STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

A hard-working burglar caused about $200 worth of damage by breaking into the Lamplighter Cafe on east Main Street last night.

For his efforts he got about $1 in small change and a couple of beers.

According to El Centro police, janitor Leese Walker went into the place shortly after 4 a.m. to clean it up.

A flashlight was trained on the back of his head and a man said “if you look back I’ll blow your brains out.” Walker reported that the man ran out of the front door and the away in an easterly direction.

On the roof police found a brace and bit and a tire iron.

The burglar had made his way into the place by drilling a series of holes and then prying out a section of roof about seven by 20 inches.

In the cafe he apparently took about a dollar’s worth of small change which is kept behind a counter.

40 years ago

In a landmark order, presiding Superior Court Judge Don Work has authorized the use of marijuana for therapeutic control of violent vomiting attacks resulting from cancer treatment on a 21-year El Centro man.

The order directing the county sheriff’s office to release one ounce of marijuana to the 21-year-old at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, was signed Monday in response to the personal request of a county education department official.

The order will allow the 21 year-old to use “three to five marijuana cigarettes per day,” to counteract the nauseous effects of chemotherapy cancer treatments.

30 years ago

The Board of Supervisors today voted unanimously to support Calexico’s resolution urging the federal government to open the long-closed port of entry at Heffernan Avenue.

The Calexico City Council urged the federal government to reopen the old port because “Calexico is extremely dependent for its economy on vehicular and pedestrian traffic crossing the international border.”

Supervisor Luis Legaspi said, “I’m going to go further than that. Shortening the waiting time crossing the border is crucial to the whole Valley, not just Calexico. If you look in the parking lots at Kmart and Mervyn’s (in El Centro), you will see a good percentage of the cars have Mexican plates.”

Legaspi said opening the port Heffernan that was closed when the current facility opened “seems almost too simple for the federal government.