Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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New Mexico’s governor has chosen Tucumcari Municipal Judge Noreen Hendrickson as Quay County’s next magistrate judge and likely will take office sometime in mid-July. Reached by phone Wednesday night, Hendrickson confirmed she received a congratulatory phone call and email about her appointment the previous day from an aide to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Hendrickson said she will undergo 80 hours of training before she becomes magistrate judge, though she said she didn’t have an exact timetable of when that would occur. “I’m super-exc...
The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday hired a new city attorney to replace Randy Knudson, who had served as the city’s general counsel for at least 15 years. The commission's choice and contract terms could not be announced before the Quay County Sun's deadline because of a state regulation that requires such contracts to be kept confidential until all parties have signed, City Clerk Angelica Gray said Monday. After commissioners expressed dissatisfaction with Knudson’s service earlier this year, the city issued a request for proposals to...
Tucumcari Police Chief David Lathrom has resigned his position, effective July 7. City Manager Mark Martinez confirmed the resignation on Friday. "We appreciate his service and wish him the best in his future endeavors," Martinez said. Attempts to reach Lathrom for comment were not successful. Lathrom was hired as police chief in February 2017, following the retirement of Jason Braziel in December 2016. Braziel had served seven years as the city's police chief and 24 years in law enforcement overall. A committee of then-city manager Jared Lange...
LOGAN - A resident who attended a ceremony last week celebrating the opening of a $23.5 million bridge on U.S. 54 over the Canadian River witnessed to a similar event for the previous bridge 67 years ago. Because of his link to history, state transportation officials asked Alvin Keith to participate in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting Wednesday morning at the 700-foot bridge's north side, which he was glad to do. "I feel really privileged to watch this, to say I was here," Keith said afterward. Kei...
Bible believers should take a hard look at libertarianism. I’m not talking about joining the Libertarian Party, which spends a lot of time masquerading as a dumpster fire. I’m talking about libertarianism as a philosophy of government. You believe you are under a New Testament mandate to “take every thought captive” to Christ, but you’ve spent no time doing this when it comes to the ideas that seek to control your life from the outside. At some point you picked a party to join and have generally...
LOGAN - A severe storm Saturday afternoon caused scattered reports of property damage and widespread flooding on roads and city streets around the village. No injuries were reported. Logan Police Chief Rodney Paris said the storm hit about 4:30 p.m. He said by Sunday morning he'd received about eight or nine reports of property damage from straight-line winds, including a metal roof blown onto Lake Road. Paris said the northeast side of Logan received up to four inches of pea-sized hail,...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • July 16 — Fired Up Friday. The Quay County Health Council will host a chalk art contest. Food trucks will operated from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until the food runs out. Tucumcari Historic Railroad Plaza at Second and Main streets. • Aug. 5-7 — Rattler Reunion. The committee plans to hold annual events for Tucumcari High School alumni, including at the traditional site of the Tucumcari Convention Center. The 2021 Rattler Reunion hosts will be the Classes of 1990 and 1991. The Golden...
The Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center remain 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 or the Logan facility at 487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Hot turkey sandwich, tuna, broccoli with cheese, Jell-O. Thursday — Round steak, mashed potato with mushroom gravy, green beans, potluck roll with margarine, strawberry shortcake. Friday — Chicken salad, creamy coleslaw, carrot raisi...
On this date ... 1971: Three Soviet cosmonauts died died returning to Earth from their record spaceflight of nearly 24 days, according to United Press International. The Soviet Tass news agency reported Soyuz 11 cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev were found strapped in their seats “without any signs of life” when their spacecraft soft-landed in Soviet Central Asia early today. It was revealed two years later the capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, asphyxiating the crew. • A 17-year-old boy w...
Though sympathetic to the request, the Quay County Commission on Monday tabled a request of up to $3,200 to the Tucumcari Historical Museum until the county manager could figure out how to find funds by its next meeting in July. In an illustration of how timing can affect funding requests, commissioners in a largely ceremonial gesture approved giving $10,000 to the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, though the move was unnecessary because the amount had been budgeted for the just-started 2021-2022 fiscal year. Alan Daugherty, a...
Just three confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Quay County last week. Two were reported in the Tucumcari ZIP code and one in Bard during that time span. That brought the overall total to 537 since the pandemic began last spring, with 11 deaths. The breakdown of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 373 in Tucumcari, 106 in Logan, 24 in San Jon, 11 in House, nine in McAlister, five in Nara Visa, five in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County), and five in Bard. A total of 512 people in the county were...
Sometimes the Supreme Court protects constitutional rights best when it doesn’t establish what lawyers call a bright-line rule applicable to every possible future situation. That was the case last Wednesday when the court ruled in favor of a high school cheerleader who had been disciplined for a vulgar outburst on social media. In Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the justices ruled 8-1 that a Pennsylvania school district violated the free speech rights of Brandi Levy when it suspended her from her school’s junior varsity cheerleading tea...
I get it. I see the long way we have to go before we achieve race-blindness. We are making progress, and while I can’t stand the term “woke” (with its implication that you belong to this very exclusive club that believes in inclusion), I’d like to think awareness of racial issues, how far we’ve come (which is substantial) and how far we have to go (also substantial) is increasing and is seen as vital to the future of our society. Last week I said I didn’t understand “critical race theory” at all, but since then I’ve done a little reading ab...
WANTED: Trained security professionals to deal with elevated levels of crime and mayhem at risk to their own life and limb, while getting called racist oppressors and potentially thrown under the bus by elected officials. This has become the de facto employment notice for police around the country, and, unsurprisingly, cops and prospective cops don’t find it particularly enticing. Why would they? America’s cities are feeling the effects of a yearslong experiment in what would happen if nearly everyone celebrated a movement based on the ide...
ALBUQUERQUE - At one point of Logan's Class 1A title game Thursday afternoon against Gateway Christian, the Longhorns trailed 3-0 while storm clouds began to loom over the University of New Mexico's Santa Ana Star Field. As it turned out, the approaching storm also was Logan's offense. The Longhorns (15-1), the No. 1 seed in the tournament, scored five runs in a second inning sandwiched around a one-hour lightning delay, igniting a 16-7 come-from-behind victory for their first-ever baseball stat...
The Tucumcari High School boys golf team finished seventh of seven teams participating in the Class 1A-3A championships last week at Los Altos Golf Course in Albuquerque. The Rattlers finished with a team score of 481. Clovis Christian won the boys team title with a score of 328, prevailing over runner-up Socorro by 13 strokes. Andrew Henderson-Clark was Tucumcari’s top male golfer, with a score of 101 that placed him 21st overall. Rounding out the Tucumcari scorers were Ayden Otero (36th with a 123 score), Kaden Brown (37th, 126) and Billy O...
The cost of Tucumcari Public Schools' ballparks redevelopment plan has ballooned more than 22% to a top level of $4.9 million since October 2019, but the superintendent voiced optimism he could take steps to drop the price tag close to the original $3 million. School board members during a work session before their regular June 21 meeting heard a presentation by Chris van Dyck, chief operating officer of Greer Stafford Architecture of Albuquerque, which is overseeing the bond-issued project that...
The Tucumcari Public Schools board of education voted 4-1 last week on a contract extension for its longtime superintendent that will keep him in the district through July 2024. Aaron McKinney, who has been Tucumcari schools superintendent for 15 years, did not receive a raise from his current pay of about $120,000 a year during the board’s regular meeting June 21. However, the board granted him use of a Chevrolet Suburban from the district’s fleet he can use for commuting and district-based travel. The board voted on the extension after nea...
The contracted director of senior citizen centers in Tucumcari and Logan said she has set a tentative reopening date of Aug. 2 for both facilities — almost 18 months after they closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clara Rey said she still was mentally digesting new guidelines she received received Friday morning about the proposed reopening of the Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center. Despite Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s announcement in mid-June to lift all health restrictions on July 1, Rey said its not that simple with senior cen...
LOGAN - Nearly 20 people - about half of them children - participated in a mask-burning event Saturday morning to protest those mandates for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tonya Perez, who organized the event in front of the Cowboy Chuckwagon restaurant along U.S. 54, said she was prompted to organize the protest after hearing a rumor that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will require schoolchildren to wear masks during the next school year. "Hopefully, this will put a stop to the masks,"...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from June 21 to June 27: Monday • 12:11 a.m.: Civil dispute in 1500 block of South Fourth Street, Tucumcari. • 12:20 a.m.: Breaking and entering in 1300 block of East Heman Avenue, Tucumcari. • 12:45 a.m.: Civil dispute in 1500 block of South Fourth Street, Tucumcari. • 6:58 a.m.: Vandalism in 900 block of East Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. • 7:40 a.m.: Reckless driving at milepost 325, U.S. 54, Logan. • 8:31 a.m.: Threat in 1200 block of South Seventh Street...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from June 21 to June 26: • Steve Edward Flores, 40, Azusa, California, felony possession of a controlled substance (narcotic). • Brandi Marie Johnson, 38, Tucumcari, battery against a household member. • Chrystal Renee Gonzales, 37, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • Steven P. Sandoval, 41, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • Scott Cain Garcia, 22, Tucumcari, battery against a household member. • Russel Shafer, 49, Logan, bribery of a witness (threats; false testimony). (Editor’s n...