Lack of Timber Could Lead to Mill Closure

Sequoia National Park - Unless legal constraints on timber sales in the Sequoia and Sierra National Forests are lifted soon, the last remaining lumber mill north of Sonora could close by the end of next summer.

Kent Duysen, general manager of Sierra Forest Products in Terra Bella, says within hours of the most recent timber sale awarded the lumber mill, environmentalists filed suit holding up the sale.

“It's the same issue we've faced a number of years, not knowing where our timber is coming from,” said the Duysen, who owns the mill along with his brother Larry. The brothers founded the mill along with their father in 1968.

So scarce has the timber become, that unless something drastically changes in the next few months, the mill will run out of logs and close.

At the heart of the issue are lawsuits that have halted every timber sale on the Sequoia and Sierra National Forests, especially the Sequoia Forest in the mountains east of the mill.

“Everything on the Sequoia has been completed. Four pending sales – roughly 16 million board feet of timber – are tied up in litigation,” said Duysen. He added what has kept the mill open this year and into next year is sales of timber from private lands, but that isn't enough.

“Unfortunately, there are not enough private sales to meet our needs,” he said, explaining that two-thirds of the logs the mill relies on come from public lands.

In August, a federal judge blocked the four sales on the Sequoia and two more sales on the Sierra Forest have been tied up by litigation as well. Duysen said it had been five years since the Sequoia Forest even offered a sale.

At a Standstill

Logging in the million-acre Sequoia Forest has basically come to a standstill. In the early 1980s, the forest was selling about 70 million board feet of timber a year. Today, little is being offered for sale and no cutting is taking place, except for a few hazardous tree removal sales.

At stake are jobs. The mill is down to one 8-hour shift, from two and even three shifts in the 1980s. Today, the mill employs 125 employees and would add 70-75 if a second shift was needed. However, to run just the one shift, the mill needs 30-35 million board feet of timber and that is not available unless something happens.

“We're still at the mercy of the courts. We may come to some commonality with some of the environmental groups, but with some, I don't think we will,” Duysen said.

Endangered species, water quality and overall health of the forest are often issues cited in lawsuits. Duysen said the Pacific Fisher, a relative of the mink, is at the heart of the controversy now. A few years ago, it was the Spotted Owl. However, even sales outside of the Fisher habitat area are being challenged today.

Bill Corcoran of the Sierra Club says it is the overall health of the forest is at the forefront of concerns by environmentalists. He said it has nothing to do with eliminating commercial logging from the forest.

“I'm agnostic about the mill. I don't think it's a good outcome to have the mill close,” said Corcoran from his office in Los Angeles. “Our goal isn't related to what happens at the mill, but the best possible outcome on the forest.”

Common Ground

Corcoran and Duysen seem to agree that the health of the forest is tantamount to their interests. Where they disagree is the best practice to improve that health. Dusysen said commercial logging can be an effective tool, but Corcoran said some logging practices in the past have adversely affected the water quality and species on the forest.

Corcoran did offer some hope for Duysen. He said the Sierra Club wants to see the forest service do projects to reduce the threat of fire to communities in the forest.

“Right now, we are reviewing a proposal by the forest service to do thinning in areas of a couple of those sales [two of the four on the Sequoia Forest]. We are looking at them with an open mind to protect our communities,” he said.

Duysen said that the past two decades of not cutting trees has made for dangerous conditions on the forest. “Sequoia Forest is ripe for destruction. We're going to burn up several Sequoia groves,” he said.

Fires also threaten species, said Duysen. He cited a Fish and Wildlife 19-page report that stated the greatest threat to the Fisher is catastrophic fire. He said 25 percent of the Sequoia Forest has burned since 1990 and it is his opinion that the forest is ripe for more fires – fires that will destroy many of the majestic Sequoia Groves found in the Sequoia National Forest.

Sequoia Monument

Another point of contention is the Giant Sequoia Monument that Bill Clinton established in April 2000. That legislated designed to protect and manage 38 of the Giant Sequoia Groves in Sequoia National Forest, basically halted logging on nearly half of the forest.

Corcoran said it has been the forest service which has been slow to come up with a management plan. He said the Sierra Club wants a separate management plan for every grove, saying that each grove is unique.

Duysen points out that many of the groves are now overgrown with non-sequoias, trees that have grown into the crowns of the century-old trees. The greatest threat to a Sequoia tree is a fire into its canopy.

For now, the mill is looking for logs wherever it can find them. There is a chance some logging will be allowed in the Lake Arrowhead area that burned recently and there are still a few private sales.

The Duysens have spent several million dollars retooling the mill to handle the smaller trees. Compromises over the years have led to bans on logging of large trees, so much of what the mill could see from the forest are smaller in diameter trees. That required retooling the mill to handle smaller logs.

The question now, will the mill have the chance to use that new equipment.

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These Oil Companies Welcome More Ethanol

Tulare County - Most oil companies don't often have a lot of good things to say about ethanol – a rival of the supply of transportation fuel from their own oil wells. And who could blame the big oil companies? There are only billions of dollars at stake over the issue of who gets into your gas tank.

But at least two of California's independent oil companies, representing over 350 gas stations, are embracing ethanol and expect that in a matter of a few months will be cranking up the volume of the biofuel they blend with gasoline in the state to 10 percent – about double today's levels.

“We hope to be blending at 10 percent for our customers by mid-year,” expects Walt Dwelle of Nella Oil who has several stations here. Dwelle, who lives in Visalia and owns Nella Oil, has a 25 percent stake in the new Calgren ethanol plant on Highway 99 coming on line in February, as does the state's largest independent oil company, USA Petroleum. Together they will use at least 50 percent of the 50 million gallons produced at the Pixley plant annually.

Between the two, the companies have revenues of more than $1.5 billion.

If ethanol producers are having rough times today selling all the ethanol they are making – doubling the demand in California in a few months just might help make a difference.

Recent news appears to suggest that U.S. production was growing faster than it can find a way in our gas tanks – an ironic situation given the skyrocketing price of gasoline!

Mr. Dwelle says the current knock against ethanol – that there is a glut in the marketplace – has more to do with the fact oil companies, or in some cases regulators, are holding back the increased blending of ethanol despite all the problems with petroleum-based gasoline, including the rising cost of gasoline.

“Right now, gasoline is wholesaling at $2.35 per gallon and ethanol is about $1.90. When you add the federal ethanol subsidy blender's credit – the cost comes down another 51 cents.” So the end cost for the blender (typically an oil company) is $1.40 per gallon – almost a buck cheaper than gasoline.

While independent oil companies like these don't feel threatened by ethanol, the majors with their own supply are in a different league. A 2007 Wall Street Journal article described it well in their piece “Fill it up with Ethanol? One Big Obstacle is Big Oil.” The article points out that “so far only a tiny fraction of U.S. service stations let a driver fill up with ethanol. There are a number of reasons, but one big one is resistance from oil companies.” The article goes on to point out that, “Oil companies lose sales every time a driver chooses E85” and don't allow them to use credit cards, in some cases. Ethanol is a challenge to the tight refining margins that help keep prices high, suggest some.

So ethanol is a bargain for consumers right now, but the price and higher costs (corn for making ethanol) is squeezing the young industry, reducing the profit margin on every gallon of ethanol to just a few cents.

Going to 10% in Mid-2008

“This is just the oil companies trying to squeeze us,” says Tom Koehler with Pacific Ethanol whose company now has had to slow plans to build new plant capacity.

Independent oil firms believe they can make out, says Dwelle, since “we can pass on the bargain price to consumers” including the overall sale of blended product sold at a higher volume.

Dwelle says Californians will see no difference in performance once the state ARB allows blenders (oil companies) to add the 10 percent volume that the Schwarzenegger administration has pushed for.

“We've been blending at 10 percent in our Nevada stations for years and we used to blend 10 percent ethanol” during the old gasohol days in this state. Despite the fact that most states allow 10 percent ethanol to 90 percent gasoline blends, the state Air Resources Board is looking to change the formulation of the gas so there is no increase in the volume of NOx with higher blends. That is expected soon or blenders will be able to apply for carbon credits to move the process along, says Dwelle. He says the increase in NOx is “very small” even though ethanol cuts overall greenhouse gases and most air pollutants compared to gasoline. Ethanol was brought into the state a few years ago to replace MTBE – a petroleum product and carcinogen that contaminated drinking water up and down California.

Also awaiting final ARB rules are blends of ethanol at 85 percent to 15 percent gasoline, so-called E-85 that is sold across the U.S. but only at a few stations in California, based on a pilot program. (A Tulare station is set to open in the next few months.)

Blending more ethanol with gasoline should end any oversupply problems in California, for example, where we will be going from the current level of 5.7 percent to 10 percent that will require a supply of about 1.7 billion gallons in the state and only one plant right now making the fuel – Madera's Pacific Ethanol, a 35 million gallon plant. The state's only other ethanol plant in Goshen is down for now. If the two were added together, we make just 71 million gallons of the stuff and will soon need 1.7 billion gallons meaning that most of our ethanol will have to be imported unless we make more of it here.

Like Internet Bubble?

While some have called an idea to build a dozen ethanol plants in the state akin to an internet   bubble, a December 5 state report cited the need to develop “30 to 60 ethanol plants using imported corn feedstock initially, but transitioning to production from agriculture, forestry and urban wastes.”

The Calgren plant also set to open in coming months along Highway 99 will take its feedstock from corn, mostly Midwestern corn brought to neighbor JD Heiskell's feedmill.

While the poorer profit picture for ethanol makers has caused some slowdown in plans for new plants, including Pacific Ethanol halting its plans for a new plant in the Imperial Valley, several other projects are in the works, some of which will be built to transition to cellulose ethanol production made from ag waste or non-food plants like poplar trees.

Mandatory In-state Production

Governor Schwarzenegger has worked to build in a strong advantage for California biofuel producers requiring a goal of “in-state production of biofuels used in California of a minimum of 20 percent by 2010, 40 percent by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050.” Not only will California makers of biofuels have a shipping advantage over Midwest producers of the fuel as well as the advantage of the wet distillers grain fed to cattle as part of the manufacturing process, but this state mandate should help the plant convert its process to cellulose as the technology becomes cheaper. That should help end all the debate over fuel vs. food issues. Some have argued increased use of biofuels is making food cost more even though oil price increases likely has more to do with it.

The state mandate to use ethanol is matched by new federal mandates to increase ethanol to 36 billion gallons by the year 2020 that includes 15 billion gallons from corn ethanol. That's up from the requirement of 8 billion gallons in 2008. What has happened is the construction of hundreds of new ethanol plants in the U.S., in contrast to oil refiners that haven't built new gasoline refineries in years.

All together, the new Calgren plant is costing some $123 million for land acquisition to construction and now Dwelle says the company would like to relieve some financing burden by applying for industrial development bond from the state that would offer low income financing on some $35 million of that cost.

“Right now, the bankers get you pretty good,” quips Dwelle. Calgren could apply for some of the same state financing that was approved in recent weeks to Pacific Ethanol for its new Stockton plant.

Not Enough Gasoline

In Calgren's business plan, the company points out the state has a refining capacity shortfall of at least 5 percent a day that will double by 2010. Without new blended product, the state faces to even more imports of gasoline. In addition, the plan points to price volatility with a limited number of in-state producers and increasing foreign supply of crude oil and gasoline into the state. The state gas prices are the highest in the nation of any of the 48 continental states.

Like other Central Valley ethanol producers, Calgren points to the fact that the plant will produce wet distillers grain (WDG) as a byproduct of the process. Each cow in the area can consume up to 30 pounds of WDG daily and there are 1.25 million cows in Tulare/Kings. The Calgren plant is expected to produce 461,000 tons annually of WDG. Already Central Valley dairies import about one million tons of WDG from the Midwest as a feed supplement. Locally produced WDG is thought to be superior as a feed.

One problem right now is the high price of corn – at about $4 a bushel, compared to an average of just about half that in the past. Corn represents 75 percent of the annual cost to produce ethanol. That makes it more challenging to make money – producing corn-based ethanol. But with incentives in place and the demand for locally produced renewable fuel, the company is ready to be the state's third major ethanol plant. Much of that fuel is likely to come to Tulare County where we pump over 100 million gallons of gasoline annually – but none of it from here. Now some of that fuel will be home grown.

Last May, USA Petroleum was purchased by Texas-based Tesoro but that “doesn't change the deal,” says Calgren's Matt Schmitt.

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Ethanol Co. Expects Federal Grant to Fund
Visalia Research Project

Visalia - A department of Energy grant to fund ongoing research into cellulosic ethanol production will likely be awarded to Altra Visalia LLC – the venture capital-based firm with plans for a biofuels plant across from the Visalia airport.

“We believe they will announce it in February. It looks very favorable,” says Altra Biofuels spokesman Will Gardenswartz. “Most of that money will be spent in Visalia,” he says. Gardenswartz expects the grant amount to be tens of millions, likely under $50 million.

Altra purchased 100 acres across the highway from the Visalia airport earlier this year to be the site of a proposed cellulose-based ethanol plant that uses plant material and ag waste (not corn) to make the renewable fuel we blend in our gas tanks.

The process holds out the hope of far lower costs and less negative impact compared to corn-based ethanol, with the goal being to back off from petroleum-based fuels, implicated in global warming. Unprecedented demand to make ethanol from corn has had a role in rising food prices around the world.

Break-through Techniques

In order for the Visalia project to begin experimentation, the company has leased an industrial building in the Visalia industrial park where about a dozen scientists are cooking up large batches of ethanol made with what Gardenswartz calls new “breakthrough” techniques and enzymes. The work involves researchers from several cooperating companies.

“Our plan at the industrial park is not just to do test tube-size batches of ethanol, but industrial size,” he says, using materials from orchard clippings to dedicated industrial crops like switchgrass and sorghum. A test plot of sorghum was grown on company land in Visalia this year, harvested and tested, he says. Green waste from Wood Industries, the composting firm located on the land Altra purchased, has been used in the test batches.

Gardenswartz says, “Cellulosic ethanol research has moved a lot faster than people had thought” and that the recent momentum of federal funding for production of plant-based ethanol should spur it on even faster.

“Look what federal subsidies did for corn-based ethanol” where hundreds of new plants were built in a very short while, he notes.

This past week, the Senate passed an energy bill that caps corn-based ethanol's contribution in the renewable fuel standard to 15 billion gallons – about double the amount of ethanol being made today at 7.5 billion gallons. Another 6.2 billion gallons of ethanol production plants are under construction, virtually all of them corn-based. The Senate is now asking the rest of the 36 billion gallons be made up from ethanol brewed from mostly non-food crops, ag waste products, wood chips and corn cobs. That means that 21 billion gallons of future fuel would be produced from cellulose-based products just in the early stage of development, such as in Visalia.

Federal Incentives

The bill passed by the Senate includes two important provisions. One raises Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ, standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The second increases the amount of renewable fuels used annually in this country to 36 billion gallons by 2022.

Gardenswartz says there are several ways companies are looking to make cellulose-based ethanol and that a number of companies are making a “big bet” on their own technology including Altra. At issue – how to lower the cost of making the product that could help offset the nation's dependence on oil, particularly foreign oil.

To utilize more ethanol, Detroit has lined up behind a plan to make more so-called Flex-fuel vehicles that can run on 85 percent ethanol (E85) blends that use far more of the biofuel than our 6 to 10 percent blends we use now. The Big Three have vowed they would increase production of flex-fuel vehicles from the current 9 percent to up to 50 percent by 2012. Ford expects the number of these vehicles will double by 2010 to 500,000.

Gardenswartz said that once the batches of ethanol prove out at their present location, Altra would look to build a demonstration plant on the land across Highway 99 from the airport. The company will be doing an EIR on the project with the county.

Founded in 2004, Altra Biofuels, based in Los Angeles, includes investment from well-known players in the alternative energy business including Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Angeleno Group, LLC, Omninet Private Equity and Sage Capital Partners, L.P. The company acquired the assets of Phoenix Bio in Goshen in the summer of 2006 and has three other plants in the works nationwide besides the Visalia site acquired in June 2007.

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Water Commission Asked to Review Controversial Resolution

By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday asked the newly formed Tulare County Water Commission to review a proposed resolution urging federal legislators to back off on a San Joaquin River Settlement plan to restore a Chinook salmon fishery.

With Board Chairman Allen Ishida reluctantly agreeing, Supervisors, at the urging of water experts and irrigation district officials, asked the Water Commission at its Jan. 28 meeting to review it and make a recommendation.

The proposed resolution urges the federal legislators to implement their own plan to immediately restore a live river from Friant Dam to Sack Dam, near Dos Palos. The plan also urges recovering lost water and a comprehensive feasibility study to determine if a Chinook salmon habitat on the San Joaquin River is a viable option.

But Dennis Keller, a water commission member and expert on the settlement plan, strongly urged the board not to send off the resolution, but take time to “make sure what kind of creditable role this board wants to take.” Keller suggested that the county support legislative efforts to improve settlement mitigation moves to replace the water to be lost to the Central Valley. He said implementing the county plan “would pre-empt state law and there is no way to make it happen.”

After the meeting, Keller, a well-known consultant to a number of agencies and districts, said he helped draft the county's previous and similar resolution and was adamant that the new one would do more harm than good. He gave little, if any, chance of finding a federal lawyer to push such a plan.

From what was said at Tuesday's meeting, it appears unlikely the commission will support the resolution in its current form.

Keller explained U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Jim Costa are increasingly backing settlement mitigation plans which could result in getting as much water loss restored as possible. It is toward those efforts that Tulare County should focus its all-out efforts, he said

Last month, the House Natural Resources Committee voted 25-15 for restoration legislation of the settlement, but that still faces the House floor.

The Supervisors' vote to send the resolution to the water commission was a trying one. Ishida repeatedly stressed that “Tulare County has not been invited to the table” and time is running out to do whatever it takes to keep from losing water due to actions of state and federal lawmakers who will not be impacted. Ishida said he would never support “any settlement without it containing concrete legislation” concerning mitigation for water loss to the Valley.

As he has many times, Ishida stressed that “water, food and shelter” are the most important human needs. Letting his frustrations show, Ishida said action must be taken before it is too late.

Keller and others say the resolution's message that federal lawmakers “postpone the risky proposal of restoring Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River,” simply would weaken the county's position in its real objective to get the best water loss mitigation possible.

The resolution urges consideration of a test project to see if fish are able to return to a dry portion of the San Joaquin. The option would be considerably cheaper than trying to restore salmon, a cold water fish to the San Joaquin River. The county's proposal for restoring warm water fish would last up to 10 years with discussions starting after the seventh year to determine the feasibility of restoring a self-sustaining salmon run.

Earlier in the week, Ronald Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Users Association, was pleased with the House Committee vote, saying “It's good to see it is moving.”

Jacobsma, who knows well the concerns of reduced water flow to the Central Valley, doesn't favor the Tulare County resolution. Referring to the mitigation legislation efforts, he said it is important “to make the best deal we can,” adding that the focus has been and continues to be to get as much water restored as possible.

As it stands, the agreement calls for additional water to be sent down the San Joaquin River to restore the salmon fisheries, with dry-year releases of an additional 130,000 acre-feet and up to 438,000 additional acre-feet in wet years, resulting in a reduction to Friant division users. That is estimated to average 15 percent less water annually, officials say.

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County Mourns Fallen Sheriff's Detective

By Rick Elkins

Tulare County - Det. Kent Haws is being remembered as a loving father, a dedicated officer and man who gave his life protecting others.

Det. Haws, a member of the Tulare County Sheriff's Department, was shot to death Monday afternoon on a rural road near Ivanhoe.

A suspect, Jorge Gomez Banda, age 20 of Ivanhoe, was arrested within minutes of the shooting walking on Road 156, just a short distance from the shooting. He was arrested by a TCSO sergeant and Sheriff Bill Wittman said Tuesday that a gun they believed was used in the killing was found in the man's pocket.

Services for Det. Haws will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the First Assembly Church at the corner of Akers and Caldwell. Sheriff Wittman will speak.

“We're having a hard time dealing with this,” said Wittman at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “Every person in this organization is grieving.”

Det. Haws was returning from another assignment at 1:25 p.m. Monday when he stopped to check on a vehicle that was stopped on the side of the road.

According to a TCSO release, while Det. Haws made contact with the individuals in the vehicle, he observed a man in the orchard. He then advised dispatch he would be checking on the man.

Det. Haws made contact with the subject and walked him out of the orchard towards his patrol unit. The subject produced a semiautomatic firearm and shot multiple times at Det. Haws.

Numerous witnesses who were passing by in normal traffic activated their “On-Star” cellular phones and nearby residences to contact dispatch for assistance. One witness, an off-duty nurse, stopped and began to administer first aide. A California Highway Patrol sergeant was less than two miles away when he heard the call on the radio. The sergeant immediately responded and assisted in rendering first aide. Another witness, a volunteer firefighter, was also on scene to assist.

Wittman said the people in the vehicle were not connected to the suspect and so far no other people have been implicated in the killing, but the investigation is continuing. Det. Haws was in uniform and driving a marked patrol car.

“I want to give thanks to the citizens who stopped and gave aide to our officer. I want to give thanks to the officers who did CPR,” said an obviously emotional Wittman. Det. Haws was transported by ambulance to Kaweah Delta District Hospital where he died two hours later.

Det. Haws was a member of the department's STEP [Sheriffs Tactical Enforcement Patrol], the department's most highly-trained unit. Capt. Dahl Cleek said the unit normally has 10 members and that Det. Haws had been a member for more than three years. He said it is a close-knit group.

The unit handles SWAT calls, marijuana eradication and search and rescue efforts. Wittman said Det. Haws was a dedicated member.

“He was a wonderful officer. He was always quick to respond. If he was on vacation, he would be upset he couldn't respond,” said the sheriff.

Cleek said the depth of the officer's death goes deep in the department. “We're family. We're doing what's necessary to support his family and friends,” he said. He added, “No one is ever prepared for this.”

Det. Haws attended the Tulare-Kings County Police Academy and graduated in December of 1997. He began his career with the Sheriff's Department in January of 1998. He has worked in the Main Jail and was later transferred to Porterville Patrol.

Lt. Mike Boudreaux, who heads up the STEP team, said Det. Haws was a loyal member who often supervised and trained the newer members of the team. He said he “absolutely loved the sheriff's department.”

“Kent Haws will be deeply missed,” he said.

Craig C. Axtell, superintendent of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, praised Det. Haws for his work eradicating marijuana in the park.

“These parks have appreciated his expertise in recent years, when he has been valuable in dealing with illegal marijuana-growing operations. Our rangers had a good working relationship with Det. Haws, and through him the already-positive relationship between these parks and the Tulare County Sheriff's Office was further improved. We have lowered flags throughout these parks to half staff in his honor. His presence will be missed,” he wrote the board of supervisors.

Supervisor Chairman Allen Ishida said the entire county staff is mourning.

“This loss is on the magnitude of losing a personal family member. It's because it appears he really didn't have a chance,” he said of the senseless shooting.

Det. Haws is survived by his wife and three children, ages 13, 8 and an infant. Boudreaux said officers have been assisting the family as much as possible. He was an Army veteran.

“He was loyal, fun to be around. He would do anything for you. He loved his children, loved getting home to his family,” he said.

The Tulare County Deputy Sheriff's Benevolent Association has opened a Memorial Fund in honor of Det. Kent Haws. People can send donations to the Family of Det. Kent Haws at:

Tulare County Deputy Sheriff's Benevolent Association
Detective Kent Haws Memorial Fund
C/O: Tulare County Federal Credit Union
2038 S. Mooney Blvd., Suite M-5
Visalia, CA 93277

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Tulare County Library Online Program Assists Entrepreneurs

By Steve Pastis

Tulare County - A new online service available through the Tulare County Library enables aspiring business owners in the county to make a much more informed decision about their business plan and proposed business location.

“Business Decision,” which has been up and running through the Tulare County Library web site, www.tularecountylibrary.org, since last week, provides information that helps prospective Tulare County entrepreneurs decide how successful their business idea might be by providing detailed information about their proposed location anywhere in the county.

“There aren't that many libraries that have that database,” said Michael Sawyer, deputy county librarian. “There are five libraries in California that have it. It's a relatively new product.

“Let's say you want to put a donut shop at Demaree and Tulare (in Visalia). You want to know what your demographics are going to be and who you're going to be reaching,” he explained. “It will give you a mile, three-mile, five-mile radius, and it will give you the demographics about the people who live in that area, and their income.”

Business Decision is available to anyone with a Tulare County library card. They can visit a county library or they can access it online at home or at work. The database costs the county library less than $10,000.

“The county is looking for ways to maximize our money because, as you know, we have a limited budget,” Sawyer said. “And with 15 branches, it's kind of hard to make sure that everybody gets what they need. One of the aspects, when looking at online databases, is that everybody has access from the library – and from home as well.”

 “To me, it means that we're going to help individuals in the county with their business ability,” said Brian Lewis, county librarian. “It means more business sales tax revenue coming in, more people coming in for shopping, more success, more jobs. It's a win-win situation.”

In addition to Business Decision, the Tulare County Library is offering an online tutoring service which provides assistance to young students in both English and Spanish, and an online automotive manual. Online computer databases are becoming an increasingly important component of the county library.

“You can use it at home; you can use it wherever you are,” Lewis said. “Eventually, we're going to see more and more of that in the library. We're able to provide more service and not increase our staff.”

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What's New

Ruben Romandia of Porterville has filed a claim against the City Of Porterville for injuries he allegedly suffered when the trash container he was sleeping in was dumped into a city garbage truck on Nov. 12.  Romandia is seeking $3,500. Porterville City Manager John Longley said the garbage truck driver noticed the man falling into the truck as he dumped the bin. Longley said the man climbed out and walked away, but later reported being injured. “It's a very worrisome thing to me,” said Longley, adding the city will review its procedures, although he said it did not appear the city did anything wrong.

Jerry Sinift, general manager of the World Ag Expo in Tulare, said the 2008 show exhibit space is nearly sold out, one of the earliest dates the exhibit space has sold out in the history of the show.   “We're way ahead of schedule and we have 134 more spaces this year,” said Sinift of the 41st annual show slated for Feb. 12-15. “We're basically sold out.”   The sellout is no surprise – the show usually sells out of exhibitor space – but the early date is a surprise because  the show grounds were expanded by another 100,000 square feet this year. That gives the World Ag Expo 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space. Most of the expansion was in the new Dairy Technology Center (DTC) that will be dedicated on Monday, Feb. 11, the day before the show opens. Sinift said the increase in exhibits is not necessarily increasing the number of exhibitors. He said many of the existing exhibitors are expanding their exhibit space. With a waiting list already, Sinift said there are plans for two more phases of expansion in the future.

California's minimum wage rises to $8 per hour effective January 1, 2008. That's up from $7.50 currently. While that may be good news for wage earners, it's coming at a rough time in the state's economy when business is already slow, some argue.

Wet pattern moving into the Central Valley this week is expected to bring two to three feet of snow to the high Sierra and at least a half inch of rain to the Valley floor. There is a chance of rain Monday and Tuesday for next week as well, says weathercaster John Hibler. Storms later this week – Friday, December 21 – will be colder, dropping snow elevations. Sure beats a drought.

New regulations adopted by the state Fish and Game Commission ban the carrying of lead ammo in a condor range that now includes .22 caliber and shotgun ammunition that had been exempt. The range includes the Sierra but excluded much of the Central Valley. Lead has been found to hurt the protected birds when they eat carcasses shot by hunters, giving them lead poisoning. Some 12 condor deaths are believed to be caused by lead poisoning.

Winter could mean continued drought but it could also mean more massive downpours, says a new study. In a report released December 7, Environment America claims study of rainfall patterns over the past 60 years shows increasing downpours of heavy storms – up 24 percent across the U.S. – a product of global warming. The Pacific Northwest has been hit most recently with particularly fierce storms leading to flooding. The downpours could wreak havoc in the Delta area where much of the state's drinking water passes through.

New home sales in the Visalia/Tulare/Porterville metro area through October were down 15 percent compared to the same month in 2006 and 24 percent in September. That is still better than the state average – down 45 percent in October. The median price was $279,000, down from $292,000 in October 2006, according to the California Building Industry Association.

Family Health Care Network's CEO Harry Foster is arm wrestling with the county again over funds offered from a federal agency to local health care providers to take care of low income people. The county is applying for $800,000 to build a large new rural health clinic in place of its smaller clinic in Farmersville and if approved, the money would be subtracted from what FHCN gets to run their system of federal clinics locally, according to Foster. The federal agency is set to announce its decision in March on the competitive applications.

Visalia City Council approved Monday the applications for several grants that could provide money for projects still years away. The council approved applying for four Congestion Management Air Quality grants, one for $400,000 for the Packwood Creek/Walnut Avenue Trail; $700,000 for the Santa Fe Railroad Trail; $600,000 for the Packwood Creek/Caldwell Trail; $275,000 for a new traffic signal at Demaree St. and Ferguson Ave.; and another 275,000 grant for a traffic signal at Walnut Ave. and Santa Fe St.

Visalia City Council also approved Monday seeking $1 million in Prop 1B [Public Transportation Modernization Improvement and Service Enhancement] money for the development of a Visitor/Sequoia Shuttle information center and/or additional parking near the Visalia Transit Center.

At its last meeting, the Farmersville City Council voted to join an area Joint Power Authority. JPAs allow cities and other entities to more efficiently deliver services and save tax dollars in addressing basic service needs, such as education, public safety and infrastructure maintenance. City Councilman Paul Boyer explained that this will make it easier for the city to go after redevelopment funds and increase opportunities for better rates and terms for loans. By being under a JPA umbrella, Farmersville will be able to address its needs sooner, which should save money in the long term. “It makes sense to build projects now rather than decades later,” he said, adding that construction prices have a higher rate of inflation than most other goods and services.

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