Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1951: Temperatures in the 80s a day earlier plummeted into the 40s and high winds produced “one of the season’s worst dust storms,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
While rain threatened the region, none was reported.
1956: Recreational shooting in the Roosevelt County sandhills left a Clovis man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
James Bergen, who lived at 1017 Hull St., said he was helping one of his children fire a .22-caliber pistol when a stray bullet from another group of shooters struck him just above his left shoulder blade.
Bergen was treated at Clovis Memorial Hospital.
State Police Patrolman Bill Bullock said five boys were found about a quarter-mile from the Bergen party. They were shooting tin cans with their rifles and did not see Bergen or his family, who were “a sand dune or two away,” Bullock said.
No charges were filed in the incident.
1960: Eastern New Mexico University’s board of regents unanimously found the school’s business manager guilty of insubordination.
Leonard Price had written a memo, claiming university President Floyd Golden was “incompetent” and “unable to cope with the complexities at the university.” He wrote that the “entire administration should be removed and replaced with competent leadership.”
Price told the regents he was suffering from a severe headache when he wrote the memo and told them “there are implications in the letter which I did not intend.”
Despite his request to withdraw the letter, he was soon dismissed from his position and then hospitalized for “hypertension,” according to media reports.
Golden resigned three weeks later, but would become president emeritus after serving as a consultant to find his successor.
1964: Teola Artman received a 25-year veterans award for service to area Boy Scouts. The El Llano Grande District of the Conquistador Council presented the award at its annual banquet.
Artman was also active in local Girl Scouts. She was instrumental in starting both organizations in Clovis in the 1930s.
1967: Staff Sgt. Ernie Arsenault had a double and two home runs to lead Cannon Air Force Base past Reese Air Force Base in the first of a doubleheader softball game at Cannon.
Arsenault was also the winning pitcher.
The 12-year Air Force veteran was assigned to base supply and worked in fire maintenance. He was the father of four boys.
1970: New Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Eastern New Mexico University could keep teacher salaries secret, for now, if its board of regents promptly appealed a Roosevelt County District Court decision to make them public.
ENMU student journalists Ernest Sanchez and Arthur Dula took the college to court, claiming its 280 teacher salaries should be made public.
1975: Dr. Jerry Gregory was relocating his office from 301 Third St. in Farwell to West Plains Memorial Hospital in Muleshoe.
1975: Choral students at Gattis Junior High School in Clovis were preparing for their annual variety show, “Gattis Gaieties.” A “Charlie Brown” presentation featured Chuck Tipton as Charlie Brown, Ralene Robinson as Snoopy and Barry Kelly as Linus.
1982: Woolco was promoting its annual outdoor living sale.
A 12-foot by 36-inch swimming pool was $136.
Kodak film was $1.32 per roll.
Five-gallon fruit and shade trees were $6.88.
Woolco was located in Clovis’ Hilltop Plaza Shopping Center.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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