Serving the High Plains

Articles from the February 14, 2024 edition


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  • Bill contains $10 million for new hospital

    Ron Warnick, The Staff of The News|Feb 14, 2024

    Quay County manager said a bill in the New Mexico Legislature contains $10 million to help build a new Dr. Daniel C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari. Daniel Zamora told commissioners during their meeting Monday if the bill passes this week with the hospital funding intact, he will apply for a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would complete funding for the project. The Legislature’s session ends Thursday. During a break in the meeting, Zamora said he was hopeful ground would be broken for the new hospital by s...

  • Suspect detained after hours-long standoff

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    A man who barricaded himself in a van in the middle of South First Street in Tucumcari was apprehended by police nearly five hours later Friday afternoon. After two flash grenades detonated near the suspect's van had no apparent effect, a New Mexico State Police robot rolled up to the vehicle and held a canister containing a teargas variant into its window. The suspect crawled out of the driver's side window, where he was grabbed by a slew of officers in tactical gear. TPD Chief Patti Lopez...

  • Commissioners hesitantly OK changes for Aber project

    Ron Warnick, The Staff of The News|Feb 14, 2024

    It took two tries, but the Tucumcari City Commission eventually approved by a 4-1 vote a change order for the Aber Addition water and street project after prodding by the city manager. The change order by Pacheco Construction & Trucking called for an additional $49,400 to add a water line extension. City documents state an existing water main on East Laughlin Avenue was found to be 2-inch pipe. The city wanted to extend 6-inch pipe to the end of an existing 4-inch main. The order also called for pavement patching over water-line trenches, a...

  • Mardi Gras krewe named after Tucumcari

    Ron Warnick, The Staff of The News|Feb 14, 2024

    Earlier this month in Louisiana's capital of Baton Rouge, that city's oldest Mardi Gras carnival organization held its elaborate annual Tableau Ball in front of an estimated 700 people. That organization is called the Krewe of Tucumcari, founded in 1947. Yes, the organization is named after the Quay County seat. But how did this happen in a city 900 miles from Tucumcari? It turns out several of the Krewe of Tucumcari's founders were traveling west to visit relatives in Albuquerque in the late...

  • Calendar - Feb. 14

    Feb 14, 2024

    • Saturday — Annual Center Street Methodist Church Enchilada Dinner. The dinner with all the fixings will be from 11 to 2 p.m. at 406 E. Center St. Adult orders are $12, with children $7. For takeout orders, call (575) 461-2661. • March 2 — Dr. Seuss Birthday Celebration. This event by the Tucumcari Public Library to celebrate the children’s book author will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Quay County Fairgrounds. It will include door prizes, prizes for children who create the best birthday card and a scavenger hunt. For more informati...

  • Menus - Feb. 14

    Feb 14, 2024

    Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Peach and yogurt parfait, Cocoa Puffs cereal, cinnamon graham cracker, banana, orange juice, 1%, skim or strawberry skim milk; Lunch: Green Frito pie, ham and cheese sandwich, pinto beans, shredded romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes, honeydew melon, 1%, skim, chocolate skim or strawberry skim milk. Thursday — Breakfast: French toast sticks, Lucky Charms cereal, cinnamon graham cracker, orange, apple juice, 1%, skim or strawberry skim milk; Lunch: Meatball sub, Cobb salad, French fries, seasoned car...

  • Pages past - Feb. 14

    Feb 14, 2024

    On this date ... 1973: The Federal Energy Office today ordered fuel supplies increased to airlines and truckers, and it proposed that service station owners consider refusing to sell gasoline to motorists who already have half of tankful. In response to the announcement, United Air Lines stated it would reinstate 36 flights that were canceled due to nationwide fuel shortages. Refineries also were ordered to immediately furnish fuel to truck stops. The added fuel supplies were promised to independent truckers in an agreement with the government...

  • For Valentine's Day, love is the answer

    Leonard Lauriault, Religion columnist|Feb 14, 2024

    Today is Valentine’s Day, but I have a question for you that’s not “Will you be my valentine?” Rather, it’s “What do Valentine’s Day, Cupid and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre have in common?” The answer is love, even for the massacre. The massacre was based in the love of money, leading to all kinds of evil that pierces with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:9-10; Ecclesiastes 5:10). It took place during Prohibition when, to satisfy love of money, many took advantage of people’s inappropriate love for alcohol. Those slain that day were riddled with b...

  • Grenade found during bust was non-functioning

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    A grenade found during a drug bust last month in a Tucumcari motel room turned out to be non-functioning, prompting prosecutors to drop one charge against the suspect. The freeing of the suspect last week on electronic monitoring prompted complaints Thursday from several residents in front of the Tucumcari City Commission, which has no jurisdiction in the case. Raul Diaz-Villalobos, 39, remains charged with trafficking narcotics or methamphetamine near a drug-free school zone and possession of a controlled substance. The trafficking charge is...

  • Local film fest adds New Mexico category

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    The Tucumcari Film Festival last week announced the addition of a category, “New Mexico Made Visions: Homegrown Films,” to showcase cinematic excellence from the Land of Enchantment. “Homegrown Films” provides an opportunity for local filmmakers, crews and actors to be appreciated by a broader audience. The Tucumcari Film Festival will be April 26-27 at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum and Odeon Theatre. The festival welcomes submissions that range from short films clocking in at up to 30 minutes to feature-length movies lasting 60 minutes...

  • Shooting suspect bound over for trial

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    A Tucumcari man accused of shooting another man at an apartment complex in December was bound over for trial after his arraignment Wednesday. George J. Olguin, 61, is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon (great bodily harm), tampering with evidence, trafficking controlled substances and receiving stolen property — all felony counts. The drug trafficking count, the most serious, is a second-degree felony that can lead up to nine years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Public defender Brett Phelps of Las Vegas on Wednesday wa...

  • Public safety needs honest accounting of what's working

    InsideSources.com, Syndicated content|Feb 14, 2024

    There may be no tenet of faith so fundamental to the cult of gun control than the idea that more guns equate to more crime — a theory that was soundly disproven in 2023. Just four years after the biggest recorded one-year spike in our nation’s homicide rate, it looks as if the United States may have just gone through the biggest one-year decline, an impossibility according to gun control activists. There are millions more guns around than there were four years ago, yet the vast majority of cities reported fewer homicides than they did in 202...

  • Swift courageous, unapologetic

    Elwood Watson, Syndicated content|Feb 14, 2024

    Several years ago, Taylor Swift was far from the femme fatale some members of the MAGA far right now consider her to be. Many conservatives used to revere Swift. In 2015, Republican lawmakers invited the pop icon for personal tours of the U.S. Capitol and offered to provide donors tickets to her concerts. Even Donald Trump stated she was “terrific” and “fantastic.” How times have changed. Swift is now political poison to the right, largely despised for her progressive viewpoints, her unabashed support of feminism and, perhaps worst of all, fo...

  • Biden's legacy mental confusion

    Michael Reagan, Syndicated content|Feb 14, 2024

    Videos of Joe Biden not knowing where he is or saying he just met with a French president who died 25 years ago are not so funny anymore. They’re tragic. And I can’t help feeling embarrassed and sorry for the president. It angers me to see him dodder out in public almost every other day and make a mumbling and confused fool of himself. Biden’s clearly been in the early stages of dementia for several years. It’s getting worse by the week and there’s no pill or treatment he can take that will ever make him better. In the 1990s I watched m...

  • Ex-Tucumcari athlete named to NM Sports Hall of Fame

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    Amber Campbell, a former Tucumcari resident, was among eight people named Saturday to the Class of 2023 for the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. Campbell, 42, who said she gained her love for sports as a child in Tucumcari, was a USA Olympian in 2008, 2012 and 2016 in the hammer throw. At Coastal Carolina University, she was a five-time NCAA All-American in the weight throw, hammer throw, shot put and discus. She won 11 national track titles and was a two-time Pan American Games medalist. At...

  • Lady Rattlers dominate Colts

    Ron Warnick, The Staff of The News|Feb 14, 2024

    Three seniors on the Tucumcari girls basketball team played a sizable role in their team's dominating 64-29 district victory Friday over visiting New Mexico Military Institute. On Senior Night where those athletes in winter sports and their parents were honored before the game, those three Lady Rattlers upperclassmen - Kirksey Smith, Alexis Ramirez and Haisley Huffman - combined for 18 points during the win. That pleased Tucumcari coach Patrick Benavidez. "It's big for our team right now to get...

  • Rattlers in second place after win over NMMI

    Ron Warnick, The Staff of The News|Feb 14, 2024

    The Tucumcari boys basketball team turned up the intensity of their rebounding and defense late in the game, surging to a 64-53 district victory Friday over visiting New Mexico Military Institute. The Rattlers totaled just nine rebounds in the first half as the Colts staked a 33-32 halftime lead. THS had mounted a small rally in the third quarter for a slim 46-43 advantage, but coach Gary Hittson wanted more. "I told them, 'If we win this one, it's a three-way tie for second (in the district)....

  • Two THS girls advance to state wrestling tourney

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    Tucumcari High School’s only two entrants in the Region 2 girls wrestling championships at Cobre earned medals and qualified for the state tournament later this month. Sarah Vallejo, a senior in the 114-pound weight class, and MiKayla Klinger, a junior at 152 pounds, each finished fourth at the 33-team tournament that took place Friday and Saturday. The top eight finishers in each weight division advanced to the state tourney. “I was very pleased with both of those girls. They gave everything they had,” Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said, nothi...

  • Buffs edge Longhorns in overtime

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    The Logan boys basketball team failed to score for more than two minutes of overtime, which proved to be the difference in a 79-74 district loss Saturday at Melrose. The Longhorns also went scoreless for almost the final two minutes of regulation, including a last-second shot from point guard Brock Burns. “We had a shot to win it in regulation that just didn’t fall,” Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said. “In overtime, the game was back-and-forth until the last minute, when Melrose hit some big free throws down the stretch.” The Buffaloes went 8-fo...

  • Logan girls in first place tie after Melrose win

    Staff report|Feb 14, 2024

    Desta Rose and Hailee Robertson made three of four free throws late in the fourth quarter to give the Logan girls basketball team a key 59-56 district victory Saturday at Melrose. The victory moved Logan (17-7), ranked fifth in Class 1A by MaxPreps.com, into a first-place tie in the district standings with a 3-1 record. No. 2-ranked Fort Sumner (17-5) also is 3-1 in district play. The Vixens travel to Logan for a key district matchup on Saturday. Melrose, ranked third, fell to 18-4, 2-2. The Lady Longhorns have won two of three against the...

  • Police blotter - Feb. 14

    Feb 14, 2024

    These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11: Jan. 29 — 12:07 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 500 block of South Eighth Street, Tucumcari. — 6:36 a.m.: Suicide attempt in 400 block of East Turner Avenue, Tucumcari. — 9:23 a.m.: Arrest warrant in 200 block of East Hines Avenue, Tucumcari. — 10:33 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 500 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. — 1:53 p.m.: Trespassing in 1900 block of South Fourth Street, Tucumcari. — 4:23 p.m.: Fire in 400 block of East Aber...

  • Jail log - Feb. 14

    Feb 14, 2024

    These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Feb. 5 to Feb. 11: — Briana Emilee Willebrand, 19, no address listed, criminal damage to property (under $1,000). — Latoya Tenea French, 42, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Nick Craig Womack, 35, Tucumcari, charge not listed. — Henry Joseph Salaz, 51, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Nathan Donald Sims, 39, Tucumcari, criminal damage to property (under $1,000) and criminal trespass (unposted). — Jane Stanton, 36, Tucumcari, making a false report. — Kofi Young Williams, 32,...