Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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The state on Thursday announced new guidelines that would allow family members to have outdoor visits this week with residents of long-term care facilities in 21 counties, including Quay. Earlier Thursday, the state also added exemptions to its quarantine rules for New Mexicans who have to travel out-of-state for medical and parenting reasons. Katrina Hotrum-Lopez, New Mexico's secretary of Aging and Long-Term Services, announced the new long-term care visitation guidelines during Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's weekly COVID-19 briefing. Nursing...
Ute Lake State Park in Logan will remain closed through Aug. 25 after several employees there tested positive for COVID-19, according to a news release Saturday afternoon. The park closed Wednesday after several park employees showed coronavirus-like symptoms. “On Tuesday, August 11th, during routine screening some employees reported a high temperature and were immediately sent home,” stated Susan Torres, public information officer with the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. “The Park was closed out of an abund...
The New Mexico Department of Health on Sunday reported four more confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County, all in Logan. Logan has seen 15 confirmed cases in five days. The total number of cases in the county overall since the pandemic began reached 50. Ute Lake State Park in Logan has remained closed since Wednesday after several workers there showed coronavirus-like symptoms and later were confirmed with the disease. The park will remain closed through Aug. 25 while the workers are quarantined and the buildings disinfected. Logan...
The New Mexico Department of Health on Saturday reported three additional confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County. Two more were reported in the Logan ZIP code. Logan has seen 11 confirmed cases in four days. Ute Lake State Park in Logan has remained closed since Wednesday because workers there showed coronavirus-like symptoms and were awaiting test results. Logan Municipal Schools announced Thursday it likely would delay the school year set to begin Monday because one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and two others showed...
The New Mexico Department of Health on Friday reported three more confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County, all in the Logan ZIP code. Logan has seen nine confirmed cases in the last three days. Ute Lake State Park in Logan has remained closed since Wednesday because workers there showed coronavirus-like symptoms and were awaiting test results. Logan Municipal Schools announced Thursday it likely would delay the school year because one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and two others showed symptoms of the disease. The school...
The scheduled start of classes Monday at Logan Municipal Schools likely will be delayed after a staff member tested positive this week for COVID-19 and two other staff members are showing symptoms of the disease. A social-media message and text sent about noon Thursday from the school district expressed regrets for the delay and probable postponement of classes scheduled to begin Monday. The district was planning to hold in-person classes for prekindergarten to second-grade students, with the rest of the student body taking online classes...
The New Mexico Department of Health on Thursday reported four more confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County, with three in the Logan ZIP code. A total of six cases have been reported in Logan in the past two days. Ute Lake State Park in Logan closed Wednesday because workers there showed coronavirus-like symptoms, and Logan Municipal Schools announced Thursday it likely would delay the school year because one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and two others showed symptoms of the disease. According to the DOH website, the latest...
The New Mexico Department of Health on Wednesday reported three confirmed cases of coronavirus in Quay County, all in the Logan ZIP code. According to the DOH website, the latest cases are two males and one female. One was age 80 to 89; the other two were age 60 to 69. The total number of cases in the county has 28 in the Tucumcari ZIP code, six in the Logan ZIP code and three in the San Jon ZIP code. The total number of cases in the county grew to 37 since the pandemic began. Wednesday's cases were the first in the county in a week. Six have...
Ute Lake State Park in Logan closed Wednesday after several employees displayed coronavirus-like symptoms. New Mexico State Parks posted Tuesday night on its Facebook page the park would be "temporarily" closed Wednesday. “State Parks staff continues to manage facilities in line with the public health order. Please check back soon for updates,” the post stated. Susan Torres, public information officer for the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, clarified in an email Wednesday afternoon what prompted the closing. "On T...
COVID-19 wasn't far from the minds of those involved with the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center's annual field day. It wasn't just because the pandemic had forced the event to be held virtually for the first time. The Facebook event Thursday dedicated a moment of silence in memory of Paul Quintana, who died of COVID-19 complications in April after contracting the virus on a cruise ship in Florida. Quintana, who farmed and ranched in Quay County, was a founding member of the Tucumcari...
Though this year's county fair in Tucumcari contains a longer name, it is a scaled-down affair from previous editions because of COVID-19 restrictions. The Quay County Fair was rechristened Quay County 4-H/FFA Expo last month to reflect that many of its typical bells and whistles - carnival, vendors, home arts - would be absent this year. "It's going to be a boring show - just livestock," county agricultural agent Jason Lamb said last week during a telephone interview. "There's no vendors, no co...
Have you read the New Testament enough to wonder at how the church depicted there looks so much different from your own? I have. It’s not comfortable. Decades ago, my pastor told me, “If Jesus Christ showed up in our worship service, he would vomit.” I’ve come to believe, to borrow a phrase, that man was not far from the kingdom of God. Read the New Testament and highlight the places that seem to show a local congregation meeting together. Note the instructions that are given to churche...
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory board and city officials on Wednesday discussed future tourism initiatives that included securing more billboards, erecting banners on the city’s light poles, hiring a full-time tourism manager and working on the city’s branding efforts. A few of those items likely would become action items at the board’s next meeting Sept. 9, when officials would complete a re-examination of the city budget amid COVID-19’s economic effects. Matt Bednorz, giving credit to fellow board member Al Patel for the idea, urged t...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • Wednesday-Saturday — Quay County Expo. Young exhibitors from across the county and beyond will gather to show livestock. Quay County fairgrounds, Tucumcari. • Sept. 25-27 — Nara Visa Cowboy Gathering. Hear cowboy poetry and songs in the Nara Visa Community Center. Activities also include a chuckwagon steak dinner, cowboy church and more. For more, go to naravisacowboygathering.com • Sept. 26 — Altrusa International COVID Cash Drawing. This year’s reverse raffle will be conducted via...
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 and the Logan facility at 487-2287 for more information. Some area schools will use a hybrid model of online and in-person teaching for elementary grades. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Hawaiian pork, green beans, whole-wheat bread, vanilla pudding. Thursday — Pepper steak, baked potato with margarine, California veg...
On this date ... 1970: Vickie Helker, 16, of Forrest won the National All-Around High School Champion Cowgirl title at the National High School Rodeo in Fargo, North Dakota. She gave much credit to her registered quarter horse, Short Strike, for her winning at barrel racing, pole bending and other rodeo events. Helker was the first girl to win barrel racing and pole bending the same year at the Fargo rodeo. • Dunn Funeral Home of Tucumcari was notified of its acceptance into the Order of the Golden Rule for the 11th straight year. The order i...
New Mexico saw the average number of confirmed coronavirus cases drop sharply in the past week, averaging below the 200 mark. On Monday, the total number of cases was 132, bringing the total to 22,444 since the pandemic began. Five deaths were reported, raising that total to 690. The slowdown also was evident in Quay County. After 25 cases in 21 days in the county, it has seen just three cases in 16 days. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quay County stood at 34 as of Monday, with one death of a resident in April who contracted th...
The New Mexico Supreme Court last week ruled the governor is authorized to impose stiff fines for violations of the state’s public health order during the coronavirus pandemic. The unanimous decision from the bench arrived Aug. 4 after about an hour of deliberation by the justices following 75 minutes of arguments and questioning of each sides’ lawyers in the court’s chambers in Santa Fe. The court consists of two elected Democrats, two justices appointed by a Democratic governor and one justice appointed by a Republican governor. The decis...
The New Mexico Human Services Department, Behavioral Health Services Division and the New Mexico Crisis and Access Line announced a campaign last week to raise awareness about the availability of a 24-hour statewide emotional support helpline to assist New Mexicans experiencing anxiety, stress or emotional challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Talk Helpline at1-855-NMCRISIS (662-7474) provides immediate assistance, referrals and someone to talk to in times of overwhelming feelings. Professionally trained staff is available to help...
The social media app TikTok has been downloaded more than 175 million times in the U.S. alone since its global launch in 2018. But now it’s going viral for reasons other than teens dancing or cooking in pajamas. President Donald Trump recently announced that the U.S. government would ban TikTok on Sept. 15 or force the company to divest its U.S. holdings, citing national security concerns. The Chinese company ByteDance, which operates under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, runs the app. Although ByteDance claims it doesn’t sha...
I was surprised to learn recently through a New York Times story that protective face masks were required during the great flu epidemic of 1918. I also learned that a very small contingent refused to wear masks for essentially the same reasons that today’s virus-deniers won’t wear them. They thought the masks violated their rights and actually caused wearers to get sick. The anti-maskers of the early 20th Century were ridiculed and called the same name as those who dodged the draft in World War I — “slackers.” The earlier anti-mask...
At this writing, I’m happy to report I haven’t heard Nancy Pelosi’s name in five days. I haven’t heard President Trump accused of being responsible for 159,000 COVID-19 deaths since last week. And I don’t even know if Portland was burned to the sidewalks last weekend by its permanent mob of “peaceful protesters.” I’m not in heaven. I’m in Newport Beach in a rented house by the sea. My wife, kids and I are taking boat trips to watch the whales, cooking fancy meals for ourselves and watching the Pacific crash on the beach. It’s called a sum...
Tucumcari Public Schools recently posted its reopening plan for when the school year begins Aug. 17. Classes would begin remotely only on Monday because of the state’s coronavirus restrictions. The district tentatively plans to move to a hybrid model of in-person classes and online learning the first week after Labor Day in early September for elementary students. Though online classes remain an option for any student who wants it during the first semester, TPS plans to transition to partial in-person classes for the middle school in late S...
Quay County’s clerk gave the county commission an update Monday on general election procedures, including a political action committee’s mass mailing that has sparked confusion among many voters. Ellen White said about 1,100 residents have received absentee ballot applications for the November election from the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Voter Information, formerly the Voter Participation Center, that can be filled out and mailed to the clerk’s office. White said her office has received about 100 filled applications from the cente...
Vickie Gutierrez was named Dr. Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital’s new hospital chief executive effective Aug. 5. Gutierrez served most recently as the hospital’s chief nurse executive and associate administrator. “We are proud to have someone of Vickie’s caliber stepping into this leadership role,” Troy Clark, vice president of regional operations for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, stated in a news release. “She is deeply committed to the community’s healthcare needs and creating an environment where our team can thrive.” Gutierrez has s...