#ICYMI Merced County’s Week in Review
This past week, a teacher and an 8-year-old student were gunned down by the teacher’s estranged husband in San Bernardino; United Airlines was criticized fiercely after video surfaced of a screaming passenger being dragged off a plane; the White House spokesman apologized for falsely stating that Adolf Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons during World War II; and the United States unleashed “the mother of all bombs” on an Islamic State tunnel complex in Afghanistan.
NASA scientists announced the detection of hydrogen molecules on one of Saturn’s moons, noting it as a top candidate for potential life beyond Earth, and “Chizza,” a creation KFC described as a “pizza with a fried-chicken crust” made headlines. It looked suspiciously like Chicken Parmesan.
In Merced County, a farmworker was killed Friday when the driver of a minivan tried to pass the bus in which the worker was a passenger; prosecutors and a defense attorney clashed in a high-profile trial involving a Gustine father charged with killing his infant son; and two young men were accused of playing a game of “rock, paper, scissors” to determine which of them would rape a 17-year-old girl first.
Here are three stories from this week in Merced County you may have missed:
Atwater councilwoman says there’s no conflict of interest in search for city manager
Cindy Vierra, a recently elected Atwater councilwoman, denied trying to make her husband, a police officer in Ceres, the chief of police in Atwater. Vierra also said she had no personal conflicts in the search for a new city manager, despite the fact one of the two candidates for the job is her husband’s old boss.
See the full story here.
This 12-year-old lost his house to fire and his guitar to a thief. But, thanks to a kind gesture, the music is back.
A Merced boy who lost his guitar — and nearly everything else — in a house fire last year received an unexpected gift this week from the father of classmate. Alejandro Baez and his, Julianna, gave a guitar to 12-year-old Joe Tapetillo III.
“It’s something good you can do for a kid to make him follow his dreams,” Baez said. “Sometimes, it’s not just about receiving. It’s also about giving and not being selfish ... and making somebody else’s day.”
Tapetillo said the gesture proved to him there’s still good people in the world.
Read the full story here.
UC Merced names new chief. And, he’s the first chief of Hmong descent at any UC campus.
Chou Her is the first person of Hmong descent to lead a public safety agency at any campus in the University of California system, and has nearly two decades of law enforcement experience, according to officials.
“It’s an honor to be selected to lead UC Merced’s police department,” the 40-year-old said in a news release. “I look forward to continuing and growing our positive engagements with our campus community and the greater Merced community.”
Read the full story here.
This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "#ICYMI Merced County’s Week in Review."