Mid Valley Times 12-24-20 E-edition

Thursday, December 24, 2020 From All of Us To All of You,
Reedley council ready for 2021
Vol. 2, No. 25
Coronavirus Update
Valley's
ICU
squeeze
continues
By Jon Earnest
Mid Valley Times
The Central Valley con- tinues to struggle with availability of intensive care unit beds, as COVID-19 numbers continued to rise throughout the state.
Fresno County is in the process of updating its county data and surveil- lance dashboard, so updat- ed individual community numbers are unavailable until after the first of the year. Overall, the county's total positive cases grew by nearly 5,000 over the weekend, and now stands at 57,616. Hospitalizations have risen to 569, 104 in ICU, and the death count stands at 557 as of Dec. 21.
Since Dec. 15, total cas- es in Fresno County grew from 44,726 to the current number, and hospitalizations climbed by 78 in five days.
In Tulare County, there was some promising news as active cases dipped from more than 5,200 heading into the weekend to 4,990 (de- crease of 234) as of Dec. 21. Overall positive cases grew to 29,364, with 198 hospi- talized (24 in ICU) and 354 deaths.
As of Dec. 21, Dinuba had 2,756 positive cases (466 in the last three weeks) while Orosi had 917 cases and Cutler 491 cases.
A total of 24,020 patients (81.8 percent) of patients in Tulare County had recov- ered.
ABOVE: Matthew Tuttle, back to camera, was sworn in as Reedley City Council's newest representative for District 1 by Reedley City Clerk Ruthie Greenwood, background, during the council's Dec. 15 special meeting.
LEFT: Tuttle, who was elected to the Dis- trict 1 seat on Nov. 3, sat in his new seat next to Mary Fast, who began her third stint as mayor for Reedley.
Danny Jimenez / Photos Contributed
Tuttle sworn in as newest member, Fast begins her third mayoral stint
MVT Staff Report
Reedley's newest group of elected city leaders began a new group on the Reedley City Council on Dec. 15.
Matthew Tuttle, who won election to the District 1 council seat while garnering nearly 58 percent of the vote on Nov. 3, took his oath of office from Ruthie Greenwood, who did her first council swearing-in as city clerk. Tuttle is co-owner of Gnardog Crossfit in downtown Reedley, and this is his first time holding political office.
Tuttle replaces Frank Pinon, who opted not to run for a second four- year term on the council. Pinon served as vice mayor in 2017-18, and was the city's mayor the last two years.
Current longtime members Bob Beck and Anita Betancourt also were sworn in to new four-year terms at the meeting. Both were unopposed in their bids for another term on the
See COUNCIL on page A14
Food giveaway held Dec. 18 in Sanger
MVT offices will close Dec. 25 in observance of Christmas
The Mid Valley Times' business offices in Reed- ley and Sanger will be closed on Friday, Dec. 25, in observance of Christ- mas.
In addition, the Time' offices will close at noon on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. The offices also will close- ly at noon on Thursday, Dec. 31, and be closed to observe New Year's Day on Friday, Jan. 1.
The Times' two offices will reopen for business at 8 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 28.
Dinuba Unified plans public hearing over CSEA negotiations
Volunteers with Father Hanni- bal House in Sanger carry food supplies to a waiting vehicle during the organization's an- nual food distribution event on Dec. 18. About 150 packages of food were given out at the event hosted by St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sanger. Food dona- tions including rice, beans, milk and canned vegetables came from the California Food Bank and from Walmart. An article and more photos of the give- away are in Lifestyle, page A5.
Juanita Adame / Mid Valley Times
Dinuba friends put
on a food and gift
giveaway Dec. 12
MVT Staff Report
A group of Dinuba friends recently decided they wanted to give something back to their home-
town community.
On Dec. 12, with
the assistance of do-
nations from area
businesses the group of six provided toys and other gifts for 21 households
See GIVEAWAY on page A14
MVT Staff Report
The Dinuba Unified School District will be holding a virtual public meeting next month to al- low input from the com- munity regarding contract negotiations between the District and the Califor- nia School Employees As- sociation.
The opening propos-
als from the district and CSEA were made pub- lic — or "sunshined" — at the Dec. 17 regular board meeting, and now are available for inspection by the public.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place via Zoom on Thursday, Jan. 14, starting at 6 p.m. or shortly thereafter. All parents, teachers and
members of the commu- nity are invited to attend the meeting and give their feedback.
To attend the meeting, go online to https://zoom. us, and use the meeting ID number 919 1982 5162. The passcode will be 4D4miJ.
For more information, contact DUSD Superin- tendent Joe Hernandez at 595-7202.
Classifieds - A9
Directory - A10 Legals - A11-12
Sports - A7 Lifestyle - A5 Lights & Sirens - A3, A8
Obituaries - A2-3 Opinion - A4
Additional photo, Page A5