Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 8-26-21 E-edition

Thursday, August 26, 2021
Vol. 3, No. 8
Prep football
season starts,
but there are
disruptions by
cancellations
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
After a fall football season derailed for a year by the CO- VID-19 pandemic, unrestrict- ed crowds returned to high school stadiums for the kick- off of the "traditional" 2021 season on Aug. 20.
Students packed the stu- dent sections at Pro Football Hall of Fame Tom Flores Sta- dium in Sanger and Sal Gon- zalez Field at Reedley High School. The results were mixed for both teams; the Apaches dropped a 35-12 deci- sion against Clovis High while the Pirates pulled away in the second half for a 49-14 victory over Hanford West High.
That's not to say the sea- son opening was a seamless process. Immanuel High an- nounced on Aug. 19 that it's opening game against Roo- sevelt High was canceled
See PREP FOOTBALL on page A17
ABOVE: Reedley High School's student section made noise during half- time of the season open- ing football game with Hanford West on Aug. 20.
RIGHT: Sanger High's foot- ball team took the field before the Aug. 20 sea- son opener against Clo- vis High. Details on both games are in Sports on page A11.
Photos by Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
50 cents
Coronavirus Update
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Marco Martinez looked on Nancy Busch, a nurse with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, administered a COVID-19 vac- cine from Pfizer during a vaccine event at Cit- rus Middle School in Orange Cove on Aug. 20.
Case number
climb leading
to mandates
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Active cases and hospitalizations con- tinue to climb while additional mandates at institutions loom on the horizon when it comes to COVID-19, but a vaccination milestone was reached earlier this week in part of the region.
On Aug. 23, it was announced that partial vaccination numbers (at least one shot) had reached and surpassed the 1 million mark — and half the population — in Fresno County. Statistic showed
See VIRUS on page A18
Crash on Highway 99 kills Reedley woman
'Friday night lights' return
It's back to school at Sanger Unified
Students at Washington Academic Middle School in Sanger waited to board the bus at the end of the first day of the 2021-2022 school year on Aug. 18. The Sanger Unified School District was the final district in the Mid Valley Times region to begin its school year, with all SUSD schools opening that day. The majority of SUSD students returned to live instruction on campus for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
A Reedley woman was killed in a traffic accident along Highway 99 the morn- ing hours of Aug. 23 after slamming into the back end of a semi truck. The acci- dent took place along the busy highway just north of North Avenue.
The victim was identi- fied as 28-year-old Mariana Godinez.
According to the Cali- fornia Highway Patrol, a preliminary investigation indicated that the semi was traveling in the far right lane of southbound 99 at about 1:50 a.m. when the vehicle Godinez was driv- ing, for unknown reasons, crashed into the rear of the big rig, causing her to be pinned underneath the truck.
See CRASH on page A2
Electrical fire at Reedley apartments keeps crews busy
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
An electrical fire the afternoon of Aug. 23 at the Victoria’s Square Apart- ment Complex in Reedley prompted a large multi-agency response and kept crews busy for several hours.
“There was an electrical issue in a first story apartment,” said Justin Wat- son, Battalion Chief for the Reedley Fire Department. “It appeared that the exhaust fan in the restroom shorted out and the fire started and spread up through the wall space into the second story unit.”
The resident who lived in the unit where the fire began said she noticed smoke in the restroom and immediately called the complex’s maintenance de- partment.
“I asked my brother if he smelled the burning smell,” said Jeanette Coro- na. “And we knew there was something wrong because we seen like a haze, or smoke in the restroom.”
Corona, who has been a resident at Victoria’s Square for 4 years, said after seeing the smoke in her restroom she immediately called the maintenance de- partment.
“They took my son and I out of the room,” she said. “I kept insisting some- thing was wrong, because then it was black smoke, so the maintenance guy came and checked it and said every- thing was ok and left.”
Not long after, Corona said the burn- ing smell and smoke became noticeably worse.
SeeFIREonpage A2
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
The Reedley Fire Department's ladder truck was positioned to beat down potential flames from an electrical fire at the Victoria's Square Apartment Complex on Aug. 23.
Classifieds - A5 Directory - A9 Legals - A10, A13-16
Sports - A11-12 Lifestyle - A7-8 Lights & Sirens - A3, A6 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4