Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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New Mexico's governor on Thursday lifted the mask mandate for most indoor settings that had been in place since August, effective immediately. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, taking off her mask, made the announcement early Thursday afternoon during a news conference after the conclusion of the New Mexico Legislature's 30-day session. She cited rapidly declining COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations for the move. Quay County's coronavirus case numbers largely matched the steep declines seen in...
For the first time in more than a decade, Mesalands Community College again will begin offering commercial driver’s license certification and training courses on March 1 for a variety of skill levels. The announcement on Feb. 15 came the same day Mesalands President Gregg Busch introduced Alejandro Ojeda as the CDL program’s instructor during the board of trustees meeting. Mesalands will offer advanced, intermediate and novice CDL courses that vary from one to four weeks. Endorsement trainings for hazardous materials or double/triple tra...
GLENRIO - This longtime Route 66 ghost town on the easternmost edge of Quay County suddenly appears to be getting its first business in more than 40 years. Subcontractors from the Amarillo area descended on the Texas-New Mexico border town last week to set up a temporary chain-link fence around the long-abandoned State Line Cafe and Texas Longhorn Motel complex - the latter known for its sign that stated it was the first or last motel in Texas - and remove their rotted roofs. The new owners,...
Entities in Quay County received a total of $1.62 million in capital outlay allocations from the New Mexico Legislature at the conclusion of its 30-day session last week. That was nearly double the amount of last year’s $850,000. The legislature, its coffers swelling due to robust oil and gas revenue, passed a record budget of nearly $8.5 billion. The county’s allocations are subject to a possible line-item veto by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham until early March. These are the projects in Quay County that are slated to receive capital outlay mon...
Just preach the Gospel, they tell me. “Who’s they?” you ask. You know: they, the ones who get either nervous or angry about any attempt to apply the teachings of the Bible outside the church building. They say I’m too political, because, instead of spouting little, harmless platitudes of the sort found lingering at the bottom of cat posters (nice things about hanging in there, or remaining hopeful) I insist that all people, including kings and rulers and all who are in authority should bow the knee to the King of kings, and keep his command...
For fresh flour tortillas, many Tucumcari residents previously had to have someone's mother or grandmother make them. That changed earlier this month when La Tortilleria opened near the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Tucumcari Boulevard, next to the New Beginnings Nutrition store. Six days a week, Sigifredo Rodriguez makes flour tortillas from a family recipe each morning. "We saw an opportunity to bring something to the community," co-owner Virgina Breciado said, who also owns New...
On this date ... 1971: City, county and state police officers were searching for a 1963-1965 Chevrolet car with two men who were believed to have robbed a Michigan trucker at gunpoint of more than $400 at the Newkirk rest stop. Because there were no phones in the area, the trucker drove to Tucumcari to report the robbery. The trucker, who was en route to Detroit, said he hauled new cars for television commercials around the country and was returning from such a shoot when he was robbed. • A federal grand jury indicted a Tucumcari woman, who f...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • April 16 — Easter Egg Hunt. The Tucumcari Disc Golf Club will host this event at Five Mile Park, with the hunt starting at 11 a.m. • April 29-May 1 — Tucumcari Rawhide Days. The event will include a Texas longhorn show on April 30, a film festival, cattle drive on Route 66 and more. For more details, go to tucumcarirawhidedays.com. • June 24-26 — Rockin’ Route 66. This event will feature live music, classic cars and more of classic Americana. More details will be announced lat...
The Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center also offer grab-and-go meals to those who qualify. Those interested should call the Tucumcari facility at 575-461-2307 or the Logan facility at 575-487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Whole-wheat donut ring, fresh strawberries, apple juice, skim or 1% milk; Lunch: Italian wrap, spaghetti and meat sauce, garlic toast, baby carrots, garden salad, ranch dressing, herbed Italian veggies, fresh pear, skim, 1% or chocolate skim milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Egg and...
An Arizona woman died Friday in a traffic accident on U.S. 54 southwest of Logan. New Mexico State Police were called about 8 p.m. Friday to investigate the crash between a tractor-trailer and a U-Haul box van on U.S. 54 near milepost 321. State police stated in a news release the tractor-trailer traveling west on U.S. 54 tried to pass another commercial motor vehicle and struck the eastbound U-Haul van. Stephanie Chasar, 53, of Chandler, Arizona, who was the van’s driver, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. A 2...
Easier to vote and harder to cheat: that was the refrain Texas heard from Republican state lawmakers when they passed their sweeping election bill last year. Yet for some of the state’s most vulnerable voters, casting a ballot in the 2022 primary election has been anything but easy, and state officials are to blame. In Texas, only citizens age 65 or older and disabled or absentee voters in certain circumstances are allowed to vote by mail. One of the new requirements this year is that citizens who vote by mail provide an identification n...
Throughout history the older generation has thought the younger generations are weak, frivolous, and self-centered. Just as that older generation’s elders thought the same of it, and so on to the beginnings of our species. It’s time to break the cycle with some reality. Young people are not much different from generation to generation. You and I were just as foolish when we were young, as were our grandparents. Only the details of our foolishness differed. We grew up and found ways to be foolish mature people. The problem isn’t with the young...
Last week ended with big New Mexico news, several times over. The governor surprised the state by lifting the mask mandate. The speaker of the House announced he is voluntarily stepping down. And the 30-day legislative session ended with a mixed bag in the 11th hour of legislative wrangling at the Roundhouse. All in an election year that is still stacked to favor of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. In historic terms, you can’t call it an overly productive legislative session that adjourned last week. The Albuquerque Journal tallied up 64 bil...
An Oklahoma man whose body was found near an Interstate 40 frontage road in September in eastern Quay County died of an accidental overdose of Benadryl, according to New Mexico State Police investigation reports. The body of Travis Villella, 30, of Norman, Oklahoma, was found Sept. 6 near an abandoned post office and store in the settlement of Bard. New Mexico State Police issued a news release last month, stating the state medical examiner’s office had identified the man and that no foul play had occurred. The Quay County Sun found more d...
The New Mexico Public Education Department last week adopted a rule to replace the state’s social studies standards for public schools, despite pleas from two Quay County school districts to pause the process until at least next year. Extensive public feedback did, however, result in three major changes to the standards: including personal financial literacy; language revision throughout to be more concise, cohesive and balanced; and editing throughout to assure the standards describe high-level expectations without suggesting curriculum, accor...
The San Jon Municipal Schools board of trustees approved two new additions last week — a new board member and a cheerleading as a sport in the next school year. The board during its regular meeting Feb. 14 unanimously approved Brian Watson of Bard as its newest member after no discussion. He and Alan Angel of San Jon sent letters to the board, expressing their interest for the open position. The board last month solicited letters of interest to fill the seat. Watson replaces Tommy Evans, who resigned in November after citing conflicts b...
The Tucumcari boys basketball squad earned its first district win - against the first-place team, no less - in surprisingly dominant fashion in a 40-25 decision over visiting New Mexico Military Institute on Feb. 15. The Rattlers (6-16, 1-3) took an eight-point lead at intermission and expanded on it much of the second half, handing the Colts (5-11, 2-1) their first district loss. Tucumcari did it without senior Dominick Jasper, who was serving a one-game suspension after being ejected the previ...
The Tucumcari girls basketball team secured one more home game for this week's district tournament by downing winless New Mexico Military Institute 53-31 on Feb. 15. Second-seeded Tucumcari (11-10, 2-2) was scheduled to host the first-round game Monday against NMMI again, then travel to top seed Dexter at 6 p.m. Thursday for the district tournament championship and an automatic berth to the Class 3A state tournament. (Monday's game was after the Quay County Sun's deadline.) July Lafferty led a...
RIO RANCHO - Tucumcari junior wrestler Xzander Garcia absolved a disappointing finish in the previous week's district meet by winning the Class 3A 170-pound state championship Friday in convincing fashion. Two other Rattler wrestlers finished third at state in their respective weight classes. Garcia, who finished with a 20-9 record, kept scoring takedowns against Socorro foe Warren Kurtnaker during the final in an 8-2 victory. The match left little doubt early who would prevail, and Tucumcari...
The Logan girls basketball team finished its regular season Saturday with a solid 63-33 non-district victory at Dora. Reece Goldston led the Lady Longhorns with 21 points, while Kyra Conway added 12. Logan (21-5) has won five in a row. Dora fell to 11-10. Second-seeded Logan was scheduled to play at 6 p.m. Wednesday at home in the semifinal of the District 6 tournament. The Lady Longhorns will find out Tuesday night who their foe will be. Grady and San Jon were scheduled to play each other in the first round Monday, and the winner of that game...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Feb. 16 to Feb. 17: • John Doe, 41, no address listed, concealing identity and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer (arrest). • Angelo F. Galvan, 25, Tucumcari, criminal trespass (unposted). • Serena Marybeth Jimenez, 20, Tucumcari, no driver’s license. • Andrew Kevin Sales, 42, Rantoul, Illinois, driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (impaired; sixth offense) and leaving the scene of an accident (no great bodily harm or death). These individua...
The Logan boys basketball team concluded their regular season with a 67-34 non-district loss Saturday at Dora. Park Strong led the Longhorns (8-17) with nine points, while Brock Burns added eight. “We never got going offensively and struggled to score,” Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said. “Had some foul trouble early in the game that slowed our momentum down.” Dora improved to 14-9 overall. Logan is the fourth seed in this week’s District 6-A tournament. It was scheduled to host Grady in the tourney opener on Monday night. The winner was sched...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Feb. 14 to Feb. 20: Monday – 1:13 a.m.: Found property at milepost 328, Interstate 40, Tucumcari. – 3:03 a.m.: Noise complaint in 700 block of West Sunset Avenue, Tucumcari. – 8:24 a.m.: Theft in 2300 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. – 9:55 a.m.: Theft in 200 block of East Center Street, Tucumcari. – 11:11 a.m.: Sex assault in 200 block of East Center Street, Tucumcari. – 4:49 p.m.: Shots fired in unlisted block of Mine Canyon Road, Tucumcari....