Stories from the past
50 years ago
The former operator of the Riccar Sewing Center of 1598 S. Fourth St., El Centro, was arrested by police this morning in Colton, Calif., on a complaint by Imperial County District Attorney James Hamilton.
John C. Gonzalez, believed to be about 60, was arrested on a series of charges of swindling Valley and Mexicali people on sewing machine or stereo set offers.
El Centro police said customers were sent announcements telling them they had “won” or had been awarded a large discount on sewing machines or stereo phonographs.
When recipients of the offer went to the sewing center shop, they were informed that while the machine had, indeed, been “won,” the customer would have to either buy a cabinet for it or enter into a long “service” contract.
The net effect, according to police, was that customers invariably paid more for the equipment than what would be paid in a reputable store.
Sgt. Ralph Cordova, who handled the investigation for the police department, said some people paid for what they supposedly had purchased in installments, but they did not get delivery of their purchases.
Would-be buyers of sewing machines and phonographs began to complain loudly to police and this newspaper in November after they went to the store to make payments and discovered it was closed, with a sign on the door to the effect that the operator had gone on a 10-day vacation. He never returned.
40 years ago
The doors of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce conference room closed at 9 a.m. today as negotiators for the United Farm Workers union and growers resumed contract bargaining sessions.
The resumption of the talks was preceded Monday afternoon by Superior Court Judge Don Work’s decision to deny the request of two growers to end picketing on their farms.
The growers, Jon Vessey and Mario Saikhon, had contended that a clause in their previous contracts said the termination date for those contracts would be extended if any “produce company engaged in growing and shipping of fresh vegetables in California or Arizona” signed a UFW contract with a termination date beyond those companies’ original date.
The growers cited a contract signed last year by an Oxnard grower, who farms 350 acres of celery and tomatoes, with a termination date of Jan. 1, 1980.