A daily look at top news stories in June reported in the Clovis New Journal: June 1: Officials identified the body found May 29 in an abandoned house near Wal-Mart as that of Howard Payne, a 52-year-old transient with ties to Arizona and California. ... Tornadoes threatened Roosevelt County, but storms did not produce any major damage. June 2: KENW-TV kicked off its 31st annual auction, hoping to raise $50,000 for the Portales public television station. June 3: Curry County was prepared for a week-long Pioneer Days celebration with events ranging from a rodeo and parade to a city-wide cookout in honor of Clovis’ 100th anniversary. June 4: Farmers Electric Cooperative employees discovered a transformer had been shot, which caused it to leak about 2,000 gallons of non-toxic mineral oil before causing power outages. Officials estimated repair costs would be more than $200,000. June 5: Curry County Mounted Patrol officials agreed “under duress,” said one, to sign a contract and provide county officials with proof of liability insurance. The action allowed the annual Pioneer Days Rodeo to get started on June 7 as scheduled. Mounted Patrol officials argued they had not been required to sign a contract to host the rodeo in years past, but county officials said they needed legal protection to protect them from possible lawsuits. ... A ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the opening of the N.M. 467 overpass west of Clovis. Area residents no longer had to wait for trains when they traveled to Clovis. June 6: Miss Rodeo New Mexico contestants participated in a press conference and signed autographs as part of Pioneer Days. June 7: Clovis Fire Chief Ray Westerman said the city was expecting about $400,000 from the state to help pay for equipment and station improvements. ... Animal control officers were warning area residents to be on the lookout for snakes. June 8: The day marked the 50th anniversary of Clovis Air Force Base being renamed to honor the late Gen. John K. Cannon, a distinguished flier. June 9: Area youngsters reeled in 933 pounds of fish at Ned Houk Lake as part of the Optimist Club of Clovis’ 20th annual fishing derby. Officials said 96 children — ages 5 to 16 — participated. June 10: Clovis fans of the TV show “The Sopranos” were left hanging by the final episode, which ended with a main character eating dinner and a shadowy figure walking into a bathroom just before the screen went black. “We hated it,” said Melissa Mills, a bookkeeper. “It didn’t end.” June 11: Bank of America received a bomb threat via telephone, but officials said no explosives were located. The bank was shut down for about three hours. June 12: City officials were cracking down on a growing problem: weeds. Abundant rainfall led to the city issuing three times more citations for weeds than in the previous year. June 13: A former Melrose police chief was acquitted of an animal cruelty charge. Michael Trammell resigned from his job after seven counts of animal cruelty had been leveled against him. A judge ordered six counts dismissed before a jury found Trammell acted within the scope of his duties when he shot a dog that had attacked chickens. June 14: An Albuquerque jury found a Portales man guilty in connection with the 2005 slayings of Odis and Doris Newman. Stanley Bedford was scheduled to return to court on June 21, when jurors would begin deciding whether he should be executed for the murders. ... State Agriculture Secretary Miley Gonzalez said cattle in a Curry County herd suffered from bovine tuberculosis, a highly contagious lung disease that poses little risk to humans. Tests were being conducted to see if the disease was spreading. June 15: A new state law went into effect, banning smoking from New Mexico bars, restaurants and other public places. June 16: Alex Collings, 11, of Clovis, won the local Soap Box Derby, qualifying for the national championship race in Akron, Ohio. ... Barbecue and fellowship highlighted the annual Juneteenth festivities at Potter Park. June 17: Nearly $17,000 had been raised — with a goal of $30,000 — for the annual Smoke on the Water fireworks display. June 18: American Medical Alert Corp. announced plans to locate a call center in Clovis. Company officials said they’d hire up to 50 employees in the first six months. June 19: Curry County Manager Dick Smith told county commissioners that all organizations participating in the county fair would have to present proof of liability insurance before they could set up booths. Smith said the policy had been selectively enforced in the past, but new fairgrounds manager Justus Anderson was enforcing all the fairground’s lease requirements equally. June 20: Clovis Community College had installed new locks on doors in response to shooting deaths at Virginia Tech. School officials were considering expanding their intercom system and looking at the installation of electronic message boards in hopes of increasing safety. June 21: Gilberto Reyes of Muleshoe was executed for the 1998 slaying of his former girlfriend, Yvette Baraz. Police said Reyes raped his victim, beat her with a claw hammer and strangled her. ... Clovis MainStreet officials announced plans to convert the abandoned Hotel Clovis into 44 affordable living units for senior citizens. Cost was estimated at $10 million, most of which would be assumed by an Albuquerque developer. June 22: Three Clovis organizations appealed a state agency’s approval of an air quality permit for construction of the proposed ethanol plan on the city’s west side. The groups claimed the proposed plant’s location would be too close to mostly Hispanic and black neighborhoods, subjecting them to pollution hazards. June 23: A suspected burglar escaped police custody under the guise of helping them recover stolen property. Michael Gutierrez retrieved about $1,000 worth of stolen property from an apartment in the 1000 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard and brought it to the vehicle of Police Detective Waylon Rains, police said. But after several trips, Gutierrez did not return. A warrant for escape from custody of a peace officer was issued. June 24: The 24th annual Custom Classic softball tournament attracted 115 teams to Clovis’ Guy Leeder Softball Complex. June 25: A Rogers man was charged with the July 2005 slaying of 71-year-old Bo Chunn of Causey. Donald Taylor had been held at a federal penitentiary in Las Cruces on unrelated firearms charges since early in the investigation into Chunn’s death. June 26: Movie makers were preparing to shoot “Swing Vote,” a fictional feature about a man who lives in Texico. The movie was scheduled to film south of Albuquerque, but a writer selected Texico as the town name because he liked the sound of it. June 27: A Portales man was sentenced to 120 years in prison for his role in the 2005 murders of Doris and Odis Newman of Portales. Stanley Bedford was spared the death penalty when Albuquerque jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision. June 28: After 22 years as Portales girls’ basketball coach, Brenda Gomez announced she had accepted a coaching position at Robinson High School in Waco, Texas. Gomez led Portales to four state titles from 2001 to 2006. June 29: Clovis’ Bank of America received its second bomb threat in less than three weeks. No explosives were found and the bank reopened after about an hour. June 30: The United Dairy Women held their second annual DairyFest at the Clovis Civic Center with about 50 vendors offering games and information about the dairy industry. Organizers estimated 5,000 people attended the event.