HOUSE MEMORIAL 42

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Shirley A. Tyler

A MEMORIAL

CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL OF LOVINGTON, NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, Lovington, a city of nearly ten thousand persons in southeastern New Mexico, was established in 1908; and

     WHEREAS, Lovington, whose first post office was housed in the Jim B. Love grocery store and run by the proprietor of the grocery store, offers warm summer days, cool nights and mild sunny winters; and

     WHEREAS, from the time of its establishment, Lovington has been a center for ranching and farming families spread across southeastern New Mexico; and 

     WHEREAS, Lovington was designated as the county seat when Lea county was created from parts of Chaves and Eddy counties in 1917; and

     WHEREAS, oil was discovered in 1928 in Lovington, but had little impact on the economy until 1950, when the Denton pool nine miles northeast of town was discovered; and

     WHEREAS, oil then quickly transformed Lovington, as some ninety-two flowing wells were established soon after 1950 and people working on the wells poured into the town; and

     WHEREAS, the natural gas boom also contributed to the growth of Lovington beginning in 1950; and  

     WHEREAS, the dairy industry has begun to take part in the growth of the city, whose population mushroomed from four hundred eleven people in 1920 to one thousand nine hundred sixteen in 1940 to the current nine thousand six hundred; and

     WHEREAS, today, Lovington boasts a public library with over forty-nine thousand items, a senior citizen center, an activity center, five city parks, one swimming pool, eleven baseball fields, numerous practice fields for little league, one shooting range, a museum, a hospital, four doctors, two chiropractors, three dentists, at-home nursing services, well-trained emergency transportation personnel and scores of civic organizations; and

     WHEREAS, Lovington is home to national football league player Brian Urlacher; and

     WHEREAS, Lovington is the former home of professional golfers Ronnie Black and Sean Murphy;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it join with Lovington residents to celebrate one hundred years as a community; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state take pride in the ongoing growth, development and contributions of this southeastern city; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, to each of the state's southern New Mexico elected officials, to the mayor of Lovington and to each of the public schools in Lovington.

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