Valley Voice Issue 74 (4 August, 2016)

Volume XXXVI No. 15 • 4 August, 2016

www.ourvalleyvoice.com

Santa Fe Aggregates Hits a Road Block in Mining Expansion Catherine Doe What was expected to be a routine vote to amend a mining permit on the border of Woodlake and Lemon Cove turned into heated public hearing at the June 22 Tulare County Planning Commission meeting. The commission voted 5-4 not to approve the modification of the Kaweah River Rock mining permit.

The commission voted to continue the public hearing 30 days, to the July 27 meeting. The mine is currently owned and operated by Santa Fe Aggregates.

Chuck Przybylski, Project Planner for Tulare County Resource Management Agency (RMA) made the presentation to the commission. He said that Santa Fe Aggregates was asking for a minor modification of their permit in order to mine 20 acres currently used to store heavy equipment and gravel. The 20 acres are contiguous with the current mine and included in the reclamation plan. The parcel is scheduled to be returned to irrigated pasture during the reclamation process.

The company’s motivation for add-

ing the acreage was to extend the life of the mine. Doug Reynolds, general manager of Santa Fe Aggregates, said that they could mine for three to five more years if the modification was approved.

Mike Washam, Tulare County Economic Development Manager, said that these minor modifications are normally signed off by the director of RMA, but a notice was sent out as courtesy because mines are controversial. Washam said that RMA wants to “provide the most transparency as possible toward the public.”

During public comment, some of the planning commissioners and RMA staff were demonstrably frustrated that the speakers brought up all the old problems at the Stillwell and Lemon Cove Facility, both operated by CEMEX. The county reminded the speakers, who live close to the mine, that they are completely separate permits and companies.

The residents explained that, separate or not, the county is in charge of monitoring all mines and ensuring that companies adhere to its permits. Also, Santa Fe Aggregates borders the Lemon

The Santa Fe Aggregates mining operation, southeast of Woodlake. Catherine Doe/Valley Voice

Cove Facility, and even though it might be a different permit number, the company will be digging in the same underground aquifer.

Karen Callahan, whose orange grove

borders CEMEX’ Lemon Cove Facility and is kitty corner to Santa Fe Aggregates, reminded the planning commission that CEMEX violated their permit

MINING continued on 4 »

Visalia City Council Gives Final Approval for Sales Tax Measure

A cross-section of young community members spoke at the last Tulare Local Healthcare District meeting in support of Measure I, the upcoming Tulare bond measure that would pay to complete the ailing Tower One project. Tony Maldonado/Valley Voice

TRMC Begins to Cement Oversight at Latest Meeting Tony Maldonado The Tulare Local Healthcare District (TLHCD) has opened applications for community members who wish to join a new Bond Oversight Committee for the potential Measure I bond. The district also attempted to assuage any doubt among voters by formalizing potential bond oversight and spending measures.

Measure I Supporters Speak

A group of Measure I supporters spoke during the public comment section of the meeting to praise the board and urge the public to vote in favor of Measure I. One couple spoke of their young child’s heart surgery and their desire to have a fully modern hospital in Tulare,

so that their child’s follow-up operations could be in town, instead of San Francisco.

“My name is Carlos, this is my wife, we’re just going to share a brief story with you that we recently went through. We recently had a serious matter with our new born child, she recently required open heart surgery. My wife had a history of high risk pregnancies, so we were not able to be seen here in Tulare or Visalia, they actually sent us to Fresno, just for ultrasounds,” Carlos said. “We went to UCSF, it was a newer hospital, it was less than 6 months old, it was very nice, we were fortunate to be there.. but we were displaced from our family for over eight months.”

MEETING continued on 11 »

The Visalia City Council at its August 1 meeting gave final approval to put a half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot. The vote was 5-0. The increased revenue will be earmarked for public safety and a small percent will go to youth services and parks. Because it is a General Revenue Measure, the spending plan can change through the years but only after a lengthy and public process. The measure needs to pass by a simple majority.

The city council has been researching the possibility of such a ballot measure for two years because sales tax revenue has stagnated, and may actually go down.

The goal of the sales tax is to maintain the current level of city services that have actually increased in cost.

Eric Frost, Deputy City Manager, gave the final presentation and reviewed what the council had already agreed upon in principal. The sales tax would have to be reviewed by the council every eight years. To suspend the sales tax the city council would need a four fifths vote.

Voters could also suspend the sales tax through a referendum.

The council also agreed on many strict accountability measures. The increase in revenue cannot be used to pay off the city’s debt and must undergo annual independent audits. A specific spending plan must be in place and recertified every year by an oversight board, two public hearings and a vote by the city council. The oversight board will consist of 11 members who are involved in the community.

Fewer than usual people spoke during the comment period because the

Catherine Doe city council had already addressed citizens’ concerns during previous public hearings. Harold Meyers, a member of the Ballot Measure Advisory Committee, wanted the voter pamphlet to be clear that this measure does not have the same restrictions as Measure T. That measure is a public safety fund whose spending plan cannot be changed. The measure facing voters in November can change with future city councils.

Jerrold Jensen, also on the committee, thought that backlash from Kaweah Delta’s failed Measure H would imperil this measure but still felt it would pass.

“Visalia is still a bargain,” he said. “Dinuba, Porterville and Tulare have a six or seven percent utility tax on top of a high sales tax.” Jensen did prefer the flexibility that a 50% plus one ballot measure gives to future council members.

Councilmember Bob Link gave an example of exactly why the council needs flexibility in its spending plan. He pointed out that ten years ago, when Measure T passed, body cameras for police were relatively new. Now they are almost mandatory equipment for police but because of the restrictions Measure T is not allowed to pay for them.

Councilmember Greg Collins said that the yearly public surveys have proven why the council needs flexibility. Ten years ago the priority of the residents of Visalia was gangs and growth. Now citizens’ priorities are homeless, safety and parks.

Collins said that he has been supportive from day one of the sales tax measure.

TAX continued on 10 »

2 • Valley Voice

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Over the Curvature of the Earth

As I sit with what amounts to a sundowner in these parts--a cold beer--I can’t help but reflect on the five-night safari I endured last week standing guard in the husk that was our house.

I’ve been on a real safari, and it was a much easier enterprise.

Of course, we were cosseted and driven every “step” of the way, and the accommodations--even the tented camps--were magnificent. It was not your great grandfather’s safari. Still, I doubt I’ve ever sustained such a high level of sheer terror for so long a time. My mother-in-law wanted to take my wife, myself and the kids on a trip they’d always remember her by.

Sounds great, right?

Not to my wife. She opted to stay home with our last toddler. Her only words to me were to the effect that if anything untoward happened to any of our four older children I should not consider any homecoming. “Wherever you are,” she said, “you just keep on going.”

We were in Kenya and Tanzania. In fairly short order I discovered that everything there is either starving or venomous--or else festooned with enormous thorns.

A black mamba slithered its way into one of our hotels. The night sounds at the tented camps--in particular the chuffing of lions--made me think of the infamous man-eaters of Tsavo. We were not too far removed from there. And then there was the time I came around a corner to find our youngest son, who was all of eight years old, about to enter into an earnest exchange of views with a male baboon whose incisors, I swear, must have been four inches long. Both our son and the baboon were beaming like ambassadors--at least, our son was; the baboon, I think it’s fair to say, could not have been described as smiling.

In a nutshell, then, our two weeks in the bush. And there were many, many more such incidents--so many that during the second week I began to search mentally for which locale, in the future, I’d be calling “home.”

But before departing for the bush we did call home--emailed, more correctly--from the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi. As I sat with our youngest son in the internet cubicle it occurred to me just how far over the curvature of the earth I was. Not, strictly speaking, geographically--but alone with a great responsibility. By the time we came home I deeply needed a vacation.

In my lexicon, someone’s having a “high orbit” means that person is delusional--like our former landlord, who, despite burning a third of the place down on 8 July and ten days later severing power and water, still believes that his property is in prime condition and ready for sale at a top price. I have news for you, Eric: Your corner-cutting has made your place a fixer-upper. But he insisted on a walk through to see for himself about our security deposit. Can you imagine?

“Over the curvature of the earth” has long been my expression for any kind of isolation--not quite incommunicado, necessarily, but gone.

For five nights--from the 19th to the 23rd of last month--I was again over the curvature of the earth, standing guard over Eric’s property and our belongings. Water had been restored, but there was no electricity. Appallingly, I was too stupid to so much as procure a transistor radio. Then again, with the Giants on such a downslide since the All-Star break, I look back and am thankful to have missed it all.

Somehow, during the 18th and 19th, we put the last edition of the Valley Voice through layout. A big thanks to Tony Maldonado for that. Somehow, on the 20th, I found another house. A big thanks to Julia Jimenez for that. Then there was distribution, and all the logistics of an impending move. So much happened that week I can scarcely remember it all.

But nothing happened at night.

Here’s the routine: At about 6pm it starts to get dark in the house; there’s nothing to do, but you still have to navigate your way through it to, say, the bathroom.

So between 6pm and 7pm all the candles are lit, even though there is a last gasp of late afternoon and dusk yet to experience. This is when the dread sets in. And then you sit and experience it. That’s all.

After a number of hours dread becomes boredom--except for the night sounds, as at a tented camp. Nighttime in an isolated, rural house that everyone and his brother knows is abandoned. Which is why I stood guard.

The antidote to ennui is chardonnay--but then it always is, under any circumstances. Candle light doesn’t necessarily enhance the wine. In fact, candle light now holds no romance for me whatsoever. It’s dim, smoky, guttering and undependable.

It plays hell with the cerebellum. Here’s to the incandescent light bulb!

And a big thanks to Thomas Edison for that.

— Joseph Oldenbourg

The Valley Voice is your newspaper Published by The Valley Voice, LLC.

Publisher/Editor: Joseph Oldenbourg (joseph@ourvalleyvoice.com) (559) 972-7778

Reporters:

Catherine Doe (catherine@ourvalleyvoice.com) Dave Adalian (dave@ourvalleyvoice.com) Stefan Barros — sports (stefan@ourvalleyvoice.com) Steve Pastis (steve@ourvalleyvoice.com) Production/Website: Tony Maldonado (tony@ourvalleyvoice.com)

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Nancy Vigran (nancy@ourvalleyvoice.com) Julia Jimenez (julia@ourvalleyvoice.com)

Contact us & share your opinion: www.ourvalleyvoice.com PO Box 44064 • Lemon Cove, CA 93244

4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 3

Political Fix The Local Election Scene

The Tulare County Registrar of Voters has put out a preliminary list of who has filed papers to run in the November election. Those interested in running have until August 12 to file, so many more prospective candidates will be coming forward. If no incumbent files, the nomination period for that particular office will be extended for one week.

Even though it’s early innings, the candidates’ list is 62 pages long and filled with community service districts and elementary school elections. Mixed in all of those contests are the more exciting races of Visalia and Tulare City Councils. The craziest races will be, as usual, where no incumbent will be running.

For the first time ever, Visalians will be voting by district. One race will be for Amy Shuklian’s seat in District one.

The other is for District 2, Bob Link’s seat. Districts 3, 4, and 5 will be up for re-election in 2018. Ms. Shuklian just won her election to the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, so her seat will be open. Only one person so far has filed papers for her district, Adam Peck, Executive Director at Tulare County Workforce Investment Board. But Phil Cox announced on facebook that he is running for city council District one and has just sold his house. He will be presumably filing when he gets settled in his new house that is in the district.

Catherine Doe

People erroneously counted out Mr. Link, but he has decided to defend his seat and already has two challengers. They are former candidate for Tulare County Board of Supervisors, Brian Poochigian, and Adam Arakelian, a Visalia Fire Engineer whose father was a also a firefighter. Mr. Poochigian came in a close fourth out of nine candidates for the Tulare County board of Supervisors and gained a lot of name recognition which should make this a close race.

For Tulare City Council, Districts 1, 3, and 5 are up for election and District 2 is a half-term ending in 2018. In all four districts, the incumbents have already filed to defend their seats. One interesting challenger will be Jose Sigala, spokesperson for Service Employees International Union, who has filed papers for District 1, where Shea Gowin is the incumbent.

One of the more interesting smaller races is for Kaweah Delta Hospital District. All three incumbents have filed and one, Teresa Ramos, is facing challenger Nevin House. Mr. House ran a successful campaign against the hospitals $327 million bond Measure H. The big news on the state level, that even non-political junkies have probably heard, is that for the first time in California’s history there will not be a senatorial candidate from the Republican Party. Because of the state’s top-two primary system, two Democrats will be vying for the senate seat because they

got the most votes. The two candidates running for Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat are Attorney General Kamala Harris and State Senator Loretta Sanchez.

The Republican candidate who got the most votes in the June Primary was Duf Sundheim who received a paltry 8% of the vote. One Republican operative expressed relief that there was no Republican candidate in the senate race so the party did not have to waste campaign money on an unwinnable race.

No Republican holds statewide office in California and none are projected to win in November.

Winners and Losers of the Republican and Democrat Conventions

We live--well, used to live, in the middle of an orange grove outside of Exeter. The homeowner was in the process of replanting his nine acres of citrus, and did not employ the cream of the crop, so to speak, to do the job.

The result of his cutting corners was an ag burn that burned down a quarter of his property. Then ten days later while preparing the field for new trees, a field disker tore up the water pipes, then went to the other side of the of the house and ripped out the underground electrical line from the home’s electrical panel. I would have been waiting for the piano to fall on the house but it burned up in the fire.

The damage was so extensive that

the landlord told us to move out immediately. God smiled down on our family and the day after we were told to leave we signed a lease and picked up the keys to our new home. Even with limited access to modern conveniences for about ten days while we moved and cleaned I was able to get the gist of who were the winners and losers of the Republican and Democrat Conventions.

Winners: Ted Cruz was the big winner as he emerged from this entire process with his integrity intact. He did not ask to speak, but was asked to speak at the Republican Convention. Unlike many of the other Republican presidential candidates during the primary, Sen. Cruz did not endorse Donald Trump but told his fellow Republicans to vote their conscience. After the speech he told the press, “I’m not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.”

Whether fueled by his ego or conservative purity, Sen. Cruz proved he stands his ground. The bottom line is that If Mr. Trump loses, Mr. Cruz is going to emerge as the big winner and be the leader of the Republican Party and likely presidential nominee for 2020.

The next big winner was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. His rousing speech was kind of a poke in the eye to Mr. Trump’s running mate,

POLITICAL FIX continued on 5 »

4 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Supervisors, Tribal Leaders Discuss Water, Land, Trees and Ambulances Steve Pastis The Tulare County Board of Supervisors hosted its annual meeting with Tule River Tribal Council on July 20, with the tree mortality epidemic, water and the drought, and ambulance service receiving the most attention.

“It’s good to keep open communication between the Tule River Tribe and Tulare County,” said Tribal Chair Neil Peyron before the meeting. “We update each other on the different projects we have, and if we need the other’s assistance. It’s more of an informational session.”

All five county supervisors and three tribal leaders were in attendance at the meeting, the latest in a series of meetings that have been held at least annually for the past five years. The supervisors and tribal council take turns hosting the meetings.

Supervisor Steven Worthley started the discussion about the tree mortality epidemic by stating that there are an estimated 8.1 million dead trees in Tulare County’s parks and forests, by far the most in any county in the state.

A major infestation of bark beetles is killing the trees, which, as a result of the drought, are unable to produce the levels of sap required to repel the beetles.

The millions of dead trees in the county threaten power lines and mountain roads, and are a potential source of fuel for fires. The Tule River Tribe’s land includes large forests.

“To the best of our knowledge, the (U.S.) Forest Service is just knocking trees down – when they have the manpower,” Worthley said. “They’re only taking down trees if there is a danger of trees falling down on roads or power lines. They’re not taking down trees in the national forest, and they don’t even get into the wilderness area.”

He added that a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would encourage the Forest Service to do more timber sales, but “there are two major obstacles for us: there is only one sawmill and we have no home for these trees.

“When we first approached the Forest Service, they gave us this spiel that, ‘We have all these projects,’” said Worthley. “It’s been difficult to get the people in the agency to treat this as an emergency.”

He suggested that tribal communities throughout the state “can be of assistance” in influencing state leaders on this issue.

When attention turned to water issues, Peyron explained current efforts to gather and store water on tribal land.

“We’ve got it down to a science now,” he said. “We’re trying to raise the dam to 12’.”

He also reported that, “our wastewater treatment plant is working very well.

We’re also looking at having a solar farm.”

The meeting then focused on “fee to trust,” the process by which the tribe acquires additional county land for its

TRIBAL DISCUSSION continued on 10 »

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Mining

Continued from p. 1 many times and that the county did nothing about it.

These violations resulted in domestic and agriculture wells going dry at Stillwell and nearly dry at the Lemon Cove Facility. She repeated a refrain often said by the Tulare County Supervisors, “no water, no farming.”

RMA did finally do something about Stillwell late in 2014, but not until nine months after the residents lost their water--and after lawyers got involved.

Ray Carlsen, a water lawyer who represented the residents next to the Stillwell mine, said that digging in the aquifer is a bad idea. He said that nature made the river basins perfect underground filters where the water can easily flow.

“The problem is that the planning commission puts together all these conditions for the use permit, then just puts it on a shelf and forgets about them. No one is enforcing them.”

The neighbors of Santa Fe Aggregates want to know why they should trust the county this time in monitoring the mine. “We don’t want to get into that position again where our wells have no water,” said Callahan.

A Damaged Aquifer

The applicants draft addendum for Santa Fe Aggregates states, “mining plans have been designed so that mining activities will not intercept or impact the groundwater table.” Frank Callahan, Karen’s husband, said that the water level in that area is at 15 feet, so a 30 foot pit would theoretically impact the aquifer.

Reynolds said that’s not possible because there is a 45-foot pit on the original section of his mine that is dry.

Callahan suggested that CEMEX’ mining activities in the area have so adversely affected the underground aquifer that the water either drains away from the mine or is dammed up.

To the west, Santa Fe Aggregates borders the Lemon Cove Facility where two 50-foot ponds created by CEMEX’ mining activity suck up the water.

Directly north of Santa Fe Aggregates is a botched reclamation project.

CEMEX filled a former gravel pit with a sandy material and it dammed up the aquifer, damaging the Callahans’ and other residents’ wells.

A new Condition of Approval has been added to the addendum to allow mining the 20 acres. “Mining depth shall be monitored to stay above the static groundwater table.” Ironically, because CEMEX’ mining activities have so adversely affected the groundwater table, the county will have no trouble monitoring this new condition.

History of Kaweah River Rock

According to a report included with the application, mining started at the site 48 years ago on about 40 acres. Permits to expand the mine were approved in 1963 and 1966.

After the adoption of the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) the next mining permit in 1979 could only be approved with a reclamation plan.

In 2001 Kaweah River rock got an amendment to Reclamation Plan PMR 79-04 to add 20 acres for storage of heavy equipment and overburden.

The 20 acres were contiguous with the existing mine, but also bordered farm land and homes and the residents threatened to appeal.

According to Frank Callahan, Kaweah River Rock and the neighbors came to a gentleman’s agreement that the 20 acres would never be mined. Because Kaweah River Rock promised not to mine the parcel, the farmers and residents dropped their objections to the new permit.

Not a Minor Modification

Karen Callahan disagrees with RMA referring to creating a 30-foot-deep pit and extracting one million tons of aggregate as a “minor modification.”

Callahan took issue with the vagueness of the addendum which states “plus or minus 20 acres” and also states that digging will be either be at 30 or 35 feet.

Julie Bigham, of Woodlake, suggested that the scale of the project should require a completely new permit.

Reynolds said that Santa Fe Aggregates has tried to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to working with environmentalists and running an environmentally responsible gravel mine.

He objected to Santa Fe Aggregates’ being painted with the wide brush of everything that other mining companies have done wrong over the years.

“Everything we have is either grown or mined so what are you going to do?” said Reynolds.

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4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 5

Political Fix Continued from p. 2

Indiana Governor Mike Pence. The charisma-challenged Gov. Pence doesn’t have half the campaigning chops as Gov. Christie. With a thoroughly engaged audience chanting, “Lock her up” Gov. Christie gave Mr. Trump a taste of what he missed out on by not choosing him. He also cemented a place in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, a huge personal success seeing as Gov. Christie’s political career is toast.

Michelle Obama had a double win. First, because a Republican thought so highly her 2008 convention speech that she plagiarized it, and second, for her performance at the 2016 convention. While looking over a rainbow of ethnicities and religions at the Democrat Convention, Ms. Obama said that she wakes up every morning in a house built by slaves then watches her two beautiful Black daughters play with their dog on the White House lawn. That one sentence nailed it as to why anyone who has ever felt the sting of discrimination should vote Democrat.

Losers: Senator Bernie Sanders’ delegates and Melania Trump tie for second biggest loser.

Ms. Trump’s big coming out party, in the form of her convention speech, crashed and burned as online and TV news played in a loop Ms. Trump’s and

Ms. Obama’s speech side by side as indisputable evidence of her plagiarism.

At the Democratic Convention, Sanders’ supporters acted like spoiled little brats, demanding a strain of liberal purity Sen. Sanders can’t even live up to. His supporters have stormed out of the convention, booed the speakers, including Sen. Sanders himself, and held protests outside the hall.

Even after Sen. Sanders got almost everything he wanted on the Democratic platform, a core group of his delegates continued to protest.

His supporters complain that they can only trust Bernie, but when he says they must vote for Hillary Clinton, they do not trust him.

The overall biggest loser was diversity in the Republican Party. The messages were vastly different between the two conventions and so were how they looked. There were around 2800 Blacks at the Democrat Convention and only 18 at the Republican.

The same numbers held true for all other ethnicities. Unfortunately the Republican Party just can’t make the leap from giving lip service of having a big tent to making it a reality.

After the upheaval in my family’s life I don’t know who had a harder week, mainstream Republicans watching their party be usurped by a narcissist Democrat in Republican skin, or our living, mopping, scrubbing and hauling boxes and furniture in 108 degree heat without electricity.

I felt strong as an ox and ten pounds lighter after what felt like five

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days of intensive hot yoga. As for our former landlord, he was left with dying landscaping, intermittent water, and a destroyed electrical system in the middle of a smoldering heap – kind of like the vision Mr. Trump painted of America during his acceptance speech.

From Whom Will Gary Johnson Take Votes?

Now that the two presidential candidates from both major parties have been decided, there’s a lot of talk about how former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, and to a lesser extent Jill Stein, will affect the outcome of the presidential election. Gov. Johnson is running on the Libertarian ticket and Ms. Stein is the presidential candidate for the Green Party.

The Green Party is only on the ballot in 24 states, so her candidacy is inconsequential. Though the more rabid Bernie supporters from California, where she is on the ballot, have said they will vote for her and not Hillary. The Libertarian Party is on every ballot in the country, making Gov. Johnson a real threat.

In addition, Gov. Johnson’s polling numbers are creeping up and he might qualify to share the debate stage on September 26 with Mr. Trump and Sec. Clinton. He needs to 15% to qualify. That is if Mr. Trump stops whining long enough about how the election is rigged to participate in the debate. Maybe it will just be Gov. Johnson and Sec. Clinton on the stage.

Gov. Johnson, like his third-party predecessors before him, will not win.

But from whom will he take votes?

The Donald or The Hillary?

Libertarians are unique in the fact they hold dear the purest forms of both the Republican and Democrat parties. According to Gov. Johnson, “many people are already Libertarians they just don’t know it.”

Libertarians want government completely out of our lives, which makes them social liberals. They want no, or very low taxes, which makes them fiscal conservatives. They want to cut defense spending in half and only use American troops to defend our borders, which makes them isolationist.

So while Libertarians want Americans to be free to use recreational drugs, chose who to marry, or decide for themselves when to have a baby, they also believe you are free to starve to death under a bridge if you don’t have a job.

The answer to the question, from whom will Gov. Johnson take votes is Mr. Trump. Both he and his running mate are former Republicans, their major endorsements come from Republicans and most registered Libertarians are themselves former Republicans.

But in this election year, disaffected Sanders followers have vowed not to vote for Hillary. Maybe they can find their liberal savior in Mr. Potato Head and vote for him like thousands of Americans do every election.

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6 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Agriculture Managed Grazing Helps Forests, Experts Say Ching Lee, CFBF With California wildfires becoming more frequent and intense, ranchers and other natural resources experts say public policy on livestock grazing as a potential tool to manage fuel and vegetation needs to be reevaluated to allow more flexibility.

Despite mounting research that shows well-managed grazing could help reduce wildfire risk and severity, livestock stocking rates on public lands have dropped substantially through the years—and continue their downward trend today.

“At this point, I think it’s fair to question whether or not we need to continue to decline those numbers or if we’ve declined them too far,” said Ken Tate, University of California professor and Cooperative Extension rangeland watershed specialist. “In our opinion, the current science doesn’t support it—certainly not a continued decline.”

Justin Oldfield, vice president of government relations for the California Cattlemen’s Association, said forests used to be managed more efficiently and effectively 50 years ago, but regulatory constraints or threats of litigation have changed how management decisions are made—and in many cases, have halted them altogether.

“Inaction has caused inaction, which has led to increased fuel loads on the forest,” he said. “This ultimately leads to more wildfires and definitely more devastating and hotter-burning wildfires.”

At one time, public rangelands and

forestlands across the West had been grazed more heavily in order to make use of all of the forage on the landscape, Tate said, acknowledging that was not without environmental impact.

“I won’t try to tell you that grazing has been perfect for the last hundred years,” said Laura Snell, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor in Modoc County. “But a huge change took place in that time period.”

Prior to the 1980s, production of food, fiber, fuel and water was the primary focus on public lands, Tate said, and that affected streams, wetlands and other riparian areas. But by the 1990s, with concerns about riparian habitat and endangered species, grazing policies began to change and conservation became more of a focus, in order to allow public lands to be used for a variety of purposes. These changes resulted in significant reductions of livestock on public lands.

Since 1980, the number of animal unit months—which refers to the amount of forage a thousand-pound cow and her calf will eat in one month—on U.S. Forest Service lands dropped by 50 percent, UC researchers found. From 2000 to 2013, total AUMs declined 27 percent on national forestlands and 23 percent on U.S Bureau of Land Management lands in California. Of the more than 700 grazing allotments on Forest Service land in the state, only about 500 are actively grazed, Tate pointed out.

At the same time, the number of grazing herds of deer, antelope and oth-

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er wild animals also has diminished in forestlands, allowing overgrowth of vegetation and increasing fire risk, Snell said.

She noted that research and conservation efforts have “really revitalized” grazing practices, pointing out that overgrazing is now viewed as unhealthy for both animals and the landscape. Not only have stocking rates declined on forestlands, but ranchers now practice rotational grazing, so that they’re not leaving large numbers of cattle in one area for the entire grazing season. Cattle graze in the Devil’s Garden Ranger District of Modoc NationGrazing animals al Forest, which currently has 89 grazing allotments administered also provide nutri- through 74 permits, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Livestock help to manage vegetation to reduce fire risk, and provide ents back to the soil nutrients to the land. Courtesy/William Suckow/CFBF with the waste they pered your ability to control that invadeposit, she added. sion,” she said.

“Protecting the resource space is benIn this contemporary era of grazeficial for agriculture,” said Leslie Roche, ing management, Tate said he is “fairly UCCE specialist in rangeland manageconfident” that livestock numbers could ment. “We know that in these landscapes, come back up on public lands for vegetalivestock prefer the more diverse meadtion management while still safeguarding ows, and we know that meadows with a riparian areas and other habitat. But he diverse forage base have greater quality. So emphasized good management also takes that’s a win for both agriculture and for time and labor, and in the end, those diversity.” management goals—whether for vegeAs a rancher and a UCCE livestock tation or conservation—must work for advisor in Siskiyou County, Carissa Koopthe rancher. mann Rivers said grazing not only helps “It’s got to be profitable. You can’t do to reduce fuel loads but also allows more it for free and you certainly can’t do it for diverse plants to establish by cleaning up a loss,” he said. dominant species that tend to shade and Land management agencies, howchoke out new seed banks, preventing ever, continue to be hamstrung by fierce them from germinating. Having a mosaic opposition to grazing by some groups, layout of forages is nutritionally beneficial he noted, and that limits their ability to for wildlife and livestock, she noted. adapt and to use grazing as a tool. This By employing management practicinflexibility in policy continues to drive es such as cross-fencing and developing down AUMs. But ranchers and others water facilities for livestock, Koopmann agree that with the state facing a drier Rivers said ranchers can control their livefuture, more needs to be done to ensure stock and distribute them more efficiently better prevention of forest fires. across the land so that they’re not overWith enough flexibility in poligrazing in one area. cy, Tate said livestock could be used on “The ranching community has come public lands that have high fuels during a long way,” she said. “There’s been a lot a drought or during a period of high wildof intensive grazing in the past and we’ve fire risk, while at the same time alleviatlearned from that. Folks that have ecologing pressure on private rangelands and on ical concerns about livestock grazing on some of the need to feed hay.

California landscapes have to look at it “If we learned anything from the like this: It’s not the animals; it’s the manValley Fire or the Napa Fire or the Butte agement of the animals. Once managed Fire—where the fires are now not out in correctly, they’re a very great tool.” the wilderness and abstract and just anRoche is currently leading a study noyingly smoky but burning up towns— examining the effects of post-wildfire it’s that we seriously have got to look at grazing, which BLM has restricted to no using all the available tools to manage sooner than two years after a fire, even our vegetation in a drying, fire-prone systhough limited research exists on what’s tem,” he said. an appropriate length of time livestock should stay off recently burned areas, she (Ching Lee is an assistant editor of noted. The concern with the two-year Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@ rule, she said, is that invasive weeds such cfbf.com.) as cheatgrass could move in and overtake This article reprinted with the perthe landscape, creating a fire hazard. mission of the California Farm Bureau “If you’ve taken one of the tools— Federation. grazing—off the table, then you’ve ham-

4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 7

Agriculture Legislature Will Reconsider Bill on Overtime Pay Christine Souza, CFBF California lawmakers returned from summer recess this week to finalize actions on a number of issues—including revived legislation to expand overtime requirements for agricultural employees.

The overtime bill restates the provisions of Assembly Bill 2757, which stalled in early June, when the Assembly failed to give it the required 41 votes to advance to the state Senate. But the bill’s author, Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, revived the measure in mid-June by amending another of her bills that had reached the Senate, AB 1066, removing its original contents and substituting the language about agricultural overtime.

Because the bill has fiscal implications, it was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which placed the bill in its suspense file on Monday.

Bills with fiscal impacts are typically placed on suspense and considered shortly before the deadline for measures to move onto the floor of their respective chambers. The deadline for removing AB

1066 from suspense will come Aug. 12.

If the bill reaches the Senate floor and passes, it would return to the Assembly. The final deadline to pass bills in the legislative session comes on Aug. 31.

California Farm Bureau Federation Director of Employment Policy Bryan Little said agricultural organizations continue to oppose the measure, saying it would ultimately reduce work hours and compensation for farm employees.

“Farmers consider their employees to be among their most important assets, and want to pay them fairly,” Little said. “At the same time, employees want to maximize their earnings during peak seasons. AB 1066 would end up forcing farmers to restructure their operations in order to minimize increased costs, leading to the unfortunate result of reduced hours for employees.”

California is one of the few states that requires premium overtime pay for agricultural workers. Current rules require premium pay after 10 hours of work in a day and for all hours worked on a seventh consecutive day.

AB 1066 would expand overtime requirements, phased in during a four-year period beginning Jan. 1. It would: •Require premium pay for farm employees after eight hours of work in a day or 40 hours in a week; •Require agricultural employees to take one day off every seven days; •Delay the implementation of the new overtime rules for small employers by two years; •Give the governor authority to postpone a scheduled overtime pay increase if employment in California is declining.

“This bill would actually hurt the people it intends to help,” Little said, “because it comes at a time when other stresses force farm employers to look for ways to cut costs. It’s not just potential expansion of overtime rules—it’s scheduled increases in the minimum wage, higher costs to comply with other state rules and regulations, and the pressure to remain competitive with farmers in other states and nations who don’t face those same costs and requirements.”

Given all that, he said, expansion of overtime rules would compel California farmers to try to reduce their labor costs—with employees ultimately being asked to work fewer hours.

“That’s unfortunate,” Little said, “and we can still avoid that by defeating AB 1066.”

CFBF Political Affairs Manager Casey Gudel said the organization will notify members through FARM TEAM alerts before the bill faces key votes. Members of FARM TEAM receive emailed Action Alerts when help is needed in contacting legislators, taking into account the best times for advancing or, in this case, stopping a piece of legislation.

To participate in FARM TEAM, see www.cfbf.com/farmteam.

(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

This article reprinted with the permission of the California Farm Bureau Federation

Summer Heat Causing Ranchers to Sweat for More than One Reason Tulare County Farm Bureau It is no surprise that July and August are the two hottest months of the year. With temperatures averaging in the mid 90s, and week long stretches of triple digits, the heat is something we all have to live with – including the livestock.

Beef cattle manager and chair for the Department of Animal Science in the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at California State University, Fresno, Randy Perry, PhD., emphasized there are many factors to consider when preventing and recognizing heat stress in livestock.

“We can’t get rid of heat stress totally, but we try to minimize theeffects,” said Perry.

Three factors that play in to heat tolerance are color, coat, and surface area. The one thing they all have in common is that they are all a result of genetics. Perry says when you look at cattle in the south eastern part of the country, you will see a lot of breeds with Brahman influence because of their adaptability to heat.

“In the case of beef cattle we have Bos indicus and zebu breeds like Brahman and some of our Brahman influenced hybrids,” says Perry. “They are a lot more heat tolerant and part of that is because they don’t grow a lot of hair and the other part is because of evaporative cooling.”

Perry further explained that Zebu breeds, such as Brahmans, benefit more from evaporative cooling because of all the surface area they have due to their hump and all the extra skin on their chest and underline.

As for the color factor, Perry noted that when the temperature gets to be in the mid 80s, all of the black cattle will be in the shade while the white ones will still be out in the sun grazing because the black animals absorb more heat than the lighter colored ones do.

Regardless of breed and color, Perry explained that there are a few ways to keep a herd cool during the summer months and shade is the number one opponent to heat.

He says that while any shade is helpful, trees are best “Trees are better than a shade structure

because the one bad thing about shade is all the animals get in a confined area,” said Perry.

“If you have multiple trees then animals just go out and pick their own area.”

He said this is especially important to remember when dealing with cows that are calving or have young calves.

“Calves are really sensitive to getting stepped on so cows like to go out and isolate themselves,” Perry elaborated. “If you have one big tree or one big shade area, most of the time a cow is going to go off and calve on her own since she probably doesn’t want to be around other animals for the first two or three days so they won’t bring their calf up to a shade. If you have multiple areas where you have multiple trees then a cow will take a baby calf to a shaded area.”

Fine mist and sprinklers are also useful due to the evaporative cooling it provides for the animals.

“We try to run a fine mist. If those cattle can stay wet then they have evaporative cooling going on and that really keeps them pretty comfortable,” said Perry.

Clean, cool water can also offer some comfort to heat stressed animals, said Perry.

“They will drink more so we have to have good water flow to troughs and the water needs to be as cool as we can get it,” he said.

All of the work put in to keeping the livestock animals cool during the summer months is due to the fact that their comfort is a priority.

That said, nearly every performance measure suffers when the herd suffers from heat stress, from decreased appetite to conception rate and even embryonic miscarriages if it gets too hot - all things that no dairyman or rancher ever wants to deal with.

The heat is something that has to be dealt with year after year in the Central Valley. With many of the seasoned cattle and livestock experts in the area, ranchers have been able to adapt their herd and facilities to the heat.

“It is serious. It is something that we all deal with and something we try to minimize,” said Perry. “Animal welfare is our number one concern.”

West Hills College Student Places Second in Statewide Ag Hackathon West Hills College Coalinga student Alex Avalos has won his second state-level hackathon, placing 2nd with his team at the California State Fair’s Statewide Apps for Ag Hackathon.

Avalos and his team developed Sense and Protect, a mobile task management app which aims to increase farm worker safety and productivity using IoT sensors. The team received $4,500 and complimentary startup incorporation services to further develop the concept.

“It feels pretty good coming back for the second time and winning again,” said Avalos. “It felt really special.”

Avalos was part of a team that placed first at last year’s Apps for Ag Hackathon at UC Davis. The team, which developed an app called Ag for Hire which connects farm workers and employers, also competed at the Thought for Food

Staff Reports Global Summit in Zurich, Switzerland earlier this year.

For this year’s hackathon, Avalos brought his experience with farm work and with developing Ag for Hire to the table and also helped to develop the pitch for the product.

“We’re extremely proud of him,” said Clint Cowden, Director of WHCC’s Farm of the Future. “He continues to be a great representative for West Hills College Coalinga. This is another phenomenal achievement for him.”

Since several of the members of the Sense and Protect team also work for Ag for Hire, Avalos said that some of its features could be integrated into Ag for Hire.

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8 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

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4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 9

Why is a local hospital like Tulare Regional Medical Center important to the community?

District hospitals such as Tulare Regional Medical Center provide the majority of hospital services in the San Joaquin Valley. Their health is vital to our health. California earthquake safety mandates new hospital construction for all district hospitals. To achieve excellent health care in a community our size also requires a modern, progressive hospital. Our community hospital is having growing pains. The San Joaquin Valley has seen the closure of nearly all county hospitals. Tulare Regional Medical Center has done an exemplary job taking care of our poor and indigent patients, and providing management of its outpatient medical offices.

What do people who live here and who are considering moving here want in a community?

A progressive and modern school and hospital are always at the top of the list. A public hospital is a genuine application where a community cares for all of its members when they are sick and in need of help. I have seen our community of Tulare do this since I moved here in 1977 after my family practice residency in Fresno. I truly appreciate living in Tulare. People here genuinely want to help each other. A healthy hospital is a very good sign of a healthy community.

Tell us a little about your own reasons for choosing Tulare as your home and for remaining here.

I grew up in Fresno, but Tulare is my home. After medical school in Oregon and family practice training in Fresno, I came to Tulare. I met my wife, a Tulare native, while working in the emergency room here in Tulare. We have three children, all born at Tulare’s hospital. My two boys live, work and have families here; my daughter is in her fourth year of medical school in Philadelphia, and we are trying to entice her to return to Tulare. I have worked in a group family practice since 1977, initially with Dr. Cyril Johnson and Dr. Ed Clinite, then with Tulare Family Practice with Dr. James Goettle and Dr. Paul Henry. We used to have a new office on Cherry Street across from the once-new district hospital. It was a long-standing practice in Tulare for years, and we had a comfortable working relationship within the practice. I liked the continuity and I liked the community.

“We need to complete our hospital now to remain a healthy community.”

How will a new hospital tower improve the overall quality of health care in Tulare?

When we first built our new office, our patients were very happy that with a new, modern office we could deliver better family medical care. Everyone on our staff was excited also to work in a new facility. Tulare Regional Medical Center is in the same situation. Our community and patients desire and need a new hospital! Modern and progressive medical care is also having severe growing pains. The complexity of governmental regulation, health insurance standards and rules require constant attention, assessment and professional guidance. A new hospital will attract and bring new, young physicians, nurses, lab, x-ray and ultrasound technicians, dietitians and all the other support staff that will revitalize our community. People are attracted to communities and businesses that they see as progressive and adoptive of Best Practice guidelines.

It’s been a challenge for some in the community to get behind the expansion project. What do you say to them?

Healthy hospitals need their communities’ support. Our community hospital can meet and achieve this challenge.

We routinely see that schools, local businesses, hospitals and families thrive when they have community support.

Our hospital needs that same support to stay healthy. Please help our public hospital remain healthy and thriving in these difficult times. Tulare is my extended family’s home. Let us put aside our differences and dislikes of the past.

We can and should provide constructive criticism to heal our differences. We need to complete our hospital now to remain a healthy community. Please help us come together to strive to that purpose.

Thomas Evans, MD specializes in family practice medicine and has an office in Tulare.

Originally from Fresno, he attended college and earned a medical degree from the University of Oregon and has been in private practice since 1977. He was past president of both the Tulare County Medical Society and the Tulare District Medical Staff. He is married and has three adult children, one of whom is studying to become a doctor.

10 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Tulare Sheriff Reestablishes Cold Case Unit Staff Reports Sheriff Mike Boudreaux re-established his Cold Case Unit and seeks the public’s help to solve old homicide cases. Homicide cases are never closed until they’re solved.

The Cold Case Unit is actively investigating the murder of Maria Sanchez, a 68-year-old grandmother, who was shot and killed on September 1, 2006.

Here’s what happened: On September 1, 2006, at about 8:50pm, Maria Sanchez, a 68-year-old grandmother, was shot and killed during a robbery at the La Tienda Market in Strathmore. She owned the market with her husband, Fernando Sanchez.

Sanchez was working inside the store with her then 19-year-old grandson, Adrian Aguilar, when two men entered the store wearing hooded sweatshirts with bandanas covering their faces, said Detective Dwayne Johnson.

Both men were armed with handguns.

One suspect went behind the counter to the cash register with Sanchez while the second suspect ordered her grandson to the floor. One of the suspects fired his weapon and fatally wounded Sanchez, who had been cooperating with their orders.

A witness drove by the market and saw two men run inside. He stopped his vehicle and saw one suspect behind the counter. When the witness made a U-turn to get another look, both suspects ran out of the market.

Johnson said he’s working diligently to solve this case and to bring the responsible parties to justice.

The Cold Case Unit is also actively investigating the murder of retired Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Whitfield,

53, who was found murdered on April 27, 2003 in Woodlake.

Here’s what we know: Whitfield and his wife had started the Impact for Christ Youth Center on the outskirts of Woodlake as a way to reach out to local youth and influence them in a positive way. On Saturday, April 26, 2003, he left his home to work on the building.

He was shot and killed while working in the youth center, said Detective Chris Dempsie. Whitfield was found deceased the next morning inside the youth center.

Detectives have not yet figured out why anyone would want to kill him. There is no indication he was robbed. In the early stages of the investigation, there were a few phone calls about the case but detectives were not able to lock down any substantial leads.

“We are 13 years into the investigation and there are no leads,” Dempsie said.

“We’re hoping to get some help from the community.”

The building, which sat by itself in a rural area, has since been destroyed.

“Someone went there for the sole reason of confronting him,” he said. “Somebody out there knows what happened.

Point me in the right direction.”

To report information: If you or someone you know has information about a cold case, please contact the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at 735-1898 and ask for the Cold Case Unit. If you don’t want to call, you can write a letter and mail it to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit, 5959 S. Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA 93277.

If you’d like to remain anonymous, text or leave voice mail at Tip Now at (559) 725-4194 or email at tcso@tipnow.com.

On Wednesday, June 22, Visalia Rescue Mission was honored with the 2016 Non-Profit of the Year award for California’s 26th Assembly District.

“The 26th District has pretty tough competition when it comes to nominating the Non-Profit of the Year,” said Assemblyman Devon Mathis. “Over the past few decades, Visalia Rescue Mission has become a household name for their service to the homeless community, and for their dedication to walking with individuals looking to change their life. It is my honor to nominate Visalia Rescue Mission for their hard work and commitment to be a good neighbor to their community.”

If you are unfamiliar with Visalia Rescue Mission, save the date for their upcoming banquet where they will highlight their 35-year history — Thursday, October 13 at Visalia Convention Center. For information, visit www.vrmhope.org.

Tax

Continued from p. 1 That sentiment was echoed by Councilmember Amy Shuklian, who said she will be voting yes in November and is confident that the money will be spent wisely. Councilmember Warren Gubler said in general he was against any new taxes but voted yes to the resolution to let the citizens decide.

Mayor Steve Nelsen said he was not happy about new taxes either, but if we had

Tribal Discussion Continued from p. 4

growing population. The tribe is only interested in properties that are adjacent to the reservation, according to Peyron.

“We have to provide services so we’re trying to keep it close,” he explained.

Peyron presented an update on the hotel, casino and convention center being built in Porterville. The facility will have 250 rooms and 20,000 square feet of actual convention space. He also noted that a company from Turkey had approached tribal leaders about building a plant to manufacture shotguns on the reservation, but that the idea “was sitting on a back burner.”

Ambulance service has been available on Tule River Tribe land for eight years, but

to have one, he prefers a tax everyone has to pay. In addition, 40% of the revenue will come from outsiders spending money in Visalia. Nelsen said that Visalia can’t tighten their belt any further as the city is understaffed and is behind in road repair. He added that Sacramento continues to impose new programs on cities without providing the funding.

“Currently the things you receive now you will not receive in the future, so I am hopeful that the citizens pass this,” said Nelsen. anyone who needs emergency medical attention faces an additional problem.

“If there is an emergency, (our ambulances) can stabilize the patient, but we have to wait (for another ambulance) at the boundary of the reservation,” said Peyron, adding that he would like supervisors and tribal leaders to meet again “to come up with some sort of agreement” to eliminate this delay.

Before the meeting adjourned for lunch in the conference room, Supervisor Allen Ishida offered the board’s assistance to the tribal leaders.

“If there’s any issue you have in Sacramento that it would help to have a supervisor there, we’re available,” he said.

On behalf of the tribal council, Peyron offered the same assistance to the supervisors.

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4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 11

Meeting Continued from p. 1

“We are going to require another surgery in a couple years, and we’re not looking forward to having to be displaced again from our family. We’re really hoping that this measure passes and that people don’t have to travel so far to get the help that they need.”

Michael Bell, son of board member Sherri Bell, also spoke in favor of the bond measure.

“I can still remember just when the hospital really looked like no hope, it was falling down, just looked really tattered.

Then HCCA really came in, brought it all together, as a community we pulled together, and voted in pretty much a new board. I think it’s two members from two years ago that are still there, maybe one. And it really has been this big, big turn around. And then it all kind of came down to this moment -- this Measure I. It’s just a wonderful thing, just to have this hospital here in Tulare,” Michael Bell said. “What is this, like, $135-140m total now? I really believe that it will bring in a lot more than we’ll have to put into it, in the long run. It seems like we’re looking really short-run right now, when really the community is built long-term, not short-term.”

District Formalizes Some Oversight

The bond measure headed to the voters this month, only requires the district, the legal body that owns the Tulare Regional Medical Center, to file a yearly report five months after the end of each fiscal year.

During the July 27 board meeting, Dr. Benny Benzeevi, CEO of HealthCare Conglomerate Associates, came to the board and presented a finalized application form for those seeking to be on the new Bond Oversight Committee, should Measure I pass.

The board signalled their approval for this application to be posted and sent out to those interested. During the meeting, it also voted to disband the old Bond Oversight Committee.

HealthCare Conglomerate Associates is the company to which the district has contracted out operations of the hospital, its clinics, and the Evolutions gym.

Benzeevi, while presenting the application and discussing the oversight committee, said he doesn’t want committee members to just observe the construction -- he wants them to take part in it.

“We’re not looking just for a committee that will oversee the project,” Benzeevi said. “We’re looking for a committee that will participate and help with the project.”

The Bond Oversight Committee is one facet of Benzeevi’s proposed “Bond Oversight Community” idea, which originally forewent the idea of a committee.

Benzeevi, the board, and Measure I proponents state the “Oversight Community” proposal is unprecedented in the State of California, proposing public websites that would show detailed construction plans, work schedules, and cash draw schedules. Another facet of the scheme would involve outside monitors to ensure purchases and construction are being done judiciously.

“It will contain the bond bank account, so people can see on the website what money’s there, what money’s been drawn, for when and for what. And all of this will be on the website before a single dollar is spent, before a single nail has been put in the project with a new [general obligation] bond,” Benzeevi said, earlier in the year. “We won’t have a bond oversight committee, we’ll have a bond oversight community.”

Those facets of the “Oversight Community” proposal have not yet been voted on, or finalized by the board.

The $55 Million Return Policy

The board also approved a formal resolution requiring the district to return any excess bond funds to the taxpayers.

“By law, if we complete the tower with less than the $55m bond, the money goes back to the taxpayers,” Sherri Bell, chairman of the TLHCD Board, said.

“We don’t even need to [make a separate resolution], it’s already written into the law, but we wanted to bring that to your attention and make it clear.”

The ballot measure states that funds from the bond can be used “[t]o pay for the District’s capital improvement projects that includes completion of Tower One, including earthquake compliant expanded Emergency Department space, labor and delivery suites, and refinancing outstanding debt related to construction … with 100% of the bond proceeds being used for construction-related costs and with no bond proceeds being used for hospital administrative costs or to refinance any debt supporting hospital operational costs.”

The full text of the ballot measure goes on to state: “All funds stay local for the benefit of Tulare Local Health Care District Facilities. All bond proceeds shall be used by the Tulare Local Health Care District for the benefit of healthcare in the local community.”

Taking Aim at Critics

During the July 27 meeting, Bell also responded to critics of the board and Measure I who state that construction on the hospital could be halted for up to two weeks.

The Yes on Measure I campaign, through its mailers and on its website, states that if construction stops for as few as two weeks, the hospital would have its construction permits revoked, causing the hospital to either incur large costs to restart construction or cut its losses.

Citizens for Hospital Accountability, the main No on I group, has cited California construction laws that rebut this assertion -- construction could stop for up to a year, they say, without the state taking any action.

Bell agreed with their position -though the Yes on Measure I campaign still uses the two-week figure -- but said that it was not the right option for the hospital.

“I really thought a lot about this, because one of the things I’m hearing out there is that we could stall construction, and it is legal to stall it for a year. And it is,” Bell said. “But if it was recommended, we would, for this very reason: we’re having to use our cash in order to pay for construction, and what that’s doing is preventing us from building the security that we would like to have. We are at 61 days [cash on hand], and [financial ratings agencies] like us to be somewhere around 200-250 days cash on hand.”

Bell went on to state that keeping a larger cash on hand amount is important due to larger costs that would be incurred during revitalized construction efforts, including utility costs and other “fixed costs.” She also used the time to contrast what she feels is the current board’s perspective with that of prior boards.

“And I just want to add one more thing. I’ve heard another board -- the original board that made the decision to build a $120m tower with $85m. I have looked at the cash on hand and they never were anywhere near that 200 and whatever mark. If they were going to use the cash on [hand] -- and they were losing money, they weren’t even a profitable institution at that point, their operating margin was not good, and so they made a decision to use operations, which we didn’t have, thinking erroneously that their cash on hand could be used, and it was never a reality. It was a poor decision. And that was the thought, she says ‘well, I never knew that the hospital wasn’t doing well.’”

Bell did not state who she was referencing when she used the word “she.”

Benzeevi also joined Bell in explaining why neither the hospital, nor HCCA, could pay for the tower’s construction, outlining how the hospital is paid by insurers, including the state through the Medi-Cal program, and why he feels financing construction using the funds of either entity would be ill-advised.

“On to profit versus cash, because I’ve heard some comments in the community about, ‘well you’re so profitable, why don’t you just build the tower’ -well, that would be akin to saying, Sherri, you’ve got a great job, you’re getting paid really well, why do you need a mortgage to buy your house? You can have companies that are very profitable but have no cash, or you can have companies that have a lot of cash but are not profitable at all, and go out of business,” he said. ““Let’s assume we have this much money in the bank, patients in the hospital, and we’re taking care of them. Well,

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The HCCA Connection

During the public comment section of the meeting, Tulare Resident Sally Boucher asked why HCCA had inserted its branding across the hospital’s operations, including Evolutions and the hospital itself. The former Tulare Regional Medical Center website has also been moved to a subpage on HCCA’s own website, teamhcca.com.

“My questions/concerns are why do all the new banners, mats, ads, posters, forms, I mainly see at Evolutions because that’s where I go the most, [...] that have huge HCCA logo in the name, and TRMC or Evolutions is included only in very small print, if at all,” Boucher said.

“Another question is, who’s paying for all this HCCA advertisement? Is it HCCA out of their pocket, or is it Tulare Local Healthcare District? I also have the question of, is TRMC still our ‘public’ hospital, and if so for how long?”

Benzeevi used his portion of the meeting to respond to the question.

“The reason that we have the HCCA logo everywhere is we want to reassure the banks and investors that are going to be buying those bonds that there is stable and professional management in place,” Benzeevi said. “It doesn’t mean that HCCA owns the hospital, by no means do we have that. The hospital owned by the District, is publicly owned by law, and will remain that way.”

“It’s to reassure folks that there is a professional management team in place and that we’re here to stay, and that we’re not going to be a fly-by-night operation like has happened here for decades before,” he continued. “In fact, we’ve seen the results already, because as you know Fitch rating has changed the outlook from negative to stable, and has upgraded our bonds for the two years HCCA has been here -- but thank you for bringing that up.”

Russian Roulette

Bell ended the meeting, during which Dr. Parmod Kumar, vice-chairman of the TLHCD Board was absent, with an admonishment for those who oppose Measure I. “If you’re not supporting the building of the tower, you’re playing Russian Roulette with our hospital. That is why it frightens me what’s happening out there, because this is reality.”

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12 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Public Records Hard to Come By at TRMC Tony Maldonado Those seeking to view public records at Tulare Regional Medical Center may have a hard time -- unless they send off a request to a lawyer in Los Angeles, some 170 miles away from the hospital.

After a Tulare resident stated they were turned away from receiving records at the hospital, instead given a card to contact a Los Angeles attorney, the Voice sent a reporter to confirm whether or not citizens were being turned away from viewing public records.

The Cost of a Request

Most public agencies in the area -including cities, counties and hospital districts -- may direct requests to a single person at their agency, but these agencies do not generally direct requests to outside legal counsel, according to a Voice analysis of local agencies in the area.

In a prior article for the Voice, Catherine Doe highlighted the practice when she wrote that the cities of Hanford and Visalia, the County of Tulare, and the Kaweah Delta Healthcare District all had requests for public records handled by a clerk or other staff member -- while the Tulare Local Healthcare District directs requests to Bruce Greene, a lawyer who the district has on contract.

Greene is a Los Angeles-based lawyer working for the firm Baker Hostetler, and also works under contract for HealthCare Conglomerate Associates, the company TLHCD contracted out hospital operations to.

As highlighted in the prior piece “Tulare Regional Medical Center Stone-

walls Information Request,” for the sake of example, the city clerk in Hanford who would typically handle such requests make $38.15 per hour. It goes without saying that a real estate-focused partner at a Los Angeles law firm would make much more.

It is unclear how much the District pays Greene’s firm. Per Public Records Act request: the lawyer stonewalled Doe’s request for the contract that would detail how much his firm is paid per request.

Our Experience

The Voice’s reporter was tasked with going to the Tulare Regional Medical Center offices and asking to view, not copy, records.

The distinction between viewing and copying is important: while the California Public Records Act allows agencies time to review requests for copies -- partly to ensure reproduction costs can be recouped and ensure any privileged information is redacted -- citizens are entitled to view public documents at any time during normal office hours, according to the Public Records Act, which states:.

“Public records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or local agency and every person has a right to inspect any public record, except as hereafter provided. Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be available for inspection by any person requesting the record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law.”

Our reporter asked to view records that would detail estimates or analyses done to support the $55m price tag on the Measure I bond. The Yes on I cam-

paign had stated that these records exist when, in a Facebook comment on their page, the campaign stated: “What has been done to date is that the hospital has had two separate nationally reputable companies do an in-depth analysis of the costs of completing the tower and all have confirmed that the new bond will be sufficient to successfully and timely complete the tower.”

Our reporter spoke with an RN who gave them a purpose-made card stamped with details for Bruce Greene from a stack: this RN told our reporter that staff were told to give this card to anyone who wanted to view records on-site.

The next person our reporter interacted with told our reporter to write down their name, phone number, and the exact information they wanted, and that the official responsible for responding to these requests would provide a callback.

No portion of the California Public Records Act requires requests to be made in writing, but our reporter wrote down their information anyway and left for the day.

Having not received a return call within 24 hours, our reporter placed another call to the assistant that handles in-person records requests. The call was returned shortly after: our reporter was told to reach out to Greene for the information.

They Try to Copy

While we attempted to view documents, the citizen whose post piqued the Voice’s curiosity attempted to receive copies.

Chris Northcraft, the citizen whose

request spurred this article, related their experience in a post on the “No on I” Facebook page “We went in person to request the documents. The security guard at the hospital entrance referred us to the other building that has administrative offices.

We went upstairs to HR as directed and the receptionist told us we would have to talk to “Claudia”, but she was out to lunch,” Northcraft wrote. “We told them we needed the document that day and a woman came out of an office and told us we’d have to talk to “Claudia”, but she’s out to lunch. She pointed the direction of Claudia’s office when she made that statement. We left and went towards the direction she pointed and found Claudia sitting at her desk. She’s the one that gave us the card to contact Bruce Greene with his name misspelled on the card.”

This practice is publicized on the hospital’s website, which directs interested parties to send all Public Records Act requests in writing, via mail, to Greene.

While the Public Records Act allows up to 10 days to respond to requests for copies, it also states that records should be made promptly available.

“Except with respect to public records exempt from disclosure by express provisions of law, each state or local agency, upon a request for a copy of records that reasonably describes an identifiable record or records, shall make the records promptly available to any person upon payment of fees covering direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee if applicable. Upon request, an exact copy shall be provided unless impracticable to do so.”

The Voice will continue to seek this information under the Public Records Act.

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VISALIA TRANSIT MAKES IMPORTANT ROUTE AND FARE CHANGES

In an effort to keep Visalia citizens connected to where they need go, Visalia Transit is constantly reevaluating and improving its routes. New routes as well as some changes to current routes are being instated to better serve Visalia Transit riders. The route changes will go into effect on Saturday, August 6.

“We are always making changes in order to accommodate riders’ needs,” said Transit Manager, Monty Cox. “Visalia Transit exists to serve the public, and it’s important that they can get where they need to go with us.”

ROUTE CHANGES: • Route 4B — Reroute from Hurley to Noble • Route 7 A & 7B — Extended service from Demaree to Akers — Minor time changes • Route 9A & 9B — More frequent weekday service • Route 15A — Reroute down Mineral King — Additional stops at the Visalia Convention Center and Kaweah Delta Hospital • Route 16A & 16B — NEW ROUTE — Connects Northwest Visalia to South Central Visalia FARE CHANGES: • Fixed One-Way Fare — Seniors (NOW 65+)/Military/ Disabled/Medicare Cardholder: $0.75 • Day Pass — Seniors (NOW 65+)/Military/ Disabled/Medicare Cardholder: $2.50 • 7-Day Pass — Seniors (NOW 65+)/Military/ Disabled/Medicare Cardholder: $7.50 Mid-Day/Off-Peak fare has been discontinued. All other fares and passes remain the same price.

For more information about routes and schedules, please call the Greenline at 1 (877) 404-6473 or visit VisaliaTransit.com. The Greenline hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

2017 VISALIA SENIOR GAMES SEEKING VOLUNTEERS FOR PLANNING COMMITTEES

Get ready Visalia! It’s time to start planning the 2017 Visalia Senior Games.

Senior Games are taking the sporting world by storm at the local, state, national and world competition levels and will be coming back to Visalia in the spring of 2017.

Valley Voice • 13 Planning is underway now and the City of Visalia, spearheaded by the Parks & Recreation Department, is excited to bring this event back to the Central Valley for the second time. Senior Games is open to those ages 50 and better and with 11 age divisions for men and women in each event, it’s certain there will be a lot of winners.

The National Senior Games Association (NSGA) has 19 events and, to be included in the NSGA, a local organizer must offer at least one-half of the NSGA’s approved sports by the third year of hosting Senior Games. Visalia held its first event in 2015 with, the second event scheduled for 2017.

RECOGNITION OF LOCAL BUSINESSES SUPPORTING PREVENTION EFFORTS TO REDUCE UNDERAGE DRINKING

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) of Tulare Co. would like to acknowledge and thank all the Businesses throughout Tulare County that are currently participating in the “We Don’t Serve Teens Campaign”. Since the rollout in 2010, we have had a consistent 85% participation (approx. 580 businesses participating).

NCADD implemented the “We Don’t Serve Teens Campaign” throughout Tulare County in 2010 as an effort to reduce the easy accessibility of alcohol to our youth. You will be able to recognize participating businesses by looking for the “We Don’t Serve Teens” decal prominently displayed at their premises. The double sided decal provides a clear message for all of us to acknowledge - “Please don’t provide alcohol to teens. It’s unsafe. It’s illegal. It’s irresponsible” and “The Legal Drinking Age is 21: Thanks for not providing alcohol to teens”. We encourage all Tulare County ABC licensed businesses to join our prevention efforts; your participation in the campaign will greatly influence many individuals in our community.

Aside from parents, Retailers play an essential role in reducing underage access. Responsible retailing practices are key to preventing illegal alcohol sales.

But it takes more than just telling staff not to sell to minors. Responsible retailers have specific policies that if backed up by training and accountability can effectively prevent illegal alcohol sales to minors.

Fresno. The trip will depart on April 7th and return on April 14th 2017. Join the Chamber on August 17th at 12:00 pm for a slideshow presentation at the Chamber office located at 222 N. Garden St. Suite 300.

For anyone who loves music history this is an amazing tour filled with backstage tours and great one of a kind experiences. After departing from Fresno travelers will arrive in Nashville, the “Music Capital of the World” where they will tour the historic RCA Studio B for an up-close look at Nashville’s oldest remaining record studio. Travelers will also get to visit the old Ryman Auditorium and sightsee around the State Capital, Music Row and the Parthenon before sitting in reserved seats at the Grand Ole Opry for a performance and a behind the scenes tour.

Before leaving Nashville and traveling to Memphis, travelers will explore the Country Music Hall of Fame full of memorabilia, costumes, instruments, and art. Once in Memphis the travelers will experience the award winning Central BBQ restaurant ranked number 1 since 2005. The group will have the chance to tour Memphis and travel to Graceland to tour the palatial home of Elvis Presley.

For more information on the Chamber travel program, contact Sue Summers at 559-734-5876, or visit the website at www.visaliachamber.org.

OKTOBERFEST 2016 AT VOSSLER FARMS, FEATURING LIVE ENTERTAINMENT: LEAVING AUSTIN, SALTWATER AND RUSSIAN MONEY

On the heels of blazing summer heat comes the chance to celebrate the fall season with Oktoberfest 2016 hosted by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Budweiser. Mark your calendars for Friday, September 30, 2016 at Vossler Farms, Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze from 5:30 – 9:30 pm.

Building on the success of last year’s record breaking attendance, Oktoberfest has been moved to a Friday night, and will again host live bands including; local favorite Leaving Austin, breakout

sensation Saltwater and Russian Money amongst the scenic pumpkin patch.

As always, tickets include live music, food tastings from local restaurants, and a chance to sample a variety of beers and wine from local vendors. Whether a business professional or someone looking for an evening of delicious food and a great outdoor concert experience, you won’t want to miss this year’s Oktoberfest.

General admission tickets are $40 (advance purchase) or $50 the day of the event. Ticket admission includes live entertainment, food and a mug for beer and wine tasting. Cigars, event t-shirts and will be available for purchase during the event. Business interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact the Visalia Chamber of Commerce. Sponsorship packages include tickets, booth space and recognition during the event.

Tickets can be purchased at: Visalia Chamber of Commerce - 222 N. Garden St. Suite 300 or online at http://tinyurl. com/2016OKT. For more information on this event, call the Visalia Chamber at (559)734-5876 or go to www.visaliachamber.org.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SEPT. 2 FOR CALFRESH FAMILIES TO GET $20 IN FRUITS/VEGGIES FOR $10

Through Friday, Sept. 2, people using $10 in CalFresh benefits at the Dinuba Farmers’ Market will get an additional $10 to spend on locally-grown fruits and vegetables thanks to a grant awarded to Kaweah Delta Health Care District.

Market Match can be used at the Dinuba Farmers’ Market, which takes place from 6-9 p.m. beginning on June 10, and runs every Friday through Aug. 5 (with the exception of July 1) at 289 S. L Street in downtown Dinuba. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, the market provides nutritional education booths and informational booths, along with live entertainment, arts, crafts, and childrens’ activities.

In addition to electronic benefits transfer (EBT), commonly known as food stamps, the Dinuba Farmers’ Market accepts fruit and vegetable seasonal vouchers issued by WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and Area of Aging senior programs.

EXPLORE AMERICA’S MUSIC CITIES WITH THE VISALIA CHAMBER

The Visalia Chamber of Commerce is offering the opportunity to explore three of America’s great Music Cities in one inclusive package. The trip is 8 days and includes 11 meals, hotel accommodations and roundtrip airfare from

TWO GREAT LOCATIONS — THREE GREAT OPTIONS!

TULARE: PROSPERITY & BARDOLINO — VISALIA: MOONEY & TULARE

A few moths ago Tulare County lost a piece of its farming heritage when the Peter Malloch Homestead was bulldozed. The home was built in 1887 by Peter Malloch, who immigrated from Scotland, and Catherine Kame, who took one of the first trains as a young woman across the country from Ohio. Together they ran a farming enterprise of olives, stone fruit trees and grapes among other crops. A ring of olive trees planted by Peter and Catherine still ring the property. Along with the house is the original hitching post and outhouse. Five children were born in the house, the last being Florence Doe, an astute business woman who was appointed to several state offices as a dedicated member of the Republican Party, but she is mostly remembered for being a wonderful grandmother.

Pictured are Florence Doe’s son, Russell and three of his grandchildren which will be the fifth generation to run the family ranch.

14 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Comments & Letters Letter: Why Vote No on Measure I? Soon we will be receiving our mailin ballots to cast our votes on one thing — Measure I, the $55M hospital bond.

We as a community have a duty to understand just what it is that we are voting on — and for. This bond, if passed, will burden this hospital district, all homeowners and property owners. If you rent, more than likely, you will see your rent increase. This bond will be in effect for the next 40 years. We are already burdened with an $85M dollar bond passed for the hospital a few years ago, also for a period of 40 years. That one bond was overwhelmingly approved and supported by this community and the district.

We all felt this would pretty much complete our hospital. Fast forward from the passing of that bond in 2005 to today, and we still sit with a shell of a hospital building. We are told that at one time

the estimate to complete it was going to be around $14M, according to past board meeting records and notes. That later changed to $35M. Then, without any proof of bids for the completion of the work, no estimates to be provided by this board or administration to the tax paying public, a bond is issued for $55M. What changed? Why will this board not be upfront and transparent with what they intend to do with OUR money? It is OUR hospital — or is it?

We all need to read, or at least try and understand, what the contract says that this board entered into with HCCA. They have pretty much handed over the hospital to them! We don’t really own or control this hospital anymore! It is now a for-profit entity owned by HCCA and the Benzeevi Bros. Just yesterday we all should have received one of their flyers

in the mail stating that in 2014 the hospital generated profits of over $7.5M! Why won’t they use that to start finishing the tower? That could be completed in a matter of 5 to 6 years! So why don’t they?

Because they would rather have us pay for it and they reap the profits — along with the $3M yearly they receive to run it. Sounds like a great deal to me — so long as you are on their side of the fence. Ultimately, what is needed is a Board that will listen to the real needs of those who elected them to their positon.

A positon of fiscal responsibility as well as accountability to the community. We have not had that, and do not now. No record of how the first $85M bond was spent, or how. Yes, the tower is up and obviously monies spent there. But let’s see all the expenses that got us here. Is

that so hard?

What this community needs to understand is that a NO vote on Measure I does not mean this hospital will close, or that we want to see it close. It only means that we need to step back and look at better options that will preserve what this community started back in 1950 when this hospital opened. We owe it to those who fought hard to get this hospital off the ground. Those who paid the price back then, those who have continued the fight since that time, and most importantly, our future generations.

Let’s get back on the right track.

Let’s get this project done the way Tulare does things. With cooperation from all and with transparency and accountability! “NO” on Measure I! Ray Fonseca Tulare Resident

Letter: Something Doesn’t Add Up with Measure I Something doesn’t add up. Looking at a property tax statement and taxes to TLHCD, we currently pay the staggering amount of 7%! In using the estimated tax numbers provided in Measure I Bond Resolution, Exhibit C, the taxes will increase in the fiscal year 2017 – 2018 to 9.1%. Fiscal year 2018 – 2019, taxes climb to an outrageous 11%!

The Kaweah Delta Healthcare Dis-

trict’s bond failed. Their hospital DID NOT CLOSE. The biggest opponent of Measure H was Dr. Benzeevi, CEO of HCCA. In a flyer he paid for, it stated a reason not to vote on H: “District taxpayers are already paying a 2.2% property tax, measure H would increase the total KDHCD taxes to a staggering 6.8%” Unacceptable there, but great for the Tulare District?

How does this impact the district?

Besides a completed tower, what else?

Along with their obscene monthly fee, profit sharing begins if a revenue bond is paid off from leftover measure I money.

Hopefully TRMC is profitable and can save money to build Tower 2.

How can TRMC save money from profits when they only get to keep 5 %?

The contract with HCCA gives them

95% of profits. Did our board of directors think into the future that this was in the best interest of the entire district?

Contracts benefit HCCA. A private conglomerate comes out ahead of the people in this district. This is not in our best interests, Vote NO on measure I. Mary Sepeda, Resident in Tulare

Letter: TRMC and the Local Economy I think it’s time for some “facts checks” regarding a letter to the editor (Visalia Times Delta) from the TRMC board member Linda Wilbourn dated July 20, 2016. I would like to address primarily the third paragraph of her letter.

Mrs. Wilbourn states “...the likelihood of the hospital closing is real.” Is that her opinion as a board member or as a property owner? Over the last month and a half, I have heard the hospital is closing, or the hospital could close, or the hospital may close the and the latest version is directly from Dr. Benzeevi himself during a tower tour on Saturday, July 16th, when he commented, “when I say closing I don’t mean boarding up the doors and windows, I mean we will have to make changes.” Depending on who’s talking, be it the board, HCCA, employees, a Southern California PR firm or just those who support Measure I, they all have a different take on what’s going to happen if the bond fails.

In fact, it was Fact Dr. Benzeevi who most likely said it best “...I mean we will have to make changes.” -he said nothing

about a permanent closing.

The Second fact check is, how many employees receive a pay check from the Tulare Local Health Care District or HCCA? Mrs. Wilbourn states “...500plus employees at Tulare Regional Medical Center...” Going back to “who’s talking” as cited above I’ve heard 100, 200, 250, 500 and now 500+. For now, let’s go with the 500+. How many of them are traveling doctors, and nurses who do not live in Tulare County? How many employees live outside the Health Care District? According to Wikipedia TRMC/HCCA doesn’t even make the top ten for number of employees within Tulare. Looking at Tulare Chamber’s top five employers health care services, hospitals, doctors, dentist, and so on rate number four. California Employment Development Dept. (EDD) lists the TRMC in the number four spot and they didn’t include Wal-Mart, Southern California Edison, Saputo Cheese, US Cold Storage, the City of Tulare or the school districts. What is the true answer?

Fact check number three is “...our community is in big trouble. Homes

will be sold, schools will not be receiving dollars...” and “...legal, accounting, plumbing, electrical, beauty shops, etc., won’t be needed and neither will groceries, tires, appliances, vehicles and clothes...” According to Dr. Benzeevi during our tour of the tower, “ K-Mart closing as well as American Medical Response ambulance (AMR) leaving, will have an economic impact on the city”.

AMR, isn’t even in Tulare. If “the sky is falling” as they would try to lead us to believe, it appears the only way to save ourselves and the city is to drink the coolaid and vote yes on the bond. Isn’t this what we heard in the past if we didn’t get the “NASCAR track”- and Tulare is still thriving? If the intended point of Mrs. Wilbourn’s letter is a negative economic impact as a result of the bond failure then you must remove from the equation all of those employees who don’t have homes or rent in Tulare or are not within the health care district and would have no need of plumbing, electrical, appliances and those businesses they would normally patronize if they had homes or rented here. The “500-plus

employees” quoted by Mrs. Wilbourn is probably closer to 120 employees who actually live within the hospital district.

The CEO of HCCA, Dr. Benzeevi, who by the way lives in Visalia does he buy tires, groceries, clothes, get legal advice or buy a new car in Tulare? The answer is probably not and no. Would a traveling ER Doctor who lives in Southern California hire a plumbing business in Tulare to fix his broken water pipe? No. Would a nurse who lives in Kingsburg drive to Tulare to buy groceries? No, but he or she may shop on his or her way home. Even those who live out of the area probably do contribute some to our economic stability- just not to the degree that Mrs. Wilbourn would have us to believe. The point is Mervyn’s, Albertsons, Save-Mart, Radio Shack and others all have closed and we haven’t rolled up the streets of Tulare and we won’t if the bond fails. It’s not all gloom and doom as she mistakenly tries to put forth, and the sky will not fall if the bond fails.

Stephen C. Harrell

Stan Carrizosa: Improvements Coming to COS Hanford Center You may recall that the College of the Sequoias, Hanford Educational Center was awarded official “Center” status by the Community College State Chancellor’s Office in 2015. This important accomplishment came after the COS District demonstrated a significant investment of resources to the site enabling the campus to provide comprehensive services to students.

Over the past two years, COS has deployed resources to include admissions and records, financial aid, counseling, student scheduling, library, tutorial, Math Lab and

Writing Center services and staff to meet students’ needs. The scope of academic classes now includes offerings that allow students to complete all the courses required for transfer to a four-year institution, on the COS Hanford Center site!

The COS Hanford Center continues to be the home of our Public Safety programs including our Tulare/Kings Police Academy and Firefighter Certification Program. Additionally, COS Hanford now offers a full Industrial Maintenance Training program as part of our partnership with the City of

Hanford, who shared in funding the cost of construction for the Industrial Arts Building.

Earlier this summer we submitted our annual enrollment for the past year which according to our records has grown to over 1000 Full-time Equivalent Students (FTES)!

Once this is verified by the Chancellor’s Office, COS becomes eligible for a General Fund reimbursement from the state of approximately $1M. This reimbursement will enable us to sustain the investments at the Hanford Center and strive to grow enrollment further.

The COS District Board of Trustees also took action earlier this spring to allocate approximately $2M to support the construction of a new Education Building which will add three new classrooms and conference room/offices. These funds will also support construction of a new outdoor Student Pavilion, which includes shade covering, hardscape, outdoor tables/chairs, video and sound capabilities and an amphitheater. Construction is set to begin on these new campus additions this Fall, to be completed for the start of the 2017-18 academic year!

4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 15

Comments & Letters Letter: Life Changing Presidential Choice Per our conversation today, here is my article for the comments and letters section of your paper. I read YOUR comments in the 7th July issue, “A Made for TV Presidential Election”, so I think we differ in our viewpoint of the candidates, but I still hope you will publish my article.

I do not know if you needed my address and phone number, and would appreciate your NOT including them with my article.

We have come to a major fork in our country’s future. The left branch continues the journey we have been on of moral, financial, and spiritual decay.

The right branch STARTS what CAN

be our path towards self responsibility, accountability, higher moral and ethical standards, self governance(as opposed to letting the dictates of BIG GOVERNMENT continue destroying our lives and country), financial responsibility, and the reassembly of our country into a unified FREE Constitutional Republic – in other words – The United States of America as envisioned by our Founding Fathers!

Ladies and Gentlemen we have allowed our country to be HIJACKED by the democrat and rino “ESTABLISHMENT”. They DO NOT represent us or Freedom. Today our choices appear to be the democrat ESTABLISHMENT can-

didate OR the Grass Roots Republican ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT candidate.

The ESTABLISHMENT candidate will ACCELERATE our Descent into the Corrupt, Insiders Only Need Apply, Venal, BIG GOVERNMENT Dictatorship Police State. The Grass Roots of America ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT Republican candidate, while not perfect, gives US the Chance to START the turn away from this disastrous morass we are being herded into.

Your choice determines OUR Future, Please choose Wisely.

Dave Johnston, Tulare

Letter: Tulare NEEDS An Upgrade, But I’m Voting No on I In a couple of days, voters in Tulare will be receiving a mail in ballot for Measure I. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Measure I is a $55 million dollar public obligation bond measure for construction at our local hospital. If you’re like me, you’ve been overwhelmed by a half dozen mailers, a half-million yard signs and even a few teenagers knocking on your door asking you to get on board with this.

Admittedly, I’ve avoided the whole hospital debacle for the last several years, as numerous reports and articles reported corruption and mismanagement, greed and self service surrounding the building project and hospital district in general. I got excited when I first heard of Measure I, thinking that maybe this was the turning point we needed in Tulare.

One thing I’ve learned in life is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So I decided to do my due diligence and research this issue to the best of my ability, make my vote an educated one and feel good about the decision that I would make. I have no interest in this except as an everyday citizen of this great city; no political ties that make me lean in one direction or the other. All of this being said, I want to lay out for you why I’m voting NO on this measure, and why I encourage you to do the same: 1. Lack of Information When this bond was originally contemplated, it was a $35 million dollar bond.

Somewhere along the line, without explanation, it ballooned another $20 million.

I totally understand rising construction costs, and there may be change orders, but it doesn’t help that...

To date, there has been no detailed plan released to the public. We haven’t seen any construction estimates, detailed breakdown of costs, or anything offers any assurances that the board has a solid understanding of exactly what it will take to get this done. To me, this feels a lot like the board is telling us to just pass the bond, and then they’ll figure it all out. We’ve all heard that song and dance before. We know how that turns out.

No bank would offer a loan with this limited information; we shouldn’t either.

In 2005, a bond resolution for $85 million was created by the board and passed by the people. It was presented to the people as being the only public money needed to present this project. Now they tell us that all along, they knew they would need more.

I’ve read the original bond resolution multiple times, looking for any indication of a second bond; I can’t find it. Without a solid construction plan, why should we believe

that 10 years down the line, we’re not going to be asked for another $40 million?

2. Lack of Accountability When the first bond was proposed, it was passed with gigantic support from the community. People were full of hope and had great expectations of what this new hospital tower could mean for our community.

Eleven years later, many of us are still nursing the wounds from being burned. Much of the frustration from the last go around boils down to a lack of transparency and accountability. Were the funds spent appropriately? It depends on who you ask. But we know that the Bond Oversight Committee was definitely kept in the dark; it took a grand jury investigation and nearly an act of congress to get the records that should have been public throughout the process.

Our city’s hospital situation is like a joke to people in the surrounding area, and many people in the community are not very trusting right now.

Knowing this, the current board should have built additional accountability measures into the bond, as a show of good faith to the voters. Instead, there is nothing.

They have to report their spending once a year, and that’s all they are legally obligated to do. Keep in mind, we are not voting on the promises of politicians in mailers or on websites. We are voting on the actual text of this bond resolution, nothing more. There can be all kinds of talk of “oversight communities” and various forms of transparency, but talk is cheap; and nothing is legally required beyond what is specified in the bond resolution.

The truth is, there is nothing in the actual text of this bond resolution that helps me sleep better at night. Promises mean nothing in today’s world; if it’s not signed on paper, it’s meaningless.

3. HCCA In 2014, the hospital was in a really bad financial place. The TRMC board recognized this and decided to bring in a private management company to manage the hospital. Despite receiving proposals from established, successful companies like Adventist Health and Clovis Community, the TRMC board opted to sign a long term management services contract with a startup group called Health Care Conglomerate Associates (HCCA).

The HCCA deal is a 15 year management contract with automatic 10 year renewals, and gives this private group full control over the day to day operations. Reading through the contract, it appears to give this

private group nearly full control over the hospital board as well. They have the unquestioned final say on nearly everything that relates to operating the hospital.

At this point in time, HCCA does not take the profits from the hospital. They definitely control the profits, but do not own them. They do collect a pretty healthy management fee (that escalates over time), and are reimbursed for all of their expenses by the District. But it’s important to note, they are not pocketing the profits of the hospital...yet.

This is where it gets a little bit technical, but I’ll try to make this as brief as possible.

Once the funding is secure for the completion of the tower, TRMC and HCCA enter into an “Interim Joint Operating Agreement,” which is really just a temporary measure until the bond debt is paid off, and they can enter into the “Joint Operating Agreement.” Under this agreement, HCCA starts sharing income with TRMC. This ‘profit sharing’ is a little one-sided though: TRMC gets 5%; HCCA gets 95%. All three of these agreements are already signed, sealed and delivered.

We keep hearing that contrary to what some are claiming, HCCA does not own the hospital. And that if they ever decide they want to, they’ll have to pay fair market value for it. This is true. But why would they want to own it when they have total control, are getting paid $3 million per year plus all expenses to manage it, and are working toward a 95% to 5% profit sharing program with all responsibility being born by the taxpayers? I certainly wouldn’t be motivated to buy! They have all the benefits without any of the risk!

Do we still have a public hospital? The answer to that is yes...and no. Technically speaking, the public still own the hospital.

But go to the hospital website, take a walk inside the hospital, or look around at anything hospital related (when they’re not asking for $55 million) and you’ll only see one name: HCCA. I don’t want you to take my word for it. Do your own research, see if the things I’ve said here are true. You’ll have to dig a little bit to get past the propaganda, but it’s all there. You’ll find that in spite of the grandiose claims made by the proponents of this bond, something’s still not right here. And you have to ask yourself: should we give $55 million to a group that has not shown a solid financial plan, has not shown an effort to be transparent and has given the keys of a public hospital to a private company? That’s a pretty easy answer. Vote NO on Measure I. Jimmy Malloy

Veteran’s Corner

Traumatic Brain Injury Scott Holwell In June 2016, USDVA announced it would send letters to more than 24,000 veterans who were potentially misdiagnosed regarding traumatic brain injury, offering new exams. It is unclear why the exams were conducted in violation of VA policy at a number of VA facilities.

VA officials decided to send letters rather than simply reschedule exams, because some veterans may have received a higher disability rating for TBI from their initial exam than they would have gotten from a specialist. According to sources, more than 14,000 affected veterans already are receiving disability compensation for service-connected TBI, “many at higher rates of evaluation.” “It could be misleading to go out and tell them we are going to schedule an exam without their choice, might have a significant impact on their benefits,” they said.

More than 327,000 troops were diagnosed with a brain injury from 2000 to 2015. Roughly 80 percent of those diagnoses were for mild TBI, or concussion.

Roughly 170,000 veterans with TBI have filed disability compensation claims and 75,000 have been approved.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (May 2007), by consensus, have defined traumatic brain injury (TBI) as any traumatically induced structural injury and/or physiological disruption of brain function as a result of an external force that is indicated by new onset or worsening of at least one of the following clinical signs, immediately following the event: 1. Any period of loss of or a decreased level of consciousness; 2. Any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the injury; 3. Any alteration in mental state at the time of the injury (e.g., confusion, disorientation, slowed thinking); 4. Neurological deficits (e.g., weakness, balance disturbance, praxis, paresis/ plegia, change in vision, other sensory alterations, aphasia.) that may or may not be transient; 5. Intracranial lesion.

Our office can provide additional assistance with claims regarding this issue and many others.

The Kings County Veterans Service Office can complete the DMV Veteran Status Verification Form for the new California Veteran Designation on your driver’s license and also issues Veteran I.D. cards to honorably discharged veterans.

Contact Scott Holwell if you would like to receive periodic veteran’s information by email. There are many state and federal benefits and programs available to veterans and their dependents.

To determine if you are eligible for any of these benefits, visit or call our office.

We can and will assist you in completing all required application forms. You can get information on the Web from the Kings County Veterans Service Office webpage at www.countyofkings.com/vets.

16 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Valley Scene

4 August, 2016

Ugandan Kids Choir to Perform at ImagineU Children’s Museum Donna Orozco The Ugandan Kids Choir will perform their high energy music, dance and drumming in traditional dress at ImagineU Children’s Museum on Friday, August 5. There will be two performances, at 4 and 6pm. In between shows, local drummer Keio Ogawa will teach African drumming to children attending.

The choir is made up of 10 sponsored children who come from the poorest parts of Uganda. The children are chosen for their enthusiasm, ability, and dedication—all of which make them potential leaders when they return to their communities.

The choir is sponsored by Childcare Worldwide, whose mission is to build a bridge between concerned people in the West and children in the developing world. A Christian non-profit, the organization works to meet the spiritual and physical needs through a ministry that emphasizes education.

The concerts are free with paid admission to the museum. Admission is $8 for children and adults.

Free for children under 1 year old.

The concerts will be held at the ImagineU Children’s Museum, located at 210 N. Tipton, Visalia, 559 7335975 or www.imagineumuseum.org

The Ugandan Kids Choir.

Broadway Star Betsy Wolfe to Star in Fundraising Concert August 13

Hermia (Bianca Vanderhorst), Demitruis (Jesse Dugan), Helena (Kallysta Tyler), and Lysander (Victor Rocha) are all searching for true love.

Shakespeare in the Plaza to Feature “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” James Kliegl “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the 11th Annual Shakespeare in the Plaza by the Lindsay Community Theater. The play is performed at Sweet Brier Plaza in the heart of downtown Lindsay. Admission is free. Shows are August 4, 6, 11, and 13 at dusk (about 8pm).

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins with the Duke of Athens, Theseus (Ron Fleming) and the Amazon Queen, Hippolyta (Chenoa Martinez) discussing their wedding plans. They are interrupted by Egeus (Scott Sloan) who is angry with his daughter Hermia (Bianca Vanderhorst). Hermia refuses to marry her father’s choice for a husband, Demetrius (Jesse Dugan), and wants to marry Lysander (Victor Rocha). Under Athenian law she must die or become a nun if she refuses to marry Demetrius.

Hermia’s best friend Helena (Kallysta Tyler) is madly in love with Demetrius, but he won’t have anything to do with her. When Lysander and Hermia decide to flee Athens, Demetrius follows them to seek revenge, and Helena pursues Demetrius.

They all end up in the forest in the land of the fairies. Oberon (Conner Niel-

son) is the king of the fairies, and Titania (Jennifer Keeton) is his queen. Oberon’s servant, Puck (LilyAnn Keeton) is sent to fetch a magic flower that, when the juice is dropped in the eye, causes a person to fall madly in love with the next living thing it sees.

Through a series of mishaps, Lysander and Demetrius are both caused to fall madly in love with Helena, and they now ignore Hermia. Helena thinks the men are wooing her in scorn, and Hermia now wants revenge on Helena for stealing Lysander from her. Oberon chides Puck for causing both men to fall in love with Helena, and eventually breaks the spell on Lysander who returns to Hermia, but he leaves the spell on Demetrius who then loves Helena.

Oberon is angry with Titania for keeping a changling boy (Juan Chavez) that Oberon wants for his servant. He plots to have his revenge on her by dropping some of the juice from the magic flower into her eyes. He hopes the next thing she sees is something vile, like a monkey or a bear. After she is sung to sleep by her fairy servants (Natalia Lemos Orozco, Brianna Chavez, Issys Baeza,

SHAKESPEARE continued on 19 »

Betsy Wolfe, a Visalia native who has taken her singing talent to Broadway and Carnegie Hall, will return to her hometown for an exclusive fundraising event Aug. 13 at the L.J. Williams Theatre.

“An Evening with Betsy Wolfe” will showcase her versatile repertoire of music from Broadway, opera, cabaret and concert hall. In the past few months alone, Wolfe sang with “Glee” star Darren Criss in duet performances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, returned to the Metropolitan Opera for a role in “Die Fledermaus,” and sang with Jimmy Buffett in Miami.

In the fall, Wolfe will return to broadway in a revival of the six-character, Tony-Award-winning musical, “Falsettos.”

Wolfe also managed to find time to sing as Elsa in a lab for the upcoming stage version of Betsy Wolfe “Frozen,” which Disney will bring to Broadway in 2018.

Accompanying Wolfe on piano will be Andrew Resnick, a Broadway veteran who most recently conducted the orchestra for the Tony-Award winning “The King and I” at the Lincoln Center Theatre.

Wolfe’s show in Visalia will have one performance at 7:30 p.m. She is expected to combine Broadway and popular music as well as her personal favorites.

Tickets are $45, $35 and $25 and can be purchased online at the Visalia Education Foundation web site at www.visaliaedfoundation.org., at the box office of the Fox Theatre, 308 W. Main Street in Visalia, or by ordering tickets by phone at 730-7518. Sponsorships and opportunities for VIP events are also available.

The show is a fundraiser for the Visalia Education Foundation, a nonprofit public benefit corporation that supports programs in arts and sciences for students of the Visalia Unified School District.

Paul Hurley The event promises to be as eclectic as Wolfe’s wide-ranging career. She is best known for her role as Ellen opposite Zach Braff in the Susan Stroman directed adaptation of Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” and Rosa Bud in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, as well as for her appearance as Cathy in “The Last Five Years,” both on and off Broadway.

She had most recently teamed with Criss in their show “Broadway Today” for sold out crowds at The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and Carnegie Hall, performing under Maestro Steven Reineke with New York Pops.

Last summer, Wolfe starred in the world premiere of “Up Here” at the La Jolla Playhouse, which was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez the husband and wife team who collectively wrote “Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”, “In Transit” and “Frozen.” The songwriting team is also composing the music for the stage version of “Frozen,” which will open in previews next year.

Wolfe is a native of Visalia who performed with the Green Acres Little Theater and Golden West High School, where she graduated in 2000. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and has since performed with more than 35 symphonic and pops orchestras. She periodically returns to Visalia, often for fundraising events such as this one.

“I am thrilled to be able to come and support the Visalia Education Foundation and see so many friends and family on this special trip,” Wolfe said.

For more information about the Visalia Education Foundation visit its web site at www.visaliaedfoundation.org.

18 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

First Friday at Center for Spiritual Living Donna Orozco The First Friday art walk at the Center for Spiritual Living in Visalia will have lots going on. Besides the art show by the Tuesday Morning Plein Air Artists from Hanford, there will be music by members of the High Sierra Jazz band and the launch of Visalian Carole Firstman’s first published book.

The event is Friday, Aug. 5 from 5-8 p.m. at the center, 117 S. Locust, one block south of Main Street.

Firstman will sign copies of her book and give readings.

Firstman’s just published book is about her relationship Carole Firstman with her eccentric father. She reveals him as chauvinistic, mostly absent and self-absorbed. In the book, she says he gave her a bar of soap for her birthday when he forgot to buy her a present—although the two were born on the same day. And soon after Carole was born, he made his wife (retired science teacher at College of the Sequoias, Randy Firstman) and baby live in a tent outside because her crying might distract him from his studies.

The title of the book—“Origins of the Universe and What It All Means: A Memoir”—came out of a long-ago conversation Firstman had with her father, a gifted professor who researched evolutionary biology by studying scorpions. The

two had been estranged for a number of years, and they reconnected on the phone.

“My dad, for all of his life, has gone down to Mexico, especially to Baja, to collect spiders and scorpions, and when I was a kid, I used to go with him and my mom,” said Firstman. “So we were planning this road trip, and he said—and this is a line he says over and over in the span of my life—he said, there are so many things I want to talk to you about, about life and the origins of the universe and what it all means.”

The seven plein air painters have a unique show. Plein air means outdoors. Each week the group can be found in downtown Hanford in front of various historical buildings or in the countryside painting whatever inspires them. Because they each paint the same subject each day, the show is intriguing because it shows how differently the same scene can look from different perspectives, styles and mediums.

Now that adult coloring books are so popular, one of the painters, Sharon Banister, has created a coloring book that traces the steps of a spiritual mind treatment, which is a positive prayer used at the center. She will have it on display and will explain how the coloring book can be used.

Information: 559 625-2441, www. cslvisalia.org, www.facebook.com/carole.firstman

“Spaghetti & Songs”, a fun-filled all-you-can-eat dining experience comes to downtown Visalia on August 13th, at the First Presbyterian Church next to the Visalia Library and the Senior Center. Guests are welcome anytime between 12:30 to 6:30 for lunch or dinner. This popular 8th Annual Fundraiser benefits the non-profit Visalia Mighty Oak Chorus. Adults are $12; children age 12 and under are $5. For tickets and information, call Dee Baughman at 280-5715 or email: shermb8@gmail.com.

Tulare Foundation to Host Summer Jubilee Tulare Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce Tulare’s event of the summer – “Summer Jubilee – Arabian Nights” will take place Saturday, August 13, at the family estate of the Gupta-Kumar Families.

The Foundation, together with Tulare Regional Medical Center managed

by Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, is excited to host “Arabian Nights” and all the festivities and celebration. This year will also be a tribute to Tulare Regional Medical Center’s 65th Birthday.

Sponsor and Vendor opportunities are available.

An estimated 1000 Summer Jubilee attendees will be greeted with traditional welcome spirits and will enjoy tastes from featured restaurants, wineries, breweries and distributors from 7pm to 9pm, casino style gaming, including vid-

eo horse racing and dancing until 11pm, Mid-eastern cultural dancing and entertainment will enhance the day’s event.

Individual tickets are $50 ($60 at the door). For more information please visit the website at: www.tularehospitalfoundation.org/SummerJubilee or by phoning the Foundation Office, 559.685.3438. Tickets may be purchased at the Foundation Office, at Evolutions Fitness & Wellness Center – 1425 E. Prosperity, Tulare or inside the hospital Gift Shop at 869 N. Cherry Street.

Event proceeds ensures the Foundation’s mission to provide philanthropic support for Tulare Regional Medical Center, enhancing medical services and bringing healing comfort and high quality care to the people it serves.

4 August, 2016

Valley Voice • 19

7th Annual Camp Zap Luau on 9/10 The seventh annual Camp Zap Youth Foundation Aloha Luau will be held at the Zapalac Ranch, 25600 Avenue 324, Lemon Cove, 5:30pm – 9:30pm on Saturday, September 10th to raise funds for Camp Zap. The event will feature some great Hawaiian food, tropical drinks and beautiful Polynesian dancers from Hawaiian Style Productions. This year, along with a silent auction, there will be a live auction featuring one-of-a-kind items.

Tickets are $35 per person and funds raised will be used to advance the camp’s purpose and activities, the purchase of tents, sleeping bags, sports equipment and to provide food during the overnight campouts.

Camp Zap is a two-day campout held four times a year for youth from the surrounding rural areas of Tulare County. Located in the beautiful hills of Lemon Cove, Camp Zap provides an opportunity for youth to interact with other children they might not otherwise meet, in a safe environment. Children get to experience the joy of camping, horseback riding, hiking, canoeing and other team-building games.

“The relationships we build with kids at a young age, help prevent problems when they are in high school,” says former Police Chief John Zapalac.

Part of the evening activities include guest speakers by members of the community, such as juvenile court judges, former gang members and even world-famous musicians who encourage the children to strive the best they can be, make smart choices and convey the message that anything is possible if you try, and work hard. Their focus is also Camp Zap’s motto: “Life… It’s all about choices.”

With the help of the Rotary, Kiwanis, FHCN AmeriCorps and many other volunteers, Camp Zap, which has been in existence since 1999, has touched the lives of over 10,000 kids. All meals are provided for the children and they have the opportunity to spend the night outdoors in tents or in cabins.

“I think every child should experience the joy of camping,” says Chief Zapalac.

For more information, contact Denise Chlouber at: 559-280-9256. denise.chlouber@yahoo.com

Shakespeare

In the end Oberon takes pity on Titania and breaks the spell on her and returns Bottom to human form. The Duke, out hunting with Hippolyta, comes across the two couples asleep in the forest. After he learns of Demetrius’ love for Helena, he overrules the wishes of Hermia’s father, Egeus, and declares that the two couples will be married at the same time as his wedding.

After the wedding, the three married couples witness the workers’ play, “Pymarus and Thisbe.” The play is a disaster, but the inept actors and poor performance are great entertainment for all. As the couples head to bed, Oberon and Titania return to bless the couples as they start their new lives together.

For more information call 284 2223 or visit www.lindsaycommunitytheater.com.

Continued from p. 1

Kaylie Medina, Aracely Ochoa, Melanie Millan, Sofia Craven, Ashley Ibarra, Valerie Ibarra, and Jack Craven), Oberon drops the juice into her eyes.

Meanwhile, also in the forest are a group of working men from Athens who are preparing a play to present before the Duke on his wedding day. They are Quince (Connor Craven), Bottom (George Pearce), Starveling (Jip Woudstra), Snout (Gage Phipps), Snug (Eric Tayler), and Flute (Joel Lara). In the course of the rehearsal, when Bottom briefly leaves the stage, Puck changes his head into the head of a jackass. He scares off his companions, but is seen by Titania when she awakes, and she falls madly in love with him.

EXETER

420 N. Kaweah Ave.

HANFORD

1675 W. Lacey Blvd.

1113 10th Ave.

TULARE

133 North J St.

VISALIA

301 S. Willis St. 2611 S Mooney Blvd.

2124 W. Riggins Ave

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400): The Father of English Literature Despite the fact that the English language and its literature existed for several centuries before his birth, Geoffrey Chaucer, the fourteenth century poet, is often considered “the father of English literature.” Why? First, Chaucer was the first major English writer to take his native tongue—the Middle English of London—as a serious literary language on par with Latin or Greek.

His greatest work, The Canterbury Tales, gives birth to what will become a standard English poetic line, the iambic pentameter favored by poets like Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, and Robert Frost.

Second, Chaucer’s Tales was wildly and directly influential on later writers: not only did The Canterbury Tales end up copied in manuscripts all over medieval England, but it was regularly reprinted as soon as the first English printing press was set up in 1476.

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by various characters on a pilgrimage from London to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The entire collection is framed by a General Prologue narrated by a fictionalized Chaucer, and begins with famous lines that, once upon a time, English schoolchildren had to memorize: Whan that April with his showres soote, The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flowr…

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…

And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond to Canterbury they wende, The holy blissful martyr for to seeke That hem hath holpen whan that they were seke.

[When the sweet showers of April fall and shoot Down through the drought of March to pierce the root, Bathing every vine in liquid power From which there springs the engendering of the flower…

Then people long to go on pilgrimages…

And specially, from every shire’s end In England, down to Canterbury they wend To seek the holy blissful martyr, quick In giving help to them when they were sick.]

Joseph R. Teller The narrator meets a band of pilgrims at an inn, and the next morning they set out for Canterbury together—a medieval road trip. To pass the time, each will tell two stories along the way, and the teller of the best story will win the contest and a free dinner on the way home.

Before the tales begin, the narrator gives an exquisite description of each pilgrim in the band: a noble knight and his foppish squire; a drunken miller; a worldly prioress; a pardoner who sells indulgences and displays false relics to gullible peasants; a saintly plowman and his brother; a lascivious wife from Bath; a merchant, a sailor, and a host of others. No other English poet paints such a richly detailed and subtle picture of late medieval people, a skill doubtless shaped

by Chaucer’s own experiences with real people as a courtier and diplomat.

The tales themselves comprise a diverse catalogue of medieval literary genres: we get morality tales, fables with talking animals, dirty satire (complete with profanity and fart jokes), romance narratives, feminist (and anti-feminist) complaints, and sermons.

In short, Chaucer has taken much of the medieval English world and brought it to vibrant life; we feel like we are getting to know real-life characters, people with hidden motives and complex relationships, people whose desires and goals often jar with their outward descriptions—all in an English which is beginning to emerge as a powerful poetic force in European culture.

Most striking is how Chaucer frames his entire collection of stories: by sending his storytellers on pilgrimage, he suggests that all of us are wayfarers journeying together in this life, and that each of us is also on an inward pilgrimage, an internal journey that can be shared only through the stories we tell one another along the way.

And so Chaucer asks us over 600 years later: where, exactly, are we headed together?

Whom do we consider part of our company?

What stories do we like to tell one another, and what do those stories reveal about us as individuals—and as a people?

Dr. Joseph Teller is Professor of English at COS. Email him at josepht@cos.edu.

Calendar Sunday Nights: Barmageddon Tulareous Open Mic, 9pm12:30am Our weekly open mic has a great selection of local comedians and musicians. Comedians will have approximately 10 mins of stage time and musicians get three songs. Sign ups start at 9 PM, Show starts at 9:30 PM, Ends around 12:30 AM. No Cover.

Mondays: Bridge Club, 9:30am-2pm 210 W Center Street Visalia, CA 93291. Admission is free. For additional information call: Joan Dinwiddie @ 732-0855

ing Mill Artisan Pizzeria, 514 East Main Street, Suite A, in Visalia. A portion of the proceeds is donated to the Valley Oak SPCA. For more information, call 651-1111.

3rd Tuesday, Monthly: League of Women Voters Meeting, 11:45am At Sue Sa’s Club House, 699 W. Center in Visalia. Reservations are required and the public is welcome. Contact Newellgb@hotmail.com or call 732-1251.

Wednesday Nights: Barmageddon Game Night Come blow off some steam at our game night. Enjoy compliMondays: Knitters, 10ammentary gaming on all consoles, 12:30pm TCG’s, Table top & board games.

210 W Center Street Visalia, Happy hour will be from 6 PM- 8 CA 93291. Everyone is welcome. PM. Monday Nights: Monday Karaoke at Barmageddon, 9pm-1am Get on stage and sing your favorite tunes on our one of a kind sound system. New Image has a vast selection of songs to choose, ranging from 70’s classic rock to modern pop. Karaoke Jockey Miss Sammi will be hosting from 9 PM - 1 AM. No Cover.

Fridays: Women’s Morning Bible Study, 9am-Noon 210 W Center Street Visalia, CA 93291. For additional information call: 739-9010 Saturdays: Cup of Jazz, 10amNoon At Cafe 210, at 210 Center street, Visalia. Free. Led by Richard Garoogian. Call 559.730.0910 for more information.

1st Thursday Monthly through October: Diabetes Support Group, 5:30-7pm Kaweah Delta Health Care District will offer a free diabetes support group through October from on the first Thursday of the month at the Kaweah Delta Chronic Disease Management Center, 325 Willis St., Visalia.

Information: 624-2416.

1st Thursday, Monthly: Veterans Support Group, 5:30-7pm Free support group for global war on terrorism & post 9-11 (Veterans Only) at the Tulare Public Library, 475 North M Street in Tulare. Facilitated by: Dr. Lance Zimmerman, Ph.D of veterans Counseling Clinic. “The transition from serving in a combat zone to civilian life can be a difficult one. Combat veterans commonly experience feelings of depression, isolation, alienation, guilt, anxiety, and anger following their service. If you’re experiencing these or any other emotional problems after serving in a combat zone, it’s vital to seek professional help. “ -Veterans Counseling Clinic.

Tuesday Nights: Barmageddon Trivia Thunderdome, 9pm-1am Challenge your friends to the ultimate trivia throw down. Earn some bragging rights in categories ranging from Saturday morning cartoons, classic video games, and pop culture films. Teams of 4 or solo players compete each round for the best scores. Winners of every two rounds will square off in 3rd Thursday Monthly through the Trivia Thunderdome for great October: Diabetes Support prizes. Free sign ups at 9:30 PM. Group, 5:30-7pm Kaweah Delta Health Care Dis2nd Tuesday, Monthly: Yappy trict will offer a free diabetes supHour, 5-9pm port group through October on Well-mannered, leashed pets are the third Thursday of the month welcome on the patio at the Plan- at Woodlake Manor Apartments,

August 2016 Lunc

Lunch served 12—1 p.m. $4.0

Please call 713-4481. Reservation Please call 713-4481. Reservations m

Monday 1 Grilled Vegetable Lasagna, Caesar salad, fruit and garlic bread

Tuesday

Wednesday

T

2 Baked Meatloaf 3 Italian Sausage,

4 B qua sla fru

with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies and roll

pepper and onion hoagie with Minestrone soup and fruit

8 Pastrami & Swiss on marbled rye with corn chowder and fresh fruit

9 Stuffed Jumbo

10 Salisbury pasta shells with Steak with vegspinach, ricotta & gies, roasted ham in a parmepotatoes and san cream sauce, & fruit fruit

11 pe wi ve fru

15 Classic Spaghetti with red meat sauce, garden salad, garlic bread and fruit

16 Greek Yogurt Chicken stroganoff with mushrooms, buttered noodles, salad and fruit

17 Ground Beef & Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie with mashed potatoes, green salad and fruit

18 chi wi ve pin fru

22 Parmesan Chicken Breast, rice pilaf, fresh vegetables and a roll

23 Baked Meatloaf with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, fresh veggie and a roll

24 Zucchini Cream Soup, turkey & provolone sub sandwich and fruit

25

29 Chicken Piccata served with bow tie pasta, garden salad, fruit and a roll

30 Turkey Chili with cornbread, garden salad and fruit

31 Chicken Noo- Sw dle Soup with a *Sw wil will BLT sandwich Ite **It and fresh fruit sub

on lett sal

fru

subj

200 E. Sierra Avenue, Woodlake. 2022 Information: 624-2416.

1st and 3rd Thursdays, Month3rd Thursday, Monthly: Gath- ly: Central Valley Tea Party ering At the Oval, 12:30-1pm Meetings, 6pm Lifting up the needs and con- 819 West Visalia Road, Farmerscerns of Visalia through individ- ville. ual prayer and meditation at Oval Last Thursday Monthly Park, 808 North Court Street in through October: Diabetes Visalia. For more information, Support Group, 5:30-7pm call 967-4065.

Kaweah Delta Health Care Dis3rd Thursday, Monthly: Board Game Night, 6-7:45pm For ages 10+ at the Visalia Branch Library, 200 West Oak Street.

Sign-ups are not required. For more information, call 713-2703.

trict will offer a free diabetes support group through October on the last Thursday of the month at Sand Creek Apartments, 41020 Rd. 124, Orosi. Information: 624-2416.

3rd Thursday, Monthly: Ladies’ Night, 6-10pm At the Clay Cafe in Visalia, 1018 E. Mineral King Ave. $10 studio fee with ceramic purchase. Includes complimentary margarita, dinner and dessert. Door prizes too! Reservations required: 733-

Lemon Cove Women’s Club Accepting Donations for Yard Sale Lemon Cove Women’s Club is preparing for their annual yard sale on Saturday, October 6th at the historic Pogue Hotel at 32792 Sierra Dr. across from the post

ch Menu/Visalia Senior Center

00 Dine In

or

Takeout & under 55 years: $5.00

ns must be made one business day in advance by 12:00 p.m. must be made one business day in advance by 12 PM.

Thursday

Friday

Weekly Salad Option:

BBQ Chicken arters with coleaw, chips and uit

5 Shredded Beef Enchiladas in red sauce with Mexican cheese, rice, beans, salad and fruit

Spring Salad — Fresh spring

Lemon Pepered Chicken ith rice pilaf, egetable and uit

12 Beach Party!

Chicken Eniladas suizas ith salsa erde, rice & nto beans, uit

19 Quiche (no crust) with ham, asparagus, mushrooms, swiss & mozzarella with country potatoes & fruit

BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches on buns with potato salad, chips and fresh fruit

JULY

Chicken Salad 26 Fish Tacos croissant with with cabbage tuce, three bean and pico de gallad, chips and

lo, spiced black beans & rice

uit

weet treats or fruit weet treats or fruit ll be served daily.

l be served daily. ems on Menu are tems on Menu are bject to change. ject to change**

Chicken Caesar Salad is available as meal replacement.

mix, romaine, dried cranberries, apples, feta cheese, glazed walnuts, grilled chicken and balsamic vinaigrette

Greek Salad — Crisp ro-

maine, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, red onion, feta, grilled chicken with champagne vinaigrette

Cobb Salad — With chicken, tomato, avocado, feta, lettuce and bacon bits with ranch dressing

Taco Salad

— In a tortilla

bowl with greens, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, chicken and pico de gallo

Chef Salad - With diced cheeses, black olives, ham, tomato and hard boiled eggs with ranch dressing

office. To donate to the sale call Mona Wyatt at 359-4465 or Karen Callahan at 564-2096. Donations of furniture will be accepted the morning of the sale. Please do not donate any electronics and only gently used clothes will be accepted. All funds go to the maintenance and restoration of the hotel and museum.

Door Hanger August 22 through 27 – Peacock Fan August 29 through September 3 – Spinner Craft sessions are available at the Alpaugh, Earlimart, Exeter, Ivanhoe, Lindsay, Orosi, Springville, trathmore, Three Rivers, Tipton and Woodlake branch libraries.

Fridays: Lindsay Farmer’s Mar- Times vary with each location.

For more information on craft ket, 5:30-9pm Located at Sweetbriar Plaza, N. days and times at these branches Sweetbriar Ave & Samoa St., or other Tulare County Library programs, please go to www.

Lindsay. tularecountylibrary.org and choose the locations tab or call the branches:

AUGUST

August: Crafts at the Tulare County Library Branches August 1 through 6 – Duct Tape Pencil Case August 8 through 13 –Duct Tape Flower Topper August 15 through 20 – Pencil

Through August 28: “Painting Lessons From My Piano” by Betty Berk Betty Berk has her latest paintings on display at Cafe 225, 225 Main St, Visalia, CA through August

28. Her website is at www.betty- Giagos are available for purchase berk.com.

NOW at the Visalia ConvenAugust 12: STEM Symposium tion Center Box Office, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., at College of the Sequoias, or online at www.visaliatix.com.

11:30am-3pm College of the Sequoias is invit- For more information call the ing the community to the Sci- Convention Center Box Office at ence, Technology, Engineering (559) 713-4040. and mathematics Symposium.

The Symposium will highlight the work of COS STEM majors who have completed a Research Experience for Undergraduates program through the Science Undergraduate Research Group Experience (SURGE) program.

For more information about the COS SURGE program, visit cos. edu/surge August 12: Celebrant Singers 39th Annual Grand Homecoming Concert, 7pm At the LJ Williams Theater, After an exciting summer of ministry and travel around the United States, Greece and El Salvador, Celebrant Singers return to Visalia on August 12. We welcome you to our 39th Annual Grand Homecoming Concert. Hear testimonies from our time of ministry and listen to inspiring music.

All seats are FREE and a love offering will be received. 559-7404000, www.celebrants.org

August 24: Last Day to Sign Up for Art Tour Express Trip to SF MOMA Arts Visalia is proud to partner with the Visalia Art League in hosting chartered bus trips to museums, galleries, and other art-related destinations throughout California. A great opportunity to share a museum visit experience with your fellow art lovers!

Simply reserve your seat and leave the rest to us. The trip takes place on Saturday, September 17 from 6:30am to 9pm, departing the Visalia Convention Center to head to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Tickets are $75 per person, inclusive of bus fare and museum ticket. Call Arts Visalia at 559-739-0905 for more information August 25-28: Free Entrance to Your National Parks National Park Service Birthday (all national parks)

August 25: Visalia Senior Housing Celebration, 6:30August 19: Resurrection Fight- 8pm ing Alliance at Visalia Conven- Visalia Senior Housing will host tion Center, 5pm a celebration, marking the pay-off RFA 42 - Juusola vs. Giagos will of the mortgage on its first senior take place Friday, August 19th at housing development, and 40 the Visalia Convention Center in years of service to Visalia seniors.

Visalia, California. The first bout will be at 5:00pm. The entire A buffet dinner will be held at main card will be televised live Visalia United Methodist Church and nationwide on AXS TV at 10 at 5200 W. Caldwell. For more information, call Lori Trowbridge p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. at 627-2220 or email ltrowTickets for RFA 42 - Juusola vs. bridge@cchnc.org

August 15: Last Day to Register for Measure I Election

August 15 is the last day to register to vote for the Measure I election.

Send your calendar items to: editor@ourvalleyvoice.com

22 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

Sports Great Expectations for New Rawhide Players should a dream of being in the big leagues one day, and working is the The Visalia Rawhide have gone way to achieve that dream. They are through quite a transition in the sec- really coming along as they continue ond half of the season. The to develop.”

‘Hide has seen many of its House does best players receive promoadmit that the tions to AA Mobile, Alarecent string of bama and are left with an roster changes almost entirely new team. has had an imManager J.R. House mediate impact has tried to get all of these on the way the pieces to fit together. He team has perknows many of these guys formed, but from the lower levels, and there still is an believes that they are beginexpectation ning to come around. of winning.

Joel Payamps Alex Young “I’ve had these guys “Our rebefore, I know their personalities, and cord is evident in that. We have new things haven’t been different since I had starting pitchers, pitching in a new them the first time. There are growing league, and California League is nopains, but we know what we have to toriously friendly to hitters, so that’s deal with.” an adjustment. We have pitchers with Something that House has liked new roles in the bullpen. Guys that we about his team is something that his have had pitching earlier in games, are team has done since he took over in now pitching in the later innings, and 2015. The players just continue to vice versa. We do have leaders though, work, no matter the circumstances. and our leaders are good players. The “These guys have a dream, or new guys have to become new leaders, Stefan Barros

and have their roles become more es- ond round pick last year. Justin Dotablished.” natella is another young arm that’s House also wants to look at these done some good things for us in this roster changes positively. He believes hitter friendly league.” that, since a Even with all of the lot of his startplayer movement recenters have been ly, House still expects his sent up, that team to compete, and win means the team’s a championship, when it been having a comes to the California good season.

League playoffs.

“This means “It’s what we’re shootthe season has ing for. We want to see gone the way we improvement, and that the expected. The effort and passion is still player movethere. It is a process, and these guys are still figuring ment has been Justin Donatella things out, but these are upward, and that’s a positive. There hasn’t been things that have to be taken care of.” much downward movement.”

The Rawhide have already takOf the new players on his roster, en home the first half championship, House has been most impressed with which ensures a playoff berth, and at least two home games. the starting pitching.

The first half of the season ends There are a couple of names that have caught the eye of the Raw- on September 5, though their last hide Manager. regular season home game will be on “Joel Payamps. He’s a guy that August 28. can throw the ball up to 97mph. Alex Young is a big prospect. He was a sec-

Rawhide Homestand Preview August 4—11 There’s only 17 home games left in the 2016 season before we head into the playoffs, can you believe it!?

The Rawhide open up a seven game, eight day homestand on August 4th when the Inland Empire 66ers (LA Angels Affiliate) come to town for four games.

Following an off day on Monday, August 8th, the Bakersfield Blaze (Seattle Mariners Affiliate) head to Visalia for three games, in a showdown of the two top teams in the North Division!

The Rawhide need your support as we head into the playoffs to “Reverse the Curse!” Playoff plans are available now at Rawhidebaseball.com.

The homestand gets started with a 7:00 p.m. tilt against the Inland Empire 66ers on Thursday, August 4th at Rawhide Ballpark. Come and celebrate “90’s Night” with live music by TBG and the Ritz from 6:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the home field concession stand where you can conveniently buy select $1 beers from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m, because it’s also a Thirsty Thursday presented by Party City! Any fans that dress up like it’s the 90’s or can prove they were born in the 90’s will receive a FREE Pasture ticket to the game!

The Rawhide will be dressed up in special Nickelodeon Legends of the Hidden Temple Jersey’s! In between innings fans can participate in Legends of the Hidden Temple themed games and kids can sign up for a special scavenger hunt!

Friday, August 5th is a Fun-Filled Friday presented by Suncrest Bank!

The Rawhide will take on the 66ers in game two of the four game series, starting at 7:00 p.m. and there will be postgame fireworks! I n honor of “Family Healthcare Network Night” the Rawhide will wear Doctor Themed Jersey’s during the ballgame and there will be a ticket discount for FHCN employees!

Saturday, August 6th is an All-American Saturday presented by Budweiser! Come cheer on the most patriotic team in America on Saturdays as the Rawhide will once again be dressed up in the American Flag Jerseys when they play the 66ers at 7:00 p.m.

Active and Retired Military get a $5 Grandstand ticket with ID every Saturday and with the purchase of a $5 Boot Mug fans will have access to half-price beer and discounted soda throughout the game! It’s also “Hanford Night” at the Ballpark presented by In’N’Out Burger and the first 100 fans to show a Hanford ID will receive a FREE Pasture or Grandstand 200 Ticket!

Sunday the series will wrap up against the Inland Empire 66ers with a 6:00 p.m. first pitch from the corner of Goshen Giddings on August 7th.

Bring the kiddies because it’s another Family Fun Sunday and we’re honoring our Carl’s Jr. Kids Club Members with “Kid’s Club Day” presented by Professor Toy! Kid’s Club Members get to enter early through the North Gate to enjoy FREE Icees from 4:00 p.m.

- 5:00 p.m!

The Chuck-E-Cheese Mascot Chuckie will be in attendance along with Tipper and Carl’s Jr. is providing

On Facebook at facebook.com/ourvalleyvoice

meals. There will also be bounce houses open for bouncing and a few Rawhide players will be signing autographs!

Don’t forget Kid’s Club members get to run the bases postgame! Not a Kid’s Club Member!? That’s ok, kids can sign up at the ticket office or at the General Store. It’s also another “Reading Day” courtesy of Educational Employees Credit Union. If you’re a member of Tipper’s Reading Club bring your completed bookmarks to the ticket office and receive a FREE Family Four Pack of tickets! “Everyday Heroes” (Police, Fire and EMTs) also receive a $5 Grandstand ticket with ID to every Sunday home game!

Miss the Rawhide already!? Have no fear, for Tipper is here! The faithful mascot of the Rawhide will be at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Visalia on Monday, August 8th from 11:30 a.m - 1:00 p.m. The Rawhide and Dick’s Sporting Goods will be giving away FREE PRIZES and you can pick up a voucher for a FREE TICKET to “Baseballympics Night” on Thursday, August 11 all day!

The homestand continues with a 7:00 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday, August 9th when the Bakersfield Blaze come to town. It’s another Two-FerTuesday at Rawhide Ballpark sponsored by Chevron and Texaco!

Head to your local Chevron or Texaco stations and grab a 2-for-1 ticket voucher. Bring it down to the ballpark and you can save up to $11 on a ticket, based on availability!

Wednesday, August 10th is another WIN-WIN Wednesday at Rawhide

Ballpark. Bakersfield and Visalia will play game two of their series with a 7:00 p.m. first pitch.

If the Rawhide win, the fans win by receiving a FREE ticket voucher to the next Wednesday home game (August 17th)! In honor of “Fitness Night” there will be on-field fitness competitions during the game to crown Mr. and Mrs. Rawhide Fitness! Interested in competing? Contact Matt Cooper at matt@rawhidebaseball.com for more information.

The homestand wraps up on Thursday, August 11th against Bakersfield with another Thirsty Thursday presented by Party City!

First pitch set for 7:00 p.m. and for the second time on the homestand fans can enjoy live music at the homeplate concession stand! Eddie Guzman will be playing from 6:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. and $1 select beers will be on sale at the home plate concession area and the left field concession stand from 6:00 p.m.

- 8:00 p.m.

Since it’s also “BaseballOlympics” at the ballpark, any fan who wears country representation attire receives a FREE Pasture ticket to the game. There will be a pre-game “Opening Ceremony” on the warning track and in-game Olympic style contests throughout the game with the winners receiving postgame medals!

For tickets or more information call 559-732-4433 or visit Rawhidebaseball.com.

Come cheer on the Rawhide as they look to win their fourth straight North Division title!

Print replica edition at issuu.com/ourvalleyvoice

Valley Voice • 23

4 August, 2016

Chuck Berry to Host Art Reception at Exeter Lunch Box on August 6

UPS Foundation Offers Support to United Way’s Efforts to Boost Literacy The UPS Foundation has joined with United Way of Tulare County (UWTC) in taking a strong stand against illiteracy with a $5,000 donation supporting the organization’s Literacy Project.

The Literacy Project of UWTC is a fledgling program aimed at lowering the rate of illiteracy in Tulare County, while promoting and encouraging reading. According to UWTC Executive Director Rosemary Caso, the funds will be used to provide K‐3 teachers with the books they need to teach at the highest level.

“We want to ensure children in Tulare County become powerful readers writers, and thinkers,” explained Caso.

“UPS has always been a strong supporter of United Way, but this most recent donation shows they really stand behind United Way’s vision of creating great change in Tulare County communities.”

According to Caso, UPS also supports other United Way efforts and conducts workplace giving campaigns in which their employees directly support United Way. “The UPS Foundation is honored to support the United Way of Tulare County’s efforts toward The Literacy Project. Our goal is to fund powerful

program that make a lasting difference to the global community,” stated Bryan Hemman, Supervisor and Sustainability Ambassador of UPS Global Business Services. According to statistics, in Tulare County the adult functional illiteracy rate is 41%, compared to 23% for the rest of California’s population. They also show students who leave third grade without reading proficiently are more likely to drop out of high school.

With a simple application process, K‐3 teachers can apply for funding to provide needed books for their classrooms. UWTC will be awarding the mini‐grants to K‐3 teachers in Tulare County for the 2016/17 school year.

The deadline for submitting applications is August 12, 2016. A review team composed of the UWTC’s Women’s Leadership Council will read, score and rank all proposals. Funding decisions will be announced on September 8, 2016.

The funds for The Literacy Project were the result of proceeds from UWTC’s Power of the Purse fundraiser held this past May, and hosted by the Women’s Leadership Council.

More information is available by visiting http://www.unitedwaytc.org/ the‐literacy‐project.html

Deli Delicious to Open Third Visalia Store Deli Delicious is expanding throughout California and is announcing the opening of their third store in Visalia.

The store, to be located at 200 E. Acequia, is owned and operated by local franchisees and their staff.

The success of Deli Delicious, officials say, can be attributed to the company’s experienced team of restaurant professionals and their commitment to superior products, courteous and pleasant customer service, stylish fast-casual dining, and convenience; among others.

e

Th

Deli Delicious is ranked a Top 40 Food Franchise by Franchise Business Review and has been voted People’s Choice Best Sandwich consecutively from 20092016. The company started with one family-owned restaurant in Fresno in the early 90’s and began franchising in 2008.

Currently there areover 100 total units planned with over 40 stores already open and operating in California.

Deli Delicious also has locations at 4130 S. Mooney and 5129 W. Walnut.

Manor House Senior Living at its Best!

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Call to schedule a Free lunch & tour!

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(559) 592-2132

Would you ever think that a picture of a clump of dirty clothes, a pair of pants or a pile of money would make a good photo? Well, Chuck “Ed” Berry does, although by the time he has finished manipulating it in a variety of art programs, you would never recognize the original.

The Lunch Box in Exeter, 119 North E St., will host a reception for Berry’s show of paintings, photos and other art work from 5-8pm on Saturday, August 6. The show runs through the end of September.

Berry creates all his photos on his phone, using such programs as Photo Editor Pro, Photo Warm, Pics Art and Photo Editor to turn the every-day photos into colorful works of art. For instance, the dirty clothes looked something like a stylized pig by the time he finished with it.

“As I play with it, I’ll find something in the picture,” Berry said. “Sometimes I go too far and ruin it, but I save each step so I can go back to where I like it.”

Another unique piece of art took 12 years to finish. Actually, it was a project of six friends.

Berry started it and then gave it to the next artist with no direction of what to do next.

Donna Orozco “Each person had the freedom to complement each other while respecting what the other artists had done,” said Berry.

One artist kept the piece for eight years, and Berry thought he would never see it again, but it was finally returned.

Berry finished up the painting he calls “Yellow Face” so he could hang it in the Exeter show.

A former graphic artist, Berry has taken many art classes and for a time most of his work was in pen and ink or pencil; gradually, he began introducing color back into his drawings, feeling more confident in his choices and colors.

Berry is color blind, but it doesn’t seem to affect his art. He says he can see just as many colors and shades as a color-sighted person, but he has trouble discerning very light pastels and very dark colors in low light.

“Dark blue and dark black socks are hard for me to match, but I know this stumps a lot of people,” he said.

The reception is open to the public.

There will be refreshments and a drawing for a piece of art.

Information: 559 235-9683 or mocoso.cb71.cb@gmail.com

VPD Receives Grant to Fight Alcohol Crime The Visalia Police Department announced today that they have been awarded a $50,000 grant from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to battle alcohol-related crime.

“This is important to Visalia in order to increase protection for youth and to identify and address problem locations that may contribute to an increase in crime,” Sergeant Chris McLain said.

The grant is one of 54 awarded in California to local law enforcement agencies through ABC’s Grant Assistance Program (GAP).

The grants strengthen local law enforcement efforts by combining the efforts of local police officers and ABC agents. ABC agents have expertise in alcoholic beverage laws and can help communities reduce alcohol-related problems.

The funds will be used to reduce the number of alcoholic beverage sales to minors and obviously intoxicated patrons, the illegal solicitations of alcohol and other criminal activities such as the sale and possession of illegal drugs.

Wine & Beer Tasting At

Redwood Wine Room

Totem Market & Gifts Enjoy our Deli!

(Evening meals coming soon) J&J Cellars - Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards

(559) 561-4463

45186 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers

24 • Valley Voice

4 August, 2016

“Arsenic and Old Lace” for Visalia Players’ 60th Anniversary Season Nancy Holley The classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” opens the Visalia Players 40th year at the Ice House Theatre and their 60th anniversary season providing quality live theatre for the Valley.

An hilarious farce, the plot of the play centers around two maiden aunts, Abby and Martha, and their three nephews, Mortimer, Teddy, and Jonathan, all of whom might be considered certifiable. The aunts help homeless men find peace through elderberry wine; Teddy builds locks for the Panama Canal in the basement; and Jonathan keeps having his face rearranged to avoid detection.

“Arsenic and Old Lace” originally appeared on stage and in film in the 1940s, but it has been continuously performed on stage for decades, and the Cary Grant film version is a classic favorite with movie buffs.

Why the long-term interest? According to Jack Patino (Teddy), “A lot of the material is very forward for its time. The innuendos and saltiness are brilliant and timeless.”

The challenge with classic plays is how to stay true to the play and yet create a uniqueness of interpretation that represents the director’s vision. “Arsenic and Old Lace” is an Ice House directorial debut for Lindsay Tweed, a talented, young, enthusiastic thespian. “I want to ensure that all generations find something of interest in our production. The youth of Mike Seitz (Mortimer) and Leiana Petlewski (Elaine) brings a new tone to their characters often portrayed by older actors.”

The roles of the maiden aunts are skillfully handled by veteran actors Lee-

ni Mitchell (Martha) and Gwenn Spratt (Abby). Mitchell noted, “I love great farce and Lindsay is bringing fresh eyes to the play.”

Spratt is excited to be making her Ice House debut. “I’ve wanted to get back to the theatre in some capacity. I am very surprised to be in the show since I obviously didn’t come over on the Mayflower.”

Action packed and fast-paced, the play is also very physical. Seitz explained, “The physical comedy of it is what I love and attracted me to it. Everything is bigger than life.”

Mike Spicer is enthused to portray Jonathan, a reprise of a role he performed at the Temple Theatre in Hanford. “He intimidates the aunts to get things done.” According to Velva Hampson, “Dr. Einstein is indispensable to Jonathan because he is always there to change his face and deal with his craziness.”

The cast and director emphasized how much fun the play is. Kim Spicer (Officer Brophy) noted, “Everyone will find something to love about it.”

Hampson’s summary seemed to hit the spot, “This show is the coolest mix of non-typical casting and period genre.”

“Arsenic and Old Lace” runs for three weekends at the Ice House Theatre at Race and Santa Fe in Visalia. Evening performances are at 7:30pm on 8/5, 8/6, 8/12, 8/13, 8/19, and 8/20 and matinees are at 2pm on 8/7, 8/14, and 8/21. To purchase tickets go to the Visalia Players’ website at www.visaliaplayers.org, their Facebook page “Visalia Community Players”, or call 734-3900.

Gwenn Spratt, Sandy Brown, and Leeni Mitchell

Jack Patino, Mike Seitz and Leiana Petlewski