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Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
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Established 1909, Dinuba, California
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Back Page, A9
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Harness joins GAC
Outgoing Dinuba Mayor Scott Harness, second from left, will be joining John Powell, left, Reda Bennani and Sandy Sills on the Government Affairs Committee. He will also remain active in the community by assisting the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce.
Outgoing mayor will remain an active part of the community
having to move out of town to find housing. The lower fees will help bring more housing developments to Dinuba, said Harness.
Another thing he feels the city has to look forward to is the revitalization of the east side of town. The Randle Avenue extension, he said, will help get it going in the right direction.
“I do feel that we will see the east side be revitalized in the near future,” Harness expressed.
Harness will now focus his efforts on his realty business and be active not only on the Government Affairs Committee but also with the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce.
Said Bennani of Harness, “We’d like to thank you for all your service to the city of Dinuba. You will be missed on council. You were one of the first local legislators who supported the idea of having a GAC and you backed us and we thank you very much.”
Someone else who will be attending more of the GAC meetings is Tulare County Supervisor-Elect Eddie Valero. He was also at Tuesday morning’s meeting and briefed the board on what’s upcoming from the county’s perspective.
Valero starts his new job in January but he has been already acclimating himself to the new position.
Some things he will be working on as the Tulare County Supervisor are a sidewalk that will connect Orosi to EastOrosi and the water consolidation project for East Orosi.
Valero stated that the county is also looking into establishing a health clinic in the town of London, adjacent to the Hodges Community Center. A community park is also a possibility for London.
Zumba class
Election
at Memorial
2018
Hall no longer
City Coucil race faces possible tie
sustainable
Board raises rental fee to $135 per session, making it una ordable to continue at hall
By Rick Curiel
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
Next year’s Dinuba City Council will certainly look different, but just how different currently hangs in the balance for the next few weeks. The first post-election results to come out of the Tulare County Registrar on Friday revealed one clear winner and two
seats too close to call, with one race tied vote-for-vote.
In perhaps
one of Dinuba’s
tightest city
council races
ever, Ward
2 incumbent
Maribel Reynosa
currently finds
herself locked in
a tie with challenger Victor Rojas. The two candidates came out the gate tied on election night, with both receiving 55 votes apiece.
However, when
final election
night results
were posted last
Tuesday Reynosa
jumped out to a
one-vote lead.
For the last four years Dinuba’s Yazmin Ambriz has been giving Zumba lessons at the Dinuba Memorial Hall up to five times a week. Now Ambriz is looking for a different location to conduct her classes after the Dinuba Memorial District Board moved to increase her rent substantially to $135 per session, something she says she simply cannot afford.
“I do this as a community service,” said Ambriz about her classes. “I charge $3 per person and $1 for senior citizens. We just don’t bring in enough money to pay that much.”
Ambriz started the classes while she was an employee of the Memorial Hall after staff discussed ways to get more people through the doors. She brought up the idea of holding Zumba classes there to offer to staff members as well as their friends and family.
The idea took off and, after receiving training, Ambriz was soon holding evening classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. She also offered morning classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Initially, it was agreed that Ambriz would pay a monthly rental fee of $100 per month to hold her classes there. The small amount would cover the cost of using the air conditioning in the facility. That amount remained unchanged after her employment at the hall ended.
Now, after reviewing the numbers at the Memorial Hall, the board came to the realization that they faced a challenging scenario of wanting to allow the classes to continue but simultaneously remaining compliant to their rate policies to avoid potential litigation.
“We need everything to be compliant,” said board president Ruth Padilla at Thursday’s Memorial Hall board meeting. “If someone else comes in and, for example, wants to start a karate class and we give that person our normal rate,
See Zumba, Page A8
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Maribel Reynosa
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
After two terms on the Dinuba City Council, the last of which he served as mayor, Scott Harness will be stepping down as the representative for Ward 3. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t see him advocating for the people and businesses in Dinuba.
At a Government Affairs Committee meeting held Tuesday morning it was announced that Harness will become the fourth board member for the GAC, joining president Reda Bennani, Dinuba Chamber of Commerce President Sandy Sills and John Powell.
During the meeting Harness recapped the achievements of the past eight years. One of the biggest accomplishments he said was the sidewalk extension on Hayes Avenue.
“That was a big one for me,” said Harness. “This was something I promised my constituents. I had to fight for it but it was well worth it.”
Other things Harness took pride in was providing more streetlights across town, the Dinuba Sportsplex, seeing the city lower their impact fees for housing development, something as a realtor he takes pride in, and having town hall meetings.
“The town hall meetings is where I got a lot of my priorities, and they came from my constituents,” said Harness. “I never acted like I had the plan to fix all. I was simply a representative of my district and that was my job, to make sure their voice was heard.”
In regards to the impact fees, Harness said the new lower fees will go a long way in helping families looking to move into larger homes stay in Dinuba, as opposed to
Friday’s post-
election results
put Reynosa and
Rojas in a tie once
more, with each
receiving 116 votes. One write-in vote was also registered for Ward 2. The ward represents the downtown district.
Final results will depend on any absentee ballots still outstanding and should be available in the next few weeks. But if Reynosa and Rojas remain tied after all ballots have been counted, the city of Dinuba may have their first city council tie.
According to Dinuba City Clerk Linda Barkely, in her 20-plus years with the city, she does not recall a time when a council race ended in a tie. In the event of a tie, however, Barkely stated that because the city adopted the California elections code,
See Election, Page A3
Cutler-Orosi employees earn top Tulare County awards
Custodian, math instructor recognized for Excellence in Education
earlier in the spring with the recognition breakfast held in the fall.
A selection committee of Tulare County business and educational leaders received a total of 30 nominations this year from Tulare County school districts. Each nomination was reviewed and scored individually by every member of the
selection committee.
Juarez, was named Co-School
Employee of the Year, having worked for COJUSD the past 18 years. His responsibilities include maintaining a safe and clean campus environment and providing proper training and guidance to the custodial staff. He has also been responsible for driving the bus on regular routes and for special events.
In his nomination letter, Palm School principal JayBoy Camaquin stated Juarez as an extremely hard
See Excellence, Page A8
Victor Rojas
By George M. Villagrana
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Palm Elementary School custodian Jose Jaun Jaurez was recently named the Co-School Employee of the Year by the Tulare County Office of Education. He has worked for the Cutler Orosi Joint Unified School District for 18 years.
Photo contributed
Orosi High School math instructor Susan Ang and Palm Elementary School’s lead
custodian Jose Juan Juarez were
recently honored by their peers,
family and friends at the 24th Annual Excellence in Education Awards program held on October 30 at the Visalia Convention Center.
The purpose of the Excellence in
Education Awards is to recognize
school employees in Tulare County
who exemplify exceptional qualities
and commitment to the county’s
students. The event, which is a co-sponsorship between Tulare
County Superintendent of School’s
Jim Vidak and the Educational
Employees Credit Union, honors the Administrator/Manager of the Year,
Teacher of the Year and School Employee of the year. Winners, finalists and nominees were announced
Photo contributed
Orosi High School math instructor Susan Ang, pictured here with OHS Principal Roberto Vaca, was named Teacher of the Year by the Tulare County Office of Education. Ang has worked for the Cutler Orosi Joint Unified School District for 11 year and serves as the coach for the school's Science Olympiad team and advisor for the Math Club.
"I'm a living example that it does not matter what role you play in the education field. You can make a difference in a child's life."
-Jose Juan Juarez
On to semi nals
Dinuba will face Tulare Union in rematch of '17 championship Sports, Page B1
thedinubasentinel.com
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