Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 798
CLOVIS - Progress doesn't come easily. It's important, then, to celebrate the advances of past generations while reminding the new ones of the work still to be done. There will be some of both - education and reflection, food and fun - at Juneteenth programming this Saturday in Clovis and next week in Portales. The celebration Saturday in Clovis runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Potter Park, with free swimming at Potter pool, entertainment and health care informational booths...
PORTALES — The Board of Education for Portales Municipal Schools is scratching its head over an “allocation error” to the tune of $200,000 for its special education program. The issue was discussed at Monday’s PMS board meeting, when Special Student Services Director Cheryl Aguilar said she was contacted last week by the New Mexico Public Education Department stating they made a mistake in their allocation of approximately $900,000 in federal funds for special education in the Portales school district. “I want to know what th...
FORT SUMNER -There probably weren't many people in Fort Sumner cheering the flight of Billy the Kid's tombstone in 1951. Nor were many likely happy to see it stolen a second time in 1981. On Saturday evening, however, residents reclaimed that bit of local history with the "World's Richest Billy the Kid Tombstone Race," a signal event of the town's annual "Old Fort Days" celebration. About 50 people, local and from across the region, competed before a packed stadium at the...
CLOVIS - After 39 years in Clovis and more than three representing its District 1, Clovis City Commissioner Ladona Clayton announced Thursday her resignation effective July 12. Clayton, who also resigned this year from her superintendent position at Clovis Christian Schools, is pursuing a new position as head of school at Tyler Street Christian Academy in Dallas. The announcement came at the close of Thursday's regular city commission meeting during the "future agenda items"...
PORTALES — Regents approved a 4% cost-of-living raise this month for Portales’ Eastern New Mexico University President and Chancellor Jeff Elwell, in keeping with identical percentage compensation increases for all university employees. In their June 1 board meeting ENMU regents voted 4-1 to raise Elwell’s annual salary from $245,000 to $254,800, with student regent Joseph Gergel voting against. Gergel did not respond to requests from The News for comment on his vote. Regents approved the 4% cost of living increase for other...
PORTALES — The area-wide celebration of pioneer history and culture continues this week with the 35th annual Heritage Days celebration in Portales. The programming kicks off Friday evening with some classic dancing in the street from 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the city’s Memorial Building at 200 East 7th Street. Some food vendors will set up an hour early “to allow dancers to get a bite to eat before the boot-scooting starts,” with musical styling from The Blackwater Band offering “a variety of country favorites along with...
CLOVIS - For more than half a century she was an ambassador of soul food on the High Plains, a matriarch of Clovis and one of the first women locally to run her own business. To countless Clovis residents over the decades, she was known more simply as Velma. "That's what we would say, Velma is Velma," recalled Ben Salazar. "And I would say, oh the food is great and she doesn't charge for the attitude." Salazar frequented Velma Jackson's soul food restaurant in his childhood...
CLOVIS — It was not a welfare check but “a call for a suicidal subject,” potentially armed. That’s what preceded the recent incident for which the city’s police department is now being sued, Chief Doug Ford told The News on Friday. “This was not a welfare check call initially. This was totally opposite of that,” said Ford. “It was a call for a suicidal subject, with the mother telling us that he was probably armed and threatening suicide by cop. ... “That’s what people need to understand, that when we’re given that in...
PORTALES — When embroiled in a debt lawsuit, the last thing anyone needs is the additional hassle of taking time off work, getting to court and wading through months or years of legal proceedings. Hence a new “Online Dispute Resolution” initiative, starting this month as a pilot program in six counties including those of the 9th Judicial District. From April 2018 to April 2019 there were 287 debt and money-due cases in the district court of Roosevelt County and 613 in that of Curry County, Judge Donna Mowrer told The News....
FORT SUMNER — The old west trappings of rodeo, barbecue and, uh, tombstone racing, live on this week with the 44th iteration of “Old Fort Days” today through Sunday in Fort Sumner. “We’ve got a whole weekend packed with family stuff,” said De Baca County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gerald Cline. “Even though these little events are kind of winding down, even on bad years we see 1,500 to 2,000 people at the tombstone race.” Cline referred to one of the more unique items on the schedule of coming days, the “Worl...
PORTALES — Police have filed petty misdemeanor charges for careless driving against the woman who struck and killed a bicyclist early last month on the highway outside Portales. Kimberly Potters, 43, of Clovis, faces a penalty of “no more than 30 days in the detention facility and not more than a $300 fine,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover told The News on Friday. Stover said prosecutors directed state police to charge Potters with careless driving because “no evidence of a reckless act” could be found. “The diff...
CLOVIS - A "big month ahead" for Clovis kicks off this week with the 49th Annual Pioneer Days programming across Curry County. "There will be lots of boots, chaps and cowboy hats this week," said Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ernie Kos, referring to this year's theme. More of that apparel than usual, anyway. The schedule kicks off at 5 p.m. Monday with the coronation of this year's Rodeo Queen, DeAnne Guthrie, and princesses Tenley Smith and Destan...
CLOVIS — Marco Serna acknowledged “it takes longer than we would like, and it’s not a perfect system,” but stood by the volunteer panel system through which he evaluated last year’s officer-involved shooting in Clovis. Serna, district attorney for the 1st Judicial District in Santa Fe, spoke with The News Friday morning in Clovis during a four-day, 16-community tour kicking off his campaign to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional District. Serna was one of three district attorneys from outside the 9th Judicial District th...
FARWELL — Parmer County’s sheriff said he felt “shocked and betrayed” following the recent arrest on child sex crime charges in Curry County of a former deputy in training with his office. “We’re doing the very best that we possibly can in light of a horrendously awful situation, and we will get to the bottom of (this),” Sheriff Randy Geries told The News. “We’re going to try and look and ask and do as much as we can to make sure that we address as much as we can.” Geries spoke of the May 26 arrest of Davin Waters, 25, o...
PORTALES — Commissioners on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution opposing the potential relocation of asylum seekers at the border to Roosevelt County and calling upon border patrol to re-open checkpoints in New Mexico and west Texas. Roosevelt County Commissioner Tina Dixon brought forward the resolution and voted in its favor along with commissioner Paul Grider and chairman Shane Lee during a special meeting Thursday afternoon. Commissioners Dennis Lopez and Matthew Hunton voted in opposition. “This is not in any way som...
DORA - Time moves differently when a tornado is battering your house and property. Meteorologists said the storm lasted less than half an hour. But for Gordon Fraze, it felt like much longer waiting out weather that ripped down trees, fences and barns, hurtled a cattle feeder across his yard and flipped trailers like a tin can. "Things were flying around like you wouldn't believe," Fraze told The News on Monday of the tornado that hit his property outside Dora on Sunday night....
PORTALES - For the 73rd year, Roosevelt County honored its military fallen in a Memorial Day ceremony Monday morning at the Portales Cemetery. That's where 2,295 veterans rest. "Where we stand today is like most small communities throughout our great nation. They have a cemetery that is adorned with American flags on this most humble occasion," speaker Mike Woolley told a few dozen attendees including civilians and members of the local American Legion and VFW posts. "But what...
PORTALES — Looking at some “alarming” dips into reserves for the upcoming interim budget, Portales city manager asked the city council to be prepared to look at ways to “cut services or increase revenue streams” in order to keep the books balanced in the coming fiscal year. “We’re really getting into our reserves,” Sammy Standefer told councilors in a presentation on the fiscal year 2019-2020 preliminary interim budget during the regular meeting Tuesday night. “And that will spark some other conversations.” S...
CLOVIS — After last month’s deflating development in the drawn-out racino award selection process, proponents for a horse racetrack and gaming project in Clovis said they were feeling optimistic again after speaking with the new makeup of the New Mexico Racing Commission. “We’re tickled pink. We’re glad, we’re happy, we’re still involved,” said Tom Martin, a spokesperson for the Vision 2020 group advocating Clovis’ racino candidacy since last year. “Obviously, we were disappointed that the last commission did not reach a deci...
ALBUQUERQUE — A complaint filed this month in Albuquerque’s U.S. District Court alleges “deprivation of civil rights” in an incident this year with officers of the Clovis Police Department. A suit filed by Christine Lucero as “the aunt of and Next Friend to Dan Lucero” describes a Feb. 22 incident wherein officers responded to the Hotel Clovis apartments on reports from Dan Lucero’s mother that he was suicidal. Ensuing details in the complaint, filed May 15, allege a “vicious dog attack” that ensued within seconds of office...
CLOVIS - Fifty-foot steel pipe segments, arriving four at a time on trucks from Dallas, are now being installed in the ongoing construction of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority's interim groundwater project that broke ground in February. Work on Finished Water 2 is scheduled to wrap up by year's end, establishing almost 8 miles of transmission pipeline between northwest of Cannon Air Force Base and EPCOR's water storage system at Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard an...
PORTALES - Angel Loya was sentenced Wednesday morning to six years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the April 2018 shooting death of Dylan McKay in Portales. "I'm truly sorry for what happened," Loya told McKay's loved ones in the crowded court hearing. "It was never my intention to take Dylan's life." Loya, 23, faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted at trial on his original charge of second-degree murder. Attorneys said in...
CLOVIS — The scheme was to mail drugs to a Clovis jail inmate. The plan was foiled when law enforcement asked why an envelope postmarked over 200 miles away had listed a law firm within walking distance of the jail as its return address. A captain at the Curry County Adult Detention Center alerted a sheriff investigator last month that “he had found contraband that was being mailed into the facility” and “explained that the postmark was one of the things that made him suspicious of the letter,” according to a criminal...
CLOVIS - A stream of purple poured Saturday night across the grounds of the Curry County Events Center, accompanied by a cheering audience of thousands and the Clovis High School Band's rendition of the graduation march. That stream collected in front of the stage, where 441 outgoing seniors made their last formal reflection on high school and departed less than 2 1/2 hours later as newly minted members of the CHS Class of 2019. "You are not just anybody," Principal Jay Brady...
PORTALES — County commissioners on Tuesday broached the topic of permitting alcohol sales in unincorporated parts of Roosevelt County, potentially opening new possibilities for wine tastings, beer gardens, and rodeo sponsorships. Chairman Shane Lee suggested the change. “I’m not saying I want everybody to go crazy out there,” he told The News. “I’m just looking for things to increase Roosevelt County, which also to me means Portales. We’re one of the few counties anymore that are dry.” Easing up on the county’s histor...
