Author Archives: Patrick Lamb

When I was beginning my career in journalism, newspapers had copy desks. They were filled with sage older writers who had migrated from the thrill of being a beat reporter to the seemingly mundane task of reviewing every article that was to go in the paper, writing a headline for it and them assembling theContinue reading “The death of the copy desk…”

About six months ago, I wrote about a guy in Clovis who was standing naked on a street corner and ranting about various injustices when city police stopped and tried to diffuse the situation. The naked perp managed to jump into a still-running police unit and streak (pun intended) off to the hospital, where heContinue reading “Maybe this guy had a cousin in Clovis…”

In the last few years, I have started reading obituaries in the Albuquerque Journal about people I’ve never met. I’m mostly interested in what people did during their lives and if they are not native New Mexico residents, how and why they ended up here. I feel that by reading these obituaries, I am inContinue reading “They just don’t make ’em like that any more…”

In 2005, workers at the Albuquerque Zoo discovered something rather gruesome outside the cage of the resident Jaguar. It was a human finger, severed no doubt by the bite of the “panthera onca” in the cage. No one came forward to claim the severed digit, maybe because they were too embarrassed that they really didn’tContinue reading “This was beyond catnip…”

I’m very proud to say that my wife (and three nephews) have retained possession of a family farm in central Nebraska that was homesteaded by her pioneering great great grandfather. It’s nothing that will ever make us rich, but it is a great source of pride to be able to hang onto a piece ofContinue reading “Targeted direct marketing blows a five-amp fuse…”

When my parents first began operating the Ruidoso News in the early 1950s, we did not have a large enough press to print the newspaper in our home town. The closest place with a broadsheet press for printing newspapers was in Alamogordo. Our staff would “make up” the lead type pages of local news andContinue reading “Strange things happen at White Sands…”

New Mexico has had its share of notorious UFO incidents over the years, beginning with the famous Roswell incident in 1947 in which an unidentified object crashed on a remote ranch northwest of the city. Air Force officials in Roswell first declared it was an extraterrestrial object, but later recanted the story to say itContinue reading “I think I know why a UFO was buzzing around Union County…”

During my years as a journalist reporting on the New Mexico Legislature, there was an oft told joke around the capitol that many of the lawmakers were elected to their posts simply because local constituents just wanted them out of town for a month or two. I had great respect for many of the legislatorsContinue reading “Maybe it wasn’t an accident…”

During the pandemic, my wife and I have relied on curbside delivery to pick up basic grocery items from a nearby Wal-Mart. The experience has been pretty good for the most part — the store occasionally substitutes items or is out of stock of other things, but we get most of what we want withoutContinue reading “I’m glad there weren’t any mini watermelons nearby…”

Two posts I recently wrote discussed an incident in which a Taos woman sued the local McDonald’s for injuries she suffered when a toilet paper dispenser detached from the wall of her stall and struck her in the head. She claimed she merely tugged on the roll of toilet tissue when the device turned intoContinue reading “On second thought, maybe a consumer warning is needed…”

Northern New Mexico experienced demonstrations last year focusing on statues memorializing early Spanish explorers who had brutalized Native American people in the Southwest. Several statues and memorials were removed or torn down by angry protestors. In Santa Fe, city administrators feared that a statue in Cathedral Park memorializing Diego de Vargas would be vandalized, soContinue reading ““Oh, it must be that thing covered up with pigeon poop in the back lot…””

(With apologies to Daivid Letterman. And bear with me, this post might be a bit long and philosophical… ) Many years ago, my father, who prided himself for his knowledge of New Mexico history, told me that when the territory was being considered for statehood, there was consideration given to calling it “Lincoln” instead ofContinue reading “Lincoln , Lincoln, a town so nice they named it twice…”

A good friend who faithfully reads my blog and is probably the most thorough fact checker I’ve ever known discovered some additional details about a blog I posted earlier this week. That story regarded a woman who sued a Taos McDonald’s for assault by a toilet paper dispenser. The woman claimed she was injured whenContinue reading “The flying toilet paper dispenser, part II…”