Page 1 - Dinuba Sentinel 5-10-18 E-edition
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Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
Blessing of the Bikes
Annual event moves to Rose Ann Vuich Park for Saturday
News, Page A3
Thursday, May 10, 2018
DHS Track and Field
Emperors take the CSL Championship Sports, Page B1
Established 1909, Dinuba, California
50 Cents
Orosi man killed after attacking Sheriff's deputies
By Jackson Moore News@thedinubasentinel.com
A routine patrol check turned into close quarters combat within the blink of an eye in Orosi on May 3.
When three Tulare County Sheriff’s deputies approached the suspect’s closed bedroom door, they asked the suspect if they could talk to him. Behind the door was Anthony Trujillo, 26, of Orosi.
A deputy asked, “Do you mind if we come in and talk to you?” “No,” the suspect replied.
In one motion, the suspect opened the door and swung a machete at the closest deputy. The machete slowed as it hit the door’s frame during the swing, but still caused a “large laceration” to the deputy’s head and “immediately incapacitated him,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said.
“I can’t even imagine what would have happened had there not been somewhat of a distraction coming across toward the
head of our deputy.”
A second deputy engaged in hand-to-hand combat with
the suspect as a third deputy reached for his weapon. As many as six shots were fired at the suspect’s torso, fatally injuring him. During the chaos, one bullet penetrated the wounded deputy’s wrist.
“It became very violent, very quickly,” Boudreaux said. “This attack was immediate, it came out of nowhere, and the deputies were immediately in a close quarters battle for their lives.”
A video of one deputy’s body camera footage was presented to media members during a press conference Friday morning. From the time that the deputies entered the home to the altercation was just a 15-second time frame.
Boudreaux said that the deputy who fired gunshots “saved the life of the officer receiving these life threatening injuries” and that he is “truly a hero.”
See Shooting, Page A6
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Embracing community
Various law enforcement agencies responded to the incident in the area of Avenue 124 and Dennison Drive in Orosi.
Political Forum set for May 16
Local supervisor, state assembly candidates to eld questions from audience
By Jackson Moore News@thedinubasentinel.com
The June 5 primaries are approaching and next week Dinuba and the surrounding community will have the opportunity to hear from the candidates for Tulare County Supervisor, District 4, and California Assembly, District 26.
The event will be held Monday, May 16, at 6 p.m. at the Alta District Historical Society courtyard at 289 South K Street.
Each candidate will be given an opportunity to make an opening statement to the audience. Then, the candidates will respond to a series of questions submitted from the audience. Each candidate will have three minutes to respond to each question.
Sandy Sills, CEO of the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce, said, “We’re really going to push that the audience provide the questions ... so that nobody besides the MC has knowledge of it. There’s no predetermined questions so they can be prepared.”
Hot-button topics that may be proposed by those in attendance could include water issues, homelessness and jobs for the supervisor race.
Participants will include the three candidates campaigning to replace long-time Tulare County Supervisor District 4 Steve Worthley. They include community advocate Romelia Castillo, city of Dinuba Vice Mayor Kuldip Thusu and Cutler-Orosi
Joint Unified School District Board President Eddie Valero.
Campaigning for California Assembly District 26 are incumbent Devon Mathis, Visalia Mayor Warren Gubler, cattle rancher Jack Lavers and Tulare city councilmember
Joe Sigala.
The Chamber
of Commerce plans to hold an additional political forum prior to the general elections this fall. That event would also include any potential city council races. Candidates for Dinuba city council do not declare candidacy until
after the June primaries.
“We want to make
For the 40th year in a row the community of Dinuba came out this weekend to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Festivities began on Friday with entertaiment at Rose Ann Vuich Park and carried out through the weekend with a parade Saturday morning through downtown Dinuba. ABOVE: A caballero entertains parade goers with his dancing horse. TOP-RIGHT: Students from Roosevelt Elementary School dance during Saturday's parade. BOTTOM-RIGHT: Dinuba's Alyeah Aguilera sings "Como la flor" by Selena at the band shell at Rose Ann Vuich Park on Saturday.
don’t have that platform. We want them to all be heard before everybody makes their votes.”
Photos by Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Eddie Valero
sure everybody gets their voice heard,” Sills said. “Some people have more publicity that makes your voice more well known, but there may be others that have a good message. They just
Romelia Castillo
Kuldip Thusu
Dinuba Firefighter Kevin Sirr tests out his new gear at the Dinuba Fire Department.
Jackson Moore | The Sentinel
By Jackson Moore News@thedinubasentinel.com
Last December the Dinuba Fire Department was awarded more than $200,000 in life-saving equipment. Now they will be put into action.
The grant provided the department with 26 new Self Contained Breathing Apparatus gear - the tanks firefighters wear on their back to provide air.
Much of the equipment in question was reportedly past due for replacement. One quote can be attributed to several firefighters as they tested their new gear during a recent training session: “These are a lot nicer than our old ones.”
New features on the equipment include an integrated system that will sound an alarm if a firefighter does not move for a certain amount of time, a “buddy breathing” system that will allow firefighters to tap into another firefighter's air, speakers to help personnel communicate and most importantly an extended amount of air.
Dinuba Fire Chief Chad Thompson said, “The big thing is a lot of the departments have moved to a bottle that has more capacity, instead of 30 minutes of air our bottles will
now have 45 minutes worth of air. They are more in line with other departments. It gives our firefighters more time without having to come out and change the bottle.”
Improved functions include a better warning display to inform firefighters how much air they have left and an improved process of switching out air tanks.
“These new ones have quick release bottles,” Thompson said. “We used to have to screw in the bottles, now it’s just a matter of pressing a button - so it is much quicker to switch bottles out.”
More grant-funded equipment is also on its way. The department will soon receive a new air compressor to more efficiently refill the air tanks, as well as a new set of personal protective ensembles.
“A lot of this stuff is going to hopefully prevent our firefighters from coming down with cancer,” Thompson explained. “When they get done with the fire - studies have shown a lot of those bad chemicals that are contributing to firefighters coming down with cancer can be attributed to wearing dirty protective gear.”
With the longer-life air bottles, the department has also enacted a new policy for firefighters to continue to use the self contained breathing apparatus equipment after a fire’s initial containment in order to avoid breathing toxic chemicals.
Dinuba Fire Department receives grant-funded equipment
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