Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Freedom New Mexico The Republicans, having won back control of the House of Representatives with campaigns that suggested they had learned their lessons about extravagant spending during the Bush years, named their committee chairmen last week. The choices signaled for the most part that the Old Bulls and the old ways may be predominant in the next session of Congress, while Tea Party and limited-government advocates are relegated to the back of the bus. The trend was most apparent where chairmanships were contested. The... Full story
Editorial Congressional Democrats did an admirable job of purging pork barrel projects — also called earmarks — from spending bills that were left unfinished when Republicans were ousted from power last fall. They had to do something, given all their campaign rhetoric about those fiscally feckless Republicans. But whether they can for long hold the line on earmarks is doubtful, given the party in power’s propensity to pork out. The true test isn’t what Democrats did right out of the starting gate, when they knew the America... Full story
"We need to add police and firefighters and we need to add sanitation workers to speed trash pickup, and employees to do upkeep on our alleys." Raymond Mondragon, city manager Clovis officials say overtime and longevity are the most important factors in determining the size of employees’ salaries. Assistant City Finance Director Leighann Melancon said, under the city’s salary model, employees get raises based on annual evaluation scores. Raises are in given percentages, so those with higher base salaries can receive hig... Full story
Most people in a man-on-the-street poll Wednesday said they support the city of Clovis’ 1/4 of 1 percent gross receipts tax increase, which goes into effect today. The tax increase, approved by voters March 2, will fund infrastructure improvements and capital outlay purchases like fire and police equipment, city officials have said. At 25 cents per $100, it will raise total city gross receipts taxes to $6.63 per $100 of goods or services purchased. Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ernie Kos said t... Full story
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici told members of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority last week that he will not support federal funding of the Ute Water Project for at least two years, an ENMRWA official said Wednesday. Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega said Domenici told ENMRWA members — who were in Washington, D.C., last week lobbying for Congressional support of the project — the timing was not right. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a companion bill to the project authorization bil...
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici told members of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority last week that he will not support federal funding of the Ute Water Project for at least two years, an ENMRWA official said Wednesday. Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega said Domenici told ENMRWA members — who were in were Washington, D.C., last week lobbying for Congressional support of the project — the timing was not right. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a companion bill to the project aut...
Curry County Manager Geneva Cooper’s contract will be automatically renewed today for one year. A May 1, 2001, contract, signed by Cooper and county commissioners, ran until today; it has an option to automatically renew for a one-year term unless either Cooper or the commission delivered a notice of non-renewal on or before March 30. Cooper’s office said Tuesday the commission has sent her no such letter. Cooper earned $62,897.50 in 2003, county records show. She is scheduled to receive $64,272 in fiscal year 2003-04. The... Full story
The New Mexico Environment Department has agreed to let Southwest Cheese and the city of Clovis produce wastewater that would be higher in dissolved solids than it normally allows, department spokesman Jon Goldstein said Friday. But the Environment Department wants two studies done to ensure the increased amount of dissolved solids would not harm farmland, Goldstein said. “Total dissolved solids are salts primarily and since the water is being applied to farm land, we want to know about its potential effect on crops and t...
Five new raw milk silos, each 75 feet tall, have been erected at the Southwest Chees site on Curry County Road 4, said Maurice Keane, the company’s president and chief executive officer. Keane said the 54-acre, $190 million project is on schedule, with plans to begin production sometime in October 2005. Four of the new silos will hold 70,000 gallons of milk and one will hold 50,000 gallons and, in the next few weeks the company plans to erect a similar number of equal-sized silos, Keane said. At peak production, the plant w...
Five new raw milk silos, each 75 feet tall, have been erected at Southwest Cheeses’ site on Curry County Road 4, said Maurice Keane, the company’s president and chief executive officer. Keane said the 54-acre, $190 million project is on schedule, with plans to begin production sometime in October 2005. Four of the new silos will hold 70,000 gallons of milk and one will hold 50,000 gallons and, in the next few weeks the company plans to erect a similar number of equal-sized silos, Keane said. At peak production, the plant wil... Full story
In the spirit of Clovis’ successful Committee of 50, the recently organized Ag 50 of Eastern New Mexico aims to work for the best interests of agricultural producers and the community, the group’s Chairman Blake Curtis said Wednesday. Ag 50 will hold a breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Friday at Wells Fargo Bank. The breakfast’s featured speaker will be Paul Gutierrez, deputy assistant secretary for the U. S. Department of Agriculture; Rick Lopez, the USDA’s state director may also attend, Curtis said. Gutierrez will speak on upcoming c...
“Philosophical differences” over who should bear the cost of stormwater management systems divided members of a taskforce developing a city ordinance on stormwater management in residential subdivisions Tuesday. Despite their differences, members of the taskforce approved a draft ordinance, which will be considered today by the city’s public works committee. If approved there, it will be forwarded to the city commission sometime in July. Developers at the meeting objected to some parts of the ordinance’s first draft, which w... Full story
New curricula for Clovis Municipal Schools junior high and high schools were introduced at Tuesday’s school board meeting. A final vote on the new courses will be held at the board’s July 27 meeting, board members said. The courses will include the new “career pathways” programs that, at advanced level, will offer courses that provide credit both in high school and at Clovis Community College. At the community college level, the courses eventually could lead to a professional certificate, Clovis schools Superin... Full story
Ralph Gallagher’s lifetime dream was to own a home, said Tammy Lewis, executive director of Alliance Behavioral Health Services, a private, for-profit agency that helps the developmentally disabled. A long-time client of mental health service providers, Gallagher never earned enough money to pay a mortgage, she noted. This is where Clovis Secton 8 Homeownership Program came in. Introduced in Clovis in December 2003, the program uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rental assistance vouchers to quali... Full story
The commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation told members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee Thursday the Bush administration does not support authorization legislation for the Ute Water Project as it is written. And in a press release Thursday, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said he also would not support the bill as introduced. “I am concerned that funding to make the pipeline a reality is not available in this budgetary environment. I want to review how we are going to find that money. I am not willing to pass an a... Full story
Clovis residents reduced their water use by more than one million gallons in response to a water shortage warning from New Mexico American Water Co. this week, Clovis City Commissioner Randy Crowder said Thursday. “Of course, the rain we got didn’t hurt any, but water use dropped before that,” he said at the commission’s regular meeting Thursday evening. Crowder said New Mexico American Water personnel told him that between Monday and Tuesday night water use in the city was about 10.8 million gallons. After the warning came o...
Curry County commissioners are sending letters to state and federal legislative representatives protesting the closing of federal Internal Revenue Service and state Taxation and Revenue offices in Clovis. Letters will go to U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-Santa Fe, as well as all local state senators and representatives, they said Tuesday. IRS spokesman Rafael Tulino said Tuesday the Clovis office was closed April 16. The reasons for the closing were “not something I can d... Full story
A temporary administrator testified Monday that Buena Vista Nursing Home had a leaky roof, black mold and a “very dirty” kitchen when she was asked to step in and oversee operations on May 20. But an attorney representing Buena Vista’s owners said his clients’ side of the story has not yet been told. And attorney Mike Bello said the Albuquerque company now overseeing the nursing home under a contract with the state has a financial interest in continuing the contract. The second in a series of at least three hearings to dete...
Clovis Police Officers Association officials said Friday they want a conference with City Manager Raymond Mondragon as soon as possible to discuss whether or not some members of the city police department will be left out of a raise given to other city workers. The Clovis Police Officers Association is made up of police employees trying to create a “bargaining unit” that would represent some police personnel in collective bargaining with the city. City commissioners approved pay raises for city workers at their regular mee...
Ross Sanchez, of Condeck of Albuquerque, smoothes out freshly poured concrete Thursday that will be a light-weight roof at Clovis High School. Condeck has been working on the roof for two weeks and will finish today. CNJ staff photo: Eric Kluth. Clovis High School students will have 11 new classrooms this fall, thanks to renovations being carried out by the school district, Assistant Superintendent Lonnie Leslie said. The $9 million renovation means the portable buildings that have clustered around Clovis High School will be...
All times Mountain Alto The Grass Roots — 8 p.m. Saturday, Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts, Airport Highway 220. Information: 505-683-0016. Independence Jazz Reunion (New Orleans, Dixieland, Ragtime) — 8 p.m. June 26. $25 and $28. Information: 505- 867-6500. Albuquerque Festival Flamenco Internacional de Albuquerque — Friday through June 19, The National Institute of Flamenco. Information: 505-277-1865. Dave Chapelle — 8 p.m. June 18, Kiva Auditorium, Second Street and Marquette, Northeast. Information: 505-768...
Clovis City Commissioners approved pay raises for city workers at their regular meeting Thursday, but excluded, for now, those city police officers who have signed a petition to form a union. Clovis Police Officers Association representative Randall M. Harris told the commissioners it was a “travesty” not to include the officers in the pay increases. “There is no regulatory position that you cannot speak with us regarding wages, so long as we are not at the negotiating table,” Harris told the commission. But city attorne...
Alamogordo residents Terry and Mary Jo Drake began hot-air ballooning in 1991 and began offering balloon rides to students at the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped, in Alamogordo, in 1993. But, they were never able to get one boy, who had some physical handicaps besides being visually impaired, up in their balloon. “We contacted someone who has a handicapped-accessible balloon, but they wanted $7,000 to come here,” Terry said. About a year later, the Drakes found a handicapped-accessible basket in Chicago and... Full story
Elections officials in two other New Mexico counties and a computer specialist with the state Bureau of Elections reported problems Wednesday with Insight voting machines similar to the problems Curry County officials encountered Tuesday night. A new state law requires county officials to report vote totals by precinct and canvassed, but Curry County officials said they tried to hurry up Tuesday’s counting process by having the new machines total votes by Legislative districts, a process called “super precincting.” Chief...
County Manager Geneva Cooper told county commissioners Tuesday a preliminary county budget does not include raises for county employees. “When we get the final budget, if we have enough money, we can look at that,” she said. Commissioners approved a preliminary budget at the meeting that shows county expenditures of $20.2 million for 2004-2005, an increase of about $2.3 million over last year’s expenditures. Cooper said most of the increase comes from the $1.3 million cost of an annex for the adult detention center. The annex...
