Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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Tucumcari school board members during a special work session last week seemed to come to a consensus to renovate four existing ballparks instead of three as part of a voter-approved $3 million ballpark renovation plan. Board members and Tucumcari City Manager Mark Martinez during a regular board meeting the previous week requested the Oct. 26 work session with schools superintendent Aaron McKinney at the baseball and softball complex on the city's west side. They had expressed concerns from...
Christopher Maestas prevailed in a three-way battle for Tucumcari municipal judge among a flurry of local races decided during the local general election Tuesday. Maestas, a retired teacher, gained 244 votes for the judge’s seat. Willis Hendrickson, the husband of former municipal judge Noreen Hendrickson who was promoted to magistrate judge earlier this year, finished a distant second with 94 votes. Tommy Snapp was third with 59 votes. Robert Lucero defeated Cassie Huffman 86-30 for the District 2 position for the Tucumcari school board. The c...
The City of Tucumcari faced a significant rate increase and less coverage with its current liability insurance company when its policy was scheduled to renew on Nov. 1. Instead, the city went with its previous insurer for better coverage and a slight increase in its rates compared to the current year. Facing that choice, city commissioners on Thursday approved a policy with its old insurer, Travelers Insurance, over current insurer OneBeacon. OneBeacon’s annual premium quote rose from $420,111 to $500,748, according to a document that City M...
Two Tucumcari FFA members were crowned national champions last weekend in the Social Science 2 division during the National FFA Agriscience Fair at the organization's national convention in Indianapolis. The same weekend, two other Tucumcari FFA members and one Logan FFA member were bestowed prestigious American FFA Degrees for their dedication to the organization. Ashton Smith and MiKayla Klinger earned the national title Friday at the convention after presenting their hydroponic tomato...
The Biden Administration recently appointed Jonas Moya as the new state executive director for the USDA New Mexico Farm Service Agency. Moya joined the New Mexico FSA team on Oct. 11. Born and raised on his grandmother’s farm and cattle ranch in Tucumcari, Moya is a fourth-generation agriculturist with deep roots in New Mexico’s diverse agriculture industry. Most recently, he served as executive director for New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. As state executive director, Moya will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of FSA pro...
As a pastor, I have helped people write their requests for religious exemptions to the COVID vaccines. (And I am happy to do so for anyone who needs the assistance.) In my experience, the most prevalent objection to the experimental mRNA shots is that they all made use of fetal cell lines, obtained through abortion, from the research stage, through development, manufacturing, and/or testing. We wouldn’t have the shots if several babies had not been purposely killed decades ago. That is not m...
On this date ... 1971: New Mexico voters approved seven of 10 proposed constitutional amendments and defeated two. The fate of one proposal may not be determined until votes in 13 ballot boxes impounded or not reported are tallied. Approved were amendments increasing pay for legislators, expanding gun rights, repealing the textbook law, allowing Vietnam veterans scholarships, setting up a 33 1/3% statewide property tax ratio, providing for pollution control and repealing use for statewide property taxes for funding education. Amendments...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • Saturday — Veterans Breakfast, from 7 to 9 a.m. Sponsored by Tucumcari Elks Lodge 1172, this event is open to the public. Breakfast is free to all veterans and active duty personnel. All others $5. 2118 S. Adams St., Tucumcari. • Sunday — Veterans Remembrance Program. 1:30 p.m. at the Tucumcari Elks Lodge 1172. Open to the public. Honor all those who have served our country. The event is sponsored by the Tucumcari chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 2118 S. Adams S...
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 461-2307 or the Logan facility at 487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari schools Wednesday – Breakfast: Breakfast bento box, orange juice, skim or 1% milk; Lunch: Ham and cheese wrap, spaghetti and meat sauce, California blend vegetables, garden salad, ranch dressing, red grapes, skim, 1% or chocolate skim milk. Thursday – Breakfast: Cherry frudel, nectarine, apple juice, skim or 1% mil...
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Altrusa International of Tucumcari recently gave a "comfort chair" to the Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital Radiology Department that will be used in the waiting area for mammogram screenings. During the presentation of the chair, Morgan Roach, the hospital's radiology mammographer, stressed the importance for women to contact their doctors and obtain a referral for a mammography screening. Those screenings are an effective way to detect breast...
We’d like to thank Texas Republican state Rep. Matt Krause of Fort Worth for launching an inquiry into the books lining the shelves of public schools across Texas. No, really. Thank you. Sometimes we forget what it’s like to be a kid, driven by a bubbling curiosity and that indomitable impulse to do the opposite of what adults say. What more ingenious way to persuade students to read than to type up a 16-page list of books and tell schools that those titles are being investigated? It’s a clever move. We expect hundreds if not thousands of te...
A great nation is able to teach its history honestly, celebrating its triumphs and correcting its mistakes. That’s what the New Mexico Public Education Department is trying to accomplish with its proposed revision to the social studies standards. The 122-page plan lays out in fine detail what would be taught to students in social studies classes from kindergarten through high school. That’s one of my concerns. Dictating every detail from Santa Fe wouldn’t seem to leave much room for the teachers. The revision comes at a time when school distr...
The divisions in our nation mostly lie along urban and rural lines. Why is that? Recently I spent a week in Memphis. It’s famous for Beale Street and the Blues, Elvis’s Graceland and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, but as is the case with any famous city, it’s so much more than what it’s known for. The Greater Memphis area population is about 1.3 million, but the latest Census count puts it at 633,104 inside the city limits. It should be no surprise that, in 2020, Biden won big there, carrying all of Shelby County with 64.4% of the...
Members of the Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board and city officials during a special work session Wednesday hammered out a more specific set of proposed fee increases next year for the Tucumcari Convention Center. Fees at the convention center haven’t been raised since 2015. Board Chairman Matt Bednorz said in previous meetings current rates are too inexpensive compared to other facilities in the region. Several other board members and city officials agreed, including City Manager Mark Martinez and mayor pro tem Todd Duplantis. After more t...
Quay County saw an uptick in confirmed coronavirus cases last week but no COVID-19 deaths for the first time since September. Twenty-four cases were reported in the county last week, including four on Friday, by the New Mexico Department of Health, compared to 17 in each of the previous two weeks. The total number in the county since the pandemic began rose to 1,036. No confirmed COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county, keeping the total at 23 since the pandemic began last spring. Deaths in Quay County had been reported weekly since...
LOGAN – The Longhorns scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than five minutes left, then their defense stopped Magdalena in Logan territory to preserve a 24-18 victory Friday in the state quarterfinals of eight-man football. Logan (8-3), the fourth seed in the state tournament, will play at No. 1-seeded Tatum in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday. Tatum (7-1) defeated Logan 34-8 in a previous district clash on Oct. 15. Logan surged to an 18-0 lead in the first half Friday against the visiting a...
A playoff-bound New Mexico Military Institute football team captured a district title with a solid 42-11 victory Friday over Tucumcari in the regular-season finale at Roswell. NMMI improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in Class 3A’s District 4. The Colts, a fifth seed in the playoffs, face Thoreau (6-3) in its first-round game this weekend. Tucumcari ended its season at 1-9, 0-3. The Colts seized leads of 13-0 in the first quarter and 28-3 at halftime. Tucumcari scored its only points during the half on a short field goal by Matthew Calbert early i...
Tucumcari put itself in the driver's seat for a district volleyball title with a 25-14, 25-17, 23-25, 25-12 home victory Thursday over Dexter that avenged an earlier district loss to the Lady Demons. The Lady Rattlers (8-11, 2-1) can win the Class 3A-4 championship outright if they defeat New Mexico Military Institute on the road during their regular-season finale on Tuesday. (The match was after the Quay County Sun's print deadline.) Tucumcari defeated NMMI (4-15, 0-2) in a five-set marathon in...
Tucumcari senior Emmanuel "Manny" Hernandez earned all-district honors by finishing third at the Class 3A district cross-country meet Friday at Roswell and qualified for this weekend's state championships at Albuquerque. Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson said Hernandez dropped back from third to fourth place halfway through the 5,000-meter race but rallied during the last half-mile. He finished in a time of 18 minutes, 24 seconds. "Manny ran a very good race ... very proud of him," Hittson said....
The San Jon volleyball team withstood a challenge from district rival Grady during a 25-6, 18-25, 25-14, 25-19 road victory on Saturday. Bailey McEwen of the Lady Coyotes served 10 straight points during the first-set win. “The second set, we dug ourselves a huge hole right away and while we battled back and cut our losses tremendously, it was too little, too late,” San Jon coach Jaree Elliott said. “Third set, we came out slow again but turned things around.” She said Karlee Elliott’s spikes and Sarah Archuleta’s serves were “a huge factor...
The New Mexico Activities Association last week featured a Logan student-athlete who is playing football in spite of a partial amputation of his leg after an accident last summer. The NMAA posted a two-minute video about Ace Whitson, an eighth-grader who's on the Longhorns' varsity roster. Whitson suffered the severe injury to his lower right leg in May 2020 while helping build a fence on his family's ranch. "I knew my leg was broken for sure, but I wasn't 100% sure what had happened," he said...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Oct. 25 to Oct. 29: • Samantha Alexis Montano, 27, Tucumcari, two counts of contempt of court. • Mariah Meier, 30, Clovis, contempt of court. • Mary P. Trujillo, 51, Tucumcari, criminal trespass (public). • Angelo F. Galvan, 25, Tucumcari, warrant from other counties or states. • Riley Padilla, 20, Santa Rosa, possession of alcoholic beverages by a minor and no seat belts. These individuals were released from the Quay County Detention Center from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29: • Des...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Oct. 25 to Oct. 31: Monday • 10:12 a.m.: Arrest warrant in 300 block of South Third Street, Tucumcari. • 11:25 a.m.: Theft in 1900 block of South Mountain Road, Tucumcari. • 1:19 p.m.: Trespassing in 300 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. • 1:33 p.m.: Arrest warrant in 400 block of Cheyenne Road, Logan. • 1:35 p.m.: Unattended death in 800 block of West Hancock Avenue, Tucumcari. • 4:35 p.m.: Threat in 400 block of East Turner Avenue, Tucumcari....