Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Dixieland School teacher Angela Lindsey puts a piece of a broken headstone in place at the grave of a former slave, Gabriel Bibbard Moore, during a ceremony on Nov 2. Students from Dixieland School, complete with masks and maintaining social distancing, gathered on, Nov. 2, for a special ceremony at the pioneer Akers Cemetery in Centerville. Accompanied by their teacher from last year, Angela Lindsay, and Dixieland principal Lorie King, the students met at the graveyard to pay homage to ex-slave Gabriel Moore and to unveil Madera Unified’s latest Madera Meth ..read more

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Abel Perez of the Madera Evening Lions Club presents Brooklynn Stringfield with a first place trophy in the Madera’s Got Talent Contest. Stringfield won first place in the k-6th grade category. With the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the nation, including Madera, one of the biggest fundraisers for the Madera Evening Lions’ Leos Club was in danger of not happening after four years. However, organizer Ruth Nishimoto got the help of fellow Evening Lions members and her son to successfully film and produce the fifth annual Madera’s Got Talent show — virtually. “We w ..read more

President Donald J. Trump’s proposal to promote “patriotic education” through the recently created “1776 Commission” has generated opposition in Sacramento that runs all the way to Madera. Last week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced that Madera Unified was one of 10 districts that had been selected by the California Department of Education to receive a grant to participate in Thurmond’s “Education to End Hate” initiative, an avowed alternative to Trump’s proposal. The grant recipients will share $200,000 in the first round in the implementation of the initiat ..read more

Madera County Historical Society From left to right, Emma Josephine Bethards, her grandmother Josephine Eugenia Lentz Bethards, and Millie Ellen Bethards. Taken about 1914, in the old Bethards home where Bethard Square is now located. Up in Coarsegold, not far from the Chukchansi Casino, lived a grand young lady who, at the time I interviewed her in 2003, had reached the age of 96. Armed with a perky smile, a sharp wit, and tons of memories of early Madera, Emma Josephine Bethards Brooks held this writer spellbound for quite awhile. At the invitation of her daughter, Janet Brooks Walters, wit ..read more

This is an excerpt from Neighbors: Oral History from Madera, California Volume 2 by Lawrence F. Lihosit, a local historian. It is available at Maildrop and G.B.S. on Howard and on Amazon.com Books. • • • Benny Muñoz was born the eldest of five on July 26, 1957 in Fresno. When he was very young, his family moved to Madera where he attended James Monroe and Washington Elementary Schools, Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Madera High School (North Campus). A graduate of Universal Technical Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, he briefly worked as a mechanic before entering police work. After brief st ..read more

Madera Tribune File Photo Liberty quarterback Zach Richey pushes his way into the end zone to score one of his three touchdowns — one rushing, two passing, in a 2014 victory over the Chowchilla Redskins. 2009 For the second year in a row, a Madera South volleyball player was chosen by Fresno radio station KFIG-1430 as its Student-Athlete of the Week. KFIG, which is affiliated with ESPN radio, honored girls volleyball defensive specialist and co-captain Sharalyn Lal for her efforts on the court. Last year, football, basketball and boys volleyball player Derek Hansen was honored by the station ..read more

Kimberly Vardeman, Wikimedia Commons Hard to resist, pecan pie is a welcome dessert. Consider topping with whipped cream or ice cream. More and more, I am hearing that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, families across the nation should not plan on having large gatherings for Thanksgiving. I can understand both sides of that coin, and I am not even sure what my own family is doing for the holiday. Some in the family have managed to sequester themselves and not see anybody, and others have safely visited. Even though we will probably avoid a large group, one way or another, I am going to prepare a ..read more

The voting and the political advertising are over but, who knows how long the nationwide count will take? Our Madera County Registrar of Voters Rebecca Martinez had this county’s ballots tabulated with an unofficial tally by 11 p.m. election night. The real fun began for the election staff on Wednesday. More about that later. I play an interesting part in the county election process. The Associated Press contracts with me to call in the vote tallies to its central office. The AP describes what I do as: “Instead of relying on crowd-sourcing or vulnerable technology, our 50-state network of loc ..read more

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera County Clerk Recorder Registrar of Voters Rebecca Martinez, left, and incoming Madera County Supervisor Leticia Gonzalez stay busy working on election day. Long-time elected Madera County Clerk Recorder Rebecca Martinez said the 2020 election and election day went smoothly but urged patience as approximately 11,000-plus paper ballots county and city wide remain outstanding and are still being processed, signatures verified and then counted. Early preliminary, unofficial election results Tuesday night caused some confusion when they were posted the eve ..read more

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Retired Madera County Sheriff Ed Bates salutes a parade of local law enforcement represetatives, first responders and others participating in a parade honoring Bates on his 95th birthday Tuesday in front of the Madera County Sheriff’s Department. On Nov. 3, 1970, the people of Madera County spoke, and Edward Bryant Bates celebrated his 45th birthday by being elected sheriff! He defeated E.H. Daulton, his runoff opponent, 7,059 to 4,652. Bates was the majority choice in 80 of the county’s 86 voting precincts. For the next decade Bates had a running battle on ..read more