Pages Past: June 12

linkOn this date ...

1975: Clovis had a new street-sweeping machine. Mayor Chick Taylor said the machine could pick up water, oil, bricks, bottles and “just about any kind of debris,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.

Commissioner Jim Jacobs, joking about the city’s stray animal issues, asked: “Does it pick up cats and dogs?”

“Yeah,” the mayor replied. “If you point it in the right direction.”

The machine cost taxpayers $50,000.

1965: State Health Department officials were warning area residents a “colorful little ball” sold as a firecracker could be mistaken by children as candy.

Officials were asking dealers to pull the balls from their shelves, saying they had been declared illegal by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

1950: About 1,100 fans came out to Bell Park and were treated to a 6-3 victory by the hometown Clovis Pioneers over Pampa, Texas, in a West Texas-New Mexico League baseball game.

Left-hander Tom Gallagher improved to 2-2 on the season, holding the Oilers hitless into the sixth inning and allowing just three hits overall.

Gallagher finished with an 11-13 record and a 6.02 earned run average in his final season of professional baseball, according to baseballreference.com.

Go figure ...

1975: Eastern New Mexico University officials said 1,948 students had enrolled for the summer session. That was a record, breaking the mark of 1,782 set the year before.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. For more regional history, check out his weblog at:

www.highplainsyesterdays.com