Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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The man arrested Monday for killing two Texico women had called the FBI last October and threatened to “murder a bunch of children” if they didn’t help find his missing daughter. The FBI made contact with Alek Isaiah Collins and he was placed in a mental facility at that time. Collins told agents he “does not want to kill people” but felt the threat was the only way “in getting the FBI to assist him.” The information is included in an affidavit for arrest warrant filed in 9th...
On this date ... 1941: Clovis city commissioners reminded residents that bicycles were not allowed on sidewalks. The fine for violating the city ordinance was $1 to $10 and commissioners warned violators would be hauled into court. 1942: A Bovina farmer had witnessed the enlistment of three of his sons into the U.S. Coast Guard. Earl Bates and J. R. Bates of Clovis and R. L. Bates of Friona had enlisted in Amarillo after resigning from their civilian jobs. Earl was a teacher i...
The missing baby whose mother was shot to death at Ned Houk Park on Friday was located Monday morning in Abilene, Texas, and a suspect was taken into custody. Eleia Maria Torres, 10 months old, was “taken to a local area hospital as a precautionary measure,” police said in a news release. Abilene Police spokesman Rick Tomlin said the suspect is Alek Isaiah Collins, 26, who is from Manvel, Texas, a Houston suburb. “He has no ties to any of the people in the homicides or the i...
Two Texico women were found dead at Ned Houk Park on Friday afternoon, a 5-year-old girl found with them was being treated for critical injuries and authorities were looking for a 10-month-old girl believed to have been with the victims. Police said they believe the women's killer abducted the infant but said they had no suspects on Saturday morning. Police Lt. Steven Wright in a news release identified the deceased women as Samantha Cisneros, 23, and Taryn Allen, 23. New Mexi...
On this date ... 1941: “Old Sol” burst through to give the region its first sunshine in 14 days, the Clovis News-Journal reported. Spring rains began April 22 and this was the first cloudless morning since, according to the newspaper. The year’s rainfall total was at 8.31 inches — just 2 inches shy of the total for all of 1940. 1945: White Auto Store held its grand opening at 115 SW State St. in Portales. J.B. Morrow was owner/manager of the auto parts and home applian...
On this date ... 1941: J.J. Steele, co-owner of the Hart Ranch southwest of Melrose, had sold about 800 2-year-old steers to a buyer in Dexter, Kan. The purchase price was reported at $60,000. 1955: Portales Valley Mills workers discovered the company safe had been cracked the night before while three employees worked in an adjoining warehouse. Employees noticed a strange car in the parking lot, but hadn’t noticed anything out of place. The thieves took $70. 1957: Ernest M...
On this date ... 1881: Billy the Kid escaped from the Lincoln County jail, where he was being held and awaiting execution for the 1878 shooting death of Sheriff William Brady. The website aboutbillythekid.com reports the Kid saw his opportunity to get away about noon. One of his guards had taken other prisoners to lunch at a nearby hotel. The Kid convinced his only remaining guard to let him visit the outhouse. While details vary about what happened next, all agree the Kid...
On this date ... 1946: Margaret Moore, who lived at 323 Prince St., was preparing to celebrate her 25th year as a registered nurse in Clovis. The Clovis News-Journal reported “Maggie” had worn out 240 uniforms in her career. Nursing had kept her so busy that she “never had time for courtship and marriage,” reporter Kathryn Bomar wrote. 1950: Clovis Police Chief George Ray was dismissed by the Clovis City Commission. The action came in the wake of dismissal of a radio operato...
On this date ... 1951: Two Clovis teenagers had suffered broken legs when they were hit by a taxi cab while crossing West Grand at Rencher Street. Joe Lujan and Robert Lucero told police they thought they could easily cross before the car — three-quarters of a block away — reached them. The taxi driver said he was traveling 25 mph. He was cited for out-of-date vehicle inspections. 1955: Roosevelt County Sheriff P. F. Turner reported three dogs killed 30 chickens in a hen hou...
On this date ... 1951: A Hereford family was asking Clovis-area residents to be on the lookout for their cocker spaniel named Blondie, last seen headed in the direction of home from Fort Sumner. Blondie and her family were visiting Fort Sumner when the dog “decided she didn’t like it” and started east, the Clovis News-Journal reported. 1956: Law officers were on the lookout for 15 prized bantam chickens stolen from a locked chicken house at 1312 E. 10th in Clovis. The victi...
The fire that destroyed the Portales Hampton Farms peanut processing plant on Monday was initially reported as “a fire outside of the building that is not large at this time.” Minutes later, with sustained winds near 40 mph and gusts near 60 mph, Portales firefighters found “fire in several different areas of the commercial structure and outside the building,” according to a Portales Fire Department news release. It took five hours, 27 fire trucks and 34 firefighters from six...
On this date ... 1935: “Black Sunday” brought what’s still considered the worst dust storm in High Plains history. “A mountain of blackness swept across the High Plains and instantly turned a warm, sunny afternoon into a horrible blackness that was darker than the darkest night,” the National Weather Service reports on its website. “Winds in the (Texas) Panhandle reached upward of 60 mph and, for at least a brief time, the blackness was so complete that one could not see the...
On this date ... 1945: Ted Thomas, who spent a lot of time working in the Rogers area before joining the military, was back in the United States at a West Coast hospital, The Portales Daily News reported. Thomas was “being treated for his nerves,” the newspaper reported after surviving the Bataan Death March and subsequent imprisonment. 1951: Pioneer Air Lines at the Clovis airport reported sustained winds at 35 mph and gusts to 45 mph. High temperatures were in the 40s. “An...
On this date ... 1918: Bailey County school teacher Evelyn Monts, 23, was shot to death outside her home north of Muleshoe by a man who’d asked her to marry him. John Teal was not arrested and brought to trial until 1936, but confessed to killing Monts and received an eight-year prison sentence, according to multiple newspaper accounts. Some newspapers reported Monts had declined Teal’s marriage proposal, and that led to her slaying. Teal testified he had planned to div...
If there’s anything I know for sure, it’s that crime in Clovis is on many minds. I read on Facebook that local crime is spiraling out of control. Mostly it’s Joe Biden’s fault. But the anecdotal evidence shared on social media does not match up with the statistics, which suggest crime may be dropping … dramatically. Consider: In 2013, Clovis police recorded 2,646 arrests. That number has been steadily decreasing since. In 2023, CPD recorded 1,061 arrests – a 150% drop. Jail...
An anonymous reader sent a letter last week reprimanding the newspaper because it “refuses to publish” an important story. “There is a big cover up,” the letter read. Our reader is referencing a lawsuit settled in February by the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department. The lawsuit alleged improper handling of a 2020 case in which a Clovis child was placed in her father’s home after her mother died. The father, Juan Lerma, subsequently killed the child, Samantha Ru...
On this date ... 1932: A man accused of “city slicking” had been arrested in Hot Springs, Ark., after a Clovis cafe owner reported he’d been tricked out of $95. George Johnson of Clovis told police the stranger had approached him with a story claiming he had found $1,500 worth of gold dust in Alaska. The stranger wanted to send the gold to a mint in San Francisco where it could be converted into gold coin. But the man did not have the money to pay for shipping. Johnson told...
January’s contract renewal for Eastern New Mexico University Chancellor James Johnston is “not valid.” That’s according to the Government Counsel and Accountability Division of the New Mexico Department of Justice. The DOJ issued a letter to ENMU regents Friday in response to complaints from The Eastern New Mexico News and New Mexico Foundation of Open Government. The complaint was that regents violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when they renewed Johnston’s contract on...
Portales City Manager Sarah Austin has been placed on paid administrative leave, and her future with the city is expected to be determined in a special meeting on Tuesday. Austin, reached at her home, said Mayor Mike Miller presented her with a letter about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday stating she has been placed on paid leave until the end of her contract. "I asked him why and he wouldn't tell me," Austin said. "I am beyond devastated. I love this community. I thought I was doing a...
Americans’ concerns about marijuana use can be traced to the early 20th century. Government officials in 1917 claimed that Mexican immigrants smoked cannabis – another name for marijuana -- for pleasure and expressed concern they could assault women under its influence. That report comes from Emily Dufton’s book, “Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America.” While there was no evidence tying large numbers of Mexican immigrants to illicit drug use and v...
On this date ... 1946: Harold “Skinny” Holland had purchased Jack’s Body Works from Jack Calkins. The Clovis auto body shop was located at 512 W. Seventh St. ‘“Skinny,’ as he is known to the people in this area, is considered one of the most skilled and proficient men of his trade,” The Clovis News-Journal reported. 1949: Cricket Coogler, an 18-year-old Las Cruces waitress, went missing. She was later found dead, raped and run over by a car. Pittsburgh Steelers football player...
On this date ... 1944: A four-engined bomber from Clovis Army Air Base crashed into a plowed field nine miles north of Clovis on a routine training flight. All nine men on board were killed. Rancher A.J. Kemp saw the crash and rushed to the scene. He said bodies were strewn over a wide area and wreckage was scattered for about a half mile. 1952: The 4 Lane Drive-In movie theater on East Mabry Drive outside Clovis was preparing for its “gala opening.” The first two shows were ...
On this date ... 1951: Fifty head of Brahman calves, each weighing about 300 pounds, were purchased for an upcoming calf-roping competition. Officials with the Clovis Mounted Patrol reported the calves had never been roped. Champion roper Homer Pettigrew, formerly of Grady but currently living in Chandler, Ariz., said he planned to attend the April 8 competition and would bring his top roping horse. 1955: Clovis house mover Homer Bennett was fined $106 for traffic violations...
On this date ... 1940: Coach Rock Staubus’ Clovis High School football team had scheduled nine games but wanted three more to complete “one of the stiffest schedules arranged for a local team in several gridiron years,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. Teams on the schedule already included Clayton, Raton, Portales, Carlsbad and St. Michael’s College of Santa Fe. The season was slated to begin Sept. 13, but no opponent had been lined up yet. 1950: Johnny Reynolds of Dora wa...
SANTA FE – The state Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a new trial for the Portales daycare providers who left two children unattended in a hot car in July 2017. Sandi and Mary Taylor in 2019 were each sentenced to 36 years in prison after they were convicted of reckless child abuse. One of the girls in their care – 22-month-old Maliyah Jones -- died, while the other -- 23-month-old Aubri Loya -- suffered serious injury before recovering. According to a news release from the Court: “In a split decision, the Court concl...
