Page 9 - Mid Valley Times 8-27-20 E-edition

Thursday, August 27, 2020
The View From Here
I de- cided on a Gypsy cos-
tume.
It was
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
A virtual ribbon cutting ceremony complete with Co- vid-19 precautions for those in attendance was held on Au- gust 20 in downtown Reedley.
The event was held to cel- ebrate the opening of the Sier- ra Kings Health Care District.
“We are now preparing to operate as a grant mak- ing agency,” said Chinayera Black Hardaman, CEO with Sierra Kings Health Care District. “So our priorities are obesity, diabetes, and behav- ioral health.”
The Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce ex- ecutive director, Erik Valen- cia welcomed the agency via Facebook live as well.
“This is now your introduc- tion to the City of Reedley,” said Valencia during the live feed. “We are happy to have our residents finally meet you, so welcome.”
Hardaman said they will work closely with certain
Halloween
2019 and
my good
friend was
having her
annual Halloween par- ty. It was a fun and easy costume to put together last minute. My friend is named Angie.
She and her husband al- ways throw the best Hal- loween parties. She goes all out. Decorating every- thing in their house from the rest room, to the kitch- en, there’s usually a wide array of food, drinks and fun with friends. Her par- ties are always a success.
The party was a blast as usual. “I can’t wait until next year,” I said to Angie. “We can’t either!”
A few weeks ago my mom, who is an avid Co- vid-19 "statistics follower" gave me some devastating news.
"David Leon is fighting for his life," my mom said. "He is on a ventilator."
I've known David for years. An active member of the community, David was kind and gracious. He was also the older brother of my good friend Angie.
We learned that David lost his battle with Cov- id-19 in the early morning hours of August 23.
Angie posted a compel- ling statement following his death.
A portion of her state- ment read in part, "His name is David and he loved life. Last night, he lost a two month battle with Covid-19. Escalating from ‘not feeling well’ to pneumonia to intubation to his body finally break- ing down with all his ma- jor organs failing him.
He had no pre-existing problems with his health. None. So for those of you that still think this is all a hoax or that you can’t get it. Please, think again and keep not only your health in concern, but others as well."
To those who have lost someone to this horrible virus, there are no words that I can say to alleviate the pain or make it better. The only thing to remem- ber is that David Leon had an impact on his com- munity. He will always be known as a "go getter."
He epitomized the American dream. He was well respected in Sanger, and throughout Fresno County.
Those types of accom- plishments coupled with his great personality will never be forgotten.
Juanita
Adame
Celebrating a new beginning in Reedley
Photo by Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
A virtual ribbon cutting ceremony was held in downtown Reedley to celebrate the opening of Sierra Kings Health Care District. The agency operated as Sierra King's District Hospital before filing for bank- ruptcy in 2009 and were sold to Adventist Health. They now plan to operate as a grant writing agency.
agencies in town to help them achieve grants.
“It’s our intention to work with the community to pro- mote those three chronic dis- eases in the community and
partner with local stake hold- ers, local non-profits, local or- ganizations in order to make grants available to them so they too can help impact obe- sity, diabetes and behavioral
health.”
For more information on
Sierra Kings Health Care Dis- trict contact (559) 726-2268.
Also, visit their website at skhcd.org.
Local group creates news page in Sanger
Contributed
Moses Esparza and his brothers are the creators of "Sanger Live." He- said the page initially began as a joke but quickly turned into more than that. The page is dedicated to covering crime news in Sanger.
Parlier Police Department welcomes new K9 'Koba'
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
The founder of a popular Facebook page dedicated to covering crime news in the city of Sanger- said in an in- terview on August 20- that “Sanger Live” initially began as a prank.
“We’d see Sanger Police have someone pulled over and would purposefully drive back around and play the Bad Boys theme song to poke fun at the situation,” he said. “We wouldn’t inter- act nor would we interfere with the cops, it was all just a joke to us.”
Esparza said what began as a prank soon became any- thing but funny after a call they initially thought to be a simple traffic stop turned
out to be a fatal car accident. “One day we were go- ing to do the same thing, re- sponding to a call on Central Avenue and Del Rey Ave- nues just outside of Sanger,” he said. “We did see police, but also saw they had the
road blocked off.”
He said in that moment,
he and his brothers, [who also help run the page] had a wake up call.
“I said to myself, okay this is no longer funny,” Es- parza said. “This is serious.”
After that experience, and feeling humbled, Es- parza said they decided to turn the situation around and begin informing the commu- nity of what was happening.
“We now have close to
SEE LIVE on page B8 Photo of the week
Photo Courtesy The Parlier Police Department / Facebook Page
The Parlier Police Department introduced their newest K9 'Koba' on Aug. 15. Koba is a Belgian Malanois and is trained in various tactical details.
A photo of Darienne Torres who started 3rd grade at T.L. Reed was sent in by dad, Ceasar Torres. Darienne showed up to campus on what was suppose to be the first day of school to pick up sup- plies and meet her teacher Mrs. Molina. Have a photo you'd like featured? Email juanita@midvalleypublishing.com.
Contributed