Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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At least two members of the Quay County Commission on Monday said they were amenable to giving $2-an-hour pay raises to employees after the county manager said such increases were doable with the 2024-2025 budget. The commission likely will approve its budget with those raises during its next meeting on May 27. County manager Daniel Zamora said he examined the financial effect of giving $1 or $2-an-hour pay raises for hourly employees and department heads for the forthcoming fiscal year. Zamora said he was moderately surprised to find the $2...
The Quay County sheriff admitted to fatally shooting a rural Tucumcari man who was brandishing a firearm at healthcare personnel and law enforcement officers earlier this week. Sheriff Dennis Garcia volunteered the information about his involvement during a phone interview two days after the shooting of Aubrey James Osteen, 77, at his home on Quay Road 49 about a dozen miles south of Tucumcari. “Because I was involved, I feel the I need to be transparent about it,” Garcia said in a phone interview with the Quay County Sun. New Mexico State Pol...
Art City no longer is just a concept in Matt Monahan's head. It's now reality. Three months after announcing at a Quay County Commission meeting his intention to build the large-scale sculpture park and campground on 40 acres a few miles north of Tucumcari off Highway 104, Art City held a soft opening in late April. Eleven of 14 of the large sculptures planned for the site have been installed, with at least two more coming by the fall. Art City is selling day passes at its visitartcity.com...
After a one-year hiatus, the Iron Pour returns next week to Mesalands Community College. The annual event involving art and coordination among artisans involving molten metal took a year off in 2023 during Mesalands' turmoil with its finances and leadership. Now that both have stabilized, Nate Glaspie and Bill Raney, both members of the college's art faculty, have taken on the reins of reviving and improving the event, which begins Sunday and runs through May 25. This will be the 24th edition...
Tucumcari’s fire chief was placed on paid administrative leave earlier this month pending an internal investigation. City manager Paula Chacon confirmed in a phone interview last week that Tucumcari Fire & Rescue Chief Garrett Nash was put on paid leave on May 2. Citing personnel matters, she did not disclose the reason Nash was taken off duty. Chacon did not know when the internal investigation would be finished. “Soon, I hope,” she added. Nash has been with Tucumcari Fire & Rescue since 2020. He previously worked for the Clovis Fire Depar...
May 19-25 — Mesalands Community College Iron Pour. This arts event resumes after a one-year hiatus. It includes the pouring of molten metal at 1 p.m. Friday and opportunities for locals to make their own molds for metal artwork. June 8 — Doc Powers Memorial Car and Motorcycle Show. This free, family-friendly event will be hosted by the Tucumcari Elks Lodge 1172 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration of cars will begin at 10 a.m. with a $25 fee per vehicle, which comes with a free lunch. A prize raffle will be held every 30 minutes. It inc...
On this date ... 1974: Tucumcari High School basketball and baseball coach Dan King was fired, the Tucumcari News learned. Superintendent Horace Wood said: “The administration has decided to reassign King to the classroom, which means we are going to relieve him of his coaching duties.” “The Board of Education and the school administration hopes to upgrade the quality of the program, and we feel we can probably do this better with another individual,” he added. An angry King expressed shock and disappointment. “I don’t mind getting fired for n...
Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Blueberry and yogurt parfait, assorted cereal, graham crackers, fresh banana, apple juice, 1%, skim or strawberry skim milk; Lunch: Teriyaki chicken, brown rice, ham and egg chef salad, steamed broccoli, baby carrots, ranch dressing, mandarin oranges, 1%, skim, chocolate skim or strawberry skim milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Apple frudel, assorted cereal, graham crackers, fruit cocktail, orange juice, 1%, skim or strawberry skim milk; Lunch: Cheeseburger, ham and cheese sandwich, French fries, baby car...
My last column addressed the objection that says the Bible can’t be trusted because of how often it has been translated and hand-copied through the centuries. My point was that the documented history (in over 5,000 ancient manuscripts) shows the result is really the opposite. That is, the many manuscripts, from different centuries and regions, prove there has been stunning consistency over the last 2,500 or so years. By comparing old ones with newer ones, we can see plainly where any copyist errors or bad translations were made. This is not s...
A San Jon resident pleaded no contest to a charge of homicide by vehicle and will serve up to eight years in prison after he was accused of striking and killing a man at a Bernalillo County casino in 2022. Robert Joseph Archuleta, 68, accepted the plea agreement in April, less than a month before he was scheduled to stand trial. According to court documents filed May 7, the homicide by vehicle (DWI) charge is a second-degree felony with a potential sentence of 15 years in prison, followed by two years of parole and/or a $12,500 fine. The plea...
Kassidee Clark of Tucumcari was among about 100 West Texas A&M University honored during the Department of Agriculture Sciences’ year-end banquet. Clark, a senior, was among the top agriculture education students at the university. Top students from the department’s agriculture media and communications, equine industry and business, plant, soil and environmental sirens, agribusiness, agriculture business and economics, animal science and pre-vet programs also were honored. The students were honored during The Ag Gathering on May 1....
It seems silly to write a column about the recent college protests. It’s not really news when privileged students who have never been in the line of fire and whose most pressing concern is what pronoun they’ll use on any given day decide to rise up against the establishment. And yet, here we are. Across the nation, college students have been raising their voices against what some call a “genocide” and others call “Zionist oppression.” They have been supported in their misguided crusade by politicians like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, women...
History on the rerun. Ghosts of Mississippi. Magnolia State maintains its horrendously racist image. Any of the statements could be used to describe the images shown across the nation at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Dozens of students at the university’s flagship campus gathered to protest Israel’s war in Gaza and to call for the school to be transparent in its potential dealings with Israel. These demonstrators were confronted with hundreds of counter-protesters, in contrast to the few dozen pro-Palestinian protesters. Less than an...
It’s that time of year, when just about every newspaper in the state gives front-page attention to at least one local graduation. They’re always a big deal, especially to those who walk across that ceremonial stage and make their families proud. It’s also the time when yours truly offers some less-than-conventional advice to those who are about to move on to bigger and better things: First, let’s dispel the notion that you can be anything you set your mind to becoming, because you can’t. If you’re short, you won’t likely make it to the NBA no...
ALBUQUERQUE - Tucumcari senior Haisley Huffman added two Class 3A track championships to her resume last weekend, including her third straight in the long jump. Huffman ended her storied THS career with a total of five individual state championships - three in the long jump and two in the triple jump. In her last two previous championships in the long jump, Huffman either barely won or needed a strong final jump to win it. This time, there was little drama. Huffman's first effort in the...
The Logan girls softball team on Sunday landed its first postseason bid since 2019 by earning a 12th-seed in this week’s Class 1A/2A tournament. The Lady Longhorns (8-7) will play fifth-seeded Mesilla Valley Christian (18-4) in a play-in game at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho. “I’m so excited!” Logan coach Dustin Robertson stated in a text. “I’m just so excited for the girls. They have worked so hard. I just can’t explain how proud of them I am.” Tularosa (20-4) is the top seed in the double-elimination tournament. The...
Tucumcari’s softball team earned a No. 12 seed in this week’s Class 3A tournament and will face district rival Ruidoso in a first-round game Wednesday. Playoffs pairings were announced by the New Mexico Activities Association on Sunday. The Lady Rattlers (12-12) lost all three games this season to the fifth-seeded Warriors (17-9) by a combined score of 46-5. Ruidoso finished second in its district with a 7-2 record, behind only third-seeded Dexter’s 8-1 mark. Dexter earned a first-round bye in the Class 3A tournament. Tucumcari plays Ruido...
ALBUQUERQUE - With a Class 1A team championship on the line, Logan's 1,600-meter boys relay squad came through. The Longhorns edged district rival Melrose by a two points for the state title Saturday after Hayden Bruhn, Diego Sanchez, Devin Kotara and Kaeden Stoner won the race - the final event of the meet - in a time of 3 minutes, 38.50 seconds. Logan led almost wire-to-wire, prevailing by 2.4 seconds. Melrose and Logan had been tied at 90 points apiece going into the race. The relay win gave...
A Quay County 4-H member recently earned high-point honors during the New Mexico 4-H Shooting Sports Championship in Raton. Greyson Bollinger received a buckle for being the high-points individual in the shotgun competition at the state meet, held at the Whittington Center in Raton. Other competitions included archery, air rifle, rifle, pistol and hunting. The Quay County 4-H hunting team of Bollinger, Ashton Smith and Paxton Smith finished fourth, with Bollinger the No. 4 individual in that...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from May 6 to May 10: — Rohit Rohit, 25, Fresno, California, contempt of court. — Gabriel Coronado, 20, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Stephine Talarico, 29, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Serena A. Jimenez, 23, Tucumcari, assault upon a peace officer, resisting evading or obstructing an officer, criminal damage to property (under $1,000) and disorderly conduct. — Arthur V. Lucero, 32, Tucumcari, battery against a household member and criminal damage to property (under $1...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from May 6 to May 12: May 6 — 6:20 a.m.: Breaking and entering in 1900 block of South Seventh Street, Tucumcari. — 7:53 a.m.: Accident with injuries in 300 block of West Chenault Avenue, Tucumcari. — 8:34 a.m.: Breaking and entering in 600 block of South Second Street, Tucumcari. — 11:34 a.m.: Theft in 1500 block of South Sixth Street, Tucumcari. — 3:10 p.m.: Brush fire in 32600 block of Interstate 40 west, Tucumcari. — 3:39 p.m.: Brush fire in 36500 block...
SAN JON — The superintendent of San Jon Municipal Schools said Wednesday he believes a lawsuit against the Public Education Department’s its 180-day instruction rule will be in court for up to two years. Alan Umholtz told the San Jon school board during his superintendent’s report that lawyers for the New Mexico School Superintendents Association “feel very good” about its suit against the PED. The association and more than 50 school districts in New Mexico sued to block implementation of the PED’s 180-day rule, which would increase in...
Because of the danger of wildfires in the region, Quay County’s fire marshal and emergency manager are urging farmers, ranches and residents to be proactive to prevent fires and increase safety. Farmers and ranchers are particularly vulnerable to wildfires due to the vast expanses of land they often manage. Small towns in rural landscapes also are at risk, with limited access to firefighting resources compared to urban areas. Climate change exacerbates the risks, leading to more frequent and intense wildfires. In such circumstances, p...
New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice David K. Thomson last week announced revisions to pretrial rules to promote public safety and require courts to reconsider the release conditions of defendants arrested for a new crime while awaiting trial. The court issued an order approving the new rules, which become effective immediately for pending cases and those filed starting May 8. Revisions to pretrial rules have been under consideration since last summer, and the high court published proposed amendments in February for public comment. “If a defe...
CLOVIS — The man arrested Monday for killing two Texico women had called the FBI last October and threatened to “murder a bunch of children” if they didn’t help find his missing daughter. The FBI made contact with Alek Isaiah Collins and he was placed in a mental facility at that time. Collins told agents he “does not want to kill people” but felt the threat was the only way “in getting the FBI to assist him.” The information is included in an affidavit for arrest warrant filed in 9th Judicial Court last Tuesday against Alex Isaiah Collins....