STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
On the schedule there was a small parenthetical announcement that Saturday’s football game between Imperial Valley College and Barstow College was being played on Homecoming Night.
Unfortunately, the announcement did not tell the whole story. It was Homecoming Night and at halftime the queen was named. But it also was Larry Hockaday Night, and that fact had more bearing on the outcome of the game.
Hockaday, a little-used freshman running back, got his first real test against the Vikings and made the most of it, carrying the ball 26 times and picking up 217 yards and two touchdowns.
His two touchdowns actually were one more than the Arabs needed but they added three more for good measure and boosted their season record to 3-2 with a 30-6 win over Barstow.
Coach Stan Crouch’s club now is 1-1 in Desert Conference play and closes out a brief home stand next Saturday night at Spartan Field against high-scoring Mt. San Jacinto. For Barstow, the loss was the third of the year to go with one tie. The Vikings are 0-1 in conference action and do not figure to improve on either mark next week when they take on defending champion MiraCosta.
A brisk west wind made passing hazardous, and for the most part, both teams stayed with their rushing attacks. Altogether, the Arabs picked up 330 yards on the ground against 166 for the Vikings.
40 years ago
El Centro building officials quickly put up barricades closing off the 500 block of Main Street Friday after new earthquake damage was discovered.
New cracks have appeared and more plaster has fallen from the front of Hoffman Music Co., 534 Main St. It is now expected that at least part of the structure will have to be demolished, after it received an initial $20,000 damage to the exterior walls.
It is not known how much, if any, of the structure can be saved. The barricades are expected to remain up at least through today. There is apparently a potential danger of a portion of the building collapsing.
Meanwhile, Brawley City Manager Walker Ritter said today he was attempting to get structural engineers from the state to inspect some of the more seriously damaged structures in Brawley.
But in contrast to El Centro, it appeared today that Brawley officials are not planning a systematic check of homes and buildings in the city by the structural engineers. Ritter said today Building Inspector Robert Lane made the necessary checks following the quakes and ordered structures closed for further inspection.
30 years ago
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of five children, ranging in age from 9 months to 5 years, at an historical gravesite near an old gold mine in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains in eastern Imperial County.
The graves, located near the American Girl Mine, were unearthed earlier this week and found to contain skeletons and cultural artifacts thought to date back to the 1890s. They are scheduled to be reburied in Holtville. Bureau of Land Management staff members believe this is the first historical gravesite in Imperial County to be exhumed and moved, although Sheriff-Coroner Oren Fox says 17 other historical cemeteries exist in Imperial County.
In August, Superior Court Judge James Harmon ordered the removal of the graves in a “friendly” lawsuit filed on the behalf of American Girl Mining Co. against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The suit was instituted because both the mining company and BLM were uncertain of the legality of moving and reburying the bodies and wanted to be sure proper procedures were followed. The graves are located on public land managed by the BLM.
The remains, including well-preserved but disconnected bones, artifacts and the crumbling remnants of five redwood coffins, have been taken to Hems Bros. Mortuary in El Centro, where they will be encased together in one casket. Manager Kirk Hems said the casket will be reburied early next week at Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville. A legend surrounding the graves, which were marked with small wooden crosses set off by piles of stones, told of a Mexican family who died after eating cabbage that had gone bad after sitting in a pot over night.
But the legend died when archeologists from Regional Environmental Consultants of San Diego (RECON) uncovered the graves this week.
Six archeologists, with the help of equipment and staff donated by the American Girl Mining Co., carefully exposed the coffins, which were so fragile only the tops were removed before the contents were exposed.