Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Pages-past
On this date ...link
1975: Parents complained to Clovis’ school board members about the required reading of “A Separate Peace.”
Mrs. Joel Sealey said the book contained numerous curse words and used the Lord’s name in vain, “demoralizing students’ minds and degrading their vocabulary.”
Max Kelso told board members, “We can’t expand as a free nation, a Christian nation, with this kind of stuff going on.”
School Board President Billy Nell Williams said the board did not condone the book and planned to pass the parents’ objections on to the state Department of Education.
1970: A jury found a 20-year-old Clovis man guilty of possession of LSD.
Police said he was arrested after a confidential informant purchased the illegal drug from him.
The Clovis News-Journal reported the man had also made news earlier in the year “when he appeared before the city commission with a delegation of long-hairs who accused Clovis Police Chief Ken Kingsbury of being ‘personally prejudiced’ against hippies.”
The newspaper reported “Some 15 or 20 hippie types watched the trial.”
The newspaper reported the man was sentenced about a month later to one to five years in jail.
1950: A Clovis baggage handler died while unloading luggage from a Santa Fe passenger train.
A witness said Charles Brake, 46, coughed a couple of times, complained about being ill, stepped into the baggage car and collapsed. He was rushed to the Clovis hospital but was dead on arrival.
He was survived by a wife, two children and two grandchildren.
Another rainy day ...
1975: The region received good moisture for the second night in a row.
Portales led the way with a half inch of moisture, the National Weather Service reported.
Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. For more regional history, check out his weblog at:
