STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Two drowning fatalities marred the otherwise relatively safe Labor Day weekend most Valleyites enjoyed.
The body of 3-year-old Bannel Lee Robinett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Robinett Jr. of Riverside, was recovered yesterday at 7:15 a.m. by employees of the Imperial Irrigation District from a dredge near the Imperial Dam on the California side of the Colorado River.
The tot had been boating with other members of her family out of Fisher’s Landing on the Arizona side of the river.
According to a coroner’s report, the family had been boating in the main stream of the Colorado when their 11-foot craft had capsized. All but the little girl were saved.
The second drowning victim was Gilberto B. Padilla, approximately 30, whose body was recovered from the All American Canal yesterday shortly before 10 a.m.
Padilla was believed to have been a clerk in a Mexicali store. The case is still under investigation.
40 years ago
The first thought that came to Ginny Klicka’s mind as she returned home Tuesday afternoon and found sliding glass doors open was to yell at one of her kids for leaving the doors unlocked. But the thought soon left her mind.
As she walked into her house in Brawley, Mrs. Klicka discovered items tossed about and drawers flung open.
Then she came face to face with the burglar who was in the act of plundering her home.
“He was startled and just stared at me for a moment, then I ran to a neighbor’s house and called the police,” she said.
Mrs. Klicka was just as startled as her unexpected visitor.
“You can’t imagine the very strange sensation when you see someone in your house who doesn’t belong there,” she added.
Despite all the household items strewn about, the thief made off with only her son’s shotgun.
Police found another shotgun belonging to the family in a neighbor’s yard.
According to police reports, the burglar fled on foot after his confrontation with Mrs. Klicka.
30 years ago
CALEXICO — Two men attempted to run down a police officer with a car late Friday following a fight involving 13 persons at Fifth Street and Heber Avenue.
Calexico police officer Hector Rios had to dodge out of the way to avoid being run over by two men who sped their car toward him after a victim of an earlier ambush identified them as two of his assailants, Calexico police officer Daniel Saenz said today.The ambush victim said he and two others were trapped in their car when two cars drove up and hemmed them in at Fifth Street and Heber Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. The victims said they were then attacked by 10 men who got out of the two cars.
Police later found the vehicle that nearly ran down Rios after it was abandoned in the 1000 block of Fourth Street.
20 years ago
Officials from a Utah-based cheese-production company joined with Imperial County officials Thursday to break ground on a cheese plant west of Seeley.
Local officials are looking to the plant to spur other industries into considering locating in the county. They also said the new plant could lead to the growth of the dairy industry here.
Gossner Foods Inc. of Utah will open a 22,500 square-foot cheese plant for the production of Swiss and muenster cheese. The plant will be west of Seeley on Jeffrey Road. Dolores Gossner Wheeler, whose family owns the company, said construction on the facility will start immediately and she hopes to have the factory ready for use by January.
The plant initially will provide about six jobs but over time it will grow and have more work. Wheeler said the company’s facility in Logan, Utah, provides some 300 jobs, although it took 30 years to reach that level.