Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1946: A man had been arrested on allegations he made “improper advances” toward a young girl in a Clovis movie theater.
Police were called to the theater after the girl’s father threatened to beat up the suspect.
When police arrived, the suspect ran from the theater. Police captured him a few blocks away.
“A local physician said that the man was either intoxicated or under the influence of dope, but that he was probably temporarily insane,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
1961: Portales consumers were cutting back on cigarette purchases … maybe.
The Portales News-Tribune reported tax on cigarette sales had been dropping dramatically in recent months. If the city tax revenues were reflective of cigarette sales, “10,000 fewer packs of cigarettes are being smoked each month in Portales,” the paper reported.
The state had recently increased cigarette taxes by 3 cents per pack, which may have inspired smokers to cut back, the paper reported.
But this seemed unlikely.
“Anyone who has subsidized a cigarette habit will tell you that it is a rare person who can cut down on smoking very long at a time,” PNT Editor Gordon Greaves wrote in his front-page “By The Way” column.
Another possibility was that local smokers were traveling to purchase cigarettes where taxes were lower. This, too, seemed unlikely, since Arizona and Colorado were the closest states with a lower cigarette tax rate.
A third possibility: the criminal element.
“More cigarettes are being bootlegged into New Mexico,” Greaves concluded
1965: Roosevelt County officials announced they’d collected $13,950 for the United Fund campaign.
The charity expected to finish with about $15,000 after donations from Floyd and Causey were added.
The year’s goal was $19,850.
1969: Six alumni of Eastern New Mexico University had been honored at Homecoming.
Those honored for bringing recognition to the university and for outstanding work in their profession were:
• Norvil Howell, Clovis High band director. His bands won two national titles a year earlier and had performed at halftime of a Los Angeles Rams football game and at Disneyland.
• Harry Miller, ENMU basketball coach. His team won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship earlier in the year.
• Cleo Wall. He was manager of the raw materials research division of Plateau Inc., an independent refinery in Farmington.
• Mary Ann South. She was a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine, where she taught pediatric immunology.
• Charlie Hoover. He was vice president and manager of the Southwest Feed Yards in Hereford.
• Bill Evans. He was director of public affairs for Pan American World Airways.
1970: A man put a straight razor to the throat of a 19-year-old service station attendant and made off with $67.60, Clovis police reported.
Andrew Stochmal, an airman stationed at Cannon Air Force Base, was working at the station when a man he described as 5-foot-4, 150 pounds, put a yellow scarf around his neck and entered the station.
After the robbery, the man waved the razor in the face of a customer and departed on foot.
1971: A Texico family had been named Curry County Outstanding Farm Family by the Farmers Home Administration in Clovis.
Loyd Harrison, 25, his wife and 2-year-old daughter were the recipients.
The Harrisons farmed 480 acres of milo and wheat on land southwest of Texico.
The family was selected on the basis of “financial management, farming practices and effective use of all resources available,” according to the Clovis News-Journal.
1972: Mississippi Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle, creator and narrator of the recently released film "If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?" was scheduled to spend a week in eastern New Mexico preaching at churches in Clovis, Portales and Texico. His belief: Communists would "take over America within two years."
It was simply "the prophecy of a doomed America," according to Pirkle's quotes in the Clovis News-Journal, confirmed by "the best-selling book in the world - the Holy Bible."
1975: Eddie Frear, 77, died at his Clovis home, at 506 Gidding.
Frear, a charter member of Clovis’ Rotary Club, had lived in the city since 1937. He had 37 years of perfect attendance as a Rotarian.
He was the longtime owner/operator of Frear’s Booterie.
1976: A plane that left the Portales airport “suddenly ... leaving one man behind,” had landed in Santa Rosa, where police conducted a pot raid.
The Associated Press reported six men were arrested — including the one left behind in Portales.
The plane contained 1,419 pounds of marijuana.
1977: The fourth- fifth- and sixth-grade students from Zia Elementary in Clovis were decked out in "Star Wars" costumes to present a musical spoof of the Hollywood blockbuster that had opened nationwide in May.
The 225-member cast was set to perform on the stage at Marshall Auditorium.
Student "Star Wars" stars included Steve Marenka as Darth Vade, Wayne Muncrief as Newt Sprywalker, Diane Syrole as Princess Weirda, Shauna Reid as C-3P0, and Ricky Lindenmeyer as R2-D2.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
