Mid Valley Times 4-8-21 E-edition

Thursday, April 8, 2021
Vol. 2, No. 40
Sanger revitalization
50 cents
Coronavirus Update — Tulare County In Orange
Numbers remain relatively stable
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The pace of declining coro- navirus cases in Fresno Coun- ty has slowed somewhat, but the continuous drops in Tulare County give that region a new color status: orange, or mod- erate.
The April 6 release of CO- VID-19 numbers showed just 3.1 new cases per 100,000 population — well below the 4.9 percent cutoff status for a second consecutive week, allowing the county to move into the more relaxed stan- dards.
Those standards mean an increase in capacity for outdoor general events. In orange, capacity can be ex- panded to 100 people or up to 300 if tested or vaccinated. Capacity can also increase to 150 people for indoor events if attendees have been tested or vaccinated.
For the week ending April 6, Tulare County's active cases dropped by 76, to 332, despite a rise of 14 in the final day's tally. Total cases increased by just 136, and the overall recovery rate was holding at 97.7 percent. Deaths climbed by five, to 814, and the vac- cination rate for the county climbed to 185,962 receiving at least one COVID shot.
In Fresno County, the CO- VID website reported loose numbers of total cases and updated death totals for cities that had more than 10 deaths.
SeeVIRUSonpage A2
Committee's
goal is to fix
up downtown
area of city
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
There are three words that Tom Nicholson said describe the vision and mission state- ment of Sanger’s new revital- ization committee: restore, re- energize and reconnect.
“We’ve spent the last twelve months really wanting to show what we’re about and establishing that vision and mission statement,” said com- mittee chair Nicholson on the afternoon of April 1. “This is a very exciting group of busi- ness leaders entrepreneurs, department heads from from various places like the Fresno Economic Development and the city of Sanger.”
The main goal of the com- mittee is to fix Sanger’s down- town area. Nicholson said this is something that has often been discussed during council
See REVITALIZEonpageA16
ABOVE: An empty building on the northeast corner of O and 7th street sin downtown Sanger is in need of fresh paint and some re- pair. Tom Nicholson, chair of the Sanger Revi- talization Committee, said they hope to beau- tify the buildings to attract more businesses to the area.
LEFT: The revitalization committee would al- so focus on painting alleyways in downtown Sanger.
Photos by Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Award-winning Mid Valley journalist dies
Michael Miyamoto worked for Dinuba, Reedley publications
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
Michael Miyamoto, an award-win- ning journalist who excelled for Mid Valley Publishing newspapers during his career, died in Southern California in February following a six-year battle with cancer. He was 66.
Miyamoto died Feb. 22 at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, surrounded by his wife and family. His most recent job was with Taft Broadcasting in Riv-
erside as a technical writer and photo cap- tion editor working with archival photos. Originally diagnosed with neck cancer shortly after moving to Southern Califor- nia in 2015, he had been in remission be- fore until 2019 when his cancer returned.
Michael Miyamoto
Valley. His positions ranged from lead reporter to editor, them managing edi- tor.
Linda Renn, former editor for The Dinuba Sentinel who worked with Mi- yamoto in both Selma and Dinuba, called him "a solid journalist" who always did his best for the newspaper and commu- nity he was in.
"There was no one what I would rath- er have beside me at deadline," she said. "He was a great guy. I considered him a coworker and friend. He was kind of quiet at times, but he had a wicked sense of humor and he was a man of charac- ter."
Miyamoto's journalism awards in-
See MIYAMOTO on page A16
The Dinuba native
worked for his hometown paper, the Di- nuba Sentinel, along with The Reedley Exponent among Mid Valley Publica- tions. He also worked for the Selma En- terprise and Visalia Times-Delta among his many newspaper experiences in the
Reedley council mulls future of downtown 4-way stop
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Reedley City Council discussed the current and future status of additional signs at a temporary four-way stop at the intersection of 10th and F streets down- town during the council's regular meeting on March 23.
The signs have been in place since last July, when Fresno County's purple tier status for coronavirus cases led to the city shutting off one lane of 10th Street to al- low two gyms in the area to set up some outdoor equipment. At the time, the signs were placed to stop eastbound traffic on 10th; previously, only F Street had stop signs at the intersection.
Marilu Morales, city engineer, told the council about the background of the sign placement and the requirements the city
would need to meet to permanently place the signs. The California Vehicle Code and California Manual on Uniform Traffic De- vices require that prior to the placement of signs that an engineering analysis be per- formed and data including traffic volume and number of accidents be collected and compared to specific warrants or criteria.
Those traffic and pedestrian counts were taken on Dec. 7, 2020, and those counts fell well below the threshold needed to put in the sign. But Morales said that the COVID closure of nearby Reedley High School and closure of southwest-bound 10th Street were all factors to that statistic.
The issue then went to Reedley's traf- fic commission for discussion and a vote on Feb. 25, and the four commissioners voting were deadlocked on whether to
See COUNCIL on page A16
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Stop signs are pictured on the east and west center lines at the intersection of 10th and F streets in downtown Reedley. During its regular meeting on March 23, the Reedley City Council discussed the possibility of keeping the intersec- tion a four-way stop on a permanent basis.
Classifieds - A15 Directory - A6 Legals - A10-14 Sports - A9 Lifestyle - A7-8 Lights & Sirens - A3, A5 Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4