Tulare Truck Body Plant Purchased

Tulare - Tulare’s Grumman Olsen truck body plant has been sold for $1.9 million by Specialized Vehicles Corporation, a leading manufacturer of specialized truck bodies, trailers and food service vehicles. There are 19 workers at the Tulare plant but layoff notices are expected in several weeks.

Frank Papa, president and CEO of SVC, who is in Tulare this week, told the Voice that he expects the Tulare facility to be closed down completely in 30 to 45 days. The Tulare plant will be operated by Kidron, one of two divisions of SVC. The other division of SVC is Hackney. According to industry sources, the acquisition of Grumman Olsen by SVC creates the second largest speciality truck body builder in the nation.

SVC also purchased the Grumman facility in Montgomery, Pa for $1.3 million. SVC currently operates production facilities in Kidron, Ohio, Lakeland, Fla, Washington, North Carolina and Independence, Kansas. The combined production lines will include walk-in trucks, refrigerated and beverage bodies, dry freight vans, emergency service vehicles, shop vans and parcel delivery vans.

Papa said once the Tulare facility is shut down, it will be several months before operations under the Kidron name will start. “I see that within a year we can have up to 50 workers at the plant“ he said, adding that he expects a slow restart. Papa said current Grumman Olsen workers will be given every opportunity to be rehired. Some Tulare workers have lost retirement funds and other benefits. Papa said efforts will be made to provide some of those benefits once hiring for Kidron is under way.

Papa said production in Tulare will be similar to what has been going on with Grumman Olsen and no major retooling will be necessary. He said potential employment of up to 50 workers would not require plant expansion.

The purchase of the Tulare facility did not include the intellectual items, such as plans, designs and other industry properties, Those were purchased for $300,000 by Grand Vehicles, another company in the same industry, according to Bob Besse, director of marketing for Grumman Olson.

Hackney, the other division of SVC, is the world’s largest producer of side-load, overhead door truck bodies and trailers. It was founded in 1946.

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Jostens Sold
No Changes In Visalia Plant Expected

Visalia - Jostens Inc., which has a Visalia plant, has been sold to DLJ Merchant Banking Partners III and affiliated funds, the private equity arm of Credit Suisse First Boston.

“According to most recent information, there will be no changes at the Visalia Plant” according to Plant Manager, Bruce Morton.

Jostens located at Road 84 at Hwy 198 has been in Visalia since 1964. The Visalia plant employees 225 to 700 people, depending on the season, this particular plant prints yearbooks and commercial products.

The new owner paid about $48 per common share and assumed Jostens’ debts and liabilities, for a total of about $1.2 billion, according to Jostens spokesman Jack Larsen.

Larsen said the company doesn’t expect too many changes. “The new owner plans to continue our business,” he said.

The Bloomington-based maker of school yearbooks, class rings and other graduation products was put on the market in late April by its majority owner, Investcorp Bank.

Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment group with offices in New York, owned 88 percent of Jostens’ shares and hired Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Deutsche Bank to find a buyer.

Investcorp acquired Jostens in 2000 for $920 million in cash and assumed debt and had reportedly asked $1.3 billion for the company.

Jostens has about 6,000 employees across the country, including 1,000 in Minnesota. The Company had revenue of $756 million in 2002 and net earnings of $29.9 million.

Jostens shares are traded on the so-called Pink Sheets, the last couple of days at around $30 to $32 a share. On Tuesday afternoon, afternoon, after the sale announcement, the shares shot up to close at $50, an increase of $18 or 56.3 percent.

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Walmart Would Anchor 77 Acre Shopping Center in Porterville

Porterville - Porterville developer Ben Ennis is working with the city of Porterville on plans to build a 680,000 sq. ft. 77 acre shopping center at Jaye and Highway 190. The proposed center would be anchored by a Walmart superstore that itself would be some 210,000 sq. ft. according to a site plan of the center obtained by the Valley Voice.

Ennis is trying to convince city officials of the plan to add nearly 22 acres of land on the north end of the project currently zoned for multi family residential use to the 50 acres already permitted for commercial use. The expansion north to Springville St. would give the center access to major streets on three sides of the project.

The proposal went before the Porterville Community Development Department this week for consideration. Brad Dunlap, the department director, said a number of factors, such as the actual total acreage and layout of the entire project and what requirements will have to be met will be studied. He expect s that process to take several months before an report or recommendation is made to the city council.

Building such a huge center at the site would provide new competition for both the current retail strip - Henderson - in Porterville where Walmart is today and Downtown Porterville that just recently lost a major anchor in Penneys. The Penneys store burned down last month and the company has told the city that they would not return to Porterville.

Ennis told the Voice this week that he is optimistic that the project will happen but does not see any ground being broken for about a year considering the details which must be worked out including an Environmental Impact Report and other requirements.

The site plan shows major retail stores of varying sizes in the proposed center.

The scale of the proposed project is equivalent to the size of the Packwood Creek development in Visalia which is also 680,000 sq. ft. in its first phase on both sides of Mooney.

The new Porterville center would be across the street from Porterville’s newest big box retailer Home Depot across Jaye St. The land is owned by Porterville’s Ted Cornell.

The Walmart store would also dwarf other retail stores in town about double in size of the current Walmart with a complete grocery store inside along with Walmart’s wide selection of general merchandise.

Walmart has been on an expansion program in the Central Valley in the past few months with new store sites in Visalia, Delano, Hanford and Dinuba among others.

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Students & Dogs Helping Disabled

Woodlake - Gerald Whittaker and his new pals Tara (left), a female, and Chisholm, male, are constant companions these days. The two golden retriever puppies are the breeding stock for the Assistance Service Dog Education Center being developed at the St. John’s School near Woodlake. Whittaker, along with his wife Donna, have launched an ambitious program to train dogs to assist disabled persons. The program, in cooperation with Woodlake High School, will be the only such program in the San Joaquin Valley and should help shorten the three to five year waiting list of disabled persons seeking assistance dogs. Woodlake High School students enrolled in the program this coming August will learn to train dogs to do a multitude of tasks. The dogs were purchased with an initial grant from the Visalia Rotary Foundation which has made it it’s Centennial Project.

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County Weighs Development Mitigation Bank

Tulare County may set up development mitigation banks - reserves of land - that could be used by local government and private developers alike in order to meet obligations of the Endangered Species Act on projects. New or expanded development often requires environmental studies that triggers a so-called mitigation requirement if the development were to impact a endangered species. "With all the roads and development projects that seem to have a problem with elderberry bushes - habitat for the endangered elderberry beetle - it seems like a mitigation bank might benefit everybody," says county planner George Finney. A local bank could prevent long delays in public and private projects seeking to comply with agency mitigation requirements. The issue came up at a meeting of the Tulare County Association of Governments in the past month and has now been handed over to the County Environmental Review Committee, says Finney. Within the next few months it is likely to come back to TCAG for the next step. According to a consultant to the TCAG the next step involves identifying properties that might be utilized for such a bank. That could include property owned by local governments, says Finney, as well as private holdings who would want to be part of the bank. The bank would buy and sell credits. Finney says a potential negative view of such mitigation banks is that other property owners may be concerned about having land that is part of the mitigation bank nearby "because they may be worried the critters would come over on their properties." Consultants form Wildlands, Inc., briefed the TCAG board last month on the concept of mitigation banking. Wildlands has 8 "banks" - large preserves in California, typically wetlands. The benefit for private property owners is that if a wetland on private property is in the path of development, that loss of that habitat can be mitigated that is offsite through compensation into the bank. The bank carries out the task of preserving an alternative wetland in perpetuity allowing the development to go forward. The bank essentially "sells" the habitat values created on the preserve. The bank is usually a large - 500 acre or larger - preserve of land. Mitigation banks are typically large parcels of land set aside to compensate for impacts to habitat and special-status species. Mitigation banks that compensate for impacts to wetland and aquatic habitats are called wetland mitigation banks. These banks are intended to implement the state and national "no-net-loss" wetlands policy. They are overseen principally by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with input from other resource agencies. Mitigation banks that compensate for impacts to special-status species are called habitat conservation banks. These banks are intended to protect particular species under the state and federal endangered species acts and are overseen by the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The county itself went through its own mitigation problems with elderberry beetle habitat on the Dry Creek Rd., delaying a project for years - as is the city of Visalia is right now looking to extend the St. Johns Parkway in Visalia.

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Milk Alternatives To Be Offered At Schools
By Lisa Lieberman

Children are drinking more soda than ever before. Aside from causing cavities, studies have found that every additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soda increases a child's risk for obesity by 60 percent. Already an estimated 30 percent of California schoolchildren are overweight or at risk of being overweight. A recent economic analysis also shows that obesity cost California $25.1 billion annually. In response to these figures, Sen. Debra Ortiz (D-Sacramento) has put forth legislation that would ban the sale of soft drinks on school campuses. Under SB 667, elementary and junior high schools would be prohibited from selling sodas on campus after Sept. 1, 2005. The ban on soda sales to high school students would take effect one year later, and would only apply to on-campus activities during the school day. Drinks for sale during school hours would be limited to water, milk, and 100% juice products. The bill has already passed the state Senate and should be heard and voted on in the assembly by the end of summer. This legislation is good news to the milk industry, which has been trying to encourage kids to drink more milk. As part of a pilot project, 14 California schools, including Hanford High and Woodlake High School in the Central Valley, will be providing milk alternatives to students on campuses. The $100,000 grant program is funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Buy California Initiative and USDA and is a collaborative effort involving Western United Dairymen, Yosemite Farm Credit Association, California Milk Advisory Board, California Future Farmers of America, Hilmar Cheese, Producers' Dairy and Foster Farms. "We are a great supporter of milk vending machines replacing sodas," said Jeff Manning, executive director of the California Milk Processor's Board, Berkeley, Ca. "The main issue that drives everything should be kids' health. In some quantities, soda is Ok, but what doesn't make sense is to let kids (buy) three, four or five soft drinks a day at school and then drink more of it after they get out of school. Kids should at least have the option to drink something decent at school." Schools are already required to provide milk in their cafeterias during meal times. But the paper cartons are often lukewarm and much less appealing to kids to carry around than bottled soda, Manning said. The new milk containers sold in vending machines will be resealable, and thereby more portable, Manning said. Many schools have expressed fears, though, that eliminating unhealthy foods and beverages would result in significant reductions in revenue, said Senator Ortiz. "But we know from schools and districts that have done this already that this just isn't the case," she said. Mark Babiarz, principal of Woodlake High School, said that even though money raised from contracts with soda companies helps schools pay for scholarships and athletics, schools can make similar amounts of money selling milk, juice and water. "We won't be totally getting rid of soda, but this project will move us more toward healthier alternatives, so kids will have more of a choice," Babiarz said. John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, a New York publication, said Coke is coming out with a new milk-based drink, Swerve, to sell in schools. The new drink, which is 52 percent milk will come in chocolate, vanilla, banana and blueberry. "As with any new product, we don't know how well this one will do, until after the first year. It's designed for schools, but will end up in the retail channels later on," Sicher said. Sicher said that in light of consumers' growing interest in healthy drink alternatives, other major soda companies are working on selling more water, juice and milk. "I think we're at an interesting point in the beverage industry right now. I think that over the next five years, dairy-based beverages will play a growing role in the portfolios of Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and 7-up," Sicher said. Milk vending machines in schools won't make a huge dent in the milk industry right away, Manning said. "We think it will have a ripple affect, not just in school consumption, but outside of schools as well. When kids see that they don't have to drink that lukewarm stuff, but can drink icy, cold milk, we think the implications will be pretty significant," Manning said. Other segments of the food industry, including McDonald's are also making moves to incorporate milk as a substitute for soda. The California milk industry is doing a test project with McDonalds this year to serve milk with "Happy Meals" instead of sodas. "It just doesn't make sense to give kids a "Happy Meal" that's supposed to be nutritious and then give them a big soda to go with it. We don't think that there are going to be very many kids who are going to say they don't want "Happy Meals" just because they're served with milk instead of soda," Manning said.

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Dinuba Weighs Sewer Pre Treatment Options
To Nurture Key Industries

The city of Dinuba is discussion with the town's largest industry, Ruiz Foods, to add capacity to the city sewer treatment plant or a pre-treatment operation at the big Ruiz Food facility. This in an effort to collect the fats, oils and grease that are part of Ruiz Mexican Foods preparation process. "Ruiz has had tremendous growth in volume" in recent years, says city manager Ed Todd. "We want to make sure we can keep up with their fast growing pace," he says. "They are looking for ways to be more efficient," says Todd. The growing product production has meant a larger volume of wastewater by the food processor. Another key Dinuba industry, Odwalla juices, has increased its use of the waste water treatment facility by about 20% in volume, says Todd, as their new owner, Coke, has helped increase the marketing of the smoothie juices made from the valley fruit pulp. "In their case it's more the case of how we handle the sugars and pulp in the waste water," says Todd, allowing the company to expand operations. Under discussion right now is a potential new freezer at the Dinuba Odwalla plant. "These are the kind of problems we don't mind having," says Todd, glad to have growing industries in the city limits. The city deputy city manager Dan Meinert says both Ruiz Foods and Odwalla are motivated by the fact that their sewer bills will be lower if they pre-treat their waste. "Ruiz installed a facility 7 years ago" but production of the frozen Mexican food company has mushroomed by a factor of four since then, estimates Meinert. "This new facility that could be in operation by year end will allow the company to keep growing," says Meinert. In the case of Odwalla, the company has already submitted plans for pre-treatment equipment located in some buildings and some large tanks. Meinert estimates Odwalla production has likely increased by some 20% per year for the past few years. "They will recover their capital expenses in savings from their sewer bills," says Meinert, helping the city conserve capacity as well for more expansions. Meinert says industries are not likely to seek city help in paying for the facilities because of the presence of SB 975 that requires that if any city assistance is given that all the construction work has to be done by prevailing wage. "That's a real job killer for some smaller towns in the valley," says Meinert. The Odwalla facility should be in place this fall.

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