Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 8-12-21 E-edition

Thursday, August 12, 2021
Vol. 3, No. 6
Image from NFL Network
Sanger native Tom Flores, left, pumped his fist after unveiling his Pro Football Hall of Fame bust during his induction into the Hall on Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio. Mark Davis, Las Vegas Raid- ers owner and Flores' presenter, is at right.
Hall of Fame
induction at
last for Flores
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The time finally arrived for Tom Flores to enter his new home for football immor- tality — the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
The Sanger native, announced back in February as an inductee for the Class of 2021, this past weekend officially experi- enced the thrills that come with the Hall of Fame induction. The evening of Aug. 6, he was adorned with the famous yellow/
See FLORES on page A6
Back to class
ABOVE AND RIGHT: Dinuba High students headed to class after an opening assembly in the football stadium on Aug. 9, the first day of live instruction on campus for the new school year. Cutler-Orosi Unified began its school year on Aug. 10, and both Kings Canyon Unified and Immanuel Schools were sched- uled to start the new school year on Aug. 11. Sanger Uni- fied's school year will begin on Aug. 18. More photos of the first day of school are on Page A18.
Photos by Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
50 cents
Coronavirus Update
Active
cases
continue
to spike
Reedley College vaccine event focuses young
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Active cases of COVID-19, spurred on by numbers of infected younger and unvac- cinated people, continued to sharply tick upward in Fresno and Tulare counties this past week.
Numbers released Aug. 10 by the Fresno County Depart- ment of Public Health and Tulare County Health Depart- ment were a bit startling. In Fresno County, total case num- bers jumped by nearly 2,000 for the week; 107,310. More than 300 new cases were re- ported for three straight days during the weekend period.
It was just as stark in Tu- lare County, with active cases soaring by 457 for the seven- day period ending Aug. 10. New case numbers per 100,000 jumped from 9 to 14.2 while hospitalizations increased to 83, 11 in intensive care.
With many of the reported cases being younger people, particularly those unvac- cinated, efforts amped up to get the COVID vaccine to more people. On Aug. 10, staff dining room at Reedley College was the site of the first of two vaccination clin- ics; the second scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 31.
See VIRUS on page A6
Arrest made in July 26 Reedley homicide
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
An 18-year old male from Parlier, identified as James Lopez, has been ar- rested on murder charges for the shoot- ing death of 18-year-old Josue Cardenas on July 26.
Reedley Police made the arrest on July 30 with the assistance from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team. A search warrant was served in Parlier and during the search detectives located Lopez and arrested him.
Lopez was booked into the Fresno County Jail on murder charges.
The shooting happened shortly af- ter midnight in the 900 block of East
Springfield Avenue in Reedley.
Officers were
dispatched to the
area for reports of
gunshots at a resi-
dents. When they ar-
rived on scene police
found a large house
party with numer-
ous subjects in the
front yard of the res-
idence. Police then located a 21-year-old male in the front yard of the home with a gunshot wound to his leg. The unidenti- fied man was transported to the hospital with non life threatening injuries.
In the backyard of the home, officers
then located the second victim, [Carde- nas] suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body and died on scene.
At this time, detectives do not have a motive identified for the shooting of Cardenas or the other male victim. De- tectives are asking anyone with infor- mation on this case to contact the Reed- ley Police Department’s tip line at (559) 356-8690.
The July 26 shooting was the third homicide in Reedley in 2021. On April 13, 27-year-old Elizandro Diaz was fa- tally shot outside his workplace, and on July 4 25-year-old Jacob Encinia was shot and killed a few blocks from the scene of Cardenas' death.
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Nicole Zieba received a sur- prise tribute and gift from the Reedley City Council in recogni- tion of her decade of service as city manager during the council's regular meeting on Aug. 10.
Zieba, who came to Reedley in September 2011, received her tribute during the presentation in the opening moments of the coun- cil meeting. During that tribute, she was presented with a copy of the Blossom Trail painting — done by local artist Tamsen Taves — from Mayor Mary Fast.
"What a blessing you've been to our city," Fast told Zieba. "You've changed the way our employees think about Reedley, and that's all
of our workers. I'm so thankful that we were able to pull you away from the city of Fresno." Zieba came to Reedley from an assistant city manager's position in Fresno.
Zieba said she had recently reflected on what the city faced when she came on board in 2011: the layoff of 40 employees, the then-police chief under investi- gation and on leave and a coun- cil member under investigation from the state's attorney office. Topping things off, the city had a staggering 32 percent unemploy- ment rate. That's now been low- ered to 12 percent.
"Ten years later, I look at what the council has allowed us to do as a staff," Zieba said. "I often tell
SeeZIEBAonpage A2
Nicole Zieba, Reedley city manager, smiled as she listened to words of praise from members of the au- dience at the Reedley City Council meeting on Aug. 10. Zieba was presented with a special painting and tribute from the coun- cil and the city for her 10 years of work as Reed- ley's city manager. Mayor Mary Fast and the council surprised Zieba with the gift during the presenta- tion portion of the regular council meeting.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
James Lopez
Reedley Council honors Zieba for decade of service
Classifieds - A9 Directory - A10
Legals - A13-16 Sports - A11-12
Lifestyle - A7-8
Lights & Sirens - A3, A5
Obituaries - A2-3
Opinion - A4