In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our November editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1967
Rising lake damages expat homes
Lake Chapala has risen so much this year that many lakeside homes have been inundated. The garden of one home on Calle Guerrero in Chapala was under water and small four boats were anchored at what had been the entrance, according to one expat visitor. Many community activities have been suspended or moved to locations beyond the water line. Lakeside Little Theatre has suspended casting and preliminary preparations for its next production because its headquarters, the former Chapala Country Club, is knee-deep in water. John Gorrell, who occupied a second-floor apartment there for many years, moved out in swimming trunks with a boat to carry his possessions. The federal hospital on the lakefront drive has established temporary quarters in the home of its medical chief. The Chapala Red Cross has set up emergency services in a building on Niños Heroes. The triangle of tourist houses at the corner of Guerrero and Cristiana streets are completely isolated. A couple at Villa San Jorge have sandbagged their home, but the walls are peeling from the dampness. Cathy Wertheimer had to evacuate her home at midnight when the retaining wall gave way and water entered her lakefront house in Jocotepec. Betty Willette at her Granja Elizbeth in Jocotepec was awakened at 5 a.m. when the retaining wall gave way and 10-foot waves roared onto her property. By 8:30 a.m., the water stood at one-meter deep inside and all the electricity poles were knocked over. One couple is so isolated in El Chante that they have to send their mozo in a boat for provisions. The San Antonio Tlayacapan home of Peter Libbly, who built the Old Posada and co-authored “House in the Sun” and “Village in the Sun,” is also under water.
1977
Prisoner swap
may see 60 go free
Mexico and the United States will swap prisoners December 9. Of the 240 U.S. prisoners who will cross over into the federal penitentiary in San Diego, California, it is expected that not more than 60 will be released quickly. All will first undergo medical examinations, which will require a period of two weeks, as some are said to be in poor physical condition. Those whose release is not imminent, will be transferred to other jails in the United States, depending on their crime, their record, the length of time left to be served in their sentence and their place of residence. Mexican officials announced that the agreement excludes any exchange of prisoners found guilty of political crimes, deliberate breaking of the country’s immigration laws or it military laws (the latter refers to any illegal activity involving guns).
1987
US couple inshootout with cops
Cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies led to the apprehension of two U.S. citizens just outside Chapala following a shootout that left one Mexican federal policeman seriously wounded.
Mexican federal judicial police and Jalisco state police had surrounded the residence of Luis Ray Beam at Calle los Pescadores 14 when he and his wife, Sheila Marie Toohey Beam, returned home about 10:30 p.m. As Beam was taken into custody, his wife ran into the rented house and fired at officers who pursued her, hitting one policeman twice in the chest and back. Although the police returned fire, they eventually took Sheila Toohey into custody without harming her and secured Louis Beam’s 7-year-old daughter from another marriage, Sara Hadassah Beam, unharmed.
Beam, listed on the FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitive list, was charged with seditious conspiracy in an indictment by a federal grand jury in April 1987 along with 13 other individuals. The group was charged with attempting to overthrow the U.S. government and financing this goal with armed robberies and counterfeiting. The 14 individuals are also charged with conspiring to commit assassinations of a U.S. federal judge and an FBI agent, among others. The indictment also accused the conspirators with planning to murder members of ethnic groups by bombings and to destroy utilities and pollute community water supplies. A former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, he is a member of the Aryan Nation Church of Jesus Christ Christian in Hayden Lake, Idaho.
The Beams arrived in the Lake Chapala area and had borrowed text books from English-speaking neighbors to teach Sara Beam, but did not enroll her in any Lakeside school. Beam posed as an archeologist and called himself Jerry Clinton, said neighbors, who were surprised at the “very nice” couple’s arrest. He also applied for a job at this newspaper in September, leaving only a general delivery address in Chapala.
Sheila Toohey Beam was held for ten days in Guadalajara but freed for lack of evidence and deported. She said she had no idea the men attacking them were police officers. Beam and the other defendants were acquitted in a trial the next year.
School for Deaf narrowly saved
Despite earlier setbacks, the Lakeside School for the Deaf in Jocotepec is not about to close its doors. Rather, it is expanding its enrollment and opening a fundraising drive for US$30,000 to buy the school property and build urgently needed new classrooms.
“We had quite a shock in September,” says school committee president Jean Carmichael. “We learned that the school land was to be subdivided and the school building bulldozed unless we could find the money to purchase.”
The initial response from the Lakeside community to the school’s crisis has been so encouraging that the committee is optimistic that not only can the campaign goal be met, but also that construction of new rooms can begin this school year. Several leaders of the Lakeside community who have successfully headed other campaigns for local causes have volunteered their time and expertise to help the school with a variety of fundraisers.
1997
Dry law has Puerto Vallarta up in arms
The local Restaurant Association (Canirac) has petitioned Puerto Vallarta’s Alcoholic Beverage Commissioner Pedro Ruiz Higuera for a special dispensation from a state law which bans alcohol sales for a 48-hour period before and during elections. State elections are planned for November 9. Canirac’s position is that this is a foreign tourist destination with many all-inclusive hotel packages and tourists expect to enjoy their vacations with alcoholic refreshments. During the federal elections held last July, many irate tourists vowed never to return when they found out they couldn’t imbibe after having already paid for their all-inclusive stay.
2007
Chapala-Joco boundary dispute
As steam builds up in an emerging boundary dispute between Chapala and Jocotepec, property holders in a trouble-ridden area just east of San Juan Cosala have been left in the lurch, wondering which of the two municipalities to call home.
The debate centers on whether the delineation falls on the entrance road to sparsely populated La Mojonera subdivision or along a creek bed that runs about 150-200 meters further east. In either case the boundary slices through an area that is mired in complex legal issues that impact the public finances of both municipalities, as well as the private interests of property owners.
The conflict heated up a few weeks ago after the Jocotepec government ordered the installation of a large welcome sign spanning the highway at a point that Chapala authorities believe sits on their side of the dividing line.
After Jocotepec put up the sign, despite a request from Chapala authorities to hold off until the dispute had been settled, the Chapala city council voted to issue a formal appeal to the state legislature to intervene in arbitration between the two municipalities. A final decision will apparently hinge on an analysis of ambiguities contained in assorted official documents dating back by at least 75 years.
Mexican labor market to take a hit
The U.S. housing crisis has displaced construction workers — millions of them Mexicans. Many Mexican families are being evicted from their rented homes as banks try to unload foreclosed properties being foisted on them.
As the mortgage plunge widens, all categories of Mexican workers in the United States are heading south of the border, and causing headaches for President Felipe Calderon, in part for his “Candidate of Jobs,” self-moniker one year ago.