Page 1 - Sanger Herald 8-30-18 E-edition

Cross country girls dominate
Looking for a home
Art Dyson designed EECU
page 8A
Sports 1B
Lifestyles 3B
THURSDAY
AUGUST 30, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 35
2 sections, 14 pages
CLASSIFIED 3B LEGALS 4,5B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 6B LIFE STYLES 3B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A
Weekly Newspaper Sanger (Fresno County) CA 93657 50¢ (tax included) Another step in a journey that began decades ago
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Having a good time wielding the ceremonial shovels are, L-R, pastor Elias Loera, Viviana Ojeda, Paula Martinez, Norma Matchum, Amelia Sifuentes, Josiah Garza, Deanna Fernandez, Alicia Galvan, Polico Fautanu, Jimmy Fernandez, Kevin Pranger, David Vasquez, Jesse Gonzalez, Martin Delgado, associate pastor Rick Garza, Vivian Duran and pastor Gary Duran.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
A ceremonial ground breaking brought the Family Worship Center one step closer to completing a journey that was begun long ago.
A new $2.3 million worship center will soon be built on the northwest corner of North and Bethel avenues, across from St.
Kevin Carter
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Kevin Carter may have wondered if he had somehow wandered into the wrong meeting.
Carter was seated as the newest commissioner at the Aug. 23 planning commission meeting - just before the meeting turned contentious.
Commissioner Vincent Wall ranted
- Wall is the one who described his comments as a rant - about a lack of transparency, a lack of direction, a lack of follow through and a lack of support from senior planner David Brletic.
Carter had heard it before. Many times.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Mayor Frank Gonzalez and school board incum- bents Pete Filippi and Jesse Vasquez get free passes in this election cycle. No one is running against them and their names won't even ap- pear on the ballot.
City councilmembers
Mary's Catholic Church.
Pastor Gary Duran pointed out at the Aug.
25 event that the journey did not begin when he arrived at the Family Worship Center in 1983. “We are here because of people over the years who have sacrificed so we can be here,” said Duran.
More than 100 showed up for the ground breaking and others joined the group for food
and soft drinks afterward. “We invited our new neighbors to join us,” said Duran.
“The journey started at an Assembly of God church in 1962 when there was a request for a Spanish language service.
“That led to our present Family Worship Center on I Street in the Chankla, which most people just call 'The Chankla Church,'” said Duran.
Bibles which belonged to some of the Fam- ily Worship Center's pioneers will be made a part of the cornerstone of the new church.
“They will be the pillars of the new church,” said Duran.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559)-875-2511.
Déjà Vu
Planning commission complaints mirror those of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Commitee
Apaches back in town
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Kosi Agina on his way to one of his two TDs against the Bullpups in Hanford last week. The Apaches return to Tom Flores Stadium this week to play the Clovis East Timberwolves.
• Aug. 31 - Apaches play Clovis East, 7:30 p.m. at Tom Flores Stadium.
• Sept. 1 - VFW Community Breakfast, 8-10:30 a.m. at American Legion Hall, 1502 O St.
• Sept. 4 - Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee meeting , 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th St.
•Sept.6 -Citycouncilmeeting,6p.m.atcityhall,1700 7th St.
• Sept. 8 - Night at the Carnival, 5-9 p.m., in downtown Sanger. The first of four Street Faires and Farmers' Markets, each Saturday in September.
He has been a frequent member
of the audience at Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee meetings where similar complaints - and rants - eventu- ally drew the attention of a grand jury.
The trigger for Wall's rant was what he apparently perceived to be a lack of follow through by Brletic in distribut- ing to other commissioners several documents Wall had prepared for an agendized discussion about planning commission policies.
Wall pointed out how long the com- mission has been talking about clarify- ing its policies, powers and procedures.
"It needs to get done," said Wall.
"We need to let the public know what we do and how we do it. We need to be transparent. But we now have nothing official to even let us know those things ourselves, except our own opinions."
Brletic acknowledged receiving the material from Wall and said he had not distributed it to other commissioners in order to keep things moving at a pace
he could maintain.
The commission asked Brletic to dis-
tribute the material and put the policies discussion back on a future agenda.
Commission members had earlier voted, 5-1, with Ken Garcia dissenting, to tell community development director Tom Navarro to give commissioners city email addresses or remove their private email addresses from the city website.
That was in response to a memo from Navarro telling commissioners "that outside of formal meetings, plan- ning commissioners do not represent the City of Sanger when speaking to or interacting with the general public."
Commissioners were told "the City of Sanger could provide all communication regarding planning commission activity by phone or mail upon written request."
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
Candidates offered opportunity to talk to voters by Womans Club and Herald
Humberto Garza and Eli Ontiveros face opposition.
Melissa Beasely is chal- lenging Garza in council dis- trict No. 2 and David Sulenta and Michael Montelongo are running against mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros in council district No. 4.
Gina Lynn Olson-Cuevas and Jesse Solorio, are vying for the district No. 6 school board seat being vacated by retiring Kenneth Marcanto- nio.
Other races of local inter- est involve city councilmem-
ber Melissa Hurtado and school board member Marcy Masumoto.
Winning in those contests would involve giving up present council and school board positions. Hurtado is running against incumbent Andy Vidak for the district No. 14 state senate seat, and Masumoto is unopposed for a seat on the County Board of Education.
The council and the board could appoint replacements for Hurtado and Masumoto if they are elected to other
positions.
"The Sanger Woman's Club
will be inviting all candidates with opposition to participate in a candidate forum on Oct. 20," said Jeanne Adams.
The Herald has invited candidates to submit state- ments which will appear in the Oct. 18 edition of the Herald.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sang- erherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com