Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority learned at its Thursday meeting that securing an easement for a pipeline from Cannon Air Force Base to Portales may prove costly. CAFB Water Quality Project Manager John Rebman told members in the public input portion of the meeting that three parcels of land where the pipeline from Ute Lake is set to be constructed require an undetermined cost for the 5,400 feet of land. “It’s not gonna be an in-kind consideration like it was on the northern portion of the pipeline running from Canno...
PORTALES — A Portales man on Monday was found guilty of rape and faces up to 53 years in prison. Jurors found Roy Brown, 29, guilty of two counts of criminal sexual penetration resulting in great bodily harm, plus aggravated battery and other charges. Brown was arrested in June of 2016, accused of sexually assaulting a woman after forcibly entering her home south of Portales. “I never had a doubt in my mind that this defendant sexually assaulted (the woman). It’s a good day for Portales, and it’s a good day for victims, and a good day for our...
CLOVIS — People deal with tragedy in a variety of ways, but for several members of Kingswood United Methodist Church, help from a higher power was needed. After two people were killed and four were injured in a shooting at the Clovis-Carver Public Library Monday afternoon, the congregation gathered that evening to surrender their troubles to God. “There is nothing to be said that makes sense of what has happened. It is hard for us, as human beings, to see the full brokenness of who we are — all of us, every single one of us,” said Pastor...
PORTALES — A break in a water line that left most of Portales without running water for over 12 hours Saturday isn’t the first of its kind, according to city officials. The break, which originated in a 24-inch water line off of Lime Street, was reported at 5 p.m. Saturday and repaired 8 a.m. Sunday, according to City Manager Sammy Standefer. The line has broken roughly five times in the last five years, Standefer said, attributing improper installation to the constant problems. “It did not have any bedding around it. Basically, it rests on ro...
A parade that crosses state lines, class reunions, barbecue from the Rotary Club, music in the park, and a feeling of unity could mean only one thing: The return of Border Town Days. The 52nd annual event kicked off with a parade in Texico Saturday morning, crossing the border into Farwell and culminating in a craft fair and outdoor concert at Farwell’s city park. With Farwell band The Shilling Girls providing a musical backdrop, Joann Walker of Fort Worth explained what brings her to Border Town Days year after year. “My family came here in...
PORTALES — Proposed additions and revisions to two New Mexico Department of Agriculture ordinances were heard Thursday afternoon, with one receiving resounding support from a New Mexico dairy organization. Hearing officer Charles Greene presided over the two hearings in the McAllister Room at the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds, the first of which was a reworking of the fee structure for the organic certification program. The program, which certifies produce as organic through evaluations, had its previous fee structure repealed, according to N...
The looming possibility of cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture isn’t what farmers in Eastern New Mexico want to see, but if spending on welfare and food assistance programs share the cuts, they say they are willing to face them. The proposed USDA 2018 budget, unveiled in May, shows plans to cut $4.8 billion from the agency, a 21 percent cut. The USDA funds a wide range of programs from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to subsidies for crop insurance. New restrictions on the subsidies will limit insurance premium subsidies t...
A national study of family and child well-being has found that New Mexico ranks second to last behind Mississippi, and Curry and Roosevelt County are not faring much better than the average. Local health-care and poverty experts say this is nothing new, and the high amount of poverty in the state has been on the increase for several years. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2017 Kids Count Data Book, which used data from 2015, showed 28.6 percent of children ages 0-17 (141,053) living in poverty statewide. In Curry County, the statistic was 2...
Funding for higher education in New Mexico has been restored after a brief political battle in Santa Fe, much to the relief of local university administrators. Gov. Susana Martinez on May 26 signed House Bill 1, appropriating $745 million to higher education institutions in the state and easing fears that colleges would not have a budget before the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Clovis Community College President Becky Rowley was elated to hear the appropriation was the same amount as House Bill 2, which was rejected by Martinez in the state...
ELIDA — The federal government has set aside $46.5 million for rural water projects across the country. Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority officials are hoping some of that money will flow their way. Consultant John Ryan said he and others met with federal officials last week in Washington, D.C., to make a pitch for funding. Ryan said at Thursday’s ENMWUA meeting in Elida that any federal allocation would be decided within 20 days from Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Ryan, along with ENMWUA Executive Director Justin How...
As the New Mexico Legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez battle over the state budget, and funding for higher education is currently at zero, there’s no doubt there is uncertainty — and local college presidents are concerned. “We’re not going to not fund higher education,” Martinez said at a Monday news conference, a week-and-a-half after vetoing the state budget. “That is extremely important to the Legislature and to me. We set (higher ed funding) aside, because I didn’t have a balanced budget. Since I didn’t have a balanced budget, we had...
PORTALES — While the educational seminars at this year’s Portales Ag Expo drove much of the attendance over the weekend, organizers said the numbers still could have been better. Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karl Terry said the attendance at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agronomist Calvin Trostle’s presentation on dryland corn Friday afternoon was a pleasant surprise but not reflective of the entire expo. “Seminars went well, and we’d certainly like to see more vendors and more attendance. That’s been our biggest hur...
The strategic utilization of uncertainties about the future was the subject of a presentation at the Tuesday morning Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority meeting at the Memorial Building in Portales. Ralph Marra, founder and senior principal of Southwest Water Resources Consulting, presented an overview of scenario planning, which he said involves operating in “planning environments that have a lot of uncertainty in them.” Marra said that scenario planning identifies several different scenarios entities can follow so they do not bec...
