Pages past — March 10

On this date ...

1975: New Mexico State Highway Department employee David Dunn told police someone had run over two machines being used to count traffic. The machines were valued around $500 each. Clovis police also worked reports of a dog bite at 821 Gidding, a broken car window at 908 Plains and a gas tank vandalized at 2929 W. Ninth.

1960: Portales police were looking for a rock thrower who had busted at least five large plate-glass windows in a week. The latest victim was Frank’s University Food Store on Second Street. Store owner N. B. Franks said there was no question the windows were broken by accident. A rock found 10 feet inside the store was as large as a 6-year-old’s head, he said. No attempt had been made to steal anything from Frank’s or from Cooper-Hobbs Chevrolet, which lost windows a week earlier. Baker said the only motivation for the vandalism was “meanness.”

1957: Dora school officials were fighting a losing battle with the smell of skunks. Faculty member W. A. Stevenson said the problem began after school officials put rat poison under the buildings. “Apparently the poisoned rats were eaten by the skunks, and the skunks had time to counteract before the effects of the poison put them out of action,” Stevenson said. Deodorizers had done nothing to offset the skunk smell and several classrooms had been abandoned because the odor was so strong, officials said. Only time could erase a skunk, Stevenson reasoned.

Their business ...

1975: The Wood Yard, at 105 Pile in Clovis, offered pinon, juniper, oak, hickory, mesquite, apple or cedar. Firewood could be purchased by the cord or by the pound, wholesale or retail.

He should know ...

1965: Bob Veith, a veteran of eight Indy 500 races, told students at Marshall and Gattis junior high schools that a seat belt saved his life when he crashed at 165 mph and slid upside down for 900 feet. Veith also told students that seat belts aid in avoiding accidents because they support the driver on turns and prevent jolts and bumps that would otherwise knock the driver out of position.

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

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