Orange Cove mayor stars in the name game

It can seem like everything in town bears its longtime mayor's family name. A proposal to add a future high school football stadium to the list is stirring up controversy.

Published online on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008

ORANGE COVE -- A community center. A street. A day-care center. A park bandstand. And now a football stadium?

It seems that at almost every corner in this small farming town on the eastern outskirts of Fresno County there is something named after its longtime mayor, Victor Lopez, or a relative.

Now a proposal to name the future multimillion-dollar high school football stadium after the mayor has stirred up strong feelings in this impoverished community of about 10,800.

"His name is on too many things in Orange Cove already," said Manuel Ferreira, a school board member who says he has heard from dozens of residents who feel the same. "So why name the stadium after him?"

The 65-year-old Lopez, who has been mayor since 1986, is a polarizing figure. He says people who object to naming the stadium after him are just playing politics.

The latest brouhaha here was sparked two months ago when the superintendent of the Kings Canyon Unified School District, which includes Orange Cove, recommended naming the future home of the town's pride and joy -- its championship high school football team -- after the mayor.

Lopez said he never asked to have the stadium named for him but is willing to accept the honor.

Superintendent Juan Garza, a former Orange Cove resident whom Lopez described as a longtime friend, said he made the recommendation because he wanted to "acknowledge [Lopez's] contributions" to the school district.

But board members -- who will have the final say on the stadium's name -- appear divided.

Ferreira said some board members were surprised when school board president Sylvia Chavez-Ishimaru announced at a Sept. 18 board meeting that the stadium would be named for Lopez, because the board hadn't yet reached a decision.

The school district has no set policy for how to name buildings, Chavez-Ishimaru said. Sometimes it's put up for a public vote; other times the decision is made by the board.

Officials are still trying to find money -- at least $3 million -- to build the stadium, and a final vote on its name may be years away. Even so, they say, outraged residents are calling to protest the proposal.

Orange Cove High School, which opened four years ago and is the town's first high school, already prominently displays an artist's rendition of the future stadium. The imagined stadium entryway makes no mention of Lopez and instead offers a salute to the school mascot. It reads: "Home of the Titans."

The students, said football coach Emilio Botello, expect that's how it will look when the stadium is built.

Junior Alvarez, a senior who is the team's quarterback, said some students even started a petition to oppose naming the stadium for Lopez.

"I know the mayor wants it to be named after him, but it's the high school's stadium, the town's stadium -- not the mayor's stadium," said Junior, 17.

City Council Member Glenda Hill said students have told her the stadium should be called Titan Field, or simply say "Home of the Titans," as depicted in the artist's rendition.

"The youth of the high school and the community are saying, 'Please let us have a voice,' " she said.

The controversy has been "a pretty hot issue" in town, said Leo McKinney, who co-owns a packing company in Orange Cove. He said he thinks a small token of appreciation for Lopez -- such as a bronze plaque on the new stadium -- should be enough to make everyone happy.

A name that's hard to miss

If Garza's proposal to name the stadium after Lopez is approved, the 1,000-plus townsfolk who pack the sidelines on Friday nights to cheer on their team will be able to stand in one place and see two local landmarks named for their mayor: the stadium and the Victor P. Lopez Community Center, which was built in 1999 and is across the street from the high school.