Serving the High Plains

Pages past - Feb. 19

On this date ...

1970: District Judge J.V. Gallegos sentenced a man and two women for their roles in an armed robbery and theft of a car at the Cedar Hill Service Station between San Jon and Tucumcari on U.S. 66. Walter Reynolds was sentenced to a total of 11 to 55 years in prison. Betty Reynolds and Shirley Jones each were given a sentence of 10 to 50 years in prison, with all but three years suspended. On Dec. 11, 1969, Cedar Hill co-owner Charles Murray was robbed at knifepoint, blindfolded and tied up in a back room of the station. The robbers took about $50. When Murray untied himself, he found the robbers had stolen his wife’s car parked at the station. A fourth robber, Leslie Jones, was to be sentenced at a later date.

• Francine Martinez, a fifth-grader at Granger School, and Vincent Guillen, a sixth-grader at Zia School, were chosen as the winners of the American History essay contest by the Tucumcari chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

• The New Mexico Senate killed a bill that would have allowed liquor sales in the state on Sunday.

• Wanda Jackson, known as the Queen of Rockabilly who later became a country-music star, was scheduled to play one show at the Holiday Inn Lounge and Ballroom in Tucumcari. Tickets were $5 a couple.