1964: Riot At Spring Valley Dance Results In 2 Injured Sheriff's Deputies

According to the Spring Valley Bulletin, here's what was happening in your neighborhood, this week in 1964:

– A Spring Valley dance quickly turned into a riot, injuring two police officers and resulting in the arrest of six teenagers. The dance was held at the Spring Valley Chamber of Commerce on Memory Lane. The riot started shortly after the dance began and was thought to be caused by a fight between two boys that quickly escalated. Residents nearby called the police when they noticed there seemed to be a disturbance at the dance.

The two deputies who were in the vicinity at the time of the disturbance call, Lawrence Narron and Richard Sandberg, were both injured when they tried to subdue the rowdy crowd. Narron had only minor injuries when he was thrown over a fence at the Chamber of Commerce by a group of young men at the dance, but Sandberg wasn’t so lucky. He suffered several ruptured blood vessels when a police car door was slammed on his leg during the commotion.

The officers reported that while trying to break up the initial fight that drew the crowd, about 40 of the boys rushed at the police officers and started kicking and punching them. Narron was attacked and then thrown over the fence. As Sandberg was radioing for help, another teenager came up behind him and slammed the patrol car door on his leg.

The police report submitted by Narron and Sandberg stated that the rioters were shouting, “Let’s get them, kill them!”

When backup finally arrived the group of youths were placed under arrest and taken to County jail.

Five of the six boys, from El Cajon and San Diego, were taken to the San Diego County Jail and booked on a range of charges including rioting, resisting arrest, disturbing the peace and helping another person in custody escape.  The sixth boy was booked into Juvenile Hall on the suspicion that he also disturbed the peace.

– The Grossmont Union High School District approved a $10 million budget for the 1964-65 school year. On June 22, the governing board of the school district approved the $10,385,125 budget, an increase of $46,177 over a previously approved budget. Certain personnel in the district received a 5.6 percent increase in their yearly salaries and some of the funds were placed into a reserve.

A new salary schedule was also approved, with an average 4.6 percent increase over the salary schedule approved a year before. The teacher salary schedule ranged from $5650 to $11,300. Administrators received a 1.5 percent increase which amounted to $250. This confirmed the trend that the Grossmont Union High School District paid a smaller wage to administrators and higher salaries for teachers.

– Parents for Prayer, a conservative group in the La Mesa-Spring Valley area, gained enough signatures to force a recall election of three members of the board of trustees. Margaret Burnett, William Johnson and Robert Andreen were under threat of losing their newly gained seats because of the recall election.

Parents for Prayer had been circulating petitions around the area and finally got over 6,000 signatures in favor of the recall. Chairman of Parents for Prayer, John Stennett, turned the names into the County Department of Education. Only 2,100 names were needed to force a recall. After the names were turned in the County Registrar of Voters was allowed eight days to ensure the names were valid and real. After that was determined the County Superintendent was to hold a new election within 60 to 75 days.