Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1946: Almost every Portales business had plans to close its doors for a city-wide cleanup planned the following Thursday.
“Only postage stamps will be for sale,” area media reported.
The Portales City Council was encouraging everyone volunteer to help clean up the town and had drawn up an ordinance that would increase garbage collection fees and require health inspections of cow lots, chicken pens and open toilets.
1947: Clovis Police Chief Nelson Worley, Officer Herschel Pendley and City Hall Janitor Charley Sorrows were busy making 24 “stop,” “slow” and “go” signals to be used by Clovis junior police when they began their jobs of protecting school zones in a few days.
1954: Several area residents reported seeing a “green fire ball” in the eastern New Mexico skies about 8:40 p.m.
Dr. Ross Calvin of Clovis said it moved east to west and left a luminous greenish streak bent into a giant u.
Oscar Shay of Portales said it changed colors as he watched — from a yellow-white, to incandescent purple, to blue violet and finally a “blinding green.”
The light remained visible about 15 minutes.
National media reported more than 1,000 people at a Santa Fe football game also saw the fireball light up the sky.
Such sightings were not uncommon in the early 1950s. U.S. government officials were initially concerned because they were seen around military installations.
While some scientists believed the fireballs were meteors, others theorized they may have been Soviet spy devices.
The origins were never confirmed.
1955: Portales-area farmers were enjoying banner crops of broomcorn, potatoes, peanuts and cotton, but needed help with harvesting.
“The state employment office was asked to help obtain a supply (of workers) even if it meant bringing Mexican Nationals to this area,” United Press reported.
1960: A man accused of stealing $32,000 from a New Jersey bank on Sept. 12 was arrested in Clovis. City Police Chief Ollie Damron, Capt. Lloyd Niece of the Clovis PD and FBI Agent Frank Haines arrested the Long Branch, N.J., man at Hotel Clovis. The suspect told the officers he had $10,000 in cash.
1961: An editorial published in the Clovis News-Journal told readers, “(W)e favor the abolition of taxation.
“Our view is that the things government does, if they are valuable and of merit, will still be done by popular acclaim and therefore that they will be paid for even without taxation.”
The headline on the editorial: Taxation is always immoral.
1968: Sue Deaton of Clovis and Terry Lovett of Texico were among the cast scheduled to present "The Taming of the Shrew" at Wayland College.
Lovett, a junior at Wayland, was set to play the role of Baptista in the comedy.
Deaton's role was not reported, but the Wayland sophomore was social vice president of the Treble Tones and had been a student leader majoring in speech.
1972: Cowgirls from Eastern New Mexico University had won the team trophy at their own rodeo to stay atop the Southwest Region standings after two contests.
ENMU, the 1971 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association champion, scored one first-place award, three third-places, two fifth-places and a sixth place to take team honors.
ENMU’s Karen Holleyman of Corona took first place in goat tying. Colynn White of Clovis was third in goat tying while Betty Gayle Cooper of Monument finished fifth.
White also finished third in barrel racing.
1985: Clovis’ newest grocery store, the Save ‘n’ Gain at 810 21st St., counted 3,296 customers on its first day.
It had 11 checker lines and was open from 8 a.m. to midnight.
The grocery store, which also included a coffee shop, delicatessen, bakery and tortilleria, employed 320, officials said.
The Clovis News-Journal reported hundreds of shoppers were lined up before the store opened and some had to leave their cars in the K Mart parking lot and cross the street to get their groceries.
1990: Voters approved separation of Clovis Community College from Eastern New Mexico University — barely.
Just 42 votes made the difference.
Voters at five polling places rejected the plan, but those at Highland, Yucca and Zia elementary schools carried the day and CCC became independent.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
