Page 1 - Reedley Exponent 3-15-18 E-edition

Rotary Club presents its annual auction and dinner March 17
IHS basketball seasons conclude with losses in state playoffs
Vol. 129, No. 11 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 www.reedleyexponent.com Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654 | 50 cents Council delays emergency shelter vote
Controversial item won’t be heard until March 27
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
In a surprising development, the Reedley City Council on March 13 voted to delay for two weeks a vote on whether to approve bring-
Roadwork
projects
proceed on
two streets
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Work steadily is progressing on two notable street projects that have challenged motorists driving along these two main roadways through Reedley.
Construction crews are working around rainy days to complete the conversion of 7th Street at I Street to a right turn only lane. At the same time, roadblocks have eased along Reed Avenue, north of Manning Ave- nue, as a majority of trenching work along the roadway has been finished.
This week, crews are grading dirt on 7th Street in preparation for paving of the roadway. When finished, traffic coming from 7th Street off of Reed Avenue can only turn right and head south on I Street.
A traffic median also will be built on I Street to prevent vehicles from turning left from I into an ad- jacent convenience store.
John Robertson, city engineer, said that barring multiple rainy days or other unexpected delays the work should be done by the end of March. Motorists driving north on Reed who want to continue north on I Street are advised to turn right on 8th Street and proceed to I before turning. The intersection at I and 8th streets will permanently have four- way stop signs.
“Right now, we’ve gone down to a single lane [on I Street] to extend the median,” Robertson said of the cones re-routing traffic. “We did an analysis to make sure the stop signs [at 8th and I] were warranted.”
As for Reed Avenue north of Manning Avenue, work is being done by utilities — Pacific Gas and Elec- tric, Comcast and Frontier Internet to remove and convert wiring.
“Over the summer you’ll see some poles down while some will have to stay up,” Robertson said. “We want to leave the poles up that have streetlights on them until the roadway project comes through.”
Robertson said when the new road surface on Reed is done, new streetlights will be placed on both sides of the street.
Once all trenching is done, crews will begin resurfacing Reed Avenue. Robertson hopes work can start be- fore May, but the city is waiting to
See ROADWORK on page A8
ing an emergency shelter to southwest Reed- ley. Neighboring residents to the proposed facility have vocally and actively opposed the city’s plan since the issue was raised in Sep- tember 2017.
Barely two minutes into the meeting, Coun- cil Member Bob Beck moved to pull the pend- ing vote on the facility called Faith House from the agenda, citing a need for more information
he was waiting to receive and the fact there wasn’t a four council members available to vote. Mary Fast was an excused absence from the meeting while Mayor Pro Tem Frank Pinon recused himself from the vote.
Beck and Council Member Ray Soleno voted to table the item while Mayor Anita Be- tancourt voted ‘no.’ With the item tabled, the soonest it could come up for a vote to approve
would be at the council’s next regular meeting on Tuesday, March 27.
Soleno asked Beck what information he was seeking.
“There are some questions on the actual grant, for one,” Beck replied. “And it’s such an important item that I think the fourth council member needs to be here.”
See SHELTER on page A8
Softball tribute to Bejar
The Reedley High School softball program held a special ceremony on March 9 during the inaugural Javier Bejar Memorial Tournament at the high school field. The tournament was created to honor Bejar, whose death in 2010 was the first time a Reedley police officer died in the line of duty.
Attending the ceremony were Bejar’s parents, sisters and nephews, along with members of the Reedley Police Department and Reedley Police Explorers.
Kathryn Buckley, Reedley High soft- ball coach, said the program wanted to honor Bejar to show their pride and respect and to recognize his sacrifice. “We wanted his family to know that, although years continue to pass, we will not forget. The com- munity of Reedley will not forget,” she said.
More details on the tournament are in Sports on Page B4.
ABOVE: The Reedley High softball team, front row, posed for a group photo with members of the Bejar family, Reedley Police Department, Reedley Police Explorers and Reed- ley High Naval Junior ROTC program during a ceremony before the game with Mission Oak High School.
LEFT: A photo of Officer Javier Bejar was displayed at a table, where tour- nament attendees could purchase shirts in memory of Bejar.
Photos by Chris Aguirre / The Exponent
Reedley College goes through accrediting process
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Ten representatives from community col- leges throughout California came to Reedley College on two dates last week to receive public feedback and make recommendations when it came to the college’s accrediting status.
It’s a process that state community college goes through every seven years. The March 5 and March 7 visits by the Accrediting Com- mission of Community and Junior College panel were part of the process to the college main- taining its accreditation status. The last visit to Reedley by the ACCJC panel came in 2011.
The commission will report its findings to the college in June.
Eileen Apperson, English instructor and co- chair of the Reedley College accreditation pro- gram, said the college submits a written report to the panel addressing its standards and saying where there can be improvement.
“Two areas for improvement that we’ve identified are data-driven decisions,” Epperson said. “We’re moving in the right direction, but we can be more robust with it.”
This year’s accreditation team was chaired by Timothy Karas, president of the College of Alameda. He was assisted by Karen Engle, a dean at the same college in the Bay Area. The other eight members were education lead- ers from community colleges in northern and
See ACCREDITING on page A8
Some of the members of the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior College listened to com- ments from Reedley College students and faculty during a panel discussion on March 7. Pictured from left are ac- creditation panel members Patricia Lynn, Valerie Barko, panel chair Timothy Karas, Kenley Neufeld, Kristina Al- lende, and Norman Lorenz.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Classified - A6-7 Directory - A5
Legals - B6-7 Sports - B3-4
Lights & Sirens - A3
Obituaries - A2
Opinion - A4