Page 2 - Mid Valley Times 2-25-21 E-edition
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Obituaries
Salvador Botello
Salvador Morelos Botello of Reedley died Jan. 13 in Tehachapi. He was 61.
Mr. Botello worked in farm labor.
He is survived by four sons, two daughters, five brothers, five sisters and six grandchildren.
A funeral mass was held Feb. 18 at St. An- thony of Padua Catho- lic Church in Reedley. Burial was at Reedley Cemetery.
Sterling & Smith Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
Nellie Goodwin
Nellie Goodwin of Reedley died Feb. 16. She was 82.
Mrs. Goodwin is by her husband, Lee Good- win of Reedley.
No services were announced. Sterling & Smith Funeral Home handled the arrange- ments.
Alfredo Quevedo
Alfredo Martinez Quevedo of Orosi died Feb. 5 in Orosi. He was 66.
Mr. Quevedo worked as a mechanic. He is survived one son, two grandchildren, three sisters and two broth- ers.
A graveside service was held Feb. 19 at Smith Mountain Cem- etery in Dinuba.
Felicitas Zavaleta Soto Felicitas Zavaleta So-
to of Reedley died Jan. 9 in Long Beach. She was
74.
Mrs. Soto worked in
farm labor.
She is survived by two
sons, one daughter, five brothers, one sister, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A funeral mass was held Feb. 19 at St. An- thony of Padua Catho-
lic Church in Reedley. Burial was at Reedley Cemetery.
Oscar
Ramirez Zuniga Oscar Ramirez Zuni-
ga of Dinuba died Feb. 6 in Dinuba. He was 79. Mr. Zuniga worked
as a forklift driver.
He is survived by three sons, one daugh- ter, one sister, 15 grand- children and 10 great-
grandchildren. Visitation will be
from 4 to 8 p.m. Thurs- day, March 4, at Sterling & Smith Funeral Home in Dinuba. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 5, at St. Catherine's Catho- lic Church in Dinuba. Burial will be at Smith Mountain Cemetery in Dinuba.
Sterling & Smith Fu- neral Home handled the arrangements.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Water from the Friant-Kern Canal flowed toward Orange Cove in this photo from Anchor Avenue. OnFeb.23,theBureauofReclamationannouncedthatFriantDivisioncontrac- tors Class 1 contractors will initially receive just 20 percent of its allocation.
Friant Division gets initial 20 percent water allocation
Central Valley Project announcement was Feb. 23
Thursday, February 25, 2021
| A2 |
Mid Valley TiMes
    Contributed, Staff Reports
The Bureau of Rec- lamation announced on Feb. 23 the initial 2021 water supply allocation for Central Valley Proj- ect contractors. It wasn't good news for the Friant Division.
The Class 1 contrac- tors who rely on water supply from the Upper San Joaquin River Ba- sin Watershed delivered through Millerton Lake/ Friant Dam to the Friant- Kern Canal and Madera Canal are receiving just 20 percent of its con- tracted allocation. Class 2 contractors for now will receive no water.
The first 800,000 acre- feet of available water supply is considered Class 1; Class 2 is con- sidered the next amount of available water supply up to 1.4 million acre- feet. The Bureau of Rec- lamation said in a Feb.
23 news release that the current hydrologic con- ditions — hindered by a below-average Sierra snowpack and low pro- jected runoff for spring and summer — are driv- ing the low allocations.
In addition, the San Joaquin River Restora- tion Program is slated to receive just 170,732 acre- feet to be used for Resto- ration Program purposes.
Allocation amounts are based on an estimate of water available for delivery to CVP water users and reflects cur- rent reservoir storages, precipitation, and snow- pack in the Central Val- ley and Sierra Nevada. This year’s low allocation is an indicator of the dry winter California is ex- periencing after the dry water year of 2020.
“Although we had a couple of precipitation- packed storms in Janu- ary and early February, we are still well below
normal for precipitation and snowfall this year,” Regional Director Ernest Conant stated in the news release. “We will moni- tor the hydrology as the water year progresses and continue to look for opportunities for opera- tional flexibility.”
The California De- partment of Water Re- sources reported that as of Feb. 21, statewide average snow water con- tent in the Sierra Nevada was 54 percent of the April 1 average. Current Northern Sierra precipi- tation is 52 percent of the seasonal average to date.
Shasta Reservoir’s 4.5 million acre-feet ca- pacity represents the majority of CVP water storage. Water from Shasta Reservoir is used for many purposes, in- cluding contractor sup- ply for north and south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, as well as maintaining tem- peratures downstream of the dam throughout the summer and fall for threatened and endan- gered fish species to the extent practicable.
Currently, reservoir storage is below the his- toric average for this time of the year and run- off forecasts predict that overall storage might be limited if typical spring precipitation does not materialize.
On Feb . 23, the Bu- reau of Reclamation also announced the following initial allocations:
North-of-Delta Contractors (Including American River and In-Delta)
• Agricultural wa- ter service contractors north-of-Delta are allo- cated 5 percent of their contract supply.
• Pursuant to Recla- mation’s municipal and industrial water shortage guidelines, M&I water service contractors north- of-Delta (including Amer- ican River and In-Delta Contractors) are allocated 55 percent of their his- toric use or public health and safety needs, which- ever is greater.
• Sacramento River Settlement Contractors are allocated 75 percent of their contract supply.
Other South-of-Delta Contractors
• Agricultural wa- ter service contractors south-of-Delta are allo- cated 5 percent of their contract supply.
• M&I water service contractors south-of-
        Richard (Dick) Franklin Sheppard
 June 24, 1936 - February 12, 2021
  Born in Macomb, Oklahoma on June 24, 1936, to AB and Bertha Sheppard, Dick went to be with his Lord and Savior on the evening of February 12 after more than a year of battling relentless medical challenges.
Driving an old Chevy truck, his parents moved the family to California in the late 1930’s, where they lived in an unheated metal cabin at the Linnel Farm Labor Camp (near Farmersville), working in the fields. He was around seven years of age. He remembered that they had to go to another building to use a bathroom and take a shower. They used a bucket to bring drinking water into the cabin, filled from a nearby spigot, and drank from a “dipper.”
Although his employment started with field work as a child, in his high school years the family lived in Dinuba and he worked at KRDU Radio Station as an announcer, where he eventually became the news and sports director. He later worked 20 years for McClatchy Broadcasting, starting as their radio and TV sports director and then program manager and general manager at KMJ Radio/TV in Fresno. Following that he became their manager at KOVR TV in Stockton and also KFBK Radio in Sacramento as their vice president and general manager, returning to KMJ years later as the general manager again.
Dick stayed in the broadcasting field when he was recruited as the Pacific Southwest Manager in Los Angeles for Arbitron Ratings (now known as Nielsen Audio), overseeing eight western states for the radio consumer research company. He was offered the opportunity to return to broadcasting by being the vice president and general manager of KKIS AM/FM in
Concord and at the same time overseeing KRTY FM in San Jose. The owners of those companies asked that he become involved with their overall plan and promoted him to chief operating officer of Crown Broadcasting, a national group of radio stations.
After years of being away from the San Joaquin Valley, he chose to return in the early 1990’s and stayed for the remainder of his life, first as general sales manager of KJOY FM/KRDU AM and then his all-time favorite position as editor of The Sanger Herald newspaper (now Mid Valley Times), where his probing stories prompted four grand jury investigations. He loved writing about his early childhood and his beloved mother, Bertha, and how hard she worked making shirts and dresses out of feed and flour sacks for the children. He credited her for the encouragement and confidence that propelled him for the rest of his life. He retired on October 1, 2019.
Dick proudly served his country in the U.S. Army Security Agency (military intelligence), He would frequently say, “In God We Trust; All Others We Monitor!” He also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve in Dinuba. His later years were made special by the people he knew at the Sanger Post 7168 Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Sanger Post 98 AMVETS.
His passion for community service was well known in the Valley where he was a charter member at both the Kiwanis Club of Dinuba and the Rotary Club of the Fresno Airport. He was honored as an outstanding district president of the Downtown Kiwanis Club of Fresno, the Rotary Club of the Fresno Airport, and the Rotary Club in Sanger. He enjoyed his time as a member of the Sanger Unified School District Classified Employees Personnel Commission, and as a proud member of the Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and Sanger Veterans Parade Committee.
Dick’s awards include the American Legion Medal for Character, the Gold Seal award for community service from the Sanger Chamber of Commerce, the Sanger Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame, and the California Legislature Resolution for playing a part in improving the quality of the community, he was honored by the USMC organization “Those Who Serve,” numerous regional and state journalism awards, and the regional, state, and national first place award for investigative journalism. He was also honored to be chosen as the Grand Marshal for the Sanger Veterans Parade in 2019 and also that same year as the Grand Marshal for the Sanger Christmas Parade, although, due to health reasons, he was unable to participate in the latter.
He was an honorary member of the Fresno County Grand Jury Association, conducted monthly seminars for WorkForce Connection, was a Golden Valley Girl Scout Council Board Member, organizing the yearly golf tournament fundraiser for nine years, and a past Family Self Sufficiency board member, a very successful welfare-to-work program overseen by Fresno City and County Housing Authorities. He also served as the director of the California Broadcasters Association, Project Chairman of the Fresno Radio Advertising Group, and was on the Advisory Committee of Radio Bilingua, Community Radio.
Dick is survived by his wife of 36 years, Nadine; three children, Mark Sheppard, Cassandra Gordon and her husband Jack, Christopher Sheppard and his wife Petra, and stepson Michael Klassen and his wife Jessica. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his brother AB and three sisters, Betty, Violet, and Lois.
The family thanks the staff at Dycora Transitional Health in Reedley and Bright Horizons Hospice in Fresno for giving such wonderful, loving care, and also Dopkins Funeral Chapel in Reedley for handling the cremation. A military service will take place at the Calvary Fellowship Church, 737 Church Avenue, Sanger, on Saturday, March 20.
                           Published every Thursday by Mid Valley Publishing 1130 “G” Street, Reedley, CA. 93654
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Mid Valley Times Staff
    Fred Hall
Jon Earnest Juanita Adame Dick Sheppard Duby Treviño Janie Lucio Debra Leak
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