A protest sign across the street from Lincoln Elementary School reads: "Exeter, do you really want to close off C Street?"
City officials are struggling to answer the question.
The school district petitioned the city to abandon C Street so the school could expand east.
But a controversy emerged, because the district also would take over a triangular block on the other side of C Street by buying 11 homes and removing them.
Lincoln needs a bigger campus for more students, said Superintendent Rene Whitson.
The City Council last week tossed the hot potato back to the school district by taking no action.
"You could say that the ball is now in their court," said city planner Greg Collins, adding that the school district is being asked to first acquire the properties, then seek the street abandonment.
But the residents of the 11 bungalow homes aren't so sure that they want to sell. The real estate market is in the tank, and they figure they'll get a low-ball offer from the district.
"I don't want to stop progress, but I don't want someone to steal my property from me," said homeowner Gil Torres.
Two years ago, his house caught fire. Before he remodeled it, he said, he called the school district about buying his parcel. The answer was no.
He's delighted that the council took no action: "If the City Council closes the street, the school district has the leverage over us."
NEW MUSEUM: Tulare County officials last week dedicated the new History of Farm Labor & Agriculture Museum in Mooney Grove Park.
Exhibits are still being readied inside the two-story, 17,000-square-foot building. The grand opening will be Dec. 19 when the first rotating exhibit about the Armenian farm experience opens.
GUGGENHIME: Local historian Terry Ommen of Visalia stumbled across two old news articles from the 1870s that solve some of the mystery around the L. Guggenhime sign in Visalia.
History buffs were delighted when an old advertisement suddenly became visible on the side of a brick building after a neighboring building was removed: "L Guggenhime Dealer -- Wagons Farming Implements & Grain."
Guggenhime was a farm equipment dealer in San Francisco, but the articles make clear that he once lived in Visalia.
Here's the Tulare Times from June 30, 1877: "Mr. L. Guggenhime, arrived home yesterday, much to the gratification of many friends, from his long journey to his 'boyhood's happy home' across the 'deep blue sea.' Gug, glad to see you."
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