Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Clovis Mayor Mike Morris on Friday called for the resignation of City Commissioner David Bryant, accusing Bryant of “misuse, if not theft, of public funds.” Bryant, in a two-sentence response via Facebook Messenger, said he is chalking up the mayor’s words as “retaliation” for a disagreement over the anti-abortion ordinance the city passed early this year. In emails to Bryant, obtained Friday by The News, Morris accused the commissioner of being “dishonest” about attendi...
On this date ... 1935: The Mothers’ Club of Portales was meeting at 8 each Thursday night at the high school. Vanessa Flemming was the club president. Members were working on a quilt cover they hoped to sell in the fall. “The weekly exchange of recipes has helped in these busy days of planning,” according to a society news column. 1950: Santa Fe Café at 108 S. Main in Clovis offered meals for 49 cents, according to a newspaper advertisement. The phone number was 9921. 1955:...
Last week’s electronic mailbag offered widely different views of Pride Month and how eastern New Mexico is celebrating. This note comes from Debra Martin of Portales: “Support of the military and, more specifically, Cannon (Air Force Base), is a boast made often and loudly by the residents of Clovis and Portales. The most recent data estimates 6.1% of the military members identify as LGBTQ. In addition 7.2% of the U.S. population identify as LGBTQ, which statistically inf...
This is not a space that routinely applauds government intervention. If it doesn’t involve securing the blessings of liberty, government needs to back off. The recent actions of the city of Portales’ animal control department clearly fall within the U.S. Constitution’s introduction for how “We the people …” will consent to be governed. Nobody’s happy that city officials are planning to euthanize more stray dogs in a shorter amount of time. But we don’t need another Tucumca...
On this date ... 1945: Blair’s Food Market in Portales offered the following: Schilling’s Coffee for 29 cents per pound, apricots for 23 cents per pound, and 50-pound bags of flour for $1.99. 1952: Fire believed caused by faulty wiring swept through a barn on the Troy Fouts ranch seven miles south of Melrose. The blaze destroyed feed and killed a prize bull, the Clovis News-Journal reported. Losses were estimated at $1,000. 1952: The Snazzy Pig restaurant was open for bus...
On this date ... 1945: Pvt. Edward Estep, who had been a prisoner of war for 43 days, was at home in Rogers with his wife and young daughter. Estep said he “got along with the Germans pretty well while he was captured but food was scarce,” The Portales Daily News reported. He was recaptured by American forces. 1945: A Bethel boy was killed when he fell off the hood of the tractor his brother was driving and was struck by a rear wheel. Clarence Dwayne Synder, 7, was riding hom...
Woodrow Wilson was reelected president. Touring cars were selling for $360 at the local Ford dealerships. The Kemp Lumber Co. had “perfectly seasoned lumber of all kinds and grades,” according to area newspaper ads. And somebody seems to have hidden a bottle of Old Charter whiskey in the wall of the Kemp Lumber Co. building in Farwell. Last month, a worker tearing down that 119-year-old building discovered the bottle. There was a note inside. It read “Richard Troutner – Ken...
On this date ... 1935: Bill Kelly and his wife had returned to live in Portales after a short stay in Long Beach, Calif. Kelly first arrived in Roosevelt County in 1902. He moved to California in November, "but found that the coast state was not what he desired," the Portales Valley News reported. "I went out there for the sunshine, but it rained so much that I decided Portales was a better place to live," Kelly said. Kelly had recently visited the Portales newspaper office...
Seventy-five years ago this week, Clovis’ most famous athlete was settling in for a relaxing summer with family. He could not have imagined the challenges he would soon encounter. Jerry Nuzum had been away at college where he was the star halfback at New Mexico A&M in Las Cruces. Late in 1947, he’d decided on a career field. But first, the 1941 Clovis High School graduate was spending time in his hometown. “Mrs. Jerry (Mary) Nuzum and small daughters, Jerry Jan and Sandra, hav...
On this date ... 1951: Relatives of a Clovis Marine learned he’d been killed during a recent assault in Korea. Cpl. Fred B. Fickle, 28, had gone overseas in November. He was survived by his wife Charlene, who lived at 1221 Sheldon St. in Clovis, and his parents. Fickle was also a veteran of World War II. 1955: The Varsity Drive-In Theater on the Roswell highway outside Portales offered a double feature. “Tarzan the Ape Man” was followed by “The Untamed Breed.” Johnny Weissmull...
A reader wants to know: “How are you able to publish something such as the piece on having “PRIDE” when whoever wrote it can’t even spell folks properly? How is anyone supposed to take that article or piece serious if it’s illiterate?” Ariana Rodriguez-Duran was referencing a June 4 guest column written by Laura Wight under the headline “Pride a place for all in eastern NM.” In the article, Wight wrote, “There are folx in our communities of Clovis and Portales who don...
On this date ... 1941: Roosevelt County, promoting itself as the “biggest producer of dairy products in New Mexico,” declared June as National Dairy Month. 1945: M and L Cafe, at 106 Southwest Liberty in Portales, prepared to open under the management of Mrs. George Janes and Mrs. Lockey Janes. The cafe formerly owned by D. Reed had been remodeled and redecorated and would offer diners a choice of counter or booth seating. 1961: Clovis police said they’d broken up a juven...
He has been an outspoken and persistent critic of the COVID-19 vaccine. Mainstream media have described his views on the issue as misleading and dangerous. Instagram kicked him off its platform, accusing him of spreading misinformation about the vaccine. He once suggested vaccines and mask requirements were something Nazis would have implemented during the pandemic. He’s been known to associate with Donald Trump allies Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. And he’s an outspoken cri...
On this date ... 1941: Heavy rains, some estimated at 8 to 10 inches, left dozens of Roosevelt County homes and roads flooded. C.A. Franklin, who lived five miles north and two miles east of Portales, reported water standing 3 feet deep in his chicken house, with all his chickens drowned. 1951: The secretary-manager of the Portales Chamber of Commerce had died from injuries suffered in a traffic accident near Friona. W. G. “Pat” Terrell was returning to Portales from Ama...
May 2023 was not the wettest year in eastern New Mexico history, but it was a contender. Hamza Badrari, a research assistant at the Agriculture Science Center located 13 miles north of Clovis, said the ag center recorded 10.26 inches of moisture last month. That's the most at that location in at least 10 years. While records are not precise prior to the last decade, the ag center in May 2015 recorded 7.44 inches of rain – by far the most before this year since at least 2...
On this date ... 1914: Portales wrapped up a record-setting month for rainfall that stands today. The city saw 12.67 inches of rain during May. The other 11 months of 1914, combined, saw 10.97 inches of rain in Portales, according to the Western Regional Climate Center. 1930: Actor Clint Eastwood was born in San Francisco. He became a household name for his role as Rowdy Yates in the TV series "Rawhide," which aired from 1959 through 1965. The "Rawhide" crew filmed for six...
I almost forgot cattle could swim until I saw their feed lot under water in Hereford last weekend. They weren't the only ones surprised to see so much water. We were all reminded why Running Water Draw northwest of Clovis has that name. And why Ned Houk Park needs a dam. And if you really want to see the power Mother Nature unleashed on us, take a look at the video on the Quay County Sun's Facebook page -- a bridge under construction between San Jon and Endee was destroyed by...
On this date ... 1945: Military and civilian personnel at Clovis Army Air Field were cutting back on cigarettes. A more-stringent War Department system was going into effect that would cut the cigarette supply in half. 1946: The employees of Barnes Cleaners in Clovis had hosted a surprise chicken-fry supper at Hillcrest Park in honor of their boss, Buck Barnes. Employees’ families and friends turned out to eat and play games on Barnes’ birthday. 1950: The Roosevelt County com...
Wendel Sloan remembers a hot summer day driving his new, used Chrysler LeBaron convertible on its maiden voyage home to eastern New Mexico from the dealership in Lubbock. They were cruising along Kakawate Road, about halfway between Muleshoe and Portales, when the engine died. They coasted to the side of the road. “Eventually, I figured out how to pop the hood,” Sloan said last week. “Since my mechanical abilities end at filling a gas tank, I may as well have been looking at t...
On this date ... 1910: J.D. Osborn, Portales' new city marshal, was cracking down on violators of city ordinances. He was focusing on "speed of drivers of horses," and "hitching horses to awnings," the Roosevelt County Herald reported. 1937: Santa Fe Railway train carloads through Clovis for the previous week totaled 24,097. That was up from 20,195 from the previous year, Santa Fe officials said. A Santa Fe freight agent told the Clovis Evening News-Journal that 22 cars of...
She married her high school sweetheart and best friend on June 23, 1948. Hundreds of people came to her wedding. Most of them had to buy a ticket. The event attracted a fair amount of media coverage. “More than1,900 baseball fans jammed Bell Park Wednesday night to see the Clovis Pioneers win their sixth straight game … and to witness the marriage of Pioneer center fielder Wilcy Moore to Miss Mary Arnold of Muleshoe,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. “The wedding ceremon...
On this date ... 1941: Clovis Mayor E.E. Kraus had declared June 3-4 as the annual Clovis Pioneer Days Celebration. A proclamation read in part: “... (I)t is the duty of each and every citizen of our community to enter into the spirit of this Celebration and give it proper recognition.” 1955: The Varsity Drive-In Theatre, south of Portales on the Roswell highway where there was “always a double feature,” was showing “Where’s Charley” and “San Francisco Story.” Admissi...
Kylie Fogler is no gardener. But she just may have the most interesting plant in Clovis today. She didn't think much about it when she and her Air Force husband moved into their home at 2224 Ralph Boone near Mesa Elementary School in October. But then about two weeks ago, the cactus started growing ... or blooming ... or something. "I just noticed this bloom coming out of it ... it's growing about 12 inches a day. It's over 10 feet tall now," Fogler said on Thursday. "I am...
On this date ... 1951: It rained. Again. Previously parched eastern New Mexico received rain for the third consecutive day, more than 2.5 inches overall in some areas. “The three days of drought-breaking rain were greatly welcomed by jubilant farmers ... The rainy spell was hailed as a ‘million-dollar rain’ because it came at a time when crops were beginning to suffer and when spring planting was being delayed because of powder-dry soil,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. 1955...
We lost a legend last week. Bill Kelly, one of our region’s best offensive-minded college football coaches of all time, died Saturday. The Amarillo Globe-News reported Kelly, 75, died in Amarillo after an extended bout with pneumonia. The North Carolina native will be most remembered by many for his three seasons coaching at then-West Texas State University, from 1985 to 1987. His Buffs went 18-13-1 before Kelly stunned many in the sports world by switching careers at age 4...
