Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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Tucumcari city manager Paula Chacon during a city commission meeting Thursday chided Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Lopez and a District 3 Commissioner CJ Oglesby, namely for “overstepping their boundaries” in talks with state transportation officials. During her manager’s report, Chacon said: “I need this to be on the record: I do want to talk to you all about commissioners overstepping their boundaries.” She said the commission serves on the legislative level and that the manager serves at the administrative level. She said the New Mexico Departmen...
New Mexico Gas Co., which serves Tucumcari, has been sold to a private equity management firm that pledges to increase the utility’s workforce by up to 70 people. Emera Inc., based in Canada, announced the sale last week of New Mexico Gas to Bernhard Capital Partners for $1.252 billion, including about $500 million in debt. The sale is subject to approval by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. The sale is expected to close in late 2025. Jeff Jenkins, founder and partner of Bernhard Capital Partners, stated in a news release he c...
About a dozen people attended a workshop Wednesday at the Quay County Fairgrounds to discuss ideas and fine-tune an update to the county government’s comprehensive plan, including possibly using Tucumcari’s soon-to-close old hospital as a nursing home or residential complex. Facilitators from Albuquerque-based Sites Southwest presided over the workshop. Sites Southwest also is helping the City of Tucumcari update its comprehensive plan, as well. All three of Quay County’s commissioners sat at a table to discuss ideas for updating the plan....
La Cita Restaurant in Tucumcari last week earned a $50,000 grant from the Backing Historic Small Restaurants Program administered through the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. A total of 50 restaurants across the United States were awarded the grants. Funds are designed to help "rejuvenate, innovate and expand their legacies, ensuring their cherished legacies endure." According to the National Trust, at least $40,000 of each grant must be used for exterior...
West Texas A&M University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America won its first-ever Star Chapter Award from its national organization. The award recognizes the chapter’s commitment to the society’s “highest standards,” according to the society. A member of the university’s chapter includes Jenna Lopez, a senior public relations, advertising and applied communications major from Tucumcari. To qualify, the chapter had to fulfill at least eight of 11 categories of contributions to the society, including high school outreach, c...
A Texan man died and three others suffered injuries in a two-vehicle collision Friday night south of San Jon. Anthony Gonzales, 53, of Hereford, Texas, was declared dead at the scene by the Office of Medical Examiner. According to New Mexico State Police public information officer Lt. Philip Vargas, Gonzales was driving his pickup truck north at milepost 23 of Highway 469 about 9:20 p.m. Friday when it inexplicably crossed the center line. Gonzales’ truck collided with a southbound pickup truck carrying three occupants. The three injured people...
New Mexico State Police lifted a Silver Alert for a Tucumcari-area man after he was found last week in the Oklahoma City region. NMSP issued the Silver Alert in early July for Carmel Cresenciano Jasper, 76, who had been last seen on May 30 at the Circle K convenience store on South First Street near Interstate 40 in Tucumcari. Quay County Sheriff Dennis Garcia said Oklahoma City police found Jasper in that city in good health. Garcia said he wasn't sure how Jasper ended up in Oklahoma City or...
More than 600 voters registered in Quay County may need to update their voter-registration information before the general election in November. According to a news release from the Quay County Clerk’s Office, the New Mexico Secretary of State will send a voter-address confirmation postcard to 680 voters in the county who have been identified as having possibly moved and did not update their registrations. The postcards would be sent no later than Aug. 7. State law requires the Secretary of State to send a notice to possibly relocated voters b...
A woman and her son awaiting trial this fall for their alleged roles in a 2023 fatal dog attack in Tucumcari are back in jail. This time they’re accused of felony child abuse. Mary Montoya, 52, and her son Kristopher J. Morris, 28, both of Tucumcari, were arrested on warrants and charged on Thursday on one count each of intentional child abuse (no great bodily harm). The charge is a third-degree felony that could result in three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson ordered Montoya and Morris to be held without...
An officer for the Rattler Reunion is expecting about 400 people to descend upon Tucumcari when the big annual event begins on Thursday. Kathy Segura, treasurer of the Rattler Reunion, said in a phone interview last Friday that 150 people already had registered for the 52nd event. Segura said she expected another 200 to 300 people to register by Friday, the reunion’s first big day. “We’re excited,” she said. Registration begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Tucumcari Convention Center, with a meet-and-greet catered that night by Del’s Restauran...
The ballot for Quay County treasurer for November's election is blank at least temporarily after the unopposed Republican candidate suddenly withdrew last week. Quay County deputy treasurer Albenita R. Rael on July 24 officially withdrew her uncontested candidacy as the Republican candidate for treasurer for the Nov. 5 election. She was uncontested in the June primary election. No Democratic candidate filed for the position in the county, which means the ballot for that position would be blank...
The New Mexico Activities Association on Thursday inducted longtime Tucumcari High School coach and administrator Wayne Ferguson into the NMAA Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place during the second annual New Mexico High School Sports Award Show and Dinner at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Ferguson's selection to the NMAA Hall of Fame was announced in March. He is the 116th inductee into the Hall. Ferguson's NMAA Hall of Fame video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/veTeNW0qyxI. In it,...
New Mexico State University's annual field day at the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center in Tucumcari will be on Aug. 6. It will cover topics such as forage sorghum, alternate cropping system and cattle genetic testing. This event is free. Registration for the event begins at 4:30 p.m. at the science center, located three miles northeast of Tucumcari on U.S. 54. One also can go to https://rsvp.nmsu.edu/rsvp/tucumcari to register. NMSU Associate Dean and Director of the Agricultural...
Customers of New Mexico Gas Co. will see an average increase of 7% in their bills this fall after state regulators approved a rate-hike increase from the company, which serves Tucumcari. According to a news release from the company, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission unanimously approved the change in the natural gas company’s rates, effective on Oct. 1. The company stated the average month residential bill will rise by 7.1%. Residential customers’ fixed monthly access fee will remain unchanged at $12.40. “For a residential customer wh...
The Quay County Commission last week approved the hiring of a information technology company that will serve the county and the regional emergency dispatch center. Park Place Technologies will be paid $55,020 a year, plus a onetime $4,000 onboarding fee, to supply IT service for the county and 911 center, according to county documents. The two entities will split the cost. The 911 board during a meeting the previous week recommended approval of the split. The county’s 911 service had budgeted $15,000 a year for IT service, but county manager D...
Youth in New Mexico are the second-worst at risk in the United States in 2024, according to a new study. According to WalletHub.com, it compared all 50 dates and the District of Columbia across 15 key indicators of youth risk, ranging from the share of disconnected youth, labor force participation and poverty rates. New Mexico ranked in these areas: — Fifth in percentage of disconnected youth; — First in percentage of youth without a high school diploma; — Fourth in percentage of overweight or obese youth; — Eighth in percentage of youth d...
A Tucumcari man remained jailed this week on six felony charges after being accused of shooting at a moving vehicle – injuring one of its occupants Frankie Joe Martinez, 27, was charged Thursday with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, plus one count of shooting at or from a motor vehicle, causing injury. All six counts are felonies, with the most serious that could lead up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Much of the information came from a New Mexico State Police news release and an affidavit filed b...
The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department in Tucumcari last week named one of its conference rooms after a local woman who fostered over 100 children before her death this year. The local CYFD honored Merlinda Sisneros on her birthday, July 16. That also was the date Sisneros fostered her first child in 2008. A foster parent provides a temporary home to children in abuse or neglect cases. The Tucumcari CYFD office serves not only Quay County, but Harding and De Baca counties....
Quay County 4-H's agronomy team took home a state title during the 101st annual New Mexico State 4-H Conference at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. The local team of Keira Black, Ashton Smith and Patric Szaloy won the crown, with Black winning a buckle for high-point individual and Smith as third-high individual. The second Quay County team of Carter Smith, Paxton Smith and Maddie Kenyon finished third at state. Also, Ashton Smith won first place in the Fashion Revue with her Senior...
The Tucumcari/Quay Regional Emergency Communications board recommended an even split with the county over the cost of a proposed information technology services contract. The measure was scheduled to go to the Quay County Commission for final approval. Park Place Technologies of Cleveland, Ohio, proposed providing IT services for $55,000 a year, plus a onetime $4,000 setup fee, for both entities. County manager Daniel Zamora, who attended the July 15 meeting by videoconference, recommended a 50/50 cost split between the county and dispatch....
Tucumcari’s city manager will retire at the end of this year after almost 2 1/2 years at the helm. Paula Chacon said she informed her department heads on Friday about her retirement. She called the Quay County Sun on Monday to inform it about her choice. “This was my decision,” Chacon said. “I’m tired of working all the time.” Chacon noted an assistant city manager position was added to the city’s budget, which would allow that person to be trained and then elevated to city manager after she leaves on Dec. 31. “I’d like to get somebody in s...
The board for Logan Municipal Schools last Monday approved revisions to the student dress code involving hair length, facial piercings and tattoos. Superintendent Dennis Roch said in an email to the Quay County Sun it had been five years since the last formal review of the dress code, so he and principal Crystal Burns convened a committee of students, parents and staff to examine it and identify areas for possible updates. "I commend both the committee and the school board for designing a...
Larry Wallin, a manager for the Village of Logan for more than two decades, died Saturday from complications of cancer. He was 67. His obituary stated he died surrounded by his family. His funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Logan High School gymnasium, with lunch to follow in the school's cafeteria. Warren Frost, who served for many years as the village's attorney, said Wallin was "instrumental in making Logan what it is today." "Almost everything positive that's been going on here...
The Tucumcari Farmers Market has a new manager as it opens for the season at 10 a.m. Saturday in Wailes Park. Market manager Jonna Stanger said she has 15 to 17 vendors lined up, though they won’t be present all at once due to varying growing conditions. Stanger said among the offerings Saturday will be locally raised beef, garlic, beans, sourdough bread, strawberry jam, cookies, soaps and candles. She acknowledged some produce vendors are struggling with damage from hail and grasshoppers. “So while we may have lower than hoped-for off...
The New Mexico Finance Authority is seeking contractors in Quay County and several adjacent counties to provide home rehabilitation services for the agency’s Home Improvement Program. The MFA is accepting Requests for Qualifications for prospective contractors. Up to $5 million in funding is available to rehabilitate homes throughout the state. MFA offers direct home rehabilitation services through its new Home Improvement Program in eight counties that do not have a service provider for its HOME Rehabilitation Program, including Quay, G...