Pages past, Oct. 6: Grady store owner kills robber

On this date …

1941: One robber was dead and three more in jail after a Grady hardware store owner fought off an attack.

R. C. Knowles, operator of the store, told authorities two men entered the store and asked about purchasing bullets for a rifle.

When Knowles, 74, reached for the bullets, one man jumped him and the other hit Knowles on the head.

Knowles said he fought off his attackers, then opened fire on them with a pistol.

A Portales man died on the sidewalk outside the store. Three other Portales men were arrested a day later when bloodhounds tracked them after their car broke down just west of Grady.

Knowles was hospitalized with the head injury but recovered.

The three suspects who lived were all sentenced to prison in Santa Fe; their sentences ranged from three to eight years.

Dick Rowley and Turner Hensley prosecuted the case.

1952: A round dance in the USO Hall (American Legion Building) officially opened the new United Service Organizations season in Clovis.

Officials promised “plenty of new records, plenty of junior hostesses, and plenty of refreshments.”

Mrs. Leslie Hines, hostess chairman, said she had 50 names of young women available for junior hostess duty.

The Clovis News-Journal reported that senior hostesses were “on duty at the door to check airmen’s passes and junior hostesses’ cards.”

1960: The home of state Sen. Alva Parker of Roosevelt County was destroyed in a fire.

United Press International reported a helicopter from Cannon Air Force Base was used to help firefighters contain the blaze about 40 miles west of Portales, near the Roosevelt-De Baca County line.

A windmill and other buildings were saved, but the house was lost before help could arrive, UPI reported.

Sen. Parker and his wife were attending a cattle sale in Clovis when the fire started. A neighbor reported it.

1966: A Clovis News-Journal editorial promoted education via private schools.

“We believe the free enterprise way is the better way,” the editorial stated.

“The government does not provide shoe stores, churches, supermarkets, clothing stores or automobile factories for us. But we have all of these things in abundance. No other nation enjoys so many products and services, provided by free enterprise.

“Why is it not logical to assume that this same system would provide us with an abundance of schools — schools of all sizes, prices, qualities, philosophies and degrees of specialization?

“If the billions of dollars now being spent for government-operated schools were left in our pockets so that we could all buy the kind of voluntary education that suits us best, why is it not logical to assume that free enterprise will provide just as large a variety of schools as it offers varieties in churches and of products in the supermarket or hardware store?

“If education is freed from government control and compulsion, Americans will learn to free themselves from other forms of government control — parities, subsidies, tariffs, acreage allotments and government-owned industries.

“Government education furthers government control, just as free enterprise education would tend to further free enterprise and individual freedom.

“All forms reproduce themselves. Figs do not produce thistles.”

1967: Sixty-four Eastern New Mexico University women had pledged three different social sororities following rush week at the school.

Local pledges to Alpha Delta Pi included Peggy Armstrong of Clovis and Cydney Moorhead of Portales.

Fledgling Chi Omegas included Sheryl Brasell, Mary Creamer, Lois Marie Dunn, Judy Greaves and Sissy Whitworth, all of Portales, as well as Dru Talley of Clovis.

Local women pledged to Zeta Tau Alpha included Diane Codling, Nicki Gresham and Charlotte Kenyan, all of Portales.

1969: Stansell’s Highland Super Market offered the following specials:

• Morton’s Cream Pies, 29 cents

• Hawaiian Punch, 3 for $1

• Shurfine shaving cream, 59 cents

• King size Lemon Joy, 59 cents

• Jimmy Dean Pure Pork Sausage, $1.59

• Shurfresh crackers, 19 cents.

Stansell’s was located at Main and Manana streets. Open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day except Sunday, when hours were 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tendercrust Coupons could be redeemed for fishing gear, dolls, basketballs and more.

1975: A newspaper ad urged readers: “If your TV set is ailing, call our TV specialists” at Furniture Mart, 115 W. Grand, in Clovis.

Repairmen would check for “cracked or leaky parts,” “complete color temperature alignment,” “horizontal output efficiency” and “focus and sharpness,” the ad claimed.

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

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