Hospital Bond Passes
Stephenson, Jones, Martin Win

Visalia - Kaweah Delta Healthcare District got nearly a 70% vote of confidence passing Measure M this week that will help the hospital expand Downtown. The vote required a two-thirds majority. The general obligation bond will pay nearly half the $101 milion cost to buiulding a new 6-story wing of the hospital in the next few years and increase the size of the their busy ER.

At Visalia Unified the two incumbents Rob Stephenson and Larry Jones were returned for another 4 years and educator Donna Martin will join them nosing out attorney Pete Sherwood for the third seat. Stephenson got 9132 votes, Jones 8139, Martin 7946 and Sherwood 7192.

If Kaweah Delta was succesfull - it appears theTulare Union school bond went down to defeat with 66.53% in favor of the bond - only one or two votes less than the two-thirds needed in a town where just 16% turned out to vote.

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Hot New Fighter Could Bring $1 Bil To LNAS

Lemoore - Simply put, this would be the biggest thing to hit Kings County since they brought the first cotton seed here.

The US Department of Defense is weighing where on the West Coast to station hundreds of hot new “joint strike fighters” being built under contract by Lockheed Martin and according to officials, Lemoore and Widbey Island in Washington are the top two candidates. “We understand Lemoore maybe the top choice as of now,” says Assemblywoman Nicole Parra who represents Kings County in Sacramento.

Parra is chair of the Assembly Select Committee on National Defense, Technology and Jobs. She held a hearing in Bakersfield last week highlighting the potential for placing of the new Navy fighter wing in Lemoore.

“We’re talking about 5,000 to 10,000 civilian jobs and a $1 billion investment in our local economy,” says Parra.

That doesn’t include the military jobs that would be tied to the new planes that are expected to begin delivery in 2008. The planes would compliment the F/A - 18E/F series. Lockheed is building more than 3000 of the versatile new planes to deliver to all branches of the military and to our allies. Lockheed Martin won the contract to build the new fighter two years ago in a national contest with Boeing.

The Bakersfield hearing covered the potential for California to lose more defense dollars in the next round of base closures and realignments scheduled for 2005. “Of all the states, California was hardest hit by the four previous rounds of base closures,” says Parra.

Previous base closures has seen California suffering 30% of the closures since 1988 with 29 bases closed here.

Now Secretary Rumsfeld has announced he wants to close another 25 percent of military installations nationwide putting all the state’s bases in jeopardy.

But Lemoore is considered a likely candidate having been one of the California bases that has grown in the past five years. It’s wide open spaces and proximity to exercise training grounds put it at an advantage to keep open and expand, says sources.

Commander of the Lemoore Naval Air Base, Captain Robert Rutherford told the Voice he can’t advocate Lemoore as a choice one way or another. But Rutherford spoke at the Bakersfield conference presenting information about the base that included the fact the base is well protected from urban encroachment and enjoys a central state location able to easily reach both sea and desert operation grounds, sea level elevation good for training for carrier landings and 10 months of good viability.

The base sprawls over 30,000 acres - one third on private farmland where local farmers agree to grow field crops and build no structures higher than 25 ft. Surrounded by flat farmland, open space and little population, the base has grown considerably from when it was commissioned in 1961.

From 10 to 16 Squadrons

Capt. Rutherford says the base now has 7200 military stationed there and 12,000 civilians in the workforce.

The military workforce has grown rapidly in the past five years from 4500 to 7200 since 1998, he says. “We’ve grown from 10 to 16 squadrons,” says Rutherford.

Lemoore is considered to be the Navy’s newest and largest master jet station, supporting the Pacific Strike Fighter Wing.

Assemblywoman Parra says it’s important as the base closure issues heat up to “promote Lemoore’s assets.” Speaking at the October 27 Bakersfield hearing, William Jefferds, director of the State Department of General Services and Office of Military Support suggests that “it is an ideal location” for the new Navy wing.

This week Parra’s select committee is holding another hearing in Sacramento highlighting the base closure process called BRAC. “The decision to site the joint strike fighters is tied to the BRAC decision,” says Parra. The clock is ticking on the BRAC decision process with the base selection criteria being announced as soon as this coming January. In March of 2005 the new BRAC commission will be selected.

But if Lemoore isn’t on that list it sure hopes to be on the joint strike fighter list.

The new planes can take off and land on a short distance and still be supersonic. The military has pushed the manufacturer to cut costs to make the new jets affordable using a single engine design for example.

Besides the potential of hundreds of new planes coming to Lemoore, a more immediate prospect is possible relocation of a squadron of 18 planes that could be transferred from a base in Louisiana to Lemoore according to published report in the New Orleans newspaper last month.

For Lemoore this week - all the celebration comes with the return of the USS Nimitz carrier to California and the return of about 1000 military personnel.

$270 Mil Payroll

If LNAS does get selected for the strike fighter wing to be operational in 2010, planning and construction of infrastructure to handle the influx will have to start much sooner, officials say. Kings County administrators Larry Spikes and EDC staffer John Lehn were meeting this week discussing the project knowing that a program like this will be drawing in a huge influx of technical people with high paying jobs - similar to aerospace jobs. Already the base has a payroll of over $270 million annually.

“These planes are being built in California,” says Parra, including work being done in Lancaster and in Kern County. “It makes sense we fly them in California.”

County Supervisor Tony Oliveira says the huge income potential to the area promises to spread up and down the 198 corridor.

“This corridor will likely be one of the most prosperous in the state in the future,” he predicts. He supports passenger rail service between the LNAS and Visalia. Oliveira helped broker a recent water deal between Westlands and the base over water supply signed recently. He is also working on a plan to bring in more state water to Kings County, he says.

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Rancheria Seeks $95 Mil for New Resort

Lemoore - The Santa Rosa Rancheria tribal council has approached the County of Kings for assistance in borrowing $95 million to build a new resort at the Palace to include a 3-story casino, a 250 room hotel, a new restaurant, grill, sports bar and snack bar along with a new 48,000 sq. ft. warehouse.

The new facility would be built near the Palace casino and include the demolition of the old bingo facility. The funds - bond money - would also be used to expand the facility’s power station and water treatment supply as well.

Tribal representatives met in study session with the Kings County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, November 4 to discuss the request to use the county as a “conduit” to raise tax exempt funds - a plan the tribe believes would not put the county at risk since the tribe would be solely responsible to make the payments.

General manager for the Palace Indian Gaming Casino, Adam Gonzales, says the board “supports the idea of economic growth” but want to seek its own counsel on any implications for the county. “We agreed to meet again in the next two weeks,” says Gonzales.

“Our goal is to sell either non taxable or taxable bonds in late January or early February,” says Gonzales.

The potential expansion into a full destination resort for the gaming facility, carries on the plan to steadily grow the gaming business on the tribe’s trust land from 1994 when they employed 86 people at the new bingo hall, to over 400 people as of 1997 to 1350 today. “We think the new facility will employ 1750,” says Gonzales, once it is built in early 2006.

That’s a long way from where they started in 1934 when the Rancheria was established on 40 acres of farmland east of Lemoore. The tribe tells the story that in those early days virtually all the tribal members lived in poverty in Tule huts, tin shacks with chickens coops with old cars scattered around.

With the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, the tribe found a way to attract money to rancheria and provide jobs for native Americans. The increase in income has been followed by an increase in the educational level at the rancheria with the average member having completed a 12th grade education and many going to college today.

In 1994 the tribe changed the name of the facility from Southgate Bingo Palace to The Palace Indian Gaming Center now with 2000 slot machines and a average weekly visitation of 52,000, says Gonzales.

Once the demolition of the bingo hall is completed, the contractor would build a three story casino building - 140,000 sq. ft. - in its place, says Gonzales. On the first floor would be the slot machines and gaming tables, the second story would house administration and the third story would feature a new 1200 seat bingo hall larger then the current 960 seat hall now.

Gonzales says the hotel will be 7 stories and around 80 ft. tall - the largest building on the casino land. “We will have rooms from economy to two level suites,” says Gonzales.

The tribe believes the resort will cater to both locals and travelers given the location of the casino, about 25 miles from both Highway 99 and I-5 and on the coast route near 198. “We think during foggy months people will decide to stay overnight rather than travel home,” says Gonzales, promising some bargain rates for those visitors.

In recent months the tribe made a step toward meeting infrastructure needs for roads, police and fire safety by agreeing to fund $900,000 annually to the county to help pay for improvements to roads, a new fire station, a new fire truck.

Now they want to use the tax exempt financing ability of the county through a joint powers authority to borrow $95 million - money that would be the sole responsibility of the tribe to pay back. The county wants to hire an independent counsel - to advise the county of any risk issue and further matters, says administrator Larry Spikes, that may include:

• The public perception of issuing $95 million in debt to loan money to the tribe for gaming related purposes;
• The size of the debt in comparison to the County’s budget and discretionary revenue;
• Lack of recourse for bondholders and potential litigation for the County in the event of default on the bonds; and
• Uncertainty over the Governor-Elect’s actions regarding tribal compacts.

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Co-Op Plans New Creamery In So. Valley

South San Joaquin Valley - California Dairies - a milk cooperative with 700 members is planning a new creamery in the south valley, says CEO Gary Korsmeier. “We could make a decision on a piece of land as early as December,” says Korsmeier.

The plan comes as more southland dairymen look to exit the greater L.A. basin for the wide open space of the valley. “In the next year we will see about 15% of our milk volume move to the valley,” says Korsmeier, much of it in Kern County.

That volume includes the big Borba Dairies. George Borba is chairman of the board of California Dairies. Borba also heads the new Citizens Community Bank who bought Kaweah National Bank in Tulare County recently.

Korsmeier says demand for dairies to relocate to the valley comes as milk prices remain the highest in 18 months and demand for real estate in the Chino area has grown prompting dairymen to make plans to cash out and relocate their herds.

As more of the dairymen leave the L.A. basin, the need for new creamery to replace California Dairies Artesia facilities increases. Korsmeier says the day will come that the company’s headquarters will relocate to the valley as well from Artesia.

The co-op does have a retail office in Visalia and big powder production plant in Tipton. They supply most of the milk to both the Kraft cheese plant in Tulare and the big Leprino plant in Lemoore.

They have members and plants in Fresno, Turlock and Los Banos as well. Altogether California Dairies produces 40% of the milk in the state.

High Beef Prices Play Role

Helping to boost milk prices in the past few months is a decline in cow numbers in part due to record high meat prices. The beef price increase in turn appears to be based on a perceived shortfall in meat caused by the ban on Canadian beef imports due to a case of mad cow disease and an increase in demand for beef prompted by the Atkins diet popularity.

Milk production in California in September was down 5% lower in September compared to August and slightly less than September 2002 according to the CDFA.

Dairymen report beef prices 50% higher than a year ago prompting some to cull their cattle sooner than later - thus reducing milk supply. That in turn is helping prop up milk prices.

Meanwhile beef production in the state is up 7% over a year ago in the state. Nationwide red meat production hit a record high in September - 5% up from the previous year, according to the USDA.

Also reducing cow numbers is a plan to retire herds nationwide by the group Cooperatives Working Together - a national Milk Federation program that includes the big milk co-ops in California as well. But that herd reduction hasn’t even started as of yet.

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City Rejects Auto Mall Vote

Visalia - Visalian’s won’t get the chance to vote on the proposed west Visalia auto mall even though some 10% of the electorate signed the petition asking for a referendum on the issue.

Last week the city certified that enough signatures (4214) had been gathered - just barely - to force a vote if the petition met other legal mandates.

This week the city rejected the petition as “flawed” with city manager Steve Salomon penning a statement that as city clerk he “would not forward the petitions to the city council for certification unless I am directed by a court to do so.”

The decision came after a Riverside attorney hired by the city offered the legal opinion that the petition signed by 4200 voters was void since it was not filed within 30 days after the city adopted a general plan amendment designating the land as service commercial rather than agriculture. That decision was made August 18. To change it the petition had to be filed no later than September 18 or so.

The petition challenged both the general plan amendment and a subsequent zone change to allow the auto mall. The zone change had a second reading, as an ordinance setting out the changes to zoning to allow the project - Visalia Auto Plaza. Within 30 days - by September 30, 2003 - a citizens group led by former mayor Greg Collins filed the petition seeking to overturn the GPA and the zone change.

Attorney John Brown said a court would likely not allow the challenge to the zone change to go forward separate from the general plan amendment decision even if the petition was filed in a timely way to challenge the zone change. He maintains there can’t be “inconsistency” between the general plan and zone change and since the general plan vote wasn’t challenged in a timely way it takes effect and sets a precedent that the subsequent challenge to the zoning ordinance approval can’t overturn.

Monday Collins - two hours after he received a copy of the legal opinion stood at the lectern of the city council asked the council to allow the matter to be voted on anyway. “This has come down to legal opinion vs public opinion.” Collins continued that “it’s clear the public would like to vote on this.”

Citizen referendums do have a court tendency in their favor suggested Mr. Brown in his legal brief to the city he notes “...referendum petitions are liberally construed in favor of the exercise of the referendum power...” invalidating them however “when there is possibility of voter confusion.” The test is whether the referendum substantially complied to the elections code.

Advisory Vote

Mr. Brown doesn’t make the case the petition carried any “voter confusion” by the fact the petition challenged both the GPA and zone change - voters thought they were challenging the auto mall - period. An attorney for Collins group can likely make the case that if the auto mall needed the zone change to make it legal - you would be able to challenge that zone change within 30 days after the ordinance passed.

Mayor Gamboa had been thinking about an “advisory vote” the council itself could place on the ballot. But after they had already approved the project and the applicant has all approvals in hand what impact does a negative advisory vote have after the horse has left the barn?

Attorney Brown made the case that the city had a “ministerial duty” that is not discretionary that mandates the city “not certify the petition” that would have set the matter for a vote while putting on hold the approval process for the developers. An advisory vote would have no such power.

Salomon in his letter on the decision said the signatures gathers could have availed themselves, at no cost, of legal advice provided by the city attorney’s office on both the structure and content of the petitions. “But they didn’t.”

In sum, Collins group has one choice - go to court or leave it the way it is and go onto the next political battle.

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To Hell and Back: Exeter Native’s Tour in the Middle East

by Steve Shuler

The Iraqi War

Following discharge from the regular U.S. Navy after seven years of active duty, I joined the U.S. Navy Reserves. Then, after two years, I was called back to active duty in January, 2003. On February 20, I left from March Air Force Base (in Southern California) for Kuwait International Airport on a chartered TWA 747. Landing in Kuwait I joined other Seabees, and we headed for Camp Morrel on the Ali Alsalem Air Force Base, Kuwait which is about 39 miles from the Iraqi border. This small air base is a Kuwait air force installation with part designated for operations by the U.S. Air Force and its allies.

Seven days passed before we headed north for Camp 93, which was approximately 33 miles south of the Iraqi border, on Highway 8. It was the most forward Seabee base prior to the war and the staging point for combat engineers and construction forces. The Seabees at Camp 93 adopted the motto, “Let’s Roll,” the phrase that spurred passengers on Flight 93 to attack the hijackers on September 11, 2001. Incidentally, the American flag that flew over the Flight 93 crash site in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, was returned to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 2003, after being flown over our Camp 93 during the active days of the Iraqi War.

My Assignment

At Camp 93, I began six months of pure hell. The intense heat and lengthy work hours would have killed most older men attempting to do the kind of jobs we were assigned. When we arrived in February the usual daily temperature was about 90, with nightly lows of 65, fairly pleasant temperatures and not unlike Tulare County weather in late spring. At only 65B we would unroll our sleeping bags and get some rest. By May 1, temperatures started to climb, with 100B or so being the high, with a 75B at night. However, by the end of may we started to see highs of 130B.

Different colored flags were used to inform us what heat stress factor was occurring at any given time. Each flag indicated the number of minutes work was permitted and the corresponding rest required.

Green 0-85 OK to work

Yellow 86-95 Begin drinking water

Red 96-105 Work 30 minutes, rest 30

Black 106 and above, Work 15 minutes, rest 45

The temperature was read and recorded every 30 minutes at the Battalion Aid Station at all camps. After the reading, the appropriate flag was unfurled. Needless to say, because of the enormous job required, these guidelines were by necessity disregarded, and we worked through all temperature conditions, disregarding rest periods.

The temperatures keep going up

The 130B temperature in May was just the beginning of extreme temperatures on the desert where we lived and worked. I have recently been told the world’s record temperature of 138 degrees was recorded in 1920 on a north African desert. Despite this fact, in June and July we saw highs exceeding 138B on a daily basis. I personally can vouch for seeing 157B when one day I went by the Battalion Aid Station where a unique $6,000 temperature gauge had been placed to record highs and lows. In the shade, the temperature was 147B, in the sun 157B. I can only offer an explanation for the unusual, extreme temperatures we experienced. Our work area was at the bottom of a very small valley, surrounded by barren, sand hills where the heat seemed to be trapped. Then too, our huge pieces of equipment generated additional heat as we plugged along through the lengthy day.

To anyone asking me how do people survive that kind of heat, I can only say, be young and drink lots of water. I usually drank 1 ½ quarts of water per hour. Not surprisingly, we never had to take a pee during the day because we sweat out all the water we took in. Back in our tents, a small air conditioner, about the size of a window unit, was eventually provided. It reduced the temperature from 110B inside to about 85B at night, still not a satisfactory sleeping condition.

One day, a buddy of mine and I drove over to the junk yard of the air force base. We found discarded insulation material which we quickly grabbed and headed back to our “General Purpose Medium” tent. I should explain that one tent was erected for each 16 men, each being 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, making only 28 square feet of living space for each man. The tent had a hard-finish canvas top with a cloth lining acting as the ceiling. Since we were forbidden to make any alterations, we had to very quietly and quickly, after lights were out, loosen the cloth ceiling and slip in the insulation we had obtained. We had amazing results. The temperature dropped from 85 to 65. Great sleeping although the tent interior continued to be 110 in the daytime.

Our secret work did not remain a secret for long. The Maintenance inspectors who checked our tents weekly arrived one evening unannounced. They were immediately surprised, actually more like shocked, that we had reduced the temperature so much. “What gives,” they asked. We shared our experience hesitantly, not knowing whether the inspectors would order us to tear it out and suffer the misery everyone else was experiencing. Instead, they quickly ordered four inches of insulation for all other tents. We felt we deserved a raise for being so creative!

My job

My work was certainly not the secretive type although all of us Seabees were ordered not to reveal anything to our friends and relatives when we communicated with them back in the states. “National security,” the officers said. Simply stated, I operated a crane, loading pontoons and “Maybe Johnson Bridge” sections on trucks. The Seabees on the other end in Iraq used these items to ford streams, build bridges over ravines or canyons or any other gulf an 80,000 pound tank could not cross. These bridging items ran from 120 feet to 660 feet long. Loading these gargantuan pieces on trucks required precision work, close attention to detail and experience. On many occasions I worked 24 hours before getting a break, but everyone else also struggled seven days a week, with no days off. Officially that is.

Since I was the leading petty officer in charge of 50 men, I tried to give them several hours off on Sunday on a rotational basis to relieve their accumulated fatigue, to do their washing and take care of their personal hygiene needs. The Seabees, incidentally, built their own washing facilities which served about 800. At camp Morrel, showers and 16-18 Maytag washers plus dryers were also available. One daily routine was an absolute must. Everyone must shave. No beards, mustaches or long sideburns. Reason: Your gas mask must fit snugly around your face.

I have a postscript for the Seabees participation in the Iraqi war. This is the only time in U.S. Navy history that the Seabees were at the very front when a war began. Before any U.S. and British marines could proceed into Iraq from Kuwait, they had to have “doors” to go through. Since the border between Kuwait and Iraq is indicated by large berms (huge sand walls), holes through the berms had to be breached, permitting military vehicles and troops to advance. For 30 days before the war began, we practiced over and over the quick maneuvers required to push the berms open.

During this operation, I saw British marines for the first time, seemingly eager for the fighting to begin. I knew our own troops were highly trained and exceedingly brave. But I concluded the British marines must be ferocious fighters, presumably not afraid at all to die. Their speech and behavior smacked of a gung-ho attitude. They seemed to be the type of men ready to jump off a cliff if ordered to do so.

Chicken and rice, chicken and rice

The Kuwaiti provided food for the Seabees, designated “TCN” (Third Country Nationals) and bottled water. Chicken and rice were provided abundantly and often. Since the Kuwaiti are Islams, they do not eat pork, so chicken was the meat they could provide. While the Air Force had an excellent dining facility nearby, the Seabees seldom saw the inside of it. They ate all meals at the work site. Occasionally, they got hot chocolate, fresh fruit, cookies, bottled fruit drinks and midnight rations. Otherwise, they felt they got the “left overs.”

Kuwaiti water came from unpolluted mineral wells and was most welcome. An ice contractor was hired in June, 2003. Bottled water up to that time had come to us quite warm. Although there was a PX (post exchange) “on the hill,” that is, the Ali Alsalem Air Base, there was no food there we could buy. The usual junk, like candy bars, gum, etc. stocked their shelves. I lost 25 pounds in the months I was in the northern Kuwaiti desert.

A lonely tour of duty

Everyone after only a brief time in the desert developed homesickness. Married men missed their wives and children. Single people missed their girlfriends and boyfriends, their parents and even their dogs and cats. But communication with loved ones back home was soon available. While at Camp 93, I noticed a few guys had brought cell phones with them. The charge was $2 a minute. Needless to say, I spoke no more than 15 to 20 minutes a week. I tried to budget myself. But being able to talk directly with my wife and two sons was a real heart warmer. At Camp Morrel, AT&T set up satellite phone service, charging $15 for 66 minutes. I stayed at Camp 93 until May 16, 2003, then went back to Camp Morrel where I stayed until I left August 23, 2003 for the states. The Delta Air Lines 747 jet carrying me and the other guys home had a jubilant bunch of passengers. We all felt we had escaped from hell and given one more chance to live.

(Source: Interviews Sept.-Oct. done by William R. Allen)

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What's New

Tulare's Haagen Dazs has been considering expansion, but the City of Tulare has been told recently that is unlikely for now because it's cheaper to increase production at the company's sister ice cream plant in Bakersfield where regulations to remove salts is not required. All of Tulare's dairy processing plants have been forced to pre-treat for salts because of a State Water Quality Board requirement.

Running out of time? City may be losing patience with developers of the Family Fun Park - Visalia Investment Associates who have been working on the plan to open the park on 6 acres of land owned by the city at Akers and 198 for what seems like years. The city planning commission has postponed the hearing on the plan for months now. Issue after issue seems to come up as the January 1 deadline for the company's $100,000 non refundable down payment on the land comes due. The park needs a conditional use permit to operate but has insisted on the sale of beer and wine at the park. Depending on how the new city council feels that could go either way, although a majority for now are against it. Then there is delay in opening plans that have now been moved to Spring of 2005. The city is in the cat bird seat since they offered to loan the investors money to build the project and hold the cards on granting of the conditional use permit. "They are acting like nobody else will build a family fun park in Visalia," says one exasperated council member who is ready to put out an RFP to see if others are interested.

Housing market in Silicon Valley is suddenly hot while Visalia's housing market is cooling off, says Brad Maaske who hosts a real estate program on KMJ. In the past month the Santa Clara MLS has cut its inventory of homes for sale in half while Visalia's new listings and sales are slowing down. Maaske believes the increase in home prices in Visalia may have peaked. "Our phones have gone quiet," says Maaske who runs Realty World - Investors Realty. Maaske believes sellers are pricing themselves out of the market for now, but says homes priced fairly based on comparables will still sell well here. As the impact of the fires on the state's housing market, Maaske believes the Southland will have a huge demand to rebuild - at higher state fire standards - but that the demand will exacerbate the state's lumber shortage and skilled workforce shortage.

If the housing market is slowing down in Visalia, the pace of the town's new building permits has yet to show any sign of it. October was the busiest of the year for new single family home permits at 115 - on pace to do more than 1000 new homes this year. The average price of a new home built in Visalia jumped after 2001 from just $127,000 - about where it had been over the late 90s - to $170,000 in 2002 and 2003. Also noteworthy is that new commercial permits exceed $40 million in 2003 and the total value of all permits in Visalia in 2003 through October already exceeds the value of all permits last year or any year. As of October 31, 2003 the city had issued permits from $214.7 million - up from $200 million for all of 2002.

Promising weather reports this week for an early opening to skiing at Sierra Summit above Huntington Lake. Early this week the resort got more than 5 inches of snow and they are making snow nightly. But storms expected the weekend of Nov. 8 looks good and the place could open as soon as that weekend. The Central Valley bypassed fall and went from summer to winter right after Halloween.

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