Community Mourns Loss of Max Corbett
Longtime Ag Instructor Killed by Bull Sunday

By Rick Elkins

Tulare - Colleagues, friends and current and former students are mourning this week the tragic loss of Max Corbett, longtime ag instructor at the Tulare Joint Union High School District farm.

Mr. Corbett, 61, died Sunday after a bull at the school dairy attacked him.
“Mr. Corbett was an inspiration to all the students at Tulare FFA,” former student Jason Ferreira said in an e-mail to other former students. “Because of him, I find myself at Fresno State working hard to become an ag teacher. He was an ag teacher and more to me and I will never forget what I was taught by him.”

A church service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church. That will be followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Dairy Pavilion at the International Agri-Center to accommodate more people. Both services are open to the community. Miller's Tulare Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

“We are very grateful for the outpouring from the community. There has been a lot of support,” said Mr. Corbett's daughter, Michelle.

According to Alfonso Gamino, assistant superintendent for the district, Mr. Corbett was attacked about 7:45 a.m. Sunday as he was herding cows in the milk barn. He was running the morning milk shift because the assigned employee was injured the previous evening by the same bull. That incident had been reported to Mr. Corbett, said Gamino, adding the employee suffered minor injuries.

The attack came nearly three years to the day when Corbett was attacked by a different bull at the school farm. That attack landed him in the hospital for about two weeks.

The only person with Mr. Corbett at the time of Sunday's attack was his wife, Mary.

Mr. Corbett was a 33-year ag instructor and dairy manager with the district, said Dave Caetano, ag department chairman. He said the loss of Mr. Corbett is not only huge for the ag department, but for the community.

“There's a sector of the community he's been involved with for a long time,” said Caetano, adding Mr. Corbett was now teaching children of students he taught years ago.

Mr. Corbett specialized in the dairy program at the school and was close to many dairymen in the area.

“He was one of the most dedicated ag instructors you could find,” said dairyman Ben Curti, who had three daughters go through the ag program. “He believed in what he was doing and he got his point around to the kids.

“He was just a great guy. He believed in his kids, the industry and his profession. I can't say enough about what a quality guy he was. It saddens me,” said Curti.
Tulare Western High School Principal Vern Barlogio had worked with Mr. Corbett for 15 years, but had known him longer than that.

“It's a great loss. It just is. He touched a lot of lives. He's just a character. It takes a little bit away from the personality of the district,” Barlogio said.

As news of the tragedy quickly spread, students and friends of Tulare FFA gathered at the farm on Sunday. “We had parents and kids all day. The response and generosity of the community has been mind-boggling,” Caetano said.

Both Caetano and Barlogio said counselors were made available for students to speak with at the farm on Sunday and again on Monday.

Mr. Corbett, known more affectionately as “Corb,” was a fixture of the ag and FFA programs. Caetano said he served as department chair many times, most recently for about five years. He once served as Tulare Western's FFA advisor for a stint of more than 20 years.”

“It's a shock to everybody. He was committed to the program, committed to the community, especially the dairy community,” Caetano said.

Barlogio said flags were being flown at half-staff at Tulare Western.

Mr. Corbett is survived by his wife and three children, daughter Michelle, who is a college professor in Southern California, son Jason, who teaches ag at Monache High School in Porterville, and son Wayne, who works in Tulare. Mr. Corbett and his wife were married 36 years.

The family has set up a memorial fund to pay for scholarships for ag students. People can donate, in lieu of flowers, to the Max Corbett Memorial Fund, 426 North Blackstone St., Tulare, Calif., 93274.

Touched Many Lives

Matt Bono, a 2002 Tulare Western graduate, said Mr. Corbett meant everything to him and to other students. “Max was instrumental in getting a lot of kids a better opportunity than what they would have had otherwise,” he said Monday morning.
He wasn't planning on taking ag courses when he entered high school, but Mr. Corbett talked him into it. “Max said it would be beneficial,” Bono said, adding he fell in love with the program and because of that earned a number of scholarships that enabled him to pay for college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he earned an ag degree.

“He showed me another avenue of what's out there,” Bono said. “I did great in high school because I loved ag classes. I learned about the industry and how important it was.”

He said Mr. Corbett was an inspiration to hundreds of students, coaching them on judging teams or in public speaking contests.

“He's a normal guy that knows how to relate to people and he teaches you stuff; it's like he didn't even have to try,” Bono said. “ It just seemed like I learned so much from Max when he wasn't even teaching me something.”

He said Mr. Corbett will be missed and the school farm won't be the same without him and his wife at the dairy.

“Without them I can't imagine it would be running today,” Bono said.

“Max and Mary really went out of their way to do stuff for kids—things that allowed kids to do more for themselves. They showed people the program. They did everything they could to help the kid out.”

Ferreira put it best.

“He is now in the hands of God watching over all the future generations of agriculturalists. Keep his wife and family in your prayers and let his legacy live on. Thank you for everything, Mr. Corbett. I am sure all the cows in heaven will be happy to have you by their side.”

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Cool Hand Luke's Closes; Company Plans to Reopen

Tulare - Cool Hand Luke's restaurant in Tulare has closed, but the parent company plans to re-open the popular eatery as soon as brokers can secure another liquor license.
Kevin and Sandi Adams, who operated the franchise, turned the keys over to Dynaco Inc., the Clovis-based parent company, on Sept. 11.

“The only thing I can really tell you is I ran out of money,” Kevin Adams said Friday. “We were very proud of it; we just didn't have the legs to keep it going.”
He said the slow economy and rising costs “absolutely” were factors.

“He was doing a good job; the economy hit him hard,” said Mike Margosian, Dynaco's corporate counsel. “Kevin's a good guy. It's somewhat a sign of the times.”

The Adamses have a liquor license and could legally transfer it to Dynaco at the end of October, but the company wants to get the restaurant up and running before then, Margosian said, explaining the need to search for another license.

“It will be a corporate run store for the time being and we intend to make that a very successful restaurant,” he said.

Cool Hand Luke's opened Dec. 26, 2006. Dynaco will soon have 14 restaurants under this brand in California and Idaho, Margosian said.

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Tulare Drive Sets South Valley Record

Tulare - A total of 753 pints of blood were donated in the Tulare Rotary Club's Memorial Blood Drive, which paid tribute to the 411 rescue workers killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

The total includes donations made in the drive's name at Central California Blood Center locations in Fresno, Visalia and Porterville as well as at the Tulare Veterans Memorial Building.

Fifty pints were donated in the first hour in Tulare and by time the drive wrapped up 12 hours later, 686 pints—the largest number ever donated at a single South Valley location—had been collected, Blood Center officials said.

The number included 214 first-time donors.

“That is a huge number that the Central California Blood Center is very happy about,” said Amy Benton-Hermann, a Rotary Club member who helped coordinate the drive.

While the goal had been to collect 822 pints—two for every rescue worker who died while attempting to save bombing victims, club members were not disappointed with the turnout.

“The Tulare Rotary Club is so proud of our community for its willingness to take part in the drive,” Benton-Hermann said. “We are a community of volunteers and patriots and we feel lucky to be part of such a meaningful event.”

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Judge Refuses to Halt TDH Election

Tulare - Concluding that plaintiffs have not made a case that they probably will win their voting rights lawsuit against the Tulare Local HealthCare District, a Superior Court judge has refused to halt the hospital district's Nov. 4 election.

Judge Melinda Reed also said in her oral ruling Monday plaintiffs had not brought to her attention any case in which an election already in progress was blocked.
This did not happen even in a case in which the election was determined to be illegal, Reed said, noting the court in that instance said it did not wish to be in the position of extending terms or denying the electorate the right to vote.

“This holding is persuasive to me,” Reed said.

Plaintiffs in the case contend the hospital district's at-large method of electing board members violates the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 by diluting the Latino vote. Only one Hispanic has been elected to the hospital board out of the 90 who have held seats since the hospital district's founding more than 55 years ago, they said.

The request for a preliminary injunction to halt the election was based on the plaintiffs' opinion they were likely to prevail in the lawsuit and that the harm they would suffer if an injunction were not issued is greater than what the defendants would suffer if it were.

The judge cited “several problems” she saw with the statistics the plaintiffs submitted as evidence they would prevail in the lawsuit. The statistics in question were the findings of Dr. J. Morgan Kousser, a professor of history and social science at the California Institute of Technology who is considered an expert on racially polarized voting.

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

The hospital district did not present findings to rebut the statistics.

In his written arguments opposing the injunction, attorney Leonard Herr said “the aggrandized pontifications” of Kousser do not change the belief “candidates should win elections based on the persuasiveness of their position and not the 'color' of their skin or whether their surname is on some government list.”

Herr also submitted declarations from Chief Executive Officer Shawn Bolouki, and candidates Dr. Parmod Kumar, an incumbent, and Richard Torres, a teacher, as evidence of the harm a delay would cause.

“Granting this motion will prejudice the candidates for this election and the district's ability to obtain financing for the construction of a new hospital …not to mention undermined confidence of the voters in the election system,” Herr said.

He also said candidates would be harmed because of the amount of time and money they have invested in their campaigns.

Joaquin Avila, a voting rights expert who helped write the federal and state laws, appeared in court for the plaintiffs.

News of the ruling pleased hospital board candidate Skip Barwick. “Fantastic,” said Barwick, one of five candidates seeking election to one of three seats on the board. “I think the hospital has some critical issues before it and to halt the election — I don't think it would be the right thing to do.”

Incumbent Roger McPhetridge and real estate agent Sherrie Bell are also hospital board candidates.

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Kosher Chicken Plant Gets Planning Commission Support

Tulare - A proposed kosher chicken plant that would process 43,000 birds per day when the operation reaches its peak has received the blessing of the Tulare Planning Commission.

Commissioners approved a conditional use permit for the project and recommended the City Council approve requests for general plan and zoning amendments that would allow a heavy industrial project such as this on the north side of Walnut Avenue, east of O Street.

Commissioner Richard Nunes voted for the amendment changes but abstained from voting on the permit because, he said, he was “not comfortable enough to vote 'yes.'”

The commission's support came after House of David partners assured members the project would not create odor or waste disposal problems for the city.
“They've kind of convinced me they're going to handle it properly,” said

Commissioner Deanne Rocha, who reported her concern stemmed from the strong odor emitted from the large chicken plant in Porterville, where she works.
Partners Hillel Shaman and Simon Sage told commissioners chickens will arrive at the plant at night in trucks that will drive into a high-tech sealed building that won't allow odors to escape.

The permit that commissioner's approved gives the city the right to require other conditions should odor become a problem.

Asked about waste disposal, Shaman said House of David will sell chicken feathers, blood and guts and the water used to de-feather the birds will be recycled and used again for the same purpose.

Kyle Rhinebeck, a real estate broker handling the land transaction between House of David partners and property owner Victor Young, said there is a plan to pre-treat any water that goes to the wastewater treatment plant.

Responding to other questions about the plant and the kosher process, Shaman told commissioners:

• Central Coast Farms in Sonoma County will supply the chickens.

• There will be only one processing shift, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., because the chickens will arrive at night, when they are more relaxed and sleeping. This aids in the process which requires the birds not be stressed when they are handled.

• An extremely sharp blade is used to open a vein in the chicken so the blood, which Jews belief contains the soul of an animal, can drain out of the bird. “There's no suffering. The chicken doesn't feel anything,” Shaman said.

• Rabbis from Israel will participate in and oversee the process to make sure Jewish dietary law is observed and the chickens are treated humanely. One of the rabbis on the site has to be a veterinarian, Shaman said.

• Trucks carrying the freshly processed chickens will leave the plant by 4:30 a.m. so the birds reach Southern California markets early in the day.

In an interview after the meeting, Shaman said the company will employ 14 rabbis from Israel, who will work in Tulare on rotating three-month shifts.

He also said House of David wants to open kosher fast-food restaurants in Tulare, Porterville and Bakersfield.

The plant expects to eventually hire 60 on-site employees for the processing shift and for the cleaning and sanitizing work that will occur between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., principal city planner Bonnie Simoes said.

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