Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 1-13-22 E-Edition

Thursday, January 13, 2022
Vol. 3, No. 28
Back to school for 2022
50 cents
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Sanger Mayor Eli Ontiveros listened to public comment from a resident during the Jan. 6 Sanger City Council meeting. It was Ontiveros' first council meeting since hia arrest Dec. 21 on suspicion of domestic violence.
Sanger ponders
redistrict changes
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Sanger residents had their third of four opportunities last week to make their feelings known about the city's presentation of draft map options for reshaping the current council districts.
Sanger City Council's open meeting on Jan. 6 included Public Hearing No. 3 on the topic of "draft map options to rebalance the population of the current council districts. The public hearing included a brief video presentation by Dr. Jeff Tilton, senior consultant for the National Demographics Corpora- tion. He went over the power points presentation and four prospective re- district plans involving Sanger's four council districts.
A note of interest was the plans for District 3, located in the northwest por- tion of the city. Commenters, both live and by video, shared their concerns about the prospective changes to the district, including a "finger" type of extension in Plan 202 on its southeast boundary against District 1. The video presentation featured four draft map options, Public 101 and Public 102 along
See COUNCIL MAPS on page A9
Classes return this week to region's public school districts
MVT Staff Report
The three-week winter va- cation break for Christmas and New Year's ended this week for public school students in Reedley, Sanger and Dinuba.
Instruction for the winter/ spring 2022 season resumed at the Kings Canyon Unified School District, Dinuba Uni- fied School District, Sanger Unified School District, Cut- ler-Orosi Joint Unified School District and the Parlier Uni- fied School District.
In addition, college students returned to Reedley College and other SCCCD campuses this week for spring semester.
Photos by Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
ABOVE AND LEFT: Orange Cove students re- turned to their class at the end of lunch pe- riod on Jan. 11, the second day of school after students returned to campus following win- ter vacation break. The winter/spring session began on Jan. 10 at all Kings Canyon Unified School District campuses in Reedley and Or- ange Cove.
LEFT: Clyde welcomed Reedley College students and staff back to campus for the first day of the Spring 2022 semester on Jan. 10. In addition to the return of live instruction for this spring, students and staff had three dates this week to receive free COVID vaccinations.
Reedley College, Facebook / Photo Contributed
RIGHT: Sanger High School decked its main gate entrance with balloons sporting school colors during the first day of spring session on Jan. 10.
Sanger High School, Facebook /Photo Contributed
COVID-19 new case numbers soaring
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Any doubt of the impact from the latest strain of coronavirus in the Central Valley was shattered going into this week, as new case numbers skyrocketed in both Fresno and Tu- lare counties paced by the Delta and Omicron variants.
The Jan. 11 updates by both coun- ties capped a seven-day period of soaring numbers that saw new ac-
tive cases more than double in both regions. In Fresno County, the posi- tivity rates jumped from 15.9 to 29.2 percent, with registered active num- bers moving from 4,390 to 9,670 by Jan. 11. The daily new case rate per 100,000 people soared from 21.5 per 100,000 to 74 per 100,000 in just seven days.
The jump was just as drastic in Tulare County. New cases went from 1,457 to 2,997 in a week's time, with the positivity rate more than dou-
bling to 20.3 percent. With many peo- ple showing symptoms of some type, testing jumped by about 15, 000, and hospitalizations climbed from 67 to 81 (there were an additional 129 hos- pitalizations for the week in Fresno County).
Dinuba's total number of COVID cases increased by nearly 200 for the week, up to 6,242. All cities in the region had substantial gains; particu-
See VIRUS on page A17
Police arrest 3 Fresno men tied to Reedley mail thefts
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
A slip of paper redirecting mail pickup instructions was placed on a community mailbox located in the 700 block of West Kip Patrick Avenue after the box was broken into on Jan. 5. Police later arrested three Fresno men suspected in a total of three break-ins.
Break-ins occurred at trio of locations
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Reedley police investigators ar- rested three Fresno men who they say are responsible for break-ins and theft of mail from community mailboxes in the city.
Two of the arrests occurred in Reedley and one in Fresno.
A RPD news release said that on Jan. 5, shortly after 4:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 700 block of West Kip Patrick Avenue involving subjects breaking into the community mailbox at that site. After canvassing the area for more than a half hour, officers received a second report of
subjects breaking into mailboxes in the area of East Cypress Avenue and North Valencia Avenue..
Officers observed a white Hyun- dai matching the description of the suspect vehicle, and pulled the ve- hicle over in the 1500 block of North Valencia Avenue. Officers found mul- tiple bags of mail that appeared to be stolen from Reedley addresses, along with an illegal firearm and other sto- len property from surrounding cities.
Police arrested Albert Lazaro, 32, and Jose Alvarez, 27, at the scene. The Reedley Police Investigations Unit de- termined that Lazaro was on parole.
Reedley police detectives, along with Fresno PD and Clovis PD person- nel, then conducted a parole search at a residence in the 4000 block of North
SeeMAILTHEFTSonpage A9
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