Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Animal-complaint calls in Tucumcari nearly doubled since a fatal dog attack in the city earlier in the month.
According to records kept by the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, the number of animal-problem calls handled by the Tucumcari Police Department totaled 24, plus four stray-dog calls.
During the Feb. 6-12 period, a few days after the Feb. 1 attack by five dogs that killed Stanley Hartt of Tucumcari, the total number of animal-problem calls to TPD jumped to 45, with five stray-dog calls.
City manager Paula Chacon said she observed the same trend.
“We’ve had a bunch of calls after the attack,” she said Wednesday. “It brought it to the table on the issue of dogs. People would ignore it before. Now they’re reporting them.”
Chacon said a few residents turned in their dogs because they could not control them and the animals were vicious.
Chacon said the city recently hired a new animal control officer who is trying new ideas to encourage more adoptions of dogs from the pound.
Interim Police Chief Patricia Lopez the fact the city has a full-time animal control officer again also is a factor in the rise in calls.
“People also have concerns about their safety and the safety of their neighbors, and more people are calling,” she said.
In response to the attack, the Tucumcari Railroad Museum is hosting a free “Dog Safety for Kids” seminar from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Children with an accompanying parent will be taught to reduce the risk of themselves and others of being bit by dog.
Mary Olimpia Montoya, 50, and her son Kristopher Jaquaris Morris, 27, both of the 400 block of West High Street, were charged with involuntary manslaughter (reckless) and a dangerous dog (death of a person), both felonies, a few days after the attack. Both were free on bond.
During an interview last week with an Albuquerque television station, Morris blamed his mother for the attack and said he never saw any aggression from Zina, the dog that was euthanized the night Hartt died.
That contradicts statements Morris gave to New Mexico State Police, where he acknowledged the dogs’ history of attacking people, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Tucumcari resident Haley Place, who helped organize an impromptu memorial to Hartt a few days after the attack, is organizing a tree-planting for the victim at 1 p.m. Sunday along South 11th Street near the spot where Hartt died.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, Emmanuel Baptist Church at 706 E. Hines Ave. will host a memorial service for Hartt.
Place said he partly was motivated to do something after surviving a dog attack in September. It happened while visiting a neighbor’s backyard when he was accosted by two pitbulls, a shepherd dog and a Great Dane.
“They almost got me on the ground,” he recalled. “They tore my jacket off me. I had to run backwards and jump over a fence. I broke my back in three places. I barely got out of there. If they’d gotten me on the ground, they would have hurt me bad.”
Place said he often had conversations with Hartt when he went to the grocery store.
“We were in the produce section and talked about fruits and vegetables and about how fresh they were and how available there were,” he said.
“The last time I talked to him, we were talking about Mexican watermelons and how they tasted a little bit different. We talked about avocados and how the avocado companies used security after the prices went up.
“I told him, ‘I love America, man.’ He said, ‘I love this town.’”