Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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PORTALES — Arrests and calls for service in the city of Portales dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Portales police reported an increase in burglaries and some violent crimes. Portales Police Chief Chris Williams presented the statistics during the Portales City Council meeting Tuesday in the Memorial Building. Williams said calls for service dropped from 19,975 in 2019 to 12,996 in 2020. Arrests by police dropped from 619 in 2019 to 586 in 2020. But Williams also reported the number of burglaries increased d...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County commissioners approved the purchase of a new gutter system for the Show Barn at the county fairgrounds Tuesday at the county commission meeting. Bruce Nixon of Nixon Construction told commissioners that he recommended going entirely with the cricket gutter system discussed in the last county commission meeting. “An internal gutter is always going to be a failing system unless it is one giant piece,” Nixon told commissioners. Commissioners voted to approve the cricket gutter system for one side...
Portales City Manager Sammy Standefer is retiring May 28. Standefer, 47, began his career with the city of Portales in September 1992, mowing grass at the Portales Cemetery and in the city parks. Over the years, he has been planning and zoning director and city building inspector, with the last six years spent as city manager. The Eastern New Mexico News asked Standefer about his time with the city and his future plans. What made you decide to retire? A lot of factors. When I started my career with the city, I was 18 years...
New Mexico is on its way to joining more than a dozen other states in legalizing recreational marijuana. House Bill 2 passed the Senate with a 22-15 vote during Wednesday’s special session, moving it to the governor’s desk where she is expected to sign it. Recreational cannabis is expected to be sold legally throughout the state by this time next year. The legislation’s companion bill, Senate Bill 2, will dismiss charges for certain prior marijuana convictions. Area residents said last week they have mixed feelings about lega...
PORTALES - Enthusiasts purchased 45 windmills from Roosevelt County on Saturday, bringing in $17,500. The money will go to the upkeep of the county's other windmills, which once belonged to area collector Bill Dalley. Dalley, who donated dozens of his windmills to the county in 2011, died in November 2018. Many of the donated windmills began to fall into disrepair, and county commissioners decided to auction some so proceeds could help with maintaining those that remained....
PORTALES — Two new coffee houses are open for business in Portales on Chicago Avenue. Tabitha Nixon, co-owner of Nixon Construction, said when she and her husband, Bruce, decided to move their construction business from New Mexico 467 into town, they bought an extra building to go with it. “We were looking for a business to start out of it,” she said. “We also wanted to start a business that our kids could work in and help with, so we just decided on a drive through for drinks and donuts.” Sip and Savor, the Nixon family's...
The fate of traditional summertime events remains up in the air. But local Chamber of Commerce directors are feeling optimistic. Curry County Chamber Executive Director Ernie Kos said with Curry County just moving from yellow (high risk) to green (medium risk) on the state's COVID-19 risk scale last week, it is too soon to be able to say what will happen. "Everything right now is just too soon to be determined," Kos said. "I anticipate that everyone will do their best to try...
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released a report last month highlighting its projections that the U.S. electricity generation mix made up of renewables will have doubled by 2050. That's also when 42% of the nation's electricity will be provided by renewables. "Wind and solar generation are responsible for most of that growth. The renewable share is projected to increase as nuclear and coal-fired generation decrease and the natural gas-fired generation share remains...
New Mexico farmers and ranchers are in for a tough year with production, according to New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte. “This is going to be one of the toughest years that New Mexico farmers and ranchers have had in years. We are looking at a pretty long, impactful drought this year. The snow cap is just not there for what we need to fill our reservoirs,” Witte said, adding that there will be “severely reduced, if not non-existent, surface water allocations this year.” “We’re looking at areas of the state where...
New Mexico film industry educators highlighted both the challenges and the pleasant surprises of educating film students during a pandemic in the Virtual Film & TV Day on Monday. Yes, challenges were overcome, and higher education film programs managed to thrive during online learning, according to Eastern New Mexico University Theatre and Digital Film Making Department Chair Jon Barr. But one subject that wasn’t breached during the public forum was the effect on students’ mental health, he said. “One thing that wasn...
PORTALES — Public Works Director John DeSha reported city utility changes to city councilors Tuesday night at the Portales City Council meeting at the Memorial Building. DeSha told councilors that many people outside city limits use city sewage without having an active utility account with the city, so city officials will be performing a smoke test to clean out sewage pipes and to show city officials who has sewage service with the city line without having an account. “We will give them 30 days to come open an account, and...
PORTALES — Area residents on Tuesday asked county officials to preserve history. Roosevelt County commissioners listened, but an old house and dozens of windmills will be among items auctioned to the highest bidder on March 27 at the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds. The issues that produced residents’ emotional pleas had already been decided months ago. Roosevelt County Manager Amber Hamilton said the house and windmills were not on commissioners’ agenda to consider on Tuesday. That didn’t stop the preservation effort. Meredit...
PORTALES -- Roosevelt County commissioners on Tuesday voted to move forward with only half of a roof replacement project. Commissioners were shown the roof in the hog show arena at the county fairgrounds and given two options for the roof repair following the June 2020 hail storm. County Manager Amber Hamilton explained to commissioners that one option was to replace the internal gutter system that already exists within the building, but it would likely begin to leak again at some point. The other repair option is to go with...
New Mexico film industry educators highlighted both the challenges and the pleasant surprises of educating film students during a pandemic in the past year during the Virtual Film & TV Day on Monday. Film educators from several higher education institutes around New Mexico were present for the virtual event, which was sponsored by IATSE Local 480, the New Mexico Film Industry, and the New Mexico Film Office. “It was challenging, but I think we made lemonade by learning new ways of creating what we needed to create,” New Mexic...
MULESHOE - West Texas researchers spent some time with a blob last week at the Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge. No, it wasn't scary for them. The blob is not an alien lifeform that consumes everything in its path like the movie from 1958. This blob is no harm to anyone, according to Dale Rollins, executive director for the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation at Roby, Texas, who found the bird. "I've seen a number of blobs over the last 40 years, and that is one of the prettiest...
The words “rough and tumble” might come to mind for many who knew Mickey Simms. But those same people would likely also tell you he was someone with a sense of humor, whose heart was always in the right place. “One of the big things that we’ve talked about and a lot of people in the community would tell you is Mickey could be hard to deal with, but they all respected him,” his son, Mitch Simms, said. “He was hard on us when he was raising us, there’s no doubt about it. But it made us better people and better fathers.” Mit...
An electricity superstation that never came to be might have helped last month with Texas/New Mexico blackouts inspired by subzero temperatures, but it likely would not have prevented them, according to officials of the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM). The Tres Amigas project was intended to be the nation's first renewable energy market hub in which the nation's three power grids - Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and...
New Mexico education and health officials announced Monday that all public school students will be allowed to return to in-person schooling with a goal of reaching full re-entry by April 5. A Public Education Department release stated that COVID-19 vaccines will be offered to all school staff members across the state over the course of the next three weeks in an attempt to allow staff and students to return in full as safely as possible. The release said more than 45,000 educators have registered to receive the vaccine with...
With Monday's announcement that New Mexico public school students will be allowed to return to in-person school full-time came the announcement that music programs can now rehearse in person but with a few stipulations. The Public Education Department announced that music students can practice outdoors with "enhanced" social distancing of 9 feet, face coverings and coverings on their instruments. Clovis High Band Director Bill Allred said students already attending school in...
A February press release from AccuWeather focused on meteorologists predicting a slow start to the storm and tornado season -- which could lead to more severe weather conditions later this spring. With El Nino weather conditions, the past few years have seen an early start to severe weather conditions; storms tend to begin in January. But with weather conditions now following a La Nina pattern, tornado season is expected to be delayed until April or May. This delay could cause a more “active” weather season with a higher rat...
Since COVID-19 vaccines began in December, multiple headlines have appeared illustrating concern and uncertainty from many U.S. residents. Area residents appear to be no different when it comes to having mixed opinions on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines and whether or not they want to receive one. Roosevelt County resident Meggan Trudeau said she does not intend to get the vaccine. She said she does not believe the COVID vaccines are dangerous, but she does not...
Curry and Roosevelt counties will be holding public hearings this week for their boards of registration to clean up voter registrations. Curry County Clerk Annie Hogland and Roosevelt County Clerk Mandi Park both said voters are added to the removal list for registered voters when they remain inactive and have also not responded to a letter from the New Mexico Secretary of State office. Park and Hogland said when registered voters submit a change of address form to state or federal entities, such as the post office, they are...
PORTALES - Five Portales firefighters were honored at the Portales City Council meeting Tuesday night at the Memorial Building. Firefighters Gavinn Shultz, Trevor Chacon, Michael Gonzalez, Jonathan Montiel and James Bray were all recognized for completing their Firefighter 1 and 2 certifications, while Montiel and Bray also received their one-year challenge coins. "Every bit of training we get helps make everyone in the community a little bit safer," Fire Chief T.J. Cathey...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County Probate Judge Kendall Terry announced Tuesday at the county commission meeting that state entities hosted seminars for the Legal Resources for the Elderly Program in January, and more are scheduled for March 30, April 27, May 27, and June 24. “If you have a loved one, a friend, or a close relative that needs some questions about power of attorney answered, healthcare advice, probate advice, non-probate advice, like transfers of deeds on deaths, this is a great program and free of cost that the stat...
BOVINA - DeLayne Duffy doesn't know what inspired her to write a children's book about a hippopotamus and a tutu. She just knows she's happy to see it bringing joy to children in a world currently lacking a lot of joy. Duffy, a teacher for the Bovina Independent School District, wrote the story 15 years ago. "I was lying in bed and all these thoughts were going through my mind, so I got up and started typing it out," Duffy said. "When I wrote it, I was working at a school in...
