STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
“I wish you was dead!” These words hurled at Judge George R. Kirk by the defendant in a murder case in Superior Court here yesterday made the climax of the scene inevitable.
Judge Kirk disqualified himself from trying Luis Soto Juarez, 35, and ordered him brought before Judge Victor A. Gillespie in Department II at 9 a.m. next Thursday. Juarez is accused of the gun slaying of California Highway Patrol Officer Franke A. Story and the attempted murder of Officer James Goff July 19.
The scene in court yesterday immediately followed the return of Juarez from Patton State Hospital. He had been sent there Tuesday, when he made motions to withdraw his Aug. 22 plea of innocent by reason of insanity and to dismiss his court-appointed counsel, John D. Duddy, so that he might defend himself.
40 years ago
Nearly 200 persons loudly applauded a decision of the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors Tuesday to further continue the court battle against the 160acre limitation.
The action will now authorize the attorneys representing the IID to join attorneys for the Imperial Resources Associates, an Imperial Valley farmers group, to appeal a decision enforcing the acreage limit. The cost of the appeal will apparently be shared by the two organizations, but no specific formula for that was approved.
Reginald Knox Jr., IID legal counsel, said the first action now should be to ask a re-hearing before the entire 16-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and then possibly appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Irrigation district directors Gerald Moore, Lom Thompson and Bernard Galleano were unanimous in their decision to appeal the case after five persons from the audience spoke in favor of the action. No one opposed it. Directors Paul Mitchell and Alfred Singh were absent.
30 years ago
The Board of Supervisors today was expected to go into closed session to consider having the county borrow money to build a 200,000-squarefoot facility to attract a prime defense department contractor to locate by the airport in Imperial.
The idea developed during a Monday negotiating session with state and local officials when officials of the company, which insists on anonymity, rejected a $20 million package of incentives that would have required the firm to front the money for the building, anticipated to cost between $6 and $10 million.
20 years ago
Imperial Valley Desert Aquatics’ Randy Gertenbach and Oscar Dessert captured medals recently at the San Diego-Imperial Long Course Junior Olympic Championships at the Las Palmas Park pool in National City.
The meet, which brings together the top swimmers in the San Diego-Imperial section of United States Swimming, attracted more than 650 swimmers from 238 teams.
Gertenbach, 15, clocked a personal best 2:28.11 in the 200-meter breastroke, good enough to earn the silver medal and qualify for the Junior Nationals this fall in Grand Forks, N.D.
Dessert, 18, turned in a personal best of 26.26 in the 50-meter freestyle to take the bronze medal in the National City meet. He also medaled in the 100 breastroke, finishing fifth in 1:18.77, a personal record.