Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1941: Two vehicles had been washed away and railroad tracks at Friona were impassable due to flood waters.
“Following on the heels of a cloudburst early Wednesday night, water covered many major highways ... and finished the job of earlier rains in completely washing away the Clovis-Grady highway bridge approach over Frio, 20 miles north (of Clovis),” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
No injuries had been reported.
Record rainfall totals across the region were set in 1941 and stand today.
Clovis recorded 44 inches of moisture in 1941, while Portales had 41 inches.
About 12 inches fell across the area in May of that year.
1945: Military and civilian personnel at Clovis Army Air Field were cutting back on cigarettes. A more-stringent War Department system was going into effect that would cut the cigarette supply in half.
1946: Clovis Probate Judge W. E. McConnell said he experienced a first in his 16 years on the bench:
A young lady accused of defacing a public building paid a $10 fine, then asked the judge to perform her marriage ceremony.
“... (I)mmediately after giving the young lady a severe talking to for the building defacing escapade, the judge solemnly united the offender and her chosen one and wished them a very happy married life,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1965: Eastern New Mexico University had named 286 candidates for graduation — 51 for graduate degrees and 235 for undergraduate degrees.
ENMU officials said the number exceeded by 15 the number graduating a year earlier.
Commencement speaker was to be New Mexico Supreme Court Justice J.C. Compton.
1966: An 18-year-old Eastern New Mexico University freshman from California had pleaded guilty to passing $86 worth of forged checks to Portales businesses.
Judge Dee Blythe deferred sentencing for one year after the teen made restitution.
1969: Missouri Beef Packers Inc. in Friona was accepting applications for full-time employment.
“No Experience Necessary — We Will Train,” a newspaper ad read.
Base wages were $2.40 to $3.15 per hour. The company also offered paid health and medical insurance, paid vacations and paid holidays plus other benefits.
1972: A rancher 5 miles north of Melrose lost 58 head of cattle in a Sunday night storm.
“There’s no way to figure the cost of this to me,” Deon Dodd said as he replaced fencing removed to allow trucks to haul carcasses away.
He estimated the animals’ value at $10,000 “at the least.” The cost of replacing the herd was unknown.
Dodd told a reporter the cattle were near a lake on his property when they were likely killed by lightning “either while they stood bunched together in water around the lake or while they were crowded against a barbed wire fence that runs through the lake,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
But he said some of the cattle might have died from drowning, rushing into the water after being stunned by the bolt of lightning.
“We’ll never know for sure,” he said.
The storm dumped 3.2 inches of rain on Dodd’s ranch and left large drifts of hail across the region.
Dodd spent much of his night and early the next morning using his tractor to help motorists get through an area of State Road 88 that was covered by several feet of water.
He said he did not know how many cattle he’d lost. He said 11 head of livestock in the same pasture survived the storm.
“After word of his loss spread through the Melrose community, help started coming from friends and neighbors,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. “Mrs. Mary Lou Bagwell at the First National Bank branch in Melrose said people were contributing money and in many cases were giving calves to help Dodd replenish his herd.”
Dodd said he was deeply moved by the help.
“Be sure and express my thanks,” he told a reporter. “My neighbors have sure been nice.”
1975: Benny Binion had announced he would not be bringing his popular stage coach from Las Vegas, Nev., to participate in this year’s Pioneer Days Parade in Clovis.
But Chamber of Commerce officials said 64 entries had been signed up, including the Owens Country Sausage shetland horses, New Mexico Miss Rodeo Pageant contestants and Ronald McDonald the clown.
The parade was to wind down Main Street, starting at 10 a.m. June 7.
1983: The Llano Estacado Computer Club was starting its third year in Clovis and looking forward to “increasing membership as computers become part of daily life,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Gina Nuemann, president of the club, said some of the members used computers for business, but others were interested in them only as a hobby.
“We try to appeal to the widest segment who’d be interested,” she said.
“We have to do away with the idea that the computer is a brain that is going to take over,” said Larry Bussanmas, vice president of the group. “It’s a sophisticated calculator that’s used as a tool. When people realize that, they won’t feel so intimidated.”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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