STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Assemblyman Victor V. Veysey, R-Brawley, announced today that the Imperial Valley campus of San Diego State College will not be closed.
Earlier this week the Coordinating Council for Higher Education met in San Diego to determine the fate of extension centers of the University of California and state colleges. Assemblyman Veysey yesterday conferred with Willard Spalding of the coordinating council and was assured that no such local action was contemplated. The committee did, according to Spalding, accept the report of the investigating committee and has been assured by San Diego State College that the teaching staff will be upgraded by SDS in the near future.
It had been reported locally that the Calexico campus “may be closed” following the recent investigation. Assemblyman Veysey by telephone today said he was “very pleased that the Calexico campus is to be continued because the need here in the Imperial Valley was proven two years ago, and the situation has not changed.
40 years ago
“Blind pigs” buster — The illegal liquor trade reached its boom in Imperial Valley in 1917, shortly after saloons were abolished in Arizona, and Winterhaven was the “wets” showplace.
Ironically enough, a man named Applestill was the soldier supreme against the blind pig operators in the Valley and a couple of deputies. Sheriff Charles M. Applestill on numerous occasions drove to Winterhaven late at night and swooped through the town, netting unlicensed purveyors of spirituous drink.
It was believed that John Barleycorn was usually prepared in Imperial and El Centro, then transported to Winterhaven, located just across the river (and the border) from Arizona.
Thought the locals were careful not to transport the illegal drink across the border into Arizona, they were often tried, when arrested, for federal offenses, since buyers brought the contraband across the line. Yuma prosecutors made sure of that.
30 years ago
IMPERIAL — Imperial third baseman Gerardo Castillo’s unassisted double play killed a fifth-inning Santa Fe Christian rally and propelled the Tigers to a 5-4 victory in the first round of the San Diego Section 1A baseball playoffs.
Imperial will play Borrego Springs at Central Union High School Friday at 3 p.m. in the semi-finals of the firstyear tournament.
Castillo’s big play came in the top of the fifth inning. Santa Fe Christian already had a run in and runners at first and third with one out when Jay Lee ripped a line drive a few feet inside of the third base line. The Imperial third baseman went high in the air to catch the drive for the second out of the inning, then jogged to third and doubled up an Eagle runner there for the final out of the inning.
20 years ago
A fire of unknown origin ripped through an abandoned church at a former labor camp Thursday on Danenberg Road in southernmost El Centro.
High winds and flying embers were a concern for El Centro firefighters because of the old church’s proximity to a number of structures, a field ready for harvest and a hay company.
“There were other structures in the immediate area plus a wheat field. The (burning) structure was also next to Wilbur-Ellis Hay Co. We had to get right in it,” El Centro fire Capt. Scott Casillas said.
El Centro firefighters arrived at 50 W. Danenberg Road about 6:20 p.m. to find the old church engulfed in flames, Casillas said the roof of the structure had already collapsed and the wind was feeding the flames. The Imperial County Fire Department was called in to assist.