1962: Sheriff Deputy Threatened With Loaded Gun By Youth

According to the Spring Valley Bulletin, here's what was happening this week in 1962:

–The Lemon Grove substation of the County Sheriff’s Department was made headquarters of the Lemon Grove-Spring Valley area. Elmer Jansen, San Diego County sheriff, said the decision was part of a decentralization program that was supposed to provide better police services to the citizens in the area.

The new headquarters would house 24 officers, three sergeants and their 10 vehicles. However the detectives continued working out of the Main street location and didn’t join the substation. The officers served under Lt. L.C. Earnest of the El Cajon sheriff’s office.

The Lemon Grove substation was made headquarters in order to keep more officers on patrol instead of having them drive to and from the San Diego office location. The gas for the 10 vehicles was provided by local stations, Earnest said, adding that eventually the rest of the specialized departments would be transferred over to the new headquarters as well.

–A sheriff’s deputy was threatened by local youths when responding to a call in Lemon Grove. Deputy Claude Smith, who worked at the Lemon Grove substation, responded to a call from Mrs. Sannie LaSalle in Spring Valley, who reported that an 11-year-old boy had found a loaded gun in a field behind her home and gave it to her.

When Smith arrived on the scene, he asked the boy, Merle Ebbert, to take him to the place the gun was found. After walking through a thick brush, Smith was met by an 18-year-old youth who pointed a gun in Smith’s face and told Smith he “was a dead man.” The 18-year-old was accompanied by another youth who started looking for the gun that Ebbert turned into Mrs. LaSalle. Deputy Smith took advantage of the moment of frenzy and jumped on top of the gunman. A bullet was discharged but no one was injured.

Deputies J.R. Whalen, Ronald Jensen and Reserve Deputy Winebrenner arrived on scene and subdued both youths. The two men, 18-year-old Lee Spinelli and 17-year-old Carlis Bennet, both from St. Louis, were charged with attempted murder. They were also sought by the San Diego Police Department a week before, when they fired a shot at an SDPD officer.

–A new was road planned for the Spring Valley area, and along with it came new zoning rules. The Planning Commission ordered a public hearing regarding the zoning of 130 acres on both sides of the new Highway 94. The then-unnamed state road was planned to run parallel to Campo Road to the south and also connect with the Palm-94 interchange. A request for commercial zoning to the south of the new road was also set to be discussed at the public hearing.