Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1945: Lila Hedrick had been elected football queen by the Clovis Wildcats squad.
She was presented flowers and a football at a coronation ceremony by the team’s co-captains, Jack Lorts and Gail Hungate.
Hedrick’s attendants were Sue Bell, Pat Denton, Fran Staubus and Jeanne Boone.
1960: Eastern New Mexico University President Donald Moyer said he planned to ask state legislators for $4.3 million to open a branch junior college in Clovis.
Moyer also told state Board of Education officials that he’d be asking for an 18% increase to the athletics budget.
And he said ENMU would request a 20% increase for faculty salaries, despite university instructors already receiving an average of 2% above state average.
ENMU faculty received an average salary of $7,737 annually, Moyer said.
1960: Clovis city commissioners set the tax for clubs selling liquor at $500 per year after club representatives complained a planned fee of $1,000 was too high.
Men representing the American Legion and Elks Club told commissioners they would have to cut back on civic projects if the fee was $1,000.
Commissioners had received 93 applications for liquor licenses. Only 12 would be accepted. They were still working on a process for screening.
Commissioner O.G. Potter told applicants, “I’m interested in the locations of these liquor outlets as much as I am the person applying for the license.”
1961: Bill Smith, the manager of Clovis’ Sears & Roebuck store, was scheduled to present a program at Melrose schools: “Dangers of Communism.”
The program was slated to include a film: “Communism on the Map.”
1961: Clovis’ Gold Lantern Lounge had announced plans to open at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Its Speck’s Package Store would be open all day for holiday customers’ convenience.
1964: Police were looking into two burglaries in the 100 block of Mitchell Street they believed were related. The El Monterey restaurant lost 20 dozen hot tamales, a box of cigars, 10 or 12 boxes of mints and 14 boxes of candy bars; Bill Moore’s plumbing shop in the same area lost about $500 worth of tools the same night.
1967: Roden-Smith Rexall Drug at 400 Main offered a jumbo hamburger and thick malted milk for 49 cents at its fountain. Polaroid swinger cameras were $13.97. Broxodent electric toothbrushes were $12.95.
1970: Residents of Eastern New Mexico University’s De Baca Hall were evacuated after a second-floor fire.
Officials said room 223 was “gutted,” and multiple rooms in the dorm sustained heavy smoke and water damage.
All but about 50 students were allowed to return to their rooms once the fire was out; the others spent the night in Harding Hall nearby, the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Officials said the fire was most likely caused by an incense stick or a candle left burning while the room’s occupants were away.
1971: Sixty-four area law officers were each presented with a Thanksgiving turkey in a brief ceremony launching “Area Law Enforcement Officers’ Week.”
D.L. Ingram and Doc Stewart, Clovis men who initiated the recognition, passed out the turkeys. Mayor Chick Taylor Jr. issued a proclamation calling for the observance.
1971: A 21-year-old man, in court to plead guilty to a burglary in Melrose, escaped from deputies and avoided capture for the next three hours.
Charles Malott was found hiding under a large wicker basket in a shed behind a home at 1012 Sheldon St. in Clovis.
The homeowner said she noticed something was not right when she saw the basket where her cat slept had been turned upside down.
1972: The second alumni game of the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhound basketball team was coming up, and a number of locals who had once suited up in the green and silver had pledged to attend.
Jim Guymon and Dale Severson, members of the 1969 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship team, were expected to participate, as well as Jimmy Joe Robinson and Bill Griggs of Clovis, Julian Guerra and Fred Hensley of Portales, and Dale Saxton of Lovington.
The Greyhound men were coached by Buddy Ball.
1975: The Super Special of the week at BJ’s Drive Inn was a fish sandwich with French fries and a small soft drink for 89 cents.
BJ’s, “Where quality is king,” was located at 501 W. Seventh St. in Clovis.
1975: Clovis High School band members harvested sugar beets to help finance a trip to Los Angeles scheduled for December.
More than 12 tons of beets were harvested. Band members received $40 per ton for their work.
1987: The Yucca Junior High School band twirlers, under the direction of Judy Hart, had won first division ensemble at the Southeast District Marching Festival in Artesia.
The prize-winning twirlers, who posed for a photo published in the Clovis News-Journal, included Melinda Encinias, Michelle Jacob, Christine Kennedy, Julie McDaniel, Jessica Mitchell, Denise Lopez and Angie Lyons.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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