Page 1 - Mid Valley Times 7-9-20 e-edition

Thursday, July 9, 2020
Vol. 2, No. 2
'Safe and sane' fireworks sales soar, illegal use also way up
By Rick Curiel and Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The numbers are in from this year’s Fourth of July fireworks activities and, as one might have expected, they’re up.
From a fundraising per- spective, many of the region’s non-profit organizations were delighted to see in increase in sales at the many "safe and sane" fireworks booths scat- tered throughout the Valley.
“This was the best year we’ve ever had,” said Leo Soto, current Grand Knight for the Dinuba Chapter of the Knights of Columbus. Soto said the numbers for the fraternity’s fireworks sales this year were a lot higher than they have been in previous years, noting that sales records were broken on each day of sales.
The Knights of Columbus booth closed early on July 4 after having sold the vast ma- jority of its inventory — even after restocking and being stationed in a block that had three other fireworks booths.
But those numbers also translated to a higher volume of service calls for local first responders. The Fresno Coun- ty Sheriff’s Office reported a dramatic increase in calls over the holiday weekend, with 436 calls reported be- tween the hours of 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday night.
“Dispatchers (with FCSO) were extremely busy Satur- day night,” said Fresno Coun- ty Sheriff’s Office’s Public In- formation Officer Tony Botti. “To put it in perspective, an
See FIREWORKS on page A5
Rick Curiel / Mid Valley Times
Leo Soto, Grand Knight of the Dinuba Chapter of the Knights of Columbus, was busy selling fireworks to customers at the fraternity’s booth in Dinuba on July 3. Soto said this year’s sales numbers surpassed all previous years sales as more people stayed away from gatherings and celebrated at home.
ABOVE LEFT: Large flames that could be seen for miles surrounded the Town House Motel in Sanger on July 4 after several nearby trees caught fire. Officials determined the cause to be illegal fireworks
A fiery Fourth
50 cents
Sanger
to extend
water
service
Chapa's contract extension passes in split vote
By Rick Curiel
Mid Valley Times
The small community of Tombstone, just south of Sanger city limits on South Greenwood Avenue, will soon be able to draw water service from its neighbor to the north.
The Sanger City Council passed a resolution at the July 2 meeting to request funds from the State Water Board to begin the project, funds that were secured by Sanger’s own Cali- fornia State Senator Melissa Hurtado. Aspartofthestateof California’s Budget Act of 2019 (AB 74), Hurtado was report- edly able to secure $4 million in the budget for her constituents in Sanger. Of that, $1 million has been earmarked for Tombstone water connection project.
The small unincorporated area currently depends on wells for its supply of water, but drought conditions in previous years raised concerns by the residents there. Two years ago, citizens from Tombstone made a request to be connected to the city’s water system.
The project is estimated to cost about $3 million and Self- Help of Visalia has agreed to help with the remainder of the project’s cost. If all grant fund- ing is made available the exten- sion of the service would come at no cost to the city.
But not all councilmembers had confidence in the project.
In addressing Sanger City Engineer Josh Roger’s pre-
See COUNCILonpageA5
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Fresno and Tulare counties, COVID-19 num- bers continued to rise — in- cluding recoveries — and still were increasing to a level that the state is con- tinuing its order for dine-in restaurants, bars and brew pubs to remain closed and for face coverings (masks) to be worn indoors at public locations.
In the week running from June 30 to July 7, to- tal cases in Fresno County jumped by more than 1,900
(5,008 to 6,924) and ac- tive cases increased from 3,713 to 5,389, according to the county's Department of Health. Deaths jumped from 73 to 81 while hospi- talizations rose by 45 to 415. On the positive side, 1,454 people have recovered (21 percent of the total cases).
For the week, Parlier had a sharp increase of 67 cases to 297, passing near- by Reedley (up 56 to 295). Sanger added 61 cases to its new total of 417 (286 active) as of July 7, and Orange Cove was at 174 cases (119 active).
Tulare County's total positive Coronavirus cases increased by 1,029 to 5,175, and there are 614 more ac- tive cases this week (1,638 total). Thirteen more peo- ple died to bring the total to 139, but hospitalizations rose by only 12 to 78.Total recoveries grew by 392 for the week.
Dinuba's caseload grew by 82 for the week to 669, with 13 of the new cases coming on July 7. Orosi's positive numbers grew by 38 to 215 while Cutler was
See COVID-19 on page A2
in the area.
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
ABOVE RIGHT: A Reedley fire truck glowed in the foreground as flames ran up a palm tree in east Reed- ley on July 4. The blaze in the 1600 block of East Early Avenue was the first of two fires in the city on the Fourth, both believed to be started by illegal fireworks. The other fire occured at an unoccupied house in the 800 block of I Street.
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Coronavirus Update — Restrictions continuing
Testing, case numbers continue to rise
As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, there had been 6,924 confirmed cases (5,389 active) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Fresno County, with 78 deaths.
the positive cases (21 percent) had recovered.
In Tulare County, there were 5,175 confirmed cases (1,638 active) of COVID-19 with 139 deaths as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 7. Breakdowns by cities/regions now are available, with 669 cases in Dinuba, 215 in Orosi, 117 in Cutler, 32 in Traver and less than 11 each in rural areas south of Reedley and east of Orange Cove.
Among Mid Valley Times cities, Sanger (including the region to the northeast) had the most positive cases with 417 while Reedley had 295 cases, Parlier climbed to 297 cases and Orange Cove had 174 cases. Del Rey was at 27 cases while Fowler had 56 cases. The county reported that 1,454 of
A total of 3,398 people had recovered from the virus in Tulare County.
COVID-19 update
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