Pages past, April 5: 14th & Main congested in Clovis

On this date ...

1939: Edmund Dillon was welcomed to the Kiwanis Club in Clovis when new members met at the Harvey House for their weekly luncheon.

Burke Culpepper, a visiting evangelist from Memphis, Tenn., gave a “fine talk” about “the milk of human kindness,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

Dillon was the son of pioneer Clovis doctor A.L. Dillon and Dixie Morrow. The Dillon family donated the land where Plains Regional Medical Center is located today.

1960: Portales voters sent Mayor Heck Harris to a second term, but gave him four new council members and a new police judge to work with.

Harris received 1,092 votes to 444 for Hugh Bishop, who also lost to Harris in 1958. New council members were James Kiker, Al Mallory, Doyle Usrey and Olen Rhoton. Keith Rowland defeated three opponents for the police judge position.

1961: Voters in the Dora school district approved building an elementary school with six classrooms.

Construction cost, including a central heating system and an addition to the school’s gymnasium, was estimated at $160,000.

Voters approved the measure, 189-119.

1967: Four Clovis boxers were preparing to compete in the National AAU Tournament in San Diego.

Earl Large, the National Golden Gloves 119-pound champion, Brooks Byrd, the 125-pound Golden Gloves champion, Ruben Rubio, at 105 pounds, and Clarence Mayfield, at 112 pounds, had each won their weight classes in the regional AAU tournament in El Paso.

Large and Byrd won the national tournaments, according to Boxrec.com.

Sgt. Rubio was killed in Vietnam on July 6, 1971.

1971: Traffic congestion at Clovis’ busiest shopping center — located at 14th and Main streets — “tries the patience,” according to the secretary of the City Traffic Committee.

Henry Patton said the committee was looking into options for controlling the movement of the traffic around the shops.

Patton also said traffic on Mabry Drive and Norris streets was “heavy enough to warrant improvement,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

1971: A district court in Santa Fe ruled in favor of a former Eastern New Mexico University professor who appealed his dismissal from his position as art professor.

Richard Hillis claimed he should have been notified of his dismissal on or before March 1, 1968, as provided in the faculty handbook. Since he was not notified of his dismissal until after March 15, the court ruled he had an “expectation of re-employment.”

1973: Cook’s Discount Department Store had a full page ad in the Clovis News-Journal. Here are a few of the items featured:

A “rapid data mini calculator” that ran on four AA batteries and promised “addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and chain” for $48.86, instead of the regular price of $69.95.

A General Electric cassette player for only $19.97, with a regular price of $25.76.

A Sunbeam “Iron of Today,” with built-in steam for $10.99.

A General Electric “Detangler,” that for $13.97 pledged to “glide gently through wet or dry hair,” minimizing “breakage and pullout.”

1975: A Farwell man won a seat on the City Council, defeating five other candidates. All six were write-ins because no candidate filed before the deadline.

Ralph Franse, manager of a Farwell irrigation equipment company, harnessed 146 votes to capture the position. James Craig was second with 72 votes.

“The election attracted a total of 234 voters, one of the largest turnouts in recent Farwell history,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

1975: Officials said 907 juveniles were arrested by Clovis police in 1974. Only 97 of those youth appeared before the children’s court and 54 were sent to the Boys School in Springer.

The Clovis News-Journal reported the vast majority of juvenile arrests were handled “unofficially” by the Curry County Juvenile Probation Office.

1982: Four Portales brothers and sisters, ranging in age from 4 months to 12 years, died in a car crash on the Lovington highway, just south of Portales.

State Police said the car’s driver turned in front of a truck pulling a trailer.

Two other children and their mother were hospitalized.

The truck driver was not injured.

1988: Area livestock owners were assessing losses after a storm the previous week dumped up to 15 inches of snow in the Yeso area, along with freezing rain and winds of 30-50 mph.

The storm passed through Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, and Lincoln counties, and was especially hard on sheep, many of which had been recently sheared.

Yeso rancher Charlie Overton was one of the hardest hit, losing 300 sheep his crew had sheared only the day before.

“It’s going to be a great loss come fall when we don’t have anything to sell,” Overton said. “It’s going to cripple the sheep industry in this area.”

1992: A Texico High School junior was one of five New Mexico students who attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Security and Defense in Washington, D.C.

Peggy Kelly, 17, said she did not know why she was chosen for the conference, but said it may have been because of her scores on a military entrance exam she took.

Kelly said she attended up to six lectures per day but also found time for sightseeing.

Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:

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