Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Articles from the July 22, 2020 edition


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  • COVID-19 claims more area lives

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 24, 2020

    Curry County on Friday recorded its second death related to COVID-19, while Bailey County reported it’s had three deaths this week connected to the virus. Friday also marked the 43rd consecutive day Curry County has recorded at least one positive test for COVID-19 among residents. A man in his 60s was the county’s latest COVID-19 victim, according to New Mexico’s Department of Health. He had been hospitalized, but no additional information was provided. Muleshoe/Bailey County Emergency Management officials announced Thurs... Full story

  • Chamber aiding in tents situation

    Peter Stein - Staff Writer|Updated Jul 24, 2020

    CLOVIS — The roller coaster that is COVID-19 has plunged downward, then upward, then down again for local restaurants. But the Curry County Chamber of Commerce is doing all it can to help. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s latest health order, effective July 13, has forced restaurants to close indoor dining again after it was prohibited, then allowed. On Monday, indoor dining was allowed for a few hours before it was shut down again as courts got involved. The uncertainty in the...

  • Curry inmate tests positive for COVID-19

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 24, 2020

    CLOVIS — A Curry County jail inmate has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a county news release. “The detainee was brought into the facility by the Clovis Police Department and has been quarantined since being booked into the facility,” the release said. “The detainee was tested on (Saturday) and the result was received (Friday).” Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said the unnamed inmate remains quarantined and isolated in the jail. The release said no other inmates or jail staff have tested positive for the virus. Si... Full story

  • Governor delays in-person school instruction

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 23, 2020

    SANTA FE -- New Mexico’s public schools will open the year with online-only instruction, and will continue to do so until at least the Labor Day weekend. That was announced Thursday, during a press conference from Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham. The governor noted infection rates for COVID-19 haven’t gone down as state officials had initially hoped, despite good news on most gating criteria. The state announced 343 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, bringing total confirmed infections to 18,163. The state has recorded 596 dea... Full story

  • Shelburne: Embracing tunnel vision means losing vision

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    Idealists, and, specifically, idealists who are also zealots, scare me. Laser-like focus not only cuts, it blinds. Even if a person is “correct” on an issue, tunnel vision is by definition partial loss of vision. Idealistic zealots think that the only way to get what they really want—and what they really want is the only result they’ll accept—is by getting all of what they really want. And a significant percentage of them believe or act as if reaching their goal justifies any means of getting there. It does not. We can “win...

  • Wet weather to continue

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    After 2 1/2 months with little to no moisture, most of eastern New Mexico has become reacquainted with rain this month. And the wets are expected to keep on coming. The National Weather Service has potential for rain in its forecast today and for each of the next five days. High temperatures are expected to be near 90 every day through Monday, but every day also includes at least a 20 percent chance of rain. Storms could produce heavy rain after 3 p.m. today across the region, NWS predicts, though the chance of precipitation...

  • Fair family a little bit fuller

    Betty Williamson|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    PORTALES — After 40 years of marriage — and at the ages of 70 and 85, respectively — Grace and John Fair of Portales became new parents on July 15. Yes, you read that right. New parents. How that happened is nothing short of a love story, according to Grace Fair, one that involves an entire community … or maybe two. On the morning of July 15, I was honored to join the Fairs at the Clovis office of attorney Michael Garrett for a video hearing with Ninth Judicial Distric...

  • Stevens: The Pioneer Postman tells his story

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    The newspaper interview was published June 1, 1936. It told the story of the “pioneer postman of the Pecos.” His name was Seledon Trujillo. He was 87 when the unnamed reporter interviewed him on the front porch, “in the comfort of a big easy chair,” at 122 Reid St. in Clovis, where Trujillo lived with his son. He told the reporter his eyesight was failing and he “hears not so well,” but his mind was alert. He said he was 10 years old when he saw the Indian fighter and wilderness guide Kit Carson. He talked about working for L...

  • Editorial: Honor Lewis' memory by heeding his words

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    Few life stories are as humbling as that of John Lewis, a civil rights icon and longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia who died Friday at age 80. Hoping to provoke this country to renounce the oppressive discrimination against Black Americans, he walked into certain confrontations with racist cops, Ku Klux Klansmen, hate-spewing citizens and unjust institutions, unarmed and armored only with the nobility of his cause. And even after being beaten, jailed and threatened with worse, he did it again and again, determined...

  • McManigal: Government should follow rules too

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    People seem confused about what role — if any — government plays in our lives. This misunderstanding causes problems. Government was never intended to be the master, but the servant. Your servant doesn’t tell you what you are allowed to do, nor punish you for not obeying him. The servant isn’t allowed to do things in secret with the master’s money, nor to keep any job-related secrets from the master. Your servant is accountable to you; never the other way around. If someone takes a government job, they either accept th...

  • McDonald: Biden could steal part of Trump's base

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    A New York Times article caught my eye, since I worry about silly little things like the end of the world as we know it due to our collective inaction regarding climate change. The Times article suggests that the politics surrounding this issue is shifting, thanks in part to Joe Biden’s approach to it. Citing Gallup and Pew polling data, the article points to a clear majority who say the environment is indeed getting worse and the federal government isn’t doing enough about it. Polls are also showing that a supermajority of...

  • Jail log - July 22

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    Booked The following were booked into local jails (Friday - Tuesday): Clovis • Matthew Cordova, 27, driving while license suspended or revoked • Christopher McCasland, 34, non-residential burglary, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle • Joel Hodges, 52, battery • Anthony Gurule, 25, possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon • Rene Robles, 49, failure to appear on a felony charge • Stephen Whittenberg, 54, probation violation • Raul Venegas, 29, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge, failure to appear on a felon...

  • Pages Past - July 22

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    On this date ... 1950: Firefighters had to drive through “water up to their running boards” and stand in “mud up to their ankles” to fight a hay fire in a torrential rain storm. Lightning caused the fire on F.L. Corder’s Roosevelt County farm near the Bethel community, the Portales Daily News reported. “Fire Chief Newman Carter said the stack of hay was blazing up despite the downpour when the firemen arrived,” the paper reported. “They rigged a siphon in an irrigation ditch and knocked the blaze out, but the hay continued t...

  • ENMU regents to pick Ruidoso president

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University Regents will end the month with a pair of Friday meetings. The regents will hold a telephonic meeting Friday afternoon to appoint a president for the Ruidoso campus, then on July 31 have a board work session. The 1:30 p.m. Friday meeting has just two items — an appointment for ENMU-Ruidoso and a resolution recognizing current president Ryan Carstens. Those wishing to attend should contact the ENMU president’s office at 575-562-2121. The Ruidoso presidential search resulted in 51 ap...

  • Business digest - July 22

    Updated Jul 21, 2020

    Xcel offers help deferring bills AMARILLO — Xcel Energy is urging customers to get in touch with the company if they have any concerns about covering summer electricity costs, according to a company release. The release notes that while electricity prices have fallen in 2020, triple-digit temperatures throughout July have increased usage. The company offers payment arrangements on a case-by-case basis that allow customers to extend payments out over several months, and agents can connect customers facing loss of income or o...

  • Water authority to meet Thursday

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    CLOVIS — The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority board will consider final approval of the budget for the 2020-21 year when it meets in regular session on Thursday. The 3:30 p.m. meeting will be held at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library. Anybody wishing to participate by phone can call 513-480-3601, followed by PIN 89866013 at the prompt. In its May meeting, the authority approved a preliminary budget that anticipated revenues of $20.215 million, expenses of $1.138 million and $19.75 million b...

  • County reports solid financial footing entering 2020-21

    Kevin Wilson - Staff writer|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    CLOVIS — The Curry County Commission received a slate of good news on the financial front Tuesday, with a quick rundown of the final quarter of the 2019-20 fiscal year. County Finance Director Carol Pipes told commissioners in the virtual meeting that the county had $19.635 million between general fund dollars and other investments. Pipes noted gross tax receipts revenues were down 1.8% while property tax revenues were up 7.8%. While some departments had to request increases in the quarter due to salary updates, Pipes s...

  • Restaurant respite brief

    Kevin Wilson - Staff writer|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    CLOVIS — New Mexico restaurant patrons were able to eat indoors again on Monday. For a few hours anyway. Then the state’s Supreme Court ruled otherwise, sending diners back to covered patios or curbside. K-Bob’s Steakhouse in Clovis allowed inside dining briefly, but owner Sid Strebeck said half of the patrons wanted to eat in the patio anyway. By the time staff heard about the Supreme Court ruling, Strebeck said, the dinner rush was pretty much over. On Monday morning, an Ed...

  • Two killed in Monday crash on Mabry Drive

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    CLOVIS — A pair of Clovis residents were killed Monday afternoon in a two-car crash on East Mabry Drive, according to the Clovis Police Department. A CPD news release shows officers were dispatched to the 2900 block of East Mabry about 1:40 p.m. Upon arrive, a Chevrolet truck was on its passenger side in the eastbound lane while a Subaru car was off of the roadway to the south. Tommy Cash, 70, and Sean Cash, 47, both of Clovis, were in the truck and died on the scene. The driver of the Subaru was Aaron Pedroza, 28. He was a...

  • Bailey County reports second COVID-19 death

    The Staff of The News|Updated Jul 21, 2020

    The number of COVID-19 cases reported in Curry County have almost tripled in the past month and Bailey County on Monday reported a patient in Muleshoe’s Park View Nursing Care Center had tested positive for the virus. Also Monday, Bailey County officials reported their second death related to COVID-19, a 76-year-old female. Curry, Roosevelt and Quay counties have all reported one virus-related death since the pandemic began. Parmer County has reported eight such deaths, most tied to a nursing home in Friona. Plains Regional M... Full story