FARM WORKER AMNESTY FRAUD — A federal commission has warned that thousands of people who could not have been eligible have applied for Special Agriculture Status under the Amnesty Act’s agricultural provisions for California. There were about 700,000 applicants, but only 100,000 were eligible said Bert Mason, director of the Center for Agricultural Business at Fresno State University. “Obviously there has been a lot of fraud,” Mason said. The 1986 Amnesty Act allows some undocumented workers to remain in the country if they worked on farms here for at least 90 days in 1986 or 1987. Statistics show there were never 700,000 farm employees throughout California during that period.
MADERA WOMAN ABDUCTED, RAPED — A 21 year-old Madera woman was abducted from South B Street by three men Thursday and raped in a county vineyard before she was able to break free. The victim was walking about 2 a.m. when one suspect grabbed her from behind by her hair and covered her mouth while a second suspect grasped her feet as the two carried her to a waiting car, said Police Chief Gordon Skeels. She was pushed face down into the vehicle and driven to a vineyard where one of the men proceeded to rape her, but she was able to break free during the assault. The victim ran through the fields and sought help at a home on Avenue 8. The suspects remain at large.
JAPANESE STUDENTS SAY SAYONARA TO MADERA — A group of 15 Japanese students and their interpreter who visited Madera this summer left for home this weekend. The junior high-aged students said last week they weren’t homesick and gave every indication that social activities over the past three months were what they enjoyed the most. They say they will miss the American way of life of swimming pools, eating candy during breaks from class, and such oddities as entering a house with their shoes on. The students lived with host parents and spent the summer learning English and math and working with computers at Madera Adult School.
MUSD FINAL BUDGET HITS $53 MILLION — Madera Unified trustees approved a final budget for the 1990-91 school year, which includes income of $52,903,740 and expenditures of $52,312,201. The difference will be added to the district’s current reserve for a total reserve of $810,329.The largest expenditure in the budget is for teachers’ salaries and benefits, which total $44,745,685. Classroom supplies are funded at $655,760. Custodial supplies received $143,899; fuel, $175,000, and repair parts, $190,000. Superintendent Tom Riley said principals will be able to move funds from one area to another within their own budgets so long as they don’t transfer restricted funds for salaries and benefits...