Page 1 - Dinuba Sentinel E-edition 5-17-18
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Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
Ruiz 4 Kids
Mini-grant applications now open to local teachers
News, Page A2
Thursday, May 17, 2018
League Champs
Dinuba High softball wins CSL Championship Sports, Page B1
Established 1909, Dinuba, California
50 Cents
Contract reached for $1.1 million Randle Avenue extension
Sentinel staff report
Revitalization efforts for East Dinuba are one step closer to realization.
The Dinuba City Council unanimously approved a contract worth more than $1.18 million with JT2., Inc., doing business as Todd Companies, at the May 8 council meeting. They were the lowest of eight bidders for the extension of Randle Avenue from Olive Way to Sierra Way. The bid was almost $100,000 less than engineer estimates.
Construction is expected to begin in early June.
The project includes water and sanitary sewer lines, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and storm drains, as well as street lights and asphalt paving. Construction costs are covered by Community
Blessing of the Bikes
Night Friday
Eleven community members, organizations, businesses to be recognized
Sentinel staff report
The Cutler-Orosi Lions Club will host the 69th annual Community Awards Night Friday, May 18, at the Orosi Memorial Hall.
There will be a dinner, along with 11 awards presented to outstanding individuals, businesses and organizations.
This year’s winners are:
• Man of the Year: Miguel Castaneda
• Woman of the Year: Erika Helo
• Business of the Year: Prince J’s Creations
• Community Organization of the Year - Nuevo Comienzo
• Public Service Award: Family Education Center
• Senior Citizen of the Year: Jesus Quevedo
• Health Professional of the Year: Dr. Alma Sanchez
• Educational Leader of the Year: Krystal Poloka
• Junior Achievers: Angel Barajas Diaz and Denisse Herrera
• Retired Educational Leader of the Year: Rebecca Ramirez
• Protecting our Environment Award: Pena’s Disposal
The social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner and award ceremony at 6 p.m. The cost is $25 per person or $30 at the door.
Tickets are available for purchase from Lions Club members, or call Yvette Botello at 260-7181 or Yvette Alvarez at 528-3000.
State
Development Block Grant funding awarded in 2014.
The plans aim to “increase connectivity and access from the existing and future residential areas to the south to the commercial areas along East El Monte Way from Crawford Avenue to Road 92,” a staff report said. Hoped results are to bring shoppers and new business to the Mercantile Row Shopping Center while enticing new housing developments into the area.
In other council actions:
• The council voted 5-0 to reconsider a proposal to rezone a portion of a 6.1-acre property northwest of the El Monte Way and Englehart Avenue from residential to commercial.
The original item was recommended for approval
by the Dinuba Planning Commission, but did not receive a motion from the council at the Feb. 27 meeting. The applicant has submitted a revised version to lessen the impact of commercial zoning on nearby residential areas.
A review of the revised item will now be considered by the council at the May 22 council meeting.
• The status of the Economic Development Commission was reviewed by council, leading to new changes.
Recently, the nine-member board was down to five members. Meetings had become a challenge as five members were needed to have a quorum, meaning one missing member would cause a cancellation. There was also an impact on city staff
time to hold the monthly meetings.
To help resolve the issue, council voted
unanimously to change the commission from a nine-member board to a five-member board, and to move meetings from monthly to quarterly. Going forward, only three present members will be needed for a quorum.
• Dinuba resident Maria McElroy approached the podium to “call out” councilmember Kuldip Thusu, she said during the public comment portion of the meeting. McElroy said she had sought an attorney, accusing Thusu of slandering her publically.
McElroy said, in part, “There is no basis in fact because the things you said did not happen...
See Council, Page A5
Cutler-Orosi
Lions Award
Champ at
Roosevelt
Fourth grader
Emma Rico wins at
state History Day
competition
By Jackson Moore
News@thedinubasentinel.com
With dozens of students waiting anxiously in hopes of hearing their name called, Dinuba fourth-grader Emmarie “Emma” Rico sat relaxed in her seat.
But then the announcer said the words “Tulare County,” and suddenly the odds grew monumentally in her favor. Then Emma’s project number was called, signaling that she was awarded as a state champion.
“I was really surprised,” Emma said. “My mom started crying. My parents picked the back row - they didn't think I was going to win because there was such a big group of students. I was just sitting back in my chair and didn’t think I was going to win."
Emma was one of 14 Dinuba Unified School District GATE students to qualify for state after competing at the Tulare County level. As a fourth grader from Roosevelt School, she participated in the poster division, open to fourth and fifth graders. Various other categories of competitions were open though to high school seniors, hosted at William Jessup University in Rocklin. Of them all, Emma was the only from Tulare County to take home a state champion honor.
“Her writing was really well done,” Dinuba GATE teacher Audra Thornburg said. “Her board isn’t over-worked, so when you look at it, it’s clean, it’s easy to
See State, Page A2
Photos by Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Former Orosi coach, WWII Veteran, takes Honor Flight
By Jackson Moore News@thedinubasentinel.com
Almost 70 years ago Townsend “Jerry” Jury accepted the job as Orosi High School’s head football coach. His long ensuing career of high school coaching and college football officiating all originated with his time in the Navy during World War II.
Jury’s role was with an experimental squadron, stationed in Jacksonville, that would fly planes up and down the East Coast. He often worked in a “guinea pig” role, flying repaired planes to see if they were ready for service. He was later stationed in Kansas, where he played on a Navy football team.
After the war, his coach Kenny Gleason accepted the head coaching job at his alma mater - Fresno State. Jury and several others from the team followed Gleason to Central California to play for the Bulldogs in 1946.
Jury, 93, was one of 66 Central Valley veterans who returned home on May 9 from the 16th Central Valley Honor Flight. The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization that sends veterans to Washington D.C. to see the memorials in their honor, and to provide closure to their military past.
On May 8, special to this Honor Flight, Jury and 22 other Central Valley WWII veterans were celebrated in a Victory in Europe Day Ceremony at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., made in 2004 in the veterans’ honor. The local veterans were called one by one, with the Washington
Monument in front of them and the Lincoln Memorial in the distance behind them.
“It was very touching,” Jury said. “It’s a feeling that is in you that you really can’t explain it. It was a great service. At the end of the European War, I was moved from the East Coast and was assigned to prepare to go to the Pacific. It was a big change for me, but I was very lucky.”
The three-day Honor Flight experience also included visits to the Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Navy and Air Force memorials, Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Library of Congress where congressmen Devin Nunes, Jim Costa and David Valadao all welcomed the veterans, and more. There were also plenty of catered meals, entertainment, surprises and comradery throughout the trip.
Everywhere the veterans went, each accompanied by a guardian, they were led by a police escort that parted the gridlocked Washington D.C. traffic to ensure the veterans made all their stops over the three days. Complete strangers at many locations went out of their way to give them applause, a handshake or salute.
The biggest cheer of all came at Fresno Yosemite International Airport when hundreds crowded the lobby for a patriotic welcome home that many of the 66 Central Valley
See Honor Flight, Page A6
Jackson Moore | The Sentinel
The 2018 Blessing of the Bikes and Cars event was held Saturday at Rose Ann Vuich Park, moving from Downtown Dinuba where it had been in previous years. The event is held to pray over motorcyclists for their safety in the upcoming year.
The event also included musical performances, speakers, vendors, and many flashy cars that are also including in the blessing.
ABOVE: A line of motorcycles filled Rose Ann Vuich Park in Dinuba on Saturday for the annual Blessing of the Bikes event.
LEFT: A child rests on the shoulders of an adult as they view the motorcycles in the park.
Central Valley veterans are pictured in Washington D.C. in front of the World War II and Lincoln memorials.
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