>> 40 Years Ago — Two military jets and a Brawley roof top were involved in a midair collision Friday afternoon.
Parts from one of the two Navy Reserve A-4s apparently went through the roof of a house at 1475 D St. after aircraft collided while returning to the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station from the Chocolate Mountain target area.
There were no injuries to either the pilot or occupants of the house, belonging to Jessie Reyes. But the roof sustained a two-foot hole over the bedroom of Mrs. Reyes brother, Raul Florez.
>> 50 Years Ago — Imperial Valley with the second oldest water rights on the Colorado was too poor or locked the foresight to better protect its legal rights.
Very few seemed concerned in the old days. The droughts and ragging floods of those days meant little to anyone except the few struggling desert farmers of the Lower Colorado Desert Basin. Because those few people were able to make their needs heard and harnessed the Colorado, everyone now wants on the “band wagon.”
Water scarcity has downed on the metropolitan masses and the farmer minority now faces an ever growing struggle for water he must have.
>> 30 Years Ago — How did a prosperous state like California get in such a fiscal mess? Where did all the money go?
It was easy and predictable, according to state Deputy Controller F. Frank Schuler, who laid it out for the Southern California County Tax Assessors at the group’s annual conference.
Back in the easy living sixties, and relatively prosperous seventies, the state took on more and more projects, Schuler told assessors.
Welfare, Medi-Cal, environmental projects, highway building, clean air, energy programs all “good things if you can afford it” ballooned state spending.
When Proposition 13 came along, the state just kept spending and parceling out its reserves to cities and counties to keep them afloat, he said.
>> 20 Years Ago — California Department of Transportation reports indicate the Imperial Valley could become the primary route by road and rail from Mexico to the West Coast of the United States and Canada if the North America Free Trade Agreement goes into effect.
Local officials are ecstatic over the news of an initial draft of a Caltrans study examining possible transportation infrastructure improvements to be made with the implementation of the free-trade agreement.
Parts from one of the two Navy Reserve A-4s apparently went through the roof of a house at 1475 D St. after aircraft collided while returning to the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station from the Chocolate Mountain target area.
There were no injuries to either the pilot or occupants of the house, belonging to Jessie Reyes. But the roof sustained a two-foot hole over the bedroom of Mrs. Reyes brother, Raul Florez.
>> 50 Years Ago — Imperial Valley with the second oldest water rights on the Colorado was too poor or locked the foresight to better protect its legal rights.
Very few seemed concerned in the old days. The droughts and ragging floods of those days meant little to anyone except the few struggling desert farmers of the Lower Colorado Desert Basin. Because those few people were able to make their needs heard and harnessed the Colorado, everyone now wants on the “band wagon.”
Water scarcity has downed on the metropolitan masses and the farmer minority now faces an ever growing struggle for water he must have.
>> 30 Years Ago — How did a prosperous state like California get in such a fiscal mess? Where did all the money go?
It was easy and predictable, according to state Deputy Controller F. Frank Schuler, who laid it out for the Southern California County Tax Assessors at the group’s annual conference.
Back in the easy living sixties, and relatively prosperous seventies, the state took on more and more projects, Schuler told assessors.
Welfare, Medi-Cal, environmental projects, highway building, clean air, energy programs all “good things if you can afford it” ballooned state spending.
When Proposition 13 came along, the state just kept spending and parceling out its reserves to cities and counties to keep them afloat, he said.
>> 20 Years Ago — California Department of Transportation reports indicate the Imperial Valley could become the primary route by road and rail from Mexico to the West Coast of the United States and Canada if the North America Free Trade Agreement goes into effect.
Local officials are ecstatic over the news of an initial draft of a Caltrans study examining possible transportation infrastructure improvements to be made with the implementation of the free-trade agreement.
