The Davis Enterprise Friday, October 14, 2022

Allegations against Partida roil council race

By anne ternuS-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

While the proposed Davis Innova tion and Sustainability Campus — rejected by voters in June — has been the primary issue in the campaign for City Council District 4 (incumbent Councilwoman Gloria Partida sup ported the project while challenger Adam Morrill opposed it), the race took an ugly turn over another mat ter altogether in recent days.

Some residents, including several Morrill supporters, have taken to social media and local blogs contend ing Partida was convicted of a felony more than 20 years ago and failed to disclose it when filing for office.

But the Yolo County and Sacra mento County district attorney’s offices disagree with that assessment.

The crime Partida was charged with in 1999 — fraud to obtain aid — was a wobbler, meaning it could be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, and after Partida pleaded no contest, paid restitution and followed all other requirements of the court, the offense was reduced to a misdemeanor and dismissed in 2005, according to the Yolo County DA’s Office.

Philanthropists pledge $50M for UCD

By CaleB Hampton Enterprise staff writer

Philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick, who co-own The Wonderful Company, have pledged $50 million to support research on agricultural innova tion and environmental sus tainability at UC Davis, the university announced Thursday at a press conference on cam pus. It is the largest gift ever made to UC Davis by individual donors.

Much of the philanthropic

donation will go towards estab lishing the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Center for Agricultural Innovation, while $10 million will fund annual research grants through the Resnick Agricultural Innovation Research Fund.

“Protecting and preserving our planet for the future means we must take bold steps and push the boundaries of what’s possible,” Stewart Resnick, who is also a member of Chancellor May’s Board of Advisors, told the UC Davis news service. “UC

Davis is at the forefront of tack ling climate change, developing groundbreaking technologies and solutions to reduce our col lective carbon footprint, and creating a more sustainable agriculture system.”

The Resnicks planned to attend Thursday’s press confer ence at UC Davis but were pre vented from doing so by flight delays, campus officials said.

Work on the design for the Resnick Center is expected to begin this year, with construc tion of the 40,000-square-foot

Yolo County undersheriff retires

By lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office announced changes to its command-staff ranks earlier this week.

Dale Johnson, under sheriff to Sheriff-Coroner Tom Lopez since 2019, retired Oct. 1 after more than 30 years with the agency. During that time he worked in all divisions of the office, serving in every sworn rank.

Lopez said he selected Johnson as his undersheriff due to his superior leader ship skills, along with the respect he’d earned both within the Sheriff’s Office and countywide.

helped usher in the

that my adminis tration has madBe within the Sheriff’s Office

the last three years

COVID-19,” Lopez said. “Dale will be missed, but has earned his retirement and I wish him a long and healthy future.”

Johnson joined the Sher iff’s Office in 1992 follow ing six years of service in the Army. His assignments as a deputy included the detention and field opera tions divisions, field train ing officer, agent with the Yolo Narcotic Enforcement Team and SWAT team.

Promoted to sergeant in 2000, Johnson worked the marine patrol and investigations divisions, the Yolo County Gang Task Force, and led SWAT team operations.

center slated for completion by 2026, according to a campus press release. The center, described in the release as a “state-of-the-art hub,” will include classrooms, research and lab spaces, and student career and advising support. It will be built near the current plant sciences building off Hutchison Drive.

“This gift aims to help our greatest scientific minds rise to the great challenge of our time

University AI monitors students’ social media

By CaleB Hampton Enterprise staff writer

For the past several years, UC Davis has con tracted an artificial intel ligence company to monitor its students’ social media accounts.

The company, Detect, formerly called Social Sentinel, markets its AI service as a way for col leges to identify warnings or cries for help posted to social media by students at risk of harming them selves or others. Accord ing to Detect co-founder Gary Margolis, hundreds of universities and K-12 schools across the country

have contracted the com pany to screen social media posts related to their campuses.

Many of these schools may have adopted the service — modeled to be a “digital beat cop” — as an additional security mea sure amid a rash of highprofile school shootings. However, activists and First Amendment experts have warned there is little accountability around how campus police departments use the tech nology.

Last month, the Dallas Morning News published

At left, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May sits in the front row Thursday at the announcement of a $50 million pledge to support research on agricultural innovation and environmental sustainability.

Caleb Hampton/ enterprise pHoto

See pleDGe,

The Resnick Center, right, will be a “state-of-the-art hub,” including classrooms, research and lab spaces, and student career and advising support.

Courtesy pHoto

Yolo County Undersheriff Dale Johnson retired Oct. 1.

Briefly

Class of ’92 plans reunion

Members of the Davis High Class of 1992 are invited to the 30th reunion celebration on Nov. 5 at Super Owl Brewing in Stonegate.

Pre-registration is required by Oct. 28.

Visit https://DHS92. eventbrite.com to find details and to secure a ticket.

Train hits man in East Davis

A pedestrian died Thursday night after apparently being struck by a train along Second Street near Cousteau Place in East Davis.

Davis police, fire crews, ambulance per sonnel and Union Pacific Railroad police responded to the scene, where an Amtrak employee reported the incident shortly before 8 p.m.

“We arrived on scene to find a male subject and determined he was deceased,” Davis Fire Department Bat talion Chief Mike Por ter said.

No additional details about the victim or cir cumstances of the colli sion were released pending an investiga tion by Union Pacific police and the Yolo County Coroner’s Office.

Amtrak travel through the area was expected to be delayed.

It’s not always caviar and canapés

As part of my duties at Davis' Only Local Newspa per, I spend most every Saturday in the fall covering UC Davis football games.

It's hard work, but someone has to do it.

Because sportswriters tend to be a spoiled lot who require their sur roundings to be pristine and per fect before they begin to pound out their stories, we are required to sit in a press box that separates us from the commoners in the crowd who might try to influence our judgment, or, heaven forbid, buy us a beer.

Contrary to popular opinion, press boxes are not plush palaces with comfy high-back chairs that swivel and swirl so we can follow the action from one end of the field to the other. No, we sit on hard metal folding chairs on loan from the kindergarten cafeteria at the local elementary school.

We do have beautiful, large pic ture windows to provide us a per fect view of the action unfolding below, but most press boxes are sealed up tight so you don't get even a hint of crowd noise, which is unfortunate.

Believe it or not, crowd noise is as important as the action on the field in creating an exciting atmo sphere. I covered games in com pletely empty stadiums during COVID and never made it past the third quarter without falling asleep.

Cheering is strictly prohibited in the press box, a lesson every rookie sportswriter learns on the very first day on the job. If you wish to root for the home team — or the enemy — buy yourself a ticket and a hot dog, and sit in the stands.

We do have our own bathroom, but it's always busy due to the fact that soda pop is free in the press box, which has a direct effect on consumption.

Because members of the press are notorious moochers, we expect the host institution to feed us.

Most of them oblige. Some do so grudgingly. A few scattered bags of M&Ms does not qualify as a meal.

Most schools put out their press box spread an hour before game time. Some wait until halftime, but that is becoming less common given that the rush to get from your seat to the lunch wagon the second the clock strikes zero has led to a number of broken bones and, worse yet, ketchup on the keyboard.

It used to be that those of us who type for a living would show

up one minute before game time. That's early by our standards. But now, if they put the food out four hours ahead of time, we'll be there promptly, chowing down ambi dextrously.

But my do the offerings vary from venue to venue.

UC Davis likes to mix things up from one game to another. Chickfil-A sandwiches with their lonely solo pickle chip one Saturday, Beach Hut Deli sandwiches the next and maybe 10 extra-large piz zas for a rivalry game.

Earlier this year the offering was a complete meal from Raising Cane's — four pieces of chicken, coleslaw, fries, Texas toast, special sauce — and it was all gone before some folks had even arrived. Pre dictably, heads rolled.

Hell hath no fury like a hungry sportswriter.

The esteemed University of California at Berkeley, which pays its football coach $4 million a year to beat Stanford, guards its press box food as if it were gold. Your press pass has a meal ticket attached and it is removed by a security guard before you enter the dining area so you can't come back for seconds.

When the Aggies visited Straw berry Canyon to open the season, Cal offered assorted wraps, Caesar salad and popcorn. However, put ting popcorn onto your Caesar salad is frowned upon.

The wraps came in a variety of flavors, all neatly wrapped in butcher paper bearing that iconic "Cal" logo. There was ham and turkey and roast beef and — you'd better sit down — the only-inBerkeley "Cauliflower Wrap.”

Talk about misreading the room, the cauliflower wraps sat in a large pile, untouched by human hands, all game long. It marked the first time in NCAA history that there was still food in the press box at the end of a game.

Stanford, on the other hand, puts out a glitzy buffet. The game I covered there several years ago had an 11 a.m. start, so the Cardi nal folks put out doughnuts and bagels and breakfast burritos for the breakfast lovers and hot dogs,

make-your-own sandwiches and ice cream for those who preferred lunch.

Notre Dame has hot dogs and many famous faces in its press box, and you must say grace before you eat, given that touch down Jesus looms high above the stadium.

Weber State, in beautiful Utah, goes whole-hog with hot soup, cold salad and fancy cupcakes from a famous bakery in down town Ogden.

When the Aggies played in Cheney several years ago on a December afternoon with snow surrounding the field and the tem perature 21 degrees at kickoff, the Eastern Washington press box featured a huge pot of steaming chili with sour cream and shred ded cheese and chopped chives on the side.

USC spares no expense with its spread at the L.A. Coli seum, while Corvallis had lasagne and salad the last time I visited Oregon State's press box. Down the road in Eugene, the Ducks put out so much food I lost track of the game.

The University of North Dakota

plays indoors at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks and the press box juts off a long hallway that also features a number of suites that corporate donors and alums have purchased for friends and family.

As I walked that hallway an hour before game time, I came across a cart covered with crushed ice, on top of which were jumbo shrimp the size of my fist, com plete with horseradish-laced cock tail sauce. At last, I thought, my ship has arrived.

As I was about to enter the press box, the corner of my eye caught someone in a chef's apron starting to give all those shrimp a ride down the hallway in the opposite direction of where I would be sit ting.

Seeing the crestfallen look on my face, he stopped for a minute to console me.

"These are for the super boost ers in the suite at the end of the hall," he said, gesturing at the shrimp.

"There's popcorn and pop for you guys in the press box." Sportswriting. It's either feast or famine.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

UC Davis team earns grant to study pandemic fallout

Special to The Enterprise

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences has awarded a $3 million research grant to a Univer sity of California, Davis-led research team to assess pandemic recovery efforts undertaken by the Califor nia Community Colleges.

The goal of this threeyear project, “Evidence to Inform Improvement: Sup porting California Commu nity Colleges in Pandemic Recovery,” is to build understanding of effective strategies to keep commu nity college students on a path to completion during the disruptions of COVID19 and to inform institu tional responses in future periods of disruption. It will also inform institu tional support for students more broadly, as many who attend community colleges experience other barriers that impact their enroll ment and persistence.

“Helping community col lege students succeed fits with our mission of educa tion as a path to upward

social mobility,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “This study will pro vide the blueprint for us to better support these stu dents as they navigate chal lenges.”

The project will leverage the research expertise of faculty and staff of the Cali fornia Education Lab and administrative data avail able to the lab through a data sharing partnership with the California Com munity Colleges Chancel lor’s Office.

Michal Kurlaender, pro fessor of education, will lead the project team, along with School of Education Professor Paco Mar torell and Department of Economics Professor Scott Carrell. Other partners include the California Community Colleges Chan cellor’s Office, or CCCCO, and the Public Policy Institute of Califor nia, or PPIC.

The three-year project will document California Community Colleges’ recovery activities and how supplemental federal, state

Fire crews halt southside blaze

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

An accidental fire dam aged a South Davis house Wednesday afternoon, according to the Davis Fire Department.

Battalion Chief Emily Lo said the fire began on the stove shortly before 3 p.m. and spread from the

kitchen to the living room of the Donovan Court home before crews brought it to a halt. Other parts of the house sustained smoke damage.

The resident of the home was able to escape the blaze and call the fire depart ment, and firefighters avoided injuries as well, Lo said.

and philanthropic dollars were used to support them. Co-principal investigators for this project include John Hetts and Valerie Lundy-Wagner of the CCCCO, and Olga Rodri guez and Hans Johnson of PPIC.

“We are eager to deepen our investigation of suc cessful strategies to recon nect students to college trajectories that were slowed or interrupted by the pandemic,” said Kur laender. “These federal resources are critical sup port for this work.”

In addition, researchers

will identify which of these recovery activities contrib uted to improved student outcomes to inform Cali fornia Community Colleges leaders and state policy makers on best practices for improving outcomes post-pandemic.

“This research is essen tial to our ongoing efforts to use evidence-based strat egies to further accelerate our recovery efforts for col leges and students,” said Interim California Com munity Colleges Chancellor Daisy Gonzales. “Our col laboration on data collec tion and analysis will

provide important addi tional evidence to inform and guide statewide policy efforts, campus leadership, technical assistance and professional development.”

In addition to the $3 million research grant, the Wheelhouse center was also awarded $600,000 from IES, through a part nership with the Commu nity College Research Center, to support conven ings of a new national net work of research teams investigating community college responses to COVID-19.

Shockingly,

Calendar Saturday

n The Davis Schools Foundation will reopen the Flying Carousel of the Delta Breeze in Davis' Central Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Festivi ties will include live music, free biodegrad able balloons and oppor tunities for kids to ride the refurbished carousel. For information on the refurbishment, visit https://www.daviss choolsfoundation.org/ carousel.

n The Davis Phoenix Coalition will host the Upstander Carnival from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Davis’ Central Park, Fifth and C streets. The carnival is free and consists of carni val style games with an added element of teach ing elementary age kids how to recognize bullying and be Upstanders rather than bystanders when it happens. There will be resources, prizes and a fun zone. The event seeks sponsors and volunteers; reach out to admin@ davisphoenixco.org.

Sunday

n The Episcopal Church of St. Martin, continues its free Seeds of Justice lecture series online at 4 p.m. Melinda Adams (N’dee San Carlos Apache), Ph.D. candidate in the UC Davis depart ment of Native American studies, will offer a pre sentation on “Cultural Fire, Storytelling, and Reclaiming Indigenous Land Stewardship Prac tices.” Register at: https://us06web.zoom. us/meeting/register/ tZMsf–tpzssHtICxG Y1NktNIDBFB-7NNy2V.

Tuesday

n The Davis Geneal ogy Club will host a pre sentation on the big screen at the Davis Senior Center, "Crossing the Pond to Scandinavia" by Jill Morelli, CG, CGL. Learn about the most essential tools required for today’s genealogist. The meeting runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at 646 A St. To register to attend in per son, email President@ DavisGenealogy.org or call Lisa Henderson at 530-753-8943 by Oct. 17. Masks strongly sug gested. Zoom guest passes also available via email. Visit DavisGenealogy.org for more.

Friday, Oct. 21

n The UC Davis Arbo retum hosts a Folk Music Jam Session from noon to 1 p.m. Folk musicians are once again invited to bring their acoustic instruments and play together informally dur ing this jam session at Wyatt Deck (next to the redwood grove). All skill levels welcome and lis teners are invited. Shortterm parking is available in Visitor Lot 5 on Old Davis Road at Arbore tum Drive. Hourly rates start at $1.75.

n The Avid Reader will host Patricia Turner, author of “Trash Talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century,” from 6 to 7 p.m. The bookstore is at at 617 Second St. in downtown Davis. Find detailed information at www.avidreaderbooks. com.

Saturday, Oct. 22

n The UC Davis Arbo retum hosts a Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Shop the 1-acre Teaching Nursery at 1046 Garrod Drive on campus for an incredible selection of Arboretum All-Stars, California natives and thousands of other attractive, low-water plants perfect for this region. Members of the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden and the Davis Botanical Society receive 10 percent off their pur chases. Join online or at the gate; new members receive a $10-off coupon as a thank-you for join ing.

n Yolo County Library and the Parks Division of the Yolo County General Services Department will team up to launch the free Go Wild Yolo event to inspire kids and their families to get outdoors and investigate the won ders of the natural world. A kickoff event from 1o a.m. to 1 p.m. will be activity-filled with arts and crafts, guided nature walks, live bug demon strations, and will pro vide a sneak peek at the library’s new Nature Explorer Backpacks at Capay Open Space Park, 15603 County Road 85 in Capay.

Sunday, Oct. 23

n Capay Valley Vision will host the 21st annual Taste of Capay from 1 to 5 p.m. at Luna Lavender Farms, 7086 County Road 49 in Guinda. Taste of Capay is a longstand ing event in the Capay Valley and meant to cele brate the bounty of food grown in the community. The event will feature a multi-course dinner, music, silent auction and a live auction during din ner. Tickets for the event are available at https:// toc_2022.eventbrite. com. Each ticket is $75, and a table for eight guests is $560.

Friday, Nov. 4

n The Avid Reader will host Poetry Night, featuring Carmen Micsa, Veronica Jarboe and Andres Naffis-Sahely, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The bookstore is at at 617 Second St. in downtown Davis. Find detailed information at www. avidreaderbooks.com.

Sunday, Nov. 13

n The Episcopal Church of St. Martin, continues its free Seeds of Justice lecture series online at 4 p.m. John M. Liu, professor emeritus in the departments of Asian American studies and sociology at UC Irvine will offer a presen tation on “How Manifest Destiny Changed the Color of Labor.” Learn more at https:// churchofstmartin. org/2022/08/03/savethe-date-seeds-of-jus tice-continues/.

Friday, Dec. 6

n The Avid Reader will host Catriona McPherson, author of “Scot in a Trap,” from 6 to 7 p.m. The bookstore is at at 617 Second St. in downtown Davis. Find detailed information at www.avidreaderbooks. com.

Metzker to head community development

By Anne Ternus-BellAmy Enterprise staff writer

Sherri Metzker has been named the city’s commu nity development director effective immediately, City Manager Mike Webb announced this week.

Metzker joined the city staff in 2018 to lead the daily operations of the Planning Department, serving as principal plan ner. Previously she served as the community develop ment director for the city of Rocklin and had her own consulting business with the city of Folsom as one of her primary clients.

As director of commu nity development in Davis, “Sherri will be responsible for the vision and direction related to community change evolution, enhance ment and preservation,” the city’s announcement stated.

“Sherri stepped up dur ing a time of need and has shown great leadership and collaboration,” said Webb. “Sherri has been instru mental in leading the myr iad tasks related to community development. Her dependable and steady hand, combined with her considerable experience, is a tremendous benefit to our projects and planning ser vices.”

Metzker said she truly appreciates “the confidence that the city manager has placed with me.

“This is a challenging yet exciting time for the city, both with the Downtown Plan coming to completion and with determining the future direction for Davis in the General Plan update ahead. I look forward to working on both.”

Metzker earned her bachelor’s degree in Urban,

Commu nity and Regional Planning from Iowa State Uni versity and a master’s degree in Public Adminis tration from California State San Bernardino.

In addition to naming Metzker community devel opment director, the city also announced recruit ment plans for an economic development director to oversee and implement programs and projects designed to promote com munity vitality, nurture the existing business climate and shepherd expansion of the local economy.

The city manager split the role of the vacant

assistant city manager position, previously held by Ashley Feeney, into the community development director and an economic development director. Eco nomic development will be housed in the city manag er’s office in an effort to streamline city-wide initia tives and to actively engage across all city departments, Webb said.

In a related move, the city is also working to shift the sustainability program from community develop ment to the city manager’s office to assist in the imple mentation of climate action goals in the community and across all city depart ments.

The recruitment for the economic development director role will be posted in November at: https:// www.governmentjobs.com/ careers/davis.

United Way seeks volunteers for reading program

Special to The Enterprise

SACRAMENTO — Volunteers are needed in person and virtually at schools in Woodland to help children improve their reading through United Way California Capital Region’s STARS program.

No prior tutoring knowledge is needed, as United Way provides training for volunteers, all of whom commit to at least one hour each week split into two 30-minute sessions of small group tutoring for three months. In-person volunteers are especially needed, and teens are wel come to apply. Volunteers also are needed for Sacramento schools. For more information or to sign up to volunteer: YourLocalUnitedWay.org/ STARS.

“Our STARS volunteers play such an important role in helping kids get on track with reading, but they also become role models for the kids and help them build confidence,” said Dr. Dawnté Early, president and CEO, United Way California Capital Region. “We know that if kids aren’t

A local United Way volunteer works with children on their reading.

reading at grade level by fourth grade, they will have a much harder time keeping up in all school subjects. We also know that education is a ladder out of poverty. Our STARS volunteers can truly change the course of a child’s life.”

The local United Way has been helping children improve literacy for more than five years, including through its AARP Experience Corps program that paired retirees with children in schools before the pan demic hit. United Way’s STARS uses the BookNook platform to virtually

Pets of the week

Special to The Enterprise

Lots of animals are wait ing for “forever homes” at the Yolo County Animal Shelter, 2640 E. Gibson Road in Woodland.

Among them is Olivia, (A196974), a 1-year-old female German shepherd who still has puppy energy.

She'd love to go to a home willing to help continue her training to learn proper manners during play and walks. Olivia could potentially do well with another dog if it is a good match in energy, and would do best in a home with no young children. Olivia enjoys calm cuddles and has a desire to learn.

Also hoping for a good home is Ryder (A196960), a sweet, 2-year-old border collie who is a very smart boy and will do best in a

home that can help keep him stimulated and enter tained. Ryder is a happy and high-energy dog. His enthusiasm for life would make Ryder a great run ning buddy. Ryder gets excited when meeting new people, but once he gets his wiggles out, he loves to sit for treats to show you his tricks. He and will ben efit from additional train ing, a job or the possibility to spend time in open spaces as a farm dog.

For information on adopting, contact adopty cas@gmail.com. All shel ter animals are up-to-date on vaccinations, micro chipped, and spayed or neutered.

Staff is available to assist via phone during business hours at 530-6685287. Shelter hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to

Olivia Ryder

work through literacy curriculum with participants and build their vocabulary, fluency and comprehen sion skills through a variety of games, books and lessons provided in the online portal during the pandemic. The program is now offering in-per son opportunities alongside its virtual platform.

United Way California Capital Region has been working to fight poverty for nearly 100 years by creat ing stronger, healthier, more compas sionate communities, now serving Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacra mento and Yolo counties. The local United Way has found one place in each community to reach the most families in need: School is Square 1 for ending family poverty. United Way uses its Square One approach to end poverty for local families by help ing children excel in school, investing in families, and strengthening schools with resources to address increased poverty and deep roots of racial inequality.

Learn more or make a donation at YourLocalUnitedWay.org.

Surfer Dude

Kona

Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. To meet any adoptable YCAS animals, visit friendsofy cas.org. To volunteer, sign up at tinyurl.com/yolovol unteerapp. Follow on at @ ycas.shelter and Instagram at @yoloanimalshelter.At Rotts of Friends Animal Rescue, you’ll find Kona, a 3-year-old petite spayed female Rottie mix. She is a great dog — wonderful with kids, loves to play with other dogs and is housebroken. Kona lived in a loving family for her first three years but due to unfortunate circumstances she has to find a new home. Kona needs a brush up on her obedience train ing but she comes with free lifetime classes.

Surfer Dude is a 1½-yearold, mostly black, neutered male Chihuahua. He is shy but is getting less shy by the day. He loves to play with other dogs and could prob ably get used to living with

cats. He’s a cutie who loves lap time and is looking for a new BFF.

The next Rotts of Friends adoption event is from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at 34505 County Road 29 in Woodland. Come by 10 a.m., as it takes at least an hour to meet and adopt a dog; everyone who will be living with the dog should come out to meet it.

Bring proof of home ownership, such as a mort gage statement or property tax bill. If you rent, please bring proof that you are allowed to have a dog in your home, such as a pet clause in your lease or a note from your landlord.

All dogs adopted from Rotts of Friends are healthy, microchipped, upto-date on their vaccines and come with free life time obedience-training classes. For information, visit facebook.com/rotts offriends.

METZKER Starts immediately

Courtesy photo

Briefly

Hear about Opera House ghost

Woodland Opera House’s latest play, “The Ghost of the Woodland Opera House,” presents the story of a visiting drama group whose preparations are dis rupted by strange events, and here’s the Halloween angle: some of the story is true.

On the current edi tion of the KDRT pro gram “Davisville,” host Bill Buchanan talks with co-authors Mat thew Abergel and Bob Cooner about their play and its connections to the history of Wood land.

KDRT-LP, 95.7 FM presents “Davisville” on Mondays at 5:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 5 p.m., Fridays at 12:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 8:30 a.m.

The current program will be broadcast through Oct. 22, and is available anytime at https://kdrt.org/ davisville or on Apple podcasts.

DHS club puts on Fall Fesival

The Davis High School Community Club will present its Fall Festival from noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, in the MPR at North Davis Elemen tary School, 555 E. 14th St. in Davis.

DHSCC is a non profit, student-run organization that orga nizes and runs its own community-service events. The goal of DHSCC is to bring our community together and make community service an enjoyable experience.

The club invites com munity organizations to come and showcase youth programs, chari ties and resources in Davis. It will be hosting youth organizations, raffles, games, crafts, activities and food trucks.

This event will be aimed at elementaryschool students from around Davis, with the goal of helping the youth attendees find themselves and their passions.

CalRTA offers more grants

The California Retired Teachers Asso ciation offers its second of three statewide grant programs for this school year. Thirty-five $100 grants will be offered each round.

No strings ... teachers can the money for your classroom. Deadline to register is Oct. 26 at https://bit.ly/calrta grants1022. Or log on to the CalRTA Face book page, https:// www.facebook.com/ CalRTA and register there.

The CalRTA will randomly select 35 teachers and notify them via email. For questions about CalRTA, contact https://calrta.org/.

In addition, Division 83 will be offering five grants just for Yolo County Educators who registered.

Members of CalRTA also funded more than $600,000 in grants and scholarships to schools as well as cur rent and future teach ers. CalRTA’s mission is to protect and advocate for retired and active educators, pensions and other retirement benefits, and to support public education in Cal ifornia communities.

PLEDGE: Resnicks big players in food business

— the sustainability of our planet for future genera tions,” Stewart Resnick said. “Lynda, I, and The Wonderful Company are proud to partner with UC Davis to support this allimportant work.”

The center will focus on five research areas including identifying innovative solu tions for agricultural byproducts, maximizing water and energy efficien cies, developing next-gener ation technologies, making crops more resilient and sustainable in the face of climate change, and expanding access to nutri tious food.

“Thanks to this historic gift from Lynda and Stew art Resnick, UC Davis will further expand its global reach, helping to shape the future of sustainable food production,” said Gary S. May, chancellor, UC Davis.

“This gift demonstrates a continued commitment to innovative environmental stewardship and allows us to create science-based solutions that can be rap idly deployed while miti gating the impacts of climate change.”

The Resnick Agricultural Innovation Research Fund will support research grants and aim to “strengthen the network among research faculty, agricultural produc ers, food companies, phar maceutical companies, commodity boards, and other key stakeholders,” the press release said. Competi tive research granted will be awarded annually to UC Davis faculty and Coopera tive Extension specialists beginning this year. The research will focus on iden tifying value-added proper ties in pistachio, almond and pomegranate byprod ucts.

“Many specialty crop

byproducts are treasure troves of compounds that can promote health, improve soil quality, influ ence microbial ecology, or be converted into valuable products,” said Helene Dil lard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environ mental Sciences. “This transformative gift will

help increase the potential of these byproducts, enhance sustainability and create new markets.”

The center will provide advising and career sup port for students, including several dozen Wonderful Scholars enrolled at UC Davis. Nearly three decades ago, the Resnicks created

the Wonderful Scholarship program to give college scholarships to the children of Wonderful employees from the Central Valley, many of whom are firstgeneration college stu dents.

The Wonderful Com pany is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Its brands include FIJI Water, POM Wonderful, Wonder ful Pistachios and Land mark wines. To date, the Resnicks have invested more than $2.3 billion in philanthropy, with more than half going towards efforts to promote environ mental sustainability and combat climate change.

“The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Center for Agricul tural Innovation will be a game-changer for research and teaching,” said Shaun B. Keister, vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations

PARTIDA: Candidate adamant she followed relevant rules

However, the record, listing the offense as a felony, was not removed from the Yolo County courts’ public-facing website until this week, prompting individuals to screenshot and circulate it, and question whether Partida had been dishonest in not disclosing a prior felony conviction when she filed papers for re-election.

According to a representative from the Yolo County DA’s Office, the offense involved was one not uncommon among low-income individuals receiving public assis tance, who are required to list household composition, including extended family members, when filling out paperwork. In this case, Partida, who was a single mother of three young children — one with cerebral palsy — when she came to Davis to attend school in 1989, had filed a form which prosecutors alleged misrepresented that.

Partida has declined to go into detail about the incident, which she has said involved her brother, “and the circumstances are deeply personal and painful.”

“Sometimes unfortunate circum stances happen to people, espe cially people with little resources, that we handle the best way we can,” she said, adding that the details “are painful and I don’t wish to disclose them.”

But the bottom line, she said, “is that I followed all legally autho rized processes to resolve the mat ter, including what was needed to obtain court orders to render the incident a misdemeanor for all purposes and obtain an expunge ment of my record.

“When I filed for a new term on the City Council and declared that I met the eligibility criteria, I did so in good faith and in accordance with the law. I have been assured by my legal counsel and the Dis trict Attorney’s Office that my response was in full compliance with the law.”

That Partida was in full compli ance with the law was the same message provided when a Morrill supporter in August asked the city

to look into whether Partida had violated the law in not disclos ing a felony con viction on her 2022 candidate filings.

Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel referred the mat ter to the Yolo County DA’s Office, which in turn referred it to the Sacramento County DA’s Office for investiga tion because the Yolo County office works with Partida as part of her duties on the City Council.

The Sacramento DA’s Office determined she had committed no crime in not disclosing a felony conviction because it had been reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged. Had the offense been a felony and not reduced to a misde meanor, she might, in some cases, still be required to report it even after expungement, according to the Yolo County DA's Office.

“After thorough review of all the materials along with applicable statutes and case law, we have determined there is no criminal conduct committed by Ms. Partida on her Declaration of Candidacy and filing of that (Declaration of Candidacy) document,” the Sacra mento DA’s office reported.

Rumor mill churns

Meanwhile, Morrill’s supporters have also been circulating video from a candidate forum held last month in which they claim Partida was dishonest about her history.

During that forum, written ques tions were submitted by audience members, including one asking, “Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime?”

Morrill’s response to the ques tion: “In (1992) I got a speeding ticket after I got my license and then I got another one in 2000 and then I’ve passed multiple back ground exams for different agen cies. I’ve passed a psych evaluation for a fire department, polygraph exam and fingerprinting, and other

than those two tickets, that’s it.”

Partida’s response to the ques tion: “When I lived in (Los Ange les) I was handed down a (1969) Impala, which was actually a police magnet, and I was pulled over on multiple occasions and that contin ued until I bought a minivan. But yes, I have been arrested and so I’ve had that experience with the police. I still respect the police greatly.”

Alan Pryor, a supporter of Morrill who has contributed financially to his campaign, argued in a blog post this week that Partida, in that response, “did not disclose her prior felony conviction and seemed to imply that her only prior interactions with law enforcement stemmed from her owning the Impala because it was a ‘police magnet.’”

Partida’s reply: “I was asked whether I had ever been arrested or convicted of a crime.

“I responded by giving examples of police encounters I had had while driving,” she said. “I also affirmed in my response that I had the experience of being arrested. Have I ever been con victed of a crime? Yes. Do I cur rently have a conviction? No.

“Answering this question in a way that doesn’t create misunder standing takes more than the brief response time allowed in the forum. Moreover, I have received legal advice that I am under no obligation to disclose this prior conviction, given that it was reduced to a misdemeanor and set aside.”

She added that the community has “a right to hold me to a high standard, and my sincere hope in sharing this information with you is that you will take into account my long history of commitment to our community.

“I sincerely hope that all of my work in the community will allow you to put this issue into the proper context.”

Partida’s work in the community since her arrival here has been well-documented, including in 2017 when she received the A.G. Brinley Award for outstanding service to the community. She arrived in Davis in 1989 to

study neurobiology at UC Davis and became active in local efforts at full inclusion in the Davis school system and stayed involved in dis ability advocacy.

But the contribution she was best known for came in 2013 after her then teenage son was assaulted in a hate crime, targeted for his sexual orientation.

After that violent crime, which left Mikey with a fractured skull and brain bleed, Partida cofounded the Davis Phoenix Coali tion to focus on inclusion for young members of the LGBT community as well as to fight bullying, includ ing in the city’s schools.

When she ran for City Council in 2018, she was the top vote-getter in a field of nine candidates, becoming the city’s first Latina council mem ber and, later, its first Latina mayor.

She’s now in a battle with Morrill to represent District 4 on the Davis City Council.

Morrill, who opposed DiSC, said he decided to run for council after the project was rejected by voters in June. The council’s unanimous decision to place it on the ballot for a second time in two years, he said, showed the council was out of touch with residents.

Asked for comment on the cur rent controversy surrounding Par tida, Morrill said, “I am aware that the public has questions about Gloria Partida’s past and/or the applicable laws pertaining to city council participation.

“I have no first hand experience on these legal matters, so I can’t really comment on them. However, I would suggest that Gloria and the city and county elections clerks provide all the documentation nec essary to clarify these matters for the public. I will continue to focus on our need to update and follow a citizen-based general plan, and to align the city budget with commu nity values and priorities.”

While declining to go into details about the original offense, Partida said, “this does not change the per son I have always strived to be. A person that is committed to my community and speaking up for the most vulnerable.”

UNDERSHERIFF: Lopez names Davis as next person up

As a lieutenant assigned to the administration divi sion, Johnson oversaw the personnel, civil, profes sional standards, training and SWAT units. He became a captain in charge of field operations in 2013 and served as commander of the detention division in 2019 prior to being named undersheriff.

Johnson earned numer ous honors along the way, including Deputy of the Year in 1995, Sworn Man ager of the Year in 2007 and 2010, along with mul tiple commendations from elected officials.

On Monday, Lopez announced Johnson’s replacement: Matt Davis, an 18-year Sheriff’s Office veteran.

Lopez said he sought a second-in-command “that represents the future in law

enforcement: a person that is educated, well spoken, has excellent writing abili ties, is in touch with what our diverse communities expect from law enforce ment, has been loyal, com mitted and respected within this agency.”

A longtime Yolo County resident, Davis began working for the Sheriff’s Office in 2004 after earn ing his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Sac ramento State University.

As a deputy, Davis held assignments including resi dent deputy — in which officers are assigned to the communities where they live — Capay Augmented Patrol, and field training officer.

Promotions followed to sergeant in 2013, lieuten ant in 2019 and captain in 2021, with Davis serving in supervisory and manage ment roles for the field operations, detention and

administration divisions. He took on Honor Guard, Crisis Negotiation Team and public information officer positions as well.

Davis’ peers selected him as Deputy of the Year in 2006, and he earned Sworn Manager of the Year

honors in 2015.

All those achievements made Davis “a natural choice” for undersheriff, Lopez said.

“Undersheriff Davis will assist in leading our 300 dedicated employees as we enter a new era of policing

and the challenges that every law enforcement agency has with recruit ment and retention of their staff,” he said. “I look for ward to our agency’s future and the service that we provide the citizens of Yolo County.”

Courtesy photo

Longtime Yolo County resident Matt Davis is the county’s new undersheriff.

PARTIDA

Caleb hampton/enterprise photo

UC Davis Chancellor Gary May speaks Thursday at the announcement of a gift from Lynda and Stewart Resnick of $50 million to support research at the university.

Genealogy Club looks at Scandinavian roots

Special to The Enterprise

The Davis Genealogy Club pres ents a free virtual program to a vir tual and live audience, "Crossing the Pond to Scandinavia" by Jill Morelli, CG, CGL on Tuesday, Oct. 18. The remote presentation will be shown at an in-person gathering from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A St., and followed by the Geneal ogy Library Gala celebration and tours for members and guests.

If you have Scandinavian ancestry in your documentary trail, in the stories your family told you, or in your ethnicity estimates, you might find this presentation clears up some questions and puts you on a path for success. The club will explore the records of Norway, Sweden and Denmark while showing the easiest way to identify the parish of birth, exploring the broad context, and understanding the handwriting of the 1800s for each. We will even dis cuss those pesky DNA percentages of Scandinavian in your ethnicity esti mates.

Morelli is a writer, lecturer and cofounder of the online Applied Gene alogy Institute, providing practicum-based educational oppor tunities for intermediate and advanced genealogists. In 2017, she founded the Certification Discussion Group, an online series discussing her certification journey to demystify

the process for others. She special izes in Scandinavian research and is constantly honing her methodologi cal skills.

She lectures nationally and has written articles for National Genea logical Society Quarterly, Swedish American Genealogist, NCGS Jour nal and many others. Morelli is past president of the Seattle Genealogi cal Society, co-chair of SGS Centen nial 2023, Puget Sound-APG program chair, and a member of many local and national genealogi cal societies.

All in-person attendees must reg ister in advance by Oct. 17. Email President@davisgenealogy.org or call Lisa Henderson at 530-7538943. Masks are strongly sug gested. Zoom guest passes also available via email. The Genealogy Library is again open to the general public in the Davis Senior Center on Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Visit DavisGenealogy. org for more about the library and club programs.

Davis Community Church hosts series on dementia

Special to The Enterprise

Over the next 14 months, Davis Commu nity Church will offer “Dimensions of Demen tia,” a series of educational session.

Eleven events — eight videos and three live pre sentations by experts from the Alzheimer’s Associa tion — will support those whose lives are touched by

dementing illnesses.

The videos will feature Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA. Snow’s experience in neurological impair ment care spans her per sonal and professional lives.

The classes will be on the third Sunday of each month through November 2023 (with the exceptions of December 2022, April

and August 2023) in the church Fireside Room at 412 C St. in Davis. The series begins on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and is offered free of charge. No pre-registra tion is required. The hope is that participants will find a community of mutual support and a space where questions are welcome.

The first session will focus on "Healthy Living for Your Brain and Body" and is presented by the Alzheimer’s Association.

The entire series is also available via Zoom. The Zoom link and the topics for each session are avail able on the church website at dccpres.org/classes. For assistance, call the church office at 530-753-2894.

SOCIAL: UC Davis was on board early

an investigation into Detect, which found that the com pany promoted itself to uni versity administrators as a tool that could be used for “mitigating” or “forestalling” student protests. At least some colleges used it for that purpose, the investigation found.

“What the technology allows you to do is identify individuals who are associ ated together or are associ ated with a place or location,”

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, told the Dal las Morning News. “That is obviously somewhat chilling for First Amendment free doms of people who believe in a right to protest and dis sent.”

Since 2019, the company has also offered colleges the ability to monitor students’ school email accounts. The practice is common among K-12 schools, but the Dallas Morning News said it was “unclear” whether any col leges had opted to include the email-monitoring ser vice.

Documents obtained by the newspaper suggest UC Davis was an early adopter of Social Sentinel and may have played a role in other University of California

campuses deciding to sign contracts with the company.

In December 2016, a UCLA administrator sent an email discussing the campus’ interest in purchasing Social Sentinel’s software. “Appar ently UC Davis is using and has had some success sto ries,” the administrator said. The email was obtained by the Dallas Morning News through a public records request and published this week by the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student newspaper.

On Tuesday, UC Davis officials confirmed to The Enterprise that the campus currently had a contract with Detect. “We use Social Senti nel for passive monitoring of publicly available social media posts for threats to life safety, including self-harm,” said UC Davis News and Media Relations Specialist Andy Fell. “If we get an alert, we still need to work with the company involved to fol low up.”

The UC Davis Police Department used the soft ware to detect safety threats, Fell said. “We do not moni tor student activists or pro test activity,” he added. “It is unfortunate that people use social media to highlight their desire to do self-harm but it is a way they reach out. We want to be there for them and perhaps get them the help they need.”

Courtesy photo

Jill Morelli s a writer, lecturer and co-founder of the online Applied Genealogy Institute.

Bohart Museum looking for bug tattoos

By KaThy KeaTley Garvey

Special to The Enterprise

Do you like to draw insects? Do you want to meet artists who draw insects? Do you have a tattoo of a honey bee, but terfly, moth, dragonfly, or another insect?Then

you’ll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on “Insects, Art and Cul ture” from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15 on the UC Davis campus.

The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. The event is free and family friendly.

Among artists repre sented will be UC Davis students Allen Chew, Francisco Basso and Brit tany Kohler; UC Davis alumna Megan Ma; and graduate student Srdan Tunic, plus the work of the late scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson (1905-1992), who worked for the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, the Smithso nian before retiring and moving to Davis. She also worked for UC Davis entomologists.

Tunic, a UC Davis can didate for a master’s degree in art history, will present a seminar on Benson from 11 a.m. to noon, Oct. 15, in Room 1010 of the TLC Teaching and Learning Complex, 482 Hutchison Drive.

The family arts-andcrafts activity at the open house will be to “create your own Pokemon card,” said Lynn Kimsey, direc tor of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distin guished professor of ento mology. Also planned:

This is Karissa Merritt’s tattoo of a Chinese luna moth. Merritt, a UC Davis alumna, is an entomologist and a scientific illustrator.

eating insects, creating gall ghosts (from oak galls), learning about cochineal dyes, and show ing off insect tattoos.

“We would love to have folks come and show off their insect tattoos,” Kim sey said.

The UC Davis museum, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), is dedicated to teaching, research and service. It is the home of a global col lection of eight million insect specimens. The col lection is now the seventh largest in North America and includes terrestrial and fresh water arthro pods. The museum is also home of the California Insect Survey, a store house of the insect biodi versity of California’s deserts, mountains, coast, and the Great Central Valley. In addition, the Bohart features a live “petting zoo” (Madagas car hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and taran tulas) and an insectthemed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books and insect-collecting equipment.

The Bohart is open to the public year-around (except for holidays) Monday through Thurs day from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Friday. Admission is free.

Get to know Ada Lovelace

By Sara ThompSon Special to the Enterprise

Ada Lovelace is cele brated as one of the first computer pro grammers on the second Tuesday of October. She was born in 1815, well before modern computers were invented, which makes her feat that much more impressive.

She was born Augusta Ada Byron, and referred to as “Ada” by her father. Her parents separated when she was a few weeks old. Often sick and bedridden as a child, she kept busy by studying. She had several tutors teaching her mathe matics and science, along with her own reading. In 1835 she married William King, who was created Earl of Lovelace a few years later making Ada the Countess of Lovelace.

Ada Lovelace was fasci nated by advancing scien tific knowledge and followed many fads of the time. She was close friends with Charles Babbage, known as the “father of computers,” who had designed a machine called the Difference Engine intended to perform sim ple polynomial calcula tions.

This machine preceded the Analytical Engine, which had a more sophis ticated design. Beginning in 1942, Lovelace spent most of a year translating an article written by math ematician Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine and made exten sive notes. Her notes ended up longer than the actual article she was translating.

In her notes, she made an algorithm that could program the machine to calculate Bernoulli num bers.

This algorithm is considered one of the first computer programs ever written and published, making Lovelace one of

Explorit SciEncE cEntEr

the first computer pro grammers. Her friend and colleague, Babbage, also had similar notes written in personal journals but were never published. Even if others of the time also had programs written, she was the first published, and the first woman pro grammer.

Lovelace not only wrote the Bernoulli-number cal culating algorithm, but she also spoke often of the other implications of tech nology other than simple computing. She believed that computers could use numbers to represent other objects such as music notes, letters or symbols and inferred how society could use technol ogy as a collaborative tool.

Lovelace passed away in 1852 due to uterine cancer at the age of 36. She would never see how her ideas put into motion the mod ern computer and technol ogy of today. Many regard her as the first computer programmer and she is celebrated each October in hopes of inspiring more women in mathematics and computer program ming.

Exploit’s coming events:

n Explorit is open to the public on Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays and Sun days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $5 per person. Explorit Mem bers, ASTC, and those age 2 and under free.

n A membership to Explorit grants the recipi ent free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, dis counts on events, summer camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https://

www.explorit.org/mem bership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.

n School Programs are available to schedule. We have educational programs that travel to schools and options for field trips at our facility. Please call 530-756-0191 for more information or to sched ule.

n Now is a great time to

donate and help Explorit continue to educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www. explorit.org/donate.

— Explorit Science Cen ter is at 3141 Fifth St. For information, call 530-7560191 or visit http://www. explorit.org, or “like” the Facebook page at www. facebook.com/explorit.fb.

SciEncE MuSEuM Group/ WikiMEdia coMMonS photo

A watercolor portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, likely by Alfred Edward Chalon.

kathy kEatlEy GarvEy/courtESy photo

Fall colors come out at the Pence

By Natalie Nelson Special to The Enterprise

This month, the Pence bursts with color and light, with three new exhibits opening following our Art Auction fundraiser last month. There’s always a fresh new look in the Gal lery, beginning first with Steve Briscoe’s exhibit, “Worthy Mysteries.” The exhibit includes paintings, found-object sculpture and “window boards” — a diversity of work that is linked by its methodology of reusing materials, and a focus on the theme of cog nition.

Briscoe’s sculpture includes a series of tools or “implements” that aren’t really useful. One is a long pole with a series of 10 or so antique sharp awls inserted into it, which are typically used for punching holes in leather or wood.

Other implements include a giant wooden stick with two rubber paddles, and a decorative paddle made with tiny wooden facets.

As the artist writes, since they are attached to the wall, “They become ornamental like historical armaments that have out lived their usefulness.”

Some were inspired by recent events, such as the BLM marches, the Capitol insurrection and the pan

demic. It’s always wonderful to see artists trying out new things, and Steve’s paint ings mark a return to painting after almost 20 years. They are thickly painted, with letters or

symbols dominating. They are paintings about his thought-process; some times you make out the shape of a brain, or a net work of nerves. His paint ings are motivated partially by his diagnosis

of Parkinson’s Disease to try new mental activities as well as to talk about its symptoms.

All art is conceptual, but Briscoe’s work makes you more aware of your real izations as you experience

his work, and there’s many more interesting pieces for visitors to enjoy. Some are playful and silly; some are more serious and thought ful. The exhibit is up through Nov. 5 and is sponsored by MAK Design + Build.

Across the foyer, our group exhibit combines paintings, collages, pho tography and sculpture of eight artists. “Interwoven” is an elegant, thoughtful exhibit composed of the work of Sara Post, Edith Sauer Polonik, Jamie Madison, Rachel Kline, Joan Jarvis, Hannah Klaus Hunter, Lynn Beldner and Binuta Sudhakaran.

Meeting as a critique group, these artists were unified in their interest in exploring ideas related to artmaking, and their works tend towards abstraction. They each have unique ways of push ing their materials to do innovative or unusual things, and come from dif ferent backgrounds in art and design. Some are from countries as far away as India and Germany, others have lived in Davis or its surrounding area for years.

Several artists are inter ested in nature, such as Jamie Madison and Edith

Sauer Polonik, as well as Hannah Klaus Hunter (she’s a transplant to Washington from Davis).

Some highlights to explore include a shelf of small pillows with draw ings and embroidery, titled “Part Memoir,” by Lynn Beldner. This piece invites so many wonderful ques tions, and of course looks so tactile that you might be tempted to touch it (but please don’t).

Her work often uses materials from the craft tradition, such as fabric, thread, or in her other piece, china, but alters it in meaningful ways. I like the idea of one’s own life history in small pillows, instead of carved into mountainsides or written in lengthy published biog raphies. What would you include, and what would you leave out?

Equally wonderful is sculpture of burnt trees and seed pods by Edith Sauer Polonik, whose understated elegant sculp tures can be seen through our front windows out to D Street. Jamie Madison’s paintings on paper are playfully composed, and literally underline their subjects — emphasizing words and phrases from old poetry or fiction that

Mondavi hosts three very different events next week

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise correspondent

The Mondavi Center will be a busy place next week, with events that include:

■ A conversation in Jack son Hall with the author of a recent bestselling mem oir.

■ Three cabaret-style per formances in the Vander hoef Studio Theater by a Los Angeles-born jazz piano sensation Connie Han, who at age 26 has already released four criti cally-praised albums.

■ An innovative, updated, bilingual reinterpretation of “Hamlet,” with the actors reciting the lines in English and in American Sign Language.

Glennon Doyle

On Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1 p.m., author Glennon Doyle will be featured in an onstage interview/conver sation. Doyle’s 2020 mem oir “Untamed” became a New York Times bestseller, and has now sold upwards of 2 million copies. Her earlier books, “Love War rior” and “Carry On,” were also New York Times best sellers.

The event will include a

panel discussion with Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who has served as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court since 2010. CantilSakauye grew up in Sacra mento and earned her law degree at UC Davis. A very large audience is expected; only a few tickets remain available in the upper bal cony of Jackson Hall. Tick ets are $65-$50 general, $25 UC Davis students at MondaviArts.org.

Connie Han Trio

Jazz pianist Connie Han

was born in Los Angeles.

Her first album (the selfreleased “Richard Rodgers Songbook” in 2015) led to her joining the roster of Steinway Artists and sign ing a recording contract with Mack Avenue Records, the highlyregarded jazz label based in the Detroit area.

She’s now released three albums with Mack Avenue, including this year’s “Secrets of Inanna.” Han presents a striking look onstage — Broadway World described her appearance as “a cross

between a Vogue fashion plate and a case of dyna mite” but saved the high praise for her keyboard work, which “gives a glimpse into the life and mind of a true original.” Her musical world draws on the music of jazz piano icons like McCoy Tyner, the dark-future films like “Blade Runner” and a fond ness for Japanese anime film music.

The Connie Han trio will perform in the Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, Friday,

Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22. Tickets are $45 regular, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org.

‘Prince Hamlet’

Director Ravi Jain has taken the classic Elizabe than-era tragedy and rei magined it in more modern terms, mixing Shake speare’s classic text with American Sign Language, and casting actors from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds (sometimes switching the gender of characters in Shakespeare’s original along the way).

Reviewing Jain’s adapta tion, the Toronto Star began “this is no ordinary ‘Hamlet’” and noted with approval that “Jain treats Shakespeare’s text as a starting point for creativity rather than as something simultaneously sacred and fragile” and praised the

director’s attention to “who has a voice in society and who doesn’t ... (and) how the way a story is told is as important as the story itself,” while adding that “(it) doesn’t come across as punky or rebellious.”

Performances in Mon davi’s Jackson Hall are Fri day, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, both at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $65-$35 gen eral, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org.

Still time

There are still a few seats available for the City of Bir mingham Symphony Orchestra’s Mondavi appearance on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m., fea turing conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla and cello soloist Sheku KannehMason. $150-$55 general, with discounts for students, at MondaviArts.org.

courtesy Photo

“Interwoven” includes the collage work of Hannah Klaus Hunter’s “Navigation 9.”

courtesy Photo

Director Ravi Jain has taken “Hamlet” and reimagined it in more modern terms, mixing Shakespeare’s classic text with American Sign Language. Catch “Prince Hamlet” at the Mondavi Center on Oct. 21 and 22.

The Connie Han Trio will perform three cabaret-style shows in the Vanderhoef Studio from Oct. 20 to 22.

courtesy Photo

‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone’: An imperfect connection

Quiet little drama works best while focusing on its two main characters

By Derrick Bang Enterprise movie critic

We’ve moved into what Ray Bradbury dubbed “The October Country”: the time of year when the boundary thins, and all manner of phantoms, wraiths, appari tions and presences meddle in the affairs of mere mor tals.

Hollywood always responds appropriately.

“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” hails from the gentler side of Stephen King, and direc tor/scripter John Lee Han cock’s faithful adaptation is ideal for folks who prefer their cinema chills to be slow-burn unsettling, rather than in-our-face gory. Think “The Green Mile,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body” (which became “Stand By Me” on the big screen).

This is more of a mood piece. Indeed, the lengthy first act is a touching and completely “normal” char acter drama, of the sort that King always establishes so vividly in his fiction.

The year is 2003, in a flyspeck town in semi-rural Maine, where Craig (Jaeden Martell) lives with his father (Joe Tippett); both still grieve over the untimely loss of Craig’s mother. When Craig gives a reading during the weekly Sunday church service, it impresses reclusive local gazillionaire Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), who — with failing eyesight — hires the boy to read novels aloud to him.

The selections are broad: Dickens’ “Dombey and

Son,” D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” among oth ers. Given that Craig is somewhat withdrawn him self, he isn’t bothered by Harrigan’s gruff, authori tarian demeanor.

Following a long career during which he made his money by ruthlessly buying and shredding other com panies, Harrigan has reached his twilight years with no friends or family; his only companions are a tight-lipped housekeeper (Peggy J. Scott, appropri ately prim) and somewhat surly gardener (Thomas Francis Murphy).

Craig always finds Har rigan in his favorite chair, in a book-laden study adja cent to a glass-walled con servatory filled with orchids.

Sutherland and Martell are marvelous in these early sequences. Sutherland sits in an imperiously regal pose: commanding quietly but firmly; gazing watch fully, as if Harrigan expects the boy to cower and bolt at any moment. But Craig doesn’t wilt under his host’s hawk-like gaze; if anything, the dynamic makes the boy more curious.

Hancock draws a rich, subtly nuanced perfor mance from Martell, well

remembered as one of the young teens who battled Pennywise the Clown, in the recent two-part adapta tion of King’s “It.”

As a result, Harrigan — who’d never, ever admit that he was lonely — comes to depend upon the boy’s thrice-weekly visits. Some thing softens in the old man’s gaze, and he begins to gift the boy with a lottery scratcher on certain holi days.

Elsewhere, Craig navi gates the transition to high school in a neighboring town: much scarier than anything else in this story, as King has similarly estab lished in countless earlier books. Hancock brilliantly conveys this prickly rite of passage as Craig and two similarly wary friends rely, during Day One, on guid ance from an older “vet eran” (Conor William Wright, hilariously mockofficious as the oddly named U-Boat).

Things to avoid include gap-toothed bully Kenny Yankovich (Cyrus Arnold, truly menacing, with scrag gly hair and solid black clothing) and the school cafeteria, where the “cool kids” are segregated by — you gotta love this — the type of Smart phones they

Village Homes features Harris and Haver

Special to The Enterprise

Harris and Haver, a duo of singer-songwriterarrangers, will be the fea tured act at the Village Homes Performers’ Circle, Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Davis.

As young men, Mike Harris and George Haver were musical partners for 10 years in Shasta County. Singing and playing gui tars, keyboards, and wood winds, they wrote original songs and arranged music in blues, folk, jazz and rock styles. Starting as a duo, their band grew to a quar tet and featured many guest instrumentalists.

After Haver moved to Davis, he became a promi nent local musician fea tured in performing groups including the beloved band Tree-o and Tracia Barbieri’s esteemed Vocal Arts Ensemble.

Harris has been busy playing with Shasta County favorites Honeybee

and Victor and Allison; his skills on percussion, key boards, melodica, and saxophone make him a valued bandmate. At their October performance Har ris and Haver will return to their roots to share some of their favorite songs.

The Village Homes Per formers’ Circle is a free event that welcomes per formers of all levels as well as audience members who simply come to enjoy the performances. No tickets or reservations are required. It is held the fourth Tuesday of each month, except December.

The event begins with

Mike Harris, left and George Haver perform on Oct. 25 in Village Homes.

an open mike and con cludes with the featured performance. Signup begins at 7 p.m., with signup performances (less than 5 minutes per act) from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. The featured act performs from 8:30 to 9 p.m. The emcee will be Laura Sandage.

This month, the Village Homes Performers’ Circle will be inside the Village Homes Community Cen ter, 2661 Portage Bay East, Davis. Wearing of masks is encouraged for perfor mances in the well-venti lated space. For information visit https:// www.facebook.com/village homesperformers/.

Judy Fjell performs in Davis on Oct. 18

Special to The Enterprise

Lesbian-feminist singer-songwriter and musical activist Judy Fjell returns to Davis at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Unitarian Universal ist Church of Davis, 27074 Patwin Road.

Longtime vocalist friends Shauna Joseph and Marianne Barlow, as well as many loyal audi ence members, will enliven the sing alongs. Tickets are sold on sliding scale $20-$30, with no one turned away for lack of funds.

Fjell was active as a teacher and songwriter while living in Davis in the early ’80s, performing at the Blue Mango, Take

possess. Those with iPhones sit, loftily, well away from everybody else.

Time passes; Craig finally receives an iPhone from his father one Christ mas, and — because one of those scratchers finally hits big — the boy impulsive purchases one for his “employer.” At first dismis sive of such high-falutin’ tech, Harrigan succumbs when he realizes — among other things — that he can follow his beloved stock market in real time, rather than relying on day-old news in the Wall Street Journal.

But even though Harri gan is enthralled, he also recognizes the “impending” dangers presented by this seductive gadget … which allows King, speaking through Sutherland, to wax eloquent on everything the author has come to loathe about “high-tech Del Monte cans” (his words) and their power to magnify and spread misinformation and Big Lies.

(Those who assume that this story speaks with the benefit of hindsight, haven’t been paying atten tion; King has been grous ing about such things for decades.)

Harrigan’s concerns

prove prophetic, as this film moves into its second act, when these two iPhones display a disturb ing ability to communicate from beyond the grave. (“Some connections never die,” the film’s tag line promises.)

At which point, the fun begins, as anticipated by the Oscar Wilde quote that opens this film: “When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.”

Tippett is excellent as Craig’s calm, patient and perceptive father; he per suasively portrays a caring parent who constantly struggles to put his grief aside — not always success fully — in favor of paying attention to his son.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste has a telling role as Mrs. Hart, a kind and encourag ing high school teacher who takes an interest in Craig. Howell-Baptiste’s warm smile is to die for; she’s note-perfect as the best possible instructor we’d love to have had, somewhere along the way.

On the other hand, Han cock’s script pays too little attention to Craig’s afore mentioned two friends, Margie and Billy, played (respectively) by Alexa Niz iak and Bennett Saltzman.

One wonders why they’re in the film.

Thalia Torio gets a bit more focus as Regina, a fel low iPhone user who catches Craig’s eye. But she ultimate serves little pur pose, aside from a mordant comment on the current generation’s weird behav ior: Standing just a couple of yards from each other, near their respective lock ers, Craig and Regina text a mutual greeting, rather than talking to each other.

Some viewers also are likely to be bothered — per haps seriously — by this story’s failure, in the final act, to address the need to acknowledge and atone for one’s sins. This isn’t Han cock’s fault; he merely fol lows King’s story to its mildly unsatisfying conclu sion.

Ultimately, “Mr. Harri gan’s Phone” probably will be enjoyed primarily for the relationship between its two key characters, both brought persuasively to life by Sutherland and Martell. Beyond that, this is King-abit-too-lite.

— Read more of Derrick Bang’s film criticism at http://derrickbang. blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www. davisenterprise.com.

PENCE: ArtAbout event is tonight

echo their meaning.

in Sacramento.

In 1986, she recorded her album “Livin’ on Dreams” with violinistvocalist Crystal Reeves at the Davis Veterans Center Auditorium. She is the founding director of Music Empowerment Inc. of Davis, which has spon sored summer camps and workshops since 1995.

Rachel Kline’s subtle series of paintings is created on reused shopping bags, with objects like a broom or a pull toy, made out in dark sketchy lines.

moving ever upward. It’s a great metaphor for our times, as we try to move past and beyond the heavi ness of the last two plus years of the pandemic.

Their exhibit is up through Nov. 27 and is sponsored by Rosa Marquez & Yatish Mishra.

Back the Night rallies, the Whole Earth Festival, the Palms Playhouse and multiple events on the steps of the State Capitol

Fjell returned in 1997 to her home state of Mon tana, where she continues to write songs, record albums, teach ukulele and guitar lessons, and lead music for Unitarian Uni versalist congregations. Her latest compositions include “Existential Fire trap” and “I’m a Short Grass Prairie Girl.”

Also on display are the remarkable collages of Hannah Klaus Hunter, which show her fascina tion with art history and maps, and the “fragments” of mixed-media artist Sara Post scattered across one wall. Joan Jarvis’ photos zoom in on a boxy object as plastic is stretched across it, creating amazing shadows and subtle drama.

Binuta Sudhakaran’s vertical painting “Ascend ing” rises from the con crete floor in seven panels, each with a bird-like shape

Upstairs, a solo exhibit of art quilts by Marjan Kluepfel, titled “Fiber scapes” truly includes all colors of the rainbow. Her work has a spectacular centerpiece of six art quilts mapping California from the shore to the moun tains. The quilts have lovely skies and trees, and her hand-dyed fabrics are pieced with a lively stitch ing pattern that creates a visual rhythm in her work.

Other subjects include seven chakras on seven

small canvases, a lively bunch of dragonflies, and several abstract quilts of dynamics shapes and col ors. Marjan is a master art quilter, who is inspired by the beauty of nature to produce her work. A wall of 3D flowers and quilted poppies is my favorite part of her display.

Come to our 2nd Friday ArtAbout event, tonight from 6 to 9 p.m., where we invite the public to visit with the artists, see the new work, and enjoy a glass of wine. Our venue is one spot among eight other venues of new exhib its opening in downtown Davis.

— Natalie Nelson is the executive director and curator of the Pence Gallery; her column is published monthly.

Although Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland, right) initially wants no part of an iPhone, he quickly becomes seduced when Craig (Jaeden Martell) demonstrates all of the gadget’s many features.

Courtesy photo

Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Cyrus Arnold, Peggy J. Scott, Thomas Francis Murphy

via: Netflix

Courtesy photo

Steve Briscoe’s “Field Day” shows a detailed patchwork image of a brain in black-and-white, part of his “Worthy Mysteries” display.

Courtesy photo Judy Fjell will play, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis on Oct. 18.

Courtesy photo

California finally getting onto gas gougers

Ithas taken more than 50 years of on-and-off gasoline price gouging, but at long last California government is onto the oil refiners who essen tially steal billions of dollars from motorists every year.

If price gouging is illegal in disaster areas — and it is — it probably also should be heavily punishable when refinery mis haps push down supplies tempo rarily.

Instead, prices go up whenever any of the state’s five major refin eries reports even a small and short outage, even if it’s caused by planned maintenance. Later, they may drop a little, but never back to where they were before.

Whenever this happens, oil company profits soar. If the oil companies reap billions of dol lars in profits via either planned or accidental outages, why should they make any big effort to avoid them?

This pattern has repeated itself at least nine times since the gasoline supply crisis of the mid-1970s, the oil companies and refiners upping their

Letters

The brain drain myth

I arrived here in Davis on a warm September day in 1969 (Bob Dunning has been here lon ger) and set up my residence hall room at Beckett-Hughes, gradu ated in spring 1974. I have been here in Davis since (a brief foray to Winters), my wife attended UCD and taught here (credential from Sac State, brain drain), and both my children attended Davis schools from Kindergarten through High School.

I operated my own business for 30 years here, went on to a teach ing career until retirement. The entire time I have been in Davis, I never considered the brain-drain problem to exist. My brain left my hometown of Gilroy for Davis in 1969 and stayed here (my brain was drained from Gilroy?). My 30-year career in construction did not require my UCD education, but that did pay off in obtaining a teaching credential (received this at an institution in Sacramento, brain drain). The lack of job opportunities in this district required me to move my brain to Pittsburg for a teaching job.

I have never considered UCD to be the golden-brain ticket for jobs here in Davis. Does any sur vey of UCD students indicate how many of them intend to get or want a job here? I also find the term brain-drain insulting to all those I worked with for 30 years. Many grew up here, did not attend college but provided needed services for this commu nity. They all still had a brain, lived here, worked here and were an important part of this com munity.

Let’s not rely on UCD as the fix all for Davis because of the braindrain issue, let’s start using our brains to figure out what is best for Davis (a city with a university not vice-versa). And Bob Dun ning owes me $5 for mentioning his name!

John E. Clark Davis

The silly season

It’s official. We’ve entered the “silly season” of this year’s cam paign. Every day brings a new wild accusation against my City Council colleagues who are run ning for re-election, Gloria and Dan. The drumbeat of personal attacks on social media and in the blogs are incessant and over-thetop.

Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with these two outstanding public

profits each time.

Yet, they consistently deny making bigger profits in Califor nia than elsewhere.

But starting Jan. 1, oil compa nies will have to report monthly to the state how much profit they make from each gallon of gaso line sold here. That public infor mation might produce a shame factor that could cause prices actually to drop below where they were before this fall’s latest major price hike.

That’s because — in the first big action state government has taken against oil companies since they began to dominate transportation in the last 1940s — Gov. Gavin Newsom in Sep tember signed a bill called SB 1322 by state Sen. Ben Allen,

D-Santa Monica, forcing the reports.

Shortly after, with prices again skying here while they were dropping elsewhere in America, Newsom went on a rhetorical offensive against gasoline price gouging, ending by calling a spe cial legislative session for December to deal with this crisis.

This time, he proposes a wind fall profits tax on excess gasoline profits, the money to be returned directly to the motorists who paid it. The newly required reports will be vital to enforcing any such levy.

Not bad for a governor who is also using housing rules that no longer require parking spaces in new buildings near mass transit to try to wean Californians from their cars.

Noted Newsom on Sept. 30, “While crude oil prices are down, oil companies have increased gas prices in California by a record 84 cents in the last 10 days. At the end of August, crude prices were roughly $100 per barrel and the average gas price here was $5.06. Now, even though the

price of oil is down to $85 per barrel, the average price at the ump has surged to $6.29.” That was a $1.23 increase in a matter of one month.

Some oil company apologists claim this price hike was due not just to refinery outages (which happen routinely everywhere), but to California gas taxes. But gas taxes did not rise during that time, so the new money went entirely to the oil refiners. (The five largest refiners in California account for 96 percent of the state supply. These include Chev ron, Valero, Marathon, Phillips 66 and PBF Energy.)

Added Newsom, the first gov ernor to try helping over-charged drivers, “Oil companies have (not) explained the divergence between prices in California compared to the national aver age. We’re not going to stand by while greedy oil companies fleece Californians.”

So he announced that he will work with legislators “to ensure excess oil profits go back to help millions of Californians.” He did not define what constitutes an

excess profit, but the new monthly reports should help establish that while lawmakers work on a fair windfall-profits tax.

Democratic legislators seem amenable to Newsom’s initiative.

Said state Senate President Toni Atkins of San Diego, “We’ll look at every option to end the oil industry profiteering.” Republi cans, meanwhile, were apologiz ing for the oil companies. Said Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher of Yuba City, “The governor doesn’t get it. The problem … is policy … start with suspending the gas tax and addi tional fees that make our gas so much more expensive.”

The bottom line: For the cheating and price gouging oil companies, the jig may finally be up, except among their GOP sycophants. This year, they may finally have gone too far.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough,” is now available in a softcover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.

servants for the last four years. I know firsthand their sterling character, exceptional ability, and tireless dedication to our com munity.

Gloria Partida is one of the most thoughtful and compas sionate people I know. She is steadfast in her defense of fair ness and decency. She is also a keen negotiator and policymaker.

The work she and I did together on the subcommittee to reform public safety, which resulted in the city’s new and much-needed Department of Social Services and Housing, is an accomplish ment about which Gloria and all of us can and should be proud. Her leadership as Mayor during the pandemic helped our com munity stand together and heal. She’s earned our continued trust.

Dan Carson is one of the most knowledgeable and thorough people I know. Davis has bene fited greatly from his understand ing of fiscal policy, legislative process, and his keen eye for detail. For example, Dan applied his talents to help craft a plan to fix our streets and bike paths, to negotiate with UCD while keep ing our partnership strong, and to get us through the pandemic with our financial house in order.

Our community is fortunate to have someone of Dan’s intelli gence and experience serve on the

City Council. Like Gloria, Dan has earned our continued trust in this important role.

I hope you’ll join me in looking past the nonsense and seeing the true character of these dedicated public servants. I urge you to vote to re-elect Gloria Partida and Dan Carson to the Davis City Council.

Will Arnold Vice mayor of Davis

Impressed with Vaitla

I have lived in Davis for 49 years, and never have I been more impressed by a candidate for City Council as I am with Bapu Vaitla. I have known Bapu first as an undergraduate student at UC Davis, and a later as a friend and neighbor.

Bapu has chosen a career serv ing people, and after working in public health throughout the world, has committed to Davis as his home where he has lived and served for over a decade. For those of us in West Davis, he is a candidate who is not only articu late, caring, compassionate, and brilliant, but a candidate who actually listens to his constitu ents.

There is no one I would rather trust to represent me and to seek our advice when serious issues arise for the future of Davis.

Speak out President

The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

U.S. Senate

Sebastian Oñate Editor

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: http://feinstein. senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

Sen. Alex Padilla, B03 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;

Backing Carson

I highly recommend that voters in District 1 re-elect Dan Carson.

First, Dan served for several years on the City’s Finance and Budget Commission before run ning for City Council. Thanks to his thoughtful, informed leader ship on issues and decisions that impact the City’s costs and reve nues, the City’s fiscal health and stability receives the proper and necessary level of attention. Con tinued pro-active financial stew ardship if Dan is re-elected will enable the City to sustain current programs while aggressively implementing its new climate action and adaptation plan.

Second, along with Lucas Fre richs, Dan has represented Davis on the Valley Clean Energy Board of Directors. As a member of the VCE Community Advisory Com mittee I can attest to Dan’s dili gent engagement and contributions to board delibera tions. I would like VCE, and thereby Davis, to continue to benefit from Dan’s understanding of strategic issues confronting VCE.

Third, unlike council members who can only attend to the city’s business on nights and weekends,

202-224-3553; email: padilla.senate. gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

House of Representatives

Rep. John Garamendi (3rd District), 2368 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202-225-1880. District office: 412 G St., Davis, CA 95616; 530-753-5301; email: visit https://garamendi.house.gov/contact/ email

Governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: visit https://govapps.gov. ca.gov/gov40mail/

Dan gives his City Council respon sibilities full time attention. He is able to dig in deeper on a broader array of decisions as he prepares to deliberate with other council members and cast his vote.

In summary, finance, budget and energy are matters of vital importance to our City. Though competing candidates would no doubt do their best to give them their due, losing Dan’s on-going strong, well informed engage ment would be a setback.

Gerald Braun Davis

Partida for District 4

Gloria Partida is a leader with a long history of dedicated service and of fighting for civil rights in Davis, from her advocacy for inclusion of students with dis abilities to her founding of an anti-bullying nonprofit.

She has served our city well as mayor during a very challenging time, the COVID-19 pandemic. I was glad to have a scientist and a thoughtful leader on our city council during that time. Gloria actively listens to her constitu ency and takes thoughtful action. I am proud to once again cast my vote for Gloria Partida for Dis trict 4 in the upcoming election.

Kalista Hickman Davis

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Limit letters to 350 words. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit all letters for brevity or clarity. Mail letters to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617; bring them to 315 G St.; fax them to 530-756-1668; or email them to newsroom@davis enterprise.net.

Robert Thayer Davis

Taylor Buley

Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

By Scott Adams

Stephan Pastis

By Charles M. Schulz

Notre Dame is showing signs of life

This week’s picks are as fol lows:

NOTRE DAME over STANFORD ... The weary Cardi nal still can’t figure out how they lost to Oregon State last Saturday night in a game David Shaw said was the “best” Stanford had played all year. Hard to take a positive out of a loss like that.

The Irish, meanwhile, continue to muddle along after a slow start, but are beginning to show signs of life. Or at least enough life to take down Stan ford.

WASHINGTON STATE over OREGON STATE ... The odds makers favor the Beavers, but I’m not buying it. Two teams with eyes on a bowl bid.

WASHINGTON over ARI ZONA ... The Huskies have fallen off a cliff the last couple of weeks and finally have

an opponent that will help them right the ship.

ALABAMA over TENNES

SEE ... The Vols are for real and Alabama seems vulnerable, but after the Tide struggled mightily last week, Nick Saban has their full atten tion.

CLEMSON over FLORIDA STATE ... Dabo has the Tigers back where they belong.

MONTANA over IDAHO The Vandals have been making some noise this fall, but they’ve

never heard the kind of noise they’ll face in Missoula Saturday afternoon.

SACRAMENTO STATE over EASTERN WASHINGTON ... Many dreams have died on the red turf in Cheney, but the Hornets have yet to stumble this fall and will continue their winning ways.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE over SOUTH DAKOTA STATE ... No. 1 vs. No. 2. What could be better than this? Could this be a preview of the national championship game? Put sim ply, don’t ever bet against the Bison in the Fargodome.

UPSET OF THE WEEK: USC over UTAH ... Yes, this one’s in Salt Lake City where the crowd can be a huge factor, but how can the undefeated Trojans be an underdog in this one? (Upset record: 1-5).

ROUT OF THE WEEK: Texas over Iowa State ... After rolling Oklahoma, 49-0, the Longhorns think they’re invincible. They just may be. (Rout record: 6-0).

DON’T BET ON IT, BUT: Oklahoma over Kansas ... How much worse can things get for the Sooners? We may soon find out. (Don’t bet record: 3-3).

FIVE EASY PICKS: This week’s winners are Cal (over Colorado), Georgia (over Vanderbilt), UAB (over Char lotte), Montana State (over Northern Colorado) and TexasSan Antonio (over Florida Inter national). (FEP record: 30-0).

AGGIES over NORTHERN ARIZONA ... Two weeks ago, the Aggies couldn’t contain Mon tana State quarterback Sean Chambers, who just may be the best FCS player in the country. This week they’ll have to stop

GOOD: ‘Nobody’s going undefeated in this league’

against Idaho State, winless once again at 0-6 and 0-3.

It’s pretty much assumed that UC Davis must win every game from here on out to gain a repeat bid to the 24-team FCS playoff.

And that’s exactly what Hawkins is aiming for.

“Let’s get on a roll,” he’s been telling his team. “Nobody’s going undefeated in this league. Let’s run the table and get in the play offs.”

The aforementioned four games will be followed by difficult road games at resurgent Idaho, 3-2 and 2-0, and the season finale at No. 5 Sacramento State, 2-0 and 5-0.

The Hornets have won 17 of their last 18 Big Sky contests, including two in a row against the Aggies.

The good news in finishing against the Vandals and the Hor nets is if the Aggies wish to mpress the NCAA selection committee with their worthiness, what better way to do so than to wrap up the regular season with a pair of wins over two highly regarded oppo nents?

Assuming, of course, that Idaho and Sac State continue their win ning ways.

Hawkins is fond of reminding his charges of 1981, his junior year as an Aggie fullback, when UC Davis opened the season with — you guessed it — a 1-4 record in what back then was just a 10-game season.

Even more discouraging, the fourth loss was an overwhelming 30-0 setback to arch-rival Cal Poly, after which UCD head coach Jim Sochor had a long discussion at

midfield with starting quarterback Ken O’Brien, who went on to be a first-round selection in the NFL draft.

What Hawkins pointed out was that after that 1-4 start 41 years ago, the Aggies won their last five games — four of them by single digits — and claimed their 11th straight con ference title in a streak that would reach 20 consecutive champion ships.

And oh, by the way, the next season, in 1982, the Aggies, with Hawkins as a senior, went 12-0 to run their win streak to 17-games and reach the NCAA Division II champi onship game for the first and only time in school history.

Not that anyone is advocating a 1-4 start in any season.

— Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

another talented quarterback in NAU’s RJ Martinez, but this time they’ll be up to the task. Lumberjacks in Arizona? Yes, that state does have more than cactus. Take the Ags by 14.

OTHER GAMES: Michigan over Penn State, Mississippi over Auburn, Miami (Fla.) over Vir ginia Tech, Army over Colgate, Oklahoma State over TCU, Coastal Carolina over Old Dominion, Buffalo over Massa chusetts, Troy over Texas State, James Madison over Georgia Southern, Florida over LSU, South Alabama over LouisianaMonroe, Mississippi State over Kentucky, Purdue over Nebraska, North Carolina over Duke, Air Force over UNLV, Utah State over Colorado State, and Weber State over Portland State.

Last week: 30-7, season: 22744, percentage: .838.

DAVIS: Walker scores early

game at 1:54, assisted by Cerussi.

Blue Devils goalie, Alex Gallagher recorded four saves in the game. Ryan Barr had three.

Brennan Fuchslin led the team in goals in the match with six.

Girls

Davis put a three-game losing streak behind them on Wednesday with its victory over Ponderosa.

Kenzie Walker came out hot for the Blue Devils scoring the first three goals in a row for her team.

“She’s (Walker’s) dominant,” said Davis

head coach Doug Wright. “She’s like Shaquille O’Neal. She’s virtually unstoppable. She had a great performance.”

She found the back of the net at the 6:41, 6:10 and 5:30 marks to lead off the game, giving DHS the early 3-0 advantage.

At 3:33, Lucie Lapuz scored a goal for a 4-0 lead.

Walker fired another shot to the back of the goal at 2:30 for a 5-0 advantage.

n To read the rest of Rebecca Wasik’s story, visit www.davisenterprise, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

— Follow Rebecca Wasik on Twitter: @BeccaFromTheBay.

Aggies’ spirits are good after the bye week

Although there are no easy outs in the rugged Big Sky Conference, there’s no question UC Davis’ immediate schedule appears to have lightened up a bit as the Aggies prepare to take on Northern Arizona Saturday afternoon at UC Davis Health Stadium.

Kickoff is 4 p.m.

Coaches and athletes, of course, aren’t allowed to overlook any opponent, but sportswriters, fans and alumni have no such restraints and can speculate to their heart’s content.

The simple fact of the matter is that after opening with a semi-predictable loss at FBS California, three of the Aggies’ four following opponents — all losses — are now ranked among the top six FCS teams in the country.

UCD had close losses — some would say heartbreaking — to No. 2 South Dakota State (24-22) and No. 6 Weber State (17-12) and were competitive for three quarters in a 41-24 setback to No. 4 Montana State. UCD’s lone win was a 43-13 rout of University of San Diego.

The Aggies were ranked in the pre season, but now find themselves 1-4 over all and, more importantly, 0-2 in Big Sky play.

“Some people talk about our schedule, but if you want to be a good football team you have to play the good teams,” said Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins.

“Our guys’ spirits are good. They know there’s a lot of football left to play. We just have to get back on the horse and get going.”

Northern Arizona, which used a late field goal for an encouraging 31-29 win over Cal Poly, comes to town with a 2-4

overall record and 1-2 in conference.

The Lumberjacks have found them selves a quarterback in RJ Martinez, who picked apart the Cal Poly defense for 359 yards and three scores through the air, plus added another touchdown on the ground.

Take the Lumberjacks lightly at your own peril.

“They have a lot of good skill players, and their quarterback is very good,” Hawkins noted. “He’s going to stir the pot. He can throw it and he can run with it.”

Still, at least for those who type for a living and are paid to “analyze” such things, it’s worth noting that of the next four UC Davis opponents, not a single one is ranked, compared to the earlyseason murderer’s row the Aggies just came through.

Truth be told, the Aggies are likely to be favored in all four of those games, some by a little and some perhaps by a lot. The latest line on Northern Arizona is UC Davis by 12.

Then again, last season at this time UCD was 5-0 with a high national rank ing as the Aggies headed to Pocatello to take on winless Idaho State.

Final Score: Idaho State 27, UC Davis 17. Ouch.

As it turns out that, was the only game Idaho State would win all season long, and it was the only Aggie loss in their first nine games. Things got so bad in Pocatello that the Bengals parted ways with head coach Rob Phenicie at season’s end.

So, consider the next four opponents with a grain of salt, or whatever it is you prefer to sprinkle on your scrambled eggs.

Including Northern Arizona, the next four foes are a combined 2-9 in league play and 5-18 overall.

Northern Arizona is 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky, with UCD playing next at Northern Colorado, 2-4 and 1-2, home against Cal Poly, 1-4 and 0-2, and home

Delta league

Davis teams too much for Bruins

By ReBecca WaSik Enterprise correspondent

The Davis High boys and girls water polo teams sent Ponderosa High’s squads back to Shingle Springs win less at Arroyo Pool on Wednesday.

The Davis boys (19-3 overall) took down the Bruins 18-8. The Davis girls (15-6 overall) defeated Ponderosa 17-6.

Boys

Wednesday’s victory extended the DHS winning streak to seven.

J.T. Doughty and Christian Davis did all the scoring for the Blue Devils in the first quarter against Ponder osa (14-7 overall).

Doughty banked DHS’ first two goals at the 6:10 and 4:53 marks for a 2-0 lead.

Next, Christian Davis found the back of the net at 4:21 with an assist from Blake Fuchslin for a 3-0 lead.

After a Bruins goal at 3:33, another Christian Davis shot went in the cage on a powerplay at the 3:05 mark. This gave DHS a 4-1 advantage

After another goal from PHS at 2:42, Doughty got the ball in the cage for DHS at 1:45, assisted by Chris tian Davis.

Going into the second quarter, DHS held a 5-2 lead.

The Bruins struck first in the second quarter with a goal at 6:38 on a penalty shot.

Brennan Fuchslin answered right back with back-toback goals of his own at the 5:50 and 5:48.

This gave DHS a 7-3 lead.

Next, PHS put the ball in the cage on a five-meter attempt at 5:36, cutting the Blue Devils’ lead to 7-4.

At 4:42, Doughty found the back of the net. 30 sec onds later, Christian Davis added a goal to DHS’ tally for a 9-4 lead.

Brennan Fuchslin scored his second set of back-toback goals in the second quarter with shots at the 1:42 and 32 second marks.

Going into the third quarter, the Blue Devils had the upper hand on the Bruins, 11-4.

At 4:44, Blake Fuchslin found the back of the cage for DHS, extending their lead to 12-4.

After a Ponderosa goal at 4:18, Bo Brown found the back of the net twice in a row for the Blue Devils at the 3:31 and 3:10 marks, both assisted by Brennan Fuchs lin. DHS then led 14-5.

Brennan Fuchslin deposited another shot in the cage at 2:24 for a 15-5 Blue Devils advantage.

PHS scored again with 47 seconds left in the quarter.

However, Brennan Fuchslin struck again with only five seconds left on the clock, giving the Blue Devils a 16-6 edge going into the final quarter.

The Bruins scored first in the fourth quarter with a goal at 6:12 on a penalty shot.

Then Davis added another goal to its tally off a Tyler Chapman shot at 5:47, assisted by James Cerussi. The Blue Devils led 17-7.

Ponderosa scored its final goal of the game at 3:13, cutting DHS’ lead to 17-8.

Renzo Archer scored the Blue Devils’ last goal of the

Blue Devils back in action tonight

By Mike BuSh Enterprise sports editor

Davis High football head coach Nick Garrett took his squad on a field trip during the team’s bye last week.

The outing seems to have paid off in recent practices.

Tonight at 7:15, Davis (0-3 in the Delta League, 2-5 overall) welcomes Sheldon (2-2 in the DL, 5-3) to Ron and Mary Brown Stadium. The Blue Devils are playing their last home game of the season.

Davis High will wrap up the regular season against Pleasant Grove (0-3 in the DL, 0-7) at Sheldon on Friday, Oct. 21 and at Jesuit (3-0 in the DL, 6-1) on Sat urday, Oct. 28.

Plenty of seniors

Thirteen seniors on this year’s DHS squad are scheduled to be at tonight’s home game. Brandon Straub, Adrian Trujillo, Jude Vaughn, Cole Broussard, Jack Barrera, Will Walsh, Anthony Edson, Aidan Sheehan, Mario Herrera, Ben Martin, Ethan Christiansen-Lichtenhan, Damean Osborne and Dominick Jackson are those Blue Devil players.

Sheldon has players on offense that can move the ball and score. The visiting Huskies are averag ing 40.2 points per game this season.

“They do have some key guys,” said Garrett of the Huskies.

Sheldon wide receiver Scott Nixon is one of those players. Nixon is averaging 99.3 yards per game receiving and has scored 16 touchdowns this season.

“Their quarterback No. 7 (Jesiah Machado) they have a pretty good connection,” said Garrett of Nixon and Machado. “This quarterback is probably the better quarterback that we’ll see all year. He knows how to make his good steps, make a good read.”

Running game

Husky running back Devin Green leads the running game, averaging 104.2 yards per game.

“They have a pound-andground running game,” Garrett said. “He (Green) is kind of simi lar to what we have in Jude.”

Vaughn, a running back, and junior linebacker Sonny Huitron, should be suiting up for tonight’s game. Vaughn has missed the last two games, nursing a pulled hamstring in his left thigh.

Huitron strained his knee, which he didn’t play in the Blue Devils’ last game at Elk Grove on Sept. 30.

“They each did a good amount of work and rest,” said Garrett of Vaughn and Huitron.

Back to basics

The Blue Devils got back to basics during their practices this and last week.

“This was a good opportunity to redialate ourselves as a team,” Garrett said.

The bye week also gave players on the Blue Devils’ scout teams on both sides of the ball a chance to battle starters on offense and defense a chance to compete and compete for a starting position on offense and defense.

Field trip

The Blue Devils’ field trip was within the Davis city limits last week. They attended the UC Davis football team’s practice on Oct. 5.

“Checked out their practice to see how a serious, motivated team practices,” Garrett said. “We spoke about how fast the tempo is and see how guys are not stand ing around. Their attention to detail; there’s lots of different seg ments. Then there’s lots of enthu siasm during competition.

“Having them see guys practice kind of gave them a sense of how we should practice. It contributed to a lot of enthusiasm during the bye week that we haven’t seen probably the whole year.”

Nick Amoah

The Blue Devil players also met some of the Aggie players. That included offensive lineman Nick Amoah, a 2017 Davis High graduate. Amoah is now a senior at UCD who an aerospace science and engineering major.

Elk Grove (3-0 in the DL, 4-3) played Pleasant Grove at Sheldon in a league game on Thursday night.

Jesuit plays at Consumnes Oaks (2-2 in the DL, 3-5) in another Delta League game today, which is also scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.

— Contact Mike Bush at mike@davisenterprise.net.

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Mike trask/enterprise file photo

Davis quarterback Braulio Acevedo (right) gets ready to hand off the football to running back Jude Vaughn in the Blue Devils’ Delta League home game against Franklin on Sept. 30 at Ron and Mary Brown Stadium. The Blue Devils host Sheldon tonight.

arya lalvani/enteprirse photo Blue Devil attacker Christian Davis gets ready to unleash a shot against Ponderosa at Arroyo Pool on Wednesday.