Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Lindsay, CA

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Pat and I were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Lindsay icon, Chris Karkabasis. I first met Chris approximately 50 years ago, when, as a new young lawyer in town, I would often have lunch at his Cottage Restaurant that was just around the corner from my law firm.

We both ran for two of the six positions on Lindsay Council, collaborating and campaigning together and were both very lucky to be elected for the 1976 to 1978 term. I will never forget most of that election day in December of 1975. We celebrated at the Cottage Restaurant and later Chris took me to a back room and proceeded to teach me the virtues of ouzo. I have not had so much as a sip since.

After that, we enjoyed a long association, serving together on town council. I learned a lot from him, including that passion has a place in municipal politics. His dogged determination, saw many of his pet projects or issues through to completion. He was a strong supporter, not only of the Chamber of Commerce, but also, of the Academy Theatre and of the downtown core. He had a strong sense of civic duty for all the taxpayers of Lindsay.

In a council meeting, if he was desperate, he would dig down deep into his Greek heritage and regale us with (and somehow link it to the issue at hand) the Battle of Thermopylae, where 400 brave Spartans, led by his hero, Leonidas, fended off tens of thousands of Persians for many days. If I had the right of reply, I would remind Chris, and those present and voting, that not only did Leonidas lose that battle, but the Spartans lost the war.

Chris was definitely opinionated; some would say stubborn. I would rather call it persistent.

He was passionate and proud, of his wife, Cathe, of his children, Nicki and Louis, and of his grandchildren. He cared for his extended family, his friends, and his community.

We not only shared similar interests in politics, we were also long suffering Leaf fans. At any restaurant it was “Hi Khristos. What can we get you? Sit here my friend.” He knew every waiter, manager and owner. We were treated like royalty and it was Greek Immersion 101!

Although Chris was successful, he was never too busy to sit down with you and have a coffee and share his words of wisdom. It didn’t matter where you came from or who you were, he was there, to listen and to share.

Here’s to you old friend, it is time for me to have another glass of ouzo in your memory. But this time, as I am older and wiser, I will be sipping and savouring one glass, as I ponder over how I can help you figure out how Leonidas could have won.

– Lorne Chester, Lindsay

Eastern Tulare County communities like the City of Lindsay are continuing to clean up from the series of storms this month that brought flooding. This interview aired during All Things Considered on March 21 and Morning Edition on March 22. Read the transcript for this interview below.

CRESENCIO RODRIGUEZ-DELGADO, HOST: The city of Linsday in eastern Tulare County is one of several in the region to experience extreme flooding during the recent storms this month. In the brief pause in rain, the city declared a state of emergency to prepare for a new storm this week. But for some residents, the damage is already done. In this interview, KVPR’s Esther Quintanilla spoke with Lindsay City Mayor Hipolito Cerros to hear how he’s leading his community through this time. He starts off by describing the initial flooding on March 10.

HIPOLITO CERROS: Within 10 minutes we started seeing this overflow in the dam because of the water, a lot of the debris in the canals. We were able to identify three breaches total in the canals going northwards of Lewis Creek. These breaches were upwards to 6 feet.

ESTHER QUINTANILLA: Wow, three different breaches…would you say the flooding almost came as a surprise?

CERROS: It was a complete surprise. We just did not expect these breaches to go to the extent that they did. We didn't expect the snow to melt at the extent that it did. And that's exactly why we started seeing a lot of this heavy flow.

QUINTANILLA: What are you hearing from homeowners?

CERROS: I'm hearing a lot of devastation, a lot of frustration. I'm hearing individuals losing their personal belongings absolutely damaged their homes are just the infrastructure is potentially beyond repair.

QUINTANILLA: Can you talk about who exactly was the community that was impacted the most during this emergency?

CERROS: A lot of these individuals that reside in the communities…they're first-generation individuals, they’re [agricultural] workers, they’re elderly individuals, they’re non-native speakers who maybe English isn't their first language.

QUINTANILLA: Wow, can you talk a little bit about the community effort that really is rebuilding Lindsay?

CERROS: So the community came together…we saw this problem and they realized, you know, we all need to come together and address this problem together, because if we don't address it, it's only going to get worse. Lindsay high school athletes, particularly our football team and the track team and a lot of the community members came together and physically went out there with chainsaws, broke down the debris and filled up the soil in order to repair that breach. So if it wasn't for the community coming together, from the city to our local churches, to our local schools, then this breach wouldn't have been addressed and we would have seen overflow again and again.

QUINTANILLA: Absolutely, and there is that emotional tie there because you grew up in the town of Lindsay. Can you tell me about what it’s like to see your hometown submerged underwater?

CERROS: This is the community I grew up in. This is the community that I love, you know, and I've never seen something like this. You know, just to see the look on people's faces of just complete stress, complete despair and complete frustration, it's absolutely devastating.

QUINTANILLA: You mentioned before that the community is coming together to rebuild Lindsay. At this point, what does recovery look like? And is there a possibility for aid coming from the state or the federal government?

CERROS: Right now we're actually in conversations with the county to see how we can partner up and in order to invest into our canals and clear up that debris. We established an emergency cleanup crew that were out clearing of debris. We cleared up a lot of the areas where we saw this debris in the overflow of dams. We addressed the breaches. We've cleared up our gutters. On the city level, we've definitely done a lot of the work.

QUINTANILLA: The city set in place drought orders last summer, what is it like now having to deal with the opposite problem?

CERROS: Just a year ago today, we were in this major drought where residents were only allowed to water their lawns, wash their cars, and water their plants every other day. And now to see this complete coin flip, it's absolutely eye opening. It's definitely cause for a lot of opportunity. Opportunity to invest in water storage collection, water capacity. Opportunity to address the needs our [agricultural] workers and our farmers require. This is, to [an] extent, just the beginning. We're still going to deal with the repercussions of how it's going to impact our homes, the residents, the infrastructure and our local economy.

RODRIGUEZ-DELGADO, HOST: That was KVPR’s Esther Quintanilla with Lindsay City Mayor Hipolito Cerros talking about the city’s recent flooding impacts.

This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative, which is supported by the Central Valley Community Foundation with technology and training support by Microsoft Corp.

Lindsay Recharge Basin adds hundreds of acre-feet of water to the groundwater aquifer each year with new improvements

LINDSAY – A recharge basin in Lindsay got its own recharge earlier this year thanks to a $544,000 improvement project.

Stakeholders – including the East Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), the city of Lindsay, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Lindmore Irrigation District – came together on Aug. 9 to celebrate the improvements to the Lindsay Recharge Basin that wrapped up in March. The basin, which is spread out over 8 acres off of Highway 65 and West Mariposa Street, will help take advantage of wet winters and replenish precious groundwater supply.

“It’s a really good project; this is one that I think is long overdue,” Michael Hagman, Lindmore Irrigation District general manager said.

The project received $330,000 in funding from a DWR Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) grant, and the Lindmore Irrigation District contributed an additional $214,000 to the project, Hagman said.

According to a press release from the East Kaweah GSA, the basin will add up to 49 million gallons of water to the groundwater aquifer each year and will “directly benefit Lindsay residents, rural residents with domestic wells and local growers.”

“This project is a great example of state and local governments working together to invest back into our communities to capture and store as much water as possible during extreme weather events to replenish our state’s critical network of groundwater basins,” Paul Gosselin, DWR deputy director for statewide groundwater management said in the press release.

The press release said that water storage infrastructure was unable to capture all of the unprecedented rain and snowmelt runoff the San Joaquin Valley saw this year.

“Any water not captured is a lost opportunity to restore groundwater supply that is over-pumped during drought periods,” the press release said. “The completion of the Lindsay Recharge Basin positions the community to be readily available to capture water within the East Kaweah GSA boundaries, crucial for a future with sustainable groundwater supply.”

The improvement project consisted of two parts. First, they removed the top 18 inches of soil from the basin and then ripped up the bottom of the basin to start turning up the soil, “like you see the plowing of a field, only it (went) in 5 ½ to 6 feet deep,” Hagman said.

Hagman said this was necessary because of the basin’s original purpose as a storm drain.

“It takes water off the streets in the community, and it diverts it into that space and percolates into the ground,” he said. “The problem with water coming off the streets is it’s bringing in silt and other things (and) it reduces the efficiency of the basin.”

Water can now filter into the ground of the basin much faster, and the Lindsay Recharge Basin is in “a really good spot for providing water” based on the groundwater flow rate estimate, Hagman said.

The second part of the improvements was the addition of a pipeline connecting the Lindmore Irrigation District’s Friant-Kern Canal line to the Lindsay Recharge Basin.

Hagman said the irrigation district’s First Avenue mainline has a lateral pipe running off of it that stopped about 1,000 feet away from the recharge basin, and they had been thinking about extending it to the recharge basin for many years so that they can add freshwater to the basin as well as storm runoff.

The basin is estimated to put 150 acre-feet back into the groundwater aquifer each year, but Hagman said that based on how much water has already been replenished through the basin since March, they are probably going to hit 700 acre-feet by the end of this year.

Community News

Massive fundraising effort to get underway soon

In a presentation to council Nov. 8, Barbara Doyle, managing director of the Kawartha Lakes Museum and Archives (KLMA), laid out an ambitious 2024-2028 strategic plan for the organization. A key part of the plan proposes that an 18,000 sq ft addition be added to the existing building that will cover most of the former south courtyard space, at the cost of $18-20 million.

The organization said that the multi-purpose 180-foot by 50-foot addition would include “exciting exhibition halls, accessible community meeting spaces, an archival reading room, and more.”

KLMA imagines that the addition, with three storeys above ground, and two additional levels below grade, “will provide ample storage and preservation spaces with almost 12,000 sq ft of space designed specifically for the conservation process, optimum environmental control and ease of access to (the museum’s) ever-growing archival and object collection in mind.”

Doyle told the Advocate that the organization would be launching their capital build fund soon, hoping for shovels in the ground by 2028 and the facility open to the public by 2030.

When asked where the money for the build would be found, Doyle said that 30 per cent would come from the federal government, a “little bit would come from the province,” and the remaining $10-12 million would come from private donors, family foundations, local businesses and other available government grants.

Doyle said that the municipality, which owns the current museum site, will be contributing in different ways by providing the land for the build and the expertise once the project reaches the bid and construction stages.

“We are a serious organization doing serious work,” Doyle said. “We are bursting at the seams. The city recognizes the value of this heritage space being open full-time and they know that this project is a continuation of putting good money after good money.”

Doyle added she is hopeful that Kawartha Lakes will double the current wage subsidy that KLMA receives from $125,000 in 2023 to $250,000 in 2024, to allow the museum to hire and keep good people.

The strategic plan laid out very clearly some of the problems the organization is having with their current building, and why this addition is so important to the future of KLMA.

First, the museum’s collection, both object and archival holdings, are growing at an exponential rate, and the building as it is currently constituted has finite space available for storage and processing space. The KLMA fears that over the next 3-5 years as more donations are received current exhibit or programming spaces will need to be redirected towards storing artifacts.

The strategic plan pointed out that KLMA is already having to decline donations from the community due to lack of space or ability to receive and store items. The museum also faces the problem that they have no loading dock or freight elevator which impacts the ability to receive larger or bulky items.

Second, most of the current museum’s spaces reflect the reality that it was once an operating jail. The walls are 40 centimetres thick, and spaces are tight. The KLMA says there are challenges in accommodating shelving and other wall mounted storage solutions. Most storage areas in the museum are within former prisoner cells, all of which are limited by the presence of cell bars.

Third, the museum utilizes what they call a “rabbit-warren” of basement spaces in the old jail including the former institutional kitchen. These spaces are less than ideal for collection storage and current staff have spent years trying to optimize these spaces with the hope that better options would be available in the future.

Last, the KLMA believes that the best solution to creating environmentally controlled and thoughtfully sized collection archive spaces in something like a purpose-built modern addition “would be most beneficial to the collection long term.”

Doyle was pleased with the response her presentation received from council.

“The city is very supportive,” Doyle said. “They knew our plan was coming and they realize it will become a significant city asset once completed.”

What happened: At Tuesday’s Lindsay City Council meeting, Mayor Hipolito Angel Cerros presented a proclamation in honor of Pride Month to Lindsay Unified School District LGBTQ Club officers and said the city will soon have a pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall.

The proclamation states that, “the City of Lindsay recognizes the importance of supporting the LGBTQ+ community, and wishes to affirm its commitment to ensuring that all people, but especially those most vulnerable, are empowered to live their life freely and authentically.”

The decision comes just after the Fresno County supervisors moved forward a new flag ordinance that stipulates that only the U.S. flag and the California state flag may be flown at county facilities. The ordinance was introduced by Supervisor Steve Brandau following a ceremonial raising of a rainbow pride flag at Fresno City Hall in June 2021 and a subsequent rally against pride events in 2022.

Clovis City Council member Diane Pearce recently drew the ire of fellow council members after pushing a public flag debate when a policy administered by the city manager was already in place.

And also: The council approved a watering schedule phase change from one day per week to two days per week, approval of two water feasibility studies and the formation of a City Water Ad-Hoc Committee.

The studies include a Well 11 Feasibility Study and an overall Water Feasibility Study that evaluates water supply, quality, storage and demand.

The ad-hoc committee will be composed of six members: two from the City Council, three from community groups and one from the Lindsay Unified School District. They will be tasked with reviewing and implementing the study findings.

Up next: The Lindsay City Council will meet again in June. The meetings are open to the public at City Hall and available to live stream and to provide public comments via Zoom.