Imperial Hometown Review

              Imperial Hometown Review 
 
PRICE 10c 
IMPERIAL CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 7, 1967 
VOL. 14, NO. 6 
 
PENNEY VENTURA IS CROWNED QUEEN OF TOMATO FESTIVAL 
 
Talomenda (Penney) Ventura, 16, brunette Calipatria High School sophomore, was crowned "Queen Cleopatra" at the ball climaxing the 27th annual Niland Tomato Festival Sunday night. 
 
Penney, daughter of Marcelo Ventura of Calipatria, is active in sports, and vice-president of the school's Pep Club. She did a Hawaiian dance. 
 
Runners up in the queen contest, were Katherine Beall, 16, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Beal of Niland; and Arlenda Tangonan, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tangonan, Holtville. 
 
Winner of the world championship tomato packing contest was Neno Bautista, Niland. Catherine Almueti of Niland placed second. 
 
Trophy for the best tomatoes exhibited went to Fred Kido of Niland. 
 
Sweepstake trophy given by the Paint and Pallet Club of Niland in the art show went to Georgia Pippen of Calipatria. 
 
Marry Rosanbalm, Niland, took the cup for the best painting of the show. 
 
An estimated 14,000 persons participated in the three-day festival which honors the million-dollar winter tomato harvest of the northend of Imperial County 
 
Geo. Shank, 89; Pioneer Brawley Farmer, Is Buried 
 
Last rites were held Tuesday (Feb. 7) for George Shank, 89, Brawley, one of a prominent pioneer Imperial Valley ranching family, who died Sunday at Pioneers Memorial Hospital. 
 
Services were conducted by the Rev. J. D. Harden, First Christian Church of Brawley at Frye Chapel, with interment at River view Cemetery. 
 
Mr. Shank first came to Imperial Valley with his three brothers in 1902. He worked at land leveling, and homesteaded east of Brawley, retiring five years ago. 
 
Survivors include his wife, Mabel; two sons; Roy, Brawley, and Clifford, Alhambra; three brothers, Ben and T. B. of Brawley, and Dan of Taft; nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 
 
Imperial Child Drowns In Well 
 
Jose Juan Molina Madrigal, 20 months, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Madrigal of rural Imperial. was drowned Sunday evening when he fell headfirst into a well near his home. 
 
Efforts of the parents to revive him were futile, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at El Centro Community hospital. 
 
The well, about five feet deen which provided the family's water, had been covered, but the child had somehow managed to open a trap door on top and fall in, according to the coroner's office. 
 
22 Per Cent Hike In Enrollment At I.V. College Noted 
 
A 22 per cent increase in enrollments for the spring semester at Imperial Valley College has been announced by Dr. Terrel Spencer, college president. 
 
Three new day instructors have joined the faculty at mid-year to help with expanding program, and to decrease overloads taught by instructor during the fall semester. These are Judge Anne Morrow, social science; Lester Anderson, law enforcement; and Dorothy Hawkins, nursing education. 
 
There are also five new instructors hired for evening courses, who are specialists in various subjects, and will bring to the students the latest developments from the fields in which they are earning their livehood. 
 
Expanded programs of student activities in Journalism, debating, music and drama, and wrestling and other sports has also been announced. 
 
Non-student members of the community are invited to visit the campus, and get acquainted with the expanded programs, faculty members and student activities, Dr. Spencer said. 
 
Brawleyite, Trucker, Boy Die Of Traffic Injuries 
 
A Brawley man, a truck driver and a five-year. Old boy all died over the weekend of injuries incurred in separate traffic accidents. 
 
Henry Haines, 59, was killed in a three car pile-up on U.S. Highway 80 near Boulder Oaks late Saturday afternoon. He was dead on arrival at El Cajon Valley Hospital. 
 
Leon Bradshaw, 22, of Santee, was killed when the truck he was driving went out of control on Interstate 8 Freeway, 12 miles east of Jacumba, and plunged about 70 feet down a ravine on Mt. Springs grade. 
 
Sergio Elizondo, 5, died Monday morning at Pioneers Memorial Hospital, Brawley, from injuries incurred in a two-car collision Jan. 29, in which his father Frederico V. Elizondo, was also fatally injured. The father died the day following the accident, which occured at the intersection of Worthington and Forrester Roads. 
 
His wife, Maria, 46, and daughter, Noemi, 2, sustained less serious injuries. The son had had a leg amputated. 
 
CONGRESS TO RESTORE 4.4 MILLION A-F TO BASIN ACT, CREATE COMMISSION FOR IMPORTATION STUDY SAYS INTERIOR DEPT. 
 
(Special from Washington) 
"Californians are being pessimistic about the Administration's newly-stated proposals for the development of lower Colorado River water resources. This was only an outline, and there is still a lot of work to be done on it. If they are patient, they will find that the final version before the Congress will be one all the Basin States can live with, although undoubtedly there will be compromises, as it is difficult to give everyone everything they want." 
 
This is a statement from the office of Interior Secretary Stewart Udall in answer to questioning about apparent changes of position by the Secretary in the plan announced last Wednesday as compared with testimony he had given during hearings on the River Basin Projects Act (H.R. 4671) which was before the Congress last year, but died in committee. 
 
Members of the Interior Secretary's staff who have been working on the proposals point out that the guarantee of 4.4 million acre feet of water annually to meet Southern California's needs will be put in the new bill by the Congress, just as it was put into H.R. 4671 by the Congress; and that the Secretary favors creation of a commission to study water importation proposals. 
 
A bill to be introduced within the next few days by Senators Carl Hayden (D.Arizona) and Henry M. Jackson (D-Washington) will encompass the "barebones" structure which Udall outlined. 
 
(It is obvious to water experts that Udall was under instructions to trim the basin project proposals to their barest form, under the Bureau of the Budget's new austerity program. The "bare-bones proposal" announced by Udall (undoubtedly under directive) bears a price tag of about $770 million, less than half of the $1.8 billion budget called for in the final form of H.R. 4671 last year.) 
 
Creation of the proposed national water commission would lead to recommendations about water importation, which is presently opposed by Washington State's Senator Jackson. 
 
"They might live with importationn plans if they have an opportunity to take part in a study that would determine how it best could be done," an Interior official commented, adding: 
 
"Continued support for the 
(Continued On Page 4) 
 
NEW UDALL WATER PLAN HIT BY TUNNEY, LOCAL WATER EXPERTS 
 
Rep. John V. Tunney (D-Riverside) has joined other California legislators and water leaders in criticizing as unacceptable to California revisions in the Colorado River Basin Project act announced by Interior Secretary Stewart Udall last Wednesday. 
 
The new bill will be the subject of Congressional hearings in Washington, starting March 9. 
 
"Udall's revision, in my opinion, does not go far enough to protect California's interests," Rep. Tunney commented, adding: 
 
"It does not protect our 4.4 million acre-feet annual gurantee, and it does not provide for a feasibility study of possible water importation from areas of surplus. California cannot accept this bill unless we can get a guarantee to protect our water rights; and unless it also includes the feasibility study." 
 
The Congressman from Imperial and Riverside Counties was less critical of Udall's plan to abandon the proposed Marble Canyon and Hualapai Dams, as he had previously suggested seeking other means of power generation in the face of the bitter opposition to dams in the Grand Canyon by the Sierra Club. 
 
"I don't object if a thermal energy plan will be able to produce enough power to pay for the Central Arizona Project, with the possibility of having a surplus to go into a basin account to be used to finance importation works when they are constructed," Tunney commented. 
 
Noting that in the past Secretary Udall had gone on record in favor of at least one of the proposed dams as "absolutely essential" to the basin project, Reginald L. Knox, legal counsel for Imperial Irrigation District, termed Udall's revised bill "a tremendocs shift in his opinion". 
 
"Perhaps the reasons will come out when public hearings start on the new bill in Washington Mar. 9," Knox said hopefully, "But I honestly don't know what they are now. I just can't understand why Udall changed his mind. He was pretty positive a couple of years ago about needing the dams to finance the projects". 
 
"Apparently Udall is asking us to forget all the work we did in the past few years to effect compromises among the seven basin states and work out a bill acceptable to all, after more than 40 years of fighting over the division of the Colorado's waters," Knox added. "Undoubtedly he will be questioned at the hearings to give his reasons why." 
 
"I don't see how the Secretary of Interior can now make that kind of decision," HD General Manager Robert Carter exploded in indignation. "Either he doesn't know what he is talking about now, or didn't know what he was talking about at the hearings we held in 1964 and 1965. We have all his testimony taped. Both Udall and his own (Interior Dept.) people testified on the compromise bill's provisions. 
 
"It is obvious that Udall is now siding with Little Brother Mo," Carter continued, referring to the fact that the Interior Secretary's brother, Rep. Morris Udall (D-Arizona) has sought a larger share of the Colorado's water for the proposed Arizona projects. 
 
"I cannot agree that it is right to fall on a political position at the expense of those to be served," Carter continued. 
 
"We are not complaining about the dams, its the elimination of 4.4 that we object to. Anyway, if the Compromise Project Act is wrong, then the Boulder Project Act was wrong, and so was all of the millions of dollars 
 
(Continued on Page 3) 
 
1967 Seminar On Youth Problems Set For Feb. 1 1 At I.V. College 
 
"What's Bugging Youth?" Is the theme of the 1967 Youth Conference which has been called by youth leaders of Imperial County for Saturday, Feb. 11, at Imperial Valley College, starting at 9 a.m. 
 
Participating will be about 160 young people representing a cross-section of the valley's youth, including students from Imperial Valley College, the county's seven high schools, continuation students, schools, dropouts, Job Corps members, and personnel from the El Centro Naval Air Facility. 
 
The seminar was evolved as a sequel to the statewide Governor's Conference on Youth held in Long Beach last February, which was attended by representatives from Imperial County. 
 
Keynote speaker will be Imperial County Sheriff Raymond Rowe. 
 
Also addressing the youth will be Westmorland Justice Judge Anne Marlow; Conner C. Cole, Imperial County Court of Conciliation; Robert Farrell, vice principal, Brawley High School; and Mrs. Willard Dillard, who will speak on community participation; Dr. E. D. Balwin, San Diego State College, and other educators. 
 
Seminar student leaders are: Linda Archer, I.V. College; Jerry Hart, Imperial High School; Lois DuBois, El Centro High School; and Steve Cook, Holtville High School; Lois Aragon, Calexico High; Gloria Nix, Brawley High; and Dennis Marquand, IVC.