There was a time when Stratford was a bustling community of gas stations, shops and restaurants.That time is long gone. The recession has hit with full force in this small, mainly Hispanic agricultural community south of Lemoore along a dusty stretch of Highway 41. Runaway unemployment has residents in a vice grip of tough times that make the economic problems in Hanford and Lemoore seem mild by comparison.

Much has been made of the 40 percent unemployment in Westside Fresno County towns like Mendota and Firebaugh.

Less publicized is the soaring joblessness in the Kings County towns of Stratford, Avenal and Kettleman City.

Stratford leads the list, with 400 of its approximately 1,300 residents out of work, according to state statistics.

People like Jose Avina, a labor contractor who can't find work.

Avina said he owns 40 acres of land but can't get the water to farm it.

He said he's been collecting unemployment benefits for more than six months now. He hopes to start hauling tomatoes when the season starts in July.

Avina, who has lived in Stratford for 37 years, can remember when there was plenty of work at Westlake Farms, J.G. Boswell Co. and other growers in the area.

The jobs have blown away with the dust from fields dried up by drought and pumping cutbacks in the Sacramento River Delta.

Stratford, which got its name in 1906, has weathered economic crises before.

Many note that the town's agricultural economy means generally higher unemployment than the rest of the county even in good years.

But after driving around its empty streets, it's hard to shake the feeling that Stratford is hurting more than ever.

Boarded-up storefronts stare out on lonely Main Street, which only has a few businesses left. The focal point is the post office, made of faded blue cinder blocks. Next door, above an awning, the rusted letters of "Hardin's Market" speak of better days.

Beneath the awning, a few people sat in the shade on a recent morning, staring out at a street that had the silence of a graveyard.

Lemoore resident and U.S. Army veteran Anthony Paulo was collecting donations for the American Legion Auxiliary.

Paulo, 78, has lived in Lemoore for decades, but he was born and raised in Stratford and still has two sisters living there.

"It's kind of sad. It used to be a booming town," he said. "I guess progress hurt us."

Paulo remembers when people didn't have cars to pursue entertainment out of town, when they didn't have television sets and cable stations to keep them indoors. He remembers, too, the time before machine harvesters, when the town swelled with field hands, many of them single men, crowding several restaurants at night.

He remembers five different gas stations. Now, the closest fill-up is several miles away in Lemoore.

Paulo wasn't surprised when told that the town's unemployment rate had climbed past 30 percent.

"There's no water," he said.

Travel in any direction from town, and it doesn't take long before barren fields appear.

There was a time when vast cotton fields surrounded Stratford, peaking at 200,000 acres when the white fiber was king.

Now, there are maybe 40,000 acres planted, according to Joe Neves, the Kings County supervisor who lives in Stratford and represents the area.

Some blame it on environmental decisions made 250 miles to the north, where pumping has been limited in the delta to protect endangered species.

Others point to dropping cotton prices that have steadily eaten away at the acreage.

Everybody agrees on the effect: A town already dependent on seasonal agricultural work has fallen deeper into the hole.

Time was when residents could count on working the tomato harvest from July to October, then switch to the cotton gins from October to December.

The gin season will run short this year because of the small crop.

"They weren't (employed) 100 percent before. Now they're only half of half," Neves said.

Neves thinks he's seen an uptick in crime as the community deals with more and more families out of work.

He said three suspected arson fires occurred in April and early May. He sees graffiti popping up. He believes there is an incipient gang trying to get started in Stratford.

Kings County sheriff's deputy Darrin Ellis, the school resource officer for Stratford Elementary School, is up against the problem.

He said there's virtually nothing for kids to do in Stratford other than go to school and participate in some of the after-school programs there.

They wander around town, especially on weekends, Ellis said.

"I see a lot of kids, unless they're really grounded, getting into trouble," he said.

Resident Ed Collins sees some of the same problems.

"There's nothing going on, no business. I don't know how those people hold on," said Collins, who commutes to Hanford to work at Glad Tidings Church.

Collins said he sees multiple families living in one house and unattended kids often roaming the streets.

He aid he thinks things have definitely gotten worse in the last two years. He said he plans to move to Hanford as soon as he can find a house there.

Others, like Neves, are staying put.

Inside the modern-looking building of Orton's Equipment Co., vice president Jason Orton struck a confident note as he looked back on the 104-year history of his family's business in Stratford.

"We went through the Great Depression. We made it through that. I'm fully confident we'll make it through this one," said Orton, who lives a few miles outside of town.

Sales of the harvesters and tractors that sustain Orton's business are down along with the slumping agricultural economy.

Orton said he thinks Stratford is a little bit better off than Mendota because Stratford is on the edge between the drier Westside and the wetter northeastern and southeastern parts of Kings County.

But Neves wonders what will happen to the town.

He noted that several dairies in the area used to provide a backup if row crops didn't come through.

But dairies are facing one of the worst economic crises they've seen in decades.

Neves has no plans to move. But neither is he confident about Stratford's future.

"I wish I knew. I think we're on somewhat new ground now," he said.

(May 31, 2009)