Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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A breakdown of Quay County’s COVID-19 vaccination rates by ZIP code show the settlements of San Jon, McAlister and Grady may be particularly vulnerable to the more-contagious and rapidly spreading Delta variant of the virus. The Quay County Sun requested from the New Mexico Department of Health the county’s vaccination rates by ZIP code. The agency, which has been tracking COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates by ZIP code for months, provided that data through July 11. The ZIP code that includes the village of Logan had the highest vac...
New Mexico secondary-school students, along with their teachers, staff and volunteers, will not be required to wear masks at school this fall if they show they’re fully vaccinated, according to new guidance issued Monday by the New Mexico Public Education Department. Masks, however, will continue to be required in elementary schools for everyone regardless of vaccination status. Masks also will not be required outdoors for any individual. The decision to ease the universal mask mandate at secondary schools was made in collaboration with the Dep...
The troubled Second Street project and zoning for future recreational marijuana shops were hot topics of discussion during Tucumcari MainStreet’s annual meeting last week. Attendees of the July 13 meeting at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum praised the MainStreet program in general, especially its executive director, Connie Loveland. But several attendees also asked pointed questions or expressed dissatisfaction with the downtown Second Street reconstruction project, which has gone months over its scheduled completion date. Traffic recently r...
SAN JON — The San Jon Municipal Schools board of trustees last week discussed proposed changes in the high school and middle-school student handbook — including ones that bar online students from many school activities — for the upcoming school year. The proposed changes were prompted several months ago when a student taking classes remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic approached superintendent Janet Gladu about the possibility of running for student council president. Gladu had said it was unfair for a student who didn’t participate in in-p...
Despite recent rainstorms that raised Conchas Lake’s levels, the Arch Hurley Conservancy District board voted again last week to not allocate any water to its irrigation system. Franklin McCasland, the district’s manager, told the board during its regular meeting July 13 the lake’s elevation the previous day was 4,161.8 feet — an increase of two feet from a month ago. Conchas Lake received 2,751 acre-feet of water during the month of June, with evaporation and other losses of 2,590 acre-feet. However, the lake’s level remains seven feet belo...
The Tucumcari Senior Center and Logan Senior Center remain closed to the public indefinitely but will deliver meals to those who qualify. Those interested in meal deliveries should call the Tucumcari facility at 461-2307 or the Logan facility at 487-2287 for more information. Tucumcari Senior Center Wednesday — Baked fish with tarter sauce, coleslaw, squash, hushpuppy, banana pudding. Thursday — Chili dog, baked potato wedges, spinach, orange. Friday — Santa Fe chicken, rice, broccoli with cheese, pineapple upside-down cake. Monday — Sweet a...
On this date ... 1971: A blue-ribbon committee of educators, lawyers and businessmen said society should continue its attempts to deter marijuana uses but recommended the drug be legalized for adults, according to a United Press International report. "Criminalization has failed. We suggest that society now try non-criminalization," said the San Francisco Committee on Crime, which previously advocated condoning such "non-victim" crimes such as prostitution, gambling and homosexuality. Fifty...
Note: Events subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. • July 30-31 — Quay County 4-H Rodeo. Competition begins at 5 p.m. daily. This event remains Quay County 4-H’s biggest fundraiser. Quay County Fairgrounds, Tucumcari. • Aug. 5-7 — Rattler Reunion. The committee plans to hold annual events for Tucumcari High School alumni, including at the traditional site of the Tucumcari Convention Center. The 2021 Rattler Reunion hosts will be the Classes of 1990 and 1991. The Golden Rattlers will be the Classes of 1970 and 1971. For more updates o...
I’ve seen advertisements for businesses that were wholly owned and operated locally. These are generally smaller, independent, family-run businesses that, although they make all the decisions based on the best interests of their customers and employees and bear all the risks of profit and loss, they also rely on a network of suppliers from elsewhere to provide their goods and services locally. Tucumcari has many such businesses, most of which successfully navigated and survived the COVID-19 pandemic. The whole world is wholly-owned and operated...
Dear former President Trump, We have an important request, one that only you can pull off. It will take some salesmanship, but that’s in your wheelhouse, “The Art of the Deal” and all of that. It will require that you once again capture the national spotlight, but that’s your natural habitat. And you’ll be a hero. Mr. President, it’s time to advise your supporters to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Sell it hard. “Want to really own the libs? Get the jab!” Heck, hold rallies with free vaccinations at the gate. Explain how the vaccines save lives and...
Last week Ron DeSantis, the fantasy-oriented governor of Florida, said Dr. Anthony Fauci should not be believed or heeded because he was not elected. Huh? It is still true, I think, that the last people we believe are politicians. You know, the elected ones. But now DeSantis, one of the most cynical panderers in our political world, says we should believe him, not our most preeminent contagious disease expert, because Fauci wasn’t elected. I tend to believe scientists like Fauci, Stephen Hawking, and Albert Einstein, even though they never r...
It’s not easy to run a hideous dictatorship and still have fans and defenders in fashionable quarters, but the Castro regime has managed it for decades. The mass, spontaneous protests that broke out all over the country early this month are yet another sign that the Cuban government lacks legitimacy. In Cuba, it is the government versus the people, and lo, all these years, Castro’s apologists have been with the government. They have romanticized Fidel Castro, the founder father of Cuba’s junta. They have swallowed its propaganda. They have...
The Logan Board of Education last week unanimously voted to extend the school district superintendent’s contract to June 2023. The action by the board followed a nearly 90-minute closed session to discuss limited personnel issues, including superintendent Dennis Roch’s quarterly evaluation, according to the board’s agenda for its regular July 12 meeting. The board gave Roch a 1.5% pay increase, to $108,450 a year, with the contract extension that expires June 30, 2023. “I am pleased to have the full confidence of the board, and I welcome...
A New Mexico appellate court last week unanimously overturned a district court decision that ruled Quay County didn't hold an easement over a section of road that was re-routed almost 70 years ago. Barring an appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court, Wednesday's ruling would allow the McFarland Land and Cattle Inc. to reinstate a five-figure lease with defendant Caprock Solar, a division of Duke Energy, to use the road so it can access its solar farm near Mesa Redonda. The 25-megawatt solar array...
The Quay County Commission on Friday unanimously approved a resolution stating its opposition to the federal government’s “30x30” land-preservation goal because it would cause “significant harm” to residents and businesses. President Joe Biden issued an executive order in January that directed the Secretary of the Interior, with consultation of the Secretary of Agriculture and other senior officials, to develop a program to conserve at least 30% of lands and waters in the U.S. by 2030, hence the name of the 30x30 plan. The resolution, recommend...
Tucumcari Public Schools recently received a $6,614 state grant for its elementary school music program. Andrew Kesten, the elementary school’s music instructor, said in an email the grant will be used for an African music residency with Sowah Mensah, Ghanaian master drummer, a professor of music and ethnomusicologist at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Kesten said it will be Mensah’s third residency for Tucumcari Elementary students since 2017. “He will teach classes for a week, and we will present a concert in the gymnasium Thurs...
The Quay County Clerk’s Office stated in a news release Friday a voter registration update or cancellation initiative is underway in New Mexico and in many adjoining states. All 33 counties in New Mexico are sending notices to those who are registered in their respective counties but have addresses verified through other agencies that show the recipient may be receiving mail or lives somewhere other than what the county clerk has on file. Notices are being sent to give voters the chance to update registrations in Quay County. Those who have m...
The United Way of Eastern New Mexico last week gave a total of $5,000 to four nonprofit organizations in Quay County. Erinn Burch, executive director of the organization, gave checks to Helping Hands Hospice, Eastern Plains Community Action Agency, Ministry of Hope and St. Vincent de Paul of Tucumcari. • Helping Hands Hospice, $764; • Ministry of Hope, $1,736 • Eastern Plaines Community Action Agency, $1,250; • St. Vincent de Paul of Tucumcari, $1,250. United Way of Eastern New Mexico awarded the grants Friday at Tucumcari Railroad Plaza d...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from July 9 to July 16: • Heaven Nichole Hendren, 21, Tucumcari, contempt of court and felony possession of a controlled substance (narcotic drug). • Samantha Alexis Montano, 27, Tucumcari, contempt of court. • David Michael Sparling, 61, Mesa, Arizona, intentional child abuse (no death or great bodily harm) and criminal damage to property (under $1,000). • Frankie Martinez, 24, Tucumcari, felony contempt of court. • Vera Dawn Ortiz, 45, Tucumcari, encouraging violation...
Quay County last week experienced two confirmed cases of COVID-19, including one on Friday. One case was reported in the Logan ZIP code, and the other was in the San Jon ZIP code. The county's overall case total rose to 541, with 11 deaths, since the pandemic began in spring 2020. The breakdown of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code in Quay County through Friday was 373 in Tucumcari, 107 in Logan, 27 in San Jon, 11 in House, nine in McAlister, five in Nara Visa, five in Grady (part of which extends into Quay County), and five in Bard. A total of 526...
The Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation was one of 15 economic development organizations in New Mexico to receive a grant through Local Economic Assistance and Development Support, the state’s Economic Development Department announced last week. Tucumcari EDC received $20,000 support its marketing program, including trade show and sales mission participation, according to a news release. Patrick Vanderpool, executive director of the Tucumcari EDC, stated in an email Friday his office has added new partners in its efforts for b...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week announced it would award more than $3.1 million to 12 small rural hospitals in New Mexico, including Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari, for COVID-19 testing and mitigation. Trigg’s administrator stated in an email Thursday she wasn’t sure how much money the Tucumcari hospital would receive. “We are grateful for this anticipated support, but do not yet have a figure for how much Dr. Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital will receive through the program,” Vickie Gutierrez wrote. State O...
Click Here for Video The actions of two Tucumcari police officers will undergo an internal review after one was seen on video picking up and slamming a suspect to the ground during an arrest Saturday at a grocery store parking lot. The Tucumcari Police Department issued a statement Sunday on its Facebook page, stating “we are aware of the video circulating around social media” of the use-of-force incident involving suspect Pete Apodaca, 43, of Tucumcari. “Tucumcari PD reviews every use of force situation and this incident is no diffe...
