Hospital Sues Former CEO, Charges 'Vendetta'

Tulare - Contending former Chief Executive Officer Robert Montion is waging a “mean-spirited vendetta” against the district in an effort to destroy it, the Tulare Local HealthCare District board of directors has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $75,000 in damages from him.

The lawsuit, filed on Nov. 5 in Tulare County Superior Court, also asks the court for an injunction prohibiting Montion from engaging in conduct that it said could cause the district “irreparable harm.”

Montion is accused of breaching an agreement he signed on March 28, after he resigned for health reasons. That agreement, according to the suit, prohibited him from disclosing district information, interfering with district business and making disparaging comments about the district.

The lawsuit alleges intentional misrepresentation, fraud and deceit, charging Montion signed the agreement but didn’t adhere to his promises.

The lawsuit was a “shocker,” said Fresno attorney Russell Ryan, who represents Montion. “Bob completely denies the allegations.”

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Montion:

· Made numerous contacts with district employees during their normal working hours from April through June and attempted to influence and interfere with their relationship with the district. The district sent a “cease and desist” letter on June 12, which the lawsuit said had no effect on Montion.

· Approached a district administrator in the parking lot of Evolutions at 11 p.m. on June 27 after a regular board meeting and threatened him by stating, “You better watch your ass” and “I’ll cap your ass” and then sped off in his vehicle. When the Tulare Voice asked Montion about the incident a few weeks later, after learning of the rumored incident, he acknowledged speaking with interim Chief Financial Officer John Church in the parking lot but denied using that language. Tulare Police Capt. Wes Hensley said the incident was reported to the Police Department, which found nothing that constituted a threat or crime. It was rumored at the time that Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway witnessed the incident, but she told the Tulare Voice she had not.

· Began meeting in August or September with and providing inaccurate information to the hospital district residents who filed a Voting Rights lawsuit against the district that is pending in Superior Court. The district’s lawsuit contends Montion knows there is no basis for the lawsuit and that “at large elections are consistent with the way most public entities conduct elections in Tulare County.”

· Met in September with a number of physicians who are discontented with physician recruitment efforts. The physicians, encouraged by Montion, later spoke out against the district in the public comment portion of the meeting, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit is “an attempt to basically shut Bob up, chill his first amendment rights,” Ryan said.

Even if Montion did what he is accused of doing, his actions are “completely protected,” Ryan said.

Ryan said he will send a letter to Visalia attorney Leonard Herr, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the hospital, asking the district to dismiss the complaint before he asks the court to do so.

---

Mulcahy: Proud, Tough, Determined

Tulare - Mulcahy Middle School Principal John Pendleton has no problem with accountability. After all, he said, schools have seen many improvements as they strive to increase student proficiency in language arts, math and other academic areas.

He says this even though Mulcahy has not reached its goal on state standardized tests for the past eight years and, as a result, is in its sixth year as a program improvement school—a situation that can be hard on both students and teachers.

“If you’re not careful, program improvement becomes your identity and, for a couple of years, I think that’s where we were at,” Pendleton said. “We kind of got down on ourselves. It was as if everything you tried to do didn’t work out and anything that could possibly make it worse happens.”

The 2005-06 year was particularly challenging when, among other things, the district was unable to attract fully credentialed teachers in math and science and pre-interns who had not even done their student teaching were hired to fill vacancies, he said.

“But even when things are most challenging, you can gain great insights,” he said. It was near the end of the year when he told students and teachers: “Hey, this is not us. The test doesn’t determine who we are. We determine who we are.”

That thinking led to a reawakening of “that Mulcahy spirit,” the birth of the “Mulcahy Nation,” as students now refer to themselves, and a new school slogan—“Proud, Tough and Determined”—which students have enthusiastically embraced, he said.

“Every kid on this campus knows about the Big Three: proud of who you are and your school; tough enough to do what is right; and determined to be successful in life,” he said.

They and their teachers also know about the Fantastic Four: dignity, respect, class and poise.

“It all starts with us,” Pendleton said, referring to the Mulcahy faculty and support staff.

Teachers stand outside their classroom door when the bell rings and they greet each student who enters. He said this sends a strong message to a student that he or she has value “and I’m glad you’re in our class.”

He is finding students are more respectful to each other and to teachers. He has also seen them do such things as stop to pick up banners that have fallen on the campus and reattached them to the wall, rather than trample over them as they once did.

Jesse Varela, Mulcahy’s student body president, is an example of “Proud, Tough and Determined.”

After two “bad years” at Mulcahy, he decided this year would be different, Varela said.

“I realized I could do better. Plus, I wanted to make my Mom proud.”

This meant no more blaming teachers when he didn’t do well, he said. It also meant that he would try to make a difference at Mulcahy and run for student body president—a decision that took Pendleton by surprise.

“I never imagined in my wildest dreams that’s who I would see running for president,” he said.

“I had to make Mr. Pendleton proud too,” Varela said.

The best part of being student body president, he said, is being able to talk with all the teachers and important people who come to campus. “I get to meet them first and tell them about Mulcahy.”

And what does he say? “I tell them Mulcahy is a wonderful school and we’re proud to go here,” he said.

“Proud, Tough and Determined” and the emphasis on manners is making a difference on campus, Varela said.  “People are proud every day…really,” he said. “This year everybody is nice to each other.”

Physical education teacher Ray Soto, who coached Varela and his teammates in an 11-0 season that saw the football team take both the league and area championships, agrees “Proud Tough and Determined” is how students now see themselves.

From the first day the students heard the slogan last spring, it started to make a difference, Soto said.

“There was a buzz in the air…and you could tell as the weeks went on, it really took hold,” he said. “We all were wondering when this was going to die down and it hasn’t.

Kids believe it and it’s not even a struggle to get them to do what I want, because the kids believe what we want for them is what they’re starting to want for themselves.”

As for Varela, Soto said he was one of the kids who stood out in the football season not only as a player but also as a leader.

“Last year, I couldn’t see him doing this…this is out of his comfort zone,” he said. “He’s come a long ways. He’s a leader and the kids recognize it. He’s been a [good] influence on other people.”

Because of Mulcahy’s long-term program improvement status, Pendleton and his staff are working with what is called an alternative governance board. Dr. Guadalupe Solis leads this team, which also includes Superintendent John Beck, Philip Pierschbacher, director of funded programs, and other district staff.

After examining the data, the governance board and the Mulcahy leadership decided to consistently focus on two things: sharpening critical thinking skills and improving school culture, Pierschbacher said.

Pierschbacher, who was principal at Maple School when it was program improvement school, thinks narrowing the focus for teachers and giving new strategies time to work are important, especially in the classroom.

“I’ve been through PI [program improvement] myself as a principal,” he said. “The temptation is to try something new and if that doesn’t work, try something else new and if that doesn’t work right away, try something else. The problem with that is research shows to learn any program that is worthwhile, it takes two or three years.”

What he saw at Mulcahy, he said, “were teachers, in good faith, trying to do 25 things well. The downside is you might not do any of them well.”

In its latest report to the Tulare City School District trustees on Nov. 13, the governance team reported good progress in school culture, reporting teachers have a strong belief in students and students sense teachers believe in them.

They also reported good use of thinking maps, which are designed to bolster critical thinking, and called for  more use of bookmarks, a way of asking students higher-level questions.

The board said on its next visit it expects to see more teacher collaboration in developing lessons which are based on state standards and successfully engage students.

Pierschbacher said the school district this year has also sent Mulcahy more veteran teachers who can help in areas of academic need such as math and science.

Pendleton is betting the new “Proud Touch and Determined” identity is laying a strong foundation which will allow these academic strategies to work in improving test scores.

School attendance has improved and suspensions are dramatically down, he said..

“I firmly believe if you work on the heart and soul of the Mulcahy student, you’re going to make head way on the test,” Pendleton said. “If you don’t feel good about yourself, how well can you do on a standardized test?”

---

Family Buys Miller's Funeral Home; Goble Building for Sale

Tulare - The merger of North America's two largest funeral home corporations not only led to the closure of Goble-Miller Funeral Chapel this summer, but has prompted the more recent return of Miller’s Tulare Funeral Home to family ownership.

The Atwater-based Wilson Family Funeral Chapel is the new owner of Miller’s Tulare and of Whitehurst-McNamara Funeral Service in Hanford. Owners Kim and Judy Wilson also recently acquired a funeral home in Merced.

The change in ownership is a good thing, said Don Miller, who with his wife, Fran, owned the business from January 1962 until 1988.

“I’m pleased it’s back to a family-owned business, Miller said. “They’re able to give more personal service.”

Judy Wilson agrees.

“We feel that funerals are such a personal business, it should be a family serving a family,” Wilson said.

Involved Owners

Her husband plans to be in Tulare one or two days a week and she will be here three days a week, she said, adding they are both involved in all phases of the business. “I still go out [on calls] 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Her husband has been in the funeral business since he was 16 years old and worked at his aunt and uncle’s funeral home in New Jersey, she said.

After they married, the Wilsons moved to California, because the opportunity to buy a funeral home here was greater than in New Jersey, where such businesses tended to pass from father to son, she said.

Her husband worked at Buckheim Funeral Home in Fresno until they bought an old run-down funeral home in Atwater 15 years ago and fixed it up, she said.

A chemist, Judy Wilson managed a pesticide research laboratory in Madera and worked part-time with her husband until 1996, when she joined him full-time in their business.

“I could never go back to my old work,” she said.

The Wilsons have hired Ron Baker, an assistant funeral home manager in Barstow for 12 years, to manage Miller’s Tulare. Assisting him are Mary Mendonca and Margaret Nunez, funeral coordinators, Cynthia Koval, pre-needs coordinator, and Benny Macias, director’s assistant.

New Look

The Wilsons also have repainted, redecorated and knocked out a wall that separated two tiny viewing rooms, creating a larger one to complement the funeral home’s main chapel.

“The first thing we did when we came here is update—just putting back into the facility what it long needed, ” Judy Wilson said.

Miller’s Tulare Funeral Home is at 151 North H St., where a funeral home was established in 1947 in what had been a private residence. (Tulare historian Derryl Dumermuth, in “Tulare Legends and Trivia from A to Z” said this was  Dr. Elmo Zumwalt’s first home when he returned to Tulare in 1919 to practice medicine.)

The business was later sold to Roy Brooks and eventually purchased by Ken O’Dell, Miller said. The Millers purchased the funeral home from O’Dell.

Under the Millers’ ownership, the home was enlarged by about 1,500 square feet and the original section was raised 3 ½ feet so a new foundation could be built underneath it, Don Miller said.

The Millers sold the business to William Whitehurst of Fresno in 1998. Whitehurst sold it two years later to the Lowen Group. Alderwoods had owned it since 1996.

Goble-Miller

The former Goble-Miller Chapel building sits vacant at 144 South L St. as owner SCI seeks a buyer for the approximately 7,151-square-foot building, which also includes a basement.

“We do have a couple offers on the table right now,” said Brian Hyde of Hyde Commercial. The asking price is $425,000.

He has been contacted by owners of two or three mortuaries who wanted to buy the building, but the seller wants a deed restriction that would block the opening of another mortuary at that location, Hyde said.

The building sits in a retail commercial zone, which allows a variety of retail and office uses.

The first member of the pioneer Goble family to be involved with the mortuary was Frank Goble, grandson of one of Tulare’s first doctors, Dr. Peter Goble, and the son of John Albert Goble, who served as president of Bank of Tulare, the city’s first bank.

Frank Goble served an undertaking apprenticeship with his uncle in Ohio before returning to Tulare, where he joined Tom Caruthers in his undertaking business, according to Tulare historian Derryl Dumermuth. A biography of past members of the Tulare Masonic Lodge indicate Caruthers founded the business in 1888.

Frank Goble became sole owner of the business in 1913. Sons Bill and Jack Goble operated the business together for awhile until Bill Goble sold his share in 1951 to his brother, who operated the business until his death.

The business became Goble-Miller after it was sold to the owners of Miller Memorial Chapels in Visalia.

---

Arborist Reports on Stressed Sycamores

Tulare - Spider mites and drought conditions are the major reasons Tulare’s once beautiful Sycamore trees are under stress, certified arborist Steve Halsey said after examining the trees at the city’s request.

Parks, Recreation and Library Director Milt Stowe asked Halsey to take a look at the trees on Sycamore Avenue in response to concerns raised by residents.

“The 156 Sycamore trees on Sycamore Street have a few problems going on, the most severe of which is a spider mite infestation,” Halsey’s report said.

“They [the mites] attack the foliage of plants and they basically suck the life out of them,” he said in a telephone interview.

Last season’s dry winter, followed by a hot summer, made the infestation worse, since there was no rain to rinse the dust and mites off the leaves, he said.

“Use of a broad-spectrum insecticide can also contribute to the infestation by killing off the natural predators of these mites,” his report noted.

Washing down the foliage to remove the dust and mites and then applying a chemical spray once or twice in June or July of next year could help the trees regain some of their “old vigor,” Halsey said.

A wet winter would help wash down the foliage; but if that doesn’t happen, he said he is not sure how residents could clean them, short of using a fire hose.

The trees also show signs of drought and are in need of deep watering this fall, which is tough because where they sit in the landscape is not conducive to this, he said. “Because of the concrete and asphalt over much of their root systems, it is literally impossible to get enough water to the roots without tremendous run off.”

If both the spider mites and the watering issues are addressed, the condition of the trees could improve.

The solutions are costly and come without guarantee they will restore the trees to the degree property owners would like, he said.

The other alternative, he said, would be to remove the trees and replace them with others more conducive to the location.

Joan Lampe has lived on Sycamore street since 1935, when her parents built the house she and husband, Tom, now own. She thinks many of the trees were planted in the early 1900s, while others are more recent additions.

A 1912 photograph on p. 96 of Derryl Dumermuth’s “A Town Called Tulare,” in fact, shows a photo of Tulare High School with the Linder Estate and “newly planted trees lining Sycamore Avenue” in the background.

Several residents contacted said they do not think their own trees are under stress, but have noticed problems elsewhere.

Lampe said the Sycamore tree that is in front of her house, which she climbed as a child, looks fine, but noticed others in the middle of the block that appear damaged.

“I worry that some have been butchered over the years,” she said.

Don LeBaron, who contacted Stowe about the trees, said he became alarmed last winter when he noticed that leaves looked like lace. (LeBaron is a free-lance photographer for the Tulare Voice and shot the photographs for this story.)

“There were not as many green leaves as I thought should be on them,” he said.

Sycamore is not the only street where LeBaron’s noticed stressed trees. The Sycamores along San Joaquin Street, L Street and East Tulare Avenue also look as if they are having problems.

LeBaron said he is hopeful that the last storm the city had washed away the spider mites.

“I’m sure that helped—at least for this year,” he said.

Stowe said his department is deciding how best to inform residents on Sycamore and elsewhere of Halsey’s findings and recommendations.

“We may meet with them, but we’re not sure how we’re going to pursue it yet,” he said.

---

Holiday Events

‘Tis the Season for Fun and Giving in Tulare 

Tulare residents looking to join with others in celebrating the Christmas season will have many opportunities as local businesses and organizations present two Christmas Tree Lighting events, a parade and a fund-raising luncheon for the Tulare Salvation Army.

Preferred Outlets of Tulare will kick-off the season with a Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Parade from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

The Tulare Union High School marching band and the Tulare Police Department will escort Dora the Explorer, her older cousin Diego and Swiper, the sneaky, thieving fox who tries to thwart Dora on her adventures, into the center.

For $5 or a new unwrapped toy for the Police Department’s annual toy drive, children will have an opportunity to take a picture with the trio. Free cookies and milk also will be part of the festivities

Admission is free. Information: 685-2350.

Downtown Lighting

The annual Downtown Christmas Lighting Ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 29, in front of County Bank (formerly California Stockman’s Bank) on the corner of K Street and Tulare Avenue.

The evening will include entertainment, a sing along and, while supplies last, free hot chocolate and cookies, fire truck rides and candy canes, free face painting by Josie Posie the Christmas Clown and free pictures with Santa.

The Tulare Improvement Program is coordinating the event. Admission is free. Information: 685-2350

Tulare’s annual downtown Children’s Christmas parade will get under way at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 3.

The parade will begin at San Joaquin Avenue and K Street and move south to Inyo Avenue, then east to L Street and finally north on L back to San Joaquin.

“An Old Fashioned Christmas” is the parade’s them. While the deadline for parade entries has passed,  individuals and groups willing to pay a $10 late fee can sign up between Nov. 17 and 26. No entries will be accepted after that.

Information: Tulare Chamber of Commerce, 686-1547.

Tony and Mark Taylor and their gang at Res-Com is once again throwing a party to raise funds for the Tulare Salvation Army, which serves  people whose low wages make it difficult to make ends meet, especially during the holiday season.

The effort, which raised $60,000 in 2006, is well under way and already has raised $33,000 from sponsors, Tony Taylor said. The event also includes an auction, which alone raised $14,000 last year.

The party will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, at the Heritage Complex at the International Agri-Center, 4450 South Laspina St.  Admission to this year’s event will be $15.

For information or to help sponsor the event: 685-8989.

---