05/ Imprerial Valley Alive! / Fall 2017

Fall 2017

NOW ACCEPTING WALK-INS!

WELCOME

Lwbba G. Chait, M.D. Pediatrician PIONEERS Memorial Healthcare District would like to proudly welcome Dr. Lwbba G. Chait to the family of medical professionals here at the Pioneers Health Center–our state-of-the-art neighborhood clinic featuring services in primary, and specialty care that’s across the street from our Hospital in Brawley.

BETTER CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN. At our PIONEERS Health Center–there’s no need for you to wait until your child is sick to come see one of our of pediatricians. We provide wellness and preventive care including vaccinations, routine physicals, kid’s check-ups, health screenings and treat minor conditions like colds, flu, bumps and bruises, minor lacerations, and abdominal pain. When you and your family need basic healthcare, think Pioneers Health Center.

Now Accepting Walk-ins Pioneers Health Center 751 W. Legion Rd Suite 103 Brawley, CA 92227 Office (760) 351-4400 Open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm

WE ACCEPT MEDI-CAL, MEDICARE, MOLINA HEALTHCARE, CALIFORNIA Fall 2017 2 HEALTH AND WELLNESS AND MOST OTHER INSURANCES.

Publishers' Message Consider this edition your ticket to adventure. It is our way to thank you for the support and enthusiasm you have shown for this magazine throughout its formative first year of publication.

Today, as we start the second year of publication, we know the magazine’s growth into a dynamic publication dedicated to mirroring the zest and spice of this unique region could not have happened without your ideas, contributions and willingness to become part of it.

There is no question that launching this publication and guiding its development through the year has been a journey sometimes through treacherous, uncharted terrain.

The North Star guiding our every decision is the certainty that the Imperial Valley is ripe for a magazine primed to reflect its diverse, vibrant, creative community. Our goal is for these pages to offer visitors, newcomers and even locals something new, novel and unexpected.

For that reason, Imperial Valley Alive! does not just write and photograph the region: it is the region. We are proud to be locally written, photographed, put together and printed.

It has not always been easy to accomplish these goals and to grow. More than once an impending deadline or one of the sundry crises that arise in the course of producing a magazine prompted one or more of us to pull our hair, use language unfit for publication or to question our sanity and/or ability to honor our pledge to keep producing a local publication crisp, clear and compelling enough to reflect this community.

Yet every time we feared the trail ahead had become too challenging, the waters too rough to chart, our efforts were buoyed by the enthusiasm of our readers and a burgeoning legion of advertisers. Thanks to our advertisers, the magazine has grown from an initial 32 pages to this edition’s 48 pages.

We encourage you to frequent these fine businesses that offer the goods and services that help the local economy grow.

Thanks to the knowledge, contacts and talent of readers, this magazine keeps getting more complete and more colorful.

And, your wanderlust has taken Imperial Valley Alive! to such beautiful and exotic ports of call as the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and to China. Check out the photos shared inside these pages of places our magazine has been, and be sure to pack a copy of Imperial Valley Alive! for your next trip, too.

Without you, the magazine could not have reached this notable one-year milestone. To celebrate we invite you to come on the adventures that fill the pages of this edition.

You will want to saddle up, or take the trains, planes and automobile routes highlighted in the edition.

Think of this trip not so much as a way to move from point A to point B, but rather as a journey inward, diving into the heart, soul and passions that drive the people and build a region like none other.

You are about to meet the people who push cowboy skills to a whole new level in the novel sport of team penning. You also can see their members compete in the three Cattle Call Rodeo performances in Brawley on Nov. 11 and 12. You’ll also meet a group of men whose passion for model railroad trains takes the

Bill Gay

Susan Giller

Peggy Dale

Editors & Publishers hobby to a whole new level. They offer a glimpse at miniature train and track perfection that will make your fingers itch to take the controls.

Since the sky is almost always clear in the Imperial Valley we interview a couple of local pilots, who happen to be mother and daughter.

And, consider driving along the old highway system that connected Arizona to the coast via the Imperial Valley long before Interstate 8. We offer tips for taking an adventure into the past along Old Highway 80.

We also feature articles about a couple of fun and easy regional day trips to try and much more. You will want to check out our Business and Health and Wellness sections and the calendar of events.

And you will want to read a fascinating interview with Dr. Marc Manix, an El Centro native who is returning to the Valley to open a neurosurgical practice. He told us he did not necessarily plan to come back home when he left for schooling. But after looking at other opportunities around the country, he chose to come back and practice with Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District.

“It just feels right here,” he told our writer. We could not agree more. This anniversary edition is our way to pay homage to what is right, remarkable and ready to be explored in the region. Enjoy. 

Imperial Valley Alive! made it all the way to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, thanks to Rebecca Giller. See Page 28 for more photos of places Imperial Valley Alive! has been, thanks to our readers.

Fall 2017

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INDEX |

Volume 2, Number 1 EDITORS & PUBLISHERS Bill Gay Susan Giller Peggy Dale

CONTRIBUTORS Becky Hanks Kristopher Haugh Brian McNeece Gary Redfern Darren Simon

COVER PHOTO Lequita Burch

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alejandra Noriega

A rider culls a steer from the herd during a team penning event.

-Photo by Lequita Burch

WEB DESIGNER Jesus Uriarte

SALES

Bill Amidon Sue Gay Mark Gran Marissa Bowers

ADVERTISING

advertising@imperialvalleyalive.com 760-693-5330

GETTING AROUND |

BUSINESS |

Team penning: Horses and cowboys work in tandem,

Customs brokers: Navigating cross-border business, Page 14

Page 6 Model railroading: It’s not child’s play, Page 8

PRINTER

Airborne: Mother, daughter share love for flying, Page 10

SUBSCRIPTIONS

NAF: Base has rich history in Valley, Page 12

Imperial Printers, El Centro Send name, address and email address along with $16.80 for annual subscription to:

Carrots: A sweet treat, in more ways than one, Page 16

Reliance Public Relations, Inc. P.O. Box 1944 • El Centro, CA 92243 www.imperialvalleyalive.com IMPERIAL VALLEY ALIVE! is published quarterly

by Reliance Public Relations, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical for any purpose without the written permission of Reliance Public Relations, Inc.

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Fall 2017

ON THE COVER: Brett Leavitt is board president for the Imperial Valley Team Penning Association. -Photo by Lequita Burch

Neurosurgeon and Imperial Valley native Dr. Marc Manix has returned home. See story on page 30 -Photo provided by Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District

| INDEX

TICKET TO ADVENTURE | Baseball: Los Aguilas draw fans to Mexicali, Page 20 Cycling: Burgeoning sport, Page 22 Old Highway 80: Trip down memory lane, Pages 24-25

Miller’s Garage: Humor behind rock-lined path, Page 26 Road trip: Old West comes to life, Page 27

Cris and Roberto Arroyo enjoy cycling in the Imperial Valley.

-Provided by Brian McNeece

ALSO INSIDE | Publishers’ Message, Page 3 Places we’ve been, Page 28 Calendar of Events, Page 36

A train crosses a trestle in a scene created and built by model railroader Joel Shank of Brawley. -Photo by Joselito Villero

Fall 2017

5

GETTING AROUND | It takes skill to strategically maneuver a horse through the herd to sort cattle and drive them to the pen. -Photo by Lequita Burch

Team Penning

By Darren Simon

6

There is no question cattle is king in the Imperial Valley economy. Yet the industry could not have been crowned without the work of the horse.

Today, the Imperial Valley Team Penning Association (IVTPA) reminds us what the horse has meant to the Valley. They do that through a competitive sport that celebrates how horses were used to drive cattle from one pasture to the next, sort out animals Fall 2017

said Brett Leavitt, president of the board, daughter to Julie Reeves and a former Cattle Call queen. “We’re taking the working skills of the cowboys and their horses and taking it to a competitive level.”

In team penning, three riders on horseback work to sort from a herd of cattle only those three marked with the same number. The team penners race against the clock to sort and then drive the selected cattle into a pen. The task must be completed in 75 seconds to receive a score.

To win, however, a team often beats the 30-second mark.

As anyone who has ever attended Cattle Call Rodeo can attest, team penning is an event that engages and excites the crowd.

Those watching often can point out the skill it takes to strategically maneuver a horse through the herd using cutting techniques — or sharp movements of the horse — to sort the cattle and drive them to the pen.

It’s a fast and deliberate event that takes a level of understanding and trust between a well-bred quarter horse and rider to succeed.

Team penners give much of the credit to their horses — known as cow horses — that are bred to work with cattle.

“Just like we watch the cows we are working, the horses watch the cows even more closely,” Reeves said.

Today’s IVTPA was founded in the 1980s

by Hank Gorham, Dave Foster, Pete Loftin, and the late Laverne Darnell, all leaders in the local cattle industry and equestrian community. But even before that, team penning was an important sport for those who worked local feed yards.

“Years ago, feed yards used to compete Competition shows against each other,” said Denny Burch, a off working skills of board member who currently works in a feed yard. Burch is also a member of the cowboys, horses Imperial County Sheriff’s Posse, a volunteer group that provides security at local events.

As late as the 1980s and even into the that might be ill and chase down those that ’90s, there were still quite a few feed yards wandered away from the herd.

“The Imperial Valley would not have been in the Imperial Valley, and team penning made without horses,” said Julie Reeves, a competitions continued as cowboys wanted to show off their skills, Burch said. The member of the IVTPA board of directors. competition was friendly and very much a At the Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo, Nov. family environment with barbecues held 11 and 12, IVTPA holds its World Series or Super Bowl of the season at which only during each event.

“You would need to be able to sort out the best of the local teams qualifies to sick cattle, so they could be treated,” said compete. board member Mikalou Valenzuela, who “Team penning is making a competition out of what cowboys would do all the time,” worked cattle on local pastures. She added,

“Back in the day when you worked the pastures, you had to have a darn good horse.”

Valenzuela, also a member of the Barbara Worth Brigadettes, a premier women’s horseback riding group, pointed out cattle would pasture on beet fields during hotter months, and if any cattle wandered off, they’d have to be chased down quickly.

“You had to have a good horse to catch them in the heat without killing either animal,” she said.

Though there may not be as many feed yards in the Valley and pasturing cattle may have ended, team penning continues to celebrate those horsemanship skills.

Today, the association holds four competitions throughout its season, culminating with the finale -- Cattle Call Rodeo. The IVTPA has up to 50 members, including local competitors and members from outside the Valley who come here to compete.

Back in the early days, you had to be a cowboy to be a member.

That’s no longer the case, but it probably helps, members joke.

The association reaches out to young riders as well through a junior division, hoping to inspire another generation to keep the sport alive.

The group credits leaders in the Valley, such as Dale Griggs, a former board member of the association, who built an arena on his property for team penning competitions and gymkhana horse riding competitions for young riders.

Those kinds of events together with junior rodeos and Cattle Call Rodeo all can play a role in ensuring the sport will remain part of CONTINUED | PAGE 40

Trevor Burch (top right photo) and Julie Reeves (bottom right) compete in team penning. -Lequita Burch Photos

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Fall 2017

7

GETTING AROUND |

Model Railroading

Sophisticated version of childhood fascination

By Peggy Dale

8

Trains have captured the imagination since the first steam engines rumbled to life in early 19th-century England, forever changing travel and industry, and igniting a fascination that has spanned the continents and the centuries.

For some local men, the childhood allure of playing with toy trains evolved into the more sophisticated adult version: model railroading.

“My parents said I always was interested in trains,” said Joel Shank of Brawley. Shank’s fascination with trains and attention to detail plays out in a house he built to accommodate his pride and joy. Stretched end to end, the tracks would cover a football field, and then some.

It all started, Shank said, on Christmas Day in 1953 when he was 4 years old and his parents gave him his first Lionel train set. Invented near the turn of the last century by Joshua Lionel Cowen, Lionel trains initially were designed for toy store windows but quickly became an iconic symbol of many a childhood.

Today, Shank and a handful of other men meet once a month in a room in what was once a facility reserved for agricultural research in Brawley. There they share their fascination with trains while working on smaller-scale trains and tracks loaned by Shank.

“Over the decades, I thought I was the only one in the Valley” Fall 2017

TOP: A train crosses a trestle in the elaborate setting created by Joel Shank and a fellow model railroader near Shank's childhood home north of Brawley.

ABOVE: Model railroaders Larry Riehle, David Liggins and Joel Shank pause during their monthly get-together.

-Joselito Villero Photos

who was fascinated by model railroading, said Larry Riehle, of El Centro, who regularly attends those meetings. He, too, developed a serious interest in trains as a child, but found it becoming a passion as an adult.

Riehle, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, is one of the so-called “Dirty Dozen” hired to build and open the first geothermal plant in the Valley. The task had many difficulties, he said, and he was advised to get a hobby to serve as a diversion. Then, model railroading re-entered his life. He built a track in his home, and eventually connected with Shank, who also had long thought he was the only model railroader in the Valley. After several tries over the years to form a loose-knit “club,” the Imperial Valley Model Railroaders was born.

Both men had been building model train sets since they were boys, but model railroading takes that interest to a whole new level, one that has its own language. An understanding of wiring and computers comes in handy, but novices quickly can pick that up from experienced railroaders.

More important, though, is space.

“Trains take up real estate,” said Shank. He should know.

His train tracks take up an entire house on land adjacent to the boyhood home where his love for trains began.

When Shank was a child, his father built a train table that folded into a cabinet in his bedroom. Later, after his mother remodeled the house, his father built a hinged, L-shaped workspace over his bed that could fold up, tucking the trains and CONTINUED | PAGE 43

Joel Shank of Brawley operates trains during a monthly gathering of train enthusiasts. -Joselito Villero Photo

Fall 2017

9

GETTING AROUND |

Pat Castañeda and her mother, Phyllis Westcott, with Pat's 172M Cessna at the Imperial County Airport. -Photo by Joselito Villero

Women Pilots

By Becky Hanks On any given clear day in Imperial Valley, there is a Cessna aircraft at Imperial County Airport that ventures into the sky, piloted by two adventurous women at the controls.

The mother-daughter duo, Pat Castañeda, and her 96-yearold mother, Phyllis Westcott, have many things in common.

Both chose careers in nursing, both have a keen sense of adventure and, both love flying airplanes.

Phyllis was born in Santa Ana. She recalls her parents telling her she needed to “decide what to do” with her life after high school.

“I knew I couldn’t type well, so that was a loser,” she said, smiling. Her grandfather was a doctor, so the 21-year-old enrolled to study pre-med at Pasadena Junior College, where she was one of many contestants for the Tournament of Roses Queen.

“Then the war came,” she said, referring to World War II, “and things happened.”

She learned about and then accepted a job as a medical practice receptionist in El Centro, and moved to the Imperial Valley to live with her aunt.

That is where she met and fell in love with Dr. Robert Westcott, the young surgeon who would become her husband.

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Fall 2017

Adventurous and serving others

“I hooked him, poor guy,” she said, laughing. The couple had three children.

Prior to their marriage, the doctor had earned his pilot’s license, so he and Phyllis bought a Navion plane. The family flew many trips together, including to Gonzaga Bay in Mexico where they shared a property with Bob and Faye Douthitt of El Centro. The Westcotts also flew to medical conferences and other professional gatherings.

One day, Phyllis’ husband told her she should learn to fly in case anything happened to him while they were in the air. She studied, practiced and eventually soloed on a flight to Phoenix with a stop in Blythe. She earned her pilot’s license on July 3, 1963.

“But he never let me fly the airplane,” she said.

The Douthitts also owned planes. And Faye Douthitt and Phyllis Westcott won a timed 482-mile air race that started at the Holtville airstrip in June 1965. That time, Faye was the pilot and Phyllis the co-pilot.

When asked if she enjoyed flying fast, Phyllis said, “I liked getting there.”

At her husband’s urging, Phyllis also got her SCUBA certification so they could dive together in exotic locations.

Bob Westcott passed away in 1971, leaving Phyllis a 50-year-old widow with three children to raise.

She enrolled in Imperial Valley College’s nursing program

From The Ninety-Nines website, https://www.ninety-nines.org:"The Ninety-Nines is the international organization of women pilots that promotes advancement of aviation through education, scholarships, and mutual support while honoring our unique history and sharing our passion for flight.

"Established in 1929 by 99 women pilots, the members of The Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots, are represented in all areas of aviation today.¨ The group's first president was American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean in 1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the Earth. and was in the college’s second graduating class. With her degree, Phyllis went to work as the school nurse for Imperial Unified School District. She retired when she was 80. Even now she said, former students recognize her and give her hugs as they recall the past.

With a bold, captivating and daring mother, Pat Castenada and her siblings had a lot of inspiration to spread their wings and soar.

Both Pat and her sister, Kim, decided to study to be nurses.

Kim was a nurse at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego for 35 years. Meanwhile, Pat has been a nurse at El Centro Regional Medical Center for 33 years.

Pat also decided to learn to fly. She earned her pilot’s license in 1996 at the urging of her husband, Manuel.

The Castenadas bought a Beechcraft Musketeer and established a business in Calexico called Desert Aircraft Rental. When Pat’s husband died following a lengthy illness in 2007, she and their two sons continued his legacy of adventure.

Ironically, Pat admits to a fear of heights, but the phobia does not apply when she is airborne.

“I used to have a death grip on there (the yoke), but if you have it trimmed, and zeroed in, you can take your hands off and it flies itself,” Pat said.

The technicalities of flying are rigorous, even with Pat’s

small Cessna 172M, which is kept in a hangar at the Imperial County Airport. There are dozens of factors to consider, such as wind speed, weight, fuel, barometric pressure, magnetic courses and bearings.

“You have to have a sense of adventure when you’re a pilot,” Pat said. “You have to be able to deal with stress.”

Although Phyllis does not pilot anymore, she often flies with Pat. Sitting in the “right seat,” a designation indicating she is a qualified pilot, Phyllis dons the earphones to monitor radio messages and be on the lookout for other aircraft.

“And I just hold on tight,” Phyllis teased, but added, “I’m not checked out totally.”

The mother and daughter pilots often file flight plans together, remaining mostly in the desert region. They will fly to Yuma for breakfast and they ventured to Borrego Springs for Phyllis’ 90th birthday.

Even at 96 years old, Phyllis still retains her nursing credentials.

“It just took me so long to get that,” she admitted. “I’ve just not wanted to let it go – in helping people.”

Both women are members of the Imperial Valley chapter of CONTINUED | PAGE 44

Fall 2017

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GETTING AROUND |

NAF El Centro

By Kristopher Haugh Public Affairs Officer, NAF El Centro

12

Naval Air Facility El Centro is known by many Imperial Valley residents as the winter training home of the U.S. Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels.

But the base is, and since its inception has been, much more than that. Sometimes referred to as “The Pearl of the Desert,” NAF El Centro has made the Imperial Valley a critical element in the evolution of aviation technology.

The base came into being because the necessities of World War II demanded facilities for the training of additional pilots in the air war in the Fall 2017

Critical to Valley's past and future Pacific Theater. Marine Lt. Col. William Fox was directed to find a suitable training site in the Imperial Valley.

He looked at property in Niland and at a site that was under construction by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) on county land near Seeley.

Since work was in progress, the Navy decided to lease the county land, purchase an additional 749 acres for support structures and have the CAA, the forerunner of the Federal Aviation Administration, complete the construction. Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Centro was commissioned on July 24, 1943.

During the war, many notables spent time at the base as students or instructors. John Glenn, long before his

A parachutist practices at what is now Naval Air Facility El Centro (shown at top).

-Photos courtesy of Kristopher Haugh and the U.S. Navy.

days as an astronaut and later as a U.S. senator, trained at NAF-EC as a young aviator. He was attached to VMO155, flying the F4F Wildcat. Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviation pioneer, spent a few months training Marines in the improved F4U Corsair.

And actor Tyrone Power, known for many roles but especially the character Diego in the original “Mark of Zorro,” was a pilot for VMR-352, flying the R5C Commando.

A little-known fact is that Project X-Ray, also known as the “Bat Bomb,” was successfully tested here. Imagine using bats with little incendiary devices as terror weapons against the Japanese during that war!

Post WWII, the U.S. Navy assumed control of the base and it was formally commissioned as Naval Air Station El Centro on May 1, 1946. In 1947, the base was purchased from the county for use as a permanent installation.

Initial uses for the base included aircraft storage and rocket and gunnery training.

Later the Naval Parachute Experimental Unit was moved to NAF El Centro from Lakehurst, N.J. This would eventually grow into the National

NAF El Centro has seen many notables train at the base, from John Glenn, long before his astronaut days, to Prince Harry. -Photos courtesy of Kristopher Haugh and the U.S. Navy.

Aerospace Recovery Facility (NARF); a joint U.S. Navy and U. S. Air Force command. The Fleet Air Gunnery Unit (FAGU) was established here in the 1950s to test pilots and squadrons, in friendly competition, on aerial gunnery.

This was the precursor to the Top Gun

school.

The recovery systems for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle rocket booster programs were tested and developed here during CONTINUED | PAGE 45

Fall 2017

13

BUSINESS |

Tractor-trailer rigs cross the International Border into the United States at the Calexico East Port of Entry. -Photo by Armando Contreras

Commerce Across the Border

By Gary Redfern Sometime around midnight most evenings, a horn blares on the east side of El Centro, announcing the coming of a freight train rumbling south toward the U.S.-Mexico border crossing at Calexico.

Several miles to the east, endless legions of semi-trucks shuttle through another border crossing, fanning out from local roads to destinations nationwide.

Sights and sounds from trucks and trains likely are the most residents in Imperial Valley know about the massive amount of goods moving both ways across the international border between the small city of Calexico and Mexicali, Baja California, its massive neighbor south of the border.

In the federal fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2015, to Sept. 30, 2016, nearly 350,000 trucks entered the U.S. through that Calexico East commercial port of entry about seven miles east of Calexico, according to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The rail line that pierces the border in downtown Calexico near the Calexico West port of entry saw 250 crossings in the U.S. The value of the merchandise imported

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Fall 2017

Cadre of specialists orchestrates ebb, flow of goods

in those trucks and trains exceeded $10 billion, CBP reports.

Orchestrating this symphony of commerce is a relatively tiny and obscure cadre of specialists called customs brokers. For all those billions in imports — and a significant amount of exports to Mexico — there are just 18 federally licensed customs brokerage firms in Calexico. They have huge warehouses, but those are only seen by driving through the industrial park on the side roads adjacent to the Calexico East commercial port, and few not involved with the customs industry do so.

Every shipment of goods crossing the U.S.-Mexico border must be approved for entry by government customs officials in the country to which it is being imported. Simply put, the shipment must contain what its paperwork says it does and not violate any import laws.

Customs brokers are hired by importers and exporters to take care of the intricate process of preparing goods for import and export.

“It’s a complex scenario before a shipment goes to (government) customs,” explains Daniel Romero, who founded his brokerage firm in 2008.

Like many of his Calexico colleagues,

he has decades of experience in the business, having worked for another broker before striking out on his own.

“It’s incredible how many people have no idea what’s going on south of the border and why there are 1 million people in Mexicali,” he says of why there is so much commerce in Calexico, a city of about 40,000.

To draw an analogy with planets, if the Imperial Valley and its 200,000 or so residents represent Earth, Mexicali would be Jupiter.That city is an industrial giant that holds its smaller American neighbor snugly in its orbit.

Romero, who many may remember from his 2008-12 stint on the Calexico City Council, has clients that import from Mexico into the U.S. truckloads of corn flour for making tortillas, paper towels and tissue paper, and rail cars loaded with wheat. Sent into Mexicali are truckloads of steel scrap for making construction materials and steel to make filing cabinets, as well as corn feed sent by rail.

“There is not anything you cannot succeed in without the help of someone else. I got a big account and then got a second and hired the right people,” he explained of how his business became

successful despite launching on the cusp of the Great Recession.

A neighboring customs broker, Britton & Company, has been in business since the 1940s, says Maria Teresa Torres, Britton’s president and chief executive officer. The firm assists mega baker Bimbo with importing bread into the U.S by truck. Going south from their clients are exports of silica sand, soda ash, machine parts and packaging materials.

Most are moved by truck, but the soda ash crosses by rail in Laredo, Texas.

At Britton’s Calexico warehouse, goods are prepared for export so the shipments will be approved by Mexican customs. Mexican customs brokers do the same for goods going to the U.S. Like many customs brokers, both Romero and Britton handle the movement of goods in some locations outside Calexico.

“We have a national permit for remotelocation filing at any port in the U.S., so we don’t have to be there physically,” explains John Renison Jr., who as company vice president and Torres’s son is emblematic of an industry that is commonly family run. Renison’s father is Imperial County Supervisor John Renison.

“It’s like being an attorney,” Torres quips of the exacting nature of the industry. “It’s always changes, changes, changes (with import-export rules and laws). We take care of our clients.”

She added, “The penalties (from the government) are very high if you make a mistake” in the importing or exporting process. “That’s why we have to work so closely with the government. We tell our clients, ‘We don’t wear a badge, but we represent the government.’ “ Despite being in a heavily regulated industry, Torres and Romero agree the strong relationship between brokers and governments on both sides of the border keeps things moving smoothly. One U.S. federal program, Automated Commercial Environment, allows brokers to electronically get import clearance from multiple federal agencies at once instead of individually.

Recalling the advantages of an automated system over the paper-based one of days gone by, Torres says, “It was horrible then.

We had a lot of messengers going back and forth. We are still responsible because a human inputs the information, but it’s fascinating. Where will technology take us in 10 years?”

Another federal initiative helps brokers speed up imports despite the exacting border

security in the face of terror threats. The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism allows trucks whose shippers and brokers meet specified security standards to use express lanes at border crossings.

“We went to visit a prospective client a few weeks ago, and they said if we weren’t C-TPAT certified they weren’t interested,” Romero recalls. “It’s a marketable advantage.”

With changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement possible due to it being re-negotiated at the request of President Donald Trump, Romero says brokers will do what they have always done: find new ways to be more competitive.

“We’re seeking to use the (federal) foreign trade zone program for our warehouse. That will make us more flexible,” Romero said of a method that reduces import and export costs. “Once we provide that service our demand will increase.”

Britton offers a bonded warehouse that can speed exports, and the firm is diligent about remaining tech savvy.

“There’s a lot of technology. That’s what allows us to gain a competitive advantage,” Renison Jr. says. 

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Fall 2017

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BUSINESS |

Carrots Tasty crunch

Baby carrots start out in Valley fields

The baby carrots that have become a ubiquitous tasty and healthy alternative to junk food do not actually come out of the ground peeled, pint-sized and ready to eat.

A sizable percentage of those tasty babies actually are harvested as full-sized carrots from the fertile Imperial Valley fields before they are trucked to Bakersfield to be processed, packaged and prepped for same day or overnight delivery into the nation’s and the world food supply.

“Imperial Valley vegetable growers are exceptionally innovative and attentive to food safety and other issues because they are so committed to providing the safest, freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables to the nation and beyond,” said Kay Day Pricola, executive director for the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association.

Not only does the Valley produce industry help meet the nutritional needs of the nation, it adds vitality to the local economy. According to the 2016 Imperial County Crop & Livestock Report, the latest one available, the value of vegetable and melons crops was just north of $1 billion, which makes up nearly half the $2.063 billion value of local agricultural output for the year.

And carrots add a healthy crunch to that total with a value of $62 million in 2016, Imperial County also is one of five top carrot producers in California. Arguably the largest carrot grower in the Imperial Valley, and the world, is Grimmway Farms, which has been instrumental in the development of what today is known as baby carrots.

Mike Iten, Grimmway Farms Holtville ranch manager, said the baby cut carrot revolutionized the industry in the late 1980s when carrot grower Mike Yurosek, looking for a way to use culls, experimented with peeling and slicing them into bitesized lengths and selling them under his Bunny Luv label.

Consumers were smitten and carrot sales soared by some reports as much as 50 percent the following year.

Grimmway Farms bought out Bunny Luv in the mid-’90s and continues to perfect the carrots and the automated process used to turn them into baby carrots, Iten said.

Today, at its Bakersfield processing facility, Grimmway’s automated cutters now trim the carrots into two-inch pieces.

An optical sorter discards any culls before the two-inch pieces are pumped through a pipe to peelers that rotate the carrots and scrape off the peel.

Grimmway also processes carrots into shreds, chips, crinkle cut coins, carrot “stixx” and microwavable carrots.

The star, however, is the long, slender variety of carrot that Grimmway has developed that lacks a tough center core so it’s tender and sweet throughout.

While Grimmway grows carrots in several regions throughout the state, it reserves its farms in the Imperial and Coachella CONTINUED | PAGE 35

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Fall 2017

FICU is on the move The future is bright for First Imperial Credit Union, which reopened a branch in downtown Imperial last December and is in the process of more than doubling its presence in Calexico.

“So many people are seeking our services in Calexico that we’ve outgrown our current building,” said Fidel Gonzalez, FICU’S president and CEO. While other financial institutions have closed branches at the border in the wake of tightened federal regulations, FICU has stayed put and continues to thrive.

“We want the people of Calexico to know that we’re still there and we are expanding,” Gonzalez said.

Currently at 2534 Rockwood, Suite 1A, the Calexico branch will be relocated to the intersection of Cole Road and Rancho Frontera Avenue. It is expected to open in September 2018.

FICU is the Valley’s first credit union and has its origins in Imperial.

It later expanded to El Centro, and eventually its Imperial branch was closed. Returning to Imperial was a homecoming of sorts, with the new branch located in Worthington Square on Barioni Boulevard, just a few blocks west of its original site.

FICU also has plans to expand services at its branch on the campus of Imperial Valley College, noted Marketing & Business Development Manager Marlena Rascon. Rascon has been working with the college’s Financial Aid department on ways to teach students the tools of financial literacy. Seminars for students

First Imperial Credit Union returned to Imperial (above) last December and soon will be expanding its Calexico operations.

- Photo by FICU

are tentatively scheduled to begin this fall in IVC’s Financial Aid Computer lab and continue each semester.

Some of the topics being considered for the financial literacy seminars are: • Choosing Your Financial Institution • Learning How to Budget • Using Credit Cards Wisely • Building Savings

“The ultimate goal is to raise awareness among college students and the community of the importance of financial health, and encourage financial stability,” said Rascon. FICU is committed to helping make the difference that supports growth and quality of life in our community because, “We’re more than a bank, we’re your credit union.” 

Fall 2017

17

Q&A Michael Salorio FEDERAL & STATE COURT ATTORNEYS

 Bankruptcy  Divorce Alimony & Child Custody /Support  Immigration

Michael A. Salorio Attorney/Lead Counsel

Personalized Service From Local IMPERIAL VALLEY ATTORNEYS AT LAW

760-353-7949 303 S. 8th St., El Centro, CA 92243 - Hablamos Español www.lendermanlaw.com & www.law-mas.com

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Fall 2017

Helping clients reach their goals

1) What areas of the law do you practice in?

My practice areas are limited to bankruptcy, family law, and immigration law. Specifically, I file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, and my family law work includes divorce, alimony, child custody/support/visitation, restraining orders, adoptions, and legal guardianship. My immigration law work includes family-based visa petitions, along with deportation defense.

2) Describe what your business does.

My clients first meet with me at their free, initial consultation where I gather facts about the legal situation that they are facing. I then give them my legal opinion as to what options are available for them to choose from. If I’m hired after the consultation, I then prepare whatever pleadings and motions are needed to be filed in their cases, and I zealously represent them in court to assure that their rights are protected.

3) What are the memories from your career that stand out the most?

My fondest memories are of helping my clients to get a successful resolution of their cases. These include helping my clients to get custody of their kids, saving their homes from foreclosure and preventing wage garnishments and car repossessions, and getting immigration visas and stopping deportations. One client even jumped in the air and gave me a great big hug after I finalized her divorce.

4) What do you like most and least about your work?

I enjoy the collegiality and comradery of the local bar and bench, as well as fighting for my clients in court. I love researching the law to try to find some new decision or law that may help them win their case, and arguing my clients' cases in court.

What I dislike are the late-night hours and weekends working on cases, but I don’t want to complain too much because if I’m working late nights and weekends, then it means I’m busy, which means that business is good.

5) What makes your business unique?

My reception and legal staff have all been trained to provide excellent customer service, and I make it a point to communicate well with my clients. My personal goal is to respond to client questions within one business day, and I also strive to keep them updated on the latest developments in their case. Also, as far as I know, I’m the only local attorney who produces his own video blog series where I educate people on various legal topics related to bankruptcy, family, and immigration law.

6) How can prospective clients contact you?

My office phone line is 760-353-7949, and I can be reached via email at legal.mas@gmail.com. My Facebook Fan Page is found at facebook.com/Attorney.Michael, and my LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/michael-salorio-15a169146.

My Avvo legal directory profile is found at avvo.com/ attorneys/92243-ca-michael-salorio-4070843.html, and my YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/UCGI0KQalBpXOkqUCVn1VaQ. My Twitter username is @msalorio, and my Instagram username is @legal.mas. 

Yet, Imperial Hardware Company is equally dedicated to meeting the needs of today’s consumers. It’s part of a A holiday network of over 3,700 Do It Best stores worldwide, so it can shopping truly offer the buying power of a warehouse store with the alternative personal attention and quality service of a boutique store.

By being part of this community and understanding the region, Imperial Hardware Company knows to stock the It’s time to put the “Ho, Ho, Ho” back into the season by right products and trusted brands that locals rely on. That trying a new holiday shopping alternative, one that might way customers can find what they need, when they need it. have been overlooked because it has always been here. In Each Do It Center also offers a variety of specialty fact, it’s an Imperial Valley institution.

To get your holiday gift-giving joy back, rediscover equipment rentals for big projects and one-off jobs.

Imperial Hardware Company. Their Do It Centers in Additionally, every store offers propane refills and barbecue Brawley, El Centro and Holtville carry unique gift items for supplies for the grilling season. the holidays, often at special rates for the season. They also Their slogan, “Get it done, with a little help from Imperial have a veritable toy chest of equipment and supplies for do- Hardware Company” captures the selection, service and it-yourselfers and those who are otherwise hard to shop for. knowledge you can expect to experience.

You can always count on Imperial Hardware Company That also explains why so many of the Valley’s businesses to help deck the halls with a wide variety of holiday home and public agencies rely on Imperial Do It Centers to supply decor, lights and all the rest at prices to satisfy even the their day-to-day operations. most budget-minded shoppers.

To sweeten the deal even more, they offer the “Do It Best Imperial Do It Centers are conveniently sized and situated Rewards Program” for customers to earn special incentives for shopping at the holidays - and all year ‘round. The stores and achieve additional savings - including cash back on manage to hit that retail sweet spot by knowing the Valley purchases, year-round. so well and carrying the items that are needed most.

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s a good time to Founded in 1908, Imperial Hardware Company is one of experience the ease of shopping locally and the satisfaction the oldest and longest-running companies in the region. of supporting a local business. You’ll walk away with some It has been locally owned and family operated since its great gifts too.  inception.

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TICKET TO ADVENTURE |

Eagles Soar

By Brian McNeece Bats crack, balls slap against glove leather, and the grass is newly cut, all signals that baseball season is starting again.

The San Diego Padres' season may be over, but for the major leaguers of Mexicali, Los Águilas, winter baseball is just starting. Since 1948, Los Águilas, or the Eagles, have created professional baseball excitement for fans on both sides of the border.

And Águilas staffers say this promises to be the best year ever. At the B’Air Stadium, the receptionist wears a championship patch on her blouse. “We aim to repeat,” she said.

José Luis Rodriguez, team vice president of operations, speaks about the team with quiet affection and enthusiasm.

“A group of Mexican businessmen, including American James W. Stone, started the club in 1948. It was a semiprofessional club then,” Rodriguez said “One of the owners, Mario Hernandez, insisted that he be in the lineup whenever he wanted. He played first base, mostly.”

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Fall 2017

Los Águilas fans cross border for baseball

The Águilas went through several incarnations as Mexicali grew and baseball leagues came and went.

Since 1976, the Águilas have been in the Mexican Pacific League, which today includes the cities of Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregón, Navojoa, Los Mochis, Culiacán, Mazatlán, and Guadalajara.

“We’ve won four championships,” Rodriguez said. “And in 2009, after the stadium had been remodeled, we hosted the Caribbean Series. It was one of the best Series ever.”

The Caribbean Series determines the champion of the major leagues in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the baseball powers of Latin America.

Los Águilas won the Series, in Venezuela, in 1986.

Today, Monica Goldbaum Castro is the team’s general manager. Rodriguez said the Águilas has pushed to bring women into management positions. “We want to set a good example,” he said.

The team takes its responsibility to its community even further. “Wednesday, we wear pink,” Castro said, “to honor our foundation, Mujeres que Viven or Women that Live.”

The foundation started by Maria de Jesus Villalobos de Murrillo, the wife of Águilas owner Alberto Murillo Rogers, helps pay treatment expenses for women with breast cancer. Today, the foundation has a close relationship with the Cancer Resource Center of the Desert in El Centro.

And at the stadium, the community matters. “Our team president, Mr. Rogers, likes to say, “I’m not the owner; the Águilas belong to the people of Mexicali," Rodriguez said.

So on Sunday afternoons families dressed in Águilas red get in on a single admission ticket, Rodriguez said. “And during the holiday season … we have special gifts and parties.”

The stadium, built in 1973, is unique.

Built to hold 11,000, it has been remodeled twice. It now seats 17,000.

Rodriguez noted, “Where we are now used to be the terminal for the airport, and if you look at a map you can still see the outlines of the runway in the nearby streets.”

“That scoreboard came from the Kansas City Chiefs. … Right now we can show instant replay of any play except balls and strikes,” he said.

FAR LEFT, FACING PAGE: Los Aguilas play in B'Air Stadium in Mexicali. - Team photo ABOVE LEFT, FACING PAGE: Fans from the Imperial Valley, Katia Osuna, Diana Acuña, Florencio Acuña, Robert Acuña and Jose Contreras, enjoy the game.

Sebastien Acuña, 1, poses with "Lucho el Aguilucho¨, the team mascot.

-Photos courtesy of Florencio Acuna Eventually, there will be a new scoreboard. He added, “We have a lot of dreams and many projects planned, including a new food plaza and restrooms.

“You really need to come when the stadium is full. It’s really something.”

Fans, like Florencio Acuña, of Calexico have Águilas fever, too.

“I’ve been going to the games since I was a kid,” the 43 year-old said. “Now I take my kids. My 1-year-old, Sebastien, is all about the Águilas. A bunch of my buddies have season tickets and we go every chance we get.”

“They have a real good team this year,” he said. “ My favorite player is an American -- Chris Roberson. He’s royalty in Mexicali.”

Acuña said the Pacific League can hire as many as six foreign players, mostly American. They’re often major leaguers finishing up their careers. When the Águilas won the Caribbean Series in 1986, John Kruk, a former San Diego Padres, played for the Mexicali team. Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela also pitched for the Águilas and Mexicali erupted

in Fernandomania again.

José Rosiles of Calexico added, “Sergio Romo from Brawley has pitched for the Águilas and the Jalisco team,” he said. Romo earned a World Series ring pitching for the San Francisco Giants.

Rudy Seánez, who pitched 16 seasons for several major league teams before retiring in 2010, also pitched for the Águilas.

Last year, the Águilas slugged their way to the championship, with catcher Luis Juarez leading the league with a .364 batting average and outfielder Roberson in fourth with a batting average of .332. As for pitching, the Águilas had the league’s No. 2 two hurler in Hector Velasquez, who went 9-3 in 14 starts, with an ERA of a stingy 2.32.

“It’s really aggressive baseball,” Acuña said. “Fun to watch.

CONTINUED | PAGE 29

Fall 2017

21

TICKET TO ADVENTURE |

Bicyclists take a moment for a selfie in this photo taken by Celeste Estrada (far left).

Cycling Catches On

By Brian McNeece Anywhere you drive in the Imperial Valley, morning or night, you’re likely to see lines of helmeted, brightly clad cyclists zipping down the road in tight groups. Who are these people and what draws them and their skinny-wheeled bikes to share the road with cars? Here are a few cycling stories.

Larry Cowne, 65, of Imperial might have the longest tenure as a serious cyclist in the Imperial Valley. He took it up in 1984.

“I pretty much rode to work every day until I retired last year,” Cowne said. “Most of that time I worked six days a week. During Daylight Saving Time I did rides after work too.”

Cowne worked at Ryerson Concrete (later purchased by Superior), about six miles from his home. Just commuting to work all those years, Cowne pedaled around 110,000 miles.

“It always felt good getting to work having done some exercise.

And it was nice watching the sun rise in the morning and seeing the Christmas lights riding home in the evening.” Asked about the problem of being sweaty when arriving to work, Cowne replied, “I didn’t work up a sweat. I rode at a casual pace and enjoyed the

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Fall 2017

Riding offers sense of freedom, chance to clear head

morning. Lots of people could ride to work. I have seen people all over Europe riding bikes to work, some in dresses and high heels.”

Apart from riding to work, Cowne does a regular afternoon ride with El Centro friend Orlando Johnson and anybody else who shows up. For years, he raced with the IV Velo Club and the Cyclo-Vets of San Diego.

Jim Pazan, 38, pastor for the First Presbyterian Church in Brawley, has been riding for 3½ years.

“I bought a bike on a whim. A friend kept bugging me to try it out. I was near a bike shop killing time before a meeting, so I went in and bought one. At first I was riding just to get my money’s worth, but then I found I really enjoyed it.

“As I rode more, I set some goals. After about six months, I rode a metric century (62 miles) event and then kept raising the bar.”

“It’s just such a sense of freedom and an opportunity to let go of what might be weighing on you. You can really clear your head while your body is putting out some effort.”

Asked how he copes with the heat, Pazan chuckles. “I go out early, within reason, usually just around sunrise. You need to go out early.”

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: Katia Osuna and fellow cyclists take a break. Larry Cowne is followed by Orlando Johnson on a recent ride. Jim Pazan pauses for a photo with his family. -Photos courtesy of Brian McNeece Cris Arroyo, 22, got into cycling with his father, Roberto.

“When we lived in Texas my dad bought us both mountain bikes.

I was about 16. After a while, we noticed more people with road bikes. They were more efficient and faster. My cycling has sort of evolved from being just a social thing to getting a competitive edge.

I’m in the Códigos Cycling Club, but because of school I ride alone a lot—about 100 miles a week. And I’m hoping to kick that up to 150-200 miles a week later this year.”

Asked what he enjoyed about riding a bike, Arroyo was pensive.

“There is a sense of freedom, of forgetting everything, of just enjoying the riding. It’s kind of social, mental, and physical.”

Celeste Estrada of El Centro, a mother of three with a daughter in college, began cycling through her sister. “She had a group in Mexicali, city cyclists, and she invited me… crossing the border wasn’t always convenient. Then a few of us decided to start in Bucklin Park. We chose to do night rides because, well with my kids, it wasn’t feasible to ride in the morning. That was about four years ago.”

After a while, Estrada and Eduardo “Lalo” Mayoral of El Centro decided to give the group a little more structure and called it IV Cycling, which has about 22 official members. IV Cycling’s Facebook page has 626 members.

“We ride every Wednesday and Thursday night,” Estrada said.

CONTINUED | PAGE 42

Fall 2017

23

TICKET TO ADVENTURE |

Historic Highway 80

Trip offers feeli ng of adventure

By Bill Gay Two decades after the advent of automobiles, the federal government teamed with states to create a numbered system that marked the primary interstate highways in the U.S. One of the highways created was U.S. Route 80, The Dixie Overland Highway, which also was called the “Coast to Coast” or “Ocean to Ocean” highway.

The stretch began in Savannah, Ga., and made, basically, a beeline through the South for 2,726 miles to San Diego. https://www. fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us80map2.cfm Its final leg was a 170-mile route from the Arizona border, across Imperial County’s desert and agricultural region, up a steep grade into the Laguna mountains and down to the coast. Today, with moderate traffic, the trip takes about three hours along U.S. Route 80’s successor, Interstate 8.

But a 70 mph drive along I-8 does not have the same feeling of adventure as a trip down Old Highway 80.

Ocean to Ocean Bridge

The trip begins at the “Ocean to Ocean Bridge,” a 336-foot span that was built in 1915 across the Colorado River that connected Yuma, Ariz., with Fort Yuma, Calif. At the time it opened, it was the only vehicle bridge across the Colorado for 1,200 miles.

Plank Road remains

Motorists can drive another section of Old Highway 80 by exiting I-8 at Gray’s Well Road, in the middle of the Imperial www.placesearth.com/usa/california/imperial/ocean2ocean/ocean2ocean_bridge.shtml Sand Dunes. Travel about four miles west down the old highway to a parking and camping area and discover remains of the first roadway across the sand dunes, the Plank Road.

This wooden road, part of the original Route 80 (predecessor to U.S. Route 80) was built in 1916 to carry traffic for seven miles through the hilly, shifting dunes. It was in use for about 10 years, until U.S. 80 came along.

www.roadsideamerica.com/story/21697

Araz Stage Station Ruins, Winterhaven

About five miles down Old Highway 80 (Highway S24) from Yuma, through the community of Winterhaven, are the unmarked adobe ruins of an old stage depot that was built in 1861. The station served passengers of the Butterfield Stage Line until the railroad arrived in 1877.

www.ghosttownaz.info/butterfield-stage-coach-station.php#!

All American Canal

Traveling along I-8, motorists twice cross over the AllAmerican Canal. This large canal supplies Colorado River water to the agricultural region of Imperial County. It was authorized in 1920 by the Boulder Canyon Act, which also authorized Hoover Dam and Imperial Dam.

24

www.iid.com/water/water-transportation-system/colorado-river-facilities/all-american-canal Fall 2017

City of Holtville

The city of Holtville, one of several communities bypassed

by I-8 honors its foundations in agriculture with an annual Carrot Festival and by considering itself the Carrot Capital of the World. Old U.S. 80 runs down Fifth Street and becomes Evan Hewes Highway at the city limits. The city was settled in

1903. The tracks of the old Holton Inter-Urban Railroad at the western city limits run parallel to Old Highway 80. In 1918, the railroad had a special car, designed by town founder W.F. Holt that could ride both on the tracks and drive on streets.

turnoff to Naval Air Facility, El Centro. The large red and white checkered tower that can be seen from the road was used for drying parachutes that were once tested at the base, including those used in NASA’s space program.

www.holtville.ca.gov/esgholtville/section.php?id=11

www.cityofelcentro.org/cm/about-el-centro

Meloland/Rancho Tecolote

About four miles west of Holtville on Old Highway 80 (Evan Hewes Highway) is the community of Meloland, which had a post office from 1908 until 1911. The town was reportedly named by writer Harold Bell Wright, who authored a bestselling book about settling the Imperial Valley. Wright had purchased 160 acres just up the road and wrote “The Winning of Barbara Worth” at his Rancho Tecolote. Meloland today is home of the University of California’s Desert Research and Extension Center.

City of El Centro

Entering the City of El Centro on old Highway 80 (Evan Hewes Highway and then East Main Street), motorists can see some large buildings on the right that were critical to the formation of the Valley’s agriculture industry. To ship produce by rail and keep it fresh, many tons of ice were required and these buildings produced that valuable commodity. Railroads were critical to the success of El Centro, which became the county seat in 1907 when Imperial County voted to separate from San Diego County

Plaster City

Plaster City, 17 miles west of El Centro, is not a city, despite what its name implies. Old Highway 80 runs down the middle of this complex that is one of Imperial Valley’s largest employers.

Plaster City, in the 1963 film “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” had a moment of fame when Ethel Merman talks on a phone, saying she is “in some place called Plaster City.”

www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=roads/ca/usg/index.htm

Eucalyptus School

Drive west on Old 80 out of El Centro and a large building will be seen on the right. Eucalyptus School (now the privately owned Old Eucalyptus Schoolhouse) was built in 1907 and was typical of the many single-building country schools that once dotted the Valley.

www.oldeucalyptus.com

www.cityofelcentro.org/cm/about-el-centro

Naval Air Facility

Just before entering the town of Seeley, Old 80 passes the CONTINUED | PAGE 46 Fall 2017

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TICKET TO ADVENTURE |

Miller's Garage

Humor behind rock-lined path

By Bill Gay

At the western edge of Ocotillo, near Mountain Springs Grade, an abandoned service station and some other buildings face the westbound lane of Interstate 8.

A few miles up the road are a number of painted white rocks on a hill next to the eastbound lane of I-8. Althought they are now somewhat misaligned, a discerning person can still pick out the curving path they once lined.

The rock path was the creation of Alvin Miller, who owned the garage.

Retired El Centro educator Sharon Anderholt points out the station still visible on the edge of Ocotillo wasn’t Miller’s original station. That was located off Old Highway 80, just across from the painted rocks. The original was on part of the right of way taken by the state when it built the Interstate.

When the state purchased the property, Miller moved to the station at Ocotillo.

Anderholt is very familiar with the lore there. Miller was her great uncle and her dad, William C. “Billy” Weaver, worked for Miller at the station. As a young girl, Anderholt lived nearby.

Miller’s was a stopping place for folks before they headed up the steep, two-lane grade that was U.S. Route 80. It was a busy place with families — even Greyhound bus passengers — hanging out while their vehicles cooled down or just to get some refreshments.

When an overheated car would pull in, said Anderholt, Miller and her dad would caution the drivers not to open the radiator or they would lose all of their water. And water was scarce there — it had to be hauled in.

They were advised they would just have to wait to let it cool down.

That is where the rock-lined path across the highway came in. Miller told travelers they could take some time while they were waiting and follow the path up the hill to some springs that were just over the crest.

And to travelers, springs meant a possibly good fishing hole.

So, with fishing gear in hand, visitors would trudge up the hill.

They would quickly find out that Miller loved jokes.

The springs?

“I don’t remember if they were bed springs or car springs,” Anderholt said.

The remains of Miller's Garage are located just west of Ocotillo.

-Photos by Bill Gay

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Fall 2017

| TICKET TO ADVENTURE

Yuma Day Trip

Old West comes to life along the River

Fall and cooler weather often spark a yen to get out and explore the region. A good place to start is with a fun and easy day trip across the Imperial Sand Dunes to Yuma.

With its colorful history and eclectic downtown, Yuma has plenty to see and do while enjoying the changing seasons.

And Yuma, so dependent on the return of winter visitors, seems to wake up in the fall. Many shops, restaurants and historic sites start to reopen in October.

A great place to start your visit is at the Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park and visitors’ center, just off Interstate 8 at 201 N. 4th Ave. Situated beside the Colorado River, which indelibly marks both the Imperial and Yuma valleys, the center is rich with images, exhibits and artifacts that bring to life the region’s storied history. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May. Adult admission is $4.

The Quartermaster Depot was built in 1864 to stockpile supplies for military posts in the Southwest. Until the railroad was built some 20 years later, ships moved supplies up the Gulf of California for transfer to steamboats for delivery upstream to the depot.

Other highlights of the park include an exhibit with a section from the Plank Road built across a stretch of the Imperial Sand

Yuma beckons visitors to its downtown charm with its vintage marquee that pays homage to its early development as "the Gateway to the Great Southwest¨ thanks to its strategic position along the Colorado River.

Dunes in 1915 to connect automobile traffic between Yuma and San Diego. And, you won’t want to miss the compelling display about the Colorado River, the lifeblood of both the Imperial and Yuma valleys.

Not far from the 10-acre Quartermaster Depot Park stands another testament to the past: the Yuma Territorial Prison at 1 N. Prison Hill Road. Now a museum, it offers a grim view of the Old West, which has been depicted in movies like “3:10 to Yuma.” It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May. Adult admission is $6.

Yuma’s nearby historic downtown was named Arizona’s Best Historic Main Street Community this year by the television CONTINUED | PAGE 41

Fall 2017

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Places We've Been

Readers share Imperial Valley Alive! on their travels around the world

KOKOMO, INDIANA Imperial Valley Alive! visits Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., thanks to NORTH CAROLINA The magazine is alive in Raleigh, N.C., during racing videographer Dean Mills of Northern a visit there by Bill Amidon of El Centro.

California.

ALASKA The magazine traveled to Alaska, thanks to David and Julie Malan of Brawley

CLOCK TOWER Alyssa Rodriguez of El Centro visits the New Ulm Glockenspiel in New Ulm, Minn.

ALAMO Remembering the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

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CHINA A tour guide holds a copy of the OREGON magazine during a visit by an El Centro Mickey Dale of Imperial holds a copy of the magazine while resident to the Great Wall of China. visiting Cannon Beach, Ore. Fall 2017

NORTHERN ARIZONA Charlie Nichols took Imperial Valley Alive! with him on a visit to northern Arizona.

EAGLES SOAR CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 21

Because the season is shorter, only 66 games, they have to play to win every game.”

That makes the game fun to watch. Rosiles said, “Since they remodeled the stadium, everything is better. There’s security in the stands, no more fights. People direct traffic. It’s very family-friendly.”

And it is delicious. The stadium serves carne asada, tortas, pizzas, sausages, wings, churros and a local favorite, 'colitas de puerco' (pigs’ tails).

“Beer is 50 pesos, about $3 US for a quart; tacos a dollar," Acuna said. “They don’t let you tailgate because they want you to buy your food inside, and why not, at those prices? Some people just go to the game to eat.”

One thing to remember is that the Águilas’ season runs late into December when it can get cold. Rosiles said, “So I go to the afternoon games on Sunday.”

Yet for the food, fun and family oriented sports entertainment, “it’s really a bargain,” Acuña said. “I paid $110 for my season tickets. That’s for 33 games. And good seats, too, behind third base.”

This could be used as a breakout If you’re still hankering for professional baseball, head south, where the Águilas are soaring. B’Air Stadium on Calzada Cuahtémoc is about a 20-minute drive from the Calexico port of entry. The season runs Oct. 10 through Dec. 29.

See Águilas de Mexicali on Facebook or visit http://www. aguilasdemexicali.mx for more information. 

Los Águilas passes are shown at right. -Photo by Florencio Acuña

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Coming Home

30

Some 15 years after leaving the Imperial Valley for college, medical school and a long, intensive neurosurgery residency, Dr. Marc Manix was enticed to come back home to practice by Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District’s commitment to provide a level of surgical services not previously available locally.

With the state-of-the-art surgical equipment Pioneers has installed and the specialized training Manix has, surgical services will now be available locally to treat brain tumors and conditions of neck, back and spine. Additionally, Manix and PMHD plan to offer minimally invasive spine surgery and microsurgeries.

“The vast majority of brain surgeries can now be treated safely here,” Manix said. “My goal is to provide services here so that patients do not have to go to San Diego because it’s Fall 2017

Marc Manix, brain surgeon, returns to open practice in Valley

easier on the patients and on their families.”

Manix came back to the Valley in August to open Desert Neurosurgical Institute in his hometown of El Centro. Now at 1440 W. State St., the practice will move later this year to its permanent location at 1600 Imperial Ave. While he may be opening a private practice, Manix is already a seasoned surgeon. Following his graduation from Yale University and Tuft University School of Medicine, he completed a seven-year neurosurgical residency at Louisiana State University’s busy regional Shreveport Medical Center. As a resident, he completed nearly 1,900 surgeries.

He said he was attracted to PMHD because of its willingness to work with him and to invest in the specialized equipment used for some of the latest neurosurgical and

microsurgical techniques that provide pinpoint precision, help reduce the size of the incisions and improve patient outcomes.

“The technology is so advanced now, it is crazy,” he said.

For instance, the Medtronic Stealth Neuronavigation system now in PMH’s operating room links the patient’s CT or MRI imaging with the real-time surgical activity on a digital screen for the surgeon’s use during a procedure. With a surgical probe inserted into the patient’s brain during an operation, “I can see where I am at all times,” Manix said.

That insight provides the surgeon such precise information that the size of incisions can be reduced and damage to surrounding tissue can be limited.

Some particularly complex tumors and neurological cases may still need even more specialized care on the coast, yet Manix said the majority can be safely and successfully treated here.

While the space-age quality of the neuronavigation system may seem hard to top, other equipment Pioneers acquired is just as important to raising the bar on the care of neurological cases.

Among other things, Manix said he uses a new surgical microscope to microsurgeries and minimally invasive spinal surgery that previously almost certainly required care on the coast.

PMHD has taken many steps to augment or advance several of services it offers by, among other things, recruiting new practitioners, adding cutting edge therapies and affiliating with Scripps Health Network.

Manix stands out because of his Valley connections. He is a graduate of Central High School and his wife is from El Centro. And, his ties to Pioneers go even deeper: his father is a bio med tech at the hospital.

Yet, he did not necessarily plan to come back to the Valley until he started to talk to PMHD. “PMHD has been great,” he said. “The demand for care here is so great. Being here just feels right.” 

Minutes Matter.

No one plans for severe injuries or illnesses, but the unthinkable happens every day.

We have you covered!

Our seven regional bases and expansive fleet of medically-equipped aircraft provide emergency services 24x7 to the Imperial Valley and neighboring communities.

Are you a member?

REACH is part of the largest air medical membership network in the nation, serving 38 states and growing.

Join for peace of mind! For $65 per year, your entire household will have no out-of-pocket expenses related to a transport provided by any of our participating providers.

Visit:

www.AMCNREP.com Contact Local Representative:

(760) 457-6497

Dr. Marc Manix (above and facing page) is on staff at Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District and has a practice in El Centro.

-Photos provided by PMH Fall 2017

31

Imperial County Behavioral Health Services

Working Through

Anxiety

T

he start of a new school year can make just about anyone anxious, whether they are students, parents, teachers and those in between.

“In general, going back to school can be challenging for several reasons,” said Maricruz Bermudez, supervising therapist for Imperial County Behavioral Health’s Youth and Young Adults division.

As Imperial County schools opened their doors to students in the past couple of weeks, Bermudez, an expert in helping people learn to cope with anxiety and other behavioral issues, shared ways to ease the jitters before they get out of hand.

“It’s scary when you’re going through a different process. They think, ‘I’m going to mess up going to the classes. What if I fall in front of everyone?’ I went through that,” said Bermudez. She often uses herself as an example when working with Behavioral Health consumers, or clients.

“Anxiety symptoms can be debilitating in an academic setting, affecting concentration. Sometimes they’re worrying so much that they have trouble focusing,” Bermudez said. She noted there are different kinds of anxiety, describing them as “anxiety-excited and anxietyscared.”

Anxiety born out of fear can result in symptoms like heart palpitations, shakiness, sweaty hands, lightheadedness, or an urge to go to the bathroom.

“They’re in fight or flight mode,” Bermudez said, “where the adrenalin goes up and the body responds.”

Left uncontrolled, anxious thoughts can turn into a panic attack, which has been described as a sensation of choking, inability to breathe, or feeling like a heart attack.

But how does one work through those symptoms?

“There are different techniques, stress management skills like breathing exercises,” Bermudez said. “For example, I’ll tell a client to grab a tissue and crumple it, then inhale through their nose and blow out through the mouth to make the tissue move. You want to get oxygen through the diaphragm to help them relax.”

Another helpful method is called grounding, “getting the mind out of negative thoughts, working the senses.

We’re prone to have more negative thoughts than positive ones. I tell them, I want you to focus on shapes that you see, or tell me five different colors you see.

What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? Paying attention to the senses helps keep someone in the moment,

avoiding extreme anxiety and possibly a panic attack.

“First and foremost,” she said, “recognize that your body is telling you something is going on. I think we all go through it (anxiety). New job, new class, new teacher.”

She said parents need to be aware that when a child says his or her stomach hurts, it may be because they’re anxious, not just avoiding something difficult.

“Listen to your kids,” she said.

She said parents bring their children to Behavioral Health Services for help because the school is telling them they’re acting out.

“If your kid is getting irritated and lashing out, maybe their body is just reacting to anxiety,” she said.

She tells clients, “Be self-aware of what’s going on. Once you recognize that your body is telling you something – if anxiety is continuous, not letting you sleep -- it might be more than an adjustment to something new.” If the anxiety and related behavior aren’t severe enough to be treated at Behavioral Health, students can learn how cope, Bermudez said, many schools provide counselors trained to help students with such needs who can teach them skills to work through it.

Anxiety and Depression Clinic 1295 State Street, Suite 205 El Centro, CA 92243

32

Anxiety and Depression Clinic 1535 Main Street Brawley, CA 92227

800.817.5292 • 442.265.1525 Fall 2017

Here are some ways to relieve anxiety: EYES

 Watch a

 Daydream

favorite movie

for 10 minutes

 Paint a

picture or take photos

 Use

visualization techniques

 Read a good book

NOSE

 Burn a

scented candle

pleasant

and inhale outdoor

 Bake

smells

something you enjoy

 Brew

and drink coffee or tea

 Take a walk

somewhere

 Use aromatherapy oils  Sit outside

EARS

(when the weather is cool) and enjoy the sounds

 Listen to

favorite music

 Listen to

a fountain or lapping water

 Listen to a

motivational recording

 Play a

relaxation recording

 Listen to

a radio program with your eyes closed

MOUTH

 Sing

 Chew

 Laugh  Talk with

someone who listens

sugarless gum

 Use deepbreathing exercises

 Eat a piece of dark chocolate

HANDS & BODY  Exercise  Squeeze a stress ball

 Stroke a pet

 Play a

musical instrument

 Do yoga or Pilates

 Have a massage *Information taken from a graphic by B. Ireland-Symonds and provided by Maricruz Bermudez of Imperial County Behavioral Health Services

Fall 2017

33

Early Detection Saves Lives

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and ECRMC wants to remind you with early detection there’s a five-year % survival rate of

98 !

Make your appointment to get screened today. ECRMC offers the latest technology in

digital mammography.

For appointments call the Medical Imaging Department at 760.482.5000 www.ecrmc.org

34

Fall 2017

Breast Cancer

El Centro Regional Medical Center radiologists lead the fight

There’s good news in the fight against breast cancer.

Deaths from this disease continue to decline as awareness and the potential for earlier detection have Dr. John Dalle Dr. Philame S. Oronan increased, allowing for the improved management of breast cancer at its earliest and most treatable stage.

“As radiologists here at El Centro Regional Medical Center, we follow American College of Radiology guidelines,” says Dr. John Dalle, chief radiologist at ECRMC. “We recommend that women ages 40 and older schedule a mammogram yearly. Mammograms have great potential to save lives. Tell your mothers, sisters, daughters and friends.”

Among its many services, the hospital offers an initial screening mammogram, which uses low-dose radiation and allows the interpreting radiologist to look for suspicious lesions. A follow-up diagnostic mammogram can provide greater detail and help medical providers determine whether to schedule an ultrasound and/or a biopsy.

“The major part of our radiology department’s work is in screening mammograms,” says Dr. Philame S. Oronan, who specializes in imaging, with a special interest in breast-imaging.

His department reads an estimated 8,000 screening mammograms each year, Oronan said. About 10 percent of those women are called back for a diagnostic mammogram, and about a quarter of those will be scheduled for a needle biopsy.

“Needle biopsies are image-guided,” he said. “We know exactly where the needle is going in to get a satisfactory specimen” with as little discomfort as possible, he said.

Out of every 1,000 screenings, four to five women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, Oronan said. For El Centro Regional, that means 40-50 breast cancers are discovered each year from screening mammograms. He also said that screening mammograms allow early detection of breast cancer, which increases survival from breast cancer.

And because screening mammograms are not 100 percent accurate, Oronan joins medical experts worldwide in urging women to have a regularly scheduled clinical exam by their physician and also to do monthly self-examinations.

“All of us in the Radiology Department at El Centro Regional Medical Center are here to assist you in the detection of breast cancer, with a comprehensive approach including mammography and safe techniques in obtaining samples of suspicious lesions,” Dalle said. “This is done by a team of technologists, nurses and doctors who truly care about your health and want to make your visit here as comfortable as possible,” he said.

“We proudly support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the women who have persevered through breast cancer,” he said.

“Please take the time to schedule your screening mammogram today.” 

CARROTS CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 16

valleys for the winter growing season.

Iten said Grimmway grows about 7,500 acres of conventional carrots in the Imperial Valley, of which some 5,000 acres are planted in the baby carrot variety. The rest of the land is used for carrots that are packed whole in cellophane.

“It seems like more and more goes for baby carrots each year,” he said. “They’re about all I eat now, too,” Grimmway also grows about 2,000 acres of organic carrots in the Valley.

In addition to the sun and warm climate, Iten said, most of the acreage Grimmway uses on the east side of the Valley has sandy soil that carrots like.

Baby carrots move along a conveyor belt at Grimmway Farms “It helps the baby carrots grow straighter,” he said. “And, it is processing facility in Bakersfield as they are prepared for easier to harvest and cleaner.” packaging and distribution. – Photo courtesy of Grimmway Farms The planting season for carrots starts in September. The harvest begins in about February and can extend through May or June.

Convoys of trucks stuffed with carrots heading north for processing have become the harbinger of changing seasons in the Imperial Valley. Iten said during the harvest season Grimmway may ship out 100 trucks full of carrots a day.

Unlike some growers that put their carrots through wash racks prior to leaving the Valley, Grimmway sends its commodity direct from the field to its processing facility.

Iten said, “Grimmway’s done a lot of research and determined that the clock starts ticking (on shelf life) once you wash the carrots.”

And making sure produce gets to the consumer at peak freshness is what drives Imperial Valley vegetable growers. 

Fall 2017

35

The Midway soon will fill up with fair-goers in this March 2017 photo.

Calendar of Events OCTOBER Oct. 18 Southwest High School Orchestra Fall Concert 7 p.m., Southwest High School, 2001 Ocotillo Drive, El Centro. Admission is free. Among other selections, the SHS Chamber Orchestra will be performing Mozart Symphony No. 40.

time and dedication to help six children from the community who are dealing with cancer.

Oct. 20

Remember My Name Proclamation Walk 5-6 p.m., Town Center Park in El Centro. The event is to highlight October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Helping Kids From Hard Places Conference 6-8 p.m., Amaris Ministries 585 W. Orange Ave, El Centro Keynote speakers, Ruby & Lynn Johnston from LAMb International. Conference is open to anyone who works with children, including those interested in fostering and adoption, teachers, childcare workers, first responders, social workers, and parents Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ helping-kids-from-hard-places-3rd-annualconference-tickets-36229594693

Oct. 19

Oct. 20

PMHD Foundation Gala Doors open, 5:30 p.m. Gala begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $100 per person and include wine, beer, gourmet dinner, music, and a live art auction. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Mary Miller, 760-344-4570, or Don Shank, 760-285-1075.

'80s Night 8 p.m. to midnight, Pentagonal Brewing Company, 115 N. Imperial Ave., Imperial, with cover band OCD.

Oct. 18

Oct. 20 36

The information included in the print version of Imperial Valley Alive! is what was available by publication deadline.

Visit our calendar online at www.imperialvalleyalive.com and submit your event information.

Dancing for a Dream 2017 5:30 p.m. to midnight, Cheval Farms, Imperial Six “Stars” with their dance instructors give their Fall 2017

Oct. 21 SeaFest 2017 Salton Sea State Recreation Area, 100225 State Park Road, Mecca.

Event will shine the light on the Salton Sea. There will be live music and local food served throughout the day, with an Organic Farmers’ Market at 8 a.m.

and vintage car show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. SeaFest also marks the start of the paddle season for the Kai Wai Club. The club will be paddling from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Oct. 21 The Lowest Glow on Earth 5-7 p.m., Salton Sea State Recreation Area, 100225 State Park Road, Mecca.

Free family event (weather permitting). State parking fee is $7. SEAthletes will present the “lowest balloon glow on earth” with colors from the hot air balloons lighting up the sea. Hosted by SeaFest, Kai Wai Club, The Great California Balloon Race and SEAthletes.

Oct. 21 Octoberfest at Imperial Market Days 5-9 p.m. Join us in downtown Imperial.

Oct. 21 Elks South District Rib Cook-Off and Oktoberfest 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Brawley Elks Lodge, south of the Plaza in Brawley.

Rib Cookoff, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; $2 rib tasters; beer tasting, noon to 4 p.m.; live music, a pumpkin patch and food and drinks. For cookoff information, call Carlos at 760-427-7580.

Oct. 21 Imperial County Historical Society annual draw-down dinner Dinner at 6 p.m. and drawing at 7 p.m., Pioneers Museum, Highway 111 and Aten Road, Imperial.

Tickets are $200 for two complete dinners and refreshments. For information, call 760-352-5108.

Oct. 26 58th annual Fall Festival 7-10 p.m., Sts. Peter & Paul Episcopal Church, Fifth Street and Orange Avenue, El Centro.

There will be craft beers, wine-tasting, cheese and pates, an art show and non-alcoholic punch. $25 per ticket. Tickets can be purchased from Elise Heald, 760-352-0110; Frances Rice, 760-357-2442; and, Mary Anne Hilderbrant, 760-473-1985

Oct. 27 Artwalk on the Border 6-11 p.m. Oct. 27 Gran Plaza Outlets, 888 W. 2nd St., Calexico.

Oct. 27 Drifters Car Club Trick or Treat 7-10 p.m., Food 4 Less, 2420 Cottonwood Drive, El Centro. Entry is free; pre-registration requested.

Decorate your car and bring candy.

Oct. 28 Downtown Days 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., downtown El Centro. Shopping, food, music, and trick or treating for children.

Oct. 28 Blue Knights Motorcycle Poker Run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., sponsored by Calexico Women’s Improvement Club, 320 Heber Ave., Calexico.

Registration is 8-10 a.m. at 1615 Scott Ave. in El Centro. Final stop is the Women’s Improvement Club.

Enjoy hot tamale lunch, raffles and music. Best hand, $200; worst hand, $100.

Oct. 28 Ben Hulse Halloween Carnival 5-9 p.m., Ben Hulse Elementary School, 303 S. D St., Imperial. Fun and games, candy and prizes.

Oct. 28 Heber Fall Fiesta 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tito Huerta Park, 1165 Palm Ave., Heber.

Parade and Fiesta start at 10 a.m. Kid-friendly fiesta with games and activities at Tito Huerta Park. Great food, fun games and live music.

A newborn calf was one of the highlights at the 2016 California Mid-Winter Fair.

Oct. 28

Nov. 8

Creepy Clown Chase 5K 4:30-5:30 pm., Tito Huerta Park, 1165 Palm Ave., Heber.

This is a 5K obstacle course run from creepy clowns.

Entry fee is $20 for 13 years and older. Anyone under 13 brave enough to run can do so for free.

Mariachi Night 6-10 p.m., Main Street and Plaza Park, Brawley. Bring the family for an evening of fun, food, beer, and a variety of local singers singing traditional Mexican ballads.

NOVEMBER

Nov. 9

Nov. 4 Imperial County Veterans Day Parade and Celebration 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Holtville Parade will be on Fifth Street with vendors and entertainment in Holt Park. Parade starts at 10 a.m., entertainment at noon with country singer Tim Hurley.

For more information, contact Denise at 760-356-3013 or Kim at 760-336-3058.

Nov. 4 Quilts and More Sale 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Brawley Assembly of God, 580 C St. Event is a Sisters of Sowing fundraiser. Proceeds used to buy supplies to make items for Love Lift, comfort quilts for cancer patients, and to sponsor children from two families at Christmas time.

Nov. 4 Cattle Call Chili Cookoff 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Main Street and Plaza Park, Brawley. $3, tasting bracelet; $10 for four tasting bracelets.

For information, call 760-344-3160 or visit www. brawleychamber.com/pages/CattleCallEvents

Nov. 4 Calexico Baja Runners Barbecue 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Plazola’s parking lot, 120 W. Sherman St., Calexico. $8 for barbacoa plate with beans, salad, salsa and bread.

IVC Foundation Golf Tournament 10 a.m., Rams Hill Golf Club, 1881 Rams Hill Road, Borrego Springs.

Brunch at 10 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., one lucky golfer will get a chance at winning $1 million. Noon, shotgun start for the Four Man Scramble Competition. On the course, numerous chances for winning other great prizes will be offered.

Entry fee includes: brunch, golf, range balls, “Bling Bag” including golf shirt, and $1 million shot raffle ticket, trophies.

To learn more about the IVC Foundation, contact Monica Rogers via phone or e-mail: 760-355-6113 or monica.rogers@imperial.edu. You can register to play or sponsor the golf tournament by visiting www.imperial.edu/golftournament

Nov. 11 Cattle Call Parade 9:30 a.m. to noon, downtown Brawley.

Includes equestrian units, decorated floats, great local bands and a multitude of individual entries to entertain the entire family.

Nov. 15 National Philanthropy Day 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Old Eucalyptus Schoolhouse, 796 W. Evan Hewes Highway, El Centro.

Event honors the people and organizations who make the Imperial Valley a great place to live. For more information, visit http://www. ivcommunityfoundation.org Fall 2017

37

Nov. 17-19 Desert Sunsets Tattoo Expo 3 p.m. Nov. 17 and ends at 8 p.m. Nov. 19, Ricochet Rec Center 450 W Aten Road.

For information, visit www. desertsunsetstattooexpo.com

Nov. 18

Nov. 17 Imperial County Environmental Health Leadership Summit/Envo Art Exhibition 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., San Diego State UniversityImperial Valley Campus, 720 Heber Ave., Calexico.

This is an event to bring awareness and to educate people about health topics of concern in the imperial valley. The art exhibition will be in the

38

art gallery on campus as will the main event.

Continental breakfast and lunch will be included free of charge. Registration is required and may be faxed to 760-351-8761, by calling 760-351-8761, or online at www.ejleadershipsummit.org

Fall 2017

Harvest Palooza at Imperial Market Days 5-9 p.m. Join us in downtown Imperial.

Entry fee is $35 for participants ages 13 and older and includes access to the run/walk, a bib and T-shirt (if registered by Nov. 1). Entry is free for children ages 12 years and younger with a paying adult. Entry fee increases to $40 on day of event. There will be music, dance performances, live art demos, face painting, arts and crafts for kids, silent auction, food vendors and more.

Nov. 30 Nov. 18 Art Run Against Hunger 5K 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cattle Call Arena, Brawley.

Event benefits Imperial Valley Food Bank.

"Messiah¨ 7 p.m., Christ Community Church, Sixth Street and Orange Avenue, El Centro. Performed by Imperial Valley Master Chorale.

DECEMBER Dec. 2 72nd annual El Centro Christmas Parade 10 a.m. to noon. The theme is “Toys, Trains and Candy Canes.” Parade begins at Main and 12th streets and heads east on Main, then turns south on Eighth Street. It ends at Eighth Street and Aurora Drive.

Dec. 2 A Merry Country Christmas at Imperial Market Days 5-9 p.m. Join us in downtown Imperial.

Dec. 2 Holiday Tour Around the World 6-8 p.m., Imperial County Historical Society 373 E Aten Road, Imperial.

Join us for our annual Holiday Tour Around the World, an evening of food and merriment for the whole family.

For more Information, call the Imperial County Historical Society at 760-352-1165.

Dec. 8 Parade of Lights 6-9 p.m., Imperial Avenue, Imperial.

Grab your blanket and a chair and come watch the beautiful light displays during this year’s 15th Annual Parade of Lights. Bring some spending money for a bag of piping hot kettle corn or a delicious cup of hot chocolate.

A career fair is under way at Imperial Valley College earlier this year.

Dec. 9 Christmas in a Small Town 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., downtown Imperial.

JANUARY Jan. 20 January Jam at Imperial Market Days 5-9 p.m. Join us in downtown Imperial.

Fall 2017

39

CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 7

the fabric of the Valley.

Association members said they remain so active because of their love of the sport, their love for riding horses and because — just as it was in the past — team penning remains a way to bring families and friends together.

“We dang sure don’t do it for the money,” kidded board member Travis Dove, who like Burch belongs to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Posse.

While winning teams do receive earnings, it usually is just enough to cover entry fees, the riders say. More desirable, along with a chance to go to Cattle Call Rodeo, are end-of-theyear individual awards, including belt buckles designed by the association and the top award, the all-around saddle.

Team penners also aim to keep alive that cowboy and cowgirl spirit so important to the Valley’s past.

“You want to continue that tradition and that history,” Reeves said.

“We want people to remember that the roots of the Valley were planted with horses.”

Leavitt added: “It’s important to know where you came from and appreciate the people who have made the Valley what it is. We need to know the history and be grateful for the people who came before us.”

TEAM PENNING ASSOCIATION SEASON Dec. 2 | Jan. 13 | Feb. 10 | March 24

All events are held at Dale Griggs' arena, 3636 Highway 86, between Brawley and Imperial.  Team penner Trevor Burch also belongs to the Imperial County Sheriff's Posse. -Lequita Burch Photos

40

Fall 2017

YUMA DAY TRIP CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 27

show “Official Best of Destination Across the Country.”

The city’s development started in 1849 as California-bound gold-seekers came through to use the rope ferry to cross the Colorado River. But the river’s proximity meant the downtown often flooded and its adobe buildings melted back. Now, most Main Street buildings date from the 1920s.

Still the downtown entices visitors to meander through with its wide variety of shopping, dining and entertainment. The Main Street offers numerous artistic touches and a cute, quaint and friendly vibe. Expect to find a veritable shopping delight – from charming boutiques, to vintage collectibles to handmade soaps and beyond.

One must see-and-sample stop is Desert Olive at 224 Main St., Suite 106. A boutique producer of high-quality extra virgin olive oil grown, milled and bottled by hand in Brawley, Desert Olive’s olive and balsamic vinegar tasting bar is too tasty to miss.

Grace Edgar presides over her family-owned and operated olive business’ enchanting Yuma retail store with a friendly smile and an enthusiasm for all things olive. The store carries a dazzling range of flavored balsamic vinegar, olives, spreads, gift packs and other goodies showcased in colorful displays.

Edgar is a font of information and ideas on how to use olive products or put together gift packs so tempting you might want to take one home for yourself. And, she has some great recipes that she is happy to share.

While Desert Olive products also are available online, at some Imperial Valley retail stores and at some local farmers markets, visiting with a friendly local face in Yuma makes a day trip even more worthwhile.

A wall-sized mural greets visitors coming from the parking lot and sets the scene for the eclectic collection of boutiques in a mini-mall along Yuma's Main Street. Within is Desert Olive at 224 Main, Suite 106, which showcases a dazzling selection of olives and oil grown in the Imperial Valley.

The shop's delicious tasting bar and gifts are surrounded with artistic touches, including a poster of vintage Imperial Valley brands.

- Photo by Susan Giller

Fall 2017

41

CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 23

“Thursdays we go shorter distance for beginners. We teach them how to adjust their seat and how to ride in a group, about the rules for riding. Wednesday nights, we may go to Holtville, Calexico, or Brawley—wherever we feel like!”

The IV Cycling Facebook page shows some of the happiest riders in the world, with hundreds of photos of smiling cyclists.

When asked about the dangers of riding at night, Estrada is quick to warn against riding alone. “We ride with plenty of illumination,” she said. “The roads are safe. And we signal each other about pot holes or cars.”

“At first we did short rides in the city, but then we rode farther and faster,” she said. “I’ve ridden the Amtrak Century four times now with our group. We board the train with our bikes in San Diego and then ride our bikes back from Long Beach. It’s so beautiful!

“Cycling is liberating. You go whenever you want, whenever you can. You’re not a slave to a routine in the gym. And you see places you would never see from your car. Strangely, I might ride to Brawley in an hour, but it seems that so little time has passed! You become much more patient with time.”

These are road cyclists, but cycling in Imperial Valley also includes the weekend riders who poke along on beach cruisers with their families, the young BMX riders ripping up the hills at the Seeley BMX track, the mountain bikers in the desert arroyos or mountain trails. Cyclists come from all ages and all walks of life.

You don’t need a fancy bike or expensive clothes; all you need is a bike that rolls and ground to roll it on. 

Celeste Estrada smiles for the camera.

-Photo courtesy of Brian McNeece

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GIVE US A CALL • 442-283-5332 120 N. 4TH ST EL CENTRO, CA 92243

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Fall 2017

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MODEL RAILROADING CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 9

tracks away when guests visited. It lasted until he went away to college, West Texas State in Canyon, Texas, where he attended on an ROTC scholarship.

He was commissioned at the end of the Vietnam War and spent six years on active duty, with another two years in the reserves. He stayed in Texas for two years before coming home to go into an agriculture-related business, moving into the family farmhouse north of Brawley.

Meanwhile his train collection had continued to grow, “but I wasn’t building anything.” He joined the National Model Railroad Association and met fellow model railroaders at the miniature train museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park.

“I met a fellow who was modeling narrow-gauge railroads,” Shank said, and the rest is history. Out of those meetings in San Diego grew a friendship with Charles “Bud” Smith, an artist and model railroader. The friendship spurred Shank’s desire to build his best work ever, with Smith’s help.

But first he needed a place to house it, getting permission from his parents to build a structure on land near the family home.

Once it was completed, he and Smith set to work replicating a portion of southwestern Colorado where Shank’s parents had taken their children on vacation.

The narrow-gauge track winds for more than 100 yards through strategically designed mountains and valleys and across wooden trestles pieced together by hand. It took 10 years and thousands of hours of labor. Shank played the role of engineer, designing the route and the yards of electronics it would take to bring the trains to life. His friend pieced together most of the set’s 3,000 trees at his home in Alpine, bringing them down to the Valley, bit by bit, as the track took shape. Smith also built the elaborate scenery and painted the

A freight waybill provides information on the destination of a boxcar.

-Joselito Villero Photo backdrops.

In the front part of the building, Shank created a place to work on the trains as well as an area for socializing.

But it’s through the monthly railroaders’ group that Shank, Riehle and the others find companionship in their love for trains.

“We have a lot of fun,” Riehle said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie, a little needling from time to time.”

The rules to belong are simple: There are no rules, except the love for model railroading. There are no bylaws and no money exchanged. Meetings are the second Saturday of each month, from 1:30 to 4:30 or 5, Shank said, at the Imperial Valley Research Center Building 10, 4151 Highway 86 in Brawley.

Anyone with an interest in model railroading is invited. 

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WOMEN PILOTS CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 11

Pat Castañeda and her mother, Phyllis Westcott, both are nurses and pilots. -Joselito Villero Photo

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the Ninety-Nines, an international non-profit organization of women pilots with branches in 44 countries. Founded in 1929, the group’s mission is to promote “advancement of aviation through education, scholarships and mutual support while honoring our unique history and sharing our passion for flight,” according to its website. Pat serves as the contact for the Imperial So-Lo chapter.

“They are a unique, adventurous, smart, outgoing group of women,” Pat said, adding she and Phyllis are inspired by the women who are medical evacuation pilots, firefighter pilots, commercial airline pilots, and one who is a Russian cosmonaut.

Pat volunteers several times a year with non-profit medical groups that travel to Third World countries to provide badly needed services. She also recently did a tandem skydiving jump in the Florida Keys.

“It was really cool once the ‘chute opened. Really cool,” Pat said.

When asked if she is proud of her daughter, a beaming Phyllis shrugged and admitted, “Envious. She’s doing all the things I would’ve liked to have done.” 

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NAF CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 13

NARF’s tenure at the base. Jet aircraft ejection seats, common today, were actually conceived and tested at NAF El Centro.

Another interesting development was the Fulton aerial retrieval system or “Skyhook.” That is the device you see in movies where a balloon with a wire attached lets a cargo plane swoop down and pick up Batman from a Chinese corporate tower. Or you may see it in spy movies where the secret agent is literally pulled out of a foreign country.

Robert Fulton actually developed the system for the CIA and it was perfected at NAF El Centro.

And then there was the Chuting Stars. In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of U.S. Naval Aviation in 1961, the Navy wanted to find a special opening act for its air shows.

Obviously the Blue Angels would be the big finale.

The Navy parachute test jumpers at NAF El Centro offered the perfect solution. A volunteer team, the Chuting Stars, came together and went on tour with the Blues. The group was so successful that a special unit was formed and moved to Pensacola to be near the Blue Angels. The present day Navy SEAL jump team, the Leap Frogs, is a descendant of these early jumpers.

The Blue Angels did not start calling El Centro their winter training home until 1967, when El Centro Mayor Dubois McGee lobbied the team to come out and enjoy our mild winters and clear skies. The Blues had practiced here intermittently, but with the closing of their Texas airfield, they needed a new home and the Imperial Valley provided the perfect spot.

Throughout the years NAF El Centro has been home to many amazing developments. Here the British and Canadians have tested several aircraft and helicopters, usually to see if they could survive the heat. Combat airdrops - tossing pallets, jeeps, tanks, cannons, and Howitzers out of a cargo plane and landing them with parachutes -- were also tested here. Without the work done at NAF El Centro, some of this might never have happened.

Today, the mission of NAF El Centro is to support the combat training and readiness of the Warfighter. The vision for the base is to be the Navy’s premier tactical training air installation -- providing world-class operations and facilities, and the highest quality of life for personnel and their families.

Navy and Marine Corps squadrons from all over the United States and squadrons from many of our European and Asian allies take advantage of the Valley’s near-perfect flying weather, the close proximity to ranges and the incredible hospitality of the people here. Captain Wales, better known as Prince Harry, spent two months training at NAF EC in 2011 and enjoyed weather and warm welcome from the local residents.

What will the future bring? No one can say for certain, but NAF El Centro will be a part of it. Once the F-35C Lightning II sets up at NAS Lemoore, squadrons will come to NAF El Centro for their training.

The British Joint Helicopter Command plans to continue its desert training here and the Marines love using NAF EC as a part of their bi-annual exercises. As commercial and military aviation evolves, the base will evolve, too. Working together with community leaders to ensure sensible land use and development, the future for NAF EC is bright and full of exciting possibilities. 

The British and Canadians have tested several aircraft and helicopters, usually to see if they could survive the heat. Combat airdrops - tossing pallets, jeeps, tanks, cannons, and Howitzers out of a cargo plane and landing them with parachutes -- were also tested here. Without the work done at NAF El Centro, some of this might never have happened. -Photos provided by Kristopher Haugh Fall 2017

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OLD HWY 80 CONTINUED FROM | PAGE 25

Remnants of Sheep pens

Between 1851 and 1856 sheepherders drove thousands of sheep from Yuma over this route to Los Angeles. The sheepherders built stone corrals, which can still be seen off Interstate 8 from the westbound lane in a curve just past Mountain Springs.

www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/2016/january/mountain-springs-gradeconquering-san-diegos-mountain-barrier-commerce-east

Mountain Springs Grade

For early travelers, this was one of the most difficult parts of the trip. From today’s interstate, remnants of both Old Highway 80 and old-old highway 80 can be seen in several locations.

The former Mountain Springs Station was located at an elevation of 2,431 feet. It is just off today’s Mountain Springs Road exit. In 1863, Pete Larkins and Joe Stancliff settled in Mountain Springs and, with their team of oxen, assisted travelers over the grade. www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1955/july/mountain If westbound motorists exit and put the car into neutral at the bottom of the ramp, they will experience the sensation of rolling up hill. The ramp actually has a slight downward slope that creates this optical illusion .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJsm6YjIURw

Desert View Tower

The Desert View Tower has been dubbed California Historical Monument #939 and is one of the more unique sights in the area. www.desertviewtower.com/2016/10/31/history-of-thetower/#comment-131 At an elevation of 3,000, visitors to the tower can see panaramic views of the Imperial Valley. The tower was built from 1922 to 1938 as a roadside attraction and to this day

www.imperialcounty.com/phototur/photo16.htm

Wisteria Candy Cottage

This unique store in Boulevard will be celebrating its 100th birthday in a few years. It faces Old Highway 80 and is stocked full of delicious sweets, including the hand-dipped chocolate that has been made there since Wisteria opened in 1921. The building once served as a one-room schoolhouse. Behind the cottage are the ruins of a Masonic temple.

wisteriacandycottage.com/index.html

Jacumba Hot Spring

The community of Jacumba, which was renamed Jacumba Hot Springs in 2013, was bypassed by Interstate 8. Old Highway 80 travels down the middle of the town. In the 1930s, its springs became a top destination. The Jacumba Hotel was a famous gathering spot in its heyday but later closed and was destroyed by fire. The only remaining part of the hotel is its stone fireplace that sits alone on the hotel’s former property. In recent years, the Jacumba Hot Springs and Resort opened and has led to a resurgence of this community’s hot springs visits.

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www.jacumbaresort.com Fall 2017

Bankhead Springs

Farther west on Old 80 is Bankhead Springs. It came into existence because of the popularity of Jacumba’s hot springs.

It was named after Sen. John Bankhead, who helped push for the construction of U.S. Route 80. The hotel there, now boarded up, is one of the few buildings left. www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/bankheadsprings.html 

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