STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
CALEXICO — A group of 12 to 15 youths from Imperial Valley College and elsewhere picketed Calexico Public Library Wednesday afternoon to “demand that this library come closer to securing the needs of the Mexican-American community.”
Mrs. C.A. Kirkland, city librarian, called the picketing “a shame. There is no reason to picket this library.”
“All colleges have their little uprising these days,” she added. “These students just want to have something to complain about.”
Vincent Cuevas, IVC student who led the pickets, said “This library and the Valley are white and the people are brown. This library is an example of the white establishment’s control over our lives.”
Cuevas said the library demonstrates a lack of Mexican-American literature and should stock current books that are relevant and books that cover “every aspect of our bi-cultural heritage.”
All Valley libraries are guilty of the same sin, he went on, and all eventually might be picketed, “depending on what happens here.”
Cuevas said he has written Julian Nava, candidate for state superintendent of Public Instruction, and
Dr. Doris Meek, Chicano studies teacher at San Diego State College, asking them to recommend titles of Chicano literature.
Cuevas himself had a list of eight books he wished the library to purchase. All are require reading for a Mexican-American curriculum workshop at SDSC.
In addition, he has given Mrs. Kirkland titles of five books he feels the library should buy. Mrs. Kirkland is making efforts to secure two of them.
Cuevas was not specific as to exactly what he would like the library to do. He did not list the number of books demanded nor a deadline nor any titles beyond the 13 already mentioned. Nor did he respond to Mrs. Kirkland’s explanation that she cannot budget all the books he wanted.
40 years ago
The Federal Bureau of Land Management was expected to release this morning a draft proposal for a desert land management plan, which will affect about 12 million acres of desert land in Imperial, San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties.
The 40,000-squaremile California desert conservation area is a lot of land open to a lot of possible uses, and the desert management plan outlines a number of alternatives, designed to cover all possibilities.
The first alternative is no action, which implies the continuation of present levels of management. “No action” is just what its name implies; doing nothing other than what is being done with the land now.
The second alternative is protection. The protection alternative is designed to satisfy the demands of environmental and conservation groups that the archeological, wildlife and wilderness qualities of the desert land be protected.
The plan contains a “use” alternative, anticipating the desires of use and consumer groups. According to David Mari, Bureau of Land Management representative in El Centro, the groups that stand to benefit from this alternative include mining interests, off-road vehicle buffs and real estate agents.
The final alternative, “balanced,” will attempt to strike the happy medium among all the above.
There are about 25 million acres of desert land in California, and the Bureau of Land Management administers almost half that land. The rest is broken up among private owners, the military, national parks and a small amount of land encompassed by Indian reservations. Mari said the plan is unprecedented in its scope.