Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS -- Mayor Mike Morris expressed frustration on Monday – frustration with the governor’s health orders that close and restrict most businesses, but also frustration with a virus that is surging across the region and state. “I’m frustrated to hear the reports from the hospital that people in Clovis and our area are sick and sick enough to need hospitalization,” Morris said in a live-streamed press conference. “I’m also frustrated that businesses once again are being made to close or drastically limit their operations.... Full story
PORTALES - Eastern New Mexico University's Theater Department is debuting its final virtual production of the 2020 season Thursday. The show titled "You're on Mute" was written by students under the direction of Ricky Quintana, a theater instructor at ENMU. "You're on Mute" will run 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with a 2 p.m. Sunday show. All shows will be free over Zoom but attendees are asked to register in advance at www.enmu.edu/TheatreLive. The title refers to the...
Due to the pandemic, many traditional ways of commemorating Veterans Day have had to be canceled. Public parades, ceremonies at local schools and veteran associations, and most other in-person activities will not take place due to health and safety concerns. However there are other opportunities for veterans, and those who want to show their appreciation for veterans, to make the day memorable. Part of the United War Veterans Council’s efforts to organize socially distant and virtual activities for this year’s Veterans Day in...
CLOVIS - Those who knew him in and out of the medical industry called Dr. Bruce Cross a man of exceptional intellect with a great capacity for care. Cross died Oct. 11 following a battle with cancer. Born Feb. 16, 1954, in Chicago, Cross and his family soon settled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he grew up with four siblings, Tim, Mark, Cindy, and Julie. Son Ben Cross said his dad had a gifted mind with a photographic memory, which promoted a lifelong love of learning. In 1972,...
CLOVIS — Clovis Community College President Charles Nwankwo announced at Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting the college would act as an additional site for COVID-19 testing. “With the recent spike of COVID-19 incidents in our region, state, the New Mexico Health Department and New Mexico Higher Education Department requested the use of our facility to conduct some testing for the public. So we offered up our parking lots to do the testing, and the National Guard is handling all of the testing,” Nwankwo said. Other news in...
With no need for a recount this time, Martin Zamora is again the District 63 representative in the New Mexico House of Representatives. The Clovis farmer and rancher won his second two-year term to the spot, taking the race over Santa Rosa doctor Randal Brown by a 59% margin — 4,682 votes to 3,286. “I want to thank the people of the district for supporting us,” Zamora said, “and I look forward to working for the state of New Mexico to try to make things better in the state and to do the work that is upcoming in the next se...
PORTALES — A teacher in Portales received national accreditation for connecting kids to locally grown produce. Patricia Cain, a second grade dual language teacher at James Elementary, was one of 30 that were recognized as 2020 Community Food Champions. The National Farm to School Network celebrates National Farm to School Month every October since Congress designated it in 2010. This year marks the 10th anniversary of its celebrations, which included “expressing appreciation and amplifying underrepresented voices in ord...
Historically low temperatures hit Curry and Roosevelt Counties last week, with Clovis and Portales seeing numbers in the teens. Neither Clovis nor Portales saw record-breaking snowfalls as expected, but they did get halfway there. Clovis saw over 2.5 inches accumulating during the storm. The record is from October of 1936 when 5 inches blanketed the city. After receiving over 2 inches of snow last week, Portales' 4-inch snowfall record from 1936 remains intact. Other areas...
PORTALES — Three fresh faces were added to Portales’s Cultural Affairs Committee at the Oct. 20 City Council Meeting. New appointees are Jasmine Johnson, Krista Jones, and Darrelyn McCloud. McCloud, 28, is the owner of Snap Fitness in Portales, where he works as a wellness coach and a strength and conditioning coach. The former Eastern New Mexico University football player is originally from Albuquerque but moved to Portales in 2012 and has been there since. Johnson, 27, is the Marketing Director for La Casa Family Hea...
CLOVIS — Giving your name and number is pretty standard fare at most restaurants for take-out or delivery. Now it’s the new normal for in-person dining in New Mexico. Part of the state’s new health and safety guidelines given out last week include requiring dine-in restaurants to keep a contact book. This new measure is supposed make contact tracing easier should a staff member or diner test positive for COVID-19. The contact book is essentially a three-week log of all the dine-in customers who passed through a resta...
The National Weather Service called it "an epic and historic winter storm." After summer-like temperatures extended well into fall, eastern New Mexico experienced its first wintry event early this week with drizzle, freezing fog, ice and a thin dusting of snow. The blast, which included wind-chill factors in the single digits, began about midnight Sunday. Area residents woke up on Monday morning to ice on their windshields. Tuesday saw more of the same along with delayed and...
PORTALES - Two longterm employees of the city of Portales were recognized at last Tuesdays meeting as they commemorated the beginning of their retirement. Mercedes Dominguez, a city custodian, served for over 19 years. Veda Urioste, deputy city clerk, served for over 25 years. The retirees were commended by Mayor Ron Jackson for their years of service. Each was awarded a wrist watch to commemorate their years with the city. Both Dominguez and Urioste had family in attendance t...
Editor’s note: Jenny Essary and Troy Hall are living through the same pandemic, but with different perspectives. They shared their stories last week. ‘We can’t let fear take us down’ Jenny Essary Essary is from Floyd, where she lives with her husband Jeff and two of their four children. They are established hay farmers. From her perspective, COVID-19 has had a wide reach and changed many aspects of life this year, but it is not as big of a threat as people have been made to believe. While the normalcy of life has shifted...
CLOVIS — Last week the Curry County offices on Gidding Street were added to the list of buildings where workers had tested positive for COVID-19. Three positive cases from the Administration Office, County Clerk's Office, and the County Assessor’s Office were reported as of Friday. Another county department that has been in the news for COVID cases is the Curry County Detention Center. At its peak the detention center had 43 positive cases. Neither facility can simply shut down, with the clerk's office conducting early in-...
In the wake of the pandemic, unemployment and economic hardship have resulted in many people struggling to pay their rent, utilities, and other expenses. In Portales, for example, water was shut off in 150 homes in September and 250 more so far this month. That's according to John DeSha, Portales' Public Works director. But DeSha points out that some of those disconnects are a result of residents leaving their property. He said the city did not disconnect any water because of failure to pay during the early months of the...
CLOVIS — A Clovis CARES Act Grant was a major topic of discussion at the Eastern Plains Council of Governments Board of Directors meeting Wednesday. Government Affairs Director Raymond Mondragon updated members on the $240,000 grant, for mortgage, rental, utility, and child care assistance that EPCOG is contracted to help distribute. “What this does is we put a limit on mortgage and rental to $700, we put a limit on utility assistance for $300 … and we put $500 child credit per child. We did receive a lot of calls, a lot o...
Parmer County in Texas accounts for 11 percent of the region’s population, but it has recorded 42 percent of the local deaths related to COVID-19. Health officials say 15 deaths have been attributed to the virus in the county that includes the communities of Farwell and Friona. Eight of those deaths have occurred since Sept. 30. By comparison, health officials in Bailey, Curry, Quay and Roosevelt counties combined have reported 21 covid-related deaths since the pandemic began. Parmer County Judge Trey Ellis said last week t...
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday she will add stricter measures to the state’s public health order in response to rising COVID-19 cases. The new order, which goes into effect Friday, will: • Reduce the definition of mass gatherings to five people from 10. The state defines mass gatherings as “any public or private gathering, organized event, ceremony, parade, organized amateur contact sport, or other grouping that brings together individuals in an indoor or outdoor space.” • Require any food or drink establish... Full story
The 2020 Census deadline is in flux, with the Supreme Court on Tuesday suspending a lower court order that allowed the count to be extended to Oct. 31. Meanwhile, recent numbers show that some local municipalities are reporting some numbers better and others worse than the 2010 effort. According to data sent by Paige Best, the New Mexico Census Coordinator, Saturday showed Curry County at a 55.8% self-response rate. This means that over 13,000 of their estimated 22,000 households have filled out the Census. The county's goal...
PORTALES - The Portales Police Department announced on Sunday it will begin searching for a new chief of police with Pat Gallegos retiring at the end of November. The application period opened Monday with the PPD hoping to have the position filled by the time Gallegos leaves. Portales City Manager Sammy Standefer said the position is open for both internal and external applicants. The first round of applications will be closed on Oct. 21. "It just seemed like it was time to...
Editor’s note: A New Mexico U.S. Senate seat is open after Tom Udall decided against running for a third term. Candidates are Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist; Democrat Ben Ray Lujân, assistant speaker of the House of Representatives, and Libertarian Bob Walsh, co-founder of Rocky Mountain EMS. Candidates were asked the same questions on the spot via telephone or online meeting software. The election is Nov. 3. Early voting continues through October: Ben Ray Lujân What do you believe should be the...
PORTALES — The city of Portales will host a drive-through trick-or-treating experience at the Portales Public Library, Portales city councilors said at Tuesday’s regular meeting. The event — created after the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce decided to cancel its annual Safe Trick-or-Treat event in the town square — will be held 4 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Oct. 29. The plan is to have staff on both sides of the library driveway who will pass out candy to kids who hold their bags or buckets out the windows of the cars, accordi...
CLOVIS - Early voting started Tuesday, and lines were consistently seen out the doors of the Curry County Clerk's Office all week. The county clerk's office in Roosevelt County also reported lots of eager voters, and staff encouraged people to keep coming by as they said the lines move quickly. Through Friday, Curry County had 1,346 early voters while Roosevelt County had 1,005. The Curry total is more than half of all early voting at the office in 2018 (2,320) and more than a...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County officials provided commissioners with a review of a few pandemic-related challenges both statewide and in the county during its Tuesday morning meeting. County Manager Amber Hamilton presented information on unemployment given by the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department and the Department of Finance. Unemployment for the state peaked in July at 12.7%; Roosevelt’s peak of 10.3% took place in July as well. For August, the state rate was 11.3% and Roosevelt was 8.8%. The most severe declines in une...
At 93, Homer Tankersley experienced a lot in one lifetime. Tankersley, founder of the Clovis Main Street clothing store that bears the family name, passed away Saturday. Born March 25, 1927, Tankersley was raised in Dallas by his parents Homer Sr. and Audrey Tankersley. He initially stayed close to home and pursued music at Southern Methodist University, but left to enlist in the military during World War II. From 1944 to 1945 he served in the 82nd Airborne in Europe, and...
