Pages past, Oct. 23: Captain and Tennille to perform at ENMU

On this date …

1937: A.L. Watson of Clovis was fined $100, with $50 suspended, after pleading guilty to riding with a drunken driver. The driver pleaded not guilty to the allegations and was going to trial.

1940: More than 100 blocks of Clovis city streets had been paved since March, city officials said.

Eight more blocks were expected to be paved within the week — two on East Fifth, one on North Wallace, one on West Eighth, two on West 12th, one on North Reid and one on North Hull.

1941: An overnight drenching left farmers’ fields too wet to harvest.

Some areas received nearly 2 inches of rain, boosting the year’s total to 40 inches and more — double the average for eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle.

1946: A fire at Portales Junior High’s gymnasium destroyed 150 lockers.

School officials said the cause of the fire was unknown, but little else was damaged in the blaze.

Cost to replace the lockers was estimated at $500.

1951: Southwestern Public Service Co. officials warned Clovis residents that water was “not readily available ... nor is it inexpensive.”

District Manager C.O. Greene said the company’s No. 7 well, in the Liebelt Tract near the high school athletic field, caved in.

The well was once among the company’s most productive, producing 900 gallons of water per minute.

“However, it had been drawing air under peak consumption this summer, apparently a prelude to the cave in,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

Greene said the water well cave in was the third in Clovis in six years.

Greene said SPS had nine wells in Clovis, but would have to dig a new one before summer “if Clovis is to avoid a water shortage.”

1952: A Tucumcari jury awarded $20,832 to the estate of D.T. Elliott in the first of a series of civil suits against the city arising from the collapse of a city water tower the previous Dec. 13.

Elliott, his wife and young son were killed when the tank burst, its metal sides crushing the home in which they were sleeping, The Associated Press reported.

1955: Stanley Pawol’s pharmacy offered free delivery to Clovis customers with prescriptions. The phone number was 3451.

1957: Two Clovis men had been acquitted on charges they’d been selling alcoholic beverages without a license.

The men had been arrested “following a raid on the Alpha & Omega Club south of Clovis,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

“Considerable quantities of beer and assorted whiskey, gin, crème de menthe and other liquors were taken and brought into court for state exhibits.”

The newspaper reported jurors initially voted 9-3 for conviction, but three hours of deliberating led to a not-guilty verdict. There was no report on the reason jurors changed their minds.

Jurors were Lynn Merrill, A.B. Fleming, Leroy Tucker, Mrs. Archie Baker, Garland Harrington, Wray Wilson, Ben Jennings, Ernest Harrison, H.P. Miller, James Carmack, W.W. Ewing and Dennis Dayhoff.

The trial was the second in two days in which area residents had been accused of selling alcohol without a license following police raids. The first case ended in a guilty verdict for a man accused of selling alcohol on his farm southwest of Clovis.

1961: The newspaper comics page lineup included “Blondie,” “Sweetie Pie,” “Mickey Finn,” “Joe Palooka,” “Alley Oop” and “Red Ryder.”

Daisy finds Dagwood asleep on the couch and wakes him up by biting his nose. “It’s her way of helping me,” Blondie reports.

1965: Montgomery Ward, located at 307 Main in Clovis, was hosting its “greatest baby week sale.”

Specials included soft-cotton, snap-side shirts for 57 cents, swivel-wheeled strollers for $17.88, cribs for $28.88 and car seats for $7.99.

1969: Mr. and Mrs. Roy Tindle had purchased the Tennison house on Second Street in Melrose.

In other Melrose news, compiled by Mrs. Carol Bennett:

• Mr. and Mrs. Allen Bryant had moved into the Acea Morgan rent house.

• Mr. and Mrs. George Beam and two children had moved into the apartments on Third Street. George had been employed as music director for Melrose schools.

• Mr. and Mrs. Tuffy Potter, along with their children Beverly, Terry and Ricky, had purchased the Coffelt Grocery and moved to an apartment behind the grocery. They planned to move to Earnest Cooper’s rent house when he finished remodeling.

1971: A Clovis billboard company was expected to lose $15,000 because of a recent ruling by the New Mexico Highway Commission ordering the demolition of unlicensed billboards in the state.

D.L. Smith, who owned Thunderbird Southwestern, said it appeared he would have to move his business operation to Texas.

More than 9,000 signs were ordered destroyed across the state, bringing New Mexico into compliance with the national Highway Beautification Act.

1975: Tickets were on sale for a weekend concert featuring The Captain and Tennille at the Campus Union Building in Portales.

The pop stars were best known for “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Muskrat Love.”

Tickets were $3.

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

[email protected]