The Davis Enterprise Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Student workers strike for better pay, benefits

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

UC Davis workers began striking on Monday, calling an end to the University of Califor nia’s “unlawful behavior,” which they say prevents agreements on fair contracts. These include living wages to address “rent burden, increased childcare subsidies for parent scholars, sustainable transit benefits, and greater rights for international

scholars,” according to a state ment provided by organizers.

The elected bargaining teams of academic student employees, postdocs, academic researchers, and student researchers called for the strike after 36,558 aca demic workers voted for strike authorization by a margin of 98%.

Represented by the United Auto Workers, this strike will be the biggest academic-worker

strike in the history of the nation and its first-ever post doctoral-scholar and academicresearcher strike.

In a collective effort to “shut the university down,” by 10 a.m., about 1,000 picketers lined up along Russell Boulevard at Col lege Park and along La Rue and Hutchinson, exceeding expecta tions so early in the morning. By the afternoon, there were at least double that number of

supporters. Two marches dur ing the day went through cam pus, with a rally at the earlier one at Mrak Hall, where UCD Chancellor Gary May’s office is located on the fifth floor.

In solidarity, some professors canceled classes, fire trucks honked as marchers walked by, community members donated mounds of food and coffee, See STRIKE, Page A4

Virus season has county officials worried

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Yolo County’s health offi cer is urging residents to protect themselves as cases of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 increase.

“We are seeing higher than usual influenza and RSV activity for this time of year,” said Dr. Aimee Sis son. “We are also seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases.

“I encourage everybody in Yolo County to take actions to protect them selves and others from what looks to be a rough respiratory virus season ahead by washing their hands often, getting vacci nated and boosted against

flu and COVID19, wear ing a mask indoors, covering their cough, and staying home when sick.”

RSV activity is especially high this year, Sisson reported, with hospitals across Cali fornia straining to care for large numbers of ill chil dren.

UC Davis Health said Monday that there are “15 children in our hospital who are very ill with RSV or flu.

“Of those 15, seven are in

the pediatric ICU; most are toddlers and one is just three weeks old,” UC Davis Health reported on social media. “Please mask up, wash your hands and get vaccinated to slow the spread of illness.”

According to the Califor nia Department of Public Health, RSV activity usu ally rises in December and peaks in February, but this year began rapidly rising in October.

Shortly after Sisson urged precautions on Mon day morning, the California Department of Public Health announced the first death this season of a child under the age of 5 due to flu and RSV.

Partida, Vaitla maintain big leads in vote update

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Davis City Council candidates Bapu Vaitla and Gloria Partida both extended their leads in the latest update from the Yolo County Elec tions Office.

Vaitla is seeking the District 1 (West Davis) seat on the council and Partida the District 4 (East Davis) seat.

A total of 3,949 votes have now been counted in District 1 — 1,429 of them since the last update — and Vaitla has received 2,375 or 60.14 percent of them.

His opponents in District 1, incumbent Councilman Dan Carson and fellow challenger Kelsey Fortune, remain well behind. As of Tuesday afternoon, Carson had 26.61 percent of the vote and Fortune had 13.24 percent.

Over in District 4, a total of 3,911 votes have now been counted and Partida, who is seeking a second term on the council, has received 2,396 of them (61.26 percent) to challenger Adam Morrill’s 1,515 (38.74 percent). Both Vaitla and Partida saw their leads grow slightly since the elections office last updated the vote counts a week ago.

Man kills wife in rural Winters home, then himself

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

A man killed his wife in rural Winters on Sunday shortly before taking his own life, according to the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials said they performed a welfare check at about 11 a.m. inside a recreational vehi cle at Canyon Creek Resort, located on High way 128, in response to a call from a friend of the couple.

That person “advised a friend called him and stated he had killed his wife and was going to kill himself,” the Sheriff’s

Office reported in a Face book post. “Once on scene, deputies located a deceased adult female with a fatal gunshot wound inside of an RV.”

Investigators identified the suspect as the victim’s husband, 56-year-old Alfonso Hernandez Jr. of Sacramento, and issued a be-on-the-lookout bulle tin for law-enforcement agencies along the High way 50 corridor, where Hernandez was believed to be headed by car.

At about 1 p.m., reports came in that authorities had located Hernandez’s vehicle on Icehouse Road,

SISSON County health officer

Striking UC Davis grad-student workers picket at the corner of Russell Boulevard and Howard Way on Monday morning.

Monica Stark/ EntErpriSE photo

Former UCD student found dead in Berkeley

Authorities in Alam eda County are investi gating the death of a former UC Davis doc torate student found dead in Berkeley earlier this month.

The body of Tyler Dodd Cary, 31, who attended UCD from 2013 to 2020 and had earned a master’s degree in physics, was discovered inside a tent Nov. 4 by social workers patrolling People’s Park, the Bay Area news site SFGate reported Thursday.

“There were some things that pointed to a drug overdose,” Berkeley police Sgt. Patrick O’Donnell told the news site, adding that foul play is not suspected.

An obituary posted on Legacy.com says Cary’s “last few years were dif ficult ones as he strug gled with addiction and mental health issues.”

“He was handsome, charming, kind, smart and simply wonderful to be around,” a college friend said.

For the record

Sunday’s story on the KDVS radio station at UC Davis said it is made up of only UC Davis undergraduate students. Anyone can join KDVS but only undergraduate univer sity students can serve on the student core staff, which runs the station.

Hornets ready to clash again

Believe it or not, when writ ing my annual Causeway Classic column the last time UC Davis and Sacramento State battled on the gridiron in Novem ber of 2021, I began it like this: “Last year at this time, when I wrote about the looming Cause way Classic, things were much, much different for both teams than they are now.”

I can’t say that this year.

With the 68th edition of the Causeway Classic staring us in the face this Saturday (2 p.m. at Hor net Stadium in Sacramento), both teams are again fighting for a playoff berth.

What is similar about this game to the previous 67 is that this is as fierce a rivalry as exists in all of college football. Both teams could be 0-10 heading into the final game of the season and this one would still be for all the marbles, playoff or not.

Be that as it may, this is the one game all year when there will be a number of fans in the stands who don’t know a first down from a touchdown. But they will be there because they are students or alums at one of these schools or are at least accompanying some one who is.

You can read about the won-loss records and national rankings and gaudy statistics of the respective teams on the sports page. Here we’ll be talking about why this game is such a phenomenon and means so much even to people who have never been to a football game.

Kind of like the folks who show up at the neighborhood Super Bowl party just for the guacamole, but know they’d better cheer loudly if the 49ers score a touch down.

As I’ve noted here previously, “The past is the past and this, after all, is the Causeway Classic, where current records and past history are supposed to be tossed out the window and crazy things may happen.”

In fact, crazy things are expected to happen. On the field and in the stands.

This is the annual rivalry game that began when Dwight David Eisenhower (I Like Ike) was president and Davisites were driving tractors instead of Teslas.

As I have noted here previously, while the Hornets can’t match UC Davis’ long-ago 18-game win streak in this series, they did remain for years as the only fouryear school in college football his tory to defeat UC Davis twice in the same season. Until, of course, Eastern Washington accom plished the same feat in 2018.

VIRUS: Officials look to slow the spread in winter

From Page A1

The state did not provide additional details about the death, including where it occurred, but CDPH direc tor Dr. Tomás Aragón said, “this tragic event serves as a stark reminder that respi ratory viruses can be deadly, especially in very young children and infants.

“Our hearts go out to the family of this young child,” he said.

RSV is a common respi ratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms and most people recover in one to two weeks without treatment. How ever, RSV can be serious, especially in infants and older adults, causing pneu monia and bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) in chil dren under the age of one.

Respiratory viruses like RSV, influenza, SARSCoV-2 (which causes COVID-19), and viruses that cause the common cold spread through respi ratory droplets.

Contact with respiratory droplets can occur when an infected person coughs or sneezes and you get drop lets in your eyes, nose, or mouth, or when you touch a surface with the virus on it, like a doorknob, and then touch your face before washing your hands. COVID-19 can also be transmitted through

KILLS: Suspect shot himself

From Page A1

near the small town of White Hall.

“As El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies and Cali fornia Highway Patrol offi cers attempted to contact Alfonso, he shot himself and was pronounced dead at the scene,” the Facebook post said. “The firearm believed to be used in the homicide was recovered.”

The victim’s name was expected to be released by Yolo County coroner’s offi cials later this week after she is positively identified and next of kin notified, sheriff’s officials said. The motive for the killing also remains under investiga tion but is believed to be an isolated incident.

smaller particles called aero sols that stay in the air for extended periods of time and travel over long distances before being breathed in, according to Sisson.

The symptoms of RSV, influenza, COVID-19, and the common cold overlap significantly, and only healthcare provider testing can definitively tell these infections apart.

Home COVID-19 tests are a valuable tool to detect COVID-19, but they are unable to detect other viral infections. A person with a negative COVID test could still have influenza, RSV, or another viral infection. People with cold-like symp toms should stay home until their fever is gone and their symptoms are improving, even with a negative COVID-19 test.

To protect yourself and others from respiratory viruses this season, Sisson said to consider getting vaccinated and boosted; wearing a mask; washing your hands frequently; and staying home if you’re sick.

Additionally, CDPH is recommending that all healthcare facilities, includ ing inpatient and outpa tient facilities without existing pediatric facilities, explore short-term mea sures to expand capacity for evaluation and treatment of pediatric patients.

— Reach Anne TernusBellamy at aternus@ davisenterprise.net.

Sac State made it happen in 1988 when the Hornets ended those 18 years of Causeway futility with a come-from-behind, heartstopping, last-second, 31-28 win on Toomey Field. The winning score came when quarterback Bryan Pendergast hit Mark Young with a short pass, then Young turned the corner and raced past everyone to complete a 53-yard touchdown play.

I remember it all so well, as thousands of green-and-gold clad Hornet fans poured out of the east bleachers and danced on the sacred Toomey Field turf until someone finally turned off the lights.

The long and painful hex removed, the Hornets followed that up two months later with a much more workmanlike 35-14 win in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Oddly, 1988 was the last season that Jim Sochor coached the Aggies and it was the only time he lost to the Hornets (twice, actu ally) after 18 straight wins.

During one five-year stretch, the series became absolutely noncompetitive, with Aggie wins of 38-3, 34-0, 28-0, 39-0 and 32- 7. Later, the Aggies posted back-toback wins of 51-6 and 52-14.

In fact, the streak became so long and so dominant that Sochor once said “It’s not a rivalry until they beat us.”

That didn’t sit well with Sac State fans, and true enough, the Hornets finally took care of all

that in a big way in 1988.

My attendance at this game goes back to the very first one in 1954 when a running back named Billy Bear led a 14-0 Aggie win at Hughes Stadium.

But for my money, the very best game of all was the Aggies’ 36- 28 triple overtime win in 1997 that was delayed for a while because a portion of the Hornet Stadium bleachers had suddenly collapsed. Hornet fans, no doubt, think their 50-18 rout of the Aggies before 19,000 fans at Hughes Sta dium in 1991 was clearly one for the ages.

When UC Davis announced plans a few years ago to construct “Aggie Square” in Sac State’s back yard, it was taken as a declaration of war by those who bleed Hornet Green and Gold.

Imagine if Sacramento State officials announced plans to build “Hornet Square” in Davis’ Central Park.

It’s nice to see these longtime rivals continue their unbroken rivalry, no matter what’s at stake for either school. It’s still for local bragging rights, of course, but this year there’s a great deal more on the line for both schools, which makes it all the more interesting.

And that’s a good thing for play ers and fans and students and alums alike. Let the good times roll.

Aggies, 27-24.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

VOTE: Frontrunners confident

From Page A1

The elections office had more than 22,000 out standing ballots county wide on Friday and that dropped to 15,729 as of Tuesday. It’s not clear how many ballots remain to be counted in the two Davis City Council races.

There are about 7,150 registered voters in Dis trict 1 and 8,390 in Dis trict 4, according to the elections office.

But both Partida and Vaitla were optimistic last week that their leads would hold up, and, in fact, both saw their leads grow slightly in the last five days.

Partida first ran for Davis City Council in 2018 and received the most votes in a nine-candidate field. She served as mayor for two years.

Carson was also elected to the council that year, finishing just behind Par tida in the final vote total. But his quest for re-elec tion appears to have been stymied by Vaitla, who

currently serves on the city’s Social Services Com mission as well as on the boards of several Davis nonprofits.

That 2018 election which landed Partida and Carson seats on the coun cil was the final at-large election for Davis City Council, where voters city wide could choose any candidates.

The city moved to dis trict elections in 2019, dividing Davis into five districts each represented by its own council mem ber.

The first district elec tion was held in 2020, when now Vice Mayor Will Arnold was elected in District 2; Mayor Lucas Frerichs was elected in District 3; and Council man Josh Chapman in District 5.

All three held leads in their races when the first vote totals came in and those leads held up as bal lots continued to be counted over the ensuing days and weeks.

The vote counting in

Yolo County has been par ticularly slow going this year, due in part to the large number of individu als who dropped off bal lots on Election Day as well as unprecedented numbers of UC Davis stu dents who took advantage of same-day registration on Election Day and cast conditional and provi sional ballots.

All of those require extra staff time in part to ensure nobody has voted twice.

Jesse Salinas, the coun ty’s clerk-recorder/asses sor/registrar of voters, said last week his office will likely need the full 30-day canvassing period to process all of the bal lots.

On Tuesday, he said, “we prioritize the timely processing, verifying, and counting of outstanding ballots during the canvass. Great progress has been made and we expect to certify the election the week following Thanks giving.”

Good gravy — how to do it right

n Editor’s note: This column first ran in November 2018

One of my favorite Thanksgiving quotes is from Rick Bragg: “Gravy isn’t hard to make, but good gravy is.”

For Thanksgiving, bad gravy will cause more sadness than dry turkey. The high point of my Thanksgiving one year was a voicemail from my friend Lis, who was visiting relatives for the holiday. She called to recount her triumph in turning someone else’s horrible potion into deli cious gravy.

Lis knew that gravy is all about umami, that rich, savory flavor found in meat, but also in mushrooms, tomatoes and soy sauce. If your gravy is under-fla vored, let it gently reduce while you sauté a handful of minced mushrooms and any kind of finely chopped onion until they turn a deep brown. Add a clove or two of chopped garlic, then toss in a couple of tablespoons of wine and let it cook down. Finally, add a shot or two of soy sauce and stir your now-concen trated flavor into the gravy. This is also a very good way to start your vegetarian gravy.

Gravy that won’t thicken can be helped with the addition of a cornstarch slurry: for every cup of gravy, stir one tablespoon (that’s the big one) cornstarch into two tablespoons cold broth or water. Add half of the mixture to the hot gravy, stirring con stantly, then simmer (that’s not quite boiling, but you should see tiny bubbles forming) for a min ute. If it’s not thick enough, repeat with the other half of the mixture.

Gravy that’s too thick needs liquid added. It’s a good idea to keep a box of chicken stock on hand for this and other emer gencies.

If your gravy is too greasy, pour it into a measuring cup or gravy boat. Put it in the fridge for 5 minutes, which lets some of

the grease rise to the top. Float a slice of bread on top to soak up the grease, or spoon it off. Repeat as needed.

Lumpy gravy is a cinch: pour it through a strainer. You could spend forever trying to smash up the lumps, but it won’t really help.

If you are serving someone who is gluten-free, any commer cial gluten-free flour mix will serve to thicken your gravy, or you can use a cornstarch slurry.

The traditional Thanksgiving gravy is made with giblets, the innards of the turkey. You’ll find them wrapped in paper along with the neck and tucked into the cavity of the turkey. If you’re using the giblets to make a stock, first remove the liver, which is often bitter and shouldn’t be used in stock. (The liver is smooth, slippery and dark, as opposed to the sort of knobbly heart and gizzard.)

If you can’t bear the thought of touching giblets, don’t fret. Sub stitute good quality boxed broth (I like Pacific) for the homemade broth. If you like the texture of bits in your gravy, you can dice a few mushrooms (button, crimini or baby portabella) and cook them in a little of the fat from the turkey. Let them cook over medium heat, stirring once in a while, until they’re nice and brown. They’ll look and taste a lot like giblets.

— Julie Cross has left the res taurant world, but will always want to have fun with food — email her at jacross@dcn.org or follow her on Facebook and Ins tagram at Julie Cross Cooks.

Admit it. All the other food is just a delivery system for the gravy.

Turkey & Giblet Stock

Ingredients: turkey neck turkey gizzard turkey heart 1 teaspoon oil 1 stalk celery, or a handful of trim mings 1 onion, or onion skins 1 carrot 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari 8 cups water

Putting it together: Dry the neck and giblets. Cook them in a large pan in oil until nicely browned. Chop vegetables into large chunks. Add to meat along with remaining ingredients. Let simmer (not boil) about three hours. Strain. Reserve heart and gizzards for gravy if desired; dis card rest of solids. If time permits, chill broth to let fat rise to surface.

Classic Giblet Gravy

Ingredients: 6 tablespoons fat 4 tablespoons flour 4 cups broth salt and pepper ½ teaspoon dried thyme cooked heart and gizzard if desired

Putting it together: Pour accumulated fat and juices from turkey pan into measuring cup and let stand. If your turkey pan has lovely brown bits in it and can be used over one or two burners, make the gravy in that.

Spoon 3  tablespoons fat from juices into pan over low heat. Add thyme and cook 1 minute. Stir in flour and cook until it begins to color, 3 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove any extra fat from juices and add broth to equal four cups. Slowly whisk broth into roux. Cook gently until thickened, about 5 minutes. If you like chopped giblets in your gravy, finely chop and add heart and giz zard. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Milk Gravy

A milk gravy is less traditional at Thanksgiving, but it’s awfully good. It’s also a handy thing to know about for the year you discover there’s no stock in the house, or when you haven’t cooked a turkey but do want a meaty gravy for the omnivores. You can make this in the pan in which you’ve cooked sausage or bacon, in which case you have the perfect gravy for biscuits. You can also make it in the pan that

you’ve used to cook the turkey. Makes 4 cups.

Ingredients: 6 tablespoons fat 4 tablespoons flour 4 cups or more milk or equivalent salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Putting it together: Remove anything you’ve cooked from pan and spoon off any accumulated fat; do not scrape up any bits stuck to the skillet. Measure fat and add more if needed to make 3 tablespoons.

With the pan over medium-low heat, add the fat. Add the flour, stirring, to form a paste. Cook paste 1 minute, stirring constant ly. Pour the milk in a thin stream into the skillet, stirring to prevent any lumps. Cook until gravy thickens to the consistency of heavy cream, stirring occasion ally. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Vegetarian Gravy

Vegetarians deserve a nice Thanksgiving gravy as well. Most gravy recipes call for drippings from cooked meat. For vegetari an gravy, or quick gravy to go with leftovers, try the following. Makes 4 cups.

Ingredients: 1 teaspoon olive oil 2 tablespoons minced carrot 2 tablespoons minced celery 2 tablespoons minced onion 4 white mushrooms, minced ½ teaspoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon soy sauce 4 cups broth

3 tablespoons cornstarch salt and pepper to taste

Putting it together:

Sauté minced vegetables in oil until soft and browned; add thyme. Cook 1 minute, then add soy sauce. Mix cornstarch with ¼ cup cold broth. Add remaining broth to vegetables and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and cook until thick, about 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time and kept warm until needed. Stir in more broth if it thickens up too much.

Embracing local for holiday tables — and toasts

In the last column, I promised a couple of rosés and bubbles for the holidays. I’ll get there eventually, but I got dis tracted, thanks to these newly chilly evenings, by my longing for reds. My new finds might be catego rized as “light reds.” They’re low in alcohol and extremely food-friendly — while being soothingly warming.

They might not fully complement everything on the holiday table, but a well-flavored turkey? Yes.

Ham, lamb, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, cran berry sauce, baked butter nut squash? — yes, yes, and yes.

I’ve seen a significant uptick in the zinfandelfor-Thanksgiving recom mendations, but many California zins are so sweetish, heavy and oaky that they’ll overwhelm the food unless you’re serving a very hefty slab of beef.

But my latest find, the Camp 2021 Zinfandel, is none of these and would be an excellent companion to T-day meals of all sorts. It’s practically local, grapes from two organic vine yards in Sonoma County, and as one critic said, “Like all Camp wines, this zin punches well above its weight class.”

Dark berries, fall roses, and spice characterize it — but only after a long breathing spell, maybe two hours. We drank it with a red pepper and pumpkin pizza and were taken aback at first sip by its astringency. We weren’t sure we were going to like it. But after sitting in the glass for a while, all the flavors emerged deli ciously.

The refreshing acidic (and long) finish will cut through all the butter, cream, and turkey drip ping-infused dishes in a

delightful way. I’ve written enough about Kenny Lik itprakong’s wines that readers are probably bored with me, but this new zin release is too good — and seasonal — to ignore.

The second red comes from a more unusual grape — carignan — from the Trimble vineyard in Men docino. It’s a second gener ation organic vineyard half of which is leased by Two Shepherds, one of my new favorite wineries. Trimble is one of the few organic California vineyards that grows this relatively rare variety, and Two Shep herds makes the most of it.

We drank this elegant Two Shepherds Carignan with a pasta in red sauce, enhanced with wine, mushrooms, and a few slices of Calabrese sausage. It will work equally well with T-day dishes. The wine’s made with minimal intervention — grapes native-yeast fermented, and aged lightly in assorted oak barrels.

Unfiltered, too. Juicy and mouth-filling, guests won’t guess that it’s only 12.5% alcohol.

The Co-op carries the Two Shepherd Mourvedre that I recently wrote about, but this one you’d need to order from the winery. Or, better yet, take your out-of-town holiday guests to visit them in Windsor, do a little tast ing, and bring home of bottle or two.

OK, rosé. I just attended a small birthday celebration with a wide

variety of delicious food including the best salmon cakes ever. The host (and chef) served Broc Cellars 2021 Rosé of Lagrein, a savory, bright, minerally wine that I’d happily drink with a plate of appetizers as well as with the main-and-sides holi day dishes. Lagrein is a old northern Italian variety— these grapes were grown in the Lone Pine Vineyard in El Dorado County.

The Co-op carries a vari ety of Broc wines, including Love Red, Love White, and Love Rosé (all perfect for the season) but you’d have to order the Lagrein for delivery or pick up a bottle at Broc Cellars in Berkeley. And this raspberry-infused beauty might not be avail able at all since it was pro duced in such small quantities. A good argu ment for joining your favor ite winery’s wine club (this was a recent Broc Wine Club selection) is that you can often get wines avail able nowhere else.

An excellent outing for maintaining your own sanity during the holiday season would be an Amtrak trip to Berkeley — it takes just 1 hour and 20 minutes on the train, and Broc Cellars is only a few blocks away from the Berkeley station. While you’re on Fifth Street, you could visit a couple of other small, nat ural wineries as well — like Donkey and Goat and Hammerling. All three places make terrifically good sparklers, too. Sam ple. Take a friend and a backpack so you can bring a few bottles home.

And while I’m suggest ing sparklers, here’s my final Thanksgiving recom mendation — and it’s a wonderful one. The

Carboniste Sparkling Albariño. There’s not a whole lot of albariño, a beautifully aromatic grape, grown in California and most of it is grown nearby. The Gomes Vineyard where the Carboniste grapes were harvested is in the Sacramento Delta, a vineyard the Gomes family has been (dry) farming since the 1800s and is now transitioning to organic.

Jacqueline and Dan Per son, both great fans of bubbles (they offer eight different ones), made this fragrant beauty with native yeasts and minimal intervention. The charm ing octopus label suggests its affinity for seafood (and it did indeed go perfectly with our scallop and leek dinner), but it’s just as suited to your Thanksgiv ing appetizers—or the tur key itself.

The Persons say this wine is “a product of much inspiration but not imita tion.” In other words, they’re inspired by the great sparklers of the world but don’t want you think this is imitation Champagne.

Personally I like it more than most Champagnes I’ve tried — and at $29 (Co-op), it’s a good deal less expensive. It’s fruitier than Champagne — and, to my mind, more fun.

The wine spends only four months on the yeast — as opposed to the year Champagne must spend — but it feels more fresh and alive than most Champagne. And “fresh” and “alive” seem worth cultivating these darken ing days.

It feels seasonal, too, with its apple and pear fla vors, and I appreciate the

pop top (so much easier to open if a bit less dramatic than the usual fat cork and endless foil). Added attrac tion: Jacqueline and Dan are UCD grads — in fact they met at UCD.

With all of these wines, you’ll be supporting some of our best local winemak ers as well as introducing your guests (or host) to some really unusual and proudly Californian wines. But let’s bring in a few other parts of the world for the toast — sláinte, cin cin, salud, santé, skol, kan pai — whatever. Include “budmo,” a Ukrainian toast, in honor of our besieged friends across the world.

— Susana Leonardi is a Davis resident; reach her at vinosusana@gmail. com. Comment on this column at www.davis enterprise.com.

Can StoCk Photo/StePhanie Frey

STRIKE: UC administrators defend bargaining tactics

UPS truck drivers refused to cross the picket lines to deliver pack ages, and the California Labor Federation’s 2.1 million members sent a unified message in support of the strike.

At lunchtime, as picketers held the line on the sidewalk on Rus sell Boulevard and College Park, others enjoyed Little Caesar’s pizza, polish sausages, chicken, vegetables, and potatoes. Music was playing; students were danc ing in the median on Russell Boulevard. Food was in abun dance. Graffiti had been sprayed on the large UC Davis sign on the corner with the F-word, stating: “F- You; Pay Us.”

An offshoot of the UAW protest was being led by members of the Cops Off Campus group, which had blocked the entrance into campus at Howard Way with a large banner that read: “Strike Means Strike; Undergrad Soli darity.”

One of the strikers who was helping dish out food on Monday, local poet Jaco Beneduci, a grad uate student instructor in the English Department, explained that the sausages he was grilling were throwaways from the Din ing Commons. “A lot a lot of peo ple aren’t aware that they are supporting the strike,” he said. “Food waste is a huge thing,” he added.

Meanwhile, a passerby com mented that he hadn’t seen any thing like this on campus since the “Katehi days,” referring to the infamous pepper spray incident under then-UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.

On Tuesday, strikers marched into Memorial Union, Wellman Hall, and Peter J. Shields Library, chanting, “Out of the classrooms; into the streets,” “shut it down,” and “join the strike.” Some banged on classroom doors, and some opened them to get stu dents to join their cause. In one case, during a communications class, students were guarding the door against the strikers because

their classmates were delivering speeches that needed to be graded.

M. Ximena Anleu Gil, a Ph.D. candidate in plant cell biology and development, said that throughout bargaining, rather than coming to fair agreements, the university has “engaged in a wide variety of unlawful tactics. UC’s unlawful conduct is prevent ing us from reaching fair agree ments that guarantee equity and dignified compensation.”

She said that the bargaining team for the students has negoti ated in good faith to address the severe rent burden that academic workers face. “UC, unfortunately, has not shown us that respect,” she said.

Organizers hope that the uni versity ends the strike by remedy ing their unfair labor practices and bargaining in good faith.

“Workers are escalating now to check the university’s conduct. Without the university changing course, we cannot win our demands,” Gil said.

Rafael Jaime, President of UAW Local 2865 said that UAW bargaining team members met with UC officials on Monday for two hours, resulting in three ten tative agreements. “At this point, the priority should be round-theclock bargaining in good faith as opposed to switching to a media tion process. We remain willing and able to meet with the univer sity on an ongoing basis to reach a resolution,” he said in a state ment.

Bargaining went into the eve ning on Tuesday.

“What I hope to see is, honestly, a successful strike and a great contract from this. I mean, we’re going to shut the university down, and then this will have a ripple effect across the U.S. I mean, other schools have realized they can’t just abuse their grad workers,” said Emily Weintraut, a Ph.D. student in the Glen Fox Lab (malting and brewing sci ences).

In an L.A. Times letter to the

editor, titled “UC defends its con tract offer in labor talks to avert strike,” Michael Brown, UC’s pro vost and executive vice president for academic affairs, stated that UC had offered the multi-year wage increases, with the initial year’s increase ranging from 4% to 26% depending on the bar gaining unit.

Brown wrote that the univer sity continues to “increase afford able housing across our campuses. “Our system already provides rents that are 20% to 25% below market rates, and some students receive even deeper discounts.”

He defended UC’s bargaining tactics, stating that UC has sub mitted proposals in good faith. He added that the UC Board of Regents, since 2017, has allocated more than $57 million in funding to address housing needs.

The last day of the fall quarter is Dec. 9, with final examinations scheduled from Dec. 5 to 9.

The impact that may have on the undergraduates finishing their fall quarter is recognized.

“We know that our working con ditions are our students’ learning conditions. Right now, the quality of education we can provide is compromised because we are struggling to make ends meet. If

UC meets our demands for fair compensation, we’ll be far more able to focus on our teaching. So we know a temporary disruption to our students’ education is worth a long-term improvement to everyone’s experience at UC,” Gil said.

“Not every teaching moment happens in a classroom. Some times you have to stand up for yourself. Our students and col leagues are with us. They under stand that when you are being treated unfairly, you have to speak up,” she said.

Palvir Silhota, a pre-med stu dent who watched the march pass through campus, said that labs have been canceled for some of her friends and that she got a midterm score turned in late, which made her anxious. “But life goes on,” she said. “I think it’s a fair price to pay.”

In a letter to faculty dated Nov. 10, cosigned by Susan Cochran, Academic Council chair, and James Steintrager, vice chair, questions regarding the workers’ rights have been relayed to the administration and the Office of the President.

For instance, the letter states that the university can “reassign duties to employees or hire tem porary workers to assist faculty who are so burdened to cover the struck work while the strike is ongoing. However, locating and assigning staff or administrators with academic experience and disciplinary expertise to assist in the task of grading assignments may be impractical.”

Weintraut said her professor allowed her to talk to her class about the strike. She added, how ever, that during an undergradu ate class she attends, someone was told off for that. “So there’s definitely a lot of union busting going around from the UC side, and I have some faculty who are scared of that.”

Diana Sernas, a graduate stu dent in the Department of Inte grative Genetics and Genomics, told The Enterprise that the UC

has more than $40 billion in its budget. As of right now, all aca demic workers account for about 1% of the UC budget. “If they give into all of our economic demands, we will be 3%, so they have the money,” she said.

Gil said that When UC pays extremely low wages, it limits who can participate here. “UC should be an engine of social mobility — not a place where only people who benefit from generational wealth can afford to work.”

UC Davis Faculty Association Chair Jesse Drew said more than 1,000 professors UC-wide have signed their support for the strike. Eighty-three faculty are from UC Davis. In a post to fel low UC Davis faculty colleagues, Drew offered ideas and advice on supporting the strike:

“In this case, that means not doing work on behalf of the uni versity. We understand this to include, but not be limited to, teaching classes. It is not the same as engaging directly in the strike, but it shows your sup port for the picketing workers, their union, and the labor move ment.”

Drew, who was out supporting the picket on Monday, said that many people are on unsteady ground. “A lot of people are not used to doing this kind of activity. A lot of those people are interna tional students, so they feel in a more precarious situation. And, of course, the administration likes to spread disinformation, too,” he said.

A professor of Media Studies, Drew has spoken to his students, including a class of 200, about the strike. “This is a good educational moment. It’s a good educational opportunity to understand where the role of labor fits into the larger picture of our society.”

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@davisenterprise.net.

Monica Stark/EntErpriSE photo Striking UC Davis grad-school workers march through Wellman Hall on campus Tuesday.

Permafrost isn’t so permanent after all

Ihave a bunch of meaty topics for columns stored up but I confess I’ve been absorbed by the midterm elections so this column will not be one of those. Instead, it is a com pilation of a few smaller — well not “smaller,” necessarily, but shorter — items that come from reader suggestions and comments, or from various news outlets.

Starting off is a report from the “Equilibrium/ Sustainability” publication from The Hill. I subscribe to this one because my thoughts over time of how to understand and define “sustainability” have landed on the word “equi librium.” Though often used to describe an emo tional point of balance, it is also a fundamental con cept in chemistry and physics.

Wikipedia defines it as, “the state where the rate of the forward reaction is equal to the rate of the backward reaction” with the result that “there is no observable change in the properties of the system.”

For our purposes, inputs such as lithium for car bat teries is recycled to the point of not needing to mine more.

That was a bit of a digression. On to the arti cle, titled, “Global warm ing sparking Arctic fire activity,” which reports on a study published in Sci ence. The report indicates that in the past couple years, temperatures in the Arctic have been sparking “an unusual number of

fires.” That the Arctic is warming faster than any other part of the planet has long been known. But scientists are alarmed.

The icy-cold, snow-cov ered, somewhat barren region is burning large areas of permafrost. Remembering back a few years, scientists identified permafrost as potentially one of the “tipping points” triggering a cycle of warm ing that leads to burning that leads to more warm ing, etc., on to irreversible damage. According to the study, the 423 fires that scorched the Siberian Arc tic in 2020 alone burned an area almost as big as Belgium, releasing enough carbon to match the annual emissions of Spain.

Returning to the overall subject of sustainability, who among us has ever heard of Herman Daly? A recent obituary in The New York Times headlined him as an “Economist (who) challenged The Gos pel of Growth.” Generally out of the mainstream, he spent 50-plus years argu ing that “the economic gospel of growth as synon ymous with prosperity and progress was fundamen tally, and dangerously, flawed because it ignored

Gayle was the daughter of Frank and Louise Greco of Hillside, Ill.

Gayle graduated from Northern Illinois Univer sity in 1966 with a bache lor’s degree in education and communications. She worked for Illinois Bell as a business manager. She married Ken Schofield and moved to Vacaville in 1971. She then worked in human resources at Pacific Bell in Oakland and Napa. She had many higher manage ment positions during her career at Pacific Bell, such as vice president for the Bay Area Association Psy chological Program and staff manager in systems and technology, until her retirement in 1991.

During her retirement, she was very involved with various charitable organi zations; including St. Joseph’s Parish Youth group, Solano County Department of Health and Human Services, Solano County HIV Prevention Plan, Bay Area Health Sup port and Education Ser vices Group, A Woman’s

Brent Miille, beloved fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Valley Oak and Korematsu elementary schools, passed away on Nov. 9, 2022.

Brent was born on Oct. 29, 1958, in Wichita, Kan., to Bob and Anne Miille. He is survived by his siblings Michael, Susan and Ellen. He is preceded in death by his sister Christine.

Brent grew up in Fall brook, where he starred in high-school athletics. After high school, Brent attended UC Davis.

For more than 30 years, Brent worked tirelessly for Davis students. “Mr. Miille” or “Coach” was well known for his football tourna ments and spirit-day assemblies.

Brent spent decades coaching baseball includ ing many years with his beloved Davis Blue Devils. Brent’s motto was to work hard and be a good teammate.

In 1982, Brent met the love of his life, Sue Brandow.

Health Summit, the Chil dren’s Health Insurance Imple mentation program, the Solano County Elder Abuse Coun cil, the North Bay Adopt-aSchool Program, etc. Her commitment to improve conditions in her commu nity was extraordinary.

She was kind and gener ous to all; always sending cards and flowers on all occasions and thinking of those in need.

Her reassuring smile could convince you that everything was alright. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Kenneth Scho field. She will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18, followed by a burial service immediately after at Vacaville-Elmira cemetery. Flower donations will be accepted at St. Mary’s Church.

Brent and Sue have three won derful children.

Jed fol lows in Brent’s footsteps as “Mr. Miille,” teaching fourth grade at Willett. Ema is a therapist helping children in Davis. Jake is a fire fighter for the city of Chico.

Brent has one grand daughter, Tori, who was the light of his life. Tori would often run into the house yelling “Bubba!” to which Brent would respond, “who loves you baby?”

A small family service will be organized at a later date. For a full obituary or to write memories of Brent, please visit: https://www. smith-funerals.com/obitu aries/brent-miille.

In lieu of flowers, dona tions can be made to the Carlton Staff Holiday Fund https://gofund.me/ 04c39328.

its associated costs, espe cially the depletion of natural resources and the pollution it engenders.

“Although he was branded a heretic for his theories, or worse, ignored, among tra ditional economists … many saw him as pro phetic for anticipating cli mate change’s increasingly harmful impact and the vast sum of money needed to address it.”

Daly proposed three main principles. One, that growth is uneconomic when its costs outweigh its benefits. Two, Earth, once virtually unpopulated, is now jam-packed with peo ple and what they produce, thereby making it essential that on a per capita basis we use fewer natural resources and produce less waste. Three, “the econ omy does not exist apart from the Earth’s biosphere but rather within it and its scale is limited by its reli ance on finite natural resources. Together, he explained, the three prin ciples are “not really hard to understand. I can explain them to my grand children.”

His economic beliefs were grounded in hard sci ence, but also informed by his sense of ethics and his faith.” His many books include “The Entropy Law and the Economic Process” in 1971 and “For the Com mon Good: Redirecting

the Economy Toward Community, the Environ ment, and a Sustainable Future” in 1989.

Perhaps others are more informed than I, but I have long suffered under the appar ent illusion that alternate theories to a growth-based economic model were essentially nonexistent and growth is the only game in town. My ignorance on this is slowly ebbing away as I encounter more and more models that seek a “steady state” rather than the current system that, as Dr. Daly put it so articu lately, “leads us off a cliff.”

In the category of “Noth ing Is Ever Easy” my cur rently controversial friend Rich sent me a CNN arti cle titled, “Here’s why con venience stores aren’t rushing to replace gas pumps with EV chargers.”

On the face of it, there’s a simple answer to the ques tion of what’s going to happen to all the gas sta tions and convenience stores that also sell gas when everybody is driving an electric vehicle? Easy, right, just switch to selling electricity. Not so fast. The issue is not as simple as it seems. There are 50 states, 78 bazillion gas stations, and Lord knows how many electric utilities that combine to create signifi cant differences in regula tory policy and requirements.

The article points out that the infrastructure act approved by congress includes $7.5 billion available

to, among others, gas sta tion and convenience stores to convert from gas to electricity. Some are. Some are hedging their bets, keeping a few gas pumps along with install ing charging stations.

According to the article, however, some are hesitat ing, worried that it will be a good while before gas is no longer needed, and fearful that utility charges could more than offset increased revenue from

the purchase of snacks and beverages. The details matter, and it will be a while before we see whether what seems sim ple and straightforward will indeed be so.

— John Mott-Smith is a resident of Davis. This col umn appears the first and third Wednesday of each month in the print edition of the Davis Enterprise. Please send comments to johnmottsmith@comcast. net.

‘Unfold’ podcast looks at wartime trauma

By Amy Quinton Special to The Enterprise

Unfold, a UC Davis podcast, launches its final episode of Season 4 today with an in-depth look at research that explores whether Vietnamese refu gees who experienced trauma during the war or its aftermath are more at risk of developing demen tia in older age.

Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, more than 1.2 million Southeast Asian refugees and immi grants have resettled in the U.S. Many of them experienced significant trauma. Now, Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. are at ages where they’re beginning to develop dementia. But like other underrepresented groups in the U.S., they also face barriers to seeking

Malcolm Roff MacKen zie died at home on Oct. 6, 2022, at the age of 87.

Born in Oakland in 1935 to Roberta Wells and Sher win Clarence MacKenzie, Malcolm attended school in Oakland, where he pur sued his sports interests running track and playing football in high school, and his musical interests play ing trombone in the high school band and the Bay Area Young People’s Sym phony. He continued these diverse interests as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, running track and singing in the Glee Club.

Another interest, ball room dancing, led to his meeting his wife, Natalie. This was the start of a lifelong enthusiasm for danc ing — they loved to waltz at weddings — and of a long life with Natalie, with whom he shared 63 years of marriage.

From UC Berkeley, Mal colm moved on to study medicine at UC San Fran cisco, where he also com pleted his internship and residency in internal medi cine. He completed his first post-doctoral fellowship in physiological chemistry at the University of Wiscon sin, Madison, then returned to UCSF to com plete his second postdoc toral fellowship, this time in hematology.

Malcolm’s goal of com bining research and clinical work, seeking new and bet ter treatments for his patients, led him to his career in academia. He served as an instructor and as assistant professor in residence in the Depart ment of Hematology and Immunology at UCSF and was an attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital. He then became an assistant professor in the division of immunology at the University of Cincin nati and was an attending physician at Cincinnati General Hospital and a consulting physician at Cincinnati Children’s Hos pital.

Returning to California, he joined the faculty at the nascent School of Medicine at UC Davis as a professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, where he spent the rest of his academic career, teach ing, seeing patients and doing research. Malcolm retired from UC Davis medical school at age 60. He then became director of the Center for Blood Research of the Sacra mento Medical Foundation Blood Center for 10 years before he (once again) retired.

Moves for his career also coincided with expansion of his family. Oldest daugh ter Leslie was born in Wis consin, daughter Tracie in California and son Kenneth in Ohio. The final move to Davis added a dog to the family.

As a leading oncologist and hematologist, Malcolm played an important role in the development of the field of immunology. Mal colm was extremely pas sionate about his research, which he saw as helping to inform his treatment of his patients, and which he pur sued in the laboratories he maintained on the UCD campus and during his research sabbaticals in Melbourne, Australia, Southampton, England and Uppsala, Sweden.

Although most of his research involved cancer studies, he also published papers on identifying mark ers for simian AIDS with the UC Davis primate center, to help further understanding of treatment of human AIDS patients. A pioneer in the study of mul tiple myeloma, he pub lished many papers identifying the markers on specific types of blood cells. Often ahead of his time, he had the satisfaction of see ing several of the concepts he had developed become part of standard theory and protocol.

Malcolm was a lifelong devotee of music, as evi denced by his vast and eclectic collection of

records and his passion for attending concerts and opera perfor mances with his wife, even long after mobility became more difficult. He and Natalie sang in the Davis Community Church choir for many years, and he was the baritone soloist for many of the DCC choir concerts. Malcolm was an early and enthusiastic member of the Davis Comic Opera Company, perform ing in many roles over the years, where he was noted for his comedic timing.

His love for social inter action, which he shared with his wife, could be seen from the numerous DCOC cast parties held at their home. This same hospital ity was exhibited on many occasions, professional and personal. Holidays were often enriched by the inclu sion of friends or acquain tances who were far from family, and there was always a seat at the table — be it a fancy meal or the infamous “refrigerator clean-out” — at the MacK enzie house for anyone who stopped by around dinner time.

Possessed of a great thirst for knowledge and culture, Malcolm was always quick to support the efforts and accomplish ments of others. One of his proudest moments was when his son, Kenneth, joined him among those who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout. As a Boy Scout growing up, Malcolm

treatment for trauma and dementia. In this episode of “Unfold,” hear from a UC Davis researcher embarking on the first long-term study examin ing early life contributors to dementia in Vietnam ese American communi ties.

In this episode: n Oanh Meyer, social psychologist at Alzheim er’s Disease Center at UC Davis Health

n Duy Nguyen, former child refugee from Viet nam, recent graduate of UC Davis School of Medi cine and psychiatry resi dent at UCSF Fresno

The award-winning podcast is available free, on demand on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Google Podcasts, on your smart speaker or wherever you get your podcasts.

— UC Davis News

had been introduced to camping and hiking, both of which became passions he went on to share with his family. Summers would find the MacKenzie family in Yosemite or Lake Tahoe, camping, hiking and, of course, singing around the campfire.

Having spent his child hood summers going to the Santa Cruz beach, Malcolm taught his children to love and respect the ocean. But no one could out-body-surf Malcolm, a 6-foot man who could ride a wave all the way to the ankle-deep water on the beach.

Malcolm’s final days were spent where and how he had hoped: he was at home, surrounded by his music, his books, and his loved ones. Malcolm is sur vived by his wife, Natalie; daughter Leslie and son-inlaw Jonathan Blackie; daughter Tracie and sonin-law Augusto Sarti; daughter-in-law Heather K. MacKenzie; grandchil dren Lindsay and Stuart Blackie, and Alexander, Sean and Kevin Sarti; and brother Sherwin MacKen zie. He was preceded in death by his son, Kenneth MacKenzie.

His wife and family invite all who knew Mal colm to a memorial cele bration at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30, at Davis Commu nity Church. The service will also be livestreamed on the church website.

Donations may be made in Malcolm’s memory to Yolo Cares Hospice, Davis Community Church Music, the American Cancer Soci ety, or a charity of your choice.

Malcolm MacKenzie 1935 — 2022

MacKENZIE

Gayle L. Schofield

Dec. 27, 1944 — Nov. 9, 2022

Brent Robert Miille Oct. 29, 1958 — Nov. 9, 2022

MIILLE

SCHOFIELD

Today

n The Yolo Audubon Society invites the public to join its monthly pro gram meeting via Zoom. Marc Hoshovsky will speak on the history of the South Fork Preserve, which is along Putah Creek, a few miles south east of downtown Davis. The preserve is a publicly accessible city of Davis open-space area. This 192-acre preserve is one of the best examples of riparian and floodplain forest along Putah Creek. For reservations, go to yoloaudubon.org or facebook.com/yolo audubonsociety.

Thursday

n Soroptimist Interna tional of Davis invites community members to join its annual Soup Night and Silent Auction at Davis Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The silent auction begins at 6 and closes at 7:30 p.m. Fill up on members’ best soups, breads and desserts while getting a jump start on holiday gifts. Beer and wine will be available for purchase, along with non-alcoholic beverages. Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted. The evening’s proceeds benefit SI Davis programs and projects. Learn more at https:// www.sidavis.org/.

Friday

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). Pull out your fiddles, guitars, mandolins, penny whis tles, pipes, flutes, squee zeboxes (you name it) and join your fellow musicians. All skill levels welcome and listeners are invited. Short-term parking is available in Visitor Lot 5 on Old Davis Road at Arbore tum Drive. Hourly rates start at $1.75.

Saturday

n The annual Davis model train display will be up and running at the Davis train station (Amtrak) at 840 Second St. in downtown Davis. Sponsored by the Davis Sunrise Rotary Club (davisrotary.org) and the Davis Model Train Club, admission is free. Any donations received will be directed to local charitable pro grams. The electric train display will be open from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and features two layouts (Lionel O and HO gauges) with interactive

components for children as well as examples and history of local Davis points of interest.

n Ceramics, jewelry, wildlife photography, cards, woodblock prints, baked goods, candles, soaps, crocheted accesso ries, Japanese fish prints, tote bags, quilted baby blankets, local honey, and more will be featured at the 12th annual Vil lage Homes Arts & Crafts Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Village Homes Community Cen ter and on the Village Homes Green, 2661 Por tage Bay East (off Russell Blvd.). Guests can enjoy live music by a diverse array of local performers while appreciating local art. Admission is free. Masking will be requested inside the Community Center. For more information, please contact Jill Van Zanten at jillvz@sbcglobal.net.

n The Yolo County Animal Shelter is part nering with The Growing Groves to bring their dogs out to meet the public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Several shelter dogs will be at the plant shop for meet-and-greet, along with an experi enced team of volunteers to answer questions about all of the adoptable dogs at the shelter. The Growing Groves Plant Shop will have experts available to advise on pet-safe plants and will offer discounts on all petsafe plants in their shop that day. The store is at 219 E Street, second floor, in downtown Davis. For questions about the event, email ycas.volunteers@gmail. com.

Sunday

n The Western Yolo Grange Hall will host a Holiday Craft Fair at 16787 Forest Ave. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Guinda. On hiatus for two years because of the COVID pandemic, Holi day Craft Fair, returns in 2022 with craft vendors; luscious food; and volun teers to prepare and serve chili, and sell Grammy Wyatt’s homemade almond roca. Available crafts include handmade shopping bags in a great variety of fabric; handknitted cowls and hats; screen-printed ban danas; rosemary and other herbal products; prepacked nuts; natural deodorant, goat milk soaps, salves, lotion bars, lip conditioner and acti vated charcoal tooth powder; hand-crafted jewelry; organic samosas from local ingredients; gourmet coffee; sweet tamales; linens; beeswax candles and honey; handmade woodwork décor; and a free kids’ crafts table.

Thong Hy Huynh memorial garden blooms at last

By maTTiaS rowEnBalE HUB Staff

Flowers finally returned to the Thong Hy Huynh memorial garden on Nov. 10 as more than a dozen students planted fuch sia, yarrow and more.

Ever since the transition to distance learning left the garden neglected, the Davis High Environmental Club, led by teacher Sherri Sandberg, has been working hard to restore the memorial.

“It’s just so important to keep this as a vibrant, alive place. And it’s just been sad to see some of the struggles it’s had over the years,” Sandberg said.

The red and yellow flowers planted by Environmental Club are meant to symbol ize the Vietnamese flag, as the garden memorializes Vietnamese student Thong Hy Huynh who was killed on the Davis High campus in 1983.

Following the racially motivated hate crime, former DHS teacher Grace Kim organized the construction of the garden in Huynh’s memory.

“(We’re planting today to) memorialize that student but also kind of speak on the recent resurgence of Asian American hate crimes that happened because of the pan demic,” Environmental Club president Jared Umphress said.

Unfortunately, the garden has been in a state of disrepair in recent years, and the

Nov. 10 restoration was badly needed.

When students and teachers left campus in 2020, Bermuda grass took over the gar den. The remaining flowers died when irrigation was turned off in the summer of 2021, and club members had to cover the planter box with black plastic during the summer of 2022 to solarize it and kill off the invasive grass.

Vaitla and Partida leading in city council elections

By Emily Tran HUB Staff

According to unofficial Yolo County Returns update on Nov. 15, Bapu Vaitla won 60% of the vote in District 1 and Gloria Par tida won 61% in District 4.

Vaitla’s political agenda included improving housing affordability, helping lowincome residents, and funding environmental endeavors.

In addition to his strong plat form, Vaitla was able to win over the majority vote through his campaign efforts.

“We knocked on every door twice at least, and then a third time for undecided voters... We held about 22 meet and greets… probably close to a total of 30 events one way or the other,” Vaitla said.

Although happy with the results, Vaitla said he was shocked by attacks that were made during the campaign.

“There’s a lot of emotion and there’s a lot of desperation to win and I think people kind of lose sight that we’re all in this process to strengthen our local democ racy,” Vaitla said.

One target of such attacks was Gloria Partida, whose campaign had controversy due to opinions on Measure H, a ballot measure that was voted down in the June primary.

“I know that I’ve done the work and I know that… my intentions for the city have always been to do the best that I can. Being solid in that knowl edge allows me to ignore the negativity that was being put out there,” Partida said.

Measure H was an unpopular plan to permit peripheral growth which both candidates Dan Carson and Gloria Partida voted to put on the ballot. Car son was at the front of the dis cussion encompassing the measure due to his lawsuit sur rounding the ballot language.

“The idea of a council member suing was very unsatisfactory for people,” Partida said.

Partida was surprised at how strongly people reacted to her own campaign.

“That level of negativity doesn’t usually happen in Davis. Some of the things going around in social media were extremely negative,” Partida said.

Partida was mayor of Davis from 2020-2022, shepherding the city through the COVID cri sis. Her platform in the 2022 election was to finish what she started: helping with affordable housing, homelessness and eco nomic development.

However, the memorial garden strug gled even before the pandemic, particu larly with irrigation.

“When I first started teaching here, it was very sad because every year to com memorate this planter they would plant a tree, but there was no irrigation connected to the planter and so every year then the tree would die. Oh my god, that was really

awful.” Sandberg said.

Originally, Sandberg declined to join the efforts to maintain the garden, because she knew they were fruitless without proper irrigation. It wasn’t until a DHS principal had the surrounding cement dug up to rec connect the irrigation system that Sand burg and the Environemtal Club began taking care of the planter.

“I’m a little worried that after we go through all this effort that irrigation is gonna continue to be a problem… (A maintenance person) came two days ago and he still hasn’t turned it on.” Sandberg said. “We’ve got drought tolerant plants, but they do need some water.”

Luckily, it seems as though there is renewed motivation surrounding the memorial, and Sandberg and Umphress are cautiously optimistic about its future.

“I’m working on a commission… (and there is) talk about refurbishing the benches or replacing them, as well as add ing art (on surrounding walls),” Umphress said.

According to Umphress, there may be signage added to bring attention to what the garden represents, as well as murals placed nearby to celebrate and showcase diversity.

“I’m hoping that this can be something that really celebrates diversity,” Sandberg said.

FACT Club refines activism outreach

By STElla mazE HUB Staff

After Feminism Club and Activism Club presi dents (Olivia Gonzalez and Emily Haws, respec tively) noticed that that there was significant overlap between their goals and members, they decided to merge their clubs.

The two joined forces to create FACT Club, which merges activism topics in order to offer students an intersectional environment to tackle the world’s issues in approachable ways.

The club meets every other week. In each meeting one club officer will give a presentation on a feminist, environmental or political issue in the world.

The presentation usually consists of a brief back ground and summary of the news at hand. And then, maybe most importantly, the presenter gives a run down on how high school students can make a differ ence in the issue.

“It is incredibly difficult to feel like you are making a difference in the world… when you’re in high school,” Gonzalez said.

The bite-sized formula the club uses allows stu dents to take in the information in a digestible way that also gives them the tools they need to act in a moderate and consistent manner.

It is easy to get burned out and overwhelmed with the constant flow of information at the fingertips of young people.

But the consistent funnel of the club’s research and dedication to their members establishes a healthy cycle that also allows for the optimization of mean ingful action.

The leaders of the club are purposeful and are the reason for the sustainability and success of the club so far.

“As a Black Muslim girl myself, I understand that not everybody is fortunate enough to have grown up in a generally safe community like Davis,” vice-pres ident Ahlaam Musa said. “So my passion for activ ism… stems from wanting to amplify people’s voices.”

Fun unfolds at Origami Club for World Origami Days

By lily SchroEdEr HUB Staff

Origami Club celebrates World Ori gami Days at Davis High with a dis play of intricately folded birds to symbolize the peace origami repre sents.

Junior Kevin Wong started Origami Club in March of 2022 as a way to spread his love of origami. Wong was surprised by the good attendance the club meetings had even in the begin ning.

“A lot of people think origami is just something you do in second grade and it’s just like a fun arts and crafts proj

ect, but it really is something different that goes beyond just like an artisan craft,” Wong said.

Club member junior Tiffany Chan enjoys learning about origami. “The people in the club are really friendly and we get to collaborate and bond with each other while having fun doing what we’re doing,” Chan said.

For World Origami Days, Wong put up an origami display of a tree with hanging birds in the library. World Origami Days starts on Oct. 24, the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer, founder of the first origami group in America, and lasts until Nov. 11, Ori

gami Day in Japan.

“(It’s) two and a half weeks where we celebrate origami as the peace sym bol it has become in the world,” Wong said.

Wong believes origami should be applied to the real world as the art requires a great deal of math and engi neering. He is excited that origami is being used by NASA engineers to build future spacecrafts as a way to fold materials to conserve space dur ing launch.

“It’s really fun spreading the power of just folding,” Wong said.

Stella Maze/hub photo

From left to right, seniors Emily Haws, Ahlaam Musa and Olivia Gonzalez lead a FACT Club meeting.

MattiaS rowenbale/hub photo

Environmental Club members plant flowers in the Thong Hy Huynh memorial garden in the colors of the Vietnamese flag.

Improving desalination key to water future

By Grayson Zulauf Special to The Enterprise

If the climate crisis is coming, the water crisis is already here.

As rice fields were fallowed in Califor nia, Lake Mead water levels almost sunk so low that Hoover Dam could no longer gener ate power, and life-threatening toxic dust blew off the dried-up Salton Sea.

Thirty percent of the world population will face water shortages of some kind by 2025. Things are only going to get worse.

Climate change will cause the Colorado River, which supplies water for 40 million people, irrigates 6 million acres of farmland and underpins a quarter of the nation’s econ omy, to lose more than half of its flows by 2100. The depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer in the Midwest threatens agriculture so radi cally that serious proposals have explored a water pipeline from Louisiana.

Beyond these particular water-strapped cases, of which California has many, warm ing delivers the one-two punch everywhere, whether it’s from lower water supply due to reduced snowpack and higher evaporation, or increased demand because of higher tem peratures.

There is no single way out of a future in which all agriculture leaves the West, desert cities from Denver to San Diego are no lon ger livable, and Native Americans continue to be denied legally enshrined water rights. Measures like better water reuse and more sustainable groundwater management just aren’t enough for California.

The water crisis will only be solved if we realize the once quixotic vision of desalina tion, turning seawater into freshwater. Today, roughly 18,000 desalination plants produce around 1% of the world’s freshwater, with production concentrated in regions of high water scarcity such as Israel and Australia.

In 2007, San Diego County approved the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The Carlsbad Desalination Plant now delivers 50 million gallons of freshwater per day. And just last month, a smaller desalination plant was unanimously approved to deliver freshwater to Orange County.

Desalination also represents a prominent piece of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State Water Plan. But even state-of-the-art plants still suffer from issues that imperil their ubiquity.

The desalination process is so energyintensive that desalination plants often require carbon-emitting power plants right next door, which can increase costs up to 10 times higher than groundwater. The highpressure intake of seawater also threatens ocean life, and the output of brine threatens coastal environments.

With high energy use, environmental dan gers and high costs forced onto ratepayers, desalination faces strong opposition across the political spectrum. But this resistance overlooks both the necessity of desalination at least relative to more dire options – and the potential promise of improved desalina tion technologies.

Saudi Arabia recently authorized a massive solar project to fully power an existing plant, showcasing the potential of a carbon-free desalination future. To its credit, the Orange County plant will use slanted wells that draw water from beneath the sea bed to protect ocean life, and the brine will be treated at a nearby wastewater treatment facility.

Energy recycling, alongside better elec tronics, are enabling less energy-inten sive (and cheaper) methods of desalination, including breakthrough concepts like using shockwaves.

Desalination will be a major piece of Cali fornia’s water future, and its inevitability demands the research, policy and funding attention of an imperiled human right. Safe, efficient and clean desalination means fewer dams, cheaper and broader access to water, and the ability to support population growth while continuing to produce food for the country and world.

The alternative is dry, dusty and deadly.

— Dr. Grayson Zulauf is a clean energy entrepreneur and holds a PhD in Power Elec tronics from Stanford University. He cur rently serves as CEO of Resonant Link. He wrote this for CalMatters.

Katherine Esau — the woman in the

Irecently came upon a 1942 faculty photo. It included Katherine Esau. I wasn’t looking for her. She is depicted in front of the Bot any building alongside her UC Davis plant sciences col leagues, Alden Crafts, Her bert Currier, Elliot Weier, Ralph Stocking and Wilfred Robbins.

It was Robbins whom I was looking for. The eponym of Robbins Hall was an esteemed botanist, who dab bled in Davis real estate. He built the house at 501 Oak Ave. for his family.

In order to get approval from Yolo County to subdi vide his land, which extended north to what later became W. Eighth Street, W.W. Rob bins agreed to preserve the now 160-year-old Valley Oak tree on his home site.

Professor Esau never lived on the street her colleague named Oak Avenue. She came to town in 1927, resid ing in an on-campus dormi tory, as a graduate student at the Agricultural College of the University of California, then a branch of UC Berkeley.

Esau was awarded her PhD in December, 1931 for her dissertation on “the anatomy of the sugar beet and the infestation of the curly-top.” She later wrote that she “dis covered what part of the plant the virus first became active in, and what exactly it was doing to the tissue.”

Before moving to Davis, Esau had worked for Spreck els Sugar Company in Salinas for three years. However, she did not start out in Califor nia.

Esau was born in 1898 to a German Mennonite family in Ekaterinoslav, Russia. (Today that city is called Dnipro, Ukraine.) Her great-grandfa ther, Aron Esau, migrated to Russia from Prussia in 1804; her maternal ancestors arrived in 1788. Starting in the late-1700s, the tsarist government encouraged Ger mans to move to imperial Russia, bringing with them more advanced knowledge of agriculture than the native peasants had.

As an ethnic minority group who were not mem bers of the dominant Russian Orthodox church, Germans in Russia and Ukraine were targets of discrimination. Many began leaving for the United States in the late 1800s, often settling in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

The Esau family remained in Russia a few decades lon ger.

“In the fall of 1916, I entered the Golitsin Women’s Agricultural College in Mos cow, starting with natural sciences, physics, chemistry and geology,” she wrote in her autobiography.

Her studies were inter rupted by World War I. The Bolsheviks forced the Esaus to flee to Germany in Decem ber, 1918, where she enrolled in an agricultural college called the Berlin Land wirtschaftliche Hochschule. There she earned her bache lor’s degree to be an agricul tural teacher (“Landwirtschaftlehrerin”), and she passed an advanced test in plant breeding.

Germany’s economy was a disaster in the early 1920s. So in 1922 her family emigrated to Reedley (southeast of Fresno), where there was a Mennonite community.

In Reedley, an acquain tance told Esau of a position researching sugar beets in Oxnard. She was in Ventura County just one year when the company folded. But a colleague in Oxnard helped her get a job at Spreckels in Salinas, where Esau worked to breed sugar beets resistant to curly-top disease.

Following a graduation ceremony in Berkeley, Rob bins — who recruited her to come to Davis after a chance

LettersFirefighters participating in democracy

When discussing political issues, we can shout and call each other names. Or we can have a meaningful exchange of ideas. But to have a meaningful exchange of ideas, people need to choose their words carefully. Rich Rifkin’s choice of words in his Oct. 18 opinion piece on “corrupt contributions” in Davis may have been great for headlines, but it does little to further meaningful dialogue about what is best for our town. Oxford Languages dictionary online defines cor ruption as “dishonest or fraudulent con duct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” It is a big word to throw around at election time.

Supporting a candidate under the rules is not a fraudulent abuse of power; it is democracy in action. Legal campaign contributions, when made transparently, are an ethical and valid form of demo cratic participation. In his piece, Rifkin suggests the firefighters’ support of

enterprise

A McNaughton Newspaper Locally owned and operated since 1897

Foy S. McNaughton President and CEO R. Burt McNaughton Publisher

Sebastian Oñate Editor

Official legal newspaper of general circulation for the city of Davis and county of Yolo. Published in The Davis Enterprise building, 325 G St., Davis, CA. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617. Phone: 530-756-0800. An award-winning newspaper of the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Speak out President

meeting at Spreckels — hired Esau as a junior professor of botany in 1932. She was the only female in her department in Davis at that time. She didn’t consider her gen der an issue.

“I never worried about being a woman,” she said in a 1992 interview. “It never occurred to me that that was an important thing. I always thought that women could do just as well as men.”

In 1930, her parents also moved to Davis. After the Esau family rented several residences, they built the small, extant house at 237 First Street. She was living there when she wrote the textbook, Plant Anatomy (1953). She was also famous for Anatomy of Seed Plants (1960) and The Phloem (1969).

According to a brief bio by UCSB’s Cheadle Center, “Dr. Esau was especially well known for her beautifully written and comprehensive textbooks. Her first book on plant anatomy for John Wiley and Sons was begun in the late 1940s. Plant Anat omy was published in 1953, and it became a classic almost immediately.

“The book was and still is fondly called the ‘bible’ for structural botanists. Dr. Esau’s developmental approach and thorough pre sentation of the structure and development of a wide vari ety of economically impor tant plants resulted in a book that revitalized plant anat omy throughout the world.”

In 1949, Esau, who never married, became a full pro fessor. After Robbins retired

Gloria Partida and Bapu Vaitla is a form of corruption. I strongly disagree. The campaign mailer I received from the fire fighter union supporting Gloria Partida had pictures of community members I can name, reasons why the local fire fighter union believes Partida is the best candidate, and clear labeling that it came from our local firefighter union. Their support is open and public, not a shad owy transaction happening behind closed doors. Trying to silence union member voices during an election is the real mis deed occurring in our town.

Could it be that the firefighters are sup porting candidates that will ensure the roads they drive on to respond to an emer gency are well-maintained? Candidates who will conscientiously balance the city budget firefighter paychecks depend on? Could they have the best interest of the entire community, where many firefight ers union members live, in mind when they decide who to support? It’s easy to sow mistrust with unfounded accusations to get attention. I prefer to respect and appreciate the participation of our firstresponders in the democratic processes.

Eliana Kaimowitz Davis

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

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;

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/

in 1951, UC Davis hired Ver non Cheadle as the botany department chair. Cheadle and Esau became close friends and research collabo rators.

In 1962, Cheadle was appointed chancellor of UC Santa Barbara. Katherine Esau left her position at UC Davis to join him at UCSB, where she remained the rest of her life.

Much of her work was focused on phloem — the vascular tissue in plants that conducts sugars and other metabolic products down ward from the leaves. Esau discovered that the virus spreads through plants along the phloem.

“Although she retired from teaching in 1965, she contin ued her research into her 90s, publishing more than 150 books and articles before passing away in 1997 at the age of 99 years old,” accord ing to her Cheadle Center bio.

During her career, Esau was recognized for her many achievements in science. In 1949, she was elected a Fel low of the American Acad emy of Arts and Sciences; 1951, she was chosen as the president of the Botanical Society of America; 1957, she was the sixth woman elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences; 1964, she was elected to the Ameri can Philosophical Society; and in 1989, President Bush awarded her the National Medal of Science.

— Rich Rifkin is a Davis resident; his column is pub lished every other week. Reach him at Lxartist@ yahoo.com.

Need a firm response

In “Protesters’ brawl disrupts planned UC Davis event,” we are told both that “the situation de-escalated on its own” and also that Turning Point said administrators forced them to call off the event.

Mental health resources were laugh ably mentioned as available, but the negative affects of this incident are not amenable to resolution by means of that distractive offer. Let’s recall that fighting to prevent free speech on campus would once have been regarded as an intolerable threat to the so-called “marketplace of ideas.”

Firm, active leadership specific to the offense (not generalized statements about how “UC Davis values and sup ports freedom of expression”) is the only effective way to prevent similar incidents.

If perpetrators of violence were students, they should be suspended; charges should be filed against any non-students. Anything less is a guarantee of similar incidents in the future.

Julia Lutch Davis

We welcome your letters

Addresses and phone numbers should be included for verification purposes; they will not be published.

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.

CaLisphere/Courtesy photo

From left, Katherine Esau, Wilfred Robbins, Alden Springer Crafts, Herbert Currier, Elliot Weier and Ralph Stocking stand in front of the Botany building at UC Davis in 1942.

Pearls Before Swine

By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

By Scott Adams

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

It rings a bell

Salvation Army Volunteers are getting ready for the holiday Red Kettle fundraising campaign. This year, they will set up their red kettles beginning Dec. 1 at the CVS-East Davis at Oak Tree Plaza, the CVS-West Davis at the Marketplace, and Davis Farmers Market on Saturdays starting on Nov. 26.

Funds from the red kettle drive will help those in need in Davis; 90 percent of the donations collected will stay in Da vis to support local programs and 10 percent will go to Sal vation Army International to provide aid to victims of disas ters like wildfires plaguing California.

The Davis Unit of the Salvation Army seeks volunteers for one hour (or more) shifts at the CVS-East Davis at Oak Tree Plaza and the CVS-West Davis at the Marketplace. To volun teer contact Toni Smith at tonismith2312@gmail.com. To donate, send a check to Salvation Army — Davis Unit, c/o Toni Smith, 2253 Somerset Circle, Woodland, CA.

School board sets brief meeting for Thursday

By Aaron Geerts Enterpirse staff writer

The agenda for the Davis School Board meet ing on Thursday, Nov. 17, is not a lengthy one, but it will include an update on the district’s strategic plan.

On top of the to-do list, the aim of the strategic plan is to align all of the district’s communities of interests on a shared vision, common goals and a unified direction for the district’s educational efforts.

Community involve ment is of vital impor tance to this planning process, and the district claims to be designing the processes in a way that includes and embraces the diverse voices of its communities of interest.

Also on the docket is the pending approval of facility and bond program items. The first is the approval of the Sierra West Group for cost esti mating services for the Aquatic Center project at

Davis High School. This is to ensure the scope of work is consistent with the project and budget.

The second is the approval of the MCF Con struction Agreement for DSA Inspector of record services for the Davis High STEM and tennis court project.

Third is the approval of Resolution 23-23 to rename the Operations Center as the Maureen Poole Operations Center.

With that, the meeting will come to a close after the approval and ratification of various contracts.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the community chambers on Russell Boulevard. The meeting will also be streamed online at https://djusd.davismedia. org/.

— Reach Aaron Geerts at aaron.geerts@ mcnaughton.media.

Food Bank to distribute Thanksgiving meal kits

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The Yolo Food Bank will distribute Thanksgiving meal kits to thousands of Yolo County families at multiple sites over the next few days.

In Davis, the distribution will be Saturday at the Pole Line Road Baptist Church, 770 Pole Line Road, begin ning at 8 a.m. This location is for Davis residents only and will be first come, first served.

Other distributions will take place in Arbuckle, Clarksburg, Dunnigan, Esparto, Knights Landing, Madison, West Sacra mento, Winters, Woodland and Yolo.

The food bank expects to distribute more than 2,300 Thanksgiving meal kits during these events. Each kit will include a turkey, a variety of fresh, seasonal produce and other ingredi ents to complete a classic Thanksgiving meal.

The Yolo Food Bank has been in operation for more

than 50 years, partnering with Feeding America, a national nonprofit with a network of more than 200 food banks.

The Yolo Food Bank recovers, collects and stores more than 11 million pounds of food every year and distributes that food every month to hundreds of sites, including local food pantries, senior meal deliv ery programs, homeless and domestic violence shel ters, migrant centers and college campuses.

To learn more or donate, visit https://yolofoodbank. org.

Courtesy photo

Cross Country

DHS teams advance to state meet

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

FOLSOM — Davis High crosscountry head coach Bill Gregg was certain his team would do well on a tough course.

At the Sac-Joaquin Section CrossCountry meet at the Willow Hill Reservoir course on the Folsom High campus, the Blue Devils continued their success.

The Davis girls took second place as a team in Division I with 77 points. Oak Ridge captured the title with a remarkable 29 points. Frank lin of Elk Grove, one of Davis’ rivals in the Delta League, took fourth with 81 points.

Both the Blue Devils and Trojans advance their teams to the California Interscholastic Federa tion State Cross-Country Championships, which will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Nov. 26.

The DHS boys took third place, also in D-I, and barely.

Davis took third place with 90 points. Host Folsom was fourth at 93 points. Lincoln of Stockton won the D-I title with 59 points and Jesuit second at 60.

The Blue Devils, along with Lincoln and Jesuit, also advanced to the state championships two days after Thanksgiving. The top three boys teams in D-I advance from the section meet.

“Both boys and girls teams knew the scores were going to be close and that up and down lineup every point was going to matter,” Gregg said. “The difference between qualifying for the state meet and staying home was just four points for the girls and three points for the boys — razor

Girls

Norah Dulaney led Davis to the second-place finish, plus a strong finish for herself.

The senior crossed the finish line with a fifth-place finish in the 3-mile race with a time of 19 minutes, 11.9 seconds. She was able to shake off a spill at the start of the race for the strong finish.

“Going into it, I was just hoping to run my best,” Dulaney said. “We’ve been really doing some really hard training.”

Added Gregg, “Norah was one of the favorites to win the individual Division 1 Section title. (She) bounced up and moved to the front group in the first 200 meters. How ever, a fall will always impact the mental aspect of a race as well as disrupting a runner’s rhythm and mechanics. She rebounded with a solid outing and certainly the girls would not have qualified if she had faded badly. She would have qualified for the state meet as an individual had the team not qualified.”

Dulaney dealt with some chal lenging areas of the course that features hills and turns. The weather was also a factor.

“I was just adjusting to the cold all week,” Dulaney said. “

Finishing behind Dulaney was freshman Avery Wolk, who had a time of 19:42.5 for a 10th place finish.

Aida Bozorgchami, another fresh man, recorded a mark of 20:52.1 for 22nd place. Alexandra Lee, a senior, was 27th at 21:17.2, Margaret Kim was 28th at 21:19.0, Ellie Ross 34th

at 21:54 and Abby Carroll at 46th place, coming in at 22:52.3.

“A lot of the girls, we were worried about qualifying for state,” Dulaney said. “It was just getting into the mindset of running as a team.”

Now Dulaney and the Blue Devils, along with the boys, have more than a week to prepare for the state meet.

“It’s great,” Dulaney said. “We’ve got some really good freshmen this year, and they definitely helped with (earning the state berth). We all just went out there and ran as hard as we could.”

Boys

Ryan Mitchell had won all meets in the Sac-Joaquin Section he com peted in this season.

But at the section meet, he ran neck-and-neck with Folsom’s Nathan Short, who won the race. Mitchell, a senior, had a time of 15:36.2, which was a new personal best and third fastest by a member of the DHS boys cross-country team. Zach Ayers has the best time at the 2021 section championships and Michael Vernau did it in 2017. Short was clocked at 15:35.8.

“With Ryan being ill and Jefferson Wright nursing some bumps and bruises, the other five boys rose to the task,” Gregg said. “Despite ill ness, (Mitchell) ran a very solid personal best time.”

Behind Mitchell in placing was Jay Doctor, who took 15th at 16:40.3, Lucas Tam 24th at 17:04.8, Tomas Ferns 25th at 17:07.5, Jefferson Wright 33rd at 17:26.6, Owen Stevens 44th at 17:53.0 and Jayson Sisco 47th at 18:00.2.

— Contact Mike Bush at mike@ davisenterprise.net. Follow on

Recognition, victories

By Bob Dunning Enterprise staff writer

Heading into Saturday’s 2 p.m. Causeway Classic showdown at Sacramento State, UC Davis senior running back Ulonzo Gilliam has been named the FedEx Ground FCS National Offensive Player of the Week and the Big Sky Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his standout performance at Idaho last Saturday.

Gilliam recorded three rushing touchdowns on the strength of 164 yards on 30 carries. The Merced native helped lead the way for an Aggie rushing attack that dominated the Vandals and led to an impressive road win.

On his first score of the game, Gilliam broke the UC Davis rushing touchdown record of 40 that was held by Preston Jackson (1991-93). The senior captain also eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground for the season — the second time in his career.

So far, Gilliam has broken the all-purpose yards, rushing yards, scoring, rushing touchdowns, and total touchdowns by a non-quarterback school records. He enters the Causeway Classic with 2022 season numbers of 1,132 rushing yards on 183 carries with 12 touchdowns. Gilliam leads the team with 1,485 all-purpose yards and has scored 50 career touchdowns.

He is on the verge of eclipsing 6,000 all-purpose yards for his career, having reached 5,965 entering this weekend’s regular season final.

Although polls have nothing to do with how the NCAA FCS selection committee will award its play off bids, the Aggies were listed 24th in the Stats FCS poll, but remain unlisted in the FCS coaches poll.

Interestingly, the University of Idaho, with a 6-4, 5-2 record identical to UCD’s, is No. 21 in the Stats poll despite having just suffered an 18-point loss at home to the Aggies.

Sacramento State, 10-0 and 7-0, remains No. 2 in both polla, with Montana State, 9-1 and 7-0, No. 3 in both polls. Other ranked Big Sky teams are Weber State 10/7 and Montana, 12/13.

In addition to the Causeway Classic, the annual Brawl of the Wild between Montana and Montana State has earned an ESPN College GameDay appearance in Bozeman this Saturday for a key Big Sky showdown.

This marks the first time a Big Sky game has been featured on the hugely popular College GameDay program.

The Big Sky wrapup follows:

Sacramento State 45, Portland State 17

HILLSBORO, Ore. — Sacramento State improved to a school-record 10-0 following its easy victory over Portland State on Friday night, as the Hornets continued their dominance with their 18th-straight Big Sky win. Pierre Williams caught two touchdown passes and racked up 136 receiving yards to pace the Hornet offense.

Northern Colorado 21, Northern Arizona 20

just 82 seconds old.

UCD pushed the count to 14-0 on a one-yard run by Gilliam to cap a work man-like 11-play, 82-yard drive and the rout was on.

“The fast start really helps, but we’re a good

football team and we expect to start that way,” said Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins.

“We’ve been on a fivegame playoff run with one more to go, so we have to win it to stay in it. But it’s not really so much about winning as it is about

playing well and that’s what we did tonight. We were very efficient on offense and we didn’t turn the ball over. Any time you can do that, you’re going to be successful.”

Idaho’s offense, which had been stymied in the early going, finally came

alive with an 83-yard drive of its own to cut the margin to 14-7 with 1:48 left in the first quarter.

n To read the rest of the story, visit www.davisen terprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

GREELEY, Colo. — Thanks to a 24-play, 96-yard scoring drive, Northern Colorado upended Northern Arizona 21-20 for its second Big Sky win of the sea son. Bears quarterback Dylan McCaffrey capped the game-winning drive with a 15-yard strike to Ty Arrington on 4th-and-goal with just 25 seconds left, before the Bears elected to go for two following the touchdown, which they converted to capture the win. McCaffrey finished the game with 195 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Weber State 45, Idaho State 7

game plan. “Their only chance to stay in that game, with due respect, was to shoot the ball every time. The expression on the girl’s face, when she (Sherman) scored the first goal looked like she won the lottery.”

The Grizzlies trimmed the score to 4-2 at 5:22 when Avery Moll took a penalty shot.

Walker responded back for the Blue Devils with her own penalty shot at 4:46, increasing the team’s lead to 5-2.

“We tend to recover and focus,” said Malaya

Wright, daughter of Doug Wright. “My dad talks to us, and he like gets us all in the right space and we all come together and then we just have to play hard.”

Then DHS scored twice in the final 4 minutes and 18 seconds of the game.

Davis goalie Hailye Pis tochini was another plus in the game. The senior, who has started in the bulk of the Blue Devils’ games this season, had six saves.

n To read the rest of the story, visit www. davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

forced both teams into sudden death.

Neither team scored in the first 3-minute sudden death period.

At the 2:47 mark, Moore scored for the Marauders, thwarting the Blue Devils’ hopes of winning the section title. Davis won its last section title in 2013.

Moore scored six out of the Marauders’ eight goals.

Jesuit struck first in the match with a goal at the 4:53 mark in the first quarter.

Davis did have a

chance to score on a penalty shot at 5:50, but the J.T. Doughty shot was blocked by Jesuit’s goalie.

The Blue Devils tied the game at 2:10 with a goal from Christian Davis, assisted by Blake Fuchslin.

With only 10 seconds left in the first quarter, Jesuit found the back of the net again to give the Marauders a 2-1 lead going into the second quarter.

n To read the rest of the story, visit www. davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

OGDEN, Utah — Weber State had three strip sacks, two interceptions and a fumble returned for a touchdown as the Wildcats earned an impressive win over visiting Idaho State. The Wildcat offense, not to be outshined, totaled 455 yards, with 249 yards passing and 206 yards rushing, and had five touch downs. The victory was Weber State’s ninth straight against Idaho State and the 19th-straight win over the Bengals in Ogden.

Montana 63, Eastern Washington 7

MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana racked up over 600 yards of offense and totaled 337 yards on the ground to overwhelm over Eastern Washington.

Nick Ostmo had another stellar performance, rush ing for 146 yards and adding 63 more yards receiv ing, while scoring four touchdowns. The 56-point margin of victory was the most for Montana over EWU since 1995.

Montana State 72, Cal Poly 28

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Montana State scored its most points since a 77-point outing in 2014, as the Bobcats routed outmanned Cal Poly. Converted wide receiver Marqui Johnson rushed for 218 yards and four touchdowns, becoming Montana State’s third rusher to earn over 200 yards on the ground in a single game this season. Johnson had touchdowns of 12, 71, 36 and 78 yards in the first half alone, earning an 18.6 yard per carry average for the game.

— Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@ davisenterprise.net.

Cody roberts/Idaho athletICs Courtesy photo UC Davis linebacker Jayce Smalley (19) gets ready to bring down Idaho quarterback Gevani McCoy (4) in Saturday’s Big Sky Conference game.

MIke bush/enterprIse photo

Davis’ Ryan Mitchell (No. 276) tries to get extra speed on Folsom’s Nathan Short in Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section CrossCountry Championships. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

thin margins in cross country.”

Red-hot Aggies win fifth consecutive game

By Bob Dunning Enterprise staff writer

MOSCOW, Idaho — It was billed as a close, critical, late-season showdown between two red-hot football teams in the Big Sky Conference.

It was all that, except for the “close” part.

Leading from start to finish and never slowing down in between, the UC Davis Aggies roared away to a convincing 44-26 win over the Idaho Vandals Saturday evening in the historic Kiddie Dome.

The win, UC Davis’ fifth in a row, pushes the Aggies’ overall mark to 6-4, including 5-2 in the Big Sky, with only next Satur day’s game at No. 2 and 10-0 Sacramento State remaining in the regular season. No. 15 Idaho is now also 6-4 and 5-2, but cer tain to drop in the rankings.

Although nothing is certain at this point, the win very much keeps alive Aggie chances for a return trip to the Football Championship Subdivision playoff that begins Nov. 26 at campus sites around the country.

The NCAA will announce the 24-team field and first-round pairings and byes on Sunday morning, Nov. 20.

A win over a team as highly ranked as Sacramento State will almost certainly

earn the Aggies an at-large bid, but again, nothing is guaranteed.

In any regard, the five-game win streak is a remarkable turnaround for a team that started the season 1-4 against the toughest opening schedule in school history.

“The coaches put us in good position to make plays all night long,” said Aggie quarterback Miles Hastings, who turned in his fifth straight lights-out perfor mance by hitting 16 of 19 passes for 206 yards.

“The offensive line did a great job of opening holes for our run game and when I did drop back, they gave me a lot of time to throw,” Hastings added. “I’m happy to hand the ball off when we can run like that.”

Senior running back Ulonzo Gilliam was unstoppable during a 31-point Aggie explosion in the first half.

Already the school’s all-time leader in rushing, all-purpose yardage and scoring, Gilliam ran the ball for 26 yards on the very first play from scrimmage and had amassed 140 yards on 19 carries by the half. He finished with 30 carries for 163 yards and three touchdowns.

Lan Larison completed the quick drive that Gilliam started with a 33-yard

FRed GladdIs/enteRpRIse photo

DHS girls defeat Grizzlies

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

ROSEVILLE — An early lead played a big role in the Davis High girls water polo team capturing another 18th SacJoaquin Section Division I title.

But the Granite Bay Grizzlies made a lot of noise in between the Blue Devils’ goals.

Ultimately, top-seed Davis left the Roseville Aquatic Center with a 13-7 victory over the No. 2 Granite Bay on Saturday.

“It’s really special,” said Davis defender Kenzie Walker, who had two goals in the game. “To me, it’s really special, doing it with Malaya (Wright), who I’ve known since I was 8 years old.”

Added Wright, an attacker for the Blue Devils who had all four goals in the second half, “It just means a lot to me, knowing that all my seniors got my back. It was really special, this one.”

This is the second time Davis High (22-8) has captured six consecutive titles. The first streak was from 2009 to 2014. Then Davis resumed its domi nance in 2016, sans 2020 because of the pandemic. Davis has won 18 titles since 2000.

The Blue Devils and Granite Bay faced each other earlier this season. Davis posted an 11-5 nonleague win at Arroyo Pool on Oct. 5.

By reaching the section final, Davis and Granite Bay earned a berth into the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Girls Water Polo Championships D-I.

On Tuesday, Davis played at No. 3 Acalanes of Lafayette. The host posted a 9-6 win over the Blue Devils.

More game information will be avail able on The Enterprise’s website — www. davisenterprise.com — and Friday’s edi tion.

Early lead

Davis jumped out to a 4-0 lead over Granite Bay in the first quarter of Saturday’s title game.

Lucie Lapuz and Leila Meraz scored a goal each within a minute of each other for a 2-0 lead. Meraz set up her own goal, thanks to defensive play in which she stole the ball away from a Granite Bay player.

The Grizzles made noise throughout the game, from the scoring standpoint. After Davis built its early lead, Granite Bay had two shots on goal. But one bounced off the top bar and the other went out of bounds.

The Blue Devils got back on the scor ing track at the 3:29 mark in the open ing quarter, when Walker fired a shot into the center of the twine for a 3-0 lead.

‘A close game’

“I knew we needed them,” said Walker, who had two goals in the game. “It was a close game. Just try to break it open ... trying to lead by example.”

Davis’ Kyla Cutler recorded the fourth goal at the 1:59 mark for a 4-0.

Then Granite Bay’s Heide Sherman put her team on the board just 12 sec onds after Cutler’s goal, cutting the lead to 4-1.

“We didn’t have to make any changes,” said Doug Wright of the Blue Devils’

Blue Devils lose to Jesuit in sudden death Davis High Boys win their NorCal playoff opener

By Rebecca Wasik Enterprise correspondent

ROSEVILLE — Four overtime periods plus 15 total goals equaled one very hard-fought game between the Davis High boys water polo team and Jesuit High’s squad in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game at Roseville Aquatics Complex on Saturday.

In the end, top-seeded Davis (26-5) fell to No. 2 seed Jesuit (22-9) by an 8-7 score after a Marauders goal in the second round of sudden death.

“In a game like this, each team is going to get opportunities,” said Davis High head coach Tracy Sta pleton. “It’s going to depend on which team capitalizes on the other team’s mistakes. We had opportunities and didn’t capitalize, and they (Jesuit) had opportunities and didn’t capitalize. It’s like flipping a coin. If heads comes up five times, tails has gotta come up — a win’s going to come up. The win came up for them.”

Final quarter

With six seconds left in the fourth quarter, Jesuit held a 6-5 lead over the Blue Devils. But a penalty foul was called on the Marauders’ Nate Jones.

Blue Devil Bo Brown then found the back of the net on the penalty shot to tie the game at 6-all.

The teams then went into two, 3-minute periods of overtime.

In the first round of overtime at the 1:03 mark, DHS’ Christian Davis fired a shot into the goal, assisted by Brown. That gave the Blue Devils a 7-6 lead going into the second period of OT.

Davis held the lead through the second period of OT until a penalty foul was whistled on Blue Devil Jack son Harris, giving the Marauders a penalty shot.

Jesuit’s Keegan Moore found the back of the cage, tying the game at 7-all.

This tie at the end of the two overtime periods

By Rebecca Wasik Enterprise correspondent

SACRAMENTO — A second chance has led to the Davis High’s boys water polo team advancing to the California Interscholas tic Federation NorCal Boys Water Polo Championship  Division II Regional Semi finals.

After falling to Jesuit High in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game on Nov. 12, the Blue Devils were given the top-seed in the Division II NorCal Regional Champi onships. Jesuit was named the No.7 seed in the D-I bracket.

On Tuesday night, top-seeded Davis (275) defeated No. 8 seed Buchanan High (13-12) of Clovis 11-8 in the NorCal opener at American River College.

This was the second time this season DHS faced the Bears during the regular season.

Cody RobeRts/Idaho athletICs-CouRtesy photo UC Davis defensive back Rex Connors (4) brings down an Idaho player in Saturday’s Big Sky Conference game.

Davis goalie Haylie Pistochini goes up to block a shot by a Granite Bay player in Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game at Roseville Aquatic Center. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

mIke bush/enteRpRIse photo

Davis attacker JT Doughty (10) takes a shot, and got the goal, in Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game against Jesuit at Roseville Aquatics Center. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.