Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sorted by date Results 1 - 18 of 18
Tucumcari city commissioners last Tuesday arrived at a consensus to submit a preliminary budget of nearly $17 million that includes employee raises of $1.50 an hour. The three commissioners present — Mayor Mike Cherry, Jonathan Brito and Renee Hayoz — didn’t officially make a motion to accept the budget after a special meeting that lasted for more than three hours. They instead vocally came to consensus to let city manager Paula Chacon and finance director Hallie Ferguson submit the preliminary budget to state officials by the deadline of Ma...
A man was arrested in California after being accused of taking a vehicle from a used-car business in Tucumcari for a drive and never returning to pay for it. Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson on May 28 issued an arrest warrant for Leonardo Chavez Villasenor, 63, of San Fernando, California, on a felony charge of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle. The charge is a fourth-degree felony that can lead up to 18 months in prison or up to a $5,000 fine. According to a probable cause statement from New Mexico State Police patrolman Antonio Esparza,...
Paws & Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County will receive $6,000 upfront from the county government, plus $10,000 annually after the shelter's president pleaded for such aid. Kathi McClelland, president of the nonprofit shelter on Airport Road east of Tucumcari, told county commissioners during their regular meeting last Tuesday that "we're struggling financially" due to rising costs and that the shelter's ability to acquire grants has been "hit or miss." She said Paws & Claws is rebuilding nine...
The Mesalands Community College board of trustees recommended during a special meeting Wednesday requesting $990,000 in state funds to improve Building A and Building E on campus. Mark Martinez, the college’s executive director of operations and procurement, said he initially was going to recommend $500,000 after noting that insurance claims from the May 2023 hailstorm would improve those buildings. However, board Chairman Richard Primrose doubted that request would be enough and recommended the ask be raised to $990,000 — the same amount req...
We’re to sing about our hope of heaven to bolster our faith and encourage each other (Ephesians 5:15-21; Colossians 3:12-17). So while my wife’s dear friend was dying recently, without knowing whether her friend could hear, my wife played hymns on her phone. We’ll also sing in heaven and some of the family present wondered what kind of songs we’d sing when we get there, we’ll no longer need faith because we’ll be living by sight (2 Corinthians 5:1-10, especially vs. 7; 1 John 3:1-3). The Book of Revelation provides some insight into presen...
Usually, I’m alone with my thoughts on the early drive to work. A few weeks ago, bleary-eyed and in need of a jolt of caffeine, I drove down the county road and saw a little head pop out of the tall grass. I blink. Nothing. Blink again. Head pops up. A puppy. I pulled over and got out, trying to see if the pup was OK. The pup was OK enough to dart across the road into an abandoned, overgrown property. The skeletal pup took refuge underneath an old truck, and just looked at me, then disappeared. I spent a few minutes trying to coax the pup out,...
On this date ... 1974: Democratic state Sen. Jerry Apodaca and Republican rancher Joe Skeen captured their party’s nominations for governor during the primary election. Apodaca and Skeen, both of them experienced legislative leaders, are expected to mount spirited campaigns to succeed Democratic Gov. Bruce King in the November general election. Skeen scored a convincing win against four other GOP candidates. Apodaca won the nomination after prevailing against six other foes. In November, Apodaca narrowly defeated Skeen for the governor’s seat....
Saturday — 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, including a free lunch. A prize raffle will occur every 30 minutes. It includes hot food, snow cones and music by the Junction 432 Band. For more information, email [email protected] or call (719) 217-8544. Saturday — Tucumcari Rotary Club Lobster Dinner & Dance. This event at the Tucumcari Elks Lodge from 6:3...
Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Hamburger steak with brown gravy, egg noodles, green beans, cauliflower, apricots. Thursday — Grilled turkey and cheese sandwich with lettuce and tomato, vegetable medley, tomato soup, pears. Friday — Beef and cheese burritos, black beans with red bell pepper, tossed salad with dressing, mandarin orange. Monday — Salisbury steak with brown gravy and mushrooms, noodles, broccoli spears, roll with margarine, apple crisp. Tuesday — Taco soup, Chateau blend vegetables, orange wedges with cinnamon. Logan Senior Ce...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from May 28 to June 3: — Danford Cross Jr., 38, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Orlando A. DeHerrera, 57, Tucumcari, criminal trespass (unposted). — Felix Maldonado, 38, Tucumcari, two counts of assault against a household member and abandonment of a child (no death or great bodily harm). — Silva Stable, 52, no address listed, receiving stolen property ($250 or less). — Danny Joe Gutierrez, 65, Tucumcari, probation violation, larceny ($250 or less), battery, battery upon a poli...
I’m a big fan of vacations on the cheap, which is good, since I’ve seldom been able to afford anything first-class. Besides, top-dollar travel often overlooks the best stuff to see. Several years ago, when my family was younger and we were fairly new to the Land of Enchantment, we decided to take a New Mexico-centric vacation. My wife and I, along with our two daughters, got into our four-door sedan early one summer morning and left our northern New Mexico home in search of wonderment, which we found at just about every stop. Our first sto...
The U.S. Supreme Court has just stripped away the final protections against gerrymandering. With a series of rulings in the 1960s, the court established that the 14th Amendment required political districts to be redrawn so that “the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the state.” The Roberts court has taken a two-step approach to dismantling those protections. In 2019, the court ruled that while gerrymandering intended to dilute the political strength of racial minorities was still a vio...
Mark my words. Democrats will be sorry on Nov. 5 because of what they did last week in New York City. They and their friends in the liberal media can whoop it up and high-five each other all they want over the guilty verdicts Donald Trump got on Thursday in his hush money trial. But in the fall voters will have the chance to express how they feel about the destructive things the Biden Administration was willing to do to our legal system to try to defeat Trump. The verdicts against Trump were no surprise to anyone who’s been following his k...
ROSWELL — The responses of New Mexico elected officials and congressional candidates to a jury’s conviction of former U.S. President Donald Trump on May 30 differed based on party affiliation, with Democrats calling it a victory for the rule of law and Republicans decrying it as a criminal prosecution motivated by politics. Following a six-week trial in Manhattan, a jury returned with a verdict of guilty on 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records against the 45th president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Pro...
SANTA ROSA — The Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools board on May 28 approved a calendar consisting of four-day weeks next school year. This was amid the confusion over a state mandate of five-day weeks. Earlier this month, a judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order for five-day weeks. More than 50 districts, many of them rural, sued the state over the mandate. In an email to The Communicator, Superintendent Martin Madrid said the district had prepared both four- and five-day week calendars. “Due to the c...
Two years ago, Kandel's Street Sips debuted its beverage business in a trailer parked off Route 66 on the city's east side. In recent weeks, Kandel's has graduated to a brick-and-mortar business on Tucumcari's Main Street corridor and has begun offering panini sandwiches, wraps and other food. The trailer still exists, parked across the street so it can be used for festivals and other events. But co-owner Rhonda Kandel said she's committed to the new space at 112 W. Main St., in a building that...
CLOVIS — The man accused of killing two Texico women on May 3 at Ned Houk Park now is also facing federal charges for kidnapping an infant and taking her across state lines. A federal grand jury on May 29 indicted Alek Collins, 26, on charges of kidnapping a minor and using a gun during a crime of violence. Court records show Collins waived reading of the indictment against him and entered a plea of not guilty. Officials also allege Collins shot and killed Harley Cisneros and Taryn Allen, both 23, for reasons unknown. Police say Collins may h...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from May 20 to June 1: May 20 — 9:28 a.m.: Harassment in 3600 block of Quay Road 63, Tucumcari. — 12:39 p.m.: Breaking and entering in 1100 block of South Third Street, Tucumcari. — 4:10 p.m.: Theft in 200 block of East Center Street, Tucumcari. — 5:10 p.m.: Theft in 200 block of West Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. — 6:34 p.m.: Theft in 700 block of South Monroe Street, Tucumcari. — 6:38 p.m.: Reckless driving at milepost 347, Interstate 40, San Jon. — 7:05...