Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Charles Nwankwo has officially resigned as president of Clovis Community College, according to the college's attorney, Kameron Barnett. Barnett said Nwankwo signed a resignation agreement on Monday, accompanied by his attorney, Chris Moody of Albuquerque. Nwankwo will be paid for the remainder of his contract, Barnett said. His contract had been extended to Feb. 17, 2024. His annual salary is about $185,000. In addition, Barnett said, Nwankwo's health insurance will remain in...
There is still more uncertainty than decisive action taking place in the 2023 New Mexico Legislature’s opening weeks, according to the legislators who represent Curry and Roosevelt counties. As of Monday, bills were being assigned to committees as the Legislature entered its third week of a 60-day session. For local lawmakers, the main concern is money. The state, they say, is enjoying another year of increased revenue and the competition for extra funding is fierce. The Legislative Finance Committee has recommended a b...
CLOVIS – Charles Nwanko is resigning as president of Clovis Community College, and the CCC Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Wednesday to accept his resignation. That's according to board Secretary Terry Martin who said the resignation will not become official until Nwankwo signs the resignation agreement. Nwankwo, who could not be reached for comment, had not signed the agreement as of Friday afternoon, CCC attorney Kameron Barnett told The News. Asked if Nwankwo had wri...
Three well-known franchise restaurants are under construction in Clovis, a sign of growing confidence in the city's economic base, according to Tina Dziuk, executive director of the Clovis Economic Development Corporation. The largest of the three restaurants is the Texas Roadhouse, located next to Applebee's restaurant in the 500 Block of East Llano Estacado Boulevard. A sign proclaiming "Texas Roadhouse" was spread across the middle of the two-story high front entrance on Th...
Karen Van Ruiten took a break from administrative duties at Eastern New Mexico University to raise three boys from 1998 to 2014, but when she returned, with a daughter to finish raising, she rose quickly. She served as administrative secretary in ENMU's Financial Aid Department in 2014 and moved to Academic Affairs in 2016. A year later, she became executive secretary to the president and Board of Regents, her current position, in which she plays a central role in keeping...
Manpower losses due to pay issues and burnout are plaguing the Portales Fire Department, resulting in shortages of emergency medical technicians and firefighters, Portales Fire Chief T.J. Cathey told city councilors Tuesday. Because of the shortages, Cathey said, the fire department has not been able to continue operations at Fire Station 2. Cathey said the station was closed because of insufficient manpower to keep two stations operating with eight firefighters or emergency medical employees on all shifts. In the matter of p...
The city of Clovis will support efforts of the Highland Dairy southwest of the city, and EPCOR, the city's water provider, to obtain funding from the 2023 New Mexico Legislature to help find solutions to problems created by PFAS chemical pollution for the dairy's water supply, the Clovis City Commission decided unanimously on Thursday. Since Nov. 18, 2018, the dairy has halted dairy production due to the presence of PFAS chemicals in the water that was used for feed crops and...
Meadow Forget (for-ZHAY) has served as the mayor of Melrose since June. That hasn't stopped her from a full schedule of activities, including part-time work at the Melrose Bombing Range on contract with the U.S. Air Force and ministry as the youth director for the Melrose First Baptist Church. She is not a Melrose native, but she has shown a penchant for small-town living for decades. She also found time over the years to raise five sons to adulthood. Forget sat still for a...
The image of a Ukrainian woman preparing for the Russian invasion of Ukraine by making Molotov cocktails with an AK-47 assault rifle in her lap inspired Greg Rapp of Clovis to develop a board game based on opposition to fascism. Rapp, who teaches English and Political Science at Clovis Community College, has developed other games for distribution via the Internet, he said, but none have succeeded like this current game based on fighting fascism, called “Bella Ciao!” The title is included in lyrics to an Italian rev...
After hearing more than two hours of alternating speeches favoring and opposing a proposed anti-abortion ordinance, the Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday gave final approval to the ordinance on a 4-1 vote. The opposing vote came from District 1 Commissioner Dennis Lopez, who urged the commission to delay action on the ordinance to allow commissioners to get a sense of action the New Mexico Legislature might take in its 2023 session, which begins Tuesday, regarding abortion and local opposition to the state’s official p...
A New Mexico State University researcher stationed at NMSU’s Clovis Agricultural Science Center has received a $742,170 grant from a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of an effort to improve soil health in the U.S. Rajan Ghimire, assistant professor in NMSU’s Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, was awarded one of 10 grants nationwide on behalf of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Soil Health Program. Ghimire has also received recognition recently for his work to learn how s...
Clovis' first homicide victim of 2023 was a family man, according to his sister, Crystal Trujillo. Oscar Trujillo, 28, loved fishing, riding his bike and playing 25-cent video games with family members. He was an "amazing person," Crystal Trujillo said. "He could fix anything and everything. He was my McGyver," a reference to a TV series character who was a mechanical genius. Oscar Trujillo was a hard worker, too, his sister said. "I never saw anybody who worked harder." He...
A Portales man accused of killing two people in 2016 was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison. Jose Zapata, 39, pleaded no-contest to voluntary manslaughter charges in both slayings. District Judge Donna Mowrer pronounced Zapata guilty of the March 15, 2016, slayings of Christina Winters Griffin, 31, and John Jesse Bustamante, 39, both of Portales. The 13-year sentence was the net result of consecutive six-year sentences for the offenses, four-year additions tacked on...
If you have booked an event at the Clovis Civic Center in recent months, you have probably talked to Julie Surina, the sales and events manager. Surina returned to Clovis a few years ago, after spending nine years in Lubbock, Texas, where, for the last five years as a Texan she was a coordinator for office and event support at the American Cancer Society. She was a standout pitcher for the Clovis High School Wildcats softball team, graduating in 2005, and has a degree in...
The bridge on what is now Red Lake Road near Taiban still shows the scars – exposed rebar and sheared railings – from the crash 50 years ago Monday that took 19 lives, most of them Austin, Texas, high-school students on a church bus en route to the Taos area. At the time, Red Lake Road, now not much more than a hard dirt road, was part of U.S. 60-84. A half century later, the scars were still evident in about 40 survivors and family members gathered on Monday, the 50th ann...
PORTALES -- On Jan. 10, the public comment session before the Roosevelt County Commission on an anti-abortion ordinance will allow an hour for speakers on each side, alternating pro- and anti-ordinance speakers for three minutes per speaker, the commission decided on Tuesday. The commission also decided Tuesday that the hearing will begin at 7 p.m. at the Jake Lopez Center in Portales to accommodate an expected large number of participants. Doors to the Lopez Center will open at 6:30 p.m. to allow speakers to register, the...
Editor's note: We continue our series of stories about local business owners and the unique merchandise and services they have for sale -- just in time for Christmas. When you walk into Oliver's Emporium in downtown Portales, you are briefly dazzled by the bright, primary colors and geometric designs of the American Southwest. The store has been in its present location since April, and its owner Cassie Hardin, a life-long Portales resident, is confident the store's location...
GRADY – A schoolteacher who allegedly told students they would burn in “the embers of hell” for various behaviors remains on the job, Superintendent Keith Durham said Monday night. Durham declined to say whether any disciplinary action was taken against the teacher, but he assured concerned parents the matter was “not swept under the rug,” which he repeated several times. “I wish I could tell you what we did, but I can’t,” he said during Monday’s school board meeting in...
Friday's regular meeting of the Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regions marked a series of "lasts" for the board. It was the last meeting at which Chancellor Patrice Caldwell attended as ENMU's chief executive. She will be replaced on Jan. 3 by James Johnston, who had been serving as interim president at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. Johnston attended Friday's meeting. It was the last meeting for regents Chandler Head and Dan Patterson. Head is...
Legal recreational cannabis sales have brought millions of dollars of new revenue to Clovis and Portales, and almost $532,000 in business revenue to Texico, according to statistics on the state's Cannabis Control Division website. Since legal recreational cannabis sales began in April, records show nearly $5.7 million in recreational cannabis retail sales were completed from April to November in Clovis, more than $1.1 million were completed in Portales over that period and...
Portales Schools Superintendent Johnnie Cain on Monday had his contract renewed for another year in a unanimous 4-0 vote by the Portales Municipal School Board. Board member Inez Rodriguez was absent. The decision came after an executive session Monday at the end of the school board’s regular meeting. Last year, Cain’s contract was extended through the 2024-25 school year, and his salary at that time was about $133,000 per year. Cain said Monday any change in salary would come after the New Mexico Legislature budgets for tea...
PORTALES -- With pomp and colorful academic trappings, Eastern New Mexico University on Saturday celebrated commencement for 647 students who earned graduate, bachelor and associate degrees. As they filed onto the floor of the Greyhound Arena to the "Pomp and Circumstance" theme played by ENMU's brass quintet, undergraduate degree earners wore mortarboard caps and black gowns. Some were decorated with ribbons and cords designating academic achievement or membership in campus...
Robin Jones’ term as interim president of Clovis Community College was extended on Wednesday to Feb. 1, 2023, the date of the College board of trustees’ next regular meeting. The board does not meet in January. The CCC Board of Trustee’s voted 4-to-0 to extend Jones’ appointment at Wednesday’s regular meeting. Trustee Laura Leal abstained from voting, as she did for the November and October votes on extending Jones’ tenure. In October, Leal said it was time to put CCC President Charles Nwankwo back to work. Jones was named i...
PORTALES – The Roosevelt County Commission on Monday voted 3-1 to approve a notice of intent for an ordinance that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who mails or ships materials and equipment for abortion into the county, in accordance with a federal obscenity statute. Commissioner Dennis Lopez cast the “no” vote on the notice of intent, and Commissioners Paul Grider, Rod Savage and Commission Chair Shane Lee voted in favor. Commissioner Tina Dixon did not attend Monday’s meeting. The notice of intent means the ord...
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories about local business owners and the unique merchandise and services they have for sale -- just in time for Christmas. Walking the amply stocked aisles of Bullet Bob's antique store in downtown Clovis, you will find military field telephones from the 1940s and 1950s, an ancient glass-slide projector, an anvil from a farrier's shop, cameras and lenses, guitars, trombones and a cello, even a collection of old bedpans. That,...
