Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 7-29-21 E-edition

Thursday, July 29, 2021
Vol. 3, No. 4
Sanger
chamber
event is
a sellout
MVT Staff Report
Two years of waiting for the return of the Sanger Dis- trict Chamber of Commerce's annual awards banquet has resulted in a sellout for this year's event.
The 96th annual banquet will take place on Friday, Ju- ly 30, at the Belmont Country Club in Fresno. Following a social hour at 5 p.m., dinner will be at 6 and the show be- gins shortly after. Karen Pear- son with the chamber said the final tickets were sold last week.
Attendees and the commu- nity will be celebrating two years worth of honorees, as the 2020 banquet had to be canceled because of the coro- navirus pandemic. This year's celebration will feature the theme of "The Great Gatsby" and guests are encouraged to wear 1920s-themed attire.
Headlining the Class of
See CHAMBER on page A16
N. Alta Avenue reopens
50 cents
Reedley
hit with
its third
homicide
of 2021
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
The third homicide of 2021 in Reedley — all within a pe- riod of three months — oc- curred in the eastern part of the city in the early hours of July 26.
Police investigators said that 18-year-old Josue Carde- nas was shot and killed just after midnight during a house party in the 900 block of East Springfield Avenue.
Reports indicate that offi- cers arrived at the home and encountered the party. In the front yard of the home, they found a 21-year-old male suf- fering from a gunshot wound to the leg. The unidentified man was transported to the hospital with non life-threat- ening injuries.
Officers found the second victim, Cardenas, in the back- yard suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body. He was pronounced dead on scene.
Investigators have not established a motive for the shooting and are asking any- one with information to come forward.
The shooting death of Cardenas came just 23 days after another man, 25-year- old Jacob Encinia of Reedley, was shot and killed just a few blocks away in the 1400 block of North Columbia Avenue on the night of July 4.
Both the Encinia and Cardenas homicides hap- pened within three months after 27-year-old Elizandro Diaz was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Bravante
See HOMICIDEonpageA15
An effort to get younger people vaccinated
Numbers tick upward again, CDC gives new guidance on masks
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Slowly but surely, COVID-19 is creep- ing back into thoughts of cities, busi- nesses and schools as fallout from the delta variant gradually spreads across the country.
On July 27, the nation's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered its guidelines when it comes to wearing masks indoors. The CDC now recom- mends that all people, including those
COJUD /Photo Contributed
Orosi High students and families attended a COVID-19 vaccine event back in June. The Cutler-Orosi Unified School District also held a vaccine event earlier this month.
who have been vaccinated, return to the habit of wearing masks indoors in regions where the Delta variant of the
Coronavirus Update
virus has led to spikes in cases.
While that hasn't happened yet in California, numbers are on the rise. Updated totals have been spotty in re- cent weeks for both Fresno and Tulare counties, but in Fresno County new cas- es went up by nearly 800 for the week, to 104,143. The seven-day average of positive cases jumped to 6.9. Deaths in the county have risen by 11 to 1,742, although the website's hospitalization numbers haven't been updated in more
than a week.
The CDC's recommended guidelines
See COVID-19 on page A16
ABOVE: Traffic was once again flowing on North Alta Avenue at the north end of Dinuba the morning of July 26 after weeks of roadwork. The final week of work last week saw the intersection of Alta and Nebraska avenues closed off.
LEFT: Construction crews worked on sewer holes and coverings in the final touches of roadwork on North Alta Avenue on July 23. That was the final work day on the road project.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Sheriff honors Reedley PD for Creek Fire mutual aid
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims honored personnel with the Reedley Police Department for their help with last year's devas- tating Creek Fire that burned nearly 380,000 acres at and around Shaver Lake in the Si- erra Nevada.
Near the start of the July 27 regular Reedley City Coun- cil meeting, the sheriff came to the podium and expressed her thanks to the department for its help in evacuating more than 22,000 people from the mountain region after flames
broke out near Shaver Lake. "We set history," Mims said of the combined team effort in working the area. "We had the largest single fire in Califor- nia history in Fresno County last year. Not one fatality. And the reason is because of the assistance you gave us as well as the hard work by fire
crews and Cal Fire."
Mims described the award
the sheriff's department was giving out to all assisting agencies. The plaque that she presented Chief Joe Garza and the department featured two special "challenge coins" (displaying both sides) that
were developed to recognize all the cities that helped in dealing with the fire.
"It was a bad one. But we'll recover," Mims said of the fire. "It'll take a long time for some of our mountain areas to recover. It actually sterilized the soil up there. But when we needed [the help], it was all hands on deck. Everybody pitched in, from the smallest agencies to the largest agen- cies."
Garza returned the praise to Mims and her department. "First of all, I just want to
say we have the great sher-
See SHERIFF on page A16
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, center, presented Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza and the department with a plaque in appreciation of the department's mutual aid assistance on the 2020 Creek Fire. From left are RPD Officer Anthony Bustillos, Chief Garza, Sheriff Mims, RPD Officer Adam Ramirez and Fresno County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Juarez.
Classifieds - A10 Directory - A6 Legals - A11-14 Sports - A9
Lifestyle - A7-8
Lights & Sirens - A3, A5 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4