Annual Mariachi Festival, Police chief, McCabe School, Imagine School and athletes

Annual Mariachi Festival

Congratulations to the Calexico Chamber of Commerce and the organizing committee of the 26th annual Mariachi Festival Sin Fronteras.

The week-long event again attracted hundreds of Mexican music and culture fans to the salsa contest, arts and crafts expo and the jewel of the crown Saturday — the festival gala and concert.

Police chief

Kudos to Brawley Chief of Police Mike Crankshaw for his 30-year law enforcement career. Crankshaw retired from the department recently.

We concur with Brawley Mayor Sam Couchman regarding Chief Crankshaw’s accomplishments with the department in the reorganization of several offices and bringing equipment to deliver protection services to residents and visitors.

It is our hope Chief Crankshaw keeps preparing our future police officers within Imperial Valley College classrooms. At the same time we would like to express Commander Kelly Brown for leading the department on an interim basis while authorities find a permanent chief.

McCabe School

In recent years in which education funds have been cut in several areas, it is significantly important for parents to attempt to cover expenses that school officials are unable to.

That is why we extend our gratitude to the Parent Teacher Organization at McCabe School, whose members made a great effort in order to raise funds to pay for new playground equipment.

Schools Valleywide get significant support from these organizations and the McCabe PTO deserves plenty of praise like they all do.

Imagine School

Imagine School students Sussy Barron and Alesandra Islas fared well in the National Character Essay contest held May 2.

Sussy, an eighth-grade student, placed first overall in the eighth grade division. She will be honored at the school’s eighth grade graduation ceremony on June 9 and receive an award, a book and a laptop.

Sussy’s schoolmate Alesandra, a third-grade student, also represented the school in the contest well.

Athletes

José Bernal, Julien Tabarez and Cameron Jungers were recognized with the Cymer Award by the CIF-San Diego Section for being athletes above average GPAs.

“Mens sana in corpore sano” is a Latin phrase composed by Roman poet Juvenal that as of today expresses the importance of the sine qua non condition of physical exercise leading to mental and psychological well-being.

By excelling in classroom and at the sports fields Bernal, Tabarez and Jungers have become a great example of what the poet wrote down almost two millenniums ago … we applaud them for that.