STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
An alert El Centro policeman caught an alleged car thief early Sunday morning, even though the car involved had not been reported missing.
The officer noted a car being driven erratically on the 1100 block of Broadway. He stopped it to check if the driver might be under the influence of intoxicants. When the officer came up Olivas Lupe, 23, of Blythe, blurted out “Give me a break, I’m on parole.”
The policeman then radioed in to check on the status of the automobile. Lupe had told him that it belonged to a friend whose name he could not remember.
While waiting for the results of the check — as it turned out, that car had not been reported missing — Lupe reportedly told the lawman that “I’ll tell you the truth, I took the car from a Union 76 station in Calexico.”
Lupe was turned over to the Calexico police.
40 years ago
Brawley’s Dunlack Hotel, long considered an eyesore and blight on downtown business, is being purchased by the city’s Chamber of Commerce and will be turned over to the Community Redevelopment Agency.
Also included in the deal are the burnt-out remains of the Brawley Hotel next door which was destroyed in a June 8, 1974, fire.
The action was made public Monday afternoon when chamber of commerce representatives met in a special meeting with the redevelopment agency’s project area committee, an advisory group made up of local businessmen.
At the meeting, chamber board member Wayne Zills said the chamber had opened escrow on the property and has a sales agreement with the owner of the Dunlack and Brawley hotels, Los Angeles businessman Jerry Fried.
That sales agreement lasts 10 days and ends Friday. By taking on the Dunlack as its next project, the redevelopment agency, in essence, replaced the chamber as purchaser of the structures.
Zills explained the chamber’s intention is to hand the property over to the agency, which could then sell it to one or more local developers. Although it was not announced Monday, this newspaper learned today that one local developer, Gordon Jongeward, has already expressed interest in the property.
30 years ago
The owners of 23 abandoned vehicles found on the Slabs near Niland are getting an expensive lump of coal for Christmas this year.
Criminal complaints have been filed by the district attorney’s office against each vehicle’s owner, District Attorney William Jaynes confirmed today.
If convicted of the infraction, the last registered owner of each wreck could face a fine of between $100 and $1,000, said California Highway Patrol Officer David Watts.
Lisa Beutler, chief of the enforcement section of the State Lands Commission, said her agency went to the district attorney because “we want to let people know this is not a dumping ground. … It is not OK to just take (them) out and leave them on public property. We want to assure them if they dump here, there are consequences.”
The abandoned military barracks on the rolling desert hills east of Niland has become a popular camping spot for snowbirds. Its isolation also has made it a convenient spot for people to drop junked and stripped cars.
20 years ago
The arid desert terrain of Imperial County has provided the backdrop for many Hollywood blockbusters including the turbulent Middle East of “Rambo III” and Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine in “Return of the Jedi.”
Once again, the local scenery is being set to celluloid with some of the movie industry’s hottest stars in the Warner Brothers picture, “Three Kings.” It stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube.
Film crews arrived in the Imperial Valley Nov. 12 and will be here “for a few more weeks,” a “Three Kings” spokeswoman said Thursday.
In the story, Clooney, Wahlberg and Ice Cube are among a group of U.S. soldiers fighting the Iraqis near the end of Desert Storm. When they learn a huge cache of gold is reportedly hidden somewhere near their desert base, they set out to find it, the spokeswoman said.