Serving the High Plains

Pages past - May 20

On this date ...

1970: More than 2,000 people are expected to attend a groundbreaking ceremony and meal served by Roy ladies for the new Chicosa Lake State Park seven miles northwest of Roy in Harding County. The lake encompasses 240 acres, which “never has gone dry in the memory of man,” of the park’s 640 acres. In the early cattle-drive days, Charles Goodnight used the lake as a watering spot on his trail from Texas to Montana. Chicosa Lake State Park closed in 1996 because of excessive drawdown of the water table and drying of the lake. The land then was given to the city of Roy.

• Gary Hillis, animal control officer for Tucumcari, said he received many complaints from residents who had their flowerbeds destroyed by dogs running loose at night. Hillis said he’d be out at night and will apprehend the dogs “one way or another. If he cannot catch them, he may have to shoot them.”