Eyesore May Be No More: Downtown Tulare May
Benefit After Partnership Collapses

By Kim Clemons

Tulare - The result of a long-standing partnership that seems to have crumbled may be Tulare's answer to ridding downtown of an old eyesore.

A “Notice of Levy” and then an “Arbitration Award” were posted on the door of the old Tower Cinema last week. Barry Hartsfield, plaintiff in the case, was awarded over $7 million in a judgment against his one-time partner, Jonathan Cota. Both men are from the Los Angeles area.

The two men are in a contentious fight involving lawsuits and litigation regarding their one-time business partnership.

“Their demise could be a good thing for Tulare,” said Tulare City Manager Darrel Pyle, regarding the notices posted on the Tower Cinema door. “There may be a redevelopment opportunity.”

“We would be interested in trying to do something with the property,” said Howard Edson, development services director for the City of Tulare.

Pyle and Edson said that they would be closely monitoring the situation to see what the city can do to get the property.

Gloria McCauslin, owner of VIP Pizza, has wanted something to be done with the building for a long time.

“I would love to see a movie theatre go back in there or something that will stay open late,” said McCauslin. “It's dark and needs to be cleaned up.”

A few years ago Sunrise Community Church looked into leasing or purchasing the cinema so they could renovate it into a church.

“There seemed to be no real movement,” said Russ Siders, pastor at Sunrise Community Church, concerning the negotiations over the property.

It was around that time when it was discovered that there were some runaways from Fresno living in the projection room.

Phil Vandergrift, vice-mayor of Tulare and local realtor, remembers the city citing the owners to close up the place.

“People kept breaking in and vandalized the place,” said Vandergrift, including some who used the theatre for prostitution.

“It became a safety issue,” said Vandergrift, including the west end of the roof, which is caving in.

Eventually the theatre seating was stripped, leaving the inside gutted, said Vandergrift, adding that the seats were taken to refurbish some of the owners' other business ventures: XXX-rated movie theaters in the Los Angeles area.

“Cota and Hartsfield kept talking about doing something with the property, but never submitted anything to the city,” said Vandergrift, adding that at one time the two partners proposed putting in a Mexican restaurant and nightclub.

Jerry Magoon, coordinator for Tulare Improvement Program, said that he has tried to bring life to the building with no avail.

“It would be nice to see something happen with the building,” said Magoon.

“It's a building with three big holes,” said Vandergrift, a lot of work will need to be done before it could be used for anything.

Attorneys for Hartsfield and Cota were unwilling to comment on the case due to continuing litigation.

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by Kim Clemons

Tulare - On the far western border of Tulare County, driving towards Corcoran on the Highway 137 Junction, there is a community that is easy to miss as you drive by. What was once called Buzzard's Roost, now known as Waukena, is a quaint little town close to Tulare.

The joke around Waukena has been, “don't blink or you may miss it.” Within a quarter of a mile there is an elementary school, a church, a volunteer fire department, and a store that had the post office connected to it.

Growing up in Waukena, I wanted to go back to see what has and what hasn't changed over the years. I came to Waukena via my parents, Stanley and Kathy Peterson, in the summer of 1973.

Back then, Dawkins Market, was one of a kind. Attached to the store were the Dawkins' home and the post office. While picking up a couple of things in the store, you could get your mail and the Dawkins were able to go back and forth from their house to the store as they pleased.

Dawkins Market was a place for farmers to stop and talk; it was their local watering hole.

Waukena Elementary, for me, was the first kindergarten to eighth grade all-in-one school. There was usually a teacher for every grade. However, there were times when two grades with low-enrollment would be combined.

Going to a small, country school was a unique experience. Just about everyone in the community owned or worked on a dairy, so it was hard to not know everyone.

As a result, the community was involved with the school. There were the annual school fundraisers like the pancake breakfast, which would help fund the eighth-graders' class trip. Other fundraisers included a spaghetti dinner, and Halloween carnival, which was run by the Community Club (Parents Club).

While I was in school, the 4-H club was fairly large and many of our parents were involved giving us a variety of activities in which we would participate. Living on a dairy allowed many of us to have an animal or two to show at the Tulare County Fair and the May Fair.

Driving through the community, there are dairies all around. The ethnic make-up of those who owned some of the larger dairies was typically Italian or Portuguese

Growing up, M Curti & Sons made news with their state-of-the art dairy barn. It was a site to see when people were in Tulare County. People from all over the world would tour the barn.

Going back to Waukena, it appeared to still be the same quiet little town, but a closer look showed that there were some things that have changed.

The little store is still there, but is no longer family-owned or called Dawkins Market. It has a sign which indicates that there is a restaurant inside, but I found out that the closest thing to a restaurant was a torta that a Mexican family made in the store. Now someone who also has a store in Corcoran owns the modest market.

One thing that will probably never change is the congregation of farmers and farmhands outside the market, especially at noon and after work.

A side note is the closing of the post office five years ago. Residents no longer have their own ZIP code. To the US Postal Service, they are now a part of Tulare.

The elementary school had minor superficial changes. “We have tried to keep the school looking the same,” says Terri Lancaster, current principal and superintendent of Waukena Elementary School.

The school used to be made up of students within the community. Lancaster points out that nowadays approximately 25 percent are from out of the district.

“There is still the feel of country at the school,” says Lancaster.

Freda Doran knows the school well. She's a former student and is currently the librarian for the school. Doran said that there are many families who've had multiple generations attend the school. She is proud to include her family in that category with her great-nieces Miranda and Marlana Brewer, being the fourth generation to go to the school.

The Community Club disbanded two years ago. “The community is not involved like it once used to be,” says Doran, who is quick to add that the school is still tight-knit.

“Many of our teachers start and finish their teaching career here,” says Doran.

The pancake breakfast is still a fundraiser for the school, but the spaghetti dinner has been replaced with the tri-tip dinner. Also, because of liability and the amount of time that needs invested, the school no longer has the haunted house at their Halloween carnival.

There are positive aspects to the changes at the school. Computers have been placed in each of the classrooms. “We are online in every classroom,” says Doran.

Head Start Home-Based Program has been connected to the school. “For the first nine years I worked out of my car,” says Sandra Bega, home educator with Head Start, who's had a permanent spot on campus for two years now.

The 4-H Club at Waukena is now a small group with limited activities for the handful of youth involved in the group.

While driving around Waukena, new dairies are visible while some of the older dairies had disappeared. However, it is clear that the dairy industry continues to be a major aspect of Waukena. M Curti & Sons has grown over the years. Other dairies like the Gomes' and Monteiro's are still actively operating.

So next time you take a drive on Jct. 137, leaving Tulare to go to Corcoran, take a moment to notice the numerous dairies, the farmers gathering for an afternoon break at the little store and the mission-style school across the road.

Waukena may be the quiet little town that you could miss if you are not looking for it, but the people who live there are still proud of their little town.

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By Robin Kaufman

Tulare - Not a year goes by that someone does not say something about the Redskin name,” said Bill Ingram, Tulare Union High School (TUHS) band director.

In 2002 Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) began her war on the TUHS Redskins with an anti-mascot bill that would affect not only public schools such as TUHS, but also California colleges and universities as well.

The bill sought to ban team names, nicknames or mascots that were derogatory or discriminatory against any race, ethnicity, nationality, or tribal group.

“Personally, I've never had a problem with them using Redskins as a nickname,” said Tule River Tribal Chairman Neil Peyron.

The first time Goldberg's legislation came forward, it didn't make it out of the state assembly. “It fell apart on a thud,” said Mark Hatton, TUHS's ASB advisor.

Two years later, Goldberg's legislation was narrowed to focus specifically on Native American mascots with the Redskin mascot identified among other names such as Apaches, Braves, Chiefs and Indians. That bill reached Governor Schwarzenegger's desk and was vetoed.

Then for the third time in 2005, TUHS was again targeted in State Assembly Bill 13. But this time Goldberg zeroed in solely on the Redskin name.

Schwarzenegger in his veto message for AB 13 remarked, “I vetoed a nearly identical bill last year…Administrative decisions regarding athletic team names, nicknames, or mascots should be retained at the local level.”

And at the local level, there is quite a bit of support for the TUHS Redskins mascot.

“We all find a bond in the Redskins mascot,” said Hatton.

By Hatton's estimate, the Redskins have been the TUHS mascot for over 86 years.

It is Tulare's ties to that long-standing tradition that prompted a band of Tulare Union Redskins to travel to Sacramento the last two Junes to fight off Goldberg's legislation.

“When we were there at the capitol there was quite an entourage [supporting the bill] on the pro-side,” said Ingram.

Though the Redskins mascot supporters were outnumbered on their first visit to the state capitol, they showed in much higher numbers the second time around. It was standing room only in the Senate room, said Ingram.

“The Redskin name is a tribute to the natives who were here before us,” said U.S. Congressman, Devin Nunes (R-California) in a recent interview with the Tulare Voice.

Goldberg will be termed out of the California Assembly this year. The congressman said it is his hope that no other state assembly person will pick up the anti-mascot cause where Goldberg left off.

Nunes characterized the legislative efforts to get rid of the Redskin mascot as ridiculous, absurd, and an embarrassment.

“This is about honoring Native Americans,” said Nunes.

In discussing the way Redskins were portrayed when he was a student at TUHS, Nunes remarked, “We were proud of our Redskin pride.”

The congressman has also seen the TUHS tradition continue by recently attending Redskin football games to see his brother-in-law play.

On the sports fields and on the campus, school officials take charge of the way the Redskins mascot reflects on the Native American image.

“We frown on cartoon caricatures [of Native Americans] and we don't allow them on campus,” said Hatton.

One of the ways Native Americans and school tradition are honored at football games is through the dance of the Indian princess. The musical accompaniment to the dance dates back to the 1950s.

Each year, the school has an Indian princess who does what is called the Spirit Dance. In the past, the dance was called the War Dance but was renamed in an effort to eliminate Native American imagery that has to do with war, violence or killing.

Though the dance is choreographed by the individual Indian princess each year, there is an effort made to depict similar Native American colors and moves.

“People from the school have always been very respectful of the way that they use the mascot. One of our former leaders, [past chairman] Isadore Garfield, has spent a lot of time working with students and teachers at the school” to help foster a positive portrayal of anything having to do with the mascot or Indian history and culture, Peyron said.

Ingram invited members of the Tachi Yokut Indian Tribe to visit the TUHS campus in March of 2001. In their visit, tribal members talked extensively with students about Native American issues.

“The interaction with the students was overwhelming.” said Ingram.

From the carved wooden portrait of a Native American looking into the eyes of a child in the TUHS front office, to the image of a Native American with the world in her hands on the side of a building, the high school consistently portrays images of Native Americans on campus as nurturing to children and the environment.

“It's a state of being as much as a mascot,” said Hatton.

In an area in the center of the TUHS campus that was once a parking lot, there is now the Redskin Pride Park, established by the class of 1996.

Hatton refers to the park as the Peace Park.

The statue of Chief Seattle in the garden park depicts him standing open handed before two conifers. Below the trees is the inscription: “The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth.” Chief Seattle 1855.

The monument is protected by a red wrought iron fence and surrounded by a rose garden of red, white and yellow blooms.

“It is not only an homage to the TUHS mascot, but to the environment,” said Hatton.

Ingram said he has gotten positive feedback from Native Americans who visit the TUHS campus. When the representatives of the Tachi Yokut Indian Tribe were shown the memorial to Chief Seattle in Redskin Pride Park in 2001, “That just blew them away,” said Ingram.

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by Kim Clemons

Tulare - It was the suggestion of a nine-year-old boy that brought Lange Plumbing Supply to Tulare in the summer of 1936.

“Dad [Fred] wanted the business in Fresno and my uncle Albert wanted it in Bakersfield, so I suggested Tulare,” says Kenneth Lange, who took over the business in 1974 to become the second generation to run Lange Plumbing Supply.

That idea allowed brothers Fred and Albert Lange to be centrally located to service four counties.

“We were the first wholesale plumbing supply between Fresno and Los Angeles,” says Kenneth.

When Kenneth started working for his dad in 1947 there were only three employees. “We started small and grew through the years,” says Kenneth, adding that they currently have 15 employees.

Since its founding, Lange Plumbing Supply has been in four different locations. “We started at the corner of King Ave and L St,” says Kenneth.

“We've been at our current location [on Cross Ave] since 1983,” says Curt Lange, who started working for the company in 1972 and became general manager of day-to-day operations in 1979.

Curt says that the showroom was opened in 1987, which has allowed their customers to see the products they carry.

“The back portion of the showroom features only Kohler products, in a 'premier Kohler setting' supplied by Kohler Company,” says Curt. The company started carrying Kohler products in 1983.

The Langes give all the credit for the business's success to their employees, a number of which have been there for 20 or more years.

“They are all great employees,” says Curt. “At every level, our employees are experienced and knowledgeable. We are not plumbers, but we will have contractors call us to find out how to install a product.”

“No one works on commission,” says Curt, adding that all employees work together and have a profit sharing plan. “The harder all of us work, the bigger the share is at the end of the year.”

Lange Plumbing Supply truly is a family-affair. Still involved is Kenneth, a stockholder and current vice president of the corporation. Curt's sister, Margo Pliksis, and his son, Jared, also work for the company.

“We all have started at the bottom and worked our way up,” says Curt, who is now major stockholder and president of Lange Plumbing Supply.

Pliksis, a minor owner, has worked for the company for over 25 years. Jared has been driving a truck for the past two years while going to school at University of Phoenix to earn a degree in business management.

“He will carry us through the fourth generation,” says Curt.

“You can't gain the respect of your employees if you come in at the top,” says Curt. “Each one of us has at one time worked side-by-side with our employees.”

The Langes are not concerned with the opening of Home Depot and see a need for the big box stores.

“They are good at attracting business and then they [the customers] come here afterwards,” says Curt.

“We need to get out there and earn the business,” says Kenneth. “Our service and inventory is hard to compete with.”

Both men believe that the big box stores cannot afford to have their employees spend as much time with customers as they do.

“Our customers need us to work with them on multiple trips,” says Curt. “A lot of time is invested with our customers.”

The Langes are modest when talking about how they have given back to the community. Like so many other businesses, the Lange family supports many of Tulare's youth activities, as well as other local projects.

“We make sure Tulare is first,” says Curt, when considering donating to charities.

The Lange family has shown their support to the community in a variety of ways. They do what they can to take care of the kids in the community and are supporters of the Salvation Army.

Kenneth and his wife, Virginia (who passed away in January of this year), have been involved in supplying 500 to 600 musical band instruments to various schools in need over the years.

“Virginia and I have a passion for the arts,” says Kenneth, who introduces the music at each of the Concerts in the Park and was instrumental in increasing the amount of concerts scheduled at the park this year.

The owners and employees, and probably dozens of loyal customers too have all earmarked their calendars for September when Lange Plumbing Supply will celebrate 70 years of doing business in Tulare.