Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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More than a dozen states now, including New Mexico, have pending legal challenges that could remove Donald Trump from their presidential primary ballots. I am no fan of the reality TV star with the big-government leanings, but voters should decide whether he’s president again, not a few politically motivated judges. The courts are trying to decide whether Trump violated the anti-insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment. If his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, incident at the U.S. Ca...
Matthew Gibbs loved Cruella de Vil, Darth Vader, anything Disney, anything Star Wars, and Harry Potter. "He never met a stranger. He talked to everybody," said his father, David Gibbs. "He'd just made a down payment on his own apartment. He didn't have a car." Matthew, 24, was walking to his job at the Allsup's at 14th and Norris streets a little before 11 p.m. Friday night when he was hit by a vehicle, authorities believe. More than two hours later, a passing motorist saw...
On this date ... 1946: A California man was killed near Cryder, about 11 miles west of Melrose, when his 1940 Buick collided with a truck. Officials said John Lee Hunt was identified only by his papers on him that included a draft classification card. Three hitchhikers riding with Hunt were slightly injured and treated at the hospital in Fort Sumner. Two men in the truck were not injured. 1951: Montgomery Ward, located at 307 Main in Clovis, was hosting its annual January...
If eastern New Mexico's top news of 2023 had to be summarized in one word, that word would be fire. House fires took the lives of six people in Clovis – four adults on Jan. 12 and two young children on May 3 – while a Sept. 3 fire at Walmart may have been the most economically significant blaze in Clovis' 116-year history. The year's first tragedy happened just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 12 at 511 N. Wallace St. Neighbors said they could hear people inside the house screaming for...
On this date ... 1940: A Portales woman had added airplane to her long list of travel modes. Fannie Black, 90, said she had wanted to ride in every vehicle imaginable. “She lives near the Portales municipal airport where students fly daily, and felt the desire to get her feet off the ground,” said Leon Jones, a Portales merchant who made Black’s flight dream come true on Christmas Day. After her airplane trip, she listed other ways she’s traveled: ox carts, ox wagons, horse w...
On this date ... 1940: A.J. Whiting, 68, a pioneer cowboy, railroad worker, retail store owner and city manager, died in Clovis Memorial Hospital from pneumonia. Whiting came to Clovis in 1910 after he grew tired of cow punching for the Endee Cattle Co. He worked for the railroad as a firefighter. He later opened a variety store before he was appointed Clovis’ city manager. He retired from the city to work as district manager for the New Mexico Utilities Co. His obituary, p...
Remains of a Portales soldier killed during World War II are coming home. The Defense Department Accounting Agency announced last week that Army Pvt. Homer J. Mitchell, 20, was accounted for in July. His remains are scheduled to be buried in Portales on April 26, according to a DoD news release. Portales learned the news that Pvt. Mitchell was missing in action in late December 1944. On Dec. 29, 1944, The Portales Daily News reported: "Mr. and Mrs. Roy Mitchell received a tele...
A man shot when he broke into a Clovis home on Dec. 4 is facing charges of breaking and entering, police said Monday. Records show Judas Naranjo was critically injured after he kicked in a door in the 200 block of Rosa Boulevard and was shot by the homeowner. Naranjo, 21, was recently released from a Lubbock hospital, but is still recovering from his injuries, Clovis Police Capt. Robert Telles said on Tuesday morning. Police said a warrant for Naranjo’s arrest was obtained o...
On this date … 1862: Washington Ellsworth Lindsey was born in Belmont County, Ohio. He moved to New Mexico Territory in 1900, settling in Portales where he opened a law office. Lindsey and John Brown Sledge formed the Portales Townsite Co. and sold lots from 1902 to 1911, according to the New Mexico office of the state historian. Lindsey became Portales’ first mayor and was New Mexico’s third governor. The statue outside the Roosevelt County Courthouse honors Lindsey, who i...
Two emails caught my attention last week – one about the future, the other about the past. The future came from Mario Caswell. He’s a proud dad whose daughter will likely be seeing her name in the newspaper a lot these next few years. Caswell tells us: “My daughter Janaeh Caswell is an eighth-grader at Yucca Middle school. “They had a game Thursday against Lovington. They fell short, 33-31. But my daughter had an amazing game. “I’m a youth coach and also have coached at...
On this date … 1940: Old Santa Claus was receiving multiple letters in care of the Clovis News-Journal. The newspaper did not publish the letters, but confirmed it had received correspondence from Patsy Ruth, Betty Jean and Johnny Thomas of Portales, Donald and Duane McNutt of Clovis, and Virginia Martin of Tolar. 1949: Pete Strickler, manager of Montgomery Ward in Clovis, received an unsigned letter from Bovina, along with two $1 bills. The letter read, “About 20 years ago...
On this date … 1954: Police said someone stole 25 Christmas trees from B&D Fruit Market at 520 E. First in Clovis. All had been sprayed with silver and area tree dealers had been notified. 1960: Roy R. Smith Cleaners, located at 416 Main and 1310 Main in Clovis, had a suggestion for customers. “Just drop your out-of-season clothes into one of our convenient storage boxes, and when it is crammed full, let us have it,” a newspaper ad stated. “What’s more, each piece receives...
On this date … 1940: Two Kansas women were killed and two more seriously injured when their car crashed into the rear of a parked tractor-trailer rig near Kenna. The truck’s driver, James William Talley of Clovis, said a wheel on his truck had broken the night before. He said he’d parked the truck, put out flares, then caught a ride into Roswell for help. Talley was not present when the crash occurred about 5:30 a.m. 1940: The headline reported across eight columns of the C...
He called me about 5 a.m. that Sunday when Walmart burned. He was awake and working, I needed to be awake and working, too, he said. I wish all cops were like Mike Reeves. I've known him probably 25 years, but never better than in the last 12 months when he was Curry County's sheriff. Not only did he tip me about big news stories, he loved to talk about his days as a photographer with the Clovis News-Journal, I think when he was in high school. More than once he lamented the t...
Bill Allred, Clovis High School's band director through a string of successive state marching championships, is retiring, the school district announced Tuesday. But he's not done teaching. "I'll probably go back east, closer to family, and see if I can get a job," he said. "I'm still passionate for teaching. I still have fire in my belly and I still love making a difference in kids' lives. "I love helping kids and pushing kids and helping them be accountable to reach their...
SANTA FE – The last time Michael Brockett talked with Mike Reeves, the topic was community. “We talked about the Christmas parade,” Brockett said. “He was super excited about our department being a part of it. He was always big on community. That was his thing. He was proud of the Sheriff’s Office and he was proud to lead us.” Reeves, the Curry County sheriff, was found dead in a Santa Fe hotel room Monday morning where he’d gone to attend law enforcement training. He... Full story
On this date … 1940: A 16-year-old boy was in Clovis’ jail waiting for railroad officials to question him about an incident that occurred in Dalhart, Texas. The boy told police he wanted to turn himself in to authorities because he was wanted for escaping parole in Kansas. That was not the case, but police inquiries led to the Dalhart connection. “I don’t know whether it was his conscience bothering him as much as his stomach,” Clovis Police Chief R.M. Witherspoon said. “He wa...
On this date … 1960: The Rosedale Baptist Church — located between Clovis and Grady in Curry County — had completed its annual “food shower” for Portales Baptist Orphans Home. The Rev. and Mrs. Porter Arnold took the food to the home and used the opportunity to visit relatives in Portales. 1966: The New Mexico wing of the Air Force Association held its annual business meeting at Cannon Air Force Base. Speakers included Col. Dick Hale, a former Cannon officer, who told dele...
Clovis’ public schools superintendent has been openly criticizing the state’s proposed plans to make students spend more time in school. Good for her. She should be speaking out. The state’s Public Education Department isn’t so qualified as Clovis Superintendent Renee Russ to say what’s best for Clovis students. Guidelines for Portales school students should be set by Portales schools Superintendent Johnnie Cain. And superintendents – hired and fired by locally elected sch...
Clovis' Rothschild's giraffe, Jael, died of a heart attack, city officials said Monday after reviewing a necropsy performed the morning of the zoo animal's death. The clinical diagnosis states Jael died of an open acute vascular event. Dr. Michael Garner, a veterinarian with Northwest ZooPath, which specializes in pathology of non-domestic species, prepared the report for the Hillcrest Park Zoo. "She had an age-related heart attack," said Stephanie Chavez, the Clovis zoo's...
On this date … 1955: Two Clovis Baptist pastors had announced they were resigning their positions to take other church leadership roles. Rev. Joseph Underwood said he would resign as pastor at First Baptist Church on Jan. 1 to become secretary of the Department of Evangelism for the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. Rev. W.E. King was resigning as pastor at Central Baptist Church to return to Maywood Baptist in Kansas City, where he previously had served. Underwood had been i...
On this date … 1952: Two airmen from Clovis Air Force Base reported seeing a “flying saucer” west of the city limits. They described it as a “full, bright orange, twice as big as a full moon.” The airmen were on their way home about 1:30 a.m. when they spotted the object that varied in shape from a “frying pan to that of a big cigar,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. 1962: A number of local dignitaries were part of a capacity crowd at the dedication of the new chapel at Can...
On this date … 1945: Lila Hedrick had been elected football queen by the Clovis Wildcats squad. She was presented flowers and a football at a coronation ceremony by the team’s co-captains, Jack Lorts and Gail Hungate. Hedrick’s attendants were Sue Bell, Pat Denton, Fran Staubus and Jeanne Boone. 1960: Eastern New Mexico University President Donald Moyer said he planned to ask state legislators for $4.3 million to open a branch junior college in Clovis. Moyer also told state Bo...
On this date … 1899: Evelina Twilla was born in Tennessee. Her family settled in the Field community (west Curry County today) when she was about 8. The pioneer settler wrote about her life’s experiences in 1956, including this tidbit about what teenagers used to do for mischief: “(We) slipped out our mother’s coffee and smoked it,” she wrote. “We smoked cotton leaves, too, after the frost had come.” 1942: With New Mexico and the rest of the nation facing a shortage of f...
On this date … 1925: A Portales man’s friends were mourning his loss following a hunting accident. James L. May, described by newspapers as “prominent,” was found reclining against a tree near Cloudcroft with a bullet through his heart. “The presumption was that a hunter in the distance had seen him move and mistaken him for a deer,” the Clovis newspaper reported. 1930: McCrory Chevrolet, located at 112 E. Grand in Clovis, was promoting the “bigger and better Chevrolet Six...
