STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The California Highway Commission today allocated funds for two traffic safety projects in El Centro.
The work consists of modifying the traffic signals, highway lighting and channelization on Adams Avenue (U.S. 80) at Eighth Street and on Imperial Avenue (Highway 86) at Adams Avenue.
State Highway Engineer John A. Legarra, who recommended today’s action, said that the money will come from a special $4,000,000 fund in the current state highway budget for traffic safety projects in the $5,000 to $50,000 bracket.
“We have always maintained surveillance of the entire state highway system to pinpoint accident concentration spots,” Legarra said. “In recent years we have been using electronic data processing methods to identify trouble locations that can be remedied by engineering projects in that price range.”
Such projects include installing traffic signals and highway lighting, constructing left-turn storage lanes, easing curves, and applying anti-skid treatment to the pavement, among others, he said.
40 years ago
Any cage fan expecting the Calipatria Hornets to quit after losing two Chaparral League basketball games doesn’t know Jerry Hinkle’s reputation in the Northend.
Calipatria can lose on the road as both CL losses came away from home. But, playing the Hornets in Calipatria brings almost certain defeat to league opponents.
The Holtville Vikings chose Friday night to visit Calipatria. The Carrot Capital boys had a 2-0 CL record and were tied with the Imperial Tigers for first place.
Imperial beat Eagle Mountain Friday and has the lead all to itself. Calipatria took care of Holtville by edging past the visiting Vikings, 51-50.
The clash was close from start to finish but they always are when they’re in Calipatria and really count. The Hornets always find that little something extra to win.
30 years ago
It took a “country doctor,” Imperial County Health Officer Lee Cottrell, to recognize a “cluster” of pancreatic cancer cases which became the basis of a new study linking the combination of drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes to the disease.
The study, financed by the Central for Disease Control and the Imperial County Chapter of the American Cancer Society was published recently in the Western Journal of Medicine. Cottrell is one of the three-co-authors of the study.
It shows that smokers who drink up to four cups of coffee a day are four times as likely to die of pancreatic cancer as people who do not drink coffee. Smokers, who did not drink coffee had no higher risk of pancreatic cancer than non-smokers.
20 years ago
Fire crews from throughout the Imperial Valley converged on Date Gardens Mobile Home Park outside El Centro on Monday after a blaze originating in a kitchen consumed one mobile home, slightly damaged two others and threatened several more.
The Imperial County Fire Department initially was called in to fight the fire, but requested backup from the Naval Air Facility El Centro and Calexico, Brawley and El Centro fire departments after it was feared winds reaching nearly 30 mph might spread the fire to adjacent homes.
County Fire Department spokesman Bob Carter said, “There was the potential for this to get out of control. The mobile homes were packed together and the winds were whipping up to 29 miles per hour.”
Carter said fire officials reported a woman walked into the kitchen of her mobile home at Evan Hewes Highway west of El Centro and saw smoke coming from behind a refrigerator. She quickly reported the blaze and fire crews responded about 11:15 p.m.