Page 11 - Sanger Herald 12-21-17 e-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 3B • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2017
Sanger Chamber's Tammy Wolfe reports a banner year for events
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
This year’s Farmers Market and Street Faire events and the 70th Annual Toyland Parade drew huge if not record crowds, and one block party even helped a business boost traffic during a pivotal time in its development.
Those were several of the highlights mentioned by Sanger Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tammy Wolfe during a year-end review before Sanger Rotary members at their weekly luncheon Dec. 15. Wolfe said the payback for Sanger comes from increased economic activity and through heightened goodwill that translates to
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Tammy Wolfe, president and CEO of the chamber of commerce, says the city of Sanger is on the rise in terms of growth.
services and a brand new two-story building by United Health Centers at the corner of Seventh and P street and the opening of a number of new businesses in the downtown core, including Maverick’s Screen Printing at Seventh and O streets.
However, development of the community’s commercial and industrial sector has at least outwardly slowed since the 2016 departure of economic development guru Dan Spears, who worked in Sanger 22 years. On his recruitment list was a steel fabrication plant, a hotel and market-rate multi- family apartments, none of which has materialized or has exhibited a whiff of
doing so.
Wolfe remained
optimistic Sanger is on track. She said the Sanger Unified School District, which is considered one of the top performers in the state, continues to draw interest. And she cited the performance of a recent housing development by Lennar on the city’s west side as an example of what’s to come.
Miami-based Lennar had no shortage of buyers for its line of Stonehaven Cambridge Collection homes. They snapped up the last of the 100 properties near Reagan Elementary School. “They’ve sold really well and really fast,” said Mike Miller, Lennar division
president in Fresno, this fall.
Fort Worth, Texas-based DR Horton purchased a long-fallowed subdivision where the Sanger Fire Department earlier this year burned down two former model homes built in 2005. Firefighters used the buildings’ destruction for training purposes. A Horton subsidiary has been working to complete some model homes on the property.
Councilman Eli Ontiveros met in August with a pair of Fresno entrepreneurs working to bring technical support and call centers to nearby Parlier to interest them in expanding their
See Chamber, Page 4B
visitors who “want to move here.”
“Sanger is on the rise,” she said. “Our vision is to
continue economic growth.” The city has indeed seen changes. The year brought the arrival of expanded
Looking for a Christmas tree?
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Bobbi-Ann Phillips went to select a Christmas tree for her family at Bryan Church’s seasonal lot at the corner of Eighth and L streets.
“I got a beautiful tree,” she said.
Phillips, who is a fundraising specialist at SAM Academy and chief architect of the organization’s Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops, said her tree was so nice and smelled so good, she decided to pick up another. This one for her niece who couldn’t afford a tree. Church gave her a deal. “He made sure it happened,” she said.
Church’s Christmas Tree Lot offers hot chocolate and movies for the kids, and the lights strung around the area give it that festive look at night. Church said he wanted to provide the holiday experience for Sanger’s families.
But he got a bit of a late start this season, and the visibility of the lot didn’t expose his shipment of Noble and Douglas fir trees as well as it could have. Church established multiple banners and signs, but he said sales haven’t been as brisk as he would have liked.
However, that just means those who waited until the final days can get a good tree for a price no other lot is likely to beat. “Come get a tree,” he said Tuesday morning. “Eight-foot for $50, 7-foot for $40 and
God With Us
The way to find out the true meaning of Christmas is to go to God’s word where we not only find the source of the original account, but we also get God’s commentary on it.
The story of Christmas begins 600 years before the birth of Jesus. Isaiah gives prophecy about a coming savior — the Messiah, the Anointed One — who would redeem the people of God. He promised it would be a miraculous event.
For example, in Isaiah 7:14 it was foretold, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
The time to buy a real tree is winding down, but Bryan Church still has some excellent options at his lot at Eighth and L streets. Right, Church cuts off the base of the tree.
6-foot for $30.”
The rest of the year,
Church, a Navy veteran, works as a caddy at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in southern Oregon on a rugged but hauntingly scenic portion of the Pacific Coast. He said he was talking with his dad, Rick Church, when the idea of starting a seasonal tree business in Sanger came up. Rick Church, principal at Sanger Unified’s Kings River High School, was named Administrator of the Year by the Fresno County Office of Education at a Nov. 16 awards ceremony at the William Saroyan Theatre and has worked in education for 20 years
Bryan said the opportunity provided a chance for him to reconnect with family, because even though he’s just 11 hours away by automobile, they don’t get together as much as they could. And the younger Church said at the lot he even employed, albeit briefly, a couple of his father’s students who proved to be fantastic workers.
evil and reign over a rebuilt life.
“Everlasting Father.” He is the creator and sustainer of the universe and nothing is too difficult for him. Infinity and all its intricacies of life he fully understands. As the world gets more complex, the simplicity of his creative love reaches out to each of us.
“He is the Prince of Peace.” The angelic army declared at Jesus birth peace on earth and good will to all. Amid the conflict that we all face, he comes with peace that isn’t fragile and dependent on the changing circumstances.
Perhaps in the confusion, chaos, complexity and
One of them handed out pamphlets promoting the tree lot during the Sanger Toyland Parade on Dec. 2, talking it up to all who showed interest.
Church picked up his trees from MacKenzie Farms, a wholesaler in Estacada, Ore. outside Portland. He said the farm sells about 800,000 trees ayearandisoneofthe state’s top producers.
The selection Tuesday remained pretty good at Church’s lot. He showed off a tall one that would make some living room proud. All it needed was some ornaments and lights. Maybe not a cat who’s into playing with shiny things.
“I still have trees here,” he said.
And Church said he’s enjoyed himself, getting to know folks like Phillips and others in the community. His idea is to provide a Christmas experience. “Overall, it’s been fun,” he said. “Something for families to do.”
He said he plans to return
See Trees, Page 4B
conflict that you might experience this Christmas let me encourage you to let Jesus be God with you! Receive His counsel, power and peace now and for evermore!
May you have a blessed Christmas!
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force that meets the first and third Tuesdays every month. He can be reached at pastorsam51@gmail.com.
and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.”
This is at the very heart of the Christmas story. The Hebrew name Emmanuel literally means “God with us.” If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, those words would be “God with us.”
Handel used Isaiah’s promise as the text for one of his great choruses in the Messiah oratorio. Isaiah 9:6 proclaims: “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Read on as I list for
you some of the meanings of this great verse: “For unto you a child will be born” — hewillbeasonof man. Began like all others, experiencing all the temptations common to humanity, but he didn’t sin. (Hebrews
“The government will be on His shoulders.” Right now, his rule is in the hearts and lives of his people, but there is a kingdom that will last for all time. What are the characteristics of this kingdom?
“ H e
Counselor” He is the truth, the answer to the world’s confusion. He knows all about you — the needs of your heart’s desires and knows how to answer those needs.
“He is the Mighty God.” Because he is God he can bring order our of chaos — forgive sin, defeat Satan, liberate from the power of
PASTOR’S CORNER
4:15) He felt the pain, the hurt, wept like we weep, and at his death felt the weight ofsinashetookallof humanity’s sin and guilt on
is a Wonderful
himself.
The second phrase is “a
Son will be given.” Notice, not born, but given. This speaks of the Savior’s pre- existent deity.
The third statement is
Pastor Sam Estes