Pages past - Jan. 17

On this date ...

1983: The Curry County Commission voted to rescind a pay raise it had approved two weeks earlier for county elected officials.

The New Mexico Legislature had passed legislation allowing raises of up to 25 percent for elected county officials, but the state attorney general's office later issued an opinion citing the raises as unconstitutional.

Curry County Commission chair Travis Stovall, and commissioners Cullen Williams and Claude Burkett agreed to withhold action until the issue was settled at a state level.

"We don't want to get into any more squabbles with anybody," Stovall told the Clovis News-Journal. "We need to be as legal as we know how to be."

1973: Traveling chess master John Hall was lined up to tackle some of the best chess players in eastern New Mexico during an exhibition hosted by Eastern New Mexico University.

Anyone who wanted to try their hand against Hall was encouraged to sign up with Bill Martin, assistant director of the Campus Union Building at Eastern.

Hall's purported talents included being able to play against 25 to 100 challengers at the same time (rapidly moving between boards), playing blindfolded against opponents who were not, and playing lightning chess in which he had five minutes to checkmate an opponent.

Pages Past is compiled by Betty Williamson. Contact her at: [email protected]