Automotive Musical Chairs
Ford Moving To Mineral King & Ben Maddox Next Month

Visalia - Visalia car dealer Don Groppetti says he will relocate his new Ford dealership next month to the northeast corner of Ben Maddox and Mineral King. That is the site of the current Nissan dealership that Groppetti also owns.

Mr. Groppetti is near completion on construction of a new Nissan dealership on south Ben Maddox — across from Giant Automotive. “It should be ready in about two weeks,” he says. Once Nissan rolls out, the Fords will roll in — in what has become a head spinning version of musical chairs of car dealerships here in town recently.

Groppetti has also purchased a lot on south Ben Maddox from dealer Frank Serpa meaning he will own three car lots on south Ben Maddox. He says from north to south on S. Ben Maddox there will be a Nissan showroom, another lot whose use is not yet determined, and a new Honda dealership about ready to break ground.

At the south end of this formerly vacant 20 acres, Weststar Construction is planning to build about a 57,000 sf office complex meaning all of this land will be spoken for with new uses on it.

“Shows you what good planning will do if you have the land available,” says Groppetti saying he is happy with the arrangement.

The news means Groppetti will keep all his car lines on the east side of town rather than relocate any of them to the new Visalia Auto Plaza on West 198 being developed by Andy Mangano.

Moving Ford from the Downtown showroom in March will allow current property owner Andy Mangano to begin remodeling work to attract new tenants to the historic brick building on Garden and Main. Mangano says he hopes to do some sort of mixed use retail/office complex. Mangano was hoping to acquire the lot in front of the dealership building at Main and Garden but it is in escrow to another group of investors led by Mark Perry. Mr. Perry’s group reportedly wants to build an office complex. Mangano and city officials had hoped to use the lot for some sort of open air plaza - resurfacing the creek that runs underground and mirror the feel of the Rita B Plaza across Main St. Mr. Perry was not available to talk about his own plans.

The Perry group would buy the lot from former Ford dealer Tim Razzari. Razzari has another key parcel of land at Santa Fe and Center that the city may buy next to the Transit Center.

Groppetti says he expects to move the Fords by mid March. As to his Mineral King property, Groppetti says GM “will stay where it is” along with his motorcycle franchise. When the new Honda dealership is ready late this year, he will relocate it from Mineral Kings and Burke.

The coming relocation of the Ford dealership out of Downtown ends a several decade exodus of car dealers from the central district of town.

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Warm Winter Worries Farmers
Heat Spurs Glut Of Maturing Oranges

Tulare County - An unusually warm winter has affected major crop growing regions around the country and in California and has farmers concerned about crop yields and bug infestations later in the year.

As an apparent La Nina weather pattern has hit California, Tulare County is basking in 70 degree weather in mid February hit lows of just 45 degrees at night. There is hope late this week of a cooler and hopefully a wet pattern that may offer some — do we dare say — relief?

Farmers are hoping for cooler weather — but not too cool now in citrus, almonds, cherries and tree fruit, says Tulare County ag commissioner Gary Kunkle. With weeks left in winter — almond growers have seen their almond orchards blossoming early that could be vulnerable if a freeze hits.

On the citrus front, Kunkle says “fairly poor domestic demand” has hit citrus growers even though the fruit is good tasting. Now the warmer weather is making the crop mature earlier than usual.

Phil LoBue, president of LoBue Bros. in Lindsay, says while the export demand is good the large crop with relatively small sizes it’s “not getting good prices nor is it moving very well.”

He says the warm temperatures in the past few weeks may cause the fruit to puff pushing growers to “hurry their picking.”

That in turn has caused a glut of oranges in the orange juice plants locally, says LoBue. Farmers send oranges to juice plants only because they can’t sell them on the fresh market where they fetch a much higher dollar.

But Sunkist this week has had to send fruit to cattle feed that cost growers money because it can’t handle all the volume of oranges that growers are sending them.

“All the juice plants are backed up,” says LoBue.

“Between retailers who won’t take our smaller sizes and Mother Nature - we aren’t getting any cooperation,” says Joel Nelsen of California Citrus Mutual.

The warm weather could cause more problems later in the year - pest problems. Kunkle says there is some worry about a higher population of glassy-winged sharpshooters this year because it wasn’t cold enough to thin the population of the voracious pest. Other pest populations could explode as well.

Tree fruit growers need a certain number of hours of chill to set a good crop, says Kunkle, and so far “they aren’t getting it.”

Another worry is the blossoming trees - if it gets too cool in coming weeks for bees to do their work pollinating the flowering trees.

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Ethanol Captures National Attention
E-85 Availability Nears In California

Tulare County - Proponents of using renewable based ethanol for motor fuel in California had been preaching to a small audience in the Golden State for years arguing the economic, political, and environmental benefits of blending the mostly corn-based fuel into our gas tanks. Most people simply didn’t pay attention until recent years when an oil based fuel additive, MTBE, used to help gasoline burn more cleanly was banned and ethanol found to be the only available substitute at a 5% blend.

At the same time the price of oil skyrocketed and more attention was given to the fact this country depends on unstable foreign governments for an increasing amount of our motor fuel.

Add to that an increasing awareness that fossil fuels are implicated in the warming of the earth’s atmosphere. It just happens ethanol is domestically produced by farmers, boosts octane and when burned produces fewer less greenhouse gases.

But the “big boost for ethanol came last year at the federal level when Congress passed an Energy Bill that calls for use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012,” says CEO of Malibu Capital Partners Larry Gross who suggested California is the place to make it.

“There is no bigger gasoline market in the US than California.” The investment group took a stake in a start-up ethanol plant near Pixley that by the end of this month should have a signed agreement with a construction firm to begin work on the 50 million gallon a year plant.

The $80 million project should begin construction by May and be open about a year later, says Walt Dwelle, managing partner with Nella Oil a partner in the ethanol project. Dwelle says Calgren and the construction firm “have come to terms.” All permits are in place to begin the work on the second major ethanol plant in Tulare County. Also on the drawing board is a second plant in Hanford that Calgren is working to build it in the Hanford Industrial Park.

Ethanol moved to the front pages in all the national newspapers in recent weeks with President Bush’s State of the Union address promoting the use of ethanol as a way out using both corn and cellulose based technology that Bush said may be 6 years away from practical use.

This technology to produce ethanol from all types of plant materials like the stock of corn, for example, have helped lower the cost of production of the fuel. Last year several research companies announced they had cut the cost to convert biomass (plant materials that could include wood chips and switch grass) into fermentable sugars for fuel ethanol by 30-fold from over $5 a gallon to as little as 10 cents a gallon. The president announced federal support to research this technology and “replace more than 75% of oil imports form the Middle East by 2025.”

Since the president’s speech, ethanol appears to be on everyone’s lips and investors have bid up ethanol companies like upstart Pacific Ethanol based in Fresno stock by about double in the past few weeks.

The company is building a new plant in Madera expected to be operational later this fall as well as committed to build 4 more on the west coast including one across from the Visalia airport on the west side of 99, south of 198. The news that boosted the fortunes of the company big time was when it got Bill Gates to invest $85 million a few months ago.

Of course the first major ethanol plant to begin production last year is in Goshen, now producing about 22 million gallons a year production level. “We are looking to increase to 28 million gallons,” says partner in the project Kevin Kruse who owns Western Milling next to the ethanol plant. This was the same plant that was to be purchased by Pacific Ethanol last year - a deal that later fell through. Now there is a rumor that Malibu Capital Partners may take a stake in the Goshen facility - a report that both Kruse and Gross say they can’t comment on.

Kruse is working on plans for another ethanol plant “down the line” in Famoso in north Kern County where he is busy putting in a new mill.

Kruse says for now “the price of ethanol is good” - in fact more than $1 a gallon higher than it was at this time last year. Right now it is selling for about $2.50 a gallon that costs about $1.15 to make by some reports. There is also a tax credit for 51 cents per gallon. Ethanol has followed gasoline prices up as a substitute fuel and with so many states demanding ethanol be blended in their jurisdiction - demand for ethanol is high.

The demand and availability of corn as a feed stock has caused most ethanol plants in the US to be built in the Midwest where there are nearly 90 today.

Some feel the US should follow the model laid down by Brazil to promote energy independence. There they distill ethanol from sugar cane and sugar beets that today has supplanted 40% of the gasoline used in Brazil.

If the US and Brazil have discovered the benefits of biofuel, so has the biggest new player in the world economy - China that announced this week it plans to curb oil use and develop alternate sources.

Some believe the next big step in California will be the coming availability of E-85 motor fuel at retail pumps late this year. E-85 is 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol. Walt Dwelle says his oil company - Nella Oil that supplies fuel to over 100 of the state’s retail outlets including 60 of its own - says he expects after an Air Resource Board ruling coming in the next few weeks, that he will be able to sell E-85 fuel at several of his stations. “We will be taking it slow” since the fleet of automobiles and trucks so-called flex fuel vehicles - is just about 250,000 in California, a number likely to grow. Both GM and Ford have vowed to build more flex fuel vehicles in a coalition with the oil producers and even some oil companies. Here in California in January, Pacific Ethanol, Chevron and GM announced a study to take place this year to fuel state CalTrans fleets with E-85.

Dwelle says he expects to be selling E-85 in a matter of months at stations in Sacramento, the Bay Area, and perhaps here too, where they have stations. Converting one of the pumps at the average gas station from say mid grade to an E-85 pump might be the most cost effective way suggests Dwelle. Utilizing the existing gas station pumps could mean the roll out of E-85 may be fast, particularly if demand grows.

The state already uses about a million gallons a year of ethanol, almost all shipped in from the Midwest. Within a few years central valley ethanol plants could displace perhaps 20% of that. COS is working on plans for vocational education for prospective plant workers expecting this new economy to take hold.

E-85 pumps are likely to be approved on a regulatory level in front of the state’s Air Resource Board in coming weeks. There has been some concern about lower blends of ethanol with gasoline but not E-85 that show that permeation of older car hoses by ethanol carrying pollutants from gasoline can mean blends of higher than 6% can worsen smog. ARB is expected to approve 10% blends in California anyway. But Pacific Ethanol’s Tom Koehler disputes this finding and says new studies will clear this up and in any case newer cars don’t have this problem. “One drop of ethanol is better than none and two drops is better yet all this way to E-85"

The biofuel that promotes cleaner air, rural economies and energy independence.” It seems a formula that makes sense to more people.

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County Residents Missing out on Millions

Tulare County - Residents in one of the state’s poorest counties are failing to collect millions of dollars that are rightfully theirs. The reason: many neglect to check the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) box when filing their federal income taxes.

The situation is most severe in the poorer, unincorporated parts of the county, said Frank Ruiz, Tulare County Community Development Specialist.

“In Strathmore, for instance, the amount of EITC that went unclaimed in 2004 was $593,574, according to statistics provided by the Internal Revenue Service,” said Ruiz. “That works out to about $230 per person in a community where some don’t make more than a couple thousand dollars a year.”

Countywide in 2004, $24.6 million in credits went unclaimed -- meaning that almost 28 percent of those eligible did not claim the EITC, which, last year, averaged $1,860 per return.

Ruiz said there are three main reasons county residents do not claim the EITC: “People either don’t know about it or don’t know how to fill out the paperwork or didn’t file any tax return because they didn’t earn a lot.”

People can still get the EITC even if they did not have taxes deducted from the paycheck, Ruiz said.

“Our county has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation and this is the government’s largest anti-poverty program,” said Ruiz. “For us not to take advantage of a program that specifically addresses one of our greatest problems is ridiculous. We need to do a better job of getting the word out and letting these families know that this financial assistance is available.”

In association with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and Citibank, CSET (Community Services & Employment Training) has enlisted an army of local volunteers to offer free tax preparation for low and moderate income taxpayers at its headquarters in Visalia at 312 NW Third Ave.

Those who earned less than $45,000 in 2005 and did not own a business are eligible for the program.

“We are trying to get the word out through local agencies and nonprofits about the expanded voluntary income tax assistance site now open in Visalia,” said Ruiz. “These services have been provided in Visalia in the past but not on such a large scale as we are doing it this year.

Last year, Ruiz said, 92 people took advantage of the free tax preparation offer.

“This year, just in the first week we’ve been operating, we’ve already helped 30 people,” said Ruiz, who called the service “a healthy alternative” to traditional paid tax preparers.

“Some of those operations, charge exorbitant fees for processing relatively simple returns,” Ruiz added. “Paid tax preparers are also notorious for luring low-income families into so-called Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), which are disguised as ‘overnight refunds’ but in reality are loans with interest rates as high was 700 percent once all of the fees are calculated.”

Ruiz said that in addition to the EITC, filers can take advantage of a handful of other credits.

“There are other credits available, such as the Child Tax credit, and even if people might not have earned enough to be required to file a tax return, they are still more than likely eligible to receive money back from the government through the EITC or the Additional Child Tax Credit,” he said.

The county’s Community Development Division has recently stepped up its efforts to partner with local financial institutions and nonprofits in order to promote financial education and help low- to moderate-income families develop asset-building strategies. The division is also circulating flyers in both English and Spanish advertising the free tax preparation service.

“This is an all-out effort,” said Ruiz. “We’re going to break the cycle of poverty.”

With April 15 falling on a Saturday this year, people will have an extra two days to file their tax returns, which must be postmarked no later than April 17.

For more information about the county’s taxpayer assistance program or to schedule an appointment, call 732-4194.

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Sierra View Hospital Wants to Add 60 Beds

Porterville - In a bid to boost the capacity of Porterville’s Sierra View District Hospital by more than a third, hospital officials next week will unveil several proposals for expansion that, if OK’d, could add as many as 60 new beds to the overcrowded facility.

“We are out of room,” said hospital spokesperson Lucie Garcia. “There are many days when we are at maximum or over capacity. Some emergency room patients have had to wait as long as 48 hours to be admitted” to the hospital.

Garcia said that on Feb. 23, Sierra View’s CEO, Kelly Morgan, together with the board of directors, will host a series of community meetings at the hospital to present their proposals for expanding the 163-bed facility, which opened in 1957.

Before the community meetings, hospital administrators will brief staff on expansion plans.

“We aren’t releasing any specific information about the proposals until next week,” said Garcia. “We feel like we owe it to our staff to share these plans with them first.”

Sierra View board member Bob Perez believes the hospital will have to undergo a series of major expansions over the next few decades to keep pace with projected growth.

“We are looking at a number of options,” said Perez. “With the increase we’ve been experiencing in population in this area in recent years, expanding the hospital is critical. My guess is that even with this (proposed) expansion, in ten years, we will be out of room again.”

Estimating that the expansion could take “between four to six years” to complete, Perez added: “The board hopes to make a final determination (on one of the two proposals) within a month or two.”

Perez said that both potential proposals focus on expanding the facility “by about 60 beds. One plan looks at expanding toward the west and the other to the east,” he said. “The community meetings next week will be a significant opportunity for both (hospital) employees and the public to offer input.”

In recent years, Sierra View has experienced tremendous growth. Since 2000, the number of “patient days” recorded at the hospital has increased by more than 41 percent and emergency room visits have jumped 63 percent.

The hospital, which gets less than one percent of its funding from district taxes, relies heavily on operating revenue for support.

“We only have so much money and so much in cash reserves,” said Garcia. “This expansion is really needed.”

The community meetings are scheduled for 3pm and 6pm in the hospital’s conference rooms C, D and E. The presentation will detail the hospital’s recent growth, future bed need projections, long-range plan alternatives and financial implications.

More information about the meetings is available by calling Sierra View’s marketing department at 788-6104.

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What's New

Kaweah Delta's emergency room should exceed 70,000 visits this year - up from 60,000 in the past five years, says CEO Lindsay Mann. To accommodate the flood of visits Mann says the new hospital expansion will add 7 beds when completed and room for another 12. What has saved the situation he says is the new "fast track" beds put in place over a year ago that divides the less serious patients from those that need more intensive care.

Multiple sources say that Target may open a store in North Visalia at the corner of Riggin and Dinuba Blvd. The property is in escrow to be purchased by major developer Donahue Schriber. Opening Target makes some sense since the company's other store is at the extreme south end.

Visalia city council will hear a presentation of how expensive it might be to improve the streets circulation with Lovers Lane and 198 interchange. City has some money it can use to make improvements.

San Joaquin River settlement hearing in front of the judge is now put back to March 7. All parties seem to agreed a deal is in the works but locals want to see the details that could end more than 18 years of litigation over the future of the river's water supply. Tulare County is the largest beneficiary of that water.

Owners of the big Cal Central Business Park in the Hanford Industrial Park want to bring all the property into the Hanford city limits. It is right across the street from city limits now. The difference could be lower cost for fire protection and sewer service important to some possible major tenants. The former Pirelli Tire plant has been remodeled for warehouses but now there may be interest from some other potential users, sources say. Kings County industrial land may be as little as one third of the price of industrial property in other parts of the valley, says county economic development director John Lehn. Because of the low cost "more companies are looking to buy." The former Pirelli plant had been marketed heavily for the past year but with no major takers yet. The annexation proposal may be a sign something is close.

The Texas hotel developer buying the Radisson Hotel has delayed the closing of the deal until late this month. The company - Presidian - has franchised the property as a Marriott once all remodeling is done. But city sources say the hotel will have to remove its Radisson nameplate until late this summer when the Marriott name will go up. So what will they call the 2001 room hotel in the interim? Got any suggestions?

Orthopaedic Associates will try to convince a skeptical Visalia city council March 6 to allow the medical group to build a 13 acre "orthopedic campus" with offices research and surgery center, and a performance center among others. They say they need room for 8 to 122 physicians and may see as many as 80,000 patients a year. The city of Visalia has been urging the medical group to find a location in the greater Downtown area but lead physician Dr. Bruce Le says after 18 months they haven't found the right spot near a freeway of at least 4 to 5 acres. The problem - the 13 acre parcel at Plaza and 198 isn't properly zoned for medical office.

The issue will be a little tougher for two of the city council members, Bob Link and Greg Collins, each of whom has recently needed the orthopedic skills of Dr. Le to mend their aches and pains.

Dr. Le has solicited the help of Lindsay Mann from Kaweah Delta to argue for the project. Mann says while the district favors the project he is neutral on the location. Dr. Le says many patients are leaving the area to get care even as more orthopedic surgeons are leaving the area. Over the past year Orthopaedic Associates lost 3 surgeons and 2 more are about to retire. Dr. Billys has left the practice as well. He says they need a "world class facility to attract doctors."

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Visalia - The Visalia city council was asked to clarify their views on moving forward to hire a consultant to come up with a masterplan for 1100 acres west of the city limits along West 198.

At a January retreat a council majority appeared to favor keeping most of the acreage in agriculture rather than let the bulk of it develop into housing or some other commercial use.

To clarify the issue, staff asked council to comment on how to carry out a land use study of the area dubbed Visalia's scenic corridor. One council member, Don Landers, asked why they were doing a study "if a majority has already decided how to use the property?" Why not save the money, he asked.

But a majority felt a consultant led study should proceed. "I think the task force can flesh out the scope of an ag enterprise zone," says vice mayor Greg Kirkpatrick - one of a majority that appear to favor keeping most of the property in ag. The majority agree to offer two consultant groups a chance to rebid the job based on "new direction" by council to study an ag enterprise zone on at least some of that acreage.

The ag enterprise idea had been promoted by council member Greg Collins who has proposed that property owners be allowed to develop 10% of their property into an ag related enterprise like a winery, cheese making facility or fruit store as long as the agree to keep the remaining portion in ag.

Mayor Jesus Gamboa appeared to waive on the issue of housing saying he might consider some in the northwest quadrant of the corridor.

The upshot is that staff got mixed marching orders but enough to keep the process moving forward.

Council member Landers told the group that property owners could simply take their development interest to the county instead of dealing with the city if they didn't like the proposal that ended up. But city planner Mike Olmos said he would consider it important to offer a package to the property owner whereby they would be encouraged to come into the city limits.

Commenting on the city council discussion former council member - now a member of the Board of Supervisors - Phil Cox says it is the current policy of the county to refer development requests back to the city but vowed "I'd love to change that if I can and I will try." Cox says he favors property owners right to develop the corridor area over plans by the city that don't compensate the property owners for the value of their land. Others says the courts could end up with this issue.

Property owner Tokkie Elliott notes his sister's property is surrounded on all sides by city limits and retaining an island is not good policy. Regarding his own large ag parcel, while he doesn't have any plans to develop it, the city is "sitting on our request" to bring the property into the city. He says he may argue that if the city doesn't want to bring it in then maybe it is not in the city sphere of influence. He has cancelled his Williamson Act contract several years ago on the large parcel at the southwest corner of Shirk and 198.

Former member of the task force that came up with an ag enterprise idea for the corridor, farmer Brian Blain, says the discussion a few years ago was based on a plan put forward by then land trust staffer Greg Kirkpatrick (now vice mayor of the city) to get funds to compensate land users by use of federal, state and private grants to make up a shortfall in value owners will get if they can't develop as you would elsewhere in the city. Kirkpatrick says he still hopes to do something like that along West 198.

Elliott notes that if the city wants to keep him an ag use within the city then "they have to tax me at that level." He doubts that will happen because "they need the extra revenue."

Council member Bob Link suggested a compromise on the ag enterprise idea - make it smaller but keep ag as part of the corridor. But not one seconded the idea.

Collins defended the idea keeping the area in ag noting the city has a policy to keep ag lands in tact north of the city limits along the river, east of town toward Farmersville and between Tulare and Visalia. He said the plan in the past "was simply a development plan" to lay down a setback and allow development behind it and he was not in favor of that.

Hearing all the players on the council and their varying views, planner Fred Brusuelas said "we have direction - not one direction, but we have direction."

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Visalia - The city played host earlier this month to more than 100 key public and private sector officials from around the state who gathered at the Convention Center to come up with ways to boost education, health care and business opportunities in the San Joaquin Valley.

The Feb. 1 "breakout session" was attended by members of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, a group of government, academic and business leaders from throughout the Valley charged by the governor with finding ways to bolster the area's sagging economy.

The partnership was created by the governor in July 2005 and is slated to issue its final report to Schwarzenegger this October.

Visalia Assistant City Manager Carol Cairns said the morning-long session produced "a lot of good discussions and new ideas."

Cairns said the meeting also "gave Visalia some great exposure." During the session, working groups discussed a number of key issues, including:
• Strategies to bring a public, four-year college to Tulare County;
• Creating a "regional energy collaborative" that would increase economic opportunities in the Valley through the development of alternate energy sources such as biomass and solar power;
• Attracting more medical educators to the area in order to expand nursing and other health-care training programs;
• Establishing a "research consortia" in the San Joaquin Valley to focus on workforce training and development.

The group is chaired by Ashley Swearengin, the director of community and economic development at CSU Fresno. Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway is one of two deputy chairs.

"This is an exciting project," said Swearengin, who believes Schwarzenegger is "truly committed" to bringing about innovation and positive changes in the Valley.

"Through an executive order, the governor has designated eight of his Cabinet secretaries to work with us on issues that are critical to the overall health and future of the San Joaquin Valley," she added.

Larry Fortune, who attended the session as the private-sector representative from Fresno County, said the group is trying to "direct our discussions to get results, make suggestions that the governor can use – and implement."

While the meeting's brainstorming sessions bubbled with enthusiasm and positive suggestions, Fortune said participants, who will meet next in March on the CSU Bakersfield campus, are still trying to remain realistic in their expectations of what they hope to accomplish.

"The fear is that this will be turned into a process rather than a project," said Fortune. "We have to keep in mind that we have a deadline to meet and that come October, we are going to get about an hour of the governor's time. We better come up with some pretty good suggestions."

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By George Lurie

Visalia - Hoping to modernize a number of aging schools – and build some new ones – the Visalia Unified School District's Board of Education took action recently to place a $36.7 million bond measure on the June 6, 2006 ballot.

Stan Carrizosa, VUSD's superintendent, said passage of the bond issue is "pretty important" to the district's health and future.

"We're at a point in our facilities development and usage where we are accommodating all of our students," Carrizosa said. "But without this bond's passage, overcrowding will start to become more and more of an issue."

The district, which operates 34 schools, has a total enrollment of 33,000 students and employs about 2,500 people, including 1,250 teachers.

VUSD's annual operating budget is $176 million.

With between 200 to 300 new students coming into the district each year, Carrizosa said constructing new schools, modernizing aging facilities and retiring outdated modular classrooms all have become top priorities.

In proposing the bond issue, which is being sought to provide the required local matching funds necessary to receive state construction funding, Carrizosa said VUSD officials "tried to be conservative and still fulfill the district's needs. We need to make sure we've got good, equitable classroom facilities in all corners of the community," he added.

In a January 31 memo to the Visalia City Council, Carrizosa asked for the council's support of the ballot measure, which he explained will be executed under the legal requirements of Proposition 39, which enables passage with a 55 percent voter approval threshold.

"The funds (generated by the proposed ballot measure) are restricted to only those projects on the proposed project list," Carrizosa wrote.

VUSD could receive up to $52.1 million in state matching funds if the bond measure win's voter approval.

Facilities that will be refurbished if the measure passes include Willow Glen Elementary, Goshen Elementary, Mineral King Elementary, Crowley Elementary, Linwood Elementary, Ivanhoe Elementary, Washington Elementary, Union Elementary, Charter Alternative Academy and Green Acres Middle School.

Funds from the bond issue would also be earmarked for construction of two new elementary schools, one in southeast Visalia and another in northwest Visalia, as well as a new middle school in a yet-to-be-determined location.

Bond measure funding would also pay for a new multi-purpose building at Sequoia High. That facility is slated to include a cafeteria, teacher workroom, administrative offices and nurse's office.

At a Feb. 6 work session, Visalia's City Council members voted unanimously to pass a resolution in support of the bond measure.

"As this community continues to grow, we've got to have the facilities to put these kids into," said Councilor Don Landers. "There is no reason we can't have the kind of reputation for our schools that a city like Clovis has."

Other council members concurred.

"When industry comes to our community to look us over and see if they want to come here, schools are one area they really look hard at," said Bob Link.

"It's important that the city and school district stand should-to-shoulder on issues like this," Greg Collins said.

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Tulare - For several months UC Veterinary Center director Jim Cullor has been quietly meeting with Chevron officials to see if there is interest in helping to launch the California Dairy Technology Center in Tulare.

To be located on about 100 acres north of the UC Veterinary Complex, the center would be home to about 2000 cows and replacement animals and a state-of-the-art research center dealing with nutrition management and renewable energy.

This past week was the third meeting between Chevron and local officials and this time a wider group was involved including Tulare's mayor - Rich Ortega, a representative of Devin Nunes office - Ed Galvan, COS's Larry Dutto and High School Superintendent Gerald Benton. Representing the UC system was Dean Benny Osburn and Jim Cullor among others. Two representatives from Chevron's Bakersfield corporate office heard a several hour promotion from the group on the project that has been 7 years in the making.

Cullor says the "meeting went very well" and hopes to hear from the oil company in the next few weeks on how their proposal was received by management based in San Ramon in the Bay Area.

Cullor says while he has requested Chevron funding for the entire project, "we would be happy for them to participate on any level." He says the cost of the property includes about $14 million in construction costs and the remainder in start up equipment, staffing, training and animal costs including feed. The plan is to build a 100 milking cow dairy with a vocational component for training people for the dairy industry, veterinary and renewable energy business - all important to the central valley. Mr. Dutto says he is particularly excited about the "human capital" component that will allow COS to increase vocational training in the dairy industry and move toward biofuels. "We see jobs in the ethanol industry" needing trained people to work here in the central valley where 5 plants are expected to open in the next few years. Dutto says the technology center will enable the dairy industry "to get the best research" on how to cut air and water pollution and utilize dairy waste to make electricity. A methane digester will be part of the instructional dairy project and is expected to make electricity to run the technology unit and perhaps the entire UC vet center. Dutto says separately he is applying for state funds to kick off increased vocational classes in renewable energy technology.

Chevron, for its part, is being asked to do this project on a philanthropic basis but could benefit from the research in renewable energy that seems to be attracting this oil company more and more.

In recent weeks the company announced a partnership with Fresno-based Pacific Ethanol to test E-85 fuel (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) on state fleet cars later this summer. Last week Chevron announced the completion of a hybrid alternative power plant in San Francisco using solar and hydrogen fuel that will reduce power costs in the town's huge mail processing center.

Cullor says the company is being asked to help following its core principals including engaging in community need, economic development, education and renewable energy and the environment.

Mayor Rich Ortega, who had a hand in bringing the UC Veterinary Center to Tulare in 1981, says "this was always the idea" for the center being located in the state's top dairy region to carry on research that will help the local dairy industry. He predicted the citing of the dairy technology center will help the city push the idea that the greater farm show area is becoming "an ag Epcot Center" of the west.

The group may be asking Chevron for funds for this project at just the right time with all the talk of the need for renewable energy and considering Chevron's corporate net increased to $14.1 billion in 2005 - more than $1 billion higher than 2004.

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Madera - Bakersfield based Paramount Farming Co. has purchased the 15,000 acre New Columbia Ranch from Newhall Land and Farming. So says the CEO of Paramount Farms Bill Phillimore. "We closed the deal in December," he notes. Plans are to convert the acreage to mostly permanent plantings once leases with its current users of the land run out, he says. The ranch near the town of Firebaugh grows a variety of crops - mostly row crops - alfalfa and cotton.

But Paramount is in the nut and pomegranate business and speculation is that the company will be using the land for those crops. "That would be a good assumption," says Phillimore.

The move by one of the large ag enterprises in the valley to convert a large amount of land to permanent planting is part of a trend seen in the central valley in the past few years.

Paramount is the largest integrated supplier of almonds and pistachios in the US with 24,000 acres of almonds and 28,000 acres of pistachios. A sister company, Paramount Citrus, has some 20,000 acres of citrus and manage around the 10,000 acre making up about 20% of all Sunkist orange volume. The company grew larger when the purchased Dole citrus a few years ago. Paramount has over 6000 acres of pomegranates - some of what is sold through their line of pomegranate juices, Pom Wonderful. The venture into pomegranates has been a good once, sources say, and more acreage is likely to be planted.

For Newhall Land the sale appears to mean the end of their ag business with development of homes and whole communities north of Los Angeles as their mainstay now. The company reportedly sold off their Ventura ag holdings as well.

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