Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Damian Lechner, the new director of the Hillcrest Park Zoo in Clovis, has added a young camel, two anteaters and sugar glider to the zoo's population since arriving in Clovis in May. Lechner said two kangaroos and two wallabies are expected in coming months. When combined with the sugar glider, a marsupial resembling a bat, Lechner said that will be the beginning of a special part of the zoo reserved for animals from Australia. Lechner came to Clovis from Los Angeles, where...
The Portales City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement between the city and the New Mexico Department of Transportation that provides state and local funding to operate the Portales Area Transit service for fiscal 2023, which ends on June 30, 2023. The agreement provides $318,545 to operate the service. Of that total, $191,875 will be covered by NMDOT with the city providing the remaining $126,670, according to an agenda item. Responding to councilors’ questions, Katherine Hall, the coordinator of the transit...
Mary Marez is an ordained Baptist minister who converted to Roman Catholicism, but she is also "passionate about photography" and her four children and 10 grandchildren. She works as a financial counselor for Plains Regional Medical Center, a job for which she said she got her training in the hardest way possible, by harrowing experiences with obtaining medical care for a child born with serious medical conditions. On a volunteer basis, she also manages a food bank for Sacred...
PORTALES -- A contract for a $2 million construction project that will bring a new softball diamond and six new tennis courts to the athletic complex for Portales High School received unanimous approval Monday from the Portales Municipal School Board. Portales Schools Superintendent Johnnie Cain told the board Monday that the new softball field and tennis courts will consolidate venues for many sports in the same area, including baseball, softball, tennis and soccer matches, and eliminate the need for cross-town...
City, county and school officials and others interested in recreation and sports in Curry County filled the chairs in the Curry County Commission's meeting room Monday to register and express their views on what a recreation and sports center in Curry County would include and where it should be located. Data from a survey among those who attended and public comments were collected by representatives of Vigil and Associates, an Albuquerque architecture firm. Vicente Castillo,...
Robin Jones’ month-to-month tenure as interim president of Clovis Community College has been extended another month, to Dec. 7. The CCC Board of Trustee’s voted 3-0 to extend the appointment at its regular meeting Wednesday. Trustee Laura Leal abstained from voting. She also abstained last month, saying it’s time to put President Charles Nwankwo back to work. Trustee Terry Martin did not attend Wednesday’s meeting. Jones was named interim president at a special board meeting on Aug. 8 and that appointment was extende...
PORTALES -- Over three days of sparsely attended community forums, the five finalists to become Eastern New Mexico University’s next president/chancellor introduced themselves and responded to questions from the public last week. Most of the questions were asked by Charles Bennett, a long-time volunteer with the ENMU rodeo team, and Rose Robbins, president of the Greyhound Club, which assists in meeting needs of the college’s athletic teams. Robbins noted that most of those who attended the public forums were associated with...
"Retirement" is not a word you see in the Bible. So says Brian Arnold, who at 75 and despite his retirement from 43 years in public education about 10 years ago, maintains a heavy schedule of church and community service. He also maintains a small herd of cattle. Arnold, along with his wife Alvonna, another retired teacher, provides outreach, advising and counseling services through the First Baptist Church and the Portales Ministerial Alliance. They are both active in the...
The border towns of Texico and Farwell are seeing new businesses built and proposed, based partly on laws that went into effect this year that make once-forbidden consumable products legal for sale and use. In May, voters in Farwell approved alcoholic beverage sales inside city limits. Since then, four businesses have obtained liquor sales licenses from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for sites in Parmer County: Lowe's grocery, Allsup's convenience store, Annie and...
The professional, friendly voice that callers to Clovis City Administration are likely to hear first is that of Vicki Reyes, who works as the administrative assistant to Assistant City Manager Claire Burroughes. Reyes is a Clovis native who began working for the city 19 years ago at the age of 22. While she has always reported to Burroughes, she said, she has held several different positions in the city administration's central office. She stays active in community affairs...
PORTALES -- There are five finalists to replace Patrice Caldwell as the chancellor of Eastern New Mexico University, but not all of them know it yet. Once all five are notified of their status, the hiring process will become public, Caldwell told attendees Thursday at a Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce luncheon as part of a "State of the University" talk. "You will know who the candidates are, and there will be public participation in the interview process," she said. In...
For 25 years, April Chavez has had a role in financial aid for students at Clovis Community College. Starting as a "front counter person," she has advanced in two years to the position of financial aid director, the job she has held since then. She is now in charge of the financial assistance that one-third of CCC's more than 2,300 students rely on to fund their education. Chavez was born in Clovis, but grew up in Davenport, Iowa, an industrial city on the Mississippi River....
Enrollment in Portales Municipal Schools in 2022 is down by about 100 from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, Superintendent Johnnie Cain told the district board Tuesday in his monthly report, but the enrollment decline from 2021’s enrollment is only about 40. Cain said small enrollments in sixth and seventh grade are not being compensated by new kindergarten enrollments. “I don’t know why that happened,” Cain said of the drop in kindergarten enrollment. In the past two weeks, he said enrollment had dropped by 15, due to withdra...
For two decades, William "Larry" Erwin organized the annual Soap Box Derby in Clovis, in which kids coast home-built racers down a hill in hopes of winning a trip to Akron, Ohio, for a shot at a national championship. Erwin, who died on Sept. 6 at the age of 76, introduced the Soap Box Derby to Clovis based on his memories of rumbling his own Soap Box Derby racer, the pieces of which were secured together with Elmer's Glue, down the hills of Owensburg, Ky., in 1960 and...
Leonard Madrid's plays are a reflection of his growing up in the Hispanic culture of Portales and his familiarity with Latino communities in New Mexico. Many of his plays are actually set in north Portales, where, he says, the people speak a mix of Spanish and English that are unique to the community. Madrid's plays have received the Latinx Playwriting award at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. One play, "Aurora" was performed at a national festival for new playwrights...
CLOVIS -- Robin Jones will remain as interim president of Clovis Community College until at least Nov. 2, when the college’s board of trustees meets again. Trustees made the decision on a 4-0 vote Wednesday at their regular meeting. Trustee Laura Leal abstained from voting. She said she believes CCC President Charles Nwankwo should be reinstated until an investigation spurred by employee “no confidence” votes in May has been completed. Jones was named interim president at a special board meeting on Aug. 8; those duties were...
Robin Jones will serve as interim president of Clovis Community College until at least Nov. 2, when the college's board of trustees meets again, the board decided on a 4-0 vote Wednesday at its regular meeting. Trustee Laura Leal abstained from voting, because, she said, the investigation of CCC President Charles Nwankwo, which began in May, is not yet completed, and Nwankwo should be reinstated as president until the investigation is finished. Jones was named interim...
Eastern New Mexico University alumni and community members gathered Friday evening at Portales' Enchantment Vineyards for a Homecoming Mix and Mingle event as part of ENMU's Homecoming activities. The event attracted up to 150 former ENMU students and others from the community, who filled the seats around tables and gathered in standing groups to renew old acquaintances and enjoy beverages, some food and live music. Admission to the event was free, but the winery's bar was kep...
As COVD-19 cases seem to decline around the state and in Curry and Roosevelt counties, the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) is easing up on rules that require a business to report a positive COVID-19 test within four hours, according to an news release from the New Mexico Environment Department, which includes the OHSB. Based on guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and the New Mexico Department of Health, the OHSB said a policy change that went into effect on Thursday indicates OHSB...
PORTALES -- A device that would help diagnose and measure progress in brain response related to speech and hearing leads a list of projects for which Eastern New Mexico University may seek legislative funding over the next year. The “brain computer interface” device that leads the list is estimated to cost about $397,000, according to documents ENMU’s interim chief financial officer Tony Major submitted Friday to the university’s board of regents. The full list of “potential projects” would cost nearly $7.8 million, ac...
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority board officially socked away a nearly $672.4 million agreement in a special meeting on Thursday that guarantees 75% of the funds needed for completion of the Ute Reservoir Water Project. "It's a milestone day," Mike Morris, the mayor of Clovis and chair of the ENMWUA's board said as he called for the vote on the agreement between the water utility and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that finalizes funding arrangements for the...
Alpacas can show you just how gentle a relative of llamas and camels whose heads come up to a six-foot-tall person's shoulders can be. If you found yourself surrounded by them as they follow their owner and the food buckets, you would not be afraid of them. You can stroke the wool on their necks, but they'd rather you didn't. They tolerate human presence with what seems to be cheerful curiosity. Their wool makes soft, warm clothes, blankets and even rugs. The alpacas' owner,...
Cherry Gooch lives in the Dallas area, but she thought the money she wanted to use to help the homeless would go further and help more people in Clovis, where she has family roots. Gooch has rustled up enough of her own cash and donated money and material since July to convert two houses at 712 and 716 Rencher St., in Clovis into new shelters for the homeless -- one for men, with a capacity of 28 residents, and one for women, which can house 12 residents. Gooch said she wants...
Funding for street improvement projects on 18th Street and Avenue K received approval Tuesday from the Portales City Council. The council approved a $290,000 project funded by $14,500 in city funds and $275,500 in New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) money for 18th Street projects. The projects include pavement rehabilitation and resurfacing of the intersection at 18th and Staffordwood and improvements on 18th from Avenue O to U.S. Route 70. The improvements...
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA) is taking out a loan for $15.15 million from the New Mexico Finance Authority’s drinking water loan fund, but the loan will be repaid by the city of Clovis, because it will cover part of the city’s cost of membership in the ENMWUA. The loan arrangement received approval from the ENMWUA board of directors Thursday. The terms of the loan call for repayment over 33 years at an interest rate of 0.25% per year. Orlando Ortega, ENMWUA’s executive director, told the board...
