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

40 years ago June 9-15, 1984

Elephant Butte Irrigation District Officials say they are supporting a battle by the Carlsbad Irrigation District to overturn a state engineer’s decision that would allow irrigation district members to sell water rights outside their district. The manager of the Carlsbad district, Oral Nichols, said the ruling issued May 4 by State Engineer Steve Reynolds could hurt all of the state’s irrigation districts, causing them to shrink as water rights are sold.

———-Although no one has found a way to see through rocks, scientists at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology may have developed the next best thing. Glass models allow the researchers to watch and photograph the movement of oil in a fairly realistic setting. The research team at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center, a division of New Mexico Tech, uses these “micromodels” to study the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) in improving oil recovery. The team pioneered the use of the glass micromodels under pressure. Other scientists now have adopted this technique.

———-Members of the Yucca CowBelles and Wool Growers Auxiliary gathered in the Hope Fire Station recently to stitch together squares of a brown and orange brand quilt, an annual fundraising event for the group. The quilt contains 100 squares with 100 livestock brands belonging to area ranchers and will be sold during the 1984 Eddy County Fair. Two of the handfashioned comforters are made each year by the women, the one pictured and one of a similar design to be presented to a member of the organization.

———-Hermosa Church of Christ won five of six games in winning the Bulldog Invitational Slowpitch Softball Tournament, which concluded June 9 at Jaycee Park. In order, they beat Artesia First Methodist 11-9, beat Artesia First Presbyterian 15-5, lost to Roswell First Baptist 18-3, beat Roswell S. Main Church of Christ 8-4, then beat Roswell First Baptist two in a row – 20-18 and 13-2 – to win the title.

———-Law enforcement agencies may use the results of alcohol breath tests as evidence against accused drunken drivers even when breath samples are not preserved, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously June 11. Overturning a California appeals court ruling, the justices said the nation’s police officers and prosecutors have no constitutional duty to “preserve breath samples in order to introduce breath-analysis tests at trial.” Law enforcement officials have urged the justices to reverse the California court ruling, contending that it represented a major obstacle in the fight against drunken driving.

———-An Albuquerque woman will be one of the relay runners carrying the Olympic torch this month, the only New Mexican selected for the cadre of 200 runners. The torch will pass through New Mexico next week, but it will be the following week before Kathie Hiebert- Dodd gets her turn at carrying the torch.

———-The Reagan administration says it supports legislation designed to prod states into adopting a minimum drinking age of 21. Transportation Secretary Elizabeth H. Dole said at a news conference June 13 that the administration now believes the federal government should play a role in encouraging states to adopt a uniform drinking age, in an effort to reduce highway fatalities.

30 years ago June 9-15, 1994

Infants born at the Artesia General Hospital can now receive shots for the Hepatitis B virus through a State of New Mexico Program. The hepatitis B virus infects about 300,000 children and adults in the United States every year. More than 10,000 of those infected need to be hospitalized and 250 die. Hepatitis B commonly causes long-term liver problems. Nurse Sheila Chase administers a hepatitis B vaccination shot to newborn Miranda Jo Robison while nurse’s aid Becky Ramos comforts her.

———-The number of working oil and gas rigs nationwide increased by 10 last week to 752, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. A year ago, the total was 711, the company said June 10. The count peaked at 4,500 in December of 1981 during the oil boom. Last summer, it dropped to a record low of 596. The previous low was 663 in the summer of 1986. The rig count represents the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas.

———-Capitan, N.M., home of Smokey Bear, will host Smokey’s 50th Birthday Celebration. Barbara E. Luna, Fire Prevention Coordinator and Capitan District Forester with the New Mexico Forestry and Resources Conservation Division, says one of the objectives of the celebration is to pay tribute to 50 years of fire prevention. “Smokey was found in the Capitan Mountains as a small bear cub that was badly burned,” she writes. “He was nursed back to health and flown to Washington, D.C. He then became the national living symbol for wildfire prevention.”

———-Artesia school officials plan to break ground on Yeso Elementary School on July 1, after the Board of Education voted June 13 to accept a bid of $3.924 million for the project. Chaparral Builders of Hobbs, which constructed the recent improvements at Grand Heights Early Childhood Center and built the high school natatorium, was the successful bidder.

———-Investigators are said to be closing in on O.J. Simpson in the slaying of his former wife and another man, discovering bloodstains in the football legend’s driveway and car and a bloody glove in his mansion. Simpson could be arrested within days if the blood matches that of the victims, unidentified police sources said in June 15’s Los Angeles Times.

20 years ago June 9-15, 2004

Artesia muralist Noel Marquez completes the mural on the northwest wall of Heritage Walkway on Main Street this week. The mural depicts the “Artesia System,” – the flow of ran water from the Sacramento Mountains to wells underneath the city of Artesia. For approximately the last eight weeks, the mural has been gradually becoming a reality. According to Marquez, the process included “one week of putting up scaffolding, one week blasting the wall to prepare it to receive the paint, two to three days of drawing and five weeks of painting.”

———-The National Main-Street Center has announced that Artesia MainStreet, Inc. has received national recognition as a “Certified MainStreet Community” for its success in revitalizing the downtown area. Awarded annually, Artesia is one of the select communities that met the rigorous credentials required by the National MainStreet Center for such an award.

———-Every year, the New Mexico State Police compiles information and gives a Compstat report in an effort to analyze problems throughout the state and identify solutions. This year, that meeting was opened to the public. The department wants to increase public awareness and the open meeting was a step toward that goal, said Chief Carlos Maldonado. Captain Larry Rogers of the New Mexico State Police delivers a PowerPoint presentation in a Compstat report in Roswell June 10. One of the concerns raised by citizens is the large amount of area that state police must cover and the limited amount of manpower and resources.

———-Artesia Fire Department Captain Kent Bratcher, left, congratulates Firefighter/EMT Ronnie Doporto, center, and Firefighter/EMT Josh Whitmire following the recent Eddy County EMS Recognition Dinner. Doporto received the Director’s Leadership Award for his work with the AFD’s Rope Rescue Team, while Whitmire took home honors as the 2004 Emergency Medical Technician of the Year.

———-In the bloodiest fighting this year, U.S. Marines killed more than 80 insurgents in a threeweek offensive against a Taliban stronghold in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, the military said June 11. Some 2,000 Marines were sent to Afghanistan this spring, swelling the U.S.-dominated force to 20,000 – its largest yet – in an attempt to put rebels on the defensive ahead of September elections.

———- (EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back was compiled By Daily Press Staff)

Fathers are not honored in our society as they once were. In fact, in some quarters, it is taught that fathers are not necessary for a child’s well being. Thankfully, studies have shown how valuable fathers are to their children.

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that reveal how important fathers are in God’s economy. We have heard them many times and may have become numb to their importance. In the middle of the Ten Commandment God said that we are to honor our father (Exodus 20:12). Under the law there were severe penalties for a son or daughter that refused to honor and obey their father and mother (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). And there are many other passages that we could mention, but Jesus expresses God’s view of fathers when He said, “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven (Matthew 23:9).”

Jesus says this in the context of the hypocrites who loved to be honored with titles. They liked the titles of rabbi, master, and father. Jesus didn’t mean that should not call their own fathers father. That would stretch this verse out of its context. But the fact that Jesus said this does indicate how high that name is. So lets look at this man called father.

Just from our scripture text we understand how high honor the title father is. This is the same name that Christ calls His Father. It is by the name “Father” that Christians refer to God. Jesus acknowledges that God is “your Father (John 20:17).” It is this title that we honor our earthly fathers. No one else on earth deserve that title. That is not man’s opinion. That comes from Christ Himself Who warns us to call no man father on earth, but affirms the commandment to honor our fathers (Mark 7:9-13).

Being called “father” is a high title. That is the reason that the rabbis in Jesus time coveted it. The name that they used was “abba”. This name may be familiar. Jesus said in that dark night in Gethsemane, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt (Mark 14:36).” John Gill says “… the Scribes and Pharisees… were called not only by the name of Rabbi, but Abba, “Father”, also: hence we read of Abba Saul, or “Father” Saul; Abba Jose ben Jochanan, a man of Jerusalem, Abba Chanan, …and others…” They desired the name of father to rule over men.

To bear the name father is to bear a great responsibility. True fathers have this name to train up their children “… in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).” And it does not matter whether you are a biological father, step-father, or adoptive father, that name means you are responsible for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual upbringing of those children under your care. And it does not stop when they are “grown”. The emphasis changes as they grow, but the responsibility continues. You may have a type of friendship with your children, but your main task remains to nurture and influence them for their Father in heaven.

Now, let me speak to children and mothers. Society has so changed that fathers are discouraged from being real men. What children need, boys and girls, is not another mother, but a true father. Boys need a father to teach them how to be godly men. And daughters need a father to show them what a real man is. Pray for your father/ husband to be a strong and courageous leader of the family in the image of our Father in heaven.

Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things; Give heart and mind and soul and strength To serve the King of kings.

— “Rise Up, O Men of God,” William P. Merrill If you have any questions, we invite you to visit with us this Sunday. Worship is at 10:50 a.m. We are located at 711 W. Washington Ave. Check our sermon videos on YouTube @ ricksmith2541. Send comments and prayer requests to prayerlinecmbc@gmail. com.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Rick Smith is the pastor of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.)

The Rev. James Lawson Jr., an apostle of nonviolent protest who schooled activists to withstand brutal reactions from white authorities as the Civil Rights Movement gained traction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 95. His family said Lawson died on Sunday after a short illness in Los Angeles, where he spent decades working as a pastor, labor movement organizer and university professor.

Lawson was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who called him “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

Lawson met King in 1957, after spending three years in India soaking up knowledge about Mohandas K. Gandhi’s independence movement. King would travel to India himself two years later, but at the time, he had only read about Gandhi in books.

The two Black pastors — both 28 years old — quickly bonded over their enthusiasm for the Indian leader’s ideas, and King urged Lawson to put them into action in the American South.

Lawson soon led workshops in church basements in Nashville, Tennessee, that prepared John Lewis, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, the Freedom Riders and many others to peacefully withstand vicious responses to their challenges of racist laws and policies.

Lawson’s lessons led Nashville to become the first major city in the South to desegregate its downtown, on May 10, 1960, after hundreds of well-organized students staged lunch-counter sit-ins and boycotts of discriminatory businesses.

Lawson’s particular contribution was to introduce Gandhian principles to people more familiar with biblical teachings, showing how direct action could expose the immorality and fragility of racist white power structures.

Gandhi said “that we persons have the power to resist the racism in our own lives and souls,” Lawson said. “We have the power to make choices and to say no to that wrong. That’s also Jesus.”

Years later, in 1968, it was Lawson who organized the sanitation workers strike that fatefully drew King to Memphis. Lawson said he was at first paralyzed and forever saddened by King’s assassination.

“I thought I would not live beyond 40, myself,” Lawson said. “The imminence of death was a part of the discipline we lived with, but no one as much as King.”

Still, Lawson made it his life’s mission to preach the power of nonviolent direct action.

“I’m still anxious and frustrated,” Lawson said as he marked the 50th anniversary of King’s death with a march in Memphis. “The task is unfinished.”

Civil rights activist Diane Nash was a 21-year-old college student when she began attending Lawson’s Nashville workshops, which she called life-changing.

“His passing constitutes a very great loss,” Nash said. “He bears, I think, more responsibility than any other single person for the civil rights movement of Blacks being nonviolent in this country.”

James Morris Lawson Jr., was born on Sept. 22, 1928, the son and grandson of ministers, and grew up in Massillon, Ohio, where he became ordained himself as a high school senior.

It has been a fun-filled week at First Baptist. We held our annual Vacation Bible School (VBS). It is four days and one evening of singing, playing, studying and eating!

There are always fantastic snacks at VBS. Sometimes the music is “meh,” sometimes the videos we show that tell the gospel are less than impressive, and sometimes the kids act up in ways that end a volunteer’s kids’ ministry tenure, but there are always fantastic snacks.

At our VBS, we have lunch for all the servant volunteers and their kiddos. We make sure and thank them for helping make VBS all it can be, because without their help, corralling 100-plus kids from grades K-5 would be almost impossible.

We had a great turnout of adult servants this year. They all had smiles and seemed to really enjoy themselves. Some of them even danced along with the songs we learned. I can appreciate adults who don’t care if they look silly dancing along with the kids. They aren’t afraid to look silly, because they know that if even one kid turns his/her life over to Jesus, all the embarrassment of being a bad dancer is worth it!

Our adult servants have experienced the new life found in Jesus, and so they come and give their best efforts to pass on the faith to the next generation. They are willing to look silly, endure embarrassment, and even be vulnerable, all to see our kids find Jesus.

I am grateful for such adults. They epitomize what we find in the book of Romans. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…”.

Do you know the good news? It is not just a story we hear at VBS every year; it is the power of God for salvation, and it will change everything in your life and, more importantly, your eternity.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Ty Houghtaling is the lead pastor at First Baptist Church. Contact him at ty@fbcartesia.


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