STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The world’s “lowest down” military air base will hail its 25th anniversary Nov. 15 when the U.S. Naval Air Facility at El Centro holds an open house and air show.
At 43 feet below sea level, Imperial Valley’s unique air station has moved up from World War II years and pilot talk of “Roger over” into the aerospace days of “AOK.”
Featuring the anniversary program will be an air show by the Blue Angels, the official U.S. Navy flight demonstration team, which is based at NAF for training during the winter months.
Equally thrilling to the visiting public will be live parachute jumps by men of the Naval Aerospace Recovery Unit, flight demonstrations by various Navy and Air Force aircraft and a low altitude parachute extraction from a C-130 Hercules aircraft.
40 years ago
After all of the costly penalties were walked off and the ill-timed turnovers were made, it was somehow fitting that Central Union’s football team should end up in a 14-14 deadlock with Blythe’s Palo Verde High.
“We kissed our sister” tonight, said Spartan mentor Joe Evangelist after he watched his quad squander scoring opportunities at Central High’s field Friday evening. “We really needed a win to get back in it.”
The tie may have been nearly as devastating as a loss for the Spartans. They dropped to 0-1-1 in Desert Valleys League play. The Yellowjackets, who defeated Brawley last week, improved to 1-0-1.
“We are just going to have to regroup and see what the rest of the league does,” added Evangelist.
The DVL decided that there would be no tiebreakers this season.
30 years ago
Lions Clubs in Holtville and El Centro on Tuesday installed the first female members for those clubs, following the recent trend of traditional all-men service clubs accepting women as members.
The Sundowners Lions Club of El Centro installed El Centro teacher Evelyn Havens at a regular meeting. Havens was installed along with another new member, Heywood Bell.
Holtville resident Lourdes Castro became the first female member of the Holtville Lions Club Tuesday. Her husband, Mike Castro, is Del Rio zone chairman and a member of the Holtville Lions Club.
Castro said there was “no problem” with the membership accepting his wife as a member because “three-fourths of the club is Castros. It’s a family Lions Club,” he said.
Castro was installed along with fellow new member Fred Garcia.
20 years ago
CALEXICO — Acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, the City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to tentatively approve a $450,000 loan to embattled Calexico Hospital contingent upon the proof the hospital’s collateral is worth the $722,000 the facility claims it is.
However, members of the Redevelopment Agency made clear the loan is far from final approval.
Said Mayor John Renison: “Really no action was taken; it’s going to come back to us. This is the taxpayers’ money, not ours. We need to do some thinking about this.”
Following the vote at the special meeting, Renison said, “The question we need to be asking is: Can the loan be guaranteed? It should be another week or so before we know the value of the property.”
Only Councilman Eduardo Guzman voted against the loan.