Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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PORTALES - Though the wind wasn't too cooperative, a protest about the death of George Floyd otherwise came off smoothly and peacefully Thursday night in front of the Roosevelt County Courthouse. A planned candlelight vigil was ruined by gusty winds; a few gusts even knocked a box of candles off a bench. But the rally went on, with African-American, Hispanic and white voices heard through speeches and readings, as protests of Floyd's death neared the end of their third week....
PORTALES — A Portales man was charged Tuesday in connection to a shooting a week prior, according to court records. Oracia Ornelas, 38, was booked into the Roosevelt County Detention Center June 3 on unrelated charges of resisting, evading or obstructing an officer and concealing identity. New charges include aggravated battery and felony receipt, transportation or possession of a firearm or destructive device. According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Roosevelt County Magistrate Court: • Police were called to res...
CLOVIS — Citing an apparent stalemate with the Department of Defense on the use of firefighting foam, Curry County put off a decision Wednesday on a mutual aid agreement between Cannon Air Force Base and county fire departments. Commissioners were briefed by County Manager Lance Pyle and County Attorney Steve Doerr on a clause that troubled them. The agreement would keep the Cannon fire department at the county’s disposal to help on nearby fires, provided the department didn’t have a prior obligation on base. However, this...
MELROSE — 2020 has been a unique year, and mostly not in a good way because of COVID-19. There’s no exception for Melrose, or its old-timers. The Melrose School Alumni Banquet, originally scheduled for early August, has been postponed to next year. And so has the Melrose Old-Timers Day, held in conjunction with the weekend. “We have had to postpone Old-Timers Day for one year because we don’t feel like we can meet the (safety) requirements,” said Gordon Morris, a longtime member of the Melrose Rotary Club, which has taken...
PORTALES — The Portales City Council plans to honor a longtime firefighter for the city department when it meets Tuesday evening in regular session. The 6:30 p.m. meeting at the auditorium of the Portales Memorial Building will feature a segment to acknowledge Lance Hill, who retired as battalion chief after 21 years of service to the department. Other items on the Tuesday agenda include: • A resolution to authorize participation in the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Local Government Road Fund Program. The $100,...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County Detention Center officials on Friday reported an officer has tested positive for COVID-19. The officer, who was not named, was tested on Tuesday and is quarantined at home. The positive test is the first confirmed by the Department of Health at the facility, according to a county news release. The release stated that on May 19-20, all of the RCDC staff and about 75% of detainees voluntarily took tests, with all coming back negative. In partnership with Wellpath, the center’s onsite medical provider...
CLOVIS — For Darrel Ray, it’s back to the future. Ray is now both the former and present head coach of Clovis High’s varsity volleyball team. His program was the class of District 4-5A when he coached its varsity from 2000-2010, and this past week it was announced that he would return to that position this upcoming season. Ray succeeds Ruth Chavez, who spent 28 years in Portales’ volleyball program — 14 as head coach — and served as Clovis’ head volleyball coach from 2017-20 before returning to the Rams this offseason to...
Curry Resident Senior Meals Association 901 W. 13th St., Clovis 575-762-9405 Monday: Salisbury steak w/mushroom gravy, baked potato, peas and carrots, dinner roll w/margarine, pineapple pudding Tuesday: Chicken and noodles, green beans, dinner roll w/margarine, spice apples Wednesday: Baked ham w/pineapple sauce, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, dinner roll w/margarine, ice cream Thursday: BBQ chicken sandwich, potato chips, baked beans, fruit cobbler Friday: Taco salad w/fixings, pinto beans, peaches Community...
After 38 years in the role of a husband, you would think I should be getting better at it. I think I’ve probably got a little more to learn. If I don’t write about her in my column around our anniversary I often write her a letter or at least a good mushy card. Some of those letters were pretty darn good but I don’t know how many extra points you get for creative writing when you’re just trying to get through life. Here’s an example from one of those personal letters:...
These books are available at the Clovis-Carver Public Library: “Beyond the Valley” by Al Lacy travels west with journalists Adam Cooper and Doug McClain, along with their sweethearts, as they board a railcar to follow a dream — the chance to start their own newspaper. What they encounter on their journey, however, is heartbreak. Meanwhile, in Fort Bridger, Hannah Cooper’s friend Carrie Wright strives to overcome a tragic loss. Pressing on by faith, Adam, Doug, and the brave women of the frontier struggle with the harsh l...
Information on making sure enzymes in our food work for our bodies instead of causing health issues, transferring images onto fabric, and the versatility of fresh and dried figs will be the featured topics on “Creative Living” 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and noon Thursday (all times Mountain). Chef Rhonda Beyreis will demonstrate how to make sure the enzymes in our food work for our bodies instead of causing health issues. She’ll show how to make a Raw Chocolate Mousse which shares the...
Getting rid of the police. Now there’s a brilliant, progressive way to improve the criminal justice system. There’s no question there are systemic problems with the way we police our cities that we need to address and fix. But when Black Lives Matter and its allies begin demanding that cities like Minneapolis “defund the police” or get rid of their police departments altogether, it’s obvious they haven’t thought through what comes next. What will happen in the real world...
I have come to the realization that I am a member of antifa. This surprises me, since I’ve often been a huge critic of the mobs that rage in the streets and cause immense physical and emotional damage. I’ve written columns excoriating them, recorded podcasts condemning them, issued appeals to my friends on social media to confront them. But it occurred to me over the past two weeks of violence, of curfews, of erasures of history and abject apologies for crimes never committed that I am against fascism, and that makes me ant...
CLOVIS — It’s hard to find a workplace that wouldn’t value somebody who notices details too small for others to detect. Likewise, those same workplaces would love an employee who can draw people in through conversation. It seems, then, the Clovis Police Department was fortunate to get both of those things with Leon Morris and Doug Miller on staff. The two retired CPD officers died in May — Capt. Morris on May 14 at the age of 73, Sgt. Miller four days later at age 70. “They both had different personalities,” said Bob Morgan,...
Confronted by a clear and present fascist threat, the staff of The New York Times rose up early this month to humiliate and punish quislings in its ranks. In a now famous op-ed, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton called for federal troops to quell riots and looting, an idea that the Times staff considered worthy of Oswald Mosley or Benito Mussolini. As the Times was disavowing the Cotton piece and preparing to push out or demote its top opinion staffers for publishing it, columnist Mich...
In response to nationwide protests over the shameful death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump promises to go after antifa — as soon as he figures out what it is. No, that’s not exactly what the president announced. You have to read between the lines of his tweets, and not too deeply at that. “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump tweeted May 31, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House gates. More such statements were made by the president and sup...
Four Minneapolis police officers are justifiably facing murder or aiding and abetting charges in the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died after enduring nearly nine minutes of Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck as he lay on the ground. The protests — non-violent, destructive and even deadly — that have followed across the nation have received ample coverage in all media. Media reports also signal a new period of introspection as the nation again confronts racism and again reaches out for ways to end i...
Remember that time, just three years ago, when Clovis Mayor David Lansford told us there was no choice but to raise taxes? That was just so the city could continue operating without cutting services, he said. Thank goodness we don’t have money problems any more. The city of Clovis has so much of our money now it can afford to entertain us with a fireworks show. City commissioners on Friday night approved spending $10,000 for the big booms. The vote was 6-1, with only Helen Casaus acting like a responsible adult. Curry County...
Our newspaper would never endorse a political candidate who champions big government. There’s a need to be clear about that today because a Republican candidate for Congress recently paid Facebook to link one of our newspaper’s news reports to her campaign page. She was asked to remove the post because it felt like a subtle endorsement of her candidacy. But Alexis Johnson says including our newspaper’s name plate and news coverage as part of her paid advertising campaign is not suggesting the newspaper is endorsing her....
CLOVIS — An attempt by the Clovis Police Department to serve a warrant Thursday afternoon resulted in an officer firing a shot at a suspect’s vehicle, records show. The Clovis Police Department sent out a release Thursday evening indicating officers were attempting to locate Jesus Anaya, 26, on an outstanding warrant. According to the release: • Once Anaya was located in the driver’s seat of a white pickup truck along the street, officers instructed him to exit the vehicle. • Anaya was not compliant with officers, placed th...
Meetings are subject to change due to coronavirus concerns Tuesday • Civic Center Policy Committee — 3 p.m., North Annex, Clovis-Carver Library, 701 N. Main, Clovis. The public is invited to view the meeting at www.cityofclovis.org, or on Facebook at City of Clovis, NM (City Government). Information: 575-763-9654 • Portales City Council — 6:30 p.m., audio meeting. Public may listen on City of Portales Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/cityofportales/. Questions or comments from citizens may be submitted in writing...
Today • Flag Day Tuesday • Portales Public Library Virtual Summer Reading Program — Alchemy and Art: “Tangram Animals and Card Soldiers” — 10:30 a.m., Portales Public Library Facebook page. Crafts/experiments for second-sixth graders. Materials available in advance for curbside pickup while supplies last. Information: 575-356-3940 • Blood drive — 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Courthouse Café, 109 S. Main Ave., Portales. Register online at www.bloodhero.com. Advance appointments strongly recommended; all donors must arrive wearing masks. I...
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday ruled a Portales man’s conviction for fleeing law enforcement was correctly overturned. That’s because the Curry County Sheriff’s Office vehicle involved in the pursuit wasn’t adequately marked. The case of the late Roy Montano was combined with a similar case against William Daniel Martinez of San Juan County. Montano and Martinez were charged for aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Both defendants argued the sport utility vehicles...
CLOVIS — Hello, Curry County Expo. See you next year, Curry County Fair. Curry County commissioners said both things, and plenty more during a 45-minute conversation in a Wednesday special meeting. Commissioners said they felt their hands were tied by the prospect of continued mass gathering restrictions for a fair that normally draws more than 25,000 people over five days, and unanimously approved two motions: • Postponement of the fair to 2021 due to limitations on gatherings pursuant to state public health orders. • Sched...
CLOVIS — Independence Day fireworks, courtesy of your local governments. With city officials stressing the decision was a one-time deal, the Clovis City Commission voted 6-1 in a Friday special meeting to provide $10,000 in lodgers’ tax dollars for a 9 p.m. July 4 fireworks display. The show will be fired from what officials hope is a mostly empty Greene Acres Park. “It is not the Smoke on the Water event we all know and love,” Mayor Mike Morris said in opening the 18 minutes of discussion. “It is a fireworks display t...
