>> 50 Years Ago — Two men who have advanced side by side up the ladder of success in the El Centro Fire Department moved up another rung today and at the same time began a new system of promotion in the local department.
Melvin T. Womack and Charles P. Robertson, both natives of El Centro, were appointed captains in the El Centro Fire Department.
Their appointments marked the first time men from the lieutenant ranks of the department were selected for captain on the basis of competitive examinations, according to Fire Chief Lester Patton.
>> 30 Years Ago — Long before water was conveyed into Imperial Valley from the Colorado River, making it possible to grow the crops which would establish an agricultural paradise, man came to this desert and began to do some planting.
The first inhabitants of this region who stayed here longer than just a couple of years were an Indian group known as the Kamias — the spelling of the name varies — who stayed in the Valley for 300 or 400 years. Their descendants still live here.
>> 20 Years Ago — A team of state and federal investigators, Thursday fined more agribusinesses for violating labor and workplace safety laws in Imperial County and the eastern Coachella Valley.
The Targeted Industries Task Force issued eight citations and fined the violators a total of $38,500 Thursday in both, regions, said Simon Reyes, a TIPP member. Reyes is assistant chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the state Department o Industrial Relations in San Francisco.
Reyes said TIPP officials who work for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued four of the eight citations in the Coachella Valley and fined violators $20,000. The violations involved the lack of bathrooms, clean drinking water and hand-washing facilities for farm workers.
Melvin T. Womack and Charles P. Robertson, both natives of El Centro, were appointed captains in the El Centro Fire Department.
Their appointments marked the first time men from the lieutenant ranks of the department were selected for captain on the basis of competitive examinations, according to Fire Chief Lester Patton.
>> 30 Years Ago — Long before water was conveyed into Imperial Valley from the Colorado River, making it possible to grow the crops which would establish an agricultural paradise, man came to this desert and began to do some planting.
The first inhabitants of this region who stayed here longer than just a couple of years were an Indian group known as the Kamias — the spelling of the name varies — who stayed in the Valley for 300 or 400 years. Their descendants still live here.
>> 20 Years Ago — A team of state and federal investigators, Thursday fined more agribusinesses for violating labor and workplace safety laws in Imperial County and the eastern Coachella Valley.
The Targeted Industries Task Force issued eight citations and fined the violators a total of $38,500 Thursday in both, regions, said Simon Reyes, a TIPP member. Reyes is assistant chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the state Department o Industrial Relations in San Francisco.
Reyes said TIPP officials who work for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued four of the eight citations in the Coachella Valley and fined violators $20,000. The violations involved the lack of bathrooms, clean drinking water and hand-washing facilities for farm workers.
