STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
A 56-year-old Calipatria bookkeeper was shot to death early this morning by his wife in their small rural home north of Niland.
The dead man was identified as Don H. Dehlinger, and he apparently died instantly when his wife, Anna Lee, 46, shot him through the chest with an old model .32-20 Winchester rifle.
The bullet went completely through Dehlinger’s body.
Mrs. Dehlinger, reportedly distraught, told sheriff’s deputies she thought her husband was a prowler as he entered the rear kitchen door of the stucco farm house.
She said she grabbed the gun and fired at a shadowy figure in the doorway. She told authorities when she realized it was her husband, she desperately tried to revive him. When this failed, she called the Calipatria police at 4:51 and reported that she had shot her husband.
40 years ago
Excursions to the State Baseball Playoffs are not an annual occurrence for the Imperial Valley College Arabs, but coach Mark Meka completed plans to attend the 1978 Championship Series on Saturday afternoon on the IV diamond.
IVC won the Desert Conference championship and a berth in the State Playoffs by defeating the hard-nosed College of the Desert Roadrunners, 3-1.
Meka’s horsehiders posted a 10-7, extra-inning win over the ‘Runners on Thursday at Palm Desert. Saturday’s win ended the best two out of three series at 2-0, IVC.
The largest crowd in the history of the IVC playing field watched the battle. IVC and COD could have played two games if COD had won the 11 a.m. contest, but the Arabs had their minds set on a 2-0 sweep in the series.
30 years ago
The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors, the Board of Supervisors and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers came out of a public huddle today brimming with team spirit and with a game plan for an 18-month, federally funded study aimed at solving the Valley’s flooding problems.
The Corps, whose representatives to the joint IID-supervisors meeting included Col. Tad Ono, district engineer for the Los Angeles District, was no less enthusiastic.
Juan Villalobos, part of the two-man team heading the actual work on the project, said, “We took the first step this morning. This study has a high priority ranking in the (Corps’ LA) district, there is a lot of congressional interest in this. To have the colonel come down here is really something.”
20 years ago
The list of local school districts opposing the English for the Children initiative keeps growing.
The Brawley Union High School District Board of Trustees recently passed a resolution opposing the initiative that would virtually eliminate bilingual education if it passes on the June ballot.
“It was a unanimous decision to oppose the initiative,” said Garth Isom, BUHS superintendent and principal. “The board members felt the changes the initiative was going to make would go too far. Their message was that bilingual education programs need to be reviewed and changes need to be made but not too drastically.”