Mayor of Arvin Seems to Fend Off Recall Bid

It appeared late Tuesday that Arvin’s controversial Mayor Juan Olivares, whose confrontations with old-line white farm interests has made him devoted friends and bitter enemies, had survived a recall election by a narrow margin.

Unofficial returns from the Kern County elections office showed that 622 voters in the town southeast of Bakersfield wanted to remove Olivares, while 639 opposed the recall. The separation between yes and no votes was less than 2%.

Election officials said 181 absentee and other ballots still had to be counted. Earlier absentee ballots favored Olivares. The count will not be finished until Friday, officials said.

Olivares was elected in 2000 on a reform platform. He said he wanted to be a voice for a long-suffering Latino community. Although more than nine in 10 residents are Latino, he said, the city had long been controlled by a white minority representing commercial farm interests.

During his term, he has tried to make the Police Department more community-friendly. Instead of ticketing children who ride bicycles without helmets, he started giving helmets away free. He also hands out business cards to motorists who feel that they have been unfairly ticketed. A chief of police who balked at some of Olivares’ policies was fired.

Olivares’ opponent in Tuesday’s election, Joet Stoner, said ethnic hostilities in town were a product of Olivares’ imagination. Stoner, who is half Latina, said ethnic groups had gotten along well for years before Olivares started stirring up resentments. The Kern County Grand Jury has been investigating allegations of corruption in Arvin for months. Three indictments have been issued, one against the former police chief for using city money to pay off a truck loan. Another was issued against City Councilman Julio Perez, who is accused of diverting child care money for his personal use.

The police chief, Rande Eighmy, pleaded guilty and was given probation. Perez’s first trial ended in a hung jury.