The Davis Enterprise Friday, December 2, 2022

Bunnies need homes, too

THE DAVIS

Teachers rally downtown for better pay

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

The Davis Teachers Associa tion and California Employees Association Chapter 572, along with supporters, rallied at the corner of Fifth and B streets Wednesday to demand the Davis Board of Trustees accept the DTA’s current contract pro posal.

A press release by the DTA said its most recent offer to the Davis Joint Unified School Dis trict includes an across-theboard increase for all bargaining unit members, a one-time bonus and 100% coverage of the lowest, single-member health plan. Even with the greatest increase in public edu cation funding, it said, Davis educators are still receiving the

lowest salaries in Yolo County.

The rally itself was meant as a demonstration of the passion the community and its educa tors have for the students.

Picket signs were raised that read, “Si se puede,” “Davis Stu dents Deserve the Best! Invest

In Our Teachers!” and nearly every car driving by honked its horn to compliment the crowd’s chanting.

City, county, university launch anti-hate campaign

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Recent hate incidents in Davis, including anti-Semitic banners hung on a highway overpass in August and racist language shouted at the Black Student Union float during the Davis High School Homecoming parade in September, have prompted action by local officials.

Taking a page from the success ful collaboration of Healthy Davis Together, city, county and univer sity leaders on Wednesday signed a resolution creating “Hate-Free Together,” a community-wide framework to combat and, it’s hoped, prevent hate incidents.

The joint effort will begin in

2023 and focus on three spheres — individuals, public agencies and businesses. Within those spheres are schools, religious institutions, nonprofits and other groups. Each will be invited to community workshops in 2023 to share what change they would like to see in the community and highlight key actions.

A forthcoming website will pro vide local training, educational resources and instructions on how to report hate crimes across the three jurisdictions.

The resolution creating HateFree Together was unanimously approved by the Davis City Coun cil on Wednesday evening during

“This really is a demonstra tion of how important it is that we settle our negotiations and truly provide the best for our students,” DTA President Victor Lagunes told The Enterprise. “The most recent California budget came in with a huge influx of money. What we know is that there are extreme

With all votes in, attention turns to Frerichs’ seat

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The final vote count is in — resi dents of District 1 in West Davis will be represented on the Davis City Council by Bapu Vaitla for the next four years and residents of District 4 in East Davis by Gloria Partida.

The Yolo County Elections Office issued the final tallies on Tuesday, showing Vaitla took nearly 60 per cent of the vote in District 1, followed by incumbent Dan Carson’s 27 per cent and challenger Kelsey Fortune’s 13 percent.

In District 4, Partida finished with 62 percent of the vote to challenger Adam Morrill’s 38 percent.

Partida and Vaitla will be sworn in on Dec. 20.

That’s also when the council is cur rently scheduled to designate a mayor and vice mayor for 2023 and discuss how to fill a looming vacancy on the council — the District 3 seat currently held by Mayor Lucas Fre richs. Having been elected to the Board of Supervisors in June, Fre richs will be vacating his council seat when he is sworn in as a county

ADA lawyer pleads guilty to tax fraud

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

A Sacramento attorney who targeted thousands of businesses for disability discrimination — including several in Davis — more recently faced his own legal trou bles, pleading guilty in federal court this week to filing false tax returns.

Scott Norris Johnson, 60, underreported his income from lawsuits he filed alleging noncom pliance with the federal Ameri cans with Disabilities Act, according to Philip A. Talbert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.

The omissions, which occurred in 2012, 2013 and 2014, caused more than $250,000 in losses to the Internal Revenue Service, Tal bert said in a California Depart ment of Justice news release.

U.S. District Court documents and in-court statements showed that Johnson, who owned and operated Disabled Access Prevents Injury Inc., used that corporation and later a law firm to file more than 4,000 ADA lawsuits in the Eastern District of California, which includes the Sacramento region.

Johnson, a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair, named himself as the plaintiff in the federal suits.

The defendants in the com plaints included multiple Davis businesses, including the former Redrum Burger and the Olive Drive Market, whose owner Suresh Kumar paid $6,000 to settle his lawsuit.

In an 2013 interview with The Davis Enterpirse, Kumar said his

Davis Teachers and their supporters picket for better pay Wednesday at the corner of Fifth and B streets in downtown Davis.

AAron Geerts/ enterprise photo

Alleged car thief returns to scene

Davis police arrested a man on vehicle-theft charges Wednesday, saying the suspect made it an easy catch.

Abayomi Mosunmade Okupe already had his own car, which he drove into the parking lot of Korematsu Elementary School at about 2:40 p.m. There, he appar ently encountered another vehicle that was left unlocked with the keys still inside, Lt. Dan Beckwith said.

Okupe allegedly got into the other car and drove away, which led to a vehicle-theft report with the Davis Police Department. But Okupe returned to the Loyola Drive campus about 15 minutes later as officers were en route to the scene, Beckwith said.

Police arrested the 29-year-old New Mex ico resident and booked him into the Yolo County Jail.

Residents, pets escape Davis fire

Davis firefighters responded to a residen tial blaze Tuesday that left one person with minor injuries.

The 12:15 p.m. fire in the 2300 block of Gla cier Place in West Davis started in the garage, Davis Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul Swanson said.

All residents and their pets were able to evacuate the home, with one person sus taining minor injuries.

So, the best way to argue is to not

Akind reader — aren’t they all? — sent along an inter esting piece titled, “How to disagree well: 7 of the best and worst ways to argue.”

Fortunately, I live in a home with very little arguing, mostly because everyone is well fed, including the family dog.

I can’t tell from the headline if there are actually 14 ways to argue — seven each of good and bad — or if there are seven total. I may have to argue with the headline writer over the vagueness of that description.

The piece, in bigthink.com, was authored by Paul Ratner. You may have heard of him, but I haven’t, though there’s no need to argue about it.

“Many find themselves arguing with someone on the Internet, especially in these days fraught with political tensions,” Ratner writes.

“A great tool, the web also seems to drive disputes. It is also a reflec tion of the larger reality, where divisiveness has spread through out our society.”

No argument there. While dis putes still exist in face-to-face contact, you can at least read the body language and catch the con text of the words spoken in a way the Internet does not allow.

If someone drops by your dreary

cubicle and says “I could use that report right away,” with a smile on their face and a kindly tone in their voice, it’s much, much differ ent than getting a text or an email that demands, “I need that report ASAP.” To which you might respond, “You don’t have to yell.” And then you’re off and running.

Early in the essay, Ratner hands the ball off to Paul Graham, “an English-born computer program mer with a Ph.D. from Harvard.”

I am so impressed.

Graham apparently penned an essay titled, “How to disagree” in 2008, before Donald Trump even dreamed of running for president.

Graham says “this tendency toward disagreement is structur ally built into the online experi ence because in disagreeing, people tend to have much more to say than if they just expressed that they agreed.”

In other words, a thumbs up for your post is meaningless com pared to a four-paragraph

response that basically proves you’re an idiot.

“Name-calling,” according to Graham, is the lowest form of argument. Can’t say I disagree, but when you call someone a nasty name it’s generally at the conclu sion of an argument after your frustration level is so high that it’s the only rock in your bag left to throw.

“Ad hominem” is apparently another no-no. I’ve always heard it as “add hominy,” as if it’s part of a recipe for something you stir into your cream of wheat at the break fast table.

Basically, it means attacking the person rather than their argu ment, which is pretty much the same as name calling. Generally, people with a Ph.D. from Harvard call it “ad hominem” and people on my side of the tracks call it “name-calling.”

Next up is “Responding to tone” instead of respond ing to the point a person is making, especially when dealing with the written word. In my opinion, though, there’s nothing wrong with responding to tone, be it friendly, combative, snide or tongue-in-cheek. In fact, in many discussions, tone is the whole ball game, certainly as important as the words being written or spo ken.

“Contradiction” tends to get to the heart of an argument and, for my money, is the only reason to argue in the first place.

Someone may dismiss your con tradiction by saying “You just always have to be right,” to which I’d say that if you’re telling me the average weather in Davis in July is 20 below zero with frequent snow, I’m going to contradict you. That’s not because I always have to be right, it’s just that in this case I happen to be right.

Some people rarely argue, but when they do, they make sure to have their facts in order.

Finally, Graham seems to think the most powerful form of dis agreement is to refute someone’s central point rather than correct ing their grammar (guilty as charged) or pointing out factual errors that are irrelevant.

Such as, someone says “All five million people in New York are bonkers,” and you point out that there are actually seven million people in New York. Graham wants you to attack the “bonkers” part of the argument, not the inaccurate number of people.

Fair enough, but if you have your facts wrong, your arguing is likely to fail.

My email address follows. Feel free to argue with all of the above.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

Demonstrators at Memorial Union back Iran protests

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

Calling for human-rights violations in Iran to cease, students and community members gathered outside Memorial Union chanting: “Woman! Life! Freedom!”

More than 100 colleges worldwide stood in solidar ity with protesters in Iran on Wednesday, who are gearing up for revolution on the heels of mounting awareness surrounding the death of Jîna “Mahsa” Amini.

The 22-year-old woman was stopped by the “moral ity police” for an alleged hijab violation while en route from Saqqez, a prov ince of Kurdistan, to Teh ran to visit family. During her detainment, she was sent to the hospital. She was declared by the regime to have had a heart attack brought on by a pre-exist ing health condition. She died Sept. 16. Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi exposed the cause of death as a different story: the police killed Amini from blows to the body. Both Hamedi and Mohammadi were arrested on the grounds they were participating in a training course from the Central Intelligence Agency.

The face of the move ment toward a more just country, Amini’s face is on many posters, and protest signs as people worldwide declare her a martyr.

At a local rally held at UC Davis by the Iranian Schol ars for Liberty, an altar with her photographs sur rounded by flowers set the stage for a solemn protest that called on the academic community to stand in soli darity with the Iranian people.

According to Human Rights Watch, documented

security forces have used unlawful, excessive, or lethal force, including fire arms, against largely peace ful protesters in 13 cities. The HRW states that other rights groups are investi gating the reported deaths of at least 284 people, including 45 children.

In the Kurdish dialect, Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (Woman! Life! Freedom!) is the slo gan that Iranians have been chanting in the past 75 days in response to the Islamic Republic regime’s viola tions of human rights after Amini’s death.

It sheds light on the sys tematic aggression against women’s rights and all minority groups in Iran, explained spokesperson Ali Akbari, a PhD student at UC Davis who helped orga nize the local rally.

The event included the reading of a statement by the Iranian Scholars for Liberty which calls on the academic community to “raise their voice in solidar ity with Iranians” because “universities and academia have had a significant role throughout history in the fight against tyrannical regimes across the globe.”

The statement, read by Akbari, demands the fol lowing from academia and governments:

n To issue an official statement condemning and demanding an end to the assault on the academic community in Iran.

n To boycott Iranian uni versity officials and aca demics who have actively facilitated and are facilitat ing the Regime’s attacks on Iranian students and schol ars; this includes prevent ing their participation at international events and conferences, their collabo ration to scientific dis course and publications,

and their presence at aca demic institutions.

n To provide protective and facilitative measures for Iranian scholars at risk or in exile; measures include creating scholar ships, explicit application processes; waiving tuition and application fees, and further accommodating actions.

n To establish and pro mote educational activities, including funding pro grams and scholarly research projects that raise awareness on the human rights situation in Iran; workshops, panel discus sions, conferences, and publications can be called to this matter both in the short- and long-term.

n To disengage with the Regime’s lobbyists who promote the Regime’s pro paganda and to amplify the collective voice of the peo ple of Iran.

n To call for a firm and unequivocal release of all political prisoners and detainees of the current revolution in Iran and to

advocate international organizations, including the United Nations and all its subsidiaries, to apply maximal international pressure to hold the Regime accountable for its crimes and violations against human rights.

n To call for a halt to and abstain from any deal or action that will financially or otherwise assist the Regime.

The statement men tioned further human rights violations including 18,000 people arrested since the protests began and “ruthless” suppression of ethnic minorities, including the Kurdish.

Akbari mentioned in his statement that University students and pupils have joined the forefront of the revolution throughout the country by protesting, not attending classes and writ ing statements to demand justice for political prison ers and victims.

“In return for their peaceful protests, the regime’s security forces, including the police, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the IRGC, the paramilitary volunteer militia by siege, and the plainclothes police have raided campuses, dorms and even high schools and have assaulted and arrested a vast number of students.

“Many students have been either suspended from education or have been denied entrance to cam puses until further notice.

Several professors and instructors have also been dismissed or suspended

due to their political stance in support of the students.”

One attendee at Wednes day’s rally, a student at UC Davis, spoke based on ano nymity in fear of retribu tion by the Islamic regime and whose family lives in a rural area of Iran and has seen the regime kill pro testers.

He came to the rally to support the protests in Iran and “basically communi cate to the world that the Iranian people do not sup port this Islamic regime. I want to be the voice of the Iranian people.”

He feels responsible for going around the regime’s propaganda and not letting groups like the National Iranian American Council drive the Iranian people’s message. NIAC has been under fire for lobbying on behalf of Iran even though it was formed to “give voice to the Iranian-American community.”

“This propaganda effort has been going on for a very long time. The regime always portrays these things as, ‘Oh, this was something else. This was not caused by our violence, like, this person had an underlying condition.’ So I think this time they said she died because of a heart attack, but there was not actually because of a heart attack, right? I cannot say I was surprised that the regime said that because I expected them to lie. I expect them to lie every time. It’s enraging.”

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@davisenter prise.net.

Monica Stark/EntErpriSE photo

Demonstrators were out on Wednesday at the UC Davis Memorial Union to back human-rights protests in Iran.

Today

n The Avid Reader will host best-selling science fiction author Kim Stan ley Robinson at Davis Community Church from 7 to 9 p.m. Robinson will discuss his newest book, “The High Sierra: A Love Story,” followed by a Q&A and author signing. The church is at 412 C St. in downtown Davis. Tickets are on sale for $10 on The Avid Reader website and in-store at The Avid Reader.

Saturday

n Friends of Meals on Wheels presents Dickens in the Valley, a holiday home tour, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Start off the holidays by touring six beautiful Woodland-area homes all decked out for the season. Tickets are available in advance for $30 per person at the fol lowing Woodland busi nesses: Corner Drug at 602 Main St., Embellish Décor & Gifts at 540 Main St. or online at https://2022fomow dickens.eventbrite.com.

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 chari table programs. The elec tric train display will be open from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Thursday

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

Friday, Dec. 9

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 for a little bluegrass, old-time, blues, Celtic, klezmer and world music over the lunch hour. 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.

Dec. 9-11

n The Vocal Art Ensemble will present Chrysalis: Reach for a New Day Friday and Sat urday at 7:30 p.m., as well as on Sunday at 4 p.m., at the Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Road in Davis. This concert set is a cho ral exploration of change, likened to the metamor phosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Suggested donation is $10-25. For more infor mation please call or text (530) 220-2012.

Saturday, Dec. 10

n Voices of California, a barber shop chorus, will present its Happy Harmony for the Holi days concert in Davis from 2 to 4 p.m. The concert will take place at Davis High School’s Brunelle Performance Hall, 315 W. 14th St.

Guest performers include Three of a Kind, the Woodland Chamber Singers and Artistic License. Tickets can be purchased at www. voicesofcalifornia.org.

Premium tickets go for $30, general for $20, and students for $12.

Sunday, Dec. 11

n The Muir Commons Cohousing community invites the public to a Holiday Craft Fair from 1 to 4 p.m., with honey and a variety of crafts for sale, including Japanese Shibori pieces, interna tional handicrafts, jew elry and felt handicrafts. New this year will be the opportunity to partici pate in craft activities, with small charges for the activity supplies. The fair will be in the central lawn area and in the Community Room at 2222 Shasta Drive in Far West Davis; contact lau rief@dcn.org for more information.

n The Episcopal Church of St. Martin in Davis will present a Blue Christmas service at 4 p.m. St. Martin’s wel comes all to gather for a special worship service that recognizes the strug gle so many people face at this time of year.

Readings, music, candle lighting, and healing prayer will acknowledge the paradox that there is indeed joy and hope to be found, even in the midst of pain and suffering, and even the longest night does not last for ever. The Episcopal Church of St. Martin is located at 640 Hawthorn Lane in Davis. For infor mation on this event, see St. Martin’s website.

n Davis Community Church presents its Christmas Concert at 4 p.m., at Fourth and C streets. Highlights include “Ecce Novum” by composer Ola Gjeilo, “Silent Night” by Dan Forrest and Scottish composer Sally Beamish’s a cappella carol “In The Stillness.” The second half of the concert will feature “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” a chil dren’s opera by GianCarlo Menotti and the world premiere of “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” by San Fran cisco composer Mark Alburger, written for soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra.

Childcare will be pro vided for children under age 3 and children are very welcome to attend the concert. The concert is free and a free will offering will be gratefully received. More info at www.dccpres.org/events.

Science of food preservation

By Sara Thompson Special to The Enterprise

All life needs some form of gaining energy to replace what is used for living. For most organisms this is simply eating food.

Most everything that gets eaten has bacteria with it. Some bacteria are helpful — most animals have some in their diges tive tracts to help with the breakdown of food — but some bacteria, or too much of the beneficial ones, can make animals sick. Bacte ria is what causes food to spoil. Food preservation is when we try to slow down the spoiling process.

It has long been known that keeping food cool will slow spoiling. Food stores have been found deep in caves or in dug out cellars. Cool storing works well for people who have settled in one area, but nomadic people needed to find alternative ways of food preservation.

Cooking food can help destroy bacteria prior to eating, but shortly after it will begin to grow again. An early preservation method for meat is smok ing. Smoked meat will last longer than cooked meat and was a common method after hunting or butchering raised animals. This was common for nomadic people who could pack smoked meat when on the move and between hunting trips.

Another early form of preservation was salt pack ing. The salt would remove the water from meats and other foods. Without water, bacteria could not grow as fast, and allowed the food to last longer, albeit very salty.

In the early 19th cen tury, canning was invented by Nicolas Appert, a French chef. Once food is stored in a metal can or glass jar, it is sealed and submerged into boiling

sCienCe Center

water. The boiling water kills the bacteria and cooks the food slightly. How long it is submerged depends on what is being canned, as bacteria on some foods can withstand boiling lon ger than others.

Once removed from the water, the hot air will escape, taking any remain ing oxygen with it. This process causes the lid to pull close and form a seal on the can. Because the bacteria were killed during boiling and the sealed can does not allow any air in, the food will stay fresher longer, up to several years (but using within one is recommended).

Once a can or jar is opened, exposure to the air will allow bacteria to grow once again. This is one reason many shelf-stable items say “refrigerate after opening” — once opened, keeping the contents cold will continue to preserve the contents.

Pets of the week

Special to The Enterprise

At Rotts of Friends Ani mal Rescue, you’ll find Benny, a 4½-month-old neutered male purebred German shepherd puppy. He is super-friendly and full of typical puppy energy. Benny is smart and learns quickly. He’s very curious and loves long exploring walks.

Clark is a 1½-year-old neutered male setter/ pointer mix. He’s very friendly, crate-trained, walks on leash, gentle and well-socialized. He would make a great family dog.

The next Rotts of Friends adoption event is from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday,

Dec. 3, at 34505 County Road 29 in Woodland. Come by 10 a.m., as it takes at least an hour to meet and adopt a dog; everyone who will be living with the dog should come out to meet it.

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

All dogs adopted from Rotts of Friends are healthy, microchipped, upto-date on their vaccines and come with free

Explorit’s coming events:

n Our exhibit Explorit Rocks! is open to the pub lic on Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $5 per person, Members and chil dren aged 2 and under free.

n Winter Science Camp at Explorit! From the sci ence of snow to animal adaptation, we hope that your camper can join us for this exciting dive into the fascinating science of winter. Dec. 19-22, 9 a.m. to noon for grades K-2, 1 to 4 p.m. for grades 3-6. $175 Members/$200 Non-Members. A craft suitable for gifting will be included daily.

n Winter break extended hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 23, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Dec. 27 to 29, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on Dec. 30. Explorit will be closed Dec. 24-26, and Sunday, Jan. 1.

n Noon Year, Saturday, Dec. 31, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Celebrate the New Year early with fun crafts and activities at Explorit. $5

per person, Members and children under 2 free.

n Give the gift of Sci ence this holiday season! A Membership to Explorit grant the recipients free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, camps and work shops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https://www.explorit.org/ membership or call Explo rit at 530-756-0191.

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

n Now is a great time to donate and help Explorit continue to educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www. explorit.org/donate.

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

lifetime obedience-train ing classes. For informa tion, visit facebook.com/ rottsoffriends.

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

Among them is Honey (A199785), an energetic, playful 2-year-old pup.

Staff is stumped on what breed she is, but she has the medium-size body of a corgi with the head of a loving Lab. Honey lives to have fun. She enjoys daily exercise and greets you with playful dog bows.

Honey needs to be in a home without children.

Also hoping for a good home is Cookie Dough (A199867), a darling 5-month-old rabbit, who

is friendly and cuddly. Cookie is always interested in meeting new friends and has a calm and sweet personality.

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

Staff is available to assist via phone during business hours at 530-6685287. Shelter hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. To meet any adoptable YCAS animals, visit friendsofy cas.org. To volunteer, sign up at tinyurl.com/yolovol unteerapp. Follow on at @ ycas.shelter and Instagram at @yoloanimalshelter.

Honey

Cookie Dough

Benny Clark

Wikimedia Commons photo

Pickling vegetables at home. explorit

Forest-thinning waste could fund wildfire prevention

By Steve Frisch and Sam Uden Special to CalMatters

Reducing catastrophic wildfire is one of the state’s most challenging cli mate problems. A recent study by researchers at UCLA and the University of Chicago found that wildfire carbon emis sions from the 2020 fire season alone were more than double the amount of overall emissions reduced in California from 2003 to 2019.

The state set a goal of treating 1 million forested acres per year to reduce wildfire risk. While there is no firm figure available, the state currently treats an estimated 200,000 acres per year, excluding commer cial timber harvest.

The challenge: how do we get from treat ing 200,000 acres to 1 million acres as quickly as possible?

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent budget com mitments are important, but they are not enough. If it costs about $2,000 to $4,000 to treat one acre, that means we need $2 to $4 billion every year for the next two decades, purely for forest treatments. That amounts to over half of the state’s natural resources budget some years — conflicting with expanding needs on drought, extreme heat and sea-level rise.

There is a potential solution that could generate climate, air quality and rural eco nomic development benefits while helping California meet its forest treatment goals: converting waste biomass into valuable products.

Waste biomass refers to the residues — primarily small, woody material — that result from an ecological thinning opera tion. The residues are valueless. They are often left in piles to decompose, or worse, burned in place. UC Berkeley esti mates that hundreds of millions of tons of waste biomass will accrue if California achieves its forest treatment goals, essen tially creating an emissions time bomb that could amplify the already ominous forestclimate reality.

But the problem can be flipped on its head. If these residues can be collected and turned into something of value, then the state would not only avert a significant new emissions source, but also unlock a revenue stream to help support its forest treatment goals.

The groundwork for this strategy is already taking shape. A promising option is to turn the waste into a biofuel such as hydrogen or a sustainable aviation fuel. The California Air Resources Board anticipates that billions of gallons of these low-carbon fuels will still be needed in 2045. Fitting the facilities with car bon capture technology can generate carbon dioxide removal – something CARB has already deemed as essential to meet the state’s net-zero emissions goals.

There is potential to expand the biomass strategy to agricultural and municipal waste as well, especially since the drought is forc ing farmers to fallow land. Some are burning their waste, worsening the air quality in neighboring communities as a result.

While the state has made some invest ments in waste biomass, it is not part of the core strategy to address the wildfire crisis. One possibility as to why is the legacy left by traditional bioenergy — large-scale com bustion, for example – which pollutes urban areas. But new technologies and pro cesses are making it significantly cleaner.

Another fear is that any biomass plan is a slippery slope to the kinds of practices occurring in the East Coast where energy crops in North Carolina support a biomass industry in England, with dubious overall climate benefits.

The situation is much different in the American West, though. Here, the available biomass is a waste product resulting from wildfire mitigation treatments — not a purpose-grown energy crop.

Biomass is not a silver bullet, but it could greatly reduce severe wildfires and the resulting carbon emissions.

— Steve Frisch is the president of Sierra Business Council, a network advancing sus tainable economic development, environ mental restoration and community resilience in the Sierra Nevada. Sam Uden is the director of climate and energy policy at Conservation Strategy Group.

Finding solutions to help the unhoused

Homelessness is one of the most defining and trou bling challenges of our times. According to a report by CalMatters, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news orga nization, about 173,800 unhoused people are living in California. That’s an increase of more than 22,000 since 2019.

We see the effects of this crisis around Davis, including tent encampments and peo ple living in vehicles. Solving this problem is especially complex, with sharp increases in the costs of living, an epi demic of opioid abuse, avail ability of mental health ser vices and other factors contributing to the rising state of homelessness.

It will take a diverse and determined group of minds to help ease this crisis. And, it will take collaboration from all over the community to help make a difference.

UC Davis is driven to be part of the solution and pro vide community support. Our scholars are researching the effects of the COVID-19 pan demic on the unhoused, and the UC Davis Center for Pov erty & Inequality Research is a hub for studying the com plex dynamics that surround

this issue and broader topics of inequity as well.

We are also taking action. We’re looking out for the unhomed and their pets.

Davis Pet Advocacy and Well ness is a satellite of the Mer cer Clinic, a nonprofit run by UC Davis veterinary students, that provides free veterinary care to pets of the homeless in Davis. You’ll find them regularly at such places as the Daytime Homeless Respite Center at Fifth and L streets.

Under the guidance of vol unteer veterinarians, these students perform wellness exams, address ear infections, draw lab samples and oversee the health of these vulnerable animals. In the meantime, the Mercer Clinic’s Holiday Pet Baskets program is underway, which gives toys, treats and even coats and sweaters for homeless people and their cats and dogs. This year, 130 baskets will be dis tributed in the region.

There’s also HOPE at

LettersPrioritize educator pay

I have listened to the financial con cerns from the DJUSD Board of Educa tion that are standing in the way of giving our DTA and CSEA educators the fair and competitive pay they have earned. These concerns do not seem to acknowledge the state of our educators — and therefore our schools — due to years of chronic underinvestment.

I will note that DTA’s ask is within the budget as it currently stands — no cuts needed.

Here is what I have noticed:

■ I know of two teachers who are foodinsecure. One might be an anomaly, but two means there are more.

■ Parents of SPED kids are at their wits’ end because this district cannot hire and retain enough paraeducators.

■ Two sites are without counselors, which is causing chaos at those sites.

Board members seem surprised and hurt by the anger they hear in public comments. This tells me that 1) the board does not truly understand the desperation their workforce is feeling, and 2) the board does not understand how much they have damaged their trust

enterprise

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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

Davis, a UC Davis stu dent-run organization that focuses on homeless outreach. Their work includes providing free haircuts, offering first aid kits along with laundry services and meals for some of our city’s unhoused residents.

Hearts for the Homeless at UC Davis is working hard to raise funds and provide health education services. That includes providing free blood pressure readings, passing out wellness kits and offering heart health infor mation.

In turn, I am committed to addressing the basic needs of students, especially when it comes to housing. A recent survey found that nearly 7 percent of those who responded were homeless for a period of time. It also revealed that almost 18 per cent of respondents experi enced either homelessness or another form of housing inse curity.

Our Student Emergency Relief Aid program gives short-term funds to students who are facing financial emergencies. The university offers emergency and shortterm housing for students

with the community. This is the board’s moment to step forward and rebuild goodwill.

The board has offered the bare mini mum of what is acceptable to our educa tors. In the context of a nationwide educator shortage, the bare minimum is not enough.

We need DJUSD to dig deep and pri oritize pay for the people who care for our kids at school sites every day. As long as our educators are not satisfied, DJUSD parents are not satisfied.

Anoosh Jorjorian Davis Parents for Teacher Equity

Pay teachers and staff

I’m glad that Davis Joint Unified is willing to designate all the increase in discretionary funding to increases in teacher and staff pay. That is good and as it should be. It’s also relatively easy. It doesn’t require recognition that we have been underpaying teachers and staff for years. It doesn’t require adjusting our priorities. And it leaves teacher and staff pay below that of our surrounding dis tricts. We need to recognize that and find ways to make the people that make our schools great a priority.

Alex Cooke Davis

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

House of Representatives

who are homeless or in immi nent danger of becoming homeless. In the meantime, the Affordable Student Hous ing Task Force that I estab lished in 2018 continues to gather data, identify funding and make recommendations to address housing insecurity.

I encourage readers to lend a hand where you can. Offer to volunteer at Davis Com munity Housing and Meals, which assists the homeless with meals, food and social services. The Yolo Food Bank is a crucial source of address ing food insecurity in Davis and the county, and is always in need of volunteers to help deliver and distribute much needed goods. The Short Term Emergency Aid Com mittee (STEAC) is also accepting donations for its food pantry and food drives at 624 Hawthorn Ln. each Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

With some charity and goodwill, and a wide variety of minds working together, I know we can create a better tomorrow and ensure that everyone has a place to call home.

— Gary May is the chan cellor of UC Davis; his col umn is published monthly.

Zombie Ride review

Our fourth annual Zombie Bike Ride was a monstrously large success! We turned Davis into a Halloween amuse ment park with 15 entertainment sta tions, zombie bike mechanics, and vendors. We saw parks across the city fill up as event attendees interacted with zombies and local Davis groups. Eventgoers never knew what was coming next: robots, lasers, reptiles, or pop-up stations built by community members!

The number of attendees was obviously larger with our extra activities including Zombie Paintball, the Sudwerk Pre-Bike Brew Party, the downtown Zombie Mash afterparty, and our sold-out Zombie Bike Ride Comedy Show/ Fundraiser with celebrity comedian Brent Pella. We esti mate at least 3,500 participants for this year’s festival! Thank you everyone for participating!

We were able to give $7,600 to Norcal Trykers, which is $1,300 more than last year and a new record. Funds from the Zombie Bike Ride will enable them to create 8 custom tricycles for children with disabilities. Thank you to everyone who was involved, especially our spon sors. It takes an entire undead city to put on an event of this proportion!

Aaron

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;

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/

Wedra,

Zombie Bike Ride chair

We welcome your letters

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Limit letters to 350 words. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit all letters for brevity or clarity.

Mail letters to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617; bring them to 315 G St.; fax them to 530-756-1668; or email them to newsroom@davis enterprise.net.

the annual town-gown meeting and signed by council members as well as UC Davis Chancellor Gary May and Yolo County Supervisors Jim Provenza and Don Saylor, both of whom represent parts of the city of Davis.

In presenting the resolution, May said, “In the coming months, we’ll share more details about the initia tive, opportunities to get involved, and invite everyone in our communi ties to participate and help to further refine Hate-Free Together.

“We’ll work in the spirit of Healthy Davis Together,” May added. “In this case… rather than COVID-19 being what we’re trying to combat, hate is the virus that we’re trying to eradi cate. We intend to use our collective power to condemn violence and big otry in all forms.”

The effort drew praise from council members and county supervisors.

Councilman Josh Chapman, who witnessed the Homecoming parade incident where “white power” was shouted at the Black Student Union float, said, “I think part of what reso nates with me is the example that we’re setting for young people in our community.”

The Hate-Free Together campaign, Chapman said, shows “that those things aren’t tolerated here and that a body of people and three different establishments can come together and stand together and show that’s not something we tolerate.”

Provenza noted that, “a hate act is not just an act against a particular ethnic group, race or religion. It’s an act on all racial groups, ethnic groups and religions, because to the extent there is hate, anyone can be the next victim, and we have to view this as a community, as something to address as a whole any time it occurs.”

The vision, said Provenza, “is to prevent, obviously. But when we haven’t prevented, and something does occur, everybody at the city, the university, the county, community groups will know what to do and jump into action immediately with out having to think about it because we’ve planned for the future. That would be my dream or vision for an end result.”

The Hate-Free Together initiative will provide a missing link that has been needed, said Councilwoman

Gloria Partida, who has long been involved in combatting hate through the Davis Phoenix Coaltion.

“And as somebody who has worked in this area for a really long time, I’m just really delighted to see this,” she said. “There are a number of small organizations in our community and congregations that have been working on this for a long time and just trying to get all of those people in one place and to harness the power that is here in the community, I think has been that last link that is needed.”

Connecting the community is key, said Jenny Tan, the city’s director of community engagement, who pre sented the Hate-Free Together initia tive on Wednesday evening.

“Hate is not an isolated incident,” she said. “When something happens, it not only impacts the victim or vic tims, it also impacts their family and friends, their support systems, where they live and work, and then it ripples beyond that into the broader com munity.

“So it’s important that this cam paign is connected to all the parts of the community and everyone sees themselves invested in this.”

There is a lot of work still to be done, Tan said, including research on

what other cities, counties and juris dictions have done and what has worked, but funding for the effort must still be secured.

“Unlike Healthy Davis Together, we do not have a $50 million or $60 mil lion budget, so we do need to ask the question of where does the funding come from, what does it take to not only start this, but to keep this going on year after year.

“Staff support is also important,” she added. “There still needs to be some allocation and also some differ ences in terms of what each jurisdic tion is responsible for and who is accountable for what.”

An upcoming website will serve as a clearinghouse for all of that, Tan said, including the framework, the updates, trainings and more.

“Most importantly, it will also have resources, statistics, as well as how to report hate crimes in the various jurisdictions which is currently miss ing right now.”

Residents interested in staying con nected to the Hate-Free Together campaign for now can visit https:// bit.ly/HateFreeTogetherComment.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at aternus@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.

UC Davis details its financial impact

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

UC Davis, the biggest employer of the city, undoubtedly is an eco nomic driver for the area, as the yearly economic impact report shows the university generating $12.56 billion in statewide economic activity while supporting 68,900 jobs in 2019.

UC Davis shared these findings at a joint meeting with the city of Davis and Yolo County on Wednesday.

For every dollar UC

Davis spent, another $1.10 was generated statewide, half of which stayed in Yolo, Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yuba and Solano counties.

And, for every UC Davis job, the university’s eco nomic activity led to the creation of another nonUC Davis job in California.

According to the report, UC Davis Health's opera tions generated the biggest economic boon. In 2019, direct expenditures of $2.21 billion led to a total economic impact of $4.60 billion in the region, or an

additional $1.08 for every dollar UC Davis Health spent. UC Davis Health had 11,600 employees in the region, and the eco nomic activity generated indirectly and by the spending of its employees supported an additional 14,600 jobs in the region.

Meanwhile, the eco nomic impact report indi cated that the university’s direct expenditures of $889 million generated a total economic impact of $988 million in Davis. The report noted a “limited scope of economic activity

in

“Education and innova tion are key to our eco nomic growth,” said Chancellor Gary May in a statement. “The report shows some of the ways UC Davis activities power even more economic benefits and jobs for our communi ties and for California.”

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@ davisenterprise.net.

TEACHERS: Educators sound alarm on retention

problems with attraction and retention which is a statewide problem. What we’re looking for is to be able to settle our contract with the DJUSD. We have negotiations going on today and the beginning of next week, and our goal is to settle those and provide the best for our students through that settlement.”

“DJUSD shares our com munity’s interest in improving compensation for all of our employees,” the a district statement said, responding to the rally. “The Board of Educa tion has committed 100% of new revenues for 202223 to employee compensa tion ($8.9 million from LCFF (6.7%)) + COLA (6.56%), new state revenue offsetting general fund con tributions to special educa tion ($1.1 million), and $2.5 million in other funds redirected to employee compensation. The Dis trict’s current offer to DTA provides 15% in ongoing salary increases, one-time payments, and District

employee health benefit contribution improve ments for 2022-2023.”

CSEA chapter president, Sande Royval also was at the rally, backing better compensation. “The CSEA are classified school employees,” Royval said.

“We’re the lunch ladies, the custodians, the mainte nance people and the peo ple in the office that smile when the students come in.

Basically, we’re the support staff for the teachers and we need each other to do our jobs and we’re both having the same difficul ties.

“There are positions needing to be filled and we don’t have wages that are comparable with the other

districts. People are fleeing. Not only in our masses, but administrators are fleeing, principals are fleeing, directors are fleeing and teachers are fleeing. We’re having a hard time bring ing people in and it’s cou pled with the fact that can’t live in Davis. It’s a hard sell

to come to work here when you can’t live here.”

Among teachers present was Laurie Garibay, a sec ond-grade teacher at César Chávez Elementary who’s taught in the district for 12 years. “I would hope the district makes an agree ment with what’s been presented to them because teachers are exhausted from constant protest and begging,” Garibay said. “I have mentored 20 different individuals either as stu dent teachers or first and second-year teachers. Out of those 20 individuals, none of my student teach ers work in Davis.”

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

PLEADS: Returns ‘not entirely accurate’

From Page A1

concern was not with the ADA law, but rather the lack of warning over his violation.

“I’m in no way against any of the regulations,” Kumar said. “But I’m just asking to be tactical, and have some time to fix it. There’s a slogan, ‘Small business is the backbone of America,’ and we have to strengthen it, not weaken it.”

Another of Johnson’s targets, the longtime family-owned Redwood Barn Nursery on Fifth Street, revamped its park ing layout and signage to meet ADA compliance.

“I’m actually happy to comply, and pleased with the results, but not happy about the way it came about,” owner Don Shor said at the time. “We were lucky. Some businesses simply won’t be able to fully comply at a reason able cost.”

According to Talbert, payments related to law suit settlements and awards are taxable under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, unless they’re paid on account of personal phys ical injury or physical sickness.

Johnson — himself a former IRS attorney — would have been required to report the taxable por tions of the lawsuit settle ments he received.

“He nonetheless inten tionally underreported this income on his 2012, 2013 and 2014 tax returns,” Tal bert said in the DOJ news release. “By understating the lawsuit settlements and awards, Johnson and DAPI paid little to no income tax for tax years 2012, 2013 and 2014.”

VOTES:

From Page A1

supervisor on Jan. 3.

The City Council cannot legally take action on the vacancy — either by calling for a special election or appointing Frerichs’s suc cessor — until Frerichs is sworn in as a county super visor. But during discus sions earlier this year, council members appeared to favor a special election, which if called at the coun cil’s Jan. 3 meeting, would likely take place in May.

So far one candidate has emerged — Donna Nev ille, chair of the city’s Finance and Budget Com mission, has filed cam paign finance paperwork with the city clerk indicat ing she plans to run for the District 3 seat in May.

Whoever succeeds Fre richs will serve out the remainder of his term and would have to seek reelec tion in November 2024, when Districts 2, 3 and 5 are back on the ballot.

In the meantime, the council will have to select a new mayor and vice mayor.

For years, the mayor ship went to the candi date who received the most votes during a coun cil election. The candidate with the highest vote total in each at-large council

Malcolm Segal, John son’s defense attorney in the federal matter, con tends his client didn’t deliberately omit the income, but rather used an imperfect methodol ogy “to determine whether the income was taxable or not.”

“He has acknowledged the returns that he filed were not entirely accu rate,” Segal said. He added that Johnson attempted to rectify the errors, “but a lot of this was a judgment call, and it’s clear the IRS disputes the judgments that he made.”

As for Johnson’s numerous ADA lawsuits — which some have char acterized as “frivolous” — Segal said they stem from Johnson’s own accessibil ity challenges.

First rendered paraple gic following a vehicle accident 35 years ago, Johnson became quadri plegic in the 1990s after being run over by a truck while trying to use his wheelchair to gain access to a restaurant.

“People don’t like the fact that he sued them to make them comply with the ADA, but the law is there for a purpose,” Segal said. “People with dis abilities were treated as second-class citizens, and he was not going to toler ate that.”

Johnson returns to court March 7, 2023, for sentencing before U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez. Although the federal charges are pun ishable up to three years in prison, Johnson’s plea agreement calls for 18 months of home confine ment, pending Mendez’s approval, Segal said.

election became mayor pro tem (now vice mayor) for two years, followed by a two-year stint as mayor. But with the switch to district elections, that changed. In 2020, the council voted unani mously to decide for themselves who would serve and agreed on sev eral elements of the selec tion process, including: n The council will select a mayor every Jan uary for a one-year term.

n The mayor will serve at the pleasure of the council.

n There will be a twoyear maximum term for each mayor.

n The council will con sider seniority and experi ence, length of service without serving as mayor, consensus-building skills and experience presiding over government bodies.

n The council will select a vice mayor each time a mayor is selected, but there would be no guarantee a vice mayor would become mayor the following year.

Under those guidelines, it would appear Arnold would become mayor, given he has served on the council longer than any one else without yet serv ing in that position.

Courtesy photo

Representatives of the city, county and UC Davis signed a joint resolution Wednesday evening creating Hate-Free Together, a community-wide framework to combat local hate incidents. From left are Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, Davis City Councilwoman Gloria Partida, UCD Chancellor Gary May, Davis Mayor Lucas Frerichs, Supervisor Don Saylor, Councilman Josh Chapman and Councilman Dan Carson.

Davis to support busi nesses directly serving the campus.” In other words, UC Davis has needed to source their needs from outside of Davis.

AAron Geerts/enterprise photo

Demonstrators wave at passing traffic Wednesday as they rally for better teacher pay at Central Park in downtown Davis.

Davis will need a new mayor starting next month

Hang a shining star

The official city of Davis Christmas tree blazed into life Thursday evening at the 41st annual Candlelight Parade and Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony at the E Street Plaza in downtown Davis. The event marks the start of the holiday season in the downtown.

Beginning at 6 p.m., families with decorated bikes, strollers and wagons followed Santa Claus and a vintage fire truck in a candlelight parade from the Davis Food Co-op parking lot to E Street Plaza. In addition to the tree lighting, the event featured music from the Davis Youth Choir, Davis High Jazz Choir, Davis High Madrigals (right), Mariachi del Valle, Davis Local Vocals and Davis Musical Theatre Company Young Performers. The Varsity Theatre offered free screenings of the short film “Shrek the Halls.”

Sophia harriS/EntErpriSE photoS

‘The Fabelmans’: Spielberg bares his soul

Coming-of-age saga explores the passion of artistic drive

By Derrick Bang Enterprise film critic

Most films never attempt the breathtaking impact of a truly transformative moment; a lucky few man age one, perhaps two.

This film has many.

Steven Spielberg’s semiautobiographical ode to the relentless drive of artistic passion is gorgeously lensed throughout by cine matographer Janusz Kaminski, who won Acad emy Awards while working with Spielberg on “Schindler’s List” and “Sav ing Private Ryan.” This affectionate big-screen love letter isn’t merely laden with a sense of wonder; it’s about that sense of wonder, which can render those so afflicted helpless in its grip.

Along the way, this qui etly compelling story — cowritten by Spielberg and Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”) — is a moving coming-of-age saga: poi gnant, whimsical, occa sionally laugh-out-loud hilarious, and (aren’t they always?) heartbreaking.

Events begin in snowy, stormy New Jersey in 1952.

Young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon FrancisDeFord) is about to be taken to his first movie by parents Burt (Paul Dano)

and Mitzi (Michelle Wil liams). The boy is fright ened by the notion of confronting “giant people,” but his mother assures him the experience will be magical.

The film in question is “The Greatest Show on Earth,” and we eavesdrop as the boy’s eyes go wide during the climactic train wreck.

Sammy had been dither ing about what he wants for Hanukkah, but inspira tion suddenly strikes. Over the course of the celebra tion’s eight days — in a charming montage — he receives the individual cars, transformer and locomo tive of a Lionel train set.

Burt Fabelman is the epitome of the buttoned-

down “company man” ethos of mid-century America: a stiffly precise technical wonk blessed with a flair for the embry onic field of computer design. Dano makes him quiet, thoughtful and excessively thorough, often to the glassy-eyed incom prehension of his children.

Burt can’t merely take his children to a movie; he first insists on explaining frames per second and per sistence of vision.

But Burt also is kind, devoted to his family — he

never raises his voice — and impressively patient: the latter quality essential, in the face of his wife’s bold personality and turbulent soul.

Williams’ Mitzi is a force of nature: dreamy, impul sive, even reckless. She’s also a talented pianist; their home contains a grand piano, which she plays often, and movingly. Indeed, she could have been an accomplished con cert musician, but — like so many women of her gener ation — she sublimated her

ambitions and desires in order to embrace the “socially acceptable” roles of housewife and mother.

The decision clearly cost Mitzi dearly. Williams’ pos ture feels fragile: a porce lain creature, subject to breakage. Her stare can be distant, as if she’s able to see the person she might have become, in an alter nate reality. The radiance of Mitzi’s smile notwithstand ing, she’s often deeply unhappy.

Dinners are a lively fam ily affair, often attended by

Sammy’s grandmothers. Mitzi’s mother, Tina Schil dkraut (Robin Bartlett), is loving and supportive, enthusiastic about the cre ativity and imagination displayed by Sammy and his younger sisters. She is jolly and all curves: a grandmother you’d love to hug.

Burt’s mother Hadassah (Jeannie Berlin), in con trast, is nothing but sharp angles and disapproving stares: hyper-opinionated

Alexander String Quartet returns to perform Dvorak

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise arts writer

The Alexander String Quartet — which has been a regular feature of the Mondavi Center's concert offerings through thick and thin for s0me 20 years — returns to Jackson Hall at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, with a program devoted to music by Czech/Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak.

Joining in the performance will be young pianist Jeffrey LaDeur. Like the Alexander String Quartet, LaDeur is based in San Francisco, where he is the artistic director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival. LaDeur's chamber music credits include a 2018 solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall; he also appears as a soloist with orchestras around the country.

Music historian and lecturer Robert Greenberg (a collaborator with the Alex ander String Quartet at Mondavi since 2002) will participate in this perfor mance as well, offering remarks on Dvorak's life and music.

The two Dvorak compositions on the program both date from 1887 — a time when Dvorak was in his mid-40s and coming into the peak of his compositional abilities.

Opening the concert will be a trio for two violins and viola — the Terzetto in C Major, op. 74. It features four relatively brief movements, totaling a bit less than

20 minutes. And while this Terzetto is not generally regarded as one of the compos er's signature works, it nonetheless been described as being "as genial, attractive, and good-spirited as anything the com poser ever wrote." In the case of Dvorak — whose music is frequently praised as genial, attractive and good-spirited — that is a strong recommendation.

The anchor on the program is the com poser's Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, op. 81 — a famous piece often described as a masterpiece of chamber music. The quintet features four move ments, totaling about 40 minutes of music, much of which reflects a Slavic/ Eastern European flavor.

Tickets are $65-$35 general, with dis counts for students, online at Mondavi Arts.org and at the door.

Upcoming

Violinist Joshua Bell, who performs at the Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall on a more-or-less annual basis, will return on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. for a recital with pianist Peter Dugan, who is the host of the popular public radio series “From the Top.”

On the program will be violin sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Claude Debussy. Tickets are $150-$150 general, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org and at the door.

dramatic intensity, oc casional mild profanity, brief violence and fleet ing drug use

Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch, Julia Butters, Keeley Karsten, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Chloe East, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley

Available via: Movie theaters

Courtesy photo

The magic, transformational moment: As his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) watch, young Sammy (Mateo Zoryon Fran cis-DeFord) is blown away by his first big-screen movie experience.

Above, Alexander String Quartet with speaker Robert Greeenberg, center, will perform at the Mondavi Center on Sunday.

Left, Pianist Jeffrey LaDeur will join the Alexander String Quartet.

Courtesy photos

It’s all about elf adventures in Winters

By Germaine Hupe Special to The Enterprise

The adventures of Santa’s elves comprise the general theme of the Winters Theatre Company’s “10 Minute Holiday Play Festival.”

The evening’s entertainment will consist of eight short plays, six of which feature elves as the charac ters.

Elves have been a part of folk tales since the early middle ages, especially in the culture of West ern Europe. They are supernatu ral creatures with magical powers and are generally considered as benevolent, but they can cause problems in the world of humans. They are described as having large ears, but they are human in form, diminutive in size, and capricious in nature.

Elfin activities have undergone changes in the hundreds of years since their appearance, and the mischief attributed to them is usually rather harmless in con trast to the anti-human cruelty of ogres and trolls, who are generally considered as ugly, misshapen creatures who dwell in caves and dark places. (The Shrek movies have done much to rehabilitate

ogres for modern audiences.)

Elves and their culture are very prominent in “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and their author, J.R.R. Tolkien even invented a complete elfish language for them.

American Christmas traditions are responsible for the idea of dlves as the hard-working helpers of Santa Claus in his North Pole Workshop. In the 19th century, Santa Claus, the American ver sion of St. Nicholas, made his appearance and he was soon joined by Mrs. Claus. This tradi tion is still popular today, and department store Santas often have “elves” helping to deal with the toddlers who come to sit on Santa’s lap.

One of the elf-themed plays of the Holiday Festival is “Elftopia,” but the idea of a utopia in the North Pole has problems. The boss, Dew Drop, is overly ambi tious regarding toy production, and elf workers Ginger and Sugar Snap must use their skills to get the chief to relax and enjoy the season. “Elftopia'' was written by Jodi Antemor.

Another play, “Vesper '' by Nicholas Bompart, concerns the

arrival of elf-in-chief Vulmer, who has news for Christmas Eve din ner guests. Gildir, Jingle, Galhad and Trixie. It seems that Trixie has been promoted to the top job in Santa’s Workshop, and she must take over immediately. Trixie must deal not only with the honor of her new position, but also with the responsibilities which the job entails.

The Christmas theme of joy is

found in all the elf plays, which, of course, have happy endings.

The two “non-elf” plays feature human characters who have a few holiday problems which they con front and solve. “When the World Falls in Love,” by Donald Loftus, deals with Buddy and Elaine, a couple who have been married a long time and have lost the spark of romance.

Elaine makes a special effort to

look attractive and provide a romantic setting. Her set-in-hisways husband doesn't respond.

They bicker, as couples do, but it's the holiday season and they are reminded how much they love one another.

Another “non-elf” play by Lof tus is “Perhaps a Sidebar on Christmas.” A British gentleman is trying to buy a Christmas gift at the famous Harrods Department Store in London. The sales staff has a different understanding of his needs, but eventually all peo ple manage to communicate, evidence of other small Christmas miracles.

Welcome in the holiday season along with the elves and for WTC’s 10 Minute Holiday Play Festival. The festival will run for two weekend performances, opening Thursday, Dec. 8, through Saturday, Dec. 10; and the following weekend, Thursday, Dec. 15, through Saturday, Dec. 17 (there will not be a Sunday performance).

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Grand Prince Odeum, 201 Main Street in Winters. For tick ets and information, go to www. winterstheatre.org.

SOUL: Emotional journey

From Page B1

and clearly No Fun At All.

Then there’s “Uncle” Bennie Loewy (Seth Rogen), Burt’s best friend and colleague at RCA, a frequent fixture in the Fabelman household. He’s jovial, loose and lively; no surprise, Sammy and his sisters adore him.

longer Sammy), who — now in high school — confronts the ugly specter of anti-Semitism.

LaBelle persuasively navigates his character’s passion and developing maturity with richly nuanced expres sions, body language and line deliver ies.

Vocal Art Ensemble explores transformation

Special to The Enterprise

There certainly have been significant changes in our society during the last three years. For this reason, The Vocal Art Ensemble will present a series of con certs about transformation, titled, “Chrysalis: Reach for a New Day.”

This is the first time the adult a capella chorus has been able to perform a full concert set since December 2019.

This concert set is a cho ral exploration of change, likened to the metamor phosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. VAE intends to carry audiences through each stage: from naive innocence through the shock of separation, to sub sequent confusion and, eventually, adaptation through reconnection.

“I’ve chosen this theme because I feel that many people likely have unre solved feelings about recent

global and personal crises,” director Tracia Barbieri said. “My hope is that through our performances our audiences will relate to these universal emotions, such as how scary it is to face unavoidable change.

“Perhaps they may even feel more settled, and gain a new appreciation of some of the things we used to take for granted, such as choir concerts!” Barbieri added.

“Going through this sea son feels like an emotional processing of the last few years,” offers bass Steve Burns. “Hopefully this has been a once in a lifetime worldwide crisis.”

In addition to VAE’s sig nature style of presenting music from various time periods, languages and cul tures, the three perfor mances will include dance storytelling by Sonja Brodt, a frequent VAE collabora tor. Davis resident Julia Butler will accompany on

piano, and Laura Har rington of Orangevale Music will contribute to several pieces on English horn and oboe.

“Lighting also helps tell the story by setting the mood and focusing the audience’s attention on what is most important,” said high-school sopho more Sophie Coil, who has been running lights for VAE concerts since 2018. “I have learned how much lighting can add to the show, even when the audi ence doesn’t necessarily notice it.”

VAE will present “Chrys alis: Reach for a New Day” on Friday, Dec. 9, and Sat urday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m., as well as 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. All performances will take place at the Davis United Methodist Church (1620 Anderson Road in Davis).

Suggested donation is $10-25. For information, call or text 530-220-2012.

Grants available to Davis artists impacted by the pandemic

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media

One-time grants are now available from the city for local artists who experi enced significant negative economic impacts during the pandemic.

The grants, allocated by the City Council from American Rescue Plan funds, “will offer financial relief to eligible working artists and cultural practi tioners whose work aligns with the goals of the city’s Arts and Cultural Affairs program, bolstering the local creative sector and retaining creative workers within the Davis commu nity,” according to a press release issued by the city on Tuesday.

“The city of Davis

recognizes the role local artists and creative work ers play in enhancing the quality of life in communi ties, increasing public access to the arts and con tributing to economic vitality,” the release noted.

“The city also recognizes the significant economic disruptions some artists have experienced as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as loss of studio/ venue space, performance and teaching opportuni ties, exhibition space and in-person programming. Now available to help those artists are grants of $1,000. Qualified appli cants come from the fol lowing categories: visual artists, literary artists, musicians, teaching artists,

arts organizers, specialized artist workers (such as lighting or sound designers and fabricators), practitio ners of dance or theatre (including choreography, writing, directing, design and theatre arts), and per formers of cultural tradi tion or cultural bearers or practitioners.

Applicants must have a physical address in Davis or be able to demonstrate that their creative work had significant impact on the Davis community prior to, or during, COVID-19.

Applications are avail able online at https://artist. callforentry.org/festivals_ unique_info.hp?ID=11076 and all applications are due by 5 p.m. on Jan. 9. Late applications will not be accepted.

By this point, armed with a small 8mm movie camera, Sammy has become a budding filmmaker, turning his younger sisters into all manner of characters and creatures. He also has become obsessed by his train set, but not in the usual manner; he can’t get the images from “The Greatest Show on Earth” out of his head, and he won ders how that train wreck was accom plished. What made the sequence so powerful?

Time passes. Burt’s innovative work in data storage systems lands him a job with General Electric, which takes the family — and Bennie — to Arizona. Life here is grand; Sammy (now played by Gabriel LaBelle) joins the Boy Scouts, where he has a troop of willing — and quite enthusiastic — actors for his increasingly ambitious amateur movies. Sammy’s cameras and editing equipment have become more impres sive; he now films almost constantly, whether family outings or scripted mini-dramas.

And then — suddenly, fatefully — one day Sammy discovers that the camera often sees what the human eye overlooks (which, of course, is at the very heart of cinematic storytelling).

Events come to a head when Burt lands a job at IBM, and relocates his family to Northern California: a move that nobody likes, particularly Sam (no

The most powerful moments in this film occur as we watch these characters look at things. Williams’ performance is shattering, breathtaking, when Mitzi watches one of Sam’s film reels in a darkened closet; the transformation of her features, during Kaminski’s relent lessly tight close-up, is amazing.

Dano’s similar moment, quieter but no less moving, comes after Burt sees a photograph.

Judd Hirsch appears briefly, but tell ingly, as Mitzi’s “mysterious” blacksheep Uncle Boris. Hirsch, intensely riveting, borderline terrifying, damn near steals the film during his fleeting five minutes. Boris, immediately per ceiving Sammy’s artistic drive, warns that such a calling is irresistible and all-consuming, and will — as a result — exact a dear cost in all other areas of life.

John Williams’ spare score relies mostly on haunting, well-placed solo piano themes: a further reflection of the career Mitzi was denied.

“The Fabelmans” is both a deeply touching emotional journey, and a glimpse of what it must have been like for him as a young man, so consumed by this gift he chose to embrace so boldly.

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

Vets Memorial hosts Home for the Holidays

Special to The Enterprise

Tickets are now on sale for the 19th annual Home for the Holidays concert, benefiting the Davis School Arts Foundation. Acts include Boot Juice,

Joe Craven, Way Out West, Rita Hosking Trio, Hattie Craven, Alaina Rose, the Tyrobeys and special guests.

The show is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, at the Veterans Memorial The

ater, 203 E. 14th St. in Davis. Tickets available at Armadillo Music, Water melon Music or online at Eventbrite.com. For information, con tact www.billyfairfield. com or 530-758-2455.

Courtesy photo

The Vocal Art Ensemble returns to the stage on Dec. 9-11 with “Chrysalis: Reach for a New Day.”

Courtesy photo

Winters Theatre Company is in rehearsals at the Grand Prince Odeum. Actors are, from left, Ana Kormos, Haley Carpenter and Bridget O’Flaherty.

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

Athletes earn honors

Enterprise staff

IRVINE — UC Davis volleyball players Josephine Ough and Olivia Utterback were named to the 2022 Big West Conference All-Conference Volleyball Team.

Ough made the All-Big West Second Team while Utterback was named as an honorable mention nominee.

The El Cerrito native was third on the team on the kills overall (251) and in conference play (173). She led the Aggies in blocks — total with 111, solo with 12 and assisted with 99.

Utterback led the team in service aces overall (35) and service aces in confer ence play (25).

She was second on the team in kills (265), kills in conference play (191), sets played (118), digs (265) and digs in conference play (187).

DHS boys water polo

Davis High boys water polo player

Brennan Fuchslin was named the Delta League’s MVP.

Fuchslin, only a junior, had 117 goals

this season for Davis (29-5).

Six Blue Devils made all-league. JT Doughty led the list, as the junior had 111 goals.

Other DHS players who made the first team were Christian Davis, Bo Brown, Ryan Barr, Blake Fuchslin and Jackson Harris.

Ryan Mayeur was named the Delta League Sportsmanship Award.

In addition to all-league honors, the Blue Devils also captured All-CIF SacJoaquin Section Division-I honors.

Brennan Fuchslin, Doughty, Christian Davis and Brown, were first team.

Blue Devil football

Three DHS football players also were recognized for their performances in the Delta League this season.

AJ Hasson, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound junior, was named the league’s co-all purpose player.

Linemen Gio Ruiz and CJ Millian were named to the league’s first team.

Elijah Conlan was picked for the allleague sportsmanship award.

Rankings on the line

The Football Playoff Committee, in order, lists Georgia, Michigan, TCU and USC as its top four teams.

All four have to put those rankings on the line in a 13th game this weekend before they are awarded a bid to the four-team playoff for the national championship.

Georgia, Michigan and TCU are all 12-0, while USC is 11-1.

If any of those four lose, some committee members feel that it would be unfair to drop them out of the top four, since No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Alabama didn’t have to play a 13th game.

I suppose it all depends on how “bad” the loss was. We shall see.

Georgia plays LSU, Michigan takes on Purdue, TCU tackles Kansas State, and USC faces Utah. Even with wins, LSU, Purdue, Kansas State and Utah will not end up in the top four.

The four top-ranked teams can make things easy on the committee by all winning. Easier said than done.

This week’s picks are as follows:

USC over UTAH ... The Utes handed the Trojans their only loss of the season, 43-42, by scoring a touchdown and a two--point conversion with 0:48 remaining. It won’t happen again.

TCU over KANSAS STATE ... We all know that cats have nine lives, but it appears Horned Frogs have nine lives, too. Living on the edge all season, TCU has one more major challenge as it con tinues to shock a disbelieving college football world.

GEORGIA over LSU ... The Bayou Bengals blew their playoff chances with a terrible performance last weekend against Texas A&M.

MICHIGAN over PURDUE ... After beating Ohio State twice in a row, Jim Harbaugh is considering a run for president. Or maybe he’ll do a second stint at Stanford.

CLEMSON over NORTH CARO LINA ... A disappointing season, to be sure, but Dabo does not allow his players to hang their heads or toss their helmets.

BOISE STATE over FRESNO STATE ... A heated rivalry from long ago heats up once again.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE over MONTANA ... The Bison once again show why they have all those national championship banners hanging in the Fargodome.

MONTANA STATE over WEBER STATE ... The best college football game on the weekend schedule between two teams playing at a very high level.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE over DELAWARE ... The Jackrabbits have their eyes squarely on the ultimate prize and will have Joe Biden’s alma mater for lunch.

SACRAMENTO STATE over RICHMOND ... The Hornets will not be distracted from the task at hand by all the rumors surrounding their highly prized head coach Troy Taylor, who won’t be distracted either.

UPSET OF THE WEEK: There will be no upsets this week. (Upset season record: 3-10).

ROUT OF THE WEEK: There will be no routs this week. (Rout season record: 13-0).

DON’T BET ON IT, BUT: Betting on college football is illegal in California. (Don’t Bet season record: 7-6).

FIVE EASY PICKS: You should know by now that there are no easy picks. (FEP season record: 58-2).

n Last week: 29-8, season: 440-99, percentage: 816.

— Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

uc davis athLetics/courtesy photo

Aggie middle blocker Josephine Ough (4) goes up for a stuff during a recent home match at the University Credit Union Center earlier this season.

sports

Water polo

UCD men fall to Pacific in NCAA opener

Enterprise staff

BERKELEY — UC Davis, the champion of the Western Water Polo Association, took on No. 6-ranked Pacific at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship hosted by UC Berkeley.

The Tigers outscored the Aggies by three in the third quarter en route to an 11-7 victory.

In the first quarter, the Aggies would get on the scoreboard first on a Logan Ander son strike just 19 seconds into the match.

The Tigers would score the next two goals on Jeremie Cote tallies to take a 2-1 lead with 4:33 left in the quarter.

Then UCD tied the score at 2-2 on an Aleix Aznar Beltran shot with 2:15 left in the quarter. The Tigers scored the final goal of the quarter and led 3-2 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the Aggies would score first on a Beltran strike with 6:43 left. The Tigers would score two in the quarter to extend their lead to 5-3 at half time.

In the third quarter, Pacific would score

the first four goals of the quarter to take its largest lead of the match, at six, at 9-3.

Leo Giessmann would score the Aggies’ lone goal of the quarter as the Tigers led 9-4 at the end of the third.

In the fourth quarter, the two teams would trade goals back and forth.

Anderson would score with 5:31 left to trim the Tigers’ lead to 10-5 and Colin Nicholls would score with 1:18 to make the score 11-6.

Andrew Hitchcock would score with 47 seconds left in the match for the match’s final tally.

The Tigers outshot the Aggies 36-35. The Aggies won three of the four sprints that occurred.

The Aggies conclude their season with a 19-8 record overall and won their second consecutive WWPA championship.

Out of the 25 players on the roster, only two are seniors; attackers Connor Norton who is from Atwater and Levi Murtaugh, who comes from Riverside.

There are eight juniors on the team.

speck tournament men’s basketball

Eagles defeat Blue Devil girls

By Rebecca Wasik Enterprise correspondent

A brutal 42-point loss. That was the result Thursday night for the Davis High girls basket ball team in the first round of the 49th annual Dorothy Speck Memorial Tournament in the South Gym. Despite their hustle, the Blue Dev ils fell to Vista del Lago 59-17.

The Eagles came out strong in the first quarter, jumping out to a 24-4 lead.

Both DHS (0-1) and Vista del Lago (2-0), out of Folsom, piled on turnovers in the first quarter, but the Eagles took advantage of this the most.

Davis scored four total points in the quarter. Jiana Trotman was the first to score for the Blue Devils with a field goal. In the next play, she was awarded two free throws and made one of them.

Junior center Tessa Schouten was also given two free throws in the quarter and made one as well.

Then DHS struck first in the second quarter when Schouten made 1-of-2 free throws.

The Blue Devils

displayed better defense in the second quarter and fought hard wrestling for the ball on several plays.

After two missed free throws by DHS, Natalie Roessler got a basket at the 4:43 mark.

The Eagles held a 35-7 lead over the Blue Devils at halftime.

Davis allowed the Eagles to rebound the ball several times in the third quarter.

Despite this, the Blue Devils almost doubled their score, notching six points in the frame.

At 6:30, Schouten got a basket. Trotman followed with a basket of her own at 6:03.

Roessler scored the final field goal of the third quarter for DHS at the 2:20 mark.

Going into the final quarter, Vista led 48-13.

Trotman led the Blue Devils in points in the game with six total.

Schouten had five, Roessler had four and Mbewa had two.

The Blue Devils will face Roseville High today at 5 p.m. in the consolation round.

— Follow Rebecca Wasik on Twitter: @BeccaFromTheBay.

Aggies drop close one to Tigers

By Bob Dunning Enterprise staff writer

Eli Pepper’s 3-pointer that would have won the game bounced off the rim as time expired, allowing University of the Pacific to escape with a tense 74-72 non-conference men’s basketball win over UC Davis Thursday night before a crowd of 1,026 at the University Credit Union Center.

Trailing by two points with 5.4 seconds remaining, Pepper rebounded a missed free throw by Pacific’s Greg Outlaw, stormed down the court and pulled up in traffic five feet behind the 3-point line, but his shot was slightly off target as the game ended.

Pepper had hit a 3-pointer with 7.0 seconds left to pull the Aggies within one before Outlaw sank his first free throw to establish the final margin.

The loss drops the Aggies to 6-3 in the young season, while UOP snapped a four-game losing streak to advance to 3-5.

The final result was not what the crowd anticipated after the Aggies started the game strong and appeared ready to blow their Stockton visitors out of the gym early.

However, it was not to be.

‘Good, solid defense’

Playing stellar defense early, UCD raced away to a 9-0 lead, holding the Tigers scoreless for the first 4:15.

Robby Beasley, a transfer from Montana, hit three 3-pointers in the opening five minutes as the Aggies built a 17-5 lead, their biggest of the night, before UOP gradually clawed its way back into the game.

“We were playing good solid defense and then the ball popped on the other end,” said Aggie coach Jim Les of his team’s fast start.

“For the first 10 minutes we followed the script with great life on the defensive end, but then we turned the

ball over and lost focus and got them back into the game.”

Pacific finally tied the game at 32, but Pepper drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give UCD a 35-32 lead at the break.

Lead changes

The lead changed hands eight times in the early stages of the second half, but the Aggies’ inability to connect at the free throw line allowed UOP to pull away to a 65-57 lead with 2:47 to play.

The Aggies rallied behind T.Y. Johnson and Pepper, but were forced to foul down the stretch and watched as UOP hit nine straight free throws before Outlaw’s lone miss with 5.4 seconds left that allowed Pepper and the Aggies to have one last chance at victory.

“There’s an element of toughness to shooting free throws,” added a frustrated Les. “You have to step up to the line and believe you’re going to make the shot.

“We get into these one-possession games and then we miss 15 or 20 free throws. It’s crazy.”

For the record, the Aggies made just 16 of 30 free throws (53.3 percent), while Pacific hit 13 of 17 (76.5 percent).

The Aggies will take next week off for final exams, then return to action Dec. 13 at home in a 6 p.m. game against Holy Names from Oakland.

Come Dec. 21, UCD has a date against UCLA in historic Pauley Pavilion.

Then the Aggies begin Big West Conference action on Thursday, Dec. 29 at Hawaii.

UC Davis will play its first conference home game on Thursday, Jan. 5 when UC Irvine pays a visit to the Uni versity Credit Union Center.

— Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@ davisenterprise.net.

arya lalvani/enterprise file photo

The UC Davis men’s water polo team, seen here holding an intra squad scrimmage at the Schaal Aquatics Center on Tuesday, fell to Pacific in the first round of the NCAA Championship.

mike bush/enterprise photo

UC Davis guard Ade Adebayo (24) drives around a Pacific player while trying to make his way into the paint in Thursday’s nonconference game at the University Credit Union Center. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

mike bush/enterprise file photo

Davis High point guard Malia Abrenica, a returning player in action in Monday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Foundation Game against Granite Bay, and her Blue Devil teammates opened the first day of the 49th annual Dorothy Speck Tournament on Thursday.