Pages past — Oct. 30

On this date …

1971: Clovis police reported two youngsters received tainted candy during Saturday night trick-or-treating. A family on Sunland Drive showed officials a Baby Ruth candy bar that contained a sewing machine needle in its center. Another report showed a piece of peanut brittle given to a child had been doused with rubbing alcohol.

1965: Automobile accidents left two Cannon Air Force Base personnel hospitalized. Police said a 19-year-old driver attempted to pass a vehicle driven by a Cannon sergeant when the sergeant increased his speed. Both drivers lost control, one vehicle colliding with a utility pole, the other rolling onto its side. The sergeant and a passenger in the teen’s vehicle, an airman, were both admitted to local hospitals. The wreck occurred near Grier, 12 miles west of Clovis.

1946: A “false claim racket” was rampant in Clovis. A girl returned to the Silver Grill restaurant to pick up the grey, wool, tailored coat she had left behind. She was told the coat had been given to another person who claimed the coat belonged to them. Two billfolds left in local stores had also recently been claimed by persons other than their owners, police said.

Dining in style …

1955: Montgomery Ward, at 307 Main St. in Clovis, offered $50 off a seven-piece “modern dinette,” whose “plastic top defies abuse.” For $99.88, the dinette sets were available in black and brass or copper and chrome.

Go figure …

2: times Clovis Sailor Francisco Anaya married Maria Chavez in 1966-67. The couple was first married on July 25, 1966, by a justice of the peace in Clovis but decided they wanted to exchange vows in a Catholic ceremony. So they were married again by a Catholic chaplain on Oct. 21, 1967, aboard the USS Kitty Hawk shortly after the ship pulled away from the dock in San Diego. The Anayas quipped their second marriage ceremony was a little “shakier” than the first. The Kitty Hawk carried Francisco Anaya to Vietnam soon after the ceremony.

Pages Past is compiled by Clovis News Journal Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

[email protected]