The Davis Enterprise Friday, January 27, 2023

Students walk across campus at Cal State University East Bay on Feb. 25, 2020.

CSUs face enrollment decline

By Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters

The California State University system is putting campuses on notice: Enroll more students or lose money.

It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for the 23 campuses of the country’s largest public university

system, which have collectively lost 27,000 students in two years — part of a national wave of declining college enrollment.

In fall 2020, Cal State posted its highest-ever enrollment, a capstone to almost ceaseless growth in its six decades as a unified system. Now, it’s home to 25,000 fewer students than

the state says it should educate.

That’s despite a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom that the system continue to attract more Californians to its campuses — and graduate them at higher rates — in exchange for increased state funding.

“The California State University is facing an

unprecedented moment in its 62-year history,” said Steve Relyea, executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer for the system, at this week’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Seven campuses in particular — CSU Channel Islands, Chico State, Cal

See ENROLLMENT, Page A4

Workers at N. Davis Peet’s vote to unionize

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

Workers at the North Davis location voted 14 to 1 to unionize the coffeehouse with the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, the union announced on Monday. North Davis Peet’s employees are the first Peet’s employees in the country to vote for unionization at their location, inspiring other shops.

The vote comes after nearly nine months of workers organizing with SEIU Local 1021 and with the help of Workers United, an SEIU affiliate organizing workers on the “Starbucks Workers United” campaign.

“This is the first time in

my entire life that I feel I can stay in a job and be happy,” Trinity Salazar, a Peet’s Coffee barista who has been working at the North Davis location since July 2022, said in a statement. “We are all struggling, and we came together. Now, we’re more united. We have every right to be able to say how much we’re being paid, or at least negotiate it. If you’re sick, you’re sick. The company does not decide it. I don’t want my body to be destroyed when I am 21 years old. I’m literally 21 with back problems because of coffee.”

Peet’s Workers United announced a labor union rally outside the North

Davis Peet’s Coffee location on Saturday, Jan. 28, from 11 a.m. to noon, where union members in union apparel with signs and people giving speeches are expected.

Until Saturday, Peet’s Coffee workers are requesting the community of Davis and Sacramento support their victory by coming into the coffeehouse, tipping, congratulating team members, ordering a drink, and giving the order name “Peet’s Union Yes” or “Peet’s Union Strong,” according to a press release from PWU.

Meanwhile, workers at the downtown Davis

See PEET’S, Page A3

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023

Planning Commission OKs R&D facility

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The Davis Planning Commission on Wednesday approved plans for construction of a large research and development building along Second Street west of the Frontier Fertilizer superfund site.

The 107,612 squarefoot, one-story building at 3808 Faraday Ave. is expected to house as many as 125 workers in the areas of biotech and advanced manufacturing.

Property owner Buzz Oates is in negotiations with a tenant for the building, but a representative for the company did not reveal the identity of that tenant.

Rather, Logan James of Buzz Oates described the prospective occupant as “a current Davis tenant that’s in the biotech advanced manufacturing sector who needs to expand and would love to remain in the city of Davis, so long as we can meet all their requirements and meet their tight timeline.”

James added that “it is a priority for us to keep those folks here in Davis supporting the local economy and providing employment opportunity for residents and recent

UC Davis graduates.”

It’s not a done deal until the lease is signed, he noted, “but we plan to build this facility regardless of whether those guys sign a lease with us. We see it as a great infill site, great fit for the city and think it would be a great complementary user for the university and for the number of businesses operating along that Second Street corridor.” There are some clues to that prospective tenant’s focus. In addition to the building itself, the project also includes construction of an outdoor 7,500 square-foot testing pool with a gantry crane.

That 30-foot deep pool — described as a glorified swimming pool and fenced in for security and safety — would be used “to test their products and prototypes under deep water pressure,” James said, with the crane there “in order to get the equipment that they use into that pool.”

Across Faraday to the north sits another Buzz Oates tenant — Technip FMC’s Schilling Robotics — which builds remotely operated underwater vehicles.

Schilling leased that property at 3805 Faraday

See PLANNING, Page A4

Rural-arson trial gets started in Yolo County court

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

WOODLAND — Life can be tranquil in the country, but trouble brewed on County Road

41A during the spring and summer of 2021.

The Rumsey homestead gave shelter to multiple people at the time, including Ronald Christopher Stevens, who rented an outbuilding on the rural property.

“We argued quite often,” said Josant Croissant, who lived in a neighboring house with his parents, girlfriend and uncle. The quarrels, he added, focused on household bills, rent payments and Stevens’ overall behavior.

“He thought he was being treated unfairly, that he wasn’t doing the things they were saying,” Croissant said.

Later, the two men engaged in a civil conversation during which Stevens said, “ ‘We’re friends — it shouldn’t end like this,’ and I remember agreeing with him,”

Croissant recalled.

But Yolo County prosecutors allege it was the 64-year-old Stevens who ended things badly, setting a series of arson fires that destroyed several of the homestead’s dwellings and scorched the surrounding wildland. His trial began earlier this month in Yolo Superior Court.

In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Gustavo Figueroa said Stevens had been living on County 41A for about a year when the landlord initiated a 30-day eviction action in May 2021.

“During the course of that 30 days, there’s some arguments and disagreements with some of the tenants and Mr. Stevens,” Figueroa told the jury.

When the deadline arrived and Stevens still wasn’t gone, he received a three-day notice to leave.

“Flash forward two days, June 9, 2021, and there’s a fire reported at about 8:30 at night in See ARSON, Page A3

Anne Wernikoff/CAlMAtters photo

Feels like it was all just yesterday, wasn’t it?

Today, Jan. 27 of 2023, marks the 53rd anniversary of my employment at this newspaper I call home.

I consider this the first 53 years and I hope there are 53 more, but you never know what the Good Lord has waiting just around the corner.

Three years ago some very kind people put together a celebration that I will treasure for the rest of my life. The upshot of that, however, is that in the last three years I've been stopped hundreds of times by people asking me how I'm enjoying my "retirement," which was never part of the deal. Over these last three years, not only have my job duties continued, but happily for me, they've actually grown.

As I wrote on the occasion of my 50th anniversary, which seems like last week, I never had a 5-year plan or a 10-year plan or, heaven forbid, a 50-year plan. If it works for me today, I'm happy. I’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

One of my favorite roadside signs is the one I’ve seen numerous times outside a small tavern near Brookings on the southern Oregon coast. "Free beer, tomorrow," it says.

Tomorrow never comes, of course, because it’s always today.

That’s the way it is in the newspaper business, too. You’re only as good as your last story or column or headline. The news of the day fades fast, to be replaced by something even more compelling. That’s why they call it “news.”

There’s nothing worse than reading a day-old newspaper. You may think you’re “catching up,” but even as you read it, you’re falling further behind.

As I look forward to the next 53 years, I remain more convinced than ever of the value of a local community newspaper, especially one published by people who live in the very town where that newspaper lands on people's driveways. In our increasingly divided and compartmentalized society, a local newspaper can be the glue that speaks to our togetherness.

After all, we all root for the Blue Devils and the Aggies. We all vote in elections that are frequently heated. We are all proud of our local heroes who go out in the world and do great things, whether that means being the recipient of a Nobel Prize, being an ambassador in a distant land or winning the Hawaii Ironman.

We have authors and artists and actors and activists and musicians and teachers and dedicated volunteers and world

About us

experts in a million fields. And we also have those brave souls who gave their lives in service to their country and to our town.

And you can read about them all in the pages of The Davis Enterprise.

The other day a friend asked me about my memories of working for The Hub, the excellent newspaper put out by students at Davis High School, my alma mater. I never wrote for The Hub. I never wrote for The California Aggie either.

In fact, during my freshman year at UC Davis, the powers that be at our great local university required me to take a remedial, non-credit course called Subject A — better known as “Bonehead English” — before allowing me to enroll in Real English.

If you had told me then that I’d spend 53 years writing for a newspaper, I wouldn’t have believed you. Heck, if you’d told me I’d spend 53 minutes writing for a newspaper, I wouldn’t have believed you.

But there I was at 5 a.m. on Jan. 27, 1970, sitting at a desk in a cramped newspaper office, completely terrified as I stared at a poster on the wall that declared “A deadline is a writer’s best friend.”

No, no, no, I thought, a deadline is a terrible thing, something that will control and eventually ruin my life. But, as I began to punch out my very first story on the large and clunky manual typewriter in front of me, I quickly realized that without a deadline, I’d never get to leave the office and go home, which is desperately where I wanted to be.

In 1970, the entire operation of The Davis Enterprise was wedged into a small building directly across the street from our current location.

The front office, circulation, advertising, composing, management, the pressroom and the entire newsroom were all present and accounted for.

In the open newsroom, reporters’ desks were all pushed up against one another,

with one writer’s mess spilling onto another’s workspace. There was a distinct smell from an odd mix of cigarettes and all-day coffee and ink from the pressroom that would bring spontaneous tears to my eyes if I experienced even a whiff of that aroma today.

The noise in that building was overwhelmingly exciting. Ten manual typewriters all being pounded simultaneously at 60 miles an hour by 10 dedicated reporters. People yelling back and forth over the clamor as the mighty press roared into action just feet from the newsroom. Combine all that with a passing freight train less than a block away and it’s amazing that any of us still have our hearing intact today.

It was an unequaled thrill to stand at the back of the presses and snatch the day’s first newspaper, much like pulling a loaf of freshly made bread from the oven.

You were always warned by the able pressmen to not touch the equipment, lest a loose shirt tail would get caught up in the rapidly moving machinery and make your body and blood literally part of that day’s edition.

“The press stops for no man,” they would say.

Over the years, this job has exposed me to so many wonderful people and events and joys that I never would have experienced otherwise.

For some odd reason, people named “Bob” keep popping up in my life through this job, giving me unexpected experiences to write about.

I got to hit baseballs off the great Hall of Famer Bob Feller, introduce the legendary Bob Hope as he appeared in Rec Hall, and trade groundstrokes with Wimbledon champion and world-class hustler Bobby Riggs.

And I’ll always cherish one unforgettable night at the Vets Memorial where I stood arm-in-arm on stage with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans as they sang “Happy Trails to You.”

Then there was the time, in 2008, when I was able to report from New York as Pope Benedict moved down a ramp into the barren pit that was Ground Zero to embrace and pray with family members who had lost loved ones on 9-11. It’s a scene I will never forget.

I have loved to write about the many experiences life brings to all of us. Memories of mom and dad, of taking my oldest daughter off to college and of meeting the Red-Headed Girl of My Dreams in a steamy laundromat in Northern Idaho.

I never wanted to be a journalist. But I have always been in love with newspapers from the day I was old enough to read.

Of course, I always went to the sports

section first. I especially liked the page with all the box scores in small type. So many numbers to pore over and wonder about.

Did Wilt Chamberlain really score 100 points in a single game? Did Willie McCovey really get two triples and two singles off the great Robin Roberts in Willie’s first day in the majors? Did Harvey Haddix really pitch a perfect game for 12 full innings only to lose everything in the 13th? And who was this guy Paul Hornung, winning the Heisman Trophy on a team with a 2-8 record?

I’d then turn to the weather page, again attracted by all those numbers neatly arranged into highs and lows and inches of rainfall. It’s where I learned to spell tough names like “Phoenix” and “Albuquerque” and “Juneau” and “Tallahassee” and my alltime favorite “Sault Ste. Marie.”

I loved to follow the always-changing time of sunrise and sunset from one day to the next as we picked up nearly two minutes of daylight each day between Dec. 21 and June 21, then gave it all back by the time Dec. 21 came around again. I still love to do that.

And no day would be complete without checking the high temperature in Death Valley and the low temperature in Duluth.

On that late January day in 1970 when I first walked into The Enterprise office, Richard Nixon was president; Spiro Agnew was vice president; Ronald Reagan was governor of California; Vigfus Asmundson was mayor of Davis; gas at Al Hatton’s Chevron station on the Fifth Street curve was 36 cents a gallon; a three-bedroom, one-bath East Davis starter home cost considerably less than what a minimum-wage worker in 2023 makes annually; the Kansas City Chiefs had just defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV; and Dave Rosenberg was a first-year law student at UC Davis.

When I started here, I could only dream of one day having a family. I now have six kids and six grandkids, enough for my own football team, plus a punter.

Looking back with great fondness, I have much to celebrate.

I celebrate having had a job for the last 53 years. I celebrate the truly great and talented journalists I’ve been blessed to work with. I celebrate the many people, places and issues this job has exposed me to over all these years. And most of all, I celebrate getting to live in a town I love and raise my family here.

To borrow a line from my favorite baseball movie, Field of Dreams, “Is this Heaven?”

No. It’s Davis.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@ davisenterprise.net

PEET’S: Workers seek better conditions

From Page A1

location decided to pull the petition for a union election but are eligible to have another one in six months.

In the interim, Schroedter Kinman, one worker there, said they are reorganizing and rebuilding worker solidarity. “Corporate’s unionbusting campaign was especially effective downtown at fear-mongering, which made people hesitant to vote yes, hence our decision to temporarily pull the petition. The antidote to the fear that corporate is sowing, though, is trust and community, and that’s exactly what we’re focusing on moving forward.”

Pets of the week

Special to The Enterprise

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

Among them is Rider (A196960), a good-looking 2-year-old border collie. He is a very smart pup that would do best in a home that can help keep him entertained. Rider is a happy and high-energy dog — his enthusiasm for life would make Rider a great running buddy. Rider gets excited when meeting new people, but once he gets his wiggles out, he loves to sit for treats and pets. Rider's exuberance is better suited for older kids, and he would love to have a job.

continue with her training. Trinket loves people and is just a typical silly puppy. She will make a great companion for some lucky person.

Kobe, a darling neutered male Jack Russell mix, is a fun-loving ball of energy. Yolo Canine Academy is donating two weeks of boot camp training and lifetime free classes for any lucky person who adopts him. He knows how to pull a person on a skateboard, play Frisbee and is up for any strenuous exercise. Like hiking? Bike riding? Running? This sweet boy is for you. Call 530-6811326 to meet Kobe. No small kids please; too energetic.

Kinman said that fliers posted in the break room had phrasing that made it sound like management had been “forced into a scary situation.” For example, he said, the fliers explained how management was required to give the unionized staff’s

personal information. And when asked about the fliers, management or higher-ups would respond with forced scheduling months in advance or the inability of a manager to work on the floor with unionized staff.

“Both of these may be true for specific union contracts in specific industries, but we alone get to negotiate our contract with corporate, and so, of course, we won’t put rules we don’t want into our contract,” Kinman said.

PWU Tweeted on Jan. 20 that corporate recently paid a store manager from Chicago to fly to Davis to give his “unbiased” opinion on unions and that the “company’s president came in and begged people to give him another chance and to put all our faith in him.”

With the coffee shop staffed mostly by students, Peet’s workers say they are fighting for a living wage

and more hours, among

other demands.

One of the significant factors that led to the Peet’s Coffee workers eventually organizing with SEIU Local 1021 was the chronic understaffing of the North Davis coffeehouse. “It’s the norm in the coffee business to have bare-bones staffing,” Alyx Land, a shift lead at the North Davis Peet’s Coffee. “Management puts the minimum amount of people they can get away with on the floor. Then we have to do a difficult job when we have a line out the door and mobile-order stickers down the counter. It’s really exhausting.”

Land said workers are sent home when business is slow, leaving other tasks, like deep cleaning and organizing, to be caught up on during opening and closing. “We’re just scrambling all the time, opening and closing every single day and then trying to go to

school and then trying to have a life,” told the Enterprise in December. Land’s ideal workplace would be one with enough staffing, on the floor, at all times.

Union leaders say the victory at the North Davis location is the beginning.

“It will ignite a spark to unionize baristas around California,” Brandon Dawkins, the Vice President of Organizing for SEIU Local 1021, said in a statement.

“The nearly unanimous vote is a testament to the workers who organized, fought back, and stood up to one of the country’s largest corporations of coffeehouses and coffee-roasting services to exercise their right to form a union and jointly negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for a better workplace,” he said.

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

ARSON: First witness takes the stand at trial

From Page A1

Rumsey,” Figueroa said. Winds pushed the flames toward several buildings — including a barn, a workshop and Stevens’ outbuilding — all which burned to the ground despite residents’ efforts to protect them.

As the blaze did its damage, a neighbor reported seeing Stevens on her land, hiding behind a tree and “looking in the direction of the fire,” Figueroa said. The neighbor confronted Stevens and told him to go.

Three days after that, on June 12, 2021, two more fires broke out on neighboring land, and witnesses again reported seeing Stevens nearby, Figueroa said. Cal Fire and Yolo County Sheriff’s Office personnel searched the area and found several of Stevens’ belongings and the defendant himself, who allegedly had a lighter on him when authorities apprehended him.

“Once this case is concluded and you have all the facts, I’m going to ask

you for a verdict of guilty on all the counts charged,” Figueroa said.

Martha Sequeira, Stevens’ public defender, conceded there’s no question that the fires occurred, and her client stands accused of lighting them.

The trial, she noted, is about two issues — “whether or not the fires were set by someone willingly, on purpose, and if so, who was that person? The government has the burden of proving that.”

As for the witnesses in the case, “credibility is always going to be an issue, and there is more to the story than what was told to investigators,” Sequeira said, adding that those statements may have been “motivated by biases and prejudices.”

“You’re going to have to make a decision about what facts you believe,” Sequeira concluded in her opening remarks. “The evidence may not shut down the prosecution’s theory in its entirety, but the evidence will also not

Also hoping for a good home is King (A197311), a 6-year-old pitt bull/ mastiff mix and a total love-bug. King is friendly and loves attention when he is out on the town for day trips. King is calm with a goofy and silly side — he would make a great walking or hiking buddy. King would be happy as an only dog or with another easy-going dog if it’s the right match.

The next Rotts of Friends adoption event is from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at 34505 County Road 29 in Woodland. Come by 10 a.m., as it takes at least an hour to meet and adopt a dog; everyone who will be living with the dog should come out to meet it.

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

All dogs adopted from Rotts of Friends are healthy, microchipped, up-to-date on their vaccines and come with free lifetime obediencetraining classes. For information, visit facebook.com/ rottsoffriends.

For information on adopting, contact adopt ycas@gmail.com. All shelter animals are upto-date on vaccinations, microchipped, and spayed or neutered.

Staff is available to assist via phone during business hours at 530668-5287. Shelter hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. To meet any adoptable YCAS animals, visit friendsofycas.org. To volunteer, sign up at tinyurl. com/yolovolunteerapp.

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

At Rotts of Friends Animal Rescue, you’ll find Trinket, a gorgeous 8-month-old spayed female Rottweiler. She is very sweet and playful. Trinket is just learning her obedience commands but she comes with free lifetime training classes so you can easily

shut down the path to innocence.”

Croissant, the trial’s first witness, testified he’d lived in the Rumsey area for some 40 years, befriending Stevens for half that time. He’d gone to Clearlake on an errand on the day of the fire, which his girlfriend reported to him in a frantic phone call.

From his vehicle, “I could see a column of smoke and thought it was close to Rumsey,” Croissant said. He returned home to find the road packed with emergency vehicles and flames that burned several buildings, “and almost to the hills on the east side of the valley.”

Testimony in the case resumes Monday.

In addition to three felony arson counts, Stevens faces pending battery and vandalism cases for which he’ll be tried separately following his current trial.

— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@ davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene

UCD: Female, male hearts react differently to stress hormone

By Lisa Howard Enterprise staff writer

A new study published Jan. 20 in Science Advances shows female and male hearts respond differently to the stress hormone noradrenaline. The study in mice may have implications for human disorders like arrhythmias and heart failure and how different sexes respond to medications.

The team built a new type of fluorescence imaging system that allows them to use light to see how a mouse heart responds to hormones and neurotransmitters in real time. The mice were exposed to noradrenaline, also known as norepinephrine. Noradrenaline is both a neurotransmitter and hormone associated with the body’s “fight or flight” response.

The results reveal that male and female mouse hearts respond uniformly at first after exposure to noradrenaline. However, some areas of the female heart return to normal more quickly than the male heart, which produces differences in the heart’s electrical activity.

“The differences in electrical activity that we observed are called repolarization in the female hearts. Repolarization refers to how the heart resets between each heartbeat and is closely linked to some types of arrhythmias,” said Jessica L. Caldwell, first author of the study. Caldwell is a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology. “We know that there are sex differences in the risk for

certain types of arrhythmias. The study reveals a new factor that may contribute to different arrhythmia susceptibility between men and women,” Caldwell said.

Arrhythmias are a type of heart disorder where the electrical impulses that control heartbeats don’t function properly.

— UC Davis News

Trinket

Rider King

ENROLLMENT: Fewer sophomores back for second year

State East Bay, Cal Poly Humboldt, Cal Maritime, Sonoma State and San Francisco State — are missing their state enrollment targets by 10% or more. They’re not paying a financial price for that, even as several other campuses are exceeding their enrollment goals by more than 10%.

So, a new plan: Any campus missing its enrollment target by 10% or more will permanently lose up to 5% of its state enrollment funding, which will then be sent to campuses exceeding their enrollment targets. This won’t go into effect until 2024-25 at the earliest, giving campuses time to plug their enrollment gaps.

In the subsequent two years, any campus missing its targets by 7%, and then 5%, respectively, would lose 5% of its state student

enrollment funding each year.

The plan isn’t set in stone like a traditional funding formula. System leaders said its details can change.

“These actions are really intended to incentivize as much upward movement of campuses to and above their enrollment target,” said Nathan Evans, an associate vice chancellor and chief of staff who helps to oversee the system’s academic mission for students and faculty.

If this plan went into effect today, the seven campuses missing targets would lose a combined $38 million to other campuses — enough to educate 4,500 fulltime students — in the first year of the plan. Campuses with deeper enrollment holes would see steeper cuts.

Despite the shuffling of dollars, those seven under-enrolled

campuses will “be funded at a higher level than their enrollment would justify” in the first year of the plan, said Jolene Koester, interim chancellor of the Cal State system. She made those remarks in response to concerns from some trustees that the plan deprives money from campuses already hurting for more students.

But unless those campuses staunch their enrollment losses, campuses stand to lose as much as 15% of their enrollment funding for the duration of this threeyear plan, explained system spokesperson Michael Uhlenkamp in an email. These “budget reallocations” would be permanent, he added, but campuses could recover their money if their enrollment rebounds.

The penalized campuses would also miss out on additional enrollment growth dollars that are part

of Newsom’s compact with the system. That money — part of the more than $200 million in new state funds Newsom is promising annually — would only go to campuses meeting or exceeding their enrollment targets.

All of this additional money will help campuses meeting their targets hire more educators and add more classes.

The Cal State system has no history of rerouting money like this, Koester said, “but we are in a position where we have to take the risk of acting in order to fund the enrollment where the enrollment can take place.”

Multiple factors explain Cal State’s enrollment slide. Among them is the collapse of enrollment at California’s community colleges, whose transfer students typically account for a third of Cal State’s total student body. As a

result, Cal State now enrolls the equivalent of 11,000 fewer new full-time transfer students than it did in fall 2020.

The biggest loss, though, is among existing students. Between fall 2020 and fall 2022, the equivalent of roughly 24,000 currently enrolled undergraduates disappeared from the Cal State system.

Part of the reason is that students on average are collectively taking fewer classes. In the last two years, students began taking 0.4 fewer units a term.

Another headwind is the number of students coming back for another year of study. Only 81.7% of last year’s starting freshmen came back for a second year, the lowest first-year retention rate at Cal State since 2008, and far below the 85.5% of freshmen who started their education in 2019.

PLANNING: Commissioners worry about nearby contamination

From Page A1

last year, after previous occupant DMG Mori Seiki moved into its new building just to the west.

James said one goal of the project is to create a campus-like feel between the Schilling facility on the north side of Faraday and the new site to the south.

In approving the project, planning commissioners did have questions related to the superfund site to the east.

The 8-acre site was initially developed in the 1950s and contained facilities that serviced the agricultural industry.

Operations in the 1970s and 1980s included pesticide and herbicide storage, mixing and delivery. These activities contaminated site soils, as well as groundwater. The site was listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1994 and monitoring and clean up continue.

“Given the proximity to the superfund site, did the initial study take into account any potential adverse health effects

Obituary

proximity to that site might have on those who work in this new building?” asked Commissioner Donna Neville.

Eric Lee, senior planner for the city, replied that “there’s been a lot of moni-

Nov. 20, 1954 — Jan. 16, 2023

John Samuel Gray passed away on Jan. 16, 2023, after a brief, but intense struggle with an aggressive head-and-neck cancer. He was born in New Orleans on Nov. 20, 1954, his father’s 40th birthday, and moved to California with his family as a young boy.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Elisabeth Gray and father, Harold Gray. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Patricia Gray; son John C. Gray; grandson Nicholas Gray; brother Jim Gray (Robin Affrime); sister Sue Gray (Rick Galicinao); and many other family members and dear friends.

John was a hard working man his entire life that started as a teen for landmark Jurgensen’s Market delivering goods to elite neighborhoods in Pasadena and included other diverse jobs, such as tying steel in the summer heat of Los

Obituary policy

Angeles. After graduating early from high school, John moved to live with a paternal uncle where he spent several years cowboying and moving cattle in the Tahoe basin and Topaz region.

While in Topaz, he learned his craft as a carpenter from a local contractor. They became partners in Topaz Construction, building many homes in Antelope Valley as well as the motel at the Topaz Lake Casino and Resort. Although he settled in Davis, he was always drawn back to the beauty and serenity of the eastern Sierras and spent considerable time at his home away from home on a small ranch in Topaz. There he remodeled the house, raised a variety of common and exotic fowl, explored the nearby hills on his quadrunner, and watched the moon rise from his porch.

Family brought John to

The Enterprise publishes brief death notices free of charge. These include name, age, city of residence, occupation, date of death and funeral/memorial information. Paid-for obituaries allow for controlled content with the option for photos. Obituaries will be edited for style and grammar. Submissions may be made via www.davisenterprise.com/obit-form/. For further information about paid obituaries or free death notices, call 530-756-0800.

toring … it has been looked at and evaluated and it’s not considered a hazard impact to the site.”

He noted that the Target building to the east of the superfund site also has “monitoring stations ... on

Davis, where he settled permanently, first working for a local builder and later applying for and being quickly hired by UC Davis, where he had a 25 year career as a carpenter/ inspector.

Not just a hard worker, John enjoyed life and liked to play, traveling in his motorhome coast to coast, birdwatching, enjoying politics and sports, and gold panning. He frequented various spots to pan for gold including an area he dubbed heart attack hill because of the treacherous climb in and out of the canyon. He joked that his Parkinson’s disease made him a natural at gold panning. Whatever the reason, he was a patient, successful miner and had several pieces of jewelry made with the larger nuggets he found.

their site as well.”

James added that “we had a comprehensive Phase 1 environmental review done on the site and the conclusion showed all the toxin levels detected were well below the threshold to

He was happiest on the road traveling in his RV enjoying the nation’s many national parks, and especially enjoying the backroads that were less traveled. Though, when the pandemic limited RV travels, he was content being at home, claiming it was the best resort ever.

John was slow to judge, quick to love, sensitive and accepting of others’ feelings and differences, and lived in the moment. These qualities shined through to all of those who knew him. He was well versed in current affairs, reading four newspapers a day, and possessed a vast knowledge of history. John was generous with his time, money, knowledge of his trade, quick to lend tools and a helping hand to anyone who needed it. We shall forever miss his peaceful nature which has left us with love-filled memories and a permanent hole in our hearts.

A celebration of life will be scheduled at a date to be determined.

detect or to have any concern on this type of use.”

He added that a covenant signed by the former property owner with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control “essentially laid out the only restriction on the site being no groundwater production wells. Other than that, they said it was good to go.”

Commissioners ultimately voted 7-0 in favor of the project, with several expressing support for having more research and development in Davis.

“I really want to keep R&D here in Davis,” said Commissioner Michelle Weiss. “We don’t have that much room to do this kind of thing and this is exactly the kind of stuff that we want, which is the advanced manufacturing, R&D-type work.”

Commissioner Cheryl Essex said she is “really excited about this project.”

“I love being able to infill these areas,” she said, adding that “biotech is something that is really important to have a little more of in town.”

After the unanimous vote approving the project, Commission Chair Greg Rowe congratulated the applicant and said, “we hope you can expedite going forward as fast as possible and get some STEM jobs going here in Davis and we hope this is just the first of several more projects you’ll be able to do in this area.”

James replied the goal is to break ground on the project mid-year.

The Planning Commission’s approval on Wednesday was the final step for the project unless there is an appeal, but there was no opposition expressed either at the meeting Wednesday or in written comments.

The proposal does require the city to vacate a right of way on that portion of Faraday, which the commission recommended the City Council approve.

— Reach Anne TernusBellamy at aternus@ davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.

John Samuel Gray

GRAY

COurtesy phOtO

The Davis Planning Commission approved plans Wednesday for a 107,612 square foot researchand-development building on Second Street.

Sharla KoS tElyK/thEchaoSandthEcluttEr com

Experiment with ice

By Sara Thompson Special to the Enterprise

Winter is still

upon us and with it an icy science experiment that can be done at home. Ice is frozen water and will begin to melt soon after leaving a freezing environment. Are there ways we can speed up the melting process?

Materials needed: small paper cups, water, scissors, muffin tin or other cups, salt, sugar, other materials as needed.

n Experiment: Fill six or more small, paper cups with equal amounts of water. Comparison is best done when the quantities are equal. Place the cups in the freezer for the water to freeze solid. When frozen, use scissors to cut the cups open and place the ice in the muffin tin or other cups.

Use one ice chunk as a control and do not do anything to it. With the others try different methods of melting such as cold water, warm water, boiling water,

Explorit SciEncE cEntEr

steam, salt, sugar, etc. Again, try to use similar quantities of the additives when testing the melting.

Check on the progress every five minutes and make notes. After an hour or when one whole ice chunk has completely melted you will get a good idea of which method melts ice quicker.

You can repeat this experiment as many times as you would like and test as many safe substances as you would like. It is always best to do home experiments with an adult, especially if one of the melting methods used requires heating water.

Explorit’s coming events:

n Our current exhibit “Explorit Rocks!” is open to the public on Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $5 per person. Explorit Members, ASTC, and

those age 2 and under free.

n A Membership to Explorit grants the recipient free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, summer camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https:// www.explorit.org/membership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.

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

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

— Explorit Science Center 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.

The melting ice experiment in progress.

Saturday

n The Belfry, a Lutheran Episcopal Campus Ministry at UC Davis will host a fundraiser to fund replacement of the roof. The event will feature guided beer tasting by UCD professor emeritus of brewing science Charlie Bamforth and Anaheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Science Glen Fox. Cheers to the Belfry will begin at 4 p.m. at The Episcopal Church of St. Martin, 640 Hawthorn Road in Davis. The cost $50 per person and the event is limited to those 21 and older. It is listed on Eventbrite as "Cheers to the Belfry." For information, call Portia at 530-756-1550.

Sunday

n Kevin Guse will lead the annual Raptor Ramble. California's Central Valley has one of the largest wintering raptor populations in the country. The goal of this field trip is to see how many species of raptors can be found. Highlights of past trips include ferruginous hawk, rough-legged hawk, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, merlin, bald eagle and prairie falcon. Beginning birders are welcome. For information on how to participate, go Yolo Audubon’s websites: yoloaudubon. org or facebook.com/ yoloaudubonsociety.

Wednesday

n The Valley Oak Chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America will host a Zoom presentation on “Maya Textiles: Colorful Tradition” by Diane Herrmann, at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1. Herrmann has numerous publications on the needle arts and is an awardwinning teacher. She will discuss the efforts to revitalize the needle arts of Guatemala and their cultural roots in Mayan art. To attend, contact Linda Wayne at laws999@ gmail.com by Jan. 26 to join the Zoom list.

n The Davis Progressive Business Exchange will meet from noon to 1 p.m. at Lamppost Pizza, 1260 Lake Blvd. in West Davis. The speaker will be Alan Hirsch, who is a frequent political activist with a table at the Davis Farmers Market. He will talk about political donations in Yolo county and how Davis dominates the county in the number of political donors and amounts of money. He will be using data and figures for the 2022 November election. Contact Bob Bockwinkel at 530-219-1896 or e-mail G. Richard Yamagata at yamagata@dcn.org for information.

n The Davis Flower Arrangers will host Helen Tashima, renowned and respected sensei of ikebana present at 1 p.m. at Stonegate Country Club at 919 Lake Blvd. in Davis. To join the group send a $50 membership check to Davis Flower Arrangers, c/o Jo Anne Boorkman, 2205 Butte Place, Davis, Ca 95616 or bring it to the meeting. Include your name, address, phone number and email address so you receive the monthly newsletter, current updates, and invitations for all special events, workshops and field trips. Visitors are welcome and are asked to donate at least $10. Recordings of the meetings will be available for members. For information, contact Stephanie DeGraff-Hunt at sdegraffhunt@gmail.com.

Thursday

n The Davis Odd Fellows' Thursday Live! music series returns with San Francisco musician Maurice Tani, a fixture on the alt-country scene for more than a decade. Doors open at 7 p.m. at the Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St., with music starting at 7:30 p.m. All ages welcome. Thursday Live! shows are free, but donations are encouraged to support the musicians.

Friday, Feb. 10

n Logos Books will host a 2nd Friday ArtAbout reception from 6 to 8 p.m. for artist Karen Fess-Uecker as part of her show, “A little bit of Davis, a lot of California,” plein air and studio oil paintings. Fess-Uecker’s work will be up at the bookstore, 513 Second St. in downtown Davis, from Feb. 4 to March 3.

Tashima highlights power of ikebana

Special to The Enterprise

The Davis Flower Arrangers are honored to have Helen Tashima, renowned and respected sensei of ikebana present at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, at Stonegate Country Club at 919 Lake Blvd. in Davis.

Tashima’s theme will be "Including the Non-natural With the Natural in Ikebana Arrangements." She will demonstrate how both non-natural and natural materials can be combined in Ikebana arrangements and highlight various ways natural leaves and branches can appear in non-natural ways. Tashima said these arrangements can be made easily with materials that are readily available to all of us which can provide endless opportunities for creativity and artistry.

“Watching Helen create her arrangements is a joyful, meditative experience as she calmly places every item, even unexpected ones, in the perfect position,” a news release said. “Her arrangements are unique and beautiful and are truly works of art.”

Ikebana is a unique Japanese style of floral art design. It is a sculptural art form where nature and human creativity unite to create artistic flower arrangements. Ikebana arrangements include flowers, but also emphasize the branches, stems and leaves of the plants. The key to creating the artistic expression of the design is discovered in the shape, line and form.. Helen brings all of this to her own practice of Ikebana with a flair of beauty and peacefulness.

Tashima remembers being inspired to learn about ikebana as she observed her mother create a beautiful arrangement during an ikebana class.

She did not pursue ikebana until much later as an adult, when she was

encouraged by Rhody Vallejo at a Davis Flower Arrangers meeting to make arrangements for the Yolo County Fair.

Tashima began Ikebana classes in 1991 taught by Shuko Kobayashi Sensei in Sacramento. After his retirement, Tashima continued her studies with Kika Shibata Sensei, who teaches monthly ikebana classes in Sacramento.

In 2001, Tashima received a third-degree teacher's certificate and now coordinates Kika Sensei's ikebana class in Sacramento. She is treasurer of the Sacramento Chapter of Ikebana International where she has been an active member since 1995. She has taught ikebana workshops at various Shambhala Meditation Centers in the central valley and at the Jan Ken Po Children's Summer School.

She has also been a

longterm member and former board member of the Davis Flower Arrangers and a highly valued presenter. Prior to retirement, she was a research analyst in the Research Section of DMV in Sacramento. Now Tashima enjoys ikebana because it is an art form that has endless possibilities for creative uses of

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materials and brings joy to everyone.

To join the group send a $50 membership check to Davis Flower Arrangers, c/o Jo Anne Boorkman, 2205 Butte Place, Davis, Ca 95616 or bring it to the meeting on Feb. 1. Include your name, address, phone number and email address to receive the monthly newsletter, current updates, and invitations for all special events, workshops and field trips.

Visitors are welcome and are asked to donate at least $10. Recordings of the meetings will be available for members.

For information, contact Stephanie DeGraff-Hunt at sdegraffhunt@gmail.com.

Arrangements by Helen Tashima featuring midolino, above, and birds of paradise flowers.

Davis music landscape gets vocal

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise arts writer

Ordinarily, there aren’t many classical music performances scheduled in Davis on a Monday night.

But Monday, Feb. 6, will be a rare exception, with the American Bach Soloists coming up from San Francisco to perform at Davis Community Church, while the oft-heralded St. Olaf Choir (based at St. Olaf College in rural Minnesota) will sing at the Mondavi Center. Both concerts will start at 7 p.m., so even if you’d like to attend both, you’re going to have to choose.

■ The American Bach Soloists, a professional early-music group founded in San Francisco more than 30 years ago, will offer a generous sampler illustrating the range of J.S. Bach’s musical compositions, including the Third Brandenburg Concerto (BWV 1048, dating from 1721), the Concerto in D Minor for Harpsichord (BWV 1052, from 1738), and a sacred cantata for solo soprano (“Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen,” BWV 51, from 1730).

The soprano will be Canadianborn Hélène Brunet (who comes from Quebec, and has sung with the Bach Soloists several times).

Alongside the three works by Bach will be pieces by several of Bach’s contemporaries, including

a chamber orchestra piece by Telemann (Sinfonia Spirituoso in D Major), a sacred vocal piece by Vivaldi for soprano and chamber orchestra titled “Laudete pueri Dominum,” with a text drawn from Psalm 113 (RV 600, from 1713-1719), and a bassoon concerto by Vivaldi.

The Bach Soloists are coming off December’s well-attended concert of Baroque-era Christmas music, which they performed at the Mondavi Center and in the Bay Area. Longtime music director Jeffrey Thomas will conduct.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 6 p.m., with the music starting at 7 p.m. The seating capacity at Davis Community Chuch (412 C St. in Davis is limited. Tickets are $101-$39, online at AmericanBach.org.

YoloArts hosts work of Shonna McDaniels

Special to The Enterprise

YoloArts and Gallery 625

present “Shonna McDan-

iels: The Black Woman Experience,” a solo exhibition featuring the mixedmedia artwork of artist and community activist McDaniels. The show opens Friday, Feb. 3, at YoloArts’ Gallery 625 in Woodland.

McDaniels is a Sacramento-based artist with an extensive background in art instruction and mural design. In 1996 she founded the Sojourner Truth Art Museum, and is the executive director. The museum preserves Black history and celebrates the accomplishments of African American people and their legacy. The Sojourner Truth Art Museum offers resources to document, preserve, and educate the public on the history, life and culture of African Americans.

McDaniels’ résumé includes work on more than 150 murals in the landscapes of Sacramento, Stockton and San Francisco.

In her artist statement McDaniels writes, “The primary theme that drives my art practice today is celebrating the beauty of the Black woman. I’ve always been devoted to creating portraits that are inspired by the Black woman’s joy, hope, love, dignity, strength, and essence of her soul. I work with layers of African textiles, collage paper, design patterns, symbols, and vibrant skin tones. Each layer serves it’s very own meaningful purpose. It is my hope that with each theme I explore and with each portrait I create, something vital is etched into the memory of the viewer.”

“Shonna devotes so much of herself to promoting the accomplishments of African American culture in our region while pursuing her own dedicated artistic practice,” said Janice Purnell, creative director at YoloArts. “It’s an honor to feature Shonna’s work and I encourage everyone to come out and celebrate art and Black

■ The St. Olaf Choir is a nationally recognized 75-voice college choir that hails from St. Olaf College, a private Lutheran school founded in the 1800s by Norwegian immigrants.

St. Olaf College has a 300-acre campus, with an enrollment of some 3,000 students in Northfield, Minn. (population 20,000). And yes, while those Minnesota winters can be icy, the state also seems to produce more than it’s share of good singers.

The St. Olaf Choir has a long history — it was organized more than 100 years ago, and has earned nationwide renown through their many concert tours. Conductor Anton Armstrong is a 1978 graduate of St. Olaf College, and Armstrong has been leading the St. Olaf Choir

for over 30 years.

The St. Olaf Choir will be showcasing their vocal skills at the Mondavi Center on Monday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. — part of a West Coast tour. Tickets are $25-$50 general, $10 students of all ages, online at MondaviArts.org.

This weekend

There are still a few tickets remaining for three events at the Mondavi Center during the coming week:

■ American-born jazz vocalist

Cécile McLorin Salvant brings her quintet to perform on Friday, January 27, 7:30 p.m.

■ Nina Totenberg, longtime correspondent for NPR since the 1970s, will talk about her many decades covering the U.S. Supreme

Court — and her long personal friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, February 3, 7:30 p.m. ■ Vocalists from the San Francisco Opera Center will sing selections from famous operas, backed by the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Christian Baldini, on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m. The concert marks the return of the annual Barbara K Jackson Rising Stars of Opera concert, and tickets are free ... Those free tickets were all claimed several months ago ... but there is always a “no-show factor,” and unclaimed reserved seats will be released shortly before the concert begins, so if you arrive early, you may be able to get a ticket on the day of the event.

History Month with us on the First Friday in February.”

McDaniels will be attending the opening reception, 5:30 to 8 p.m. and give an artist talk from 6:30-6:45, Friday February 3, coinciding with the downtown Woodland First Friday event. Music will be provided by guitarist Kevin

Welch from the band, Boca do Rio. Zim Cuisine of Davis will be providing small bites inspired by the cuisine of Zimbabwe. Samplings of Yolo County wines will also be available. The artwork is also online at yoloarts.org/ online-galleries.

“Shonna McDaniels: The Black Woman Experience”

continues at Gallery 625 through April 4.

Gallery 625 hosts exhibitions and receptions every other month. New exhibitions typically open on the first Fridays of February, April, June, August, October, and December.

Gallery 625 is at 625 Court St. in Woodland, in Yolo County’s Erwin Meier Administration building, and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, contact YoloArts at 530309-6464.

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“Nubian Woman,” mixed media, by Shonna McDaniels.

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“Madagascar Woman,” mixed media, by Shonna McDaniels.

The heralded St. Olaf Choir will sing at the Mondavi Center on Feb. 6.

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Canadian-born soprano Hélène Brunet will be part of the American Back Soloists performance Feb. 6.

‘Living’: A magnificent character study

Sublime acting highlights this period drama

By Derrick Bang Enterprise film critic

If Bill Nighy were able to shift a single eyebrow, I’ve no doubt the resulting expression would convey a wealth of emotion.

He’s that good. His performance here, as a morose, quietly contemplative civil servant, is a masterpiece of nuance. Nighy’s dialogue is spare; when speaking, he brings a wealth of depth and significance to every word, every syllable. And even when silent, his posture and gaze convey everything we need to know about this man, at each moment.

Some actors are born to play a particular role, and I can’t imagine anybody but Nighy playing this one. It will, I’m sure, remain his crown jewel.

Director Oliver Hermanus and scripter Kazuo Ishiguro deliver a meticulously faithful adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 classic, “Ikiru,” which in turn borrowed heavily from Leo Tolstoy’s 1886 novella, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” (All concerned also owe a significant debt to Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House.”)

The year is 1953, the setting London: still struggling to recover from the bombing raids of World War II. Mr. Williams (Nighy), a lonely widower known by colleagues as “The Old Man,” is head of one department in a multistory government building laden with similar subdivisions, all of which work hard at having nothing to do with each other.

Which is to say, most of

Rating: PG-13, and too harshly, for mildly suggestive material and fleeting nudity

Starring: Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Adrian Rawlins, Hubert Burton, Oliver Chris, Tom Burke, Barney Fishwick, Patsy Ferran

Available via: Movie theaters

these nattily attired men are hardly working.

It’s a bureaucratic maze of “D-19s,” “K Stacks” and countless other forms and protocols, where suggestions, proposals, petitions and heartfelt entreaties go to die, after being shuttled between — as just a few examples — Parks, Planning, Cleansing & Sewage, and Public Works (the latter a deliciously ironic oxymoron).

Public Works is Williams’ department, and whenever a folder shuttles back into his hands, he places in amid countless others on his desk. “We can keep it here,” Nighy sighs, in a disinterested tone.

“There’s no harm.”

Rest assured, it’ll never be viewed again.

All of this is a shock to idealistic newbie Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp), who is dismayed to find a similar mountain of paper at his desk. Secretary Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), sympathetic to his first-day confusion, quietly advises Peter to maintain the height of his “skyscraper” of unfinished work, lest colleagues suspect him of “not having anything very important to do.”

And Peter’s colleagues

are a bored and useless bunch: Middleton (Adrian Rawlins), next in line for leadership, should Williams ever retire; and Rusbridger (Hubert Burton) and Hart (Oliver Chris), wannabe young toffs constantly snickering at somebody else’s expense.

That includes three ladies from Chester Street (Zoe Boyle, Lia Williams and Jessica Flood), who’ve been trying for months to have a children’s playground built upon the bombed-out remnants of an open lot in their neighborhood. Every department head agrees that this is a fine proposal, and well presented; every department head then insists that somebody else must take the first step.

“We can keep it here,” Williams drones, when the folder inevitably returns to Public Works. “There’s no harm.”

(Actually, I’m not sure things have gotten much better in the here and now.)

As it happens, this is no average day; Williams has a

Opera House presents classic tale of love

Special to The Enterprise

Kevin and Lorie Haarberg, and Roger and Judy Kohlmeier present “An American in Paris” at the Woodland Opera House, 340 Second St. in Woodland, from Feb. 10 to March 4.

Set in the French capital in the wake of World War II (1940s), “An American in Paris” tells the romantic story of a young American soldier, a beautiful French girl, and an indomitable European city — each yearning for a new beginning in the aftermath of international conflict.

Inspired by the AcademyAward winning 1951 film, the new stage musical features a ravishing score by George and Ira Gershwin and incredible dance sequences. The show’s timeless musical numbers include, “I Got Rhythm,” “The Man I Love” and “Shall We Dance.”

Showtimes are Fridays

and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Reserved seats are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors 62-plus, and $15 for children 17 and under. Balcony tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for children. Flex Pass specials and group rates are available.

Tickets are on sale online

Bryn Skaff is Lise in the Woodland Opera House’s production of “An American in Paris.”

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at https://vivenu.com/ seller/woodland-operahouse-0ebz/new-shop-section-a1fg and at the Box Office at 530-666-9617. Box Office hours are Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m.

The Opera House is located in historic downtown Woodland.

Stories on Stage back at Pence Gallery

Special to The Enterprise

On Saturday, Feb. 11, Stories on Stage Davis will present two novel excerpts at the Pence Art Gallery in downtown Davis. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the event starts at 7:30 p.m. Masks are strongly encouraged but not required.

Martha Omiyo Kight will read an excerpt from “Meadowlark” by Melanie Abrams. In this excerpt, Simrin recalls growing up in Ananda, a spiritual compound in the desert. Having escaped years ago, Simrin now has a child of her own who struggles in traditional school environments. When Ananda calls Simrin back, will she answer? Abrams is the author of

“The Joy of Cannabis: 75 Ways to Amplify Your Life Through the Science and Magic of Cannabis” and the novels “Playing” and “Meadowlark.” She is a developmental editor and photographer and teaches writing at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kight has been very active in the Sacramento area theater community for four decades as an actor, singer, poet, director, props mistress and costumer. Most recently, she appeared in the inaugural production of Sacramento’s Black Point Theatre, “The Field,” and “Shakespeare in Love” at SCC’s Sacramento City Theatre — both roles for which she has been nominated for

Supporting Female for

Sacramento’s Elly Awards. Her credits in area theaters include Violet Weston in “August, Osage County,” Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd,” Sister Aloysius in “Doubt,” and many other leading and supporting roles. Kight has been writing poetry and reading her own and others’ work since 2009. She was featured in the Sacramento Voices Poetry series (published in three Sacramento Voices anthologies).

This will be her fifth appearance at Stories on Stage Davis, and she has also read for Stories on Stage Sacramento.

Larry Lew will read an excerpt from the novel “The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu” by Tom Lin.

doctor’s appointment, and the news is dire. He heads home in shock, considering what to say to his son Michael (Barney Fishwick) and daughter-in-law Fiona (Patsy Ferran), who share his accommodations. Anybody with an ounce of sensitivity would perceive that something is wrong, but Michael can’t be bothered to glance up from his newspaper.

Fiona, in turn, is a grasping little shrew eagerly waiting for her father-inlaw to die, so she and Michael can inherit whatever he leaves behind. Ferran makes her memorably loathsome.

Williams impulsively decides not to tell them, and instead contemplates options; the shift in Nighy’s features is subtle, and yet substantial. What should he do, with what remains of his life?

Abandoning work — to the astonishment of his colleagues, left behind to stare at an empty chair — Williams heads to a seaside resort, where he hopes to

“live a little.”

Alas, as he confesses to newfound friend Sutherland (Tom Burke), when they meet in a café, “I realize … I don’t know how.”

Nighy’s anguish and embarrassment, during this brief confession, is heartbreaking.

No matter; Sutherland, a true libertine, can show the way. But hedonism is only a distraction; it doesn’t compensate for Williams’ eventual realization that he has merely been taking up space for decades. What, then, instead?

Wood’s Margaret becomes a crucially important character during the second act, as Williams takes note of her optimism and youthful vitality. Hoping to enhance her status, she takes a new job at Lyons Corner House, where she has been promised a position as assistant manager. Williams decides to spend more time with her, apparently hoping to discern the secret to her cheerful outlook.

This is the story’s most delicate relationship; Hermanus, Nighy and Wood don’t put a foot wrong. Williams’ interest in Margaret certainly isn’t sexual, but it’s 1953; tongues will wag at the apparent impropriety, as she’s well aware. Yet she also doesn’t wish to hurt Williams’ feelings. The resulting emotional dance is achingly tender and poignant.

Helen Scott’s production design is astonishing; every cramped office and pedestrian-laden street scene looks and sounds rigorously authentic. (Honestly, it feels as if this film was made in 1953.) Cinematographer Jamie Ramsay further heightens the effect with a deliberately grainy film stock — again, echoing the era — and excellent use of light and strong shadows. Plot and characters aside, this film also is beautiful to look at.

Emilie Leveinaise-Farrouch’s deeply moving orchestral score adds just the right touch, particularly during the film’s many montage sequences. Indeed, much of this saga unfolds without dialogue: once again a testament to the skill of Nighy and his acting colleagues.

“Living” is a thoughtful, touching and handsomely mounted study of the human condition: a profound experience that will linger long after the lights come up.

— Be sure to join Derrick when he hosts 1949’s “I Was a Male War Bride” at 7:01 Sunday, Feb. 12, as the first in a series of classic military comedies, presented at the Davis Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St. Read more of his film criticism at http:// derrickbang.blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www.davisenterprise.com.

Logos features art of Fess-Uecker

Special to The Enterprise Logos Books will feature “A little bit of Davis, a lot of California,” plein air and

studio oil paintings by Karen Fess-Uecker, in February.

Fess-Uecker’s work will be up at the bookstore, 513

Second St. in downtown Davis, from Feb. 4 to March 3, with a reception for the 2nd Friday ArtAbout from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 10.

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Williams (Bill Nighy) is surprised to find Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood) working as a waitress at her new posting, knowing that she took the job under the belief that she’d be an assistant manager.

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“Sol Omnibus Lucet,” a plein air painting by Karen Fess-Uecker will be on display at Logos Books through February.

Guns are a public-health crisis

By Brian Malte and Chet P. Hewitt Special to CalMatters

There’s an African proverb that says, “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.”

As gun violence rates increase across the country, police budgets have risen like dams in the name of prevention and interruption.

To decrease violence in California, research shows that we must instead invest in our communities. We need to build bridges — to job opportunities, to healing, to mental health services, to a sense of shared safety — for true gun violence prevention.

How will California respond after another wave of mass shootings — this time in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay?

Every three minutes in California, someone is killed by a gun. And firearm injuries are the leading cause of death for California youth ages 19 and under, and for youth under 24 nationwide.

This is a public-health crisis.

While California gun homicides have increased in the last few years, fueled by a surge in gun sales and reduced community connections and outreach due to COVID, this rise in violence is reversible.

Public funding of prevention, interruption and intervention efforts is crucial to reducing gun violence. It’s most effective, however, when taking a public health approach that integrates community expertise and leadership. This model is a proven, clear path to safety and health equity.

To its credit, California has increased public funding to address gun violence through initiatives like the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program, or CalVIP. In 2022, the state allocated a record $156 million to the program. This funding supports critical violence reduction initiatives in communities with the highest risk.

Yet CalVIP funding is handled by the California Board of State and Community Corrections, an agency that oversees law enforcement, rather than public health officials. Unfortunately, as we have seen in cities like Stockton and Sacramento where leaders chose to bypass the public health model, giving law enforcement that type of discretion can be deeply antithetical to both the best practices and the intention of prevention funding.

Law enforcement is primarily engaged in intervention by enforcing laws. When law enforcement is used as a preventative force, it is often couched in increased police or probation presence, criminalization and/or prosecution. These practices often have little to do with prevention or aftercare trauma response.

Enshrining community work within law enforcement conflates intervention and prevention. This approach ignores the social and economic drivers of gun violence as well as the impacts of street violence, interpersonal violence and suicides. Gun violence prevention requires extraordinary expertise and understanding that violence stems from chronic conditions of historical oppression, poverty and racism.

Trusted and trained organizations with cultural knowledge that are embedded in communities — in a different light — are best prepared to lead on prevention efforts. This trust and approach must extend to the agencies funding and enabling this work.

There is no future in funding paradigms that favor law enforcement responses to public health problems. There is one in sufficiently funding communities – and it’s a safe and equitable future. Californians deserve that.

— Brian Malte is the executive director of the Hope and Heal Fund and a nationally recognized leader on gun violence prevention. He helped pass many of California’s most effective gun laws. Chet P. Hewitt is CEO of The Center and the president and CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation. They wrote this for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's Capitol works and why it matters.

Apartment conversions begin

It’s a phenomenon from New York to Dallas to Fresno and Los Angeles, one that seemed inevitable to some from the moment millions of Californians became the first Americans ordered to work from home as a way to fight the spread of COVID19.

That pandemic is not yet over despite the public being fed up with it. COVID’s viral variants still dog the world as their third winter of plaguing humans begins to wane.

But millions of white collar workers who got a taste of setting their own hours and creating their own work environments still resist going back to the office more than once or twice a week. As a result, office building vacancies now cover hundreds of millions of square feet in California alone.

The empty offices made it obvious from the pandemic’s first onslaught that apartment conversions would become a major part of the solution to California’s housing shortage, if not its dominant answer.

Now that is becoming reality, the only inexplicable thing about it being the fact it has taken three full years to morph from obvious concept to major reality.

This is how real the conversions of office buildings have become:

The rentcafe.com website reports that more than 4,130

apartments and condominiums will be created through conversions of office space this year in Los Angeles alone. Another 1,000-plus new units are planned this year in Fresno, with more than 500 more coming in San Francisco, 450 in Sacramento and about 200 in Oakland. Even cities that have never gotten into this game are now active in conversions: 372 converted units are due to open in Alameda this year, 250 in San Clemente and 250 in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles, not counted in the city’s announced total.

Altogether, at least 10,000 new units will open for residential use in former office space before the end of this year. None of these conversions will be very controversial, as they take up no new ground space, do not alter existing neighborhood views and profiles and therefore don’t provoke the environmental lawsuits that hold up so many California building projects, including a major annex to the state Capitol.

Speak up about Israeli government, and ‘meddle’

I’m concerned with peace, and see an imperative to “meddle” in Israeli affairs.

(See https://www.davisenterprise.com/ forum/letters/lets-not-meddle-in-israeliaffairs/) Israel is “the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II,” according the the Congressional Research Service. We all should be aware of the importance to Israel of our aid, arms sales, and security cooperation.

Mainstream American Jewish organizations, such as the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, have expressed concerns about this Israeli government. They write, “we are dismayed that certain members of the new governing coalition wish to establish policies that would potentially legalize discrimination towards members of the LGBTQ+ community, weaken the Law of Return, limit the ability of the judiciary to protect

Speak

CEO

For sure, many more units will follow, especially when this year’s already-permitted crop begins drawing significant rents and purchase prices. That is a virtual certainty, as the new units vary from street-level apartments with significant exterior noise to ocean -view penthouses.

The number of units underway debunks naysayers who claimed when the idea first arose just after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s first stay-at-home orders in early 2020 that conversions would be more difficult to get permitted and built than new construction.

That's been untrue, especially since the state passed a law last fall making such permits virtually automatic when applied for.

Objections that office floor plans are completely different from residential ones have been quickly overcome, as necessary plumbing and electrical changes, plus moving drywall barriers around within existing indoor spaces, proved less complex than some expected.

What’s more, the conversions are already becoming fiscal godsends for beleaguered local governments whose property taxes were beginning to fall as office building vacancy rates stayed up. So long as office rental revenues dropped, so too

individual rights, and delegitimize the rights of Reform and Conservative Jews.”

This Israeli government is committed by its coalition agreement to radical reshaping of Israeli society, the annexation of the West Bank, and abridging the rights of some of its own citizens. Now, imagine it gravitates “towards the middle,” and only tears up half of the rights of Israeli Arabs and citizens who are LGTBQ+, and only annexes half the conquered territories. Is that moderate?

Should we avoid “meddling” in these illegal and immoral actions? Not, I assert, if weapons we’ve sold to them are used to support the commission of crimes, in violation of American law.

Remember with me Prime Minister Netanyahu’s effort to humiliate President Obama, when he “meddled” in U.S. politics with his address to Congress in 2015.

If you feel that American laws are meddlesome, then attempt to get them repealed. Otherwise, with our countries tied together in so many ways, Americans who care about Israel, Palestine, and peace in the Middle East have an obligation to speak up now, before the coalition

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

U.S. Senate Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building,

could assessed valuations which control the amounts of property tax money coming to local schools, sewer and water districts and other local governments.

But when the converted units are sold, they become subject to Proposition 13’s 1 percent tax on the most recent purchase price of any property. While commercial property tax rates usually remain relatively stable for decades, residential taxes can rise rapidly when units change hands.

At the same time, the conversions are starting to rescue real estate investment trusts, whose office rental income was dwindling, as were the dividends they pay investors. That’s all happening as onetime office space finds new, productive use.

The bottom line: Office conversions, first recommended by this column in April 2020, are now the wave of the future in California and elsewhere, and they are a boon to everyone from firsttime home-buyers to renters to property owners and local governments. — Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book,

"The Burzynski Breakthrough, 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

government does what it claims it will do.

Doug Walter Davis

Let’s not meddle in Israel

A recent Letter to the Davis Enterprise Editor (“Stand up for democratic values”) bemoans the results of the recent election in Israel where a right of center coalition government was formed from several parties. The Letter argues that the U.S. should intervene in Israeli politics to pressure for change in the internal affairs of the Israeli government. We all know the difficulties in forming any government in the current partisan world we live in as witnessed by our own state of affairs. Israel is an imperfect democracy, as is ours, but it is far and away the closest to the democratic ideals of any government in the middle east. Let things settle in as the Israelis find their new equilibrium and, as is usual, we should look forward to their government gravitating towards the middle. But let’s not meddle.

Barry Klein, David Siegel and Tony Tanke Davis

By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

UC Davis men overcome sluggish start for the win

Enterprise staff

BAKERSFIELD — Elijah Pepper converted six 3-pointers as UC Davis overcame a sluggish start to rout Cal State Bakersfield, 79-58, in a Big West Conference men’s basketball game at the Icardo Center Thursday night.

Pepper hit six of eight from long range and finished with 28 points as the Aggies won for the sixth time in their last seven starts to push their Big West mark to 6-3 and overall record to 13-8. Bakersfield is now 2-7 and 6-14. UCD stopped the Roadrunners, 67-48, earlier this month in Davis.

With the Aggies leading 31-22 late in the first half, Pepper hit three consecutive bombs in 96 seconds to give UCD a 40-22 advantage at the break.

He then opened the second half with another 3-pointer and a field goal to complete a personal 14-0 run in the span of 2:49 as the Aggies pushed the count to 49-22.

“I felt good out there and I have to give my teammates credit for getting me the ball when I was in position to shoot,” Pepper said. “It feels great to get this one and now we’re ready to get another one and get to 7-3.”

The Aggies, 3-1 on the road in Big West play, trailed 7-2 early, but took the lead for good at 14-11 on a 3-pointer from Leo DeBruhl.

Back-to-back treys by Pepper and Sione Lose led to a 20-13 margin and the Aggies remained in control the rest of the way.

UCD led by 27 points on three occasions in the second half — the final time at 53-26 — before Bakersfield rallied to cut the deficit to 61-47 on a basket by Antavion Collum wth 5:56 remaining.

But it was Pepper again who broke the threat with yet another long-range bomb that was followed by two free throws from TY Johnson and a basket by Ade Adebayo to put things away.

Adebayo hit seven of eight field goal attempts to finish with 14 points, while Johnson added 13. The Aggies shot a sizzling 63.4 percent from the floor for the night.

“At the start of the game we were a little bit out of sync and disheveled,” said UCD head coach Jim Les.

“But overall I was really pleased with our effort. We played hard and we were the aggressors. There were a lot of positive signs and we were able to get some separation.”

The Aggies now head to Long Beach State for a 1 p.m. Saturday game. The Beach crushed Cal Poly, 70-52, Thursday night to push its record to 5-4.

“This will be a tough one,” Les said of Long Beach.

“They’re long and athletic. Saturday won’t be easy, but we’ll be up to the challenge.”

DHS:

From Page B6

put in.”

‘Very

Then Aiden Ojeda, a sophomore at 162, needed only 30 seconds to pin his Eagle opponent. That upped the Blue Devils’ lead to 24-18.

Blue Devils’ Paco Castillo-Brown (172) won his match by forfeit for a 30-18 score. After DHS picked up another victory

impressed with the hard work’

via forfeit at 184 for a 36-18 score, Ian Greenway (197) won his match, also by pin and in the first round at 1:44.

Pleasant Grove picked up wins via forfeit in the 222 and heavyweight classes. That cut into DHS’ advantage at 4224. The last match came at 108. Blue Devil grappler Ryan Tran fell by an 11-9

BLANK: At Elk Grove today

From Page B6

goalkeeper, DHS fired two more goals to finish out the match for the win.

Then Montano found the back of the net in the 78th minute, giving the Blue Devils a 2-0 edge.

With less than a minute left on the clock, Guerra scored his

decision, and another six points for the Eagles.

Other winners for DHS were Josh Prudhomme (134) by a major 16-0 decision and TJ Mueller (138) by a 12-1 decision.

Most of the Blue Devil wrestlers, boys and girls, were treated to the smorgasbord of food that included pizza, mini hot dogs, vegetable of carrots, broccoli, celery sticks and

second goal of the night, with Cosumnes Oaks’ goalie out of the box. Davis plays at Elk Grove High today. Kickoff is scheduled at 6:15 p.m.

“We need to win every 50/50 ball,” said Montano. “We have to finish our chances, possess the ball, switch it sideto-side and play together.”

cherry tomatoes, plus nacho chips with salsa, cupcakes and cookies.

Blue Devil girls

Davis also ended the night with a 30-12 win over Cosumnes Oaks.

Blue Devil winners were Andrea Gonzalez (113), Brooklin Cienfuegos (118), Natalie Forman (123) and Avangeline Turner (152), all by forfeits.

FAST: Big 1st-quarter lead

From Page B6

quarter. That contributed toward the Aggies’ 20-7 lead over the Roadrunners.

UCD had an all-around play in scoring and rebounds before halftime.

The Aggies out rebounded the Roadrunners 22-16.

Norris, who finished the night with a double-double as she grabbed 12 boards, and Sussman accounted for

five each. Sussman crashed the boards big time for the Aggies. She finished with 25 rebounds, also having a double-double.

The Aggies host Long Beach State squad (7-2 in the Big West, 12-7) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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

Gee Bordios/Courtesy photo

Davis High girls wrestler Andrea Gonzalez (facing camera) works on pinning her opponent in Wednesday’s Delta League dual meet inside the South Gym.

Wrestling

DHS squads post victories over Eagles, Wolfpack

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

A table full of treats were behind members of the Davis High wrestling team.

But the Blue Devils tasted two Delta League wins in a quad meet on Tuesday.

Welcoming Pleasant Grove, Cosumnes Oaks and Jesuit inside South Gym, Davis capped off Senior Night with a narrow 42-33 win over PG. The Blue Devils’ first win on the night was fairly easy, posting a 50-27 victory.

Jesuit was also a double winner, beating Pleasant Grove 476-26 and Cosumnes Oaks 63-15.

Davis and Jesuit didn’t face each other because they competed earlier this season, with the Marauders posting the win.

The two wins give Davis a 2-4 record in the Delta.

“It feels awesome,” said Davis head coach John Rosendale on the victories. “Wrestling is an individual sport, and often times, every time, wrestlers go out on the mat as individuals. It’s a team effort. We need everybody to show up and participate.”

The Davis-Cosumnes Oaks match had the visiting Wolfpack holding an 18-12 advantage. But the Blue Devils’ middle-weight classes rattled off four consecutive wins — two by pin and two by forfeits — for a 36-18 advantage. Sam Reising, a senior competing in the 154pound class, won his match by pin in the second round at 3 minutes, 18 seconds. That helped the Blue Devils tie the match at 18-18.

“There’s a couple of matches where every single time one of our kids scored a point... it matters every single time,” Rosendale said. “I was very happy, very pleased, very impressed with that the hard work that the kids

See DHS, Page B5

soccer Big West conference

Mike Bush/enterprise photo Blue Devil midfielder Nicholas Montano (blue uniform) uses his head to get the soccer ball away from a Cosumnes Oaks player in Wednesday’s Delta League game at Ron and Mary Brown Stadium. To view more photos, visit www.davisenter prise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.

Blue Devils blank Cosumnes Oaks

By Rebecca Wasik Enterprise correspondent

The Davis High boys soccer team continues to stay undefeated in Delta League play.

But it took the Blue Devils a while to finally get the soccer into the back of the net.

That lifted Davis (9-0 in the Delta League, 11-0-2 overall) to a 3-0 win over Cosumnes Oaks (2-4-1 in the Delta, 5-5-3) at Ron and Mary Brown Stadium.

Despite taking several shots and shots on goal, DHS did not bank a shot until the 72nd minute.

“I think we played well, but I think we also could have played even better,” said senior midfielder Nicholas Montano. “I’m proud of the guys. We stuck it out and came out with a win.”

Windy conditions played a factor, Montano felt.

“It died down in the second half, but we had balls hit off the post, and missed wide a few times,” Montano said.

In the final minutes of the second half, Blue Devil Lucas Liu’s kick at the 69-minute mark that this time smacked into the right goalpost.

Then all of DHS’ offensive pushes paid off in the 72nd minute when Guerra scored a corner kick goal, giving his team a 1-0 advantage.

The Blue Devils’ scoring did not stop there though.

After a Cosumnes Oaks penalty shot that went over the goal and a shot on goal from Simon VacaLorenzi that was stopped by the Wolfpack’s

See BLANK, Page B5

UC Davis guard Victoria Baker (diving

Thursday’s conference game

UCD too fast for the Roadrunners

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

Megan Norris took a pass from a UC Davis women’s basketball teammate that is usually seen in an NBA game.

But that’s OK with Norris, a 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman from Menlo Park. She was one of three Aggies who scored in double figures in a Big West Conference game against CSU Bakerfield’s squad in front of 443 fans at the University Credit Union Center on Thursday night.

The Aggies, for the second time this month, knocked off the Roadrunners with a 79-57 victory. UCD posted a 60-43 win on Jan. 7.

UC Davis (5-4 in the Big West, 9-10 overall), with its win over Bakersfield (2-7 in the Big West, 5-12), is now riding a three-game winning streak. The Aggies are currently in fifth place.

“I saw a lot of different people step up today,” said UC Davis head

coach Jennifer Gross.

Norris took the bounce pass through the legs of a Roadrunner player from guard Sydney Burns halfway through the third quarter. Then she took the shot for two of her 15 points, adding to the Aggies’ very comfortable 56-31 lead.

“That was awesome,” said Norris of Burns’ bounce pass. “She’s one of my best friends. It’s really awesome to connect off the court and on the court. She set me up. Easy righthand layup.”

Norris recorded 11 of her points after the remarkable pass from Burns.

The Aggies, who led 43-22 at halftime, started the third quarter with an 11-4 run for a 54-26 score.

The Roadrunners were able to knock down some baskets before the Burns-to-Norris pass that led to another basket and the mostly Aggie fans in the stands cheering on their team.

Aggie guard Victoria Baker, a freshman from Austin, Texas, and

forward Tess Sussman, a graduate from Needham, Mass., were the other two players who scored in double figures in the contest.

Baker, coming off the bench, only had four points entering the final quarter, finished with 16. She scored 12 in the final 10 minutes.

UC Davis, in addition, made 13-of-31 3-pointers against the Roadrunners.

“We have a ton of threats from this team, inside and out,” said Norris, “so, it really opens it up for anyone to get the shot up. We have a ton of good 3-point shooters. It was really easy to get it outside and in. People are worried about defending our good 3-point shooter (s).”

Gross added, “I think she’s starting to really gain confidence. She’s getting comfortable with her teammates.”

Sussman knocked down nine of her 11 points in the opening

Mike Bush/enterprise photo

Davis High’s Josh Prudhomme (top) locks up his Pleasant Grove opponent in Tuesday’s quad match inside the South Gym. To view more photos, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.