40 Years

It isn't likely to be noted on any historical documents and probably nobody will care, but earlier this month I reached a milestone.

In some ways it seems like only yesterday, but in reality I've been in the Visalia and Woodlake area for 40 years.

Perhaps it's too long for a guy like me to be in one spot. I haven't been run out of town, yet, and only a couple of threats on my life and/or bodily injury have been made. I've learned a lot during my Tulare County life, made tons of friends, accomplished a few things and seen a lot of changes. While history books certainly won't mention me, I'm sure some of the events and happenings I've been involved with or witnessed will be in the future historical accounts. Most of us can recall how, as young adults, we thought of 40 years being a long time. Adults 40 and over were elderly and the term generation gap was widely used.

Today it seems like 40 years is just a drop in the bucket for many pholks and to be called elderly one has to be pushing the late 70's, at the bottom end.

Contemplating my 40 year anniversary while doing the breakfast dishes and taking out the trash, I thought about some of the things which have transpired.

When I arrived in early February, 1967, fresh out of Fresno State, and a job at the Times Delta, Visalia was just short of 25,000 residents.

The Times Delta was on Acequia and the Visalia Mall was “way out on Mooney Boulevard.”

As I worked on a few tough spots on the dishes, I ran some names though what's left of my brain. John Copley, Harry Tow, Frank Benson, Jay Ballentyne. Sid Hosking, John Brackett, Walter Woods, Roy Springmeyer, Randy Zeeb, H.D. Lovik, Ken Clifford and his “Boola Tree,” Jim Foley and Ray Forsyth. I said to my self, self, those are only the first 10 to 12 years and just a small percentage of pholks I knew and/or reported on and developed friendships.

As I changed wash water I also switched to events. The Hotel Johnson fire, The Ralston-Purina building blaze, the saga of Disney and Mineral King Valley, the Wiebe kidnapping, the K-Mart robbery involving the capture of the Allen Gang, the Claude Snelling murder, various headline making crimes, captures, convictions and still-unsolved cases. I covered plane crashes, the Chowchilla kidnappings and jail breaks. I saw Hells Angels- type bikers run out of the county by sundown and nervously watched felony “take downs” up close. I even had one or two “stop the press” moments.

Some events were less dramatic but still big news. Public figures getting into trouble or forced to resign, leaving town or change jobs were among of the dramas I saw played out. There was a county CEO who got into hot water, a school superintendent who didn't make the grade, a county supervisor who bent the rules, a city manager who didn't duck with the punches and a council member with conflicting business interests.

A few scandals and tons of “feel good” stories, big headlines on the city's growth and growing pains along with traffic woes, land use issues, housing, sign and oak tree ordinances and the nuisance of “cruising “ Mooney were big deals. The on-going battle over the annexation of Green Acres, the Island” went on for years. There was the fight over Plaza Park, the battle over the Radisson and the issue of owning a baseball team were good for news copy.

Business news was big during those 40 years. The City of Lindsay in the pits when its famed olive processing plant closed, the shocking departure of a battery company, a food processors who hungered for other sites, a clothing maker who saw sewing elsewhere more lucrative, and several airline firms who flew the coop.

Earthquakes, devastating agricultural freezes, flooding, and even snow in Visalia.

Obviously good business stores were abundant or Visalia would not be over the 100,000 population. It doesn't seem than long ago when city building permit totaled more than $1 million per month and made headlines. I wrote some of the headlines.

The first Tulare County Farm Show took seed as I was settling into Tulare County.

Visalia's nightlife has changed dramatically. Spots like the Monkey's Eye, Faces, Melkonians, the old Hong Kong, Hendricks, 216 Club, P.J. Shannon's, The Cadillac, the Wunder-Stagg, the Town Club, The Flame, Crazy Delberts and the Crows Nest are long gone. Eating good in the neighborhood involved Merle's, Estrada's, The Wagon Wheel, the Vintage Press, Shakey's, Chili Billy's, Rosa, Finni's and Taylor's Hot Dogs among others.

Well pholks, I ran out of dirty dishes before I ran out of my 40- year recall.

But my wife told me not to fret, there will be more dishes to wash each morning and evening. I'm such a lucky guy.