Serving the High Plains

Articles from the January 1, 2020 edition


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  • Year in review: Racino, weather incidents mark first half of 2019

    Staff report|Jan 1, 2020

    Editor's note: This story is the first in a series of stories wrapping up 2019 in Quay County. A story on July through December will run in the Jan. 8 edition. Bizarre weather-related incidents and mounting uncertainty about Tucumcari's candidacy for a horse-racing license marked the first half of 2019. Severe windstorms occurred during the collapse of a wind turbine near House in February and caused the derailment of 23 railcars off a trestle near Logan during another storm in March. No one...

  • Biofuel company anticipates February start

    Ron Warnick|Jan 1, 2020

    The president of a Tucumcari biofuels company said he anticipates construction will begin in February to convert a closed ethanol plant on the city's north side into a methane-gas plant that will create 40 jobs for a one-year period. Robert Hockaday, president of Tucumcari Bio-Energy, said in a phone interview about $5.5 million in financing nearly is in place to begin the conversion of the plant to create flammable methane gas from cattle manure from the region, plus some whey from Tucumcari...

  • Officials offer pecan quarantine reminder

    Staff report|Jan 1, 2020

    The New Mexico pecan industry is important to the state, and New Mexico Department of Agriculture officials remind the public of the pecan weevil quarantine rule in three counties that affects movement of in-shell pecans. In November 2018, the Pecan Weevil Interior Quarantine Rule went into effect. The rule establishes quarantine areas, restrictions and treatment options. Quarantined areas include Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties. The interior rule is an addition to New Mexico's Pecan Weevil...

  • Victory of Jesus explains everything

    Gordan Runyan|Jan 1, 2020

    The New Testament quotes one Old Testament verse more than any other. It is Psalm 110:1, which says, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” from Leviticus 19:18, comes in second.) It seems apparent that the divine author of the Scripture thinks those are pretty important concepts, foundational even. But if you are reading these words and can remember sitting through a sermon on Psalm 110:1, I wo...

  • Gas company files request to raise rates

    Staff report|Jan 1, 2020

    New Mexico Gas Co. filed a request last week with state regulators to raise rates for natural gas by 4.2% in early 2021. The utility, which serves 530,000 customers in New Mexico, stated in a news release it filed a $13.23 million rate case “to recover significant capital investments” between September 2017 and the end of 2021. The company said the average residential bill of 50 therms would increase about $1.71 per month, from $40.61 to $42.32, which represents a 4.2% hike. That increase would include a hike in the residential access fee from...

  • Pages past - Jan. 1

    Jan 1, 2020

    On this date ... 1970: The first baby in Tucumcari in 1970 arrived to Mr. and Mrs. Terry Lynn Turner. The baby boy, which weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce, was born at 12:33 a.m. New Year’s Day at Trigg Memorial Hospital. • The New Year’s Day prime-time schedule for television included the “Jim Nabors Variety Show,” “Bewitched,” “Truth or Consequences,” “The Tom Jones Show,” the Orange Bowl and the Heisman Trophy presentation. • The Odeon Theatre in Tucumcari advertised “Alice’s Restaurant,” starring folk singer Arlo Guthrie, who had a hit song b...

  • Calendar - Jan. 1

    Jan 1, 2020

    • Jan. 11 — Open Mic Night. Have you dreamed of entertaining? Now is your chance. Whatever your talent is, you’re invited to share it starting at 6 p.m. All ages welcome. To sign up, call (575) 461-9908 or visit us at the Gallery Etc. 201 S. Second St., Tucumcari. • Jan. 18 — Viva Las Tucumcari. The Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce banquet from 6 to 9 p.m. offers plenty of fun and plenty to win between games, a prize raffle and a silent auction. The event also will introduce the first-ever Taste of Tucumcari. Check back for more info...

  • Menus - Jan. 1

    Jan 1, 2020

    Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Closed for New Year’s Day. Thursday — Chicken nuggets with honey mustard, potato wedges, broccoli with cheese, fruit cocktail. Friday — Hawaiian pork, tossed salad with ranch dressing, whole-wheat bread, vanilla pudding with strawberries. Monday — Round steak with mushroom gravy, broccoli, baked potato with margarine, whole-wheat roll with margarine, banana pudding. Tuesday — Chicken fajita, flour tortilla, chile beans with cheese, gelatin, orange slices. Logan Senior Center Wednesday — Closed for New Year...

  • Ruling enforces New Mexico's sunshine laws

    Jan 1, 2020

    New Mexicans received an early holiday present as the New Mexico Supreme Court declined to review the strong Court of Appeals and District Court decisions in the Corizon Health case, enforcing the state’s Sunshine Laws. The Supreme Court denied a petition for Writ of Certiorari filed by Corizon Health seeking review of September’s New Mexico Court of Appeals decision. The decision upholds First Judicial District Court Judge Raymond Ortiz’s verdict requiring Corizon to turn over requested public records and pay legal fees for violating the Inspe...

  • Taking shot at new year predictions

    Steve Hansen|Jan 1, 2020

    Happy New Year! The fact that today begins year 2020 makes one think in visionary terms. With that in mind, I will venture some predictions. The first: By the time next year rolls around, I will have forgotten these predictions as will my readers. My prediction record is terrible, anyway. For Quay County and New Mexico: n State coffers are swimming in oil and natural gas tax revenues. That means Tucumcari will get its capital outlay wish from the New Mexico Legislature’s 2020 session for repairs to east-side sewer infrastructure that could s...

  • Keep partisan politics out of holidays

    Michael Reagan|Jan 1, 2020

    What a great holiday season it is. Know why? Congress is on vacation, which means all the rest of us get a break from politics. We’re in the middle of what amounts to a national Christmas ceasefire in our never-ending, 24/7 political civil war. Political bombshells, childish name-calling, stupid tweet battles, partisan posturing, congressional hearings, Democrat primary debates, FBI leaks, trade wars, Brexit, Jeffrey Epstein’s “suicide” … all are almost totally absent from the news media. The best present I received this year was that no o...

  • County contains dozens of ghost towns

    Ron Warnick|Jan 1, 2020

    On a wall of the Quay County Clerk's office hangs a 1964 map of ghost towns in New Mexico. The New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources compiled the map, of which copies are available from the office for a fee. In Quay County, the map shows about 20 ghost towns that might be unfamiliar even to longtime residents - towns with names such as Tipton, Revuelto, Canode, Adberg, Ard and Hanley. It turns out the map far underestimated the number of defunct settlements in Quay County. An examinat...

  • Jail log - Jan. 1

    Jan 1, 2020

    These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27: • Logan Riley Rock, 21, Amarillo, negligent use of a deadly weapon (intoxication) and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon. These individuals were released from the Quay County Detention Center from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27: • Logan Riley Rock, 21, Amarillo, court ordered....

  • Police blotter - Jan. 1

    Jan 1, 2020

    These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Dec. 21 to Dec. 29: Dec. 21 • 10:05 a.m.: Burglary in 1000 block of East Heman Avenue, Tucumcari. • 6:18 p.m.: Child custody dispute in 200 block of East Center Street, Tucumcari. • 8:22 p.m.: Shots fired in 4000 block of Quay Road 64.8, Tucumcari. • 11:10 p.m.: Noise complaint in 500 block of East Aber Street, Tucumcari. Dec. 22 • 3:19 a.m.: Noise complaint in 500 block of East Aber Street, Tucumcari. • 11:09 a.m.: Breaking and entering in 600 block of So...

  • Police report: Shooter apologized to restaurant customers

    Ron Warnick - Staff Writer|Jan 1, 2020

    TUCUMCARI - The man who shot and killed a manager of a Tucumcari restaurant last month apologized to customers after the attack and said no harm would come to them before he fatally turned the gun on himself in the parking lot. Two friends of the assailant said he found out earlier that day his girlfriend had been "cheating" on him with the manager and was going to drive to the restaurant to confront him. The friends spent 30 minutes trying to persuade him to "not do anything stupid" and took...