STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

Brawley building inspector Bob Lane has given the owners of the 40-year-old Dunlack Hotel notice to vacate the premises by Aug. 3.

On June 19, Lane informed Brawley City Council of “his intended action. At that time there were reported to be 16 tenants in the big structure, which sits at the corner of Main and Eighth streets.

Lane said the building is “a definite fire hazard” and a potential danger to its inhabitants, normally either transients or elderly persons. He said that unless action to rehabilitate the building and bring it up to code is taken by the owners, the building would have to be closed.

40 years ago

Imperial Irrigation District officials are puzzled by a recent letter from the California Department of Water Resources telling them they cannot quit the Colorado River Board.

The IID Board of Directors voted May 31 not to pay its $60,000 due to the Colorado River board and to quit the agency.

But a June 28 letter from Ronald Robie, director of water resources for the state, told directors withdrawal “is not possible.”

Wrote Robie: “I particularly regret that your board chose to take this action since, in my opinion, withdrawal is not possible without a change in the law.

“Thus, I consider that Imperial Irrigation District, by statue, is still a member agency of the Colorado River Board,” said Robie.

Robert Carter, IID general manager, describes the letter as “very strange” and said he could not guess what its reasoning was.

He said the water law does require the district to submit a list of three names to the governor for appointment of a district representative to the board.

But nothing in the law requires the district to pay any money or to attend meetings, said Carter.

30 years ago

In an effort to rebuild a treasury that has been decimated by flooding lawsuits, the Imperial Irrigation District on Monday filed a lawsuit claiming that the Coachella Valley Water District is responsible for the flooding around the Salton Sea.

According to documents filed in Imperial County Superior Court, IID has asked the court to force CVWD to reimburse it for all damages, attorney’s fees and expenses associated with the Salton Bay Marina case, a case in which the court found IID liable for flooding land around the sea.

The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent CVWD from dumping any more water into the sea.

20 years ago

A county jail inmate who had been arrested earlier in the day attempted an escape from the jail Sunday night by briefly taking a nurse hostage.

The incident occurred about 7 p.m. when inmate Juan Flores Marquez, 33, of Cathedral City, was taken to the medical ward after complaining of abdominal pains and blood in his feces, Assistant Sheriff Michael Hackett said.

While in the ward Hackett said Marquez took an antenna from a television, approached nurse Amy Gong and put the antenna to her neck in an attempt to get her car keys.

Gong, however, threw her keys under a nearby bed, and another inmate, Derrick Hines, 29, of Carlsbad, broke up the pair. While Gong radioed for help, a second inmate, Wilbur Woods, 55, of San Diego, pressed an alarm.

“I think it’s unique the other inmates stepped in,” Hackett said. “I don’t know if they would have done that for a custody officer.”