In the Omnibus Appropriations bill signed by President
George Bush last month, Feinstein had inserted wording that all the stakeholders
in the forest should mediate as soon as possible. However, after one meeting
held by a mediator last summer, the mediator apparently decided the sides
were too far apart for further discussions, said Kent Duysen,
co-owner with his brother of the mill.
Others, including Feinstein's staff, still have hope.
Section 428 that Feinstein had put into the appropriations
bill basically states:
“The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service shall seek to collaborate with stakeholders or parties, regarding
harvest operations outside of the Giant Sequoia National Monument in relation
to the decisions approving the Revised Ice Timber Sale and Fuels Reduction
Project and the Frog Project, and taking into account the terms of the
contracts for those projects, and in relation to the Record of Decision
for the Kings River Project, and as appropriate in regard to other disputed
fuel reduction projects in the area.”
Duysen said the mediator met
with forest officials, timber interests and environmentalists last summer.
He reported the mediator said after that meeting that
she felt there was not much likelihood of an agreement and in her report
issued in the fall, she said there was not much
chance of success of mediating those sales.
“There's nothing new. No new efforts to mediate issue,”
said Duysen since last fall.
Feinstein's effort was directed at finding common ground
on the use of commercial logging as a management tool on the forest, said
a person in the senator's office.
The person said it is important that logging be used
in hazardous fuel reduction efforts on the forest and that the closing
of Sierra Forest Products in Terra Bella, the last mill still open south
of Sonora, would greatly reduce the options the forest service has to
manage the forest and the monument.
The spokesperson said the senator is working with the
forest service and together they are looking for projects to keep the
mill open until a long-term solution can be found.
Duysen is still hopeful a solution
can be found. He told the Voice last month that unless something is done
quickly, the mill will run out of logs and close by the end of this summer.
“We have a lot more trees than what we need,” said Terrill,
explaining that the over-forestation is stressing trees because there
is not enough water and nutrients to go around.
“We do have a controversy on the forest – one on the
monument and the other on commercial timbering,” she said. She said efforts
to create “Defensible Zones” – areas where trees are thinned to protect
populated areas – have generally been blocked by lawsuits filed by environmental
groups. She said the debate is over the width of the zones, with some
wanting them thinner than others.
“We have concerns about the homes on the mountain and
the fuel load,” she said.
Bill Corcoran, with the Sierra Club, said last month
that the organization is concerned with the overall health of the forest,
and not bent on seeing the mill go away. However, he said any plans to
remove trees will have to look closely at water and habitat and the impacts
logging would have on those.
Terrill admitted having the mill close would hamper their
efforts to improve the health of the forest. She said one of the two missions
of the USFS is a sustaining supply of timber.
She said the SNF is trying to come up with some timber
sales to keep the mill open, but noted any timber sale is “a continuous
issue.”
“We have removed fire as a tool. We can't just use fire,
we have houses, roads and people on the forest,” she stressed, explaining
that burning the forest is no longer a viable tool.
Don Conner, president of the Sportsman Council of Central
California, said he is not holding out a lot of hope a solution can be
found.
“Let's see what happens down the road. The environmentalists
would rather burn [the trees] than cut them,” he said.
The
Conner is also concerned that the monument will be made
a part of the park service and that
Duysen said there are eight
tree-cutting projects in Kings River drainage area on the
The device, known as an ANDROS F6A, made by Remotec, a Tennessee-based company that is a division of aerospace
giant Northup Grumman, is designed to monitor, test, diffuse or move various
devices, including chemical, biological and conventional bombs.
Sheriff Bill Wittman said the
robot will permit the sheriff's department to retain its FBI rating as
a certified bomb detection unit. Such units must have a bomb robot by
2009 to retain the rating.
The 485-pound robot is slim enough to roll through a
single-wide doorway yet tough enough to move across rough terrain. It
stands just under 4-feet-9 inches tall with a manipulator arm extending
to nine feet permitting it to inspect and dispose of devices in hard-to-reach
spots, according to county staff reports. ANDROS F6A is equipped with
cameras and is controlled remotely, allowing bomb technicians to monitor
and test suspicious devices from a safe distance.
Several other Valley law enforcement agencies have the
same robot, enabling the county to easily replace a part or bring in trained
personnel if the need arises, local officials say. Remotec
has built more than 1,000 bomb-disposal robots for law enforcement across
the nation, including
The standardization of the units allows technicians from nearby agencies to readily fill in when needed as well as borrow the devices if required.
Tulare County -
Bryan Smith said
Smith said
His system generally takes an hour to 90 minutes, he
said.
Although he didn't get into specifics of how his system
works, Smith said it involves a washing device placed into the tanks which
eliminates bacteria and other materials. He said the process results in
an extremely low number of cleanings not meeting the strict industry standards.
Sources familiar with the food grade commodity standards say the Vita Clean system is among the top, if not the top, in meeting or exceeding those standards.
Tulare County -
“The basic premise I've taken before spending any money
is you're marketing to two groups,” said Coyne, who spent the last decade
working as the county's media officer and will continue to do so while
overseeing the effort to attract tourists. “There are people who've never
been here, and then we have 400,000 people who live here. For instance,
there are people in
The idea of keeping
“Our philosophy is we're going to do our best to increase
tourism in
In the past, the county has left the job of attracting
visitors to groups such as the Visalia Convention and Visitors Bureau,
the Sequoia Foothills Chamber of Commerce and the Tulare County Economic
Development Corporation's Sequoia Valley Visitors Council, a formerly
independent coalition of local chambers of commerce and other similar
groups spread throughout the county.
Money to fund the county's effort to draw tourists, Ishida
said, became available when it took over firefighting duties it had been
paying Cal Fire to handle. While there were no issues about the job of
wrangling visitors others agencies were doing, Ishida said the county
wanted particular outcomes based on the money it's willing to spend.
“I want to see measured results,” he said.
That stated, it's still too
early for the formulation of a long-term concrete plan for promoting the
county as a vacation destination.
“We're kind of playing it by ear to see where the program
goes with new concepts,” Ishida said. “We'll be checking it in six months,
before the new budget cycle.”
This is where Coyne comes in. For the last six months,
the county's tourism czar has been looking at efforts made so far, gathering
materials, attending meetings and talking to the people already doing
the job of promoting
For the county's first large foray into the marketing
of itself, Coyne, with the supervisors' financial blessings, is going
to spend some $10,000 building an interactive online map with eMarketing360,
a Santa Barbara-based promotions company with clients including the Marriott
Corporation, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and Yosemite Valley.
The “eMap” will highlight
“It allows you to click on a location --
Because building it will require recording images of
the various sites to be included, and since those images should be taken
when the sites are looking their best,
That will leave Coyne time to work on not reinventing
the wheel. The county's tourism efforts, he says, will in large part be
directed toward supporting the efforts of those already at work promoting
the county to potential visitors. As for county participation in ongoing
efforts, the county's current largest promoter seems open to the help.
“The county's participation would sure enhance our ability
to implement our marketing plan,” said Paul Saldana, CEO of the EDC. “It's
been a very successful plan. We've been able to get everyone on board
with a single brand.”
The “single brand” is
“If [the county] did the Bay Area show on our own it
would cost us thousands of dollars,” he said.
The county will also be partnering with the SVVC on an
iPod giveaway designed to make World Ag Expo attendees more aware of what
the rest of the county has to offer visitors, and it will be sponsoring
a photography contest to help build a stock of images showing the best
the area has to offer. Also in the works is a partnership on an outdoor
activities guide, as well as spending on regional advertising, and there
will certainly be an effort to promote agricultural tourism.
All of this will cost more than a little money, but the
county sees it as a worthy investment in exploiting an untapped natural
resource that's likely to pay a good return.
“We'd all like to attract more jobs here, but you can't wave a wand and make that happen. We're still going to do economic development, but this is a way to bring good, clean money,” Coyne said. “Also, it's a pride thing. We live in a beautiful part of the country. Why not share it?”
Visalia - The S.B. Restaurant Co., the company that operates 42
Elephant Bar Restaurants in
“We're going to tear that building down and build a brand
new Elephant Bar Restaurant building,” said Mark Seferian,
vice president of development and real estate for the La Mirada-based
company. “It should be open for the holidays. The whole project should
take about six months from start to finish.”
His estimate allows up to four months to
obtain the final permits from the City of
“If the city goes faster, we'll go faster,” Seferian said. He added that so far, “the city has been extremely
cooperative.”
Until the final paperwork is approved, however, neither
Seferian nor Millar would say when demolition would begin
on the old Sanwa Bank building.
“The new 7,834-square-feet restaurant will not require
any additional parking spaces. “There's a two-story parking deck right
behind us,” he said.
The new restaurant is expected to provide 120 full and
part-time positions. Hiring could begin as early as “the third quarter,”
according to Seferian.
The first Elephant Bar Restaurant was opened in the 1980s by David Nancarrow, the founder of the Carrow's family restaurant chain. Elephant Bar Restaurants, which feature Asian and Polynesian dishes, as well as pizza, burgers, pasta and sandwiches, are known for their trademark safari décor and tend to attract a young upscale crowd.
Big Hunting and Fishing Store Coming to Visalia?
Visalia - A Carlsbad
California-based developer, Foursquare Properties, has the former Costco
building on
Mr. Hay told the Voice he “could not disclose
any information at this time” but suggested in a couple of weeks he
might be able to say something.
The building – owned by Costco – is 115,000
square feet and sits adjacent the former Home Base building nearly the
same size and also vacant. Costco left for its new location as of October
2007. Home Base closed its doors way back in 2001.
The vacancy has created a ghost town atmosphere
in what was one of Visalia's busiest shopping centers in years past,
anchored now only by Circuit City as a major draw for the rest of the
mom and pop shops in the center.
Our source tells us the developer plans
to “re-tenant” the big space with two or three retailers similar to
what another developer did at the former Target building just to the
north on Mooney. That former big box is now home to Jo-Ann's, DDs
and Petco.
Outdoor Store Coming
An intriguing possibility is the close
relationship between Foursquare and the big outdoor retailer Cabela,
based in
Foursquare is the “preferred developer”
for publicly traded Cabela and has worked on a handful of new stores for them
including more than one former Costco building. In
Sportsman's Warehouse Files
In
As for the development firm – Foursquare,
the privately held company with office locations in California, Utah
and Oregon, the firm was organized as a series of partnerships and controls
over 4 million square feet of retail and office development in the U.S.
– the largest of which is in Salt Lake City, a shopping center with
1.5 million square feet.
The
In recent weeks the Voice reported that
the former
What's New
In September of this year Family Health Care
Network will be greeting 10 medical students who will work out of
the Visalia and the Porterville offices of the community health center,
announced Harry Foster, president and chief executive officer. Family
Health signed an agreement with A.T. Still School of Osteopathic Medicine
of Mesa, Ariz., which is affiliated with Kirksville College of Osteopathic
Medicine, to train the students studying to become Doctors of Osteopathic
Medicine. Foster said a DO is almost identical to becoming an MD and
they are easily accepted into medical residency programs. The 10 students
are enrolled at A.T. Still this year and will begin the second year
of their program in Tulare County.
Preliminary flood plain maps updated
from FEMA will change status of hundreds or even thousands of properties
in Tulare County, according to government sources who have seen the
maps. “Some folks will be in the new 100 year flood plain zone and others
who are in now will be out,” says a city planner. FEMA plans to make
the maps public by the end of January or early February. The changes
follow in the steps of a new preliminary flood plain map for Kings County
that was made public a few weeks ago (available online) adding nearly
150,000 acres designated as a high risk that requires flood insurance.
Until the new maps are made final, however, property owners can buy
flood insurance based on the old maps that may cost them less on a yearly
basis.
Snowpack builds above normal after
this past week's storms packed on the powder in the Sierra. Figures
for January 7 show statewide snowpack at 111% of normal for this date
and in the southern Sierra 131%. That's up from just 64% as of January
3 showing the storm almost doubled the snowpack. Indeed, readings from
Farwell Gap, at the top of the Kaweah watershed, show snow water content
jumping from about 10 inches January 1 to near 18 inches January 7 and
five feet of snow. Kaweah Delta Conservation District official Vic Hernandez
says overall the Kaweah watershed is at 135% of normal for this time
of the year and 56% of April average. “We're way ahead of where we were
this time last year.” The wet stuff will be welcome given the fact that
NOAH considers our area in their latest drought monitor map to be in
a severe drought condition. The storms did cause damage in Kings County
largely due to high winds forcing a local and state declaration of emergency
in the past few days.
An investment group led by Tom Gaebe
and Doug Lawrence is negotiating with the City of Visalia to build
a new office complex on the corner of Acequia and Conyer next to the
office building owned by John Barbis. The new building is expected to
be offered for medical suites, among others. Doug Lawrence told the
Voice the talks have just begun.
Retail shops are building up at Joe
Gong's Food 4 Less shopping center on Dinuba Hwy. Gong has snagged
a CVS Pharmacy, under construction, a new Panda Express, as well as
several smaller stores including Verizon, the Cigarette Store, a nail
and hair salon and a new Mexican restaurant in the center. Gong is working
on a plan to bring in an exercise gym into the former Fairway space
as well.
Did PG&E violate rules marketing
against the start-up San Joaquin Valley Power Authority's plan to take
over as electricity provider for a number of Central Valley communities?
That will be decided by the CPUC after a late February trial in front
of the body with a decision likely by April. PG&E tried to have
the complaint thrown out but the utility board indicated in a December
ruling that PG&E may have misled the CPUC. Tulare County was part
of the power group until recently when they got cold feet. If the PUC
finds against PG&E the penalty will likely be a fine.
The Tulare County Fair Board of Directors
hired Geoff Hinds, fairs and festivals manager of the San Mateo
County Fair, to lead the Tulare County Fair and Great Western Exposition.
“This was a very tough decision for the board because interim CEO Susie
Godfrey came in during a crisis situation and helped us through two
difficult years,” noted board Chairman Peter Alvitre. “However, when
it came down to choosing the leader with the most fair management experience,
we had to select Geoff. We're very excited about what he will bring
to our fair.” Hinds, 28, manages fairs and festivals for the San Mateo
County Fair, a 10-day event that draws 150,000 people per year. He has
also generated new business, community involvement and revenue through
the fairground's San Mateo County Event Center. He has been with the
San Mateo County Fair since 2004.
Measure T, the city of Visalia's
half-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2004, is generating
more revenue than anticipated, the Visalia City Council was told Monday.
The annual audit conducted by M. Green and Co of Measure T, which generates
money for police and fire protection, found that in the three years
of the tax increase it has generated $926,307 more than what was expected.
This year, Measure T money will add five more police officers and pay
for the construction of the new northwest fire station. The $1.6 million
balance of Measure T funds for police will be used to help pay for the
public safety building to be constructed in the East Downtown Area.
AT&T Inc. announced Monday that it has signed a new five-year contract with Visalia Unified School District, making it the primary service provider for district and it will deliver AT&T OPT-E-MAN® service, a switched Ethernet service to connect the district's 24 elementary schools, newcomer language center, four middle schools, four comprehensive high schools and other related administrative and educational sites within the district. With the AT&T OPT-E-MAN network solution, VUSD will experience an enhanced network bandwidth that will be as much as 33 times larger than the current network bandwidth. This will enable VUSD to efficiently and reliably send voice, video and data applications among sites in the district.
Tulare County - Congressman Devin
Nunes will endorse Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway's bid for
the 34th District Assembly seat, which encompasses most of Tulare County,
Conway announced this week.
Nunes is scheduled to appear at a major
fund-raiser for Conway's campaign scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan.
31 at the Visalia Convention Center. More than 500 people are expected
to attend.
The 34th District assembly seat is now
held by Bill Maze, R-Visalia. His wife, Becky Maze, and San Bernardino
county resident Bob Smith, a former Maze aide, also are expected to
seek the seat. The Republican primary is June 3.
“I feel very honored to have Devin's support,”
Conway said. “He knows the value of hard work, local focus and fiscal
restraint. In many ways, we think a lot alike.”
Conway was elected in 2000 and is serving
her second term as supervisor. She serves as chairman of Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, is past president
of the California State Association of Counties, and now serves on the
board of the National Association of Counties.
Conway represents District 2 on the Tulare
County Board of Supervisors. She became the board's chair on Tuesday,
Jan. 8.
Tuesday was a particularly busy day for
Conway. After attending the local board meeting, she drove to Sacramento
to attend the State of the State address by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Conway will deliver her State of the County
address at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15, in the Tulare County Board of Supervisors
chambers, 2800 West Burrel Ave.
The Conway campaign is collecting sponsors for the event. Tables for eight cost $3,600, the maximum any individual or company can contribute by law to an Assembly campaign during a single election cycle. Individual tickets will be available later this month. Persons interested in attending the event can contact Steve Griffiths at Conway's campaign office at 684-1800.
Visalia - With nearly a third of
all surgeries being done in free-standing ambulatory clinics these days,
two surgical-based medical groups in Visalia are looking at a possible
merger. That's the word from principals with both the Center for Ambulatory
Medicine and Surgery (CAMS) and Cypress Surgery Center. CAMS is represented
by Dr. Burton Redd, a medical facility owned by 10 partners that does
about 4,000 surgeries a year. Redd says the group would merge with Cypress
Surgery Center that is owned 40% by Kaweah Delta along with a group
of 20 local doctors.
Speaking for Cypress, Dr. Alex Lechtman
told the Voice the two groups have been discussing the idea for several
years and “right now it seems to make sense.” Lechtman says the benefit
will be improved medical care for the patient in an enlarged Cypress
Surgery Center, and strong group “to attract more physicians to Visalia
– a major problem here.”
Dr. Redd, an orthopedic surgeon, agrees,
as more surgeries take place on an outpatient basis, the “benefits are
real.” It used to be an orthopedic procedure might require a two-inch
incision that would require a stay of three days in the hospital. Now
it is done on a same day basis with a minor incision. The impact on
quality of care, time savings, and cost “is dramatically better” than
it used to be, he says.
Redd adds that advances in anesthetics
have helped accelerate the trend.
Besides the orthopedic procedures that
Dr. Redd specializes in, increasingly cosmetic procedures as well as
urological, gynecological and dental surgeries – some exceedingly complicated
– are being done on an outpatient basis.
Dr. Lechtman, a plastic surgeon, remarks
that “we will be a sort of one-stop center for all kinds of procedures.”
Redd says if the merger goes through,
the CAMS group would close their practice on Noble in their leased building
and join forces with Cypress on Akers – part of the extended KDDH campus
there.
Kaweah Delta CEO Lindsay Mann says the
possible merger is “good news for the hospital and the community,” noting
that the Cypress complex, built in 1994, was designed with a second
phase expansion that will allow more operating rooms.
While hospitals and groups of independent
surgeons are sometimes at odds in some communities – competitors as
it were – that would not be the case here since Kaweah Delta has a stake
in Cypress. The popularity of such surgical centers is clear from the
statistics that the number of surgical clinics nationwide has jumped
by 25% from 2001 to 2006.
No Loss of Jobs
Despite the strong interest by all three
parties, the merger and expansion of Cypress could take some time with
the two physician groups suggesting it could be late 2008 until a final
decision is made and the idea moves forward.
Dr. Lechtman says the merging of the two
groups will mean more state-of-the-art equipment and better utilization
in one facility helping to cut costs. Currently, Cypress does about
3,000 surgical cases a year. He emphasizes that the closure of CAMS
won't mean any loss of jobs by ancillary personnel.
One implication of the merger could mean another new surgical center that has been proposed by Orthopaedics Associates of which Dr. Redd is a member, may not now move forward. That center had been proposed for Plaza Dr.
Visalia - Officials with the city
of Visalia are expecting the drop in new housing starts to continue
well into 2008.
Last year saw housing construction plummet
in the city. The number of new housing permits dipped to 869 in 2007,
down 34 percent from the 1,317 permits issued for new housing in 2006,
and down 40 percent from the 1,450 permits issued in 2005. The number
of new home permits issued last year was the lowest in six years in
the city.
The drop in new housing construction contributed
to an overall drop in city building activity last year, although, as
City Manager Steve Salomon pointed out, it was still the third best
year on record.
For all of last year, building valuation
peaked at $367.4 million, down 25 percent from 2006's figure of $490.7
million.
Housing building activity was down across
the board. Multi-family units were down, with only 326 units constructed
last year compared to 429 the previous year. Valuation for multi-family
was $30.7 million, down from 2006 but still substantially higher than
any of the years prior to 2006.
The city did show strong activity in commercial
construction, both retail and industrial. Led by the construction of
a new Toyota dealership, the new Costco store and another grocery store,
commercial building valuation amounted to $93.6 million, an increase
of 13 percent over 2006.
Michael Olmos, assistant city manager,
said it appears commercial and industrial construction will remain strong
this year.
Debbie Gleason, sales person for Mangano
Homes, is hopeful the slowdown in the new housing market is coming to
an end. “We're hoping to do that [equal last year's sales] or exceed
it for next year.”
However, she admitted it the slowest she
has seen in her 15 years in new home sales.
Gleason added the time is right for buyers.
She noted that interest rates are still low, that prices are as good
today as they have been in years and there are a lot of incentives being
offered by builders to new home buyers.
“We have to stay with it. It's a different game right now. Two years ago, it was sellers market, today it's the opposite,” said Gleason.
Visalia - Changes to the downtown
area dominated questions submitted to Visalia City Manager Steve Salomon
following state of the city address to the Visalia Rotary Club last
week.
Salomon, who is in his 11th year with
the city, highlighted the past year in the city and looked into 2008
for the group of civic and business leaders.
Salomon noted that efforts to suppress
gangs in the city and countywide was both an accomplishment in 2007
and a challenge for 2008. He noted the gang summit in December energized
the community to focus on the problem and that the interagency gang
suppression efforts in the past year have made a dent in gang activity,
but more is needed and 2008 will be a pivotal year in that effort.
He noted as other highlights the opening
of the Sports Park, the Sequoia Shuttle beginning and that two of the
city's enterprises, the airport and the golf course, both had very good
years. Salomon said flight operations increased 10 percent last year,
the second consecutive year of such growth. He added that the golf course
met its financial objectives; that convention center revenues exceeded
$2 million for the first time, allowing for a drop of $200,000 in the
city's subsidy.
Talk about the East Downtown Master Plan
drew many questions, from plans for more parking downtown to a plan
to make Acequia Avenue two-way through downtown. Salomon said meetings
will be held in the next few weeks to look at options transforming that
street from one-way to two-way.
The timetable for development of the East
Downtown Civic Center was also asked. “The council will make some decisions
this year which way we will go,” he said as to street alignments and
other decisions. He said plans to move city hall and the police station
are still a few years off.
He also said the city would build the
public safety building first. “It should be designed this year and opened
within three years.”
Another plan for downtown is a mixed use
of government, medical, retail and residential. “You may see the first
stacked condos built in Tulare County in that downtown area,” said Salomon.
Highlights of the address:
· The
city is in strong fiscal shape, with lower debt than most cities in
the state and the city has a healthy general fund reserve. “Visalia
is in good fiscal shape, but work and restraint are needed,” he stressed.
· 2008
challenges include gang activity, state budget deficit, and downturn
in local housing market.
· Measure
R plans include Santa Fe bridge over Highway 198, Ben Maddox interchange
improvements, Lovers Lane interchange design and Shirk interchange design
and widening.
· Coming in 2008: New northwest first station, begin design of new Valley Oak SPCA animal shelter, begin construction of Phase II of Sports Park that includes baseball fields and continued development of East Downtown Master Plan.
Public will be Able to Buy “COS Smoothies”
Visalia - One of the few organic
dairy processors in the state has set up shop in the heart of
“We will be using 10 to 30 COS students,”
in the processing plant, says one of the owners of the company, Travis
Potter who says they will be learning tasks that can translate into
jobs anywhere in the Central Valley these days.
The operation started a few years back
as the California Dairy Products Institute designed to bridge the gap
between training in the dairy processing industry and jobs in this fast
growing sector.
COS ag instructor Larry Dutto says the
company has done a major upgrade of the facility that will allow students
to learn the business on state-of-the-art equipment. Dutto says one
expected outcome of the partnership between
Potter says while the plant is certified
organic – the milk won't be coming from the College of the Sequoias
dairy herd but instead shipped in from a dairy farm in Oakdale.
Potter says while he grew up in Tehachapi,
he learned the meat and dairy business in the
Now they plan to run the plant on three
shifts for some 20 hours a day making several lines of products in many
flavors distributed at Whole Foods stores and Costco, among others.
Travis says the plant will be able to produce 2,000 bottled units an
hour.
The young entrepreneur says they are looking
for a Jersey cow herd to supply milk for organic products looking for
the boost from their cows milk that is very high in omega 3 fatty acids
when they are raised on grass – also good for those who are lactose
intolerant.
Organic Popularity Grows
Consumers are gravitating toward more
organic dairy products based on the perceived health benefits, say several
consumer surveys. For example, Nielsen Label Trends found that organic
milk sold in the past year ending in October increased 20% over the
year before on top of a 32% increase the year before.
The Potters believe they have an advantage
of their small size and their relationship with small family farmers
vs. large dairies that contract with Dean Foods for example. The Potters
advertise that their milk has “no synthetic hormones, no antibiotics,
no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no GMOs and no preservatives.”
Stored at 38 degrees F, the milk shakes have a shelf life of 60 days,
the company says.
To attract new customers, the Potter family
lines include flavors designed to tantalize kids sweetened with agave.
The drinks come in such flavors as chocolate, hazelnut, root beer float
and berry groovy.
Before the
Downtown Visalia Executive Director
By Steve Pastis
Visalia - Jan Minami, whose tenure
as executive director of Downtown Visalians abruptly ended at a meeting with group directors
on Sept. 13, has been named executive director of the Downtown Association
of Fresno.
“I'm proud to announce I'm taking on the
challenge of Downtown Fresno as the executive director of the Downtown
Association of Fresno,” Minami reported on Jan. 3. “
“Basically, I've been working in Downtown
Fresno since September,” she told the Voice. “I decided what I wanted
to do is work in Downtown Fresno so I was serving on committees rather
quickly. The (executive director) position was open since August. It
took them awhile to decide.”
Minami's responsibilities include coordinating
the efforts of the downtown organizations and involvement in a downtown
musicfest in the fall, organized by Creative
Fresno. The costs of the first downtown music festival in
“The duties of this job are very similar,”
Minami said. “The differences are in the size of the community and the
state of the downtown. People's perception of it is not that great.”
The Downtown Association of Fresno has
been around for over 50 years, but there is at least one major difference
between it and Downtown Visalians – the lack of a PBID (a property owners' group).
There are two people now in
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
January 9, 2008
