Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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New Mexico got one step closer to the possibility of a paid Legislature when the state House of Representatives on Saturday voted 40-24 to approve a resolution that would, if voters agree, open the door to lawmaker pay. House Joint Resolution 8 would create a citizens’ commission to study possibly paying the state’s 112 lawmakers beginning in 2026. The commission would also recommend salary ranges for the lawmakers. Even if the Senate, where the measure goes next, approves the resolution, it would not necessarily become law...
Robin Jones will stay on as Clovis Community College’s interim president until a new president is hired, CCC’s board of trustees decided unanimously on Monday. Jones has been interim president since Aug. 8, when former President Charles Nwankwo was placed on administrative leave while allegations leading to declarations of “no confidence” in Nwankwo by three CCC employee groups were investigated. Nwankwo resigned on Feb. 6 after being named president in February 2020. In addition to extending Jones’ stay as interim president,...
On this date ... 1953: Grover Seitz, manager of the Clovis Pioneers baseball team, announced that outfielder Jim Matthews had been sold for an "undisclosed fat sum" to the Amarillo Gold Sox, the team that won the West Texas-New Mexico league pennant the year before. Matthews, who gathered 39 home runs for the Pioneers in the previous season, was unable to settle a salary dispute with management. Seitz said he hoped to use proceeds of the sale to purchase a suitable...
I don’t know why, but I found myself recently looking at some Google Maps views of an old house. How, I wondered, could it be that old? It was the house that was “my” house, my home, from the moment Mom and Dad brought me home from Amarillo’s original Northwest Texas Hospital. It remained my house for all of my school years. I knew every nick in those wooden floors (Mom would pour wax on the floor and send us off with old towels; we’d spin around on hands and knees as human bu...
Portales Municipal Schools will apply for $600,000 to partially fund bilingual multicultural programs for 341 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, the district School Board decided on Monday. Superintendent Johnnie Cain said the grant application through the New Mexico Public Education Department only partially funds bilingual and multicultural programs for the district whose total costs are well over $1 million. Funds from the grant, which the district applies for annually, supplement teacher pay for the program,...
An Arizona woman is facing trial in Canyon, Texas after being charged in the deaths of two 21-year-old Eastern New Mexico University students, Analuisa Mendoza and Alicia Bustos. Rayna E. Smith, 19, who Randall County court records show has an address in Queen Creek, Ariz., has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle in the Oct. 13 accident on I-27 south of Amarillo in Randall County. According to a Texas Department of Public Safety report, the accident was a head-on collision between the...
Booked The following were booked into local jail (Friday - Tuesday): Clovis • Amanda Quintana, 32, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to give immediate notice of accidents, failure to obey traffic control devices, no insurance, failure to register vehicle, parole violation • Diego Ramos, 21, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge • Alexandra Dominguez, 37, open container, aggravated driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug • Jobe’Allen Toliver, 28, aggravated burglary, larceny, possession o...
The high school basketball season has come to an end this weekend, and the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) said they’re climbing uphill in numbers for officials. After the pandemic, they saw a huge shortage, going from 700 all the way down to 525 total officials across the state. Dusty Young, Associate Director for the NMAA said it hasn’t been an issue just for basketball, but a nationwide trend across all sports. “I think we’re finding that it’s an availability issue,” Young said. Because games were becoming so...
Eastern New Mexico was represented well by this year’s senior classes as five local athletes recently received NMAA (New Mexico Activities Association) scholarships. According to a press release from the NMAA, “Approximately 200 students were nominated or submitted applications, with a total of $51,500 being distributed through 45 different scholarships. There were 17 scholarship categories, with one being the special Together We Rise Scholarship that was created in 2020-2021 due to the challenges brought forth by the COV...
PORTALES – After only three batters, it couldn't have looked worse for Eastern New Mexico University's softball team. A single, an error and Texas A&M International first baseman Tajanae Davis' three-run home run to straightaway center had the Greyhounds wondering what was going on. Not to worry, though. Junior Emma Southerland quickly got her bearings, allowing only one hit and two more baserunners– and no one past first base – as the Hounds rallied for a 5-3 Lone Star Confe...
CANYON, Texas – Suffice it to say, the wind was blowing out at Wilder Park on Sunday for the finale of a four-game Lone Star Conference baseball series between Eastern New Mexico University and West Texas A&M. Senior third baseman Adam Becker hit three of West Texas A&M’s six home runs and drove in nine as the Buffaloes outslugged ENMU 22-12 to take the series three games to one. Half of the 36 hits in the contest went for extra bases, including 10 home runs. Three players posted multi-home run outings. Freshman left fie...
TAOS – Portales High’s boys got off to a good start, but they couldn’t sustain the momentum. PHS held early leads of 5-0 and 8-6, but seventh-seeded Taos outscored the Rams 13-2 over the final few minutes of the first quarter and pulled away to a 63-44 victory on Saturday night in a first-round Class 4A boys state tournament game. The win lifted the Tigers (18-10) into a 6:30 p.m. quarterfinal tilt today at The Pit in Albuquerque against second-seeded Highland (21-7), which routed Pojoaque 84-41 in its tourney opener. Trail...
ALAMOGORDO – Two entries placed in the top five for the Portales High girls tennis team in the Alamogordo Invite over the weekend. The Lady Rams’ No. 2 doubles team of junior Lorena Fernandez and freshman Belia Lopez went 2-1 for third place, winning their first match 6-0, 6-1, then losing in the semifinals 7-5, 6-3 before taking a supertiebreaker to defeat a Santa Fe High team 1-6, 7-5, (10-4). At No. 1 singles, junior Maggie Duong recovered from a first-round loss to garner fifth place with wins of 6-0, 6-2 in the con...
HOBBS – For the Clovis High baseball team, it’s obviously a learning process. After playing reasonably well in a 6-3 loss on Friday in their opener of a weekend tournament hosted by Hobbs, the Wildcats struggled mightily in their final two clashes, giving up big innings in losses to Los Lunas 11-0 on Friday and to Belen 12-0 on Saturday. Against the Tigers (3-3), the Cats fell behind 7-0 after the first inning and managed only two hits off senior Kaden Bell in a game shortened to 4 ½ innings by the 10-run rule. Junior Nathan...
MELROSE – As a freshman, Jaxon Odom was thrown into a challenging situation in Saturday's Class 1A boys round-of-16 state tournament game. Normally a shooting guard, Odom moved to the point position with the regular starter, sophomore Josh Roybal, was sidelined due to a non-contact back injury during practice. Odom kept the Buffaloes' offense in rhythm and also scored a team-high 17 points as third-seeded Melrose handed Mesilla Valley a 69-48 setback. Today, the Buffs (...
PORTALES – It’s generally a little more fun playing from ahead than behind. Clovis High’s softball team, coming off three consecutive run-rule shutout losses to start the season, found that out on Monday night when they pounded 17 hits in a 15-6 victory over Portales High for a split of their doubleheader at Wheeler Park. On Saturday, the Lady Cats were blanked twice at Cibola to open the season, then fell 13-0 to PHS in Monday’s first contest, shortened to 4 ½ frames because of the 10-run rule. Sophomore center fielder...
On the old television sitcom, “Cheers,” every time the character Norm Peterson walked into the bar “where everybody knows your name,” all the folks in the room turned and shouted, “Norm!” For me, the one place in Portales where that could happen is the tire shop, where I’m definitely one of the regulars. Moments before I sat down to write this, I aired up my third flat in the past few weeks, and my second for the past six days. That is not a personal record. I’ve had, if memor...
SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced 3 appointments to the boards of regents for Eastern New Mexico University and two other colleges and universities. The appointees must be confirmed by the Legislature. According to a news release from the governor, her appointment for Eastern New Mexico University is Ray Birmingham, nominated for a six-year term through Dec. 31, 2028. Birmingham retired from the University of New Mexico in 2021 after serving as head baseball coach since 2007 where he led the Lobos t...
John Fetterman’s announcement that he has checked himself into a hospital was met with bipartisan praise. Far right politicians from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to fellow Pennsylvania centrist Rep. Susan Wild to New York left wing Congressmen Richie Torres lavished support on the senator for publicly disclosing and confronting his illness. Reaction to Fetterman’s predicament demonstrates the dramatic transformation of perception and attitudes toward public health and mental ill...
The poor Democrats trapped in the bloody and broken city of Chicago finally came to their senses. In their primary election for mayor last week they gave the boot to their goofy and dangerously woke mayor, Lori Lightfoot. Unfortunately, when Lightfoot leaves office, Los Angeles, where I live, will have the honor of having the worst mayor in the country – Karen Bass. Elected only last fall, Bass has already proven she is just as clueless as Lightfoot when it comes to f...
The saga of the comic strip “Dilbert” and the racist rants of its creator, Scott Adams, isn’t the out-of-control cancel culture that Twitter boss Elon Musk and others on the right claim. It’s actually an example of the free market in action — the free market of newspapers responding to readers who are appalled at Adams’ outspoken racism. Adams has the right to those views, but no newspaper or reader has an obligation to support them with attention and money. Adams has promoted Trumpian conspiracy theories for a while now,...
Clovis City Commission will consider changing fees for parks usage at their regular meeting at 5:15 p.m., Thursday in the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Library at Seventh and Main Street. According to documents in the meeting’s agenda packet, the new fee structure, implementation of an annual membership of $50 for anyone using the city sports fields or facilities, resulted in widespread citizen feedback. City Manager Justin Howalt, Parks and Recreation Director Russell Hooper as well commissioners and others in the city a...
CLOVIS — More federal dollars are on their way for the Ute Water Project. The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority (ENMWUA) has received notice from the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) regarding the second round of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. According to a news release from ENMWUA, the federal FY2023 appropriation is in the amount of $89.5 million for use in the construction of the Ute pipeline. ENMWUA will receive an additional $4.63 million from FY2023 administration and congre...
When a spouse dies or when any loved one dies, and a person gets caught up in “the fog of grief,” just do the next thing. That’s one of the “helpful tips” shared by Norma Ross in her “Loss of Spouse Seminar” she’ll be facilitating from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday at Clovis’ Central Baptist Church. “I’m a facilitator for Grief Share,” Ross said. “Grief Share is an international organization that helps people deal with grief.” Ross credits Kathy Hammill for starting the Grief Share sessions at Central Baptist. Ross retir...
