Pages past — July 16

On this date ...

1971: The service station at First and Prince in Clovis was robbed at gunpoint shortly after midnight.

Police reports showed the bandit took $206. Police said the robber carried a small caliber pistol.

Station attendant Michael Walters, who was not injured, said the man fled on foot toward the Santa Fe Railway yards.

1961: Law officers in Bailey County rushed to an area farm expecting to make arrests for gambling.

Officials said they had received a tip that “a car load of people (were) playing poker and throwing dice.”

At the scene, officers found a farm couple picking wild plums while their children waited in the car.

Also, the officers’ car got stuck in the soft sand.

The farmers and their children helped free the vehicle, the Clovis News-Journal reported.

1946: One of Portales’ four city water wells was not working and officials said the result was a “critical” shortage.

The city council voted to ask consumers to voluntarily observe a ban on watering lawns until the pump could be repaired.

City officials were making plans to drill a fifth well at the city park.

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

http://www.highplainsyesterdays.com