Water issues in Allensworth
An editorial photography assignment for Food & Environment Reporting Network in Allensworth documenting the dire water situation the Tulare County town of 500 is going through.
An editorial photography assignment for Food & Environment Reporting Network had me down in Allensworth last month documenting the dire water situation the Tulare County town of 500 is going through.
Be sure to check out the story by reporter Teresa Cotsirilos, who did a great job painting a picture of the irony of how a place in California's Central Valley, which produces 25 percent of the nation's food supply, can have a water problem.
I've been to the state park Allensworth for editorial photography several times but never to the little town that actually has living residents in it just down the road. It really is a sad situation that the town that was founded more than 100 years ago because African Americans couldn't get a fair shake unless they went out on their own, continues to fight discrimination and racist policies.
See the photos below for my coverage of the story:
Denise Kadara fills up her water bottle from a spigot producing the only clean water in the town of Allensworth collected from solar hydro panels, background, that suck ambient moisture from the air. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
Dusty roads and parched land lead through the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County, California. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
A monument marks the location of Allensworth, California, a town established in 1908 by former slave Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth to become the only California town founded, built, governed and populated entirely by African Americans. The site is now a state park, but another Allensworth with a residential population of around 500 still exists down the road. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
A community center honors its namesake, Lt. Col Allen Allensworth in the town of Allensworth in rural Tulare County, California. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
A water storage tank and pump are no longer in service at the Allensworth Community Services Center as the water in the well is highly contaminated with arsenic. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
Denise Kadara, from left, Sherry Hunter and Valeria Contreras talk on the steps of the Allensworth Community Center on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. The women are residents of the small Tulare County town and are trying to get help to provide its residents with clean water. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
Valeria Contreras, a resident of Allensworth in rural Tulare County, California, stands in a dusty dirt road leading into the town on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
Hundreds of acres of pistachios are irrigated from groundwater pumps a couple of miles down the road from Allensworth. (Photo by Craig Kohlruss)
New training center coming to west Fresno
Congressman Jim Costa was joined by local leaders to announce $1.9 million in funding was secured for a new training center at Fresno City College's west Fresno campus, which continues to progress toward completion.
Congressman Jim Costa was joined by Chancellor of State Center Community College District Dr. Carole Goldsmith, EDC president and CEO Lee Ann Eager, Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias and Chuck Riojas of the State Building and Construction Trades Council to announce $1.9 million in funding was secured for a new training center at Fresno City College's west Fresno campus, which continues to progress toward completion on Monday.
This means new training, assistance and better jobs ahead for the local community of southwest Fresno that has been underserved for so many years. A ground-breaking ceremony followed by construction for the facility is expected soon.
Construction progresses on the West Fresno Campus of Fresno City College on the southeast corner of Church and Walnut avenues in south west Fresno on Monday, April 18, 2022. The Fresno Economic Development Corporation is receiving $1.9 million to construct a 60,00-square-foot training center on the campus to assist women, minorities, veterans, ex-offenders, at-risk and disconnected young adults and other underrepresented individuals as part of $11 million for local projects secured by Congressman Jim Costa through the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding package.
Construction progresses on the West Fresno Campus of Fresno City College on the southeast corner of Church and Walnut avenues in south west Fresno on Monday, April 18, 2022. The Fresno Economic Development Corporation is receiving $1.9 million to construct a 60,00-square-foot training center on the campus to assist women, minorities, veterans, ex-offenders, at-risk and disconnected young adults and other underrepresented individuals as part of $11 million for local projects secured by Congressman Jim Costa through the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding package.
Congressman Jim Costa holds a press conference to announce the construction of a 60,00-square-foot training center on the West Fresno Campus of Fresno City College to assist women, minorities, veterans, ex-offenders, at-risk and disconnected young adults and other underrepresented individuals as part of $11 million for local projects he secured through the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding package.
Congressman Jim Costa holds a press conference to announce the construction of a 60,00-square-foot training center on the West Fresno Campus of Fresno City College to assist women, minorities, veterans, ex-offenders, at-risk and disconnected young adults and other underrepresented individuals as part of $11 million for local projects he secured through the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding package.
Fresno leaders meet with trailer park residents
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and other city leaders met with residents of the Trails End Mobile Home Park in Fresno to provide information about how the park will be managed in the upcoming days and weeks.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and other city leaders met with residents of the Trails End Mobile Home Park in Fresno to provide information about how the park will be managed in the upcoming days and weeks.
Residents had hoped that the city would somehow block the sale of the trailer park to Harmony Communities but Mayor Dyer said that the city did not have the legal jurisdiction to stand in the way of the sale.
These are the images from that meeting:
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer meets with Trails End Mobile Home Park resident Heidi Phipps and her family at the park on Friday, March 25, 2022. Dyer and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld spoke to residents to discuss concerns about the possible sale of the park to Harmony Communities on Friday, March 25, 2022.
Trails End Mobile Home Park residents listen to Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld during a meeting at the park on Friday, March 25, 2022.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, right, and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld speak to each other after arriving at the Trails End Mobile Home Park in Fresno to speak to residents on Friday, March 25, 2022.
Trails End Mobile Home Park resident Patricia Shawn holds up signs protesting the possible sale of the park to Harmony Communities, as Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld arrive to speak to residents on Friday, March 25, 2022.
California Rural Legal Assistance attorney Mariah Thompson provides input from residents of the Trails End Mobile Home Park during a meeting by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld at the park on Friday, March 25, 2022.
Fresno State moves on in Basketball Classic
The Fresno State men's basketball team defeated Youngstown State to advance to the semifinals in the 2022 Basketball Classic to be held on Monday, March 28, 2022 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
The Fresno State men's basketball team defeated Youngstown State to advance to the semifinals in the 2022 Basketball Classic to be held on Monday, March 28, 2022 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
These images are from the quarterfinal match on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Leo Colimerio, right, collides with Youngstown’s Tevin Olison while going for a loose ball during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Leo Colimerio is congratulated by teammates Braxton Meah, left, and Jordan Campbell, right, after picking up a foul against Youngstown State during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Braxton Meah dunks the ball on a lob against Youngstown during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson, center, tries to find an opening to the hoop against Youngstown during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Destin Whitaker, right, fires off a three-point shot while defended by Youngstown State’s Dwayne Cohill during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fresno State’s Braxton Meah goes for a dunk against Youngstown State during their quarterfinal game in the 2022 Basketball Classic tournament at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Mobile home residents forced to leave
Last Christmas, residents of the El Portal Mobile Home Park near Yosemite were asked to leave there homes with only a few weeks notice and zero compensation even though they owned their homes.
Last Christmas, residents of the El Portal Mobile Home Park near Yosemite were asked to leave their homes with only a few months notice and zero compensation even though they owned their homes.
The land the homes were on, however, belong to the National Park Service, which residents were paying rent to for years.
The Park Service has different future plans for the site and claimed the power lines were hazardous, so instead of repairing them, residents were told the mobile home park was being shut down.
Carmen Kohlruss and I were there to document the last day residents could stay before the power was shut off.
Longtime El Portal Trailer Park residents Neal and Nancy Dawson take a moment in their front room to take in the panoramic views of the surrounding canyon hills before moving out for good on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
Lifelong El Portal Trailer Park resident Luke Harbin sits in the front yard of his mother’s mobile home before getting ready to move out for good on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
Terri Nishimura stands in her kitchen while packing up belongings to move out of the El Portal Trailer Park near Yosemite National Park on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
Mobile homes line a quiet street in the El Portal Trailer Park near Yosemite National Park on Sunday, March 13, 2022. Residents are being forced to move by the National Park Service, which owns the land the homes are on.
Neal Dawson pushes his living room chair into the back of his pickup truck while packing up to move out of the home he and his wife Nancy have lived in for years in the El Portal Trailer Park on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
A road closed sign sits at the entrance to the El Portal Trailer Park near Yosemite National Park on Sunday, March 13, 2022. Residents are being force to leave by the National Park Service which owns the land.
Pandemic images
Last Christmas, residents of the El Portal Mobile Home Park near Yosemite were asked to leave there homes with only a few weeks notice and zero compensation even though they owned their homes.
Here are a few images I created during Fresno's shelter-in-place order. I figure I've gone out on assignments maybe once per day and only when I felt it was a worthy story and necessary to get images and video. I've been wearing a mask and staying as distant from people as I can. I don't even mic people up - just using the shotgun mic on camera.
The Chinatown story was pretty cool and allowed me to be especially socially distant, since I shot it with the drone! Also the overhead shot of the boat on Pine Flat Lake. Although I was confronted by security on that one. They say they don't allow drones because of national security concerns but I couldn't find any documentation to show that.
Seems we are getting close to back to normal but I for one will continue to work from home, and wear a mask and stay away from crowds when I'm on assignment. I hope we do get back to normal but until these infection numbers drop, it's not worth taking extra risks.
Chinatown lies in the foreground of this drone image, where high-speed rail contruction creates a barrier between it and downtown Fresno on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Coronavirus orders have affected business in Chinatown already hit hard by high-speed rail construction road closures as well as the ongoing homeless problem.
Participants gather for a rally at 12th Avenue and Lacy Boulevard in Hanford to psh for reopening business and allowing people to go back to work, on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Although Kings County voted to open businesses on Friday, establishments like hair salons and churches remain closed due state orders to combat the coronavirus.
A boat passes by the houseboats at Pine Flat Lake Marina on the first day the marina re-opened to the public, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Facilities at privately-operated marinas like Pine Flat Lake, Lake Kaweah and Success Lake, have been closed since March 26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state shelter-in-place orders.
Shoppers wait in line socially distant-style to purchase Fresno State-grown corn on the first day of corn sales at the Gibson Farm Market on Monday, May 25, 2020. This year the market had two lines for people who wanted to just buy pre-bagged corn and for those wanting to purchase other items.
Customers file into the entrance at Fashion Fair mall when the doors opened on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, for the first time since late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nursing homes in the COVID era
I was assigned to shoot photos and video for a Sacramento Bee story that also ran in other McClatchy papers including The Fresno Bee.
I was assigned to shoot photos and video for a Sacramento Bee story that also ran in other McClatchy papers including The Fresno Bee.
The story focused on the future of nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic since many have seen high infection rates and death.
My assignment was to meet a woman who has been caring for her father who is suffering from various ailments. She feels that he is at his best when she and his friends can visit him but due to coronavirus concerns, she can only visit via his apartment window and her cell phone.
It was super sad to watch her with what she was dealing with and how she really just wanted to give her dad a hug.
Denise Plank talks on her cell phone with her father, Ed, 84, while visiting him through his nursing home window at the California Armenian Home in Fresno on Friday, April 17, 2020. Ed is suffering from a blood disease but Denise continues to visit him nearly everyday, if only through his nursing home window.
https://youtu.be/fWAyPKooJUY
Minority businesses struggle getting COVID relief
Minority-owned small businesses are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to COVID relief. From the video: “So you have multiple barriers that puts them in the back of the line, if they manage to get into the line at all,” Xiong said.
Minority-owned small businesses are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to COVID relief. From the video: “So you have multiple barriers that puts them in the back of the line, if they manage to get into the line at all,” Xiong said. “You continue to put these small businesses who are the least apt to handle this pandemic in an even worse situation.”
Here's a link to the story: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article242203451.html
Hmong Farmer Zia Thea Xiong looks over the crops on his farm in southeast Fresno during the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. Xiong has had to fallow land because he lost his the wholesale buyers for his crops. He's unsure whether he will have buyers for the upcoming season and is contemplating whether he should plant or fallow more land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsoANzgdqnA
Tool concert
Last week's Tool concert was pretty interesting - and a challenge to photograph! First, I could only be there to shoot one song, except that the one song was 12 minutes long! So that was good. The bad part was that the stage was almost completely dark. Only the video screen in the back part of the stage emitted some funky lighting as well as some flashing spotlights were the only sources of light. I pushed my exposure to 6400 iso and dropped my shutter speed as low as 1/60th of a second!
It was a weird concert, music and everything else. The audience was not allowed to take pictures at all, even with cell phones. There were warnings that phones would be confiscated.
Anyway, fortunately for me, I was able to pull a few frames that worked for the review story.
Lemoore homecoming
Always a treat to see F/A-18 pilots return to base after a long deployment. These pilots were providing air support for the USS Abraham mainly in the Mideast over about 8 months as tensions ran high in the area. Super sweet to see these pilots seeing their families after so long.
Dental Team Relieves Animal Toothaches
A week ago I was asked by the Fresno Chaffee Zoo to come document the work of doctors from the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation. The team of four travels the world on their weekends away from their regular jobs to volunteer their skills to help captive exotic animals.
Dr. Barron Hall, Dr. Charles Dyer and their team came to the Fresno zoo to help with dental work on one of the sloth bears and Kiki, one of the zoo's female lions (and mother to Kijani, the young lion cub). The sloth bear needed a root canal done and Kiki needed two!
Below are photos from both procedures done last weekend. It was fascinating to watch the team work so well together. Zoo veterinary team members, curators and mammal keepers all assisted in the procedures as well as performing some other preventative care.
Additionally, the doctors did dental work on one of Project Survival's Cat Haven jaguars. After that, they were back to their regular jobs. Pretty amazing weekend for these guys.
The photographs I shot for the zoo may be used in their newsletter as well as on their Facebook page. I also shot some video, which I think they may publish too.
Caleb Kelly, Sooner Bound
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]aleb Kelly is a senior linebacker for Clovis West and a top recruit, nationally. He held an event in Fresno last Wednesday to make his choice of schools between the University of Oklahoma and Notre Dame. After joking he chose the Dallas Cowboys, he instead put on an Oklahoma cap and pledged to go with the Sooners. I covered that event for the Fresno Bee. After having photographed Hatari Byrd for the Sooner Spectator magazine, I expected I might get another call to do a shoot with Caleb. Sure enough I did and here are the results. Caleb is a great kid and I'm sure he will make a big impact in the NCAA.