Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Novelists Kathleen M. Rodgers, a Clovis native currently of Colleyville, Texas, and Teddy Jones of Friona, Texas, are scheduled to appear at a double author event from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Portales Public Library, 218 S. Ave. B. Rodgers’ work has appeared in Family Circle Magazine, Military Times, and several anthologies. Her fourth novel, “The Flying Cutterbacks”was named a 2022 New Mexico Press Women Zia Book Award first runner-up and a 2021 WILLA Liter...
A cadre of four-legged teachers named Bart, Newbie, Shag, Target, Smudge, Goober, Patches, Lil, and Cricket are on the hunt for some new students. But there are some catches. To begin with, eight of them are a mix of horses and horse/pony crosses. The ninth – Cricket – is pure pony. The lessons they are ready to teach won't take place in a saddle. And it's free. Allow me to introduce the residents of Abrazos Adventure, the business that since 1999 provided countless folks in...
Most of us old enough to remember the first time humans set foot on the moon -- July 20, 1969 -- have a memory of that day. We know where we were, what we were doing. Tamara Ryan Polich’s recollection has a special twist. “We watched the moon landing in this house,” Polich told me Saturday, “on a television set that our dad built.” Tamara and three of her siblings — Mike Ryan, Marla Ryan Chrisman, and John Ryan — were gathered in the Portales home they grew up in to share stor...
Portales High School drama teacher Melody Gallagher jokes that she recruits and retains drama students with the promise of "afterschool snacks and juice boxes." But in reality, "All jokes aside, this department is thriving because theater is such a positive and inclusive environment for all," Gallagher said. Fifty members of that flourishing PHS drama department are preparing to open their spring musical, "Into the Woods Jr." at 6 p.m. Friday in the Performing Arts Center at...
I heard a timely quote this week from Ira Glass, the host of the National Public Radio show, “This American Life.” “I am optimistic,” Glass said, “even when there is no factual basis for it … at all.” So am I, Mr. Glass, especially as the days grow longer and garden centers start to bustle with those most optimistic of humans: gardeners. The reason this quote resonated with me so much is that I not only don’t have a green thumb, I don’t even have a green fingernail. Flowe...
A life-sized interactive reproduction of Moses' tabernacle of the wilderness is in Portales for a return engagement after being experienced by more than 3,000 locals when it was here in 2015. Central Christian Church at 1528 S. Main St. in Portales is hosting the multi-day event that continues through Sunday, according to Senior Pastor Don Thomas. He said the idea of bringing "The Tabernacle Experience" back to eastern New Mexico was an easier sell this time than it was eight...
In a short-lived fit of spring-cleaning last week, I was dusting a kitchen counter and wiped a layer of accumulated topsoil off of a couple of small wooden boxes that sit in a back corner. These boxes remain on my counter solely for sentimental reasons. They are filled with recipes — many handwritten — from my maternal grandmother, a woman who died in the early 1950s, long before my existence was ever even a consideration, much less a twinkle in anyone’s eye. I never use these...
At the age of 93, and after 3 1/2 years of residency in Wheatfields Estates senior living in Clovis, you might expect someone like Lois Barnes to be living a quiet life of retirement. Perhaps you haven’t met her yet. I learned last summer in our first visit that Barnes is a woman on a mission and she’s looking for recruits. “What made Fort Sumner famous?” she asked me the first time I met her, before quickly providing the answer: “Billy the Kid. Is there any proof of that?...
Roosevelt County's homegrown country music singer/songwriter Will Banister has his eyes set on a big goal: one day appearing on the stage of the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville, Tenn. But this Friday he happily returns to a closer and more familiar stage, the one at Floyd High School which was "the first place I ever performed with a band," Banister said. And he promises, "It's gonna be fun." After a multi-year hiatus, an evening dubbed "Will Banister and Friends" has been...
It's hard to think of many folks who have had a longer active association with Eastern New Mexico University than Buck Wilson of Portales. From the time he arrived on campus as a sophomore transfer student from the University of New Mexico in 1957 (and except for a few years away for military service and completing a dental degree), Wilson's life has been intertwined with Eastern's. "His nearly 70 years of 'bleeding green' has permanently enshrined Buck Wilson in our Hall of...
Forty years ago this May, I remember standing in a long line on the floor of Greyhound Arena to receive my diploma from Eastern New Mexico University. My dentist — and dear family friend — Buck Wilson was chairman of ENMU’s Board of Regents at the time. With the other regents, he was on stage taking turns passing out diplomas and handshakes. As I inched toward the moment marking the completion of my undergraduate degree, I was a little disappointed to see that a diffe...
On the old television sitcom, “Cheers,” every time the character Norm Peterson walked into the bar “where everybody knows your name,” all the folks in the room turned and shouted, “Norm!” For me, the one place in Portales where that could happen is the tire shop, where I’m definitely one of the regulars. Moments before I sat down to write this, I aired up my third flat in the past few weeks, and my second for the past six days. That is not a personal record. I’ve had, if memor...
A flurry of illness has forced changes for two fine arts productions scheduled this weekend at Eastern New Mexico University, but a third event bringing culture to the High Plains is all-systems-go and opened Tuesday at Enchantment Vineyards. "Opera 101: A Night of Opera Scenes," has been postponed by the ENMU Department of Music. Those who have already purchased tickets will be able to use them when the new dates are announced. Across campus at the University Theatre Center,... Full story
Ours was not a camping family when I was growing up. When high school friends talked about planning weekends to go to “the lake,” I wasn’t even sure where they were going. My dad — who had grown up regularly sleeping outdoors on the ground or in shacks that offered only minimal protection from the elements — always told us he had worked hard his whole life so we wouldn’t have to follow in his footsteps. We stayed in some pretty sketchy motels in our travels, mind you, but we...
At 74, Clovis real estate agent Cherrie Hayden was still listing homes and had no intention of ever retiring - in fact, "she wouldn't have," according to her son, Scott. Hayden died Jan. 25 after some ongoing health challenges took an unexpected turn for the worse, her family said. Her friends and family agree on this: She was a true people person, with a blazing work ethic, a "wicked sense of humor" and a heart that reached out to others in ways that will be forever...
My friend Janet, who knows I love both words and birds, texted me an interesting “word of the day” last week: “seatherny.” Pronounced “seth-er-nee,” it is purportedly “the serenity one feels when listening to the chirping of birds.” Whether or not this is a real word (it appears in plenty of online memes, but I’ve failed to find it in a more legitimate source like, say, a dictionary), there is no question that one does feel serene when listening to birds. Or at least I do. Th...
I began with the best of intentions. There was a carton of sour cream that had somehow glued itself to a shelf in my refrigerator. (If it appears I am trying to completely dodge any responsibility for what follows, you are a quick study.) I tugged and pulled and pried and couldn’t budge the darned thing. Never suspecting disaster was moments ahead, I cleared the shelf of all of the remaining detritus. I even tossed out a few things, which isn’t easy for the daughter of Dep...
When February offers up no fewer than four fetching food fundraisers, what’s a food fundraiser fanatic to do but fork over the facts? The festivities kick off this Saturday when the Clovis Noonday Kiwanis Club will be flipping flapjacks for its 71st annual Pancake Day that runs from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Clovis High School cafeteria. The menu includes pancakes, sage sausage, milk, juice, and coffee. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 4-10. Tots 3 and under ca...
As I’m writing this, the wind is howling outside my window and forecasters are predicting we could get some measurable precipitation this week in the form of snow or ice or that delicious sounding “wintry mix.” It’s the kind of week that makes me grateful for the science of meteorology. Our pioneer grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t have the advantage we have of knowing when weather events were on the horizon or sometimes more importantly, knowing when they’d be...
Sometimes, quite by accident, you stumble across a most extraordinary life story. That happened to me this week. The folks at Portales High School were looking to complete a list of former superintendents and were missing part of the name of one of the first people to hold down that job. They knew a “Mr. Skinner” had been the third superintendent of the school, occupying the post from 1904-1906. They had first names — or at least initials — for all of the others who held th...
We are members of a species that not too many years ago spent a lot more time outside in the presence of one another, whether it was sipping tea on a front porch or taking evening strolls around the neighborhood. Today, it’s pretty rare for us to walk more than a few blocks, and even more unusual to have the opportunity to do so “in community,” but both Clovis and Portales will be marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday with commemorative marches. Clovi...
Whether he was competing in an Ironman triathlon, flying a fighter jet, or teaching advanced placement physics to Clovis high school students, Carl Armstrong was all in. "He never did anything he didn't do well," according to Mona Lee Norman-Armstrong, who was married to him for 44 years. His sudden and unexpected death on Dec. 4 at the age of 68 left a hole in many lives, including area triathletes and legions of students he taught in physics and chemistry classes at Clovis...
The last days of December are a good time to reflect on life lessons. Here’s one of mine from a while back. A friend had been to our house for some event — probably a branding — and the interaction led to a need for me to swing by her house a few days later to pick up some papers. What exactly the papers were isn’t important to the story (plus, I can’t remember). What is germane to this anecdote is that my friend told me she wouldn’t be home when I came by, but that her ba...
The sun dips below the horizon at 4:46 p.m. this winter solstice evening, and rises again — 14 hours and nine minutes later — at 6:55 a.m. Thursday For two local pastors, this “longest night” seems a fitting time to acknowledge that the holiday season is sometimes long and dark as well, and feelings of sadness, grief, and loss also deserve acknowledgement. Vito Monteblanco, senior pastor of the Portales Church of the Nazarene, and Damon Stalvey, pastor of First United Methodi...
In the summer of 1970, between my third- and fourth-grade years, I got my first pair of eyeglasses. They were the “cat-eye” style which, according to my old yearbooks, was quite the rage at the time. My far-sighted father and near-sighted mother somehow had the perfect genetics to create offspring who would all require glasses from an early age. My gratitude for the invention of eyeglasses began the moment I propped the first pair on my nose for the trip home from the eye doct...
