TES closed due to gas leak caused by vandal

Classes at Tucumcari Elementary School were canceled at least one day this week because a vandal knocked out natural gas service to the facility.

Veronica Hernandez, administrative assistant at the school district, said a motorist rammed an outdoor regulator that serves the building, causing a leak.

Gas service was halted to stop the leak, but the building has no heating. School officials decided to cancel school Monday after temperatures were forecast to only be in the 30s.

Hernandez said a contractor has been hired to repair the regulator, and she hoped gas service would be restored later this week.

She said she’d heard the motorist, using a stolen car, also had rammed several residential meters. City police are investigating the incidents.

If elementary school resumes this week before gas service is restored, officials are advising students to wear extra layers of clothing to ward off the possible chill. Hernandez said the temperature in the building before Monday was in the mid-60s.