Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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A property owner near Logan and Quay County commissioners on Monday expressed discontent with what they described as overly stringent restrictions at Ute Lake State Park. Ute Lake State Park partially reopened May 1 but for day use only. Ute Lake’s south-side boat ramps remain closed. Conchas Lake State Park northwest of Tucumcari remains closed until at least May 16 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sid Strebeck, who with his son, Layne, is developing an airpark subdivision near Ute Lake’s south side, suggested the commission consult wit...
New Mexico’s governor on Friday announced an increase in the occupancy limit from 10% to 25% for churches about to reopen this weekend when the state’s new public health order takes effect Saturday. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also ticked up the capacity cap for big-box stores and groceries from 20% to 25% when the amended health order goes into effect Saturday. She also announced the state’s Motor Vehicle Division locations would partially reopen June 1. Lujan Grisham initially announced a 10% occupancy cap for churches and 20% occup...
All retailers and non-essential businesses in Quay County will be able to reopen Saturday, but customers will have to wear masks there and in other public places. New Mexico's governor announced during a briefing Wednesday a new public health order going into effect Saturday that will allow retailers and non-essential businesses to reopen with occupancy limits and coronavirus safeguards. She also mandated all people in indoor and outdoor public areas starting Saturday to wear protective masks to blunt the spread of COVID-19. Restaurant owners'...
The New Mexico Department of Health announced Tuesday a new case of COVID-19 had been reported in Quay County. It is the fifth case in the county during the pandemic and the first since April 23. One resident has died from the disease. The Department of Health does not identify the person who tested positive for the virus. An interactive map by the agency hadn't been updated with data from the latest case as of Tuesday afternoon. Previous cases in the county were two men and two women. Two were age 40-49, and the others were age 70-79. A total...
The promoter for the Rockin’ Route 66 festival in June canceled the event Monday after Tucumcari’s acting city manager recommended doing so during last week’s Lodgers Tax Board meeting. Acting city manager Mark Martinez said after examining the governor’s COVID-19 plan to reopen the state’s economy this summer, he concluded it would be nearly impossible to hold the Rockin’ Route 66 festival on June 25-28 and would recommend canceling it this year. He told the board at its Wednesday meeting that through July 1, the state would allow the full or...
A random check of Tucumcari restaurants along the Route 66 corridor at lunchtime Thursday found employees at six of seven restaurants weren't following the governor's day-old mandate to wear protective masks against the coronavirus pandemic. Those contacted by the Quay County Sun indicated they weren't being deliberate scofflaws. Several apparently misinterpreted a poorly constructed sentence during Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's press briefing about the new rules for restaurants. Others said...
Tucumcari resident Levi Mericle has landed his second songwriting honor since 2018. Mericle's composition, "All Mama Does Is Cry," was one of nine runner-ups in the Demo Your Lyrics category of the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. Winners were announced Wednesday. "It's a heartbreak country song," he said during a telephone interview Friday. "I've had friends who've had hardships in life, where their family situation isn't exactly a good one. That's what the song is about. The father...
R. Shane Jennings, a lab tech at the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center in Tucumcari, recently received the Malone Farms Distinguished Staff Award. Leonard Lauriault, superintendent and forage crop management specialist at the Tucumcari facility, stated in his nomination letter that Jennings displayed excellence in job skills and performance of those skills; showed on-the-job initiative; contributed to an effective work atmosphere; contributed to good working relationships between units at the university; sought to overcome obstacles;...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service last week awarded a $19.2 million Reconnect grant to Clovis-based Eastern New Mexico Rural Telephone Co-op, doing business as Plateau, to bring high-speed internet to more rural areas. This grant will fund the construction of a high-capacity fiber, broadband infrastructure project to serve rural areas where households are without sufficient access to such a service, according to a news release from Plateau. Once complete, all members of the cooperative will have access to broadband. The...
On this date ... 1970: Three Tucumcari police officers went to Lubbock, Texas, to provide aid after a massive tornado struck there. They helped the injured receive medical attention, worked with search parties and directed traffic in the stricken city. “I’ve never seen anything like it; it was horrible,” one officer said. The category F-5 tornado that hit the central part of the city caused millions of dollars in damage, killed at least 25 people and injured 500. Texas Tech University’s coliseum was converted into a makeshift hospital for a t...
• June 18-20 — Asavet Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic. Cost for each surgery is $40. Applications are available at Best Care Pharmacy, Tucumcari Subway, Logan Subway and the Paws and Clubs Animal Rescue of Quay County website at pawsandclawsanimalrescueofquaycounty.com. Applications must be mailed before June 1 to Paws and Claws, P.O. Box 143, Tucumcari, NM 88401. Payment also may be mailed there. Applicants will be notified one week before the event. • Sept. 26 — Wheels on Fire 100. Cyclists can enjoy a 25-, 50- or 100-mile ride on Route 666 and...
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 — Chicken pot pie, green bea...
The number of COVID-19 cases in Quay County remained stable, but the total kept rising in two prominent areas along Interstate 40. McKinley County, where Gallup was under a state-mandated lockdown for nine days, hiked its total of confirmed coronavirus cases to 1,585 on Monday, by far the most in New Mexico. It also reported four deaths Monday. The northwest part of New Mexico has one of the highest concentrations of COVID-19 in the country. San Juan County in that region totaled more than 1,100 cases Monday. In Amarillo, the city’s Public H...
A severe thunderstorm that rolled through Quay County on Sunday night brought with it hail and gusty winds and prompted text warnings from the county’s emergency management system. According to texts from Quay County Emergency Management, a storm east of Conchas Dam at 9:13 p.m. brought 70 mph wind gusts and quarter-size hail. A subsequent text at 11:04 p.m. reported 70 mph wind gusts ant 2-inch hail near Ragland. Pea-size hail, gusty winds and heavy rain were observed about 10 p.m. in Tucumcari. A trained spotter for the National Weather S...
When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos decided to revisit the rules governing sexual assault accusations at colleges, some victims’ advocates feared she would make it too difficult to hold assailants responsible. But the rules released Wednesday make reasonable changes for the most part, curbing some of the excesses of the previous system. This has been a fraught topic from the start, its history one of pendulum swings. A decade ago, colleges and universities routinely swept allegations of sexual assault under the rug, discouraging victims f...
President Donald Trump has lied repeatedly to the American people in order to enhance his chances for re-election. Shocked? Presidential lying shouldn’t even be news any more, but catching presidents in lies is media’s favorite blood sport. The game is to pretend to be shocked and to convince readers that the public is shocked, because they think presidents don’t lie. One of my COVID-19 isolation binge-watching projects was Ken Burns’ history of the Vietnam War. Trump’s lies have plenty of precedent. While Burns’ series made me remember my...
A month ago I said it will be the public that makes the decision to reopen America, not the government. It took too long, but that’s exactly what has happened. From the beaches of Southern California and Florida to the state capitals of Michigan and Pennsylvania, thousands of regular people have yelled, “End the COVID-19 shutdown. Give us back our country and our freedoms.” The elite liberal media portrayed the peaceful crowds that crashed the beaches and waved their handmade “Freedom is Essential” signs as irresponsible grandma killers,...
Since the beginning of this month and almost within this past week, we’ve celebrated Cinco de Mayo (May 5), the National Day of Prayer (May 7) and Mother’s Day (May 10). Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s independence day. However, that’s celebrated Sept. 16 to commemorate Mexico’s declaration of independence from Spain in 1810. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla, which took place in 1862 against French invaders. The defeat of the French was short-lived, and the second Battle of Puebla a year later didn’t go so well for...
No rabies cases have been reported in Quay County so far year, but three have been reported in neighboring counties, including when a skunk that attacked a person. The New Mexico Department of Health reported last week rabies was confirmed in a skunk that attacked a person in De Baca County. It was the second skunk confirmed with rabies in that county; the first had an interaction with a dog in April. The person attacked by the skunk and the dog that was exposed have received rabies post-exposure vaccinations. A total of four rabid animals...
The Tucumcari Housing Authority is receiving an $8,346 federal grant to provide rental assistance for families, individuals and owners during the coronavirus pandemic. THA was one of 16 housing authorities across New Mexico that received a total of $1.62 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act enacted by Congress. The funding will help defray administrative costs for local governments as they cope with a revenue shortfall from the pandemic, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Tom Udall. Grants also were...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Wednesday it would update the master plan for Conchas Lake and Dam for the first time in over 40 years. The corps ordinarily would preside over a face-to-face workshop to request comments from the public about the master plan revision. However, it will conduct this public involvement process online because of precautions associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Conchas Dam, built in 1939 northwest of Tucumcari as a project for flood control and irrigation, has not updated its master plan since...
Early voting began last week at the Quay County Courthouse for the June 2 primary election, but it was not your typical early voting. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, County Clerk Ellen White and her staff dealt with a batch of new protocols and safeguards when early voting officially began the morning of May 5. Voters were asked to use hand sanitizer from a dispenser outside the clerk's office and don a disposable protective mask before entering. Painter's tape on the floor marked where...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from May 5 to May 11: • Bradley Austin Mackey, 19, Logan, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property (over $1,000) and criminal damage to property (over $1,000). • Yerika Valdez, 29, Clayton, battery against a household member. • Louis Engel, 36, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • Latoya Tenea French, 38, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • Anthony Nike Ramirez, 23, Tucumcari, resisting, evading or obstructing an officer (arrest),...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from May 4 to May 10: Monday • 6:14 a.m.: Hit-and-run accident in 1300 block of South Fourth Street, Tucumcari. • 8:16 a.m.: Vehicle theft in 2500 block of Highway 252, McAlister. • 8:57 a.m.: Disturbance in 600 block of East Rankin Avenue, Tucumcari. • 11:02 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 700 block of West Sunset Avenue, Tucumcari. • 12:39 p.m.: Fraud in 1300 block of East Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. • 1:14 p.m.: Theft in 600 block of East Tucumcari B...