- Oakdale's city council ban on drinking in parks has caused conflict between current and former elected officials. Ramona Howard, the Oakdale Travel Bureau administrator, criticized the former mayor Farrell Jackson in an email for opposing a previous ban. - Jackson responded at a Business Improvement District meeting that both he and Howard were expressing private opinions rather than acting in their official roles. - The dispute over the drinking ban has spread to involve Howard and Jackson directly.

1. OAKDALE GRAPHIC ESTABLISHED 1882
The Oakdale Leader• S E R V I N G O U R C O M M U N I T Y • www.oakdaleleader.com • 75¢Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Mustangs Prep For Bulldogs
...Sports, B1
By RICHARD PALOMA
rpaloma@oakdaleleader.com
Oakdale’s rising civil war
over the decision to ban city
park drinking has risen to
other battlegrounds as two
former city council elec-
tion opponents exchanged
shots, both contending
their statements, criticized
by the other, were made
as private citizens and not
part of the official city-re-
lated roles they now hold.
On Wednesday, Aug. 21,
unsuccessful 2012 council
candidate and current Oak-
dale Travel and Visitors Bu-
reau (OTVB) Administrator
Ramona Howard, sent a
lengthy email to city coun-
cil members, The Oakdale
Leader, and a Modesto Bee
reporter regarding banning
park alcohol drinking and
the city’s proposal of put-
ting portable toilets in cer-
tain parks. Also copied in
the email were three citi-
zens that were quoted in an
Aug. 21 Leader article who
spoke in support of the ban
at the Aug. 19 council meet-
ing.
In her email, Howard
mentions that “several
years ago” she spoke in
support of a ban not just
for Dorada Park, but at all
parks and that she foresaw
problems ahead without
the ban.
Howard then writes,
“Well, between a council
who couldn’t see the same
problem and an ex-mayor
(Farrell Jackson) insisting
that we keep drinking so he
could have a beer with his
grandkids in the park, they
failed to attack the problem
back then when it was a bit
more manageable.”
She continues to name
Jackson by stating, “Our
parks had become a ha-
ven for the homeless and
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Park Alcohol Ban Feud Spreads
Councilman Farrell Jackson (left) addressed Business
Improvement District board members about an email sent
by OTVB’s Ramona Howard (right). Both subjects state they
were acting in the capacity of a private citizen and not in
their official roles.
ALCOHOL, Page A11
Members of the Oakdale Saddle
Club have been helping the
Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Posse
with livestock threatened by the
Rim Fire, in some cases moving
overflow to the local rodeo grounds.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEVIN FOX
This vehicle is loaded down with donations, taken to
the Sonora area over the weekend, to aid firefighters
on the front lines of the Rim Fire. The Oakdale Leader
office is a collection site for donated items.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE KENDIG
As firefighters continue to battle
the Rim Fire near Yosemite National
Park, local collections are gathering
much needed items for them.
The Oakdale Leader-Escalon Times-
Riverbank News office at 122 S.Third
Ave., Oakdale, is now a collection site
for donated items, with a bin set up
inside the office.
Donations of all types are
needed, with these items especially
in demand: Chapstick, hairclips, blue
painters tape, clipboards, gallon Zip-
loc baggies, small aluminum roasting
pans, sponges, hand sanitizer, flash-
lights, batteries (C and D) scotch tape
dispensers, small individual snack
packets (cookies, fruit snacks, crack-
ers, etc.), baby wipes, paper towels,
tin foil, and travel size toiletries.
Drop donations off at the bin inside
the office or contact the newspaper’s
Classified/Advertising Coordinator
Michelle Kendig at 209-403-4860 for
an updated list of items needed.
Nearly 9,000 local, state and fed-
eral firefighters are battling 11 major
Donations Needed For Firefighters
By RICHARD PALOMA
rpaloma@oakdaleleader.com
W
ith area fire crews bat-
tling one of the big-
gest wildfires in recent
years, members of the
Oakdale Saddle Club are supporting
the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Posse
and Animal Control staff with the
evacuation of livestock in threatened
areas.
The fire started Aug 17 in the Clavey
River canyon and quickly jumped the
Tuolumne River. As of Monday, the
fire had consumed over 150,000 acres
and was only 20 percent contained by
Tuesday as over 2,500 fire personnel
from around the state, some volun-
teers, worked to get the blaze under
control. The cost so far to battle the
fire is estimated at $20.5 million.
Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the
California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection (CALFIRE), said
the fire was the 13th largest in state
history.
“We’ve evacuated 30 horses, some
goats, a sheep and a mini-burro,”
said Kevin Fox of the Oakdale Saddle
Club. “We are in contact with Tu-
olumne Sheriff and Animal Control
and coordinating everything through
those agencies.”
Fox said the Tuolumne County
Sheriff’s Posse has stalls set up inside
and outside their arena on Rawhide
Road in Jamestown to provide a place
to bring animals when they are evac-
uated. Arrangements were made for
large animal overflow from the site to
go to the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo
Grounds on East F Street.
“We’re not concentrating on cattle
Aids Fire Evacuation
Oakdale Saddle Club
EVACUATION, Page A12
By DAWN M. HENLEY
dhenley@oakdaleleader.com
Being able to produce skilled
future employees for local em-
ployers, as well as improving the
vocational education offerings,
are goals for administrators and
vocational education teachers at
Oakdale High School.
OHS Vice Principal Craig Red-
man said that OHS is working on
getting Career Technical Educa-
tion (CTE), or vocational, courses
to grow. The Regional Occupation
Program (ROP) courses include
drafting, auto shop, wood shop,
computer science, health occupa-
tions, and some Ag classes such as
floral design and Ag mechanics.
Redman reported that they are
trying to expand “pathways” in
vocational and academic courses.
Pathways include introduction
courses, concentration courses,
and capstone courses.
He said that the high school is
also trying to work out internships
for students with more businesses
in the community. The OHS health
occupations ROP has been plac-
ing interns locally for a decade,
Redman said. Health occupa-
OHS Focus
Building
Career
Programs
PROGRAMS, Page A11
Schools will be closed, city of-
fices will be closed, there will be
no mail delivery, and the com-
munity will observe Labor Day
on Monday, Sept. 2, the unoffi-
cial end of summer.
The Oakdale Leader-Escalon
Times-Riverbank News office
will also be closed for the holi-
day, banks will be closed and
businesses have the option of
closing. Regular business hours
for city, state and federal offices,
in addition to schools, resume on
Tuesday, Sept. 3.
Meanwhile, Caltrans is urg-
ing travelers who will be making
a trip to the San Francisco Bay
Area during Labor Day weekend
to plan ahead, choose an alter-
nate route now, and allow plen-
ty of extra travel time because
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge will be closed.
The bridge will be shut down
from 8 p.m., Aug. 28, until 5 a.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 3 while workers
take the bridge’s original East
Bay Bridge,
Holiday
Closures
CLOSURES, Page A11
As motorists prepare for the final
holiday weekend of summer, the
California Highway Patrol (CHP)
is gearing up to save lives by join-
ing with law enforcement agencies
throughout the country and the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration in an ongoing
nationwide drunk driving crack-
down. The two-week-long “Drive
Sober or Get Pulled Over” cam-
paign, which began Aug. 16, coin-
cides with the CHP’s annual Labor
Day Maximum Enforcement Pe-
riod (MEP).
During the CHP’s holiday en-
forcement effort, which begins
Friday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. and con-
tinues through Monday, Sept. 2, at
11:59 p.m., all available CHP offi-
cers will be on patrol throughout
California to help ensure everyone
has a safe journey. An additional
emphasis will be placed on re-
moving impaired drivers from the
roadway before they destroy their
life or the lives of their fellow mo-
torists.
“Through our education and
enforcement efforts over the holi-
day, we are hoping to save lives
Stay Safe
Traffic
Enforcement
Effort Due
EFFORT, Page A12
By RICHARD PALOMA
rpaloma@oakdaleleader.com
A Stanislaus County Superior
Court criminal complaint re-
leased on Tuesday, Aug 20 charg-
es that Felix Valverde of Oakdale
shot both Scott and Janet Pettit
in their Modesto home. The Pet-
tit’s 25-year-old son, Brandon, is
also accused of the murders in the
complaint.
Until the arraignment date, of-
ficials were mum on the method
in which the popular Riverbank
business owner and his wife were
killed.
In addition to the two counts
of premeditated murder charges,
Brandon Pettit and Valverde are
accused of arson for setting the
fire that officials allege was done
to cover the crime and a charge of
burglary for entering the residence
with the intent to commit a felony.
Valverde also faces the special
circumstance of using a firearm.
Both are charged with the special
circumstance of committing the
crimes for financial gain.
Police and prosecutors would
Valverde
ID’d As
Shooter
VALVERDE, Page A11
DONATIONS, Page A12