STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Brawley roofing contractor James E. Billado, of Brawley, was shot and seriously injured shortly before 4 a.m. today.
Wayne Eugene Wagner, 35, of Westmorland, was jailed and charged with suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and attempt to commit murder.
Billado was allegedly shot after he drove Wagner’s wife, Glenda, back to her home on Hovely Road about three miles north of Brawley.
Billado is divorced and the Wagners are reported to be separated and in the process of obtaining a divorce.
According to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office, they received a telephone call at 3:50 a.m. from a man who identified himself as Wagner. He said that he had just shot a man.
Sheriff deputies rushed to the scene and arrived there before the ambulance which had been summoned.
Billado was found crumpled in the front seat on his 1966 sedan. He apparently suffered a gunshot wound or wounds in the back. Wagner turned over a 12-gauge automatic shotgun to the lawmen. They found two ejected and empty 12-gauge shells.
40 years ago
Brawley High School, opening the Desert Valleys League’s girls’ basketball campaign, humiliated the Arabs from Coachella, 83-18, in the Northend on Friday night.
Nadine Grass and the Brawley girls have captured three straight DVL first-place trophies. There may not be much to stand in their way this year.
Imperial and Calipatria were considered early-season upset threats. They are now out of the picture with the formation of the new Chaparral League girls’ division.
So, it appears Brawley will be tough to beat. The Wildcats have most of their starting five back and Grass has built up a strong and talented group of reserves.
30 years ago
Teamsters Union organizers were ordered by El Centro police Monday to leave the El Centro Regional Medical Center cafeteria and the hospital grounds or face a citizen’s arrest.
Don Cruickshank, the representative of Local 542, El Centro, said the four organizers were “eating lunch in the cafeteria, behaving ourselves, when this little short security guard asked us to leave. Then later, another guy, (Hospital Maintenance Supervisor) Jack Williams told us to leave.”
“We will be back
... maybe, Thursday,” Cruickshank said.
He said a majority of the hospital employees have signed cards asking the union to represent them.
“We have filed a petition for an election. Once we get the list of employees to verify percentages, we will be very close to having a secret ballot election.”
Three police officers were on the scene finally for the quiet confrontation in the hall when Williams said he would make the citizen’s arrest if the organizers failed to leave. Williams declined to comment today.
20 years ago
The issue of the “jobs train” will make its appearance before the Imperial County Board of Supervisors again Tuesday.
Local interest in the re-establishment of the rail line from Imperial County to San Diego is high, said Supervisor Dean Shores.
“The Board of Supervisors has repeatedly taken a position of support for this railroad,” Shores said this morning. “The city councils throughout the region have supported the railroad, as well as the chambers of commerce and the Mexican government.”
Shores added most San Diego area representatives in Congress also support the rekindling of the railroad, which Shores said would benefit the local economy by giving it a means of moving commodities such as grain and alfalfa to market.