Orange Cove News

After 22 years, the City of Orange Cove is getting its own police department. 
 Chief Frank Steenport will head the operation.

The son of Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez will return to court on Tuesday to face narcotics charges.

Reid reaches 60 as Sen. Lincoln pledges vote to begin debate

By Jeffrey Young - 11/21/09 02:33 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has secured the vital 60th vote he needs to advance healthcare reform legislation with the announcement by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that she will vote with her party Saturday evening.

"I have concluded that it is more important to begin this debate rather than just simply drop the issue and walk away," Lincoln said on the Senate floor. "I'm not afraid of that debate."

Heading into a rare Saturday session, Reid was still two votes shy of locking down enough support to move ahead with the formal debate and amendment process on the sweeping legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and take a huge step forward to enacting President Barack Obama's foremost domestic politic initiative.

MORE ... "The Hill" news

"12:58 PM EST Saturday, November 21, 2009 ... Landrieu to Support Health-Care Reform Debate ... Washington Post eMail Alert

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
By Jim Guy / The Fresno Bee

An Orange Cove man is sought in connection with a home invasion Friday.

Jason Romero, 33, who goes by the nickname of "Happy", is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 195 pounds. He has a shaved head and brown eyes, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Fresno County sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said the victims told deputies that two men broke into their Orange Cove apartment in the 500 block of Center Street, attacked them with a prybar and a knife, and took money and other items.

Deputies later arrested Richard Michael Lopez, 27, at Sixth and C Streets in Orange Cove and booked him on suspicion of home invasion robbery.

Click Here for SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT Contact Info .. The Fresno Bee

By Dennis Hart The Fresno County District Attorney's office filed a felony charge on Tuesday against the son of Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez.

Canals in the Westland Water District of the Central Valley deliver water to Southern California. The north-south division is both historic and modern.
------ Photo Russel A. Daniels, Associated Press ----------->>

California's biggest statewide problem is -- and always has been -- how to share water. But it's really a local issue.

By George Skelton .. Capitol Journal
November 16, 2009

From Sacramento

Years ago, pundits and pols began redrawing the California political map with an east-west divide, erasing the historic north-south split. Now they can partition it north-south again, at least in mapping the reignited water war.

In voting patterns and attitudes about social issues and the environment, California generally has become divided east and west -- interior and coastal.

"The closer to the ocean, the farther to the left," notes longtime Democratic political consultant Richie Ross.

But on water, as illustrated by the recent legislative battle, combatants still are lined up north and south.

In fact, a close look shows that it's even more regional than that. Divvying up water has historically been California's biggest statewide problem, but it always boils down to a local issue.

"Nothing's more local than our toilets," Ross observes.

Capturing a reliable supply for flushing, drinking, washing and irrigating pits farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta against farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, people in the Bay Area against delta environmentalism and farmers everywhere. And so on.

That said, the main legislative battle line again was drawn across the Tehachapi Mountains, as it has been for generations. Lawmakers representing the arid, urban Southland heavily supported the controversial package of water development, conservation mandates and fixes for the deteriorating delta, California's main water hub...

But most lawmakers from wetter Northern California -- beginning at a line drawn from the Bay Area through the delta to Sacramento -- voted no.

MORE .. Los Angeles Times

'There is No More Cheap Water' .. VoiceOfSandiego.org

------------------- Fresno County Sheriff MugShot --------------->>>

[Updated] online on Friday, Nov. 14, 2009
By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee

The son of Orange Cove's longtime mayor gave methamphetamine to someone in exchange for stolen credit card information that he then used to make online purchases, according to allegations in a search warrant affidavit that was released Friday.

Victor Lopez Jr., 43, was arrested Nov. 4 after a two-month identity-theft investigation by the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Investigators searched his house in Orange Cove and arrested him after finding drugs in the home.

Court records also show that deputies confiscated several items from Lopez's house, including skateboarding and BMX bicycle equipment that belonged to the city. They also found a computer that belonged to the city and other electronics equipment that had been stored at the city's community center.

The affidavit said that an Orange Cove woman reported in late August that her credit card had been stolen. Sheriff's investigators determined that her son gave the card number to Lopez in exchange for methamphetamine.

Several online purchases were made with the card, including $1,220 for a Dell computer, $149 from Zales Jewelry, and $1,794 from an online clothing outfit, rollerzonly.com.

MORE .. The Fresno Bee

NOTE - as of 10:45 a.m. Nov 14, 2009, there are 19 Bee reader comments on line.

MORE Resources:

Mayor's son arrested after deputies serve search warrant .. The Reedley Exponent

May 2009 -- Orange Cove spent lavishly on a BMX park that is hardly used ... The Fresno Bee

March 2009 -- BMX park audit has OC grant on hold .. The Reedley Exponent

A 74-year-old man said to be the oldest graffiti vandal ever captured in Los Angeles County was arrested Friday, authorities said.

-------------- Fresno County Sheriff MugShot ------------>>>

Report: Victor Lopez Jr. sold meth

Published on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 @ 2:00 p.m.
By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee

Victor Lopez Jr., the son of Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez, sold methamphetamine drugs and may have used someone's credit card to make online purchases, according to a court document made public today.

Items listed in an affidavit of a search that was carried out Nov. 4 includes several that appear to belong to the city of Orange Cove, including BMX uniforms and an ice chest.

Lopez Jr. was arrested Nov. 4 for alleged drug possession after the search of his Sumner Avenue home in Orange Cove. The Sheriff's Office said the search was conducted after a two-month identity-theft investigation.

A sheriff's spokesman said Lopez was arrested after drugs were found in his home.

SOURCE ... The Fresno Bee

AFresno Countyman is recovering from stab wounds sufferedafter two men broke into his home early Friday morning."); var headline = escape ; OpenWin "> AFresno Countyman is recovering from stab wounds sufferedafter two men broke into his home early Friday morning."); var headline = escape ; OpenWin " STYLE="color:#0033FF"> Email Text Size Posted: A ...

A six-month investigation into a major drug-trafficking organization by Santa Barbara Sheriff's narcotics detectives has concluded with the arrest of 17 suspects, along with the seizure of millions of dollars worth of drugs and weapons.

Links to FRESNO COUNTY and ORANGE COVE

Four subjects wanted

Authorities are still seeking four suspects, including 35-year-old Gamaliel Galindo Cardenas. Known as “Gamas,” Cardenas is believed to be the head of a Mexican national drug-trafficking organization operating in California and possibly Washington.

He has ties to Glendale, Orange Cove, and Lakewood, Wash. His whereabouts are unknown and authorities have secured a $250,000 warrant for his arrest for conspiracy, cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.

~~~

The following 15 adults, along with two unidentified minors, face a variety of charges including conspiracy, drug-related violations, weapons violations and other felony counts. Authorities identified at least five of the suspects as Mexican nationals.

-Eloy Chavez, 33, of Orange Cove
-Uriel Torres, 32, of Orange Cove

-Augustin Cornejo, 21, of Cutler
-Saul Cortez, 25, of Cutler
-Jose Valdovinos, 45, of Cutler
-Alejandro Vargas, 24, of Cutler
-Rene Vargas, 39, of Cutler


MORE .. The Daily Sound - Santa Barbara

Monday, Nov. 09, 2009
By Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee

With Millerton Lake as a backdrop, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an $11.1 billion water bond Monday that proponents acknowledged will be a tough sell with voters.

Schwarzenegger was flanked by legislators, local elected officials, farmers, and members of the California Latino Water Coalition during the afternoon ceremony.

“I am ecstatic to be here today to celebrate this historic accomplishment,” Schwarzenegger said. “Almost three years ago I stood here in front of Friant Dam and promised the people of California and the people of the Central Valley that I would do everything I can to rebuild California’s crumbling water infrastructure. Today we are delivering on that promise.”

MORE .. The Fresno Bee

Additional Resources:

Water overhaul looks like win for Valley farmers .. The Fresno Bee

Walters: Water Plan's size & Pork may sink it .. Sacramento Bee

Anti-Peripheral Canal Message Delivered in the form of 2000 postcards .. Stockton Record

CALIFORNIA BUDGET GAP:

The Guv .. This Year's Budget Gap may hit $7 Billion .. Sacramento Bee

While Fresno County leaders have been mired in bad news this year, the chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors tried to accentuate the positive Wednesday in her annual State of the County speech.

-------------------- Photo by Eldon Thompson ----------------->>

Published online on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009
By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee

Fresno County sheriff's deputies this morning were searching the home of Victor Lopez Jr., the son of Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez, the Sheriff's Office said today.

Sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice would not say why the deputies were searching the home. He said he will release more information later today.

Selma Police Chief Myron Dyck said that the Sheriff's Office borrowed a narcotics-sniffing dog from his department for the search.

Curtice said deputies were searching both Victor Lopez Jr.'s home at 1070 Eighth Street in Orange Cove and another home on the 900 block of Eighth St.

Mayor Lopez said the deputies are searching the house because of a miscommunication over who owned some property in his son's home. He said that his brother, Miguel Lopez, had left two security systems in Victor Lopez Jr.'s home that belonged to a South Korean company. The mayor said Miguel Lopez had intended to pick up the equipment later and ship it to the company.

SOURCE .. The Fresno Bee

The Fresno Bee Reader Comment:

lovnlife wrote on November, 4 1:20 PM:
there they go again....the Lopez's of Orange Cove....always in the news and it is never their fault....ironic isn't it?????

Additional pictures in “Orange Cove Photos” – Main Page of this web site

U-P-D-A-T-E -- 9:10 p.m. - Nov 4

Orange Cove mayor's son arrested on drug charges .. ABC-30-TV (text & video)

Orange Cove mayor's son arrested on drug charges .. San Jose Mercury News

The son of Orange Cove Mayor, Victor Lopez is behind bars tonight .. KSEE-24-TV (text & video)

------- Photo - Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group ------------->>

By Denis C. Theriault and Mike Taugher
Bay Area News Group
Tuesday .. 11/03/2009

SACRAMENTO — Bucking the history of an issue that has long flummoxed state leaders, the California Legislature finally began taking up the most sweeping overhaul of the state's aging water system in a generation, with the Senate late Monday approving a series of policy reforms and even a multibillion-dollar bond measure.

But final approval of the landmark water effort — designed to shore up the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and create a stable supply of water for the central and southern portions of the state — ultimately proved too elusive for lawmakers as Monday night ticked over into Tuesday morning.

Partisan politics, regional squabbles — led especially by lawmakers from Delta districts — and technical hurdles wound up slowing debate to a crawl. Instead, just after midnight, lawmakers adjourned for the night hoping to finish their work this morning.

Only the Senate actually got around to debating any bills Monday night, and even then senators started later than anticipated. Just after 10 p.m., they narrowly approved one of the more controversial pieces of the reform effort — a $9.9 billion bond bill that would build new dams, repair levees and finance other reforms.

Senators later approved a bill that would force city and suburban residents to use 20 percent less water by the end of 2020. And they approved a measure that appropriates nearly $500 million from a 2006 bond measure for work on fixing the Delta.

MORE .. San Jose Mercury-News

MORE Resources:

Senate APPROVES $9.9 Billion Water Bond Bill .. Contra Costa Times

Senate APPROVES $9.9 Billion Water Bond Bill .. San Francisco Chronicle

Legislators Water Action Comes in Dribbles .. Riverside Press-Enterprise

By Matt Weiser .. mweiser@sacbee.com
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Facing an array of criticism from Northern California interests about controversial water legislation, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg defended the measures Friday, saying they include plenty of protections – and money – for Sacramento and Delta interests.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, spoke as part of a panel at the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce's annual "State of the County" luncheon. The panel focused on statewide water issues and the effects on Northern California and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Joining him on the panel were Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli, Yolo County Supervisor Mike McGowan and prominent water lawyer Stuart Somach.

The three said the bills don't do enough to protect Northern California water rights, don't provide enough money to local governments to compensate for the loss of farmland to habitat restoration, and don't provide enough local representation on a new Delta Stewardship Council proposed to govern the estuary.

MORE .. Sacramento Bee

More Resources:

A Water Way? .. Sacramento Bee

Bill To Require Legislative O.K. of Peripheral Canal Introduced .. CapitalAlert

State Politicos Sideling Delta Area Legislators in $9.4 Billion Repair Plan .. Contra Costa Times

--------------------- file photo ----------------->>

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009
By Eddie Jimenez / The Fresno Bee

Orange Cove taxpayers won't pay for Mayor Victor Lopez's trips to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on behalf of the California Latino Water Coalition after this year.

Council members say they think Lopez has become a respected advocate for an important issue. But they say it's somebody else's turn to pick up the mayor's travel tab.

"We feel as a council that the city has paid enough," said Council Member Gilbert Garcia. Garcia and Council Members Glenda Hill and Esther Gonzalez voted Tuesday night to stop paying for Lopez's travel for the coalition after Dec. 31; Lopez and Council Member Bertha Del Bosque voted to continue the payments.

For the past 2 1/2 years, Lopez has made about four or five trips to Washington to educate federal officials about the Valley's water problems, said Alan Bengyel, Orange Cove's city manager.

The most recent trip about a month ago cost the city more than $5,000, Bengyel said.

Hill and Gonzalez said the shortage of water for cities and agriculture is a statewide issue. But budgets are becoming tighter for cities and tough decisions have to be made.

"We believe very much in what the coalition is doing," Gonzalez said. "[But] the burden shouldn't fall on Orange Cove by itself."

The water coalition includes politicians, farmers and water district officials.

MORE .. The Fresno Bee

MORE Resources:

KMJ Radio

Fresno Bee Reader comment;

jyfarms wrote on October, 29 2:58 AM:

Victor P. Lopez would like to run with special interest groups like Sandridge Partners, the development firm based in Sunnyvale. Yes, that's the same westside farming interest selling $77 million of its allotment of water to The Mojave Water Agency in San Bernardino. Orange Cove farming gets most of its water from the Friant Water Users Authority and not the Delta. Why are Orange Cove tax payers bank rolling these out of area special interest groups? One of these days, a Federal Grand Jury will look into some of Mr. Lopez's deals and see what is really happening in Orange Cove.

Local police officers warn cell-phone-wielding drivers to beware

By Brett Wilkison • bwilkison@visalia.gannett.com

October 28, 2009

The drivers didn't seem to notice, but they were being watched.

From a patrol car parked behind a cactus hedge just off Demaree Street, Visalia police Officer Jacob Heaton scanned the driver's seat of each passing vehicle.

Within minutes Tuesday morning, Heaton saw what he was looking for: a driver passing by with his hand fixed to his ear, the telltale sign of a motorist flouting California's 16-month-old law prohibiting adult drivers from talking on cell phones without hands-free devices or text messaging. (See information at right for those exempt from the hands-free law.)

A block north of Mineral King Avenue, where Heaton pulled him over, the 67-year-old driver immediately confessed his offense.

"I hadn't even said anything," Heaton said, describing his approach to the man's Ford pickup. "He said, 'I was on my cell phone.' "

Violations widespread

Who hasn't been stopped at a traffic light or been cruising along the highway in the last year and not seen some other driver talking away on a mobile phone, hands-free device nowhere to be seen? Who hasn't been that driver?

MORE .. Visalia Times-Delta

---------------------------- file photo ---------------->>

Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

(10-27) 04:00 PDT Sacramento --

Strict conservation, new dams and a peripheral canal are all on the table after six weeks of closed-door negotiations to solve the state's water crisis and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem.

Leaders in the state Senate and Assembly are still discussing how to pay for the plan, which could cost $9.4 billion.

The Legislature could vote on the plan as soon as the end of the week.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that he did not want the proposal to "linger" and that the overhaul that has been decades in the making has a "momentum that did not exist before."

"There is no question the status quo is unacceptable, and there is no other ... package in our respective houses that would allow us to move forward in a comprehensive way," Steinberg said.

Water for 24 million people in California - about two-thirds of the state's population - flows through the delta system, which has a series of levees and canals at great risk of failing in a natural disaster such as an earthquake.

MORE .. San Francisco Chronicle

MORE Resources:

Read the Water Bill Language .. CapitalALERT

Republicans Balk at Water Bill Language .. Sacramento Bee

Califoria Water Bill emerges for public consumption .. San Jose Mercury News

Water Plan Seen as prelude to canal .. CAPITOL WEEKLY

A Central California burglary suspect is behind bars after investigators say he dropped his cell phone outside a home that had been broken into.