STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The new cutting plant of the Catalina Swim-Wear Co. may possibly open next month in Holtville if the County Board of Supervisors concurs with the Planning Commission to allow a zone change. Catalina operates an assembly plant in Mexicali which cannot legally engage in cutting operations, according to Terry McLaughlin, Holtville Chamber of Commerce manager. The time and space between Mexicali and Los Angeles has reportedly hindered the firm’s operations.
Catalina is interested in locating in the Highline Lettuce Cooperative bracero camp just outside Holtville. The site is presently zoned agricultural and would need a light industrial-zone rating before Catalina could move in. Planning commissioners voted yesterday for just such a zone change, but the final decision must wait for the regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors Monday before the matter can be resolved.
40 years ago
The time of the season has arrived for high school football teams to stage Homecoming Game celebrations and the Imperial Tigers hope to make the Calipatria Hornets the main course at their special feast Friday night in Tiger Stadium.
Chaparral League pennant dreams remains strong at four of the loop’s five schools. Only Holtville’s Vikings seem to have dropped out of the race with a 0-2 record. Imperial is the league’s defending champion. The Tigers lead the current chase with a 2-0 showing.
Don’t mention to Calipatria coach Ed Self the importance of Friday’s game with Imperial. And, you don’t have to remind him of the caliber of competition he’s facing.
30 years ago
A Bureau of Reclamation o cial Tuesday night gave at least partial support to two key elements of the Imperial Irrigation District’s long-term water policy — water marketing and IID ownership of the All American Canal.
Edward Hallenbeck, regional director of the bureau’s Lower Colorado River Region, appeared before the IID Board of Directors to outline the changes in bureau operations that will occur as the agency moves more toward conservation and management of existing water resources and away from the construction of large water supply projects.
The basics of this plan are contained in two reports, “Assessment ‘87... A New Direction for the Bureau of Reclamation” and an implementation plan, both of which were released by the bureau last month.
IID Director Tony Gallegos asked if the bureau’s new concentration on conservation would include endorsement of the rights of water districts to sell water as an incentive to further conservation. The legal question surrounding this issue has been one of the major stumbling blocks in the IID’s water transfer negotiations with the Metropolitan Water District.