STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The proposed purchase of 40 acres of land north of Bombay Beach by the County Department of Public Works for the construction of a septic tank dump was made possible with the release of a claim on this land by the Bombay Beach Community Service District according to District President Charles “Chuck” Whaley.
Whaley said the district had filed a claim about four years ago for the land with the Bureau of Land Management.
The district at that time had planned to build a sanitation and sewage facility, but the money never materialized.
Whaley said the county approached the District last summer.
“They said if we released our claim, they would install the oxidation ponds,” he explained “They would be in use for both Bombay Beach and Hot Mineral Spa area.”
40 years ago
Offensive ball-control mistakes have undermined the Brawley Wildcats and Calipatria Hornets in recent games.
Coaches Terry Lowe and Ed Self are hoping the situation will be corrected before important games Friday night.
Brawley visits the Coachella Arabs Friday; the Calipatria varsity is at home against the Imperial Tigers.
The overall offensive play of the Wildcats hasn’t improved much since the season started. The offensive unit continues to make the same costly errors.
“We are making the same mistakes we have been making all along,” Lowe says, “and now we are making them against better teams in big Desert Valleys League games.”
Brawley has not been able to overcome the mistakes. Some of the errors are movement in the backfield and missed assignments on individual blocking duty.
30 years ago
It seems every week this season the Central High football team faces the team closest to challenging it in the Desert Valleys League standings.
The Spartans started out league play with a win against Indio, a perennial DVL powerhouse. Then Central faced — and beat — Palm Desert, which was predicted by many to win the league.
After playing Palo Verde, the Spartans met surprising Calexico, which had upset a number of other teams in the league on their way to a 3-1 record. But again the Spartans prevailed.
On Friday night, Central played even more surprising Coachella in another important game which would decide the league title.
After beating the Arabs, 28-0, Central has nothing more to prove. They are the DVL champions for the fourth consecutive year.
20 years ago
The months-long discussion over whether Brawley High School students will be allowed to wear untucked shirts was resolved Wednesday night.
That’s when the Brawley Union High School District Board of trustees voted to adopt a dress code policy prohibiting untucked shirts of any kind.
Actually the board decided to make no changes to a policy adopted at the beginning of the year that had come under fire from students.
According to the policy adopted by the board, “All shirts, T-shirts and blouses (must be) tucked into pants, shorts and skirts, making the top of the pockets visible.”
BUHSD Superintendent Garth Isom said the board simply decided against making changes in the policy during the school year. He added if any change in the policy is to come, students can expect it after the end of the school year.