Looking back 40, 30 and 20 years ago, the following are excerpts from the Artesia Daily Press from Feb. 7-13.
40 years ago
Feb. 7‐13, 1976
That killer Bulldog instinct found its way into the Tucumcari gym Friday night when the Big Orange cagers pressed the life out of the Rattlers, 102-77, to take a firm hold on the number-three spot in District 4-AAA. Robert King has seen his shooting game improve considerably the past two ballgames, and his performance Friday night against Tucumcari was his top season scoring effort at 12 points. King’s biggest contribution to the Bulldogs, however, is his hustling. Wild Willie Morrison may not be one of the top scorers for the Bulldogs this year, but his enthusiasm makes up for it. Willie’s relentless effort on the man-to-man press has scared opponents all year into losing the ball or throwing it away. Willie dropped in four points against Tucumcari Friday.
—————
Two 13-year-old juvenile boys were taken into custody by Las Cruces police late Sunday after they allegedly stole five automobiles in cities between San Angelo, Texas, and Artesia. The two youths, believed to be from San Angelo, allegedly stole a vehicle in their hometown and drove it to McKinney, Texas, where they swapped it for another vehicle with more gasoline in the tank. The two then drove to Odessa, Texas, again swapping for a third vehicle, and proceeded on to Carlsbad, where a fourth car was stolen. Artesia Police said the youths then apparently drove to Artesia and stole their fifth automobile, belonging to Linda Spencer. The Spencer automobile was stolen Sunday morning from the parking lot of the Hermosa Drive Church of Christ, according to police reports. The 13-year-olds drove west to Las Cruces, where they were apprehended late Sunday afternoon.
—————
Jeannie Belvin accepted the Merchant of the Year award, presented to her father, A.C. Sadler, by the Artesia Businessmen’s Association. Outgoing ABA president James Ray Everage made the presentation at the annual Artesia Chamber of Commerce Banquet. Sadler has operated an Artesia hardware business since 1941.
—————
Work on the Artesia Downtown Mall mural began Monday, with students from John Gunderson’s fine arts classes at Artesia High School outlining figures on the west wall of the mall. The Junior Women’s Club is sponsoring the project with Kathy Colbert as chairman and Judy Davis as co-chairman. The mural was designed and organized by Helen Mapes. Local artists are to fill in the figures and complete the background, assisted by Junior Women’s Club members and other interested citizens.
30 years ago
Feb. 7‐13, 1986
As reported in the Pinon News: Mrs. Densmore of Spring Canyon reported there were 16 head of cattle on her place. She and Mrs. Vera Peters are trying to locate the owners. She called Mrs. Oza Holcomb to see if the cattle belonged to Basil. Basil called Bob Brown and the man staying there reported the Browns were all at Winston so he called his brother, Roy Holcomb. Roy though the cattle did not belong to him, but he had heard Austin Green saying Harvey Lewis had some cattle in that area he had failed to gather. All this was reported to Mrs. Peters hoping it would help to locate the owners of the cattle.
—————
Elmer Fritz and Charlie Foster cleared a path through the snow in front of Artesia General Hospital. Artesia and the surrounding area received five-and-a-half inches of snow, which left about a half-inch of precipitation. The high in Artesia Sunday was 31, while the overnight low was 15 degrees. Artesians spent the day clearing sidewalks in front of businesses and homes of the ice and snow.
—————
Some pressure-packed free-throw shooting by Marty Sandoval and Jodi Osborne in the last 12 seconds carried Artesia High School’s varsity girls’ basketball team to an exciting 51-47 victory over the Roswell Coyotes Saturday at the high school boys’ gym. The victory was the team’s third against 13 losses and had been a long time coming. Roswell had beaten Artesia in the Bulldogs’ season opener.
—————
Effective Monday, Artesia High School secretary Elizabeth Bach will become manager of the Artesia School Employees Credit Union while registrar Ineta Russell replaces her and Lori Malone takes over as registrar. All three promotions were approved Monday by the Artesia Board of Education.
20 years ago
Feb. 7‐13, 1996
That thud you heard Thursday night was Lovington hitting the floor at Wildcat Gym. Putting away their six-shooters were coach Don Shell and his Artesia girls’ varsity basketball team. On the scoreboards, it said Artesia 57, Lovington 55. Of course, this one went into overtime. How could it not? So far this season, Lovington has beaten Portales in overtime, Portales has beaten Artesia in OT, and now this thing Thursday night. What does it all mean, Shell? “It means you’d better get ready for more overtime games with these three teams,” he said. “You might see a three-way tie for first place.”
—————
Artesian Dorothy Crouch finds her work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate to be mostly satisfying, but at times, frustrating as she works with children who have been removed from their homes for some reason. Crouch has been selected the Court Appointed Special Advocates Volunteer of the Year for 1995.
—————
As reported in the Pinon News: Thursday of last week, there were a few sprinkles of rain and about sundown until dark there was enough rain to make the top of the ground and the blacktop wet. Then it froze, then about two inches of snow fell that night in the Avis area. H.A. Stringfield came from Alamogordo Friday morning. He reported the roadway was difference in different areas, but he had no trouble. When he returned, he took the four-wheel-drive pickup. Mr. and Mrs. Pete Peters came from Artesia and spent the day at the Stringfield ranch with Mrs. Holcomb. They helped her with some of her problems she had been having. Her washing machine had quit pumping the water out of the clothes when she did her laundry. She thought the pipes and connections were full of lint, so Mr. Peters had her put some water in the machine and it would not pump out, so he checked the line and only a few drops would come out. He checked the hose where it fastened on the machine and it would not pump out water, so he took it loose and no water would go through it so he put water in it at the other end of the line and found a big know of lent and string and got it out and put it back together, and it worked like a new one. Mrs. Holcomb appreciated it so much. She had been planning to try to do it herself, but she was afraid. So thanks so much, Mr. Peters.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back is compiled each week by Daily Press Community Living Editor Teresa Lemon.)