Sanger Herald 11-1-18 E-edition

Library reopens with a lot of fun
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Apaches advance to playoffs
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Sports 1B
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Sanger(FresnoCounty)CA93657 50¢ (taxincluded) Veterans Parade Grand Marshal
Groundbreaking for new SUSD education complex
Sanger High grad will lead Saturday's 8th annual parade By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
"Once an Apache, always anApache!" That'swhatLt. Col. Cesar Gonzalez affirmed when he was the featured speaker at Sanger's 2017 Memorial Day service.
This Saturday Apache Gonzalez will be the grand marshal of the 8th annual Sanger Veterans Parade.
He's also commander of the 144th Fighter Wing Air- craft Maintenance Squadron.
Gonzalez graduated from Sanger High in 1992 and entered the Air Force in 1997 after receiving his com- mission from Fresno State University’s ROTC program.
He oversees the Aero- space Control Alert F-15
site responsible for the West Coast Defense site controlled by NORAD.
The parade will step
off promptly at 11:11 a.m. on N Street at the intersec- tion with 10th Street, after a flyover, following opening ceremonies at 10:45 a.m. at the intersection of Jensen Avenue and O Street.
It will go north on N Street, east on Jensen Av- enue and south on P Street.
Several downtown streets used for staging and the parade route will be closed to through traffic from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Satur- day.
Drive carefully and look for barricades, parade organizers, floats, military
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
“It has been a long time in coming – and yet it has just begun,” seemed to be the theme of the groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 25 on the 116 acres of empty land – except for a couple of old houses that will soon be torn down – several miles west of Sanger.
It's empty land now but, if Sanger Unified's bond mea- sure passes, it won't be much longer before it's Sanger Unified's new Educational Complex.
The complex will include a middle school campus for 1,692 students and a high school campus for 2,840 stu- dents. The two schools would have a combined building area of about 561,900 square feet, consisting of academic buildings, an administration and media center building, one multi-purpose building, two gymnasiums, a theater, and athletic facilities includ- ing two football/soccer fields
with tracks (one with a sta- dium), two pools, hardcourts for tennis, basketball, and volleyball, and playfields for baseball, softball and soccer. The football stadium would seat up to 8,500 spectators.
A new housing develop- ment is across Fowler Av-
enue on the west side of the project and Sanger Unified's Sequoia Elementary School is across Armstrong Avenue on the east side. The south side is bounded by Jensen Avenue and the north by Church Avenue.
Most of the focus was on the future. But school board president Pete Filippi pointed out the project was begun when the district's chief operating officer Richard Sepulveda was first hired and finally reached the
groundbreaking stage only after Sepulveda had retired.
Donning construction hardhats and wielding cer- emonial silver plated shovels were district officials and a student and principal from each of the schools in the district.
Representatives from the state, county, office of educa- tion and one from the city
of Sanger attended the 10:30 a.m. event.
Work began this Monday on the 19-month construction schedule for the new com- plex which will be primarily dedicated to Sanger Unified's career pathways programs.
Why is the project so far west of Sanger? “Because that's were the growth is in our district. That's where our new students are coming from,” said Filippi.
The reporter can be contact- ed by email at sangerherald@ gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
Lt. Col. Cesar Gonzalez
vehicles and marching units on these downtown streets
- 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, N, O, P, West, Jensen and Acad- emy.
For more information call
JD Bennett at (559) 280-3173.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sang- erherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
Photos of the ground- breaking ceremony are on page 6A and the Herald Facebook page.
Off duty Fresno police officer and family recovering from Sunday crash
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
An off-duty Fresno police officer and his wife suffered major injuries Sunday morn- ing in a crash at the intersec- tion of Bethel Avenue and Highway 180 near Sanger.
Eloy Escareno, 47, was driving to church in an Acura SUV with his wife, their son, and a niece and nephew. His car was broadsided by a Toyota Camry that, accord- ing to witnesses, ran a red light.
When the Herald went to pressEscarenowaslisted in stable condition.
His wife Maribel suffered major head trauma during the collision and was in seri- ous condition.
The children suffered minor injuries and were also hospitalized for treatment, according to police reports.
The driver of the other vehicle who has not been un- identified had minor injuries.
Escareno reportedly suffered internal bleeding,
several fractured ribs and damage to his spleen. His wife had a serious head in- jury and swelling to the brain which required a procedure to bring down the swelling.
No further details regard- ing the crash or the other driver have been provided.
An investigation is ongo- ing.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sang- erherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
City may be ready to end unproductive relationship with grant writing firm
Parade route
• Nov. 1 - City council meeting, 6 p.m., city hall, 1700 7th St.
• Nov. 2 - Apaches' first playoff game, 7 p.m. in Arroyo Grande
• Nov. 3 - 8th annual Veterans Parade, 11:11 a.m., downtown Sanger
• Nov. 4 - Daylight Saving Time ends - turn your clock back one hour
•
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
The city council in May of last year decided, with no explanation, not to renew a contract with Acquisition Partners of America.
The suddenmoveap- peared choreographed and rehearsed. There was little discussion before the vote that severed a contract with a firm that had been writing grants for Sanger since 2011, had brought in more than $4 million and had produced a return on investment of $14 for every $1 invested.
In November of last year the council, after sending out requests for qualifica- tions and interviewing other
grant writing firms, did what John Quiring, formerly with Acquisition Partners, had predicted it would do, hired Townsend Public Affairs.
The city has been paying Townsend $5,000 a month for its services.
Townsend's quarterly reports to the council have repeatedly focused on what it plans to do and the results it hopes to produce.
Few positive results have been reported.
"Show me the money," was the most often heard phrase from several council and au- dience members the last time a Townsend representative appeared before the council to talk about its grant writing
results.
A memo to the council
from administrative ser- vices director Gary Watahira recommends ending the contract with Townsend and looking for another grant writer.
Not much else requir- ing council action is on the agenda for today's 6 p.m. meeting at city hall.
The Fresno County Hous- ing Authority will conduct a workshop on homelessness before the council gets down to regular business.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sang- erherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
Correction to last week's story about an appeal of a planning commission decision
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
In a Herald story last week about the city council turning down an appeal of a planning commission decision it was reported that senior planner Tom Navarro listed "Algon- quin's current obligations un- der a 30 year old settlement."
Appelant, Vincent Wall, pointed out that the 30 year old settlement has since ex- pired.
The Algonquin presenta- tion said its current condi- tional use permit requires it to make additional payments to an Environmental Trust Fund for any hour beyond its 3,300
hours limit and additional pay- ments to the City of Sanger to offset its nitrogen oxide emis- sions.
The Herald regrets the er- ror.
The reporter can be con- tacted by email at sangerher- ald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com
THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 1, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 44
2 sections, 14 pages
CLASSIFIED 3B LEGALS 4,5B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 6B LIFE STYLES 2B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A