Community Kudos: The wind-tossed edition

We’re still walking at a bit of a tilt forward today after dealing with Thursday’s high winds. For a while there we were starting to wonder if we’d need to weigh down our shoes.

A very good Holtville High School baseball team must have been wondering last Tuesday if someone had weighed down their bats as they found themselves on the wrong side of a 4-0 no-hitter by pitcher Kobby Lopez and the Imperial High School Tigers. A win is a win, of course, but there’s still something special about a no-no. Congratulations, Kobby.

Congratulations, also, to new El Centro Police Chief Brian P. Johnson, who’s hiring was announced Tuesday. Johnson brings more than 29 years of experience to the job, and we wish him well.

We think serious kudos are in order for the ladies of Holtville’s American Legion Auxiliary Bradley Keffer Unit 138 and the firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and other volunteers they recruited to help them put together some 50 care packages for U.S. Marines stationed overseas.

We also have kudos to hand out for the 300-plus students who were recognized Tuesday night for their participation in IVROP’s Career Technical Education courses at various local high schools. Hats off, too, to the culinary arts and food technology students from Calipatria, Central Union and Brawley Union high schools who worked hard to keep the crowd plied with eats and drinks during the event.

Another recent event that deserves a nod is last week’s grand opening of the Imperial County Child Abuse Prevention Council’s Early Developmental Center. The new center not only gives the CAP Council room to expand the range of services it offers but also the number of families it can serve.

Kudos are in order, too, for Southwest High School cross-country star Nathan Garcia, whose fleetness of foot has earned him a scholarship to Cal State Monterey Bay.

Ten teams showed up at Stark Field in El Centro this past Saturday for the Imperial Valley Carne Asada Cook-Off. Together, those grill masters prepared some 1,175 pounds of carne asada. One team, representing One World Beef, was judged to have done it best. We salute them.

We’re also going to salute ourselves at least one more time of our first place finish in Front Page Design and second place finish for Special Section at last week’s California News Publishers Association Awards in Sonoma. Newpapers from through the state were represented, and we’re still excited to have been honored by our peers.

We’re aiming for more next year.