Ag Enterprise Zone Part of West 198 Masterplan

Visalia - The Visalia city council has moved closer to a vision for West 198 - Visalia’s scenic corridor and gateway into the city. Staff was told to prepare a masterplan for the 1100 acres on both sides of 198 west of Roeben to Plaza Dr. to include ag enterprise zoning. By a 3 to 2 straw vote, the Visalia city council gave direction to staff at the recent council retreat in mid January.

A citizen task force is meeting to prepare a plan for the corridor area over the next few months and now the city council appears to want to set the agenda before the planning process gets too far. The idea of an ag enterprise zone would be to encourage most of the land to remain in ag - county land that would come into the city limits - dotted with affiliated ag enterprises, everything from wineries to agribusiness corporate offices to tourist-related produce stands.

The issue came up when staff asked for direction on plans to allow general plan amendments and annexations for several housing subdivisions on county portions of West 198.

But council member Greg Kirkpatrick objected to the idea. “We don’t need more housing in the scenic corridor area,” said Kirkpatrick - an idea seconded by council members Collins and Gamboa.

At this point Greg Collins brought forward his vision for an ag enterprise zone as an alternative.

Collins, Greg Kirkpatrick and Jesus Gamboa agreed to give a task force working on a design and land use plan for the corridor some direction that they would consider an ag enterprise zone although each give different weight as to whether all the corridor study area would include this land use. Mayor Gamboa for one suggests he wouldn’t mind to see housing well north of the corridor west of Shirk. Gamboa says he has opposed housing on the south side of 198 on both sides of Shirk. Both members Link and Landers suggested they would consider more housing.

The issue is critical for land owners, most of who are in the county’s jurisdiction currently. Development beyond farms requires annexation into the city and a city council willing to allow typical urban development, houses, businesses and commercial enterprises.

But a strong contingent in the community seeks to keep this key open space and farm land in agriculture. An election was fought over the issue last November and a new council majority favoring the point of view led by former mayor Collins won out. Now for the first time - the new green majority is exercising their power and make clear their resistence to annexation plans already underway that would have allowed more housing subdivisions on at least some of the lands.

Collins says,“One thing is crystal clear in Visalia, and that is we don’t need to annex more land into the city until we use land already in the city to build on. I’m waiting for the city planning staff to tell me just how much land is left within our current growth boundaries and the city limits before we do any more annexations.”

Here too, the council voted 3 to 2 to support a moratorium on new annexations until the council can find out how much land is usable within the city limits.

A city estimate in 2000 said that of about 18,000 acres in the city, nearly 4500 acres were ag or vacant. A new majority on the council now feels the density of development in Visalia must be increased and that vacant land should be used up before expansion to a new boundary line is allowed, the city council said at the retreat. The council also suggested they would like to see an ag land mitigation fee come to them for approval.

Collins believes he has support for an ag enterprise zone within the city that would state if land were to be annexed it would come into the city with a limitation on what types of development is allowed and allow development that uses no more than 10% of a parcel for buildings, according to Collins. That leaves 90% of a parcel in ag or open space.

Just what types of development would be allowed in that space is apparently up for debate. The idea is to attract ag enterprises, wineries, co-op corporate office, cheese or olive oil makers or a Casa de Fruta type operation - all may be possibilities.

“It would be a great place for the Tulare County Farm Bureau to move,” says Kirkpatrick. The idea was hatched by another citizen group that included Collins and Kirkpatrick in 2003 when the concept was presented to the city council but rejected at the time for being “well meaning” but impractical.

Assistant city manager Mike Olmos says the vote at the retreat was “the first time city council made it clear what land uses it wanted out there.” The vote may change the expected awarding of a contract to do a masterplan of the area as soon as late February. “We’re going to alter the scope of work” that the consultants will carry out, Olmos says.

Kirkpatrick sounded a little different tune than Collins on his approach to including an ag enterprise zone alternative into the study by a city task force now underway. “I think the ag enterprise idea has merit but it may not be the only idea,” he says. “The main thing we did is get a plan for more housing off the table,” says Kirkpatrick, or the idea of simply putting up a 200 foot setback to allow all kinds of development behind it. He says he favors more use of open space and ag in any final plan as well as a way to finance and fund the plan. As to Collins 90% - 10% formula, Kirkpatrick says he sees the questions of what uses and what density to allow still up for debate. Likewise, he sees different parts of the corridor study area potentially with different type uses.

The compromise might be to allow the council visions along with other task force ideas for final consideration.

Kirkpatrick says he sees this particular stretch of the highway into the city as an economic development opportunity similar to a project he is working on at I-80 between Dixon and Davis that will be an ag enterprise corridor between those two towns. “An ag enterprise zone has tremendous development potential for the community,” he says.

The battle over the corridor started most recently in 2000 when the city sought to use some of this county land to site an auto mall - later moved to the west of Plaza (in city limits) north of 198 on the corridor’s western edge. Greg Collins led a movement to try to overturn the city approval of this auto mall. Now it’s finally approved. But critic Collins is now back on the city council.

Two other large subdivision plans have surfaced for the corridor late in the past year - each await the outcome of this debate.

A number of land owners will likely be upset with the fact their choices will be limited under the ag enterprise plan. But clearly the battle isn’t over.

Collins has been on the losing side of several votes already in this young term and when the vote is a 3 to 2 majority, one vote can make the difference.

One argument Collins may make is that the city won’t need to buy all that setback land under an ag enterprise scenario since the city’s purchase of setback was meant to buffer development behind it. The mounting cost of preserving land along the oak studded corridor has been growing as land values jump in town. It is the escalating land values and the new access at Shirk that added “market pressure” on the city in the past few years as more property owners saw a bright future for their land if allowed to develop in the city. But Kirkpatrick suggests the 200 foot setback on the corridor is “the minimum I would accept” on any part of the corridor, suggesting the setback idea will be retained.

In a nod to compromise with the Sierra Village’s/Central Valley Christian plan to add acreage to their campus on land that needs to be annexed, Collins says the council took a wait and see attitude to a plan the group is putting together that could leave land along West 198 west to the Adventure Park green or open space or park pond with development related to their village behind it.

Despite this direction from council Gamboa is mindful that the task force charged with working with the consultant on this will want to make their own input and decisions and he downplays the idea the design of the western corridor is already predetermined.

Besides West 198 the council decided to keep the 850 acre southeast masterplan the same size (not expand it) and move ahead on it and to masterplan the Lowery Ranch in Northwest Visalia, says Gamboa.

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Boswell May Pipe Water From Lake Kaweah For New Town

Yokohl Valley - JG Boswell’s plan to build a new town in Yohkol Valley will get its first hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors February 7. The Board will be asked to approve the initiating of a general plan amendment that would start a likely two-year study and environmental review on the project, to be located on 36,000 acres in Yohkol Valley east of Exeter.

The scale of the “New Town” proposal has raised concerns over growth among the community in general and in the local farm community over the potential impacts of such a big project on rural lands. “We’ve asked the Boswell Co. to tell us two things - where the water is coming from and how much, and how many homes are they planning to build,” says Tulare County Farm Bureau executive director Brad Caudill. “So far we haven’t got the answers.” His comments came after the company made a presentation to the Farm Bureau a few months ago.

County officials don’t expect consultants, who will present the Boswell Yohkol Valley plan this week, to answer these questions, however. “They have the EIR process to answer specific questions,” says the chief planner on the project, Theresa Szymanis.

The hearing is expected to bring out potential opponents of the project who may fill the chamber asking the Board of Supervisors not to allow the initiation to move forward until the county completes its general plan make over - about a year away. The Board rejected such arguments from the Springville group a few weeks ago when they initiated a general plan amendment regarding a new town surrounding Earlimart.

Meanwhile, the water issue is getting some clarification in recent weeks as representatives of Boswell have been talking to water districts about tentative plans and scenarios.

The Boswell Co. is one of the largest farming operations in the world and enjoys water rights on the Kaweah River, Kings Rivers, Tule River, Kern River as well as state water from northern California.

But Boswell’s water expert, Tom Hurlbutt, has told the Lakeside WD they are considering using their Kaweah water rights as the primary source for Yohkol Ranch by tapping reservoir water near Horse Creek. The engineering would require lifting the water for a short distance and then having it fall by gravity-fed pipeline into Yohkol Valley.

Boswell owns most of the land along the route.

Mr. Hurlbutt confirmed this week that they are “considering the use of some Kaweah water” for their project.

Kings County Water District manager Don Mills, who sits on the Lakeside board, says Hurlbutt’s presentation did not include quality of water or how the water lost down the channels as it travels its normal course to Tulare Lake would be replaced. “They would have to mitigate that,” says Mills.

Mills says the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District will hear some details on the project soon.

Perhaps more critical for the project is where Boswell would get the water in a very dry year - an exercise Mr. Hurlbutt is expected to explore in earnest.

“It’s clear an urban village needs a secure water supply even in dry times,” says Hurlbutt.

But with the clout of Boswell and water rights in place, some sort of trade scenario is likely.

Tulare County supervisor Allen Ishida says he expects the presentation to the board to be “a broad overview” rather than the more specific one some people might want to see.

How big a development is the Yohkol Ranch? Ishida expects it to be a small city of 20,000 to 30,000 people. One estimate of the water needed - 5000 acre feet.

The county told the consultants they would not consider the big project unless they mitigated their own impacts on services, roads, water, schools, etc.

This past week the county released a staff report that said that Boswell had cancelled a Williamson Act Contract for 9000 acres in the valley. The application says some 14,400 acres of the 36,000 acre ranch will be developed, about 40% of the property. Much of the land is used for cattle raising. This area is seen in the environmental community as a pristine valley and home to many endangered species, including condor habitat. Opponents will likely emphasize the loss of this habitat if this study moves forward next week.

One other issue to consider - developing a community on the foothill edge of Tulare County will encourage the next guy to do the same. Already the Gill family is exploring subdivisions on its land holdings near Porterville.

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Rural Subdivisions Pick Up Speed

Tulare County - Plans for more subdivisions and new towns in Tulare County have picked up speed now that the County Board of Supervisors appears willing to look at them, allowing construction of thousands of new homes in some unincorporated parts of the county.

In recent weeks the board gave approval to a plan by developers to file a general plan amendment for a 12-mile area – more than 7,600 acres – in Earlimart. The developers are forging ahead on an environmental impact report that will lay out infrastructure funding plans for the big project. Pending the update of the county’s general plan – about a year away – Supervisors rejected a plea by a Springville group to put all such case-by-case subdivision plans on hold.

The board rejected the idea in part because the Earlimart plan was two years away, says county planner Theresa Szymanis, and in any case the planned upgrading in the Earlimart area “was clearly consistent with the board’s values,” she says. Supervisors were cheered by the notion such development would “pay its own way” and not cost the county. The new town of Earlimart would essentially envelop the old town of 6,500 people, says a staff report.

Not that a big development plan will be easy. The staff report notes that more than half the project area is in Williamson Act contracts meaning it will be nine years before a substantial portion can develop.

Yohkol Valley

The JG Boswell plan for Yohkol Valley is scheduled to be heard February 7 by the board, says Szymanis. As in the Earlimart case, the applicant will not be requesting approval of a plan, but the board will be asked if they favor initiation of a general plan amendment that would begin an EIR process on the 36,000 acre project - likely a several year process. (See other story)

Clearly planning a “new town” east of Exeter in this pristine valley is more controversial than plans near poor towns like Earlimart, Goshen and Traver along Highway 99.

Goshen

Goshen is experiencing its first housing boom with the town’s non-subsidized housing developments likely to rise in coming months on the east side of town. Located on about 50 acres near the community’s KOA park, Visalia developer Gary Smee and his partner Pacific Union Homes, says they plan 33 lots in three phases. “We were lucky to buy the land when we did since we were bidding against three or four others who wanted it,” he says.

Highway 99 land that has subdivision potential is “particularly popular right now.” Construction on the project could start next year. Ahead of Smee by a few months is a plan by Christiania Homes to build homes on 40 acres. Each project is already approved.

In the conceptual state is a plan by Mangano Homes to build north of Ave. 312 in Goshen. Several developers are also looking to build west of Goshen and Highway 99. Property owner John Campisi is looking for his 200 acres to be included in the upsized Goshen Community Plan, says Szymanis.

Centex has an interest in the west side of Goshen, says regional manager of the company Cliff Ronk. “We’re exploring it,” says Ronk suggesting that since the county appears to have changed its stance on development in the unincorporated area and a changing philosophy related to protecting ag land, Centex was pursuing the idea. “I would expect entitlements to build for two years,” says Ronk.

To meet the big entry level demand in this county, Ronk says his company is working to come up with a prototype home development that could be sold for under $200,000.

County redevelopment director Bill Hayter says there is enough interest to build homes as well as mixed-use development to double the size of the community. He says that the largest portion of the development plan – on all quadrants of town – is likely to begin two to four years from now. He says that at this time, Goshen residents seem to support the idea.

Plans to build perhaps thousands of homes on the edge of Visalia’s urban boundary at a time when the city has made a decision to promote infill and not encourage development on its fringe, could mean strong objection from Visalia in the future over the Goshen plan. Still, despite their objection, Goshen falls under the oversite of the county.

Traver

Further north on 99 in Traver, plans are underway to build homes both within the existing community and outside of town. A group that wants to build outside of town, a Dinuba group plans homes on 40 acres in town. Several property owners are proposing a much bigger plan on both sides of 99 in Traver, Hayter says.

Springville

North of Springville a group is planning 800 homes at Springville Ranch. This group too will be asking to institute a general plan amendment. Above Porterville the Gill family is looking to build homes above Success Lake.

Centex’s Cliff Ronk says the real estate fever some six months ago has ebbed and that it isn’t clear if big demand for rural subdivisions around the county will last or not. But many big builders who have entered this market just in the past year seem convinced the Highway 99 corridor will be full of homes in the future - like it or not.

The housing boom has touched a lot of incorporated cities of the county that had huge permit numbers in 2006 - many of them record numbers. Incorporated towns in Tulare County including Lindsay joined in the boom with the city manager reporting that 17 subdivision maps were approved in 2005 compared to just five maps approved in the past 17 years in this orange belt town.

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Ag Labor Meeting Seeks 4-State Coordination
Citrus Growers Explore Options

By Miles Shuper and John Lindt

Tulare County - Ag leaders are scrambling this week to put together a February 24 meeting in Fresno bringing in government labor officials from four states to seek solutions to the mounting ag labor shortfall. “We want to try to better coordinate the workforce that is left,” says Nisei Farmers League president Manuel Cunha to “better manage that workforce more efficiently.” Cunha says the benefits for both farmer and worker will be more work year round, he says as they seek a way for state employment agencies to shuffle workers from one farm to another instead of simply offering unemployment.

Cunha says the valley farm workforce “is down about 50% from past years” as a tightened border security and better opportunities in the home building industry and elsewhere have depleted farm labor supply.

Cunha says employment departments from Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington will be attending the private meeting in Fresno. He says they need to implement a plan by April 1 of this year to help local farmers.

“We are short in the citrus, vegetables and winter pruning” right now, Cunha says they want to utilize more farmworker vans as they have in Kings County to shuffle workers from farm to farm under their plan. “We think we can better manage the labor pool.”

Although this year’s orange harvest is going smoothly so far, citrus leaders are weighing their options for potential labor shortages—a threat which has been looming over the agriculture industry even more in recent years.

One of the options being considered is brining workers from Thailand under terms of H-2A, a federal program permits employers to apply for nonimmigrant foreign works to work on a temporary or season basis. The plan is aimed at assuring employers of adequate labor while also protecting the jobs and wages of U.S. workers.

Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, based in Exeter, says it is unusual for Tulare County, where unemployment figures normally range in double digit levels-to consider importing labor. But field labor shortages have recently impacted the agricultural industry—especially this last season. Tighter security on U.S. Borders, especially with Mexico, the shift of workers to higher-paying construction jobs linked to a building boom and workers going to the Gulf Coast in the rebuilding efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Referring to this year’s citrus season, Nelsen says, “Right now we’re in good shape but you never know what is going to happen this spring and summer. We simply are exploring options.”

Among those options are providing transportation and improving housing conditions as well as wage considerations.

Nelsen said members of the California Citrus Mutual board agree that the issue needs to be addressed now because the labor shortage is likely to grow.

Under terms of the H-2A program employers can contract for a certain amount of workers for a specified time and guaranteed a steady work force. Imported workers normally stay in the U.S. for a year before being required to return home for two months before returning. Provisions allow workers to move from farm to farm if a crop is finished before their labor contract is completed. There also are provisions for workers to remain in the U.S. for three years but they must leave for six months.

Nisei’s Manuel Cunha says a H2A program won’t work unless it’s reformed - appropriately in the Ag Jobs bill. “Right now it wouldn’t work because growers would be sued.”

Cunha has been leading the battle to pass an ag jobs bill in Congress. He says the current ag jobs bill will likely be folded into a pending Senate bill to be introduced in the next three weeks.

Tulare County Supervisor Allen Ishida who farms about 280 acres of citrus expects a shift in the demographics of imported agricultural labor, especially in the wake of Mexico-U.S. Border Security, the shift of jobs being filled by Mexican and South American workers in the U.S. He also cites what he calls the federal reluctance to make a firm commitment to a comprehensive “guest worker” program.

He agrees with those who maintain that the harvest labor situation continues to get worse and changes naturally will occur. The cycle of Mexican and South and Central American farm labor is ending, he says, citing the history of immigration of the U.S. “Fifty years ago it was the Okies who came to California to get work and follow the crops before the arrival of Mexican workers,” he said.

He cites American history, especially the immigration of various ethnic and cultural groups into the nation’s labor market as the reason he expects an ethnic shift in the agricultural labor force. He refers to the arrival of the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Filipinos, Mexicans and Central and South Americans and the role they played in the American working culture.

Also in citrus, the Citrus Research Board is working with an investor group to attempt to put their robot mechanical harvester into trials to help meet the labor shortage.

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New Exit Exam Creating Challenges for Area High Schools

by George Lurie

Visalia - With less than four months to go before graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2006, some 330 Visalia Unified School District seniors have yet to pass the California High School Exit Exam (CHSEE) – a situation prompting local educators to add prep sessions for the test to their regular curriculum.

Those 330 seniors, who will receive a “certificate of completion” but not a diploma unless they pass the exam, will have at least two more opportunities.

The next round of CHSEE tests, called the “KC” by area educators, will be administered on Feb. 7-8 and then again in late March.

The tests, which are not timed and in two parts, English Language Arts and Math, will be given statewide to all sophomores as well as to the seniors who have yet to pass one or both sections of the exam.

The Class of 2006 is the first in the state’s history to have to pass the exit exam in order to graduate.

“This is a high-stakes test,” said Drew Sorensen, principal at El Diamante High. “All of the teachers at El D. know who the seniors are who have yet to pass and are making sure those students get all of the extra attention and help they need.”

About two dozen students at El Diamante have yet to pass one or both parts of the exam.

Senior Adilene Sanchez, 17, passed the test this past November. “It took me three tries,” she said. “It was really exciting when I passed.”

Sanchez now tutors fellow students preparing for the exam. “For me, math was the hardest part because it was the subject where I’m the weakest,” she said.

Her winning strategy for passing the exam: “I tried to pay close attention in class and did extra homework.”

Sanchez said she’s glad she was forced to take the exam. “It really gave me an opportunity to learn more.”

Some local educators have expressed frustration about the way the test has been set up because a number of requirements, including who has to take the test, continue to change.

“Just last week,” Sorensen said, “we were told (by state officials) that special education students would not have to pass the test in order to graduate. But the waiver, as far as I understand, is only going to be given to this year’s seniors.”

Sorensen referred to the still-evolving requirements as “fluid” and added: “The majority of students (at El Diamante) who haven’t passed the test yet are either special education or English language learners.”

Nancy Powell, El Diamante’s associate principal, coordinates the school’s CHSEE program.

“We’re giving them all the tools they need to pass the test,” Powell said, “but for some students, it’s really tough. We have tutorials going on in the afternoon outside of the regular school day and also in the evenings and on Saturdays.”

Part of the challenge of assign the exam, Powell said, is “being a wise and skilled test-taker. If you don’t know good test-taking strategies, like when to guess and how to pace yourself, you can get bogged down.”

Powell said that the math portion of the test can be particularly challenging. “Some students just find algebra to be terribly difficult,” she said. “And the math portion has a huge amount of algebra.”

El Diamante math teacher Don Winterhalter meets three times a week, during regular school hours, with students who have yet to pass the math portion of the test.

“I try to find out where they are having the hardest time, what parts they don’t get,” he said. “That’s what I’m hitting the hardest in my classes.”

El Diamante English teacher Beverly Blaswich takes a similar approach. She said reading comprehension is one of the biggest challenges for her students. “I tell them ‘take your time, don’t rush.’ While these kids are allotted three hours to take the test, if they need more time, they’re given all day.”

State schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell has rejected suggestions that the exit exam requirement be postponed at least one more calendar year in order to make it “fairer” for minority students. But he is seeking $2.5 million in additional funding in order to offer 2006 seniors one more chance to pass the test this summer.

In 1999, O’Connell authored the legislation that created the state’s exit exam, which he believes is a crucial element in helping to create a better educated workforce. He likened taking the exam to “preparation for a lifetime.”

Addressing a crowd of educators recently in Fresno, O’Connell said: “Jobs today require critical thinking. Business leaders who want to come to California said the No. 1 priority is an educated work force.”

Those high school seniors who do not pass the CHSEE before their classmates graduate still have hope of eventually receiving their diploma. And if they do not graduate but go on to earn their GED, the exit exam requirement is waived.

“As long as these students are enrolled at the Adult School, they will have additional opportunities to take the exit exam again,” said Powell. “This doesn’t have to be the end of the line.”

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Young Brothers’ Trial Tab Could Exceed $1 Million

by George Lurie

Tulare County - County officials will soon begin tabulating exactly how much was spent to try and convict mass murderers Donald and Timothy Young – sentenced by a jury last week to die by lethal injection.

The state could help defray the county’s expenses in the marathon trial.

“If the total we spent on the trial exceeds a million dollars,” said county spokesman Eric Coyne, “we can seek reimbursement from the state.”

One court watcher estimated the county’s criminal, civil and tort expenses related to the Young case could add up to one and a half to two million dollars.

The Youngs are expected to be transferred to San Quentin’s death row immediately after their formal sentencing on March 1.

Their trial, which lasted more than four months, focused on one of the most brutal crimes in Tulare County history, a robbery at Tulare’s Pato’s Place bar that claimed the lives of Celia “Linda” Martinez, 50; Armando Lugo, 22; Jorge Munoz, 23; Roberta Lynn “Cuatita” Nunez, 39; and Margaret Moreno, 44.

All of the victims died from point-blank shotgun blasts as they laid face down on the bar room floor.

Fifteen children lost a parent in the bloody massacre, which happened July 18, 1995. The killers got away with about $300 from the cash register and all of their victims’ wallets. The defense claimed throughout the trial that the murders at Pato’s were tied to a “drug-related hit” and that their clients were framed.

Only bar owner Lupe Cantu, shot first after one of the masked assailants jumped over the bar, survived the grisly massacre.

Cantu, shotgun pellets still buried in his chest, was the first of more than 70 witnesses to testify at the trial. Afterwards, he sat stoically, arms folded across his chest, in the back of the courtroom, day in and day out, side-by-side with nearly a dozen other relatives of the victims.

During his crucial testimony, Cantu removed his shirt in order to show jurors the massive purplish scar left by the shotgun blast.

The Young brothers, living in Hanford at the time of the Pato’s Place murders, were not charged with the crime until 1999 when they were already in custody on unrelated murder charges in the drug-related, execution-style slayings of three people in Corcoran.

The Youngs were never prosecuted on the triple-murder charges. But testimony regarding the Corcoran slayings was admitted during their trial – a fact that defense attorneys feel will work in the brothers’ favor when the case is automatically reviewed by the California Supreme Court, which occurs in all death-penalty verdicts.

The trial was overseen by mild-mannered, veteran Superior Court Judge Ronn Coulliard, whose sense of humor and cool was universally praised.

Donald Young, 36, and Timothy Young, 35, went to great lengths to slow the wheels of justice. During the six years leading up to their trial, the brothers filed 650 tort claims concerning their manner of defense and conditions of incarceration – complaining about everything from the temperature of their showers to the sort of food they were served in the county jail.

In filing one “cruel and unusual punishment” claim against a sheriff’s deputy escorting them to court one day, the brothers claimed the deputy purposefully ate a burrito so that he could pass gas on an elevator.

Before the trial began, a competency hearing was held for Tim Young, who fired his original lawyer and briefly attempted to represent himself.

Court-appointed attorneys Woodrow Nichols and Richard Beshwate wound up representing Tim Young. Michael Idiart, the lead attorney for Donald Young, was paid by the Young family.

Lead prosecutor Kathy Montejano’s star witness, Anthony Wolfe, turned state’s evidence in order to avoid a murder charge. Wolfe claimed to have been the brothers’ unarmed accomplice the night of the murders, but his testimony differed markedly from Cantu’s.

When cross-examined, Wolfe repeatedly altered his story, explaining that his memory was not as sharp as it should be. At one point, he told the court: “If I hear the question, I can figure out the answer.”

One defense attorney called Wolfe, who has already served more than a decade in prison and could be released soon, “a despicable lying snitch.”

In the end, the defense team could not completely discredit Wolfe nor damning DNA evidence found on shotgun shell casings and inside one of the ski masks used by the killers.

The brothers appeared each day in court in neatly pressed dress shirts and ties, wearing gold, wire-rimmed eyeglasses. Timothy Young took copious notes. Donald Young mostly kept his eyes on the witnesses. Neither brother testified in his own defense and after the guilty verdict was rendered, both seemed resigned to their eventual transfer to death row.

Before their death sentence was read, Tim Young told his lawyer that he and his brother expected to become “the new poster boys” for the death penalty.

In addition to Pato’s Place owner Cantu, about a dozen relatives and friends of the victims attended nearly session of the 18-week trial, including Roberta Nunez’s twin sister, Alberta Luna, who testified that she felt physical pain at the moment her sister was shot and that a part of her also died that day.

Some of the Young brothers’ family members, including their father Lattrell, also were regular attendees at the trial. The senior Young’s beard seemed to become visibly grayer as the trial wore on.

The brothers each have two children but none were present during the course of the trial, although Tim Young’s half sister did show photographs of his children to the jury when she was pleading with them to spare his life.

During closing arguments of the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutor Montejano, her voice cracking with emotion, called the Youngs “evil, cold-blooded killers” and the “worst of the worst.”

Relatives of the victims wept quietly throughout Montejano’s final address to the jury.

Tim Young’s lawyer, Woodrow Nichols, said in his closing to the jury: “You blew my mind the very first day.”

Then Nichols read a poem he had written recently called “Through the Eyes of Tim” that ridiculed the jury verdict – and their, at times, less than serious demeanor during the long trial.

“There’s enough doubt about Tim’s guilt to sink the Exxon Valdez,” Nichols chided jury members. “But I can understand the pressure you must be under. This whole community is rooting for you to put these guys to death.”

When the brothers’ death sentence was pronounced, Cantu smiled slightly and then left the courtroom without making any comments.

Donald and Timothy Young stared straight ahead, showing no emotion when the death verdict was read.

Relatives of the victims were also muted in their reactions. A steady stream of tears slid down Alberta Luna’s face as she watched her sister’s killers being lead out of the courtroom.

Before dismissing the jury, Judge Coulliard thanked them for their service in what he called a “difficult, long and exacting case.”

When he formally sentences the brothers on March 1, Coulliard does have the option of reducing their penalty from death to life in prison without parole.

If the jury's death recommendation stands, Timothy and Donald Young will join 13 other former Tulare County residents awaiting execution at San Quentin. Some 650 inmates currently reside on California's jam-packed death row.

In a hallway outside the courtroom after the trial ended, Lattrell Young spoke to the media for the first time, insisting that his sons were wrongly convicted and hinting that the relatives of the victims knew who the real killers were.

“We feel for the victims and their families,” Young said. “But a whole lot of people know the guilty parties are still out there.”

Attorney Woodrow Nichols said: “This was the strangest trial I have ever seen, let alone been a part of.”

Attorney Michael Idiart concurred.

Off a dusty street corner in west Tulare, Pato’s Place looks about the same as did on that July night in 1995 and continues to be open for business, still run by Lupe Cantu.

“It’s a quiet, neighborhood bar where everybody pretty much knows everybody else,” said Tulare Police Captain Tom Munoz. “We never had any problems at Pato’s before the murders. And there has not been any trouble since.”

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What's New

Hampton Inn - a division of Hilton Hotels - will locate on Noble along West 198 between Super 8 and Days Inn, says city chief building official Dennis Lehman, as the company has filed for its building permit. The hotel has filed plans for a four story, 68 room hotel. Another new hotel, La Quinta Inn, is being built a block to the west at Akers and 198.

Football's great receiver Jerry Rice will the be guest of honor at this year's Miracle League fund raiser in Visalia in April, says founder Gary Geiger. The group raises money for handicapped kids to play baseball on a specially designed field and now an adult field as well.

California Dairies will relocate its central valley offices in Visalia March 1 to their new plant site on Plaza Dr. with some 20 employees, says CEO Gary Korsmeier. This will be the first of several hundred employees at the new plant expected to be operational in the fall of 2007.

Visalia Medical Clinic Chief Financial Officer Russ Desch confirmed this week that the clinic is severing its relationship with insurance provider Blue Shield of California. The clinic has contracted with Blue Shield since at least 1996, said Desch. "Generally, they have been a medium to small payer for the clinic and the amount they reimburse us hasn't kept up with changes in our cost structure," Desch added. Some 5,000 patients over the past three years have used a type of Blue Shield insurance at the clinic. Not all of those will be affected by the change because the clinic continues to contract with Blue Shield Foundation, which is a different provider from Blue Shield of California. "Blue Shield patients can continue to be seen at the clinic," said Desch. "However they are going to have to pay us and then be reimbursed through Blue Shield." The change takes effect on Feb. 6. On a monthly basis, the clinic handles in excess of 23,000 patient visits. "We had been in negotiations with Blue Shield for nearly four months hoping to reach an agreement," Desch said. "We just felt they needed to be more competitive with other commercial insurers who we contract with."

Orthopaedic Associates will plead their case to the Visalia city council to allow the rezoning of land the medical group wants to buy just west of Jostens. The group wants to put up a campus-like medical center and walking track on 14 acres there. The city would have to allow the acreage on Plaza Dr. to be rezoned PA to allow medical office. However, the council in the past has been resistant to the idea preferring new medical offices be built in the Downtown Visalia area. Dr. Bruce Le will make the case for the group that will argue this first class facility can't fit in Downtown and that it will help in the recruitment of more physicians to the area. Council will hear the physician group February 23.

As was first reported in the Jan. 18 Valley Voice, officials at Visalia Mall confirmed this week that they are close to signing "at least one and possibly two" major retailers to new leases. Marketing director Merrie Ann Millar would not give any specific details about the pending deals but did confirm that one of the potential newcomers is either Abercrombie & Fitch or Hollister Co., Abercrombie's sister company. "The other company is as big a name," said Millar, who predicted signs announcing the coming additions to the mall could go up in soon-to-be-remodeled store windows by week's end.

Friant/NRDC settlement talks continue this month with a status conference in front of the judge February 7. Friant chairman Kole Upton says the two sides plus the government are meeting in San Francisco this week. Already the deal is close enough that third parties in the case are being briefed on the settlement terms that could end 18 years of litigation. Friant member Dan Vink says he understands the deal could mean 150,000 acre feet water less per year with promises that this will be made up from some other source.

Friant Water believes a new state bond could help boost chances of upper San Joaquin River water storage. Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed bond measure idles language that would help increase water storage above Millerton Lake - the source of water for Tulare and Kern counties down the Friant Kern Canal. A 2006 bond measure that could go to voters would include $250 million that would be the state's share of pre-construction costs on Temperance Flat Dam.

Walther Enterprises wants to use a 27 acre site east of Visalia as an entertainment facility that would serve alcohol. The project was turned down by the county planning commission and now will be appealed to the Board of Supervisors February 7. The project, in an agricultural zone, has been opposed by some neighbors and farmers east of town.

Oil man Bush declared US is "addicted to oil" in his State of the Union address and promises government help to switch the nation's reliance to alternative fuels, including ethanol. But if it took Nixon to go to China, maybe it takes a Texan to get us off our foreign oil habit. Good news for ag based ethanol and Pacific Ethanol with big plans for a Visalia ethanol plant near 99 and 198.

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By George Lurie

Visalia - Acting Visalia Police Chief Bob Williams continues to turn some heads around City Hall with his candid updates regarding the city's war on street gangs.

At a recent city council retreat, Williams elaborated on a memo he authored in mid-January, warning: "The gang plague that has taken hold in various communities in our country and around the world does not have a solution. No matter how quickly or in what numbers law enforcement makes arrest of gang members and how high the conviction rate is of these arrests … we cannot arrest our way out of the street gang problem."

Williams said VPD continues to employ a "three-part" gang strategy that focuses on "suppression, intervention and prevention" and the department has seven officers assigned to a full-time gang-suppression unit – at a cost of $689,000 in salary and benefits.

"(But) much, much more of the Visalia Police Department's budget is (actually) spent on gang suppression as the Violent Crimes Unit, Narcotics Unit, Traffic Unit and the officers in general patrol assignments constantly and aggressively work on gang suppression projects," Williams added.

While no one can accuse Chief Williams of looking at the city's anti-gang efforts through rose-colored glasses, recent statistics released by the VPD are somewhat encouraging.

In 2005, the department's gang unit identified 923 validated gang members in Visalia, a 16 percent decrease from 2004.

While the number of gang-related arrests in the city last year climbed to 396, an 11 percent increase from 2004, VPD Sgt. Shawn Delaney said the department's gang unit has driven at least two gangs out of town.

"We have documented 22 gangs currently operating in the area," said Delaney. "In 2004, the number of known gangs in Visalia was 24."

And gang membership appears to be losing its appeal to area girls and women. Delaney said last year, VPD identified only 38 female gang members in Visalia, a 35 percent decrease from 2004.

Williams said major progress in the battle to eradicate gangs would only happen when the number of new members joining gangs decreases.

"Efforts to arrest and incarcerate gang members for the crimes that they commit do nothing towards the reduction of our total gang membership," Williams wrote in the Jan. 18 memo. "Gang members who become incarcerated for the crimes they have committed actually exit penal institutions with a higher gang status than when they entered the institution…Gang members view incarceration as a method of rising through the ranks of the street gang structure and increasing their prowess and standing."

Williams told councilors more City and area resources need to be applied to fight gangs through prevention and intervention strategies – "as well as maintaining our current level of gang suppression efforts…No one agency can resolve the gang problem by itself," Williams added.

Explaining that any potentially successful, community-wide strategy to combat gangs would be "comprehensive and potentially very expensive," Williams encouraged councilors to consider adopting "multi-layered" anti-gang strategies including:

• Forming a steering committee to oversee and guide the city's war on gangs.

• Targeting areas and "populations of individuals" most closely associated with the problems.

• Creating a "direct contact intervention team" that would include police, probation, outreach staff and others.

Mayor Jesus Gamboa shares Williams' philosophies.

"I have been working with gang-related issues most of my life," Gamboa said. "It's clear that we need to get to these kids early and identify and work with the ones who are not abiding by the rules."

Gamboa is encouraging Williams to keep the pressure on area gangs.

"It seems that sometimes we make slow progress and then we let it slip," he said. "I think this is a time in Visalia where everybody agrees we need to focus much more on this problem. We continue to believe Chief Williams' three-prong approach is the right one."

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Tulare - Tulare's "Farm Show" has truly grown into a World Ag Expo, as is evidenced by the number of international visitors who are expected at the event this year.

Mayor Richard Ortega met Monday night with the expo's International Committee and told the Voice that official and private delegations from dozens of nations will be in attendance this year.

Officials report that 2006 is expected to be the largest international buyer year in World Ag Expo's history.

Although the president of Nigeria will not be in attendance, as previously planned, a delegation of up to 200 individuals from Nigeria is expected. This group is being organized by Alliance for Agriculture of Visalia and Congressman Devin Nunes.

The US Commercial Service in Baghdad and the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry has coordinated a delegation of 16 private buyers interested in agriculture, irrigation and construction equipment.

China will have one of the largest contingencies at World Ag Expo. Several delegations will be attending including a group of 30 private buyers organized by the US Commercial Service office in Beijing.

Mexico is sending their lead officers from US Commercial Service in Guadalajara. The officers are being hosted by the Fresno Commercial Service Office and will be available in the International Business Center to discuss export opportunities and markets south of the border.

The Australian Trade Commission, which is hosting a partial pavilion with Australian exhibitors and seminars.

The Minister of Agriculture from Kurdistan will be in attendance, along with a small delegation, and several travel agents are leading delegations from China, Russia, Canada, and Bulgaria, as part of a new trend in World Ag Expo visitation.

Other US Commercial Service delegations are traveling from Brazil, Kosovo, Ukraine and Thailand, with additional private delegations from dozens of other nationals planning to attend.

A number of special events and receptions are planned for and with the various international delegations. Exhibitors can learn more about these events by visiting the International Business Center in the Heritage Complex during World Ag Expo. This year the IBVC features a satellite center exclusively for the Nigerian delegation.

World Ag Expo is scheduled for Feb. 14-16. For more information visit www.farmshow.org or see the special Valley Voice World Ag Expo edition.

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Hanford - Two environmental groups have sued the City of Hanford and LAFCO over a large annexation that was recently approved. Fresno attorney Richard Harriman represents the two groups, Valley Advocates and Hanford Citizens For Responsible Planning. Harriman says two considerations prompted the suit, Hanford's arsenic problems in its water and the fact that it has not identified a verified solution to it by January 23 when the new strict regulation went into effect and the loss of prime ag land.

The suit involves a 431 acre annexation west of 198 (Kemp Land Co.) at 12th.

Harriman, who also represented a group fighting the Super Walmart in town - now under construction, says the large annexation will further impact the 12th and 198 bridge already over burdened with traffic. Harriman says the city council could push development to the east toward Highway 43 where plenty of available land is available without a large annexation.

In a meeting with LAFCO last year Harriman suggested the city set up a land back and mitigated taking of prime ag land acre for acre by buying other ag land and putting it in a land trust.

Kings County Water District was also served with the lawsuit but executive director Don Mills says he isn't sure why. The water district is negotiating with the city over possible remediating Hanford's high arsenic level by offering surface and pumped storage water from an aquifer 9 miles away that has little or no arsenic to be blended with Hanford's high level arsenic groundwater. But he says Hanford has balked because the cost is higher than treating the existing water.

Mills says both the city and KCWD may jointly apply for state funds that could dramatically lower that cost, however.

Mills says the KCWD plan offers a new supply of clean water to accommodate the growth that Hanford is experiencing. KCWD would use funds supplied by the city and grant monies to site a recharge basin using excess San Joaquin and Kings water.

Hanford has been experiencing rapid growth like other valley cities including multiple new annexations and several pending annexations in the wings.

Ten applications were filed in 2005 compared to zero in 2000. LAFCO official Bill Zumwalt says it is not surprising to see all the development interest and annexation applications in Hanford in the past year since the area "remains one of few affordable places in California." He says the city can't help but annex prime ag land since "that's where our forefathers built the town."

Nearby Armona says developers are wanting to add more homes as well but the move has been stalled because the community lacks water or sewer capacity at this time the CSD has said.

"Where water is going to come from remains the big question," says supervisor Tony Oliveira, regarding subdivision growth in Kings County. Oliveira - a farmer - fears it will come from farms.

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By Claudia Elliott

Porterville - With tribal gaming facilities throughout Central California expanding and adding amenities including hotels, the Tule River Tribe has been stymied in its efforts to create a destination resort along Highway 190 east of Porterville and appears to have given up on that project, at least for now.

Recently the Tribe announced, in conjunction with the City of Porterville, that it hopes to build an 18-hole-golf course and hotel on property adjacent to the Porterville Airport. Existing law would not allow the tribe to move its Eagle Mountain Casino to that location, or to establish other gaming regulated by federal gaming laws. It might, however, be able to operate gaming, such as a card room, under California law.

Eagle Mountain Casino General Manager Tom Stewart said recently that it is important for the Tribe to be able to offer amenities to keep up with the competition.

Eagle Mountain looks toward the growing Bakersfield area for much of its market base and is the closet Indian casino to Kern County. But expansion at the Tachi Yokuts casino operation near Lemoore could challenge EMC's hold on Kern County.

If there is more in Lemoore, for instance, people might drive past Porterville, Stewart conceded.

"People will drive a certain amount of miles; if the product is better, they will increase their drive time another hour to an hour and a half," Stewart said of casino patrons.

Tribal officials have their bet now on prospects for creating a destination type attraction at the Porterville airport.

Continuing with joint goals of economic development and job creation, the Tule River Tribal Council and the City of Porterville announced plans recently for development of an 18-hole golf course and hotel adjacent to the Porterville Airport.

"This project will enhance the ability of Eagle Mountain Casino to attract visitors to our area and provide benefits for everyone in Southeastern Tulare County," Tribal Chairman Neil Peyron said. "We are very happy to be working with the City of Porterville in this cooperative venture."

Peyron said that Porterville City Councilman Cam Hamilton approached the Tribe last year with the idea as a way to meet various city needs.

Hamilton said the city has several challenges, among them a need to dispose of treated effluent from the city's wastewater facility which is located near the airport. And the city's nine-hole golf course has been struggling economically.

Both the Tribe and the city have land holdings at the airport and the proposed project will involve acquisition of additional land, Hamilton noted.

Details of the proposed development will be worked out in the coming weeks and months, but the general concept is for the Tribe to develop a hotel and golf course on land at the airport with the treated wastewater used for irrigation.

Discussions with the Tribe have been ongoing for several months, Hamilton said. The Porterville City Council has engaged the firm Quad Knopf to develop to do an environmental overview for the project and to provide conceptual footprint drawings for the project. Hamilton noted that the design will have to continue to provide areas for kit fox habitat and corridors. The design must also meet FAA requirements in order to avoid conflicts with airport traffic.

Peyron noted that the Tribe and the city have been able to draw on the expertise of Eagle Mountain Casino General Manager Tom Stewart, who has helped two other tribes develop golf courses.

Stewart said he is very excited about the proposed project. A noted golf course designer, Steve Smyers of Florida, has visited Porterville and was enthusiastic about the site, the casino manager said.

Smyers golf course design credentials include three golf courses on GolfWeek's list of 100 Greatest Modern Courses, as well as collaboration on the design of Chart Hills, considered by many to be the finest golf course built in England in the last 50 years.

The hotel at the golf course would provide an amenity beneficial to Eagle Mountain Casino and the city, Stewart noted. As currently envisioned, the 96-110 room hotel would feature larger than average rooms in order to accommodate guests staying multiple nights, he said. It would also include rooms to accommodate various events including banquets, meetings, and weddings.

Stewart estimated that the project would create about 150 jobs.

Hamilton said the report from Quad Knopf is expected in 3-4 months and more concrete discussions with the Tribe would take place after the study is complete.

If the construction of an 18-hole golf course proves feasible, the city would look at other uses for its current 9-hole course, he said. Using that land for other recreational use is a possibility. Hamilton noted that the property might provide a home for lighted softball fields since the city has lost its lease with the college and doesn't have another place to provide that type of recreation.

Peyron said there are currently no plans to move Eagle Mountain Casino off the reservation. Such a move would require approval by both the Governor of the State of California and the Secretary of the Interior.

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