Pages past - March 14

On this date ...

1988: The 900 residents of Truchas, New Mexico, had been invited by director Robert Redford to be guests at the first showing of the film, "The Milagro Beanfield War," which was set to premiere in Santa Fe a few days later.

Many of the town's residents appeared as extras in the film and others worked on the set during the month Redford and his crew spent in Truchas in 1986 doing the film adaption of the John Nichols novel.

Redford had first planned to film the movie in Chimayo, but met opposition there, so moved 10 miles up the road to Truchas.

1968: Clovis printer Chick Taylor Jr. was selected as the new mayor during a reorganizational meeting of the Clovis city commission after Taylor and two other new commissioners were sworn in to start new terms. He replaced Ted Waldhauser, who had served as mayor for the past seven years.

Commissioner Newt Whitfield received the nod for mayor pro-tem, while city manager Marvin Haas and city attorney Harry Patton both retained their jobs.

The city commission at that time selected the mayor at the first meeting following an election. According to the Clovis News-Journal article, the "customary doctrine" was to assign the job to one of the newly-elected commissioners. Taylor, Richard Rowley, Jr., and Tom Hammack were the new members.

Pages Past is compiled by Betty Williamson. Contact her at:

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