Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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The assassination of a Tucumcari district attorney 50 years ago this week shocked the region and led to changes in the state's legal system regarding mentally ill suspects. A man armed with a high-powered rifle shot and killed longtime 10th Judicial District Attorney Victor C. Breen on Dec. 1, 1971, in his driveway as he was about to go to the county courthouse for a murder trial. Breen was 54. At the time, Breen was the third district attorney in the United States slain in the line of duty....
A total of 43 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in three days were reported in Quay County last week by the state’s Department of Health, an indication the virus still was spreading at a high rate. The agency did not report data Thursday or Friday because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Last week’s total projects to more than 70 cases during a full week. A record total of 91 confirmed cases were reported in Quay County the previous week. According to state epidemiology reports, Quay County had the worst case rate in New Mexico with 145.5 new cas...
A legislative forum hosted last week by Mesalands Community College might be sort of a last hurrah for state Sen. Pat Woods with his Tucumcari constituents. Woods, a Republican based in Broadview who's represented District 7 since 2012, said a legislative special session held later this month likely will redraw senate district lines to where he loses Tucumcari as part of his district. Woods' district includes parts of Quay, Union and Curry counties. He said the only parts of Quay County that...
I am not a science denier. You may hear otherwise, but I think that’s unfair. To be anti-science is to be anti God, who created and owns everything in the whole cosmos. Our fathers in the faith used to talk about the value of studying God’s two books. One, of course, was the Bible, and the other was the created world we live in. They believed that God used both books to reveal himself to those who look for him in their pages. The scientific method is one of the tools God has given humanity, so...
On this date ... 1971: Violence erupts again in Tucumcari with the murder of District Attorney Victor C. Breen as he prepared to step into his car this morning to go to work. The car was parked in front of his home, 2319 S. Fifth, when a sniper armed with a high-powered weapon gunned him down. The incident happened around 8:15 a.m. today. “Police set up roadblocks surrounding Tucumcari, but reported no arrests as of mid-day. “Breen, who became district attorney in 1951, was struck in the back and he died instantly.” — Tucumcari Daily News. (...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • Friday — Very Merry Tucumcari Virtual C.R.A.F.T. Fair. This event will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. on Facebook on the Tucumcari MainStreet page. Shop from home and support local artists. • Friday — Christmas Tree Lighting at Tucumcari Historical Museum. This event will be at 6 p.m. at the museum’s courtyard. 416 S. Adams St. • Saturday — St. Anne’s Catholic Church Enchilada Dinner. Meals include enchiladas, beans, rice and sopaipillas. Meals are $12, with sweet rice available for $...
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 schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Whole-grain donut ring, fresh pear, apple juice, skim or 1% milk; Lunch: Ham and cheese chef salad, beef lasagna bake, herbed Italian veggies, cucumber, ranch dressing, strawberry cup, skim, 1% or chocolate skim milk. Thursday — Breakfast; Whole-grain sausage breakfast bis...
An interview review of two Tucumcari police officers involved in a Nov. 11 shootout with a fleeing suspect cleared them of any possible wrongdoing, and they returned to duty. The Tucumcari Police Department stated in a social-media post Nov. 23 the two officers — identified as Justin Garcia and Santo Saenz in court records — were placed immediately on paid administrative leave after the incident, pending the review. “That review has been completed and it has been determined both officers actions were appropriate,” the post stated. “The of...
Ahmaud Arbery’s killing in February 2020 sounded at first like a horrific flashback to an earlier era in which white men killed Black men for appearing in places they were neither expected nor welcome, and then were coddled instead of arrested and prosecuted by the local police. It brought to mind the distant memory of Emmett Till and more recent one of Trayvon Martin. It seemed a bit more modern when finally, more than two months later, amid mounting public outrage and state pressure, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William ...
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I grew up on them. They were the first thing I learned to make in the kitchen. That and a glass of milk. Microwaves hadn’t been invented yet. Playing basketball on a dirt patch in our back yard. That’s where I learned to dribble and shoot with one hand. And football in our front yard. When no one else was around, I’d take the hike from an imaginary center, drop back and throw to the trees, believing that I was the star quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks, the only college team that mattered in the unive...
It ought to be possible to operate a retail store in one of America’s largest and most iconic cities, but this most basic commercial proposition is in doubt in San Francisco. The erstwhile Golden City is beset by an ongoing tide of theft that is closing down retail locations and demonstrating again the city’s unwillingness to govern itself. Cities around the country dub themselves “the capital” of this or that signature product: artichokes in Castroville, Calif.; earmuffs in Farmington, Maine; spinach in Alma, Ark.; fried chicken in Barberton,...
Wrestling is an indoor sport, but longtime Rattlers coach Eddie Encinias is doing a lot more outdoor workouts this year. Encinias said he's doing it partly to limit his athletes' risk of exposure to COVID-19, which could lead to a quarantine for several weeks. He also sees more outdoor sessions as another way to get his team into shape for the upcoming season, which begins at the Los Lunas Duals on Saturday. Tucumcari's only regular-season home meet is during the prestigious Tucumcari Invitation...
The Tucumcari girls basketball team has virtually its entire varsity roster back, plus a few new additions who have experience with the program. The one significant change is head coach. Gary Hittson stepped away from the program after 14 seasons to be assistant coach of the THS boys basketball squad. Patrick Benavidez, who spent years as an assistant coach or coached middle-school girls, takes over leading the Lady Rattlers. "I picked up a lot from Gary over the years," he said. "I hope to use...
The compressed and shortened Tucumcari boys basketball season earlier this year wasn't a fun one for coach John Span and his players. The young squad suffered from a lack of ball handlers and consistent shooters, and the Rattlers finished with an 0-10 record. This fall, Span said he saw signs of improvement during a recent scrimmage with West Las Vegas and Clayton. "We saw some good things. The teams got after it, and I was impressed," Span said before practice last week. When asked to...
Two Quay County seniors will be playing this weekend at the annual Red vs. Green All-Star Football Game in Roswell. Tucumcari senior Khobie Salvador will be playing on the defensive line for the small-school green team. Salvador was the Rattlers’ lone player to receive first-team honors in Tucumcari’s Class 3A-4 district as a defensive and offensive lineman. The green team also includes seniors from Texico, Gateway Christian, Eunice, Hope Christian, West Las Vegas, Dexter, Tularosa, Capitan, St. Michael’s, Socorro, New Mexico Military Insti...
Three members of one family soon after New Year's Day will open Tucumcari's first meat-processing facility in decades. Triple E Custom Meats, its construction mostly complete southeast of Tucumcari about 2 1/2 miles south of old Route 66 on Quay Road AK, not only will butcher cattle and hogs for area farmers, but also wild game such as deer and elk during hunting season. One of the principals, Tommy Evans, said in a phone interview they anticipate being able to butcher 10 head of cattle per...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Nov. 22 to Nov. 28: Monday – 3:19 a.m.: Theft in 1700 block of South Mountain Road, Tucumcari. – 8:21 a.m.: Shots fired in 10100 block of Highway 104, Tucumcari. – 8:23 a.m.: Theft in 2400 block of Highway 469, San Jon. – 11:42 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 1900 block of South Mountain Road, Tucumcari. – 2:32 p.m.: Breaking and entering in 400 block of West Laguna Avenue, Tucumcari. – 8:55 p.m.: Civil dispute in 300 block of East Smith Avenue, Tucumcari....