Pages past - Dec. 16

On this date ...

1970: New Mexico State Police recovered two stolen vehicles and arrested four people from Chicago about 17 miles west of Tucumcari on U.S. 66. The vehicles had been stolen from Gary, Indiana, and Victoria, Kansas. State police also arrested two juvenile suspects near the Guadalupe County line on Interstate 40 involved in car thefts.

• Barbara Bollinger of Kansas City, Missouri, had her faith in humanity restored. She had left her purse containing $65 and other valuables at a Tucumcari service station and didn’t know it was missing until she drove to Santa Rosa. Kathleen Boyd Gamblier of Hollywood, California, found the purse and immediately took it to state police, who delivered it to Bollinger. In addition to the cash, Bollinger said the purse contained an 1849 one-cent piece and a picture album.

• King Aitken Jr. was elected president of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce. Joseph Ploesner was elected first vice president, and William Coe was elected second vice president of the organization.

• The Odeon Theatre in Tucumcari was screening a special limited engagement of the 1939 epic film, “Gone with the Wind,” which earned 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.