Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Will city vendor fees be waived for Draggin’ Main this year? Yes … and no. “The vendors on Main Street during the Saturday night (June 17) cruise will still pay a fee, but that fee will go to Draggin’ Main,” said Vicki Reyes, the assistant city clerk. The city fee is $100 for any vendor selling an item. The fee comes from a state statute, City Manager Justin Howalt said. “Allowing individuals on to city property to vend and utilize would be in violation of the anti-donation clause,” he said. New Mexico’s anti-donation c...
Why are trees on the Eastern New Mexico University campus being cut down? Those trees are diseased, ENMU officials announced last week in a news release. "The University is removing trees on the main campus this summer that pose a hazard to pedestrians or vehicles," read the release from John Houser, ENMU assistant vice president of marketing and communications. Houser wrote ENMU is committed to replacing the trees that are cut down. Houser wrote the trees that are being...
The federal government on March 27 listed the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species. More than seven weeks later, area farmers and agriculture officials still aren’t sure exactly what that means. “Nobody gives me a square answer on this,” Roosevelt County Ag Agent Patrick Kircher said last week. Kircher said he’s been trying to learn what the listing means to landowners and producers because he’d like to teach a seminar on the matter. “I haven’t gotten very far on it. What I want is to find someone who can speak...
Was there ever an underpass under the tracks on south Prince Street where the bridge is now? And when was the bridge built? The Prince Street underpass was replaced by the current overpass in 1989. The overpass officially opened to traffic on Aug. 26 that year, according to the Clovis News-Journal. “Motorists excited about the opening were seen crossing the bridge and turning around to go over again throughout the day,” the newspaper reported. Construction began in August 1988. It cost a little over $5.1 million to com...
I read in the newspaper that Jorge Cruz is leaving as the Clovis hospital’s chief executive and Presbyterian Healthcare Services is sending an interim administrator. But what is the long-term plan for our hospital and its leadership? Presbyterian Healthcare Services owns Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis. At the end of April, Presbyterian’s Vice President of Regional Delivery System Operations Noah Knisely announced Cruz, PRMC’s chief executive, decided to step away from his role. Cruz’s last day will be May 26. Req...
What is the 60/84 project and when will it start? The 60/84 project is one that Clovis City Manager Justin Howalt believes has been needed for quite some time now. “The roadway and the corridor have been deteriorating for a long time,” he said. Running from Prince Street and to the west, all the way down to approximately Grand, Howalt said the 60/84 project will be “full reconstruction of the roadway.” This includes utility replacements, storm drainage improvements, signalization, and lighting improvements. New concret...
What is under construction next to the Clovis Aquatic Center? The Hillcrest Senior Life Center is set to open by September, according to Clovis city Senior Services Director Barbara Riggan. Riggan had one word to describe what she likes about the new center. "Windows," she said. "We have no windows at the Friendship Senior Center." The Friendship Senior Center, on 13th Street west of Thornton, is where seniors have been gathering since it opened in 1985, Riggan said. "Its...
Why isn’t “Clovis Man” used in branding Clovis? “Clovis Man” was so named when archaeologists gathered significant evidence of a population of humans who lived in North America more than 13,000 years ago in the Blackwater Draw Site in Roosevelt County. Researchers named the “Clovis culture” because of the distinctive spear points and other stone tools first found not far from Clovis in the 1920s. “I agree our logo should involve Clovis Man,” Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ernie Kos said. “But the c...
What is the history of Ned Houk Park and its dam site? Ned Houk Park is named for the long-deceased Clovis mayor and city commissioner known affectionately as “Mr. Ned.” Houk was born in Missouri in 1882 and died in Clovis in 1968. He was Clovis’ mayor from 1931 to 1933 and again from 1951 to 1953. A Clovis News-Journal article about Houk’s death in May, 1968, mentioned his service on the Clovis City Commission for 17 years. He has also been described as “a well-liked Clovis business owner who operated H&H Grocery in the 20...
What’s up with the new tennis courts at Portales High School? There are some new tennis courts in the making in Portales that will be located at Kilgore Avenue and East Third Street, across from the cemetery and right behind the baseball field. The sport in Portales has a long history that goes back at least to 1974. Jeanne Fairman was the person behind the tennis program that year. Fairman passed away in late February, but her son Robert spoke to The News about her role in local tennis. “She was instrumental in getting the...
What is being built at 2300 Mabry Drive just east of the Sleep Inn hotel in Clovis? That’s going to be the new home for Clovis’ Hyundai dealership, said Shawn Hamilton, spokesman for the Hamilton Auto Group. “The building that we’re in was built in the late 1960s,” Hamilton said of the Hyundai site east of the planned new location. “If you walk through the place it’s pretty wore out.” Hamilton said the Hyundai Motor Company has been “on us” to build a new facility. “They’ve been going for a similar look for their dealerships...
How did “Rams” come to be the mascot for Portales High School? There is some evidence the nickname for Portales’ school sports teams was the “Yams” in the 1920s. PHS Principal Art Ontiveros said that’s probably because Portales was known for having high-yielding sweet potato crops. The flag of The Portales Valley News in 1926 referenced Portales as “The Sweet Potato Town, U.S.A.” The school’s 1926 yearbook was titled “The Yam,” and has a picture of a large sweet potato on the front cover. But the Yams were mostly out and t...
