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Vol. 130, No. 12 | Thursday, March 21, 2019
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Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents Council approves annexation of project site
Rancho Vista subdivision moves forward March 12
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
The Reedley City Council has voted by a majority decision to proceed with the annex- ation of roughly 41 acres near Buttonwillow
and Duff avenues, including an area planned as the Rancho Vista Reedley subdivision.
At the March 12 regular meeting, the council voted 4-0 to approve – with Ray Soleno abstaining — on four votes including a miti- gated negative declaration and annexation application. The approvals came despite calls during public comment from three residents in the Duff Avenue area to consider moving an exit street from the Rancho Vista project.
During the comment period, Chuck Bald- win — who lives on Duff Street — asked that the matter be returned to the Planning Com- mission for further review. The commission had approved the resolutions at its Feb. 21 meeting.
“The real crux of the new issue is the exit on the south side of the development that will dump out onto Duff Avenue,” Baldwin told the council, saying a move of the exit street
two lots to the east to align with South Or- ange Avenue would be safer for the neigh- borhood.
“Duff Street is houses facing all of Duff with children in the street. Orange [Avenue] has no houses backing out on them,” he said “It would be safer for the children and re- duce the flow if that exited out through Or-
See ANNEXATION on page A5
Gates is new RHS football coach
Pirates alumnus returns home to his ‘dream job’
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Tony Gates is back home to do what he calls his “dream job.” Gates — a 1991 Reedley High alumnus – was officially
Curbing alcohol use, DUIs
It’s a busy weekend of St. Patrick’s Day for local law enforcement By Juanita Adame
approved March
12 by the Kings
Canyon Unified
School District
Board of Trust-
ees to become the
next varsity foot-
ball coach. Gates,
45, replaces
Brandon Nagle,
who posted a
5-26 record in three seasons and is moving on to a coordinator’s job with County Metro Athletic Conference School Bullard High of Fresno.
“I still live in the community, my two daughters go here. One’s a senior, one’s a freshman,” said Gates, who lives north of the city near Great Western School. “This is truly a thrill, For me, at this point, I think of the names of guys before me, it’s humbling. [Skip] Pendergast, Bill Baird, Stan Kanawyer, Justin Garza.
“Now, filling those shoes is humbling. I sometimes want to just pinch myself. I know we’re gong to have to do some retool- ing.”
Gates coached on and off as an assistant at RHS under seven different head coaches for 11 seasons beginning in 1996. In 1999, he was an assistant under Kanawyer on Clovis West’s sec-
See GATES on page A2
juanita@midvalleypublishing.com
It took Guillermo Garza, a sergeant with the Reedley Po- lice Department, just moments to see a parking lot packed with cars at one of the city’s local bars to make his determination.
“As soon as we drive into this driveway,” said Garza on the evening of March 16. “We can anticipate how our night is going to go. As you can see we already have cars down here which means it’s going to be pretty busy.
“You can see they have a booth down there with some fes- tivities over there, some type of special event.”
Garza was on patrol during the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Working with seven other Reed- ley officers, he made his rounds
throughout the city to make sure everyone was celebrating ac- cordingly and not breaking any laws.
“Our community is really good at assisting us with call- ing 911 if they see anything re- motely close to a DUI driver,” he said. “So a lot of our arrests are self initiated arrests where officers are actually out seeing the DUIs.”
According to 2018 num- bers compiled by the Califor- nia Highway Patrol, one person was killed on St. Patrick’s Day last year while 48 people were injured in traffic collisions in- volving people who were driving while under the influence.
The report also indicated that statewide, 131 people were
See ST. PATRICK’S on page A8
TOP: Reedley police Sgt. Guillermo Garza stopped to talk to a motorist during a vehicle stop on the evening of March 16 in the city.
ABOVE: Reedley Police were out in force during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. Seven law enforcement personnel worked the detail on St. Patrick’s Day.
Photos by Juanita Adame / The Exponent
Tony Gates
Reedley High sports medicine makes it 2 straight
Reedley High School / Photo Contributed
The Reedley High School Sports Medicine team captured the championship of the Career Skills Challenge at Fresno City College on March 14. From left are Melissa Sanchez, Jorge Mesa, Alex Lu, coach Kirby Kauk, Jenelle Jaramillo, and Xiadani Maya Guzman.
Classifieds - A7 Directory - A6 Legals - B6-7
Team successfully defends title March 14 in Career Skills Challenge at Fresno City College Staff Report
Reedley High School’s powerful sports medicine program added anoth- er check mark to its long list of accom- plishments.
On March 14, this year’s team suc- cessfully defended its title while defeat- ing 13 other programs from Fresno and Madera counties in the Career Skills Challenge at Fresno City College. Reed- ley beat out second place Central High and third place Edison in winning for the second year in a row.
In the process. two RHS students finished in the top three on a written
Reedley High School / Photo Contributed
Asami Nelson, left, finished third and Rodolfo Corrales, right, placed second against a field of 50-60 students from area programs during the Human Anatomy written competition.
See SPORTS MEDICINE on page A2
Sports - B3-4 Lights & Sirens - A3 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4