The State - News from April 27, 1989

A small farm in Tulare County may be developed into a place for nearly 100 homeless people to stay temporarily and learn good work habits. The Board of Supervisors narrowly approved the project envisioned by Edward and Jene Sue Reitze, pastors of the non-denominational Country Church, which operates from their home on 5 1/2 acres west of Exeter. They already have planted 70 plum trees on the property, dubbed Dove Farm, and plan to build dormitories, a greenhouse, plant a garden and convert a barn into an auditorium and a water tower into a chapel and infirmary. Reitze, an oil company sales representative, said the aim will be to give the people the work ethic needed to climb “out of poverty and back into productivity.”