Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS — A bill that would have given the possibility of earlier parole for juvenile offenders serving life sentences, like many other bills, died on the floor of the House of Representatives when New Mexico’s 60-day legislative session ended Saturday. But there’s always another session, and the bill’s opponents aim to be more prepared if and when the bill comes up again. A life sentence in New Mexico is defined at 30 years in prison before the possibility of parole, and is normally followed by additional time for connect...
CLOVIS — On a night where Jeston Webskowski had plenty of surprises, the biggest might have been going the entire third quarter without touching the football. He did more than enough the other three quarters, accounting for five touchdowns and 366 yards of offense as the Clovis Wildcats routed the Carlsbad Cavemen 55-20 to close out the Class 6A regular season for both teams. Both teams will be back in action this weekend after opting into bowl games. Clovis will host R...
PORTALES — The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. After spirited debate, Eastern New Mexico University officials decided Friday they won’t fully reopen campus for the remainder of the spring semester. However, the university’s board of regents were adamant Roosevelt County was showing strong signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the university needed to reflect it. The compromise: Reopen all university buildings associated with student services by April 5. Life has not been normal on campus since the COVID-19 pandemi...
PORTALES — Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eastern New Mexico University has shelved many of its athletic programs for the last 12-plus months. Due to what it claimed were concerns over budget and Title IX compliance, the school is shelving its men’s soccer team for at least the 2021-22 academic year. Administration made the announcement Friday after making its case to the ENMU board of regents. There was no action item on the agenda regarding the men’s soccer program, and regents gave administration the latitude to suspe...
PORTALES — A May 28 graduation has already been planned, in person and outdoors at the spacious Greyhound Stadium, for Portales High School seniors. The school will have a good idea of just how to handle it, as Eastern New Mexico University is planning its own in-person commencement ceremony there May 15. The university has not had an in-person graduation ceremony since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, and the school is mostly in a virtual setting for classes. But Chancellor Patrice Caldwell felt there were p...
SANTA FE — Of all of the signs the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to go away — counties turning green and turquoise, vaccinations beating new cases by a 72-to-1 margin — the clearest sign might be governmental agencies simply discussing it less. A note at the end of Wednesday’s webinar from the New Mexico Human Services and Health departments noted that the weekly updates on the COVID-19 pandemic would become bi-weekly with the next one April 7 — the next “Red to Green” update for counties. Curry County made the green designa...
PORTALES - A season that has so far started with a thud has taken another blow, as Kira Zeiter announced her resignation as softball coach at Eastern New Mexico University. Zeiter went 23-51 over her two-plus seasons, with a 13-35 record in Lone Star Conference play, and that record has been anchored by the team's 0-13 (0-12 LSC) start. "We thank Coach Zeiter for her leadership over the last few seasons and wish her the best as she moves on to future endeavors," Athletic...
CLOVIS - One vaccination at a time, COVID-19 is going away. The remote work movement it helped inflate, however, is likely here to stay. The Clovis Industrial Development Corporation, and a few local businesses, are hoping to take advantage of that. The CIDC is marketing Clovis as a "TruGig Community," and partnering with Soloworks and Plateau to find and retain residents who can do remote jobs with small-town amenities and fiber-speed Internet. Rachel Forrester, public...
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE — Officials with the U.S. Air Force updated residents Wednesday on the steps it is eyeing to mitigate groundwater damage done by its use of firefighting foams that contained the “forever chemicals” of PFOS/PFOA. Those who attended the 90-minute virtual forum expressed frustration, disappointment and anger those steps aren’t already happening, more than two years after it first disclosed the contamination surrounding Cannon Air Force Base. Meeting moderator Mark Kinkade said the public meeting was the...
MELROSE - After outscoring their first two opponents 100-12, the Melrose Buffaloes seemed primed for an easy home victory against a young Tatum squad. Somebody forget to tell the Coyotes that. But the defending eight-man champion Buffaloes left the March upsets to the basketball brackets, blanking the Coyotes in the second half and scoring twice in the final seven minutes for a 30-22 victory Friday night. Senior Tate Sorgen ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more,...
CLOVIS — The Clovis school board got some bad news Tuesday about its credit rating going forward. But at least it was let down gently. In a rather short meeting, the board heard from Moody’s credit analyst Heather Correia about the district’s downgrade of one level from Aa3 to A1. Moody’s, Correia said, is reevaluating how it gives credit ratings for school districts, after previously treating them like other governmental entities. “We felt as though school districts were unique from cities and counties,” Correia said. “They...
PORTALES — When the Eastern New Mexico University regents meet this week, they’ll do so with plenty of new faces. Confirmed to positions Monday by the New Mexico Senate for six-year regent terms were former Public Education District 9 Commissioner Trish Ruiz and former Central New Mexico Community College Vice President for Student Affairs Phillip Bustos. Also approved was ENMU vocal performance major Chandlar Head for the two-year student regent term. They will replace Terry Othick, Ed Tatum and student regent Joseph Gergel....
CLOVIS — Calling it a needed project, the Clovis City Commission chipped in Thursday on a feasibility study to bring a regional inpatient psychiatric hospital and mental health facility to Clovis. By an 8-0 vote, the commission on Thursday pledged $29,400 — 49% of the total cost, based on its population that would be served — to the study. The study, recommended by the United Way of Eastern New Mexico’s Youth Service Program, would assess the overall need, costs of land acquisition and employee recruitment, and availab...
PORTALES — A Portales man found dead six days after he was first reported missing last November died from “acute and chronic ethanol toxicity with hypothermia and blunt force injury of the head as significant contributing conditions.” Reports from the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the Medical Investigator — acquired by The News through a public records request — identified no criminal activity or suspects in the death of Jay Cole, 32, of Portales. Justin Cole, Jay’s brother, told The News the family wa...
CLOVIS - The Curry County Commission has its committee - well, 80% of it - and is ready to get to work establishing a water-focused land trust. The commission appointed four voting members and six non-voting members to its steering committee to establish the trust during its Tuesday meeting. The trust would be created to help local entities navigate through a Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative effort at Cannon Air Force Base. The REPI program, offered by the...
PORTALES — The Sierra Mall in Ruidoso is now fully an extension of Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso’s branch campus. In a special meeting Thursday, regents approved a $1.2 million purchase agreement that puts the entire mall under university ownership and adds an extra 26,600 square feet to the branch campus’ footprint. Ruidoso branch president Ryan Trosper said there’s going to be a slow build converting all of the property located at 721 Mechem Dr. to educational purposes. “This would be a starting point for us in thi...
PORTALES - For Portales senior Anthony Montoya, Christmas came on a March night at Greyhound Stadium. Fortunately, Montoya knew just where to return his present. A 61-yard fumble return that surprised everybody, up to and including Montoya, proved to be an early exclamation point in Portales' penalty-riddled 34-6 over Dexter Friday at Greyhound Stadium. The game was never in doubt after the Rams (2-0), who didn't even receive the opening kickoff, opened a 20-0 lead after 11...
CLOVIS — State officials speaking on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic’s beginning spoke with guarded optimism about the upcoming six months. Various secretaries with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office held a webinar Thursday afternoon and spoke of the experiences of the pandemic and their thanks to citizens for following COVID-safe practices and signing up for vaccinations. Human Services Secretary David Scrase said without vaccinations lowering the daily incidence by more than 60%, the state would be go...
CLOVIS — The Countyline Fire District is still five months away from being a certified volunteer fire department, and probably at least two years from having an official fire station. But the district’s fire chief and county officials are optimistic. Presuming certification happens in August after Countyline’s 12-month probationary period, Chief John Novak said, it would be responsible for approximately 140 square miles south of Curry Road 8 and between Curry Roads E and W — basically, south of Clovis between Melrose and Tex...
CLOVIS — The Clovis Wildcats hadn’t played a meaningful down of football in 468 days, so it could be understood and probably condoned if the rust outweighed the rhythm Saturday night at Leon Williams Stadium. But rust and rhythm eventually gave way to resiliency, and the Wildcats simply found a way to top rival Hobbs 14-10 and keep the “Rebel” traveling trophy in Clovis — where it has stayed since 2014 and will be at stake again later this year when the spring 2021 season ce...
CLOVIS — Think about 468 days, because the Clovis Wildcats and Cleveland Storm have done plenty. It’s a year, plus a weekend. It’s five weeks short of 500. And up until Saturday, it was the number of days that separated the Clovis Wildcats from the 2019 Class 6A semifinals against Cleveland. The Wildcats got back into the win column, 14-10 over Hobbs, while Cleveland was idle. And now it’s the Storm, which played the following week in the 6A championship, coming back from the longest of offseasons. “It’s been a long time,...
PORTALES — The Portales Municipal School District plans to return to full re-entry on March 23, following its spring break. Two months after that, the Portales High School seniors can anticipate a more normal graduation. The school board has approved a PHS graduation for 7 p.m. May 28 at Greyhound Stadium. “At this point, we don’t know what the graduation rules will look like by the time we get to May, but we think with it being outdoors it will be something acceptable at that time,” said Superintendent Johnnie Cain. With CO...
CLOVIS - Hoyt Pattison was a longtime state legislator, a longtime lobbyist after that and a farmer throughout. But at his heart he was an innovative problem solver. Pattison, who died Wednesday at 91, was a lifelong resident of Clovis, with notable exceptions for his college time at New Mexico State University, his service in the U.S. Air Force and his annual treks to Santa Fe for 11 terms as representative for District 63. First elected in 1962, Pattison served from 1963 to...
CLOVIS — Survivors of the 2017 shooting at the Clovis-Carver Public Library, and those who still remember the two library workers killed that day, will never forget that dreadful August afternoon or the court hearings that put shooter Nathaniel Jouett in prison for 30 years before the possibility of parole. They’re now fighting the New Mexico Legislature on Senate Bill 247 — a measure that would in the worst case reduce Jouett’s sentence to 15 years and in the best case make them relive that fateful day in parole hearing...
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- After eight seasons with Eastern New Mexico University, Kelley Lee is heading across the border to take over as head coach and athletic director at Veterans Early College High School in Brownsville. The hiring of Lee was announced Tuesday evening by Gilbert Leal, athletic administrator for the Brownsville Independent School District that includes six high schools. Leal told The News 35 qualified applications were received to run the Class 5A Chargers, and...
