As with any year, 2024 had its good times and bad for Turlock and its surrounding communities. As an election year, 2024 brought a change in the guard — both in local Congressional representation and on the Turlock City Council. The area also saw a few longtime leaders resign or retire and new ones take the helm. Below are just a few of the top stories of the past year:
Election year
Democrat Adam Gray, a former five-term Assemblymember who lost a bid for Congress in 2022, unseated incumbent Rep. John Duarte (R-Modesto) for the 13th Congressional District in the closest House race — and the last to be called — in the nation this election cycle. Gray won the rematch— 105,554 votes to 105,367.
Turlock sits in two congressional districts, the 13th and the 5th, which is represented by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-El Dorado Hills), who routed Democrat challenger, Mike Barkley, with 61.8 % of the vote in a solidly red district.
In the Turlock City Council races, Rebecka Monez, who represents District 2, won a second term by beating retired businessman Milt Trieweiler by a mere 75 votes. Erika Phillips won the District 4 seat that was vacated by outgoing councilmember Pam Franco, who lost to Michael Abram in the race for city treasurer.
The Turlock Irrigation District also welcomed its very first woman director in 2024, when Becky Arellano was elected to represent Division 4. Public service is not new to the third-generation farmer who represented District 4 on the Turlock City Council from 2019-2020 and before that served as a legislative aide for U.S. Congressman George Radanovich, consultant for the Stanislaus County Office of Education and field representative/aide for Stanislaus County Supervisor Nick Blom.
Marie Alvarado-Gil
State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil deserves her own category for 2024. The senator decided midway through her first term in the California legislature to switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party. The freshman legislator — who represents rural District 4, the largest senate district in the state in terms of total area — became the first Democratic state lawmaker in 80 years to switch party affiliation mid-term, according to the California State Library. Following her switch of party affiliation, Alvarado-Gil was stripped of her committee assignments by Democratic leadership and expelled from the Latino Caucus.
A month after her party switch, the state senator once again made headlines when she was hit with two lawsuits, one by a former employee and the other by a local private investigator. Alvarado-Gil’s ex-chief of staff, Chad Condit, is suing her for sexual harassment, claiming she forced him to commit sexual acts and then fired him when he stopped.
Condit, the son of former Congressman Gary Condit, filed charges in Sacramento Superior Court against both Alvarado-Gil and the state senate for being in violation of state employment protections.
Meanwhile, Kelley Coelho, owner of Turlock-based B and C Investigations, filed a lawsuit against the senator and her current chief of staff, Vanessa Bravo, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleging that they violated her First Amendment rights by kicking her out of a June 21 press conference at the Turlock Public Safety Facility at 244 N. Broadway.
Alvarado-Gil filed a counter lawsuit against her former chief of staff claiming that Condit indicated he was “personally involved” in the 2001 disappearance of Washington D.C. intern Chandra Levy, and he also warned the Senator that he knew “how to make people disappear,” court documents show.
Alvarado-Gil also alleged that Condit was an abuser of drugs and alcohol, that he “carried deadly weapons, including firearms” while working as her chief of staff, and that he stole $50,000 from her campaign.
Leadership changes
Local schools, businesses and organizations saw changes in leadership this past year.
Britt Rios-Ellis was officially appointed as the 12th full-time president in Stanislaus State’s 67-year history. She assumed the university presidency on July 1, succeeding Interim President Susan E. Borrego, who served in the role since the retirement of President Emerita Ellen Junn in the summer of 2023.
While Rios-Ellis was just starting her term, the Turlock Unified School District family was saying goodbye to long-time superintendent Dana Trevethan. After nearly 35 years of working in public education, including 33 with the Turlock Unified School District, Trevethan called it a career.
The Turlock Irrigation District’s first woman general manager, Michelle Reimers, resigned her position after four and a half years at the helm. Reimers started her career at TID in 2006 working in the public information department. She held various leadership roles at the district, ultimately becoming the first woman general manager in the agency’s 137-year history.
The Turlock Cost Less Food Company store on W. Main Street also said farewell this year to longtime store manager Oscar Avila. He was only 16-years-old when started working as a janitor at the New Deal Market on Lander Avenue in Turlock in 1976. Avila worked his way up to bag boy, then cashier and head cashier in his 20-year tenure at New Deal Market. He then moved to Cost Less, where he’s been for the past 28 years.
Emanuel Medical Center welcomed a new CEO this year in Mike Klepin. He became the new CEO of EMC effective Nov. 4, replacing Dr. Murali Naidu, who left to become the new CEO of another Tenet Health facility in San Ramon. Klepin is the fourth CEO to take the reins at Emanuel since 2018.
Business highlights
The year started with the — somewhat shocking — closing of Brandel Manor nursing home and Cypress Place Assisted Living. Residents were notified of the closures on Jan. 15, 2024. Randy Eilts, director of public relations and communications for Covenant Living Communities and Services, said in a press release: “Following a comprehensive analysis, it is no longer financially sustainable to remain in operations. We reviewed all aspects of these stand-alone facilities, including, but not limited to, the age of the building, operating costs, and workforce challenges.”
The closure had patients and their families scrambling to find openings in nearby facilities, which, according to some, was nearly impossible.
A music staple in the city of Turlock since the 1940s also closed its doors in 2024. Hendrickson’s Turlock Music at 223 N. Center St. closed up shop after 78 years in business. When the music store first opened in 1946, it originally only sold violins, as it was the most popular instrument of the era. The instruments changed as the times (and the culture) did, quickly expanding to just about anything that makes noise. Brothers and co-owners Clyde Hendrickson and Ivan Douglas sold the nearly century-old building as they prepared for retirement.
It wasn’t all bad news on the business front in 2024.
The Turlock Golf and Country Club celebrated its 100th anniversary in April. The 18-hole, par-72 course of 6,641 yards was designed by Bob E. Baldock and Jack Fleming. The club's 1924 design remains one of the most interesting and challenging courses in the area with 57 bunkers and water coming into play on five holes. On top of all the hazards are an abundance of trees and fairly small greens.
Local craft beer powerhouse Dust Bowl — based in Turlock and owned by business partners Brett and Karen Tate, and Brett and Camy Honore — announced in June the opening of their first-ever distillery. Described as a boutique distillery, it features a 140-liter CARL still enhanced by the addition of a vodka column and gin basket from Minnetonka Brewing Equipment, allowing for a broad range of spirits to be produced. It is visible to guests through the Fulkerth Road taproom’s bar windows.
Roughly 19 months after breaking ground on construction, the state-of-the-art renewable energy plant from Massachusetts-based technology company Divert Inc. finally opened in Turlock in November. It is the 11th plant built in the United States by Divert, which was founded in 2007 by CEO Ryan Begin and COO Nick Whitman. The Turlock location is by far the largest scale. Located at 4407 W. Main St., adjacent to the Turlock Moose Lodge and the Country Store, the facility is 65,000 square-feet and employs 40. Divert’s business model entails retailers paying the facility to take in and process the food waste. From there, the process of sorting food and turning waste into renewable energy begins.
Other significant happenings:
• In January 2024, the Turlock City Council voted 3-2 in favor of closing the We Care Day-Use Navigation Center, where the city’s unhoused were able to spend daytime hours while the overnight shelters are closed. Mayor Amy Bublak, along with councilmembers Pam Franco (District 4) and Rebecka Monez (District 2), voted to close the facility, citing financial concerns and the overall effectiveness of the center. Councilmembers Cassandra Abram (District 3) and Kevin Bixel (District 1) voted to keep the center open, agreeing that closing the center felt like a step in the wrong direction.
• The Turlock City Council and Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors spent some time in 2024 battling the opening of a facility to house people with mental health and substance abuse disorders within the city limits. The city stated that the site of the residential facility, 1617 Colorado Ave. formerly known as Las Palmas Estates, located near Dutcher Middle School, is a problem, as well as the county’s lack of communication regarding the awarding of a contract to house the individuals. The county said that they have been housing mental and substance abuse patients at that same facility when it was primarily a nursing home for 30 years without any trouble. Despite continuous posturing, the facility opened with no fanfare or trouble.
• Residents, law enforcement and public officials of Ballico in rural Merced County and the city of Turlock spent most of 2024 fighting to keep sexually violent predators out of their respective communities. Kevin Gray, a convicted child predator, was set to be released by a state hospital early in the year and placed in a rural part of Merced County, despite the fact that Gray was living in Stanislaus County when he was convicted. A judge reversed the decision to have him placed in Ballico. Gray was then slated to come live in Turlock. By the summer, hospital officials were looking to place both Gray and another sexually violent predator, Timothy Roger Weathers, somewhere in Turlock. Each proposed housing site has thus far not met the court’s approval. Public protests by community members and vocal opposition by local law enforcement and legislators continue.
• While, thankfully, there was no human health pandemic in 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom declared an emergency in mid-December regarding the bird flu or H5N1 avian influenza. As of Monday, there were 66 confirmed human cases of bird flu nationwide. California has the most human cases at 37, followed by Washington (11) and Colorado (10). Of those infected, 40 were exposed by dairy herds, 23 by poultry farms and culling operations, two from an unknown source and one from another animal exposure.
• Hilmar students in transitional kindergarten through second grade started the new school year in a completely new campus. Before classes officially began in August, a community celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the outdoor amphitheater near the entrance of the campus, which sits at 20206 W. Geer Ave. on more than 15 acres of land sitting between Hilmar High School and Elim Elementary School. Prior to this school year, the TK through 2nd grade students had been attending Elim, which had slowly become overcrowded. The new campus allows for Elim to focus on teaching third through fifth graders.
• For the first time in decades, a Miss Melon Carnival royal court was crowned in downtown Turlock. The pageant, held in September, launched the return of the festival that has been a big part of the Turlock’s agricultural history. The very first Turlock Melon Carnival was held in 1911 and was organized by the Board of Trade in hopes of promoting and marketing the local melon industry and melon shipping businesses. It was an immediate hit with community members and visitors, drawing an estimated 5,000 people. A second carnival was held in 1912, drawing 10,000. In the ensuing years, the carnival was held intermittently until 1925. By 1956, it had transformed into what we know today as the Stanislaus County Fair. The Turlock Historical Society & Museum and countless downtown business owners decided the time was right to bring back the Melon Carnival.
• There are now 61 more units of affordable housing in Turlock, thanks to the opening of Avena Bella II in August, the second and final phase of the previously constructed Avena Bella apartment complex. Located at 500 West Linwood Ave., Avena Bella is directly adjacent to Cunningham Elementary School, on Turlock’s southside. The first phase of Avena Bella opened in 2014, featuring 80 apartments in eight Mediterranean-themed buildings for low-income families. Situated on 2.2 acres, Avena Bella II features two buildings comprising 21 one-bedroom, 22 two-bedroom, and 17 three-bedroom units. The first building is a two-story walk-up with 16 residences. The second is a three-story, elevator-served building with 46 homes.
• The year ended with great loss. A broadside collision on Dec. 15 killed five people, including four members of a Turlock family on their way to church. The two-vehicle collision on Lander Avenue resulted in the deaths of Daniel Lourenco, 44, Jennifer Lourenco, 45, their 16-year-old daughter Madelynn — and four days later, their 14-year-old son Matthew. The couple’s 18-year-old daughter Emma sustained major injuries in the crash. The fifth fatality was the driver of the other vehicle, identified as Uriel Guizar-Negrete, 22, of Modesto. Hundreds of community members gathered to remember the Laurenco family at a candlelight vigil held at Pitman High School. David Costa, a first cousin of Daniel Lourenco’s, said that it was “inspiring to know that that their kindness and their joy and just their very normal way to live Holiness has touched so many people.”
