Undersheriff lauded for live-saving actions

The Quay County sheriff presented a Life Saving Award to his undersheriff whose quick actions last month likely prevented a woman's death from a heart attack she suffered in the county courthouse.

Sheriff Russell Shafer presented the honor to Dennis Garcia during the county commission's regular meeting Monday.

Shafer said during his presentation that on Aug. 12, when Garcia was about to head home after a long shift, he received a call for help from the district court's office about a woman who had collapsed.

Shafer said Garcia ran down two flights of stairs and saw district court Deputy Clerk Perfy Jasper lying on the floor and unresponsive.

"He immediately began performing CPR and calling for assistance over the radio and continued lifesaving measures until Tucumcari EMS arrived," Shafer stated. "It was later determined Ms. Jasper suffered a major heart attack, and without the immediate attention she received, she likely would not have survived."

After a stay in the hospital, Jasper came to the sheriff's office to thank Garcia. She also attended the award ceremony Monday in the county commission chambers.

"Undersheriff Garcia's ability to react quickly and calmly in a stressful situation, paired with his training and experience or divine intervention he was at the office at the right time, saved a life that day," Shafer stated. Those in the chamber applauded as Garcia received his award.

"Dennis, all of us in Quay County thank you for your service," commission Chairman Franklin McCasland said.

Garcia is set to become sheriff after winning his Republican primary earlier this year. He is unopposed in the general election. Shafer won two terms as sheriff and is term-limited.

In other business by the commission:

• Commissioners approved property tax rates for the 2022 tax year. County Assessor Janie Hoffman said the only area that will see tax increases is the Tucumcari school district because of a voter-approved two-mill levy. She said taxes in that district will rise $25.46 for every $100,000 of assessed value.

• Commissioners approved an economic development plan for the county, which county manager Daniel Zamora said would make the region eligible for state funding incentives for businesses that include LEDA.

• Commissioners approved donating a sliver of land in the Tucumcari Convention Center parking lot to the City of Tucumcari. Zamora said the tract was found during a survey for the ballfields redevelopment project, and the donation would help make city and county properties properly align with their respective fencelines.

• Commissioners approved a resolution to participate in a state capital appropriation project and agreement to improve Quay Road AP at an estimated cost of $550,000.

• Commissioners approved an application to begin the process of closing 1.25 miles of Quay Road AZ near House. Road superintendent Larry Moore said the closing would affect only two landowners.

• Commissioners approved a usual third-quarter mill levy and gross receipts tax payment of $250,000 to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari.

Reports

• Vickie Gutierrez, administrator at Trigg, gave a second-quarter report on the hospital. She said Trigg totaled more than 2,200 emergency-care admissions, with 11% transferred to another facility. The hospital also administered $678,000 in charity care through July 31.

Gutierrez said an annual drive-up flu shot event would be at the Quay County Fairgrounds on Oct. 15 and at Logan Medical Clinic on Oct. 22.

She also said the hospital has successfully recruited a registered nurse, and Trigg would be down to just one nurse traveler this month. Trigg is continuing efforts to find two radiology and one ultrasound specialist.

Trigg hired Ashley McClelland as a speech therapist, who will assist patients with stroke recovery and work with local school districts.

• C. Renee Hayoz, administrator of the Quay County Family Health Center, said the number of encounters in August at the clinic was below its goal but the second-highest month this year.

Hayoz said Omicron-based vaccination boosters will arrive this week, and the clinic will begin administering them on Sept. 22. She said the new boosters are recommended to any adult who is two months or more past their last booster shot.

She said the clinic would receive flu vaccines this week, with a vaccination event planned for later.

• Connie Loveland, executive director for Tucumcari MainStreet, provided her annual report. She said MainStreet has begun its third round of the FORGE business accelerator program, and county funding helped her hire two part-time workers at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum, which has drawn 700 visitors from May through August.

• During public comments, Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corp. director Patrick Vanderpool said his office is reviewing a number of incentives for attracting businesses, including LEDA state funds, tax increment financing districts and a gross receipts investment fund.