Atwater News

By VICTOR A. PATTON vpatton@mercedsun-star.com A 30-year-old parolee was bitten by a police dog Saturday, after investigators say an officer spotted him driving a stolen car.

The Merced County Office of Education will hold the 2009-10 elementary and junior high spelling bees Dec.

The Sport Shooting Club at US Merced conducted a Veteran's Shoot at the River Oaks Range 11584 N. Shaffer Road on Veteran's Day from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

The 7-year-old Atwater resident has a cat named Serafina, a feral kitten that found a home with Raine and her mom, Lana Sloan.

Pedro Osornio continues to perform in big races. The Atwater senior finished 10th at the Sac-Joaquin Section cross country championships on Saturday at Willow Hill.

At the north end of Castle Airport's air strip, mounds of rubble rise like rough hills above the nearby almond orchards.

Wednesday, Nov. 11, was the day that towns and cities, large and small, around our nation gave thanks to our veterans.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers recommend hospitalization, not prison. By JONAH OWEN LAMB jlamb@mercedsun-star.com An Atwater man who beat his 73-year-old aunt to death with a cordless phone in 2008 admitted to the homicide but pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity, said Deputy District Attorney Rob Carroll who prosecuted the case.

For 50 years the Central California Band Review has exhilarated crowds in Merced.

The CCBR Field Show will be held at Atwater Falcon Field on Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m. Gates at the high school stadium will open at 4:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend this spectacular show of music, pageantry and color.

When Juan Flores Jr. came into Best Buy as a customer on Nov. 2, all the store's employees welcomed him at once.

Diana Westmoreland Pedrozo, an outspoken voice for county farmers and their interests, resigned Thursday after six years as executive director of the Merced County Farm Bureau, she said.

Emotions ran high during the Monday night Merced City Council meeting as Council members listened to over an hour of public comment and disagreed among themselves while trying to reach a decision about whether to relocate the city's homeless population, and if so, where.

A street sweeper cleans Eucalyptus Street in Atwater. Because of funding cuts, the city has reduced the amount of street cleaning.

Confusion over a new boundary line in the Atwater Elementary School District means that voters in the only contested race there may have to recast their ballots.

Atwater Police Department officers arrested two men believed to be involved in an afternoon shooting at the 76 gasoline station on Winton Way, Asst.

Buhach Colony at Atwater, 4:30 p.m.; Golden Valley vs Merced , 6 p.m. SOCCER Central Catholic at Livingston, 4 p.m. GIRLS WATER POLO Buhach Colony at Atwater, 3:30 p.m.; Golden Valley vs Merced , 5 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Atwater at Merced, 6 p.m.; Turlock at Buhach Colony, 6 p.m. TENNIS Buhach Colony at Atwater, 3 p.m.; Golden Valley at Merced, 3 p.m. A ...

A legal challenge that could've stalled construction of Atwater's planned multimillion-dollar wastewater treatment plant was struck down by the California Supreme Court in mid-October, according to court filings.

Peggy Heller Elementary School in Atwater was briefly placed on lockdown Thursday, after a man wanted on suspicion of child molestation crashed into a fire hydrant near the school, police reported.

Atwater police arrested Ernest Contreras Cota, 59, a staff member at Buhach Colony High School, last Friday for allegations of sexual misconduct with a child.