New
Visalia Biofuels Plant in Works
Altra Biofuels Will Do Cellulose-Based R&D Here
The company is buying the acreage from Visalian
Kent Kaulfuss who owns Wood Industries with
a greenwaste and landscaping materials yard on the site—a business
that will continue at this location. Kaulfuss
says building an ethanol plant based on the use of waste cellulose “has
been a long time dream of ours” in any case. The land had been under
contract several years ago to be sold to Pacific Ethanol who decided
to buy elsewhere eventually. Still the site has an existing permit from
the county that dates to 1993 for an R and D biomass facility that is
still in place —just what Altra
will be developing.
Altra’s plan for the site
is to do the smaller R and D process to make ethanol from waste or a
dedicated energy crop first in a lab on the site and then in a smaller
10 to 15 million gallon plant, says Gardenswartz,
and finally into a full scale operation some years down the road. To
go beyond the R and D stage, the company would need to do a full EIR.
Unlike their
Altra Biofuels
partner Larry Gross told the Voice that, “We are very excited about
our new research facility in
“This really is a revolution we are witnessing,”
says Gardenswartz and part of this revolution is happening at Visalia’s
doorsteps.
Gardenswartz says the
Gardenswartz says the
Altra Biofuel
is one of several new biofuel makers that
have sprung up in
Altra Biofuels
other partners are L.A. investors including Kleiner,
Perkins, Caulfield and Byers, Angeleno Group,
Omninet Private Equity and Sage Capital Partners. The company
has five projects either built or in the works some in the
Ethanol production has been dominated by production
facilities that make the biofuel from the
ears of corn which require plantings of millions of acres of grain corn.
But experts agree that as technology improves, more ethanol can be squeezed
out of biomass at both a higher yield and at lower cost. The government
has been funding research to make this happen sooner than later and
the research on an enzyme used to “unlock” the sugar used to make the
ethanol has been carried out by the company that Altra
is talking to about partnering and testing the process in Visalia.
Gardenswartz says Altra is applying for R and D money from the Department of
Energy for the effort. He notes that Senate just approved more monies
for this process considering desire for energy independence in the
One study suggests that applying cellulosic
technologies to a combination of agricultural waste (e.g., corn stover and other energy crops, such as switchgrass,
sorghum and miscanthus) that
The
So far the county and city have been contacted by the proponents in a preliminary way.
at UC Merced
The local delegation will help lobby to get a medical
school built on the campus.
“Chancellor Kang came down to visit us here about
a month-and-a-half ago and I think we impressed on him that we were
interested in the aspect of a medical school in the Valley,” Ennis said.
“He was real receptive to that so we’re going to be lobbying to help
him in any way we can to get that medical school in there. We’ll be
working through the Board of Regents to see if they can’t help us to
somehow get this process moving forward.”
Ennis mentioned the possibility of establishing a
satellite program where students can get four-year degrees in
“There are a lot of aspects, but the medical program
is the thing we are really pushing for because of the shortage of doctors
in the Valley,” he said. “All forms of medical personnel are real short—nurses, pharmacists, you name it. We need them all.
“Usually when people go to medical school and do
their residency, they stay in that area,” he continued. “This is one
of the things we want to see happen. We want these people come out of
medical school and want to stay here in the Valley, and if we get people
to go up there, they will stay here.”
Eric Coyne, Tulare County Media Officer, cited a
study that showed the importance of establishing a medical school in
the
“More than half of doctors choose to stay and set
up their practices within 100 miles of where they graduate and do their
residency,” he said. “If we have access to a state-of-the-art UC medical
school—the top of the heap—here in the Valley, we have a better chance
of placing some of the doctors in temporary residencies in area hospitals,
maybe county clinics. Then when they matriculate, perhaps we can get
them to stay here. It all strengthens our medical system. That’s why
we want to lobby to have this school here.”
Ennis hopes to eventually set up an agreement between
“We’d love to have a four-year school here, but until
we get there, we’ve got to use the facilities closest to us,” Ennis
said. “We’ve tried to get a university here. In fact, we were in the
hunt when they decided to choose
“Until we get the state to stop building so many
prisons, there isn’t going to be any money for schools and university,”
he added. “And that’s a sad state of affairs because education is the
key to all that. If you educate these people and keep these kids in
school, they won’t turn up incarcerated in these prisons.”
The
“We’d like the whole county staff to look at the
campus,” Ennis said, adding that he was very impressed by its energy-efficiency
and architectural beauty.
“The county is studying the need to renew some of
its buildings and/or create a new county campus,” said Coyne. “Some
of our buildings are quite old. Of course today, you don’t build a building
like you did 20 or 30 years ago. The board is constantly reinforcing
its policy of think green, not only for the cost savings, but from a
social responsibility in being a leader and an example for others.”
In addition to increasing the number of health professionals
in the county, UC Merced may help increase the number of local engineering
professionals in
“This also comes into play with the engineering high school we’re building in Strathmore,” Ennis said. “There’s a real shortage of engineers here also.”
Stats Preschool Funding is Major Focus
Published late last month by the non-profit advocacy
group Children Now, Tulare County was ranked lowest in California on the
percentage of children 3 and 4 years old enrolled in preschool, lowest
in the percentage of elementary school students meeting state targets
in language arts and 54 out of 58 in percentage children from low income
households.
The survey ranked the counties and the region by 45
criteria to come up with a snapshot of how far we have to go to get to
where the rest of the state is.
By way of comparison, the per capita income in
One indicator ranks dental health found that just 69%
of children visit a dentist last year in
If the way out of poverty is education, it appears
One key indicator rates the percentage of children
enrolled in preschool appears to be tied to lower success numbers seen
in the study. With a high percentage of children speaking another language
as they enter elementary school, the low ranking in English proficiency
in elementary school and the lower percentage of high school students
that meet UC/CSU entrance requirements
22% compared to a statewide figure of 35% - educators point to
the need to help students early on in life.
The survey found that just 23% of children 3 and 4
years old were enrolled in preschool in
“California must ensure every child has at least one
year of preschool before starting kindergarten,” recommends Ted Lempert
of Children Now, citing research that suggests preschool education can
lead to better success in the future for these kids.
“We’ve got about 31,000 students enrolled in Tulare
County Office of Education preschool including Head Start,” says project
director Ray Chavez about the program that began here during the 60s war
on poverty. Chavez says the program and 15 other subsidized programs serve
a fraction of the 15,725 children in the county ages 3 and 4 and that
“lack of facilities is a major stumbling block.” Once facilities can be
found the difficulty is getting Head Start to fund at a higher level to
reach the large low income population. “We’ve been at the same funding
level for three years.”
Coordinating better preschool curriculum with school
districts is growing, says Chavez in an effort to boost chances for kindergarten
success where kids can either have a positive or negative reaction to
reading and math the
two skills crucial to success in the classroom.
Some help from the state is in the works and some funding
from the First 5 program could help offer more facilities that preschoolers
can enroll in through the Governor’s 2006/07 preschool budget that includes
$50 million to expand after school programs as well as $50 million for
preschool classrooms.
Chavez says he hopes the county’s low rank gets some
attention that “the need is here.”
“We’ve got the kids” and with a renewed focus on the
low performing school districts like we have in both
“Even in the best performing counties, too many kids
aren’t receiving the basic development support of health insurance and
early education they need to reach their potential,” says Ted Lempert,
Children Now’s President.
“In addition to public child care operations, the agency
is working to get more private child care facilities permitted. In addition,
it seems clear that with large Hispanic population some of the child care
that goes to schools elsewhere stays home with grandma here. Efforts to
get more reading and math in the home would pay off say some childcare
advocates.
County Child Care staffer Donna Orozco told the Voice,
“I talked to the Children Now people, and they said the ranking of 3-
and 4-year-old children in preschool is based on Census data where parents
were asked if their children were in pre-school. I would think in many
cases, parents would not have considered children being taken care of
by an exempt provider (a grandmother or family member) as being in ‘preschool.’”
In
The Resource and Referral program of the
Child Care Program has a state grant to train exempt providers on everything
from the role of the caregiver to health and safety, child development,
discipline and nutrition.
Julissa Galvan
visits the providers to give them ideas and information. She also hosts
Saturday workshops. A recent workshop was a hands-on training to learn
activities and make puppets and literature bags to help build language
skills.
One exempt provider said she appreciates the program because she receives educational ideas that help children’s minds develop.
The Tulare County Fire Department became official at
8 a.m. July 1, ending an 80-year fire protection contract with the California
Department of Forestry now known as Cal-Fire. The transition was marked
with ceremony at the Cal-Fire Unit headquarters on
The transition began 18 months ago when Tulare County
Supervisors voted to form their own department, mainly to save money.
With the budget for the first full year of operation
already in place, the new county department finds itself with a payroll
savings of $1,031,845 and the opportunity to provide additional savings
than under the last CDF contract with 30 more firefighters. The county
will operate 22 fire stations. Previously 18 stations were staffed.
Two sites, Station 13 in Lemon Cove and Station 20
in Doyle Colony, near
Three mountain stations,
The Tulare County Fire Department is headquartered
at
The county’s new dispatch center, which went into operation
June 27, is located in
Cal Fire will maintain its headquarters station on
Switching from a long-time department to a new organization
has been a monumental task with personnel from both agencies working side-by-side
during the process, especially in recent weeks when the new Tulare County
Fire staff coming on board.
Just how big a task the transition has been has not
been lost on county supervisors and other officials
who have been “wowed” by what they have seen and heard during several
“updates” to supervisors, mainly by County Fire Chief Steve Sunderland
and Ed Wristen. Wristen, who officially
resigned as Tulare County Fire Warden last Tuesday, came out of retirement
to head the transition. He will end his career with CDF (Cal-Fire) at
the end of this year after a 36-year career. He retired in 2000 after
10 years as Tulare Unit Chief.
Wristen gave an inspiring
and straightforward presentation to Supervisors. His presentation was
followed by heartfelt praise from board members who called him a true
“firefighter’s firefighter” and a highly respected leader who always is
quick to cite the efforts of those who work for him.
Supervisor Connie Conway was close to tears when she
lauded him for his devotion to the county as well as his department and
those who have worked for him in various capacities.
That was evident when he praised those in the Tulare
Unit who, as he phrased it, “gave a tremendous effort to get through the
pain, disappointment and frustration, with the loss of the Tulare County
Agreement.” The Cal-Fire personnel “have put all that aside and as true
professionals have risen to the occasion and performed n the highest standards
of the fire service.”
Wristen recalled challenging
Cal-Fire employees “to accomplish this task with ‘dignity, integrity and
pride’ so that when it was completed, we could walk away with our heads
held high. They have met this challenge and then some.”
He also recalled expressing his concern over the lack
of keeping the county’s existing fire agency up to date. “I explained
that
But, he explained, the county met the challenge by
taking delivery of 10 command vehicles, one new water
tender, 80 new mobile radios and a 52-by-14-foot manufactured home to
house employees at Alpaugh, ordering five new
fire engines, re-roofing the Terra Bella and Strathmore fire stations
and making plans to re-roof the Camp Nelson Station.
Wristen also outlined the
task of dealing with the 60 employees assigned to the Tulare County Contract
through Cal-Fire. Negotiations with the union were conducted and all Cal-Fire
employees have been taken care of. Some, he said, chose to retire, some
continue to work with the
He made reference to the number of details which had
to be tackled, including property inventory, repair, maintenance, sorting,
records, reports and numerous other tasks.
In addition to introducing a number of key staff, Wristen gave special recognition to office assistant Linda
Killingsworth, Battalion Chief Mike Davidson and Fire Captain
Manual Garcia who toiled to facilitate the transition.
Wristen said that because
until May only senior staff was on the County Department payroll, Cal-Fire
employees “had the resources and the ability to get the job done.” He
said, “Mike Davidson, as Field Operations Chief, single-handedly willed
this project to get done.”
Chief Wristen said “there was no road map, no guide to lead us through the process.”
County Planning
Commission Turns Down Development
Plan for Former Golf Course
Visalia - By a 5-to-1 vote, the Tulare County Planning
Commission turned down a request by Mangano
Homes to build a 176 single family home lot subdivision on 113 acres
on the site of the former Sierra View Golf Course near Mooney Grove.
The site in the county about a mile from the
But the
The Planning Commission differed with
Mangano over design principals at the subdivisions
plan Rancho Sierra, says Planning Commissioner
John Elliott. “It’s pretty much a standard subdivision,” remarked Elliott
hoping to see more smart growth principles like those outlined in the
City of Visalia’s new Southeast master plan, he says. “With some designer
changes, we would approve it in a heartbeat.” The plan doesn’t include
any recreational elements, he says. Another planning commissioner told
the Voice they would like to see more clustered homes and open space.
But proponent Andy Mangano
says the project is too far along and in any case the design meets the
county general plan and what is being proposed by some of the planning
commissioners is not in the county’s policy nor ever proposed in the
new general plan. “We will take our plan to the Board of Supervisors,”
says Mangano who has been working on the project
for several years.
Another issue related to the rural project will the homes be on septic tanks or will there be a package treatment plant. The city has said they didn’t want septic systems on the project that would have to be torn out once the city grows in that direction. The project is located near Rd. 124 and Ave. 264.
School Neighborhoods
Visalia - At an annual retreat held by the Visalia City Council over a two-day period, the five members came up with several long range issues they agreed to focus on. Among them was an agreement to focus on the revitalization of two neighborhoods in
“With the coming of the new police substations
I understand we will be monitoring eight neighborhoods on the south
part of town and eight on the north,” says council member Greg Collins.
“While we can’t focus on all 16 neighborhoods,”
the council decided to work near term on two areas— around the Oval and the neighborhood
surrounding
On the Oval, the city faces an empty
service center building in the park. On the business front on the Oval,
there are signs some new businesses are coming to the area including
the preservation of the historic service station at one corner and the
new restaurant coming in across the street.
Council also said the airport was a
high priority and hopes that a new commercial carrier can be found to
offer passenger service through the airport now that Mesa Airline has
pulled out of at least eight cities it flew into under the essential
air services program. Bids for a new carrier are due July 16. In addition
the council heard long range plans to relocate the cargo carriers at
the airport to the Westside of the airport and the relocation of the
SBCA to a new site. That will leave the old SBCA site available for
some aviation related company. In addition, council will hear a report
in the next few weeks about an in-state partnership with other cities
to attract more air service. The city paid a consultant to study the
issue along with other cities and the report is likely to say the
Besides this issue, council heard about
progress in
What's New
Kaweah Delta is looking into expanding its
“hospitalist” program. A health care trend in recent years
has been to expand the numbers of hospitalists—physicians
whose practice consists entirely of treating patients at a hospital.
Kaweah Delta has three categories of there physicians: adult hospitalists
who care for patients who don’t have assigned physicians; pediatric
hospitalists such as neonatologists;
and critical care hospitalists who are experienced
in managing intensive care patients. “We are also seriously studying
the possibility of a surgical hospitalist
program,” said Lindsay Mann, Chief Executive Officer, who said that
the program would possibly include five or six general surgeons to ensure
that Kaweah Delta provides patients with complete surgical coverage.
San Joaquin Power Authority organized
by the Kings River Conservation District faces its toughest test in
the next few weeks when the City of
City of
Single family building permits as
well as total valuation in
Dry Docked? After 40 years of owning
the Kaweah Marina the Merhten family
is selling the landmark between Lemon Cove and
More talk of the need for tree thinning
in the Sierra as the devastating Angora fire toll is added up near
The City of
A new animal control facility will
be built in
Rumors about the Tulare County Symphony
have exaggerated the situation, according to Florence Kabot,
president of the symphony’s board of directors. “We overspent last season
and got ourselves in a little debt,” she said. She explained that by
keeping a closer watch over spending this season, however, the symphony
should soon be back in the black. Following recent staff personnel changes,
frugality is being applied to areas that will not affect the quality
of the performances. Money-saving measures include presenting more local
musicians (rather than flying in musicians from long distances) and
lowering the expenses on the 2007-08 season brochure by printing it
in two colors rather than in full color. In addition, Kabot said that donations have been coming in at a good rate,
citing a few four-figure amounts that were received in the last week
of June alone. The new season begins with “Pops Concert in the Park”
on September 8th, featuring Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”
complete with cannons at
Should be a good time
to build a home with lumber prices falling dramatically from
the past few years. Futures price for lumber are at $280 per
1000 board foot, up from $230 in March. Back in 2004 and 2005, prices
reached well into the $400 range—part of the spike in building materials
that sent construction costs so high in recent years. The lumber market
has cooled as the
Visalia - After more than a year
of talks, the City of
The city has plans to pave
Plans for the first building in the
Mr. Kugler
says he is relocating in a year to Burke & Douglas.
In a related matter, plans to begin
tree planting in the
Also the city is working on a plan for
a so-called liner building along
All in all, there are a couple of signs
of progress that can be seen that the
Woodlake - A Woodlake man has
been arrested in connection with at least six arson fires in the Woodlake
area and is under investigation in the probe of several others.
Humberto Gonzalez,
26, was arrested regarding the arsons in the wake of a search warrant
for alleged drug dealing, authorities said last week at a news conference
in Woodlake. Gonzalez was arrested in connected six fires June 19, 20
and 21, 2006 and May 22, 27 and June10 of this year.
The announcement as made by Woodlake
Police and Cal Fire officials. Gonzales is being held in Tulare County
Jail on $95,000 bail. He has been charged with possessing drugs and
drug paraphernalia and maintaining a home for drug sales. His brother,
27-year-old Gonzalo Gonzalez was arrested for allegedly being under
the influence of drugs, authorities said. Officers said the serving
of a search warrant June 12 at a home in the 300 block of South Magnolia
by several agencies led to the discovery of methamphetamines, drug paraphernalia
and a silencer for a gun along with evidence they believed was linked
to the fires. Investigators would not say what evidence they found.
A second search warrant was issued and served June 16 and evidence they
found led to the arrest on the arson counts, according to Paul Marquez
of Cal-Fire.
Marquez said the blazes mainly were
to rangeland grasses and all, except one which blackened about 80 acres,
were relatively small. No structures were damaged and there were no
injuries. Getting the fires under control early prevented what could
have been considerably more serious damage, officials said.
Several other fires inside the Woodlake Fire Protection District are still under investigation.
Tulare County Fears Loss of Williamson Act Program
In
And the benefits are huge, says Worthley,
including the maintenance of open space, decreasing the amount of
land that is urbanized and keeping farmers farming. There are some
15,000 contracts in
For the County, the loss of $3.4 million
out of the general plan is significant, says the chair of the Board
of Supervisors Allen Ishida. “That’s the size of our RMA budget,”
he says. “If they cancel the program this budget year, we would have
to cancel our contract with farmers immediately.”
Ishida says he wrote a letter to Governor
Schwarzenegger to reconsider the cut but the governor dug in his heels
on this. The governor announced several months ago he would not support
the earmark be in the state budget. But the strong support of the
legislature has put the earmark back. Now county officials fear Schwarzenegger
can simply “blue line” the expenditure and that would force the legislature
override the veto.
Worthley
says he has heard there is some hope Schwarzenegger will reconsider.
“It’s hard for us to get a straight answer” from the administration,
he says.
“We believe there is a 50/50 chance
that they will cut the program,” says County Assessor Greg Hardcastle
who believes the loss of the program “will just kill the farmers”
who count on the tax break in some years to stay in business. “This
county has been very proactive in preserving ag
land,” notes Hardcastle.
The programs dates from 1972 and has
been widely applauded with an enrollment of 16 million acres. Local
counties depend on the state for reimbursement including
Keith Watkins, president of the Tulare
County Farm Bureau, calls for a groundswell of support for the program
to try to save it.
He says the following:
“The Williamson Act is unique because
it combines a planning and zoning tool with a property tax policy
and an open-space policy. The result has been the retention of millions
of acres of agricultural land in agricultural use and the improvement
of the financial stability of the state’s agricultural economy.”
In addition to the property tax relief,
why do more than half of
The Williamson Act also provides landowners
with the certainty that they will be able to continue to farm or ranch
their land without the intrusion of incompatible non-agricultural
uses. Farmers and ranchers have demonstrated that they are more than
willing to restrict their development rights if they can get some
security that their neighbor won’t sell out either. The law requires
the creation of “agricultural preserves” of a minimum of 100 acres
and restricts uses in those preserves to uses compatible with agriculture.
If you care about the rural heritage of our state and the unique open space that this program helps to create and protect, contact the governor and urge him to save the Williamson Act.
Wheeler Announces Candidacy for Visalia City Council
Visalia - Mary Wheeler, who
is active in civic affairs and disability issues, has declared her
candidacy for the Visalia City Council.
“I love
Wheeler is from
She and her husband moved to
Wheeler has been a human services
counselor, a teacher’s aide and a stay-at-home mother who raised two
daughters. She currently serves on various committees in the city,
including the Transit Commission and the Disability Advocacy Committee.
“The reason I got that (Disability
Advocacy Committee) position is that on my interview, I told the lady,
‘I have a mouth and I’m not afraid to use it,’” she said.
Although she doesn’t regularly attend
council meetings, she has reported to them in session.
“I’ve been before the council with
my ad hoc committee, and for the aquatic pool,” she said.
And what would she do if she were elected
to the city council?
“For one, the transit could be a little
better,” she said. “I’m working on that.”
Wheeler expressed concerns by how the
city is expanding.
“We need to not be growing out. We’ve
got to save our land,” she said, explaining that the city should instead
grow upwards.
Wheeler is unpretentious and proud
to be that way.
“I use simple terms,” she said. “I’m an Okie at heart. I’m a friendly person. I love people.”
Council Approves More Flexible Industrial Park
Annexation Plan
Visalia - By a 3-to-2 vote,
the Visalia City Council gave the green light to annex 480 acres into
the city to expand the town’s industrial park. The council approved
a staff recommendation that builds in some flexibility to the original
city concept to offer mostly large acreage lots—40 acres. Council
had approved a plan earlier to annex the land in at least two phases
with just 160 acres allowed for development in the first phase. Inside
those 160 acres the council had agreed to allow four 10-acre parcels
and three 40-acre parcels. The applicant is asking for an exception
to the rule be allowed with all the 10-acre parcels are spoken for.
Staff recommended that the Community Development Director be allowed
to approve the exception when a project asking for the land has at
least 100,000 square feet of building and 50 full time jobs.
After much debate, the council approved
the staff recommendation with council members Landers and Gamboa
voting no opposing plan to allow more smaller
parcels for development.
Greg Collins said, “Ultimately the
marketplace will decide” what sizes are needed.
Both the Visalia Chamber and Visalia
Economic Development supported the flexibility idea citing a consultant
report that said there are no parcels larger than five acres in the
industrial park being marketed for sale. On the other hand, developer
The Allen Group said they had parcels available for lease in the park
that they would consider selling under the right conditions.
Developer of the project MSJ Partners
Patrick Daniels says they hope to have the property annexed into the
city by the end of the year and it was possible some new development
could be underway next year.
Council approved a provision that the north 320 acres could be developed once the south 160 acres was 75% developed.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
July 4, 2007
