Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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The Mesalands Community College board of trustees during a special meeting Thursday appointed former Quay County manager Richard Primrose to fill an open District 1 seat created by the resignation last month of its longtime chairman. Two others applied for the position: Logan Municipal Schools math teacher Bobby Kandel and Tucumcari retiree Carlos Romero, who worked as a Pacheco Construction safety manager and for 25 years in the New Mexico Environment Department. Primrose had been Quay County’s manager for 14 years before his retirement in 2...
The Quay County Commission on Monday unanimously approved a resolution establishing salaries of the county’s elected officials for the 2025 fiscal year. The resolution states that “salaries be paid to the elected officials in Quay County be increased to meet the maximum allowable approved rates upon the date the official takes his/her oath of office.” County manager Daniel Zamora estimated that would cost the county an additional $71,000 for the salary hikes. He said he did not have firm numbers on the cost of benefits. County Clerk Ellen...
Now that Tucumcari's long-closed Princess Theatre will receive $250,000 in state capital outlay funds, Mayor Ralph Moya said during a meeting Thursday of the theater's board that a state senator indicated he could land $500,000 or more in additional funds next year. Moya said state Sen. Pete Campos (D-Las Vegas) was "instrumental" in getting this year's capital outlay money from the New Mexico Legislature to the theater and indicated he could bring in "$500,000 or more" during the 2024 session....
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board on Wednesday recommended approval of motel tax fund requests for three entities this year, including for a new co-ed softball tournament in June. The board also recommended the city issue a request for proposals to hire a new tourism marketing manager to replace the current one whose contract expires this summer. The recommendations will go on to the Tucumcari city commission, which can approve, reject or modify them. The board recommended approval of these motel-tax requests with no changes: — $7,500 i...
• 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 the...
I use all kinds of things as the bases for my articles. While considering this one, to be published on April 12, I heard Acts 4:12 read, making me wonder what the other Bible books had for chapter 4, verse 12. So, I checked that out. Of the 66 Bible books, 11 didn’t have four chapters and another four didn’t have 12 verses in their fourth chapter. Two of the latter books, Jonah and Revelation, stopped at 4:11. Because those verses are pretty neat, I’ve included them in this introduction. Revelation 4:11 recognizes God as the Creator, while...
On this date ... 1973: A Quay County jury of three men and nine women deliberated for five hours and convicted Tucumcari resident Jose “Henry” Quintana, 26, of second-degree murder. Quintana was accused of fatally shooting Roberto Roybal, 30, of Tucumcari in the chest with a revolver on Feb. 10 at the La Chiquita Lounge on West Main Street in Tucumcari. Quintana’s attorneys said he shot Roybal accidentally when he was struck in the back of the head with a pool cue during a brawl. District Judge Stanley Frost was scheduled to sentence Quint...
Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Pancake sausage on a stick, assorted cereal, graham crackers, fresh mixed fruit, apple juice, skim, 1% or strawberry milk; Lunch: Ham and egg chef salad, barbecued pulled pork sandwich, French fries, coleslaw, romaine lettuce, fresh tomatoes, dill pickle chip, fresh mixed fruit, skim, chocolate skim, 1% or strawberry milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, egg potato cheese breakfast scramble, 6-inch whole-grain tortilla, salsa, fresh mixed fruit, orange juice, skim, 1% or str...
Several of New Mexico’s top healthcare services, including Presbyterian Healthcare Services, recently announced they will change their mask policies next week. Presbyterian operates Dr. Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari and a small clinic in Logan. While New Mexico’s public health order expired on March 31, the four health systems are set to implement the masking update on April 16 to ensure there was additional time to protect team members, patients and their families during the current respiratory illness season, according to a joi...
What I remember most about that dark early morning of crouching on the prairie is the rhythmic sound of pounding. It was so loud, I wondered if someone had put a microphone near the skinny legs of the dozen birds dancing on the turf. As the sun rose above the horizon in southeastern New Mexico, the male lesser prairie chickens continued their ritual performance, each hoping to entice a female. They strutted, leaped in the air with feathers spread, and bowed, but the greatest thrill was watching them puff up the garish, red-orange air sacs on ei...
Do we have the right to see Donald Trump’s mug shot? Do we have the right to see anybody’s mug shot if they haven’t had their day in court yet? The second question came up during this year’s Sunshine Week event, which featured an outstanding panel of local journalists talking about crime reporting. The consensus was that, while we all have the right to view any public document, the media also has a responsibility as to what it publishes. Bob Moore, the former editor of the El Paso Times who is now heading El Paso Matters, noted that it is ofte...
Everyone knows the felony charges against Donald Trump for paying hush-money to a porn star are ridiculous. Everyone knows that charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records was just a slimy political stunt by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Everyone knows that Bragg’s legally dubious indictment is just the latest desperate attempt by Democrats to prevent Trump from running for president in 2024. And, along with a handful of honest Democrats and liberal media pundits, even diehard Trump-hater Mitt Romney admits that B...
ROSWELL — Voicing concerns about the long-term consequences it could have on the state’s budget, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wielded her veto pen, removing large swaths of an omnibus tax package Friday but stopped short of killing the bill. Shortly before the deadline on April 7 to sign measures passed by state lawmakers during the recent 60-day legislative session, Lujan Grisham announced she had signed House Bill 547, an ambitious tax reform proposal. Among other things, the bill spared from the governor’s line-item veto — one-time rebate...
SANTA ROSA — The city’s human resources director has filed for a restraining order against Mayor Nelson Kotiar, alleging he has “created a hostile work environment” by allowing sexual harassment, threats and intimidation to take place in violation of the city’s personnel policy ordinance. Monica Young, a city employee since May 2022, filed the complaint March 30, two days after her “partner,” P.J. Salazar, was fired as a special projects employee for the city. Young said in her complaint she fears “more retaliation and (a) continued hosti...
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and New Mexico U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan announced the agency is spending $40 million to provide high-speed internet access for people in rural areas in New Mexico, including Quay County. The ENMR Telephone Cooperative will receive a $2.6 million grant to create a fiber-to-premises network to provide high-speed internet to residents of Quay, De Baca, Harding, San Miguel, Guadalupe, Union and Socorro counties. ENMR also will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the FCC’s L...
The defending Class 1A champion Logan baseball team improved to 9-0 on the season after a commanding doubleheader sweep Friday at Clayton. In the first game, Logan scored 14 runs in the third inning en route to a 23-1 victory in five innings. Izaiah Kneitz, Skyler DeLuca and Park Strong each drove in three runs for the Longhorns, with totaled 21 hits and nine doubles. Kneitz and Brock Burns combined on the mound for for seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits and two walks. In the second game, the Longhorns scored a total of 17 runs in the...
Tucumcari senior Alexus Lafferty broke her own school record in the javelin throw Thursday at the 12-team George Love Invitational in Portales. Lafferty hurled the javelin a distance of 111 feet, 9 inches, breaking her old mark of 108 feet, 1 inch that she set last year. She tied for first place at the meet with Yolanda Granados of Eunice. Other Lady Rattlers who scored team points were: — Haisley Huffman, sixth in the 100-meter dash (0:13.83) and fifth in the long jump (15-5); — 1,600-meter sprint medley relay team, sixth (5:09.14). In boy...
LOGAN - The pitching of Josh Griego on Saturday brought Tucumcari tantalizingly close to its first district win in almost five years - against the No. 1-ranked team and defending Class 3A champion, no less. Griego pitched like an ace much of the game, striking out 12 and shutting out New Mexico Military Institute in the first four innings. The Colts finally rallied for four runs in the sixth inning to salt away a 5-2 victory in the second game of a doubleheader. Griego allowed 11 hits, two walks...
The Logan softball team earned its first victories of the season with a doubleheader sweep Friday at San Jon. The Lady Longhorns (2-6) prevailed by scores of 21-4 and 24-2. In the first game for Logan, Charli Fuller went 3-for-5 hitting with two RBI and three runs scored. In the pitcher’s circle, she struck out three and allowed for hits for the win. Alexis Nixon went 3-for-4 with four stolen bases and three runs scored. Jayden Garcia also went 3-for-4 with a double and an inside-the-park grand slam. In the second game, Camryn Cantrell drew thr...
The Tucumcari softball team dropped its district opener Friday with a 15-4 home loss in five innings against Ruidoso. The Warriors, which scored in every inning, surged to a 7-1 lead in the top of the third and added a total of 10 runs in the fourth and fifth. Taeden Hyslop drove in two runs on a single for the Lady Rattlers. Alexis Ramirez and Haisley Huffman each went 2-for-3 with an RBI, including a solo home run by Huffman. Juli Rivera suffered the loss for Tucumcari, allowing 11 hits and four walks and seven earned runs in four innings....
Kaden Brown was the top golfer for Tucumcari High School during the eight-team Lovington Invitational on Thursday. Brown shot a 97 at the par-71 Lovington Country Club course and finished 41st overall. He was the only Rattler to break 100 on the day. Other Tucumcari golfers at the event were: — Dylan Owen, who shot a 123 and finished 47th; — Logan Lafferty, who shot a 143 and finished 48th; — Creed Owen, who shot a 144 and finished 49th. The Rattlers finished eighth in the team standings at the event. Other schools competing were Carls...
William Sandoval, a Tucumcari High School graduate, recently received the Airman of the Year award from the Silver Knights AMU Guardians of Flight. Sandoval, a senior airman, is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state as part of the 62nd Aircraft Wing. In his five years in the Air Force, Sandoval has been deployed twice to the Persian Gulf with missions in Iraq and Syria....
Two days after Kix on 66 in Tucumcari reopened last week, the restaurant was on the verge of running out of food. “We’ve been so busy, I had to call in an emergency truckload,” co-owner Donna Halfhill said Friday morning. “It stressed the heck out of me, but we’re all good. We definitely wouldn’t have had enough to get through the weekend.” Halfhill and her husband Todd closed on the purchase of Kicks on 66 at 1102 E. Route 66 Blvd. in late January. Todd Duplantis owned the restaurant since early 2019 after he acquired it from Yvonne Brazie...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a request by environmental and conservation groups to list the coyote as endangered in the territory that overlaps with the Mexican wolves. The groups said that the similarity of appearance to a Mexican wolf warranted the listing as a way to prevent people from accidentally killing the wolf. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service found the resemblance between the Mexican wolf and the coyote is not similar enough that the two canines cannot be distinguished from each other. The agency looked at whether...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from April 5 to April 7: — Joe Ray Montano, 47, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Michael Cullen, 67, no address listed, criminal trespass (unposted). — Tracy Charles Pilley, 40, Tucumcari, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon. — Timothy Reggario, 33, Estancia, probation violation. — Seth A. Chavez, 35, Tucumcari, trespassing. — Raymond Jerry Pacheco, 59, Tucumcari, felony escape from a community custody release program, criminal trespassing (posted) and assault (unlawful acts, t...