Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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De Baca County Sheriff Gary Graves spent Monday night sleeping in his office to protect records. And he plans on sleeping there until a district judge rules on whether he is allowed to keep personnel from other county agencies out of his office. Tenth Judicial District Court Judge Ricky Purcell issued a preliminary injunction Monday barring Graves from preventing access by “any person authorized access by the Board of County Commissioners” to areas of the courthouse containing a fire alarm and DWI breathalyzer until a cou...
In an election marred by confusion, accusations of impropriety and the disqualification of one candidate, a student election board declared Brett Trembly Eastern New Mexico University’s student body president on Monday. Trembly, a senior from Belen, received 278 votes while the incumbent president, Bob Cornelius, received 217 votes. Fabian Guzman received 159 votes and said he was disqualified because of an e-mail sent on his behalf, even though he did not approve it. Guzman said the elections board didn’t disqualify eit...
Lee Roach, 85, was one of 89 men from Curry County forced into the Bataan Death March on April 9, 1942. He said it was a lack of food and water that killed people. (CNJ photo by Eric Kluth) On Dec. 8, 1941, the Japanese Air Force followed up its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor with an assault on American air bases in the Philippines. Those bases were almost as undefended as the Pearl Harbor ships. “They just about wiped us out the first day; they caught everything on the ground,” said Lee Roach, now a Clovis retiree, the...
Staff at a Clovis elementary school called police about 4 p.m. Monday to report that a 9-year-old male student had stolen a basket of candy from a teacher’s locker and had also stolen items in the past at school. Several students at school had also been observed with candy and they said the student had given it to them. The student told police he took the candy from the teacher’s locker without permission and did so because he was hungry. • • • About 7:15 p.m. Monday, police responded to the 3600 block of Sheridan where a r... Full story
Clovis police are searching for a male who store personnel said used a revolver to commit an armed robbery about 10:50 p.m. Thursday at the Allsup’s on 2600 West Seventh Street. According to police reports, a Hispanic male about 5-feet-8 in height with black hair in a buzz-cut style came into the store, wearing a blue bandana around his face, brandished a revolver with about a 6-inch barrel, and ordered the clerk to “give me all of your money right now.” The clerk said she gave him $20 in ones and $15 in fives. A revie... Full story
Kevin Mark Gardels has played in local bands and recorded music for years, but his upcoming album, “God’s Hands,” will have a different focus from much of his previous work. A year ago, Gardels was on the verge of death from myelofibrosis, a rare cancer for which the only treatment is a bone marrow transplant. Gardels was diagnosed with the disease in July of 2002 and his weight dropped from 280 pounds to 140 before a matching bone marrow donor was found and transplant surgery was performed in early 2003. He’s doing well now,...
While most Christians in the Clovis area are preparing to celebrate Easter, a few area residents observed the far more ancient Jewish festival of Passover on Monday night and Tuesday. “In the Jewish religion, family is intertwined with the religion. There really is no separation of the religion from the family,” said Capt. Mike Nachshen, who was a Jewish lay leader at another military base before coming to Cannon Air Force Base. “Tradition is the other portion of it; it is a chance to basically tell the story of the exodu... Full story
About 2 p.m. Thursday, police received a be-on-the-lookout order for a blue GMC Sierra pickup. Officers noticed the truck and the driver passing the Magistrate Court building. After being stopped, the man told police that he was drunk and he failed field sobriety tests. However, when the man was taken to the county jail for breath alcohol tests, the tests detected no evidence of intoxication. After further tests, officers determined he was not under the influence of alcohol. • • • Officers responded about 3:20 p.m. Thurs... Full story
Julie McKinney, believed to be the region’s oldest resident, died Sunday morning at the age of 108. McKinney, who would lay grass on soggy trails so her family’s covered wagon could travel faster, was an energetic sort. She was born before New Mexico became a state; loved to sing and dance; and in her later years would wake up her fellow nursing home residents with the sound of a rooster crow. But she was never grouchy and always kept a positive attitude, even in her final days, family and friends said. “She’s outlive...
Col. John D. Posner took over as commander at Cannon Air Force Base on Friday, and hopes to maintain the success outgoing base commander Col. Robert “Rowdy” Yates helped establish. Last week CNJ Staff Writer Darrell Todd Maurina spoke with Posner for about 20 minutes on his future goals for Cannon and his family. Until recently, the Langley AFB Web site said that you were the vice-commander of a unit at Langley that “coordinates air expeditionary force operations by assisting in the planning and scheduling of AEF asset...
Reporter's Notebook Curry County Sheriff Roger Hatcher spent Wednesday morning doing something he loves — speaking to third graders at Bella Vista Elementary about public safety. Hatcher said he visits different schools in Curry County each year to help educate young people about law enforcement, and works hard to teach children such things as the right and wrong way to use the 911 emergency number, how dangerous guns can be if used incorrectly, and why young people should never tell strangers their parents aren’t home. Stu...
Lt. Gen. Randall M. “Mark” Schmidt, left, commander of the 12th Air Force, gives command of the 27th Fighter Wing to Col. John D. Posner, center, during Friday’s change of command ceremony. Col. Robert Yates is at right. Leaving offers bittersweet moment for the man in charge. CANNON AIR FORCE BASE — Military officers rarely cry in public, and commanders crying in front of their troops is even less common. But that didn’t prevent Col. Robert “Rowdy” Yates, outgoing commander of the 27th Fighter Wing and Cannon Air Force Bas... Full story
Meeting with local media for a press conference on his last full day commanding Cannon Air Force Base, Col. Robert “Rowdy” Yates said the last two years have been the best of his life. That ends at 3 p.m. today with a change of command ceremony at Cannon, after which Yates will leave for Langley Air Force Base in Virginia where he is scheduled for promotion to brigadier general in a headquarters staff job. Yates said he will miss flying fighter jets on a regular basis and isn’t looking forward to wearing a dress unifo... Full story
About 9:30 a.m. Saturday, police responded to a fight in progress at the 1100 block of Hull. Police determined the dispute involved two women arguing over a golf club, money, and other private property, and that one of the women had swung at the other with the golf club and thrown a bucket through her car window. Police gave criminal trespass warnings to both women, took the golf club into evidence, and reported they would seek arrest warrants. • • • Police responded about 8:30 a.m. March 26 to the 2000 block of Miller where...
Jonathan Bernd of Jews for Jesus explains the traditional Jewish Passover meal Monday at Central Baptist Church of Clovis. CNJ staff photo: Darrell Todd Maurina. Jonathan Bernd has a message not only for ethnic Jews like himself but also for the gentile Christian community. “Just as my ancestors had to put the blood of the lambs on their doorposts so the Angel of Death would pass over them, we today need to have the blood of the Messiah on the doorposts of our hearts,” Bernd told about 100 people assembled Monday at Cen...
A 70-year-old farmer from Melrose on Wednesday was sentenced to two years in state prison for vehicular homicide, despite warnings from his attorney that prison time could be a death sentence. District Judge Stephen Quinn decided to go beyond the Department of Corrections' pre-sentencing recommendation that Harry Downey receive five years probation with no jail time. Downey was convicted Jan. 30 of homicide by vehicle in the July 13, 2001, death of Anna Beth Austin, 57, on a road north of Melrose. “Taking into account that M...
Mayor David Lansford, right, smiles toward friends and family who were on hand to watch his F-16 orientation flight, as he waits for Yates to make final preparations before taxiing for takeoff Tuesday at Cannon Air Force Base. CNJ photo: Eric Kluth. CANNON AIR FORCE BASE — As Clovis Mayor David Lansford pulled on a borrowed flight suit Tuesday morning to prepare for a special orientation flight with base commander Col. Robert Yates, he couldn’t conceal his feelings. “I’m having trouble wiping the smile off my face,...
Clovis Mayor David Lansford will take flight on Tuesday, courtesy of the United States Air Force. The mayor’s flight will be in a two-seater F-16 jet normally used for training purposes at Cannon Air Force Base but also used for orientation flights. The most recent mayor to receive an orientation flight on a Cannon plane was Trent Sisemore of Amarillo, whose flight was Dec. 29. “These flights take place to enhance public understanding of the Air Force mission and aid recruiting efforts,” said Airman Brian Kane, Canno...
Clovis police arrested a 13-year-old runaway on Sunday evening, alleging he threatened to kill a clerk while robbing an Allsup’s store. The Clovis News Journal is withholding the accused robber’s name due to his age. The boy entered the Allsup’s at 301 N. Prince St. about 9:20 p.m., pointed a gold- or bronze-colored handgun at the clerk, and demanded, “Open the register or I’ll kill you!” police said. The clerk, Roxanne Chairez, said she gave about $80 in cash to the juvenile, who then warned her that if she called poli...
Cops and Courts Ninth Judicial District Attorney Brett Carter said the Mark Madrid case will be sent to a grand jury to determine what charges he should face. “It could possibly be a first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or voluntary homicide,” Carter said. Madrid was arrested Monday for open murder in connection with the shooting death of Porfirio “Po” Gonzalez, 53, and wounding of Ernic Perez, 28. “For the grand jury to find probable cause for first-degree murder, they would have to find the killing was premedita...
A civilian pilot suvived because Cannon Air Force Base took emergency steps to guide his damaged plane to Cannon’s runways during severe weather on March 12, according to Col. Robert Yates, 27th Fighter Wing commander. “When you have a fellow pilot in trouble you just pull out all the stops to get them on the ground safely and then ask questions later,” Yates said. Col. Lee “Tip” Wight, operations group commander at Cannon, said he got a phone call about 10 that night alerting him that a small, four-seater civilian plane pil...
Booby traps left behind after a hostage standoff in Friona prompted local officials to call Cannon Air Force Base on Sunday for help. SWAT officers discovered the devices when attempting to enter the parsonage of First Baptist Church of Friona after fatally shooting Robby Lynn Vaughn of Muleshoe, the man they say took the Rev. Mark Stovall and his family hostage on Saturday. “The suspect had pulled the doors off some of the interior doorways, taken all the cabinets off the kitchen walls and screwed them into the door f...
Sheriff surprised at names of those attending event. Preliminary investigation of Saturday night’s fatal shooting north of Clovis indicates that Justin Tyler Mitchell, 19, was killed with his own pistol by a longtime friend, according to law enforcement officials. Curry County Sheriff Roger Hatcher said he’s known the victim and his family for years. “He’s just an everyday kid, he didn’t go out and steal things, tear things up, or want to hurt anybody, but he did like to party and I guess that created a problem in itself,... Full story
Three men were indicted Friday for murder by a Curry County grand jury in connection with the Jan. 4 shooting death of Carlos Murillo, 27, of Clovis, according to 9th Judicial District Attorney Brett Carter. Santiago Miguel Calbert, 19, Christopher Meier, 20, and Eric Duran, 26, all of Clovis, face charges of first-degree murder, which requires the state to prove the shooting was willful and deliberate. Duran was also charged with tampering with evidence and intimidation of a witness. Carter said all three are being held in...
T.J. Chevette gets medical attention from the Clovis Fire Department as he waits to be transported from 1317 N. Oak St. to PRMC Tuesday. Chevette was home at the time of the fire but managed to escape through a window. CNJ staff photo: Eric Kluth. A blind man managed to make it out of his burning house Tuesday afternoon through a back window. Capt. Karen Burns of the Clovis Fire Department said T.J. Chevette, 34, was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center due to possible smoke inhalation. Medical Center staff said Tuesday...
