1967
Kodak plans factory
The Eastman Kodak Corporation of Rochester, New York has announced it will invest 25 million dollars in a new plant in Guadalajara to produce both black-and-white and color Kodak film. Construction of the new plant will begin in October on 50 hectares of land near the corner of Lopez Mateos and Mariano Otero and is expected to be completed in two years. When completed, the plant will provide employment to about 650 Tapatios. Within a short time 40 Mexican chemists will leave for New York to begin one-and-a-half years of intensive training as supervisors of the new plant. Kodak was encouraged to build the plant here by the American Chamber of Commerce Guadalajara branch, which held two management meetings with the company’s executives and local government and business leaders.
Editor’s note: The Kodak plant ceased operations in 2012.
1977
Bing Crosby in GDL
Undaunted by seven hours and 20 holes of golf, Bing Crosby arrived late in the afternoon to josh and sing with U.S. citizens and their friends gathered at the San Isidro Country Club for the annual American Society of Jalisco picnic celebrating U.S. Independence Day. Crosby and his son, Harry, joined picnickers after an unsuccessful battle in a play-off for second place in the Torneo de la Amistad. The Bing Crosby International Classic, a tournament on the LPGA tour, had been played at the San Isidro Country Club in 1974 and 1975. He died October 14 the same year after completing 18 holes during a golf tournament in Spain. “I can’t think of any better way for a golfer who sings for a living to finish the round,” said his wife Katheryn Crosby to the Los Angeles Times.
Tourist help
Declaring that “the most important tourist to us is the one who is already here,” Jalisco’s chief of tourism, Juan Manuel Fernandez de Castro, set the stage for Guadalajara’s first town meeting sponsored by American Legion Post Three, in what was for many foreign residents a hopeful sign that understanding may improve between guests and hosts in Jalisco. Rising to the spirit of the occasion, Traffic Department head Jose Manuel Perez Luna seconded the motion for friendly relations by announcing that tourists will not be fined for minor traffic violations. Among more than a dozen new initiatives to help orient foreigners in the area, the district attorney said plans are afoot to make available a group of lawyers to help tourists with legal problems.
1987
Chapala jailbreak thwarted
Adventurous inmates of Chapala’s municipal prison were recently thwarted in a daring jail break attempt which would have taken them through the next-door bank offices of Banamex. Apparently, the would-be escapees aimed to hold up the bank to further finance their getaway. After locking up the jail’s 89 prisoners, Warden Abraham Meneses Chavez was surprised to see, on a routine inspection of the bathrooms, a pile of blankets stacked up against the wall. Behind the blankets, Chavez discovered a 30-centimeter diameter hole which was ten centimeters deep. No would-be escapees have so far been identified.
Governor vows help for lake
Governor Enrique Alvarez del Castillo visited Lake Chapala July 11, initiating a reforestation program (partially sponsored by the American Society of Jalisco). He announced that the state will spend 847 million pesos this year for the construction of new plants to treat the sewage from towns surrounding the lake, for a total of 2.2 billion pesos spent on treatment plants during his administration. Plants presently under construction include those in Ajijic, San Antonio Tlayacapan, San Nicolas de Ibarra, El chante, San Juan Cosala, Tuxcueca, San Luis Soyatlan, La Barca and Tizapan el Alto. Those in Chapala and Jocotepec are finished, although residents in Jocotepec say their plant still isn’t treating any water.
1997
Slave wages
About two million domestic servants in Mexico receive less than the minimum wage, and in many case their only remuneration is room and board. So says Carmen Saavedra, coordinator of Colectivo Atabal, a non-profit organization that seeks to defend their rights.
Only five percent of domestic workers get more than the minimum wage and most of them work 12-hour days. Mistreatment and firing without justification are the main complaints of servants, especially in the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Mexico, Michoacan and Oaxaca, she said.
Mysterious death investigated
The U.S. Consulate General was astonished when U.S. citizen Corinne Hellman, 82, was rushed to a Guadalajara funeral home with orders to be “incinerated immediately.” Only the day before, friends of Hellman had gone to the diplomatic mission to inform U.S. officials of fears that the elderly lady was being drugged, tied and kept locked up against her will.
A lakeside doctor has been questioned by Chapala police on three separate occasions following the death. Hellman died from a blow to the head according to forensic experts. For the past two years, she had been cared for by Leslie Lewis, 67, a graduate of the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. According to one of Hellman’s friends, Lewis had taken over Hellman’s life to such a degree that he had managed to have his name put on her Paine Webber account, her ATM card and the deed to her house.
2007
Rains kill six
Torrential rains, heavy flooding and damage to Guadalajara’s infrastructure caused six fatalities Sunday, July 22. The widespread chaos and destruction also appears to have spurred authorities into frantic action to avoid a recurrence. Of the six people who died, four were swept away in their vehicle by the strong current on the Arroyo Seco in Colonia Santa Maria Tequepexpan, Tlaquepaque. Another victim drowned on the flooded Avenida Ocho de Julio and the body of one man was discovered only after flood waters receded in the Niños Heroes and Inglaterra traffic tunnel. Water levels around Plaza del Sol, Avenida Ocho de Julio, Tlajomulco and Zapopan rose as high as 1.5 meters, flooding hundreds of homes. Rain also collapsed roads and created holes deep enough to swallow vehicles whole.
Whatever happened to ...
... Ximena Navarrete, the Guadalajara-born winner of the Miss Universe pageant in 2010? Following her unexpected triumph at the summer contest held at the Hotel and Casino Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, Navarrete spent a year traveling the world promoting humanitarian causes – 38 trips to 18 countries to be precise. Her prize also included a two-year course at the New York Film Academy and she later became a TV presenter, working at the 2012 Olympics and on award shows. She has appeared in one telenovela (soap opera), “La tempestad,” recorded in 2013. Navarrete married businessman Juan Carlos Valladares Jr. in a sumptuous – and much publicized – wedding ceremony in April 2017. And the fellow in the photo? Oh, he swapped organizing beauty pageants for another career. How’s he doing? Meh.