Throckmorton receives Poet's Award

Dale Janway
·2 min read
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Despite being one of the most prolific songwriters in history, Sonny Throckmorton is a man of few words when it comes to awards ceremonies. Upon receiving the Poet’s Award at the 15th Academy of Country Music Honors, Throckmorton remarked that he wasn’t entirely sure what a poet is, but he still appreciated the honor.

Thankfully, host Carly Pearce and singer Wynonna Judd had a lot more to say about the Carlsbad native, with Pearce commenting that Sonny wrote so many songs that it wasn’t clear what everyone else was up to at the time. Judd performed one of Sonny’s songs.

You can watch the entire ceremony here: https://www.fox.com/watch/df3d7f5ca91e665c151666539577d03c/

If you are pressed for time, Pearce begins talking about Sonny at around the 43-minute mark. Judd then performs a song for Sonny, who speaks briefly at around the 49-minute mark.

Carlsbad attorney Dick Blenden may not have been at the ACM Honors, but he’s certainly achieved his own share of greatness. At the MainStreet event on Thursday, Blenden was honored for being a practicing attorney in New Mexico for 60 years. He’s highly respected, both for his legal skills and for his integrity.

Throughout his career, Blenden took on numerous cases where he did not charge a client at all, simply because he felt like a particular cause was a worthwhile cause. Blenden is a lifelong Texas Tech fan, but he went to the University of Texas for law school, for the simple reason that Texas Tech University didn’t have a law program at the time. Now in his 80s, Dick still keeps regular office hours and provides excellent legal advice for his clients. We’re very fortunate to have him.

Special thanks to Tim Runyon for all of his work on behalf of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and this community. Runyon first came to Carlsbad in 2014 to help WIPP with recovery activities. He says he originally planned on staying for two months, but he liked the project and community so much that he stayed for eight years.

Runyon was one of the key figures with making sure that recovery efforts at WIPP were successful. He had an extensive knowledge of both the technical and community side of the project, and his presence made a huge difference. He also served on the CTAC contract. We understand Runyon has left to visit family, and we wish him the very best.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Throckmorton receives Poet's Award