Page 1 - Sanger Herald 4-26-18 E-edition

Man wakes
to truck in kitchen
Looking for a home
Apache lacrosse team is young but learning
page 8A
Lifestyles 3B
Sports 1B
Weekly Newspaper Sanger (Fresno County) CA 93657 50¢ (tax included) World class competitors
Photo submitted
Sanger High School's robotics team Uni-Rex is pictured relaxing after competing in the world robotics championships in Houston. Top row, L-R, Joseph Phrachanhsay, Austin Tuell, Kylee Tamez, Leslie Jimenez, Martin Gonzalez, Joshua Olsson, Karissa Westbury and Bryant Louie. Middle row, Jon Stokes, Mitch Stokes, Mike Stokes, Nick Marshall, Madison Haugland, Gabriela Martinez, Miguel Sanchez, David Gonzalez, Skylar McGee, Daniellyse Moreno, Alexander Kimzey, Ethan Schletewitz and Juan Heredia. On the couch, Sophie Pham, Luat Pham, Yovana Martinez and Ramon Cuevas. Not available for the photo, Laura Vandiver, Christopher Marshall and Miguel Lira.
After qualification matches Sanger's Uni-Rex was ranked among the top 2 percent of teams worldwide
Team Uni-Rex
By Ramon Cuevas
Sanger High School robotics coach/advisor
This past week the Sanger High Robotics team, Uni-Rex, was competing in the FRC (First Robotics Competition ) World Championship in Houston.
This is the second time in three years that we have gone to the FRC World Championship, and the two experiences could not be more different. The first time we were there, we were
rookies. We walked away with a 2-8 (win-loss) record and were ranked 64th in our division.
This time, after qualification matches, we came out with an 8-2 record and were ranked sixth in our division. To put that in context: There are more than 3,600 FRC robotics teams competing worldwide, 404 of them made it to the world championships in Texas. Those 404 teams were split into six divisions. By ranking sixth in our division, we ranked in the
top 36 teams at the event. That means Sanger placed in the top 2 percent of teams worldwide.
That is no small task for a team that is only three years old, up against teams with 15-20 years of competition under their belts and with budgets that could easily buy a three- bedroom house plus a car to park in the garage and NASA engineers as mentors.
These students only get six weeks after school to design, build, program and prepare to compete. I am constantly im- pressed with what these students can do with in such a short amount of time.
This year we earned the Engineering Inspiration Award, which celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school/orga- nization and community.
So in the next few weeks, if you come across a teenager wearing something that’s black and orange with the name Uni-Rex on it, congratulate them, thank them or just offer a high five because they’ve earned it.
Ramon Cuevas teaches biology, conceptual physics and robotics at Sanger High School. He is also the faculty advisor and coach of the robotics team Uni-Rex.
• April 26 - Planning commission meeting, 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th Street.
• April 28 - Me-n-Ed's Blood Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 2616 Jensen Avenue.
• May 1 - Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th Street.
• May 3 - Comcast's Kings River Tech Park ceremonial ribbon cutting celebration, noon to 1 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th Street.
• May 5 - Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame dinner at the community center. Tickets are available at the high school. Tom Flores will be there.
City prepares for approaching 'tidal wave'
Cities are going to have to make bigger and bigger payments on their debt to CalPERS
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Sanger is not alone in facing an impending financial crisis created by what city manager Tim Chapa called an approaching tidal wave.
It's a tidal wave generated by CalP- ERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System. That's an agency in the California executive branch, a gigantic trust fund, that manages pen- sion and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees and their families.
A variety of issues, including its in-
vestment strategies, are leaving it short of the money it needs to make good on those pension and health benefit pay- ments.
So CalPERS has cranked up the mandatory contributions it gets from cities like Sanger, which owes CalPERS about $21 million, in order to be able to cover its pension promises to millions of former state and local government workers.
State and municipal governments, unlike private businesses, don't use an accrual system to pay off anticipated debts. Instead they have something called "unfunded liabilities." City finance
City manager Tim Chapa, left, and fi- nance director Gary Watahira explain the seriousness of the CalPERS situation.
director Gary Watahira explained, "Unfunded liability represents the resources needed but not currently
See UNFUNDED, page 7A
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
The city council had a lighthearted break in an otherwise serious April 19 meeting when the Sanger High School Competition Cheer Squad took over the dais to show off their huge plaque for winning the Valley Championship.
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com
THURSDAY
APRIL 26, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 17
2 sections, 16 pages
CLASSIFIED 4B LEGALS 5, 6, 7B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 8B LIFE STYLES 3B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 7A