Ritchie Bros. to Build Tulare Auction Complex

Tulare - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, which currently operates in Tipton, has plans to build an equipment auction complex on 69 acres on the southwest corner of Avenue 200 and Highway 99 in Tulare by late 2011 or early 2012.

City officials conducted an environmental review of the project, which will include three buildings, on Friday and were expected to review the site plan this week. City Planning Director Mark Kielty said the required design review will go to the Planning Commission at its May 3 or May 17 meeting.

Ritchie Bros., which indentifies itself as the world's largest industrial and agricultural equipment auctioneer, held its grand opening in February at the former Martella Auction Company in Tipton, but is only leasing the property on a short term basis, according to documents filed with the city.

“Our first conversation was with them about a year ago,” City Manager Darrel Pyle said, adding the company has a history of building top-rated, fully self-contained facilities and will be a welcomed addition to Tulare.

“It's a super clean industry” and will have “very light demands on our utilities,” Pyle said.

The company plans to construct a 15,000-square-foot auction building, a 28,000-square-foot refurbishing building and a truck security unit on the property that it is acquiring from John and Judith Crabtree and Calvin and Debbie Smith.

If escrow closes late in the second quarter as anticipated, construction could begin in the third quarter, the company reported.

The proposed auction site is south of the Sun and Fun RV Park, Chevron gas station and T-Bones Restaurant and north of Elk Bayou. The Union Pacific Railroad is to the west and Highway 99 to the east.

Excellent Visibility

A summary of the project that the company filed with the city said the Tulare site was chosen because it has excellent visibility from Highway 99, meets the size criteria for the sales volume expected and is in close proximity to hotels, restaurants, the Tulare Municipal Airport and World Ag Expo, which attracts a similar audience.

“Further, the supportive staff and council thus far is very important and encouraging to the potential location,” officials said.

The summary makes reference to the potential for a future expansion, which Pyle said is entirely possible.

“I think with their business model, it will grow over time relatively quickly,” he said. “I think we'll see nothing but upward growth.”

An equipment auction house will be a diversification of Tulare's existing retail market, Pyle said. “This is a type of business we don't have inside the city limits currently.”

The city does not have sales tax estimates for the project, but Pyle said “it's all gravy” when you consider the low impact the business is expected to have on city services.

He also noted the company sells construction equipment, which is very expensive and generates considerable sales tax as a result.

“You've got to sell a lot of cars to equal the value of a piece of construction equipment, he said.

While agricultural equipment also will be sold, only 30 percent of those sales are taxable, Kielty said.

The company has said it plans to conduct four to six auctions a year at the site, with each lasting one to two days. Six to 15 full-time and part-time people will work at the site on a daily basis, while an additional 25 to 75 will be on site for auctions.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has more than 40 auction sites worldwide.

---

Downtown's Magoon to Retire

Tulare - Jerry Magoon, whose name is practically synonymous with downtown Tulare, is retiring after spending five decades working in the area and championing its causes.

Magoon, coordinator of the Tulare Improvement Program since December 1992, was expected to tell his board members Wednesday that he intends to retire on June 30 or even earlier, if they find his replacement before then.

“I think it's time to get somebody else in here – new ideas, new thinking,” said the 82-year-old Magoon, who has enjoyed strong support from his board. “From TIP's standpoint, I think it's the right thing to do.”

Board Chairman Daniel Enriquez said Magoon is definitely going to be missed.
“He's just a fixture in downtown and has done many great things to keep the focus on downtown,” Enriquez said. “He's been an advocate for downtown and our liaison with the city.”

Magoon is a fulltime employee who is paid a part-time salary, he said. “It's going to be hard to replace him for the salary we do pay [$22,200 annually] and the organization can't really afford a higher salary.”

A tireless and intense worker who is firmly committed to the downtown, Magoon said he kept at the job “because I enjoy it and I like the people I'm working with.”

Magoon arrived in downtown Tulare in 1956 to become manager of Leggetts Department Store, then owned by George Allen.

Prior to that he had worked nine years at the Emporium in San Francisco, where he became one of the youngest buyers in the store.

He then went to work for Burlington Hosiery for two years, selling the company's wares on the road. He met Allen, whose brother was a merchandising manager at the Emporium, during this time.

Except for two years when he went to work for Gottschalk's in Fresno, Magoon remained with Leggetts, purchasing the store in 1966 and operating it until he retired the first time in 1989.

Magoon has been recognized many times for his work downtown. In 1986 his store was named the Tulare Business Association's Business of the Year and in 1971 the Tulare Chamber of Commerce honored him as Man of the Year.

While Magoon was serving as Chamber president in the early 1970s, he, Dave Safina Sr., the late William Hahesy and others founded the Tulare Redevelopment Agency, which was initially separate from city government.

Magoon served on the first redevelopment board until he discovered he was ineligible because his Gail Avenue home was not within the city limits at that time.
Redevelopment had a strong presence in downtown, which like downtowns in many other communities has struggled since the advent of shopping malls in the 1960s and big box stores such as Wal-Mart later.

“I guess without it [redevelopment], downtown would have been a disaster … Tower Square has had its problems, but it's OK,” he said referring to the 100 block of North K Street which saw the most dramatic change.

Magoon was elected to the City Council while he still operated Leggetts and served for four years until he was appointed to the Board of Supervisors to serve the remainder of the late John R. Conway's term.

Prior to that, Magoon had served for 12 years on the Tulare Joint Union High School District board, a position that he said he enjoyed the most.

“It was just fun and the problems were solvable,” he said.

He also served on the International Agri-Center board for several years and is a past president. He has been a World Ag Expo volunteer since 1967.

A member of Kiwanis since 1961, he is a past president in that organization and in September 2006 was named a George E. Hixson fellow.

Born in Sanger and raised in Soledad, Gonzales, San Mateo and Salinas, Magoon graduated from Salinas High School in 1945 and then joined the Navy, spending 1 ½ years on a carrier escort and serving on the admiral's staff.

Magoon, a classical music lover who also played trumpet in dance bands when he was in high school, once considered a career in music but went into the retail business even though, he said, his boss at a Salinas business told him he'd never make a good retailer.

He later attended Hartnell Junior College for a year. In 1946, he married his wife, Norma. They have two sons, Steve, who does missionary work in Tennessee, and Dave, a high school English teacher in Fresno, and four grandchildren.

He has no specific plans for retirement, but said “even if it's digging potatoes in the backyard, I'll be doing it the same way as I work now.”

For those who don't know Magoon that means doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

---

Papa Joe's Gets New Owner

Tulare - Papa Joe's Place, Tulare's longest operating restaurant, will remain open for business, thanks to a retired Chino Hills man and his daughter and son-in-law, Gina and Mark Vander Poel of Tulare.

“They're long-time customers and they love Joe's Place,” said Henry Vargas, who is selling the business at 1776 East Tulare Ave. to Bob Taylor, a retired aerospace engineer.

Taylor and the Vander Poels said they learned on March 14 that Vargas and his wife, Mary, had planned to close the restaurant on March 22, if a buyer was not found before then.

“We couldn't allow it,” Gina Vander Poel said. “We didn't know where we were going to eat, and so we had to do something rash,” she added with a laugh.

Taylor said the family engaged in “a lot of spirited discussions” over the next six days and that the long history of the restaurant, which Vargas' grandmother founded in 1934, was an important factor in their decision.

“We all respect the history and that's really why we took this on in this economy,” Taylor said.

“We don't want to change anything,” said Gina Vander Poel, who will manage the business and considers herself now “keeper of the recipes” that have earned the restaurant a faithful clientele over the years.

Family members have had favorite menu items over years, but began sampling other selections as they deliberated a possible purchase.

“We realized then that not only our favorites were good – it's all good,” Gina said.
“I kept finding new favorites,” added Mark Vander Poel.

The food will stay the same, but the family does want to add televisions to the bar and convert it into a sports bar before the next NFL season begins, said Mark, who is a dairyman and former NFL player.

“And no, we will not be conducting football clinics in the bar,” his wife joked.

'Turn-key'

“This is a turn-key operation,” Vargas said. “They want to keep all our employees.”

He and Mary had talked with their employees – people who have been with them for a long time – on March 2 about the possibility the restaurant would close, but not a single one left and he is delighted they will continue to have jobs,” Vargas said.

As for he and Mary, Vargas said they are committed “to do everything in our power to make this a smooth transition, because my Dad's name is on the place.”

They have told Taylor and the Vander Poels they are willing to assist with catering and parties when needed.

“It's kind of a happy ending,” Vargas said. “Mary and I want to thank all our customers from over the years.

---

Rotary Honors Man for Saving Lives

Tulare - Tulare walnut farmer John Van Tol's childhood was no ordinary one, growing up 10 miles outside of Amsterdam during World War II.

A member of a brave family headed up by his parents, Johannes and Marrigje Van Tol, he was just 10 years old when Germany attacked and invaded the Netherlands.

Two years later in 1942 he met his first Jewish family under very extraordinary circumstances.

“They were strangers to us, but we kept the Jewish people in our home,” the 80-year-old Van Tol said.

The Knorriga family – a husband, wife and their two sons and daughter – were among the Jews fleeing from the German Army, which had started to round them up in Holland in 1942, he said.

“The [Dutch] underground fighters went around and looked for homes for them and others who were victimized,” he said.

His parents, who had six children of their own to worry about, agreed to help, knowing that if they were caught they, as well as their guests, could go to prison or lose their lives.

The Tulare Sunrise Rotary Club recently presented Van Tol with a Paul Harris Fellow award in recognition of the bravery and humanitarian effort his family made during the war. A donation will be made to the Rotary Foundation in his name.

By time the Knorriga family arrived, his parents already had built a bunker in the haystacks where their three oldest sons could hide when the Germans came looking for Dutch boys to send to German war factories to work, Van Tol said.

The Jewish father and sons, including a boy his age named Max, moved around a lot, but always returning to the Van Tols' home. His wife and daughter stayed with his family continuously for three years and would rush to a loft that extended over the family's house and barn when soldiers came searching, Van Tol said.

Scary Times

“My little brother was like a watchdog,” he said, recalling how he would cry, “We've got to hide! We've got to hide!”

It was a scary time and Van Tol recalls vividly his father's stern reaction after he poked him in the ribs the day the visitors arrived and remarked in a “smart alecky” voice that the woman appeared to be Jewish.

“That's a Jewish lady, you are right, but you keep your mouth shut,” Johannes Van Tol told his son, explaining the possible consequences if he didn't.

Van Tol recalled playing and fighting with Max during the time his parents hid the Knorriga family. “My Dad put him to work too,” he said.

He also recalls Max's older brother leaving for England, where he fought with the British against Germany.

After Van Tol finished speaking to the audience, he said his oldest son told him, “This is the most I ever heard you talk about World War II” and Tulare businessman Paul Atlas, whom he has known for years, remarked he had never heard him tell the story.

“But who talks about it?” he said.

He was glad he spoke to the Rotarians and their friends about the experience ,especially after a 15-year-old boy came up to him with tears in his eyes and said, “I never knew it was that bad. They don't teach us that in school.”

Reflecting on the experience, Van Tol said: “War is a terrible thing. I'm not for war. I say let's talk first.”

His parents' names were among the 135,000 from seven different countries that were placed on the Wall of Redemption in Jerusalem to recognized their efforts to save Jewish people during the war, he said, showing a photo he has of their names.

Van Tol and his wife, Henrietta, moved to this area in 1972. They have five grown children.

---