Serving the High Plains
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Despite New Mexico residents spending more money to run climate-control systems to counter a typically hot summer, a recent report shows the Land of Enchantment having the lowest energy costs of all 50 states. WalletHub reported New Mexico residents’ average monthly energy bill was $376, which was $24 cheaper than the lowest-cost runner-up, Arizona. The report accounts for costs for electricity, natural gas, motor fuel and home heating oil. Breaking down the numbers from WalletHub, New Mexico’s average monthly electricity cost was $103, sec...
Dacian Montoya, a senior at Logan High School, will compete in bull riding later this month at the 76th annual National High School Finals Rodeo after finishing second in that event in the state championships. The NHSFR on July 14-20 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, features more than 1,700 contestants from 44 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. Montoya, who lives in Tucumcari, earned a position on the New Mexico bull riding contingent after finishing second at the state...
Jordan’s Way will conduct a fundraiser on July 18 at Paws & Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County as part of its third 50-state tour. The public is invited to the event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 18 at the Tucumcari shelter at 6427 Quay Road AI, also known as Airport Road. The event will include challenges and games. It also will be broadcast live on the Facebook page of Paws & Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County. Kris Rotonda founded Jordan’s Way after his favorite dog, Jordan, died. Jordan had spent the first 3 1/2 years of her life in a she...
Two men were reported missing in the region last week. New Mexico State Police issued a Silver Alert for Carmel Cresenciano Jasper, 76, who last was seen May 30 at the Circle K convenience store on South First Street near Interstate 40 in Tucumcari. Jasper, listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, last was seen wearing a red jacket, blue jeans and a green shirt with "Team Jasper" on it. Authorities issue a Silver Alert for an endangered person who has been confirmed as missing, who is 50 years and...
Tucumcari, Logan and San Jon each are organizing festivities this week to celebrate Independence Day that mostly won’t conflict with each other. On Thursday, July 4, Tucumcari will host an Independence Day parade starting at 10 a.m. The route will begin at Lake Street, go west on Route 66 and end at the Tucumcari Convention Center on the city’s west side. The Tucumcari / Quay County Chamber of Commerce is inviting those with floats, classic cars, car clubs, horse riders, motorcycles, ATVs, bicycles, walking groups of individuals to sign up on...
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees met for about two hours behind closed doors on Thursday to interview two candidates for president of the college. The board took no action when open session resumed. Board Chairman Richard Primrose said after the meeting he anticipates a president will be hired during the board’s next scheduled meeting on July 16. Primrose declined to identify the two candidates interviewed Thursday, but he said he would reveal them during the board’s July 16 meeting. Primrose said before the meeting he wan...
It appears the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corp. won’t have its lapsed federal nonprofit status restored until sometime in early 2025. The EDC’s interim director, Kristine Olsen, told board members last Tuesday there is an eight-month backlog for the Internal Revenue Service to act on nonprofit requests. That would put the EDC’s federal nonprofit reinstatement in early 2025. The IRS revoked the organization’s nonprofit status in 2016 after it had failed to file the required documents since 2012. Olsen said she decided against a reins...
The City of Tucumcari and eight other defendants have settled a lawsuit involving a local teenager who died in an SUV accident in January 2023 at Five Mile Park. Tucumcari High School freshman Jayden Gloms, 15, died in the accident. His father, Steven Gloms, filed the wrongful death and negligence lawsuit in Quay County District Court about six months later. The Quay County Sun is not naming many of the defendants in the lawsuit because they identify juveniles at the crash scene. Former...
Infrastructure needs and funding for a new hospital were the primary concerns from city and county officials in a discussion session last Tuesday with U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan and two of his staff members at Tucumcari City Hall. City manager Paula Chacon said a developer wants to do something with the long-closed Tucumcari Truck Terminal site on the city's west side, but it will need several miles of new sewer pipe and lift stations to replace those that have gone bad from disuse. Chacon also...
Two local students recently attained positions in the higher echelons of FFA. Maddie Kenyon, who will be a junior this fall at House High School, learned last week she will be an FFA in the USA reporter for the national organization. Also, MiKayla Klinger, who will be a senior at Tucumcari, was elected vice president of New Mexico FFA and president of its District II, which includes much of the northeast part of the state. Kenyon will begin training for the FFA in the USA reporter position in mid-July, after which she will submit a minimum of...
A Melrose man died during a motorcycle crash near San Jon. Dustin Vineyard, 51, was traveling south on Highway 469 near milepost 17 the afternoon of June 23. “For an unknown reason, the motorcycle left the roadway and hit a highway sign,” New Mexico State Police public information officer Silver Wilson said. “Vineyard was thrown from the motorcycle and was pronounced dead on the scene by the Office of the Medical Examiner.” Wilson said Vineyard did not wear a helmet at the time of the crash. According to dispatcher call logs, the acciden...
Tucumcari residents and officials received their first look at a proposed wayfinding plan to help direct travelers in the city. About a dozen people at City Hall watched the presentation last Monday from Groundwork Studio of Albuquerque and Leighton Moon of Alamogordo, contractors for New Mexico MainStreet that will fund the proposal. Groundwork helped develop other signage for Santa Rosa, Raton, Lovington, Taos, Truth or Consequences, Corrales and Ruidoso. Leighton Moon designed the city's...
A total of 630 deer licenses leftover from the 2024-2025 big-game draw will go on sale at 10 a.m. June 26 through the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish’s online license system. The first-come, first-served sale will only be open to New Mexico residents during the first 24 hours. If any licenses remain after the first 24 hours, the sale will be opened to non-residents at 10 a.m. June 27. Important note for youth hunters: Because these are draw licenses, purchasing a license will render youth hunters ineligible to purchase a youth encouragemen...
Quay County 4-H members traveled to Lea County to compete in the annual Southeast District Contest on June 17-19. Rebecca Madrid won a district title in the novice fashion review competition with her gathered skirt. Eight novice and junior members from Quay County spent the first two days competing in judging contests such as agronomy, horticulture, entomology, wildlife, horse and livestock judging and fashion review. On the third day, members competed in shooting sports disciplines such as air rifle, smallbore .22 rifle, and compound and recur...
The City of Tucumcari last Tuesday sent a trailer containing 200 cots and blankets to Roswell to help Ruidoso-area residents displaced by wildfires. City manager Paula Chacon said the cots and blankets will stay in Roswell until they’re no longer needed. The cots and blankets typically are kept in storage by the Tucumcari Fire & Rescue Department. They typically are deployed for motorists stranded in Tucumcari during blizzards that close Interstate 40. Chacon said dispatching the aid trailer to evacuation stations in Roswell was a joint e...
New Mexico State Parks presented a revised proposed fee schedule after receiving pushback from an earlier plan in the spring. An earlier proposal to eliminate the day-use fee of $5 per vehicle has been placed under review by the state. Also, an earlier proposal to eliminate fees for annual passes was changed. The new plan would impose substantial increases for those passes: — Annual day-use passes for New Mexico residents would be $75 (up from the current $40); — Annual day-use passes for non-residents would be $150 (up from the current $40...
Award-winning cowboy singer and songwriter R.W. Hampton will bring his music to Amistad at 7 p.m. MST July 20 to raise funds to help preserve the historic Amistad Gymnasium. The benefit is being organized by Circle The Wagons, an offshoot of the nonprofit Amistad Association, and it will take place inside the gym. While the concert is not a ticketed event, organizers hope to raise funds for the gym's repairs through donations. Hampton in 2013 was named among the "Top 50 Best Singers of Country a...
Quay County Little League’s age 8-10 team finished an unexpected second place Sunday in the District 4 Tournament at Raton. Quay County defeated all comers in the tournament except for Taos, which notched two wins, including in the championship game. Quay County started the three-day tournament with an 18-3 victory over Mora, then conquered (Las Vegas) Robertson 13-5 in the second round. In its first tournament matchup against Taos, coach Villanueva said his team was leading 15-5 in the fourth inning, but ran out of pitchers. That enabled T...
A Tucumcari man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for trying to engage in sexual conduct with two fictitious minor children during an undercover FBI operation. According to court documents, the investigation of Joseph Gadman, 42, began in December 2022, when an undercover FBI agent engaged him on a social networking website known to be a hub for child sexual abuse. Using the screen name “Gadmanj40,” Gadman contacted the undercover agent and expressed interest in engaging in sexual acts with the undercover agent’s fictitious child...
Quay County’s manager last week suggested a cost-sharing arrangement for information technology services with the regional emergency communications center. The Tucumcari/Quay Regional Emergency Communications board heard a proposal from Park Place Technologies of Cleveland, Ohio, to provide IT services to the county for $55,000 a year, plus a one-time $4,000 onboarding fee. Plateau Telecommunications provides IT service to both the county and emergency dispatch center. Plateau is phasing out that service in the coming years. After Park P...
Two athletes from Mesalands Community College competed in last week’s National College Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, but neither advanced to the championship round. Mesalands saddle bronc rider Cache L. Schellenberg, a freshman, finished 27th overall in the standings. Schellenberg logged scores of 53.5 and 54.5 in the first two days of competition and failed to score in the third day. As a result, he didn’t qualify for the championship short program. New Mesalands coach Bo Segerman said Schellenberg drew a subpar animal during the first two...
Water is flowing through the irrigation canals of the Arch Hurley Conservancy District, but board members were disinclined to allocate more water in them, despite recent rains. District manager Franklin McCasland said water from Conchas Lake was released into the canal system on June 3. The rate was 200 cubic feet per second. “Everything’s running pretty smooth,” he said. “We’ve had a few problems, but nothing major.” The board in April allocated 2 inches of water per acre for area farmers and ranchers. During last week’s meeting, boar...
With the recent erection of a fuel canopy, the new truck stop under construction on South First Street and Interstate 40 in Tucumcari was starting to take shape last week. The site at 3022 S. First St. is slated by this fall to be a One9 station, part of the Pilot and Flying J network. Ian Terry, construction superintendent at the site, said in a telephone interview that work began on the undeveloped piece of land in early April. He said it's on track to open in early September, barring any cons...
The 2024 edition of Tucumcari Rawhide Days this weekend will take on more of a historical emphasis with, appropriately enough, much of the action at the Tucumcari Historical Museum. The other western-themed activities, including a youth ranch rodeo and barrel racing, will take place at the Quay County Fairgrounds arena. Rawhide Days takes its inspiration from the late 1950s and early 1960s television western series, “Rawhide,” starring Tucumcari native Paul Brinegar and a young Clint Eastwood. Portions of “Rawhide” also were shot on ranches...
The locally based TableTop Cooperative recently lost a nearly $25,000 state grant that would have enabled it to buy a walk-in cooler to store produce and increase its ability to sell it to a larger region. The loss of that grant also scuttled its ability to secure a federal grant of up to $40,000 to buy food processing equipment, said the co-owner of Tucumcari plant nursery La Casa Verde, one of the cooperative’s key members. The New Mexico Economic Development Department in February announced the $24,740.03 Healthy Food Financing Award for t...