STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
Serious charges by three young American citizens that they were beaten by Mexican police while held in jail in Mexicali have been transmitted by Walter Notheis, U.S. vice consul in Mexicali, to Humberto Rojas Ruiz, an agent of the Mexicali Federal Ministry.
The three are John Gary Sitter, 26, of Los Angeles; Thomas Crawford, 31, Burbank; and Ruben Montes Magana, 25, who gave his address only as Hollywood.
The young men told the vice consul they had been charged with possession of dangerous drugs and narcotics. Police are reported to have said they found more than 300 barbiturate pills on the three and four butts from marijuana cigarettes.
Mexican chemists are reported to have said there was such a small quantity of marijuana available for analysis that it was difficult to determine if the cigarette butts were marijuana or not.
The three Americans told police they had purchased the barbiturates with a medical prescription.
They told Notheis they had been brutally beaten as police made an effort to make them tell who had sold them the marijuana cigarettes.
40 years ago
New restrictions on federally-served irrigation projects in the West reverse policies upheld by past Interior secretaries, according to Ralph Brody, manager of the Westlands Water District.
“It seems to me that a man who has served as the (Interior) secretary only nine months and who has made only a cursory study of the reclamation program is assuming a great responsibility in overturning the work of 75 years and of so many predecessors,” Brody said.
Leases have never been restricted, and a residency requirement was left out of amendments Congress adopted in 1926 to the original 1902 Reclamation Act, he said.
Brody’s comments were made in response to new proposed regulations of the Interior Department, published Monday, which would require all irrigated districts making use of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water projects to comply with several new regulations.
Included among these regulations were requirements that no individual farmer receive water on more than 160-acres of leased land.
30 years ago
Work on a shopping center and medical complex in the Habitat 2000 development is expected to begin within 30 days after the Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a rash of actions involving the Salton Sea area project.
James Cashman, Habitat vice president and construction manager, said the first model homes in the $50 million planned community could be opened to the public by February.
And Tuesday’s actions, Cashman said, are just the start of plenty more to come as work progresses on the Palm Springstype development that ultimately will include a regional shopping center, hotel, golf course, a lake on the banks of the Salton Sea and 10,000 residential units ranging from custom homes, condominiums and subdivisions geared to seniors.
20 years ago
Brawley fire officials today were continuing to investigate the cause of a fire at a self-storage facility Monday afternoon that damaged dozens of storage units and destroyed an unspecified amount of personal possessions.
The fire was reported at 1:52 p.m. at Brawley Self Storage at the corner of Highway 86 and Legion Road. Reports indicated the fire started when a customer lighted a cigarette lighter and ignited gasoline fumes, but Brawley fire Capt. Ken Ray said the exact cause of the blaze had yet to be determined this morning.