Valley Solutions

No ‘suicide swerve’ in Ceres

Ceres Courier. Police nip planned bike takeover before it starts. 
Synopsis: A social-media post that threatened a “street takeover” in Ceres by unruly cyclists had no time to materialize before being stopped in its tracks. The post called for cyclists to gather at Smyrna Park on Sunday afternoon. There was a gathering, but many of those gathered were wearing uniforms – CHP, Ceres police, Modesto police and Sheriff’s Office. About 30 cyclists drifted into the park, but all were met by officers. Police confiscated 12 bikes and will hold them for up to 30 days. The plan to take over part of Ceres arose after a similar “event” in Riverbank was covered by CBS13. So-called “suicide swervers” aimed their bikes directly at oncoming vehicles, dodging just before impact. Some damaged parked cars. One teen in Ceres said they were trolling Ceres police with threats of a takeover. BTW, to retrieve an impounded bicycle is easy. You just show up with your parents, pay $250 (or $500 if it’s the second time around) and ride away. Chief Trent Johnson said if parents won’t stop their children from engaging in dangerous behavior, the police will. 

Evacuations near Sonora

SF Chronicle. Wildfire forces evacuations in Yosemite gateway town. 
Synopsis: The Dove Fire spread to several hundred acres near Sonora on Sunday afternoon.  It was just 1% contained as of Sunday evening with 225 CalFire firefighters responding including multiple air tankers, 22 engines and four dozers. Smoke drifted all the way to Lake Tahoe. CalFire told folks living on South Washington, Outlook and on Hwy 108 to the Red Church to “leave now … Do not wait to be told to evacuate.”

Merced GV Wire. Fields Fire evacuation warning lifted.
Synopsis: Merced Sheriff Vern Warnke lifted the evacuation warning and orders for areas around Snelling on Sunday afternoon. The fire burned roughly 200 acres before being brought under control.

The ‘big one’ will be costly

SF Chronicle. CA earthquake expert gives staggering cost estimate for ‘The Big One’: $1 trillion. 
Synopsis: Ahmed Elbanna, director of the Statewide CA Earthquake Center, said if the San Andreas Fault lets go at 7.8, expect $1 trillion in damages. Maybe more. “I wouldn’t say that a trillion dollars is an extreme,” said Elbanna. “It could be very plausible if things go bad.” The state officially has estimated such a disaster at $213 billion, but that was back in 2008. Such an extreme quake would cause massive shaking, liquification of underlying soils, ruptured gas pipes and serious fires. Elbanna said his numbers are predicated on losing 13,000 structures, but the state says up to 130,000 structures are in danger. Scientists say the San Andreas slides about every 150 years, and the last rupture was 169 years ago. Elbanna said the time to act is now. It’s only a catastrophe “because of human inaction.”

What to do with dead trees?

SF Chronicle. CA is cutting trees to prevent wildfires, but it has nowhere to put them. 
Synopsis: Matt Dias, CEO of the CA Forestry Assn, writes that wildfire prevention and post-fire restoration are both predicated on one thing: clearing the forest of low-value wood and slash. These days, that cleared wood sits in piles or stacks waiting for somewhere to go. CA is “treating” 1 million acres of forest per year to reduce fire risk and restore forest health, removing 5 million tons of dry woody material. But we can’t process it. Around the state there are at least 11 “piles” of biomass containing at least 1 million tons each. We don’t have a way of disposing of this stuff, but nature does. It’s called lightning. Dias says we should think of it as “deferred combustion.”
MAD Take: Once upon a time, we had biomass facilities that turned such slash into electricity. But the last of those plants – Covanta’s facility west of Crows Landing – was shuttered two years ago over air-pollution concerns. Still, 11 million pounds of slash sounds like we’ve created the Sierra equivalent of tire piles in the forest.

Mayoral candidate switches focus

Turlock Journal. Turlock mayoral race down to 3.
Synopsis: Jeremy Rocha has decided to run for Turlock District 1 city council instead of mayor, leaving only three candidates – incumbent Amy Bublak, planning commissioner Jim Reape and private investigator Kelley Coelho. Rocha wishes “the best” for all three remaining candidates.

Lining up to visit the Silos

Modesto Bee. Limited menu and long history: What to expect at Modesto Silos’ not-so-soft opening.
Synopsis: It took 6 years to turn the 87-year-old grain elevators near MJC on Madonia Avenue into a high-rise restaurant. Apparently lots of folks were waiting. Aaron Valencia says he had standing-room-only crowds for the café and some open-air seating. He’s serving chilaquiles, tacos, burritos and pancakes, among other things.

Reputed gangster arrested

Stocktonia. FBI nabs third suspect in Stockton as part of massive crackdown on Indian gangs. 
Synopsis: The CHP and the FBI worked together to arrest a third person in their multinational crackdown on Indian criminal gangs. Harmanveer Singh was arrested on smuggling charges and is one of 37 charged so far in the U.S., India, Canada and Europe. Authorities also seized 1,000 kilos (about 2,300 pounds) of cocaine, 1 kilo of heroin and a dozen firearms. Harmanveer is said to be part of the Ravinder Dhanda crime family. The drugs were concealed in long-haul semi-trucks and farm vehicles driven between Southern California and Canada.

News from kids’ facilities

Turlock Journal. Salvation Army welcomes new corps officers to Turlock.
Synopsis: Majors Robert and Monica Covert have been installed as leaders of the Turlock Salvation Army. Their first duty, said the couple, is “listening and learning.” They started on July 1, arriving from Missoula, Mont. Robert is originally from the Bay Area and is a fifth-generation Corps officer and pastor. Monica grew up literally across the street from a Salvation Army center in Phoenix and considered it a second home.

Westside Express. Los Banos Child Development Center named in honor of Joe. H. Sousa.
Synopsis: The Merced County Community Action Agency honored Joe Sousa by naming the Los Banos child development center he envisioned in his honor. Former parks commissioner Erasmo Viveros credited Sousa for shaping the course of his life. Among those honoring Sousa were Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, Parks & Rec manager Paul Cardoza, Pastor Steve Hammond and revered educator John Spevak.

Trust by but verify on water

Maven / San Jose State. Study finds water insecurity persists despite CA’s human right to water policy. 
Synopsis: A study entitled “The State of Household Water Insecurity in California” was published in the Journal of American Water Resources. Using data from 2021, associate professor Melissa Beresford led the study which found a “more persistent water insecurity” in some parts of the state than originally thought. Her study estimates that 15% of all households are “worried about health impacts from water,” and 12% have “experienced three or more of eight household-level water insecurity indicators.” She wrote that her study was not about any specific system being in compliance, but whether or not people are comfortable and can afford their water.
MAD Take: When I was with The Bee, I did a story about a tiny, unincorporated community in Stanislaus County where water was being delivered in bottles. A dozen people lined up to insist that they did not have access to clean drinking water, blaming either farmers for poisoning their wells or the county for ignoring their plight. Another reporter, though, did a little digging and found that the county had already contracted with a nearby city to extend a main to the community and the 6-mile pipeline was only a mile from completion. It’s not that the residents were lying, per se, but years of anger would not allow them to relinquish their narrative. Facts mattered less than grievance. So, when I read that a professor is interested more in “feelings” than actual compliance … I reach for the saltshaker.

Water deal finally done

SJV Water. Kern water district inks deal to keep water flowing to homes near Patterson. 
Synopsis: Kern County Water Agency and the Western Hills Water District, which provides water for 600 homes in Diablo Grande west of Patterson, last week signed a contract to provide up to 1,500 acre feet of water a year. Kern will “forgive” a $14 million it claimed Western Hills owed it for water that was contracted for but never delivered in years past. Western Hills will pay $37,500 a year going forward and have access to an additional 1,000 acre feet at a specified cost.
MAD Take: This story is as close to a “happy ending” as you’re ever going to see in a water fight. No one goes thirsty and no one is going broke. What wasn’t mentioned is the role that SJV Water publisher Lois Henry played in getting to the bottom of this issue. Without Henry’s push to find out what happened to the water that Western Hills paid for but never got, it is unlikely Kern County would have relented. And the folks in Diablo Grande would be pouring water out of bottles into their toilets. Someone should build a statue to Lois.

SJV Water. Kern water districts officially pledge just 1/3 of state ask for Delta tunnel costs.
Synopsis: Kern County Water Agency and 12 other smaller entities will pay only $11.7 million toward the most recent phase of construction for the Delta Tunnel. The state requested the agencies put in $33 million. That leaves the state $60 million short in the $300 million it needs for this phase. The official state estimate for the entire tunnel is around $21 billion, but most credible sources put it at nearly double that. The Kern shortfall is not expected to derail progress but could impact how much water is available to Kern growers – assuming the tunnel is ever completed.

Robbing the water bank

Valley Citizen. Time to stop robbing our East Side water bank. 
Synopsis: Eric Caine quotes legendary hydrologist Vance Kennedy in describing the aquifers underlying the east side of Stanislaus County as “our savings account. … That’s our insurance in case of an extended drought.” Or it would be if growers and others weren’t draining the aquifers for nut trees, in effect robbing the savings account. Those who planted trees on ground outside of water districts knew from the start that they would have to suck aquifer dry to keep their trees alive. They didn’t care. Still don’t. But county supervisors mandated yet another study to determine pumping levels rather than enacting restrictions and requirements that would protect the aquifer.
MAD Take: When the state first enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014. That’s no longer the case.

Kaepernick, Bruce honored

Turlock Journal. Kaepernick receives new ACLU award for activism in arts, business, science and sports. 
Synopsis: Colin Kaepernick, who provoked a firestorm when he knelt rather than stand for the national anthem after the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, was given the Ralph Ellison Award for Defenders of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Kaepernick, who was raised in Turlock, was subsequently blackballed by the league and later sued, reaching a settlement with the NFL. Also given the Ellison Award was Bruce Springsteen, who wrote a song called “Streets of Minneapolis” about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.