Tulare
County's Tough Ag Year
The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse Rode In
From Flood to Heat, to Freeze
to Drought
Tulare County - UC Farm Advisor Jim Sullins says it seems like Tulare County has been visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the past year having suffered through one tough weather related event after another all resulting in requests for federal disaster declarations. “People in Washington must think we're crazy,” says Sullins.
The continuous disasters seemed to go from last winter to this one, from serious flooding to scorching summer heat to a devastating freeze this January and now early this spring, drought conditions being declared.
It started last January and into April when hard rain flooded towns and farmland causing massive flood releases from area reservoirs and damage to levees.
In his proclamation in April of last year, Governor Schwarzenegger pointed to a series of flood events from January, February, March and April as severe storms hit both the county and much of California. A federal declaration followed.
By July attention returned to extreme heat that fried tree fruit and killed cows and poultry resulting in an estimated $1 billion in damage to agriculture statewide. Temps here climbed to 113 degrees that summer.
The January 2007 disaster was of course an historic freeze that descended on Tulare County and much of the rest of the state causing more than $400 million in damage here and a federal declaration just a few days ago.
Now the dry winter has already prompted requests to Tulare County Board of Supervisors for a drought declaration based on the effect already being felt in the cattle industry in Tulare County and even worse in Kings County where grasslands have dried up early.
“Yes we've just applied last week for another disaster declaration,” confirms Tulare County Ag Commissioner Gary Kunkel. We are seeing about 55% less rangeland because of the lack of rainfall. USDA will process the request.
Kunkel was out this week with Senator Dianne Feinstein who toured citrus groves and packing houses to witness the freeze damage. Senator Barbara Boxer is touring in Strathmore later this week. Special legislation for freeze relief is in the works that could help farmers and workers make it through.
One Third Normal Runoff?
Predictions a few months ago of an El Nino year are history and so far the region is way below normal rainfall. Warm temps in the Sierra are melting what snowpack there is early.
Below average snowpack in the Sierra with the closely watched statewide average set at just 41% of average is better in the north and poorer in the south. Tulare basin is estimated to be just 33% of April 1 average with some Kaweah measuring stations, like Giant Forest just 26% of average.
Visalia has received just a bit over 3 inches of rainfall so far this season with an average of 9 inches by this time. “We are expecting to get about one third our normal water deliveries,” says Friant Water Users general manager Ron Jacobsma. “The crazy thing is that last year the small size of Millerton Lake and reduced capacity in the Friant Kern Canal resulted in flood releases of 1.2 million acre feet of water” almost a full year's average supply.
However, there is some hope that Class 1 deliveries now set at 50% on the Friant this year could increase to 70% - a decision that the Bureau of Reclamation is expected to make in coming days.
Cattle ranchers are feeling the heat right now in the form of reduced grassland for feed down 75% in Kings County and 55% in Tulare County. Expect a drought declaration to follow. Cattlemen will have to sell their young stock earlier, facing lower prices, notes Jim Sullins, UC Extension Farm Advisor. For farmers they are having to irrigate sooner even as there is reduced surface water meaning the pumps are being turned on earlier. “We will be pumping more from the water banks for the next few years than we are putting back in,” expects Sullins. Increased population demand in urban areas in the county are dipping their straw into the same water supply as farmers.
Demand for more surface water is increasing even as the supply appears to be dwindling as foothill communities seek to deliver good water for drinking to their residents (see story in Valley Voice in February). Nitrates in the groundwater are a continuing problem for a third of county water systems.
From grim to grimmer, a federal judge is considering whether to shut down state water pumps at Tracy because of fish kills that could jeopardize water deliveries south of the Delta. Governor Schwarzenegger was in Fresno the other day arguing the need for more surface water storage as outlined in his state bond proposal. The governor cited the impacts of global warming and the need for additional infrastructure.
“This will help us to deal with the affect of climate change, because the experts have warned us that we will reduce, or we will see a reduction of 25 percent of our snowpack by the year 2050, which means there will be more water runoffs, more floods in the winter and less drinking water in the summer. Otherwise, we will have less water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is the main water source for 25 million people in California. Now, 25 million people, that is two-thirds of our total population. And to make sure that we can count on a safe and reliable water supply for generations to come, my plan also includes 1 billion dollars to improve the Delta's sustainability,” said the governor.
On another happy note, a dry year could mean last year's tough summer conditions could repeat.
The 2006 summer's heat combined in September with high winds that boosted blowing dust in the valley prompting health warnings from the Valley Air District. Mean temps from May through September were above normal and in the late part of July as record heat was recorded, says a special report done by the Air District. Hanford, Bakersfield and Fresno reported 14 days in a row with temps over 100 degrees F. Fresno reported five days in a row of better than 112.
The record heat dried soil in the valley and when the wind picked up in September record PM10 was recorded. Lemoore reported gusts of 40 mph on September 22. The Air District reported in a special paper filed with the EPA in recent days. The report continued that dry weather had also caused fires to sweep smoke into the valley. The result was dense plumes of dust mixed with smoke and PM10 concentrations grew 7 fold the same day chocking residents and animals. It's an event we don't want to see more of but in times of extreme dry weather and record heat, it can pass for one of the 7 deadly plagues.
If we aren't getting a biblical plague of locusts in the valley, our ag pest population has exploded in recent years typically a new influx of pests that threaten humans, animals and plants that are imported from around the world. This past week the new pest was an infestation of light brown apple moth in the Bay Area that Tulare County Ag Commissioners will now have to set traps for alongside the glassy winged sharpshooter and oriental fruit fly traps and a half dozen others that weren't around a few years ago. “In an age of global trade, Tulare County must assure its trading partners that it is testing for the pest to prove we don't have it,” says Ag Commissioner Gary Kunkel.
Visalia - The tragic death of a Visalia investment counselor, Dave Derington March 21, has prompted numerous phone calls to the authorities from area investors wondering frankly where their money is.
Derington apparently committed suicide according to a Visalia police department report that he shot himself on Airport Dr. near Walnut late in the afternoon next to his Land Rover. The coroner has yet to rule the cause of death a suicide but the police news release says the 57 year old Derington's “wound was self inflicted.”
Visalia Police Department Lt. Michelle Figueroa told the Voice that investigator Curtis Brown has received calls from people wondering about their money, but those calls are being turned over to the FBI. “People continue to call but this is an open investigation and the FBI is heading it up,” says the Lieutenant. The police department has reportedly received complaints from perhaps a score of investors who are concerned about their investments that total well into the millions of dollars.
Lost $500,000
Typical of the accounts related by investors is the story of Woodlake resident Robert Davis. Davis says he invested with Derington's company through Resource Financial Group (RFG), about a year ago—an investment that totaled $750,000. According to Davis he invested after hearing recommendations from other locals that they were receiving 25% interest on their money and that the investment “had been paying off for years.”
Davis says his investment went into a company called RFG Resource Financial Group based in Sacramento according to financial statements received by investors including Davis. Davis says he and other investors have been trying to reach the company but only an answering machine is available. Calling the number this week, the number is disconnected. In Visalia, Heritage Estate Service's number Derington's company the number is also disconnected.
According to other financial statements, Resource Financial Group (RFG) invests in 1031 tax free exchanges and “factoring” programs that purchase company cash flow receipts at a discount. One letter suggests what it calls a 1031x is underway on 6400 acres in Bakersfield.
Davis says it was his understanding that RFG was like a holding company that invested in real estate and other ventures. During the year Davis was able to get $250,000 of his $750,000 back.
Davis recounts that late last year he told Dave Derington he wanted out of his investment and Derington indicated it would take some time but that he would take care of it. He said he expected to get money in January but that it never came and a check he received just days before Derington's death bounced for $30,000.
Davis says like other investors “we just want to know what happened to our money” and that there appears to be nobody to call.”
Friends paint a different picture of Dave Derington as a caring and generous man who gave to many charities and helped homeless people out. He gave a donation to the veteran's mural on Mooney. He was a donor to the children's museum in Downtown Visalia as well.
Derington has been around Visalia for many years most recently operating out of an office at the 200 block of Mooney. Company names associated with him include Heritage Estate Services, All Thing Wireless, Zion Products Corp., Car Finders, Holly's Hobbies, Hi-Tech Financial, First Capitol Group, and Resource Financial Group to name some of his past businesses. He also was associated with the BMX bartering company.
Another local investor, Lee McClatchey owner of Lee's Paving, who lost $50,000 to Derington, said it would probably cost two to three times his loss to attempt to trace down and possibly recover his losses.
Investors Meet
McClatchey and at least a dozen other local investors met at the 210 S. Mooney Blvd. at Derington's office after Derington's death to discuss concerns and potential courses of action.
Although he could not discuss issues of other potential victims or those attending the meeting, McClatchey said his apparent financial loss is small compared to most others. He was told the total could be in the millions of dollars.
Among those attending were Derington's friend, former National Basketball Association player Keith Erickson, who along with Meadow Lark Lemon, of Harlem Globetrotter fame, were involved in charitable fund raising events in years past, but appear not involved in investment projects.
McClatchey said he had known Derington for a number of years and had dealings with him through a bartering organization. Based partially on a series of successful bartering dealings, McClatchey said, he invested the $50,000 with Resource Financial Group which lists a 9th Street Sacramento office.
McClatchey told The Voice his investment was to reap at least a 20 percent annual return. At one time he was told his account stood at $136,000 but when he later did some checking after starting to realize as he put it, “things just seemed to be too good to be true” McClatchey said he told Derington he wanted his initial investment back. “He told me there wouldn't be a problem but it takes about three months for processing.” Six months passed and nothing had happened prompting McClatchey to tell Derington he was going to get a lawyer involved. He said he talked with Derington last just three days before the death.
McClatchey also cited a problem dealing with a charity golf tournament McClatchey sponsors. Derington reportedly said he had a singed signed contract with flamboyant professional golfer Chi Chi Rodriquez to appear at the tournament. Despite promises from Derington that the “deal was set” McClatchey didn't advertise the appearance of Rodriquez who did not show. McClatchey said that was one the factors leading to his attempt to try and retrieve his $50,000 investment.
Derington was listed on the board of regents the national nonprofit National Heritage Foundation, a Virginia-based foundation that coordinates donations and has hundreds of foundations under their umbrella. Derington was a promoter for events, says sources and often it benefited nonprofits.
Relationship Based on Trust
One source says Dave operated his financing company based on trust with his clients and that over the years he appeared to pay off on what he promised. But in recent months he seemed to be under extreme pressure, says a friend.
Now the only hope for some investors is that perhaps some money is parked in an “off-shore account” that somehow may be able to be retrieved. “He was in charge of a lot of people's future,” says a friend and for some elderly people, it was their life savings.
Dave Derington's death leaves his wife and young baby in a tough position as well wondering how they will get by as well.
Dave appeared to be an optimistic salesman having sold apples door to door as a kid. He was saluted at his funeral by friends and family noting his generosity last week. But he took many questions to his grave. The FBI is currently conducting a preliminary inquiry regarding Mr. Derington. The FBI was contacted “the latter part of last week,” according to Supervising Special Agent John Gliatta of the Fresno FBI office.
“We were initially approached by a local agency down there, based on their findings,” said Gliatta, confirming that the agency was the Visalia Police Department. “This was followed by two people who called us based on their financial interactions with Mr. Derington.”
The FBI is focusing its attentions on the financial questions that have been raised by Derington's business dealings. “We're not looking into the death of Mr. Derington,” he said.
Gliatta explained that there would be an actual FBI investigation “if enough information is presented to suspect that some federal violations have occurred. At this point, we obviously have to do a more in-depth investigation.”
Derington has had problems in the past that include financial losses including a group who has won a legal judgment over 20 years ago.
Jim and Mike Keener, who at that time owned Keener Cycle Centers in Visalia, were among a group of investors who lost about $45,000 in a musical concert in Mineral King Bowl featuring such names as the Gatlin Brothers, Ronnie Milsap and the Flying Burrito Brothers among others.
Jim Keener said Derington approached his family with the concert idea and eventually the Keeners put up $15,000 in front money. Two other investors each put up $15,000 Keener said. He said he later discovered that at least one of investors also put money into the venture.
As the concert neared, Keener said, Derington noted that ticket sales were slow moving and then Keener and others helped promote the event. Keener said he and others became seriously concerned over answers they were getting about ticket sales and other financial questions. Keener recalls going to the concert office at the bowl to check on finances but guards would not allow them access. The concert was well attended but the investors, according to Keener, never received any money. The Keeners and the two other investors filed suit against Derington, won a judgment and placed a lien on his home but never received a penny.
Mike Lane Jr. Wants Seat on Visalia City Council
Visalia - Thirty-eight year old Mike Lane Jr. has been a leader on the Visalia Unified School District's Board for years and now wants to focus his attention “on public policy at the City of Visalia.” Lane said if elected in November for one of two seats available, he would step down from the school board.
Current city council member Bob Link has indicated he will run again and current vice mayor Greg Kirkpatrick has yet to announce his intentions but is said to be leaning toward running again.
Lane says he would take “a more market-based approach to development” at the city who he feels “micromanages development” around Visalia.
Lane points to two major ways he would argue the city needs a change in direction including “more respect for private party rights” and following the 2020 growth plan.
Regarding property rights he questions the city approach in the eminent domain taking of the Visalia Theater property downtown and the historic designation put on the Mearle's drive-in on Mooney. Regarding the later, he says the property owner doesn't want to lease the site for a restaurant and should have the say on what happens with his own property. “Now the property will just sit there and rot,” he worries. “I know my position on Mearle's may not be popular,” he admits.
On land use, Lane is critical of plans to convert farmland acreage in the Southeast Specific Plan area to urban use even though most of the land owners want to continue farming, he says. He is critical on the expenditure of almost $1 million in city funds to do a development masterplan there after giving lip service to saving farmland around the city.
Lane is also a critic of the slow progress to come up with an acceptable vision on the scenic corridor noting the long time it has taken to come to some consensus on the Central Valley Christian expansion. He says studies of West Visalia continue to “just sit on the shelf” while land owners await what will happen. He says he doesn't believe property owners should be made to farm within city limits. “I think there is a way to come to an agreement but we need to vigorously debate the issues.”
Lane is an analyst with Self Help Enterprise and supports more affordable housing projects in town. But he fears plans to over densify Visalia will raise land prices. Council member Greg Collins recently has proposed not allowing new development outside the current city limits at least until we reach 165,000 population. Lane says rather than that he approves of the 2020 plan that maintains growth rings. The city is considering adding to the population threshold of the current ring as an alternative to Collin's idea an approach Lane says he might consider. Too dense a city “would cause havoc at our schools and worse traffic on our streets,” worries Lane.
Lane says he agrees with many of the smart growth principals favored by the majority of the council now but fears the need for more public debate “on some of the more radical” ideas. He says he strongly supports concentric growth. He says he would support more housing downtown, but only if there is a market. He worries about the increasing costs of construction on projects at the city pointing to the cost escalation of the police precincts now ready to open. The budget for the new civic center could be impacted.
Taking a shot at city support for the “Ahwahnee planning principals” Lane argues that those concepts might work well in Davis or Portland but that the economic base here might not be there to support the ideas here. He says “we might want to modify some ideas of our own are instead of targeting the principals as some kind of religion. “It's not the 10 commandments.”
Lane says he also supports expansion of the Visalia industrial park.
Lane is married to Estella and they have two daughters. Mike grew up in Visalia attending Mt. Whitney high school and attended college at San Francisco State.
The junior Lane says he has discussed the possibility of sitting on the council with his father Mike Lane Sr. who is a civil engineer that does some work for clients in the city and his father has agreed that if Mike Jr. becomes a council member, the senior Lane will beg off doing work in the city to assure there is no appearance of conflict, says Mike Jr.
If Mike Lane wins a seat it could change the balance of power on a number of key policies that currently go 3 to 2 on a regular basis with a so-called “green majority” made up of Collins, Kirkpatrick and Jesus Gamboa calling the tune on major land use decisions in the past two years. The 3-way alliance is shaky on a number of votes, however, that go against Collins sometimes.
Top Vote Getters
The two top vote getters in the November race would be council members for the next four years.
Lane's candidacy is considered significant because he has shown himself to be a tough campaigner, vote getter and gained some notoriety for his bulldog stance regarding teacher pay scale. In the process of course, his stances have gained him some enemies.
A key issue in policy here is how much to regulate the housing industry in Visalia, the planning of the city and the potential future expansion of the city limits.
Also at issue—just how much should the city do to see to it that key development comes to the Downtown area. That issue has a long history here as the city has successfully but controversially pushed for a major hotel in downtown, keeping Kaweah Delta downtown and now the latest version working to keep Social Security Administration in Downtown. How far should the city go to make these things happen?
There's another factor in Lane's candidacy. City watchers note that few builders or any critics of the current city policy are waiting to debate this issue in a public forum with builders saying privately they worry their projects would suffer if they were too vocal. Supporters feel Mike Lane Jr. won't be hesitant to speak up on the other hand. “I look forward to the debate.”
Tulare County Picked for Campus
for Medical School
A.T. Still University Will Sponsor Students through Family HealthCare Network
Tulare County - The College of Osteopathic Medicine at Mesa Arizona of the A.T. Still University will be sending 10 students to Tulare County next year to begin their second year of medical school immersed in clinical setting—part of a multi year plan to bring more health care professionals to our rural area. “We are a local campus for the university,” says executive director of Family HealthCare Network, Harry Foster, who worked out the deal for the plan in recent months with the Mesa-based campus. “The university promises to offer medical students the university of the future,” says Foster pointing to the fact that students in their second year will be busy shadowing health care professionals while they are taking classes in Tulare County. The students will spend their third and fourth year of medical school here as well, explains Foster who says students are being selected for their commitment to the mission of service to the local community.
The partnership is one of many across the country between the school and other federally qualified community health centers that are not-for-profit and tend to locate in areas with large low income and medically underserved populations like Tulare County.
The school has been critical of the curriculum at the traditional medical school in that the student education is often in an urban area and doesn't allow students into a clinical setting until the third and fourth year.
The effort to bring more medical students to work in Tulare County mirrored an effort by Kaweah Delta hospital to affiliate with the University of San Francisco to have students work in local hospitals to bolster a physician shortage here.
“We think part of the solution of the continuing health care professional shortage here is to grow our own,” notes Foster.
Fewer Docs Here
Tulare County has less than half the state of California or US average of doctors per 1000 population according to a federal study with the state in 2002 listed at 2.2 docs per 1000 and Tulare County at 1.1. Kings County is one of the lowest in the state at 0.7 docs per 1000 population.
The FHCN based medical students will also work out of all Tulare County hospitals and Foster expects they will want to do their residency here after the 4th year as well. “By the 4th year of the program we should have a group of 30 students working and learning here” as new cohorts of students enter the program each year.
Foster says they are looking for students locally to train in Mesa for the first year and hopefully many of the students that run to Tulare County for their second, third and fourth year of medical school will be locals.
Studying here and residency here could help convince these new docs to set up practice here once the process is done. Foster says studies show that better than 50 percent of physicians end up setting up practice where their residency takes place.
The College of Osteopathic Medicine in Mesa Arizona received provisional accreditation in September of 2006 and are accepting applications for the first classes that begin in July 2007. Students study in Mesa for a year and by July 2008 the first 10 will be relocated to the Tulare County campus the only affiliate in California.
Physicians practicing here can be identified by letter MD after their name or DO Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine practice a whole person approach that is described as “holistic”. Founded in 1892, Dr. Andrew Still founded a school of osteopathy in 1892 emphasizing preventative medicine and a hands on approach that includes manipulative treatment. Locally the old Visalia Community Hospital group was founded by osteopaths.
“We are looking for medical students who want to go into primary care family doctoring,” says Foster who has been working for years to attract doctors to this rural county. A 2004 study found Tulare County had 24 percent fewer primary care physicians compared to the state average and 50 percent other specialists. The county has the state's highest percentage of MediCal recipients at 26 percent and has a large population of uninsured adults. One 2003 study said there are some 57,000 farm workers living in Tulare County.
Family HealthCare Network serves this population with a network of 11 clinics in both Tulare and Kings Counties. Other rural health care clinics serve the population as well, but all have trouble recruiting physicians along with traditional medical clinics and hospitals. Likewise, directors of such free clinics as The Samaritan Center in North Visalia and Alta Family Health Clinic in Dinuba.
Physician shortages help increase the price of health care to everybody. Because there is a physician shortage, hospitals have to pay extra to ER docs and specialists to serve the insured. One administrator for Kaweah Delta says they have to pay $1000 a day for service for various specialists that cost the hospital $1.5 million a year a few years ago.
Prison Connection
Making matters worse recently is the increase in wages at state prisons mandated by a judge that is siphoning off health care professionals to the prison system from local hospitals and clinics.
Visalia Airport to Quietly Mark 80th Anniversary
Visalia - The people who operate the Visalia Airport have been busy lately with expansion and improvements—too busy to plan a big celebration to mark the airport's 80th anniversary.
It's something we want to do,” said Airport Manager Mario Cifuentez, II. “It's just one of those things. For the true anniversary which is in a few weeks, we just can't put something together like that.
“We've got several events that transpire throughout the year—the EAA does a Young Eagles Day where they take kids and give them free rides and introduce them to aviation,” he said. “We're working on having a visit by the Commemorative Air Force with the B17s early next month. It's something we'd like to do, maybe have later on this summer have an Airport Day.”
Instead of making plans to cut cake and invite local dignitaries to make speeches, those who run Visalia Airport have been focusing on some major projects that will allow the airport to grow in the coming years.
“We're in the process of land acquisition which has been five or six years in the works,” Cifuentez said. “Last night (at its April 2nd meeting), the City Council authorized us to move forward on the new lease agreement. The additional land acquisition is about 90 acres of property to the south which will allow us to protect the approach zone for the airport and also give us adequate land so that if at some point in the future, if we ever wanted to extend the runway, we would have the land already.”
On April 16th, Cifuentez will present a proposal to the City Council that the airport work with the PNK Hospitality Group to develop a new airport area hotel and restaurant. (See “What's New” on Second Front page.)
The current service between Visalia and Las Vegas is doing well so far, which makes additional service a real possibility and preparing for it a necessity.
“Ideally if this service does as well as both us and the airline think it will, I can foresee at some point have two airlines,” Cifuentez said. “When you look at a community our size that continues to grow and the fact that we are kind of a bedroom community to Fresno our niche is going to be a couple of airlines, ultimately providing half a dozen to a dozen flights a day to various destinations. But we're two years removed from where we almost lost all air service altogether.”
Following 9-11, United Airlines cut back its service to Visalia. Its major reduction in convenient service led to a major reduction in local customers. The airline eventually pulled out of the market. Since there was no airline serving the Visalia Airport, other airlines submitted proposals.
In 2005, Scenic Airways was selected from the companies bidding and in the first three months, flight traffic increased by 400 percent. When forced to purchase the planes it had been leasing, however, the airline decided to get out of the market. Fortunately by then, the Visalia Airport had established numbers that attracted proposals from several airlines. U.S. Airways (Mesa Air Group) was selected to fly to Las Vegas. Currently, weekend flights are sold out.
“They would like to have an additional airplane to add capacity on the weekends,” Cifuentez said. “They are just going gangbusters.”
Looking ahead to where Visalia Airport will be in 2027 when it marks its 100th anniversary, Cifuentez expects that most of the growth will be in business.
“I foresee a significant amount of hangar development in the next 20 years,” he said. “The sector that we've seen the largest growth in is business and corporate travel. They've learned that they can't have their executives wasting away time in airports, downtime, so you're seeing a majority of larger businesses switch over to where most of them have their own flight departments. Some of them are going with fractional flight ownership programs (timeshares in an airplane). We're seeing a lot more demand for corporate-style hangars.”
The History of Visalia Airport
The dean of aviators in Tulare County was Sol Sweet who was still actively engaged in operating Sweet's Flying Service until the 1980s. Sol learned to fly in 1927 in an Alexander Eagle Rock that he bought from Lester Lambkin.
“He was a major figure in our history,” said local historian Terry Ommen. “He was born in Visalia in 1905 and experienced an awful lot here. He died in 1988. The city went through some really dynamic changes in that time, starting out as a rural frontier town.”
In 1927, Sweet and his partner, Edwin Deeds, were flying from Porterville to Visalia's Hyde Field (Green Acres Airport) when a water line broke spraying the men with hot water. Sweet held the line together while his partner made a forced landing in J.F. Putnam's cow pasture west of Visalia. Such landings were not uncommon in aviation's infancy. Sweet and Deeds liked the fairly level pasture and leased it, and organized their company, Sweet-Deeds Aircrafters.
Sweet convinced the City of Visalia that the level land would make a good airport site and Visalia Municipal Airport began as two grass strips in June 1928. The Visalia Chamber of Commerce and American Legion Post No. 18 boosted the field for a municipal airport. In 1928 the people of Visalia endorsed a $50,000 bond election, and the city bought the land.
“This was a big deal,” explained Ommen. “Visalia basically gave its blessing and said it officially identified it as an airport.”
The first hangar was an oversized tent, but members of the Building Trades donated labor and a substantial hangar was soon built. Deeds took over an agency for Eagle Rock planes and Sweet went into partnership with Harlan Kelsey.
Deeds later went to China where he flew for the Nationalist army of China, according to Ommen. He was killed in a plane crash there.
Hyde Field, where flyers used to take off to spot forest fires, was located just west of Mooney and Goshen. “When it ceased, because of the airplane fuel that had spilled over the years, the field had to be idle,” Ommen said. “Carrots were planted there because of how carrots can suck up fuel. The property is still vacant now.”
Since the Visalia Municipal Airport was the first in the county, events there have contributed to local aviation history. Sweet and Deeds landed the first plane when the airport was dedicated on April 27, 1927. The second plane to fly in was piloted by Delmer Wood and Jess Clark. As part of the ceremony, Miss Visalia, Miss Dorothy Jessup, christened the plane “Miss Visalia.” The third plane to land that day was a Lincoln-Page flown in by Harry Fisher.
The first government officials arrived August 22, 1928, in a Fokker tri-motor. The members of the party were Congressman W.F. James, Major T.W. Hammond and Major Clagett.
“The Chamber of Commerce acquired 5.7 acres of land from Elizabeth and J.F. Putnam for $5,000,” Ommen said. “The deal was completed on November 1, 1928.”
In 1930, the Curtis-Wright Company selected the Visalia Airport as one of its nationwide bases for crop dusting. The depression cut back much of the company's business, but farmers learned the value of crop dusting. Harry Fisher and Comer Robertson were the first local aviators to do crop dusting in the county.
Aviation history continued to be made at the field in spite of the depression years. In 1930, planes making an air tour of California landed. Maddux Airlines operated a scheduled flying service, using tri-motored Ford airplanes. For a short time, both Maddux and Cardiff and Peacock Airlines used the field, but the depression curtailed their services. In 1931, Grover Weathers was appointed the first official manager of the airfield.
In 1933, Colonel John R. White, superintendent of Sequoia National Park and Death Valley National Monument, started flying between the two parks. The trip by automobile took two days. The flight from Three Rivers to Death Valley took an hour. The plane carried officials, mail and some freight. Sweet said that it was necessary to wear heavy clothing for the flight over the Sierra Nevada, but that the same gear nearly suffocated him an hour later in Death Valley.
The City of Visalia bought additional land for the airport, and in 1934, the S.R.A. spent $10,000 for improvements for the field. Between 1936 and 1941, the W.P.A. spent an additional $375,000 improving the airport.
“In 1941, the City of Visalia, in partnership with the WPA, developed the terminal building and other things on the property as a WPA project,” Ommen said.
Sweet taught people to fly planes for almost half a century, and his pupils number in the thousands. In 1939, Sweet and Morrell Gallegher were given government approval for civilian pilot training. When the Visalia Airport was taken over by the army in 1942, their school was moved to Death Valley.
In 1937 and again in 1939, fleets of army planes, usually Douglass or DeHaviland, landed at the airfield.
Perhaps the flights were omens for immediately after the outbreak of World War II, the field was taken over by the government for light bombers and night fighters. Additional runways were built as well as protective revetments. The City of Visalia regained possession of the field in 1946-47, and federal funds were made available for removal of the revetments and repairing the field.
A 5,000-foot runway was added in 1945, according to Ommen. “It was necessary in order to get United Airlines.”
United Airlines became the first major airline to come to Visalia when it began scheduled flights that carried passengers and airmail. Its inaugural flight was on December 9, 1946. Visalia Postmaster E.R. Connelly reported that 3,000 cachet letters were sent from Visalia on the first flight.
“There was a big celebration when it landed,” Ommen said. “The event also coincided with the opening of LAX Airport.”
The Southern California Edison Company brought in the first helicopter to land in the county in 1947. The company uses helicopters for line patrol, transportation of heavy equipment, and delivery of equipment in difficult mountainous areas. Helicopters are in demand for rescue work in the mountains and in fire control.
In 1949, the Board of Supervisors recognized the need for, and adopted a comprehensive airport master plan. The increased use of the airport by aircraft made it necessary to complete a new master plan in 1971.
This article has incorporated the history of the Visalia Airport as written by Airport Manager Mario Cifuentez, II.
County Gets Funds to Battle Meth
Tulare County - Tulare County has received a $781,193 grant to help fund its continuing fight against the manufacture, distribution and use of methamphetamines.
The monies, from the State of California's Governors' Office of Emergency Services, go the multi-jurisdictional meth enforcement team (Cal-MMET).
Tulare County, which has been one of the most active meth manufacturing regions in the state, has been waging an aggressive war on the dangerous drug resulting in a large number of meth lab seizures and arrests in recent years.
Cal-MMET staff are trained in all facets of the methamphetamine investigations including undercover operations, case management, preparing and executing warrants, investigative techniques, expert witness testimony, executive and arrest tactics.
Last May the county approved its application for fiscal 2006-7 funding in the amount of $689,074. This week Supervisors officially accepted the grant of $781,193, including the $92,118 set-aside funds previously used to support the CAL-MMET north State Initiative. The extra funds will be used for overtime, sheriff's officials said.
What's New
Wells Fargo plans 4th branch in Visalia. The San Francisco-based bank gave legal notice it has applied for a branch with the Controller of the Currency at the southeast corner of Houston and Demaree where a shopping center is in the works. Wells Fargo is the number three largest bank in Visalia, according to the FDIC behind B of A followed by Fremont Investment and Loan as of June 2006.
Star S Publishing—the home grown telephone book printer has made President Mark Stephens happy. Stephens sold the highly successful “local book” as of the first of the year to Yellow Book USA, the nation's largest independent phone book publisher with 103 directories. Star S sold three directories to the company, the Visalia, Hanford/Lemoore and Tulare books with a total circulation of 140,000. Stephens is staying on as a consultant and is happy that existing staff will stay on.
Will Social Security relocate their planned new office to Downtown Visalia? That's the plan as the city negotiates with the current developer on a Downtown Visalia location. The plan is supported by our congressional representatives who are leaning on the GSA to relocate the office from Lovers Lane. One issue—the Downtown is in a flood plane and can't be used by GSA. The fix, raise the ground a few feet where the structure is built.
City of Visalia has completed the purchase of the former CalTrans corporation yard on Murray at Burke for appraised value. The 4-plus acre property will be cleared and made available for an affordable housing project—likely senior housing, say sources. In the meantime the buildings may be leased to non-profits—perhaps Police Activities League.
That's yet another Starbucks under construction on Noble in front of the old Albertsons in the Kmart center along with another 3000 square feet for lease. In the same center Save Mart announced the conversion of the existing Albertsons to their own brand to take place in the next few days.
What's going to happen with the old Copeland Sports store in Visalia? The 14,000 square foot Mooney storefront is for lease or sale, says Marty Zeeb who has the listing. There was hope it could attract another big sporting goods chain but it appears not.
Visalia city council will hear a lease agreement with Orange County-based PNK Hospitality Group who want to build a new hotel and restaurant on airport land next to the Comfort Suites. The land on airport property needs to be a land lease. Just what the company will build on the site isn't clear. Originally the firm wanted to build a 100 unit hotel. Final plans are pending. The operator has 23 other hotel properties in California. Adding a new restaurant near the airport will be a big plus, says airport manager Mario Cifuentez.
Tulare has some 6000 “paper lots” available to build on joining Visalia with an abundant oversupply of subdivision lots. Tulare did about 550 new homes last year meaning the 6000 lots are more than a 10 year supply. The upshot, it will take time to absorb the inventory, a similar sentiment in Visalia.
Visalia city council turned down an appeal this week to put a new Rite Aid with an apartment complex at Demaree and Houston citing a Planning Commission decision “too much traffic on Demaree already,” says council member Don Landers.
Landers is upset with the Visalia Fire Department this week who reported to council it has logged $385,000 in overtime this fiscal year. “I'm still awaiting an explanation,” says the council member. Council is still trying to figure out how to handle any future emergency at the airport in terms of staffing at the airport fire station. Some believe it shouldn't take more staff to meet the regulations.
Fresno car dealers that took the state of California to court saying the state had no right to regulate vehicle emissions appeared to have received a severe rebuke from the Supreme Court in recent days. The judge in the case has scheduled a new hearing to rule on the issue. Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to grant the authority to the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. California is applying to the EPA for a waiver to make its own rules but the EPA has said in the past it couldn't regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars. Now the Supreme Court says they do. The state wants to tighten tailpipe emissions for new cars but the dealers have fought the move when they filed the suit in 2004. California wants the tighter standards to start with the model year 2009.
Eminent domain battle over the Main St. Theatre is finally over with Judge Melinda Reed ruling this week the city did not have to pick up attorney costs for the former owner of the theater. The city will pay $600,000 plus interest. The city has collected the interest papers so it won't be out any more. Now the theater will house the Enchanted Theatre children's playhouse as well as Restoration Church who has indicated they want to share the building and pay half the cost agreed cutting the city's purchase cost to $300,000. Criticized by some over the “taking” of the property through the eminent domain process council member Don Landers says he agreed to support the plan “only after the PBID, Downtown Visalians and the Chamber of Commerce supported the idea.”
Tulare County - After more than a half hour of discussion on precise wording Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday adopted a resolution requesting an amendment to pending federal legislation linked to the San Joaquin Valley River settlement.
Congress is working on legislation to implement the settlement of an 18-year legal battle to send additional water down the San Joaquin River to restore salmon fisheries. After the settlement was reached, members of congress introduced legislation to implement the Settlement with mitigation for the loss of water to the Valley. Tulare County supervisors support an amendment to the pending legislation mainly asking for feasibility studies to mitigate water loses and to construct new pumping and conveyance facilities on the mainstream of the San Joaquin above the town of Vernails. Such facilities would implement the circulation, recapture and reuse elements of the Water Management Goal of the settlement. The amendment also calls for the study and construction of facilities to be completed prior to restoration flows other than interim flows.
Supervisors were anxious to get the resolution passed Tuesday prior to a meeting the next day in Sacramento among the settling parties, the National Resource Defense Council, the plaintiffs, the Federal Government, the defendants, and the Friant Water Users Association who are working on the Congressional legislation, House Resolution 24 and Senate Bill 27.
The county resolution states: “There is great concern that reduced water will affect municipal and agricultural water.” Several Tulare County communities and cities rely on Friant Dam water for domestic use, a point local officials fear is being ignored.
County officials have been increasing pounded out the point that not only agriculture which will suffer from water loss but hundreds of thousands of domestic users.
Without mitigation in the implementing legislation there will be an average of 15 per cent less water available as a result of the Settlement.
In most years, approximately 139,000 additional acre feet will be released and approximately 438,000 additional acre feet will be released in wet years.
Supervisor Steve Worthley pushed hard to adjust the wording of the resolution saying authorizing and directing the Secretary (of Interior) “to conduct feasibility studies for and to construct new pumping and conveyance facilities on the mainstream.” is too narrow. Worthley said such wording might indicate the county was not open to any other potential mitigation which could bring more water to the area.
In the end, the wording was changed urging that the Secretary conduct or direct studies or take actions to implement the recirculation, recapture and reuse elements in the Settlement agreement.
As originally agreed, there were to be no amendments added to the settlement legislation unless all parties agreed to it.
Justin Upton Starts Season in Visalia
Visalia - Outfielder Justin Upton will start the 2007 season at advanced Class A Visalia after spending last season in the Class A Midwest League. This is the first time in Visalia Oaks team history that a No. 1 overall draft pick will start the season with the team. Since the announcement, the media has been swarming around the young player who seems to handle all the attention very well.
“There's no pressure,” Upton said. “I've dealt with it since I was 14.” said Upton.
"We're not going to be afraid to move him [quickly]," Diamondbacks Manager Bob Melvin said. "That's one of the things we like to do around here is challenge these guys and move them. Last year he was 18 and looked like he was 21. This year he's 19 and he looks like he's 25. That's a man. The way the ball jumps off the bat, he's beyond his years intelligence-wise."
Upton hit .263 last season after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft. The year presented many challenges to him as he was playing the outfield for the first time and appeared in 113 games, far more than he did as a high schooler.
"They pitched him like he was Babe Ruth," Melvin said of Midwest League pitchers.
Upton was invited to big-league camp this year and instantly made an impression on the coaching staff and his teammates.
"I wasn't sure I was going to get to come this year," Upton said, referring to being a non-roster invite.
Upton hit .222/.444/.348 (AVG/SLG/OBP) with 1 HR and 4 RBI in 18 AB over 12 games, while playing for the MLB squad this Spring Training. He has no problem with returning to Class A ball, however.
“I went into baseball camp not expecting anything,” he said. “I played A-Ball last year. Every year I am getting better. It's not as much where you start as is it where you finish.”
Upton played shortstop in high school. “(Yankees shortstop) Derek Jeter was my favorite player,” he said. “I like how easy he makes the game look.”
He hopes that he earns a similar reputation. “I want them to say that in big situations, he comes up big for his team.”
Justin is not the only Upton making a name for him-self in professional baseball. His brother B.J., who was selected 2nd overall in the 2002 draft, will likely start the season on the Tampa Devil Rays 25-man roster. Justin and B.J. are the highest drafted brothers in baseball history.
Kaweah Delta Explores Residency Program with UCSF
By Steve Pastis
Visalia - The Kaweah Delta Health Care District and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) are currently exploring ways to work together to establish a UCSF residency program at the Visalia-based hospital. UCSF currently has residency programs in the Fresno area.
“We have agreed with UCSF, and they have agreed with us, that we will jointly engage—and we have engaged—a firm to do a feasibility study to determine UCSF and Kaweah Delta can work together to develop a residency program,” said Lindsay K. Mann, Chief Executive Officer. He added that the firm is ECG Management Consultants, based in Boston.
“UCSF will join us in the funding of the feasibility studies to define the scope of the residency program,” Mann said. “It's roughly on an even basis.”
Among the many benefits of having a residence program is its role in the natural hospital recruitment process, according to Mann.
“We're discovering that up to 50 or 60 percent of those who train in an area remain there because they become accustomed to that area, they develop social relationships and they have children in school,” he explained. “It's one element of our comprehensive strategy to recruit and retain doctors in this area, and we're having some success.”
There are also many benefits for a medical school to establish a residency program at Kaweah Delta, Mann said.
“Kaweah Delta is an incredibly sophisticated hospital and virtually every specialty of medicine is represented on our medical staff,” he said. “We serve patients from throughout Tulare and Kings Counties, Northern Kern and Southern Fresno Counties—a very wide area.
“We have a very diverse medical staff to provide some of the mentorship that's necessary for the training of new residents,” he added. “We also have the clinical experience that's needed.”
Kaweah Delta Visits Capital
A delegation from Kaweah Delta was in Washington, D.C. late last month. Making the trip with Mann were two members of the hospital district's board of directors, Jody Graves and Margaret Foley, and Robin Flores of its Community Benefits and Grants Development Program.
“We are working with our legislators, Congressman Nunes and Congressman Costa,” Mann said. “We also visited the offices of Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer to discuss the problem of methamphetamine use in this area and our interest in preventative measures to help educate and ideally eradicate the production, but also to greatly reduce the use of methamphetamine participation in the expectant population. Methamphetamine use has tragic consequences for infants. It retards development of their mind. Their bodies are developmentally disabled.”
With its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Kaweah Delta is on the front lines of the problem. The hospital currently has 10 beds for its NICU patients and has immediate plans for five more, as well as an additional 15 when the new hospital wing is completed. Its two new neonatologists are also part of this effort.
Another reason for the trip was to discuss medical information technology.
“For the federal government, one of their priorities is to see healthcare providers move medical records to an electronic format to allow them to be accessible, legible and powerful in communicating information that is used to quickly diagnose and treat patients,” Mann explained. “We are doing a great deal here to develop our information technology. We would like to be a pilot site for demonstrating how a hospital can integrate clinical records with outpatient sites.”
All Maternity Rooms Are Now Private
All the rooms in the maternity ward at Kaweah Delta are now private rooms. This was accomplished by simply reinstating the walls to divide existing rooms. When the current construction is completed, there will be more private maternity rooms, all of them larger, square rooms.
“No mom delivering will have to recover for the duration of her stay in a room that is double occupancy,” Mann explained. “It's important because families and mothers would like to have privacy and have the time spent immediately after delivery to be a private time a time of parental and family bonding to a new member of that family. Having other individuals in the room who are not necessarily part of that family experience can be disruptive to that experience.”
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
April 4, 2007
