Valuation Down in Visalia

Local Research Helps Blueberries Become
Lucrative County Crop

Citrus Disease Hits UC Research Station
Citrus Tristeza Virus Infects Grove at UC's Lindcove Station

Tulare County - Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV) has hit the University of California Lindcove Research Center hard this Spring with the find that the aphid-spread disease has infected 44 trees on the 175-acre station along with 4 trees on the highly guarded Citrus Cloning Protection Program (CCPP) block of trees used for budwood distribution to citrus nurseries.

This block is protected as disease-free but now that protection is in doubt.

Every tree at this station is tested annually each spring to insure the trees are disease free. Unlike past years, this year’s results were startling.

“This is more than a fourfold jump in the incidence of tristeza at Lindcove,” says Citrus Research Board President Ted Batkin. “We saw 3 trees that were positive for tristeza in 2004, 1 tree in 2005 and 3 in 2006 to 44 in spring of 2007  a likely sign that the disease has reached a new level and that aphid activity is high.”

A notice sent to the farmers expecting to get budwood in June says in a May 11^th communication that the “biggest concern of CCPP however, is nine (9) additional high readings of the ELISA test from trees scattered in the Foundation Blocks and Cultivar Bank in combination with some initial Mexican lime reactions of the biological indexing. These findings generate a very uncertain situation for the safe use of the Foundation and Evaluation Blocks trees in the budwood cut of June 2007.

Uncertain Situation

“If the incidence of tristeza in the outdoor Foundation Blocks is found to have risen to a level that indicates that it would not be safe or prudent for the CCPP to distribute budwood from these trees then orders would be filled as best as we are able to from Screenhouse Protected Foundation trees, says the bulletin.

“The CCPP has already registered many of the Screenhouse Protected Foundation Block in-ground trees for budwood distribution as was requested previously by the industry and we are working towards the registration of the potted varieties as well. In addition a review process has already begun for the in-ground planted varieties in an effort to increase the number and variability of the in-ground trees. However, if the CCPP is forced to abandon the outdoor Foundation and Evaluation Blocks as the main source of budwood the distribution patterns will be severely affected, says the bulletin. “The volume of budwood that the CCPP will be able to provide to the industry will be significantly reduced and the trueness to type of varieties will be more difficult to assess.”

The program enjoys the benefit of protection of a foundation block of trees in an industry financed screenhouse that remains free of the disease.

The bulletin notes that if the outdoor distribution of budwood is in danger, “the distribution pattern will be severely affected.”

Batkin says it is likely the presence of the disease comes from surrounding fields of citrus that are no longer being monitored for tristeza nor eradicated by the Tulare County Pest Control District who pulled out of the tristeza eradication business about 5 years ago.

The Central Valley Tristeza Agency continues to operate in southern Tulare County and all of Fresno and Kern, but not in Tulare County’s most productive citrus area near Exeter and Lindsay covered by the Tulare County Pest Control District.

Since the pest control district is not monitoring or eradicating the disease by pulling infected trees, there is build up of inoculums in the area particularly in the southwest part of the grove says the bulletin.

Find Another Location?

Batkin says the citrus industry may need to find another location to maintain disease free budwood and that CTV pressure is likely to get greater and not less. “The research predicted this,” says Batkin, that if left on its own the virus would spread and more severe varieties of the virus would likely be found as well.

The fear is that the spread of the disease will be exponential.

The majority of growers in the Tulare County Pest Control District voted not to participate in the tristeza suppression effort in several votes five and seven years ago.

Farmers who objected to the removal of trees said because of their rootstock, tristeza has only a minor effect on their trees in production. But of course it remains a reservoir of disease source that spread to other farmers’ trees through the aphid activity. The only way to fight the disease is to remove the tree. Scientists say cotton aphids are a main vector for the disease.

“We looked at this scenario ten years ago,” says Ted Batkin and that’s why they solicited help for the 1 and ½ acre screenhouse that protects from flying aphids. But that screenhouse can’t supply the budwood for the citrus industry and if the UC can’t certify the budwood as disease free, they will need to find another place to do it.

Batkin says as concerned as they are about tristeza, the citrus industry’s bigger concern is over the product of other exotic diseases coming to Tulare County  particularly citrus greening that has a stronghold on trees in Florida right now.

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KTIP Marks 60 Years of Local Radio

By Steve Pastis

Porterville - We’re the only talk station in Kings/Tulare County,” said Larry Stoneburner, owner of KTIP AM-1450. “There’s KMJ in Fresno and three stations in Bakersfield and there’s us in between.”

KTIP marked its 60^th anniversary this year—six decades on the radio, as well as at the same Porterville address under the same radio tower. And just how did they celebrate the milestone?

“Everybody got a paycheck,” joked Stoneburner.

When Life Magazine featured an article on the upstart station and its first owner, local Chevrolet dealer Jack Tighe, in a 1947 issue, the magazine reported that revenues were already on the rise, as were the number of letters the station was receiving from its loyal listeners—including 260 in one month!

That year, local programming on KTIP included interviews with people on the street, home interviews and shows such as “Porterville Roundtable,” “Children’s Corner” and “Tip Top Spot,” which featured jukebox music. While the programs have changed over the past 60 years, and even with the addition of some syndicated programming, the focus on local coverage has remained.

This year, KTIP offers local news and talk from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays. Then, after syndicated programming, is “Buyer’s Market” where the station offers goods and services such as restaurant meals and hotel stays on the coast—that were traded for commercial time—and sells them at a discount.

“Everybody wins—and I pay the taxes,” Stoneburner said.

His wife, Mimi, hosts “Body Talk” on Saturday afternoon. Syndicated programs on KTIP include Dennis Prager and The Drudge Report.

Born and raised in Ohio, Stoneburner studied medicine at George Washington University before interning at the University of Cincinnati. He served in Vietnam as a Navy doctor and at a navy hospital in San Diego. He practiced medicine in Orange County while he taught at University of California Irvine. He was the medical director of the San Dimas Medical Group in Bakersfield for 13 years. He also produced his wife’s television show for 10 years.

“That’s how I got here because my wife got her Master’s in communication,” Stoneburner said. “I was her victim.”

The couple created “You Be the Doctor,” three medical “stories” a week at KGET-TV in Bakersfield for 10 years. The segment was syndicated to 17 markets including Pittsburgh and Houston.

“In 90 seconds, we challenged you with ‘How does Harry get rid of the acne?’” recalled Stoneburner. “And then we talked about Harry and his acne and how we reached the decision.”

Together with a partner, Stoneburner acquired KTIP in 1997. The arrangement lasted for three years before he bought out his partner.

“He was an outstanding news guy but never ran a business before,” he said, explaining that the station had some difficulties because it was undercapitalized.

Stoneburner turned the station around and things are still going well at KTIP. He attributes much of this success to a “really good staff.”

Before coming to KTIP, P.K. Whitmire spent four years in Fresno on three different music radio stations under three different names—P.K. the Redhead, Pamela K. and “Nena Evans on Soft Rock on Sundays.” She co-hosted a show there with current KTIP morning radio personality, Hopper.

“After that, I would get on the phone and interview and annoy people,” she said.

At KTIP, Whitmire interviews people for stories, and tells others what news items she wants them to keep an eye and ear out for. In her four years at the station, she has developed a talent for tracking down and reporting what matters to the KTIP audience.

“Our focus is strictly Tulare and Kings counties and I think we do a really good job of getting local leaders and local personalities, and getting the stories from them and putting them on the air,” she said.

So after 60 years, the gameplan at KTIP radio has remained the same. Give your audience local news and programming and you will have a loyal local audience. Time has apparently shown the wisdom of this approach.

“A lot of small radio stations come and go,” Stoneburner said. “We’ve been here a long time.”

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Dinuba Veterans Memorial Building Considered as Convention Center Site

Dinuba - The City of Dinuba is studying the feasibility of transforming the Veterans Memorial Building on Alta Avenue into a community convention center. On May 9^th, a dozen requests for proposals (RFPs) went out and ads will soon be placed soliciting additional proposals, according to City Manager Ed Todd.

The Veterans Memorial was built in the 1950s. State funds paid for the building which was designed primarily to accommodate meetings, social events and memorials for veterans.

“This is one of those World War II ideas,” Todd said. “They’re all over the state. A lot of them have come and gone.”

The city is looking to upgrade Veterans Memorial Building into a convention center that would attract more meetings, training sessions and other functions. The building currently has a large room that includes a stage, as well as five smaller rooms. For over 50 years, it has hosted a variety of events such as meetings and receptions.

Even though the Veterans Memorial Building is still available to rent for events  and transforming it into a Dinuba convention center is only a proposal at this time  its staff reports a slowdown in reservations since the convention center possibility was recently reported in a local newspaper article.

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Immigration Reform on Front Burner in Washington

Tulare County - Valley farm industry advocate Manuel Cunha of Nisei Farmers League is off to Washington again this week for what he expects to be a long awaited showdown over immigration reform. “The Senate will likely pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this month and move into the House,” he believes. But Senator Feinstein has promised that if the comprehensive measure stalls, she will “move on our Ag Jobs bill.”

“We have Senator Specter’s bill from a year ago that is a model for what they could pass now,” he believes. Reid has said “let’s move on it now, enough talking.”

Cunha was joined by a score of farmers from all across the nation this week as a coalition of 33 ag based groups lobbied hard for passage of the measure.

Cunha says he is optimistic the votes are in the Senate to pass one or the other bills. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set a deadline this week for behind the scenes negotiations over a “grand bargain” that will include enhanced border security, tougher sanctions against employers and a path to legal status for millions in the US here illegally. A guest worker plan for agriculture is the key component California farmers say they absolutely need.

Observers feel if the Senate can’t act in the next few days the reform may be put off until after the 2008 election.

Democrats who generally support comprehensive immigration reform are in control in both the Senate and House. News reports say as many as 23 Republicans in the Senate who voted for immigration reform in 2006 will support it again.

Ain’t Going to Happen

Once it passes the Senate it will go to a House conference committee to try to work out some punitive language in a House version in the Flake bill, says Cunha. That included calling for all 11 million illegals here in the US go back to Mexico and stand in line to get entrance back into the country. “This just ain’t going to happen,” vows Cunha. Then there is the issue of how much an applicant will need to pay to apply to work in the US. Cunha says if the fee is too much, a family won’t be able to afford it.

The Ag Jobs bill has a unique coalition supporting it and that includes both labor Democrats and farmers and some Republicans.

Valley farmers say they don’t have enough workers to harvest the crops and tightening the screws further on the border without allowing existing workers to stay here and working legally could mean the collapse of the state’s ag base and increase dependency on foreign food imports.

President Bush has generally been supportive try to work to come up with a compromise in the Congress and used his Saturday speech this past week to push for comprehensive reform.

“I’m looking forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans to get a comprehensive immigration bill done this year. We have a good chance to get it done,” said President Bush.

Senator Feinstein says, “Today, many American farmers are on a precipice. And whether they survive to plant another season is determined largely on one simple question: will there be enough workers to bring in the harvest?” Senator Feinstein said. “There are plenty of people willing and able to do the work. And these workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

“The AgJOBS bill is a two-part bill. Part one would create a pilot program to identify undocumented agricultural workers and legalize the immigration status for those who have been working in the United States for the past two years or more. The second part would create amore usable H-2A program to implement a realistic and effective guest worker program.”

California is the single largest agriculture state in the nation with over $34 billion in annual revenue and approximately 76,500 farms.

Ninety Percent Undocumented

Approximately one million undocumented workers harvest the crops in California each year, with as much as 90 percent of the farm labor payroll made up of undocumented workers. In 2006, growers in California reported that their harvesting crews were down by as much as 20 percent.

A summary of the bill follows:

Undocumented agriculture workers would be eligible for a “blue card” if they can demonstrate having worked in American agriculture for at least 150 work days over the previous two years.

The blue card would entitle the worker to a temporary legal resident status. The total number of blue cards would be capped at 1.5 million over a five-year period, and the program would sunset after five years.

Blue card holders would be allowed to travel in and out of the United States.

The spouses and minor children of blue card workers would be eligible to apply for a blue card if they already live in the United States. This would permit them to work and travel.

Blue card holders would be allowed to work in other, non-agriculture jobs as long as the agriculture work requirements are met.

The blue card holder would be required to work in American agriculture for an additional three years (working at least 150 work days per year) or five years (working at least 100 work days per year), before becoming eligible to apply for a green card to become a permanent legal resident.

Before applying for a green card, participants would be required to pay a fine of $500, show that they are current on their taxes, and show that they have not been convicted of any crime that involves bodily injury, the threat of serious bodily injury, or harm to property in excess of $500.

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What's New

Engineering Firm Eyes Downtown Office Provost and Pritchard engineering company may take about half the former Razzari building some 15,000 square feet of the old brick landmark on Garden and Main, says sources. The company is negotiating for the remaining space at the former car dealership with Family HealthCare Network taking the rest.

To add to their mall, the new owners of the Sequoia Mall have recently completed purchase of the adjacent 24 Hour Fitness gym building that is now vacant. Schottenstein Stores bought the mall last month under the name JLPK-Sequoia L.P.

The recent approval by the Kings County Board of Supervisors to expand the enterprise zone at Highway 43 and Hanford Armona Rd. will help the company Modular Rubber Drains who has recently secured property there to qualify for tax credits, says county economic development chief John Lehn. “The company recently got a permit to operate,” says Lehn noting that officially the formal plan to operate in the Hanford industrial park. “They’ve got deadlines to begin production,” says Lehn. The zone offers tax incentives to manufacturers.

No Deal: COS trustees voted not to sell about 100 acres at the new Tulare COS campus to raise money saying the soft real estate market had made the idea impractical at this time. Officials say they hope to raise needed local monies in some other ways to ad to the state funds to build the new campus.

AgriCenter consultant Lynn Dredge tells the Voice that recent discussion between the AgriCenter and a nationwide farm equipment manufacturer association offers hope the Tulare farm show complex could afford more permanent facilities that would be used by farm equipment manufacturers for shows, displays and test grounds on a permanent basis. The notion depends on the building of the new NASCAR race track next door that is expected to have a parking lot that will accommodate 30,000 visitors’ cars. Most importantly the construction of the new NASCAR complex will mean the AgriCenter will retire their debt and has cash to build for the future, says Dredge. All the hotels nearby could help the farm show as well. Developers of the NASCAR venture are beginning their EIR process this month and a city decision on whether to move forward remains many months away. Not everybody is excited about the track coming to Tulare including Dredge’s other main client, Manuel Faria who owns land around the AgriCenter.

The City of Visalia should know very soon what the Restoration Church of Visalia has decided regarding its participation in the Main Street Theatre, according to Doug Thornton, the Fresno-based attorney who represented the church in the recent litigation. “Their board is still working on it,” he told the Voice. “They’re supposed to have a decision by this Friday.” The result of the litigation allows the church to hold events in the theater, or to decide instead not to do anything there. Thornton would not provide any clue about the church’s upcoming decision. “We haven’t heard anything,” said Visalia City Attorney Alex Peltzer.

Cal Water’s plan to convert about 1300 unmetered homes in Visalia to meters in a year’s time has some at the Visalia city council wondering if the town’s private water purveyor can’t pick up the pace. A new law requires public water systems to install meters on all service connections by 2025. But Tulare will install meters on all users in their town (6700) in one year, says public works director in that town Lew Nelson. In fact, they comply who is installing the meters did over 700 homes in a week. Several Visalia council members speaking at a conservation presentation by Cal Water suggested the company speed up the meter conversion, given 18,000 hook-ups are needed. Cities with meters typically use half the water than those without. “We need to conserve water here,” says council member Greg Collins.

Care Medical has purchased the former Centex office building in the Central Park office complex off Walnut and Central. The transaction was handled by realtor Mark Avedian representing the buyers Matt and Dawn Kneeland on the 9200 square foot office. The office will serve as the company’s corporate location for its seven branch operations located in the central valley. The company, a supplier of home health products and equipment, was founded in 1996 and has grown to 65 employees.

The January freeze was real enough and resulted in layoffs of lots of workers here, right? You wouldn’t know it from the EDD’s unemployment report released April 20 for the months of February and March. Farm jobs are listed at 28,400 for March 2007 and that’s up from 25,800 in March 2006. Farm jobs did fall from 31,500 in February 2007 but the county unemployment rate overall for march 2007 was actually down from the rate in February 2007 and far below March 2006 unemployment rate of 10.3%. The number of unemployed in Tulare County in January 2007 when the freeze hit was 19,300 jumping to 20,700 in February 2007 and back down below the January numbers to 19,100 in March 2007 according to the EDD. Makes you a believer in the notion that this is all guesswork anyway.

The issue of whether to allow a farm store office complex just west of Shirk on the Visalia scenic corridor to be allowed in the county or in the city limits will have to wait for the return of Bob Link to the next city council meeting. Council voted 2 to 2 on the issue with Kirkpatrick and Landers voting to allow the application to move forward in the county and Collins and Gamboa voting to annex the land to allow the city to have control over it. Link will break the tie. Greg Collins told the Voice that annexation would allow a formalization of the ag enterprise zone compact under city control. The applicant Elliott Farms wants to move forward in the county.

On May 10, the Visalia Unified School District held groundbreaking ceremonies for two new elementary schools. The first ceremony was held at Ferguson Avenue and Leila Street in northwest Visalia; the second at Laura Avenue and Pinkham Street in the southeast part of town. At its May 22^nd meeting, the VUSD Board of Education will take action on the naming of the schools. While much attention has focused on the possibility of naming the schools after two notable Visalians, historian and educator Annie R. Mitchell and social advocate Manuel F. Hernandez, a naming committee from each of the schools will propose three additional names. Classes are expected to start at both schools in August 2008.

Although the actual filing deadline is not until July, three members of the Board of Education of the Visalia Unified School District have already announced their candidacies for re-election. Larry Jones, Donna Martin and Robert Stephenson held a social event and invited their families and friends to announce that Jones and Stephenson would seek their third terms and Martin her second. “The board has been working together quite well,” Stephenson said. “There is a good chemistry. We have been working on projects that we want to see through to completion.”

The Visalia Unified School District and the California School Employees Association reached an agreement this month that tentatively provides 1,100 classified workers (non-teachers) with a three-year work contract. The agreement, which still needs to be formally approved by the Board of Education, provides a raise in salaries and adjusts employee health insurance contributions. “The agreement has been decided,” said Board of Education Member Robert Stephenson. “It’s just a matter of going through the process. It will be approved (by the board). The employees of the district overwhelmingly approved it.”

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Kings County - Kings County residents will get a new, $112 million medical center within the next few years to meet the growing region’s demand for healthcare services for years to come, a local Adventist Health official announced on May 3^rd.

The Adventist Health corporate board in Roseville approved the project on April 30, and groundbreaking is expected this summer for the three-story, 144-bed medical center at Seventh Street and Mall Drive in Hanford. The new facility will replace Adventist Health/Hanford Community Medical Center, a single-story, 64-bed hospital that was built in 1963 on Greenfield Avenue.

Features of the 175,000-square-foot hospital will include private rooms and a mission-style design with a dramatic, two-story rotunda entrance. Expansion areas are also planned for additional beds as the need arises.

The new medical center will take health care in Kings County to the next level, said Rick Rawson, CEO and president of the Adventist Health network of services in the Central Valley, including Hanford Community and Central Valley General Hospital in Hanford and Selma Community Hospital in Selma.

“The new facility will do that through private rooms, more space and beds and an updated layout that promotes excellent patient care,” he said.

The medical center will increase healthcare capacity in Kings County, where population growth has outpaced expansion at the three hospitals in Kings County. From 1995 to 2005, the population of the county increased by 25% to 144,000 while the number of licensed hospital beds increased by only 2.5%, or four beds, to 161. Hanford Community has been operating at capacity for several years with the highest occupancy rate of all 19 hospitals in the Adventist Health system.

“The new campus also supports our vision of being a regional healthcare network that is recognized as the best place to receive care, the best place to practice medicine and the best place to work,” Rawson said. “We will create a landmark medical center that our community, our physicians and our employees can take pride in. We also are locating it near Highway 198 for easy access.”

Physicians are pleased to see the project move forward, said Dr. Nicholas Reiber, chief of the Consolidated Medical Staff at the three hospitals.

“We’re excited about what this means for our patients’ care and comfort,” he said. “Having private rooms, more beds and updated facilities will enhance healing and help to recruit more physicians to the area.”

Adventist Health leaders began discussing the need for new facilities in the late 1990s and purchased 31 acres on Mall Drive in 2000. Working closely with city and county officials, hospital leaders proceeded with developing plans and securing building permits and state approval for the new site, investing $5 million in the project during the past seven years. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development approved the plans in late March, and the Adventist Health board gave its approval in late April.

Funds for the Kings County medical center will come through $90 million in community development bonds, coupled with $22 million generated through local operations and gifts. The project differs from many major hospital construction projects in that no public taxes are required.

“We are grateful for the community’s support demonstrated through our patients who trust us to care for them, our volunteers who donate their time, our partners who give to Kings Regional Health Foundation and the community members who serve on our hospital and foundation boards,” Rawson said.

After groundbreaking this summer, construction is expected to take 26 months, Rawson said. Representatives for the builder, HBE Corp., based in St. Louis, expect the project to add about 200 jobs during construction.

The new medical center will hold emergency, laboratory, surgery and other departments on the first floor while nursing and intensive care units will be housed on the second and third floors. The 144 inpatient beds will include 120 medical/surgical beds and 24 intensive care unit beds, while the emergency department will hold 26 beds.

Other features of the new medical center will include expansion areas on the second and third floors. Construction crews will build the outer walls for 33,000 additional square feet on the two floors to house a total of 60 future additional beds when needed. An adjacent imaging center is also planned.

As Adventist Health begins this project, its leaders will be planning for the network’s next major move: relocating Central Valley General Hospital to the Hanford Community campus. State earthquake laws under Senate Bill 1953 will prohibit hospital leaders from using the Douty Street facility as an acute care hospital starting in 2013. The plan is to move Central Valley medical/surgical and emergency departments to the new campus, and renovate the Hanford Community campus into a women’s hospital, Rawson said.

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By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - Invoking an urgency provision to avoid delay Tulare County Supervisors fired off a letter blasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to eliminate the Williamson Act farmland conservation program.

Supervisor Connie Conway urged the board to direct the county staff to send off the letter citing the impact Schwarzenegger’s proposal would have on counties, including Tulare County, which last year received $3.4 million in the current fiscal year. The governor wants to use the estimated $39.1 the Williamson cost the state each year to help balance the upcoming budget.

In his budget update announcement Schwarzenegger said “We looked at various difference areas and that was one of the areas we took out, because it was $40 million we though that we can use that money for better uses.”

The Williamson Act allows farmers to commit their land use for 10 years for agricultural use in exchange for a low property tax rate. There are penalties for canceling the contracts, but that seldom happens, said George Finney, in charge of the county’s program. He said the county has several thousand contracts which are automatically renewed each January, unless exit options are exercised.

Gov. Gray Davis tried in 2002 to eliminate the program but that attempt failed.

County Counsel Kathleen Bales-Lange said every time the Williamson Act program faces cancellation the county, like 20 others who have Williamson Act contracts, “finds itself between a rock and a hard place”

The county could face being sued for breach of contract by the property owners with Williamson contracts if the county cancels them because it is not being reimbursed by the state or the county takes action to sue the state. Bales-Lang said she was surprised the Governor is seeking elimination of the program this year because he didn’t try it last year.

She said her office might have to “dust off” the legal documents prepared for the prior state attempts to halt the Williamson Act.  Counties will Williamson Act contracts have been fighting the state over the issue in recent years, she explained.

Board Chairman Allen Ishida, a farmer, is adamant that the Williamson Act contract program must be maintained saying “a contract is a contract,” adding that breaking such an agreement would cost the county would be an expensive situation. He explained that property owners have contracts with the county and the county has agreements with the state.

In other action Supervisors:

—Approved the proposed increase in fee adjustments for the Environmental Health Services Health Fees to cover cost for the fiscal year 2006-7. The new fees, effective July 1, are expected to cover the estimated $249,711

Among the fee increases a $21 increase for a roadside food stand from $209 to $230; a $31 increase in non-profit food kitchen with food preparation and a $9 increase with no food preparation; a $12 filing fee for plan review, $14 increase in restaurant fee plan review, retail food facility, public spa, interactive water fountain feature, pubic water system and land use site reviews from the current $86 to $100. Fees for swimming pool inspections jumped $32 to $300 for a 5,000 gallon pool and $24 more to $ 350 for a 5,001 to 40,000 gallon pool.

—Approved responses to the 2006-7 Grand Jury reports on the Bob Wiley Detention Facility Sanitation and the Jail holding cells.

—Heard a presentation by Rita Woodard, Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector/Register who introduced assistants and key employees and review the goals and achievements of the offices which were consolidated last year.

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Tulare County - Despite efforts by dairymen to limit the problem, manure from dairy cows is contributing to groundwater salts and nitrates found in Tulare County groundwater. Now a program to monitor and cut waste discharged into the aquifers of the central valley has been adopted by the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board. The new rules were adopted May 3 to cover existing dairies in central California.

Nitrates are found throughout Tulare County and even in the foothills where they are found in rock.

Along the citrus belt of the county, nitrates are believed to have some from over fertilization or even septic tank human based pollution. The issue has become so critical in some mostly eastside towns, now require deeper wells to be dug or communities are lobbying to get surface water for drinking.

Dairies are just one of the many sources in a statewide nitrate problem that may affect 15% of California water wells, says a USGS study. Shallow wells show a 20% nitrate problem in ag areas. The same USGS study found 40% of almond growing area wells were contaminated.

Despite assertions to the contrary there is little evidence dairy manure is polluting towns drinking water sources.

Still evidence that dairy manure finds its way into the water table is clear. A staff summary done by the water board April 11 says a groundwater analysis done from the year 2000 through June of 2006 at 93 dairies in Tulare County showed pollution problems. The analysis shows that of the 177 wells tested, some 39% of the wells sampled had nitrate concentrations greater than the allowable level in drinking water. The sampling of 425 supply wells at the dairies showed at least one of the wells at 63% of the dairies had a nitrate polluted well.

To get a handle on how nitrate pollution happens, the University of California undertook a study of five dairies in the central valley. Researchers targeted dairies “known to have good water management and land application practices.” These dairies were located in areas of high risk groundwater  typically a shallow water table and porous soils. The UC analysis found that even with good practices salt and nitrates from manure were found in groundwater. The study concluded the “the greatest threat comes from the land application area and practices used there.”

Now all dairies will have to monitor groundwater at their dairies. The rules will require dairy owners to demonstrate that manure and manure water from lagoons is applied to crops at an appropriate rate and they are controlling runoff into surface water  less of a problem in the southern valley compared to the north valley. Dairymen will have to install monitoring wells.

The new rule covers about 1600 existing dairies in the central valley. Monitoring of the dairies is expected to be phased starting with several hundred sites suspected of having high nitrate levels. Speculation is that many of these dairies are older, smaller operations.

The new rules will affect dairies operating on October 17, 2005 who have not expanded by 15% in size since that date to be covered by the water board order.  Dairies who have expanded are already covered.

The new waste discharge requirements fall into four categories:

• Water management plan

• Nutrient management plan

• Environmental monitoring

• Report and record keeping

Dairy industry groups were generally supportive of the approach to phase in more stringent controls but said they are concerned about the costs. The board indicates the new rules could mean a 1000 cow dairy could have an annual cost of $36,000.

Some environmentalists said the water board was being too easy on dairies calling the adoption of the phased approach “a license to pollute.”

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By Steve Pastis

Porterville - The Tulare County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution identifying the Porterville Fairgrounds as the preferred site for a new courthouse in Porterville. The 5-0 vote followed a presentation by Tulare County Superior Court Judge Paul Vortmann.

While the vote was a necessary step to show the state Administrative Office of the Courts that Tulare County supported the location selected by City of Porterville, the main challenge—the approval by the state legislature of the funding needed to build the facility— is a much more important step.

“It’s a place to start,” said Porterville City Manager John Longley, “It indicates there’s common thought, but the focus really is on the financing for the development.”

The 90,000-square-foot courthouse is expected to cost $81.2 million. Plans call for nine courtrooms in the facility that would handle civil, criminal, family law and probate cases. If approved, the courthouse would be completed by 2012, according to Vortmann.

Porterville is currently high on the state list of proposed locations for a new courthouse. The current courthouse on Morton Avenue is considered to be one of the most deficient in the state.

The judicial council of the state Administrative Office of the Courts has already approved $4.4 million to acquire a site for the project. The site would have to be at least six acres to accommodate not only a new courthouse but also the accompanying buildings such as district attorney and probate offices.

Longley said the much needed new Porterville Courthouse was granted an additional $4.4 million over last January’s state budget after a finance letter was inserted into the budget in April of this year. “The money went in the May Revise but we believe it is still in there now that the governor has made his budget changes,” announced this week. Longley says a hearing on the proposal was discussed at a state Senate hearing in recent days. The money would be available July 1. The site at the Porterville Fairgrounds could also house a new holding jail facility if the county can secure money to build it, says county supervisor Allen Ishida. Still at issue, what happens to the existing courthouse?

There are not a lot of sites in Porterville that will serve this need, said County Supervisor Mike Ennis, who also said that the fair board agreed the courthouse can be built on their current site as long as they get fair value for the property.

“The value of the fairground site is that it has street access on Plano and Olive, and it’s close to downtown,” Longley said. “An alternative beneficial site to the fair board can be found elsewhere. The main benefit to the fair moving is because of traffic and other factors associated with the usage of the site.”

The fair board has expressed an interest in moving to a larger location and is considering a 36-acre location near Porterville Airport.

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Lindsay - At a news conference in Lindsay on May 16^th, the results of a new study showed that chlorpyrifos, one of the most commonly used pesticides in the Central Valley, has been found in the bodies of people who live near orange groves.

With results from a previous study indicating that the air contained high levels of chlorpyrifos, community members wondered if the insecticide made its way into their bodies as well. Results from that study showed that chlorpyrifos levels in Lindsay’s air exceeded levels of concern derived from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies by up to 11 times. To answer this question, 12 Lindsay residents provided urine samples during the height of the 2006 summer spray season.

The study found that 11 of the 12 people tested had above average levels of the primary chlorpyrifos breakdown product in their urine, and seven of the eight women had amounts above the “acceptable” level for pregnant and nursing women calculated from U.S. EPA data.

“They might ignore poisons in our air, but how can they tell us it doesn’t matter that nerve toxins are in our bodies and in the bodies of our children?” asked Irma Arrollo, President of the community group El Quinto Sol de América.

“We haven’t seen the study yet,” said Glenn Brank, spokesperson for the California Department of Regulation. “We don’t know if the study has been peer-reviewed and from a scientific standpoint, that’s important.

“Chlorpyrifos has been for some time a chemical of regulatory concern,” he said, adding that this was not due to any health concern associated with the pesticide, but instead based on the fact that it was found more frequently than expected.

“It wouldn’t be surprising to see it detected in urine,” he said. “We would be surprised to see it in high quantities.”

Chlorpyrifos is an insecticide that is a white crystal-like solid with a strong odor. It does not mix well with water, so it is usually mixed with oily liquids before it is applied to crops or animals. It may also be applied to crops in a capsule form and has been widely used in homes and on farms. In the home, it is used to control cockroaches, fleas, and termites; it is also used in some pet flea and tick collars. On the farm, it is used to control ticks on cattle and as a spray to control crop pests.

Breathing the air in an area in which chlorpyrifos has recently been sprayed may produce a variety of effects on the nervous system including headaches, blurred vision, watering of the eyes (called lacrimation), excessive salivation, runny nose, dizziness, confusion, muscle weakness or tremors, nausea, diarrhea, and sudden changes in heart rate. The effect depends on the amount in the air and length of time exposed.

Ingesting chlorpyrifos orally through contaminated food containers or, in the case of children, putting objects of hands in their mouth after touching chlorpyrifos may cause similar symptoms.

There is no information at present to show that chlorpyrifos either effects the ability of humans to reproduce or causes human birth defects. It is also not known whether chlorpyrifos can cause cancer in people. Animal studies have not shown that it causes cancer. The EPA has not classified it for carcinogenicity.

According to statistics at pesticideinfo.com, 358,038 lbs. of chlorpyrifos was used in Tulare County in 2005, the most recent year documented. The majority of it was used on oranges in Tulare County, but in the state, cotton receives the biggest amount of the pesticide. The 2005 total represents and increase of about 16% over 2004 and is almost double that of 2003.

Brank points out, however, that statewide the use of the pesticide went down significantly from 1995 (over 3 million lbs.) to 2005 (under 2 million lbs.). He expects the number to continue its decline because of voluntary grower efforts to reduce the use of pesticides, as well as some newer alternatives to chlorpyrifos and other older generation pesticides.

New insect grower regulator (IGR) chemicals only attack the pest they were designed to target. Smart sprayer technology electrically pinpoint sprays just the target.

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