Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 4-9-20 E-edition

Thursday, April 9, 2020
Vol. 1, No. 41
Sanger Unified shuts down its campuses for the school year, others may follow
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
Following the guidance of California’s State Superinten- dent of Public Instruction, the Sanger Unified School District announced on April 3 that cam- puses in the district will re- main closed through the end of the school year due to the CO- VID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a difficult and dis- appointing decision,” wrote Sanger Unified Superinten- dent Adela Jones in a letter to the district community. “I realized this is not how we envisioned ending this school year, but it’s the best and most
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Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
The city of Dinuba Parks and Recreation Department’s Joe Bueno has been disinfecting playground equipment at Rose Ann Vuich Park every morning for past few weeks. According to Bueno, though there are caution signs around the park advising citizens that the playgrounds are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic crisis, the playgrounds are still frequented on a daily basis.
A new exercise equipment area at the park —for which the city planned on having a grand opening in late March — also is closed to the public. However, caution tape used to prevent use has been broken multiple times as park goers continue to not heed the warnings.
13 confirmed cases in Fresno County reported to be in Sanger, Reedley areas
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Fresno County De- partment of Public Health made official on April 7 that at least 13 positive tests for COVID-19 (coronavirus) came from cities in the MId Valley Times coverage area — seven from Sanger and six from Reedley.
Late in the afternoon of April 7, the county posted a chart on its website showing the breakdown by cities. Of 146 confirmed or presump- tive positive cases, Sanger and Reedley trailed only Fresno (93), Clovis (15) and Firebaugh
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50 cents
Dealing with Coronavirus
New developments affect region
Dinuba mourns death of longtime former fire chief
Myles Chute led the department for 25 years
By George M. Villagrana
Mid Valley Times
The city of Dinuba and the firefighting community are mourning the loss of former fire chief Myles Chute, who died on March 20 at age 70.
Chute arrived to Dinuba from Palo Alto in 1972 and be- gan his career as a firefighter three years later. He started as a firefighter and worked his way to engineer, then cap- tain and finally to chief over his 35-year career.
Chute served as Dinuba's fire chief for 25 years and re- tired from the department in 2010.
Current fire Chief Chad Thompson said he had the
pleasure of working for Chute. “He was my chief for ma- ny years before he retired,” Thompson said. “He was a great man. He was my mentor and is the person who encour- aged me to take over as fire
chief when he retired.” Thompson said that Chute was a generous and friendly man who loved his fire depart-
ment and loved his family. “He would often be found doing all kinds of volunteer work in the community and was always helping people in
any way he could.”
Chute was a two-term pres-
ident of the Alta District His- torical Society. He also was a member of the Dinuba Ki- wanis Club for more than 40
years and served two terms as president. In addition, he served as an adviser for the Dinuba High Key Club for about 15 years.
One of Chute’s biggest proj- ects he was involved in was the “Safe to School Sidewalk” program. His involvement was instrumental in building sidewalks for children to use while walking to Wilson El- ementary School.
Chute also played in an integral role in getting a FireMed program established back in 1986. It is now called Tri-County FireMed as the cit- ies of Kingsburg, Sanger and Selma have joined.
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Mid Valley Times file photo
Myles Chute spoke at an Alta District Historical Society event in 2019. Chute, who died March 20, served two terms as Historical Society president and was Dinuba fire chief for 25 years.
The Kings River flowed slowly past an empty Reedley Beach on April 7. The Kings River Water Association announced that water content from Sierra snowpack in the association's eight watershed courses measured just 46 percent of normal on April 1.
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Fresno and Tulare Coun- ties and the Sierra Nevada range received more late-sea- son rain and snow earlier this week, but the region remains well below the normal season average for April.
Before the most recent storms on April 5-6, the Kings River Water Association an- nounced in a news release that the Kings River water- shed — a source that sig-
nificant portions of Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties rely on — had a snow water content of about 46 percent, less than half of the normal spring peak for the team. The latest rain and Sierra snow, a rare weather event for April, may help push that level over 50 percent.
Steve Haugen, watermas- ter for KRWA, said the river's seasonal-best snow depth of 55.5 inches was measured atop 11,200-foot Bishop Pass. At 9,650-foot Scenic Meadow,
the great snowpack water content measured was 56 per- cent of average.
The lower snowpack is exhibited in the flow of the Kings River through the Cen- tral Valley. Plagued by spring and summer flooding in 2017 and 2018 the river now mean- ders to a crawl through Reed- ley and runs dry just south of Kingsburg. The channel at the Highway 43 bridge in southern Fresno County is a
See AG WATER on page A9
Despite recent rains, snowpack and ag water are below normal
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