Stories from the past
50 years ago
A 51-year-old state Division of Highways foreman was crushed to death Wednesday by a Highway Division gravel truck on Highway 86 south of Aten Road near El Centro, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Killed was Herbert Delbert (Whitey) Luker of Holtville. According to the CHP report, Luker was crushed by a Highway Division gravel truck that was resurfacing the highway at 12:35 p.m. The truck, moving backward with warning devices in operation, apparently struck Luker as he was spreading gravel. Driver of the truck Dennis Paul Nelson, 26, of Bard, was relieved of responsibility for the mishap, a CHP spokesman said.
40 years ago
A county fireman who allegedly ignited a brush fire last April in order to claim duty pay has been arrested and booked in county jail on suspicion of arson and conspiracy.
Sheriff’s investigator Michael Murphy today said at least four additional arrests are expected within the next few days. All of the anticipated arrests reportedly involve county firemen and arson incidents.
Gary David Hatfield Jr., 18, is being held on $25,000 bail pending arraignment in El Centro Municipal Court on suspicion of conspiracy and arson. Hatfield is a volunteer fireman for the Seeley Fire Department.
Murphy said a criminal complaint expected to be filed today or Thursday will allege Hatfield intentionally set a brush fire April 25 so that he could collect $3 for a fire callout and $1 per hour while fighting the blaze.
Although Murphy admitted there was no damage as result of the fire, “we are dealing with an aspect of endangering life and property.”
Murphy said a foreman could have been killed or injured at the scene, or the fire might have gotten out of hand and spread to private property.
Hatfield’s arrest Tuesday came after an internal affairs investigation into the Seeley Fire Department. The investigation was conducted at the request of county Fire Department officials and Capt. Carl Schwettmann.
Murphy said there was also a concern for a prompt arson investigation due to five separate blazes in the Seeley area last week that accounted for the destruction of haystacks valued at $60,000. All of the fires were started by arson. Schwettmann said.
“At this time we have not tied those haystack fires to any member of the Seeley Fire Department,” Murphy said.
Schwettmann said there had been internal concern for a couple of years over the growing number of rural area fires. “We knew other departments in the state were having similar problems and some of them were suspecting their own people,” Schwettmann said. “We were waiting until we had gathered enough facts together in order to ask for an investigation,” he said.
30 years ago
A 16-year-old ice cream vendor was beaten and robbed Saturday while pushing his cart down an alley near the 1160 block of H Street, Brawley Police Department Lt. Henry Graham said today.
The lieutenant said Uriel Espinoza was walking with a man and a woman about 4:20 p.m. Saturday when the man attacked him. “He was pushing his cart and the guy all of the sudden turned on him and attacked him, beat him to the ground, and took approximately $40,” Graham said.
Graham said Espinoza was treated at the scene for bruises and mouth injuries, but did not go to the hospital for further treatment. Santiago Amador Martinez, 33, of Brawley and Patricia Magdalena Guzman, 22, of Brawley were both arrested in connection with the incident.
Bond was set at $10,000 for Martinez and $1,000 for Guzman. Both were being held at the county jail on suspicion of robbery today. Graham said Saturday’s incident was not the first time an ice cream vendor has been beaten up or robbed in Brawley.
He said that particular crime is probably not unique to Brawley. “I’m sure those people get ripped off in other cities because they’re out there all the time,” he said, “They’re easy prey.”
20 years ago
The most notable features of Miguel Duarte are his pearly white teeth and his sense of humor. One rarely notices the sign language interpreter who accompanies him while he works at the state Department of Rehabilitation office in El Centro.
He likes to drive down the road with his Dario blaring, dancing to the music. Except sometimes Duarte’s still dancing when a commercial comes on. He just laughs. Deafness is a disability that’s invisible to most people, but Duarte has done his best to make the hearing community in Imperial County notice the deaf and address their needs.
Duarte wasn’t born deaf. Born in Mexicali, Duarte moved to the Imperial Valley when he was 5. Duarte’s parents were migrant workers and followed work from Salinas back and forth to the Imperial Valley.
After his mother died of cancer during his senior year at Calexico High School in 1985, Duarte turned down several veterinary science scholarships at schools such as the University of California, Irvine, to stay near his three younger sisters.
Duarte attended Imperial Valley College and was on the honor roll his first semester. During his second semester, Duarte began getting headaches. On several visits his doctor chided him for working too hard at school and dismissed Duarte’s complaints.
Duarte was 18, with no parents to turn to and no money to challenge the doctor’s opinion. “I’d had trouble hearing, but I thought it was loud music and partying,” Duarte said with a smile, waving the hand sign for the word party in a large gesture to get his point across that he partied a lot.
He remembers washing his car one day and losing his eyesight for a few seconds. That happened again a few days later. Duarte was sufficiently worried to visit another doctor on his own. An audiologist administered a hearing test in which Duarte held a controller on which he was to push the buttons when he heard a beep in headsets.