Turlock setter Handy leads
youth volleyball team to title 1B
MONDAY JULY 6 2015
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VOL. 138, NO. 187
STAY CONNECTED MODBEE.COM
Leader tells Top 10 things people
might not know about the fair 7B
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NEWS ALL DAY.
YOUR WAY.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
MONDAY Q&A
Turlock
library
adapts,
thrives
U.S. brings home crown
with goal onslaught
The U.S. women’s soccer team won the World
Cup 5-2 over defending champions Japan. The
U.S. got a hat trick, three goals, from Carli Lloyd.
Soccer fans in Modesto, from right, Connor Ricci,
Kimberly Humke, Jeff Teese, Chris Ricci, Leonard
Puls, Javier Torres and Chris Torres celebrate the
winning goal at P. Wexford’s Pub on Sunday. 1B
ANDY ALFARO [email protected]
BY NAN AUSTIN
Tourism plan criticized
[email protected]
TURLOCK
Libraries, once just the repository of
dusty tomes, have joined the digital
age, and the stereotype of the shushing
librarian needs an update, too.
Turlock librarian Diane Bartlett
spends her days trying to keep up with
reader requests in the bustling rooms
of the Minaret Avenue branch, not
trying to keep them silent.
The Stanislaus County Library’s
one-eighth-cent sales
tax brought her to the
stacks the first year after
voters passed it, 1995.
Bartlett was one of several new hires that year
as the library expanded
its hours to serve more
Diane
people. She has worked
Bartlett
as a children’s librarian
in Modesto, branch
manager in Oakdale and in Salida, and
since 2002 has spent most her time in
Turlock.
The Bee caught up with her to ask
what’s new and noteworthy at the
library this summer.
Q: Libraries have housed books since
they were papyrus scrolls. But this is
the computer age – how have libraries
adapted?
A: It has been fun to observe the
changes in electronic services over the
course of my career. The library in
Stanislaus County strives to “foster the
love of learning and open the doors to
knowledge.” We accomplish this mission in the best way possible, which
could mean finding a print copy of a
classic, or an electronic copy of the
latest bestseller, or performing an Internet search to find the most reliable
report of a historic event. We are continually adding to the electronic reQ:
A.
JOAN BARNETT LEE [email protected]
Jennifer Mullen, left, executive director of the Modesto Convention & Visitors Bureau, and executive assistant Dana Hohn will be
reclassified as city employees for one year under a proposal approved by the City Council.
...............................................................................................................................
BY KEVIN VALINE
[email protected]
Modesto’s decision to end longtime contract with Convention
& Visitors Bureau shocks some
...............................................................................................................................
Modesto wants to reinvent
how it lures tourists and
visitors to the area, but it
already has attracted questions and criticism over its
decision not to renew its
contract with the Modesto
Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The City Council on June
23 approved a proposal that
reassigns the CVB’s functions
and its $249,071 budget to
the city’s Community and
Economic Development
Department over the next
year while the city develops a
new model to promote Modesto. The proposal reclassifies the CVB’s staff – consisting of longtime Executive
Director Jennifer Mullen and
executive assistant Dana
Hohn – as city employees for
one year.
Nearly a dozen people
spoke at the council meeting
on behalf of Mullen and
Hohn. Mullen was praised for
her tireless efforts to promote Modesto. The speakers
said they were blindsided by
the city’s change in direction.
Councilmen Tony Madrigal
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City will develop new organization to promote area over the
next year
...............................................................................................................................
Official says city wants to build on CVB’s success
...............................................................................................................................
JOAN BARNETT LEE [email protected]
Control of the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s functions and
budget has been reassigned to the city over the next year.
and Dave Lopez joined those
praising Mullen and said they
wanted to make sure Mullen
and Hohn were protected
despite the city’s change in
direction.
“I had no idea this was
coming,” CVB board Chairman Neal Khatri said in an
interview. He added that city
officials told him and the
other CVB board members
about their decision the week
before the council meeting.
Interim Deputy City Manager
Brent Sinclair said the city
notified the CVB in April that
the contract was expiring.
Mullen spoke at the council
meeting and said she was
humbled and grateful for
those who spoke on her behalf, including council members.
City officials are calling
their new effort Destination
Modesto, though the name is
expected to change. The
effort calls for the coordinated marketing of the city’s
three golf courses, its John
Thurman Field – home of the
minor-league Modesto Nuts
baseball team – and Modesto
Centre Plaza, the downtown
convention center.
The expectation is that if
these facilities perform better, they will need a smaller
subsidy from the city’s general fund. Sinclair said the
subsidies are estimated at
$855,268 for the golf courses,
$209,783 for John Thurman
and $512,000 for Centre
Plaza for the city budget year
that ended Tuesday.
But Sinclair emphasized
Destination Modesto would
promote all of the city’s tourSEE TOURISM, 3A
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LOCAL NEWS
ILLEGAL FIREWORKS
SUSPECTED IN FIRE
Firefighters were kept busy with
multiple blazes Saturday night
during Fourth of July celebrations. Illegal fireworks were suspected in the destruction of the
Modesto home of a retiree who
has lived there since 1972. 3A
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