Pages past - Feb. 24

On this date ...

1971: Wilfred R. Sanchez, 36, owner of the Tucumcari Credit Bureau and other credit bureaus in Belen and Taos, was arrested when vice squad officers served a search warrant on the car he was riding in with two other people in Albuquerque. In the trunk, detectives found a suitcase containing more than $14,000 worth of coins that police said were stolen during a November burglary of an Albuquerque coin shop. The Internal Revenue Service also seized Sanchez’s plane as part of a tax-evasion investigation.

• Hearing unanimous support from Tucumcari motel owners, the city commission approved a motel tax. The mayor noted Tucumcari and Santa Rosa were the only towns on Interstate 40 that did not have a motel tax. It was estimated the new tax would generate $25,000 to $30,000 a year, which would be used exclusively for tourism purposes.

• Two Tucumcari police officers were served with a complaint after they were accused of false arrest and assault and battery. Two young men on Feb. 14 were arrested for loitering, resisting arrest, disturbance and threats at the Pow Wow Inn. A judge later dismissed those charges, saying the state Court of Appeals had ruled several weeks ago that loitering charges were unconstitutional. One of the young men also alleged one of the officers struck him during the arrest.