Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1950: A Seagraves, Texas, man was arrested by Texas Rangers on suspicion of stealing cattle near Texico.
Investigators received a tip the Seagraves man may have been involved in multiple area cattle thefts and they soon learned he'd spent time in prison for similar cattle thefts.
The suspect was identified as the man who sold a stolen cow and steer to a rancher near Hugoton, Kan.
1956: New Mexico Gov. John Simms was in Clovis to speak to Kiwanis Club members about juvenile crime.
Simms said the state would be increasing spending at the Springer Industrial School for Boys as the population increased.
He said the facility averaged about 255 juvenile inmates, but authorities were expecting that number to soar beyond 400 by 1965. Some were estimating more than 700 boys could be in the facility by the middle of the decade.
1960: Mrs. Cecil Parks, head of the piece goods department at Portales' J.C. Penney's, had sold a dress design to McCall's Pattern Corp.
The design was for a beige and brown regulated cotton "Western dress," Parks said.
She did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
1961: Lynn Berry, 7, and his brother Glenn, 3, were pictured on the front page of the Clovis News-Journal with a prized possession - the boys caught a frog as big as a dinner plate.
Lynn Berry said they found the creature while playing on their grandfather's farm four miles west of Portales.
1967: Three thefts and two burglaries had been reported in Clovis over the weekend.
Thieves snatched bicycles from 221 York and from 316 Merriwether, according to police reports. A new tire and rim was taken from 1016 E. Fifth St.
Burglars broke into homes at 611 E. 10th St. and 1001 Hondo. Nothing was reported stolen from the 10th Street residence, but on Hondo the resident reported a lamp, bedding, sewing machine and a Bible were missing.
1971: Mariachi music filled the air at the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds.
The community was celebrating its third annual Fiesta de Portales.
Manuelito and Gabriel Cordova were among the younger performers. They lived at 1108 N. Abilene in Portales.
1973: Police were searching for two men who robbed an Allsup's 7-11 store in Clovis, getting away with more than $350.
"(T)wo men wearing paper sacks over their heads with eye holes cut out entered the 7-11 store and one of them ordered, 'Give me your money. Give me your money right now. Give me your money or I'm going to shoot you,'" a Clovis police report read.
Jason McCormick, the store clerk, told police the robbers had demanded cash from the registers and a change sack kept in the store only on weekends. McCormick said "only a few persons" knew about the change sack.
It was the second consecutive day McCormick had come face-to-face with a gun while working at the store at Grand and Prince streets.
The previous day McCormick told police he'd chased away a would-be robber who was armed with a blank starter pistol.
1975: A Clovis News-Journal review by Diana Seiffert began, "Go. Even if it's the last two dollars in your pocket you'll be spending, don't miss ENMU's 'Man of La Mancha.'"
The Eastern New Mexico University school of music had put together "one of the most natural pieces of theater to come out of Portales in years," Seiffert wrote.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
