25 years ago: A lifetime ago for some

Bill Clinton was president.

O.J. Simpson was accused of murder.

And Whoopi Goldberg hosted the Academy Awards. Schindler’s List won seven Oscars.

For the old-timers among us, 1994 seems like yesterday.

But today’s high school seniors, and many of today’s college seniors, weren’t even born yet.

In case you missed it, or forgot about it, or weren’t born yet, here’s what happened 25 years ago this week:

• U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, was hosting a “big free barbecue” at The Memorial Building in Portales. The purpose was to familiarize voters with Republican candidates Colin McMillan (U.S. Senate), Gregg Bemis (U.S. Congress) and Walter Bradley (lieutenant governor).

• Clovis led Portales 14-0 at halftime of the season-opening football game for both teams. But the second half was all Clovis. The Wildcats won 49-0. “I don’t think we got all that much better in the second half,” Clovis coach Eric Roanhaus said. “I think they just got tired.”

• “Forrest Gump” was showing at North Plains Cinema 4. Tickets were $3.

• Gordon A. Paul of Clovis wrote a letter to the editor in which he expressed concern for the safety of children on bicycles. “…(T)here were seven young boys westbound on Llano Estacado,” he wrote about a recent experience. “…(T)wo of those boys pulled out (in front of his car) without any respect for their own life. If there had been a car beside me, they would have been very dead.”

• Rudy Garcia, manager of Furrs Supermarket, delivered a number of new Macintosh computers the grocery story donated to Clovis’ Mesa Elementary school.

• Lindsey Burford thanked the Texico Buyers Club for purchasing her pig after the fair.

• Joe Phipps of Portales had little confidence in a new crime bill. “I don’t think any kind of legislation is going to deter crime,” he told a Portales News-Tribune reporter. “I think it needs to be in the hands of the community. More citizen involvement.”

• Clovis City Limits was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for shooting out the bar’s neon sign and front window with a shotgun.

• Leal’s Mexican Restaurante listed “new school rules (according to Leal’s)” in a paid advertisement. They included:

… No running (except to Leal’s)

… No talking in the halls (except when making plans to come to Leal’s)

… No swearing (except when you swear to come to Leal’s once a week, if not more).

David Stevens writes about regional history for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]