Dinuba Sentinel 2-14-19 E-edition

Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
'Give Cancer the Boot'
Preparations begin for annual Relay for Life event in April
Established 1909, Dinuba, California
COJUSD
to break
ground
on Sports
Complex
Sentinel staff report
Just this year, the Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District unveiled a new state-of-the-art stadium at Orosi High School. At its ribbon cutting ceremony in October, thousands of locals witnessed a new chapter in Orosi High athletics and a new era in community recreation for the Cutler-Orosi area.
Now that era continues with a ground- breaking ceremony to be held today at 4 p.m. for the new COJUSD Sports Complex, which will sit just a stones throw away from the new stadium.
The new sports complex will be located on Avenue 419, on the north side of the Orosi High School campus. Original plans for the complex called for a massive undertaking that included two baseball diamonds, two softball fields, five soccer fields, concession stands, restrooms, parking lots and a walking path that would circumference the site, which is 31 acres.
The total budgeted cost for the sports complex was set at $6 million. The district was able to secure a third of the cost thanks to the passage of the Measure E bond. In 2017 the Cutler- Orosi Joint Unified School District applied an Urban Greening Grant through the state of California, in hopes of securing the remaining $4 million.
Unfortunately for the district, the grant was highly competitive and they were not awarded the grant.
Nevertheless, the district forged ahead with the plans and opted to build the sports complex in phases. Today’s ground-breaking ceremony will kick off the first phase of the project, which will include the building of one baseball diamond, a softball field, soccer field, parking, concession stand and bathrooms.
Today’s ceremony will take place on the northeast corner of Avenue 419 and Road 126.
The site for the new sports complex sits between Orosi High School and El Monte Middle School.
Back Page, A8
Thursday, February 14, 2019
50 Cents
There is a lot more activity at night in downtown Dinuba lately, as the revival of the Vocational Education Center is bringing people from the surrounding areas for classes offered at the center. Classes are already in session there and more classes will begin later this month and early March.
Downtown's new cornerstone
Deal between city and school district is a win-win situation
DHS cheer squad wins Valley title
McElroy appointed as representative to TCAG Oversight Committee
By Rick Curiel
“I haven’t had a class fill up that quickly since I’ve been here,” added Hayes.
Part of the reason for the class filling so quickly was the cost. According to Hayes, while many courses in the area can run at least $600, the class at the Dinuba Vocational Educational Center runs only $300.
The course is just one of many classes offered at the new VEC that is drawing people from throughout the community, and Valley, to downtown Dinuba.
Classes at the VEC began last month, only a few months after the Dinuba Unified School District entered into a three-year lease with the City of Dinuba, something both the city and the school district is calling a win-win situation.
In 2001, the city of Dinuba was awarded a substantial federal grant. The grant was originally intended to provide training for nearly 200 displaced workers after the saw mill in Dinuba closed in 2000. The city of Dinuba and Dinuba Unified both signed
for the grant.
The vocational center began with classes being
offered through Proteus and some Certified Nursing Assistant and Licensed Vocational Nurses classes offered through Dinuba Unified. But when funding for adult education took a plunge, the district had to scale back on the program.
Though the grant funded the building of the downtown center, the limitations of the grant require that the building only be used for vocational training and education of adult learners.
Originally, Dinuba Unified thought the building could be vital in allowing satellite space for the High School, as it was already bursting at the seams. The limitations of the grant, however, prevented the district from doing that.
But over the years, the district’s adult education program has expanded, and room was running out at
See VEC, Page A6
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
It is perhaps the greatest capital undertaking in Dinuba city history. Now, after sitting dormant for a few years, the investment of the city’s downtown vocational center may finally be taking root – as intended.
Prior to the vocational center, the location (on the south west corner of North L Street and East Fresno) was known as the town’s Chevrolet dealer, first Alta Chevrolet and lastly Bret’s. As a dealership, the location drew people from all over town and the surrounding communities. As a vocational center, the location is doing likewise.
“We’ve got people driving here from Fresno to take the (EMT) class,” said Dinuba Unified Adult School secretary Debbie Hayes. The Emergency Medical Technician course, says Hayes, filled up in less than five days.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Photo contributed
The cheer squad at Dinuba High School have something new to cheer about as they recently won a Valley title in Cheer at the CIF Championships, held on Feb. 2 at Buchanan High School in Clovis. The squad beat out five other schools to take the Division V title.
Sentinel staff report
At Tuesday night's Dinuba City Council meeting, Maria McElroy was apppointed as the city's representative for the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) Measure R Oversight Committee. The appointment came via a strange turn of events.
Though there were three applicants for the position, the council ended up deadlocked on all three candidates. The absence of councilmember Joey Morales may have played a role, as each vote ended up a 2-2 split. In the end, McElroy's name was drawn from a 'hat'.
The committe was established in 2006 after voters in Tulare County passed Measure R, which is a half- cent sales tax to provide funding for transportation projects in Tulare County and incorporated cities.
The committee consists of 16 members, one of which is a representative from the city of Dinuba. However, Dinuba has not had a representative in almost two years.
The last representative from Dinuba was former Intern City Manager Dan Meinert. However, after Meinert passed away in 2017, the seat had remained vacant.
Maria McElroy
At the Jan. 8 Dinuba City Council meeting, an item was presented to the council to appoint McElroy to the commission. But after discussion regarding other people being interested in the position, the council elected to table the appointment to allow more time for others to apply.
The other two applicants were Joe Garcia and Estevan Benavides.
McElroy will be serving the remainder of a two-year term, until June 30, 2020.
thedinubasentinel.com Inside | Lights and SirensA2 | ObituariesA2 | OpinionA4 | SportsB1 | Classi edsB6
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