Serving the High Plains

Articles from the March 4, 2020 edition


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  • Longtime lawyer dies at 72

    Ron Warnick|Mar 4, 2020

    Donald Schutte, a longtime lawyer and a former assistant district attorney and district court judge in Quay County, died Feb. 25. He was 72. Attorney Roger Bargas, with whom Schutte shared a law office in Tucumcari, said he suddenly took ill at his home near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and was rushed to the hospital. Bargas said it’s believed Schutte died from a blood clot or massive heart attack. “It came out of the blue. It was a real shock for everybody. He was one of the healthiest people I’ve ever met,” Bargas said during a telephone...

  • Housing board delays action on jurisdiction resolution

    Steve Hansen|Mar 4, 2020

    The Tucumcari Housing Authority board delayed action Thursday on a resolution that would have transferred jurisdiction over Tucumcari public housing to the Eastern Regional Housing Authority, which covers 12 counties in eastern New Mexico. The Tucumcari housing board decided on the delay to allow attorneys for the city to review the resolution. Thursday's vote to delay action continues a standoff between the city and the New Mexico office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,...

  • City enacts grant stopgap

    Steve Hansen|Mar 4, 2020

    With a deadline looming to apply for grants from the New Mexico Department of Tourism’s New Mexico True marketing arm, the Tucumcari City Commission decided to assign one of the city’s grant writers to attend an internet seminar this week to qualify the city to apply for a grant. That was a stopgap while the commission wrestles with longer-term issues, including whether to use New Mexico True at all, that were raised during discussion about the commission’s decision Feb. 13 to end a contract with Sunny505, an Albuquerque marketing firm...

  • Governor signs 'red flag' bill into law

    Mathew Brock - Staff|Mar 4, 2020

    PORTALES — Roosevelt County officially made its opposition known the morning of Feb. 25, just hours before Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the red-flag gun bill into law. In a news release from her office, Lujan Grisham said the measure enhances public safety and reduces “the risk of mass gun violence.” Senate Bill 5 will allow law-enforcement officers to “temporarily disarm individuals who present a clear danger to themselves or others in emergency situations. It is a proven-effective tool law enforcement officers can use to...

  • Calendar - March 4

    Mar 4, 2020

    • March 7 — Enchilada Dinner. Center Street United Methodist Church will hold its annual enchilada dinner with all the fixings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Adults will be charged $10 and children $5. For takeout orders, call (575) 461-2661. 406 E. Center St., Tucumcari. • March 8-14 —22nd Iron Pour. Mesalands Community College will host its 22nd annual Iron Pour workshop. Meet sculpture artists and make your own creation from molten metal. The actual iron pour will take place Friday, March 13. For more information, call (575) 461-4413, Ext....

  • Menus - March 4

    Mar 4, 2020

    Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Fruit and yogurt parfait, assorted cereal, cinnamon graham cracker, fruit, milk, juice; Lunch: Chicken nuggets, ham and cheese chef salad, honey wheat roll, mashed potatoes, country gravy, baby carrots, fruit, milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Newton breakfast muffin and egg meal, ultimate breakfast round, assorted cereal, cinnamon graham cracker, fruit, milk, juice; Lunch: Cheeseburger, French fries, green leaf lettuce, fresh tomatoes, dill pickle chip, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, fruit, milk. Monday ...

  • Pages past - March 4

    Mar 4, 2020

    On this date ... 1970: Raphael Martinez defeated A.D. Stephenson and incumbent Bud Clayton in the election for Tucumcari municipal judge. Martinez earned 203 votes, or 44%, Stephenson 145 votes (32%) and Clayton 105 votes (23%) in light turnout. Tucumcari city commissioners Mayor Kenneth Schlientz, Tommy Thomas and Grady Huffman were unopposed for re-election. • Kathy McCoy, with her Steak Diane recipe, and Sharon Block, with her Simplified Stew offering, won the senior and junior divisions in the Beef Recipe Fair at Tucumcari High School. Th...

  • Tech companies aren't part of government

    Mar 4, 2020

    The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made an important and necessary point again last week when it threw out a lawsuit that claimed YouTube violated the Constitution’s free-speech protections by restricting access to videos and advertising on its platform. As big as YouTube may be, it is simply not a public space run by the government, and therefore it is not bound by the First Amendment. The lawsuit was brought in 2017 by Prager University, a nonprofit organization co-founded by conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager in 2011. It’s...

  • Credit where it's due, even to Trump

    Steve Hansen|Mar 4, 2020

    Well, President Trump’s first reaction to the Center for Disease Control’s announcement two weeks ago that a coronavirus epidemic was nearly inevitable was his usual stamping of feet. He denied facts that disagreed with his gut, which is motivated by what favors his immediate political needs. His lackeys moved in. They said nefarious, insidious, crafty, sinister Democrats had infiltrated the CDC to make it say horrible things about a major outbreak of corona virus’ COVID-19 with the sole purpose of scoring political points against their...

  • Media sensationalizing coronavirus

    Michael Reagan|Mar 4, 2020

    Two weeks ago, I was happily sailing on a huge cruise ship in the Indian Ocean. My wife Colleen is a travel agent and I was tagging along with her and her group on a Celebrity Cruise Line ship as it sailed from Dubai to Singapore and back with 2,300 souls aboard. Everyone on board our ship knew what was happening that same week to the unlucky people stuck on the Diamond Princess cruise liner docked offshore Tokyo. Because a passenger who left Diamond Princess nine days earlier in Hong Kong had tested positive for the new coronavirus sweeping Ch...

  • Marching forth with facts about March 4

    Leonard Lauriault|Mar 4, 2020

    I didn’t have a good story to tell on someone, including myself, I could use as the basis for this Quay County Sun article. So I resorted to checking the internet for interesting facts about March 4 because there’s a maximum of 366 days each year and something of interest has happened on each date at sometime within the 5,000 years or so of recorded history. Believe it or not, one website states March 4 is Grammar Day (https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-grammar-day-march-4/) — Ewwwww! I’ll not say much more about that for fear of...

  • Tuesday filing day for election

    Staff report|Mar 4, 2020

    The Quay County Clerk’s Office will see a flurry of activity Tuesday. That is the day — and one day only — that people can file for state and local offices for the June 2 primary election. The clerk’s office at 300 S. Third St. in Tucumcari will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day for candidates wishing to file. These offices affecting Quay County will be on the primary ballot: • U.S. senator (six-year term) • U.S. representative (two-year term) • 10th Judicial District Attorney (four-year term) • New Mexico District 67...

  • Logan girls earn No. 1 seed in Class 1A state tournament

    Staff report|Mar 4, 2020

    The Logan girls basketball team was seeded No. 1 in the Class 1A state tournament and hosts 16th-seeded Dora in its first-round game. Tucumcari’s girls team was seeded ninth in the Class 3A state tournament and will travel to eighth-seed Laguna Acoma for its first-round game. The Grady/San Jon boys basketball team, seeded eighth, secured a home game in its Class 1A state opener against ninth-seed Quemado. Logan’s boys team, seeded 10th, travels to seventh-seed Elida for its first-round game. Here are more details about Quay County teams in...

  • Tucumcari girls take district title

    Ron Warnick|Mar 4, 2020

    Hot shooting in the first quarter catapulted the Tucumcari girls basketball team to the district tournament title in a 53-44 win Friday at Tularosa. The Lady Rattlers (18-10) shocked the Wildcats (21-5) with a 27-6 first quarter, then held on the rest of the way. "The first quarter, we could not miss," Tucumcari coach Gary Hittson said. "We hit five threes in the first. "This was a great team effort," he added. "The girls were having fun out on the floor." Hittson praised his team's resiliency i...

  • Rattlers end season in semifinals

    Ron Warnick|Mar 4, 2020

    The Tucumcari boys basketball team ended its season in the semifinals Thursday of the District 4-3A tournament with a 63-54 loss at New Mexico Military Institute. The Rattlers (9-16) gave up 10 unanswered points early in the first quarter and struggled to overcome that deficit the rest of the game, coach John Span said. "I thought we played well enough to win," he said. "We had the shots; we just couldn't put them in." Tucumcari also was hampered by 22 turnovers, compared to NMMI's 15, Span...

  • Logan boys fall to Fort Sumner in semifinal

    Staff report|Mar 4, 2020

    The Logan boys basketball team fell 63-52 in the semifinal Thursday of the Class 1A-6 district tournament at Fort Sumner. The Longhorns (15-13) fell behind 19-9 in the first quarter and trailed the Foxes 32-19 at intermission. “(We) dug ourselves a hole in the first quarter and worked hard to catch back up,” Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said. “Guys fought hard but came up short.” Wyatt Wright led the Longhorns with 21 points, and Michael Sena added 12. Fort Sumner, ranked sixth in Class 1A by MaxPreps.com last week, improved to 15-11...

  • Melrose girls defeat Logan

    Ron Warnick|Mar 4, 2020

    LOGAN - The Melrose girls basketball team turned a 10-point second-half deficit into a 45-37 victory and a Class 1A-6 district tournament title Friday by scoring 22 unanswered points against No. 1-ranked Logan on its home floor. Melrose (23-4), ranked No. 2 in Class 1A, earned its first victory over its district rival this season after losing its previous three matchups by a total of 16 points. The two might meet each other again in the state tournament. Shannon May scored eight of her...

  • Doctor returns to Tucumcari hospital

    Staff report|Mar 4, 2020

    Dr. Thomas Doncaster recently returned to Dr. Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital to provide family practice care to patients in Tucumcari. “We are thrilled to welcome back Dr. Doncaster,” Vickie Gutierrez, chief nurse executive at Trigg, stated in a news release. “His knowledge and previous work experience in our community will be a great asset to our team and the patients we serve.” Doncaster practiced at Trigg from 2013 to 2016 before relocating to La Jara, Colorado, where he practiced at San Luis Valley Health. He is accepting new...

  • Police blotter - March 4

    Mar 4, 2020

    These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Feb. 24 to March 1: Monday • 4:50 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 600 block of East Laughlin Avenue, Tucumcari. • 6:18 a.m.: Traffic accident with damage at mile marker 37-38, Highway 252, House. • 2:38 p.m.: Arrest warrant in 300 block of South Third Street, Tucumcari. • 3:45 p.m.: Child custody dispute in 700 block of West Hancock Avenue, Tucumcari. • 4:03 p.m.: Reckless driving east on Tucumcari Boulevard, Tucumcari. • 4:12 p.m.: Domestic...

  • Jail log - March 4

    Mar 4, 2020

    These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Feb. 24 to March 2: • Michael Baltes, 49, Fort Sumner, driving while license suspended or revoked. • David Moses Garcia, 29, Tucumcari, charge not listed. • Jereme Jack Oglesby, 38, Tucumcari, failure to comply with specific requirements. • Brandon Santiago Romero, 22, Clovis, charge not listed. • James M. Roseland Jr., 24, Tucumcari, aggravated driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug (0.16 or above), no insurance, expired...

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