Pages past, Oct. 5: T-Bird not quite fast enough

On this date …

1962: A 23-year-old diesel mechanic from Yuma, Ariz., was in the Roosevelt County jail for speeding after he also attempted to elude police.

Norman Thrun “lost two races,” the Portales News-Tribune reported.

State Police Officer Dick Gibson first encountered Thrun traveling 100 mph in his 1962 Thunderbird on U.S. 70 between Portales and Elida. The posted speed limit was 70 mph. Gibson “managed to overtake and stop the sports car,” the newspaper reported.

The officer instructed Thrun to follow him back to Portales for a records check on the car. As they approached the city, Gibson observed Thrun and his 20-year-old girlfriend “jump out of the T-bird and dash across the campus” of Eastern New Mexico University.

The woman was quickly apprehended after she attempted to hide in an alley, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity saw Thrun duck into the Church of Christ recreational hall and told Gibson where he’d gone.

Thrun was apprehended in a rest room and taken into police custody.

Thrun pleaded guilty to the speeding charge and was fined $30 plus court costs. Since he had no money, Justice of the Peace Eldon Whitten told Thrun he could “lay out the fine at the rate of $5 per day” in the county jail.

Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens. Contact:

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