Pets
Movies Alaska needs a new home — Page A2
Forum
This young woman is about to endure weird ‘Things’ — Page B2 Anti-mask, anti-vax; what’s the difference? — Page A4
enterprise THE DAVIS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
Council OKs leasing apartments for homeless
A course in woodworking returns this fall to the Davis Adult School. At right, Zumba fitness students invite everyone to join them. The school offers a variety of classes, ranging from fitness to cooking to computers.
BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer
COURTESY PHOTO
Back to school DAS classes filling up online BY JEFF HUDSON Enterprise staff writer The fall courses at the Davis Adult and Community Education School are starting on Sept. 28, and there is still time to sign up for a wide variety of classes. Community-interest classes cover topics that range from getting more out of your personal computer, digital photography, fitness, woodworking, cooking, auto mechanics and more. Also available are the alwayspopular classes in topics like English as a Second Language, Parent Support for Child Academic Success, New World of Work Employability Skills, and
a course for Parents of Students Who Are English Learners (and how a parent can provide support to a child who is an English learner). And there are courses for students who want to become a Certified Nursing Assistant. There are also classes for adults who want to complete the requirements for a high school diploma or a GED. This fall, there is one significant change in the Adult School’s operations — most classes are being offered online, owing to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Thus far, adult school students seem to be adjusting to the format change — mostly because they really want to take the classes. “We worried that some students would feel challenged by the distance learning format,” said adult
school principal Grace Sauser. “But we’ve found that many students benefit from distance learning.” “I think the online learning format seems to attract more younger students,” Sauser added, “because our younger students are ‘digital natives’ who grew up surrounded by technology.” Sauser said that a goodly number of students seeking to complete their high school
diploma requirements come from Davis, but there are also students in the program that come from Winters and Dixon, which don’t offer an adult school program. “Adult school students don’t have to live in Davis to sign up for our courses,” she said. “And enrollment in the high school diploma program is up this fall,” she said. She figures
SEE SCHOOL, BACK PAGE
Yolo County hires Sisson as health officer BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer Just two weeks after she resigned as Placer County’s health officer following that county’s termination of its COVID-19 health emergency, Dr. Aimee Sisson has been hired as Yolo County’s new health officer. Sisson fills the position vacated by Dr. Ron Chapman’s retirement earlier this summer. The Board of Supervisors is expected to appoint Sisson public health officer on Sept. 29 and she will assume office on Oct. 26.
VOL. 123 NO. 116
Dr. Larissa May continues to serve as the county’s interim health officer. Sisson said Wednesday she SISSON is “honored to Busy time be given this during COVID opportunity to protect and promote the health of all people living in Yolo County. “Being a local health officer is challenging during a pandemic, but this is what I have trained for,” she said. “I look forward to using my skills to keep the
community healthy, whether the threat is COVID-19, obesity, mental illness, wildfire smoke or poverty.” Sisson, who spent the last seven months leading Placer County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has a number of ties to Yolo County. She is a graduate of UC Davis and serves as assistant professor on the volunteer clinical faculty where she teaches graduate students public health, according to a county press release issued Wednesday morning. Sisson has also previously run a small urban farm in West Sacramento.
WEATHER
INDEX
Arts . . . . . . . . . .B1 Forum . . . . . . . . A4 Pets . . . . . . . . . A2 Classifieds . . . .B4 Movies . . . . . . .B2 The Wary I . . . . A2 Crosswords . . . A3 Obituaries . . . . A5 Weather . . . . . .B6
S Saturday: S Sunny and warm. High 90. Low 68. H
Some of the Davis community’s most vulnerable homeless people will have overnight shelter this winter following City Council action on Tuesday. The council unanimously approved plans to lease up to 25 apartment units for six months to house up to 40 of the most vulnerable members of the local homeless population, starting with those over age 65 or with an underlying health condition that puts them at greater risk. The cost will be covered by federal CARES Act funding required to be used to support low-income individuals suffering the impacts of COVID19. For the past 13 years, the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter has provided that service but is unable to do so this winter, given the pandemic. Housing dozens of people overnight in church halls and meetings rooms is no longer safe in the COVID-19 era. But the pandemic has also resulted
SEE HOMELESS, PAGE A3
Leaf-blower ban runs out of gas BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer
Prior to joining Placer County’s public health department in 2019, Sisson served as public health medical officer at the California Department of Public Health for over 10 years. In that role, she directed the department’s Preventive Medicine Residency Program and the California Epidemiologic
A week after asking city staff to bring back an urgency ordinance temporarily banning the use of leaf blowers, the Davis City Council could not reach a consensus Tuesday night and took no action on the proposal. Instead, City Manager Mike Webb will be left with his existing authority to declare an emergency when air quality is poor, banning the use of leaf blowers for the duration. Such a declaration, when made, would take effect immediately and would have to be ratified by the council at their next meeting. The city would then have to issue an alert similar to a “Don’t Light Tonight” message letting residents
SEE HEALTH, BACK PAGE
SEE BLOWER, BACK PAGE
According to the county, Sisson “promotes public health through her passion for urban farming (and) … views farming as an extension of public health efforts to increase access to healthy and affordable foods.”
HOW TO REACH US www.davisenterprise.com Main line: 530-756-0800 Circulation: 530-756-0826
WED • FRI • $1
http://facebook.com/ TheDavisEnterpriseNewspaper http://twitter.com/D_Enterprise
Crider Law Group Estate Planning and Elder Law
TM
Love Local. Bank Local.
Personal Injury Civil Litigation
The region’s only community bank with a local mortgage division.
MATTHEW CRIDER
thatsmybank.com Equal Housing Lender | Member FDIC
Attorney at Law crider law group
530-771-6887
530.304.4947
kimeichorn.com keichorn@golyon.com CA DRE# 01196250
732 THIRD STREET, SUITE B DOWNTOWN DAVIS 530-238-5111
WWW.MICHAELSCHAPS.COM