The State - News from Nov. 25, 1988

A corporate donation will let a health clinic vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian open anyway in McFarland, where citizens are worried about a high number of childhood cancer cases. Contel, a telephone company, donated $36,000 to finance the clinic’s operations for one day a week for a year, said Ron Hubert, spokesman for the mayor’s commission. Hubert said Clinica Sierra Vista will operate the clinic every Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m. in a building the school district is not using. A clinic was included in a bill the Legislature passed that would have provided $466,000 to screen and treat children in the Kern County community for cancer. However, Deukmejian vetoed the bill on grounds that cancer screening already is available from other state and private programs. McFarland, where 13 youngsters have been stricken since 1975, has become a focus of concern over childhood cancers. However, state investigators have not been able to pinpoint a cause of the cancers.