STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

CALIPATRIA — The Holtville Vikings are leading the Mountain Desert League with a 2-0 record, but after tomorrow night they will have to share their lead with the winner of the Calipatria Hornet-Imperial Tiger game.

The Hornets and Tigers are 1-0 in MDL action and for all practical purposes the loser can be counted out of the championship race.

The Tigers of head coach Earl Hudelson have put together two straight victories after losing four straight at the start of the season. Hudelson said that if the team could get a little momentum going, they would be a major factor in the MDL race.

Imperial has the momentum, and a Tiger victory over the defending co-champions would not be an upset.

The Tigers have a fine power back in fullback Wade Thompson. Thompson carried on every play as the Tigers came from behind to defeat Twentynine Palms, 10-6, last week. He is the fourthranked scorer in the MDL with 25 points on four touchdowns and an extra point.

The two teams met in a non-league game earlier this season with the Hornets taking a 27-18 victory.

40 years ago

Dr. Ben Yellen won another battle Monday when he clobbered the television media at a media event he staged at KECC-TV.

Minutes after Yellen launched a demonstration on KECC-TV’s doorstep, the station yielded to his demand for an appearance on its forum for candidates who are running for the 75th state Assembly District. The program was scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

But Yellen said he will picket KECC again because the station kicked him off its forum when he demanded to talk about the Imperial Irrigation District and electricity costs instead of answering the “general baloney questions they kept asking.”

Yellen, who has run for a number of offices, is currently registered with the county Election Department as a write-in candidate for the 75th Assembly District in the Nov. 7 election.

The feisty Yellen’s major issue continues to be a long-standing battle with the Imperial Irrigation District. He contends the IID supports the big farmers to the detriment of the middle class and the poor.

30 years ago

Fifty years ago, crowds of people gathered at Imperial Dam to watch Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes open the dam’s roller gates, allowing water to flow into the All-American Canal for the first time.

But, although he had helped to build the dam, Lonnie McGlocklin was not among the throngs. He still had work to do inspecting the gravel being used in construction of the as-yet-uncompleted canal.