Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Several community members voiced their displeasure about the Portales Area Transit system not giving rides on Mondays during a public forum on Tuesday. Twila Hurley of the Portales Area Transit system said they stopped giving rides on Mondays approximately a year ago because of rising gasoline prices and budget constraints. “I don’t believe that gas prices caused it (Monday service) to stop,” Gwendolyn Plexico of Portales said. “I think they’re taking more and more away from our seniors. You can’t find out without ask...
House bills beneficial to the Ute Water Pipeline Project are immersed in the many bills requesting money from the New Mexico legislative session. Both Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega and Scott Verhines, Ute Pipeline Project manager, have been giving testimony during the legislative session in support of bills affecting the project. Ortega and Verhines said they have been receiving positive feedback from committee members in regard to House Bill 121 and House Bill 134. Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Bernalillo, is sponsoring HB 121,...
House bills beneficial to the Ute Water Pipeline Project are immersed in the many bills requesting money from the New Mexico legislative session. Both Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega and Scott Verhines, Ute Pipeline Project manager, have been giving testimony during the legislative session in support of bills affecting the project. Ortega and Verhines said they have been receiving positive feedback from committee members in regard to House Bill 121 and House Bill 134. Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Bernalillo, is sponsoring HB 121,...
Compiled by Tony Parra, PNT Staff Writer The following is the first part in a question and answer series of candidates running in the municipality election on March 7. Candidates are asked questions regarding the city’s future. Chad Heflin, 24, is running for the Ward B position in the Portales City Council. His opponent is the incumbent, Robert De Los Santos. 1. In your view, what is the most pressing issue the Portales City Council is facing? In the next couple of years there are going to be important issues discussed t...
Robert Montoya, Jr. a die-hard Pittsburgh Steeler fan from Portales, in a friendly, gesture extended an invitation to John Vestal Jr. an excited Seattle Seahawk fan from Clovis, to watch Super Bowl XL with the Montoya family on Feb. 8. However, Vesal said he’s going to devote Super Bowl Sunday to his dad and fellow Seahawk fan, John Vestal, Sr., and friends in Clovis and watch the game there. “I’m excited about the Super Bowl,” Montoya said. “We’ve gone to the (American Football Conference) championship games and lost the la...
Erminia Robles, right, a manager at Foxy Drive-In, makes $6 an hour. She said she'll stay at the Clovis restaurant regardless of whether the minimum wage is raised. (Staff photo: Eric Kluth) Judy Crisp spends six days a week inside a cramped cigarette shop on a bumpy Clovis side street. For every hour she spends there, she earns $5.75. That is 60 cents above the federal minimum wage level. The single mother of two teenagers said she can barely afford the apartment where she and her sons live. She cannot afford cable or...
Portales and Clovis may be off the beaten path as far as tourism, but a new Web site’s goal is to attract more tourists to cities such as Portales and Clovis. The new Web site is http://offtheroad.NM.com and it gives viewers a feel for what attractions there are in places in New Mexico that may not get as much attention as Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The Web site is a project funded by the New Mexico Department of Economic Development. Tricia Ware, marketing writer from the Economic Development Department, and Shannon Papin, d...
Payments have been dispersed for $160,000 in claims to landowners, according to Cannon Air Force Base officials, in connection with the Nov. 30 Floyd fire that wiped out more than 27,000 acres. The cause of the fire, which began on the Melrose Bombing Range, still has not been determined, according to CAFB Staff Sgt. Craig Seals. Seals said four claims have been filed since the fire and payments have been given out totaling $160,000. “The incident is still under investigation,” Seals said on Thursday. Leon Autrey is amo... Full story
Ninth Judicial District Attorney Matt Chandler is asking lawmakers for $50,000 he hopes will help spotlight and improve safety for senior citizens in Roosevelt County. “There are many laws to punish those who abuse the elderly that are reactive,” Chandler said. “We want this to be proactive and an innovative approach to help save lives.” Chandler said plans call for annual educational public forums on identity theft, strangers and home-safety issues. If approved, the money would also be used to create a database of senior... Full story
Ninth Judicial District Attorney Matt Chandler is asking lawmakers for $50,000 he hopes will help spotlight and improve safety for senior citizens in Roosevelt County. “There are many laws to punish those who abuse the elderly that are reactive,” Chandler said. “We want this to be proactive and an innovative approach to help save lives.” Chandler said plans call for annual educational public forums on identity theft, strangers and home-safety issues. If approved, the money would also be used to create a database of senior... Full story
June Merrick said one customer entered the Ashley Furniture store this week and said, “It was like she left Portales and entered the big city.” The furniture store has undergone a complete facelift and employees made the transition into the new store this week. Monday was the first day the locally-owned furniture store was open as the Ashley Furniture store. The store used to be called Factory Direct. “It’s wonderful,” June Merrick said. “This is what we’ve been working so hard for. It’s a beautiful environment.” T...
Higher numbers for gross receipt tax revenue than projected for the last part of the 2005 year alleviated fears for Portales city officials that the elimination of the food tax might hurt the GRT revenue. Debi Lee, Portales city manager, said in the last six months of 2005, GRT revenue was higher than projections. Only in the months of October and December were numbers lower than budget estimations. Gov. Bill Richardson wanted to eliminate the food tax because he believed it would help working families. New Mexicans did not h...
The Elida Wind Power Plant operators are completing their first month since flipping the switch sending electricity from the plant to homes in eastern New Mexico, west Texas, Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Wind farm operators have been using the Roosevelt and Chavez county winds to generate electricity for the homes of Xcel Energy customers. “We’re glad to begin receiving output from San Juan Mesa project,” Bill Crenshaw, Xcel Energy corporate communications manager, said. “It helps us reduce our dependency on natural gas and...
Resident begs to differ on road I read with some interest Tony Parra’ s article about paving State Highway 206 (Jan. 13 PNT). I drive a 13-mile stretch of that road twice daily. My windshield has at least four new cracks to show for it. I am puzzled by a couple of things: First, it is true that the construction began Oct. 17. What puzzles me is that when you start a paving project in October, don’t you expect to run into some cold weather? Anthony Pacheco, the paving supervisor, is quoted as saying that cold weather (lo...
Portales city officials are in talks with Artistic Homes developers out of Albuquerque about building a housing development in Portales that would have between 70 and 100 homes. Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega said the proposed project would have homes ranging from $80,000 to $120,000. City councilors by general consensus instructed Ortega, City Manager Debi Lee, and Economic Development Director Jeremy Sturm to move forward with planning for a possible development next to the Portales Country Club golf course. “We have a g...
Tuesday was the first day for classes at Eastern New Mexico University and university students used the day to break in the new state-of-the-art communications building. Scott Smart, vice president for business affairs at ENMU, updated the ENMU Regents on the construction projects taking place or scheduled for the 2006 year during Wednesday’s ENMU Board of Regents meeting in Santa Fe. “We’re excited about our projects and it’s definitely exciting to have the new communications building open on Tuesday,” Smart said. The 34,00...
The Dora Municipal Schools buildings are going through a facelift and teachers and administrators are anxious to settle into the building. One of the major aspects of the construction project is a new 16,470-square-foot addition which will join together the high school and elementary buildings. The area between the high school and elementary buildings was previously open space. “We’re excited about moving into the new building,” Steve Barron, Dora Municipal Schools superintendent, said. “We’re anxious to have all of the co...
Tuesday was the start of the 2006 legislative session and hospital officials want a portion of the excess amount of capital outlay revenue for an intensive care unit. Monday was the first day of the 30-day session, which with the help of oil and gas revenues, has created the largest surplus in New Mexico history with more than $500 million, according to associated press reports. The Roosevelt General Hospital Board of Trustee members during Tuesday’s board meeting gave approval for James D’Agostino, hospital adm...
New street lights down the sidewalk off of First Street in front of Portales City Hall and extending past the Doerr and Knudson attorney offices are in the near future for Portales. Jeremy Sturm, economic development director for the city, said during Tuesday’s city council meeting that light posts have been ordered and will be placed along First Street as part of an $85,000 streetscape grant. During the meeting city councilors approved sending a reimbursement request of $20,000 to the New Mexico Department of T... Full story
As soon as an apartment or house opens up for rent in Portales someone is there to lease it and many realtors are having to turn away prospective renters. Everyone involved in the property management business is having to turn away inquiries and most have only a few apartments or houses available. Doug Downs, Master Realty property manager, said he has one two-bedroom house available out of the 80-to-85 properties that he manages. “It’s been very busy,” Downs said about January. “There’s an extreme demand for a place to...
The National High School Rodeo Association selected Jake Bonner of Portales as one of the top rookies for his region and he was chosen to the Wrangler High School All-Star Rodeo Team. According to a press release from the NHSRA, Bonner was appointed to the first-ever corporate-sponsored youth rodeo team. “I love rodeo and really enjoy it,” Bonner said. “It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing.” Bonner is a Portales High School sophomore and plays on the boys’ basketball team. Friday he played on the junior varsity team...
Portales residents in the 600 block of South Avenue A were without water at different times on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Officials blamed broken water pipes on poor maps being used to guide workers installing a fiber optic network for Yucca Telecom. Yucca Telecom held groundbreaking ceremonies on Tuesday for its network, an $11.3 million project intended to bring faster Internet, high-definition television and video on demand services to Portales. Raychel Randle, who lives in the affected area, said she was without... Full story
PORTALES — Brazier Construction officials are hopeful to start repaving of New Mexico Highway 206 by mid-March. A three-mile portion of loose gravel leading into the town of Dora has left area residents and travelers to deal with poor road conditions throughout the winter. Anthony Pacheco, a paving supervisor for the Colorado-based company, said once they begin laying the asphalt they will complete the work 60 to 90 days later. Pacheco said work on the $1.5 million highway project began Oct. 17. Pacheco said the c...
Cold weather delayed the completion of highway construction between Dora and Portales leaving the road partially gravel in places. Residents are adjusting to the road conditions, but worry about its safety and the broken windshields the gravel is causing. The goal is to complete the highway project by June, according to a press release from the New Mexico Department of Transportation. Manon Arnett, public information officer for District 2, said the $1.5 million project between mile posts 58-82 miles on N.M. 206 is still bein... Full story
Portales Mayor Orlando Ortega first announced he would be running for re-election on Dec. 22 and now he is running unopposed in the March 7 election. Tuesday was the only day for filing candidacy for the mayor’s position, four city wards and the municipal judge. Ortega, 43, won the mayoral election in 2002. The only other position which has only one candidate is Ward C. Ron Jackson, incumbent city councilor, is running unopposed. Jackson, 45, has served four years as city councilor and is also the chairman of the Portales R...
