Articles written by steve hansen
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Federal 'assistance' not needed
As of Friday, Albuquerque, without even having to ask, was supposed to get “help” from about 25 federal law enforcement officials in combating its admittedly major crime problem. Albuquerque is...
City approves $25 million final budget
The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday approved a $25 million final budget for fiscal year 2021 that began July 1 and extends to June 30, 2021, and includes a deficit of $631,945. Documents show...
NM fortunate in its leadership
The question of opening schools is one of the most troubling we have ever faced. On one hand, President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are pressuring states to pack the kids into cla...
Interim city manager term extended
Mark Martinez will be Tucumcari’s interim city manager for another 90 days, the city commission decided Thursday. An extension of Martinez’s contract received unanimous approval from the...
Free speech belongs to all speakers
Let’s cancel “cancel culture,” the idea that discussion that offends should not be allowed if offended parties must be exposed to it. Cancel culture cancels free speech, the freedom on which...
Need more thoughtful conservatives
New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gave a scolding to residents Thursday as she announced the state would extend current COVID-19 restrictions instead of relaxing them more. New...
On lookout for centipede advice
My introduction to the New Mexico version of centipede occurred a few years ago, while I was working in an office in Tucumcari. A sweet young thing who worked in an office nearby appeared in my doorwa...
City to convert positions to part-time
The city of Tucumcari will not cut any positions in fiscal year 2021, from July 1 to June 30, 2021, but will convert 10 positions to part-time jobs and allow two employees to transfer into new...
Bolton's caution isn't cowardice
You hear it often: “Discretion is the better part of valor.” It’s a distortion of a Shakespeare quote. The Bard actually scripted Jack Falstaff to say, “the better part of valor is discretion,...
Hansen: Pandemic a perfect protest storm
Since recent current protests, rioting and sometimes extreme police responses affect just about everyone, they should be viewed more as phenomena of human behavior than of politics. And psychologists...
Second Street work should start soon
Construction should start in “a week or two” on the long-awaited Second Street improvement project in downtown Tucumcari after the city commission on Thursday signed a contract with J&H Services o...
City votes to accept $1.8 million construction bid
The Second Street improvement project in downtown Tucumcari is a contract signing from the start of construction after the city commission voted unanimously Thursday during a special meeting to...
Police work still difficult, dangerous
Four Minneapolis police officers are justifiably facing murder or aiding and abetting charges in the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died after enduring nearly nine minutes of Offic...
Flynn's case only getting muddier
The case of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn now has the clarity of a mud bath. First, his court case. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Then, Attorney General William Barr, his ultimate prosecutor,...
City commission passes preliminary budget
The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday passed a preliminary city budget for fiscal year 2021 that will leave a $489,000 deficit in the city’s general fund, which is covered by reserve allowances...
Wear the darn mask, Mr. President
Wear the darn mask, Mr. President. You are not above the law, and no, you are not the law, as much as you want to be. It’s not manly to go maskless in public. It’s dumb. You are an obviously...
City administrators look at ways to save jobs
Tucumcari city administrators found a “silver lining” that could mean as few as two full-time city employees lose jobs next fiscal year and others who would have been dismissed would be made...
Problem solving should be focus
Going quietly amid the noise of Congressional grandstanding, shouting pundits and a bombastic president, a bipartisan group of 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives has been preparing the...
Apartments to be placed under ERHA jurisdiction
The Chaparral Apartments in Tucumcari will be placed under the jurisdiction of the federal Eastern Regional Housing Authority based in Roswell, like the rest of Tucumcari’s other public housing...
Presidential lies shouldn't be a shock
President Donald Trump has lied repeatedly to the American people in order to enhance his chances for re-election. Shocked? Presidential lying shouldn’t even be news any more, but catching...
Virus a crap shoot, even for healthy
The COVID-19 pandemic is as big as planet Earth, but it’s because of what it does at the individual level that is interesting and a little frightening. Most of what follows is freely translated...
Commissioners cleared of ethics charges
In the first test of the Tucumcari’s new ethics ordinance, Tucumcari City Commissioners Ralph Moya and Paul Villanueva were cleared Thursday of charges they had improperly aimed criticism a city emp...
Housing commission delays turning over apartments
Confusion over the status of the Chaparral Apartments on Thursday led the Tucumcari Housing Commission to delay turning over the 24-unit complex to the Eastern Regional Housing Authority, though the...
Resolution receives narrow approval
A resolution asking New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to consider allowing businesses in the state’s rural cities to reopen to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus received narrow approval...
Revenue likely to impact city jobs, services
Revenue shortages because of the COVID-19 economic freeze and increases in state minimum wage likely would result in loss of jobs, conversion of some full-time city jobs to part-time positions and...
