Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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A San Jon man wanted in a Bernalillo County vehicular homicide case was apprehended during a recent Curry County traffic stop. Curry County Adult Detention Center Administrator Mark Gallegos said Robert John Archuleta, 67, was brought to the Clovis jail on Jan. 27 on an outstanding warrant by a New Mexico State Police officer after the stop. Archuleta faces charges of homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the death of Alejandro de la Cruz Perez in July 2022 at the Sandia Resort & Casino north of...
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quay County remained stable for a third straight week, and a website that tracks community spread of the virus reported the region’s risk had declined. The county’s number of cases last week was six, compared to eight the previous week. According to the COVID Act Now website, the county’s rate of new cases rose dropped by almost half — 48.5 cases per 100,000 people last week, compared to 90.9 the previous week. COVID Act Now on Friday also dropped Quay County’s risk of community spread of the disease from “high” to...
The Tucumcari boys wrestling team captured its first district championship in more than 30 years after dispatching of Del Norte and Valley last week during the District 6 championship duals meet Thursday. The Rattlers finished in a three-way tie for first place with Valley and Ruidoso in head-to-head competition during the regular season. The tiebreaker, which used a points system of combined margin of victory or loss against those foes, gave Tucumcari the district championship. Tucumcari coach...
Two Tucumcari High School girls wrestlers qualified for the state tournament — including one who medaled — during Saturday’s Region 2 tournament at Del Norte in Albuquerque. MiKayla Klinger (11-9), a sophomore at the 152-pound weight class, won three matches at the sprawling 30-team event and lost only to Makenzie Kormendy of Goddard by a 3-0 decision in the finals. Klinger didn’t go home empty-handed; she earned a second-place medal for her efforts. “She had a great day, even in the championship round,” Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said. “It w...
The Tucumcari girls basketball team opened district play Thursday with a resounding 59-13 victory over New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell. The Lady Rattlers stormed to leads of 7-0 and 21-2 in the first half. NMMI made only one field goal during much of the half due to Tucumcari’s smothering defense. Tucumcari scored 25 unanswered points to start the third quarter for a 51-9 lead. After that, coach Patrick Benavidez began emptying the benches amid a running clock because of the 35-point mercy rule. “They played a great game and all con...
A sluggish offense at the beginning and the end proved decisive for the Tucumcari boys basketball team in its 37-35 district-opening loss Thursday against New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell. The Rattlers fell behind by a double-digit margin in the first quarter, forcing them to play catch-up for much of the game. Tucumcari rallied to a 33-29 lead early in the fourth quarter, then scored just one field goal the rest of the way as the Colts came back to take a 37-35 lead with two minutes left. Two Tucumcari traveling violations and other...
The Logan boys basketball team fell short in its comeback bid with a 50-48 district loss Thursday at Melrose. The Longhorns fell behind by as many as 15 points in the third quarter and still were trailing by nine midway through the fourth. “We struggled to score in the first half,” Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said, “but in the second half got things going a little bit. Boys really locked in defensively the entire game.” Christian Kotara made two free throws with 1:36 left to bring Logan to within 49-48. During the final 38 seconds, Kotara...
The No. 1-ranked Melrose girls basketball team wasn’t going to let Logan get close a second time. The Lady Buffs dominated during a 68-33 district win Thursday at Melrose. On Jan. 19, Melrose escaped with a 72-66 victory at Logan. “The effort and desire were definitely there,” Logan coach Dustin Robertson said. “On offense, we didn’t play with as much confidence as the girls have displayed lately. Far too many turnovers.” Liz Horner led the Lady Longhorns with nine points. Hailee Robertson and Desta Rose each scored seven. Logan, ranked eigh...
Matt Bednorz, who the Tucumcari City Commission appointed to fill the term of recently retired District 3 commissioner Ruth Ann Litchfield, said Friday he would step down after District 4 Commissioner Chris Arias filed a lawsuit to block the appointment because Bednorz doesn’t live in the district. Reached Friday afternoon by phone after the Quay County Sun received a copy of Arias’ lawsuit, Bednorz said he would resign his appointment from the commission. “I’m done, I’m done,” he said. “I’m not going to fight it.” Bednorz said he had decid...
A pack of roaming dogs attacked and killed a Tucumcari man as he was walking near Mesalands Community College on Wednesday night. Five mixed-breed dogs attacked Stanley Hartt, 64, as he was walking down 11th Street near Gamble Avenue, according to a news release from New Mexico State Police, which is investigating. Hartt died of his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Office of Medical Examiner. NMSP will give its final report to the district attorney’s office for the possible filing of charges. A state police spokesman s...
The City of Tucumcari is without a police chief after he was fired Thursday. City manager Paula Chacon confirmed in her office after the city commission’s regular meeting Thursday night that Police Chief Pete Rivera had been terminated from his position that day. Chacon did not give a reason for Rivera’s termination, citing personnel matters. Chacon on Saturday said that TPD corporals, Detective Reyes Gonzales and her would oversee the department until an acting police chief was chosen sometime this week. She said she was placing advertisements...
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quay County remained stable last week, though a website that tracks community spread of the virus downgraded the region to high risk of community spread of the disease. The county’s number of cases last week was eight, compared to seven the previous week. According to the COVID Act Now website, the county’s rate of new cases rose slightly to 90.9 cases per 100,000 people last week, compared to 84.8 the previous week. The website on Friday, however, downgraded the county from “low” to “high” risk of community s...
An Albuquerque district judge last week rejected arguments by the New Mexico Racing Commission to dismiss a lawsuit by Coronado Partners, setting up a legal showdown this spring whether to issue a sixth and final license to build a horse-racing track and casino in Tucumcari. District Judge Nancy Franchini’s three-page ruling on Jan. 23 to deny a motion to dismiss and allow the lawsuit to proceed was expected. Franchini had signaled during a telephone hearing in December she would allow the appeal by Coronado to contest the commission’s rej...
Tucumcari High School boys and girls basketball games last week were canceled or postponed in the wake of a player’s death in a vehicular accident. Jayden Gloms, a freshman on the boys junior varsity team, died when a vehicle he was in overturned the afternoon of Jan. 24 at Five Mile Park. (See other story in this edition.) Gloms also was a running back and linebacker on the football team. As a result of the tragedy, boys and girls non-district home games Thursday against Melrose as part of Homecoming week were canceled. THS’ boys and girls dis...
The Tucumcari boys wrestling team scored dual-meet victories Thursday over Class 5A school Volcano Vista and district foe Academy at Albuquerque. “The boys did excellent, excellent, excellent,” Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said, lifting his hopes for the district tournament at Socorro on Feb. 10-11. The Rattlers scored a 42-36 victory over Academy despite giving up four forfeits. Josh Pacheco (145 pounds), Aden Otero (152), Xzander Garcia (172) and Antonio Gonzales (189) piled up the points for Tucumcari with victories by pin. Against non...
A Tucumcari man remains in federal custody after he was accused of trying to solicit sex acts from two underage children. An undercover FBI agent posed as the children online. Joseph Wayne Gadman, 40, was charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, which can lead to mandatory minimum of 10 years up to life in prison if convicted. Gadman appeared in federal court Thursday for a detention hearing and is expected to remain in jail until his trial, which has not been scheduled....
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees last week unanimously approved a four-year extension for the college's president. The action came after a closed executive session of more than two hours to discuss personnel matters during the board's regular Jan. 17 meeting. Gregg Busch's contract now will expire in 2028. "Congratulations, Dr. Busch," board Chairman Jim Streetman said after the motion for the extension passed. "Thank you, Mr. Chair," Busch replied. Joshua McVey, the college's...
About 60 officials from all corners of Quay County attended the annual Quay Day event Wednesday in Santa Fe as the New Mexico Legislature convened for its 60-day session. Quay County manager Daniel Zamora said Thursday that not only did the usual officials from Tucumcari and the county attend Quay Day to meet with state lawmakers and their staff, but also officials from San Jon, Logan and House. “It was a great turnout, one of the best I’ve seen in five years of going,” he said. “It was the whole county community.” Cynthia Lee, clerk for the Vi...
The San Jon Municipal Schools board approved its annual audit for fiscal year 2022, which showed healthy finances but also two significant deficiencies that detailed shortcomings in the district’s documentation. The audit was performed by Clovis-based certified public accountant De’Aun Willoughby. “Our auditor commented that we did have a good audit, and our district finances were healthy,” superintendent Alan Umholtz wrote in an email to the Quay County Sun after the Jan. 16 meeting. “She said we saved $220,000 from last year’s budget whic...
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quay County were cut in half last week and began to mirror the general decline in New Mexico observed over the past few weeks. The county’s number of cases last week was seven, compared to 14 the previous week. According to the COVID Act Now website, the county’s rate of new cases plummeted to 84.8 cases per 100,000 people last week, compared to 181.8 the previous week. The website kept the county at “low” risk of community spread of the disease. For the first time in many months, the website graded all counties in N...
The Tucumcari Public Schools board approved the addition of powerlifting as an activity for next winter. Superintendent Aaron McKinney noted during the board’s Jan. 16 meeting that Logan and Santa Rosa already had added powerlifting as an extra-curricular activity. San Jon also is participating in it. Logan’s boys team won the inaugural powerlifting state tournament in 2021. Board President Heather Gonzales supported the proposal, saying it “would benefit our students.” The board unanimously approved the measure with little additional discuss...
A South African man convicted of killing four people - including two in a Tucumcari motel room in 2011 - was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for a deadly shooting in Ohio. Muziwokuthula S. Madonda, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder and felonious assault in the 2011 shooting of Zenzele Davis Mdadane in Butler Township, Ohio. According to reporting by the Dayton Daily News, prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of life without parole and said he would kill...
The Tucumcari girls basketball hit a rough patch last week, suffering non-district losses at state-ranked Clayton and at home to state-ranked Santa Rosa. During the game Thursday at Clayton, the Lady Rattlers' shooting went cold in the second half and watched a 14-point lead ebb away during a 52-46 loss. Tucumcari fell to 11-6 and have lost three straight. Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez said his team played a great first half. Then the second half started. "We couldn't make a shot and didn't...
A fast start by a talented Clayton boys basketball team was all it needed during a 61-46 non-district victory over Tucumcari on Friday. The host Yellowjackets, ranked fourth in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com, raced to a 13-0 lead and held a 29-15 advantage at halftime. "We couldn't throw it in the ocean," assistant coach Gary Hittson said of his team's shooting woes during the first quarter. "We played with no energy, and the turnovers ... oh my goodness, the turnovers killed us. "We got down by 15,...
Tucumcari wrestler Sarah Vallejo took home a gold medal on Saturday from the Spencer Cole Memorial Invitational in Las Vegas. Two Rattler wrestlers finished second in the boys competition of eight-team tournament. Vallejo, a junior in the 114-pound weight class, made three straight pins during the tourney, including in the title match against Henissy Gomez of West Las Vegas. Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said Vallejo is concentrating more on using technique during her bouts, and it showed. “She’s looking for opportunities for reversals,” he said....