Serving the High Plains

Articles from the March 20, 2019 edition


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  • Winds howl across area

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    How windy was it last Wednesday? How about so windy, it blew over a freight train. It sounds like a tall tale, but it was no joke when severe winds apparently knocked off 23 railcars from the Canadian River railroad bridge near Logan into the ravine below. A Union Pacific Railroad spokeswoman confirmed there were no injuries. The railroad spokeswoman didn't say what caused the derailment, but New Mexico State Police stated in a tweet that high wind gusts that day were "a contributing factor" in...

  • Iron pour begins

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    With the pouring of the first batch of red-hot molten iron into molds about 4:30 p.m. Friday, the 21st annual Iron Pour at Mesalands Community College began in earnest. Some of the week had been devoted to art exhibitions, a meet-the-artists gala and assorted other events for more than 30 artists who'd arrived from all over the U.S. and a few foreign countries. But much of the time was spent on preparations for the actual pouring of iron - breaking cast iron into manageable pieces, making sand...

  • Quay County to receive $1.6 million plus for capital outlay

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    Quay County will receive more than $1.6 million worth of capital-outlay projects from the New Mexico Legislature, barring any line-item vetoes from the governor. State Rep. Randy Crowder (R-Clovis) provided Clovis Media, which owns the Quay County Sun, a list of capital-outlay requests for Quay, Curry and Roosevelt counties approved by the Legislature. For Quay County, the projects approved were: • Tucumcari Senior Center renovation, $60,565; • Tucumcari water storage tank improvements, $226,000; • 10th judicial district attorney child safe...

  • City reaches shrine consensus

    Steve Hansen|Mar 20, 2019

    The Tucumcari City Commission reached a consensus in a public work session Thursday that shrines should not be allowed in the future at the Tucumcari Memorial Park cemetery, but existing shrines will be allowed to stand unless they are damaged. The ban on new shrines will be outlined in an ordinance, City Manager Britt Lusk said, and the city’s Cemetery Advisory Board will assemble the first draft of the ordinance and present it to the city commission at a later date. Further, if shrines are damaged, Lusk said, they will be removed and p...

  • No damage reported from tornado

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    The report of a tornado in Quay County the evening of March 12 prompted Tucumcari officials to activate the city’s tornado sirens, but no reports of damage came in the wake of the storm. Daniel Zamora, the county’s emergency management coordinator, said he received no reports of damage. Local officials saw the potential effect of the storm well in advance. The National Weather Service at 6:21 p.m. issued a tornado warning for southwestern Quay County after its radar detected rotation in a severe thunderstorm southwest of Fort Sumner, hea...

  • Community Health Forum to be held

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    The Quay County Health Council and Presbyterian Healthcare Services invite everyone for a Community Health Forum on Tuesday. It will be at the Quay County Fair Exhibit Center from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Supper will be provided. Use the gate behind the Tucumcari Convention Center to enter the fairgrounds. The forum’s purpose is to engage community partners in identifying strategies Presbyterian Healthcare Services can incorporate into its community health plan. During the forum, Presbyterian will affirm the community health priorities as e...

  • Pages past - March 20

    Mar 20, 2019

    On this date ... 1969: Tucumcari’s Class of 1970 is presenting the comical play “The Campbells Are Coming” in the junior-high auditorium. The plot is of an Ozark family and the incidents that happen in their lives. The includes Margaret Ferguson, Pam Reid, Donna Northrip, Darryl Harris, Shirley Nutt, Gary Hall, David Ingram, Gary Ledger, Theresa Dibble, Tim Bratcher, Suzy Martin and Fred Hodges. • The animated film “Yellow Submarine,” starring The Beatles as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is screening at the Odeon Theatre in Tucumcari,...

  • Calendar - March 20

    Mar 20, 2019

    • Friday-Saturday — March Mud Madness. The second annual event will begin with a meet-and-greet at Dynotraxx Motorsports at 1101 E. Tucumcari Blvd. on March 22 and the Mud Bog event at 3001 E. Tucumcari Blvd. on March 23. For more, call 505-415-0845. • March 30 — Friends of the NRA. Enjoy a night of auctions, raffles, firearms and fun starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person. For more information, call 575-403-8831. Tucumcari Convention Center. • April 10 — Groundwater Workshop. The Ute Creek and Mesa Soil and Water Conservatio...

  • Menus - March 20

    Mar 20, 2019

    Tucumcari schools Wednesday — Breakfast: Yogurt and granola, cereal choice with cinnamon goldfish graham cracker, fruit, juice, milk; Lunch: Diced chicken and gravy with honey wheat roll, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, fruit, milk. Thursday — Breakfast: Pancake sausage on a stick, ultimate breakfast round, fruit, juice, milk; Lunch: Hot dog with potato chips, garden salad, cauliflower, fruit, milk. Monday — No school; spring break. Tuesday — No school; spring break. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Baked...

  • Tucumcari man arrested on assault, drug charges

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    A Tucumcari man was jailed after being accused of breaking into a garage, assaulting a family member and possessing marijuana during an incident March 11. Joshua Neal, 29, was accused in complaints filed March 12 in Quay County magistrate court of breaking and entering, assault against a household member, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. Breaking and entering is a fourth-degree felony that can lead to 18 months in prison or a $5,000 fine. The other counts were misdemeanors. Tucumcari Police Cpl. Abel Cullum wrote...

  • Racino license once more on commission's agenda

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    The New Mexico Racing Commission again has placed awarding a sixth license on its tentative agenda for its regular meeting Thursday in Albuquerque. But with a lawsuit due in an Albuquerque courtroom in about two weeks from a license applicant, it appears unlikely the commission will take action on that item. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. at the commission's boardroom at 4900 Alameda Blvd. in Albuquerque. The sixth-license item lies near the end of the agenda after several dozen other action items. When the commission will award a coveted...

  • Time to applaud those oft-forgotten first responders

    David Stevens|Mar 20, 2019

    “I am a lineman for the county “And I drive the main road “Searchin’ in the sun for another overload …” — Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman” They gather annually to compete for fun, climbing 40 feet up with raw eggs in their mouths, or rescuing 165-pound mannequins from atop utility poles. These linemen rodeos are usually held in the sunshine with tolerable weather and supporting family members and friends cheering them on. That’s mostly how we’ve learned to appreciate their considerable skills, through those competitions. It’s fun to watch the a...

  • Sometimes I question full objectivity

    Steve Hansen|Mar 20, 2019

    We who work in literary forms, even journalism, often become enamored with scientific principles that we systematically misapply to our own work. Two of these are the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and entropy, the tendency of atoms and electrons toward chaos and heat to dissipate into cold. The Heisenberg theory says you can change an atom you are watching just by observing it. The photons, or subatomic units of light, you’re using to see the atom might muck up its structure. Literary folks have jumped all over entropy and applied it to r...

  • No point in legislating morality

    Tom McDonald|Mar 20, 2019

    Today’s topic is sin. I’ll try not to get preachy about it. There’s a long list of habit-forming vices that Americans have enjoyed, condemned, regulated and even outlawed over time, but today we’ll consider four in particular — tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and gambling. Our U.S. government has spent a lot of time and effort trying to control each of them, with some of the biggest changes having occurred over the last half-century. Used to be, a lot of communities relegated drinking, pot smoking and betting to the shadows, while cigarette...

  • Answer God for bright future

    Leonard Lauriault|Mar 20, 2019

    As for every month on the Roman calendar, March 15, was called the Ides of March, which was last Friday. On the Ides of March in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated by as many as 60 conspirators, many of whom he counted among his friends and led by two of his closest friends. They all took a stab at killing him (you have to know the history or read Shakespeare to get that one). Caesar was warned by a seer harm would come on or before the Ides of March, and on that very day, Caesar mocked the seer as he approached the place of his...

  • Mesalands student selected for team

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    Mesalands Community College announced Brandon Smith, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) National Honor Society, was selected to the 2019 PTK New Mexico All-State Academic Team. Smith was recently recognized during a special awards ceremony at the capitol in Santa Fe. PTK recognizes and encourages the academic achievement of two-year college students. Full-time, degree-seeking students with a grade-point average of a 3.5 or higher are eligible to join. Students must also maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 to remain in good standing. PTK...

  • Track season kicks off

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    Tucumcari track and field coach Wayne Ferguson will get his first good look at his boys and girls teams in competition Saturday during the season-opening Rattler Relays. The Rattler Relays, which begin at 9 a.m. at Rattler Field, also will include competitors from Logan and San Jon. Ferguson said he was optimistic his boys team, which finished third in the state last year, would make another strong showing in Class 3A. "I return a pretty good crew," he said. "I have a pretty good group of...

  • Tularosa defeats Tucumcari

    Ron Warnick|Mar 20, 2019

    The sixth-seeded Tularosa girls basketball dashed Tucumcari’s dreams of a state-final berth by stunning the third-seeded Lady Rattlers 38-35 in the Class 3A quarterfinals March 12 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. Tularosa, improving to 19-9, had lost its previous three games against Tucumcari by an average of 31 points. Shacie Marr led the Wildcats with 13 points, and Clara Lechuga added 11. Aaliyah Brown’s 11 points and eight rebounds led Tucumcari, which finished its season 22-5. Jasmine Jones added nine points. The Wildcats cam...

  • Rodeo team takes two titles

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    The Mesalands Community College rodeo team took home two championship titles in bull riding during a recent season-opening competition at Central Arizona College in Casa Grande, Arizona. Levi Gray of Dairy, Oregon, and Roy Jackson of Tiller, Oregon, each won titles in bull riding during the rodeo’s Friday and Saturday sessions, respectively. “These were the best rodeos we’ve had in a long time,” Mesalands coach Matt Hughes said. “The entire team was excited to compete, and they felt prepared for these rodeos. They wanted to win, and they did....

  • Lady Longhorns out in semifinals

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    The Logan girls basketball team’s 29 turnovers proved fatal during a 60-42 loss Thursday to Tatum in the Class 1A semifinals at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. The third-seeded Lady Longhorns (24-7) fell behind by double digits before halftime and never held a lead except early in the first quarter. They narrowed a 19-point gap to three in the fourth quarter before the second-seeded Coyotes (27-4) counter-rallied to secure the victory and a berth to the finals. “We didn’t handle the pressure well and had too many turnovers,” Logan c...

  • Logan boys fall to Melrose

    Mar 20, 2019

    The Logan boys basketball team couldn’t overcome a fast start by district rival Melrose and fell 77-69 during the Class 1A quarterfinals Wednesday at Bernalillo High School. The fifth-seeded Buffaloes (23-7) roared to a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The fourth-seeded Longhorns (21-8) clawed back to a brief one-point lead in the second quarter. But Melrose rallied again late in the period to lead 36-27 at halftime. “They came out with a lot of energy, and we couldn’t get the shots to fall early in the game,” Logan coach Kyle Griffit...

  • Gymnast wins state championship

    Staff report|Mar 20, 2019

    An 11-year-old Tucumcari girl recently won an individual state championship during a gymnastics event in Albuquerque. Aliyah Marez, who takes attends school in Tucumcari but takes classes at KATZ Gymnastics in Clovis, won her age group at the state tournament. “She was so excited,” her mother, Veronica, said. Veronica also noted her daughter was battling an illness during the competition. KATZ also won the team title against about seven other teams in New Mexico. Aliyah earned scores of 9.0 (out of 10) in the floor routine, 9.425 on the vau...

  • Police blotter - March 20

    Mar 20, 2019

    These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from March 11 to March 17: Monday • 7:47 a.m.: Burglary from motor vehicle in 2000 block of South Third Street, Tucumcari. • 8:11 a.m.: Damage to property in 600 block of South Second Street, Tucumcari. • 10:03 a.m.: Fight with no weapon in 1100 block of South Seventh Street, Tucumcari. • 11:34 a.m.: Burglary in 1100 block of South Adams Street, Tucumcari. • 11:48 a.m.: Fire at milepost 334, Interstate 40, Tucumcari. • 12:47 p.m.: Domestic disturbance...

  • Jail log - March 20

    Mar 20, 2019

    These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from March 11 to March 15: • Deanna Kay Henke, 54, Tucumcari, charge not listed. • Matthew Howell, 28, Tucumcari, five counts of unauthorized use or theft of the card of another, theft of a credit card, possession of a credit card stolen, lost, mislaid or misdelivered and receiving stolen property ($250 or less). • Joshua Neal, 29, Tucumcari, two counts of breaking and entering, assault against a household member, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana (one...