Tulare Blood Drive Expects Big 'Draw'

Tulare - Organizers of next week's 9/11 Memorial Blood Drive in Tulare expect to exceed last year's effect which generated more than 1,000 pints of blood for the Central California Blood Center.

The 12-hour drive will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Tulare Veterans Memorial Building, 1771 East Tulare Ave. and feature many activities, including a remembrance ceremony that the Tulare Fire Department will conduct at 9:45 a.m. in front of the building.

Those who want to eat breakfast before donating are invited to the Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast at the hall, which will run from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. The breakfast is free.

“It's been nine years since that awful day and we have not forgotten,” said Ken Dodson, planning committee co-chair for the fourth annual event and a Tulare Fire Department battalion chief. “We will never forget.”

For the last three years the Tulare Rotary Club, Fire Department, Tulare AMVETS Post #56 and the Blood Center, along with local businesses and volunteers, have hosted the drive to honor all those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, in terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.

In 2008, the memorial drive was the largest in the South Valley, which earned the event an award from the Central California Blood Center.

“This event truly unites our community,” said Tulare Mayor and event co-chair Craig Vejvoda.

Because this year's event falls on a Saturday, planners are hoping that more people than ever will be able to participate.

The AMVETS Post 56 Ladies Auxiliary will provide child care at Memorial Park while parents donate. AMVETS also will have a bounce house and climbing wall located in the front of the Memorial Building.

In addition, the AMVETS Post 56 Ladies Auxiliary and Tulare Post 56 will provide a free spaghetti dinner to all donors from 2 to 7 p.m.

Organizers said free food and child care will be available all day, along with special gifts for donors, including a free ticket to the Tulare County Fair. The first 100 first-time donors will receive a free ticket to the Galaxy Theatres.

Each donor will receive a “Memory Badge” with a 9-11 victim's name to make the experience more personal. The event website www.tulare911mbd.com offers a way to connect that name with an online memorial where donors can learn about the person their pint honored, post comments, etc.

Information: Dodson at 358-1331; Vejvoda at 688-2900; or the Blood Center's Darla Silvera at 288-6319.

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Fair: ‘Five: Best Days of Summer’
Parade, Celebration, New Exhibits, More on Tap

Tulare - With Sheriff Bill Wittman serving as grand marshal, the Tulare County Fair parade will kick-off five days of fun that will include a wide variety of activities and entertainment, including the return of five nights of grandstand entertainment and a celebration marking the bicentennial of Mexico's independence from Spain.

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. on East Tulare Avenue near Tulare Union High School and make its way through the downtown with high-stepping bands, floats, horses, youth groups and other participants delighting the hundreds of children and adults who normally turnout for the annual event.

Wittman, who was recently re-elected sheriff, was chosen as the fair's grand marshal to honor the service of his and other law enforcement agencies that make the fair a safe place for families each year. He was chosen for another reason as well.

“He's a hometown boy done good,” fair CEO Geoff Hinds said.

Hinds likes to describe the parade as kick-off to “the best five days of summer” and after he outlines the special treats in store for visitors, it is hard not to agree.

As usual, opening day is Kids Day and children 12 years and younger get in free all day.

A special treat is in store for them as Nickelodeon television's cartoon character Jimmy Neutron the Boy Genius makes an appearance. Since its debut in 2002, the computer animated show regularly has been nominated for the Best Cartoon at the Kids Choice Awards. The science-loving Jimmy will make a second appearance on Thursday.

Mexican Consulate

Mexico's Independence Day is Sept. 16 and, like New Year's, the countdown begins the prior evening and so it will at the fair.

At 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Budweiser Stage, Carlos Del Gado, a representative of the Mexican Consulate's Office in Fresno will give a presentation in English and Spanish, explaining the meaning of Independence Day.

The countdown will continue until 10 p.m. – which is midnight Mexico time – when there will be a ringing of the shouting of the Grito de Dolores, the battle cry uttered in the small town of Dolores in the state of Guanajuato that launched the uprising that led to independence.

During El Grito, Del Gado will make presentations, after which the fair will host a live broadcast of the official celebrations from Mexico City and other locations around the world. Tulare also might be included in Univision's live feeds, Hinds said.
Music by Banda Santa Lupe and Mariachi Uruapan will follow.

“It really kicks off the fair with a bang and it's exciting to us to be a part of such an historic event,” Hinds said. “We're excited to work with the Mexican Consulate and be their official South Valley location for their celebration.”

Grandstand Entertainment

The 2010 fair marks the return of five nights of grandstand entertainment, which will include:

· Medieval Tournament of Champions, a jousting and sword-fighting exhibition that Hinds said is produced by the folks at Medieval Times in Southern California and at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. Shows are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

· Inaugural Jack Jones Sr. Flat Track Race Friday night. (See story on this page.)

· Inaugural “So You Think You Can Fight,” hosted Saturday by the fair and Premier Fighting Championship to give amateur fighters the opportunity to complete in a kickboxing event. This is the firs-time the event will be held anywhere. Tickets are $30, which includes fair admission.

· The 14th Annual Destruction Derby Sunday.

For A rundown on Tracy Lawrence, WAR and other musical groups that will perform at the fair see the Valley Scene section in the Valley Voice.

Special Exhibits

The Tulare fair made its first foray into self-produced exhibits last year and came up with a winner: the Musical Instrument Petting Zoo, which will return by popular demand, giving youngsters an opportunity to play their favorite instrument.

Hinds is very excited about a new self-produced exhibit called Underwater Adventure, which the fair staff has worked on almost a full year.

“This is a 5,000-square-foot exhibit that people can walk through and it will simulate being underwater,” Hinds said.

The exhibit will include life-size replicas of animals, including a great white shark, world-class photography and sound.

“It will be exciting to see it all come together,” Hinds said. The exhibit will be in a covered area between the Junior Exhibit and Fine Arts buildings.

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Fair Features Memorial Flat Track Race

By John Hobbs

Tulare - Everybody has their own set of reasons for looking forward to the Tulare County Fair and motorsports enthusiasts are able to add the Inaugural Jack Jones, Sr. Memorial Flat Track Race to the list of events they are eagerly anticipating.

Scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at the Tulare County Fairgrounds, the race, which will benefit Central Valley Children's Hospital of California, will be open to all classes of motorcycles.

“Because they're so popular right now, we've also scheduled lawn mower and quad races,” said Jack Jones Jr., principal organizer of the event.

The return of motorcycle races to the fair is good news to those who remember the great crowds of the 1970s.

“They had 300 to 400 riders and they had to run their show Friday night, Saturday and Sunday because there were so many of them,” Jones said. Event promoters, in addition to Jones, include Jamie Garges; father-son Bill and Jeff Wilson; and, Rick Sartuche.

News of the event's genesis began to circulate among racers and fans about six weeks ago, triggering a flood of calls.

“We've been getting calls from folks as far away as South Dakota who are either interested in attending, racing or at least helping us get the word out,” Jones said.

“By the first of September we already had 135 racers pre-register and by the time September 17 rolls around I expect we'll have 200 or more,” he added.

“With a $5,000 guaranteed purse for the pro-class, we're pretty well assured of having a good field of serious competitors,” he said.

Legendary Figure

The event is intended to memorialize Jack Jones, Sr., a legendary figure in local motorsports and himself an accomplished and widely renowned racer.

At the pinnacle of his career, from 1977 through 1979, Jones Sr. logged nearly 300 wins in flat track racing, winning countless feature events at Ascot, Chowchilla, Bakersfield and elsewhere, capped off by taking the 1979 “King of the Hill” honors in Hanford.

It was once said of astronaut Jim Lovell that “he could fly a washing machine if someone put wings on it.” The elder Jones had the same kind of reputation when it came to motorcycles.

“Lots of people have told me, Jones said, 'if you put two wheels on it and a motor to make them turn, my Dad could ride it, race it and win with it.”

At the age of 29, the senior Jones was tragically killed in 1979 while flying an ultralight experimental aircraft in a Las Vegas air show. He left behind three young sons and a daughter who was born scarcely a month following his death.

Major sponsors for the event include Hoosier Racing Tire, Valley Pump and Dairy Systems Inc., Jones Plaster, American Thunder, WPS, Fly Racing, Sartuche's Electric Service and Digger Helms Racing (57).

Jones Jr., whose own racing career began at the ripe old age of 5 years, counts himself among the 135 competitors pre-registered. Other local competitors of note expected to race are Craig Howard, Jimmy Woods, Bill Wilson, Donny Harrell, Hunter Stanley, Colton Stanley and young miss Katelyn Sartuche has indicated she plans to race in no fewer than two classes.

Tulare County Fair organizers are providing the venue for the races in the form of Thunderbowl Raceway and its approximately 3,000-seat grandstand.

Grandstand seats for the Jack Jones, Sr. Memorial Flat Track Race will sell for $7 per person with promoters predicting a sellout. Racing enthusiasts looking for a more up close and personal experience may purchase a pit pass for $15 each. Prices do not include fair admission.

Information: Jack Jones, Jr. at 723-3868.

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Fire Captain Retires after 36 Years

Tulare - Capt. Don Sexton is retiring this month after 36 years with the Tulare Fire Department, making him the longest tenured employee in the department's history.

“I broke Elmer's record,” Sexton said, referring to retired fire Capt. Elmer Greer, who worked 34 ½ years for the department. “But he is still the longest tenured captain [26 years].”

Sexton was hired by the department in June 1974, three years after graduating from Tulare Union High School. In the interim, he worked two years at the downtown Rasco variety store and then a year as assistant manager at ACE Hardware.

He decided to apply to the fire department after reading a want ad and thinking fighting fires might, in his words, “be a cool thing” to do.

“It wasn't because I had wanted to be a fireman since I was 5 years old,” he said.

Joining the Tulare department nearly four decades ago was quite a different experience than it is today. There was no fire academy in the county and the training was on-the-job.

“It was: 'Here's a hose, here's a helmet and just follow my orders,'” Sexton said.

He did just that and people like now-retired fire Captains Greer and Jerry Rainey became his mentors.

That's not to say it was easy. His first evaluation wasn't encouraging as his supervisor declared he didn't think Sexton was cut out for the job.

But that, of course, wasn't the case.

“I wasn't sure for the first month or two,” Sexton said. “Then I went on my first structure fire. There was this tremendous euphoric high. There was this feeling it was so much fun – it was the challenge.”

He also had a strong sense of belonging.

While growing up, Sexton traveled a lot as his father's jobs with the J.J. Newbury Company took the family to Visalia, where he was born, and then to Southern California, Missouri and back to California.

“I attended seven different high schools,” he said.

In his fire department job he “found a reason to be somewhere … and I started to enjoy all the camaraderie,” he said.

It was a much smaller Fire Department then with two stations, no paramedics and fewer than 800 calls a year, Sexton said, adding the department also relied on more than a dozen dedicated volunteers to assist with fires.

“We did our own dispatching then too,” he said, recalling that rookies would take over those duties when the department secretary went home at 5 p.m.

Today the department has three stations, firefighter/paramedics and answers more than 5,000 calls a year that it receives through the Police Department's dispatch center.

The department's equipment also has improved vastly in comfort and sophistication over the years.

“It was 22 years before I rode in an air conditioned fire truck,” he said, recalling the department did not have one until 1996.

Vehicles are equipped today with better hoses, nozzles and rescue tools, such as thermal imagers that help detect people or hot spots in a building, he said.

Firefighters today also have breathing apparatus and turnout jackets that fit.

“My first jacket hung to my calves,” Sexton recalled. “Nothing fit. Now everything is custom tailored.”

In 1976 Sexton became an emergency medical technician (EMT) and began working part-time for an Exeter ambulance service, a job he also enjoyed, he said.

Then in 1980 he was offered part-time jobs with Tulare District Hospital's ambulance service and in its emergency room.

“I had tremendous opportunities to work under a lot of great people… and learn about emergency medicine,” he said.

On his own, Sexton contacted the Los Angeles Fire Department and rode along with their paramedics.

“We all knew the fire service was going to grow and expand and there would be a need for EMT services and eventually paramedics,” he said.

He went on to get his EMT II license.

He still wonders why it took Tulare County so long to allow paramedics – it was the last county in the state to accept them – but is very pleased with how the city has incorporated them into the fire service.

“We have four full-time paramedics [firefighter/paramedics] all the time,” Sexton said. “We strive to provide this to the community at a great cost savings.”

He also is proud of the progress the department has made in other areas through the years, including becoming one of the first to use the Jaws of Life rescue equipment and its involvement today with other types of rescue training.

“We came into a department that was very traditional, but a lot of people were thinking ahead,” he said.

Sexton, who was promoted to engineer in 1979 and captain in 1992, speaks with pride of his profession.

“It's called the fire service and there's a reason for that,” he said. “Service means to provide to others who can't help themselves.”

And the level of service you provide is the same for everyone, rich or poor, which is a standard he said that was instilled into him by Greer and others.

One of his fans is Fire Chief Mike Threlkeld, who came to work for the department as a reserve in 1980 when Sexton was already an engineer.

“Don loves his career,” Threlkeld said. “You could call him at any time and he'd drop everything and come into work.”

He struggled with retiring … and stayed around to help with the transition with the new personnel,” the chief said.

Sexton was named the city's Mid-Manager of the Year in 2006 and is the type of person who requests to work out of the city's busiest station – Station 62 on North E Street – because he likes that, he said.

“I've always liked working the west side of Tulare,” Sexton said. “We have people who need who are underserved in many ways.”

Sexton has used four sick days in 37 years on the job and said he's never been injured or “really sick” during that time.

“I've also never spent a day in the office,” he said. “I'm kind of proud of that. I've always enjoyed the company of the crew.”

While Sexton has fought some of Tulare's biggest fires over the years and served statewide on 15 strike teams, it was a small house fire on West Bardsley Avenue that holds the most vivid memory for him.

The department arrived at that fire and quickly ran a hose down the hallway and into a bedroom, where a mattress was on fire.

“We knocked it down really quickly,” Sexton said. “I was taking off my mask and air packs when a little girl – seven or eight years old – came up to me and said: 'Thank you for saving Christmas.' Right then and there it kind of summed up what it was all about.”

Sexton plans to continue an active lifestyle in retirement.

“I've always been a big outdoorsman, hunting and fishing,” he said.

He has an outfitting guide service, which he will continue to operate, and would like to go on another African safari.

Sexton, who has four step-sons, a daughter and three grandchildren, lives in Tulare with his wife, Gay.

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