Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 164
Eastern New Mexico University this week is putting on the play, "Wait Until Dark," by Frederick Knott. The performances will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the University Theatre Center, said Jon Barr, the chairman of ENMU's Department of Theatre and Digital Filmmaking. The play was adapted into a movie starring actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1960s, Barr said. The main character, Susy, is a blind woman who lives in an apartment in New...
The Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve a Notice of Intent for Consideration of a land use moratorium ordinance that would prohibit the use of land for a facility that is used for any medical procedure intended to terminate a healthy human pregnancy. The ordinance would go into effect for an indefinite period of time. The notice is for a two week period and would, if the ordinance is approved, go into effect after another month or so. Prior to the vote, Michael Garcia, the county’s attorney, sa...
Clovis resident George Barber traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with members of Congress to lobby for passage of a group of bills that would provide funding for the early detection of cancer. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society," as stated on cancer.org The organization (ACS CAN) recently appointed Barber as its vice lead ambassador for District 3, a volunteer position,...
Clovis' lakes are popular with area fishermen, but not all fishermen of Greene Acres, Dennis Chavez and Ned Houk lakes are catching fish. Retired resident and regular fisherman Lonnie Grimes said Ned Houk Park pond "used to be one of the best fishing places around, but not now." Grimes said the pond has trash around it, and there are tree branches and weeds. "The water has a terrible smell to it." "Only thing we're catching out of there are turtles and yellow bellies," he said...
The City of Clovis is hosting a meeting to listen to members of the community’s thoughts, concerns and suggestions and to share information about resources available to them. A number of area residents are concerned about a perceived uptick in crime particularly drive-by shootings and homicides. This meeting, the first in a planned series of neighborhood meetings, will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. John Baptist Church located at 1214 Gila Street in Clovis. Mayor Mike Morris said he wanted to focus on a dialogue with the re...
PORTALES -- Animal control has become an issue in Portales as the city struggles with not having enough staff and facilities to keep up with demands, and help from local animal rescue groups has dwindled. Some social media posts say dogs are running around in groups uncontained and one longtime, former shelter volunteer said people are dumping litters as well as adult cats and dogs. Portales resident Linda Sumption, who formerly taught at Eastern New Mexico University, said after retiring she got involved with animal rescue...
Built in 1914 as a hospital, the landmark building at 800 Hinkle Street in Clovis has once again changed ownership. Originally built as the Santa Fe Hospital, the three story building was sold in 1949 to the Central Baptist Church, which owned it until 1993, when the Clovis Christian School bought the property. On Wednesday, two families – the Garcia families-bought the property to house their church, Iglesia Renacer, said Edgar Garcia, the buyer's agent, assistant pastor a...
Texico resident Pamela Desmond Wright has signed a new six book deal with Harlequin for two "Love Inspired Amish" romance series: Texas Amish Brides and Humble Blessings. "Love Inspired" is a series of books about Christian romance, Wright said. The idea to write Amish romance novels stems entirely from her imagination as she has never lived in an Amish community nor met anyone Amish, she said. After writing for some time, she "purchased a batch of Harlequin titles off eBay...
The Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday discussed the negotiations between the city of Portales and the county with regard to progress on the creation of a joint powers agreement to operate a regional emergency dispatch center. The two governments are working on a draft agreement. Commissioner Tina Dixon said: “I would like to see us get somewhere with this. “I feel like there’s some conflict –there’s been conflict from the beginning. I don’t know if it’s hurt feelings. I don’t know what it is. “I have checked around an...
The New Mexico Supreme Court last week issued an opinion that states:“People have a constitutional right to walk or wade on the streambed of water flowing over privately owned land when they fish or engage in other recreation.” “Walking and wading on the privately owned beds beneath public water is reasonably necessary for the enjoyment of many forms of fishing and recreation,” the Court wrote, as stated in the court’spress release. “Having said that, we stress that the public may neither trespass on privately owned land...
This week the state of New Mexico announced it has consolidated its housing assistance programs into a single access point called the New Mexico Home Fund. Through these programs, a total of about $167.1 million in rent aid has been awarded and the state has received another $55 million in federal funds to support homeowners, according to a state press release. “The Home Fund provides a single access point for several emergency housing programs, including rental assistance, utility assistance, temporary housing assistance, re...
Road maintenance is a “never ending thing” so the New Mexico Department of Transportation Project Fund Grant award of over $2.7 million this week to Roosevelt County will be “money well spent,” said County Commissioner Dennis Lopez. Maintaining the roads is “all about public safety and protecting our constituents,” Lopez said. “The funding will be utilized to enhance approximately 62 miles of County Maintained Roadways, with about 59 miles of chip sealed roadways to be resurfaced with a micro-seal emulsion,” a county news r...
Eastern New Mexico University, having secured a liquor license, will for the first time sell liquor at sporting events. At its recent meeting, the City of Portales Council approved a liquor license for ENMU to serve alcohol at the Greyhound Arena and the Greyhound Stadium. The ENMU Board of Regents asked the university to "investigate having alcohol at certain events," said Jeff Long, Vice President for Student Affairs at ENMU. "The university already secured a license to...
A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Clovis Church of the Brethren to discuss the recent surge in crime. The church is located at 101 Acoma Drive just off Manana Boulevard in Clovis. One of the meeting organizers, Josefita Griego, said the purpose of the meeting is to bring to the community an awareness of the rising crime rate, especially the rise in number of incidents of gun violence. “I think there has been a rise in crime in general in New Mexico,” Griego said. “I have always been a belie...
The New Mexico State Legislature’s Water and Natural Resources Committee hosted a meeting in Clovis this week at which the Ute Water Pipeline was one of the topics of discussion. New Mexico State Engineer Mike Hamman was one of the speakers. The News interviewed Hamman after his presentation. By way of historical background, Hamman said the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission built, owns and operates Ute Reservoir. The reservoir, created in 1963, was built, in part, for the purpose of providing drinking water to the p...
The Portales City Council voted on Wednesday to deny a request by a developer to change an ordinance that established building standards for Raven Wood Estates Addition, a subdivision that the city annexed in 2010. The city’s Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended the council deny the request to make the change. The ordinance provided that the houses in the subdivision have brick exteriors and cement block fencing, as stated in the ordinance. Removing these requirements in future homes in the development could reduce t...
The price of water to the customer varies in Roswell, Portales, Clovis and Lovington, but not widely. The one exception is that the city of Clovis water has a higher rate per gallon charge. Clovis' water is provided by EPCOR, a private company, unlike the other cities. As a private company, EPCOR's rates are set by the state Public Regulation Commission. The other distinction is the city of Portales, which has not raised its water rates in some areas for more than 10 years,...
Local experts talked to The News about how water is priced to the customer. EPCOR provides water to the city of Clovis. Senior Communications Advisor for EPCOR Matt Atwood answered some questions posed by The News last week. “In New Mexico, regulated water providers, including EPCOR, must have their rates approved by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC),” Atwood said. “Customer rates are based on the actual historic cost of providing that service. This includes everything that goes into providing safe, relia...
Some residents said they had concerns after hearing Portales City staff proposed a 30 percent increase in residential water rates per year for five years at the recent council meeting. The city had scheduled a special council meeting for Friday to provide more information to residents, but it was cancelled due to a lack of a quorum, said City Manager Sarah Austin. The city plans to address this at its next council meeting on Wednesday. The proposed rate increase is across the board and would include residential, commercial...
The cities of Clovis, Lovington and Roswell have all had water rate increases in recent years, but the city of Portales has not had one for more than 10 years. At its Aug. 9 meeting, the Portales City Council was asked to approve a 30 percent increase in water rates each year for five consecutive years for residential and commercial users. The council voted to postpone the item and asked the staff to revise its numbers before bringing the matter back for consideration. City Manager Sarah Austin said in an email on Friday: “Th...
The New Mexico state Higher Education Department for the first time this fall semester has extended its Opportunity Scholarships to students working on a four year degree. Students who are attending Clovis Community College and Eastern New Mexico University in Portales both can take advantage of these scholarships and college administrators say they are doing just that. The state first rolled out the Opportunity Scholarship in 2020, according to a state release. Dr. Patrice Caldwell, chancellor of the Eastern New Mexico...
CLOVIS -- New housing construction is on the uptick in Clovis. Developer Brenner Campbell, owner of Brenner Investments, and a Clovis resident, is planning to construct 200 luxury apartments on an 11-acre site at the northeast corner of Main Street and Townsgate Plaza in Clovis. The Development, Sendero Luxury Apartments, in its first phase will contain 64- one, -two and -three-bedroom units. The building permits are filed with the city, Campbell said, and the project is...
Roosevelt County Commissioners voted at their regular meeting Tuesday to accept a New Mexico Food Security grant from the state for $137,797, which will pay for the construction of a building to serve as a permanent location for the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico in Roosevelt County. The county agreed to act as the fiscal agent for the grant. Food Bank Executive Director Dianna Sprague said in a later interview that the building will be located at 1111 W. Fir St. in Portales. Sprague said the food bank currently operates...
Staff returned to the Portales Municipal School District on Monday to begin the new school year. Students in grades third through 12 will return to classes on August 12, according to the district. August 22, kindergarten through second grade students will return to classes and August 23, pre-kindergarten classes begin. The Portales Municipal School Board met on Monday, at which time Superintendent Johnnie Cain presented a report to the board. He stated in the report that the district hired “two new individuals to become our a...
PORTALES -- The Portales City Council voted Tuesday to postpone consideration of a proposal to increase the water, sewer and garbage rates across the board for all residential, commercial and industrial users. The proposed rate would increase the cost of residential water inside the city borders for the first 2,000 gallons by 30 percent every year for a period of the next five years, as stated in the city proposed rate schedule chart. Council member Michael James Lucero led off the lengthy discussion saying he was “kind of i...