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Articles from the January 5, 2020 edition


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  • Elida keeps rolling

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    ELIDA — Even the holiday break couldn’t slow down the Elida Tigers boys basketball team. Playing for the first time in nearly two weeks, the Tigers blew out to a 19-3 lead after one quarter on Friday night and dismantled Class 3A Dexter 54-35. Elida (10-1) heads into next week’s EPAC tournament with the best record in the 10-team field and thus could earn the No. 1 seed in the event, which begins on Wednesday at Melrose and wraps up on Saturday at Eastern New Mexico University’s Greyhound Arena in Portales. Senior Tyce De...

  • Our people: Self-taught music maker

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Larry Cage is a local musician who goes by the stage-name "Sorry." The irony of the stage name he chose is shown in his unapologetic approach to music making. He founded the Filthy Boyz Entertainment group in 2019. Cage and three other artists make up the FBE group. They have performed at numerous shows in eastern New Mexico and even taken their talents into areas of Texas to collaborate with other artists. Cage is a self-taught musician. He got started making music with only...

  • It's tumbleweed season in New Mexico - and elsewhere

    Karl Terry|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    On a recent trip to Lubbock, rolling along the road, I found it impossible to dodge a killer tumbleweed. The darn thing lodged itself under my bumper, then migrated further back beneath the undercarriage. I thought I had shed it on the dips leading up to the hospital parking lot, but alas a scraping noise that wasn’t my worn brakes told me otherwise. I was in a hurry so the thing had to remain where it was until later. Sure enough it was still there when I got back. I p...

  • Conflicting research on whether there's more cheating in online classes

    Staff report|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    For months, the nationwide college cheating scandal had been about rich parents, including Silicon Valley executives and Hollywood actresses, buying their children’s way into elite universities. This month, there was a twist: A mom charged with buying her son’s way out of a coveted school — with a college degree. The case of Newport Beach socialite Karen Littlefair paying $9,000 for a surrogate to complete online courses for her son has exposed another university fraud control weakness as well as what experts have argue...

  • Historians weighing in on 'unbalanced' 1619 Project

    Rich Lowry|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    The reviews of the 1619 Project are in. It is “a very unbalanced, one-sided account.” It is “wrong in so many ways.” It is “not only ahistorical,” but “actually anti-historical.” It is “a tendentious and partial reading of American history.” This is what top historians have said of the splashy New York Times feature on slavery in the U.S. that aspires to fundamentally reorient our understanding of American history and change what students are taught in the schools. Given that...

  • No reason to expect men to be interested in 'Little Women'

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    On Christmas day, Greta Gerwig’s updated version of the young adult classic “Little Women” opened in theaters to great acclaim, fantastic reviews and strong box office numbers. And yet, some women found fault with the fact that not enough men were flocking to see it. In a piece for the New York Times, writer Kristy Eldredge observed that the film hadn’t garnered a lot of award nominations from the Screen Actors Guild (zero) and the Golden Globes (two,) and mentioned that the audiences seemed to be overwhelmingly filled...

  • Another viewpoint: Take a shot at Trump rhetoric quiz

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Year three of the man-child administration was much like his first two, only more so. But before you compel yourself, for the sake of your sanity, to forget so much of what you saw and heard, perhaps you can be tempted to test your smarts on this year’s most memorable rhetorical sewage. Give it a try. Amaze your family and pets. And no peeking at the answers below! 1. Trump frequently opined about wind turbine power (although, in his words, “I never understood wind”). He decreed that wind turbine power is responsible for seve...

  • Letters to the editor - Jan. 5

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Wreaths project could use help After reading Ronald Dickson’s comments regarding the Wreaths Across America Project (Letter to the Editor, Dec. 29), I wanted to add there is a downside for Karen Alexander after all her hard work and efforts. After the wreaths are placed on a Saturday, the calls start coming in over the next few days. “My dad didn’t get a wreath,” or, “My son didn’t get a wreath,” or a wife calling that her husband didn’t have a wreath. These calls hurt Karen deeply as she has worked months trying to get e...

  • David Stern left his mark on NBA

    Kevin Wilson - Staff|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    I never met former NBA Commissioner David Stern, but it felt like a distant family member was gone when he died on the first day of 2020. Some of my favorite David Stern anecdotes: • He was particular about pigs in a blanket as an appetizer. At catered NBA functions people in the know wouldn’t touch other appetizers because they were saving room. • Years before Stern became commissioner in 1984, he fought housing discrimination. As president of the Fair Housing Council in New Jersey, he would send a white family and a black f...

  • Suicide hotline change could save lives

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    If someone battling suicidal thoughts is willing to ask for help, the phone line where counselors can be reached 24 hours a day should be as easy to remember and as speedy to dial as 911. Instead, the nation’s suicide hotline number is 10 digits — 800-273-TALK — which heightens the risk of a misdial or a search for the number. That puts up a hurdle at the absolute worst time possible between someone in crisis and potentially lifesaving assistance. Mental health advocates for years have been pushing for a three-digit suici...

  • A look at the waste materials vaping leaves behind

    Staff and wire reports|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    In her office at the high school in Boulder, Colorado, the assistant principal has a large cardboard box where she can toss the spoils of her ongoing battle with the newest student addiction. “This is what I call the box of death,” said Kristen Lewis. “This is everything that we’ve confiscated.” The box is filled with vape pens like Juuls, the leading brand of e-cigarettes, dozens of disposable pods for nicotine liquid, and even a lonely box of Marlboros. At Boulder High, students are prohibited from smoking cigarettes or vap...

  • Jail log - Jan. 5

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Booked The following were booked into local jails (Tuesday-Friday): Clovis ∞ Jody Starc, 41, failure to pay fines ∞ Isaiah Gabaldon, 21, probation violation, battery ∞ Amanda Rodarte, 35, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge ∞ Francisco Arzola, 41, failure to pay fines, battery against a household member ∞ Rebecca Adcock, 23, failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge ∞ Albert Daye, 33, failure to appear on a felony charge, failure to pay fines, concealing identity, speeding ∞ Peter Romer, 20, driving under the influence...

  • Meetings calendar - Jan. 5

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Monday • Swearing-in ceremony for new members of Clovis Community College Board of Trustees — 10 a.m., Room 512, CCC, 417 Schepps Blvd., Clovis. Information: 575-769-4001 Tuesday • Roosevelt County Commission — 9 a.m., Commission Room, Roosevelt County Courthouse, 109 W. First St., Portales. Information: 575-356-5307 • City of Clovis Civil Aviation Board — 5:30 p.m., Clovis Municipal Airport Terminal Conference Room, 459 CR 11.5, Texico. Information: 575-769-7890 • Clovis Lodgers Tax Advisory Board — 5:30 p.m., Clovis Ci...

  • Handful of items on Portales city agenda

    the Staff of The News|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    PORTALES — The first Portales City Council of the new year looks to be a short one with only a handful of items on the agenda for the Tuesday evening meeting. Items on the agenda for the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Memorial Building include: • A proclamation recognizing Jan. 20 as Martin Luther King, Jr. day in Portales. • A resolution to adopt a new Portales Area Transit passenger behavior policy. • A resolution to approve a water project loan/grant agreement for $2.8 million for the Finished Water 3 pipeline constru...

  • Pages past - Jan. 5

    Updated Jan 4, 2020

    On this date ... 1970: “Puzzled Clovis residents” watched as snow swirled about them, with the sun shining brightly out of a nearly cloudless sky, the Clovis News-Journal reported. No measurable amount of new snow had fallen by noon, but the day’s temperatures started in the teens and the ground remained covered in snow that had fallen the previous month. Weather watchers said there was also no measurable amount of new snow on the ground in Grady, but school was closed because of blowing snow and limited visibility. Pages...

  • Court upholds drug trafficking ruling

    the Staff of The News|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    SANTA FE — New Mexico’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the convictions of a Curry County man on drug trafficking and other offenses, according to a court news release. The court ruled that police lawfully stopped the defendant’s car in 2014 and seized evidence used to charge and, in 2016, convict the man. According to the court’s news release: “The Court’s unanimous decision reversed a 2017 ruling by the state Court of Appeals, which had overturned Mikel Martinez’s convictions on grounds that police obtained their evidence...

  • Roosevelt to consider delegation of duties

    the Staff of The News|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    PORTALES — The Roosevelt County Commission will look to delegate disbursement of vendor checks and the entering of certain contract and settlement agreements to the county manager during their first meeting of the year on Tuesday. The county manager may gain the authority to renew contracts for amounts less than $60,000 for the procurement of items of tangible personal property, services and construction and the authority to enter into legal settlement agreements for up to $10,000. All new contracts will still be brought b...

  • Imagination Library kickoff Jan. 13

    Mathew Brock - Staff|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    PORTALES — Sitting down at night to read with your child is one of the most iconic parts of being a parent. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a nationwide program meant to make sure every family has the opportunity to do so. The Imagination Library works with counties and cities across the nation to send free books to families with children from birth to 5 years old. It recently partnered with United Way of Eastern New Mexico to bring the program to Roosevelt and De Baca counties. United Way will kick things off Jan. 13...

  • Learned a lot from B.J. Pierce

    Don Reid|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    Editor's note: Rodeo legend B.J. Pierce, 93, died Dec. 26. He was a three-time world champion calf roper and was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame in 2015. But many area residents remember him more for the three-plus decades he spent as an educator. I don't know what year B.J. Pierce went to work at Highland Elementary School, but I started first grade in 1957 and I don't remember a time when he was not there. On many occasions I felt...

  • Shooter apologized to pizza customers after killing manager

    Ron Warnick|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    TUCUMCARI — The man who shot and killed a manager of a Tucumcari restaurant last month apologized to customers after the attack and said no harm would come to them before he fatally turned the gun on himself in the parking lot. Two friends of the assailant said he found out earlier that day his girlfriend had been “cheating” on him with the manager and was going to drive to the restaurant to confront him. The friends spent 30 minutes trying to persuade him to “not do anything stupid” and took away his vehicle keys, but he ca...

  • 2020's first area baby born

    Kevin Wilson - Staff|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    CLOVIS - By all accounts, the Chenault family had a pretty good 2019. Tanna Chenault graduated from Clovis Community College's radiologic technology program, and got a job as an X-ray technician. Her husband Chet celebrated seven years with the Clovis Fire Department in July with news he was the national Veterans of Foreign Wars firefighter of the year. So far, 2020 is looking pretty good for the Chenaults as well. Landon Ray Chenault joined the family early when he was Plains...

  • Turnovers haunt Steers in loss

    Dave Wagner - Staff Writer|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    FARWELL — There are turnovers … and then there are turnovers, as in the open-court kind. The Farwell Steers made too many of the latter on Friday and absorbed a 55-48 loss to Clarendon. For the game, the Steers committed 25 turnovers. Coach Shane Perkins was less concerned about the number of floor errors as he was the type. “It’s been a problem most of the year,” Perkins said. “It’s not just the shots you don’t get, it’s how many layups they (Broncos) get at the other end.” C...

  • Lady Blue overcome foul trouble to top Clarendon

    Dave Wagner - Staff Writer|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    FARWELL — With key players in early foul trouble, someone had to step up for Farwell’s girls on Friday afternoon. Senior guard Karson Barnes provided the spark, hitting a pair of third-quarter 3-pointers and scoring 10 of her career-best 16 points after halftime as the Lady Blue pulled away from Clarendon 51-38. Junior Presley Agee and senior Ainsley Actkinson, often the team’s leading scorers, were each saddled with three fouls before halftime. But Farwell (15-7) took contr...

  • Year in review: Ram title highlight for county in 2019

    Peter Stein - Staff Writer|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    The crown jewel of Roosevelt County’s 2019 high school sports season had to be Portales’ football team winning the state 4A championship on Thanksgiving weekend. But that was near the end of the year. It was basketball season when 2019 began. Winter Portales’ girls basketball team had posted a come-from-behind victory to win the 2018 state championship, and was hoping for a title repeat in 2019. And that title defense did get off to a promising start, as the Lady Rams opened the ’19 state tournament with a 42-36 first-r...

  • Clovis boys' streak ends at eight in Gallup Invitational

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jan 4, 2020

    GALLUP — Clovis High’s boys couldn’t hold off Spring Valley’s 1-2 punch Friday night. And just when James Webster and A’mari James needed some help, they got it. The 6-foot-4 senior guards combined for 52 points as the Las Vegas, Nev.-based Grizzlies pulled away in the final period for a 70-56 win in the championship semifinals of the Gallup Invitational. The Wildcats (9-4), who saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end, were slated to face Sandia Prep for third place on Saturday night. Spring Valley advanced...

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