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By Kyle Marksteiner, Editor I’ve seen quite a few posts online from people saying that the epilogue portion of the Stranger Things series finale was boring, overly long and unnecessary. I could not disagree more strongly. I graduated from high school in 1993, which would put me at about the same age as Erica Sinclair, the show’s sassy super genius. While my childhood friends and I never fought any Demogorgons, we did play our share of Dungeons and Dragons. We also put trash b

By R. Gabriel Villalobos On a cool sunny day, Jim Ballard watches another student pilot bring a Cessna 172 back smoothly onto the runway. For Ballard, the sight is both routine and deeply satisfying—the culmination of a 36-year career in flight instruction and a personal journey that began by watching crop dusters on his grandfather's farm. "I grew up on a ranch south of White City," Ballard said. "As a small child, four or five years old, I used to watch them come in and spr

By Misty Cryer After 47 years of service to an organization that helps law enforcement solve crimes, Jim Carr, a founding member of the Eddy County Crime Stoppers program, recently announced his retirement from the board. Upon his departure, he shared the story of the program's development and evolution. Crime Stoppers of Eddy County was formed in 1978 by a bunch of local contractors from Carlsbad and the surrounding area, said Carr. "We were being vandalized, and we were hav

By Misty Cryer A lifetime of cheer led to an incredible opportunity for a member of the varsity CHS Cheer Team. Rachel Horton, daughter of Mark and Linda Horton, first earned the title “All-American Cheerleader,” which opened the door for her to perform in the 2025 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii on December 7. This parade commemorates the attack on Pearl Harbor with a theme of “remembering our past while celebrating that once bitter enemies can become friends and alli

Cathrynn N. Brown is a Republican candidate for Re-Election to State House District 55 “The work of reforming state government is never done. I believe the New Mexico Legislature needs to rein in state spending, much of which goes to pet programs that are not improving the lives of most New Mexicans. One example: State highways are deteriorating faster than they can be fixed, while hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated to wasteful, wishful programs.” — Cathrynn Brown

By Don Eskins On December 19 in Carlsbad, the Cavegirl basketball team sustained a tough 45-35 loss to the Artesia Bulldogs. That was the bad news. The good news is that Cavegirl head coach Matt Enloe and his charges will get another shot at their up-the-road adversary on Tuesday night, January 6, in the City of Champions. Tipoff for the clash is set for 5:30 p.m. The JVs will open the night's action at 4 p.m. The Cavegirls fell behind Artesia early in their 45-35 loss to the

By Don Eskins The Cavemen and Cavegirl wrestling teams performed well at the Rio Hondo Scuffle on December 19-20 in Roswell. In split sessions, the girls competed on December 19, the boys on the 20th. The Cavemen, competing in a field of 20, placed sixth, while the Cavegirls finished sixth in a field of 19. "Overall, both our boys' and girls' teams wrestled well at the Rio Hondo Scuffle," said CHS head wrestling coach Mark Pratt. "As with all of our meets this season, we saw

By Don Eskins Having taken a few days off to celebrate the holiday season, the streaking Cavemen basketball team will return to the floor for a Friday, January 2, clash with the St. Michaels Horsemen. As a participant in this year's Portales Shootout, the game will take place in Portales. It will be the only game CHS plays in the tournament. Tipoff for the event is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Horsemen, 5-2 on the year, look to be a formidable opponent for CHS. Included among the

By Don Eskins When the Carlsbad High School swimmers hosted their Holiday Invitational on Saturday, December 13, those who showed up to compete had a huge surprise in store. This year, due to pool problems, CHS hosted the event in Artesia. However, as difficult as it may have been to relocate for the meet, Carlsbad’s kids swam very well. Through it all, the Cavegirls finished second and the Cavemen third. Eight teams were in attendance for the meet. “Even though we had to mov

By Don Eskins The Carlsbad Cavemen and Cavegirls recently returned from the Las Cruces Wrestling Invitational, both having performed very well. The tournament, one of New Mexico’s toughest, took place on Friday and Saturday, December 12-13, in the City of Crosses. At the mega meet, featuring teams from as far away as California, the Cavegirls placed seventh in a field of 38, while the Cavemen placed 11th in a field of 40. The CHS boys finished just four points shy of 10th pla

By Don Eskins Losing is never fun, no matter what the sporting event might be. However, avenging that loss always is! Such was the case for the Cavegirl basketball team on Tuesday, December 16, in Carlsbad. The Cavegirls, who had been soundly defeated by the Lady Rockets earlier this year, 45-32, rallied to grab a tough-fought 44-40 victory over the Roswell-based ball club in the rematch. “It did feel good to get the win,” said Cavegirl head coach Matt Enloe. “Goddard is real

By Dr. Kevin Beardmore Recently, I was reminded of a word that brought a smile to my face. Tomfoolery is silly, harmless fun. It brought back memories of carefree days long gone by. What sparked it was a new term, schoolishness, coined by anthropologist Susan D. Blum. Unfortunately, it is not so harmless, and, as you might imagine, it is not a term that an educator would want applied to one’s classroom. While there is much more to her book-length exploration of current educat