Stephanie Rae Whitaker and David Matthew Lee were wed March 22, 2014, at Hillcrest Tree Farm in Reedley. Kenneth Lee the groom’s grandfather, officiated.
The bride is the daughter of Tom and Janet Whitaker and granddaughter of Ray and Joyce Whitaker all of Madera. She is a 1998 graduate of Madera High School and 2003 graduate of California State University Fresno. She works as an administrative assistant at Cumulus Media in Fresno.
The groom is the son of Steve and Lynn Lee of Anaheim and grandson of Ken and Lois Lee of Bakersfield. He is a 2005 graduate of Valencia High School and works as a field representative at the Clovis Department of Motor Vehicles.
Given away by her father, who drove her to the aisle in a Jeep, the bride wore an ivory gown with beaded bodice and floor length veil with a bouquet of white daisies...
Madera High School senior Abraham Alamari turned down two admission offers from prestigious universities to “stay in the Central Valley and literally build a stronger community.” Tied for eighth rank, in a class of 493 graduating seniors, Alamari plans to pursue an engineering degree at Fresno State to help people locally, he said.
“I volunteered in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and while mentoring my Little Brother, it really touched my heart and hope I can do the same to others after I become successful,” Alamari said.
He spoke before about 50 people who gathered to honor, once again, this year’s Boy of the Month winners and recognize the Boy of the Year. Alamari was announced the Ken Taylor Boy of the Year winner during the dinner at Cedar Creek Senior Living. He was joined by his parents, Norman and Qaflah Alamari.
Organized by Madera Kiwanis, the Boy of the Month program continues the legacy of the late Ken Taylor, to encourage youth by honoring senior high school students in Madera who have all-around achievements, organizers said...
Groundwork for the June 3 Consolidated Statewide Direct Primary Election has Madera County Elections Department staff testing ballot counting machines and training poll workers this week.
On Friday afternoon, Madera County Clerk Rebecca Martinez the county registrar of voters invited a group of citizens to view the election process.
This year’s panel included Madera County grand jurors Linda Pennington and Jim Haze, Rotarian Anita Martin, Susan Rowe-Smith of the Democratic Central Committee, legislative assistant Rhonda Cargill of county supervisor District 1 and Tami Jo Nix of The Madera Tribune.
Each panel member was supplied test ballots and instructed to mark it as they would their official ballot...
A celebration of all Madera High School graduates drew alumni to Appellation California, where hundreds ate, drank, listened and danced to live music and shopped.
The All Class Reunion, organized by ApCal owner Darren Schmall, included former Coyotes who graduated as far back as seven decades ago, when the school, a small red brick building, was still named Madera Union High School.
Some attended with spouses, others with friends or with families who shared their alma mater.
Lydia Serrano, who graduated in 1976, sat in a lawn chair under a more than 100-year-old oak tree, along with her mother Helen Serrano, 86, who graduated from Madera Union High School in 1947. She watched with a smile as her mother danced to the music...
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.SAN FRANCISCO — Call them the fortunate ones: Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed.
Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these “senior rights holders” dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water.
Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California.
But the AP found the state’s system is based on self-reported, incomplete records riddled with errors and years out of date. Some rights holders have vastly overstated their usage — in the mistaken belief, asserts Tom Howard, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board, that it will preserve their right to draw more water in the future.
“We really don’t know how much water they’ve actually diverted,” said Bob Rinker, a manager in the board’s water rights division.
With a burgeoning population and projections of heightened climate-related impacts on snowpack and other water supplies, the antiquated system blunts California’s ability to move water where it is most needed.
Water inequality
When gold miners flocked to the West in the 1800s, the state drafted laws that rewarded those who first staked claims on the region’s abundant rivers and streams. Since then, Western states have upgraded to different, more rigorous water accounting systems that track every precious drop, but California still relies on an honor system, even during drought.
The system’s inequities are particularly evident in California’s arid Central Valley, where some farmers struggle while others enjoy abundant water.
“In a good year we wouldn’t be able to stand here unless we got wet. This year it won’t produce anything,” said second-generation rice farmer Al Montna as he knelt in the dust, pulling apart dirt clods on the 1,800 acres he left idle because of scarce water. “Our workers will just have to go elsewhere to look for work.”
About 35 miles north, fourth-generation rice farmer Josh Sheppard had more than enough water, thanks to superior rights to Feather River water dating to the late 1800s. On a recent afternoon, pulses of liquid spilled across his fields to soak the loamy soil for planting.
“No one thinks of it when there’s ample water and plenty to go around, but in these times of tightness it is a very contentious resource that gets fought over,” said Sheppard. “We are going to be very stark defenders into the future of ensuring that this right ... remains in place.”
Because the state doesn’t know how many entities hold these superior rights or how much water they use, the AP obtained and analyzed the water board’s database for 2010 — the last complete year of water usage reports — and interviewed state officials and dozens of so-called senior rights holders.
The state only collects the records every three years on a staggered basis, meaning some of its information is at least a few years old.
Howard, the board’s executive director, acknowledged the state should get a better handle on water use. “Anything to improve the information we have would help,” he said, citing the need for annual reporting of usage and real time stream flow data.
While much of the water reported by this group is consumed by people or farms, some of the biggest users generate hydroelectric power for profit then return that water to the river for use downstream. The state doesn’t know how much is used for each purpose.
Old water rights
More than half of the 3,897 entities with these water rights are corporations, such as the state’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which generates hydroelectric power, and the Hearst Corp., which has water rights for its remote, Bavarian-style forest compound called Wyntoon.
Also among the biggest rights holders are state and local government agencies — including the water departments of San Francisco and Los Angeles, which channel river water to millions of residents.
San Francisco, whose water rights date to 1902 when its mayor nailed a handwritten notice on a tree, uses free Sierra Nevada water to generate power for its airport, schools and firehouses.
This year, the state cut water deliveries to farmers and cities by 95 percent, and the federal government also imposed sharp restrictions on its water customers. But companies, farmers and cities with water rights that pre-date 1914 were exempt this year from mandatory cuts, even though they collectively are the biggest water consumers in the state.
The AP independently verified that just 24 of the rights holders reported using more than twice the volume of water that California’s vast system of state and federal dams and aqueducts ships to cities and farms in an average year.
As the dry summer months loom, some water scientists question the usefulness of conservation efforts that do not restrict consumption by most water users with old rights. In a catastrophic emergency, the state might ask these users to conserve, but even then they could choose not to.
“Obviously, senior water rights holders have the most to benefit from the current system,” said Peter Gleick, a water scientist and director of the nonpartisan Pacific Institute. “It gives them first call on water and more certainty during droughts and shortages.”
In an age of weather extremes, those with century-old rights say the system works well because it provides a reliable supply of water, which is crucial for farmers deciding what to plant each spring. And in a drought, the state lets some of them sell any extra water to cities, corporations and farms that need it, at the rate the market will bear.
“To the degree that we can help share and develop more water resources for all the needs out there, I know we’ll support that,” said Sheppard, who irrigates his rice fields with supplies from the Joint Water Districts Board, which has pre-1914 water rights. “We’ve been aggressive about conserving and we independently installed meters on our land so we know we don’t waste much.”
The water board’s Howard said it would be impossible to do away with the system.
“People have made investments based on promises in the existing system,” Howard said. “Towns grew up and land was developed based on promises of a secure water supply. Do we strand those investments to start over?”
The water board does not require monitoring or meters for users whose rights date back a century or more, or who have rights to draw from a waterway adjoining their land. So the bookkeeping by Sheppard’s district provides the state with its only reckoning of how much water the district’s landowners use.
The law is different in other Western states such as Wyoming and Colorado, where agencies have more sway to track water use and restrict flows in times of scarcity. California rights holders have successfully defeated legal and legislative efforts to strengthen that state’s oversight, said Andy Sawyer, a longtime water rights attorney at the board.
Poor accounting
California made some progress toward accountability in 2009, when a new law required rights holders to report their water use and gave the board power to punish them for failing to file statements properly and on time. But the rights holders could gain exemption from the strict monitoring requirements in that law by convincing authorities it was too costly.
Partly due to poor accounting, the state had issued only 28 violations since 2009 to senior water rights holders as of May 20 — 24 for failing to file the proper paperwork, and four for illegally storing water. It’s rare that the state catches anyone taking more than they should, and even then, there are few punishment options.
The water board doesn’t have staff to systematically verify water usage or check even the most obvious mistakes in the records, said Aaron Miller, a senior engineer at the water board. He added that the state nonetheless uses this inaccurate data to make decisions about how and where to grant new water permits.
The AP found major errors in the water consumption reports for eight of the entities the state listed as its top 25 users.
At the top of the state’s ranking of water users was Louis Chacon, who state records show in 2010 consumed 12 billion acre-feet — enough to cover 12 billion acres with a foot of water. (One acre-foot is 326,000 gallons.) All of this for a 15-acre plot in Trinity County where his retirement home sits and a few cattle graze.
Chacon told the AP he did not know how many acre-feet the family actually used, but called the state’s numbers “crazy.” He had previously raised concerns that the state’s software was altering his reported usage.
Teichert Land Co., a Sacramento-based development company, originally reported drawing 7.6 million acre-feet from the Valley-American River in 2010. But Teichert environmental manager Becky Wood confirmed that figure was an error, saying Teichert really only used 300 acre-feet.
No one from the state ever asked why the company reported using so much water, Wood said.
“You would hope that they would at least have the systems to check against what your right is and what you’re reporting in the middle of a drought,” she said.
Madera’s first-ever ArtsFest, an event to promote art in Madera County, is set to feature a carnival-type atmosphere with free hands-on activities for children, performances and food, organizers said.
Set for June 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the ArtsFest at the Dr. Sally L. Frazier Instructional Support and Conference Center, 1105 S. Madera Ave., is organized by the Madera County Schools Foundation and the Madera County Office of Education and sponsored by the Madera County Arts Council.
Art activities will include decorating flower pots, creating collages, painting rocks and necklaces and drawing chalk murals, said Kristi Winter, events developer for MCOE.
Performances by Angel Republic, Baile Folclórico and Las Mujeres Zapotecas are planned. The arts council will have art demonstrators, hands-on art booth volunteers and help run the art gallery...
With well over a hundred American flags waving in a cool breeze, local citizens of all ages honored veterans of many wars during events Monday at Arbor Vitae Cemetery and in front of the war memorials at Courthouse Park.
Beginning at 9 a.m. at Arbor Vitae, Madera Cemetery District Manager Belva Bare welcomed the many present, including mayor and guest speaker Robert Poythress, for the unveiling and dedication of the Veteran’s Memorial Walkway. Speaker Candy Talley, chairperson of the cemetery district explained the new memorial.
“The previous memorial was built in the 1960s and we, as a board, wanted an area that was impressive yet easily accessible and peaceful,” said Talley.
On a large pillar, space is available for family and friends to honor their veteran loved ones by having their names engraved under their particular branch of service...
MARIPOSA (AP) — Three firefighters have been injured in a Central California wildfire that has burned through more than 2 square miles in two days, officials said Tuesday.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. State fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said that one of the three is an inmate firefighter who was cut by a chain saw. Berlant describes the injury as moderate. He said the other two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The Hunters Fire started Monday and quickly spread to the dry brush in the steep foothills of Mariposa County east of Lake McClure.
The fire was 20 percent contained, and Berlant said more than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze on the ground. Air tankers and helicopters are being used to attack the flames from above.
Officials on Tuesday began urging about 50 residents in the area to evacuate from their homes.
The fire, fueled by dry brush, was burning in steep terrain that crews were having difficulty reaching. Temperatures also rose into the 90s with winds up to 20 mph, adding to the challenge.
"This fire is burning like it would in summer with the dry conditions we've been experiencing," Berlant said.
One home was destroyed by fire Monday, Berlant said, adding that the cause remains under investigation.
Up to 100 homes are potentially threatened, but the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office notified about 50 residents in immediate danger, urging them to evacuate. First, residents were called by phone and then deputies knocked on doors in person, said Kristie Mitchell, a department spokeswoman.
Mitchell said she didn't know how many left their homes. "If they want to leave or not, that is up to them," she said.
Meanwhile, a fire burning in and around Oak Creek Canyon in northern Arizona continued to grow in size even though firefighters have established a containment line around all of it.
The so-called Slide Fire between Flagstaff and Sedona increased in size to 32 square miles Tuesday and continued to grow.
Firefighters spotted a small and possibly historic cabin while conducting a burnout operation on a steep side in the area of Oak Creek Canyon. The crew removed debris from around the cabin and placed a layer of protective fabric around it.
Investigators who are trying to determine what sparked the human-caused fire on May 20 said they have received about 80 tips, but it could take months to pinpoint exactly how it began.
Organizers of an annual Cub Scout day camp are planning activities to feature the theme of the mythological story of the Knights of the Round Table, in which King Arthur congregated with his knights around a round table, symbolizing equal status.
The Boy Scouts of America Thunderbird District Day Camp is set for June 16-19, with a family night planned for June 20.
Sign-ups will be accepted on the morning of June 16, but early registration is also encouraged. Boys in grades first through fifth may be registered at Back to Camp Knight on Tuesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 2112 Sunset Ave. Cost of camp is $65 for the week. Participants will receive their first camp T-shirt and may enjoy a craft or jump in a bounce house while parents fill out medical paperwork, said Sandy Ebersole, the program director.
The camp is organized by the Boy Scouts of America at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but is not a church event, she said...
One suspect is in custody, while another is on the lamb
One suspect has been arrested and another is on the run for a “brutal” assault that eventually cost a Madera man his life, Madera Police Department Det. Sgt. Robert Salas announced Tuesday, as he asked for the public’s help in tracking down the alleged murderer.
Benjamin Martinez, 37, was one of three victims allegedly assaulted by Carlos Palomares, 30, and Diego Dorame, 18, behind a gas station on Cleveland Avenue and Lake Street shortly after 10 p.m. on May 16, Salas said.
Palomares was arrested last week and charged with several crimes including murder and robbery with gang enhancements.
Dorame, described as approximately 5-foot-9-inches tall and around 160 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, was being sought Tuesday for similar charges with a $1.2 million warrant issued for his arrest, Salas said...
A nonprofit employment, training and social service agency has awarded a total of $27,000 in scholarships to high school seniors in Madera, Merced and Stanislaus counties, including $9,000 to those in Madera, Madera Ranchos, Chowchilla and Oakhurst.
Local area winners were Crystal Maciel and Guadalupe Navarro of Madera High School, Gloria Zarate of Liberty High School, Alejandra Granados and Kyle Dwayne Hansen of Chowchilla Union High School, and Stephanie Marie Pardue of Yosemite High School.
Each received a $1,500 scholarship from Central Valley Opportunity Center (CVOC).
“CVOC scholarship applications were provided to counselors for those high schools in CVOC’s tri-county service area,” said scholarship coordinator Alica Chavez of CVOC. “Applicant’s GPA, family income and other criteria were considered.” ...
Quilter Mary King started stitching together cloth pieces on her own long before online sites, such as YouTube and Pinterest, taught people how to do it. Eventually she sought out to learn from a group of people who are passionate about the practice.
King joined the Heart of California Quilters’ Guild in 1997, a year after she picked up the hobby. Today, she still meets face to face with other quilters on the fourth Tuesday of every month to share her work, teach and learn from other members.
On Tuesday, 37 of her “hidden gems” were shown before about 70 people who attended the regular meeting, including some family and friends from out of state, at the Frank Bergon Senior Center.
The “hidden gems” are quilts she’s made that have not been shown, she said...
Children’s Hospital Central California will host a St. Baldrick’s Foundation signature head-shaving event Saturday to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer research. With a goal of $5,000, more than 40 people have registered to go bald.
Hairs will fall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the hospital’s back lawn at 9300 Valley Children’s Place.
Volunteers collect pledges and shave their heads in solidarity with children battling cancer, according to Vanessa Fusco of FleishmanHillard, a public relations and marketing company working with the foundation.
According to Fusco, a child is diagnosed with cancer somewhere in the world every three minutes, and one in five children diagnosed in the U.S. will not survive...
East Valley farmers from Madera to Kern Counties suffered a blow in federal court this week as a judge rejected a motion to prevent the draining of water from Millerton Lake to wildlife refuges and senior-rights holders in the West.
This month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation pulled the trigger on the last-resort option dreaded by some 15,000 members of the Friant Water Authority — including hundreds, if not thousands of Madera-area farmers — to use Millerton water in fulfilling the demands of those groups.
That option hadn’t been exercised in more than 70 years after a 1939 federal deal in which growers to the West gave up their historic access to the San Joaquin River in exchange for steady supplies from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and other northern sources.
But after a third-straight year of drought, the bureau claimed it had no other option and began siphoning from Friant Dam...
A Madera man wanted for murder was arrested in Atwater less than 24 hours after the Madera Police Department announced a manhunt for the previously-elusive suspect, MPD Special Investigations Unit Sgt. Gino Chiaramonte said.
Gang member Diego Dorame, 18, is one of two suspects who allegedly chased and assaulted three victims including 37-year-old Benjamin Martinez behind a gas station on Cleveland Avenue and Lake Street earlier this month.
Two victims managed to escape but Martinez was beaten so severely he died a week later from blunt force trauma to his upper body, police said this week.
All three were farm laborers with no gang connections, MPD Det. Sgt. Robert Salas said...
The late Gary Rhoads liked to fix things on his own, according to his family, which is why his survivors wanted to honor his memory by gifting scholarships to those set on pursuing vocational careers.
“Gary Rhoads was a true renaissance man,” Velvet Rhoads said of her father.
“My dad had many talents from sewing dresses for my sister and I when we were babies, to designing and building a house with his two hands,” she said.
Gary, who owned Peck’s Printery, passed away in 2011...
Madera Avenue Bible Church invites all to hear a free presentation given by Jews for Jesus on June 8 at 10:15 a.m. The topic will be “Jewish Roots of Pentecost.”
Jews for Jesus is an agency that proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world. The late Moishe Rosen, a Jew who has believed in Jesus for over 35 years, founded the organization. However, Rosen was quick to point out that he did not “start” Jews for Jesus. “Jews for Jesus began about 2,000 years ago, around 32 C.E., give or take a year. Jesus’ first disciples were Jewish, and there have been some Jewish people who have believed in him ever since.”
The organization has permanent branches in eight North American cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Washington D.C. and Fort Lauderdale) as well as over 127 volunteer chapters spanning some 41 states and five countries. The group’s international branches are headquartered in Johannesburg, London, Paris, Odessa, Moscow, Essen, Rio de Janeiro, Kharkov, Dnepopretrovsk, and Tel Aviv.
To the Jews for Jesus, believing in Jesus makes sense in light of the Jewish Bible and in light of their experiences as “believers.” For those who argue that Christianity contradicts the meaning of Judaism, the Jews for Jesus say there are answers, which their representative will be happy to discuss after the presentation...
In the story titled “Nurse saves life of teacher’s aide” and published in the May 22, 2014, edition of the Tribune, the contributions of other staff in saving the life of teacher’s aide Randy Rollins should have been noted.
Special education teacher Neneng Stansbury, behavioral therapist Dr. Rod Keeler, and classroom aide Shelly Willberg were present when Rollins fell backwards, hit his head and stopped breathing in a classroom. Stansbury told Willberg to call the office and have them call 911. This was done so the front office staff could direct the ambulance to the exact classroom. Willberg then took the children outside so they would not be further traumatized.
According to Keeler, Neneng realized at this time that Rollins was not breathing and yelled at the aide, “Breathe, breathe.” The teacher assessed the situation. When school nurse Lori Shreve arrived, Neneng informed the nurse of the need to start CPR.
“She started the chest compressions and I grabbed my mask and started the breathing,” said Neneng. After a cycle of 30, Shreve switched with Keeler and he continued the compressions...
The course is designed to increase awareness among local and regional emergency response teams and industry stakeholders about the potential targets and impacts of agroterrorism and how to identify and defend against pathogens, chemical and biological contaminants, and other hazards, organizers say.
The University of California, Davis, developed the course as an academic partner of the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC)...
A six-week drug trafficking investigation that began with a citizen tip concluded Thursday with the arrest of an Oakhurst couple and the seizure of heroin, meth, marijuana, a gun and ammunition, Madera County Sheriff spokeswoman Erica Stuart said.
Rocky Rodriguez, 41, and his wife, Brenna Rodriguez, 30, face several felony charges including drug and drug paraphernalia possession, and drug trafficking. Rocky, a convicted felon, faces additional charges for being a felon in possession of a gun and ammo, Stuart said.
The multi-agency Madera County Narcotic Enforcement Team (MADNET) stationed agents at a home in the 48000 block of Rock Point Road in Oakhurst where it was believed the Rodriguezes were staying, Stuart said.
Another team of agents waited for Rocky Rodriguez at the Sierra Courthouse in Bass Lake, where he was scheduled to appear on unrelated drug charges, Stuart said...
