A Post-9/11 Portales
Mike Smith
Post a Comment
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Google | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Technorati
Anyone familiar with Portales—the small east-central New Mexico town with a population of 11,131 (as of the year 2000 census)—might be aware that the town has long been known as a producer of peanuts and sweet potatoes, serves a prominent role in the region’s dairy industry, and is the home of Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU).
Officially founded in 1909, and today the county seat of Roosevelt County, Portales is primarily a ranching and farming community, and has gained a small fame in certain circles as the former home of legendary science-fiction writer Jack Williamson. A 2006 nationwide study conducted by Bizjournals.com ranked Portales as the fifteenth best “micropolitan area” in America for overall quality of life, and the ninth best in the American West.
Anyone familiar with Portales may also know of its Main Avenue—and of that avenue's southernmost half, south of U.S. Highway 70—and may be aware that that avenue is not exactly a typical, gridlocked inner-city artery. Portales's South Main Avenue runs past a lumber store, a hair salon, a Baptist church, a bank, and a number of residential areas, and the avenue always remains fairly rural, a street befitting the town.
Taking all of the above into consideration, anyone familiar with Portales or its South Main Avenue might be surprised to learn that this nationally ranked small town and this almost quaint byway conceals, at least according to one local, a secret risk of vital importance to our national security.
“April 26...,” announced a grammatically irksome line in the May 3, 2008 Portales News-Tribune’s police blotter. “At 5:55 p.m., a caller on South Main Avenue reported that they believe their neighbors are terrorists.”
It is not yet known if the above tip will reveal some connection between the alleged terrorists and a report made that same day of “several cows in the road” just southwest of town, but it would probably be safe to say that if it does—or if it leads to anything—quite a few people are going to be surprised.
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments