Sheriff reiterates no shots fired at county fair

Curry County Sheriff Wesley Waller told county commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday there was no gunfire at the county fairgrounds during a shooting scare August 17 at the county fair.

"We could not substantiate that at all," Waller said when he was asked if there was an active shooter at the fairgrounds that night.

Waller came in to speak to the matter as events center and fairgrounds general manager K.C. Messick gave his county fair report to county commissioners.

It was District 2 commissioner Tom Martin who brought the shooting scare up while Messick was going over his report, Martin asking Messick if there was actually any gunfire the night of August 17.

"I'll let the sheriff speak to that," Messick said.

Waller told commissioners his department continues to investigate the incident.

He said the scare was something that got out of hand when a group of young people got into an altercation.

In his report on the county fair, Messick said attendance was 18,450 people.

"We hoped for a lot more," Messick said. "We had budgeted for 23,000."

Messick said contributing factors to the lowered attendance figure was that Saturday's heavy rain and the Wednesday night scare.

The fair's insurer paid out $48, 372 in a rain insurance claim.

Messick said a new item this year, a military discount, was well-received.

District 4 commissioner Seth Martin told Messick he had received complaints from constituents about the restrooms in the vicinity of the Mounted Patrol arena, about their lack of cleanliness.

Messick said he is aware of the problem, recently he had spent $8,000 in plumbing repairs in that building.

"We're chasing a bad problem," Messick said of the continuing repairs.

Martin said the commissioners want the problem fixed, not patched.

In other business at the meeting, among items on the consent agenda that were approved was the ratification of grant applications submitted to the New Mexico Volunteer Fire Assistance fund for wildland tools and personnel protection equipment for the Ranchvale, Pleasant Hill, Field, County Line and Broadview volunteer fire departments as well as the Curry County administration office.

County road superintendent Walon Jones told commissioners the CR K project is wrapping up and county crews have been doing pothole patching and other projects.

Commissioners unanimously approved a contract with Vigil and Associates Architectural Group for conceptual planning and budgeting for a new county sports complex/recreational center.

The plan is to put needed items together for a possible presentation to the state legislature for capital outlay funds for the county center.