Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS — The Clovis City Commission will consider a new policy at its Thursday meeting covering the usage and creation of social media accounts on behalf of the city. The social media policy is rooted in the city having “an overriding interest and expectation in deciding what is ‘spoken’ on behalf of the city on its social media sites.” The policy only covers city social media accounts, and defers guidelines for how city employees use personal social media to its human resources department. The policy would keep the cityofclo...
CLOVIS — A New Mexico advocacy group has refiled a civil lawsuit in Curry County against Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Attorney General Hector Balderas. The New Mexico Patriots Advocacy Coalition charges that Toulouse Oliver and Balderas denied citizens their rights for referendums on various items passed during the 2019 legislative session. A similar lawsuit was filed in Curry County last July, but dismissed on Friday by District Judge Fred Van Soelen. A. Blair Dunn, attorney for NMPAC, filed another suit a...
I never met former NBA Commissioner David Stern, but it felt like a distant family member was gone when he died on the first day of 2020. Some of my favorite David Stern anecdotes: • He was particular about pigs in a blanket as an appetizer. At catered NBA functions people in the know wouldn’t touch other appetizers because they were saving room. • Years before Stern became commissioner in 1984, he fought housing discrimination. As president of the Fair Housing Council in New Jersey, he would send a white family and a black f...
CLOVIS - By all accounts, the Chenault family had a pretty good 2019. Tanna Chenault graduated from Clovis Community College's radiologic technology program, and got a job as an X-ray technician. Her husband Chet celebrated seven years with the Clovis Fire Department in July with news he was the national Veterans of Foreign Wars firefighter of the year. So far, 2020 is looking pretty good for the Chenaults as well. Landon Ray Chenault joined the family early when he was Plains...
CLOVIS — The city of Clovis in 2019 said hello to small brewers, goodbye to one of its commissioners and longtime civic leaders and imposed a conditional property tax aimed at long-term water supply. No issue filled meeting rooms for the Clovis City Commission in 2019 more than a proposed property tax increase to help pay for Clovis’ share of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System. Clovis has a 75% share in the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, which is seeking $90 million to do an interim groundwater project tha...
Curry County is dry no more. Voters allowed the change during November elections as one of many items that drew attention for Curry in 2019. Commissioners proposed three questions to voters, saying they wanted the matter of alcohol in Curry County’s unincorporated areas to be left to voters instead of their opinions on the matter. Three questions passed easily in November: • Allowing the sale, service and consumption of alcohol, 1,614-947 • Allowing the transfer of liquor licenses to unincorporated parts of the county, 1,453...
CLOVIS — Picking a new property and liability insurance provider didn’t take the Clovis City Commission long. Six-and-a-half minutes, to be exact. The commission went that long, from starting gavel to adjourning gavel, voting 6-0 to go with Travelers for a total cost of $1.317 million. The cost includes a $1.231 million premium, plus insurance broker fees and gross receipts taxes. “This is a 16% increase over what we paid in 2019,” Howalt said of the premium, “but was within what we’d projected increases to be.” The city had...
Whether it was a case of homicide, embezzlement or negligence, there was no shortage of crimes, suspects or victims as 2019 came and went in eastern New Mexico. Few cases captured more public heartbreak and rage as the mother and daughter daycare duo who, in July 2017, left a pair of children in a hot car. Mary and Sandi Taylor were convicted in February for reckless child abuse pertaining to the death of 22-month-old Maliyah Jones and injuries to 2-year-old Aubri Loya. The...
PORTALES — Officials investigating $8,250 missing from a Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office evidence locker have no specific suspects. A New Mexico State Police investigation showed the money, first reported missing in January, could have been taken by any number of individuals. And it’s not even clear when the money was taken. The Roosevelt County Commission adopted a new “two-person rule” in its Dec. 17 meeting, noting that any money obtained by the sheriff’s office must be counted separately by two people every time money...
As this is the last time I’m tasked to write a column for the year, it’s time to go into the familiar territory of the question we ask ourselves after every Christmas. What do we resolve to do better in the upcoming year. I have questions for myself as I’m sure you do. Will this be the year I keep said resolution? Should this resolution be 10 times as important, since we’re starting a new decade as well? A lot of resolutions go into the trash heap quickly, because it’s a lot easier to say you’ll do something on Dec. 26 tha...
CLOVIS - Frank Urioste visited Clovis' Mission Garden of Memories on Friday to pay respects. What he saw there was anything but respectful. Vandals had damaged nearly a dozen headstones. "We bury our loved ones and we want them to be left alone," Urioste said, "and this happens." He'd gone with his wife to put flowers on her father's grave. Everything was fine with his father-in-law's gravesite, but half a dozen others nearby were in disarray. Urioste posted a video of his dis...
CLOVIS - A case alleging embezzlement by the former director of the Curry Resident Senior Meals Association will stretch into 2020. A continuance was granted Monday in district court in lieu of a sentencing hearing for Cherisse Perez, 35. Perez was indicted in March by a Curry County grand jury for embezzlement over $20,000 following a December 2018 investigation into suspicious activity on CRSMA's bank account. She pleaded guilty early this month. The point of contention in...
PORTALES - Eastern New Mexico has a new athletic director, with Matt Billings leaving the Pacific Northwest to join the Greyhounds. The university announced Saturday night that Billings, deputy athletic director at Portland State University, was chosen from a pool of three finalists who made on-campus visits over the prior week. His official start date is Jan. 20. "I am truly humbled beyond belief to come to serve Eastern New Mexico University Athletics. I want to thank...
PORTALES — In a season where the most familiar thing has been frustration, a quick 10-2 deficit certainly seemed in place at Greyhound Arena Thursday night. But just enough went the Greyhounds’ way in the second half, and an offensive rebound went the way of Marvin Mapaga in the closing seconds. The junior forward made the second of two free throws to break a tie, and Arkansas-Fort Smith couldn’t connect on a long heave in the final second as Eastern New Mexico snuck out w...
CLOVIS — When the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority moves forward in 2020, it will do so with a lighter load of municipalities. Just how that representation will change was discussed Thursday when the authority met for the final time in 2019 Thursday at the Sitterly Professional Center that houses the ENMWUA office. The authority board operates as it did when it was first created in 2011 by the state Legislature — as a seven-member board with three representatives from Clovis, two from Portales, one from Curry Cou...
Let the iron games begin. That’s what came to my mind when a familiar phone number showed up Monday afternoon. Blood drives were set for Tuesday and Friday, and the local coordinator was hoping I could be counted on for a donation. Donating blood always takes an hour or so out of my day. It always hurts just a little bit to get that needle in the arm and it’s always a little inconvenient to avoid strenuous activity. And I always feel little more awful each time I lie to phlebotomists that I’ll eat a healthy meal later that...
CLOVIS - When presented with the itinerary for the Upward Bound trip to Savannah, Georgia, in March, Clovis School Board member Shawn Hamilton provided the only question of the trip. "Can I go?" Hamilton joked during Tuesday's meeting, which saw the four board members attending unanimously approve the March 23-27 trip. Upward Bound targets students who will potentially be first-generation college students. Upward Bound Director Kellyann Weber said the trip should provide...
Sam Thompson calls herself a private person by nature, and being a subject of interviews and documentaries is something she dreads. What she dreads more, however, is the thought her mother's killer may never be found. That's why she's one of many who took part in a Netflix documentary exploring the tale of Henry Lee Lucas, who falsely admitted to the killing of Jean Abla and hundreds of others. "It's been a never-ending source of frustration and heartache," Thompson said....
CLOVIS - Residents of Clovis identified a need in 2018, and Andrew Logan wants to fill it in 2020. With one of its last acts of 2019, the Clovis City Commission gave Logan the go-ahead. By a 6-1 vote, commissioners approved a small brewer's liquor license for Logan's Bandolero Brewery to run a restaurant and brewery at 421 N. Main St. The brewery first came into the commission's sights in February, when Bandolero was one of two potential breweries seeking variances to open up...
PORTALES — After more than a year of planning, Eastern New Mexico University Regent Terry Othick said building a new presidential residence is a battle of expectation versus reality. Reality is up by a few touchdowns. Othick shared some potential floor plans for a new residence to replace the current university house at Cherry Street, a short walk from Greyhound Arena, at Friday’s regent meeting. Plans are to build a new 3,500-square-foot structure and keep the current house standing for other possible uses. The housing com...
CLOVIS — The Clovis Economic Incentive Board wants to take a look at exactly how manufacturers can qualify for taxpayer-funded economic development dollars. But for now, it has decided a prospective local brewer doesn’t make the cut. The board on Wednesday morning voted to deny a request from Bandolero Brewing for a $20,000 post-performance grant. At issue was Bandolero having no way to know if it could meet the current standard that its customer base be more than 50 percent out-of-state. Board members also decided to hav...
PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University regents are hopeful students treat Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as the phrase goes, as a day on and not a day off. Starting in 2021, it is again a day off at the university, in terms of classes. Regents on Friday approved a holiday calendar adding MLK Day as a “campus closed” holiday. There were three dozen people in the audience for Friday’s meeting — packed by regent meeting standards — with a majority coming specifically for the discussion on MLK Day. Regents were first approached...
If you were to technically define it, I’m a collector. I see something special, I collect it. The problem is my idea of special normally doesn’t fit what prevailing common sense has determined is valuable. My living room wall contains a framed comic book of “Groo the Wanderer,” and not something valuable like “The Amazing Spider-Man.” I liked Spider-Man just fine as a kid and still do, but I always told myself someday I’d have the first issue of the comic from Mad Magazine’s Sergio Aragonés. That mattered more to me than...
When asked how the flu season was going for Plains Regional Medical Center, Administrator Drew Dostal said it was a pretty good flu season. He quickly added that by good, he meant good if you were the flu. “It’s hard for us to call if it’s going to be one of the worst,” Dostal said. “It’s starting out of the gates pretty decently.” National indicators are showing that following two bad seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the 2019-20 flu season could be the worst since 2003 Nationwide, 3.5% of patient visits reported thro...
CLOVIS - Lay the wreath. Say the name. Remember. Volunteers did just that hundreds of times as part of a Clovis component of the nationwide Wreaths Across America remembrance. A local ceremony was held Saturday morning at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens, and later continued at Mission Garden of Memories. Saturday's ceremony was part of a nationwide series of events with more than 100,000 wreaths being laid. Locally, 1,530 wreaths were purchased for gravesites, up from last year's...
