Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sept. 27
On this date ...
1930: New Mexico Drug Co. in Portales was reminding parents:
“Now is the time to have your child vaccinated for Typhoid, and we are making a special reduction to school children - 65 cents for the treatment.”
1940: “Romance! Action! Drama! Filmed in natural color!”
That's what you could expect if you went to see Henry Fonda starring in “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” at Clovis' State theater.
1947: Clovis radio station KICA began moving from its former studio at the corner of Fourth and Main streets to its new building at Sixth and Pile.
1950: Coffee, cake, ice cream and balloons for the kiddies were promised to those attending a sneak preview of the new Furr Food Store slated to open soon at Sixth and Pile streets in Clovis.
The store was going to be “100% self service,” according to its promotional advertising.
1950: Levine’s in Clovis promoted its image as “fashion on a budget.”
The department store offered 100% wool coats for $24.98.
Autumn colors included rust, wine, red, kelley, grey and black.
1952: Clovis Boy Scouts were participating in a national "get out the vote" campaign by distributing posters and "liberty bell cutouts" throughout the city in a nonpartisan effort to encourage registration and participation in the upcoming presidential election.
Boy Scouts Bobby Baker from Troop 85, Church of the Nazarene, and Billy J. McKinney, Troop 214, Central Baptist Church, made the front page of the Clovis News-Journal when they presented the first window poster of the local drive to Clovis Mayor Ned Houk.
1957: A letter from Rogers dairy farmer Mayo Varnell was featured in a large advertisement for Price's Creameries of Portales.
Varnell touted the value of "milk tanks or bulk milk coolers," which were being installed at dairies across the United States.
"I have wanted a tank for a year or two, and had a 300 gallon tank installed about three months ago," Varnell wrote. "I believe I would quit dairying if I had to go back and use those 10 gallon cans."
According to the newspaper ad, Varnell was "one of the many milk producers in Curry and Roosevelt counties" using the new technology to "produce cleaner, colder, better milk for folks in eastern New Mexico and West Texas."
1957: Mrs. F.H. Woodard, of 505 E. Heman St. in Tucumcari, received the keys to her new Edsel, won in a Safeway Stores, Inc., contest. Tucumcari Safeway Manager Bob McDaniel made the presentation, featured on the front page of the Tucumcari Daily News.
1962: The Clovis city commission instructed its city attorney to draw up a curfew law aimed at juvenile delinquents. About 30 businessmen led the drive for the curfew. One said he’d sustained a $6,000 financial loss due to late-night burglaries. Juveniles were accused of pulling a man from his car on Main Street and beating him up. Police Chief Loyd Niece said his department was woefully understaffed with just 22 officers.
1970: Republican Pete Domenici had pledged to fight illegal drugs during a day of campaigning for governor in “hippie-conscious” Taos, the Portales News-Tribune reported.
“If I'm elected, we will immediately after the election begin to find out a way to put together the resources of this state to fight this kind of thing,” Domenici said.
He lost the governor's race to Democrat Bruce King, but was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972.
1974: Drive-in movie options for Clovis included Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” at the LaFonda and “Ride in a Pink Car” at the Yucca. The Lyceum on Main Street offered a double feature — “Relations” and “Cry Uncle,” both rated X.
1975: More than 5,000 people were “obviously delighted” with performances of the Air Force Thunderbirds and Golden Knights Parachute Team at Cannon AFB's annual open house, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Static displays included World War II vintage aircraft, a B25 and an AT6, flown in by members of the Confederate Air Force.
The day also included a parade of floats.
1975: The Jordan (Roosevelt County) correspondent for the Clovis News-Journal issued an apology to readers:
“We want to apologize to those area residents who gave us news that hasn’t been printed. Some pages got torn out of our news notebook and lost.”
1976: A coyote, a monkey, a raccoon and a Tasmanian devil had been returned to their homes at Clovis’ Hillcrest Park Zoo, but only after several dramatic chases.
Officials said someone with wire cutters had freed the animals from their cages overnight.
Police were first notified a coyote was roaming the streets near Ash and 14th. After a lengthy chase, five uniformed officers cornered the animal in an alley at Sycamore and Seventh streets.
Limey Thomas, who lived at 1102 E. Seventh, heard about the pursuit and brought his rope to the standoff.
Thomas lassoed the coyote and it was whisked away in an animal control truck.
The monkey never strayed far from home. A boy named Lonnie Thebodeau saw it on top of the monkey cages and climbed up to capture it.
“Unfortunately, the monkey was as frightened as Lonnie was brave,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
“It cut the boy’s left cheek quite severely, necessitating 13 stitches at the hospital.”
A zoo attendant then used a water hose to chase the monkey back into its cage.
The Tasmanian devil — a marsupial the size of a small dog — was spotted playing in Hillcrest Park’s trees by Clovis High School band students who were having a Sunday afternoon barbecue.
They notified police who failed in repeated attempts to bring the critter down with a tranquilizer gun.
The fire department then came in with high-pressure water hoses.
“I’d bet they sprayed enough water at him to put out three house fires,” Police Officer Scott Price said. But the animal remained in the trees.
Finally, a firefighter on a ladder hooked a rope around a tree branch and shook it until the animal fell.
“Its fall was broken by four boys who caught it in a blanket,” CN-J reported.
The raccoon was located at 1709 Wilshire, where it was lured by bags of salted peanuts and captured peacefully.
Zoo officials reported a second coyote was still missing.
1990: One of Clovis’ newest pastors could do more than preach.
Scott Blazek, the new minister at Immanuel Lutheran Church of Clovis, had illustrated four children’s books.
“I had two aspirations — one, to be a Lutheran minister, and the other, to be an illustrator,” Blazek told the Clovis News Journal.
He’d moved to Clovis five months earlier from New Orleans.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
