Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 28
Christopher Arias, a District 4 representative for the Tucumcari City Commission, turned in his resignation Thursday, citing personal reasons. Arias that morning posted on Facebook his resignation letter, effective immediately, to city manager Paula Chacon and Mayor Ralph Moya. Early during the city commission's regular meeting Thursday night, Moya read Arias' resignation letter aloud. Arias had served on the commission for five years. He was appointed to the position in October 2018 after the...
A juvenile was in custody after he was accused of stabbing another teen outside of Rattler Stadium on Thursday night during a lightning delay of the football team’s annual Homecoming game. Tucumcari Police Chief Patti Lopez, who initially investigated the attack, said the assailant was a 13-year-old boy who attacked another boy age 14 or 15 near the front gate of the stadium about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Lopez said Friday morning the attacker was taken to a juvenile detention facility in Lovington. She said he will be charged with aggravated b...
GLENRIO - In this border town in far eastern Quay County, a sign for a long-closed spot along Route 66 once proclaimed it as the "First Motel in Texas" and "Last Motel in Texas." With the opening last week of Glenrio Smoke Stop, it can credibly claim to be the first and last marijuana dispensary in New Mexico. It also serves as potentially a competitor to the dozen or so similar shops that have opened Tucumcari since last year. The Glenrio Smoke Stop sits just a few yards west of the border of T...
Mesalands Community College will request more than $3.4 million in state funding to expand its nursing, commercial driver’s license and wind-energy programs, including an upgrade to its iconic wind turbine. The college’s board of trustees during a special meeting Sept. 12 approved the requests to the New Mexico Research and Public Service Projects program. Mesalands faced a deadline of Sept. 15 to submit the requests. The state will schedule hearings to formally hear and discuss the requests at a later date. Joel Kiser, vice president of aca...
The interim president of New Mexico State University wrote to a state senator “it is not a good time” for his institution to consider a merger with financially troubled Mesalands Community College. State Sen. George Munoz (D-Gallup) in late July wrote letters to Mesalands, Eastern New Mexico University and NMSU, urging them to consider a partnership or make the Tucumcari college a branch campus of one of the universities. He requested a response by Aug. 28. The Quay County Sun through an open-records request obtained a copy of the written res...
• Saturday — Teeing Up for United Way golf tournament at 12 Shores Golf Club at Ute Lake. The first tee time is 7:30 a.m. The event benefits the United Way of Eastern New Mexico. The $125 ticket includes lunch and prizes for a hole-in-one, longest drive and closest to the pin. Tickets available at https://shorturl.at/aoACR. • Oct. 7 — Quay County on the Move Fun Run/Walk. This free event that includes a new 5-kilometer course, a half course and a short course for the mobility impaired will offer a T-shirt to all finishers and snacks. Registe...
Tucumcari Schools Wednesday — Teriyaki chicken, brown rice, ham and egg chef salad, steamed broccoli, fresh baby carrots, buttermilk ranch dressing, mandarin oranges, 1%, strawberry skim, chocolate skim or skim milk. Thursday — Cheeseburger, ham and cheese sandwich, French fries, fresh baby carrots, sliced pickle, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, fruit cocktail, 1%, strawberry skim, chocolate skim or skim milk. Monday — Chicken nuggets, turkey and cheese deluxe hoagie, whole-grain breadstick, mashed potatoes, cucumber, garden side salad, water...
On this date … 1973: Dan Barks, the city’s parks and recreation director, will attempt to walk for 50 consecutive hours starting on Oct. 1 in and between Tucumcari’s parks. Barks’ endeavor will serve as a fundraiser for recreational facilities in the city and was a training session for a future bid for a world record. He will begin his trek from Eastside Park to Northside Park, then to Damon Kvols Park, Dunn Park, Wailes Park and finishing at Eastside Park. — Local and state police were looking for a vehicles with four suspects after a robbery...
In the first line of the book, we find out that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. It’s a pretty big book, and a lot of stuff follows that. None of it could happen, though, if that first bit didn’t. The Bible unfolds in actual time and history. The reality it describes is the objective one we live in. God created the heavens and earth. This is not an illusion. Without that truth, all bets are off. You are reading these words with your eyes. But are you really? How can you be sure that you’re not a brain in a vat somewhere,...
Two out-of-state men were arrested and briefly jailed in Tucumcari on felony child enticement charges after a sting operation earlier this month. Lawrence Loy, 54, of Denver, and Arif Tanai, 26, of Clarkston, Georgia, were charged with child solicitation by electronic communication device for a child age 13 to 16 on Sept. 6-9. Loy was charged with a third-degree felony that can lead up to six years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Tanai’s charge is fourth-degree felony that can lead up to 18 months in prison and a fine up to $5,000. Tucumcari P...
Have you ever Googled yourself? Mostly you don’t find yourself. David Stevens has over 35 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. David Stevens is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Highly skilled 168-pounder David Stevens scored a wild last-second KO of Sean Hemphill in January. None of those David Stevens are me. There’s a David Stevens on a wrestling roster, a David Stevens on a football roster, a lawyer named David Stevens who specializes in bankruptcy, a David Ste...
Malcolm X said it best in a 1962 speech: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is a black woman…” More than 60 years later, these words still ring true. Recently, it’s an apt description as it relates to footage of a horrific incident that occurred recently in Houston. Ro Bashe, a Somali immigrant, took to social media to show viewers her badly injured face. Bashe said a man hit her with a brick and then ran away. The reason...
Thank God for Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. I wish every major television and radio network in the country had covered what the smart and colorful Republican did in the Senate last week. As part of a hearing looking into the alleged threat to freedom posed by parents who want to have sexually explicit gay and trans books removed from their school libraries, Kennedy bravely quoted some choice excerpts from two of the books. While he read out loud from “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Gender Queer,” every adult in the room with a brain and a lic...
SANTA ROSA - The prospect of facing Santa Rosa's vaunted single-wing offense is a challenge for most high-school football defenses. But for a still-young and still-learning Tucumcari defense, that task was made more difficult by a Lions offense adding a few new wrinkles. The result was Santa Rosa, ranked third in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com, scoring on its first six possessions during a 40-0 non-district victory on Friday night. Santa Rosa's Jykub Gage and AJ Romo each rushed for more than 100...
Trailing 36-28 with about five minutes left, Logan had a chance for a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion if it made a defensive stop on Mesilla Valley Christian and got the ball back. That stop never came. Instead, the SonBlazers marched down the field, milked the clock and completed a touchdown pass with less than a minute left to ice a 44-28 non-district win at Las Cruces on Saturday in eight-man football action. Stratton Schoonover scored two touchdowns for the Longhorns, and Payson Nials and Devin Kotara each scored a TD. “The d...
Tucumcari’s volleyball team had an easier time with Raton on Thursday than during its last non-district matchup, winning 26-24, 25-21, 25-17 on the Tigers’ home court. The Lady Rattlers (6-3), ranked fourth in Class 3A by MaxPreps.com, fell behind in the first set 23-21 but rallied by scoring five of the next six points to pull out the victory. Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said her team committed seven serving errors during the set, “making it a closer set than it should’ve been.” That comeback set the tone for the rest of the match. Tucumcar...
Tucumcari junior Alex Bueno De La O finished 16th overall at the New Mexico Military Institute Invitational in cross-country action Saturday. Full results were not available, but Tucumcari coach Tim Clark noted Bueno De La O was running against several larger schools at the meet, including Artesia, Alamogordo, Hobbs and Roswell, along with Capitan, Gateway Christian, NMMI and first-year program San Jon. “We were running against some pretty good powerhouses,” Clark said of the meet. “I think we held our own.” Also for Tucumcari, Bryan Carreon Re...
Several members of the Arch Hurley Conservancy District board of directors expressed reluctance last week to allocate more water into its irrigation canals until spring. The board in July allocated three inches of water per acre — the first time it had authorized a release of water from Conchas Lake in over three years — after huge storms caused the lake to rise more than 10 feet in just a few weeks. Rainfall since that time, however, mostly has been meager. District manager Franklin McCasland reported during the board’s Sept. 12 meeting that...
These individuals were booked into the Quay County Detention Center from Sept. 12 to Sept. 17: — Adrianna Noel Apodaca, 35, Tucumcari, criminal damage to property (under $1,000). — Bernice Eskeets, 43, Tucumcari, contempt of court. — Christopher Paul Kelly, 53, Tucumcari, contempt of court. These individuals were released from the Quay County Detention Center from Sept. 12 to Sept. 15: — Arif Tanai, 26, Clarkston, Georgia, bail or bond. — Adrianna Noel Apodaca, 35, Tucumcari, bail or bond. — Isabel Elena Jimenez, 26, Tucumcari, appearance...
The Logan School Board last week unanimously approved a senior class trip to Alaska in June, but not without some reservations and some stipulations for those graduates. The Class of 2024’s journey on June 5-12 will include a cruise ship to Alaska, with air or driving stops in Denver, Seattle and Vancouver. The estimated cost for the 18 seniors plus six adult chaperones, including the principal, will be $40,000. The class has raised more than $47,000. The trip would take place after Logan High School’s graduation ceremony on Memorial Day wee...
A cattle company based near the northeastern Quay County village of Nara Visa was honored by the New Mexico State Fair and New Mexico Department of Agriculture as the New Mexico Ranch Family of the Year. Michael and Connie Perez, owners and operators of Perez Cattle Company in Nara Visa and Encino, received the honor Thursday at the fair. “The Perez family has over 45 of years of experience breeding registered seedstock with the same philosophy: Line up as many good cows as you can in one pedigree,” NMDA stated in a news release. “The Perez...
Volunteers and members of the New Mexico Route 66 Association last week reinstalled neon tubing for businesses along Tucumcari’s Route 66 corridor to replace those broken by a May hailstorm. Fast TV Network, which is due to move its headquarters into the Kmart building in Tucumcari, filmed the neon-restoration efforts for a future “Legends of Route 66” episode. Among the businesses that saw neon signs repaired were TeePee Curios, Motel Safari, Del’s Restaurant and La Cita. Neon expert Paul Greenstein flew from Los Angeles to Tucumcari to help...
New Mexico Gas Co., which serves Tucumcari, requested from state regulators a rate increase of 11% that would take effect next fall. The proposed rate hike was submitted to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, which will rule on the the application between now and late next summer. According to a company news release, if the request is approved, the average monthly residential gas bill of 53 therms per month would rise about $6.70, or 11%, compared to current bills. The new rates would take effect no earlier than October 2024. New Mexic...
These calls were made to the Tucumcari-Quay Regional Emergency Communications Center from Sept. 11 to Sept. 17: Monday — 2:30 a.m.: Prowler in 1100 block of South Fourth Street, Tucumcari. — 7:13 a.m.: Unattended death in first block of Highway 392, San Jon. — 8:42 a.m.: Theft in 500 block of South Second Street, Tucumcari. — 8:59 a.m.: Fight in 1100 block of South Seventh Street, Tucumcari. — 10:17 a.m.: Theft in 2300 block of South First Street, Tucumcari. — 10:30 a.m.: Domestic disturbance in 1100 block of South First Street, Tucumcari....
Teach Plus, a national teacher leadership organization, chose a San Jon educator as one of 15 “demonstrably effective teachers and school leaders from around New Mexico” for its first Alumni Policy Fellowship. Dawn Bilbrey, an English teacher at San Jon High School, was named one of the Teach Plus Alumni Policy Fellows. Others fellowship members hail from Clayton, Silver City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Rio Rancho, Lovington, Santa Fe, Hobbs and Holloman Air Force Base. Teach Plus alumni in this group have completed the policy, advocacy, res...
