STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Imperial County’s welfare problem “is the most critical” of California’s 58 counties, Oran Bollinger, county welfare director said today.
“The county’s condition is even more critical than that expressed by State Welfare Director Montgomery,” Bollinger added in commenting on a statement by Montgomery that the public welfare rolls stand as “a monument to social as well as individual failure.
“The number of recipients is not going to diminish significantly until society begins to head them off well in advance of the day they start drawing financial aid,” it is predicted by Montgomery and concurred in by Bollinger.
Both Bollinger and Montgomery agree that a realistic look at the types and numbers of those receiving welfare aid reveal “it is already too late in the game for a high proportion of those now on public assistance.”
In Imperial County “it is already too late in the game” for about 1,500 recipients out of 5,600 on cash assistance because they are aged 65 or older, Bollinger reported.
40 years ago
Seven youths were treated in Pioneers Memorial Hospital early this morning for apparent gunshot wounds after two disturbances in the Northend Friday and early today.
According to a hospital spokesman, all were treated and released shortly before 1a.m. “They had little holes all over them,” he said. Apparently, the youths had been wounded with shotgun pellets.
Brawley police were not sure today where the shooting occurred, although the PMH spokesman said he believed it happened during a francas at the Brawley Drive-In.
The first incident was reported at the drive-in, about 11 p.m. Saturday.
The disturbance at the drive-in, 425 Highway 86, stopped the showing of three rock films and resulted in the arrest of three person, including two juveniles.
Sheriff’s deputies emptied the theater at 11:16 p.m. Friday after a crowd began throwing rocks and bottles.
30 years ago
IMPERIAL — School board members Tuesday agreed to pay a $1,800 penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency for failure to comply with deadlines for testing and reporting traces of crumbling asbestos in the schools.
The agreement with EPA came after lengthy negotiations between the two groups whittled the fine down from $24,000. The fine was reduced after district negotiator and attorney Frank Oswalt III managed to convince EPA there was no evidence of “friable” asbestos in the schools.
The issue of whether there was evidence of friable, or crumbling, asbestos in any of the school buildings had been the source of negotiations between EPA and the district since February. At that time, an EPA inspector ordered a full inspection of the buildings for carcinogenic asbestos materials after discovering the district had never filed a report with the government.
Federal law requires that when asbestos is crumbling and easily airborne, signs must be posted to warn employees and students until action can be taken to remove the material.
20 years ago
Like worried parents, Imperial County’s emergency agencies are meeting today to discuss what to do with that bad little boy — El Niño.
If predictions hold true, this winter’s El Niño will equal or surpass the damage, destruction and the amount of driving rain reaped upon California and the Imperial Valley during the devastating 1982-1983 El Niño.
“It’ll be somewhat equal to what we had in 1982,” said Joe Buzo, Imperial County fire chief, of the predictions he has seen.
Buzo expects the amount of rain to be 10 to 15 times higher this winter than in winters past, based on predictions from forecasters. That could mean 15 or more inches of rain this winter.
“That doesn’t mean it’ll all fall at one time,” Buzo said.