Page 11 - Sanger Herald 4-26-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 3B • THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018
This isn't the first time a truck has tried to enter his home
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Clinton Warner recalls having dozed off in his easy chair watching an episode of “Perry Mason,” the 1960s courtroom drama, when he got a visitor.
“I thought I was having a nightmare,” said Warner, 79.
Sanger police identified his late-night house guest as Cristofer Tellez, 23, of Dinuba. Warner said about 12:30 a.m. April 14 Tellez plowed his full-size pickup straight into his Greenwood Avenue home in Sanger. Tellez appeared to have been driving west on 14th Street and didn’t make any attempt to slow down at the intersection, he said.
“The concussion of (the truck) coming in blew out all the windows in the back of the house,” Warner said.
One window didn’t burst. And Warner said that one had been replaced with shatterproof glass when the last vehicle plowed into his home about 20 years ago. He pointed out the difference in the brickwork fascia on the front of the house to indicate where the last damage had been. In that past crash, the vehicle had just gone into the south
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Clinton Warner said he holds no grudge against the guy who drove into his house. But it was a shock.
house. His power didn’t get turned on until midweek last week when the electrical system received a thorough inspection to make sure switching it back on wouldn’t cause any problems.
He said the fridge helped. A lot.
Warner retired years ago from working at a regional winery. He said he preferred the night shift. He said he also worked construction over the years. He said he was fully insured.
He keeps his house neat and lives a simple life, saving money by not turning on the heat in the winter or the air conditioner in the summer. He’s well known throughout the neighborhood and for about 30 years has taken out the trash bins for about 30 of his neighbors every week. He said he started doing it for some of the older folks and it just grew from there. He also brings dog biscuits.
Warner lives alone. He never had kids. His house is distinctive because it has tarps covering the deteriorating roof. Warner replaces the tarps regularly and said his roof remains in good shape structurally.
The problem is the with the soffits, which have been exposed to the elements some years and have noticeably rotted, he said.
Last year, he worked with a contractor to replace the roof. However, the cost of financing the project would have cost a total of about $36,000 and he said he would be strapped to pay the monthly bill on his income.
So he cancelled the project.
Back in June 2015 when the city resurfaced Greenwood, workers hit a water line, which sent a gyser into the air just above Warner’s house. City workers initially couldn’t find the shutoff for the line and it drenched Warner’s house and yard, sending a regular torrent of rocks and gravel into his yard for more than an hour.
Warner said he’s still raking up rocks from the incident.
Warner said his parents started building his house in 1955 and he and the family moved in the next year. He said he’s lived there ever since.
But back then, his was the last house before the farm fields. Surrounding subdivisions had yet to be
built.
Warner talked while
standing in his front yard. He said vehicles regularly target his house — not on purpose, of course. But when somebody’s had too much to drink and they blow through the stop sign where 14th ends in front of his house on Greenwood, they sometimes drive into his neighbor’s yard or hit the utility pole on the corner of his lot, taking last-minute turns.
Warner said he has contemplated installing a perimeter barrier of railroad ties, burying them vertically so that only about 2 1/2 to 3 feet is visible. He said that likely would prevent a repeat of the other night.
“A lot of people have been asking me, ‘Are you upset?’ I say, ‘No. Stuff happens.’”
And he said he isn’t mad at the driver of the truck either. “He didn’t wake up that morning thinking he would end up in my house,” he said.
“I like things a certain way,” Warner said sometime later. Then he added, “Whatever they (the contractors) do, it’ll be better than what it is.”
bedroom.
Nearly a week after the
crash, Warner had cleared most of the debris from his kitchen/dining room and an adjoining bedroom, which had been damaged the last time. Tellez’s truck embedded itself almost entirely inside the home. Only a few feet of the pickup bed remained visible in photos shot by television reporter Corin Hoggard of ABC30.
Warner said the truck crumpled the wall accordion-style between the kitchen and bedroom, opening up the area like builders had decided to expand it into an “open concept” layout often
seen on an HGTV remodel show. He said crew from Madera-based Renaissance General Restoration Contracting Inc. showed up almost immediately after emergency responders and the tow truck driver to patch up his house.
“Those guys are so nice you can’t believe it,” he said of the Renaissance crew. “They even got a dolly and moved my refrigerator into the living room. So efficient. They were organized.”
Warner said after patching up the house, the construction crew also brought cables so he could plug the fridge in using power from his neighbor’s
Mechanic likes to race 4 bangers
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Robert Jackson and his nephew Tyler Jackson already had delved deep into an engine rebuild of a 1940s Ferguson tractor, trying to match new parts to old and get the solid workhorse back to plowing fields.
The project presented a number of challenges, but Robert Jackson felt confident he’d figure them out. He always does.
“If it burns gas, we work on it,” he said.
Jackson, hot rod builder, racer and owner of Crazy Bob’s mechanic shop at Academy and McKinley avenues, had specialized in farm equipment and motorcycles but a few months ago started accepting automobiles. He said the economy has crimped the style of many motorbike riders and forced them to cut back on luxuries.
And Jackson knows cars. He and Tyler are back to racing mini stocks, stripped down small cars with four cylinder engines.
On a recent afternoon, both of them needed little prompting to talk about their exploits on the track. Jackson, 49, said he encourages anyone to get into the sport. All it takes is a car and a desire to drive all out.
Tyler, 23, said he’s got the bug. And he said he likes to push his vehicle as far and fast as it will go, regardless of the risk.
“I started racing by accident,” Tyler said, explaining that he built a car for a friend who subsequently moved away. He left the car, a 1977 Toyota Corolla, and encouraged Tyler to take it to the track.
“I didn’t get very far,” Tyler said.
Miike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Robert Jackson and his nephew Tyler Jackson repair just about anything, and when they're done, they go racing. Robert built this old Ford using a Z28 chassis.
much later than many of his competitors. He had been a motocross racer and can offer up a litany of broken bones he’s collected over the years he spent jumping and careening around on dirt bikes.
“That’s a thrill like nothing else,” he said, referring to flat track.
But that was then. Robert said he’s so appreciative that his nephew joined the business as there are some things that require two people — and it sure helps that one of them is free of the aches and pains of a lifetime of hard knocks.
Plus, he said, Tyler comprehends the electronics and computing of the modern automobile far better.
Robert is old school. And to some degree, so is his nephew. They both enjoy the smell of motor oil and the challenge of getting a machine back to operational perfection.
But Robert likes really old stuff. He’s got hot rod instincts. The story of his latest personal project illustrates that.
He’d built a 1977 Z28 for hobby stock racing, a division with a bigger engine and more horsepower than he was used to. He took it to competitions in Merced, Porterville and Chowchilla but realized he’d need more resources if he’d want to get serious.
At the same time, he fell in love with rat rods, a stripped down version of a vehicle that’s almost impressionistic. Rat rods often lose fenders, get lowered and dispense with pretty paint jobs. Their builders often prefer a rough look.
Then he found the 1951 Ford pickup. “I bought the cab and the bed,” Robert said. “It was a rust bucket.” He found it up in Turlock,
and the price was right. But it was in need of a
full restoration.
Instead, Robert got
creative. He built a new front clip using some of the original parts and a welded chain to provide structure. He welded old wrenches to attach things like the lights. He welded an old pair of channel lock pliers on the stick shift. He lowered and chopped the bed. He said it looked too Sanford and Son stock.
“That’s what gave it its look,” he said.
It works.
The color is flat black with red highlights. And the engine and chassis came from the Z28. So it drives like a car.
“Wedoalotof customizing,” Robert said. “We work on a lot of tractors.”
And trucks. And engine swaps. Rebuilds. Fixes of any sort.
On the list was a hand- built industrial duty log splitter. It was a little rusty but apparently an amazing piece of equipment.
“Robert Jackson is a very trustworthy and honest friend,” wrote fellow racer Shawn DePriest via text. “I have lots of respect for him. He’s a hard worker who will lose money to make things right for his customers. He won’t do a job he’s not sure he can do to perfection and backs up his work if there’s a problem.
“He treats people the the way he wants to be treated. I’m lucky to call him a friend.”
And one more thing, Robert has a dog named Tank, who has a bit of an imposing look but is really a big softie.
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
He has since ditched the Corolla, trading it for a little red 1992 Acura Integra, which they picked up in Modesto from a fellow racing enthusiast. It has a five-speed manual transmission.
“I got it for $400,” Tyler said. “We could have drove it back here from Modesto.”
And Robert chimed in, explaining the deal in more detail. The car had been smogged, but he said the owner had one condition — they had to race it. “He said if you put it on the street, it’s $1,500,” he said.
And Tyler did. “I got a third place in it,” he said.
“It was my second race.” Tyler cut off the roof and installed a roll cage after removing the entire interior. He then welded the roof back on but left all the glass out. And that was
a good thing.
Tyler’s racing exploits in
the Corolla indicated a need for a tough vehicle.
“He barrel-rolled it,” Robert said.
He said he and his wife, Trish, feared Tyler might be injured. But the younger Jackson didn’t have a scratch. In fact, he was trying to restart the race car, until officials sidelined him for safety concerns.
Apparently fuel had leaked and they didn’t want a spark to ignite anything.
Tyler said he was a little frustrated and recalled being pumped full of adrenaline. He wanted to get back into the race. “I like to drive fast,” he said. “My step-dad used to take me out drag racing in the truck.”
“He has no fear,” Robert said.
Neither does his uncle. Robert Jackson raced flat track motorcycles, the ones that lean far more than appears safe on corners at high speed. He got into the sport at about 30 years old,