Ben Yellen; Imperial Valley Activist

Ben Yellen, 86, Imperial Valley curmudgeon who lost his medical license for gross negligence and incompetence. Yellen’s 40-year practice in Brawley ended over his injection of drugs he concocted into a 16-month-old child who died. But Yellen, a one-term Brawley city councilman and frequent political candidate, was probably better known for his endless efforts to thwart government with letters from his mimeograph machine. “Never write one letter, always write 400” was his credo. In the 1970s he won national attention, including an appearance on “60 Minutes,” over his battle to convert the Imperial Valley to small farms. He said the Reclamation Act of 1902 precluded federal water distribution to any farm larger than 160 acres. But the U.S. Supreme Court defeated him by exempting large landowners in the Imperial Valley from the federal law. On July 1 in Brawley.