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Looking Back: Cross-country cyclists encounter snowstorm in 1976

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(Daily Press 1976 File Photos)
(Daily Press 1976 File Photos)

Looking back 40, 30 and 20 years ago, the following are excerpts from the Artesia Daily Press from Oct. 23-29.

40 years ago
Oct. 23‐29, 1976

The Artesia Bulldogs served official notice to 1976 District 4-AAA opponents Friday night that they are dead serious about taking a third straight conference crown this year by humiliating the team which was supposed to be the top contender for the league title, 42-0. The Portales Rams, who had reportedly been revolving their entire season around Friday’s contest, had their hopes shattered when the Bulldogs used an overpowering offense and an unyielding defense to take a giant stride toward the district title and a chance at the state crown.

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Artesia High School senior Jerry Glenn Brown has been chosen to receive the Good Citizen Award given by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The award is made annually by the state chapter and is open to both boys and girls. Brown, along with three other seniors, was selected earlier by his classmates. Other finalists included David Taylor, Christi Swink and Connie Kuykendall. Faculty members made the final selection on the basis of qualities of leadership, dependability, service and patriotism.

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New Mexico’s Lt. Gov. Robert Ferguson of Artesia read proclamations designating Oct. 18-24 as Artesia Christian College Appreciation Week in both Artesia and the State of New Mexico during Sunday’s community barbecue festivities on the ACC campus. The proclamations were presented to Dr. Howard Davis, ACC president, during the afternoon’s dedication program. Organizers have termed the activity as a success and are anticipating the event will become an annual affair.

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Two 18-year-old Ohio girls found cross-country bicycling has its drawbacks, particularly when they ran head-on into an untimely fall snowstorm in Artesia today. Deanna Mowery and Jeri Vitello, both of Archbold, Ohio, made a routine overnight stop at an Artesia motel Tuesday on their cross-country journey from Ohio to Tucson, Ariz. They had planned to proceed on to Alamogordo today, but this morning’s cold, snowy weather has delayed their schedule by at least one day.

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As reported in the Pinon News: Basil Holcomb was working near his home recently and saw an animal loping across the flat and up the hill near his well. He thought it was a black horse until the animal went through the fence and into the brush. He decided it had to be a black panther. A few days later as he was driving to Pinon a black animal crossed the road but was some distance away so that he could not see it plainly. He said he again thought of the black panther. Andrea Bell reported she was riding on the Jernigan ranch near Pinon last year looking for sheep when she rode up on a high bank of Pinon draw and in a big tree below her, she saw what she thought was a big bob cat. She said she wondered about it being black and having a long tail. She didn’t mention seeing it until she and her father, Robert Bell, were en route to their home on Blue Water Canyon. He said he assumed it was a panther. The next morning they tried to find it or some sign of it but found nothing. Other ranchers have reported they have found where an animal had killed deer and they were sure it was a panther’s work.

30 years ago
Oct. 23‐29, 1986

For six plays, anyway, the Artesia Bulldogs looked like they were ready to fend off all comers. For the remainder of Friday’s key District 4-AAA showdown with the Goddard Rockets in Roswell’s Wool Bowl, though, they had nothing but problems. Goddard’s 42-12 pasting of the Bulldogs put a severe dent in Artesia’s plans for a playoff berth this fall. It also was the first varsity football victory over Artesia for Goddard since the series began in 1965.

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As reported in the Pinon News: The mountain people were surprised Sunday morning when it started snowing. The mountains received two to four inches. There had been no frost in the Avis and Pinon areas until then, but the cold killed what garden was left.

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Former presidents of the Artesia Chamber of Commerce gathered Thursday for the first meeting of the Presidents Council, an advisory body that will meet quarterly. They are Chamber Executive Director David Dillard, J.D. Smith, Milt Houston, current president Bill Henry, Warren Nell, Don Heathington, Bill Siegenthaler and current vice president Bill Carpenter. Also present were Elwood Kaiser and George Graham.

20 years ago
Oct. 23‐29, 1996

It was just after 9:30 p.m. when the woosh hit Greyhound Stadium. No, it wasn’t the nine-yard touchdown pass that Artesia quarterback Paul Maupin and split end Kirk Robbins hooked up on with 58 seconds left to beat Portales 28-22 in the District 4-AAA opener — it was the long-awaited cold front that hit the stadium like a locomotive. The wind picked up to 900 mph or so, the temperature seemingly dropped 200 degrees, and the dirt turned everything light brown. Bulldog head coach Cooper Henderson, though, was thinking about things like high school football and great defense. “It was a good high school football game,” he said. “I’m pleased we played well enough to win.”

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Adrian Villa’s five touchdowns powered Lake Arthur to a district title via a 57-6 thumping of Carrizozo in six-man football action Saturday in Lake Arthur. The Panthers raised their district record to 2-0 and season slate to 7-0. With just one game left — Floyd this Saturday — Coach Jim Burch’s team clinched its second straight District 3 title.

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The search for remnants of the “Green Flash” meteor that lit up Western skies may have been narrowed by seismographs that detected explosions as it fell to Earth, an earthquake scientist said. Chunks may have landed in the Rose Valley area near Little Lake, Calif., a desert region at the base of the southeast flank of the Sierra Nevadas, Kate Hutton, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, said Friday. Scientists believe it entered the atmosphere over New Mexico, bounced back into space, made a 100-minute orbit and reentered over the Pacific, crossed the California coast at Point Conception, and flew on a course that took it north of Bakersfield, Calif. Little Lake is some 70 miles farther on.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back is compiled each week by Daily Press Community Living Editor Teresa Lemon.)

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