Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Traffic on First Street goes by the long-vacant Hardee's building in Tucumcari. The building is slated to become the home of the reactivated American Legion Post 20 by late summer.
A former Tucumcari resident is reactivating the city's American Legion post after more than a quarter-century hiatus and will house it in the long-closed Hardee's building.
John Pacheco, a Tucumcari High graduate who now lives near Houston as a general contractor, said American Legion Post 20 in Tucumcari was reactivated in mid-April after it went dormant in 1996. He said it was one of New Mexico's oldest American Legion posts.
Pacheco plans renovate the Hardee's building, which has been closed since about 2002, with the goal to reopen it as a Post 20 headquarters by Aug. 1.
He said he acquired the building by a quitclaim deed. He did not disclose a purchase price.
Though the long-shuttered building has suffered from neglect and vandalism, Pacheco said its bones are good.
"The structure is amazing," he said.
The property previously was owned by Charlodans Restaurants of Amarillo, according to the Quay County Assessor's Office.
Pacheco, who was in the Army from the 1986 to 1992 and served in the first Persian Gulf War, said he plans to rename American Legion Post 20 after Jonathan Martinez, a friend and veteran who died in an Interstate 40 accident west of Tucumcari in 2000.
He said his general contractor license allows him to make repairs quickly on the building. He set up offices for his Silverline Rehab Construction company in Albuquerque, Alamogordo and Ruidoso and recently opened one in Tucumcari.
Pacheco said he wants to reactivate the post's American Legion summer baseball team, host bingo games, reactivate the post's auxiliary and sponsor participants to Boys and Girls State.
He said Post 20 already has a core membership of 15 people. He said area veterans interested in becoming members should email him at [email protected].
Slik Knapp, commander of VFW Post 2528 in Tucumcari, said Thursday he welcomes another veterans organization in the city.
"I think it's a good thing. I don't have any hard feelings towards them. I wish them the best," he said.
