Mid Valley Times 6-17-21 E-edition

Thursday, June 17, 2021
Vol. 2, No. 50
A stadium sendoff for SHS
50 cents
Wolfe
out as
Sanger
Chamber
president
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Sanger Chamber of Commerce's board of direc- tors has voted to remove Tammy Wolfe as president and chief executive officer of the chamber's operations.
The move comes as the organiza-
Sanger High School's Class of 2021 graduates experienced a joyous payoff for the difficult year-and-a-half they had to deal with COVID-19 and subsequent online learning. On June 10 and 11, the school held a pair of live graduation ceremonies inside Tom Flores Stadium, after recent graduations had been held at the Save Mart Center in Fresno. A story and more photos can be found in the Lifestyle sec- tion on Page A7.
ABOVE LEFT: Sanger High graduates stood at attention for the national anthem prior to the graduation ceremony on June 11.
ABOVE RIGHT: John Pena, Sanger High valedictorian, addressed his fellow gradu- ates during the ceremony in Tom Flores Stadium.
LEFT: A pair of happy SHS graduates posed together on their big night.
Photos by Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Shootings in Parlier leave 2 men dead
tion pre-
pares for
its annual
fireworks
show and
chamber
awards
banquet
next
month.
Lee Delap,
chamber
board chair for 2020-2021, didn't offer an official com- ment when reached by phone about the reason for Wolfe's removal.
Earlier this week, Wolfe's name was removed from the chamber's online staff direc- tory. Wolfe declined to com- ment on the situation when contacted by text.
Wolfe, served as president and CEO for the chamber for nearly six years, starting with the organization in October 2015. She also is a longtime trustee with the Sanger Uni- fied School District board, having first been elected in 2008.
Delap did not comment on any other information re- garding the board's action, including any timeline that the board may have to hire
See WOLFE on page A2
Tammy Wolfe
Incidents 18 hours
apart are city's 2nd
3rd homicides of 2021
By Juanita Adame
Mid Valley Times
Two separate shootings, only 18 hours apart, left two men dead in the city of Parlier on June 13.
The victims were identified as Silva- no Mendoza, 52 and Martin Gutierrez, 35, both of Parlier.
Mendoza was the victim of the early morning shooting. Police responded to the call in the 3000 block of 9th Street sometime around 4:45 a.m.
“This was a drive by shooting, we ar- rived and found two subjects suffering
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Crime tape surrounded the area of the first of two fatal shootings in Parlier on June 13. Each shooting left one man dead.
from gunshot wounds,” said David Cer- da, Parlier’s police chief. “We secured the scene and called out the homicide di-
vision from the sheriff’s department, so they have taken over the investigation.” The second victim in the 9th Street
shooting is expected to survive.
Later that night in the 8500 block of Gardenia Avenue, police responded to a separate shooting and found a man, in the street suffering from a gunshot wound, that victim was identified as
Martin Gutierrez also of Parlier.
This marks the third fatal shooting
for the city of Parlier in 2021.
It was back on May 2 that a shoot-
ing in front of the El Rancho Market left one man, Israel Trevino, 57, of Parlier dead, and his son, Israel Trevino III, in critical condition.
The man suspected of killing Tre-
See SHOOTINGS on page A3
Coronavirus Update
Restrictions
finally ease
in California
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The 15-month restriction nightmare from COVID-19 is all but gone in the Central Val- ley and California.
The state's economy "re- opened" on June 15, with ca- pacity restrictions on busi- nesses and physical distanc-
See REOPENonpageA14
Section playoffs: Dinuba softball in finals
Jon Earnest / Mid Valley Times
Sanger High players gathered with pitcher Layla Torres in the foreground while jubilant Dinuba High players, background, mob teammate Hailee Zapien after her single in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Emperors a 1-0 victory in the Division II quarterfinals on June 10.
MVT Staff Report
The Dinuba High Emperors soft- ball team used some late-inning ma- tic to secure a berth in the Central Section Division II championship game.
Hailee Zapien and Erica Flores belted home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie and give Dinuba an 8-3 win over Tulare Western on June 15. On June 10, top- seeded DHS defeated Sanger, 1-0, in an eight-inning quarterfinal matchup.
The Emperors (16-6) will host the third-seeded Selma High Bears in the finals. The game has been shift- ed to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 18, at Dinuba High.
More details in sports on Page A8.
Classifieds - A9 Directory - A10 Legals - A6, A11-12 Sports - A8 Lifestyle - A7, A13 Lights & Sirens - A3, A5
Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4