Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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An argument during a graduation party apparently prompted one Tucumcari man to fatally shoot another in the middle of Quay Road 63 on Tucumcari's west side on Saturday night. Tyje Garrett, 42, shot and killed Michael Arellano, 46, in the 4000 block of Quay Road 63 about 9 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release from New Mexico State Police and information from Quay County Sheriff Russell Shafer. Arellano was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead by the Office of Medical Examiner....
A Logan attorney during an online court proceeding Wednesday grilled the director of the New Mexico Racing Commission amid a lawsuit to prod the entity to award a sixth horse-racing license that might allow the opening of a horse-racing track and casino in Tucumcari. Logan attorney Warren Frost, on behalf of Coronado Partners that seeks the Tucumcari racino, filed a petition a writ of mandamus in December against the racing commission. A writ of mandamus asks a court to compel another entity to perform its official duties. The commission has...
Tucumcari’s city manager voiced confidence the city would have enough funds available so a contractor could repair its swimming pool and reopen it by summer 2023. City Manager Mark Martinez also explained a possible long-term plan where a grant could be available to help build a multigenerational pool within five to 10 years. During a city commission work session Thursday, Martinez said one pool company contacted by the city’s parks and recreation supervisor said it would cost $150,000 to $200,000 to replaster Tucumcari City Pool, which has...
In Acts 6, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, is described as a man full of grace. For your future Bible trivia conquests, note that there are only two people described as “full of grace.” The other one besides Stephen is the Lord Jesus. What does it mean to be full of grace? There’s an old Seinfeld bit about having or not having grace, but that’s talking about something different. We want to know what the Bible means by grace. The original Greek word that gets translated as “grace” in our English Bibles starts us moving in the right direc...
June … it’s June. Usually by now, the toads and frogs are back. It’s oddly quiet out here at Head Acres. I don’t know if it’s because it’s so dry or if there’s some other toad/frog thing I don’t know about. Whatever it is, I miss them. They add a lot of personality to the garden. Last year, when I’d water in mornings and evenings I’d have a collection of groupies waiting for a sprinkle. We’d even find them buried in the potted plants, cooling off in the dirt. This year, nothing. But, what we lack in toads and frogs, we’ve made up for in...
The Pinata Fiesta on Saturday at the Tucumcari Convention Center serves as a revival of the long-defunct Pinata Festival, but it also has become a placeholder for the New Mexico Music Showcase that went dormant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott Crotzer, executive director of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce that is organizing the festival, made sure to give the music showcase its due during an interview last week. “Honestly, if I hadn’t had the New Mexico Music Showcase do the legwork, we would have been in much worse shape,” Cro...
A Nara Visa volunteer firefighter and his wife lost their home and belongings in a blaze Friday morning. Gary Girard, a firefighter for the Nara Visa Fire District, said they were dispatched to Tony Egerton and his wife Marjorie’s home northwest of Nara Visa at 10:42 a.m. Central on Friday. Girard said Egerton was traveling to Tucumcari when he received a call from a neighbor, asking whether he was burning anything at his property. Girard returned home to find it engulfed in flames. No injuries were reported, but two dogs died in the fire. G...
On this date ... 1972: A total of $754.80 in donations had been deposited in Citizens Bank to sheriff’s deputy Travis Haynes to help pay for his hospital costs. Haynes underwent surgery at a Lubbock hospital after being abducted by two suspects and shot in the head. The fund was started by Dr. Thomas M. Prescott, a Tucumcari physician. Haynes died of his gunshot injuries in 1984. • An advance representative for Alabama Gov. George Wallace will be in Tucumcari tonight to hold a rally in a Quay County Courthouse assembly room for the pre...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • Friday-Saturday — First Christian Church rummage sale. The sale will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. 1704 S. Fourth St., Tucumcari. • Saturday — Pinata Fiesta. This event at the Tucumcari Convention Center will feature day and night entertainment from a variety of cultures, a children’s area with special activities and a petting zoo, food, mechanical bull, vendors, live music and more. The parade down Route 66 will be at 10 a.m., with free activities from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ad...
The Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center also offer grab-and-go meals to those who qualify. Those interested should call the Tucumcari facility at 575-461-2307 or the Logan facility at 575-487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Macaroni and cheese, Brussels sprouts with onions, whole-wheat bread with margarine, chocolate pudding. Thursday — Hamburger steak, garlic mashed potatoes, brown gravy, carrots, whole-wheat bread with margarine, apricots. Friday — Taco salad, buttered corn, pears. Monday — Asado,...
A Quay County man is suing Trigg Memorial Hospital after he said a physical therapist there re-injured his leg so badly that he required additional surgery and he feared amputation. Craig Brashear filed the complaint on May 16 that alleges medical malpractice, medical negligence and negligent hiring and supervision by Trigg, Presbyterian Healthcare Services that operates the Tucumcari hospital and physical therapist Jeanne Lauderdale. Brashear stated in the lawsuit he was receiving outpatient physical therapy at Trigg after surgery in June...
SAN JON — The San Jon Municipal Schools board last week approved its fiscal-year 2023 budget that projects $3.2 million in revenue and a healthy cash balance of $382,000. Bryan Runyan, owner of K12 Accounting of Albuquerque hired earlier this year to be the district’s business manager, went over the budget with board members during their May 21 meeting. The district is required to submit its budget to the state by June 4. Runyan observed San Jon’s cash balance had steadily increased since 2018. He said many school districts depleted their...
A divided Tucumcari Public Schools board barely approved the renewal of a contract with the district’s cafeteria food-service management company during a special meeting Friday. Approval of the contract was slated during the board’s regular meeting on May 16, but board members voted to table a decision until they saw an evaluation sheet of the current company and two other bidders. That sheet wasn’t made available in the board’s information packet at the time. On Friday, board members Matthew Pacheco and Bo Wallace voted to renew the K12 by...
“Strategic ambiguity” is what U.S. diplomats call America’s policy on Taiwan and China. The strategy is to keep the peace by maintaining ambiguity over the degree the U.S. would go to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. To date, that intentional vagueness has met its objective of keeping Taiwan from declaring formal independence, which would incense China, and from China invading what it considers a renegade province. Last week, however, President Joe Biden was unambiguous about U.S. policy. During a stop in Japan, Biden was asked by a rep...
Senseless aggression toward innocent victims enrages me. No matter who is harmed or who commits the act. But to intentionally target children? Rage doesn’t begin to describe what I feel. Are you ready for some hard truth? Some of you are; those who aren’t should probably read the comics instead. You’ll never stop crime with new legislation and harsher enforcement. You’ll never even reduce crime that way. In fact, even if you imagine this tactic would prevent some crimes, you’ll have to ignore all the crimes it unintentionally causes. Directly....
Fatigue seems to have set in over Americans following the latest mass shootings, and for good reason. The numbers are staggering. So far this year, we’ve had 27 school shootings, according to Education Week. Last week’s mass murder in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, was the biggest since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 10 years ago. Legislatively, nothing was done then, and most of us expect nothing to be done this time, either. At this pace, our nation will easily surpass the 34 school shootings that Education Week cou...
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Quay County continued to grow last week, and a website that tracks infection rates raised the region’s risk level for the disease. New Mexico also saw sharp increases in case numbers and hospitalizations. Nineteen confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Quay County last week. That compares to seven the previous week. Less than a month ago, the county went for two straight weeks without any cases reported. The total number of cases in the county since the pandemic began in spring 2020 rose to 2,032. The b...
An official from New Mexico MainStreet provided a glimmer of hope that funding could be found to bring the long-closed Princess Theatre in Tucumcari up to code. That prospect came up when representatives from the city and the Tucumcari and New Mexico MainStreet organizations held a work session on May 23 to discuss an update and renewal of a contract with the Tucumcari entity, state organization and the city. The Princess came up when Eduardo Martinez, organizational development specialist at New Mexico MainStreet, and Daniel Gutierrez,...
The Jackalope Coffee Haus and Smoothie Bar debuted in downtown Tucumcari in late May - the first of at least three such shops that will open in the coming weeks after the city saw no operating coffee shops for years. Owner Annie McCauley held a soft opening on May 21 for Jackalope at 211 S. Second St. in the Masonic Lodge building, six doors from her Blanco Creek Boutiques she opened in late 2020. Jackalope's hours are from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m....
Genesis Garden Homestead on Saturday morning hosted a showcase of locally produced food and other products - the first of what will be monthly events at the north Tucumcari farm. Sally Baker, co-owner of Genesis Garden with her husband Darrell, and several other co-organizers invited about a dozen vendors to the farm with the hope of informing more Tucumcari residents about what is locally available even before the Tucumcari Farmers Market opens in July, "We've got so much more than Tucumcari re...
SAN JON — The San Jon Municipal School board voted to add wrestling to its list of sports offerings this fall but balked at adding esports until it learned more about it. The board during its meeting on May 24 had the approval of wrestling and esports in the 2022-2023 school year on its agenda but tabled the latter after several board members, especially Brian Watson, expressed concerns about the effects of the activity on children. Superintendent Janet Gladu several weeks ago quizzed San Jon children about their interest in a variety of s...
Mesalands Community College last week announced commitments from several area athletes for its new cross-country and esports programs that are set to launch this fall. On Friday, a signing ceremony was held in Tucumcari High School’s Snake Pit gymnasium for senior Manny Hernandez, who committed to the Stampede’s cross-country program. Hernandez was a state qualifier for the state cross-country meet in four of five years, including when he was a Rattlers varsity runner as an eighth-grader. Allen Moss will be the Stampede’s cross-country coach...
To hear Wayne Ferguson tell it, he resigned Thursday as Tucumcari High School football's head coach because the opportunity presented itself to do so. Ferguson explained in his office Friday morning his stepping away from football had been "in the works the past few years," but the timing wasn't right. In recent days, Tucumcari history teacher and assistant girls basketball coach Sarah Jackson resigned to take a similar position in Logan. That opened an opportunity for Tucumcari Public Schools...
The first Diamondback Booster Club athletic banquet since 2019 served as the last hurrah for the club's outgoing president and a retiring Hall-of-Fame wrestling coach at Tucumcari High School. More than 300 people crowded into the Tucumcari Convention Center on May 23 so coaches and supporters could honor athletes from the 2021-2022 school year. It was the club's first such banquet in three years because of coronavirus restrictions. Khobie Salvador was named Male Athlete of the Year, and Elena...
A longstanding whistleblower and retaliation lawsuit by a former Logan Municipal Schools teacher and coach against the district’s superintendent recently was dismissed after a settlement was reached, the ex-teacher’s lawyer said. District Judge Donna Mowrer of Portales on April 25 dismissed Rhyan Daugherty’s lawsuit against Logan superintendent Dennis Roch with prejudice, which means the ruling is final and the suit cannot be refiled. The original judge in the case, Albert Mitchell Jr., recused himself. Daugherty’s attorney, Warren Frost o...