron Warnick, QCS Senior Writer|Apr 28, 2021

    Tucumcari High School softball coach CJ Oglesby admits he was ready to quit entirely when his promising team's season and other spring sports were canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But when practices began for his young and inexperienced squad in early April, much of the heartache from that lost season melted away. "I admit I was iffy after that season because I put so much heart into those girls," Oglesby said before practice last week. "To see it go down like that was...

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