During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Texas and Oklahoma farmers who lost everything headed west. Before they joined the great exodus to California chronicled by John Steinbeck in “Grapes of Wrath,” they were hoping to find work picking cotton in New Mexico or harvesting beets in Colorado.
The program retraces the steps of Mary and Joseph from their arrival in Bethlehem on what the Christian world now celebrates as Christmas Eve through the Nativity.
Today New Mexicans, who buy gasoline as a needed fuel to get the kids to school, go to work, or to get their loved ones to a doctor, pay 17 cents per gallon on gasoline purchased.
The Artesia City Council voted at its Tuesday, Nov. 25, meeting to approve a three-year contract that will pay Sports Facilities Management (SLM) $18,000 per month or $216,000 per year for management of the center, which is under construction near the Artesia Aquatic Center on Bowman Drive.