« Heist in Los Alamos | Main | Clowns of Enchantment, Part III »

Tucumcari Childhood

Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 01:29AM by Registered CommenterMike Smith in | Comments3 Comments

Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Google | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Technorati

Tucumcari: 2000 Motel Rooms, and Several Unattended Children

Around the earliest part of this month, the always fascinating and atmospheric Tucumcari Police blotter, in the Quay County Sun, strongly suggested that the eastern New Mexico town of Tucumcari might be a fairly bizarre place to be a kid.

Here are a few extracts, collated from the police blotters of May 3 and May 7:

Tuesday [April 29, 2008]

At 11:37 a.m., a female called to report a child, running north in the alley between Jackson and Monroe, who was screaming and being chased by a dog.

At 8:10 a.m., a Union Pacific Officer reported a juvenile walking along the railroad tracks and almost getting hit by a passing train.

Friday [May 2, 2008]

At 4:25 p.m., an anonymous caller reported an 8-year-old boy walking barefoot on the East bound off ramp of I-40. The officer located the child and requested that CYFD [Children, Youth and Families Department] be contacted.

Saturday [May 3, 2008]

At 6:13 p.m., an anonymous caller reported a naked child running around outside on South Third Street.

These excerpts also suggest Tucumcari might be a pretty bizarre place to be any age. 

After all, somebody had to see and report all these.

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (3)

2000 motel rooms in Tucumcari? I don't know where! The town at least has one that is haunted, though. My daughter, her little girl and my youngest son stopped at a motel in midtown Tucumcari in the seventies. They took showers, the little one was already asleep, and the other two were about ready to retire. Suddenly, my son made a funny squeaky noise, and his sister turned to see what the matter was. He was staring at his bed, eyes popping, and pointed at it. The bedclothes were going up and down in a rhymthmic manner as if someone were already in bed asleep. Needless to say, they left very fast.
June 6, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLee Wacker
Another thing. When is the dinosaur museum ever open? We have stopped at least three or four times since 1999, and have never found it open. It is also very hard to find, and the signs leading to it are hard to see.

Perhaps one day ----------------
June 12, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLee Wacker
Tucumcari now advertises only "1200 motel rooms." I bet it will be down to 1000 before long. Many of the old standbys -- the Pony Soldier, the Lasso, the Cactus -- are closed or gone, and others have refurbished and/or changed names, but the Blue Swallow, the Buckaroo and others somehow hang on. Tuc is the quintessential Route 66 stop, and I hate to see it fading away. Perhaps the proposed new racetrack and casino will breathe new life into the town.
June 24, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterC.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.