Tumbleweeds prove troublesome

Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound of a city dump truck in reverse pierced the bitter cold air Tuesday as an armada of city workers, airmen and residents worked to clear the mountains of tumbleweeds that invaded a northwest Clovis neighborhood a night earlier.  In what looked more like a construction site than a residential neighborhood, a tractor scraped the concrete as it scooped up a crushed pile, just loud enough to cause a cringe, and dumped them in the truck with a loud boom. The tractor reversed, and proceeded to run over a large pile of tumbleweeds repeatedly, to compact the dusty debris. The area just south of Llano Estacado, on Wicks Avenue, Lore Street and Red Cloud Place was hardest hit, with several residents unable to even walk out their front door, according to Public Works Director Clint Bunch. The tumbleweed invasion was fueled by winds that reached 60 mph on Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. Bunch said the city had about 25 men working on getting rid of tumbleweeds citywide, and another 25 to 50 Cannon Air Force Base volunteers. There were about 10 trucks, three loaders and two skid steer loaders involved in the cleanup effort...more