STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

The trial of Samuel Jack Vince, the 39-year-old Coachella Valley rancher who was charged with being at the controls of the aircraft which flew nearly a ton of marijuana into the Valley Feb. 25, started in Superior Court this morning with the prosecution’s promise that evidence would be brought in linking him with contacts within Mexico.

Richard Huffman, the deputy state attorney general who is prosecuting the case, told the jury in his opening statement that witnesses would be produced from Mexico to testify that Vince “gassed up” his aircraft in two towns in Mexico, one of them Ciudad Obregon, Sinaloa.

Vince is free on $62,500 bail, along with San Francisco photographer William Anthony Sayre, 27. Sayre is due to be tried separately here starting Oct. 20 on similar charges.

Vince, Sayre and Ronald Edward Alford, 27, a pilot from Thermal have also been indicted by a federal grand jury on marijuana smuggling charges and are due to be tried in U.S. District Court in San Diego beginning Sept. 29. That trial, however, according to Huffman, is bound to be delayed.

This morning District Attorney James Hamilton, who is not prosecuting the case because his deputy, Harold Chaille, represented Vince for a brief period at the very beginning of proceedings in February, said that the landing of the airplane was “undoubtedly” one of the factors which resulted in the present “Operation Intercept” against drug smuggling from Mexico.

40 years ago

Despite a first half riddled with penalties, Calexico crushed the Imperial Tigers Friday 27-7 for the Bulldogs second victory in two weeks.

With 110 yards in penalties the first half, Calexico still gained 160 yards against the Tigers for defense for a slim 14-7 lead.

Calexico quarterback Rick Herrera scored two touchdowns, including one on a 70-yard run, and passing for another.

“Every time we tried to pitch, we fumbled,” Calexico coach Al Gutierrez yelled.

But Imperial still managed to fumble more than the border city’s three slip-ups, causing the Tigers offense to fall apart and never recover.

Calexico resorted to an effective pass combination of Herrera to Michael Salgado for 57 yards and Herrera to Andy Armenta for 48 yards.

At the outset, the Tigers looked like they were going to take the game, gaining 79 yards on three plays, with quarterback Hector Diaz lateraling to halfback Carlton Smith on an option play for the game’s first touchdown only minutes into the first quarter.

Imperial fans excitement was high until Herrera leaped, sidestepped and evaded the Tigers defense for a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage after the Tiger score, dampening Imperial’s spirit.

30 years ago

The Imperial County Superintendent of Schools and the Imperial County Community College District have filed a lawsuit against the Calexico Community Redevelopment Agency and the city of Calexico in an effort to gain tax-sharing agreements with the agency.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Imperial County Superior Court, demands the invalidation of an amendment expanding the Redevelopment Agency’s boundaries and the environmental impact report on that expansion.

But the purpose of the suit is really to persuade Calexico to negotiate tax-sharing agreements so that the Imperial County Superintendent of Schools and Imperial County Community College District do not lose all of the tax money they would otherwise have received from land inside the expanded Development Agency, said Brooks Coleman, president of California School Financial Services, who is acting as the schools’ financial consultant.

“If we come to an agreement with the city, we would drop the lawsuit,” Coleman said. “We don’t view it as an adversarial process.”

“It was the only legal option that remained for us,” said Imperial County School Superintendent Herb Farrar.

The lawsuit comes two months after the Calexico City Council and the Calexico Redevelopment Agency board approved an amendment to expand the agency’s boundaries by some 250 acres. The council approved the second reading Palm Springs of the amendment July 18.