Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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The Quay County Commission during its April 27 meeting will consider a nonbinding resolution urging New Mexico’s governor to “reopen immediately” nonessential businesses ordered closed weeks ago as the coronavirus pandemic began. One day after the resolution was announced on social media, a second Quay County resident tested positive for the disease, and another who had contracted COVID-19 died in a Florida hospital. A third case was reported by the state Monday. Quay County Clerk Ellen White...
Quay County recorded its fourth confirmed case of COVID-19, according to a Thursday afternoon briefing from the New Mexico Department of Health. The agency typically does not identify the name or place of residence of coronavirus-positive victims. However, incomplete data on the state's interactive website indicates three COVID-19 cases were in Tucumcari's ZIP code. Two were age 40 to 49; the other was 70 to 79. Two men and one woman were identified as confirmed with the virus. To date, Quay County has seen one death from COVID-19, reported...
New Mexico's governor said today she likely would extend the public health emergency to May 15 because of the coronavirus and laid out a tentative, phased-in plan to reopen the state's economy. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a briefing she probably would make an announcement later this week to extend the emergency and its restrictions – which began in mid-March and were tightened in early April – to mid-May. She also laid out a draft plan to reopen the economy. In an answer to a reporter's question, she said the state would con...
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees fired its president Tuesday evening and hired its vice president of academic affairs as an interim replacement. After a closed executive session of less than 10 minutes near the start of Tuesday's meeting, the board without discussion unanimously voted to terminate John Groesbeck's contract after less than two years at the helm of the college. Groesbeck had been placed on paid administrative leave at the end of the board's regularly scheduled March 17 meeting. Board members did not provide a...
Tucumcari's motels, long a vital part of the city's sector with Route 66 with its famous "Tucumcari Tonite" motto, are feeling the pinch of the governor's 25% occupancy limits to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The situation has become grim enough that city commissioner Todd Duplantis directed acting city manager Mark Martinez to see whether he can come up with an aid package for the city's motels. The Tucumcari City Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday evening. An email to Mart...
One business in Tucumcari has about 10,000 vegetable seedlings ready to sell to gardeners wanting to grow their own food. Another sold medicinal herbs and offered massage therapy for ailing clients. New Mexico State Police officers in recent days served both of them cease-and-desist orders to halt operations during the coronavirus pandemic because they were deemed as non-essential. Both have vowed to appeal the order or fight it in a courtroom. According to a state police public information offi...
Quay County schools will be closed through the rest of the school year because of the coronavirus pandemic. For information on children’s meals provided at each school, go to newmexico.gov/education. The Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center also will be closed to the public indefinitely but will deliver meals to those who qualify. Those interested in meal deliveries should call the Tucumcari facility at 461-2307 and the Logan facility at 487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Pork butt roast, bla...
Events subject to change due to coronavirus concerns. • June 25-28 — Rockin’ Route 66. This festival in Tucumcari will be packed with live entertainment, a classic car and hot rod show, a vintage and hand-built motorcycle show, a pin-up contest and fashion show, a cruise down Route 66, a Taste of New Mexico, carnie sideshow performances, Kustom Kulture artists and builders, celebrity guests, a Black Collar Markette and more. More may be found at rockinroute66.com. Most events will be at the Tucumcari Convention Center. • Sept. 26 — Wheels on...
President Donald Trump is not wrong to question the World Health Organization’s early response to the emerging coronavirus outbreak and its apparent deference to what we now know were false assurances by Chinese officials about the seriousness of the outbreak. But Trump is wrong to use these otherwise legitimate concerns as an excuse to cut off U.S. contributions to the international health agency until it can satisfy his demand for answers and undertake fundamental structural reforms. As Trump may have noticed, the WHO is pretty busy at the m...
Since President Donald Trump’s election, relations between China and the U.S. have been strained. Trump doesn’t like China much, and, frankly, I don’t either. In recent years, however, the U.S. has done between $750 billion and $650 billion a year in trade with China. Last year about $450 billion of that was still exports to the U.S. Does this mean China is our friend? Well, yes and no. Business-to-China relations seem to be good, but U.S.-to-China are as strained as they should be. Their form of what we have called communism — a state-r...
I ran into a nurse I know last week. “Let me ask you a question,” I said, keeping a safe six feet away from her. “About 40 percent of the people in the country get a flu vaccine each year and yet we still lose between 25,000 and 60,000 every flu season. A couple years ago there were something like 80,000 deaths. And we didn’t shut down the country.” “That’s right.” “I know people who get flu shots each year but still get the flu. Their doctor always explains it was because they caught a different strain of the flu than the one she gave them...
You’ve probably been confronted with those hypothetical, impossible, moral quandaries that force you into having to choose between two horrific options. Which child would you save? Do you bring the 60-year-old man into the life raft with you, or the 20-year-old, pregnant addict? Or, your bomb shelter can accommodate three more, so which of these five do you invite? As one preacher has pointed out, the people posing these scenarios get really irritated if you say something like, “I’ll get out o...
On this date ... 1970: An eight-man, four-woman jury convicted Steven Mares of aggravated burglary for his break-in at a woman’s house in the 1200 block of South Adams Street in Tucumcari as she was sleeping. The woman awakened at 2 a.m. to see a man with a knife in his hand. He apologized and said he intended only to rob her. When she told him she had no money, he left. Police officers found cut screens and a broken utility-room window at the home. The woman testified she recognized the burglar because he helped repair sewer lines and install...
Tucumcari Municipal Airport received a $20,000 federal grant to help sustain critical operations during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a news release Wednesday from U.S. Sen. Tom Udall. A total of 50 airports in New Mexico received a total of $25.2 million as part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed by Congress last month. “While all New Mexicans should stay home as much as possible to slow the spread of coronavirus and protect our neighbors and health care professionals, local airports need to s...
The New Mexico Livestock Board reminds registered brand holders their current card expires in July and encourages renewals to be completed early online at https://www.nmlbonline.com/brands. Because of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declaring a state public health emergency, the livestock board is following directives and taking measures to slow the spread of coronavirus. All in-person services and transactions are suspended indefinitely. These services are provided on the livestock board website: • Brand renewals • Brand searches • Access to br...
A Logan author has received her third Mom’s Choice Gold Award for her Rocking R Ranch children’s books. Connie Perez won the award for the third installment of her Rocking R series, “Farming on the Rocking R Ranch.” The Mom’s Choice Awards, which has reviewed thousands of entries from more than 55 countries, evaluates products created for children, families and educators. In the book, rancher Rosie works to fulfill her dream of hosting a Halloween event by preparing the ranch for crops, watering the plants and converting them into fun activ...
About 4,800 voters in Quay County soon will receive by mail an application for an absentee ballot for the June 2 primary election because of a New Mexico Supreme Court decision last week. The high court unanimously rejected a petition by 27 county clerks to hold a mail-in primary election in June because of health and logistical concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The justices ordered the state instead to mail absentee-ballot applications to all registered voters in addition to holding in-person voting. The Republican Party of New...
HOUSE - Lecil Richards, former superintendent of House Municipal Schools, died April 14. He was 69. Richards, retired from the district in 2017. He had been battling cancer. Staff and students shared their memories of him. In an email to the Roundup, first- and second-grade teacher Amy Fury said she worked for Richards for eight years. "Heartbroken is the reaction for many of us who had the wonderful opportunity to know or work with Mr. Richards," Fury wrote. "The best eight years of my teaching...
Cases of vesicular stomatitis virus were found this month in horses in two New Mexico counties, and the state livestock board said ranchers could see additional cases this year. According to a news release last week from the New Mexico Livestock Board, a lab on April 13 confirmed the presence of the virus in a horse in Dona Ana County. Another horse ranch in Sierra County also confirmed clinical signs of the virus. An investigations of both places cited insects as the likely source of infection. Vesicular stomatitis is a viral disease that...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from April 13 to April 19: Monday • 8:29 a.m.: Threat in 400 block of East Aber Street, Tucumcari. • 8:36 a.m.: Narcotics in 2900 block of East Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. • 12:56 p.m.: Domestic disturbance in 300 block of South Third Street, Tucumcari. • 2:33 p.m.: Threat in 700 block of West Sunset Avenue, Tucumcari. • 4:18 p.m.: Accident with property damage in 100 block of West Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. • 5:12 p.m.: Threat in 100 block of Sh...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from April 13 to April 15: • Kevin R. Garcia, 28, Tucumcari, false imprisonment, tampering with evidence (misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor) and assault against a household member. • Nicolas Alexander Garcia, 31, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • Paul James Mead, 51, Tucumcari, three counts of contempt of court. • Linda Uvalle Romero, 53, Logan, aggravated stalking (violation of court order). These individuals were released from the Quay County Detention Center from April 13 to A...
Warren Frost called him “the consummate farmer and rancher, always on the cutting edge of new developments.” Thom Moore said he was “a man of values. Just an upstanding citizen. A huge supporter of rural eastern New Mexico.” And Lance Adkins said, “He was solid gold. I can’t believe he’s gone.” By all accounts, eastern New Mexico lost one of its finest citizens early Saturday following his diagnosis with coronavirus. Paul Quintana, 76, was hospitalized in Tampa after contracting COVID-19 on a cruise ship. According to a story in early April...