Water Meters Up and Counting

By Rick Elkins

Tulare - All Tulare households now have meters tracking their water usage.
“They're being used. It's going quite well,” said Dan Boggs, the city's water superintendent.

In the past 18 months the city installed more than 16,000 meters with radio transmitters that allow an employee to drive down the street and pick up and record readings automatically. The new system means a task that formerly took nearly a month to complete, now takes two meter readers one week to accomplish.

The laptop computers the meter readers carry even pick up readings from back yard meters, which means employees no longer have to get out of a vehicle and trek onto private property, said Dean Leek, the city's utility revenue officer.

While state law doesn't require water meters until 2025, the Tulare Board of Public Utilities decided that was not soon enough and acted to fast-tracked installation.

By doing the work now, the city was able to avoid charging customers for the meters because the cost would be offset by the savings in pumping cost that come from reduced water usage and the delayed need for new wells.

In addition to hooking up 6,740 unmetered households, commissioners decided to replace the meters in homes built since the early 1990s with the automated system, which is designed to prevent recording errors as well as save time.

Leek said less than 1 percent of the city's water users are not on the automatic reading system.

Boggs said there are many benefits to the installation of the meters. One of the most challenging aspects of the project, and now a benefit, is the city first had to locate where many residents were hooked up to the city's main water line to install the meter.

In some instances, the hookup was not in front of the homes as expected but in the backyard or even in front of a neighbor's house.

“There were a lot of difficult services out there,” Boggs said. “They've been that way for a long time.”

Where the city couldn't find the meter, it had to go searching. A metal detector helped in most instances, but where plastic pipe was used the city had to either probe the ground with a thin rod or run a steel type line in the pipe to track where it connected to the city's line.

“We found three-fourths of them with the metal detector,” said Boggs.

Besides making it easier to read the meters, the city can now use the meters to notify residents if there appears to be a serious leak. Also, the meters have a leak detector on them for the resident to check.

Boggs explained there is a red triangle on the base of the dial that records water usage. If a residents turns off all of their water and that dial is still moving, then there is a leak of some sort on the property.

“It can be anything, but usually it's a toilet,” said Boggs, urging residents to check for leaks on their property, especially toilets that seem to be constantly running.

Those leaks can be costly, he added.

The city has a base charge of $8.99 for homes on a three-quarter inch line, which is much of the older part of the city, and $9.67 for ones on a 1-inch line. That charge covers up to 10,000 gallons. After that there is a charge of 54 cents for every 1,000 gallons used.

So, if you have a newer home and use 15,000 gallons of water in a month, your water bill will be $12.37, still below the old flat rate of $15.72 cents a month the city charged. A family would have to use 21 gallons before it reaches the city's old basic charge for non-metered homes.

On a resident's bill the meter reading will show a number, such as a 4. The number is for thousands of gallons used, so a 4 would mean 4,000 gallons used in that month.

Boggs said the U.S. average for usage is 180 gallons a day per person in a household.

Some residents may not realize their water meter is being read and most will not notice any increase in charges. Instead, they are more likely seeing a decrease in their city utility bill.

But, as summer arrives and people begin using more water for lawns and gardens, the bill could go up. However, Boggs said, it should go back down again in the winter months – if those leaks are repaired.

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New Home Example of Green Building

By Julie Fernandez

Tulare - When Habitat for Humanity was building a home on Sacramento Street off of Inyo Avenue last year, Tulare real estate agent Bob Clark became interested because the home was built with insulated concrete forms—something not often seen in the area.

“I went over and watched the whole project,” said Clark, who now with his wife, Barbara, is building a 2,900-square-foot insulated concrete form (ICF) home on Road 180, one-half mile south of East Tulare Avenue.

Clark expects big energy savings and those who have worked with this building method say he won't be disappointed.

Terry E. Harper Cridlebaugh, a sales representative for LOGIX, the company that made the ICF blocks Clark used to build the walls of his home, said Clark can expect to cut energy costs about 50 percent.

The Insulating Concrete Form Association's (ICFA) Website reports research by Building Works Inc. estimated ICU walls required on average 44 percent less energy to heat and 32 percent less to cool.

Each LOGIX block—different companies make ICUs and their products differ—used on the Clark house consists of two 2 ¾ -inch foam panels connected by a plastic web. The webs space the forms properly—in Clark's case leaving room for concrete six inches thick—and also hold in place the steel rebar used to strengthen the concrete after it is poured into the form.

12-inches Thick

“You can get four to 12 inches of concrete wall,” contractor Jeff Blagg of J & B Construction of Tulare said.

The web separating the two foam forms also provide attachment surfaces for interior and exterior wall finishings. “You can put whatever you want to put on it,” Blagg said. Clark is using siding on the front of his country style home and will use a different material on the back.

“What happens is people say, 'I've never seen one [ICF home] before,' but they probably have because once its finished it will look like a traditional house,” Clark said.

Building an ICF home does cost more. Cridlebaugh said builders have told him the increase ranges from 3 to 5 percent. Blagg said the cost could be higher, depending on the price of concrete at the time.

Blagg, who did the Habitat house on Sacramento Street and about eight other ICF homes before starting Clark's, said he researched ICF construction for 1 ½ years before building his first ICF home.

“It's one thing to have a salesman say it's great and another thing to see for yourself,” he said. He also is working with Tulare businessman Lee Myers, who wants to use ICF construction when he rebuilds California Office Liquidators on South K Street, and with Jim Jordan for his Kern Avenue and K project.

Beyond Energy Savings

The benefits of ICF construction go beyond energy savings, Clark said, explaining he was impressed with how sound resistant ICF-built homes are.

“It's weird because it's so quiet.” he said. The ICFA Website says ICF walls have a sound transmission classification of approximately 50, making it about twice as noise resistant as a wood-framed wall.

Clark also said ICF buildings are mold, fire and termite resistant.

The ICF Association also reports ICF buildings are up to 8 ½ times stronger than wood. “After Hurricane Katrina, this is one of the approved methods to use now,” Blagg said.

Clark said he hopes his home will be complete by the end of April, but acknowledge earlier rains may have affected that timetable. He also said he is so impressed with the LOGIX ICF that he is exploring the possibility of becoming an agent for the company.

For more information on ICFs, go to the Insulating Concrete Forms Association web site at www.forms.org.

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Museum Honors Gorelick as She Retires

Tulare - Goodbyes are hard, so Ellen Gorelick's colleagues at the Tulare Historical Museum unveiled at her retirement reception and luncheon a beautiful “hello” in her honor.

The courtyard entrance to the 444 West Tulare Ave. museum will be transformed with plants, a water feature, bistro tables, chairs and other touches into the Ellen Gorelick Courtyard and Garden.

“I am totally overwhelmed,” Gorelick said after the announcement, which climaxed Friday's champagne reception in that very courtyard, where she earlier mingled with approximately 170 guests and heard others speak with gratitude of her many contributions.

Gorelick, who was the museum first curator from 1984 to 1987 and served as executive director and chief curator from 1994 until her retirement Friday, told the audience the birth and development of the museum into the gem it is considered today was a joint effort.

“It's because of you we have this and you just let me be the caretaker for a little while,” she said. “I really do believe the greatest tribute you can give me is to continue to support our museum.”

The Tulare City Historical Society's board of directors, which oversees the museum, has bestowed upon Gorelick the honorary title of director-curator emerita in recognition of her outstanding contributions.

Gorelick and her husband, Judge Walter Gorelick, became charter life-time members of the society in 1981, a year after they moved to Tulare.

“They became immersed in the effort to fund, build, support and maintain this museum,” said Steve Griffiths, master of ceremonies for the reception. “Nail by nail, exhibit by exhibit, suggestion by suggestion, they have been here.”

She served on the board of directors from 1981 to 1984, taking on the jobs of vice president and program chair from 1982 to 1983. She also was a member of the society's building committee from 1982 to 1984.

After leaving the curator's position in 1987, she continued to support the museum and in 1990 organized and served as co-chair of its first Taste Treats in Tulare fund raiser.

As director and curator, Gorelick contributed “an artistic vision to the museum that is unparalleled,” Griffiths said.

“Our museum is a gem because it celebrates our local heritage, because it reflects our texture as a society, because it rewards its contributors in such conspicuous ways and because its rotating exhibits reflect the accomplishments, the challenges and questions we have about our lives, our state and our purpose,” he said.

He continued: “Inside these walls we have the stories of our settlers, we have the awards of our champions, we have the medals of our veterans and we have the visions of our community's students.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that happens only when you have a courageous, open-minded, idea-driven and result-oriented leader like Ellen.”

In announcing the plans for the Ellen Gorelick Courtyard and Garden, Griffiths said: “For all these years, you have defined the experience that our students, our community members and our other visitors will experience. Now, we are defining the entrance to our cherished museum as you.”

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Life of Roman Soldier Intrigues History Buff

By Julie Fernandez

Tulare - After donning 20 pounds of armor and a 10-pound helmet, Ron Vaughan grabbed a shield, armed himself with a dagger, sword and javelin and walked into the First Lutheran Church.

Vaughan was no longer a semi-retired social worker in 21sth century Tulare, but a Roman centurion—in charge of a group of 100 legionnaires—living in the time of Jesus Christ.

Vaughan was at the church Palm Sunday—the beginning of Holy Week in Christian churches—to discuss what he has learned about Roman soldiers the past five years since joining Legio X Fretensis, Cohort IV, a Northern California group that recreates the Roman Army's Tenth Legion, which was stationed in Judea during the time of Christ.

Roman soldiers played an important role in the suffering and death of Jesus, as anyone knows who has read scripture or watched the graphic depiction of that in Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ.”

“Mel Gibson's movie was very bloody and I'm sure that's the way it was,” Vaughan said.

But there are aspects of the movie that are not historically accurate or are at least questionable, he said.

'Carried Away'

“The movie has Roman soldiers in leather armor—there's no such thing,” he said, explaining body armor was made of metal—either in a segmented or in a chain mail style with metal links.

Vaughan has discussed with audiences the various types of implements used to inflict punishment on people in the time of Christ, including a cane rod.

“The centurion always carried a cane rod and Jesus was beaten with a rod in the beginning,” he said.

Later he was scourged with a Roman flagrum, or whip, that had metal and other sharp items, such as glass or bones, attached.

“In the movie, they get carried away and do more than 40 lashes,” Vaughan said, adding that would have been excessive and soldiers who gave more than the prescribed amount would have to take the excess on their own backs. (There is debate over whether the Romans had a limit on the number of lashes as did Jewish law, which allowed no more than 39 blows.)

“The Romans were very efficient killers,” he said, adding there is no way Jesus could have survived the beatings and crucifixion and merely fainted, as some who discount his resurrection from the dead have suggested.

Ronulus Cipio Tiberius

Vaughan has made presentations before at the Lutheran Church and elsewhere. He has at time taken on the persona of the centurion Cornelius, who appears in Chapter 10 in the Bible's Acts of the Apostles.

He first considered joining Legio X Fretensis at the urging of a friend, Robert Garbisch, who started the group about 15 years ago. When he joined he took on a new name—Ronulus Cipio Tiberius—and started acquiring his Roman armor, tunic, shoes and weapons at living history fairs and over the Internet.

“I made my shield out of plywood covered with leather,” Vaughan said.

He goes with the group several times a year to different events, including Celtic fairs and festivals. “At the Celtic fairs the Romans are the bad guys,” he said.

The group has set up a Roman barrack based on one found in a British museum, Vaughan said. “I slept in one overnight and, actually, my wife did too.”

Vaughan said some members of the group “are crazier than I am and go on a two-day march in Death Valley in the spring—in armor and carrying all that stuff.”

Others have traveled to England and walked from the East Coast to the West along 73-mile long Hadrian's Wall, which the Roman's built in the second century A. D. from the North Sea to the Irish Sea to keep out the northern Picts, he said.

An avid history buff, Vaughan has been involved in Civil War reenactments for about 30 years. His son, Erik, 23, has participated in both the Civil War and Roman events with him.

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Tulare Native Dons Superior Court Robe

By Rick Elkins

Tulare - Gary Johnson was welcomed to the Tulare County Superior Court bench in a joyous ceremony in a Visalia courtroom.

Before and after being sworn in as the county's newest judge last Thursday, Johnson, a native of Tulare, was advised, praised and ribbed by several friends and colleagues who crowded into the courtroom for the event.

Johnson, 40, is the first Tulare resident appointed to the bench since 1977 when Judge William Silveira Jr. was named to what was then the Tulare-Pixley Municipal Court. The new judge has been assigned to Dept. 2 of the Tulare branch and began his duties Friday.

“Your honor – that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it,” said Tulare County District Attorney Phil Cline as he began his remarks. “I think the governor has made a great choice.”

Johnson was joined in the courtroom by his wife, Kathleen, son, Jack, and daughter, Mia, his parents, Dick and Marleen Johnson, and his wife's parents, Leonard and Vivian Simas.

“The community (of Tulare) is very proud of Gary,” said Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway, who also is from Tulare. She noted that all too often the area's “best and brightest” go elsewhere for their careers.

Former partner Peter Sherwood described Johnson as a good listener who is fair-minded and decisive.

“He has had to advise people with real problems,” Sherwood said. “He will be a better judge for these real-world experiences.”

Cline told Johnson it was a good time to be a judge in Tulare County and that he was joining a distinguished group of judges. “You would do well to listen to these folks,” he said. “The role you have taken today means it's no longer about you, it's about them (residents) waiting in line wanting justice from the law.”

Judge Gerald Sevier, who presided over the ceremony, told Johnson judges are ordinary people, although he will notice a difference how people treat him with more respect, may be a little friendlier and “tell you you're a great person to your face.”
Sevier told Johnson he'll go a long ways. “Just never forget who you are and what your responsibilities are,” he said.

When it was Johnson's turn to speak – from the bench – he got emotional as he spoke of his upbringing in Tulare and the values his parents gave him. He spoke of the support from his wife, his children and his in-laws.

“Growing up in Tulare was a wonderful opportunity for me,” he said.
He finished his short remarks by saying: “You not only honor me, but our commitment to justice.”

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