{"id":17834,"date":"2014-03-16T15:07:50","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T15:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-rural-spot-settled-by-religious-group-in\/"},"modified":"2018-12-05T19:41:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T02:41:50","slug":"cinoh-rural-spot-settled-by-religious-group-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-rural-spot-settled-by-religious-group-in\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-17834 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/cinoh-rural-spot-settled-by-religious-group-in\/attachment\/17835\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_n2g7xd6V2u1rgktkgo1_1280-100x100.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cinoh.tumblr.com\/post\/79756908577\" class=\"tumblr_blog\">cinoh<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h1 class=\"story-heading\"><strong>Rural Spot Settled by Religious Group in California Fears a City\u2019s Encroachment<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">MODESTO, Calif. \u2014 Farmers and other residents of the rural district known as Wood Colony refer to the 110-year-old arboreal landmark in their midst \u2014 a gigantic walnut tree of Grimm\u2019s fairy-tale proportions \u2014 as simply, the Tree. To many people in this unincorporated community, settled more than a century ago by a religious group called the Old German Baptist Brethren, the mighty tree is a kind of tabernacle, a living testament to the district\u2019s deep roots, fertile soil and unshakeable resolve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">The colony, just under a two-hour drive from San Francisco, is little known to outsiders, which is just the way residents like it. Many of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scrollpublishing.com\/store\/Brethren.html\">Brethren<\/a>, a plain\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.apcwdc.mennonite.net\/What_is_Anabaptism\">Anabaptist<\/a>\u00a0group somewhat akin to the Amish and Mennonites, are fourth- and fifth-generation farmers who tend an unspoiled landscape of bee boxes and walnut and almond orchards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">But a recent skirmish with the city of Modesto over plans to bring about 1,800 acres of Wood Colony under city jurisdiction, which many residents regard as a blueprint for development, has forced this reticent community into the public eye. In a place where \u201cOh, gracious!\u201d is a common expletive, \u201cPray for Rain\u201d signs along the district\u2019s two-lane byways have been joined by ones urging citizens to \u201cKeep Wood Colony Green\u201d and \u201cSave Wood Colony: Almonds, Not Asphalt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">\u201cMy granddaughter still lives in the ranch purchased by my great-grandfather,\u201d said Alan Cover, an almond and walnut farmer who also raises prized lambs. \u201cThat\u2019s a thread that runs through this community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">The city\u2019s Chamber of Commerce, supported by the mayor and other elected officials, says that some sort of \u201cpathway to prosperity\u201d is needed to expand the tax base and address chronic unemployment, which hovers around 13 percent, twice the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/data.bls.gov\/timeseries\/LNS14000000\">national average<\/a>. The updated plan calls for bringing part of Wood Colony into the city\u2019s sphere of influence, making future annexation possible and transforming a nearby road into a four-lane highway with overpasses to help lure industrial, office and business park development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">But for many residents of the district \u2014 which covers roughly three to four square miles, depending on who is counting \u2014 the political and geographic boundary between Wood Colony and the city is sacrosanct. While more accepting of modern technology than the Amish, the Old German Baptist Brethren, who make up about one-third of the district\u2019s 1,000 or so residents, live a life atypical for California, where families remaining in one place for generations are a rarity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">From his classroom window at the Brethren Heritage School, Lloyd Wagner, a 51-year-old social studies and English teacher, can see the cemetery where his baby daughter, his brother who died at birth, his grandparents and most of his great-grandparents are buried.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Fourteen years ago, Mr. Wagner was diagnosed with Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome, which left him paralyzed; he has since recovered use of his hands and arms. In the hospital, he said, he had a lot of time to contemplate life. \u201cI was thinking about how many people within a five-mile radius would probably drop everything to help,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI came up with about 200 names.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Many Brethren, including Mr. Wagner, wear traditional dress. Bonneted women stitch their own clothes amid neat stacks of colorful fabric and glass jars filled with buttons, and the twice-yearly visit of the sewing-machine repairman is a major event.The district is named for Ebenezer Wood, an upstate New Yorker turned farmer who settled here in the mid-1800s. The debate over Wood Colony\u2019s future has been complicated by Old German Baptist Brethren customs, which discourage political involvement, military service and voting. \u201cWe believe prayer goes a long way,\u201d Mr. Wagner explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">The group originated in what is now Germany in the early 18th century. In recent years, the 6,000 or so Old German Baptist Brethren living in the United States have struggled with encroaching urbanization and the loss of agriculture, said Gerald J. Mast, a communications professor at Bluffton University, a Mennonite college in Ohio, home to the country\u2019s largest Old German Baptist Brethren community. Debates over alternative occupations and use of the Internet are continuing.Despite the Brethren\u2019s political neutrality, he said, some districts do countenance involvement in local issues, particularly in the West. \u201cThere is a deep streak of pragmatism,\u201d Professor Mast said. \u201cThey are working hard at maintaining community, and they\u2019re fairly savvy in going about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">In Modesto, Wood Colony residents, including the Old German Baptist Brethren and their allies, have shown up by the hundreds at City Council meetings, which have been the most contentious in recent memory. The Brethren \u201cdon\u2019t speak up,\u201d said William Heinrich, who was raised in the Brethren church but is now senior pastor at the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. \u201cTherefore it is our responsibility to speak up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">The word \u201cannexation\u201d echoes through the Colony\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/architecture.about.com\/od\/construction\/g\/boardbatten.htm\">board-and-batten<\/a>houses, many of which boast orange trees and stately palms. Carol Whiteside, a former mayor of Modesto and the founder of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatvalley.org\/\">the Great Valley Center<\/a>, a regional public-policy think tank, said that should the general plan amendment move forward, only a zoning change would be required for interested parties to sell off Wood Colony land for development. \u201cThese decisions are so easy to make 10 and 25 acres at a time,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t look at the cumulative impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Garrad Marsh, the current mayor, says that the city needs \u201cshovel-ready\u201d land near major transportation thoroughfares to attract business. The agricultural designation proposed for Wood Colony is intended to protect it, he said. Yet many residents, he said, \u201cperceive it as a \u2018bait and switch.\u2019 They are of the belief that any change is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Longtime residents like Paul Wenger, the president of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfbf.com\/\">California Farm Bureau Federation<\/a>, who operates\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.woodcolony.com\/\">the Wood Colony Nut Company<\/a>\u00a0with his sons, said the emphasis on \u201cjobs, jobs, jobs\u201d did not acknowledge almonds and walnuts as two of the state\u2019s most lucrative crops, buoyed by global demand and endorsed as \u201csuperfood\u201d by Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Modesto\u2019s AAA Minor League Baseball team is called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/index.jsp?sid=t515\">the Nuts<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Farms like his own, Mr. Wenger pointed out, are family-run operations producing locally grown food. \u201cFor crying out loud, they talk about sustainability and putting people back to work,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"addendums\" id=\"addendums\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\">Those who fear for Wood Colony\u2019s future would do well to consider the Tree, said Lowell H. Beachler, a local historian. \u201cI think it\u2019s here for a reason,\u201d he said recently over a helping of hot chicken salad casserole during lunch at the home of Mr. Heinrich, the pastor. \u201cGod is protecting that tree as a center of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>cinoh: Rural Spot Settled by Religious Group in California Fears a City\u2019s Encroachment MODESTO, Calif. \u2014 Farmers and other residents of the rural district known as Wood Colony refer to the 110-year-old arboreal landmark in their midst \u2014 a gigantic walnut tree of Grimm\u2019s fairy-tale proportions \u2014 as simply, the Tree. To many people in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-words","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-4DE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17836,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17834\/revisions\/17836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}