The good, the bad and the give-away

CMI Publisher

It has been a mixed bag this past week.

• I wanted to buy $100 worth of donuts from a store to give to their customers as a goodwill gesture. Yes I saw down-the-road potential, but that was not what this was about directly. Got shot down; didn’t even want to hear that I wanted to buy $100 worth of donuts. Solution: I hope you enjoyed your coffee at Coffee Bistro on Tuesday.

Keep reading for other days around the area where I will be feeling like doing a nice thing.

• Going through a school zone near Zia Elementary the other day where the speed limit is 35, I watched a bus go by me doing at least 45 mph with children in the bus. If a bus is not even going to do the speed limit … I will leave it at that.

• The parades last weekend were, in a word, terrific.

I was at the Tucumcari Parade of Lights last Saturday, and we shared a float with KQAY that night. The live cut-ins from the float during the event combined with the Christmas music really set the mood.

The weather was perfect. I made a fool of myself trying to walk with the float twice only to have to run and catch up to it twice (I am not in good shape by the way, so that was fun).

The turnout was excellent; from what I understand, one of the highest in years.

The looks in the children’s eyes as the floats went by were precious. It was a wonderful thing to see. All in all, I was telling a friend of mine, it truly felt like Christmas.

• In other words, for all the frustration of the week, there was a rosy end to it all. It was touching, and it was a pleasure to be a part of it.

Talking to others this weekend from the other parades in Clovis and Portales, many felt the same way.

It is feeling like Christmas is here after all.

• We will be doing a Christmas giveaway in Portales and in Tucumcari in which we will be accepting request letters for children that are going to be without for Christmas. If you would like to submit a request for children in need, just give us information on why you think a particular child should be selected.

The more you can tell us their story, the better for the decision process.

What we are going to do from the request letters is pick two children from each market, and take them Christmas shopping, and let them pick out what they want for a Christmas present.

Certain restrictions will apply.

Request letters can be dropped off at the Portales News-Tribune or Quay County Sun offices or emailed to me:

[email protected]

Deadline for entries will be Dec. 19.

Selected children will be notified via phone or we’ll stop by their house and let them know.

So please, if you are submitting a letter for a child in need this Christmas, please include contact information including ages of the children you are submitting for if possible.

We will be trying to take the children to a store to be determined Christmas week, and no one will be announced publicly … this is just something between us and the families.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 575-763-3431 or email me.

Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]