Dinuba Sentinel 7-12-18

Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
Established 1909, Dinuba, California
Thursday, July 12, 2018
50 Cents
Dinuba Planning Commission will review rst draft before it goes to City Council
putting up a yard sale sign.
The current Dinuba city ordinance regarding
signs gives specifics as to how big a yard/garage sale sign and how it can be displayed.
The largest you can go on such a sign is three square-feet, or roughly half the size of a poster board. And that sign, according to the ordinance in place, cannot be affixed to “any lamp, pole, utility pole, bench, hydrant, bridge, wall, tree, sidewalk or structure in, upon or across any public street, alley or public property except as may be
required or permitted by law.”
Scratching your head?
As you may have gathered from section
17.72.050 of the current ordinance, the code doesn’t really allow for much in the way of yard or garage sale signs.
“That’s part of the reason we’re reviewing the ordinance,” said Dinuba Assistant City Manager Daniel James. “Not only is the current (sign) ordinance dated, but some of it is not easy to understand.”
Many locals have taken to parking vehicles on certain intersections with a weighted box on top to advertise their yard sales. A-frames, otherwise known as sandwich boards, are also not permitted for such advertising.
So what is acceptable under the current city
ordinance
sign ordinance when it comes to yard sale signs? According to James, as the code reads now, people are allowed one sign only, and that sign can only be placed on the lawn of the corresponding residence.
“I admit that doesn’t give people a lot of options,” said James. “We are definitely going to look at that, among other items, when it comes to amending the ordinance.”
As for yard sales, because of the ambiguity, James said the city enforcement officers are more concerned with permits for the actual yard sale – something that can readily be acquired at the Dinuba City Hall. The first sale is cost-free.
But the signage ordinance covers more than just
See Signs, Page A3
Homeless in Dinuba
Police say transients are a bigger problem
By Jackson Moore
News@thedinubasentinel.com
Concerns have been raised about the city of Dinuba’s homeless population, but the issues expressed by homeowners and business owners might be misplaced.
Dinuba Police Officer Mark Wilder told the city council during a work session at the June 26 meeting that there are approximately 11 homeless residents in Dinuba. Wilder and city of Dinuba code compliance officer Angelica Molina make routine contact with the individuals and respond to reports of homeless concerns, but in most cases they are not the ones to blame for nuisance reports.
Wilder explained, “A lot of the times when there is a problem with defecating, it’s not the ones we contact on a regular basis. I consider our homeless as those who live in the city and are homeless, compared to transients that are traveling through Dinuba - those are the ones causing the problems. I consider them transients because they don’t usually stay.
“For whatever reasons they are in Dinuba... we contact them and search for warrants, do whatever we can to figure out where they are from to get them back or see if there are any types of programs that can help them.”
Wilder added that in the last month he has encountered about five transient individuals who have since moved on. Often times they are traveling between
See Homeless, Page A5
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
So you’re having a yard sale this weekend and you want to advertise it. Right?
Years ago, if you wanted to advertise your yard sale, you’d draw up a few poster boards and affix them to a post at the most strategic intersection.
However, a Dinuba city sign ordinance introduced in the late 90’s put an end to that option – and many other options when it came to
Veterans
assistance
coming to
Memorial
Hall
Veterans Service
representative will
be available weely
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
In all the many efforts put forth by the veterans of the Dinuba chapter of American Legion, one challenge has escaped them in recent years. With limited resources and knowledge in the area in question, the chapter has only been able to direct and redirect the questions of local war comrades enquiring about veteran’s benefits.
Next month that all changes and local veterans will be able to speak to professional representatives in regards to their benefit questions and paperwork.
“We get a lot of questions about Veterans benefits,” said Joe Rivera of American Legion Alta Post 19. “We can share our own experience, but every case is different. So we would tell them to speak to a VA representative.”
The problem for many veterans are the cases that require more than a telephone-prompted assistance, which are many, and the many who would rather speak to someone face to face. The bigger problem is that those representatives are located in either
See Veterans, Page A3
Ball of fun
Changing Minds
Horse ranch in Orosi is modling young minds
Community, Page A7
All Stars Blue
Dinuba Majors Baseball All Stars game goes Blue's way Sports, Page B1
City looks to amend dated sign
Photos by Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
The fireworks show lasted about 20 minutes long.
An improvement on this year's celebration was the parking made available in the empty lot across from Centennial Park, making the exit from the event far easier than it was last year.
New Orosi High stadium ahead of schedule
Sod laid down last week, synthetic track to be installed soon. Stadium now awaits bleacher construction.
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
The grand opening for the new stadium at Orosi High School is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of October. The district’s hope was that the new stadium would be ready to go for homecoming, which is the first Friday of October, the 5th be exact.
However, if you were to look at the current progress of the stadium, you’d be tempted to buy tickets to the Orosi Cardinal’s football home opener, which takes place about a month earlier.
“We’re actually ahead of schedule,” says Cutler- Orosi Head of Maintanence and Operations Raffi Saghomonian.
Last week the crew from Mac and Forcum could be seen out on the field, laying out the brand new sod that will make up the playing surface of Ed Coats Field. By now, the field is in and the asphalt for the new synthetic track is within its second week of a 30-day cure.
After the 30 days the synthetic track will go down and the final details, such as field and lane striping,
will only remain to be done. The field upon which the Cardinals will play upon for the next however-many years will then be complete and ready to be christened.
The only think lacking at this point is the stadium itself – or the bleachers that is.
Originally, the district wanted to do just what is about to be already completed, provide a new track and field for the future of Orosi High athletics. The plan was to extend the field, add the track and field amenities and make necessary to the original stadium berm to bring it up to ADA standards.
However, when the plan was first sent to the Department of the State Architecture, the request came to the district to establish that the berm in place would meet current California codes, the plan changed.
Rather than pay for engineers to attempt to prove something that likely couldn’t be done, since the original stadium berm was built by community volunteers, and some willing student-athletes, the district chose to start new. They chose to build an
See Stadium, Page A5
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
thedinubasentinel.com Inside | Lights and SirensA2 | ObituariesA2 | OpinionA4 | SportsB1 | Classi edsB4
It was another large turnout at Dinuba's annual Fireworks Show, held last Tuesday at Centennial Park. Thousands of people lined the streets to celebrate the 241st anniversary of our nation's independence.
Those attending were treated to a live band, an array of vendors (including the ubiquitous giant inflatable beach balls, ABOVE) and, of course, a night-time aerial fireworks show.
Construction crew members lay sod onto a new Ed Coats Field at Orosi High School. The field at the new stadium is nearly complete and ahead of schedule.