Fox News visited Visalia Municipal Airport this week to interview airport manager Mario Cifuentez about the federal Essential Air Service program.
The EAS program subsidizes air service to small communities, including Visalia and Merced. Critics see the program as "pork" -- the angle of the Fox News segment that aired Tuesday. The TV report noted that a mere two people disembarked from a 19-passenger plane when it landed in Visalia.
Cifuentez defended the program, saying on camera that companies looking to open offices in Visalia always ask about air service. In other words, EAS boosts local economic development.
Nationally, EAS costs $123 million a year, but it's not exclusively taxpayer money paying for it, he said after the Fox News piece aired. According to the Congressional Research Service, $50 million comes from "overflight fees" charged to international flights that cross United States territory. The rest comes from general tax revenues.
SMOKE-FREE PARKS: The Visalia Parks and Recreation Commission wants to ban cigarette smoking in public parks, but by voluntary compliance.
Borrowing an idea proposed by ex-Police Chief Bob Carden, who got it from Washington state, the city might put up signs such as: "For Our Kids, Tobacco Free Park, Thank you" -- with the international "no smoking" symbol in the center.
TOYS NEEDED: Visalia Emergency Aid Council got a jolt when its main source of donated toys for the annual Christmas baskets pulled out. Emergency Aid is hoping that a service club or similar group will come to the rescue.
"We need someone to save Christmas," said Reyes Zaragoza, executive director. The Christmas basket effort is 20 years old. Last year, about 3,000 toys were given out. Individual donations of toys or contributions to buy toys are also welcome.
Information: (559) 732-0101 or www.veac.org.
RAIN POURS IN: Lake Kaweah rose by 30 feet thanks to the storm this week. With water still coming in, the lake will keep rising somewhat, said senior ranger Mark Murphy.
Monday or Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers will release water for weeks for irrigation and ground-water recharge.
Water will flow in the St. Johns River channel but not the lower Kaweah, because construction is under way in the river channel at McKay's Point.
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