Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS – Officials last week activated sensors to detect vape use and said they recorded nearly 300 incidents at two secondary campuses of Clovis Municipal Schools. “While district awareness of the growing prevalence of vaping among youth nationwide and locally led to the purchase of the detection system, the sheer quantity of detection alerts is incomprehensible, particularly when the system is not yet operating at full capability,” school officials stated in a news release. The district is in the process of insta...
Plans are underway for the annual “Cops & Kids Christmas Event” in Clovis. According to a news release from Clovis police department captain Robbie Telles local law enforcement will be conducting fundraisers and accepting donations for the annual Cops and Kids Christmas Shopping event. A related event, the Dollars for Donuts fundraiser will be held at Daylight Donuts, 2201 N Prince on Thursday, Nov. 10 the release states. The police department is asking people to come by between 6:30 am and 8:00 am and buy some dou...
Curry County on Tuesday officially purchased a new building to house its road department for $1.2 million. The building is located at 1395 State Road 209 in Clovis on an 8.44-acre lot, Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said. The county "came across the building north of town" at the same time as its Countyline Volunteer Fire Department needed a building to house its operation, Pyle said. During the 2022 legislative session, the county received an appropriation to "plan, design,...
Earlier this month, the New Mexico 30 by 30 Committee, an advisory group that is working on Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 2021 executive order to conserve New Mexico lands, announced a request for public feedback on definitions of conserved lands. The goal is to conserve 30 percent of all lands in New Mexico by 2030, with an additional 20 percent of lands designated as climate stabilization areas, as stated on the www.emnrd.nm.gov website. “These definitions are important because they will help with baseline ass...
The city of Clovis has agreed to lease about 642 acres of land south of U.S. 60 off of Curry Road 9 to a large solar farm developer. The property is adjacent to the city landfill, said Hillel Halberstam, managing member of SynerGen Solar, a solar development company headquartered in Baltimore, Md. Clovis, LLC is the wholly owned subsidiary the company created for this project. “(SynerGen Solar) is focused on developing community solar and utility-scale solar projects in the mid-Atlantic and other select states n...
PORTALES -- The Portales City Council heard a presentation by a company that is working to obtain a license to transport used nuclear fuel by rail through the city of Portales to an interim storage facility in southeast Lea County. The Curry County Commission heard the same presentation a few weeks ago and the Clovis City Commission heard it Thursday. Ed Mayer is program director of the project in southeast New Mexico for Holtec International. “Holtec International is a diversified energy technology company with its h...
Western Bank of Clovis plans to merge with Western Commerce Bank, headquartered in Carlsbad, in early 2023, according to representatives of the bank. Jason Wyatt, chairman, president and CEO of Western Bank of Clovis, and vice-chairman, president and CEO of Western Commerce Bank, said “the main purpose of the merger is to provide the Clovis bank with greater resources in order to grow and better serve the communities of Clovis and Portales.” The two “sister banks” currently have common management, common members of the board...
Darwin, the beloved Curry County courthouse dog, passed away on September 19, but his memory will live on in all the people he knew and the many victims he comforted throughout his stay. Darwin, an English Labrador Retriever, came to work at the courthouse in November 2019 as part of a statewide program called Assistance Dogs of the West, Darwin's handler, later owner Judith Glikas said. ADW trains dogs for different types of services, including as courthouse dogs. "These...
After negotiations between the city of Portales and the Roosevelt County Commission reached a stalemate two weeks ago, the county came up with a new plan as to how to proceed at its Tuesday commission meeting. The city and county have been trying to agree on the terms of a joint powers agreement to co-manage a regional dispatch center. A few weeks ago, the city told the county it did not want to have any more meetings and that the county has its final offer. During the discussion at the meeting, Commissioner Tina Dixon said t...
Although many teachers retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state announced last week it has decreased the number of its unfilled teacher positions by 34 percent, according to a release by the Department of Higher Education. This year New Mexico increased its teachers’ salaries and funding for forgiveness tuition debt, which has had an effect on bringing more people into the teaching profession, according to the release. “Under the leadership of Gov. Lujan Grisham, we have seen historic investments in education inc...
The most recent booster designed to combat the Coronavirus is now available, said Amy Kelley, retail pharmacy supervisor at the Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis. The medical center pharmacy started administering the doses of the vaccine three weeks ago, Kelley said. The shot is called the omicron or bivalent booster for the Coronavirus. “We’ve been giving about 60 or 70 (doses) a week at the PRMC Pharmacy,” she said. Once someone has had their primary shots –first and second—in one brand, they can take this booster t...
The Portales City Council on Tuesday voted to approve its 2023 infrastructure capital improvement plan with a change to the order of priorities. Fire chief Timothy Cathey told the council the department’s newest ambulance is seven years old and there is an issue with its turbo chargers. The chief said he wants to start the process of replacing the ambulance as soon as possible and that the estimated cost of a new one is $300,000. The council approved a motion to move the purchase of a new ambulance up to position eight on t...
The Clovis High School Wildcat Band came in First Place Regional Grand Champions last weekend at the Bands of America Regionals held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Band Director Bill Allred said the band won outstanding music, outstanding visual, outstanding general effect and were the Class 3A Champions for their preliminary performances. The top 12 bands moved from the preliminaries on to the finals, Allred said. The band again swept all the outstanding awards...
Portales schools will receive about $1.1 million in public school capital outlay funding as part of an appropriation to schools statewide in Senate Bill 212. Clovis Municipal Schools received $3.1 million, as reported in Sunday’s edition of The News. Some of the smaller school districts received substantially less funding. Brandon Hays, superintendent of Dora Consolidated Schools, said they will receive $100,000, which he said was the least amount any school will receive. Hays and several of the other area school s...
PORTALES -- Before every election cycle, the Roosevelt County Clerk's Office tests its ballot tabulating machines to make sure everything is working correctly. This is called the certification process. On Thursday the clerk’s office began this testing that will continue through Friday Oct. 7, as stated in a press release. Widespread publicity prior to testing alerted the public and invited anyone interested to view the process. That publicity included a presence on social m...
The Bureau of Land Management is holding a Wild Horse and Burro Adoption sale on Friday and Saturday October 14 and 15 at the Curry County Fairgrounds and Events Center. The sale starts at 10 am on Friday and 8 am on Saturday, concluding at noon. The fairgrounds are located at 1900 E. Brady Ave. in Clovis. "It's been awhile since the event was held," said K.C. Messick, general manager of the events center and fairgrounds. Crystal Cowan, wild horse and burro specialist for the...
Eastern New Mexico University this week is putting on the play, "Wait Until Dark," by Frederick Knott. The performances will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the University Theatre Center, said Jon Barr, the chairman of ENMU's Department of Theatre and Digital Filmmaking. The play was adapted into a movie starring actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1960s, Barr said. The main character, Susy, is a blind woman who lives in an apartment in New...
The city of Portales and Roosevelt County are trying to come to an agreement on how to jointly operate and fund a countywide emergency services dispatch center. At the county commission meeting on Tuesday, commissioners discussed the two government’s differences. The county wants a governing board that gives control over the dispatch center to the county as well as the city. The city wants the deputy police chief to control the dispatch center, but the deputy police chief will listen to recommendations from a board on w...
The Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve a Notice of Intent for Consideration of a land use moratorium ordinance that would prohibit the use of land for a facility that is used for any medical procedure intended to terminate a healthy human pregnancy. The ordinance would go into effect for an indefinite period of time. The notice is for a two week period and would, if the ordinance is approved, go into effect after another month or so. Prior to the vote, Michael Garcia, the county’s attorney, sa...
Clovis resident George Barber traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with members of Congress to lobby for passage of a group of bills that would provide funding for the early detection of cancer. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society," as stated on cancer.org The organization (ACS CAN) recently appointed Barber as its vice lead ambassador for District 3, a volunteer position,...
Clovis' lakes are popular with area fishermen, but not all fishermen of Greene Acres, Dennis Chavez and Ned Houk lakes are catching fish. Retired resident and regular fisherman Lonnie Grimes said Ned Houk Park pond "used to be one of the best fishing places around, but not now." Grimes said the pond has trash around it, and there are tree branches and weeds. "The water has a terrible smell to it." "Only thing we're catching out of there are turtles and yellow bellies," he said...
The City of Clovis is hosting a meeting to listen to members of the community’s thoughts, concerns and suggestions and to share information about resources available to them. A number of area residents are concerned about a perceived uptick in crime particularly drive-by shootings and homicides. This meeting, the first in a planned series of neighborhood meetings, will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. John Baptist Church located at 1214 Gila Street in Clovis. Mayor Mike Morris said he wanted to focus on a dialogue with the re...
PORTALES -- Animal control has become an issue in Portales as the city struggles with not having enough staff and facilities to keep up with demands, and help from local animal rescue groups has dwindled. Some social media posts say dogs are running around in groups uncontained and one longtime, former shelter volunteer said people are dumping litters as well as adult cats and dogs. Portales resident Linda Sumption, who formerly taught at Eastern New Mexico University, said after retiring she got involved with animal rescue...
Built in 1914 as a hospital, the landmark building at 800 Hinkle Street in Clovis has once again changed ownership. Originally built as the Santa Fe Hospital, the three story building was sold in 1949 to the Central Baptist Church, which owned it until 1993, when the Clovis Christian School bought the property. On Wednesday, two families – the Garcia families-bought the property to house their church, Iglesia Renacer, said Edgar Garcia, the buyer's agent, assistant pastor a...
Texico resident Pamela Desmond Wright has signed a new six book deal with Harlequin for two "Love Inspired Amish" romance series: Texas Amish Brides and Humble Blessings. "Love Inspired" is a series of books about Christian romance, Wright said. The idea to write Amish romance novels stems entirely from her imagination as she has never lived in an Amish community nor met anyone Amish, she said. After writing for some time, she "purchased a batch of Harlequin titles off eBay...
