Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Vince Galvan was a “great big brother,” little brother Joe Galvan said on Thursday. “He would take us fishing. For all of us, he did a lot of things.” Once, he even let Joe and other brothers tag along on a date. They all went to see “Star Wars” at the LaFonda Drive-in. “He stopped and got a pan pizza -- that was new then -- and we drove out to the drive-in … He put the pan pizza on top of his truck and he told me and my two brothers, ‘Here’ and left us up there with the pizza...
Retired Clovis school teacher Rhonda Roberts sent The News an email suggesting an interview subject for "Our People." Roberts recommended her niece, Shauma Brown. "She's very interesting," Roberts wrote in an email. So The News sat in Brown's office and asked questions to find out why her aunt regards her as "very interesting." Q: Where were you born? A: Okinawa, Japan. My father was in the Air Force. Q: What do you remember of that place? A: I like to say I remember water...
I was shootin’ the breeze with a guy not too long ago. He was about my age so I asked him a question about something long ago. “So you were in the military? Vietnam?” I asked. “No, I had no interest in being in the military. When I was 18 I’d had enough of somebody telling me what to do all the time,” he said. I could totally relate. I thought maybe that’s why I never joined up either, I just didn’t have those words. I mean I’d looked into it, took tests, talked to recruiters, I’d even had a U. S. Marine recruiter walk righ...
A policy of children being at least 6-years-old and being able to sign their name in order to have their own library card will remain in place at Clovis-Carver Public Library. The Library Board voted unanimously Monday on the policy at a regular meeting, one that was scheduled to take place April 29 but was postponed. The matter came before the board after Clovis resident Mitch Mender complained about the policy to Library Director Margaret Hinchee. Mender’s daughter Charlie had come to the library to obtain her own card o...
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of Q&As featuring candidates in contested races for the June 4 primary. Early voting has begun at the county courthouse. With the resignation of long-time State Sen. Stuart Ingle from the District 27 seat, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Roswell attorney Greg Nibert to the position. Now Nibert is seeking the seat along with Elida area rancher Patrick Boone and Roswell businessman Larry Marker. Patrick Boone Q: Tell us about yourself. Who is Pat Boone and why are you running? A: M...
Family is important to Veronica Cordova. So is her area supervisory job with New Mexico Bank & Trust and her position on the Portales City Council. She shared bits of her life with The News. Q: How did you come to Portales? A: I have been here my whole life, born and raised. Q: Tell us about your family. A: I am married to my husband Adolpho. Most people know him as Fofo. We have four kids: Daniel and his fiancée Marissa, Victoria, Mario and his wife Kiersten and our...
Monday marks three weeks since the catastrophic fire at the Hampton Farms peanut processing plant in Portales. The remains of the building continued to smolder into the weekend. “The remainder of the estimated six million tons of peanuts is burning in a warehouse that is structurally unsafe for personnel to enter to extinguish,” Portales Fire Chief and Interim City Manager T.J. Cathey wrote in an email Thursday. Cathey noted the building and its contents are damaged and there is nothing left to save. “Therefore the best...
Water levels in the city of Portales storage tanks had increased to 25.9 feet on Friday – still 3.6 feet below the April 26 levels, but up from the 25-foot measurement recorded Monday. City officials expressed concerns about water levels after they dropped 4 feet a few days after relaxing some of the water conservation standards that had been in place since last summer. Interim City Manager T. J. Cathey has said if water levels drop below 18 feet, the city will reinstitute its Stage 3 conservation plan, which prohibits m...
A longtime rule preventing pre-school children from having a library card from the Clovis-Carver Public Library is up for discussion. The inspiration is 6-year-old Charlie Mender. Charlie is the daughter of Clovis attorney Mitch Mender. Her story begins with a visit from her grandmother. "My mom was visiting and she took (Charlie) to the library to get her card the day before her sixth birthday," Mitch Mender said Monday. Charlie was excited. But she soon learned city policy...
I interviewed some Clovis Community Band folks before their recent concert. I marveled at their enthusiasm and drive in getting together, playing their instruments, practicing and stuff. I played clarinet in the junior high band back when I was a kid. I joined the band because my mom told me to. “You have to do something,” she told me back then. I couldn’t dribble a basketball, my Phys Ed coach taught me how to catch a football, but I frequently ran the wrong direction. I liked baseball, but I was kind of disheartened when th...
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of Q&As featuring candidates in contested races for the June 4 primary. Early voting begins Tuesday at the county courthouse. In the Curry County Commission race for District 4, incumbent Seth Martin will face challenger Jamie Widner. Both are Republicans. No Democrats are running. Seth Martin Q: Why do you want another term as county commissioner? A: As a commissioner, four more years would give the opportunity to see many of the projects through to the end and continue to serve C...
The Clovis Municipal Schools Facilities Master Plan will go into effect as planned after school board members approved it by a 5-0 vote Tuesday. Approval means the closure of Cameo Elementary School in May 2025, consolidating the system's dual language program to La Casita school (this August), changing Lockwood Elementary to an early childhood center (this August), moving the Freshman Academy to the Clovis High School Campus (August 2025), creating an I-Academy at the former...
A Portales Water Advisory Board member is calling Monday’s City Council meeting “a procedural train wreck.” Mike Davidson, who also serves on the city’s Public Works committee, said Council members did not follow their own drought contingency plan among other issues when they voted 4-3 to relax water restrictions, moving from the “Stage 3” plan to a scaled-back version of “Stage 2.” “They wanted to move to Stage 2 yet not follow those restrictions (either),” he wrote in a letter to The News. “The mayor pro-tem, who opposed...
When Corey Pickett says he's a sculptor, a picture may pop up in one's mind of the man working in stone, wood, metal and such. But Pickett's works are in textiles and upholstery materials, and he creates firearms. The News learned more about Pickett's art and his life in a Thursday conversation. Q: You were born in Georgia. What do you remember about that area? A: I was born in Brunswick, Ga. I remember water on the coast, a slow pace of life and just freedom to explore my...
The books listed below are now available for checkout at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The library is open to the public, but patrons can still visit the online catalog at cloviscarverpl.booksys.net/opac/ccpl or call 575-769-7840 to request a specific item for curbside pickup. “How to Kiss Your Grumpy Boss” by Jenny Proctor. When one of THE Hawthorne brothers hires me to be his virtual assistant, I do everything I can to keep him firmly in the work zone. But even if I do have a crush, I can’t catch real feelings for a...
The Clovis Walmart held a "grand reopening" Friday, nearly eight months after an alleged arsonist caused $42 million in damages. An estimated 450 people turned out for the event, including Walmart store personnel, Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce ambassadors, Clovis police, fire and emergence-response personnel and area residents. Walmart store Manager Johnny Barajas thanked the community for all the help after the catastrophe and during the rebuilding. Walmart was...
The annual Clovis Music Festival produced "lots of positive feedback on social media" and "those who came out had a great time," according to Robyn Snowberger, who helped organize the event. "We had people who were there for all three nights," said Ernie Kos, executive director of the Clovis-Curry County Chamber of Commerce. "There were a lot of out of towners in their RVs. There were people from Albuquerque, Roswell, Las Cruces, Lubbock and Amarillo." One of Saturday night's...
Curry County commissioners on Tuesday heard budget requests from county departments for the upcoming fiscal year. County Road Department Superintendent Walon Jones put in requests for a number of items including: • $84,000 for an open covered storage structure. • $340,980 for two semi-trucks. • $99,795 for an equipment trailer. • $102,098 for a tractor. Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Tyler Kelly requested funds for piping and toilet replacement in the District Attorney’s office, HVAC system repairs, floor scrubbers...
Curry County commissioners recently voted to replace a road department tractor that had been totaled in a fire. It brought back a memory from some years ago when I was mildly reprimanded for putting out a fire on a piece of heavy equipment I was operating. That’s right, the foreman wanted me to let it burn. I had a job working for a company that went around with heavy equipment tearing down trees, ripping up the land and such in advance of creating housing subdivisions. I wanted the job because it got me outside, out of an o...
Portales City Council members on Monday voted 4-3 to ease water restrictions for residents. The change means residents living at odd-numbered addresses may water their lawns for 30 minutes between 9 p.m. Mondays and 7 a.m. Tuesdays. Those living at even-numbered addresses may water their lawns for 30 minutes between 9 p.m. Thursdays and 7 a.m. Fridays, officials said. The Council had previously prohibited all lawn watering under what it called Stage 3 restrictions. The Stage 2 restrictions adopted Monday still mean no one...
Jonathan Fuentes, presently vice president of academic partnerships at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas, on Thursday was named president of Clovis Community College. The action came after a 20 minute executive session by the CCC Board of Trustees. Trustees also voted for board Chair Lora Harlan to enter into contract negotiations with Fuentes. Fuentes is expected to take the office July 1. He is the college's sixth president. Fuentes appeared before the board via internet...
Jessica O'Hare strives to "live through my actions, put in the work, and show people my intentions through the way I conduct business and maintain relationships." The News caught up to her Thursday at Ashley Furniture where she is director of operations. Q: Where were you born? What do you remember about that place? A: I was born on Beale Air Force Base in California (about 40 miles north of Sacramento). I don't remember a lot about the base or local area, except that it only...
The Eastern New Mexico Board of Regents on Friday publicly approved the contract that had been awarded university Chancellor James Johnston early this year. Regents in January said they had approved an extension and pay increase for Johnston, but no public vote had taken place, a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. At Friday’s regents meeting, Regent Lance Pyle introduced a motion for a public vote on Johnston’s contract. “Although there was no vote in the (January) executive session … I move to publicly ratify th...
The Clovis Community Band is giving a free concert at 3 p.m. today at Clovis Community College’s Town Hall. So what is this group? What’s their story? The band’s present director, Steve Baldock, said the band was founded in 1978 by Norvil Howell. “(This was) after his extensive and impactful career as the Clovis High School band director and later as the (Clovis Municipal Schools) music coordinator,” Baldock wrote in an email. Baldock went on to note the community band “provided a means for CHS alumni to unite again to pe...
The Hampton Farms peanut shelling facility in Portales, destroyed by fire on Monday, will be rebuilt, said Hampton Farms Vice President R.P. Watson. "We'd like to be prepared to handle and mill the 2025 peanut crop in October (2025)," Watson said. He said the fire caused an estimated $20 million in damages. Watson, from Hampton Farms corporate headquarters in Severn, N.C., was on the scene in Portales last week. He said one Hampton Farms worker was injured in the blaze. "He wa...
