Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1911: Roosevelt County commissioners ordered there be light in the county courthouse.
“It is the order of the board that the court house be wired for lighting by the Public Service Co. as per contract to be hereafter agreed upon by the board and Public Service Co.,” the Roosevelt County Herald reported.
Terms of that contract were not reported.
1931: Don Foster, previously the “popular, progressive and efficient superintendent of the Floyd schools,” had been selected agricultural agent for Curry County, the Portales Valley News reported.
Foster planned to move into his new position in April, so that he could complete most of the school term.
“There is no teacher in the county more popular than Mr. Foster, and during his years of teaching in the county he has brought much recognition to his school due to the success of his teams in vocational work,” the newspaper reported.
1931: New Mexico Utilities Co. encouraged its customers to take advantage of services.
“A penny becomes a lot of money when it is spent for electrical service,” a newspaper ad stated.
“Electricity is cheap. Use more of it.”
1941: Two men and one woman, all from Portales, had been arrested on charges of illegal possession of liquor following a raid by police.
Officials said they confiscated 40 pints of whiskey from a cafe operated by the woman.
The men arrested were from a different city cafe.
All three pleaded not guilty to the charges and were awaiting trial.
1956: Temperatures across the region dipped into the teens and most of the area awoke to snow-covered streets and lawns.
Clovis recorded a quarter-inch of snow.
1961: Bynum Motors had delivered a 1961 model GMC pickup to Edwin Garnett, assistant county agent in charge of Roosevelt County 4-H programs.
Cecil Bynum said the truck was to be used for 4-H work, and that a new model would be provided for the same purpose in 1962.
1961: The fourth annual East Plains Athletic Conference tournament was about to tip off in Melrose.
Joe Bilberry was leading the Floyd Broncos, “frequently hitting over 20 points in a game,” the Portales News-Tribune reported. “His teammates have not given him enough support to ensure any consistent amount of victories, however.”
Floyd went into the tourney with a 2-9 record. It lost to Grady in the first round, with Bilberry scoring 17 points.
1966: Parmer County residents were preparing to honor their longtime sheriff with an appreciation night.
Charles Lovelace, in his fifth term, had been in office 18 years.
Lovelace, first elected in 1948, had never had an opponent in his successful bids for re-election.
1967: Firefighters battled a blaze at a Portales duplex on Brazos Street for nearly an hour before bringing it under control.
Firefighter Ralph Carter said the fire apparently started in an attic after a stove pipe “got too hot.”
No injuries were reported.
Damage was estimated at $1,000 to the roof, plus considerable smoke and water damage throughout the interior of the home.
1973: Traveling chess master John Hall was lined up to tackle some of the best chess players in eastern New Mexico during an exhibition hosted by Eastern New Mexico University.
Anyone who wanted to try their hand against Hall was encouraged to sign up with Bill Martin, assistant director of the Campus Union Building at Eastern.
Hall’s purported talents included being able to play against 25 to 100 challengers at the same time (rapidly moving between boards), playing blindfolded against opponents who were not, and playing lightning chess in which he had five minutes to checkmate an opponent.
1977: Following the execution of Gary Gilmore, who killed a motel clerk in Utah, area residents were polled on their views about the death penalty.
Rev. Earl Landtroop, a retired Baptist preacher, said New Mexico should reinstate the death penalty for some crimes. But he said he would not watch an execution if it were televised.
Betty Moshier, who lived at 704 W. 18th in Clovis, said the death penalty was a “necessity” for New Mexico. “I think it would help eliminate crime if we had the death penalty,” she said.
Santiago Hidalgo, of 404 Jones in Clovis, had mixed feelings on the topic.
“Let the people vote on it,” he said.
1983: The Curry County Commission voted to rescind a pay raise it had approved two weeks earlier for county elected officials.
The New Mexico Legislature had passed legislation allowing raises of up to 25% for elected county officials, but the state attorney general’s office later issued an opinion citing the raises as unconstitutional.
Curry County Commission Chair Travis Stovall and commissioners Cullen Williams and Claude Burkett agreed to withhold action until the issue was settled at a state level.
“We don’t want to get into any more squabbles with anybody,” Stovall told the Clovis News-Journal. “We need to be as legal as we know how to be.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
