Page 1 - Sanger Herald 12-13-18 E-edition

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Season starts with a thriller
page 8A
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Hurtado replacement
will be appointed by
the city council
Sanger(FresnoCounty)CA93657 50¢ (taxincluded) 93rd annual Trek to the
Nation's Christmas Tree
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Replacing Melissa Hurta- do on the Sanger city council may turn out to be a two-part process.
Hurtado was sworn in on Dec. 3 as a state senator. Her replacement from council dis- trict 1 in northeast Sanger will serve out the rest of her coun- cil term, through November 2020.
The council voted 3-1 at its Dec. 6 meeting to replace Hurtado by appointment.
The city will hurriedly seek applicants from council district 1 for the position. Ap- plication forms are available in the city clerk's office at city hall and online at www. ci.sanger.ca.us. They must be completed and submitted in person or online by 5 p.m. on Dec. 27.
If there are no qualified applicants or if no one gets the council’s approval, there will still be time to call a special election in district 1 to fill the vacancy.
Mayor Frank Gonzalez, mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros and councilmember Hum- berto Garza voted in favor of filling the vacancy by appoint- ment. Garza pointed out that if that doesn’t work, there would
Council District 1 is in northeast Sanger
Melissa Hurtado
still be time to call a special election in June. Councilmem- ber Daniel Martinez was not in favor of the appointment method. He said he thought it should be up to the people in the district, not a council deci- sion.
city $18,000 to $22,000 to hold a special election.
In other council business:
• The grant writing firm of Acquisition Partners was hired for $8,000 for four months to work on a grant proposal for Community De- velopment Block Grant fund-
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
The Sanger High School "Apachapella" choir, above, under the direction of Dan Warnecke, sang at the base of the General Grant Tree in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The memorial wreath, right, was carefully placed against the tree by acting superintendent of Se- quoia and Kings Canyon Na- tional Parks Christy Brigham and park rangers Hector and Pablo Garzon, brothers who are also USMC veterans.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
There wasn't that much snow on the ground and the temperature, in the mid-40s, didn't require the usual parka and ear muffs, but otherwise, the 93rd annual Trek to the Nation’s Christmas Tree last Sunday was all about the holiday season.
The General Grant tree measures almost 270 feet tall and 107 feet around at its base.
The story of how it became the Nation's Christmas Tree is part of Sanger’s mythology. “The then secretary of the Sanger cham-
ber was looking at the tree while he was standing next to a little girl,” said Tammy Wolfe, president/CEO of the Sanger District Chamber of Commerce.
“The girl looked at him and said, ‘What a wonderful Christmas tree it would be.' He went home, back to the chamber and started writing letters to president Calvin Coolidge asking that the General Grant be declared the national Christmas tree.”
The chamber held its first service for the tree in 1925. A year later, Coolidge officially designated the approximately 2,000-year-old sequoia as the Nation’s Christmas Tree.
The tree also became a site to honor the country’s fallen military almost 30 years later when president Dwight D. Eisenhower declared it to be a national shrine.
Since then, people from all over the world have traveled to the annual ceremony. Some make the trip to honor America’s fallen he- roes while others make the journey as a way to kick off the holiday season.
City clerk Rebecca Padron said the county elections of- fice told her it would cost the
See COUNCIL, page 7A School board honors California
League of Schools finalists
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Tia Weemes of Washington Academic Middle School, Martina Montano and Lisa Hamel of Sanger Academy Charter School and Rhonda Tyler of Jefferson Elementary School are California League of Schools award finalists honored by the school board on Tuesday. Missing from the photo are Jenny Schmidt of Washington Academic Middle School and Clay Manning of Sanger High School. See more about the school board meeting on page 6A.
“This is our favorite event of the year.”
The chamber's bus load of people from Sanger joined several hundred others in the park, people who came from all over the state and nation for the traditional event.
This year’s ceremony featured perfor- mances of Christmas classics from the Sanger High School "Apachapella" choir and Fresno’s Jubilation singers. Students from Sanger High School’s Junior Naval ROTC program posted colors. Sanger mayor Frank Gonzalez welcomed everyone on behalf of the City of Sanger. Sequoia-Kings Canyon's acting superintendent Christy Brigham readaletter frompresidentDonaldTrump praising the annual ceremony at the Nation's Christmas Tree.
Featured speaker, Fresno County supervi- sor Nathan Magsig delivered a nondenomina- tional Christmas message and was honored with a General Grant plaque by the cham- ber's Karen Pearson.
Madera VFW member Reggie King played a haunting version of taps on his bugle after park rangers placed a memorial wreath at the base of the General Grant.
For Wolfe, the annual ceremony is more than a community gathering. “It’s really a spiritual event. It lifts people’s spirits. It’s the kickoff of the Christmas season, and it brings people back to a place they may not have been for a long time,” said Wolfe. “For a lot of people, it might be their first time coming here.”
See TREK TO THE TREE, page 7A
Rain during the Christmas weekend? SeetheChristmasDayforecaston page8A
• Dec. 20 - City Council, 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th St.
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com
“It takes love, passion and six months of planning and getting the word out to make this happen,” said Wolfe.
Although the attendees had different rea- sons for choosing to make the trek to General Grant, they all seemed awestruck by the beauty of the park.
THURSDAY
DECEMBER 13, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 50
2 sections, 14 pages
CLASSIFIED 2B LEGALS 4,5B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 6B LIFE STYLES 3B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A