Judge Asked to Halt Hospital Election

Tulare - The seven Tulare-area residents who have filed a voting rights lawsuit against the Tulare Local HealthCare District are asking a judge to halt the Nov. 4 hospital board election until the matter is settled.

A motion asking for Tulare County Superior Court Judge Melinda Reed to issue an injunction postponing the election was filed Aug. 18 and is expected to be heard in Reed's court at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 15.

Joaquin Avila, plaintiffs' attorney, said in the motion he is asking for an injunction because his clients will likely succeed in their contention the district's at-large method of electing hospital board members violates the California Voting Rights Act of 2001; and that they, as a result, would therefore suffer greater harm if the election is held than the defendants would experience if it were postponed.

“This is such an anti-democratic action,” said Leonard Herr, the hospital's attorney, who maintained the premise of the lawsuit is that Hispanic voters have been deprived of the opportunity to vote for a candidate of their preference. “Now Joaquin wants to keep this board in place.”

While no Hispanic currently serves on the board, teacher Richard Torrez, an Hispanic, is one of five candidates in the upcoming election to fill three seats, Herr said.

The voting rights lawsuit, filed Aug. 10, 2007, alleges the current method of election dilutes the voting rights of Latino voters, who comprise a protected class under the voting rights legislation, and calls for the district to move to zone or “neighborhood” representation.

One of 90

Only one Latino has been elected to the hospital board since the district's founding, although 90 directors have been elected, Avila noted in court papers.

“We can only elect Hispanic candidates who run for the board,” Herr said. “The problem is there are no Hispanics running for the board.”

Avila's motion reports Latinos have run five times for a seat on the hospital board, but have been able to win just once.

In asserting his clients will likely win the case when the matter goes to trial on Jan. 26, 2009, Avila notes the findings of J. Morgan Kousser, who he said is a professor of history and social science at the California Institute of Technology and an expert on racially polarized voting.

Kousser conducted statistical analyses, using four methodologies, on four Tulare hospital board elections and other elections involving district residents, including Proposition 187, a 1994 measure to deny public benefits and services to undocumented immigrants.

According to Avila, what Kousser found was that:

· In the 1984 board election, more than 80 percent of non-Latinos supported the non-Latino candidate, while only 16 to 18 percent supported the unsuccessful Latino candidate.

· In the 2000 election, more than 90 percent of non-Latinos voted for non-Latino candidates, while Latinos gave twice as many of their votes to the Latino candidate.

· In 2002, Latinos supported their chosen candidate very strongly with 73 to 76 percent of their vote, while only 10-13 percent of non-Latinos supported him.

· In the 2006 election, a majority of Latinos supported the unsuccessful Latino candidate while more than 90 percent of non-Latinos supported someone else.

· In 1994, 75 to 86 percent of Latino voters in the hospital district opposed Proposition 187, while 85 to 88 percent of non-Latinos supported the measure, which was approved.

· In 1994, Measure L, a county measure that would have created single-member districts in Tulare, was supported by a majority of Latinos and opposed by approximately three-fourths of non-Latinos. The measure was defeated.

Stark Differences

“Dr. Kousser has concluded that the voting patterns of Latinos and non-Latinos in the HealthCare District have 'differed systematically and starkly,' and this has caused the defeat of Latino candidates.

Herr, who said the hospital's own expert is still researching the issue, maintains Kousser's opinions are based “on smoke and mirrors,” because the basic premise of our elections is that ballots are secret.

If a judge issues an injunction halting the election, the hospital district will have to wait for the outcome of the court trial — and perhaps an appeal — before conducting a vote.

“I would imagine you could have an election in the year 2009,” Avila said. “When we have the trial in January, the court will have up to three months to make a decision.”

Avila filed a similar lawsuit in the Madera Unified School District race on Thursday. “We're looking at other districts in Tulare County and I'm looking at them in terms of ranking them for potential litigation.” He said. Avila assisted with the writing of both state and federal voting rights measures.

Plaintiffs in the Tulare case are Rosalinda Avitia, Grace Calderon, Sigi Corral, Jacinto (Jack) Gonzalez, Demetrio Lopez Gudino, Jose Morin and Elizabeth Valencia.

Avila has asked the court to allow an American Civil Liberties Union attorney from Atlanta to act as a co-counsel on the case. Jose Garza of San Antonio, Texas, and Russell Ryan, Fresno, are also co-counsels on the case.

---

Beef Processing Plant Clears First Hurdle

Tulare - The opposition stayed home during the first round of public hearings on the proposed beef slaughterhouse and processing plant proposed for 90 acres adjacent to the city's wastewater treatment plant.

After listening to seven people speak in favor of the project, the Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the facility and recommended the City Council approve general plan and zoning amendments that would allow Western Pacific Meat Packing to build the project.

Western Pacific wants to build three plants on 70 of the 90 acres it plans to purchase on the northeast corner of Paige Avenue and Enterprise Street.

One plant would be for slaughtering and processing beef, a second for cold storage and freezing, and a third for cogeneration in which animal biogas is converted into energy. The plant would produce carcass beef, edible offal, wholesale and retail meat cuts and value-added processed beef products.

Commissioner Dave Kinard said the site next to the wastewater treatment plant is a great location for the operation.

“You're not going to use it [the land] probably for anything else,” Kinard said. “It's a great project.”

The project does have opposition, just as it did when it was initially proposed for Goshen, city officials as a result, sent the initial EIR to attorneys who specialize in environmental issues to make sure concerns about air and water quality, noise, traffic and other issues were adequately addressed so the document could withstand a court challenge.

The project will possibly go to the City Council on Sept. 2.

'Huge Improvement’

Jon Dolieslager, a Tulare County auctioneer and president of the California Livestock Market Auction Association, said the plant would be a “huge improvement” for the county, which has the most dairy cows in the U.S., and for the West Coast.

“This would be a huge help to the dairymen around here for price competition,” Dolieslager said. “This is a chance for them to stay in business long term.”
He and other speakers noted 10 meat-packing plants have closed in the Western U.S. in the last 10 years and maintained a new one would help dairymen, as well as cattle ranchers.

The shutdowns have driven up prices at remaining slaughterhouses and high fuel costs have made the option of sending the cows out-of-state for slaughter and processing prohibitive, they said.

“Having a meat packing plant close by will be good for the dairy industry,” said Rob VandenHeuvel, general manager of the Chino-based Milk Producers Council.
Darin Clagg, a local auctioneer, told planning commissioners he was surprised more dairy owners did not show up for the hearing, given what it is costing them to get their cows slaughtered and processed.

Not long ago, local dairy owners were getting as much as 20 cents a pound less in the slaughter market than their Mid-West colleagues because of the lack of competition, Clagg said.

Louie Martin, part owner of Bel Martin and Sons Dairy, told commissioners he supported the project. So did Gerben Leyendekker of Visalia, who said his family has 15 dairies that milk a total of 20,000 cows.

“This is a project that is very much needed,” Leyendekker said. “This is not our main source of income, but this is definitely our second source of income and we have to have a place for slaughter cows.”

Good Paying Jobs

Bob Nance, the city's economic and redevelopment director, also spoke in favor of the project, telling commissioners the project will generate many jobs that pay “significantly higher than minimum wage.”

He also said the city would continue to have “oversight” of the project for “a substantial number of years.”

Chairman Richard Miller wanted to know more about how an oversight committee would be structured and handle complaints, but City Attorney Steve Kabot said an agreement is still in the works with Western Pacific that will spell out oversight as well as “a multiplicity” of other issues.

Commissioner Chuck Miguel expressed concern about the impact of increased truck traffic on city and county roads, prompting Planning Director Mark Kielty to explain plant traffic will have to comply with county and state routes for trucks.
Miguel asked whether the plant—which at build-out will have capacity to handle 1,000 cows a day—will hold animals outside the buildings.

The project includes no outside holding pens and Western Pacific would have to come back to the city should it want them, Kielty said.

Miguel, who voted for the project, said the operation needs to be “watched extremely closely” and he hoped “we don't have the embarrassment of immigrations coming in and finding we have 200 people who don't belong here.”

Commissioner Deanne Rocha said Tulare needs more jobs and she hopes Western Pacific will hire local residents “because we're the ones who are sticking our necks out” approving the project. “I would hate to see the labor force from elsewhere.”

 

---

Camera Captures Cone Caper

Tulare - Jim Pidgeon wasn't even in business a week at TNT Automotive's new J Street and Cross Avenue location when his security camera system proved its value.
Pidgeon and his employees came to work one morning last week and found one of several blue traffic cones missing. They quickly learned why after checking the security system, which had clearly recorded the action.

At 4:25 a.m. a woman on the bicycle had circled the parking lot a couple times before, as Pidgeon puts it, “going stealth” and turning out the lamp on her bike. She then circled again, this time snatching the cone and riding off into the darkness.
“There she is!” a TNT employee shouted out at 9 a.m., while Pidgeon was working on an oil change for Tulare Redevelopment Director Bob Nance.

The same woman captured by the camera's eye was driving by wearing the same shirt and pants, Pidgeon said. “I said, 'excuse me, Bob,' and I'm off running.”
Pidgeon stopped the woman on the sidewalk along Cross Avenue and told her, “I've got you on my camera. You've got my cone. I'm going to turn you into Tulare police, if you don't return it.”

The woman was shocked and said she was “so embarrassed” and “so ashamed,” he said.

When she left, Pidgeon wasn't sure he'd ever see her again, but she did return a short time later with the cone—minus the original decal.

---

COS Bringing Renowned A Cappella Group to Tulare

Tulare - The College of the Sequoias Foundation was looking for a different way to raise funds this year with the result Tulare-area residents will have a rare opportunity to experience the nationally renowned Straight No Chaser in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Tulare Community Auditorium.

This men's a cappella group from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, will also perform 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5 at the Visalia Fox Theatre and at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Hanford Fox Theatre.

Straight No Chaser—apparently named after Thelonious Monk's jazz classic—was formed in September 1996 by Dan Ponce, a member of the Singing Hoosiers.

The new group captured the attention of old and young alike with their fresh sound and unique blend of voices. Fall and winter concerts are campus sell-outs. The line for last spring's concert, for example, extended a full city block, according to the group's Web site.

“We're just excited to bring performers of this caliber to the area,” COS Foundation Director Kristin Hollabaugh said. “It's going to be a lot of fun for a good cause: education.”

The group has opened for Lou Rawls and at Chicago Cubs and White Sox games and also has performed at Carnegie Hall. Most recently, they were asked to perform at a political rally before an estimated crowd of 8,000 people.

“We always have a great time no matter what the show is for, but we love doing shows for higher causes,” said Indiana University sophomore Brian Giblin, the group's business manager.” The group recently performed in Denver to raise scholarship money.

Videos posted on YouTube that show Straight No Chaser in performance have elicited enthusiastic comments from viewers, who have characterized their work as “brilliant,” “amazing, “superb” and “awesome.” They are also fun, as anyone who watches their renditions of such tunes as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” can see.

Conor McIntyre, the advisor to Straight No Chaser, said the 10 to 12 Indiana University undergraduates come to the group with high caliber music backgrounds and take singing seriously.

But they also bring a lot of humor to their performances, McIntyre said. “They tend to lighten up the audiences fast.”

Those who want to check out the group before buying tickets can go to the COS Foundation Web site at www.cos.edu/foundation, which has performance videos.
The COS Foundation raises money for the college and also solicits donations of property and other assets. Contributions are used for scholarships, equipment and to meet other critical needs.

---