Looking back 40, 30 and 20 years ago, the following are excerpts from the Artesia Daily Press from Sept. 20-26
40 years ago
Sept. 20‐26, 1975
Artesia Christian College had not received its official licensing certification for operation of its education facility Saturday, a spokesman said, and as a result, the new religiously-oriented college is not expected to open on schedule Monday. When it opens, ACC will offer at least eight courses, all to be conducted weekly at night.
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In a game plagued with over 200 yards marked off in penalties, the Artesia Bulldogs successfully brought their record to 6-0 Friday night when they stomped the El Paso Parkland Matadors 23-6. Apparently, penalties are nothing new for the Matadors. In their game last week with Silver City, 272 yards were marked off against them. The Bulldogs also hadtheir share of penalties, with 95 yards returned, but they overcame this and easily dominated the entire game.
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As reported in Looking Back 15 years ago (1960): The text of a scientific report released recently said that effects of the Gnome underground nuclear detonation 1,200 feet deep in the salt formation near Carlsbad should cause no damage to the Carlsbad Caverns.
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As reported in the Pinon News: Heavy rains fell on the Oliver Johnson and Buz Taylor ranches Wednesday afternoon of last week. Thursday night, ground soaking rains were reported over much of the state. The ranchers are happy to see this moisture as it should cause the grass to finish maturing and spread. However, very few of the ranchers of this area reported catching tank water and many of the ranchers have little tank water.
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Miss Jane Garcia, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reyes Garcia of Atoka, was crowned Fiesta Queen and reigned over festivities during the recent 16th of September Fiesta held Sept. 13-14 in Atoka. Miss Garcia was selected queen over two other candidates, Gloria Anaya of Atoka and Sandra Canales of Artesia. The fiesta was held to celebrate Mexican independence.
30 years ago
Sept. 20‐26, 1985
Spectators in the visiting bleachers at T or C’s Tiger Stadium had to stand to see what was going on, since the seats were so low. Also standing on top of a bus behind the bleachers were three varsity coaches and one athletic director, the first three having no other vantage point from which to do their jobs. The Bulldogs put the game out of reach in the second quarter, taking a 35-0 halftime lead en route to a 55-0 victory. The win evened the Bulldogs’ season record at 2-2.
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As reported in the Pinon News: The Pinon people are rejoicing over the rains the past week. No ranchers have reported catching tank water, but the rains will help the grass, brush and weeds. The past week was “freshmen” week at the Weed School and some, if not all, the freshmen, did not like the week and the treatment they received. They are glad it is in the past. Mrs. Clay Thomason of Mayhill called Mrs. Oza Holcomb the past week. Although they had not met, they had known of each other and Mrs. Thomason reported she looked forward to the Pinon News each week. They found they had a number of things in common, as they had written local news for the Artesia and Alamogordo newspapers. They were both quiet, timid and retiring, but writing the news teaches a person to meet the sharp rebukes, and comments, as well as the reports of pleasure in reading the news.
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Artesia artist Helen Mapes, designer of the Heritage Walkway murals, used a lo-o-o-o-ong paint brush to spruce up colors on the artwork originally painted in 1976 and officially dedicated May 16 of that year. Mrs. Mapes has been at work on the project since June 10 and has almost completed repainting of faded areas of the murals. Dates of the scenes depicted on the murals are to be added at the bottom of the mural, she said.
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Demolition crew members with Champion Inc. used a jackhammer to remove concrete flooring on the southeast corner of the building at 107 S. Fourth St. Mo Sarwar of Yates Petroleum Corp., owner of the building, said an elevator and stairway will be added at that location, to be used as an employee entrance into the remodeled building. The elevator and stairway also will provide a second exit in the event of fire or other emergency, Sarwar said. Building permits at City Hall show Yates will spend $986,000 on the project.
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A purchase-service agreement from Eddy County opened old wounds between it and the city council, and the council decided Monday night to table the agreement until an accounting can be made of the services the city provides to the county. Mayor Ernest Thompson said he was getting the reputation of being a “sorehead” when it came to dealing with the county, but “it’s almost impossible to get along with those people.” Councilor Carl Barnes said he had lived in Artesia only 21 years and didn’t understand the dispute, which he compared to “the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys.”
20 years ago
Sept. 20‐26, 1995
There is no truth to the rumor that the Artesia-Carlsbad football rivalry extends back to the prehistoric times. Actually, it dates back to 1927, and the Cavemen lead the series 38-28-11. The 1995 edition takes place Friday at Ralph Bowyer Stadium in Carlsbad. Carlsbad has won the last two meetings in a couple of “only” games: Last year’s 21-17 score was Artesia’s only loss of the season, and 1993’s 17-13 margin was Carlsbad’s only win that year. Artesia last beat Carlsbad in 1992 (20-0), which halted a six-year Bulldog losing streak.
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The Cavemen retained their Eddy County title for the third straight year Friday by edging the Bulldogs 30-27 in Carlsbad.
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Artesia High School boys’ head basketball coach Bubba Jennings will be one of three people inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Honor, according to a news release from Tech. In 1985, Jennings became the only Texas Tech player to win the Naismith Award as the nation’s top collegiate player under six feet tall. He was named the SWC’s Player of the Year while leading the Red Raiders to regular-season and postseason tournament conference championships.
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As reported in the Pinon News: Sunday night and Monday morning of the weekend of Sept. 10, everyone who attended services of the Church of Christ here in Pinon were delightfully surprised to find a watermelon in their car, and it took a while to figure it all out. Jim Gray, who has Lovington Livestock Inc., was in the area and stopped and left a watermelon in each car there at the services of the church of Christ and a newspaper with the sales of steers, heifers, bredcows and pairs, packer cows and bulls, stock news, feed places and stores, dairy news, water drilling companies and irrigation parts and supplies, and a number of other items of interest to ranchers. Gray also stopped at the Van Cleve ranch en route.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back is compiled each week by Daily Press Community Living Editor Teresa Lemon.)
