Page 1 - Sanger Herald 2-7-19 E-edition

Apaches make a statement
Looking for a home
A Valentine's Day love story
page 8A
Sports 1B Lifestyles 3B
WeeklyNewspaper Sanger(FresnoCounty)CA93657 50¢ (taxincluded) Tragedy
Two men from Sanger, an off duty Fresno police officer and the wrong way driver who caused the accident, are killed in a Highway 180 crash on Monday
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Details of the horrific head-on crash on Monday afternoon are well document- ed.
However, why it happened
Vang's photo is from a Fresno police press release and Pryor's photo is from his Facebook page.
Officer Phia Vang, above left, and Cameron Pryor, above right. Pryor was driving a pickup that went the wrong way and hit Vang's car head on. Both were killed in the Monday accident.
is still being sorted out by investigators.
Officer Phia Vang, a popular 26-year veteran of the Fresno Police Depart- ment, in his personal vehicle, was headed home to Sanger, to his wife, three sons and a daughter. He had just gotten off work and was still par- tially dressed in his uniform.
Witnesses say the
driver who caused the deadly wreck, 33-year-old Cameron Pryor, was weaving back
and forth across the road, narrowly missing cars at the stoplight at Highway 180 and DeWolf.
Then he swerved into the wrong lane, drove into oncoming traffic and ran head-on into Vang's car.
When first respond-
ers discovered Vang was a police officer they draped an American flag over his body.
Investigators say Pryor collided with and sideswiped multiple vehicles before slamming into Vang. Seven people in those cars had minor injuries.
The results of toxicology tests on Pryor had not been made public when the Herald went to press. So, it's not known if he was under the influence at the time.
Records show Pryor was arrested for DUI last Sep- tember but never charged with a crime. He was con- victed of DUI in 2011 and also for disturbing the peace in 2006.
He was well known in Sanger where he has rela-
tives, a realty office and was a member of the Sanger Rotary club for a little more than a year.
Several acquaintances told the Herald that Pryor struggled with a drug prob- lem, had recently relapsed and had refused to enter a treatment program.
Two years ago, Pryor spoke to students at Clovis North High School about his battle with addiction.
This story will be updated on the Sanger Herald Face- book page as more details become available.
The reporter can be contacted at sangerherald@ gmail.com or by phone at the Herald during business hours at (559) 875-2511
Academic decathletes set new school record
Police may soon
be wearing body
cameras
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Sanger High’s Academic Decathlon Team came up with one new school recordandtiedanotherschoolrecord in its Feb. 2 competition in the Central East High School gym in Fresno.
It finished in 4th place in the super tough Super Quiz for a new record and it tied a previous team best 5th place fin- ish overall among the 28 teams that com- peted from throughout Fresno County.
The team finished second in Division 2 with a total of 39,104.2 points.
What is an Academic Decathlon? It’s kind of like a high school Super Bowl - without the Patriots if you can imagine that – for really smart, competitive students who can answer questions like “When deuterium and tritium undergo nuclear fusion, what is formed?” and
“A DJ has six slow songs and four fast songs he must play at a party. How ma- ny arrangements of songs are possible if he must start with a fast song and end with a slow song?” The answer to the first question is “helium, a neutron and energy” and the answer to the second question is “967,680.” But, of course, you already knew that.
Academic Decathlon teams are com- prised of students, who compete in three groups – Varsity, Scholastic and Honors - with GPAs ranging from 1.00 to over 4.0, who have to know a lot about art, music, language and literature, mathematics, economics, speech, interviews, essays, science and social science.
The final Super Quiz encompasses all areas of study and can earn the team up to 5,880 points. The top five teams overall were Edison, University, Fowler, Design Science and Sanger.
In addition to team honors, several team members brought home medals - and money.
Rogelio Moreno-Hernandez won a $150 scholarship and Emily Tran took home $100.
Medals winners were: Essay- Jenni- fer Gonzalez, Silver; Literature - Millie Contreras, Bronze; Interview- Jennifer Gonzalez, Silver, Abigail Hernandez- Sanchez, Silver and Millie Contreras, Bronze; Math-Rogelio Moreno-Hernan- dez, Bronze, Karandeep Chahal, Silver; Economics - Joel Elorza, Silver, Abhijeet Singh, Silver and Karandeep Chahal-
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
The Measure S Citizen's Oversight Committee voted 3-1 Tuesday evening to ap- prove a police department Measure S expenditure of $37,002 for 20 Axon Body Worn Cameras, accessories and video/audio storage.
If the city council agrees with the oversight committee at its meeting this evening,
it won't be long before every police interaction with bad guys - good guys too - will
be recorded and stored in the "cloud" where it can only be accessed by authorized departments and
personnel.
Jacob Villagomez. Melissa Griggs was opposed. Com- mittee chairman Johnny Perez was absent.
Former mayor Monte- longo was sworn in as a new oversight committee mem- ber to replace James Miser who resigned.
Montelongo reminded the other members that the con- cept for a public safety fund originated with his tenure as mayor.
The reporter can be con- tacted by email at sangerher- ald@gmail.com and by phone at the Herald during business hours at (559) 875-2511.
The purchase plan proposed by police chief Silver Rodriguez would require further expenditures over the next four years totalling $88,302.16.
Oversight com- mittee members who supported the police request were new member Mi- chael Montelongo, Frank Valles and
New oversight committee member Michael Montelongo being sworn in.
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Sanger's overall Academic Decathlon team split into three smaller teams to com- pete in the Super Quiz competition on Feb. 2 in the Central East High School gym. Top photo is of the Varsity team of Cid Bobadilla, Rogelio Moreno-Hernandez and Jujhardip Pahal. The middle photo is of the Scholastic team of Karandeep Chahal, Joel Elorza and Thomas Estrada. The bottom photo is of the Honors team of Yicherpe Vang, Esperanza Munoz and Obed Moreno.
• Feb. 7 - City council meeting, 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th St.
See ACADEMIC DECATHLON page 6A
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com
• Feb. 12 - School board meeting, 7 p.m. at the district office, 1905 7th St.
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
VOL 130 NO. 6
2 sections, 14 pages
CLASSIFIED 5B LEGALS 6,7B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 8B LIFE STYLES 3B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A