STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Two men walk into the Better Food Market at 721 S. 7th St. yesterday and told manager Henry Quan that they were members of the El Centro Police Department.
This was news to Quan, who thought he knew about everyone on the force.
The men then suggested that it would be well if the Better Food Market contributed — to them — $20 for a crippled children’s fund.
Quan told them that the man in charge of that sort of thing was the boss over at the New Star Market on Broadway.
The men left and Quan phoned his friends at police headquarters. The latter are looking for the two men, described as being of medium height and wearing blue suits and brown hats.
40 years ago
They arrived an hour late for their Colorado River Tournament game Friday and didn’t win the championship but the Brawley Wildcats spent a wild two days in Arizona.
Yuma’s Criminals found the Wildcats too tough on Friday, 2-1. Brawley faced Indio on Saturday and the Rajahs needed eight innings to grab a 6-4 triumph.
Friday’s opponent waited an hour for the Wildcats to arrive for their opening-round game. Brawley and Yuma went at it for 12 innings before the Wildcats won.
Coach Bud Smith received two outstanding games from his Brawley varsity. The Wildcats lost an earlier game to Indio, 15-5, but were ready for the Rajahs on Saturday.
30 years ago
HOLTVILLE — For tolerating 20 wet noses smearing her clean windows, and 80 small paws tracking mud into her home, Mary Rolfe of Holtville has been dubbed by some as the unsung heroine of seeing eye dogs in Imperial Valley.
As acting leader for the past 12 years of the 4-H guide dog program, Rolfe has been den mother to 20 wiggly, barking puppies who eventually matured enough to care for a blind person.
Ironically, the heroine of the local guide dog program said she is not really a dog lover. Cats are more her speed. But at the insistence of her oldest daughter, almost 20 years ago, Rolfe decided to give the guide dog program a try.
Now every one of the five Rolfe children has participated in raising at least one puppy for the program.
Rolfe admits the long line of puppies sometimes blurs into unmarked years of dog baths, out of town trips with lots of doggy stops, and being thrown out of some businesses by uncaring merchants.
20 years ago
Inmates in Centinela State Prison keep all their belongings in 6-foot by 6-foot lockers. They take showers with one to three inmates in a communal stall. Fights break out regularly in the exercise yard and dining hall and inmates sometimes die from the injuries.
But several inmates said freedom could be worse. “It’s scary for me to think of getting out and figuring what to do with paying bills and car payments,” confessed one tall, muscular inmate with tattoos covering his arms and neck. “I’ve been so institutionalized there’s nothing out there for me except for my mom.”
Some 54 Southwest High School junior and senior students studying psychology and sociology visited the state prison Friday to explore incarceration as it relates to the individual and society.