Mid Valley Times 3-3-22 E-Edition

Thursday, March 3, 2022
50 cents
Fred Hall, Mid Valley Times publisher, dies at 80
Vol. 3, No. 35
Fred Hall
Reward is
offered for
information
in Parlier
homicide
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
A reward totaling $9,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons respon- sible for the shooting death of Richardo Chavana, a 16-year-old student from Parlier is being of- fered by the city of Parlier and Crime Stoppers.
“Homicide detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Of- fice have been working non stop to find the person or persons re- sponsible for killing the 16-year- old student,” said Tony Botti, the public informaiton officer for the department.
Chavana was killed on Feb. 20 inside his home in Parlier. In- vestigators responded to the ar- ea, and preliminary information
See REWARD on page A20
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Fred Hall, the longtime publisher of Mid Valley Times representing three east Central Valley cities, has died at the age of 80.
Mr. Hall — who has been with Mid Valley Publishing since 1995 and as Times publisher has overseen the pub- lication combining the former Dinuba Sentinel, Reedley Exponent and Sanger Herald — died at his Selma home on
Feb. 26.
Mr. Hall served as the paper's jour-
nalism watchdog, doing a longtime weekly column that he ended with "after all, only one man's opinion." He also oversaw the consolidating of the Sentinel, Exponent and Herald weekly papers into the single publication Mid Valley Times weekly paper.
Nicole Zieba, Reedley city man- ager and a fellow member with Mr. Hall in the Rotary Club of Reedley, said she was "heartbroken" to hear of his death.
"As a public official, I have deep appreciation for how much he cham- pioned “good government” and ethical
leadership. He was always quick to call me to ask questions about why the City was doing certain things.
"I came to love those conversations, because I knew that Fred was being the ultimate guardian for our commu- nity. Fred will always have my admi- ration."
Mr. Hall, a native Oklahoman who attended Sayre Junior College and Oklahoma State University, began his newspaper career as advertising di- rector for The Oklahoma Journal from
See HALL on page A20
Celebrating Reedley citizens
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Susan Lusk, Reedley's Citizen of the Year for 2022, received her award from Erik Valencia, executive director of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce, during the annual Business and Community Awards Gala at the Reedley Community Center on Feb. 26.
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
The Reedley Com- munity Center was filled with honored guests, their families and friends as they celebrated this years Business and Community Awards Gala on the eve- ning of Feb. 26.
The theme for the Chamber of Commerce
celebration was “The Roaring Twenties, Reed- ley roars back.”
“Thank you to our amazing community for helping make the Greater Reedley Chamber of Com- merce awards gala such a huge success,” wrote Erik Valencia on the chamber’s Facebook page.
See GALA on page A20
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Ashlee Campos accepted her award as Reedley's Junior Citi- zen of the Year for 2022.
Chamber Gala on Feb. 26 honors community leaders
Pirate boys are the big dogs in Central Section soccer
Rick Curiel / For The Times
Reedley High's Esteban Baca (10) and teammates be- gan to celebrate after the final whistle sounded in the PIrates' 1-0 victory over Sanger High in the Central Sec- tion Division I boys soccer finals on Feb. 25.
Both teams earned a berth in the Northern California state regional playoffs, which began earlier this week. Reedley hosted Branham High of San Jose, and ad- vanced to the regional semifinals
with a 2-0 shutout victory at RHS on March 1. The Pirates next play at No. 1 Whitney High of Rocklin on Thursday, March 3.
More details on the Reedley- Sanger are in Sports, page A13.
MVT Staff Report
The Reedley High Pirates — the longest shot at least by seeding entering the postseason — proved to be the big dogs in the rugged Central Section Division I boys soccer playoff field.
The Pirates (20-6-3) were seed- ed eighth out of eight teams in the bracket, but immediately dethroned top seed defending champion Cen- tral before defeating Clovis North to earn a spot in the Feb. 25 finals against No. 2 seed Sanger High.
Reedley then completed the magical section playoff run by pulling out a 1-0 triumph before a large and boisterous crowd at Tom Flores Stadium; getting the decisive score on a penalty shot by Levy Alcantar. That enabled the North Yosemite League champion Pirates to avenge a 1-0 loss to the County Metro Athletic Conference kingpin Apaches (21-3-1) from back in December,
Rick Curiel / For The Times
Reedley High players and coaches posed with the Central Section Division I championship plaque on the field at Tom Flores Stadium. In winning the title, the Pirates avenged a 1-0 loss to Sanger High from earlier this season.
Classifieds-A9 Directory-A6 Legals-A10-12, 15-17
Sports-A13-14 Lifestyle-A7-8 Lights&Sirens-A3,A5 Health&Fitness-A18-19 Obituaries-A2-3,5 Opinion-A4