Pages past — Feb. 17

On this date …

1975: Curry County Men’s Forty-Two League hosted its 25th annual dominoes tournament. The first tournament was held Feb. 26, 1951, in Ranchvale with 144 men playing at 36 tables. The league was formed by a group of railroaders and Clovis school faculty. The anniversary tournament attracted 100 players and was held at Clovis’ Youth Recreation Building.

1968: A Chicago native on trial for marijuana possession tried to kill himself by cutting his wrist. Thomas Miller, 23, was arrested three months earlier during a series of narcotics raids in Portales. He told a reporter that police “didn’t get the big pushers, just the little people.” He said he tried to kill himself because he was afraid of prison. Miller was convicted of the charges against him and sentenced to 2-to-10 years in prison.

1965: Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. was planning to spend $3 million over the next decade for communication improvements in the Clovis area. Robert Chaplin, a supervisor with Mountain States, predicted Clovis would have a population of 40,000 people by the late 1970s. The population hit 30,000 by 1979 — about 5,000 more than in 1965.

Go figure …

1965: Fifteen foreign students were enrolled at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. Countries and territories represented were Greece, China, American Samoa, Canada, Iran, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, the Canal Zone, Argentina, England and Cyprus.

Clean and inexpensive …

1952: Clovis Steam Laundry at 108 Main offered to clean five shirts for 90 cents. The phone number was 6422 and the laundry had a drive-in service that included a 10 percent discount.

Pages Past is compiled by Clovis News Journal Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

[email protected]