Kudos to Assemblyman Garcia, Marco Nunez, IID employees, Maria Gradilla and Laura Lizarraga

Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia

It is tremendously good news for Imperial County and the parts of Riverside County that he represents that Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia was appointed as chairman of the California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife. The appointment was made by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on Tuesday. Garcia has been active during his two years in the Assembly in trying to push through bills that would designate money for park space in disadvantaged areas, which includes much of his district. More important, though, is Garcia has worked to get bills passed that would help with the cleanup of both the New River and the Salton Sea, which would be wonderful developments for his district. Now, in his committee chairmanship, Garcia is in a place to make sure programs to restore both the New River and the Salton Sea actually, and finally, come to fruition.

Marco Nunez

After a long career as both a public defender and prosecuting attorney in Imperial County, Marco Nunez is more than qualified for the Imperial County Superior Court judgeship he was appointed to last week by Gov. Jerry Brown. Nunez, a Mexicali native who attended schools in the Imperial Valley, will fill the seat of Judge Raymond Ayala Cota, who had a distinguished career as both a lawyer and judge for which our community should be deeply appreciative.

Imperial Irrigation District employees

Most people in the Imperial Valley know the Imperial Irrigation District as the entity that delivers power to their homes and water to local farmers and local water districts. IID, however, donates considerable amounts to charitable causes in our area, and one such donation program happened over the recent Christmas holidays. This time, though, IID employees took money from their own wallets to buy 700 toys for children of needy families and place the toys into 25 collection boxes throughout the district. The needy families were identified by Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego, and the toys were delivered to Catholic Charities local headquarters in El Centro. Our hats are off to the IID employees and all other local groups who made Christmas a bit better for the needy over the holidays.

Maria Gradilla, Laura Lizarraga

While traveling to Yuma you might notice among the construction workers on the Interstate 8 improvement project are two women doing iron work. The two, Imperial Valley residents Maria Gradilla and Laura Lizarraga, are apprentice ironworkers in their sixth of eight semesters as apprentices. They are already making really good money, and that money will get even better when the women finish their apprenticeships, according to a local ironworkers union spokesman. Gradilla and Lizarraga are more proof that women can do the type of physical work that they were once kept from, and when given such an opportunity, they can support their families handsomely.