Visalia Times-Delta from Visalia, California • 16

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 Visalia Times-Delta IN BRIEF Family seeks loan to build new dairy FRESNO A Chino farm i is seeking an $8.4 million state pollution-fighting loan to help build a massive dairy that environmentalists say will create more smog in the San Joaquin Valley. The new dairy in Fresno County would add 30 tons of smog-making gas per year to one of the nation's dirtiest air basins, according to estimates. The California Pollution Control Financing Authority froze funding last year after it was reported that $66 million in loans were approved for 18 dairies over the past four years. A threemonth moratorium on loans expired in January. The $8.4 million loan has already been tentatively cleared by the authority's board.

The applicant, the Van Der Kooi family of Chino, must now present an air permit and other documents before seeking final approval. Festival celebrates Assyrian culture CERES Hundreds of revelers turned out over the weekend to celebrate the traditions and customs of Assyrian culture in the San Joaquin Valley. Janet Shummon, chairwoman of the festival, said the event is designed to give attendees a taste of the culture's food, art, history, and traditional dancing and music. The Assyrian empire once flourished in the region the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, an area about the size of Kansas that spanned over present-day Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Centuries of war and massacres eventually scattered the population around the globe.

According to the Chicagobased Assyrian International News Agency, some 400,000 Assyrians live in the United States, the largest population outside of Iraq a and Syria. According to the 2000 census, some 6,200 live in Stanislaus County, the largest population in California. The Assyrian Cultural Center puts the number at more than 20,000 in Stanislaus County now. City obscures Star of David shape at park BURLINGAME The city of Burlingame has paid $1,600 to obscure a design at the newly opened Pershing Park playground that a resident felt resembled the Star of David. The park was closed on Thursday of last week while a contractor filled in a pattern in the playground's surface that consisted of six yellow stars laid in the shape of the Star of David.

Residents had complained it was disrespectful for children to step on the design. The original contractor made a mistake in fashioning the design to look like a star, said Randy Schwartz, director of parks and recreation. The design was supposed to resemble the pattern in the playground's climbing net. East Bay pot clubs get shutdown reprieve OAKLAND Three Alameda County medical marijuana clubs may stay open at least another month, despite refusing to provide sheriff's officials with personal information on their owners and employees. The clubs, in unincorporated areas of San Leandro and Hayward, were previously given a Sept.

30 deadline to shut down because they had not completed a controversial new permit application. The dispensaries protested on grounds that part of the application was too invasive. Book character auction nets more than $90k SAN FRANCISCO Ray. Joyce. Linda-gail.

They're just three of the 19 lucky bidders who raised $90,000 by paying for the right to name a character or a place or thing in works by noted authors including John Grisham and Stephen King. All the money goes to the First Amendment Project, an Oakland- nonprofit organization devoted to protecting freedom of information, expression and petition. It's the group's single-largest fund-raising event. Horror writer Stephen King drew the largest bid, by far. Pam Alexander of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

spent $25,100 to get her brother's name, Ray Huizenga, in King's upcoming novel "Cell," which King calls "a violent piece of work." Wire reports Don Adams, star of TV's 'Get dies at age 82 His character coined the phrase 'Would you believe The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82. Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding that the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since. As the inept Agent 86 of the super-secret federal agency CONTROL, Adams captured TV viewers with his antics in combatting the evil agents of KAOS. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack: "Would you believe It became a national catchphrase.

Smart was also prone to spilling things on the desk or person of his boss the Chief (actor Edward Platt). Smart's apologetic "Sorry about that, chief" also entered the American lexicon. The spy gadgets, which aped those of the Bond movies, were a popular feature, especially the precell-phone telephone in a shoe. Smart's beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon, was as brainy as he was dense, and a plot romance led to marriage and the birth of twins later in the series. "He had this prodigious energy, so as an actor working with him it was like being plugged into an electric current," Feldon said from New York.

"He would start and a scene would just take off and you were there for the ride. It was great fun acting with him." Adams was very intelligent, she said, a quality that suited the satiric show that had comedy geniuses Mel Brooks and Buck Henry behind it. "He wrote poetry, he had an interest in history He had that other side to him that does not come through Maxwell Smart," she said. "Don in person was anything but bumbling." Adams had an "amazing memory" that allowed him to take an unusual approach to filming, Feldon said. Instead oflearning his lines ahead of time he would have a script assistant read his part to him just once OBITUARIES Korina Barrientos Korina Miah Barrientos of Strathmore died Thursday, Sept.

22, 2005. Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at Hillcrest Memorial Park, Porterville. Interment will be at Myers Chapel, Porterville. Cecilia Cantu Homemaker Cecilia Cantu, 76, of Orosi died Friday, Sept.

23, 2005. She was a homemaker. Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Thursday at St. Mary's Church, Cutler.

Rosary will be 7 p.m. Thursday at the church. Mass will be 10 a.m. Friday at the church. Arrangements are by Page Funeral Chapel, Selma.

Leon Coffelt Leon Coffelt passed away Sept. 25,2005. Born Nov. 24,1927, in Exeter to Miles and Meddie Coffelt. Leon attended Exeter schools, graduating Exeter High School in 1945.

After high school, Leon spent 24 years in the Untied States Navy. He retired from the Navy in 1971, bringing his family back to his hometown where he was a selfemployed electrical contractor for 21 years. He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Pat, and his four daughters and their families: Beth Wilson of Paso Robles, her husband, Craig, and sons Seth and Patrick; Vivian Hamilton of Lindsay, her husband, Mike, and their children Stuart, Jennifer, and Taylor; Sharon Coffelt and Peter Priebe of Lemon Cove, and Cathy Robles of Visalia, her husband, Adrian, and their daughter, Selena. Leon was a 50-year member of the Exeter Masonic Lodge. He is a past Master of the lodge and was honored with both the Mason-of- For Schwarzenegger, a toned-down approach Terminator putting his celebrity status aside for election 8 The Associated Press co-stars of the spy-spoof show "Get Smart," and gimmicks in her coat lining on Sept.

10, played the role of Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, concealed in a compact, played Agent 99. episodes. Adams never had another showcase to display his comic talent. "It was a special show that became a cult classic of sorts, and I made a lot of money for it," he remarked of "Get Smart" in a 1995 interview. "But it also hindered me career-wise because I was typed.

The character was so strong, particularly because of that distinctive voice, that nobody could picture me in any other type of role." In 1941, he dropped out of school to join the Marines. In Guadalcanal he survived the deadly blackwater fever and was returned to the States to become a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian. Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, "Inspector Gadget." A private funeral was scheduled later in the week. Funeral Services, Visalia. Douglas Nichols Driver's license examiner Douglas Howard Nichols, 75, of Porterville died Thursday, Sept.

22, 2005. He was a driver's license examiner for DMV. A memorial service will bell a.m. Saturday at First Congregational Church. Arrangements are by Myers Chapel, Porterville.

Services Today Miguel Colon, 70, died Sept. 21. Graveside services 2 p.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park, Porterville. Myers Chapel, Porterville.

David Llamas died Sept. 20. Graveside services 10 a.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park, Porterville. Myers Chapel, Porterville.

Ana Madrigal, 24, and Jose Pulido, 4, died Sept. 21. Mass 11 a.m. at St. Anne's Catholic Church.

Myers Funeral Service and Crematory, Porterville. Richard Norton, 57, died Sept. 21. Services 2 p.m. at Dopkins Funeral Chapel, Dinuba.

Wednesday Korina Barrientos died Sept. 22. Graveside services 11 a.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park, Porterville. Myers Chapel, Porterville.

Lupe Castanon, 84, died Sept. 21. Mass 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Cutler.

Dopkins Funeral Chapel, Dinuba. Leon Coffelt died Sept. 25. Memorial service 2 p.m. at Smith Family Chapel, Exeter.

Thomas Goulart, 52, died Sept. 23. Services 1 p.m. at GateWay Church of Visalia. Peers Lorentzen Funeral Chapel, Tulare.

Robert Laswell, 80, died Sept. 23. Graveside services 10 a.m. at Smith Mountain Cemetery, Dinuba. Dopkins Funeral Chapel, Dinuba.

Lydia Lopez, 49, died Sept. 21. Mass of Christian Burial! 9 a.m. at Los Angeles Times SACRAMENTO California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger describes the November election as a sequel to the recall that swept him into office two years ago.

But to succeed, he may have to give up star billing in his own production. Facing a steep drop in the governor's popularity and mindful of his diminished effectiveness as a political salesman, strategists are designing a campaign focusing less on Schwarzenegger and more on the substance of the four ballot measures to which he has staked his name. The swaggering jibes at "girlie men" and platitudes about "pumping up Sacramento" have been replaced by wonky, statisticladen talk of traffic tie-ups, overburdened ports and other public facilities stretched thin by California's unceasing population growth. Gone is the Terminator, replaced by the policy tutor. The governor is not even appearing in all of the TV ads produced by his election team, an unusual omission for a political figure with Schwarzenegger's larger-than-life image where else do they sell T-shirts of the governor at the airport? not to mention a performer who was once one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.

It is just one of many paradoxes surrounding an election originally envisioned as a way for the governor to solidify his power in Sacramento and seal his bid for a second term but which has since helped drag Schwarzenegger down to a perilously low standing in opinion polls. Strategists concede that the governor faces an uphill fight to pass the four initiatives that form the heart of his political agenda in the Nov. 8 election. If he wins just one, Schwarzenegger probably will claim a victory of some sort. (He is, after all, the governor who lost a $4.5 million campaign finance judgment and declared it Still, political aides say they are heartened by their reading of voters, convinced that people are more disappointed than angry at Schwarzenegger and remain willing to hear him out.

And they caution against confusing sentiments about the special election which a majority St. Mary's Catholic Church, Visalia. Salser and Dillard Funeral Chapel, Visalia. Bessie Xavier, 69, died Sept. 22.

Services 10 a.m. at Peers Lorentzen Funeral Chapel, Tulare. Thursday Mercedes Estrada, 76, died Sept. 23. Services 10 a.m.

at People's Funeral Chapel, Hanford. Genaro Rabago, 50, died Sept. 21. Mass of Christian Burial 10 a.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, Visalia.

Miller Memorial Chapel. Pedro Rios, 84, died Sept. 22. Graveside services 10 a.m. at Tulare District Cemetery.

Peers Lorentzen Funeral Chapel, Tulare. Friday Cecilia Cantu, 76, died Sept. 23. Mass 10 a.m. at St.

Mary's Church, Cutler. Page Funeral Chapel, Selma. Patsy Kuchman, 69, died Sept. 20. Services 1 p.m.

at Hadley's At life's most difficult moments, family is here to Art Powers Loren The Associated Press Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger smiles as he addresses the Orange County Forum on Monin Irvine to discuss the state's Nov. 8, special election. of likely voters say they opposewith the decisions that voters will make after they enter their polling Barbara Feldon and Don Adams, expose the arsenal of weapons 1965, in Los Angeles. Adams and Feldon, holding a telephone or twice.

He invariably got it right but that didn't stop people from placing bets on it, she recounted. Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Brooks and Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately. "Get Smart" debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season's mostwatched series and No.

22 in its second season. "Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor. After four seasons on NBC, CBS picked up the show but the ratings fell off as the jokes became repetitive and it was canceled in 1970 after just one year. The show lived on in syndication and a cartoon series. In 1995 the Fox network revived the series with Smart as chief and 99 as a congresswoman.

It lasted seven the-Year and the Hiram Awards. He was a member of the Tulare County Shrine Club Tehran Temple, delighting parade-goers all over the Valley in his Tin Lizzy for more than 10 years. He was also a past president of the Memorial Building board of directors. He was a man of high integrity with a generous heart and a willingness to help anyone who asked. A memorial service will be held 2 p.m.

Wednesday at Smith Family Chapel in Exeter. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Shriner's Children Hospital, 2425 Stockton Sacramento, CA 95817. Online condolences: www. smithfamilychapel.com. Mercedes Estrada Homemaker a homemaker.

Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Wednesday at People's Funeral Chapel, Hanford. Wake services will be 7 p.m. Wednesday at the chapel. Services will be 10 a.m.

Thursday at the chapel. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery, Hanford. Mercedes Estrada, 76, of Hanford died Friday, Sept. 23, 2005. She was Patsy Kuchman Wholesaler Patsy Kuchman, 69, of Visalia died Tuesday, Sept.

20, 2005. She was a wholesaler. Services will be 1 p.m. Friday at Hadley's San Isador Chapel, Farmersville. Visitation will be 9 a.m.

to 1 p.m. Friday before services. Jim Mc Bride General contractor Jim Mc Bride, 69, of Woodlake died Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005. He was a general contractor.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday at Seventh-day Adventist Church, Visalia. Interment to be private. Arrangements are by Heritage places. "I don't want to go to the doctor, but I go when I need to," said Mike Murphy, a Schwarzenegger campaign consultant.

"People are confusing opinions on the election with what vote on." The initiatives that Schwarzenegger has made his main focus would make it easier to fire subpar schoolteachers, would make it tougher for public employee unions to use members' dues for political purposes, would give the governor more tools to control state spending and would take the job of drawing California's election boundaries away from state lawmakers. Though he has also taken positions on four other November measures, they are not expected to draw nearly as much of the governor's attention. Opinion polls show the teacher-tenure and dues initiatives leading among likely voters, and the budget and redistricting measures trailing badly, though views are considered fluid. Schwarzenegger describes the disparate measures as necessary steps to "fix the broken system" in Sacramento. The governor, never one to shrink from the spotlight, is now content to play a lesser role, said one Republican strategist familiar with Schwarzenegger's thinking.

His fierce sense of competition, this ally said, overmatches any blow to his self-esteem. "At the end of the day," the strategist said, "he wants to win." San Isador Chapel, Farmersville. Saturday Kathryn Cook, 50, died Sept. 17. Celebration of Kathy's life 1 p.m.

at Visalia Nazarene Church. Heritage Funeral Services, Visalia. Douglas Nichols, 75, died Sept. 22. Memorial service 11 a.m.

at First Congregational Church. Myers Chapel, Porterville. Sunday Jim Mc Bride, 69, died Sept. 20. Memorial service 2 p.m.

at Seventh-day Adventist Church, Visalia. Heritage Funeral Services, Obituary policy The Visalia Times-Delta reports deaths and funeral information at charge. For a fee, obituaries can include additional information. Complete information is available from funeral homes or from the Times-Delta, 735-3270. We can help relieve your loved ones from the anxiety and burden of making these decisions at a very difficult time for them.

Dignity Leon Coffelt MILLER MEMORIAL CHAPEL Funerals Cremations 732-8371 24 Hours Rush, 1120 W. Goshen, Visalia Next to the Visalia Cemetery CA FO Lic. INSPIRATION Religion pages in Saturday's Life section include columns written VISALIA TIMES- DELTA www.VisaliaTimesDelta.com by local pastors. For home delivery, call 735-3300.