By Chris Furguson

On June 22, 2012, former IID Division 5 director Anthony Sanchez was charged with suspicion of corporal injury to a child and child abuse by the Imperial County District Attorney Gilbert Otero.
The first charge, suspicion of corporal injury to a child, said that Sanchez inflicted “cruel and inhuman corporal punishment and injury, resulting in a traumatic condition, upon the child.”
The second charge, child abuse, alleged that Sanchez permitted “the person and health of said child to be injured and did willfully cause and permit said child to be placed in such situation that his/her person and health was/were endangered.”
The charges are the lastest development in a saga for the disgraced former director who was caught on video spanking his stepson with a belt earlier in the month.
If found guilty on the two counts, Sanchez could face up to six years in prison apiece.
The charges stem from a video filmed by Heber resident Oscar Lopez that showed Sanchez spanking his stepson with a belt for, what was believed at the time, refusing or failing to catch a ball.
The video, which was posted on YouTube, was later turned over the Imperial County Sheriff’s office.  Immediately after the video spread over the internet, calls for Sanchez’s resignation and other threats followed.  After a couple of days, the Sheriff’s office arrested Sanchez under felony child abuse charges.
This led to the charges filed last week.  Sanchez is due to be arraigned on July 10th.
Some in support of Sanchez, including attorney Ryan Childers, say that because of Sanchez’s position within the community, that the District Attorney is attempting to make an example out of the former director.
Childers hoped that judge for the July 10th arraignment would take into account Sanchez’s public service and lack of criminal record into account and lower the charges accordingly.
The child’s maternal grandfather, Terry Grammar, also said that the child in question suffers from ADHD and sometimes only responds to a spanking.
Sanchez’s resignation also created a deadlock within the rest of the Imperial Irrigation District’s board of directors.  Sanchez had been part of a three-person voting block with directors Stella Mendoza and John Pierre Menvielle in philosophical opposition to directors Matt Dessert and Jim Hanks.
While the Imperial County Board of Supervisors could have appointed a director after Sanchez’s resignation, they chose to follow the request of the IID and hold a special election this November for the seat.
Sanchez represented parts of Calexico in addition to Heber and Holtville.

Green & Gold Scholarships

By Bob Wynkoop

In addition to promoting excellence and outstanding achievement, one of the first ventures of the Green & Gold Hall of Fame was to provide more opportunities for Holtville High School students, both while on campus and afterward during their continued education.   It’s still on-going and in the case of after graduation we offer financial aid in the form of several annual scholarships, five for graduating seniors:  The Jan Anderson Scholarship for students entering the field of sports or recreation, the Green & Gold Scholarship for students pursuing a career in education, the Harold Burnworth Scholarship for students seeking a vocational career, the Lendal Macon Scholarship for students interested in a musical career, and the Simon Silva Scholarship for students entering the field of art.   Each is for 500 dollars and requires that the student meet specific criteria relevant to the particular scholarship.  The Hall of Fame offers a sixth scholarship or stipend of 500 dollars to a continuing student already in college and in need of financial support.  This is yet to be awarded and the deadline has been set back to June 19th.  However, the following seniors are already winners of this year’s Green & Gold scholarships:
Daniella Lozano (the Anderson Scholarship – entering the field of Kinesiology with an     emphasis in exercise science)
Emmanuel Lucero (the Burnworth Scholarship – majoring in electrical engineering and going     to Colorado University)
Aslynn Rubin (the Green & Gold Scholarship – majoring as a speech therapist within the     educational system)
Olivia Silva (the Green & Gold Scholarship – seeking a career in elementary education)
We proudly congratulate these outstanding students and look forward to following their careers in the fields they have chosen.
In addition, the Green & Gold Hall of Fame annually recognizes a high school teacher for their outstanding work above and beyond their expected duties.  This year that award goes to art teacher, Alfredo Guzman.  Besides receiving the recognition for his excellent work in school, the Green & Gold Hall of Fame will present him with a 500 dollar stipend as a way of saying thank you for your excellent contribution to Holtville High School’s students.   All-in-all, the Green & Gold is prepared to award 3,500 dollars in scholarships and stipends every year, provide sports camps during each summer, purchase championship rings for all of Holtville’s CIF Championship teams, and host both the Hall of Fame Banquet and Golf Tournament.  The last two functions of course are major fund raisers that allow the Green & Gold Hall of Fame committee to do all the other outstanding projects, including the scholarships announced above.

By Luke Phillips

   Holtville Finance Manager Nick Wells gave the city council an update Monday on an effort to bring a Family Dollar retail store to the city, saying that he’s “very optimistic” about the opportunity.
   Wells says he wants to make sure that people understand that Family Dollar is not a traditional dollar store, but offers a huge variety of goods at several different price points. According to Wells, one Family Dollar representative said that Family Dollar is to Target what True Value Hardware is to Home Depot.
   “That really excited me,” Wells said. “On a local level we need that kind of variety.”
   Wells said that a meeting with the project developer over the weekend changed his perception of what the store would be about.
   “It could be a boom to our economy” he said. “They would be providing things that we don’t have in Holtville and keep dollars in town that would have gone out of town.”
   Wells says that Family Dollar would offer many different goods that currently can’t be found in Holtville  such   as   clothing   and CDs, keeping residents from driving to other cities in the valley to do their shopping.
   Family Dollar developers have been meeting with city officials over the past few weeks and have shown interest in building a 8,320 square-foot retail facility at the corner of 5th Street and Cedar Avenue. The developer has submitted a site plan which has been reviewed by the city’s project review committee, however the plans don’t currently comply with city standards for the downtown area. According to recent reports from the city the retailer is asking for a variance in order to proceed as planned.
   According to the Family Dollar Web site, the retailer is also currently hiring Assistant Managers for locations coming soon to Brawley and El Centro.

City of Holtville
PUBLIC NOTICE
Annual CPI Trash Rate Adjustment
Effective July 1, 2012

Notice is hereby given that the agreement between the City of Holtville and CR & R, Inc. (Section 9, Annual Rate Adjustment) states rates are subject to an annual adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. The most recent price index reflects a 2.2% increase.
A copy of the agreement and related documents are available for public review at City Hall. If additional information is required, please call the Finance Department at (760) 356-2912.
Legal 7932      Publish: May 25, June 22, 2012thing   and