Imperial Valley Press Quick News

Man sentenced to 14 years in connection with officer-involved shooting in Brawley

A judge sentenced a 22-year-old man today to serve 14 years in state prison for brandishing a gun toward a Brawley police officer earlier this year.

Gerardo Miguel Gonzalez sat expressionless next to his defense attorney John Breeze as Imperial County Superior Court Judge Barrett J. Foerster denied his motion to strike a sentencing enhancement that would lengthen his prison term by 10 years.

Gonzalez had been convicted of assaulting a peace officer with a gun. Gonzalez, who is in custody, was twice wounded during an officer-involved shooting March 29 behind the Garcia's Market in Brawley.

Breeze argued that his client had found Gonzalez not guilty of using a gun in an alleged attempt to kill a Brawley Police officer, but convicted him in a separate finding of using a gun to assault the officer.

Breeze's vigorous argument failed to persuade Foerster, who referred to a portion of a probation report that described how the defendant reached into the bag and took out a gun when a Brawley Police officer asked him what was inside of it that night behind a well-known business in Brawley.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer 

Light earthquake felt in Imperial Valley

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake shook south of Mexicali Monday evening, with some people reporting feeling the shaking.

The earthquake hit at 8 p.m. Monday 35 miles southeast of Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site. It was poorly constrained at less than five miles from the surface.

There were no initial reports of damage, according to the Web site.

-- Elizabeth Varin, staff writer

Body found in canal east of Calexico, official says

CALEXICO --- Coroner's officials received a call today about a body found in a canal east of here, said Imperial County Supervisory Coroner Charles Lucas.

The body was found at about 12:45 p.m. southeast of Bowker Road and Highway 98, Lucas said. It was not certain whether the body was spotted in the All American Canal or Central Main Canal, Lucas said.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer

Motive behind last week's fatal shooting in El Centro not known, official says

El Centro police have not determined a motive behind last week's slaying of a local Sunflower Elementary School teacher who was shot multiple times by her longtime boyfriend at a busy intersection, El Centro Police Cmdr. Jeff Mason said today.

Consequently, police have closed the case of Amber Bryant's Oct. 4 killing at the hands of Nathan Veliquette, a convicted felon who went to his mother's El Centro home and retrieved his grandfather's Colt .38 revolver, Mason said. By law, Veliquette, who had pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in a 2001 case, could not possess a firearm.

Mason said Veliquette went to his mother's home before the shooting erupted at La Brucherie Road and Cruickshank Avenue. Veliquette shot Bryant to death while the couple's son sat in the backseat of her car. The boy was not hurt.

While the police don't know what the motive behind the shooting is, the overall conclusion police were able to learn was that Bryant and Veliquette were having difficulties in their relationship, Mason said.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer

Uninhabited house fire on Olive Street

There was an uninhabited house fire Sunday night at 673 Olive Street, El Centro Fire Battalion Chief Steve Wilson confirmed. 

El Centro Police Officer in Charge Robert Sawyer also said the house was an uninhabited single family residence. El Centro Fire Captain Michael Apalategui said the fire was first reported between 8 and 8:30 p.m., but the exact time could not yet be confirmed.

Wilson said no one had been found inside and there were no injuries. He didn't know how the fire started but said there were reports that transients had been squatting inside the house and it could have been caused by someone smoking or cooking, he said. He said the house had previously been damaged in the earthquake.

El Centro Fire Department sent three units and the Imperial Fire Department sent one, Wilson said, adding that six individuals showed up off duty to staff the reserve and squad unit. 

The house's neighbors had been evacuated but would be allowed to return to their homes Sunday night, Wilson said. Olive, Sixth and Seventh Streets had been blocked off but he said they would be unblocked by the end of the night.

 

-Sarah Horne, Staff Writer

 

 

California lawmakers pass long-overdue budget

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State lawmakers have sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger the main bill in a legislative package aimed at ending California's record budget impasse and closing a $19 billion deficit.

The Senate's vote early Friday comes more than three months after the start of the fiscal year, as the state was preparing to issue IOUs to state contractors.

The Senate's approval came hours after the Assembly acted Thursday.

The $87.5 billion general fund spending plan lawmakers sent to the Republican governor is nearly $16 billion less than the general fund just three years ago. It's a stark indication of the economic conditions in the nation's most populous state.

Schwarzenegger helped negotiate the budget deal, which includes no new taxes or fees, and is likely to sign it quickly.

For more information about the local impact, read Saturday's edition online or in print.

-- Elizabeth Varin, staff writer

Defense motion denied for convicted Brawley man

An Imperial County Superior Judge denied a Brawley man's defense motion for a new trial today and ordered him to return for sentencing Tuesday.

But Gerardo Miguel Gonzalez's defense attorney John Breeze plans to make a motion to strike an allegation that would lengthen his client's potential sentencing term by10 years. The motion for a new trial was based on a defense contention of juror misconduct which did not sway Judge Barrett Foerster.

Gonzalez, who was wounded in an officer-involved shooting behind Garcia's Market on March 29, was convicted of assaulting a Brawley Police officer. Two jury findings related to the use of a firearm was found to be true.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer

Fungicide found in water near Holtville

Test results received Tuesday afternoon show low levels of metam-sodium after a suspected chemical spill last week.

Results show that water samples taken from unflushed cisterns fed by the Alamo Canal last week had 1.62 parts per billion of metam-sodium, a herbicide/fungicide used before planting crops, according to a press release from the county's Public Health Department.

It is a very low quantity, said Public Health Officer Dr. Stephen Munday in the press release.

“Exposure at this level will not cause serious or long-term health effects," he said. "Metam-sodium is known to give off a strong odor when it reacts with water, this can be expected even with very low levels.”

Anything at or below 20 parts per billion of metam-sodium in drinking water is considered safe for long-term exposure, according to the press release.

Metam-sodium degrades with time, and the initial levels could have been higher, according to the press release.

Tests for a second substance in the water, methoxylienozide, have not been received by the Agricultural Commissioner's Office.

For more information read Thursday's edition online or in print.

-- Elizabeth Varin, staff writer

Gas leak detected near two Calexico schools on Encinas Avenue

CALEXICO --- Students at both Dool Elementary and De Anza Junior High school were moved to other locations within their campuses after a gas leak was detected coming from the middle of Encinas Avenue, officials said.

Calexico Unified School District Superintendent Christina Luna said that kindergarten pupils were moved to another classroom for the duration of the school's shortened day. Parents were then called to pick up their children as firefighters and the gas company were called to address the problem at about 8 a.m., Luna said.

Students from De Anza Junior High School were moved to the gymnasium as a precautinary measure away from the gas leak that was detected by a custodian from the elementary school, said Calexico Fire Capt. Damian Gonzalez. No injuries were reported during either incident.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer 

Feds approve solar project in Imperial Valley

Federal land managers for the first time approved today the construction of a solar installation project on public land that would cover about 10 miles in the Imperial Valley.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the projects which is expected to generate renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of homes, according to a statement by the governor's press office and an Associated Press news story. It was not immediately known where the project would be built in Imperial County.

The approval comes five years after developers in solar energy asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the rights to develop solar plants on federally owned desert, the AP reported. The project in the Imperial Valley is one of two solar installations that received approval.

By SILVIO J. PANTA, staff writer