New Madera Fair attraction features a virtual 5k run
A new attraction will help kick off the Madera Fair, according to Barbara Leach, the fair’s events coordinator. It’s called the Ferris Wheel Virtual 5k, billed by the fair as a run like no other, Leach said. “It offers the perk of a finish line party at the Madera Fair on Friday, Sept. 6, with […]
Frank Bergon fills the Arts Council gallery
A standing room only crowd gathered Wednesday evening at the Madera County Arts Council and Circle Gallery to hear author Frank Bergon tell his story of “Two-Buck Chuck & The Marlboro Man,” and to have him sign copies of his book. Among the audience of almost 100 were some of the local characters whom Bergon […]
Chowchilla to get new City Admin
Chowchilla Finance Director Rod Pruitt, one of 16 applicants for the vacant job of city administrator, was offered the job following Tuesday night’s special closed session meeting of the Chowchilla City Council. “He has been chosen,” Chowchilla Mayor John Chavez said Thursday. “He hasn’t accepted yet but I’m ninety-nine percent sure he will. He wants […]
Indian women hold event to celebrate their culture
The Teeyan Teej Dyan event was hosted by local Indian women from Madera on August 11 at 4 to 8 p.m. at Town and Country Park. All the women from the Valley were invited and the event is growing bigger every year, said Tajinder Chahal the event coordinator. Every day we leave our homes to […]
Opinion: An eerie video from O.J. Simpson
The video seemed ordinary enough, until you saw who was talking in mid-June: O.J. Simpson, the last century’s most prominent might-have-been-murderer. “Hey,” Simpson said. “This is yours truly.” It was indeed he, now 71 and looking far more than 25 years older than when he led police on a slow-speed chase along major Southern California […]
Opinion: School is in session
Where did summer go? The kids of Madera Unified School District are back in class, so be extra careful driving in school zones and the surrounding blocks, as kids don’t always look both ways before crossing. Parents are naturally apprehensive with all the violence and active shooters the summer has seen. Misfits who want to […]
Letter: Recycling system dealing with woes from CalRecycle and Redrock
It was more than a year after the seabird died and washed up on a California beach before Jessie Beck prepared to reveal its last meals. Holding its stomach over a laboratory sink, Beck snipped open the slick tissue. With a series of plinks, the stomach contents slumped out onto the metal sieve below. Inside […]
Yosemite medic named 2018 outstanding forest firefighter
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group in Boise, Idaho, has awarded Yosemite National Park Helitack member Heather Wonenberg the 2018 Outstanding Wildfire EMS Individual of the Year Award. This award recognizes and honors individuals who have demonstrated outstanding work, actions, or programs in emergency medical service for our Nation’s Wildland Firefighters. Over the course of the […]
Back on death row — again
When Rayna Tom Carmen was brought into the Madera County Courthouse on Oct. 1, 1951, to stand trial for the second time for the murder of Wilbur McSwain, he saw someone he was not expecting to see. There dressed in his U. S. Navy uniform was Alvin McSwain, whom Carmen had tried to kill, along […]