Pages past, Sept. 22: Politician goes horsing around

On this date ...

1910: Miller & Luikart, a Portales dry goods store, offered men’s black derby hats for $3.

1931: Pearson Valley school 26 miles west of Portales was wrecked for the second time in two weeks.

Teacher Ruth Isham opened the school to find desks crashed to splinters, blackboards demolished and school records torn to bits and scattered over the floor, the Clovis Evening News-Journal reported.

1941: De Baca County homes were being evacuated and broomcorn farmers feared heavy crop losses after torrential rains flooded much of eastern New Mexico.

Roswell and Carlsbad also reported flooding with more than a dozen area residents missing or drowned.

1958: William “Tommy” Thompson was traveling around New Mexico with his trained horse - “Candy” - trying to secure votes in his run for Congress.

The Republican said he’s “putting on a one-horse show,” with Candy handling most of the tricks.

He finished third in the race for two at-large seats, garnering 19% of the vote.

1962: A long list of police reports, all separate incidents, included antennas broken off of two vehicles, two stolen hubcaps, and a sweater taken from a gym basket at Marshall Junior High in Clovis.

In addition, a report was filed by an individual who said someone had taken $600 cash and a $160 check from his clothes “while he was taking a shower at his house,” while another Clovis man was fined $10 for “creating unnecessary noise with a faulty muffler.”

1971: Soaking rains brought mixed responses from regional farmers.

As reported by the Portales News-Tribune:

“The moisture was not welcome to farmers with broomcorn down in the rows, waiting to be stacked, and the dripping sky is even more gloomy to the migrant labor which is here to work in the broomcorn fields.

“But to everyone else, the moisture is welcome, if only the sun will come out and give the country at least two more weeks of growing weather.”

In Roosevelt County, rainfall totals had ranged from a half inch at Elida to 2.8 inches on Jake Scott’s farm northeast of Causey.

Portales recorded just under an inch of moisture (and an overnight low of 44 degrees), while Floyd had 1.5 inches and Milnesand had 1.2 inches.

In Curry County, most communities reported about an inch of rain overnight. Eddie Stanfield in Grady said his rain gauge measured an inch early this morning after a “hard rain” that lasted about 40 minutes.

The big rainfall winner was seven miles east of Rosedale near the Texas border, where Jerry Northcutt reported almost 4 inches of rain with a little hail.

Rosedale, today a ghost town, was halfway between Hollene and Bellview just east of Grady.

1972: An early frost had local farmers on edge with what was predicted to be a bumper crop of milo ripening in the fields.

Eddie Harrington, who grew irrigated milo south of Rosedale, said a “hard freeze right now would virtually eliminate all prospects of a good maize crop.”

The official overnight low for Clovis was measured at 36 degrees, but Harrington reported that in Rosedale it had dropped to 31 for several hours.

1974: The air-conditioned Clovis Arena was promoting its TV Championship wrestling event — Mike the Judge vs. Terry Funk.

The wrestling card for the upcoming weekend also featured Gorgeous George Jr. vs. Sieg Stanke, Les Thornton vs. Alex Perez and Kevin Sullivan vs. Greg Watson.

All ringside seats were $3. General admission was $2.50. Children under 12 were admitted for $1.

1975: Children found an unexploded live grenade in the 100 block of Thornton Street, Clovis police reported, but no one was injured.

Police said an unidentified 22-year-old man was suspected of pulling the pin on the grenade and tossing it under a parked car at 116 Thornton.

The device did not explode.

The mother of a child found playing with the grenade called police, the Clovis News-Journal reported.

1976: The Curry-Roosevelt Council on Alcoholism had learned it would receive additional funding.

Officials said $40,000 would be channeled to eastern New Mexico following a reduction in staff at the Albuquerque Treatment Center.

1976: President Ford and Jimmy Carter were preparing for their first presidential debate, with a television audience expected near 100 million people.

“Ford and Carter have taken vastly differing routes in their efforts to attract voters, Ford staying in Washington, campaigning out of town only to appear at his alma mater in his home state of Michigan,” The Associated Press reported.

“Carter crisscrossed the country to shake hands and make speeches.”

1990: Two new dairies were soon to be open in Curry County.

The Do-Rene Dairy, located southeast of Cannon Air Force Base, was slated to be completed in about a week.

The Sunwest Dairy, located at the eastern end of Wilhite Road, was expected to be operational by Jan. 1, the Clovis News Journal reported.

Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:

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