But Carey’s theme is that there has been a lack of leadership as evidenced by the chilly relationship with the city of Visalia, Maze’s support for a Motorpool near Green Acres, turmoil at the Economic Development Corporation and Maze’s failed attempt during this last term to run a write-in campaign for an Assembly seat.  Like other challengers to the incumbents, Carey says the administration of the County by department heads behind closed doors has hurt employee moral and has not served the public.  “I believe in open government,” says Carey.

The issue of the Kaweah Rock proposal figures in as well in this campaign.  Maze voted against the revised plan because it didn’t safeguard the environment and threatened water rights elsewhere.  Because of his hesitance Maze has received strong support this race from farmer interests who strongly opposed the gravel mine that was turned down last year on a 3 to 2 vote.  But Carey says he “would seek some kind of middle ground” in the dispute because of the need to use local resources and what is considered likely now smaller project KRR would likely propose.  The issue is likely to return to the Board later this year.

Differences over juvenile justice have surfaced with Carey criticizing Maze’s support to cut funding for Drug Court.  But Maze says the Drug Court program has been reinstated and cites assistance to youth groups around the County during his term.  He notes that health care is improving with children’s immunizations going up from 31% to 61% in recent years.

Recent face to face debates have been polite but testy.  Asked why Maze did not meet more often with city officials during his tenure, Maze replies that “it was a two way street.”  He says city officials seldom come to the board chambers to provide input.  “I’ve been put off when I tried to meet with various officials.  Last week I had to travel to Corcoran to see one city council member,” says Maze at a recent face off at Rotary.  “That’s because you went there to seek Jim Harbottle’s endorsement,” says Carey and he had said that Maze was wasting his time traveling there.  Maze has the support of council member Wendy Thomason while Carey boasts support from the remaining four members.

Maze is known as one of the hardest working supervisors, spending long hours and showing up at meetings around the clock.  He credits his wide experience as a farmer, businessman, contractor and government official as helping to see all sides.  He is a fourth generation Tulare County resident.

Carey’s forte is readiness to work with “divergent points of view” to reach some sort of compromise.  In the past decade he helped settle the suit by Roy Kendle against the city over the Radisson and helped broker the school bond vote by bringing the two sides together.  He has led Self Help Enterprises that builds some 150 homes a year for low income farmworkers around the Valley.  A resident here for the past 26 years, Carey was a planning commissioner, council member and mayor between 1985 and 1993.  He cites the completion of the landmark growth guide for Visalia - the 2020 plan as one of his highest achievements.

Both leaders have strong support in the community and a virtual “sign war” between the two has been seen on virtually every block in town.  On March 7th we’ll see if residents want to keep the experienced Bill Maze on the job or bring in anew guy - Peter Carey.

Sequoia National Park - Expect a rip roaring media event March 18 when busloads of Bay Area Sierra “clubbers” and local conservationists face off with the “resource users” all of whom should converge with placards, lumber trucks and cattle wagons to do battle over President Clinton’s surprise Sequoia Monument Plan announced last month.
That’s what Sequoia National Forest officials figure is going to happen with perhaps 1500 to 2500 demonstrators attending what is expected to be a public hearing on the plan that would convert National Forest land to Monument status.  That status would preclude lumbering and could restrict other current uses like cattle grazing , some fear.

“In his Sequoia announcement, President Clinton has neglected to tell the public that these trees are already fully protected from timber harvesting but are at extreme risk to lightening caused forest fires,” says Frank Gladics of the Independent Forest Products Association.

The Sequoia National Park Forest was to have a forum on the new land management plan that is now null and void with Clinton’s announcement.  But with Clinton saying he wanted only 60 days to come up with a plan that puts a deadline by mid April and there has been no public input on the matter.

So Forest Service personnel are scrambling this week to find a location big enough to handle the crowds expected to attend and a media circus event outside.  “We’re looking at Bulldog stadium or the Visalia Oak’s stadium,” said a spokesperson.  At press time they decided on Fresno, likely at the Fairgrounds.

Conservationists are happy with Clinton’s announcement to protect the giant trees that are not in a national park.  But the practical management of the NFS have been under a mediated settlement for a number of years - precluding the harvesting of Sequoias.  Resource users fear the loss of jobs at two mills in Tulare County.  While lumbering interests are worried about their livelihood, ranchers are concerned about grazing restrictions.  The Forest Service prides itself as managing the forest for “multiple use.”

To get the latest on the public hearing call 784-1500.

Visalia - Visalia is expected to join other California urban areas that do not meet federal or state pollution standards for both ozone and particulate matter requiring tougher smog check rules for vehicles.  Previously the state mandated only that larger cities like Bakersfield and Fresno implement the so-called enhanced programs.  But with the Valley failing to meet its Clean Air Act deadline of 1999 for ozone clean up and little improvement in the fight to improve ozone numbers in the valley for the past 20 years, the state Air Resources Board will likely add our zip code to the rest of smoggy cities requiring the tighter regulations.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Board is eyeing a plan that could be announced this month that would tighten smog check rules for cars in the Visalia area.  It is not clear if the zip codes added would include most of Tulare County.

The tighter rules would make car owners in Tulare County comply with the same rules that vehicle owners in Fresno must follow.  The rules would require tougher smog check rules implemented under the Inspection and Maintenance (I&M) program operated by the state Bureau of Automotive Repair.  (BAR).
“We’re waiting for the release of a state Air Resource Board study on the effectiveness of the state I and M program,” says Tom Jordan - expected to be released in March 2000.

Besides Visalia, smog check rules would be tightened in Lodi, Merced and Manteca, says Jordan.
The tighter inspection of vehicles here is needed because even while new cars are spewing less pollution, a 60% growth in population in the valley since 1980 is adding more cars - more vehicle miles traveled - to the big bathtub we call the San Joaquin.  Vehicle miles traveled in California grew nearly three times the rate of population growth from 1970 to 1995 - a state study shows.

Sooty particulates, many from automobile exhaust, are major contributors to smog and haze in the valley.  The smaller PM 2.5 standards are just now being measured but are considered a health risk when they get into our lungs.  While larger particulates are worse in the summer and fall, the small particulate pollution is worse in the winter and fall (see chart).  Officials believe regulating mobile sources - cars and trucks - will help bring down particulates and ozone levels.

More than just a nuisance, the toxic pollution hurts crop production, affect our national parks and are implicated in the major causes of death here.  The “bad air” is often cited as the Valley’s least appealing phenomenon, affecting the economic development of the area.

The state says that while vehicles produce about half the smog in the state - gross polluter - as little as 10% produce 50% of the vehicle smog.  That’s why the state is pushing more cars to get Smog Check inspections.
A recent ARB study found that emissions from vehicles were responsible for a greater percentage of the tonnage of pollutants that fill the air.  On the LA basin the study showed that vehicles were responsible for 162% more particulates - graining soot - that the state board previously calculated.  That puts more pressure on the state to clean up motor vehicle pollution.  The study found that the state had not calculated a large number of vehicles that were not required and the need to future regulate diesel vehicles.

This week the ARB requires that diesel be converted to alternative fuels over the next few years, exempting school buses for now.

The EPA has listed the Valley as a non attainment zone for ozone categorized as serious.  But that level is expected to be increased to the next level “severe” non attainment area triggering tighter rules on stationary and perhaps mobile sources.  Besides the ozone the Valley is considered to have levels of particulate matter - call PM 10 for the ten micron size particles - considered unhealthy.  In addition, a new standard for finer PM 2.5 particles is in place.

The EPA already has a standard for 1 hour of pollution and will designate a new 8 hour standard this summer.  The state must pre-order a plan to meet the standard but has till 2003 to file the plan.  Peak ozone statewide has decreased substantially with tighter regulations according to the Air Resources Board.  “But we haven’t seen that progress in the San Joaquin Valley,” admits Ms. Marci Nystrom of the ARB.  There has been a “lack of progress,” she says.

The state Bureau of Automotive Repairs charged with carrying out smog check programs for vehicles.  Under the tighter rules - Smog Check 2 - vehicles must go on a treadmill type monitor and some cars go to test only centers.  Since the public noticed any change and the need to re-tool to provide these services, it could be many months until the tougher rules are applied here.  Vehicles must get a smog inspection every two years.  Some 15% of the vehicles in the area must get the smog check done at Test-Only stations.  The enhanced area must use more sophisticated inspection systems - BAR-97 systems - that better simulate the actual driving conditions.  But that will require stations to invest in new equipment.  The test costs more as well.

Visalia - Property owners east of Visalia are continuing to meet this month organizing against a proposal by Tulare Irrigation District to line a 10 mile stretch of earthen canal with concrete.  Last month the irrigation district seeking to save water it losses transporting the federal irrigation water from the Friant Kern canal into their district voted to certify their revised Environmental Impact Report.  That EIR will now be sent to a Sacramento judge to view for its adequacy.  The judge took up the issue after lawsuits by both the city of Visalia and property owners near the canal.  The judge in a preliminary decision ruled that TID has not done an adequate job in assessing all the environmental problems and order the EIR be revised.

At press time the city of Visalia has decided it will no longer oppose the canal lining and TID will develop ground water recharging basins.  The deal is not signed as yet.  But that news doesn’t deter property owners who want to continue the fight.

“Now that the new EIR is complete the lawsuit will continue with the help of more property owners,” says Bob Ludekins who owns LE Cooke Nursery east of Visalia.  “My ranch isn’t on the canal but we believe that we are all affected,” says Ludekins.  The group is working to get donations to continue the lawsuit on a per acre basis.   He says they’ve accepted donations from around 50 or more owners.  A meeting last week set in motion the renewed effort to halt the controversial project.

In the meantime, Ludekins says he will address the TID board March 14 on a new twist over a plan to set up a conservation easement along the canal corridor.  Ludekins says he contacted Rep. George Radanovich about the idea to use some of the monies sent in by TID every year for “environmental restoration” by the Central Valley project to actually buy surplus water and bring it into the TID district.  The water should replace what is lost in seepage along the canal as it runs near Ivanhoe, Farmersville and into Tulare.  Residents in that area and the city of Visalia to the east say that seepage helps renew the ground water in the area and don’t want TID’s concrete canal to be constructed.  “We think this new idea would be a win-win for everyone around,” says Ludekins.

It remains to be seen if TID will embrace the idea since it involves more uncertainty as to how they would be reimbursed.  That was the rub during the last round of negotiations when the TID board decided they like this payment in lieu of building the project if the payment could be a certainty.  Instead of money, the new twist would be to replace the lost water with imported water used with the money the district pays anyway to the CVP.
Residents along the canal don’t want to see the Kaweah Delta itself dry up if another of TID’s water ways is scraped clean of all natural growth and sprayed for weeds.  The district manages a portion of  their waterways as ditches and others they leave as natural waterways.

That natural habitat is used by birds and other wildlife.  The critics argue that the concrete canal will eliminate or harm many mature oak trees.  Some property owners see this as a battle for saving the great Kaweah oaks area close to where the TID canal runs.  Property owner Tom Mitts says the canal uses some natural spring water along the Kaweah River water that will no longer percolate either if the canal is lined.

Visalia - There are only 17 members left in the Visalia Co-op Gin Association - smaller growers on the east side of the Valley that have struggled with poor yields, pesky bugs and low prices in the past few years.  That’s down from 45 members just 5 years ago.  “We lost about 2000 acres in the east side to dairies,” says gin manager Larry Gallian.  While 1999 remained a tough year for cotton farmers forced to rely on government payments to make up for record low world prices “there’s some optimism out there for the first time in years,” says Gallian because new varieties planted in the Valley this past year have shown a remarkable 34% increase or greater yield over traditional Alcala cotton mandated by law before.  Gallian says growers in the co-op got about 2.69 bales of cotton to the acre, an increase from the 2 bales per acre average on traditional Alcala.  Because of the trend Gallian expects the county acreage to increase slightly this season after years of decline.

Still Gallian says “we’re not proud of the fact we had to depend on the government for about 30% of our income” in 1999.  He remembers that “by 2002 the government was going to be out of farming.”  But with grain, cotton and dairy farmers nationwide facing continued low prices, the USDA has expanded subsidies to help farmers stay in business.  This month Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman assured farmers he would approve a certificates program that lifts a subsidy limit that would allow larger cotton farmers to gain the difference between what growers get as market prices and a government set minimum price.  Current subsidy rates limit growers under 1000 acres to payments.  Now larger growers like JG Boswell from Kings County can receive the subsidy on an estimated 160,000 acres.  Large east side growers - that Gallian calls “big family farmers” - will be able to take advantage of the program as well.  Gallian says valley cotton futures for delivery next December is about 67 cents and it costs 80 cents to make any money on it.  That could mean another year of subsidy is required, he believes.  “We hope an upturn in the Asia market will help exports,” says Gallian.

Nationwide the USDA is suggesting that cotton acreage could rise to 15.5 million acres in the 2000/01 crop year, up from 14.86 million acres in 1999.  Exports are expected to rise 25% the USDA announced this past week.  China, a net exporter of cotton could be net importer this year.

Statewide the acreage planted to cotton could increase by 5% buoyed by the hope of exports and increased yield on the new varieties.  “For 25 years we were limited to one variety - now we have a choice,” says Gallian.  He expects 95% of the crops planted by local growers will be one of the new varieties.  Pima plants should be down this year due to lower prices.  Valleywide he expects a decrease of 100,000 acres.

Cotton acreage in Tulare County was stable at 100,000 acres for years but in the past five years has declined to about 60,000 acres.

Hurting all farmers this season will be high costs of fuel - especially diesel - that is expected to increase farmers costs nationwide by $1 billion in 2000 says USDA economist Keith Collins.

Despite hope farmers can get off the dole, USDA is predicting it will take a few years before the big stock of grain that is keeping corn, wheat and other commodity prices low.  Global demand should pick up but in the next two years farmers may face lower income, depending on how fast a recovery in Asia progresses.

Helping to cut costs this past year was the hard freeze that may have been hard on citrus trees but killed off bugs that over winter wait to infest the cotton patch.  “As a chemical salesman (they sell farm chemicals) that hurt us but I was glad for the growers.”

All over Tulare County fields traditionally planted to field crops have or will be converted to dairies.  Still, that land needs to be planted to crops to take up the nitrogen from manure spread by the dairy farmer.  Cotton is one crop reported on those lands.

Tulare County - Census 2000 questionnaires are now being delivered to people throughout the United States.  Tulare County is partnering with the Census Bureau through the Tulare County Complete Count Committee, comprised of representatives from the county, cities, and various community organizations, to make sure everyone in the county is counted.

Every year, over $100 billion in federal funds are awarded to localities based on census numbers.  The Census Bureau estimates that each person not counted costs the county about $250 per year in missed federal funding.  That means the estimated Tulare County undercount of 11,851 persons in the 1990 Census resulted in $29.6 million in lost funding for schools, health care, roads, job training and other community services during the 10-year period between each Census.  Answering the Census helps assure that our tax dollars are properly allocated to our area and that our communities receive their fair share of federal and state funding.  Census data is also important for reapportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and for local redistricting.

Because the Census Bureau estimates that as many as half of the persons not counted in the 1990 Census were children under age 18, the Tulare County Complete Count Committee is emphasizing the message that "Kids Count."  It is important that every person is counted in Census 2000, including all children.  Many of the funding programs for schools, including Title I funding, are based on information provided by the Census.  Funding for programs that benefit children in other respects such as WIC food grants, public transportation, Head Start programs and emergency food and shelter programs, are also based on information collected in the Census.

By law, the Census Bureau cannot share individual responses with others, including welfare agencies, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Internal Revenue Service, courts, police and the military.  Census workers are sworn to secrecy and know they can face a $5,000 fine and a five-year prison term if they give out any information they see on a form.  Because of this strict confidentiality policy, the Census Bureau has an unbroken record of protecting the public's privacy.

The Census Bureau has established Questionnaire Assistance Centers throughout the county to provide assistance in answering the questionnaires.  Beginning April 1, these sites will also have Census forms available for people who either did not receive a Census questionnaire.  For the location of the Questionnaire Assistance Center nearest you, contact the Hanford Census Bureau Office at (559) 585-7127.  Assistance and Census forms may also be obtained by calling 800-471-9424.

This Is Your Future.  Don't Leave It Blank.

The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher. 

March 1, 2000