Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Vincent Soule, the deputy director of the Eastern Plains Council of Governments (EPCOG), started out as a budding musician at the University of New Mexico after graduating from Clovis High School, but circumstances brought him back home to Clovis. He switched his education to science parlayed his biology degree to become a transportation planner for EPCOG in 2015 and he's been there ever since. Soule is also active in the community, serving as chair of the Clovis Planning...
The Clovis High School Marching Band added interstate honors to a steady stream of recognition over the past several years, taking top overall honors in its class last week. During daytime competition Saturday at Bands of America regional competition in Las Cruces, among bands from New Mexico, Texas and Arizona, the Wildcat band swept honors in its class, wining first place overall and top honors for outstanding music performance, outstanding visual performance and...
A little more than a year ago, Ben Salazar of Clovis had a major medical setback and a revelation. Salazar -- long a Clovis-based constituent advocate for U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, and currently for U.S Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez – joined a different constituency for which he now advocates with enthusiasm, the disabled. He walks with the aid of a cane, sometimes with a walker, and a prosthetic rod replaces part of his left leg below the knee and his left foot a...
The Portales Municipal School Board on Monday approved a "Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services" plan for the district, which does not include mandatory masking or testing for COVID-19 for now. The plan, however, must be reviewed every six months in light of possible changes in COVID-19 pandemic conditions, Superintendent Johnnie Cain said. The board on Monday also approved a plan to spend more than $1.1 million in New Mexico public school capital out...
Getting spent, or used, fuel from nuclear power plants to a proposed interim storage facility in Lea County would require routing the spent fuel by rail to Clovis to reach a rail line that is the only access route to the Lea County site. Holtec International, a firm that specializes in spent fuel storage and nuclear power plant site decommissioning, is seeking a license to operate the interim storage facility in Lea County. As part of Holtec's license quest, the company must a...
Clovis Community College Board of Trustees voting districts will mirror those for Clovis Municipal Schools, the college board decided on Wednesday by choosing a redistricting plan that mirrors the CMS districting. The board made its decision at a regular meeting after reviewing the plan as the most favored option in August. The plan chosen was one of five offered to the board in May and hearings on the options were held in June. Research and Polling, an Albuquerque firm, was chosen to develop the options. The board on...
For two years, Mindy Turner has been the program director and the family and consumer sciences agent at New Mexico State University's Agricultural Cooperative Extension office in Clovis, but her career with the extension service goes back 20 years. In fact, her first job after graduating from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies was with an extension service in Texas. She never left extension service work even as she earned a...
Some Clovis and Portales residents knew Mary Ruth (White) Burns as a historian. Some knew her as a teacher who could teach young students in fluent Spanish as well as English. Her two sons – one a retired engineer, the other, a businessman – knew her as a "very dynamic" woman "interested in everything," including science and animals. Burns, who was best known as Ruth White Burns, died on Aug. 29 at 93 years of age. She spent most of the 1950s and 1960s raising her sons and...
Two defendants facing multiple felony counts of child abuse will be tried in Ninth Judicial District Court and remain in custody until trial. Preliminary hearings Friday that included video clips depicting acts that led to felony allegations against both defendants, Jamye Kushman, 37, and Jamie Sena, 29, of Texico, resulted in their cases being bound over for trial in district court and both remaining incarcerated at the Curry County Adult Detention Center until their trial...
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority board on Thursday accepted the terms of a $32.3 million loan from the New Mexico Finance Authority’s Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund that will finance about 40% of the $81 million local share of cost remaining for the Ute Lake Water Project The loan is expected to be repaid in 33 years at a rate of 0.25% per year, according to the listing on the board’s agenda for Thursday’s regular meeting. The loan agreement also includes a 1% origination fee. The board on Thursday also...
Eastern New Mexico University regents and administrators, and Portales community leaders agreed on Monday that the next ENMU chancellor should give high priority to increasing the number of students who live on campus. They gathered Monday in Portales for a community focus group, one of three such sessions on Monday led by Wyn Goering of EFL Associates, the consulting firm that is guiding the search for ENMU’s next president. The first two sessions in this first round of focus group sessions were held Monday at ENMU’s Rui...
CLOVIS — Robin Jones will continue as Clovis Community College’s interim president until at least Oct. 5, the CCC board of trustees decided on Monday by a unanimous vote. Jones was named interim president on Aug. 8 for a term of three weeks before her acting title was renewed on Monday. CCC President Charles Nwankwo remains on paid leave, which the board imposed on him at an Aug. 3 meeting. Jones’ salary is listed as $141,489 per year. Monday’s vote to extend Jones’ appointment came after an executive session that lasted ab...
Long-time Clovis and Portales residents are likely to say "you look familiar" to Suzanne West when they encounter her at KENW studios on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University. She has been working in Clovis and Portales since she and her husband John moved to Clovis in 1991 in connection with John's service with the U.S. Air Force. John West passed away in May 2020. Before settling in at KENW 17 years ago, Suzanne West worked in records for the Clovis Police Department...
The Fort Sumner woman who killed her grandfather and left his body in a toolbox in a trash heap was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison. Candy Jo Webb, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case on July 27 for the August 2020 death of A.J. Harden. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder in New Mexico is 21 years. In addition to the prison sentence, Ninth Judicial District Judge Benjamin Cross added three years of supervised probation. Cross also gave...
For New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Kurt Steinhaus, visits to schools in Elida and Floyd on Thursday were sort of a homecoming, since both school districts are in Roosevelt County, where Steinhaus grew up and got his bachelor's degree. In fact, he said as he toured Floyd Schools' elementary classrooms Schools building Thursday with Superintendent Damon Terry, his mother-in-law Pat Glasscock once taught in the Floyd School. Steinhaus grew up in Portales and rec...
Results of an independent audit of Roosevelt County’s November 2020 election were supposed to be released in July, according to a representative of the New Mexico Audit Force. But those results were still pending this week. Erin Clements, who operates NMAF with her husband David, wrote in a text message on Monday that Roosevelt County is one of seven counties whose NMAF audit findings are now going to be combined into a single report. Roosevelt County Clerk Mandi Park said she was told that Roosevelt County was the last of th...
With the possibility that chemical pollutants are still spreading in soil near Cannon Air Force Base and the prospect of trainloads of spent nuclear fuel stopping in Clovis, New Mexico State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, thought Clovis should host a meeting of the Legislature's radioactive and hazardous materials committee, which he chairs. The committee met at the ClovisCivicCenter on Friday, with members of the committee joined by state Sen. Pat Woods, R- Broadview, and...
In July, Christopher Baca turned his drive to serve up a level. He moved from a teaching position at Clovis Christian School to become the program specialist for the TRIO Educational Opportunity Center at Eastern New Mexico University. If TRIO were ever an acronym, it is unclear what it may have stood for, but federally funded TRIO programs assist low-income students, especially those who represent the first generation in their family to attend college. Baca is a Clovis...
The first words that come to people when you mention Amelia "Amy" Armenta are usually "kind," then "cheerful" and "helpful." Armenta, who died on July 8 at age 86, was an artist, a teacher and a person who was willing to help in any way necessary, according to those who knew her. Even those who said they did not know her well knew these basics about her. "Her legacy is going to be wonderful," said Lee Ellen Phipps, who participated in craft classes that Armenta taught. "She wa...
CLOVIS - Robin Jones, executive vice president of Academic Affairs at Clovis Community College, will serve as the college's interim president for three weeks, which began on Monday. Jones was chosen on a 4-0 vote of CCC's board of trustees Monday morning at a special meeting. Trustee Terry Martin was absent for Monday's virtual meeting. Martin, who also did not vote on whether to place President Charles Nwankwo on paid leave on Aug. 3 despite attending the meeting, did not...
CLOVIS – The president of Clovis Community College was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday by the college's board of trustees. Charles Nwankwo will remain on paid leave until an investigation is completed of alleged misconduct that led to letters and resolutions of "no confidence" against him in early May by several employee groups, according to Lora Harlan, board president. The board's decision followed an executive session at the end of the board's regular monthly...
Cindy Clayton is an unwanted dog or cat's best friend. Since 2011, she has been the driving force behind Cindy's Hope for Precious Paws, an adoption agency for dogs and cats in need of foster or "forever" homes. She said she does not know how many dogs and cats have passed through the home-finding service she leads, but she thinks it's "in the thousands." As of Thursday, the Facebook page Cindy's Hope had recorded 9,200 likes. Last year, she said Cindy's Hope found homes for 4...
Tina Dziuk knows she has some big shoes to fill. She has taken on the job of executive director of Clovis Economic Development (CED) that became vacant with the untimely death of Chase Gentry, who was nearly revered by those who worked with him on matters of economic development. Gentry died on Aug 31, 2021, after serving as executive director of the Clovis Industrial Development Corporation since 2002. The CIDC changed its name to Clovis Economic Development in January. "I...
Nearly two decades ago, K.C. Messick began a journey that took him from budding country singer to becoming the general manager of the Curry County Events Center, which also includes oversight of other Curry County Fairgrounds facilities. For 16 of the 19 years that have passed since the start of his musical career, Messick said he was living on the road, first as a touring musician then on a career in events marketing that took him through 47 of the 50 states (excluding...
CLOVIS - A Fort Sumner woman accused of killing her grandfather and hiding his remains in a toolbox in August 2020 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday before Judge Benjamin Cross in a Clovis courtroom. Candy Jo Webb, 28, also pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of tampering with evidence and fraud. Cross accepted the plea agreement and called for a sentencing hearing in 30 days. Cross said the second-degree murder sentence could be as long 21 years in prison,...
