Reedley Exponent 9-27-18 E-edition

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Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents Reedley family suing Fresno County in son’s death
Reedley firefighters visit Immanuel first-graders
Panorama
Vol. 129, No. 39 | Thursday, September 27, 2018
www.reedleyexponent.com
Lorenzo Herrera was found
fatally strangled March 26
in county’s main jail facility
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The parents of Lorenzo Herrera have filed a lawsuit against Fresno County and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office in connection to the death of their 19-year-old son earlier this year while he was incarcerated in the County Main Jail.
The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 20, alleges the county was insufficiently staffed and negligent in providing enough protection for Herrera, who
Reedley’s
traffic
safety is
rated high
Staff Report
Reedley has scored a high rating in traffic safety from a Systemic Safety Analysis Report, despite a serious accident involv- ing a bicycle less than 24 hours later at one of the city’s busiest intersections.
The Reedley City Council learned about the city’s riski- est traffic safety areas during a Sept. 11 workshop as part of the regular council meeting.
Ed Noriega, division man- ager for Mark Thomas & As- sociates of Fresno, represented the company in the presentation along with Jessica Regier, design engineer. Both spoke during the near-half hour workshop.
Regier said that a study of data collected in the city from 2013 to 2017 showed that 80 per- cent of traffic collisions only resulted in property or vehicle damage. Of the 20 percent that resulted in injury, just 1 percent of those was a severe injury or fatality.
Still, even safe networks can have serious accidents. That 1 percent occurred the afternoon of Sept. 12 when a truck struck a bicyclist crossing Manning Av- enue just east of the intersection with I Street. The 59-year-old bi- cyclist initially suffered critical head injuries but was recovering in a Fresno hospital.
The workshop showed Reed- ley’s three biggest traffic prob- lems, with low numbers of the 93 cities surveyed being the highest risk and higher numbers being the safest. Reedley’s worst three traffic rankings came in pedestrians younger than 15 years (17th) underage drink- ing and driving (31st) and bicy- clists (41st). Reedley’s two safest scores were in speed-related inci- dents (87) and motorcycles (88).
was found in his holding cell March 26 in what’s believes to be a homicide by strangulation.
Herrera had been jailed since Jan. 17 when he was arrested following an attempted hot prowl burglary east of Kingsburg that led to a six-mile vehicle pursuit by law enforcement. The pursuit ended between Reedley and Parlier.
Herrera had an additional felony charge of briefly pointing a .22 caliber rifle at a Califor- nia Highway Patrol officer before dropping the weapon. He had been jailed on a $275,000 bail that the family couldn’t afford to pay.
Diana Kruze, a litigation attorney with Mor- rison & Foerster, said Herrera’s death could have
See HERRERA on page A8
Detours on Reed
Carlos Herrera, left, father of Lorenzo Herrera, talked about his son during a Sept. 20 news conference in front of the U.S. District Court building in Fresnoas AnnaHerrera,Carlos’wife, held a April 2016 photo of Lorenzo. Standing at right is Diana Kruze, a litigation attorney with Morrison
& Foerster. The Herreras are suing Fresno County and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, claiming negligence in the March 26 death of their son inside the main jail facility.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Vasquez is
grand marshal
for Reedley
Fiesta Parade
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Eddie Vasquez, a downtown hair- cutting icon and the last active mem- ber of the original Reedley Frog Jump team, has been named grand marshal for the 2018 Reedley Fiesta Parade on Satur-
day, Oct. 13. Vasquez, 75,
operator of the E
& D Barber Shop
at 1057 G St., was
greeted in his
shop for the sur-
prise announce-
ment by a group
of people includ-
ing family mem-
bers. Denny Mason, Rotary presi- dent made the official announce- ment to a stunned Vasquez.
“Eddie, we want to let you know that you’ve been selected as the grand marshal for the Reedley Fi- esta Parade for 2018,” as the group began a loud round of applause.
“That’s for next year, huh?” Vasquez asked with a smile, draw- ing a long laugh from the group. He then humbly thanked Mason and Po- lice Chief Joe Garza, the Fiesta Pa- rade chair. Also on hand were Erik Valencia, Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce executive director, and Ribberto — the new mascot for the Reedley Fiesta.
Vasquez became emotional as the honor began to sink in.
“Man, oh man, I didn’t know this was going to happen,” he said as his eyes teared up. “What a feeling! Man, oh man, it’s really neat.”
Larry Vasquez, Eddie’s son, said his wife Christina nominated Vasquez for the grand marshal hon- or.
“This is like a father she’s never had,” he said. “She sees the good stuff he does in the community. He changes people’s lives, little by little.”
See VASQUEZ on page A8
Eddie Vasquez
ABOVE: A mini road grader smooths out
dirt on the northbound lane of Reed Av- enue east of Reedley College on Sept. 25. On Sept. 24, construction crews began an estimated two weeks of work on the northbound lane of the avenue. That will be followed by two more weeks of work on the southbound lane. The road cur- rently is open to just southbound traffic, and vehicles wishing to enter the east parking lots of Reedley College need to approach from the south. Detours are rerouting traffic.
RIGHT: Closure and detour signs direct northbound motorists east onto Man- ning Avenue at the intersection with Reed Avenue.
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Gonzales speech highlights RC Constitution Week
Reedley College’s fifth annual Constitution Week Confer- ence was highlighted by a Sept. 21 keynote address from Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. Attorney General and currently the dean of the Belmont University School of Law in Nashville, Tenn. Gonzales spoke to an audience of about 100 in the college cafeteria. He shared his expe- riences on working for the George W. Bush administra- tion and the current state of public discourse. Gonzales took questions from the audience. The three-day confer- ence included judges and law enforcement along with political representatives.
LEFT: Alberto Gonzales described the chain of events the day of the 9/11 attacks from his perspective inside the Bush administration during his Sept. 21 speech in the Reedley College cafeteria.
RIGHT: A slide presentation during the Sept. 21 event showed a photo of the then-U.S. Attorney General standing with former President George W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House.
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
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