STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Whether a rumored $2 million meat packing plant is in the offing in Holtville in the near future is still unanswered.
The Holtville Ice and Cold Storage Co. in a letter to the Holtville City Council requested assurances that 1,750,000 gallons of water and sewage capacity would be available if needed.
The company offered to meet with the city officials to work on problems if city facilities were deemed inadequate.
Herman Smith said today that the ice company is merely exploring utilization of 500 to 1,000 tons daily of unused refrigeration capacity.
He declined to specify which areas the company is exploring, saying that regard for competitors kept him silent.
40 years ago
CALEXICO — A civil suit totaling $864,000 was filed Monday afternoon in Imperial County Superior Court naming as defendants Calexico City Council members and several city and federal employees.
The suit was filed by El Centro attorney John O. Meyers on behalf of former city employee Robert Martinello.
It alleges Martinello was fired from his former job as a city mechanic because of his refusal to make a formal apology to the United States Border Patrol following a late-night confrontation last May with agents east of Calexico.
30 years ago
CALEXICO — This town’s Corona caper continued early this morning with a high-speed chase that ended in two arrests, a pickup smashed into the side of a home and the recovery of 21 cases of Corona Extra.
The arrests bring to nine the number of local youths caught this week in a suspected beer theft operation that has been going on for several months. The police have also now recovered 40 cases of beer reportedly stolen from railroad box-cars and from Garcia Trucking Inc. on the westside of town.
Police said they received a call around 3 a.m. today of a possible burglary near the railroad tracks.
When Officer Rosario Alcazar arrived, she said, she saw a pickup driving away from the railroad trucks on Grant Street. Alcazar followed the truck onto Sherman Street and turned on her lights and sirens but the truck reportedly did not stop, she said.
Instead it raced down Sherman Street, with its headlights off, to Imperial Avenue and went north a half block and turned east on Eighth Street, she said.
At Rockwood the driver sped north, then east on Rosemont Street for one block before turning north on Heffernan. The truck then turned quickly into a dirt alley, Alcazar said.