Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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A somewhat divided Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday voted to re-advertise its opening for District 3 after accepting a letter of removal of an appointee who didn’t live within the district. According to the meeting agenda, commissioners also had the option of reconsidering three other applicants to fill the District 3 seat, which has been vacant since December when Ruth Ann Litchfield stepped down for health reasons. The other applicants were Randi Eidsmoe, Joe Barnett and Steve Farmer. Commissioner Christopher Arias said the other t...
Tucumcari’s new police chief requested $3-an-hour pay raises and bonuses for officers in her department during a work session Thursday with city commissioners. Patti Lopez, who had been interim police chief since the firing of predecessor Pete Rivera in January, officially was hired for the position, effective March 21. City manager Paula Chacon announced Lopez’s hiring during Thursday’s city commission meeting. Chacon had planned to announce it during the commission’s previously scheduled March 23 meeting, but it lacked a quorum. “She’s...
HOUSE — A former Farwell, Texas, high school principal and former superintendent of Chillicothe, Texas, schools has been chosen to be the interim superintendent of House Municipal Schools. Coby Norman, who retired as Farwell High School’s administrator on July 31, 2022, was hired at a special House Municipal School Board meeting on March 24. Norman said last week he retired after 32 years in education, of which 22 he was an administrator. Temporarily, Norman replaces Bonnie Lightfoot, whom the board placed on paid leave on March 14. Lig...
It's apparent one year after New Mexico allowed the sale of recreational marijuana on April 1, 2022, that it led to dramatic effects on Tucumcari. Ten cannabis dispensaries have opened in the city, and an 11th is under construction on South Mountain Road. According to data from the state's Cannabis Control Division, Tucumcari has seen more than $4 million in sales of recreational and medical marijuana in one year. The city has seen more than 68,000 transactions during that time, averaging about...
• April 22 — Tucumcari Rotary Club’s Surf and Turf Dinner. The event includes a dinner at the Tucumcari Elks Lodge from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and a dance featuring Limited Edition. Tickets are $40 and are available at go.rallyup.com/trsurfandturf. Proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club’s scholarship and youth leadership programs. • April 28-30 — Chuckwagon Cookoff at Cottonwood Campground at Ute Las State Park. See western-themed meals cooked the old-fashioned way. May 6 — Cinco de Mayo Celebration. This age-21+ event from 8 p.m. to midnight at t...
Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with ham, whole-wheat toast, mini-bagels with strawberry cream cheese, banana, apple juice, skim, 1% or strawberry milk; Lunch: Cobb salad, barbecued chicken thighs, breadstick, garlic mashed potatoes, baked beans, chilled peaches, skim, chocolate skim, 1% or strawberry milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Assorted cereal, graham crackers, apple juice, orange juice, skim, 1%, or strawberry milk; Lunch: Cheeseburger, french fries, baked beans, romaine lettuce, dill pickle chip, fresh mixed fru...
On this date ... 1973: Gov. Bruce King said he would ask for a federal disaster declaration for 11 northeastern counties after a huge winter storm. During an airplane tour, King said he saw dying cattle, snow drifting to the eaves of ranch homes and barns, and roads that were impassible. About 15,000 head of cattle were in danger of starvation or freezing in Union and Colfax counties, with at least that many in trouble in Mora and San Miguel counties. Dozens of people were stranded in the Des Moines area and thousands of cattle had died. Four...
I love spring. I’m antsy to clean up garden areas, and plant things. There are green blobs already sprouting in various tubs throughout the yards. Could be weeds. Could be flowers. Could be one of a thousand seeds I planted last year coming back to life. There’s a sense of promise in the air. Anticipation. Hope. As a kid, I’d all but throw a party when the seed packets showed up in store aisles. I’d have to pick up and read each packet, explore the garden pots, the figurines, windchimes, the works. Fast forward a few decades, and not a lot has...
I’m sick of being told what the experts say. Specifically, I’ve had it with experts who take it upon themselves to tell us how the world needs to change (and right now, mister) or else. I can’t even blame the experts themselves too much: they’re simply giving their opinion. The real culprits are the non-experts who constantly insist that the exalted ones should be regarded as oracles. The appeal to supposed expertise has taken on a religious flavor in our day. It’s a flavor that colors everything we argue about publicly. You can’t hold to Opi...
A Quay County woman’s 2021 lawsuit against Lowe’s Market in Tucumcari after she said she tripped and was injured there was dismissed last month after both parties reached a compromise and settlement. Mallory Wolff of the Dathan Weems Law Firm of Albuquerque that represented Georgia Griego stated in her March 22 motion to dismiss with prejudice that Griego and the store’s owner “have compromised and settled their differences, and Plaintiff no longer wishes to prosecute this case.” A dismissal with prejudice means the ruling is final and canno...
It was entirely predictable, but still despicable, that right-wing demagogues like Sen. Josh Hawley are trying to spin the Nashville school shooting into an indictment of transgender Americans generally because the assailant happened to identify as trans. That was the obvious thrust of a Fox News discussion between the Missouri Republican and host Laura Ingraham that was initially about the shooting but morphed seamlessly into the utter non sequitur of transgender medicine. “We’ve got to tell the truth about what happened in Nashville,” inton...
I had hoped that legislators would take advantage of the unprecedented $9.4 billion budget this year to begin the transition away from an economy that is dependent on oil and gas revenue, but I don’t think that was ever on the agenda. The governor had promised before the election that we would all get checks in the mail if she won, so that was a given. Legislators also passed new tax credits for the film industry, and a phased-in reduction of the gross receipts tax. Those moves will help, but seem inadequate to the challenge that everybody s...
We know the whole world has gone crazy. Nowhere has it become more insane than what’s been going on in women’s collegiate and high school sports. Biological males have been allowed to compete against girls and women in swimming, softball and even weightlifting, which, to people who are not woked out of their minds, is patently unfair to girl and women athletes. The poster child for how crazy women’s sports have become is Lia Thomas. Born William Thomas, he identified as a woman in his senior year at Penn, won many women’s collegiate swimmin...
In another sign the coronavirus pandemic likely was winding down, masks and physical distancing were no longer be required as of March 31 for any person inside a New Mexico courtroom or jury assembly area, the state’s Supreme Court announced last week. Also, jurors no longer need to answer health screening questions to enter a courthouse. Courts will continue to make masks available to any juror who chooses to wear one, but they are not required. The state’s judiciary lifted its remaining health related COVID-19 protocols in recognition of cha...
The New Mexico Department of Agriculture is accepting grant applications for its Healthy Soil Program from April 11 through May 17. Eligible entities are defined in the 2019 Healthy Soil Act as “local governmental [entities] with proven land management capacity to support healthy soil” and include pueblos, tribes, and nations; acequias; land grants; soil and water conservation districts; and New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service. NMDA also will accept grant applications from other local governmental entities that manag...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from March 27 to April 1: — Bryan Sloan, 37, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Daisy Acosta, 27, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Angelo Joseph Milano III, 48, Pascagoula, Mississippi, contempt of court. — Bernice Eskeets, 43, Tucumcari, encouraging violation of probation, parole or bail. — Raymond Carl Holliday, 33, Tucumcari, contempt of court, felony possession of a controlled substance (narcotic drug) and possession of drug paraphernalia. — Regiald Dwayne Booth, 26, Dallas,...
Logan sophomore Haden Judd captured an individual state championship at the Class 1A-3A boys powerlifting championships Friday at Rio Rancho. Logan senior Park Strong finished runner-up in his weight class at the state meet but broke a state record in the process during one of his events. Judd had been ranked No. 1 in the state in his 148-pound class going into the meet. He made that stand up during the finals by lifting a total of 930 pounds in the bench press, dead lift and the squat. He...
The Logan boys track team tied for first place with Texico on Saturday at the 15-team Mario Martinez Qualifier meet at Fort Sumner. Haden Judd, the top boys athlete at the meet, won two individual events, finished second in another and helped the Longhorns in several relay races on their way to 85 team points, tied with Texico. Tucumcari finished sixth with 35 points. The Lady Longhorns finished runner-up in the girls standings with 74 points, a smidge behind meet champion Santa Rosa’s 76 points. Tucumcari finished third with 63 points. L...
Alexus Lafferty hit a game-winning RBI double in extra innings, capping the Tucumcari softball team's 11-10 comeback victory over Raton in its home opener Friday. The win, where the Lady Rattlers overcame an eight-run deficit, set the tone for an 11-9 win in the second game of the non-district doubleheader. Tucumcari improved to 5-3 overall. Raton fell to 1-8. Tucumcari coach CJ Oglesby admitted he was thrilled by the comeback in the first game. "I'm really happy all the way around, a real...
The Logan baseball team improved to 5-0 on the season after a 15-5 non-district victory Thursday at Questa. Though the Longhorns briefly trailed 3-2, they scored in every inning, including six runs in the fifth and final frame to end the game via the 10-run mercy rule. Mason Wallin went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in two runs for Logan. Colton Liles went 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run, with two RBI. Aydin Kotara also blasted a home run. Logan’s Kaeden Stoner and Park Strong combined on the mound for 12 strikeouts and two hits a...
SAN JON - A new era began last week when San Jon Municipal Schools fielded its first-ever prep girls softball team and played a doubleheader against the Santa Rosa junior varsity. The Lady Coyotes had only three weeks of practice and 14 workouts, so it wasn't a surprise the more experienced Lady Lions swept the twinbill last Monday by scores of 29-4 and 23-19. In the first game, played on San Jon's Little League softball diamond near the village's community center, Santa Rosa scored 14 runs in...
Tucumcari’s baseball team endured a tough district doubleheader Saturday, losing by scores of 16-4 and 10-4 to Sandia Prep. In the first game, Sandia Prep jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first inning and led 15-4 after three. The game went only five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. The Sundevils rapped 13 hits, drew eight walks and stole 10 bases. Josh Riordan drove in four runs for Sandia. A committee of three Sundevils pitchers allowed just four hits and two walks. In the nightcap, the Rattlers briefly took a 4-1 lead after two innings. B...
Dora swept another doubleheader last Monday against the host Lady Longhorns by 20-8 and 25-8 scores. In the first game, Logan’s Brookel Smith drove in two runs, stole two bases and scored two runs. Alexis Nixon also totaled two RBI and a run scored. In the second game, Camryn Cantrell went 2-for-3 with four stolen bases and two runs scored for the Lady Longhorns. Marilyn Moreno drew three walks and scored three runs. Jayden Garcia also went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases. Smith, starting on the mound for Logan in the nightcap, struck out f...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from March 27 to April 2: Monday — 1:40 a.m.: Burglary in 1200 block of East Main Street, Tucumcari. — 8:13 a.m.: Property damage in 600 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. — 12:14 p.m.: Accident at East Main and North First streets, Tucumcari. — 12:43 p.m.: Vehicle theft in 500 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. — 2:37 p.m.: Scam in 600 block of East Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. — 3:15 p.m.: Reckless driving in 800 block of West Tucumcari B...