Page 6 - Sanger Herald 1-4-18 E-edition

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SANGER HERALD 6A THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018
2017 YEAR IN REVIEW - July-December
chairperson; Mark Morales, chairman elect; Steve Stoehr, treasurer and immediate past chairman; Debbie Shafer, secretary; Sam Estes, past chairman; Lee Delap, member at large; Ron Karle; and Jesse Solorio.
The start of the school year triggered several backpack giveaways. The one at Life Tabernacle Church, co-sponsored by the church and the Sanger Rotary club, was a big time pro- duction with food, fire trucks, face painting, balloon animals, musical entertainment, giveaways of gift certificates, scoot- ers, hats, sunglasses - and a harmonica. Thirty-eight young- sters from 10 families received backpacks full of school supplies. The pastor of the church, Gilbert Carrisalez, above left, is the community service director of the Sanger Rotary. Gina Cuevas, above right, is the club president.
Busy school board meeting
The school board approved: a lease purchase agreement to buyninenewschoolbuses;fell backonasectionofthegov- ernment code to exempt its new education center from local zoning ordinances. (The site is bounded by Jensen Avenue on the south, Fowler Avenue on the west, Church Avenue on the north, and Armstrong Avenue on the east. The site will have a middle school campus for 1,692 students and a high school campus for 2,840 students.); requested LAFCo to handle the process of annexation to the City of Fresno for the education center and for Sequoia Elementary School; and awarded a lease-leaseback contract for $8.5 million to Bush Construction for a multi-purpose room at Jackson Elementary School.
Raul Cantu Sr. honored
Friends and family of Raul Cantu Sr. practically filled the city council chamber at city hall, snapping photos, shooting video and giving the Sanger icon a standing ovation on Aug. 17 when Cantu was recognized by the city council for his life of community service.
September
Fairmont teams with NASA
Many children grow up expecting to become astronauts one day, voyage across space and perform experiments that could alter the course of history. Fairmont Elementary School students may not find themselves on a spacecraft outside of Earth’s orbit any time soon. But they still have an opportunity to make an impact and enjoy an authentic space program experi- ence all at once.
As a part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP), which is organized by NASA, students from the Sanger school will compete against one another to design a micrograv- ity experiment that will be sent to the International Space Sta- tion.
Continued from page 2A
New chairperson
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Jeanne Adams, right, outgoing chair of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee, passed the gavel to the new chairperson Sue Simpson. Jo Ann Mares is the new vice chair and James Miser is the new secretary. A new member, Melissa Griggs, joined the committee replacing Adams who termed out. The meeting took place with several members of the Fresno County Grand Jury sitting in the back of the city council chamber making notes
Helping Houston
National Homeland Security chairwoman Rachel Martin called Sanger "The heart of the Valley's volunteer effort to aid Houston." Pastor Paul Zavala, who organized the relief effort, praised many agencies, organizations and volunteers for help- ing create more than 40 collection sites throughout the Valley where tons of supplies were donated. The donations from all the sites will be trucked to Madera where the hurricane relief supplies will be sorted and separated into bins that will be tansported by Homeland Security to Houston, said Martin.
Farmers Market downtown spectacular
The "Saturday Spectacular" to begin the September Farm- ers' Market and Street Faire season featured an opening ceremony with the high school marching band, cheer squad and the NJROTC and color guard. Then it moved on to pony rides, tumbling and acrobatics, an aerial performance, fresh produce, fire eaters and jugglers, a gyrating Hula Hoops twirler, a great country singer, a beer garden with a full bar and food, lots and lots of food.
Chamber and VFW honor Elliott Martinez
Members of VFW Post 7168 presented a chamber of com- merce plaque honoring former Sanger mayor and military combat veteran Eliott Martinez to his wife Margaret. Martinez was a longtime member of the VFW post. L-R, post chaplain Lee Delap, Margaret Martinez, post commander Keith Kriser and post member Dick Sheppard.
Changes to city manager's contract
Not everyone on the city council approved of changes made to the city manager's contract. The changes included remov- ing a "me too" clause, tying salary increases to performance evaluations and accepting an amount of accrued leave equal in value to a salary bump the city manager received as a result of that "me too" clause. Mayor Frank Gonzalez and council mem- bers Daniel Martinez and Melissa Hurtado voted in favor of the changes. Mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros vote "No."
Home of Hope payday for SUSD
Veronique Werz Parker, marketing and events coordinator for Granville Homes, presented a check for $37,307 to the Foun- dation for Sanger Schools at the Sept. 26 school board meeting. All the money raised by ticket sales by Sanger Unified stayed in Sanger Unified, said Parker.
The annual Granville Homes event raised more than $5 mil- lion for nonprofits this year, said Parker.
It was different
The Relay for Life event to raise awareness of the battle against cancer and money for the American Cancer Society
probably did a little of both, but not nearly as much as in years past. The Saturday morning event on the high school quad area behind the cafeteria and multipurpose room lasted from 6 a.m. to noon and while it was reminiscent of past events, it was a mere shadow of the two-day relays of previous years.
"Unless we can get more community participation and raise more money I don't see how we can even have this kind of event next year," lamented a participant in each of the previous relays.
The turnout was smaller than expected and Sanger Rotary club had a car trunkload of food left over from the pancake breakfast it prepared for volunteers. Rotary club president Gina Cuevas took the food to HOPE Sanger.
The shortened relay event was a compromise crafted by community volunteers and American Cancer Society officials after team participation and donations didn't grow as fast as in past years.
October
Nonprofits caught in the middle
It was a normal meeting for the Measure S Citizens Over- sight Commitee, dealing with yet another conflict with city man- ager Tim Chapa. But this time multiple nonprofits were caught in the middle.
"The nonprofits approved for Measure S grants for gang and drug prevention/intervention projects are not getting paid the money they're owed," said oversight committee chairperson Sue Simpson. They will get paid when they submit an invoice for the money, contended Chapa. The invoice was never part of the agreement, said committee member James Miser. They couldn't be paid until after the budget was approved in August, said Chapa. The city, in anticipation of not meeting a July 1 deadline for approving a new fiscal year budget, passed a resolution al- lowing for bills to be paid based on the previous year's financial plan, said Miser.
It was a normal meeting for the Measure S Citizens Over- sight Commitee.
Praying for Jessica
Scores of people turned out to pray for one of Sanger's own. Jessica Milam, 23, fell to a sniper's bullet in Las Vegas at a country music concert on Oct. 1. Friends and those who knew her gathered at Reagan Elementary for prayer. A lone gunman - Stephen Paddock - is believed to have killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500 when he fired hundreds of rounds into the audience gathered for a Jason Aldean performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
Royalty
Robin Maldonado and Natalie Boust were named the 2017 Sanger High School homecoming king and queen. They were later honored by the chamber of commerce as Mr. and Miss Sanger, the first time a Mr. Sanger had been named.
November
War
"I'm hoping for a day when the city and the [Measure S] citizens oversight committee are on the same page and can work together. This war has got to end sometime." Those were the words of oversight member James Miser at the
end of a long and contentious Measure S Citizens Oversight Com- mittee meeting. It was a meeting that did nothing to de- escalate the "war" between the committee and city manager Tim Chapa except for maybe the words of Miser at the end of the meeting, hoping for a better day. Chapa did not attend the meeting. The oversight committee unanimously rejected a Measure S audit report done by Brown Armstrong CPAs. Committee members made it clear the report was not at all what they expected to receive. "Chapa wrote the contract
See 2017 REVIEW, page 7A
WORSHIP IN SANGER
Calvary Fellowship Church
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Sunday school for all ages 9:30 AM Sunday worship service 10:30 AM Wednesday Family night for all ages 6 PM - 8 PM
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CHURCH OF CHRIST
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SUNDAY - Bible Study 9:30 a.m. Worship 10:30 a.m. Evening Worship 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday - Bible Study 7 p.m. CLASES EN ESPANOL - 9:30 a.m. Call 875-8270 / 960-8982 Para Espanol
CALVARY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
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