Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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He was a champion goat milker. He had audience with a president. And when you think about the only outdoor public swimming pool in Clovis, it's his name that comes to mind. This is a good day to remember Oscar Gerome Potter because his birthday is Sept. 14. He was born on that date in 1882, in Gadson, Alabama. O. G. Potter was Clovis' mayor from 1953 to 1957. But he's most famous today for the city's second-oldest park, which bears his name: Potter Park, home of Potter Pool....
No one has all the answers regarding the recent spate of gun violence across the country. But it seems unlikely government can end it. We should stop asking government to end it. We have to end it ourselves. One on one. That’s our only hope. We’ve all heard the arguments from both sides of the political spectrum: • We have to get guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals. We need more/better background checks. We need to make certain kinds of guns illegal. • We need more law enforcement, backed by military firepo...
I collect historical tidbits that interest me from area newspapers. Here are a few from the first half of Septembers past: • Sept. 1, 1954: The Muletrain News was first broadcast from Muleshoe by Gil Lamb from the living room of his home at the corner of West Fourth and Avenue B. It aired remotely on Radio Station KICA out of Clovis until July 26, 1956, when KMUL went on the air. • Sept. 1, 1931: Portales schools were filled to capacity with the largest enrollment in their history — 1,364 students, a 13 percent incre...
Bill Clinton was president. O.J. Simpson was accused of murder. And Whoopi Goldberg hosted the Academy Awards. Schindler’s List won seven Oscars. For the old-timers among us, 1994 seems like yesterday. But today’s high school seniors, and many of today’s college seniors, weren’t even born yet. In case you missed it, or forgot about it, or weren’t born yet, here’s what happened 25 years ago this week: • U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, was hosting a “big free barbecue” at The Memorial Building in Portales. The pur...
Clovis has a proud history of professional baseball teams, beginning in the 1920s, through 1957. At least nine Clovis Pioneers had a cup of coffee or more in the Major Leagues, including n Harry Bright (309 games over eight big-league seasons, 1958 to 1965) n Russ Christopher (an all-star with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1945) n Jesse Gonder (played for Hall of Fame Manager Casey Stengel with the New York Yankees and New York Mets) n and brothers Dizzy and Paul Dean, who...
We don’t usually report on personal disputes or private matters. Whether it’s a parent asking for help in locating a teenage runaway — who may or may not have a good reason for running away — or if it’s a customer unhappy with service at a for-profit business — who may or may not have a legitimate beef — experience tells us it’s a bad idea for the newspaper to get involved. Those who contact us on these matters seldom want us to tell the whole story, just the part they want known. Getting to the truth can be difficult. And...
County fairs have been around as long as counties in New Mexico. In Clovis’ case, the county fair began before Curry County was even formed. On Oct. 2, 1914, The Clovis Journal reported the “Seventh Annual Curry County Fair” was about to take place — unlikely since Curry County was formed just five years before that. But the Clovis area had a “county fair” in 1907 and 1908, well before the territorial Legislature carved Curry County out of Quay and Roosevelt counties. Those early county fairs were similar to today’s cou...
A half dozen readers contacted the newspaper last week to express outrage at Wednesday’s editorial cartoon. Mostly they said it was racist. Several demanded an apology. One described it as “unacceptable hatred!” I didn’t see it that way. If you missed it, the cartoon published on Wednesday’s Voices page depicted a shark encountering a sign that read: “Warning! Go near shore at your own risk. Angry white males with easy access to guns.” I’ve been reading editorial cartoons long enough to know that some — like poems — can...
I collect historical tidbits that interest me from area newspapers. Here are a few from the first week of Augusts past: • Aug. 1, 1901: The first Portales newspaper, The Progress, began weekly publication. The Portales Herald followed in 1902, just before the Portales Times launched and eventually merged with the Herald. • Aug. 1, 1923: The U.S Post Office announced it would begin providing city mail delivery in Clovis. The city’s population had grown to more than 5,000 in fewer than two decades. • Aug. 1, 1967: A Tucumca...
Reliable grocers all recommended it. When you asked for the best, you received Golden West. That's what the newspaper ads claimed anyway. "The experienced housewife will ... use no other flour because she knows the best cooks are the cooks who refuse to be handicapped by anything inferior," one Clovis News-Journal ad read in 1929. "The experienced housewife, the 'Master Craftsman' of the home, will demand Golden West Flour every time." In Clovis, that flour came from New Mexic...
It happened 20 years ago ... or 25 years ago ... or 30 years ago. Can you match the calendar year with the event? • Tracy Byrd was the headline act at the Clovis Music Festival. His concert was rained out after three songs. • Ealy Furniture was celebrating its 50th year in business. Clovis’ “oldest furniture store” first opened next to Hotel Clovis. • Sprint Cellular was pleased to announce its grand opening in Clovis. Its “Executive Plan” offered unlimited local usage. • Dick Smith, Dan Blair and David Lansford all part...
Curry County commissioners are planning a big celebration. They’ll be using taxpayer dollars of course. The occasion is a reminder of big-government’s eagerness to waste our money entertaining us. Commissioners have decided to spend $50,000 celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Curry County Events Center. This would be the events center that loses money every year to entertain us all. Or at least entertain those of us willing to attend the events it hosts. Sometimes we have to pay extra to get in the door. This would be...
Most Americans remember July 20, 1969, as the night man first walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon’s surface at 8:56 p.m. (MDT), telling the world it was “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” I watched it all live on television, but that’s not what I remember most about that night 50 years ago. What I remember most: Benny Floyd killed a cat in our front yard. He didn’t do it on purpose. We were playing tag on the front porch, running in and out of the house to look at the moon, then the...
Politics is complicated. And politicians are champions at confusing voters and taxpayers even more than necessary in efforts to sway support. Take, for example, President Trump’s recent threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act. New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, would have us believe the issue is all about the “toxic mess” the Air Force caused that contaminated water and put a local dairy farmer out of business. “I was stunned to learn that President Trump is threatening to veto th...
FORT SUMNER — It’s been 138 years, but the kid killer is still making news. Fort Sumner City Councilor Gerald Cline and movie director Michael Anthony Giudicissi are planning a Facebook Live broadcast from Billy the Kid’s grave on Sunday night in the old Fort Sumner Cemetery. The broadcast is scheduled for 11:30 p.m., the time Sheriff Pat Garrett killed the Kid at Pete Maxwell’s home south of today’s Fort Sumner, on July 14, 1881. The broadcast is to help promote the latest film about eastern New Mexico’s most famous outl...
