Stories from the past
50 years ago
For the first time in four years, the weather was perfect for the El Centro Kiwanis Relays at Central High School.
With this to inspire them, the participants responded in splendid fashion as they set four new Relays records and tied a fifth.
The first record fell to Richard Arce of Indio in the pole vault as he sailed over the bar at 13 feet, 6 inches. The old record had been set just last year by James Womble of El Centro at 13 feet even.
The second record went to Yuma in the large schools distance medley as they toured the distance in 10:02.2. The previous record belonged to Coachella and was set in 1961.
Ralph Gallegos of Coachella then broke the two mile record of 10:10:4 which he himself had established just last year. His new mark was a blistering 9:32.3. Danny McClure of El Centro, who finished second, also eclipsed the old mark with a 9:45.6.
Indio’s mile relay team broke the large schools record as the quartet stepped off the distance in 3:28:5. The old record was established 11 years ago, in 1959, by a team from Chula Vista, who covered the distance in 3:28.6.
The final event of the meet saw an old record tied as El Centro’s 880 relay team equaled the large schools mark of 1:32.4 set by Coachella in 1959.
Among the good, non-record-breaking efforts was a high jump victory of 6 feet, 4.25 inches by Art Johnson of Blythe.
Blythe picked up another victory in the field events when Clarence Thomas put the shot 50 feet, 9 inches.
Darrell Hughes of Yuma started what was to be a very good day for him when he went 23 feet in the long jump. He later won his heat in the 100-yard prelims and then edged out Troy Stephens of Imperial with a 9.8 clocking in the finals.
40 years ago
SALTON SEA — A resident of Salton City this morning looked at the ancient sea’s water line that is imprinted on the nearby mountains and commented, “I sure hope that’s not where this whole thing is headed, we could swim to Palm Springs.”
The water is still creeping up all around the sea. “It’s up about a foot from January,” Pete Farrell, manager of the North Shore Marina, said, “and I think we’ll get about six more inches in the coming run-off.”
He didn’t even want to speculate on how far the sea would rise when irrigation in both the Imperial and Coachella valleys gets in full swing.
Right now, Farrell said, “the campsites are gone except for the back row and we can’t get in there.” Although there’s a double row of sandbags at the waterfront and two little pumps are running, the water is still getting inside the store.
“There’s no way that we can plan ahead,” Farrell stated. “But we’re going to battle it out until the end.”
The seaside roads are now passable at Salton Sea Beach, according to Gene Nutter. “We pumped all the water out, but some more came in with the last rains. We have to pump every day.”
Giant earthmovers, brought in last week, seem to have done the job for now at the Bombay Beach Marina, according to Tom Kirchman, assistant manager.
“We’re above water now,” he said. Next week, the management plans to put up the seafront wall, which was lost during the recent storms. The water took out 75 feet of the 18-inch-thick concrete embankment.
While things are “all right” now, Kirchmann stated, “if there’s another storm along with the melt from the mountains and irrigation water — we’ll fill up once more.”
In the Salton Community Service District, trouble spots are the fingers at Desert Shores, where the water is in yards and under mobile homes, according to Shirley Vile, district secretary.
Vile said an inlet at Riviera Trailer Park is also causing problems and the high water is eroding the foundation at the front of the Salton Bay Yacht Club.
She said most of the district shoreline is rising sharply and areas that would flood did during previous flood years. “That’s our shoreline now,” she stated.
30 years ago
CALEXICO — High school sophomores, university students and their professors sat in chairs and on the floor spellbound as famed Spanish author Ana Maria Matute spoke of a world beset with change and dilemma, a world entering a new Middle Age.
“We are in a crisis,” Matute said in Spanish during a lecture at San Diego State University’s student union. “Many values have been destroyed ... and new ones are being formed. ... The Middle Ages were created a little like this. The old values went into decline and man was afraid of what he felt.”
But the 63-year-old author from Barcelona said some of the best writing is produced during these periods of crisis and transition.
“Writing is to arouse one’s fears, one’s dreams... to arouse curiosity in a world that is still bound and blinded by materialism that is ... closing doors and windows to the spirituality that ... man needs. And as his dreams and ideas fade, man finds himself more alone and sad, and he looks for an escape” which writing and literature provide.
Matute was at SDSU Wednesday night to talk about her experiences as a writer during a University Week tour of college campuses. Matute also spoke to Julio Gaytan’s Spanish literature class at Calexico High School earlier in the day, and some students were so interested they came to SDSU later to hear her speak again about the modern day crisis of values and ideas, children’s inevitable loss of innocence, and the need for Mexican-Americans to keep their Hispanic heritage alive.
Author of 26 fiction books, many of which have been translated into 23 languages, Matute is one of Spain’s most important writers this century. She has won numerous literary awards, including Spain’s Nadal prize, equivalent to the Pulitzer, and has lectured at more than 50 American universities.