Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday voted to recommend a one-year contract extension to the city’s tourism marketer after several members expressed satisfaction with her performance. The Tucumcari City Commission, as with all actions by the board, makes the final decision on whether to follow the advisory board’s recommendations. The commission’s next regular meeting is Thursday. If approved by the city, tourism marketer Robyne Beaubien of Robyne Beaubien Consulting will receive $55,000 a year. During Wednesday’s meeting...
A climber who became stranded on Tucumcari Mountain for several hours Monday fled the scene after being rescued by firefighters, then was arrested in the city a short time later. The man, who was being booked into the Quay County Detention Center on Monday night, was lowered by Tucumcari firefighters from a steep ledge on the mesa about 8:15 p.m. after he was stuck there for nearly four hours, Quay County Sheriff Russell Shafer said. After being lowered to flatter terrain, the man ran from authorities, then fled on an electric scooter. He was...
The San Jon school board during a special meeting hired an Albuquerque-based firm to act as the district’s business manager after the current one departs this month. The board during a special meeting March 1 approved a $115,455-a-year contract with K12 Accounting LLC of Albuquerque, despite at least two board members expressing misgivings of hiring a non-local entity. The contract partially is prorated through the end of the current fiscal year that ends in June, and the pact expires on June 30, 2023. Superintendent Janet Gladu said none w...
LOGAN - Barring some sort of intervention in the coming weeks, the village of Logan will be without a bank for the first time in more than a century. New Mexico Bank & Trust will close its Logan branch on June 10, said company CEO and President Greg Leyendecker in an email Friday to the Quay County Sun. It is the only bank in Logan. "We continually assess and review our strategy and effectiveness in the markets where we operate, and this decision followed a careful evaluation of many factors,...
Modest spending helped give the City of Tucumcari a surplus during the first half of the 2022 fiscal year, the city’s finance director said during a special city commission meeting Thursday. City commissioners approved two resolutions concerning a budget adjustment and budget report it submitted to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration after the completion of the second quarter of the fiscal year on Dec. 31. City finance director Rachelle Arias said the city’s fund summary budget was about $155,000 at the beginning of the fis...
On this date ... 1972: Tucumcari animal control officer Ralph Pharis warned he had picked up seven dead dogs that were poisoned in the southern part of the city. He said he did not know what type of poison had been used but it was fast-acting. He said parents should look over their yards and play areas and call police if they saw anything unusual. “It is bad enough to lose a pet through this vicious means, but to have a little child get hold of something laced with poison and eat it would be unthinkable,” he said. • Buffalo have returned to Qu...
In King David’s famous prayer of repentance, Psalm 51, he includes this odd sentiment in speaking to God: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” It’s an odd sentiment because, on first blush, it is manifestly untrue. If you know the story, David slept with the wife of one of his soldiers. Uriah was a member of David’s 30 “mighty men,” basically Israel’s “special forces.” He was away at the time, with the rest of the army, fighting David’s enemies. When Uriah’s wife turned up pregnant, the king went...
The owners of two Tucumcari businesses learned last week they earned the New Mexico Route 66 Association's Heritage Award. Association President Melissa Lea Beasley and fellow board members of the nonprofit organization were scheduled to present the awards to Loretta's Burrito Hut and the Roadrunner Lodge Motel on Tuesday. The New Mexico Route 66 Association announced the awards with emailed news releases on Thursday. Loretta's was honored for its "restoration efforts to this historic...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • Friday-Sunday — Southwest Beef Symposium. This annual event, hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service, gives beef producers a chance to catch up on the latest issues and innovations and keep up to date on information that can help with day-to-day operations. Go to nmbeef.nmsu.edu/ for more information. Quay County Fairgrounds, 1500 W. Route 66 Blvd., Tucumcari. • Saturday — Tucumcari FFA alumni and supporter...
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-grain donut ring, chilled peaches, orange juice, skim or 1% milk; Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich, corndog, steamed peas, baby carrots, fresh orange, skim, 1% or chocolate skim milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Bagel, strawberry cream cheese, fresh strawberries, apple jui...
PORTALES — A former Roosevelt County Sheriff’s deputy convicted in 2021 of receiving stolen property now is facing felony child abuse charges, records show. The former deputy, Chris McCasland, was charged on March 1 with child abuse not causing great bodily injury, a third-degree felony, in Roosevelt County Magistrate Court. In an affidavit for McCasland’s arrest, New Mexico State Police Agent Justin Tiemann charged that on Feb. 14, McCasland had struck his 7-year-old son repeatedly while McCasland was driving a motor vehicle. According to the...
Confirmed COVID-19 cases numbers last week continued their slide in Quay County and were at low levels seen before the Delta and Omicron variants ravaged the region. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quay County last week was just four, including none on Friday. That compares to eight cases the previous week and 18 the week before that. That low level last week roughly compares to the county’s turquoise levels of community spread seen last spring and early summer. Quay County could tolerate up to 10 coronavirus cases during a t...
At least Steve Pearce flexed his ineptitude during a pointless exercise. Pearce, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, oversaw ponderous and bungled vote-counting at his organization’s pre-primary nominating convention. In truth, Pearce’s failures didn’t amount to much of significance. They instead raised the question of why New Mexico even bothers staging pre-primary conventions. Only political junkies who are nostalgic for smoke-filled rooms and the shenanigans of ward bosses see value in events like the one Pearce botched. When the R...
It’s crazy how many people still imagine political government is credible or legitimate. How many take it at its word, even while watching events around the world today. Even the national media corporations who report on political news often simply parrot government’s story instead of doing their job by questioning everything it says -- except when they have a vendetta against a specific politician or party. Social media and the entertainment industry may even be worse. The last nail in the coffin of government legitimacy happened for me alm...
Back in the 1950s, in the thick of the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union at that time, famously said, “We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within.” Of course, they didn’t destroy us. The U.S. ultimately won the Cold War and saved the world for democracy. But it’s a new day now, and such a threat may be more real than ever before — not because of the threat that Russia now poses through cyber-attacks and military incursions, but because of the dumbing d...
A Tucumcari teen was one of two New Mexico youths who joined two U.S. senators in representing the state during the U.S. Senate Youth Program this week. Micah Renee Lightfoot, along with Yunseo Kim of Los Alamos, were selected among New Mexico’s top student leaders to be a part of the 104-student delegation nationwide. Each also will receive a $10,000 college scholarship. Lightfoot, a senior at Logan High School, serves as the president of the Student Body. She is a member of FFA, Student Council and National Honor Society. In FFA, she holds t...
Tucumcari coach John Span was a bit skeptical about Socorro’s No. 1 seed in the Class 3A boys basketball tournament, but he came away more of a believer after the host Warriors stormed to an 81-48 first-round victory Saturday over the 16th-seeded Rattlers. Socorro (21-5) raced to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter and prevailed 43-17 by halftime. Tucumcari (8-17), turning up the intensity of its press defense, edged Socorro 21-20 in points in the third quarter, but the Warriors closed with a 15-6 fourth period. Tucumcari senior center Andrew H...
The 12th-seeded Tucumcari girls basketball team was holding its own during the first quarter of its first-round Class 3A tournament game Friday in a full gym at fifth-seeded Crownpoint. Then the Lady Eagles began hitting 3-pointers. Crownpoint (22-7) went on a 19-9 run in the second quarter, giving the Lady Eagles a double-digit lead it wouldn’t relinquish during a 57-36 victory over the Lady Rattlers. “We had them neutralized in the first quarter, and they adjusted to our defense,” Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez said. “We were sinking in (d...
LOGAN - In the first half of Friday's first-round Class 1A basketball playoff game, it was gut-check time for the Lady Longhorns. Third-seeded Logan couldn't buy a defensive rebound, its post player was struggling to score and 14th-seeded Evangel Christian/Oak Grove was eyeing an upset. Logan made a defensive adjustment at intermission and outscored the Lady Eagles 27-10 in the second half to turn a scary game for the Lady Longhorns into a relatively comfortable 51-34 win. The Lady Longhorns...
The Tucumcari High School baseball program has a new coach, and with his arrival brings a new emphasis on the game's fundamentals. George Montano is well-acquainted with teaching the basics. He coached Little League and youth all-star teams in Tucumcari for two years before he took the jump to high-school varsity baseball. He also was a catcher for a few of Rattler baseball's best teams during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Montano said he's motivated to right the program after it recorded...
Tucumcari coach CJ Oglesby admits he's had sleepless nights about his softball team, but it's for the right reasons. It's because this year's team reminds him of the Lady Rattlers squad in 2019 that finished with a best-ever 17-5 record and its first postseason berth and a highly promising 2020 team whose season was abruptly canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're more well-prepared than any other year. It's all because of the will of the players who want to get better," Oglesby said before a...
Mesalands Community College announced last week it officially has joined the National Junior College Athletic Association and would add women’s golf, cross county and esports to its sports offerings in addition to its longstanding men’s and women’s rodeo programs. Mesalands will compete in Region 5 of the NJCAA, which includes Texas and New Mexico. “We are delighted the NJCAA has accepted us as a conference school as we advance our athletic programs,” Mesalands President Gregg Busch stated in a Feb. 28 news release. “Our relationshi...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Feb. 28 to March 4: — Mark Vernon Lawrence, 39, Logan, two counts of contempt of court. — Chasity Lucero, 33, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Anthony D. Montano, 26, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Brandon Dee Owen, 36, Tucumcari, aggravated assault (deadly weapon), possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon, child abuse (intentional; no great bodily harm) and shooting at or from a motor vehicle (great bodily harm; attempt). — Juan David Plientes Gonzalez,...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Feb. 28 to March 6: Monday — 11:26 a.m.: Trespassing in 200 block of West Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. — 11:59 a.m.: Littering at milepost 82, Highway 104, Tucumcari. — 1:33 p.m.: Vehicle fire in 500 block of Highway 39, Logan. — 1:59 p.m.: Breaking and entering in 100 block of West Main Street, Tucumcari. — 2:15 p.m.: Lost property at South 13th Street and West Hines Avenue, Tucumcari. — 2:32 p.m.: Vehicle fire at milepost 370, Interstate 40, Bard. — 2...