The Davis Enterprise Friday, December 9, 2022

Last defendant sentenced for teens’ murders

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

WOODLAND — For the third time, the families of Enrique Rios and Elijah Moore entered a Yolo County courtroom to witness a sentencing for the teens’ abductions and murders.

The first was in December 2018, when David Ashley Froste received life without the possibility of parole for orchestrating the killings, his revenge for being robbed of $300 worth of marijuana.

They returned back in May, as Froste’s accomplices Chandale Shan non Jr. and Jesus Campos got life terms for their own roles in the crimes.

Wednesday marked their final pro ceeding in Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg’s courtroom, where

Finals week arrives during strike

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

UC Davis undergraduates are navigating finals week, this fourth week of the largest higher education strike in the country’s history. Saturday is the fall quarter commencement. Students say finals have been disorganized due to the strike because teacher assistants in some classes dictate how the finals will go.

“Once the TAs went on strike, the teachers themselves had problems figuring out final material and what to assign stu dents and basically what we’re doing,” Cole Rubinowicz, an undeclared second-year student from Chicago, said. Rubinowicz experienced multiple teacher strikes during his K-12 educa tion. The difference, he said, was that officials canceled school, while at UCD, classes continued without his TAs.

The learning experience with and without a TA was evident when they were gone. Catherine Katherine Htut, a third-year biochemistry major, said it’s “kind of impossible to learn on your own,” describing an experi ence she had in Physics where grad students hold discussions in smaller groups. “It’s been hard, so we’ve been just watch ing online videos and stuff like that.”

As the postdocs and academic

researchers, represented by the United Auto Workers, continue striking in sympathy with the academic student employees and student researchers, more faculty names have been added to a grade strike list. In what is deemed their “strongest possi ble solidarity with the largest university strike in United States history,” some faculty have pledged to “honor the See FINALS, Page A3

New blood, Big Oil at Legislature

By Alexei Koseff and Sameea Kamal CalMatters

California regulators would cap the profit mar gin for oil refiners and could fine companies that exceed that limit under a proposal announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the latest escala tion in his battle with the oil industry over a summer of record gas prices.

Newsom unveiled the measure, which does not yet include key details such as how much profit oil refiners would be allowed or the size of possible fines, on the same day that newly-elected legislators arrived in Sacramento to be sworn in — and to declare a

special session to consider the plan that the governor has dubbed a “price gouging penalty.”

In brief remarks to reporters at the state Capi tol, Newsom said the fines would act as a deterrent to future price spikes. He said he would take the next month or more to fill in the blanks of the bill, in consul tation with lawmakers, who are set to reconvene Jan. 4 to begin the new ses sion in earnest.

“I believe in free enter prise, I just don’t believe in greed,” Newsom said. “These guys have been gam ing the system for decades. They’ve been taking advan tage of you for decades. And it’s got to end.”

While legislators were hesitant Monday to embrace the half-formed proposal — even state Sen. Nancy Skinner, the Berkeley Democrat who introduced the bill, told CalMatters that it was the governor’s plan and she “put it across the desk to make sure the vetting pro cess can begin” — oil com panies quickly condemned it as a wrongheaded

Council members favor voluntary electrification

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The Davis City Council voted Tuesday night in favor of a voluntary approach to building elec trification, at least for several years, before reas sessing whether to make mandatory a requirement that homeowners replace gas appliances with elec tric at the end of their useful life.

The 4-1 vote, with Mayor Lucas Frerichs voting against the plan, followed lengthy public comment, including from numerous local real estate professionals worried

about the fiscal impact on homeowners.

Building electrification is just one of the recom mended actions in the city’s draft 2020-2040 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, but it’s the one that has drawn the most public comment over the last year.

A recommended action that would have required gas appliances to be replaced with electric ones when a home is sold was previously removed from the draft plan due to community opposition.

Under the approach

With TA’s on strike across the University of California system, students at UC Davis have finals week upon them.

Monica Stark/ EntErpriSE photo

courtESy photoS

Enrique Rios, left, and Elijah Moore, as they were pictured in missing-person fliers following their disappearances in 2016.

SKINNER State senator, D-Berkeley

CBH hosts Hanukkah hike

Join the Congrega tion Bet Haverim com munity for a Hanukkah “hike” through the north Davis greenbelt from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, Dec. 18.

Hot cocoa, coffee and sufganiyot (donuts) will be provided, along with trivia and prizes along the course. The route begins at the CBH red wood grove.

All ages are welcome. Heavy rain will cancel the event. CBH is at 1715 Anderson Road. Contact Bonnie with questions at 530-4000321.

No, we don’t need paper councilmen

The other day I used this space to consider the possi ble ways we can deal with Lucas Frerichs’ early exit from the Davis City Council as he prepares to take his seat as a Yolo County supervisor in Woodland on Jan. 3.

I did this free of charge — col umnists are forbidden by journal istic ethics from receiving monetary tips from readersbecause I don’t wish to see our council limping along with a man down as if someone had been put in the penalty box in an ice hockey game.

Imagine how tragic it would for the Davis City Council to be mired in a series of 2-2 deadlocks on the important issues of the day, such as how many days a week DWR should be using the Claw of Life to remove piles of leaves that choke our streets and create giant pud dles when it rains.

The reaction to my concern has been swift and certain.

My friend Hiram, who has served this city in many capacities, wrote “I think it would be a splen did idea for you to offer to fill in on the City Council and then do a journalism piece in the style of George Plimpton.”

For those who were born after the turn of the century, George Plimpton was a journalist who decided one day to carry the foot ball in a pro football scrimmage with the Detroit Lions, getting tackled by people trying to knock his helmet off. He lived to tell the tale and became famous for it. Even if everyone at the time really thought he was Alan Alda.

Be that as it may, I did serve on the council once as an “Honorary Mayor” in some sort of charity fund-raiser. I got to pound the gavel a few times and present gifts to sitting councilmembers, includ ing pajamas decorated with frogs for Mayor Julie Partansky and a bottle of Wildhorse wine for Mike Corbett.

I then gave the gavel back to those who had been duly elected

When ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ isn’t

Special to The Enterprise

On Sunday, Dec. 11, at 4 p.m., the Episcopal Church of St. Martin in Davis will present a Blue Christmas service.

The holiday season can be a very painful time. For some people, it is the first Christmas after a major life event, such as the death of a loved one, the end of a rela tionship, the loss of a job or home, or the onset of a lifelimiting physical or mental illness. For others, it is a time of year that has always been difficult.

As the days get shorter and the nights longer, the media’s constant refrain that “it’s the most wonder ful time of the year” rings false for them. Their Christmas is “blue” — a time of sadness rather than joy.

St. Martin’s welcomes all to gather for a special

worship service that recog nizes the struggle so many people face at this time of year. Readings, music, candle lighting, and heal ing prayer will acknowl edge 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 forever.

The Episcopal Church of St. Martin is at 640 Haw thorn Lane in Davis. For more information on this event, see St. Martin’s web site.

and hightailed it for home. I mean, the folks doing the city’s business routinely stay up way past my bedtime.

Thanks for the thought, Hiram, but I think I’ll pass. If you’re going to be on the Davis City Council, you need an agenda. Unfortu nately, I don’t have an agenda.

Plus, the amount of time coun cilmembers put in compared to the meager salary they receive is a clear violation of California’s mini mum wage laws.

Then there was Clyde, who offered his opinion as well, including his thoughts on my fear of endless 2-2 ties on items before the council.

“The idea of the council appointing someone to fill Lucas’ seat from early January to early March is a good one.”

I’ll take a bow here.

“If they do have a 2-2 vote, maybe they can fly Kamala in from D.C.”

Kamala? My goodness have they done a good job of hiding her in the last few months. What are they afraid of? Maybe a little debate time on the Davis City Council would help resurrect her career.

Adds Clyde, “I can think of more than a few people who could fill the seat for four months and would have no interest in running for the seat in May. Someone who could hit the ground running. Don Saylor — wouldn’t that be strange/weird/incredible?”

Weird for sure.

“Don and Lucas trade and the city gets Dan Hawkins in the trade to run Parks and Rec.”

Clyde also wonders if the appointee would have to live in Lucas’ district. An interesting question.

“Could Herschel Walker move here in time to establish residency in the district?”

Don’t know if he could, but it would be interesting to see him suit up for the Aggies if he has any eligibility left.

Hiram, Clyde and the many others who have offered their thoughts and prayers, many thanks.

I’m confident we will solve this problem.

Davis always does.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

‘Women, Life, Freedom’

Monica Stark/EntErpriSE photo

A few dozen protesters calling for “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Iran gathered at Community Park on Wednesday afternoon in support of Student Day in Iran. Dec. 7 was declared as a day recognizing the sacrifices students have made in political protest since the recent uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini, who died in custody after being detained for not wearing a hijab. Protesters here, are showing headshots of students, including that of 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak, who have died fighting during Iran’s response to the protests.

courtESy photo

Social-media posts helped unravel story

Froste said. After that, they took turns striking Moore with a large tree branch until he died.

Jonathan “Jay” Froste — David Froste’s younger brother — received a lesser sentence of 15 years to life, granted in exchange for his cooperation with prosecu tors.

As they did during the prior hearings, the teens’ relatives shared the impacts of their loved ones’ violent deaths — constant grief, sleepless nights and lack of closure, since the victims’ remains have never been found.

And each time, they made the same desperate plea: Show us where the bodies are, so we can finally lay them to rest.

“The only thing I want from you is to tell the entire story — where are Elijah and Enrique’s bones, Jonathan?” Marisa Jack son, Moore’s cousin, said in one of six victim-impact statements delivered Wednesday.

“Let’s finish this fiasco — lead us to the bones. Do the families this one last solid,” Jackson said. “Hell, give yourself some peace, because you’re definitely going to need it.”

Rosenberg, who presided over both trials in the case, said it “rep resents the most evil and depraved acts I have witnessed in my years as a judge, and I’ve had some doozies.”

“You have achieved perhaps a measure of redemption by finally speaking the truth at trial,” Rosen berg told Froste as he handed down his fate. “You can’t escape the consequences of your actions, and I’ll sentence you accordingly. … You’ll have plenty of time to think about what happened.”

A tale of revenge

Jay Froste, 26, offered no com ments at the sentencing hearing, which marked the end of a sixyear saga stemming from the fall of 2016.

Rios was 16 when he vanished from his family’s Esparto home on the night of Oct. 16, 2016. Moore, 17, disappeared less than three weeks later, on Nov. 4, 2016, after cashing a check on Main Street in Woodland and making a brief call to his mom, Alicia.

The boys were friends and schoolmates at Woodland’s Cesar Chavez High School and also par ticipated in the same construc tion training program at the Yolo County Fairgrounds.

Authorities initially considered them runaways, but their families knew otherwise, calling their extended absences uncharacteris tic. For nearly two years, they held

vigils and took to social media, imploring the public for any infor mation about the teens’ where abouts. The FBI’s Sacramento field office also joined the probe.

Eventually, rumors began to spread, naming the Froste broth ers, Shannon and Campos — who called themselves “The Squad” — as possible suspects who tar geted the teens after Moore robbed David Froste of three ounces of marijuana in a Wood land parking lot.

“The robbery was a sign of dis respect on the street, one that cannot typically go unanswered by a drug dealer,” Woodland police Detective Richard Towle wrote in a search-warrant affida vit obtained by The Davis Enter prise prior to the four suspects’ June 2018 arrests.

David Froste went to state prison in the spring of 2018 fol lowing his conviction on drugrelated charges. Meanwhile, Campos, Shannon and Jay Froste underwent multiple police inter views during which they denied having any involvement in Rios’ and Moore’s disappearances.

But police later obtained social-media records that unrav eled those denials, showing that Shannon had exchanged Face book messages with Rios on the night he went missing.

Shannon detailed that evening in a jailhouse interview with The Davis Enterprise following his arrest, saying he and Campos had witnessed the marijuana-dealturned-robbery.

“He (David) was so mad at me,” said Shannon, who had arranged the meeting between Froste and Moore. “He told me I was going to help find him. We drove around all night looking for the guy and couldn’t find him.”

Shannon said David Froste then hatched another plan — to get

Rios to lure his friend Moore back to them. Shannon messaged Rios and asked him “to party,” driving Rios from his Esparto home to a secluded area near the Sacra mento River in Knights Landing.

When Rios refused at gunpoint to summon Moore, Froste fatally shot him, Shannon said. The threesome buried his body in another remote location, after which Froste threatened the oth ers to keep their mouths shut.

“I’m just a witness that didn’t call the police,” Shannon said.

More details emerge

Jay Froste wasn’t there that night, but he was present on Nov. 4, 2016, when he, David Froste and Campos spotted Moore leav ing a Woodland barbershop.

In his own interview with The Enterprise after making his Sep tember 2018 plea deal, Jay Froste recalled his brother confronting a stunned Moore in the parking lot.

“He told Elijah if he gets in the trunk, his punishment for the robbery was to walk home from someplace far away,” Froste said.

Under David’s instruction, Froste drove to pick up Shannon, who had the gun David used to kill Rios, and the foursome headed to rural Knights Landing.

David Froste then ordered Moore out of the trunk, bound his wrists with a zip tie “and told Eli jah that he’s going to be buried next to Enrique,” Jay Froste said.

“I want you to pray before I get back,” David Froste told Moore, according to Jay Froste, who along with Shannon guarded Moore as David Froste and Cam pos left to gather “supplies” — garbage bags, shovels, bleach and gasoline.

When they returned, “David told (Elijah), ‘I’m sorry your prayers couldn’t save you,’ ” Jay

Jay Froste said his brother then shot the teen “just to make sure that he was dead” before they burned and buried his body. On the way back to Woodland, they disposed of their clothes and tools, then dined at Denny’s with money they’d stolen from Moore.

As for Rios’ murder, Jay Froste said it was Shannon who brain stormed the plan to flush out Moore through his friend on the night of the robbery.

“Chandale is the reason Enrique was killed,” he said.

‘You didn’t care’

In their victim-impact state ments to the court, Rios’ and Moore’s relatives acknowledged Jay Froste’s role in securing his codefendants’ convictions, but most stopped short of offering him absolution.

“I will never forgive you for what you did,” said Lola Rios Gutierrez, Enrique’s mother. While he wasn’t involved in her son’s death, “when you found out about it, you had the choice to speak up, and you didn’t.”

Instead, Gutierrez said, Froste lied repeatedly to her when she asked him for information about her missing son, even as she bat tled an aggressive bout of breast cancer.

“I begged you. I let you know, I may not be here in time to know what happened to him, and you didn’t care,” Gutierrez said. “If you would have come forward with what you knew about my son’s murder, you could have saved Elijah’s life. Instead, my son’s and Elijah’s bodies were buried in the middle of nowhere, as if they were trash.”

Following their arrests, Cam pos, Shannon and Jay Froste repeatedly accompanied investi gators to the Knights Landing area in unsuccessful attempts to track down the burial site. David Froste, meanwhile, never offered any clues.

Prosecuting attorney David Wilson noted that while Jay Froste “did the right thing in agreeing to come forward, there is a hole there,” he said, referring to the victims’ still-missing remains. “That is one of the more egregious and punishing aspects of this, that there isn’t a location to go to drop a flower or a candle.”

Although the criminal case is over, the search for the teens’ bod ies continues, Wilson promised the families after Wednesday’s

Significant dates

Oct. 16, 2016 — Rios, 16, goes missing from his Esparto home, where a neighbor spots him leaving in a vehicle with at least two others inside.

Nov. 4, 2016 — Rios’ friend Moore vanishes the day after his 17th birthday after cashing a work check on Woodland’s Main Street and calling his mother, saying he’d be home soon.

February 2017 — The FBI joins the local missing-person investigations, offering a $10,000 reward for infor mation leading to the identification and arrest of suspects in the case.

June 10, 2018 — Nearly two years after the disappearances, Woodland police announce the arrests of four suspects — David Froste, his brother Jonathan “Jay” Froste, and their friends Chandale Shannon Jr. and Jesus Campos — on murder and kidnapping charges. Their motive: revenge for a $300 marijuana rob bery Moore committed against David Froste.

Sept. 14, 2018 — Jay Froste admits to the second-degree murder of Moore and agrees to testify for the prosecution, telling The Davis Enter prise in a jailhouse interview that “I will pay for my crimes.”

October-November 2018 — David Froste takes his case to trial, where a jury finds him guilty of  two counts of murder with the special circum stances of kidnapping and multiple murders. He is sentenced to  life in prison without the possibility of parole.

June 2019 — A juvenile at the time of the homicides, Jesus Campos gets his case sent to adult court for pros ecution. Yolo Superior Court Judge Tom Dyer characterizes Campos as “a willing participant” in the crimes who later bragged about them to friends.

March-May 2022 — Following numerous court delays due to the Covid pandemic, doubts regarding Shannon’s mental fitness and failed attempts to resolve their cases with plea agreements, Shannon and Campos are jointly tried for the teens’ murders and found guilty. Both receive life sentences.

Dec. 7, 2022 — Judge David Rosen berg delivers the final sentencing in the case, sending Jay Froste to prison for 15 years to life in accordance with his plea deal.

hearing. Anyone with informa tion is urged to contact the Woodland Police Department at 530-661-7800, or the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office at 530668-5280.

picket line in full and not to replace struck labor.”

Harshita Bondhi, a polit ical science major, graduat ing on Saturday, said this quarter has been her most stimulating yet, with the grad student strike and the Proud Boy brawl earlier this fall.

She explained some pro fessors have made finals pass-fail, while others have gone ahead with finals and are including material that should have been taught but hadn’t been due to the TAs on strike.

For instance, Bondhi said, the French Depart ment relies heavily on graduate and postdoc labor, with most introduc tory classes taught entirely by teaching assistants.

“When the strike hap pened, it pretty much removed a whole month of the curriculum,” Bondhi said, adding there were Zoom classes, but not at the same time as the lectures, and, in the end, the final went online. “(That’s) so the professor we never met could grade it. I guess it’s a form of crossing the picket line to administer (the final) like this…My friend referred to online grading as digital scabbing.”

Compounding the lack of communication about his classes is that they’re large classes, to begin with, Rubinowicz said. “So you feel less involved already, and then when the strike happens, and there’s no communication, it almost feels like you’re not being

validated as a student because (faculty) aren’t putting enough effort into trying to help their stu dents succeed.”

Despite the difficulties, he emphasized his support of the grad student strike calling it essential.

A vocal supporter of the strike, Bondhi felt at times that students weren’t given a choice but to cross the picket line to pass the classes needed for their degrees or that are neces sary to move one along in a series of courses. “I didn’t feel great about it,” she said. “There’s no real feasible way not to engage if the professor continues doing the TAs’ work by trying to teach the classes herself.”

She added that most fac ulty and staff have been willing to accommodate students who need a grade on their transcripts to move forward.

Also a supporter of the strike, Htut has been walk ing with her TAs along the

picket line. “But now, since it’s finals, I wasn’t able to go support this strike. So I’m just sitting here, just watching from afar as much as I can,” she said while studying and eating lunch outside of the Memo rial Union in eye’s view of Wednesday’s gathering of picketers who held space on the quad.

That day on the lawn, strikers got visits from Don Saylor, retiring Yolo County Supervisor, and Davis City Councilman-elect Bapu Vaitla, among others.

On Monday, 17 strikers were arrested for trespass ing inside the Sacramento offices of the University of California Office of the President. Thousands of UC grad workers through out Northern California supported them with a march to the UCOP build ing, following a stop at the Capitol and a noontime rally at Cesar Chavez Park.

As an “almost Davis City

Council Member,” Vaitla encouraged strikers to “keep going for the sake of all of us.”

Calling on collective soli darity, Vaitla said, “When people next to you are tired, support them and let them rest” in this act of resis tance against greed and of love for workers across the country and the world. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he said to the strikers, pledg ing his own support.

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@ davisenterprise.net.

Fred Gladdis/enterprise File photo

Jonathan Froste arrives for a July 2018 hearing in Yolo Superior Court.

UCD: Hibernating corals and the microbiomes that sustain them

By Kat Kerlin Enterprise staff writer

As winter approaches, many species of animals — from bears and squirrels to parasitic wasps and a few lucky humans — hun ker down for some needed rest. The northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) also enters a hibernating state of dormancy, or quies cence, during this time. But what happens to its microbiome while it’s sleeping?

A study led by UC Davis assistant professor Anya Brown found that micro bial communities shift while this coral enters dormancy, providing it an important seasonal reset. The work may carry implications for coral in warmer waters struggling with climate change and other environmental issues.

“Dormancy, at its most basic, is a response to an environmental stressor — in this case, cold stress,” said Brown, who is part of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory in the Department of Evolu tion and Ecology. If we understand more about this recovery period, it might help us understand what microbes may be responsible for recovering coral in warmer tropical systems.”

Obituary

The study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiol ogy with scientists from Woods Hole Oceano graphic Institution, or WHOI, and Roger Wil liams University, is the first to demonstrate a persistent microbial community shift with dormancy in a marine animal.

“This study shows that microbes respond to stress and recover in a predictable pattern,” said co-author Amy Apprill, an associate scientist at WHOI. “It’s foundational knowledge that may help us develop probiotics or other micro bial treatments for stressed tropical corals.”

While you were sleeping

From October 2020 through March 2021, researchers dove 60 feet down into cold water, nearly 40 degrees Fahren heit, to collect 10 distinct colonies of the coral A. poculata from a dock in Woods Hole, Mass. This coral is found in Atlantic waters extending from the Gulf of Mexico to Massa chusetts. As water temper atures cool, the coral retracts its tentacles, stops eating or responding to touch, and goes dormant.

The scientists character ized the microbiomes of the wild coral before, during

and after dormancy. They found that while the coral “sleeps,” its microbiome sheds nutrient-loving and pathogen-associated microbes, while increasing microbes that may contrib ute nitrogen while the coral is no longer eating. The scientists found that this restructuring helps the cor als maintain their micro bial community structure.

“We have long hypothe sized that Astrangia's sea sonal dormancy allows the coral microbiome to reset and restructure,” said coauthor Koty Sharp, associ ate professor at Roger Williams University. “Our research found evidence for a shuffling during that dor mant period that may help

Why does coral wake up?

With this study, a marine species — the coral A. poc ulata — now joins bears,

crickets and oth

on the list of animals

to have microbiomes

shift while they are

For example, the

ground squirrel’s gut microbiome plays an important role in nitrogen recycling while the squirrel fasts during hibernation.

“This work opens a lot of questions,” Brown said. “A big one is: Why does the coral ‘wake up’ in the early spring? This study suggests that key microbial groups may play an important role in triggering the onset of or emergence from this coral’s dormancy and the regula tion of its microbiome.”

Renie Christine Ken nedy, longtime resident of Davis, passed away peace fully at home on Dec. 3, 2022, with family by her side. Renie was born on Dec. 25, 1926, to Anselmo Castillo and Grace Marti nez in San Bernardino.

Following graduation from San Bernadino High School in 1943, she attended San Bernardino Valley College of Nursing and earned her bach elor’s degree in nurs ing in 1947.

From 1947 to 1951, Renie worked at Los Angeles County General Hospital. In 1951, Renie became a flight nurse at Edwards Air Force Base, achieving the rank of cap tain. Renie worked for the Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at a pivotal time in our country’s aero nautics development; this service to our country remained a lifelong point of pride for Renie. It was also where she met and married her first husband, Lt. Kenneth H. Rapp, a Korean War veteran and test pilot, who tragically was killed in a midair colli sion nine days after their wedding.

Upon discharge from the U.S. Air Force, Renie

returned to the Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1953. It was there that Renie met a resident physi cian from Pennsylvania, Dr. James A. Kennedy. Having served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot dur ing World War II, Dr. Ken nedy and Renie had much in common and were mar ried in January 1956 at Mission San Buenaventura in Ventura, and settled soon thereafter in Davis.

As a new arrival to Davis, Renie worked with her husband to establish his medical practice. Renie had seven children and played an active role in their activities while instilling a strong sense of family in them. She also continued working as a registered nurse for many years, until her retirement in 1992. She was active in the Davis community as a volunteer for many organi zations, including the American Heart Associa tion, International House and the American Red Cross. In retirement, Renie enjoyed traveling to Europe, Australia and Asia with James and spending time with her extended family.

Preceding Renie in death were her first husband,

Kenneth H. Rapp (19281953) and her second husband, James A. Kennedy (19202016).

Renie is survived by her seven children, including Cornelius and his wife Rosanna of Los Gatos, Ann Leigh of Chico, Patricia Kennedy of Winters, Kath leen Montgomery and her husband Mitch of Winters, James Jr. and his wife Bev erly of Corvallis, Ore., John and his wife Lisa of Kansas City, and Margaret Borth

and her husband Chris of Alameda. Renie is survived by grandchildren Arlene, Nola, Bradley, Megan, Kayla, Colten, Samuel, Isa belle, Ian and Kellen, and great-grandchildren Michelle, Eva and Ella. Renie was deeply loved and will be missed.

A funeral mass will begin at noon Friday, Dec. 16, at St. James Catholic Church, 1275 B St. in Davis, with a graveside service at the Davis Cemetery immedi ately following. Family and friends are invited to a reception and celebration of life at her daughter Patricia’s house, 604 Snap dragon Court in Winters.

Renie Christine Kennedy Dec. 25, 1926 — Dec. 3, 2022

KENNEDY

us identify microbial asso ciates that are key to coral health and recovery from disturbance.”

squirrels,

ers

found

that

dormant.

alicia Schickle, rWu/cOurte Sy phOtO

Microscope closeup of coral.

Today

n The Davis High School will perform its Winter Concert at 7 p.m. at the Richard Brunelle Performance Hall on the DHS campus, 315 W. 14th St. The concert is free but donations are accepted in the lobby — proceeds will go to directly support the DHS Orchestra Program.

Today-Sunday

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. Sug gested donation is $1025. For more information please call or text (530) 220-2012.

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 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

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 Shi bori pieces, international handicrafts, jewelry and felt handicrafts. New this year will be the opportu nity to participate 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 laurief@dcn. org for more informa tion.

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 at 640 Hawthorn Lane in Davis.

n Davis Community Church presents its Christmas Concert at 4 p.m., at Fourth and C streets. Childcare will be provided 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

Wednesday

n Join Project Linus to make blankets for chil dren who are seriously ill or traumatized at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A St., from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Help sew Linus labels on handmade blankets for Yolo County organiza tions that serve children in need. Project Linus members may take home donated fabrics and yarn each month to complete a blanket. Finished blan kets can be brought to the next monthly gather ing or to the Joann Fab ric store in Woodland. For information, drop-off location questions or fab ric and yarn donations, contact Diane McGee at dmmyolo@gmail.com.

Thursday

n The Poetry Night Reading Series will fea ture Beth Suter and Bethanie Humphreys at 7 p.m. on the third floor (indoors) of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St. in Davis. There will be an open mic after the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. The open mic list typically fills by 7 p.m., so arrive early. Organizers recom mend mask-wearing. Find the Facebook page for this event at https:// www.facebook.com/ events/5854316174 590080/. Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series at http:// www.poetryindavis. com.

Get the point on horns, antlers

By Sara Thompson Special to The Enterprise

Headgear, ornamen tation, cranial appendage: what ever you call it, the struc tures that many mammals have evolved over time are impressive. Most are clas sified into horns and ant lers. These two structures may look similar and have the same purpose, but they are actually very different.

Horns are grown by many of the small, herbiv orous animals in Africa such as gazelle, kudu, buf falo, and their relatives. In North America, horns can be found in bison, bighorn sheep, cattle and their rela tives. Horns are made up of two parts: a bone inte rior, and an outer keratin sheath. The bone core is an extension of the animal’s skull and will continually grow with the animal throughout its life.

The outer sheath pro tects the bone and is made of the same material that makes hair and fingernails. Most species that have horns will be present in both males and females. If a horn is damaged or removed, it is not able to be replaced and the animal will live with either a part of a horn or none at all.

explorit science center

Like horns, antlers also are an extension of the skull, but that is where the similarities stop. Antlers are gown by animals of the cervidae family and include deer, elk, moose and caribou. Antlers are made entirely of bone and are covered in a thin layer of flesh and hair, called velvet. The velvet is only present for part of the year and will be scraped off, leaving just the bony struc ture present.

The biggest difference between horns and antlers are that antlers are not permanent. An antlered animal will grow and shed

Pets of the week

Special to The Enterprise

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

bull who will steal your heart when he smiles. Mars has a happy and outgoing personality; he is a favorite with everyone he meets. Mars is a champion walker, always checking in to see where your adventure is leading you. Mars has been easy to train because he is so food-motivated. With proper intros he may be a fun dog sibling too.

For information on adopting, contact adopty cas@gmail.com. All shelter animals are up-to-date on

a new set each year. Dam aging or removing of an antler will not harm an animal in the long run, as it will regrow the following year. Antlers are typically only present in the males of the species, with caribou being the exception where they are present in both sexes.

Come to Explorit on Dec. 10 and 11 to explore a natural history mobile museum presented by Kaotic Mythicals. Explo rit’s classroom will be filled with quality specimens of real animal skulls, pelts, skeletons and mounted specimens. More than 100 species from around the world will be represented.

The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is

included with our regular weekend admission of $5 per person. Members and children under 2 years old are free.

Exploit's coming events: 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. Spaces still avail able for grades 3-5, Dec. 19 to 22, 1 to 4 p.m. $175 Members/$200 NonMembers. A craft suitable for gifting included daily. n Winter Break extended hours: Dec. 23 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Dec. 27-29 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Dec. 30 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Explorit will be closed Dec. 24-26 and Sunday, Jan. 1.

n Noon Year, Saturday, Dec. 31, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. Celebrate the New Year early with fun crafts and activities at Explorit. $5 per person, Members and children under 2 free.

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

vaccinations,

Staff is available to assist

phone

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.

Follow on at @ycas. shelter and Instagram at @ yoloanimalshelter.

Among them is Lil Bat (A199176), a sweet, 12-week-old female kitten who is always ready to play or cuddle. Lil Bat is friendly, fun and entertain ing but always willing to just hang out with you, too.

Also hoping for a good home is Mars (A197201), a handsome, 5-year-old pit

Gary r. Zahm, Fish and WildliFe service/Wikimedia commons photo

Male tule elk showing their full spread of antlers.

micro chipped, and spayed or neutered.

via

during business

on Saturdays. To meet any adoptable YCAS ani mals, visit friendsofycas. org. To volunteer, sign up at tinyurl.com/yolovolunteer app.

Lil Bat

Mars

Pebbles

Kona

favored by the council Tuesday evening, the city would focus on education and incentives to encourage homeowners to electrify their homes before assessing whether that effort has succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emis sions.

Councilman Dan Carson pro posed the approach.

Rather than making it manda tory in 2026 to switch out appli ances at the end of their useful life, he said, “I’m open to … a robust voluntary approach, not lock us into a date of change, but have a trigger and evaluation at some point.

“(We) start with a voluntary pro gram and three years from the point where we actually launch a voluntary program with outreach and all the tools and maybe finan cial resources for folks, and educa tion, we then do an evaluation to see if we’re getting somewhere,” he said.

Councilman Josh Chapman said he would “definitely be supportive of having a voluntary approach and checking back in and getting a bet ter understanding of where we’re at.”

He added that during his time in the community he has seen resi dents step up voluntarily in the fight against climate change,

Document would not have the force of law

including with solar installation, water conservation and switching to electric vehicles, “so I don’t want to assume failure.”

Frerichs was the lone dissenter, saying, “I would personally favor keeping the end-of-useful life replacement in there.”

The Climate Action and Adapta tion Plan was presented to the council Tuesday night for feedback to staff. In the works for three years, the plan contains some 28 recommended actions aimed at helping the city reach carbon neu trality by 2040 and focuses on everything from building electrifi cation to transportation to land use.

The CAAP is a planning docu ment, however, and even if the council gives its final approval, pos sibly in February, any recom mended actions contained would remain recommendations unless and until the council enacts them into ordinances.

“So even tonight, we’re not adopting this plan,” noted Vice Mayor Will Arnold. “But even if we were, this is a document that we would be adopting that sets some targets and goals and potential policies that the city could take up in the future.”

Adoption, he said, “does not put that policy in place.

“We would go through the staff

and commission and council and community process for any of these recommended policies to end up being an ordinance, a law in the city of Davis.”

Arnold added that he supported the staff decision to remove a point-of-sale electrification requirement earlier this year “because that’s arbitrary.

“People sell their homes for all kinds of reasons, at different times, and to require this major invest ment be done in your property just to be able to sell it, to me was a bridge way too far.”

However, he said, “we’re running out of time in California in which you’ll even be able to put in a new gas furnace. Eventually they’re not going to be sold here anymore. Eventually the infrastructure we rely on is not going to be here and be supported any more and at some point it’s going to be taken out. So what this plan does, is it says, ‘Let’s get the ball rolling on that.’”

He added that he would suggest to those in the real estate industry “that if you’re telling a client, ‘put in a new gas furnace, put in a new gas water heater,’ you’re doing them a disservice because the cost to get the gas in there, to use it, is going to start going way up.

“As fewer and fewer people use it, they’re going to start charging more just for the upkeep of the gas

OIL: Industry reps push back

From Page A1

approach that would raise prices at the pump by increasing their costs.

“A fee imposed on the industry as a commodity going to the government, that is going to look and act like a tax,” said Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petro leum Association, which represents the oil industry. “We know windfall taxes have been tried nationally and don’t work. What we need to do is focus on bet ter public policy.”

Newsom’s proposal, which also directs regulators to col lect the financial penalties in a fund that would be reim bursed to California resi dents, represents a slight shift in strategy.

In October, after gas prices soared to more than $6 per gallon in California and widened the usual gap with the national average, the governor vowed to call a special legislative session to tax what he considered excessive profits in the oil industry. His announce ment came just weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

But the preliminary bill language includes no men tion of a tax. Instead, the fines that oil refiners could face for exceeding the profit-margin cap are con sidered administrative pen alties. That allows the Legislature to pass the measure with a simple majority, rather than the two-thirds vote required for taxes.

Newsom denied that he had made a political calcu lation to ease the path

forward. “That’s not part of my consciousness. It’s about what’s right and wrong,” he told reporters, further brushing off ques tions about the mechanism for distributing the penal ties to Californians.

Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at UC Berkeley, agreed that the financial penalties could have a stronger deterrent effect than a tax because oil companies might be more motivated to hold prices down to not appear like scofflaws. But he was doubtful that limiting refiners’ profits would

consistently lead to lower prices at the pump.

“That doesn’t require the gas station owners to reduce their price,” said Borenstein, a former chair person of the California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Market Advi sory Committee. If there’s a limited supply of gas, he said, “why wouldn’t they charge a higher price?”

Newsom’s proposal pres ents an early high-stakes issue for the new Legisla ture, which is the most diverse in California history and about a third of whom are new to Sacramento.

lines. You’re going to start seeing it where in 10 years maybe, 15 years, or so, it’s going to be kind of foolish to buy (from) the last guy out there trying to sell you a gas furnace.

“So what do we do as the city and as citizens and homeowners … knowing that that’s coming?”

Arnold asked. “Are we going to be the last holdouts that are saying, ‘You’re going to pry my gas furnace out of my very cold dead hands’ or do we accept that this is coming and start moving the ball for ward?”

That said, like Carson and Chap man, Arnold opposed mandatory end-of-life replacement as well.

“If it were in front of us today, to put this mandate in place, I would be vehemently opposed to it,” Arnold said.

He noted concerns raised in public comment about the chal lenges homeowners have faced when a furnace or water heater fails suddenly and the lengthy time frame involved in upgrading elec tric panels in order to install elec tric replacements.

“I think the reasons that were put forward, some of the stories that were shared today are harrow ing,” said Arnold. “Most folks find out their water heater isn’t working by reaching in the shower and going, ‘It usually is warm by now … OK we’ve got a problem.’”

“You can’t wait. You can’t have three months and thousands of dollars in addition to the cost of the new water heater itself stand in the way of you and your next shower. That just is unreasonable. For this policy to work at all, it couldn’t be like that. It would need to be cheaper, it would need to be possi ble through PG&E, it would need to be not prohibitively expensive, it would need to happen quickly, we would need to have internally in the city of Davis the staff resources to make sure that happens. We’re not there yet.”

Councilwoman Gloria Partida agreed that “we need to prepare and we need to be prepared for this whether it comes in (2026 or 2030).

“There are other things that have to be in place before we can ask people to do this,” she said, includ ing possibly a carbon mitigation fund to help residents pay for panel upgrades, possibly on a sliding scale.

City staff are expected to return to the council, likely in February, incorporating the council’s changes and seek approval of the final CAAP at that time.

More details about the plan are available at https://www.city ofdavis.org/sustainability/2020climate-action-and-adaptationplan-caap.

Martin do nasciMento/calMatters photo Gov. Gavin Newsom stands Monday for the pledge allegiance in the Senate chambers of the state Capitol in Sacramento.

Get surreal with imaginative exhibit

By Natalie Nelson Special to The Enterprise

“Flights of Fancy,” Steven McGovney’s solo exhibit at the Pence Gallery, is full of fanciful crea tures. His art blends his surreal view of nature with a love of movement. Steven has worked in multiple media, but his current concentration is on the sculp tural side of ceramics. The artist uses clay, steel wire, acrylic and oil paint to bring his animal and figurative work to life.

As he admits, his sculptures at the Pence are truly “imaginary birds inspired by the wacky names of birds themselves.” They totter on long, colorful legs, giv ing a sense of ever-moving action. Each bird is endowed with a pair of funky cowboy boots, which are painted in bright hues of red, blue, and green. In fact, all his pieces show his interest in intense rainbow hues. While they are hand-built from clay, he uses acrylics rather than glaze to finish his forms.

His human figures are often based on fictional characters. His sculpture “Pucker Up Prince” might be based on “The Frog Prince,” a story told by The Broth ers Grimm, in which a rather cheeky frog elicits a kiss that turns him back into a prince. In McGovney’s version, a red-haired young man awaits his maiden’s kiss, literally hidden inside the mouth of the frog she holds.

Always a favorite, Lewis Car roll’s “Alice in Wonderland” story finds its expression in the artist’s

Pence Gallery

sculpture “Riding the Mad Hat ter’s Dodo.” A young woman cheerfully holds onto the large Dodo, grasping onto a cup and a bottle at the same time. Her bot tle of course says “drink me,” which she must have, as she’s small enough to ride the bird.

His exhibit is up through Dec. 24. Enjoy seeing his work first hand during our 2nd Friday Art About reception from 6 to 9 p.m Dec. 9. That night we’ll also have complimentary wine tasting by Twisted Cedar Wine Company. The Holiday Market gift fair is still open through Dec. 24, as well.

The Pence also will open a new exhibit on Dec. 9 titled, “Myrtle Press Prints: Portfolio x2.” The exhibit showcases two new proj ects coordinated by Myrtle Press, a community printmaking studio at Verge Center for the Arts in Sacramento.

In 2020, they asked select art ists to contribute 11-by-14-inch prints to a portfolio based on the theme of the hidden or the unseen. Nineteen regional print makers responded with their interpretations of the concept, in different types of prints, from woodcuts and monotypes to silk screens or lithographs.

Vera McBride’s woodcut, “Sink ing,” shows the underside of lily pads, as they reach down into the depths of the water. The bottom of the lake, however, looks like the surface. In fact, the lily pads almost appear to be floating not

in water, but in the air. The peaceful water scene of course reminds me of the unsettled feel ing we all had during 2020. Things that normally brought us comfort, such as people, food, or work, were gone or altered in drastic ways. To see Vera demon strating how she creates her work, drop by the Pence any time between 6 and 9 p.m. during the ArtAbout on Dec. 9.

Two years later, Myrtle Press followed up with a new portfolio centered on the theme of origin, and 16 regional printmakers con tributed prints on the concept. To me, one of the most visually strik ing examples from the series was Manuel Rios’ silkscreen titled, “Chx.”

In the print, Rios juxtaposes the outline of a monarch butterfly,

with a pair of hands cradling a carved stone face. The face reminds me of one of the massive stone pre-conquest heads created by the Olmec people in Mexico.

Sitting atop the face is the silhou ette of a zoot-suited man, a fash ion popular among working-class minority men in the 1940s. The print merges all these early emblems of Chicano/a identity and culture in a way that really speaks to the idea of origin.

Other participating printmak ers included in the Portfolio x2 exhibit are Chaitra Bangalore, Donna Brown, Elizabeth Corkery, John Criscitello, Aster Foley, Jose Guerrero, Barbara Hennelly, Joanna Kidd, Dixie Laws, How ard Levine, Graham McDougal, Jazel Muñoz, Eliot Olson, Ruth Santee, Susan Silvester, Melanie

Printmaking workshop

■ When: Jan. 8 and Jan. 15, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

■ What: Artist Susan Silvester will teach the art of designing and carving a linoleum block followed by a tour of the Myrtle Press print exhibit.

■ Cost: $140 ($150 non members), + $15 materials fee

■ Register: www.pence gallery.org.

Slade, Nikki Thompson, Genesis Torres, Franca Van Allen, Sum mer Ventis and Sandy Fong Whetstone. This exhibit runs from Dec. 9 to Jan. 29, and is sponsored by Tandem Properties. We are also holding a two-part linoleum-block printmaking workshop in conjunction with the exhibit, on Jan. 8 and Jan. 15, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Artist Susan Silvester will teach the art of designing and carving a linoleum block at the Pence Gallery, fol lowed by a tour of the Myrtle Press print exhibit. For the sec ond day, students will work at Myrtle Press to print their lino leum blocks. The cost is $140 ($150 non-Pence members), and a $15 additional materials fee is required. You can register at www.pencegallery.org.

— Natalie Nelson is the execu tive director and curator of the Pence Gallery; her column is pub lished monthly.

Violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Peter Dugan perform Saturday

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise arts writer

Violinist Joshua Bell vis its the Mondavi Center on Saturday, Dec. 10. And then on Saturday, Dec. 17, the American Bach Soloists will present “A Baroque Christmas” at the Mondavi Center, while the Bay Areabased Telegraph Quartet will join musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento for a perfor mance of the Mendelssohn Octet in a concert at Davis High School’s Brunelle Per formance Hall.

Bell and Dugan will per form sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy in the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall on Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Bell has been a regular at the Mondavi Center years — sometimes performing in recital with a pianist, other times performing as music director and violin soloist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Bell started out young, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 at age 17 (performing with the St. Louis Symphony). He’s been music director of the

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields since 2011, but also tours as a recitalist and appears as a soloist with other orchestras, and he has released many albums over the decades.

Dugan, who is in his early 30s (approximately two decades younger than Bell) is new to the Mondavi Center. But you may have heard Dugan on the radio — he’s been the host of the popular public radio series “From The Top” since 2020. Dugan also per formed on “From The Top” back in 2007, when he was an 18-years-old. Dugan is a

graduate of the Juilliard School, and he made his debut with the San Fran cisco Symphony (under maestro Michael Tilson Thomas) in 2017.

During the pandemic, Dugan was a featured in Joshua Bell’s “At Home with Music” project, which became a PBS television special and an album on the Sony Classical label. Dugan also partnered with baritone John Brancy in the recently released album, “A Silent Night: A World War I Memorial in Song,” an homage to com posers who lived through

what was then called the Great War (1914-1918).

Tickets for Bell and Dugan’s recital at Mondavi on Dec. 10 are $40-$125 general, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org or at the door. A large audi ence is expected, but it looks like there will still be some seats available on the day of the performance.

Upcoming

■ The American Bach Soloists, with their oftpraised period instrument orchestra and their highly regarded choir, return to

the Mondavi Center’s Jack son Hall for the first time in several years on Saturfday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. with a concert titled “A Baroque Christmas.”

Music director Jeffrey Thomas has crafted a pro gram that will open with Part 1 of Georg Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Mes siah” — the portion that focuses on Christmas. There will also be Christ mas-related selections by Italian composer Giuseppe Valentini (1681-1753), French composer MarcAntoine Charpentier (1643-1704), and German composer Johann Chris toph Pez (1664-1716), all of whom led lives that over lapped with Handel (16851759). And yes, the concert will conclude with the most famous part of Handel’s “Messiah,” the “Hallelujah” chorus.

Tickets are $50-$95 gen eral, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org and at the door.

■ The Chamber Music Society of Sacramento will partner with the Telegraph Quartet for a concert on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Brunelle Perfor mance Hall at Davis High

School, 315 W. 14th St. in Davis. The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 in the Bay Area. They were awarded the prestigious Naumberg Chamber Music Award in 2016, which led directly to their Carnegie Hall premiere in 2017. The Telegraph Quartet then joined the faculty at the San Francisco Conserva tory of Music as that insti tution’s string quartet in residence.

On the program will be the famous “Emperor” String Quartet (Op. 76, No. 3) by Josef Haydn, dating from 1797, which will be performed by musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento. Then the Telegraph Quar tet will perform the String Quartet No. 4 of Polish composer Graznya Bace wicz (1909-1969). Con cluding the program will be ever popular Octet by Felix Mendelssohn (who com posed it in 1825 at the age of 16), which is scored for a double quartet (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos).

Tickets are $30 general, $25 seniors (60-plus) and $12 students/children, CMSSacto.org and at the door.

courtesy Photo

Rios’s silkscreen print titled Chx blends imagery from Chicano/a history.

Joshua Bell and Peter Dugan perform at Mondavi on Saturday, Dec. 10.

courtesy Photo

Inspirational, fact-based saga is almost beyond belief

By Derrick Bang Enterprise film critic

Some people are born with a level of grit, determi nation, strength and focus that the rest of us can’t even comprehend, let alone emulate.

Director Sally El Hosaini’s depiction of what Syrian sisters Sara and Yusra Mardini endured, while pursuing their ver sion of the impossible dream, is compelling and impressively inspirational. El Hosaini and co-scripter Jack Thorne had no need to lard actual events with fic tionalized melodramatic touches; the truth — adapted from Yusra Mar dini’s 2018 autobiography, “Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian” — is sufficiently astonishing.

This is one of the rare films that can change hearts and minds, by com partmentalizing a realworld crisis: in this case, the massive refugee crisis that resulted when the 2011 Arab Spring protests ulti mately prompted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to brutally crack down on his own citizens.

Events begin quietly dur ing Yusra’s 13th birthday

violence

modern-day version of fid dling while Rome burns.

The dynamic between these sisters is complex; they clearly love and are devoted to each other, but tension is palpable. Sara has become a wild child: reckless, headstrong, unwilling to respect author ity. She also has abandoned her swimming training. Manal Issa gives her a mocking, defiant gaze, as if daring the world to get in her way.

party, a cheerfully lively event orchestrated by her parents, Ezzat (Ali Suli man) and Mervat (Kinda Alloush). Ezzat, a former champion swimmer, has become a demanding coach to Yusra and her older sis ter, Sara; he toasts Yusra’s sporting abilities while Sara wanders into another room and watches a television news report on government protests elsewhere in Damascus.

Flash-forward four years. Sara and Yusra (now played by real-life sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa) revel at an outdoor penthouse nightclub where their cousin Nizar (Ahmed Malek) is DJing. They dance blithely, apparently oblivious to the bombs raining down in the dis tance: a bizarrely callous,

Yusra is quieter, cautious and nurturing: forever try ing to protect her older sis ter from her worst instincts. Yusra has maintained her swim training, fixated on one day competing in the Olympics. Nathalie Issa’s expression is frequently troubled, her eyes wide and worried, her posture sug gesting vulnerability.

Sara repeatedly begs their father to let her and Yusra seek asylum in Ger many. The clock is ticking, because — as long as Yusra remains 17 — they then can apply for the family to rejoin them; that option ceases on her 18th birthday. But Ezzat refuses, con cerned for their safety, and stubbornly insists that he remains Yusra’s best shot at Olympic qualification.

Everything changes, in the blink of an eye, during Yusra’s next local competi tion: a heart-stopping moment superbly choreo graphed by El Hosaini, cinematographer Christo pher Ross, and editor Iain

Home for the Holidays back at Vets Memorial

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

Acts include Misner and Smith, Boot Juice, Joe Cra ven, Way Out West, Rita Hosking Trio, Hattie Cra ven, 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, contact www.billyfairfield.com or 530-758-2455.

Natsoulas hosts Poetry Night on Dec. 15

Special to The Enterprise

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Beth Suter and Bethanie Humphreys at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, on the third floor (indoors) of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St. in Davis.

Suter grew up in rural Missouri, close to grandparents who survived the Great Depression by gathering wild food. She learned that the forest was a place to look for beauty and a place to look for lunch. She has had a deep connection with nature ever since and considers herself an ecopoet. She started writing poems as an under graduate studying Environmental Science at UC Davis, and continued writing during her years as a naturalist and teacher.

She started publishing poetry in 2013, and has since appeared in more than 40 publications, including Colorado Review, New American Writing, Barrow Street, DMQ Review and Birmingham Poetry Review. She won first place in the Nature Category at the 2013 Ina Coolbrith Poetry Contest and was chosen as a finalist in the Pat Schneider Poetry Contest in 2015. A 2016 Napa Valley Writers’ Conference alumna, she has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and once nominated for a Best of the Net Prize in 2020. She partici pates widely in workshops and readings in Davis and at the Sacramento Poetry Cen ter. Follow Suter at http://facebook.com/ bethfsuter/.

Humphreys is a writer, editor, mixedmedia visual artist, educator and lateblooming lesbian from Sacramento. Former Editor-in-Chief of the American River Review and Associate Editor and Art Director for Tule Review, she has seen her work appear in journals in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, including The Poetry

Foundation, Artemis, Nonbinary Review, and Found Poetry Review. Her chapbook, Dendro chronology, was pub lished by Finishing Line Press in 2019. A Califor nia Certified Naturalist and Amherst Writers and Artists method instructor, Humphreys leads various workshops, including poetry editing, science-inspired poetry, and a guided National Poetry Writing Month experience. Learn more at https:// bethaniehumphreys.com/.

There will be an open mic after the fea tured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. The open mic list typically fills by 7 p.m., so arrive early. Organizers recommend mask-wear ing.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m., is supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, and by John Natsoulas and the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the city of Davis. This event is supported by Katerina Hanks, producer, and Timo thy Nutter, sound and lighting engineer.

Find the Facebook page for this event at https://www.facebook.com/ events/5854316174590080/. Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series at http://www.poetryindavis.com.

Upcoming events

Jan. 5: Allegra Silberstein (author of a new book, “Dancing with the Morning Breeze”) with Jean Beguin Jan. 19: Brad Buchanan with Frank Dixon Graham

Kitching.

Finally acknowledging the inevitable, Ezzat agrees to let Sara and Yusra go, as long as they’re chaperoned by Nizar.

Thus begins an incredi ble — and incredibly har rowing — journey that kicks off with a flight to Istanbul, followed by efforts to contact smugglers, in order to reach the coastal Turkish city of Ayvalik. The next challenge: crossing the Aegean Sea, in order to reach Lesbos, Greece. Dis tance: roughly 15 miles.

Their group numbers two dozen, and several sup porting characters take key spots in our hearts and minds: Shada (Nahel Tze gai), an anxious Eritrean woman with a baby; Emad (James Krishna Floyd), a

charismatic Afghan man; and Bilal (Elmi Rashid Elmi), a friendly Somali man.

Smugglers eventually arrive with a patched and badly worn dinghy designed to hold, at most, six people. The old engine barely kicks into life. Almost everybody boards; they’re resigned, having spent considerable money to get this far, and — seeing no viable option — they hope for the best.

Alas, “the best” eludes them.

What occurs next, although perhaps the film’s dramatic climax — and it’s a corker — is merely another in what already has become an unrelentingly grim saga.

And this isn’t even half way through their long,

arduous passage.

The story’s destination is obvious, from the title of Yusra Mardini’s book, but that doesn’t make El Hosaini’s film any easier to watch. This is breathtaking, edge-of-the-seat suspense … and, let it be said, a fero ciously memorable example of female empowerment and sibling loyalty.

Matthias Schweighöfer pops up in the third act, as sympathetic Berlin swim coach Sven Spannenkrebs.

Schweighöfer’s cheerful, mildly amusing perfor mance — a welcome breath of kindness and concern — is a much-needed relief (also for us!) after so much trauma, insecurity and cru elty.

My favorite sequence: the clever means by which Yusra maintains her physi cal training, while awaiting asylum eligibility and living in a massive hanger of 100plus sleeping units, each accommodating eight women.

This gripping, fact-based drama certainly will prompt Internet research, and I’ve no doubt sales of Yusra’s book will spike. What she and Sara have done, subsequent to these events, is even more admi rable.

You won’t soon forget this one.

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

Clockwise from upper left, Catherine Carrie (as Grimhilde, the Evil Queen), Julia Lindsay (as Maleficent), Jasarae DeRemer (as Jafar), (Bottom L-R) Liam O’Donnell (as Carlos), Marian Fabionar (as Evie), Chloe Aldrete (as Mal), and Nico Srinivas (as Jay), in DMTC’s Young Performer’s Theatre production of “Disney’s The Descendants: The Musical.”

Fairy tales’ next generation hits the stage

behavior and start breaking the rules?

If you enjoy pop music and modern choreography, you will love Davis Musical Theatre Company’s young performers musical, “Dis ney’s Descendants.” The show tells the story of the children of classic Disney characters, like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and Cinderella.

In this universe, the evil villains and their children have been banished for twenty years to the Isle of the Lost, where being bad is a good thing. All the other characters live in the land of Auradon, where people are nice to each other. Ben, the teenage son of King Adam (Beast) and Queen Belle, is getting ready to be crowned as the new king of Auradon and would like to unite the two realms because he believes that the children of bad parents should not be held responsible for their par ent’s bad choices.

To test this idea, four of the teenagers from the Vil lain’s island (Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos) are allowed to join Auradon Prep school. However, the Evil parents (Malificent, Evil Queen Grimhilde, Cruella de Vil and Jafar) have ordered their kids to steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand and free all the villains from the island world they have been banished to.

For the children of both realms, this creates multi ple ethical decisions of what is right and what is wrong. Should the villains’ children follow in their wicked parents’ footsteps or choose to be good? Will the good kids revel in bad

Watching the show, I was extremely impressed by the newer hip hop choreogra phy. The actors really seemed to be enjoying the more modern dance moves, too. The songs “Rotten to the Core,” “Evil like Me,” “Goal” and “Chillin’ like a Villain” were audience favorites. “Goal” even fea tured a section with cheer leaders doing formations and acrobatics. This is the kind of show that will inspire young theater-goers to want to get up on stage to participate.

The singing was what you would expect for a youth production with young, new singers sharing the stage with some very powerful and experienced older teens. The costumes were traditional for the parental roles, preppy for the students and “hot topic”

attire for the kids who lived on the island.

Congratulations to the director, choreographer and set designer Megan Richmond, along with musical director Montana Monce, for creating such a fun show with the talented cast of 31 young actors!

Audiences will be delighted with the special purple Ube cookies available at the intermission in recognition of Mal’s crazy purple hair and outfit. Some kids from the audience were even dressed up in their own Disney costumes, which made it much more inter active.

Shows run through Dec. 11 and many performances were sold out.

Tickets are available at dmtc.org; shows are Friday night at 7 p.m. and Satur day and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

Courtesy photo

Following railroad tracks to their next destination, and mindful of avoiding soldiers who would arrest them — or worse — this small group of refugees hopes for the best: from left, in foreground, Bilal (Elmi Rashid Elmi), Sara (Nathalie Issa), Shada (Nahel Tzegai, with infant), Yusra (Manal Issa) and Emad (James Krishna Floyd).

and sexual assault

Starring: Manal Issa, Nathalie Issa, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ahmed Malek, Ezzat Suliman, Kinda Alloush, James Krishna Floyd, Nahel Tzegai

Available via: Netflix

Special to The Enterprise

Courtesy photo

Musical duo Misner and Smith will be at the Home for the Holidays concert.

Jennifer Goldman Enterprise theatre critic

SUTER HUMPHREYS

Courtesy photo

Help is on the way for California truckers

By Nick Chaset Special to CalMatters

Freight vehicles are one of the largest sources of air pollution in the state, and the East Bay and Central Valley are among the biggest emitters. Thirty-percent of the jobs in Alameda County alone are tied to industries that move goods in and out of the Port of Oakland and the Oakland air port.

While freight trucks are critical to our economy, they also threaten public health and the planet. Medium- and heavy-duty trucks make up just 7% of California vehi cles, but are responsible for more than onequarter of carbon emissions, more than 60% of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, and more than 55% of lung- and heart-harming fine particulate pollution from vehicles.

Semi-trucks are by far the biggest pollut ers. While they only account for 10% of trucks on the road, they are responsible for around half of all truck emissions.

Communities adjacent to freight corridors are impacted most. A recent study by UC Irvine found that deployment of zero-emis sion trucks will deliver critical health bene fits to low-income residents who live and work closer to ports, industrial facilities and highways and experience disproportionate exposure to pollution.

Power providers are doing everything they can to help ease the transition.

While electric passenger cars are becom ing more common on California roads — ris ing to roughly 18% of all new car sales this year — medium- and heavy-duty battery electric trucks are just starting to emerge.

The California Air Resources Board has counted 155 different models of zero-emis sion vans, trucks and other commercial vehi cles on the market — or coming soon from major truck manufacturers. Tesla, for exam ple, has been racing to develop an electric semi against Peterbilt, Freightliner and oth ers. Walmart, Amazon and other fleet opera tors are placing big orders.

The state is putting its muscle behind the switch. CARB is implementing clean truck regulations, which require 55% of commer cial van and pickup truck sales, 75% of straight-truck sales, and 40% of semi-trac tor sales to be zero emission by 2035.

Under an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, CARB is now proposing clean fleet rules with the goal of achieving a zero-emis sion California truck and bus fleet by 2045. The target is 10 years earlier for certain mar ket segments, such as last-mile delivery and drayage vehicles that serve ports and rail yards. A final decision is expected in spring of 2023.

To facilitate the conversion, several fund ing programs are available from state and federal agencies and local air districts. The state’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, for example, has given out $700 million in rebates for roughly 6,000 zero-emission trucks.

The new Inflation Reduction Act will cre ate additional federal funding opportuni ties for trucks and charging stations, including a $40,000 tax credit for electric cargo trucks and a 30% credit for chargers, up to $100,000 per site. Research sug gests that the landmark law could double or triple the market for battery-electric trucks to as high as 38% of the fleet by 2030. Another $7.5 billion for chargers was included in last year’s Infrastructure Invest ment and Jobs Act.

Switching to electric trucks doesn’t just move pollution from roads to power plants, either. By utilizing the all-renewable power market for charging, truck operators can generate maximum credits under Califor nia’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and earn extra incentives to cut emissions.

The energy sector’s work to clean up the power supply is only part of the work needed to protect California public health and the climate. Now is the time to put that clean energy to work cleaning up the roads.

— Nick Chaset is the CEO of East Bay Community Energy, a nonprofit public agency that operates a Community Choice Aggregation program, providing renewable power to Alameda County and 14 cities. He wrote this for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s Capitol works and why it matters.

State fares well in ‘Great Resignation’

Millions of Americans have quit their jobs each month over the last year-and-a-half –essentially ever since vaccines reduced the frequency and intensity of bouts with most variants of COVID-19.

At the same time, some California cities emptied at generationally high rates, with San Francisco the best example, losing more than 6 percent of its populace to the new white-collar reality of working at home, with loca tion almost completely irrele vant.

Workers can be in Monte negro as easily as Montebello, and hardly anyone will know the difference.

This creates unprecedented worker mobility all over the country, as huge numbers take months or years off and survive on savings or fortunes accumulated via stock options over the last 15 years.

It also causes many of the “help wanted” signs appear ing in the windows of myriad workplaces, from post offices to Starbucks, small bakeries, customer-service telephone centers and restaurants. It means shorter menus, too, as cooks and chefs are hard to find. It’s also a time of finding your own merchandise at big box stores, helpful salespeo ple now scarcer than ever. Radio ads even offered $3,000 signing bonuses to new bus drivers in Los Ange les, treatment normally reserved for individuals with specialized abilities and training.

Workers can be in Montenegro as easily as Montebello, and hardly anyone will know the difference.

Since California leads the nation in almost every social and economic trend, good or bad, the expectation might be that more folks are resigning their jobs here than anywhere else. That presumption would be dead wrong.

New findings from the WalletHub website, which tracks a variety of economic trends, show California ranks as the No. 38 state in resigna tions. Just 2.53 percent of workers here have quit their jobs over the last year, the website found.

Florida, whose governor continually compares his state to California, ranked fourth in resignations, as almost twice as high a pro portion of its populace quit. Texas was 28th, while Alaska led the great resignation, with a 4.7 percent annualized

rate of departures. Maybe it’s the cold, dark winters and physical isolation that comes with living in most parts of that physi cally huge state.

Why is California far ing better than the vast majority of other states in this societal upheaval?

It may be the long experience of the tech indus try with gig workers, who for many years have moved around frequently while hunting for ever greener pas tures.

Where in most states there is a large pay gap between job shifters and long-term work ers, that is much less com mon in California. Nationally, says the Cantabria economic blog, the average pay differ ential is 7 percent, with — for example — the median salary for established software development managers at $131,000, while new hires in the same job get a median pay of $143,000 regardless of age or experience.

To avoid that differential, which can spur resentful longtime employees to search for new jobs, companies must constantly grant raises and bonuses to existing workers so newcomers don’t outpace their pay. If those firms then hit unexpected hard times, it can lead to layoffs, which lately have hit companies like Meta and Salesforce.

The almost constant upward momentum all this created over the last 20 months is one reason U.S. wages overall rose 4.7 percent

Missing from senior housing discussions

in that time.

Many California companies are long accustomed to these phenomena, which created massive new wealth for youthful high tech workers at companies like Google and Apple and Hulu. Most Silicon Valley companies see to it that longer-term employees are at least as well off as new hires. Failure to do that would lead to shuffles and a much higher California resig nation rate.

Women, too, are using the great resignation to eliminate much of the longtime pay gap between themselves and men. CNBC reports 85 percent of women workers believe they deserve pay increases and 65 percent think the resignation wave gives them more lever age to get them.

Of the 47 million Ameri cans who quit jobs in 2021, most of those responding to surveys cited better pay and benefits as reasons. It’s still unknown if women actually reduced the pre-existing 18 percent pay gap between them and white males in sim ilar jobs.

All this may be inconve nient for businesses, but it’s also providing bonanzas for many thousands of workers.

— Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Break through, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,” is now available in a softcover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.

Community voice

I would like to thank the Davis Enter prise staff and editorial board for increas ing the space dedicated to letters from the community during the most recent elec tion. As one of the primary places our community’s voice is heard, this is impor tant. Hearing from people who are known throughout the community and reading different views on critical issues is something only a local information source can provide.

In past elections, 2-3 letters per issue were printed — as normal — though many more were sent in. According to rumor, many never saw the light of day in the print version. As I was critical then, so now I would like to publicly express my thanks. Thank you Davis Enterprise!

Larry D. Guenther Davis

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

In any discussion of senior housing in Davis, whether affordable or not, there is an entire category that is missing. Absent from consideration on almost any agenda are our assisted living facili ties. There are three assisted or indepen dent-living, or continuum-care facilities in Davis, including Carlton Senior Liv ing Davis, Atria Covell Gardens and University Retirement Community. They are, by many standards, not afford able.

As expensive as each of these facilities is, with URC being the most expensive, their monthly rents go up every year. This is a staggering amount of money being demanded from seniors on fixed incomes. For that kind of money, one should be able to get healthy meals for diabetics and for people on other kinds of restricted diets. But that is not the case.

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

House of Representatives

Even if Davis had a rent control ordi nance, and we do not, these facilities are exempt from any local efforts to protect senior residents from rent gouging. If fact, there is no oversight at any level to protect the financial and other rights of residents in these sorts of places. When moving into an independent or assisted living facility, seniors often leave their real independence at the door and lose the ability to advocate for themselves to obtain such things as realistic rent increases and meals suitable for aging adults.

Seniors in such facilities deserve advo cates who are not also beholden to the very facilities that are the problem. They deserve lawmakers and regulators who are willing to create safeguards to protect their financial and personal wellbeing.

Will those advocates and lawmakers please step forward? These seniors really need your help.

Elizabeth Lasensky Davis

We welcome your letters

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/

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.

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

Pearls Before Swine

REPEAT: Davis, Jesuit boys soccer teams to beat in the Delta

From

“but all the other teams in league are not to be taken for granted. We feel we have a target on our backs and every team in the league wants to beat us and will always give us a good game.

“I think that Franklin and Sheldon have always been good hard games for us, especially when

we play away.”

The Blue Devils are confident for many reasons entering this season.

“We have a very good roster and a very deep bench, where we can trust the people coming off the bench to compete and when they come into the game the level doesn’t drop at all,” Yoon said. “With such an amazing

squad, it leads to better practices being so competitive.

“We have really good chemistry because we have great players, who are also great people as well, which makes a really good environment.”

— Contact Mike Bush at mike@davisenter prise.net. Follow on Twitter: @MBDavis Sports.

Leyson named Coach of the Year

Enterprise staff

VISTA — UC Davis men’s water polo head coach Daniel Leyson was named the 2022 Western Water Polo Association Coach of the Year, the organization announced recently.

Leyson earns the award for the second consecutive year and for the fifth time over all.

The award was determined via a league-wide poll of conference head coaches fol lowing the 2022 WWPA Championship. Leyson has also taken home the conference’s top coach award in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021.

UC Davis (19-8) came from two goals down in the fourth quarter to force overtime and eventually clipped UC San Diego, 13-12, en route to their seventh conference championship on Nov. 20.

In 2022, the Aggies won 13 games against ranked opponents — including four in the top-10.

UCD made its ninth all-time postseason appearance in the National Collegiate Water Polo Championship on Dec. 1. The Aggies fell to No. 6-ranked Pacific, 11-7, in

UC Davis athletiCs/CoUrtesy photo

UC Davis men’s water polo head coach Daniel Leyson shouts instructions to his players during a game this season

Mike BUsh/enterprise photo

Davis High boys soccer players Holt Klineberg (2) and Caleb Yoon (13) keep the soccer ball away from a Grant player in Wednesday’s non-league game at Rio Linda High.

Lots of changes in the Big Sky Conference

So much sporting news, all arriving at once.

HE’S A VOLUNTEER NOW ... UC Davis standout tight end McCallan Castles entered the transfer portal and was immediately scooped up by Tennessee of the Southeastern Conference.

“Entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer,” Castles tweeted. “Very excited to announce my commitment to Tennessee!”

Castles, considered a sure NFL bet, suffered internal inju ries after being sandwiched by two defenders on a pass recep tion against Sacramento State three weeks ago and spent sev eral days in the hospital.

A two-year starter, the 6-5, 233-pound Castles was the third-leading Aggie receiver in 2022 with 30 catches for 347 yards and two touchdowns, earning second-team All-Big Sky honors.

In 2021, Castles had 27 receptions for 363 yards and four scores.

Added Castles, “I think going to the next level is to play with and against the best. The SEC offers the best talent and

obviously it’s good to play against high-level guys. I think the way Coach (Josh) Heupel uses his offense, he is going to maximize what I do best.”

Tennessee, which plays its home games in 102,000-seat Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, upset Alabama this season and finished 10-2. The Volunteers will meet Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Dec. 30 in Miami.

BIG SKY MUSICAL CHAIRS

... Football head coaching changes are happen ing so fast in the Big Sky Con ference that it’s hard to keep track of who is coming and who is going.

The biggest name to exit is Weber State head coach Jay Hill, who is leaving the Wildcats after nine highly successful sea sons to become defensive coor dinator at nearby Brigham

Young.

Hill had four conference championships and six FCS playoff appearances while going 68-39 in Ogden.

Northern Colorado, mean while, fired Ed McCaffrey after just two seasons and a 6-16 overall mark. He has been replaced by BYU assistant Ed Lamb, who was head coach at Southern Utah from 2008 through 2015.

Beau Baldwin called it quits after three seasons of trying to rejuvenate Cal Poly, where he managed just a 4-21 mark.

Baldwin, who had a national championship and five Big Sky titles at Eastern Washington, will become offensive coordina tor at Arizona State.

Paul Wulff, who starred at Davis High School and also served as head coach at both Eastern Washington and his alma mater Washington State, has been named as Baldwin’s replacement.

Additionally, Charlie Ragle resigned after just one year at Idaho State to take an assis tant’s job, also at Arizona State. Idaho State finished 1-10 this fall.

On top of all these changes,

PERFECT PAIRINGS

The FCS playoff commit tee is patting itself on the back after the eight seeded teams from a field of 24 all made it into the quarterfinal round.

No. 1 South Dakota State stopped Delaware, 42-6, No. 2 Sacramento State came back from a 21-7 deficit to defeat Richmond, 38-31, No. 3 North Dakota State, the defending champion, routed Montana, 49-26, and No. 4 Montana State used its devastating rush ing attack to subdue Weber State, 33-25.

Elsewhere, No. 5 William & Mary crushed Gardner-Webb, 54-14, No. 6 Samford took down Southeastern Louisiana, 48-42, No. 7 Incarnate Word outlasted Furman, 41-38, and No. 8 Holy Cross overwhelmed New Hampshire, 35-19.

The playoffs continue with three games Friday night and one on Saturday.

On Friday, North Dakota State hosts Samford (4 p.m. on

ESPN2), Montana State hosts William & Mary (7:15 p.m. on ESPN2) and Sacramento State is home against Incarnate Word (7:30 p.m. on ESPN+).

Saturday, South Dakota State hosts Holy Cross at 9 a.m. on ESPN.

All times are PST.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW ... Stu dents at Montana State in Boze man are being paid $20 an hour to shovel snow out of 18,000seat Bobcat Stadium in antici pation of a huge crowd for Friday night’s FCS quarterfinal game against William & Mary.

HONORS FOR COACH STIG ... South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier has been named as the recipient of the Eddie Robinson Award as the top FCS coach in the coun try.

Taylor, the recipient in 2019, was second in the voting from a panel with 54 members.

UC Davis head coach Dan Hawkins was the Eddie Robin son winner in 2018.

— Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

Boys soccer Wrestling

Can the Blue Devils repeat?

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

Fifteen seniors on the Davis High boys soccer team are back this season to help achieve one of their goals. A goal that the Blue Devils almost accomplished during the 2021-22 season. That is, to win the SacJoaquin Section Division I title.

Davis, which was the top-seed in last winter’s playoffs, came close of playing in last season’s D-I title game. But No. 4 seed Modesto came to Ron and Mary Brown Stadium and left with a 1-0 victory.

That was 10 months ago. Now the Blue Devils are shifting their focus toward games this season.

“They all know what it takes to win,” said Davis midfielder Caleb Yoon, one of the team captains who is one of the seniors on the squad. “Those returning seniors experienced last year’s heartbreaking loss in playoffs and are definitely hungry to get back to playoffs and hopefully win this coming year. We don’t have any hotheads on the team, and everyone gets along very well, which makes for a good environment both on and off the field to help us push each other.”

Davis (1-0-1) won its first game of the season on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Grant in a non-league game at Rio Linda High.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Grant, but the venue was changed because the Grant football team was preparing to play San Jacinto in the California Interscholastic Federation State Champion ship Bowl Game, Division 3-AA, taking place on the Pacers’ field Saturday at 6 p.m.

Starters, newcomers and seniors

Yoon is one of five starters returning from the 202122 Davis team that won the Delta League title and reached the D-I semifinals. Other returning Blue Devil

players, all seniors, include goalie Declan Fee, midfielder Nicolas Montano and forwards Simon Vaca-Lorenzi and Lucas Liu.

Six of the seven newcomers are juniors, plus one sophomore.

Those juniors are midfielders Cody Leveau and Dylan Ehlers, on defense Guillermo Baroza, Logan Lacoste and Diego Nieves and forward Evan Isador. Oliver Fleet, a sophomore, is a midfielder.

The other seniors on the team are goalie Joey Clark, defenders Holt Klineberg, Emanuel Tames-Kaimowitz, Zayn Dmeiri, Collin Morris and Andrew Yang, midfielder Ayush Tuladhar and forwards Riley McCormick, Jason King and Rigo Guerra.

Yoon talked about the goals that Davis head coach Alex Park and the players would like to achieve in upcoming months.

“Before this season, we as a team sat down to talk about our goals for this season and how we are going to get there,” Yoon said. “Some of the goals we set for ourselves were winning Delta League again, going undefeated on the season, which will also help us in playoffs in getting home games, and we want to win sections this year. We were so close last year from it and now know what it takes to get there.”

Delta League

Davis and Jesuit are the teams to be beat in league, according to Yoon.

The rest of the five schools in Elk Grove, Cosumnes Oaks, Franklin, Sheldon and Pleasant Grove are chasing the Blue Devils and Marauders.

“In our league, there is, obviously, Jesuit, who are our rivals and always a very competitive game,” said Yoon,

DHS entertains Royals, Raiders

Enterprise staff

On Thursday, the Davis High wrestling teams hosted Armijo and River City in a tri-meet inside the North Gym.

This was the Blue Devils’ first home meet of the season, and only two. Their next home meet is Tuesday, Jan. 24 in a Delta League tri-meet.

The final scores of Thursday’s matches were not available at press time.

On Saturday, Davis will compete at the Curt

Mettler Invitational in Elk Grove.

The Blue Devils will be competing in many weekend tournaments this month and January.

The Delta League championships are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 4 at Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove.

There are a combined 39 Blue Devils out for the varsity and junior varsity boys, and girls’ wrestling teams.

A preview on the Blue Devil wrestling teams, boys and girls, will run in an upcoming edition of The Enterprise.

Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor is rumored to be a finalist for the open head coach ing job at Stanford.

Mike Bush/enterprise photo

Davis forward Rigo Guerra (11) makes an attempt to move the soccer ball between two Grant players in a non-league game at Rio Linda High on Wednesday. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

Mike Bush/enterprise file photo

AJ Hasson (facing camera), seen here in action in the heavyweight class at the Delta League championships at Cosumnes Oaks High in February, is one of many Davis High wrestlers back this season.

Janet BroWn/courtesy photo

Blue Devil wrestler Avangeline Turner (top) tries to pin down her opponent during a tri-meet inside the South Gym on Thursday.