The Davis Enterprise Friday, March 17, 2023

Did male chauvinism impede a serial-killer investigation?

— Page B2

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Colleges rush to get students on food assistance

By Jeanne Kuang and Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters

Students, add this to the to-do list between now and finals week: Apply for federal food assistance before the fast-approaching end of a rule that allows more folks to qualify.

Starting June 10, students whose families could not contribute a dollar to their education or who are approved for federal or state workstudy programs will no longer be automatically eligible for CalFresh, the program formerly known as food stamps. Instead, students will have to seek those benefits through a stricter set of eligibility rules that limit how many low-income people enrolled in college can receive food aid.

The imminent deadline — the result of a federal health order sunsetting — is putting pressure on California campus officials, both public and private, and state agencies to inform students these benefits are ending soon.

Everyone — advocates, researchers, college social service coordinators and county officials — says the time is now for students to apply. Seeking the aid before the rules

See FOOD, Page A3

The rare auld stuff

Pennywhistle virtuoso lights up St. Paddy’s Day

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

Pennywhistle (aka “tin whistle) player Casey Davis plans on

Academic Assitance and Tutoring Center for the past 11 years, Davis stashes his pennywhistle in his backpack so he can play it anywhere. “I can enjoy being part of a big band providing the music for two dozen

explains that the pennywhistle has the same fingering as an Irish flute but is an octave higher and blown into instead of across. He’s even sung mostly sea shanties and old English ballads and carols — but hardly in the last few years.

Difficult to put into words, Davis said his love for playing music is multifaceted: “the concordance of making a melody outside my head that matches the melody inside my head; the thrill of being able to fill a whole room or park with pleasant sounds; the challenge of learning a new tune or improving his skills; the joy of hearing passersby thanking him for brightening up their day.”

“Slowly” learning the mandolin now, Davis said he has also played piano and hammer dulcimer in the past, though he is “way out of practice on those.”

Davis first started learning pennywhistle in early high school after seeing the movie, The Secret of Roan Inish about 28 years ago. Since kindergarten, he played piano (mostly classical, ragtime, and jazz), plus a few years of trumpet and baritone in the school band.

Though he has no Irish ancestry he is aware of, his parents have been playing Irish folk music (and a variety of other

See RARE, Page A3

Casey Davis plans on bringing a bit of an Irish influence to Friday’s weekly folk jam at the Arboretum for St. Paddy’s Day with his pennywhistle. But then, he does take it everywhere …

Courtesy photo

Wright brings activism to City Council race

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Francesca Wright believes the city of Davis is at a crossroads, with a need for “bold leadership that will name the difficult issues and catalyze the teams that can help us address them.”

Whether it is a housing crisis, deteriorating roads, public safety or any other issue facing Davis, Wright's background in education, program and policy evaluation, data analysis and more, make her the right person for the District 3 seat on the City Council and why she is seeking the job, she said.

“I come to this as an activist.

Activists are innately optimistic. We believe that we can always do better and we find ways that we can do better.”

Wright’s activism in Davis was

perhaps most evident in her work on public safety. As a cofounder of Yolo People Power, which advocates for community safety models that ensure human dignity, access to fundamental services and harm reduction, Wright was a key figure in the public safety reforms adopted by the city in recent years.

Those reforms included the hiring of an independent police auditor, creation of the

May 2 special election

Department of Social Services and Housing, and a number of

See WRIGHT, Page A4

A special election will be held in May to elect a representative from District 3 to the Davis City Council. That seat was vacated in January when former mayor Lucas Frerichs took his seat on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. The remaining council members subsequently voted to fill the seat via election. The May 2 election will be by mail only, with residents of District 3 receiving their ballots in early April. The ballot features two candidates — Francesca Wright and Donna Neville. Only voters in District 3 will be able to cast ballots. To see the boundaries for that district and learn more about the election, visit https:// www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/cityclerk/elections/may-2023-all-mailballot-special-municipal-election.

Courtesy photo

Francesca Wright, center, is bidding for the Davis City Council District 3 seat. With her are husband Lee Bartholomew and daughter Ayala Kalisher.

Briefly Embroiders go on Zoom

The Valley Oak Chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America will host a Zoom presentation at 11 a.m. on April 5 by Youngmin Lee on Bojagi, a traditional form of Korean hand quilting.

Lee holds a master’s degree in fashion design and a bachelor’s degree in clothing and textiles and conducts classes and demonstrations of Korean arts and crafts. To participate, contact Linda Wayne at laws999@ gmail.com by March 31, to add you to the Zoom list.

Transitioning film at library

The public is invited to a film screening of “Affirmation Generation” on Friday, March 17, at the Stephens Branch Library’ Blanchard Room at 315 E. 14th St. in Davis. The doors will open at 5:45 p.m. for the 6 p.m. showing. A reception and open discussion will follow the screening.

The film highlights the social and medical transitioning of youths based on gender identities.

The executive producer of the film, Joey Brite, will host a discussion after the screening. This event is not sponsored by Yolo County Library and the presence of this group in the meeting room does not constitute Yolo County Library’s endorsement.

Love letters from the pandemic

By Autumn Labbé-Renault Special to The Enterprise

As we approach the threeyear mark of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m reflecting on some of the things I never knew I’d be called to do:

n Run a community media center absent community;

n Start a facility remodel only to have it completely derailed by material and contractor unavailability;

n Figure out how to use remote production and meeting platforms so we could teach them to others;

n Pull on my background as a journalist to produce twice-weekly live news reports and interviews about the pandemic in Yolo County;

n Become conversant tossing around words and phrases like epidemiology and viral load;

n Watch friends die from a virus that was little understood and and for which a vaccine hadn’t yet been developed.

That’s just a slice of life from Davis Media Access, KDRT 95.7 FM and my own experience, and I know there’s reflection aplenty

Village Homes features Lefkoff

Special to The Enterprise Village Homes Performers’ Circle will present Nat Lefkoff on March 28 to perform his original songs, with support from local musicians Rowan McGuire and Sam Lacour.

Born and raised in Davis, Lefkoff is a musician dedicated to distilling the human condition and disarming listeners. Hallmarks of his music are honesty, vulnerability and intensity of his lyrics and performance. He has gained popularity throughout the West Coast and has collected tens of thousands of online streaming fans. See more about his popular tours and sample his music at https://www.natlefkoff. com.

The Village Homes Performers’ Circle is a free event that welcomes performers of all levels as well

Davis MeDia access

going on about the collective trauma we’ve all endured the past three years. March 13, 2020 will be forever burned in my memory as the day we closed the doors at DMA and began a process of total reinvention, one that took a huge toll on everyone involved.

But, DMA — community media center, nonprofit hub, information provider and creative outlet for many — is still standing, and I think that’s important. It’s a testament to the resilience and fortitude of our staff and board, the flexibility of our volunteers, and the commitment of the City of Davis to the arts and culture sector and to the work of DMA. It’s also thanks to our donors and supporters.

I cannot possibly thank everyone I’ve just named enough. As the public face of DMA and as someone whose voice was everywhere during much of the pandemic, I’m often accorded credit. But none of what I did would have been possible without my team of smart, deeply caring people.

Similarly, I owe a debt of

gratitude to everyone I’ve interviewed over the past three years. From Chancellor May and Congressman Garamendi to a local sixth-grader, the 150+ people I’ve talked with have provide sweeping insight into how the pandemic marked the lives of people and institutions in Yolo County. I learned more about our county than I thought possible, in ways that forever deepened my connection to this area.

These days I’m asked about “returning to normal” at DMA, and here’s the thing: there’s no going back. Yes, we can begin to gather, and yes, our oncestringent COVID protocol is more relaxed. But I believe we’ll forever be a hybrid organization, utilizing both remote and in-person technologies. Indeed, the most frequent request we get these days is to help other nonprofits produce hybrid meetings and events. Next week, we’ll help Cool Davis with just such a meeting, and we thank them for being a great nonprofit partner and willing guinea pig.

I’m reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous quote, “A woman is like a tea bag — you can’t tell how

strong she is until you put her in hot water,” and I’ll extend it here to all of us. We didn’t know what we’d be called to do. We didn’t know how we’d endure, who would survive, and what our community would look like when it was all done. Is there fallout and are there real problems yet to solve? Absolutely. And yet—I’m amazed, and I’m proud of us all— for the creativity, compassion and resourcefulness that’s been on display. The Yolo Way (thank you, Don Saylor) proved to be a great mindset and road map.

Find us online at https://davis media.org or tune into KDRT 95.7FM in Davis or https:://kdrt. org anywhere. Find the DJUSD school board meetings at https:// DJUSD.tv. And please know that like everyone else, DMA is a work in progress as we begin to emerge from the pandemic.

— Autumn Labbe-Renault is executive director of Davis Media Access in Davis, CA, where she uses local media as a tool for strategic community engagement and doing good. Reach her at autumn@davismedia.org.

County property-tax installments past due

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The Yolo County Tax Collector’s Office is reminding taxpayers who own property in Yolo County that the second installment of the 202223 Secured Property Tax, due Feb. 1, will be delinquent if not paid by April 10.

To avoid a penalty, property taxes must be paid by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 10, after which time, a 10 percent penalty will be added.

convenience fee) or electronic check (no charge). These payments can be made online at www.yolocounty.org (select Pay Property Tax icon) or by phone at 877-590-0714. Payments made using either of these two systems must be completed by 5 p.m. on April 10 to avoid penalties.

Current law does not relieve property owners of payment responsibility or the imposition of penalties because of failure to receive a tax bill.

as audience members who simply come to enjoy the performances. No tickets or reservations are required. It is held the fourth Tuesday of each month, except December.

The event begins with an open mic from 7:15 to 8:15 pm and concludes with the featured performance from 8:30 to 9 pm. Signups begin at 6:45 for the short performances (less than 5 minutes per act). The

emcee this month will be Laura Sandage.

This month the Village Homes Performers’ Circle will be held inside the Village Homes Community Center, 2661 Portage Bay East, Davis. The audience is encouraged to wear masks in the wellventilated space.

For information, visit https://www.facebook. com/villagehomesperform ers/.

Davis Genealogy Club hosts hybrid meeting

Special to The Enterprise

The Davis Genealogy Club invites the public to a free presentation about all that’s new at the largest free genealogy website, FamilySearch.org, “The Latest and Greatest in FamilySearch.org.”

Laurie Markham, an experienced genealogy instructor and associate director of learning and education at the Sacramento FamilySearch Library, will speak in person and via Zoom on Tuesday, March 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A St. Refreshments by members will be served following the talk.

FamilySearch is dedicated to preserving important family records and making them freely acces-

sible online, and has published more than 3.2 billion digital images to date. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides FamilySearch free of charge to everyone, and it helps millions of people around the world discover their heritage and connect with family members. New information is constantly being added, and new features make searching even easier and more productive. A live demonstration of the useful features of the website will be included, and a detailed handout will be provided to all attendees. Markham has volunteered at the Sacramento FamilySearch Library for 12 years. She is the associate director of learning and education at the library.

She has also served as president of the Sacramento Regional Genealogical Council for the past five years. She loves to teach and is passionate about FamilySearch.org.

She began doing family history research as a young girl helping her mother search and record facts about their forebears, but her desire to continue with family history was a direct result of the stories her mother and grandmother shared about beloved ancestors. Because of her interest at a young age, many family heirlooms were passed down to her Email President@davisgenealogy.org or call Lisa Henderson at 530-7538943 to attend as a guest, or for a Zoom guest pass.

Envelopes must be postmarked no later than April 10 if taxes are paid by mail. Taxpayers have the option of paying property taxes by credit card (plus a 2.34 percent

Anyone who owns property in Yolo County and did not receive a tax bill should call 530-6668190 or email taxinfo@ yolocounty.org as soon as possible.

Dodd introduces bill to boost broadband

Special to The Enterprise SACRAMENTO —

State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, announced legislation today to boost broadband and internet connectivity across California by allowing the state to lease its property to providers for deployment of new infrastructure.

“We all know how important it is to have fast, reliable broadband,” Sen. Dodd said.

“You need it to survive in today’s economy. Unfortunately, broadband isn’t yet deployed adequately or equitably in many

areas of our state.”

Under existing law, the state Department of General Services is limited in its ability to execute leases of state-owned real property that could be used to support statewide broadband development. Such development could support digital equity, especially in underserved communities.

Senate Bill 387 would give General Services more flexibility in setting lease terms, creating incentives for broadband providers to invest in much-needed infrastructure improvements.

Bob Dunning is on vacation. The Wary I will return on Wednesday.

FOOD: Patchwork of rules leaves students in confusion

tighten again could buy a previously ineligible student as much as a year of time on food assistance, they say. A qualifying student could get up to $281 a month to pay for groceries.

Beyond a matter of basic necessity, ensuring students aren’t hungry has clear academic benefits, including higher college graduation rates, studies have shown.

“There is a scramble right now,” said Brandi Simonaro of CalState Chico’s Center for Healthy Communities, which holds a state contract to help students apply for food assistance on 48 mostly public college campuses statewide.

Part of the challenge, she said, is misinformation among campus officials about CalFresh’s complex and changing eligibility rules; she fears the confusion will discourage students from applying.

Marcia Garcia guides students through the CalFresh application process at UC Berkeley and sees firsthand how pressed for time they are, especially for those with jobs or children.

“I think there’s always this concern, right, that not everyone is going to learn about these resources in time,” she said.

The rush to get the word out underscores advocates’ long-held frustration with the federal government, which they say blocks many students from vital food aid — a policy holdover from the 1970s when most college students in the U.S. were thought to be well-off.

Today, far more students from low-income families attend college — and need food assistance that most don’t get. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 127,000 California college students received CalFresh, even though anywhere from 416,471 to 689,233 students were likely eligible, according to a 2020 state report that relied on 2018-2019 data. In the same year, according to the California Student Aid Commission, 1 in 3 students reported experiencing food insecurity in any given month.

The low participation rate has made college students a group of particular focus for policymakers and anti-hunger advocates in California, which already struggles to deliver food aid to all who qualify. Only about 70% of Californians who are eligible for food stamps receive them, compared to about 82% for the rest of the nation.

There’s evidence the expanded eligibility rules led to more college students receiving CalFresh.

In December 2020, a month before the temporary new rules kicked in, nearly 120,000 college

students in California were receiving CalFresh. By September 2021, that number grew to over 140,000, according to the California Department of Social Services, citing its most recent data in an email to CalMatters.

The department said it lacks the data to know how many students will lose CalFresh benefits once the health emergency ends.

The expanded eligibility triggered a huge jump in student applications. On the 48 campuses where the Center for Healthy Communities works, the number of students applying for food aid jumped from 2,963 in late summer of 2020 to 12,051 a year later and just over 16,000 in late summer 2022.

But because of complex eligibility rules, students often have their food aid applications denied by county welfare departments, which administer CalFresh on behalf of the state.

For example, Simonaro said the state told the center only about half the applications it has helped students submit are approved.

Eligibility rules

Under a 1977 federal law, most college students are ineligible for food assistance by default.

It’s a rule based on outdated notions of who’s attending college, advocates say.

“There was definitely an image of traditional college students … that they were 18- and 19-yearolds right out of high school, with no dependents being supported by their parents even if they weren’t living with them,” said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, deputy executive director for policy at the left-leaning Center for Law and Social Policy.

Students who are enrolled in classes at least half-time and are between the ages of 18 and 49 can normally only get food aid if they work at least 20 hours a week — an amount of time that some research says ultimately hurts students academically.

Or, they must satisfy one of roughly a dozen narrow exemptions, such as being a single parent, having a disability or enrolling in specific academic and workforce training programs. Students also then need to meet the program’s regular income requirements: a maximum of about $27,000 a year for a singleperson household, not including grants, loans and scholarships, and then a second income test.

The patchwork of eligibility criteria and exemptions hits com-

RARE: Folk music was in his blood

From Page A1

styles) throughout his life. He explained that they encountered the genre in the Fresno folk music scene while they were in college there.

“So even before I picked up a pennywhistle, I had a lot of experience hearing the tunes and knowing what they ought to sound like. So once I did start to learn, I was playing tunes with them—and my brother, who was learning the bodhran, an Irish drum — all the time, both at home and at local coffee shops, farmers’ markets, Saint Patrick’s Day parties, etc. Even now all these years later, playing music together is an automatic part of any family get-together,” he said.

While Davis is not currently working on learning any new tunes, he said that’s usually not so

much of a deliberate process anyway. “It’s usually more like, ‘Oh, that’s a neat tune; I wonder if it would work well on pennywhistle?’ He then tries joining in with the recording or jam session. “If I keep at it long enough, then I have it forever,” he said.

He’s composed an Irish-style tune he calls the Wayfarer’s Jig — “or at least I think I did; it’s possible that it might be some obscure tune I heard elsewhere and forgot about until it popped into my head again.”

Davis’ next big project needs to be compiling a tune book with sheet music and chords of all the medleys he regularly plays so he has something to hand over to anyone else who wants to join in but doesn’t know the tunes yet.

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@ davisenterprise.net.

munity college students in particular.

Some students receiving the state’s main financial aid award — the Cal Grant — qualify for food assistance if they also meet income and campus meal plan requirements. California pays for the awards with some federal welfare funds, and anyone receiving a welfare-funded program can also get CalFresh.

But the shortcut only applies to Cal Grant students who attend a California State University, University of California or a private college — and not to the vast majority of community college students. That’s because only Cal Grant awards that cover tuition are funded with welfare dollars. Cal Grants for community college students don’t pay for tuition but instead provide them cash awards, which don’t qualify for federal welfare funding. Federal rules say financial aid can lead to CalFresh eligibility only if the aid covers tuition and course fees. As a result, most community college students can get CalFresh through the Cal Grant only after they transfer to a four-year university in California.

California lawmakers could change this, a Century Foundation researcher argued in a 2020 report, by using federal welfare funds to pay for the Promise Grant, a tuition waiver nearly 1 million community college students receive. That would allow those students easy eligibility for food assistance if they also meet the income rules.

California has added ways for students to qualify for aid. For example, a 2021 law requires campuses to tell the state which academic programs could boost students’ abilities to get jobs — programs that would allow

Obituary

July

Mary Jean Burke passed away peacefully on March 2, 2023, at Palm Gardens Senior Living in Woodland, where she received loving care through her extended struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to her illness, she was a 25-year resident of Davis.

Mary Jean was born to Delmar and Irene Cranmer on July 23, 1930, in Sharon, Pa., where she was raised through her high school years before attending nursing school in Newcastle, Pa. After becoming a registered nurse, she moved to Pittsburgh, where she met Andrew Burke who would become her husband of 67 years and with whom she had three children — Dean, Patti and Tim.

Together, they faced life’s joys and sorrows, including

students to get CalFresh. To date, thousands of programs are on the list.

Student confusion

Chico State senior Jocelyn Gonzalez Fierros only learned she was eligible for CalFresh because the university emailed her to say she met one of the pandemicinduced expanded eligibility criteria.

She’s still receiving CalFresh this year, but under a different exception: Because her parents’ incomes rose, she’s no longer getting the state financial aid, but still qualifies for food assistance through her job as an outreach coordinator for the Center for Healthy Communities.

“It’s very confusing just because your situation can change within a course of six months,” Fierros said.

Researchers and college aid administrators said beleaguered counties can create additional roadblocks for students seeking aid.

Because county agencies are funded based on how many people already receive aid and not how many apply, welfare officials say they’re understaffed for surges in student applications, which can take longer to process and are harder to qualify because of the student eligibility rules.

It took Raksha Rajeshmohan, 19, two tries to get CalFresh, despite easily qualifying because she works two part-time jobs on top of taking a full courseload at UC Berkeley.

The second-year public health student applied for CalFresh online after hearing about it from a friend. She had trouble her first attempt. A letter from the agency scheduling a phone interview arrived a week late; she said the

the crushing loss of their son Dean when he was a teenager. With a spirit of adventure, Mary Jean supported the family through numerous relocations on both the east and west coasts, allowing Andy to pursue his vocational interests. Later, once the children were grown, she thoroughly enjoyed her role as Andy’s travel companion to professional meetings all over the world.

Mary Jean’s great capacities for empathy and compassion were evident in her approach to life and her various roles as a wife, mother, nurse and community member. While Andy was a graduate student at Princeton University, she helped found the Princeton Visiting Nurses Program through which she excelled

phone call never came. After waiting more than a month, she got a denial letter for turning in images rather than documents of her paystubs.

An agency spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Rajeshmohan was approved for CalFresh this January after turning in more detailed documentation. The roughly $250 a month she gets allows her to pick more nutritious, costlier foods at the store, and pack lunches rather than skipping them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if students studying other things or who don’t have knowledge about this program aren’t as motivated to apply and see it through,” she said. “I think the way that the system is laid out is quite confusing.”

What’s next

Once a student receives CalFresh under the expanded criteria, they’ll continue getting the food aid until they have to recertify their eligibility — usually after about a year.

But students who have already enrolled under the expanded criteria will need to recertify that they’re eligible under the more limited list starting this July. It’s likely that many students will lose eligibility, but the department of social services did not know just how many would drop off the aid.

“If they don’t meet another exemption and are still looked at as a student (when it’s time to recertify eligibility) then they will no longer be eligible, which is really scary,” Simonaro said.

While the state cannot change federal eligibility rules, it is working to ease the process of renewing or applying for CalFresh.

Already 45 counties are accepting public benefits applications, including for food aid, on a new website called BenefitsCal.com with a student-friendly section as well. By November, all 58 counties are expected to be using the site. For the first time, applicants can schedule appointments with their county case managers digitally, message them online, update their address or report a change in their circumstances.

The website also allows users to upload and receive all their necessary documents to maintain their eligibility.

Moving more of the process online should help students, Garcia of UC Berkeley said. Last week she met a student who for six months had been approved for benefits but didn’t know it. The student never got a call or letter from the county informing them of their benefits.

at providing care to new mothers and others who could benefit from in-home care and guidance. Later, as a nursing supervisor at an eldercare facility, she was instrumental in creating community amongst both staff and residents.

Mary Jean was an avid volunteer at schools and organizations in which her children were involved, as well as the many communities of which she was a part over the course of her life. In Davis, her favorite volunteer roles were through Davis United Methodist Church and the Short-

Term Emergency Aid Committee (STEAC) where she worked diligently on collection and distribution of furniture to needy families settling into new housing.

Mary Jean is survived by her husband, Andy, and her children, Patti and Tim. She will also live in the memories of grandchildren Kaelen, Zeb, Celeste, Calista and Hayden, and great-granddaughter Lucena.

A celebration of Mary Jean’s life is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at Davis United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mary Jean’s memory can be made to Alzheimer’s Disease Research, 22512 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, MD 20871.

Mary Jean Burke

23, 1930 — March 2, 2023

rahul lal/CalMatters phOtO

Chico State senior Jocelyn Gonzalez Fierros learned she was eligible for CalFresh because the university emailed her to say she met one of the pandemic-induced expanded eligibility criteria.

WRIGHT: Social-justice activism put candidate on map

other initiatives aimed at reducing conflict between law enforcement and the public.

As a member of Yolo People Power, Wright was part of a coordinating team that focused on research, public education and organizing. They helped get a surveillance ordinance passed, and helped create what would become nine recommendations for public safety reform in Davis largely adopted by the City Council.

Wright’s efforts during that period earned her recognition from the city in the form of a Thong Hy Huynh award for civil rights advocacy in 2021 and Wright herself is satisfied with the results of the work.

“There’s no question that our town is safer right now than it was 10 years ago,” she said. “I do believe we are impacting the culture of policing in our town.”

She also commends the Davis Police Department “for being so receptive to community feedback.”

Looking ahead she sees the need for more work, including implementing the Crisis Now program.

At this point, however, Wright said public safety reform “is not the most important issue in the city of Davis.”

Rather, she said, it is “the housing crisis.”

“First of all, our General Plan hasn’t been updated since 2007,” said Wright.

The impact of no update was evident in discussions over the University Mall redevelopment plan, she said. Mall owner Brixmor received Planning Commission approval last week for a retail-only project at the site on Russell Boulevard, rather than an initial plan that would have included housing.

The new plan, said Wright, “is going to hire low-wage workers that can’t afford to live here and will have to drive here. It’s not providing housing adjacent to our university that could provide housing for workers and students and it’s a very car-centric design in a time of climate change when we’re trying to reduce the major cause of greenhouse emissions in our town, which is vehicle miles traveled.

“Yet because of the narrow definitions of what the

Planning Commission can reject, it depends on our General Plan, which is stale, which is not visionary, which is not representing the time of climate change. It’s not representing the urgent housing crisis we have here, the lack of affordability, the unavailability to families and workers in our town. In my mind, housing is the number one issue that needs to be addressed.”

Agriculture

Wright notes that Davis residents “value agriculture and they value wild places.”

Between Measure O (the city’s open space measure) and Measure J/R/D (which requires a public vote on peripheral development), the city has secured “wonderful wild places where we’re preserving biodiversity,” said Wright. “It’s a huge value for our community and people are not going to give it away easily.”

However, she said, “I believe there is an appetite for maximizing infill; there’s an appetite for promoting accessory dwelling units in older developments; (and) there’s an appetite for densifying around corridors with mixed use...

"I think there is caution around perimeter because we have failed to have discussions about under what circumstances will this be adding value to our community.”

When it comes to new housing, without a focus on affordability, Wright said

she fears “we will become an aging, elitist community.”

“We have many families that are renting here, barely able to afford the rent, terrified when they have to move because then their rents will go up and they’ll be unable to find housing.

“I think we’re going to have to be very bold working with communities of faith and other housing advocates who have done a remarkable job in addressing affordable housing in our town… I think we’re going to have to boldly go to people who have accumulated wealth and ask them to help fund the Housing Trust Fund. I think we have to go to developers — we have very generous developer families who have helped us provide housing — and ask them if they’ll contribute toward the next generation of families to have housing here.”

Land donations, whether city-owned, school districtowned or privately owned, she added, may be “the best option for building affordable from the ground up.

“And we need to find places throughout the city where we can be doing that.”

“We have a lot of local solutions for our local problems, and a lot of that is working with our community.”

As she’s been talking to residents of District 3, housing is one of two issues she’s hears about most, Wright said. The other is

the city's deteriorating roads and the need for revenue to repair and maintain them.

“We’re going to need a bond,” Wright said. "There’s no way we can do this without a bond. Deferred maintenance in roads just accelerates the cost and we need to get them back up to standards sooner rather than later so that then we can maintain them at standard.”

On the issue of homelessness, another big community concern, Wright noted that District 3 is home to both the respite center on L Street and the newly opened Paul’s Place.

District 3, she said, “has been so generous in terms of sharing space with the most vulnerable. They have welcomed Paul’s Place. I challenge other districts to welcome their version of Paul’s Place. I’d like to see one in every district. The respite center, I can’t imagine the respite center in Wildhorse or in Willowbank, yet the people in this district are finding ways to be gracious neighbors.”

Key to dealing with nearly all of the city’s issues is revenue, and that is why economic development is so important, Wright said.

“Davis is unique in its desire to support small businesses, a healthy downtown, a connected park system, but one of the challenges of that is that postProp 13, property tax revenues have not gone up as much as pre-Prop 13, and many communities rely on auto dealers and big

To place a classified ad, visit https://www.davisenterprise.com/submit-ad/ To submit an obituary, visit https://www.davisenterprise.com/obit-form/ To submit a legal notice, email a copy to legals@davisenterprise.com For questions, call Shawn at 530-747-8061.

goals policies and procedures Supervise activities related to the products and serv i c e s c o n s u l t w i t h o t h e r s e n i o r l e a d e r s a n d e m p l o y e e s about general operations Direct and oversee financial and budgetary activities, ventures, analyze financial statements, sales reports and other performance indicators Collaborate with senior leadership to build enterprise account management functions with scale expertise and process Assign Work and ensure that projects and services are completed on time, help identify places to cut costs and to improve performance policies and programs Analyze industry trends to determine the most promising advertising plans and develo p f e a s i b l e b r a n d p r o m o t i o n s t r a t e g i e s i n l i n e w i t h s a l e s schedule and company s brand core values for sales growth and competition Initiate market research analyze findings to understand customers and market opportunities for the company s brand building promotion and projects Establish and maintain relationship with customers government officials business partners and media representatives and use these relationships to develop and maintain the company's image and identity and increase new business opportunities REQUIREMENT: Bachelor s degree in Economics or equivalent SALARY: $90 064/Year Send resume to Golden Mountain International, LLC 1700 Olive Drive, Ste G Davis CA 95618

box stores to generate the tax revenue.

“But we have to go beyond retail in order to have a healthy economy," said Wright. "We have an idea generator at the university. We are positioned to become a hub for new food and agricultural businesses. We need to work with … the entrepreneurs that are coming out of the university and make it easier for them to test their concepts and develop their products and to have places for them to open businesses here in Davis.”

More visitors

In addition to incubating businesses, she'd like to see the city become more of a tourist destination that benefits those businesses.

“Davis is the jewel of the Central Valley and those of us living here love it and want to protect it. But, frankly, it’s time we share it more. We’ve got train access to the Bay Area, to Sacramento... I would like to see our hotels filled all the time. I would like to see actually some more hotels. It’s a great source of revenue."

Additionally, Wright noted, “we have an array of awesome festivals, weekly Farmers Market, PRIDE, Whole Earth, Picnic Day, and we have natural resources that people can bike to … but let’s become more than just bicycles. Bicycles are great and that put us on the map, but right now, we need something else to put us on the

map and we need people to take the map out and create the destination of Davis.

"Whatever we can do to enhance people coming here and supporting our businesses, expanding our businesses, expanding our entrepreneurial niche, I’m all for.”

In running for council, Wright notes that she doesn't “have all the answers, but I do believe we have the answers in our community and we need somebody who is going to actively reach out, solicit good thinking, organize it into plans of action and then provide the direction to staff… that they need.”

“I really want to listen to everyone," she added.

"There’s a method when you do group facilitation where you ask people to contribute their truth, but then you ask people to also, instead of listening to where you oppose one another ... listen to what’s wanting to happen from the center. So it’s depersonalized from an individual. It’s more like, ‘What does the community want? What am I hearing about their concerns and their loves and their passions and their frustrations? And it’s a facilitation skill that I cherish and I will bring to council.”

Learn more about Wright and her campaign at https://wrightfordavis. org.

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

Please look up my two books on Amazon

• Home Schooling: During COVID-19 and Beyond

• The Conscious Teacher

I taught in Davis for 27 years

These books will be helpful for teachers and parents I would appreciate if you would check in with me at dnpoulos@urcad org

City of Davis Notice of Public Hearing

The City of Davis City Council will conduct a public hearing on the item, as described below, at a meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in the Community Chambers, City Offices, 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis, California. Please contact the Department of Community Development and Sustainability for the approximate time this item will be heard.

Project Name: 3808 Faraday Avenue Right-Of-Way (ROW) Vacation

Project Location: 3808 Faraday Avenue

Project File No.: Planning Application #22-48 (VAC #01-22)

Property Owner/ Applicant: Buzz Oates Construction 555 Capitol Mall, Ste. 900 Sacramento, CA 95814

Project Description

The City Council is being asked to vacate approximately 0.52 acres of ROW located in front of 3808 Faraday Avenue. The existing street and parking configuration will be reduced as well as the length of Faraday Avenue, and creation of a cul-desac will be completed as part of

the 3808 Faraday Avenue project. The property owner will be responsible for maintenance of the vacated right of way area, and an easement over the area will be reserved for public utilities, and signage.

There is on file in the City of Davis Department of Community Development and Sustainability a map depicting the particulars as to the proposed vacation and retention of said easement of 3808 Faraday Avenue. The request for the vacation is being processed in accordance with the California Streets and Highway Code Section 8320 et seq.

Environmental Determination

The project is categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to Section 15301 which exempts existing facilities and 15305 which exempts minor alterations in land use limitations.

Availability of Documents

The project application file is available for review at the Department of Public Works, 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis, California, 95616.

Staff reports for the public hearing are generally available five (5) days prior to the hearing date.

City Council reports are posted on the City’s website at: http:// cityofdavis.org/city-hall/citycouncil/city-council-meetings/ agendas

Public Comments All interested parties are invited to attend the meeting or send written comments to the project engineer at: City of Davis, Public Works Department, c/o Kevin Fong, Principal Civil Engineer, 23 Russell Boulevard, Davis, California, 95616; or via email at: kfong@cityofdavis.org

The City does not transcribe its proceedings. Persons who wish to obtain a verbatim record should arrange for attendance by a court reporter or for some other acceptable means of recordation. Such arrangements will be at the sole expense of the person requesting the recordation.

If you challenge the action taken on this matter in court, the challenge may be limited to raising only those issues raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Director of Community Development and Sustainability or City Clerk at, or prior to, the public hearing.

A figure of the right of way vacation is shown below.

Deborah Poulos

Calendar

Today

n The public is invited to a film screening of “Affirmation Generation” at the Stephens Branch Library’ Blanchard Room at 315 E. 14th St. in Davis. The doors will open at 5:45 p.m. for the 6 p.m. showing. A reception and open discussion will follow the screening.

Saturday

n Tuleyome will host its second annual Spring Thing, a nature-centered celebration, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Woodland Regional Park Preserve in Woodland. This event is a time to celebrate and support Tuleyome’s programs and access to public lands.

This free, family-friendly community event will feature guided trails through the preserve, kid’s adventures from Nature’s Theater, nature sketching activities with local author Robin Carlson, and more. A dedicated “kid’s zone” will include games from the City of Woodland’s Rec2Go program, face painting, crafts, and fort building. Live music from various artists will be provided throughout the day as well as 2 campfire events with s’mores and campfire activities.

n The Woodland Opera House is excited to announce the return of “Backyard Broadway” at 7:30 p.m. at 340 Second St. in Woodland.

Reserved seats are $40 for adults, $20 Children (13 years and under). Purchase tickets online at https://vivenu.com/ event/backyard-broadway-u2tu4e and at the WOH box office 530666-9617 and 340 Second St. in Woodland.

Hours are Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 2 to 5 p.m.

n Celebrate Women’s History Month by attending the Yolo County Women’s History Month Committee’s event at the Gibson House grounds from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The committee is pleased to announce Gloria Lopez, author of “An American Paella,” a compilation of Spanish immigrant stories, and Corinne Martinez, whose family stories are included in the book are the guest speakers who reside in Winters.

Admission to the program is $20 per person. Various nonprofits will have tables set up at the event. To make a reservation, visit the organization’s website at www. ycwhm.org to register through EVENTBRITE.

n Davis Repertory Theatre presents “Gynecologos,” the first event in their 2023 Saturday Series, presented in partnership with Yolo County Library. “Gynecologos” will be open at 1 p.m. in the Blanchard Room at the Stephens Branch Library, 315 E. 14th St. in Davis. Conceived and directed by co-artistic director Dr. Oona Hatton, “Gynecologos,” is an interview-based, community created performance about women’s gender identity, sexuality and reproductive health.

Saturday-Sunday

n Join Tree Davis and the Davis Manor Neighborhood Council at the newly renovated N Street Park to install new trees, flowers and shrubs and make the park and neighborhood more beautiful. Tree Davis is seeking volunteers to assist with planting, installing drip irrigation, and spreading mulch at this two day installation event. No previous experience is necessary. Sign up for a morning or

afternoon volunteer shift and join for a potluck lunch from noon to 1 p.m. each day. There are limited volunteer slots so sign up early to secure your spot. For information, visit https://www. treedavis.org/volunteer or email info@treedavis. org.

Monday

n Davis Community Church will offer Candlelight Meditation, Soundbath and Labyrinth Walk, an evening of gentle reflection, meditation and community with an eye toward the emerging season of spring. Singing bowls will provide space for meditation combined with an opportunity to try the ancient practice of walking a prayer labyrinth. The labyrinth takes turns, requires focus on the moment and can be explored as a metaphor for a life’s journey. The event is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and begins in the church’s Fireside Room. Participants may enter on C Street ramp close to Fourth St. The suggested donation for the evening is $35 and registration is required at dccpres.org/ events.

Tuesday

n The Davis Genealogy Club invites the public to attend the free hybrid program With returning in-person presenter, Laurie Markham at the Davis Senior Center, “The Latest and Greatest at FamilySearch.org” meeting held 1 to 3 p.m. at 646 A St. and via Zoom. Learn about the newest helpful features of the largest free genealogy website. To register, please email President@DavisGenealogy.org. Visit DavisGenealogy.org for more.

Saturday, March 25

n The instrumental group Baroque & Beyond will present a varied program, titled “Pairs and Permutations — Captivating Combinations to Stimulate the Mind” at 7:30 pm, at the Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Road in Davis. This concert explores how pairs of instruments can blend, interplay and dance around each other. Suggested donation is $1020. For information, call or text 530-220-2012.

n In honor of Women’s History Month, the Yolo County Library will be showing the exhibit Herstory 1 & 2: The Legal History of Chinese American Women, curated by Dr. Chang C. Chen. Chen grew up in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States 50 years ago to pursue her graduate studies. The Stephens Branch Library, 315 E. 14th St. in Davis, will host Chen to discuss her books and the exhibit at 11 a.m.

Tuesday, March 28

n Village Homes Performers’ Circle will present Nat Lefkoff to perform his original songs, with support from local musicians Rowan McGuire and Sam Lacour. The event begins with an open mic from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. and concludes with the featured performance from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Signups begin at 6:45 for the short performances (less than 5 minutes per act). This month the Village Homes Performers’ Circle will be

munity

tage Bay East in Davis.

Where big, beautiful bison roam

By Sara Thompson Special to the Enterprise

The American bison is not only the United States’ national mammal, they are also North America’s largest mammal. They grow over 6 feet tall and can be over eleven feet long, weighing in between 9002,500 pounds when fully grown.

Bison almost went extinct in the late 19th century from hunting and mass slaughter, but conservation efforts have risen the population and bison can be found in national parks, wildlife refuges, Native American lands and private ranches in all 50 states.

Bison are herbivores, grazing on grasses and leafy plants for up to eleven hours in a day. During the winter, their large heads and necks allow them to clear snow for foraging. Despite their size, bison can sprint up to 35 miles per hour and are very agile, being able to spin quickly and jump fences, and are considered powerful swimmers. Being the largest mammal, their predators are also large. Preyed upon by cougars, grizzly bears, coyotes, grey wolves and humans, the latter two are more likely to hunt healthy adults, where the former three hunts primarily calves, sick or wounded individuals, or scavenge

from other animals.

A bison’s best defense is its herd by working together to fend off predators, but when alone its size and pointed horns are also formidable weapons. The bison’s earliest relative is believed to have evolved in Asia between 2-3 million years ago. Migration to North America can be traced around 400,000 years ago by a now extinct species of bison whose horns measured nearly 9 feet from tip to tip! The horns of extant bison measure around 2 feet in length.

Bison can live between 10 to 20 years. Bison females, or cows, only birth one calf per year,

between the months of March and May.

At birth, bison calves can weigh up to 70 pounds, with larger females birthing larger calves. The hair on bison calves is a reddish orange. As they grow, their hair changes into the better known dark brown color.

Even though they are related to cattle and can hybridize, bison are wild animals and can be unpredictable. Despite multiple warnings people are injured each year in national parks by getting too close to the animals. As with all wild animals, appreciate these large, majestic beasts from a safe distance.

Explorit’s coming events:

n Our exhibit “Explorit Rocks!” is open to the public on Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m., and 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 Summer Science Camp registration is open! Camps for those entering K-2 and 3-5 available. Find out more at https:// www.explorit.org/camps. 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.

UCD bee scientist writes book on honeybee biology

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Special to The Enterprise

A newly published book, “Honey Bee Biology,” authored by UC Davis honeybee scientist Brian Johnson, a leading expert on the behavior, genomics and evolution of honeybees, will be released June 6 by Princeton University Press.

In the foreword, Thomas Seeley, the Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, describes the 512-page book as “the most comprehensive and up-todate general reference book on honeybee biology.”

Advance orders are underway on Amazon at https://amzn.to/ 3J0eH1G for both the hardcover book and Kindle access.

“Honeybees are marvelously charismatic organisms with a long history of interaction with humans,” said Johnson, who received his doctorate from Cornell, studying bee behavior biology with Seeley. “They are vital to agriculture and serve as a model system for many basic questions in biology.”

The book covers everything from molecular genetics, development, and physiology to neurobiology, behavior and pollination biology. It places special attention on the important role of bees as pollinators in agricultural ecosystems, incorporating the latest findings on pesticides, parasites, and pathogens. The book also sheds light on the possible causes of colony collapse disorder and the devastating honeybee losses underway today.

“Honey Bee Biology is the first up-to-date general reference of its kind published in decades,” Princeton University Press announced. “It is a musthave resource for social insect biologists, scientifically savvy beekeepers, and any scientist interested in bees as a model system.”

The book is drawing praised from numerous honeybee authorities:

“A detailed and meticulously researched summary of honeybees, covering aspects of physiology, behavior, evolution, and conservation. “Honey Bee Biology” is a triumph of

integrative biology that is notable for its breadth and readability. Highly recommended for biologists and serious bee enthusiasts,” according to Elizabeth Tibbetts of the University of Michigan

Johnson, an associate professor in the UC Davis

Department of Entomology and Nematology, joined the faculty in 2011 after conducting postdoctoral research at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. He focuses his research on the behavior, evolution, theoretical biology and genomics of the honeybee.

“To date, my research has used a combination of experiments, simulation models, and computational biology to explore the evolution of advanced sociality, mechanisms of social organization, and self-organization,” Johnson says on his profile page.

Jacob W. Frank, YelloWstone national Park/Wikimedia commons Photo Bison graze near Roosevelt Arch in Yellowstone National Park.

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 Merlin (A200512), a 2-year-old husky who is always happy and charming with everyone he meets. Merlin is looking for an exercise buddy to go on daily walks and on hiking adventures. After a day out exploring, Merlin would enjoy just hanging out and chilling, too.

Also hoping for a good home is Pickles (A200498), a gorgeous 2-yearold husky who is warmhearted and active. Pickles looks forward to training and learning new tricks. Pickles could also be a great exercise partner as he loves long walks.

For information on adopting, contact adoptycas@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. Volunteer at tinyurl.com/ yolovolunteerapp.

Follow at @ycas. shelter and Instagram at

Nothing but a hound dog

@yolo animal shelter.

At Rotts of Friends Animal Rescue, you’ll find Button, an 8-year-old neutered male Manchester terrier mix. He was adopted six years ago, but his owner just passed away and he needs a new lap to cuddle up on. He’s housebroken, cratetrained and walks well on a leash. He’s looking for a quiet, adult-only home Carmela is a beautiful 1- to 2-year-old spayed female Rottweiler with a happy, wagging, natural tail. This girl is very friendly, walks well on leash, knows some commands and is cratetrained. She will make a wonderful addition for a family with older children or a new best friend for a couple or single.

Adoptions on Saturday, March 18, will be by appointment from 8 to 11 a.m. Call Renee at 530681-1326 to set one up. 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 obedience-training classes. For information, visit facebook.com/ rottsoffriends.

By Evelyn Dale Special to The Enterprise

What dog originated in Ireland? If you guessed the Irish wolfhound, you’d be correct! In fact, this tallest of all dog breeds dates back to when they were sent as gifts to Roman consuls and royalty throughout the Roman Empire.

In her book “The Complete Irish Wolfhound,”

Alma J. Starbuck notes that the breed was highly valued because is was an exceptional hunter, guardian and companion. This tradition continued in the United States when President Herbert Hoover and President John F. Kennedy were each gifted Irish wolfhounds.

According to Irish legend, between the second and fourth centuries Cormac mac Airt, a High King of Ireland, had 300 Irish wolfhounds. Legend also has it that bands of warriors known as “Fianna” used Irish wolfhounds in massive hunts for deer and elk. Irish wolfhounds were also used to hunt wolves. Their success in eradicating wolves resulted in a decreased demand for their breed and by 1800 they were almost extinct. Thanks to Captain George A. Graham, the breed was revived.

In 1863, he travelled to Ireland, found a few Irish wolfhounds, and crossed them with Scottish deerhounds and other wolfhounds. By 1884 his efforts were successful and the first modern Irish wolfhound was officially entered in the English Kennel Club Stud Book. Since 1902, Irish wolfhounds have been the mascot of the British Army’s Irish Guard. Seamus, whose official name is Turlough Mor, is the Guard’s current mascot.

paws for thought

When World War I broke out, Irish wolfhound Bally Shannon was training to be a police dog in Dublin but joined his handler and went to France where he helped carry messages to and from the front, and rescued 10 wounded soldiers. When a cannon fell on him, he wasn’t badly hurt and returned to his duties until an artillery shell hit him in the shoulder and another wounded his handler.

Returning home, their hospital ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. As the story goes, Bally Shannon found his handler and two other soldiers floating on a fragment of the wrecked ship. There wasn’t room for such a big dog so Bally swam next to them resting his chin and forepaws on the floating wreckage. The following morning they were all saved.

One of the survivors, an

American named Maloney, took Bally Shannon home to New York and introduced him to Tom Hoey a shepherd in the city’s Central Park. Soon Bally was helping Hoey and his airedale, Lady Dale, tend Central Park’s sheep. Maloney provided Bally’s food and medicines for the rest of his life.

Now, as you remember the Irish Wolfhound and all the wonderful pets who have graced your life, toast them all with the Irish cheer, “Sláinte” (pronounced Slawn-cha) and give some TLC to a pet on Saint Patrick’s Day!

Happy Tails

In November 2021 “Pancake,” an eight year old rescue dog from Mexico, became Sam and Morgan Asher’s ninth foster dog.

Sam writes, “He had a broken leg when he was rescued, and he had lost some control of his bladder due to the injury — he

could only hold his bladder for a couple of hours at a time!”

Waiting for a permanent home that could accommodate Pancake’s special needs, Sam and his wife got to know Pancake. “We learned about how he loves to spin when he gets excited, how he patiently naps while we work from home, and how chasing a ball is his meaning in life.

We started to fall for this absolutely charming pup!

“The rescue recommended an amputation for his broken leg. Once his bad leg was gone, Pancake was so much happier! He can now hold his bladder all night long, and he chases balls even faster.

We adopted Pancake in February 2022, and we're so happy that he's joined our family!”

— Evelyn Dale of Davis is a volunteer and advocate for shelter animal welfare. Contact her at pawsforthought.comments@gmail.com This column appears monthly.

MERLIN

MERLIN

BUTTON

CARMELA

Courtesy photo

Sam Asher and Pancake are ready to celebrate their second St. Patrick’s Day together, “Sláinte!”

Los Lobos head to Mondavi Center

By Jeff Hudson Enterprise correspondent

A performance of American composer Aaron Copland's American masterpiece "Appalachian Spring" (in it's original 13-instrument chamber-orchestra version), as well a a return visit to Davis by the venerated East L.A. rock band Los Lobos, are the musical highlights in Davis this weekend.

Chamber Music Society

The Chamber Music Society of Sacramento performs on Saturday, March 18, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 640 Hawthorn Lane in Davis, with a program anchored by Copland's "Appalachian Spring."

Copland wrote the nowfamous piece in 1944 as a ballet score at the invitation of dancer/ choreographer Martha Graham asked for music with "an American theme." Copland's ballet score, titled "Appalachian Spring," earned the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945. Copland soon arranged a version for full orchestra (the version most often heard today). But the 13-instrument version retains a unique appeal, and those who have only heard the fully-orchestrated version may be in for a pleasant discovery when they hear the original ballet version.

Also on the Chamber Music

Society's program are several very popular works, including the ubiquitous "Adagio for Strings" (attributed to 18th Century Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni, though some modern scholars contend that it was actually composed by Albinoni's 20th century biographer); and the Piano Quartet in F Minor by 19th Century composer Felix Mendelssohn (in

this performance featuring pianist I-Hui Chen, who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and is now a member of the piano faculty at UC Davis.).

Chen and veteran professional flutist Mathew Krecji of Sacramento will also perform a sonata for piano and flute by French composer Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941). Krecji will also be

DMTC presents ‘Lion King Jr.’

Special to The Enterprise Davis Musical Theatre Company presents its Young Performers’ Theatre production of “Disney’s The Lion King Experience, Jr.” through April 2 at the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center (607 Pena Drive, #10) in Davis. The production is being underwritten by Dr. Jennifer Goldman, DDS.

Based on the popular Disney Lion King movies and stage musical ”Disney’s The Lion King Experience, Jr.” brings the Lion King story to life on stage. “The Lion King” is the story of Simba, an adventurous and energetic lion cub who is next in line to be king of the Pride Lands, a thriving and beautiful region in the African savanna. When Simba’s father Mufasa is killed by his uncle Scar, though, Simba is led to believe that his father’s death is his fault, and he is encouraged to run away forever.

Scar seizes power and with his already unstable mind deteriorating, the Pridelands experience a

darkness and desolation from which only Simba can save the animals of the kingdom. Featuring classic songs from the film such as “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” “Hakuna Matata” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “The Lion King” is a story and a spectacle about identity, family, and responsibility that is enjoyed worldwide by people of all ages.

Jan Isaacson directs and choreographs, with Montana Monroe providing musical direction.

“Disney’s The Lion King Experience, Jr.” plays on Saturdays at 2 p.m. (March 18 and 25, and April 1);

Friday, March 31, at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m. All performances are at the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive in Davis. Tickets are $8 all ages. They can be purchased online at dmtc.org or by calling (530) 756-3682. There will be a $2 facility fee per ticket on a purchase, cash, charge, phone, internet, or in person.

Purchase tickets at http://dmtc.org or https://app.arts-people. com/index.php?show= 139828.

For information, visit dmtc.org or call (530)7563682.

featured in "Ruby Street" by contemporary American composer Valerie Coleman.

Tickets are $30 general, $25 seniors, $12 students and free for children under age 18, CMSSacto. org and at the door. There will also be a performance on Sunday, March 19 at 4 p.m. in the Music Building (Capistrano Hall) at Sacramento State University in Sacramento.

Los Lobos with Gaby Moreno

Los Lobos — the popular Mexican-American rock band from East L.A. — return to the Mondavi Center on Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.

As a young band, Los Lobos became an opening act for popular 1980s bands like The Clash and The Blasters, and later on stars like Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. Los Lobos began releasing albums in the 1980s, and also recorded portions of the soundtrack for the 1987 film "La Bamba," a biopic covering the brief life and career of Ritchie

Popular Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos return to the Mondavi Center on Saturday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m.

Courtesy photo

Valens, who in 1957 catapulted to fame as this country's nationally popular Mexican-American rockand-roller.

Los Lobos’ cover version of Valens' best-known hit "La Bamba" (originally a Mexican folk song) became a No. 1 single. Los Lobos have continued to record new albums and tour into the 2020s. The band was recognized with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2011. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Los Lobos in 1973, and the band is still exploring new musical ideas. Their most recent album is 2021's "Native Sons," which received a 2022 Grammy Award in the Best Americana Album category.

Sharing the bill at Mondavi with Los Lobos will be Guatemalan-born singer/songwriter Gaby Moreno, who picked up a Latin Grammy as Best New Artist in 2013.

Tickets for the March 18 concert at Mondavi featuring Los Lobos with Gaby Moreno are $75-$39 general, with discounts for students, MondaviArts.org.

Courtesy photo

From left Ariella Garcia (as Sarabi, Mufasa’s wife), Nico Srinivas (as Mufasa) and Irene Erismann (as Rafiki, present Baby Simba to the animals of the Pridelands in DMTC’s Young Performers Production of “Disney’s Lion King, Jr.”

Gaby Moreno will perform Sunday at Mondavi Center.

Courtesy photo

‘Boston Strangler’: True, true-crime drama

Solid acting propels fascinating, fact-based saga

By Derrick Bang

Enterprise film critic

Writer/director Matt Ruskin’s new film is an excellent companion to last autumn’s “She Said.”

His fact-based account of the early 1960s serial killer is far more honest than its 1968 bigscreen predecessor, with Tony Curtis in the title role; it focused exclusively on a lead detective — played by Henry Fonda — who “single-handedly” obtains the murderer’s confession.

That film is, to put it kindly, a work of fiction very loosely inspired by actual events.

It completely ignored the two newspaper journalists who — most crucially — broke the story; recognized the crucial patterns that pointed to a serial killer (a phrase not even coined, at the time); and doggedly pursued subsequent leads … much to the displeasure of the Boston police.

They both were women, of course: Boston Record American journalists Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, played here by (respectively) Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon.

We’ve lately been enjoying a welcome surfeit of films that shine a long-overdue light on previously unsung women of major consequence, from 2016’s “Queen of Katwe” and “Hidden Figures,” to last year’s “The Woman King” and “She Said” (all of which make me wonder how many more equally inspiring stories are waiting to be told).

“Boston Strangler” definitely belongs in their company.

Knightley’s McLaughlin is introduced as an ambitious journalist thoroughly bored — and frustrated — by the softball society column fluff to which she has been relegated. Efforts to cover meatier material get shot down by her editor, Jack Maclaine (Chris Cooper, appropriately gruff and grizzled), who is sympathetic but unwilling to budge.

The message is clear: “This is simply the way of things.”

But McLaughlin continues to follow police reports, and becomes intrigued by the

‘Boston Strangler’

R, for profanity and Starring: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, David Dastmalchian, Morgan Spector, Rory Cochrane, Greg Vrotsos

Available via: Hulu

murders of three Boston women, aged 56 to 85, during the latter half of June 1962. Lacking any effective inter-departmental means to share information, and with differing jurisdictional oversight in various parts of the city, the police fail to recognize a common element that links the killings: the fact that all three were strangled with nylon stockings or a bathrobe belt.

Another odd detail: None of the apartments showed signs of forced entry, suggesting that the victims either knew the killer, or assumed he was a “trusted” figure such as a building maintenance man, or some other service individual. (We roll our eyes, at the thought of such naïve, innocent times.)

McLaughlin wants to pursue this lead; Maclaine won’t have it. But he grudgingly agrees to let her profile the three victims — on her own time — to learn if they had anything else in common.

Two more similar murders follow in August, by which point McLaughlin knows she has a story. Maclaine no longer argues, but he’s also pragmatic; he partners her with Cole, who arrives in the newsroom following a merger between the Record-American and Boston’s Sunday Advertiser. Cole is a veteran investigative reporter, with solid — and helpful — contacts within various police departments.

She also has learned how to finesse uncooperative men not necessarily inclined to give her the time of day.

McLaughlin and Cole quickly become a classic cinematic staple: an oil and vinegar pair who initially have nothing in common, but pragmatically learn to bond, thus becoming a formidable team.

Knightley’s McLaughlin is impatient and impetuous; she comes off as brash and bothersome. Coon’s Cole — a savvy veteran — is seasoned and slightly mocking; she knows better, recognizing that more can be accomplished over a couple of beers, than by stridently demanding answers. Even after they’ve earned Maclaine’s respect and permission to continue the story, this victory comes with a sexist touch: his insistence on fashion-forward byline photos, to “juice up” readership.

Alessandro Nivola is solid as Det. Conley (a fictitious character), who — being younger than the “old bulls” who surround him — is disenchanted with old-style policing methods, and sees a value in cutting-edge tactics. He’s thus a comrade-in-arms to McLaughlin, since both waste too much time arguing with entrenched attitudes that simply get in the way.

Not that “progress” is without error. While history would validate the then-novel concept of enlisting a psychiatrist to help profile a serial killer, Massachusetts Attorney Gen. Edward W. Brooke clearly erred — in real life — by involving Dutch parapsychologist Peter Hurkos, a notorious ESP advocate and “psychic entertainer.” (Ruskin wisely

Baroque ensemble reaches beyond

Special to The Enterprise

On Saturday, March 25, the instrumental group Baroque & Beyond will present a varied program, titled “Pairs and Permutations — Captivating Combinations to Stimulate the Mind.” This concert explores how pairs of instruments can blend, interplay and dance around each other.

“This idea spawned out of necessity,” explains Kathryn Canan, cofounder of the group. “Our six performers live in Davis, Sacramento, Auburn and Grass Valley. So I figured a duet theme would make organizing rehearsals easier.”

The first half of the program pairs instruments such as baroque bassoon with baroque cello, voice with alto recorder, and even rarely performed instruments such as great bass recorder with the contrabass recorder, which stands more than 6 feet tall.

“The contrabass recorder uses a tremendous amount of breath!” attests player Isabelle Henry. “I’ve been working my way up to having enough air to play this amazing instrument for weeks now. “

The second half of the concert then has different movements that feature varied permutations of solo pairings, with continuo by harpsichordist by Alex Ives and cellist Alexandra Roedder. Combining disparate movements by different composers and varied combinations of instruments, this creates a custom work — a “virtual concerto.”

chooses not to focus on this embarrassing misstep.)

The most jaw-dropping takeaway almost defies belief: It quickly becomes obvious that Boston’s police and government establishments don’t want McLaughlin and Cole publicizing the case, because the two women are embarrassing them, and exposing their inadequacy. Their egos apparently are more important than the public service value of alerting the city’s women to be less trusting of strangers.

The unfolding case becomes unexpectedly complex, when an arrested suspect — Albert DeSalvo (David Dastmalchian) — attracts the attention of celebrated defense attorney F. Lee Bailey (Luke Kirby), by way of DeSalvo’s fellow cell mate, George Nassar (Greg Vrotsos).

On top of which, the pattern shifts: Following the two August 1962 murders, many of the subsequent victims are young women in their 20s.

Ruskin doesn’t give us much about Cole’s personal life, but considerable time is granted to McLaughlin’s home dynamic, as a devoted wife and mother to their three children. Her husband James (Morgan Spector) initially seems to be Loretta’s gung-ho cheerleader, but his attitude shifts as the “strangler case” becomes all-consuming. Ruskin’s subse-

‘Backyard Broadway’ is back

Special to The Enterprise

The Woodland Opera House is excited to announce the return of “Backyard Broadway” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

quent handling of their relationship becomes a bit sloppy, and the lack of closure is an unfortunate flaw.

Although some concluding text blocks give a sense of McLaughlin and Cole’s subsequent careers, they don’t do the former sufficient justice. McLaughlin went on to an impressively substantial journalistic and writing career, as a medical news specialist and early critic of the shameful way the AIDS crisis initially was handled.

(You gotta love her quoted takedown of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.) She also played herself in a 2000 episode of the TV series “Lawbreakers,” devoted to the Boston Strangler. (It makes a thoughtful bookend to this film.)

Although Knightley, Coon, Cooper and Nivola deliver persuasive work, Ruskin’s film doesn’t have quite the dramatic heft of “She Said”; his tone and approach feel a bit old-fashioned, like the entrenched attitudes depicted here. Even so, this is a thoroughly engaging crime thriller that’ll certainly prompt additional research, after the end credits roll.

— Read more of Derrick Bang’s film criticism at http://derrick bang.blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www.davisenter prise.com.

Courtesy photo

Baroque & Beyond will present “Pairs and Permutations — Captivating Combinations to Stimulate the Mind” on March 25.

“I love how it’s possible to enjoy great music in new ways by changing its context,” said Tracia Barbieri, who will sing as a soloist in this concert.

“These separate movements are so beautiful on their own, but together they create such a rich and satisfying whole. I think the audience will really enjoy the spectrum of timbres, textures, and colors created from all these distinct pairings.”

The finale of the concert will be a complete sonata that includes all six performers. “It’s interesting that you can hear how composers can cleverly use duets between instruments even within a single composition!” adds Robin

Houston, who will play baroque oboe in this work.

Baroque and Beyond was founded in 2002 by Canan, Robin Houston and Marta Belén. Their name allows them to center their repertoire in the baroque period (circa 1600-1750), but also range beyond in both directions, from medieval music to contemporary compositions, for their period instruments.

“Pairs and Permutations” will be presented on just a single night: Saturday March 25, at 7:30 pm, at the Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Road in Davis. Suggested donation is $1020. For information, call or text 530-220-2012.

This group of Broadway and nationally known theatre professionals, last seen on the historic Opera House stage in 2019, will bring their incredible talents once again (and with some new performers) for a fabulous evening of song and dance with a variety of music from musical theater to country and contemporary.

The performers are professional Broadway artists flown in from New York and Los Angeles. The cast for this concert has performed all over the world and in the Broadway productions of “Come From Away,” “A Band's Visit” and “42nd Street,” among others.

Performers are as follows: Leah Sprecher (“42nd Street,” “Happy Days,” and the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular”); Robert Petrarca, music director for the evening (“Forever Plaid,” “Happy Days”); Sharon Rietkerk

(most recently seen as Watson in a new musical adaptation of Sherlock Holmes); Q. Smith (“Come From Away,” “Mary Poppins”); Crystal Kellogg (“School of Rock,” “Finding Neverland”); Amelia McLean (Singer/Songwriter & Season 18 of American Idol); Randi Kaye (“White Christmas,” Patsy in “Crazy for You”).

Also joining in is the Broadway legend Barbara Dixon, who is traveling the globe with her wildly popular cabaret show, “Everything’s Coming Up Barbara.” Find full performer bios and more show information on the Woodland Opera House website at https://woodlandoperahouse.org/portfolio_page/ backyard-broadway/

Accompaniment for the evening is courtesy of Robert Petrarca on piano, Jared

Young on drums and Steve Tornabene on guitar. Reserved seats are $40 for adults, $20 Children (13 years and under). Purchase tickets online at https://vivenu.com/event/ backyard-broadwayu2tu4e and at the WOH box office 530-666-9617 and 340 Second St. in Woodland. Hours are Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 2 to 5 p.m. Backyard Broadway was formed by Jared Young and Randi Kaye, both formerly performed in Broadway musicals for more than 10 years. Jared, a professional drummer, and Randi, a professional dancer, live in Davis now with their two children. More information on “Backyard Broadway” is online at https://www. facebook.com/BackyardBroadway-Davis115467563194866/.

Courtesy photo

After Jean Cole (Carrie Coon, left) and Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) become the “public face” of the rapidly unfolding Boston Strangler story, they’re soon flooded by hundreds of letters from women who insist they’ve been approached by the killer.

Courtesy photo

“Backyard Broadway” returns to the Woodland Opera House with an evening of song and dance with a variety of music.

Women of color need universal health care

By Indira D’Souza Special to CalMatters

Addressing racial and economic inequality in California requires policies that improve the material circumstances of those groups in our society who face the greatest hardship. One such group is women of color, and one such policy would be the introduction of universal health care coverage.

The experiences of women of color are highly racialized and tied to the institutional legacies of American slavery, Jim Crow and discriminatory social policies that limit their access to benefits and incarcerate them at higher rates.

Women of color are also subject to disparities when it comes to health care. For example, infant mortality rates are highest for African-American women across all education levels. As annual pregnancy-related deaths increase across the U.S., it is low-income, minority women who face the highest maternal mortality rates.

Racialized and gendered health inequalities require bold, creative policies designed to improve the socioeconomic status of women in relation to men. Medicaid already covers 50% of births in the U.S., but Medicare only covers people aged 65 and older, and can be expanded at the state level to ensure that all births in California are covered by health insurance.

Accordingly, Californians need a system of single-payer, universal health care coverage such as “Medicare for All.”

Countries with universal health care coverage, such as Canada and Britain, have significantly lower maternal mortality rates than the U.S. with 6.5 and 8.6 deaths per 100,000, respectively, compared to 17.4 in the U.S. Universal health care coverage would improve the health of infants and pregnant people by providing free maternity care to all Californians pre- and postbirth.

Since a large share of maternal deaths occur in the postpartum period, the Medicare-for-all system could include incentives to train and license midwives and provide home visiting programs, two evidence-supported methods to improve outcomes for the pregnant person and the infant. Home visits are essential to assess social determinants of health for families such as housing and food access, and to provide mental health support for new parents.

While the Affordable Care Act improved gendered health disparities by requiring that insurance plans include contraceptives and banning gender discrimination for insurance premiums, Medicare for all builds on the ACA and Medicaid expansion to provide quality care regardless of socioeconomic status.

Mirroring Senator Elizabeth Warren’s plan to provide federal universal coverage, an ideal route for California could begin with a public option. Under the Warren plan, children and families earning below 200% of the federal poverty line would be automatically enrolled in the public option with no premiums or cost-sharing, and adults over 50 could opt into Medicare, significantly reducing rates of uninsurance.

Continuing with Warren’s public option proposal, those with employer-based insurance could opt into the public plan with mandatory employer contributions and significant reductions in premiums (capped at 5% of income) and copays (capped at 10%). The public option would ensure greater bargaining power with pharmaceutical companies (helping to reduce drug prices), pay providers more to incentivize participation, and cover benefits such as prescription drugs, dental and vision.

Thanks to reduced administrative and provider costs when compared to private insurance, Medicare for all would ultimately save money. Over five years, Warren’s transition plan ensures that premiums and cost-sharing would be reduced to zero. This would create a state-level single-payer healthcare system that, like Bernie Sanders’ proposal, will be funded through wealth, capital gains and income taxes directed at the wealthiest Californians and Silicon Valley corporations. Private plans, which have been steadily increasing in cost for workers while covering fewer services, would be eliminated in favor of the state health plan.

The transition from a public option to a singlepayer healthcare insurance would provide health care access for vulnerable communities, increase competition, drive costs and drug prices down, and reduce health disparities for pregnant people.

Most importantly, it would help to alleviate disparities in health care access faced by low-income women of color. As such, Medicare for all would be an important step towards reducing racial and socioeconomic inequality across California.

— Indira D’Souza is the winner of the 2023 UC Davis Center for Poverty and Inequality Research Black History Month Student Essay Contest, from which this commentary was adapted.

Foy S.

Proposition dishonesty is old hat

There were loud com plaints about ballot measure dishonesty the other day, just after the fast-food industry qualified a referendum for a statewide vote next year aiming to do away with a new law giving workers in those res taurants higher pay and more say-so over workplace rules and disputes.

Without doubt, there was dishonesty in the process of gathering the almost 550,000 valid voter signatures needed to get this measure onto the ballot. Referenda are different from normal ballot initiatives: they don’t create new law, but try to nix recentlypassed laws before they can take effect.

Its dishonesty helped gain the fast food industry at least a temporary reprieve: The new law passed last summer and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will be in abeyance until results of next year’s popular vote on it are known.

Neither referenda nor dishonesty in getting them to the ballot is new. Deception is easy to pull off. That’s especially true with little or no regulation on petition carriers and valid signatures bringing up to $15 apiece, depending on the wealth of the referendum backers.

The companies behind this one were willing to spend whatever it took to

bring their proposition to the ballot, as were the oil companies who soon after qualified another referendum to undo a law banning new oil wells and fracking within 3,200 feet of homes and schools.

With up to $15 per name at stake, it’s no wonder when some petition carriers resort to dishonesty. Those $15 chunks can add up very quickly.

In canvassing for the fast food measure, petition carriers outside big box stores around the state told many voters the proposal would help raise wages for fast food workers. Uh-uh. Others told their pigeons the measure would fight inflation. Nope. Still others refused to show voters the actual text of the referendum.

No wonder many voters reported feeling bilked when they learned what they had signed. Fortunately for them, they will get another crack at this measure when it hits the ballot in November 2024.

The good news is that dishonesty in proposition

politics, old as it is, has not usually paid off.

One of the oldest dishonest tactics of proposition sponsors is use of misleading names for their campaign committees. One example: In the early 2000s, the tobacco industry qualified an initiative to cancel all local restrictions on smoking.

The companies called their committee Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions. But there was no push for state laws on the subject; the industry merely wanted to quash what several cities had done on their own to reduce smoking.

Similarly, in 2016, the plastic bag industry qualified a referendum which appeared on the ballot as Proposition 67, aiming to throw out a new law banning single-use carry-out store bags. The trade group called itself the American Progressive Bag Alliance. What’s a progressive bag?

Prop. 67 lost on a 53-47 percent vote, and groceries and other stores still sell plastic bags for 10 cents apiece, but they are thicker and can be used more than once.

There was similar dishonesty in the sports gambling industry’s 2022 attempt to legalize almost unfettered online sports betting in California. On

the ballot as Prop. 27 last fall, and sponsored by the FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM wagering services, this effort began dishonestly by calling its measure the “California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Support Act.” In fact, only a tiny percentage of revenues would have gone to those causes, and the measure lost by more than 2-1.

The tobacco industry also lost in its dishonest campaign.

These are just three out of many egregious examples of misleading industry campaigns to pass initiatives or referenda in California.

So it would be naïve to be shocked that the fast food industry’s petition carriers engaged in several forms of dishonesty.

And it would not be the least bit surprising if the latest dishonest campaign ends up losing, too, just like almost all previous propositions whose campaigns were deliberately misleading.

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.

Decriminalize hallucinogens

Despite being used for millennia by indigenous cultures all over the world, hallucinogens were introduced into mainstream U.S. culture in the 1950s. Nixon-era fear-mongering and the war against countercultures led to psilocybin, ayahuasca and other plant-based hallucinogens being named Schedule 1 drugs. Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz have all decriminalized psilocybin with no noticeable consequences. It is time for Davis to do the same.

In recent years, new research has shown psilocybin can be effective in treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction and other mental illnesses. UC Davis has had several cutting edge studies showing promising uses for hallucinogens in conjunction with traditional talk therapy. Indigenous peoples have also used hallucinogens for spiritual rituals and medicine for millennia. However, due to it's current criminalized status, residents in Davis

Speak

President

are not able to access these tools.

Mushrooms and cacti that contain hallucinogenic compounds already grow easily in Davis. State Sen. Scott Weiner has introduced a bill that would decriminalize plant based hallucinogens throughout the state (SB 58). But Davis City Council can be on the forefront should this bill not become law. Decriminalizing these fungi and plants would allow for residents to grow their own medicine for mental health and spiritual reasons.

The time is now for Davis to join the growing number of Californian cities that have decriminalized mushrooms.

Alex Haider-Winnett Davis

Experience, compassion

I am supporting Donna Neville for a seat on the City Council representing District 3. What stands out for me is what Donna brings to the job. Others have said it and I agree: it’d be hard to find a person more qualified for the role. She would bring substantial professional depth to the council having worked her entire career on issues directly relevant to life in Davis.

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

CEO

U.S. Senate

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

Sen. Alex Padilla, 112 Hart Senate Office

Others can address her roles chairing the city’s Finance and Budget Commission and serving as a member of the city’s Planning Commission. I’m drawn to her role as president of the board for our local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). I canvassed with Donna in my neighborhood and listened as she addressed many questions concerning homelessness and housing. I deeply appreciated the sensitivity and wholeness of her approach to both of these issues.

Working with her and in conversations over the years, I’ve always admired the consideration she gives to these (and other) Davis issues. She is a powerhouse intellect with a compassionate take on solutions.

Donna is a retired lawyer with available time and an incredible interest in the challenges facing our community. She seeks no higher office and no role beyond being a thoughtful, collaborative member of the council. I can’t think of a better combination of smarts, qualifications, dedication and commitment.

Kari Peterson Davis

Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202224-3553; email: https://www.padilla. senate.gov/contact/contact-form/

House of Representatives

Rep. Mike Thompson, 268 Cannon Office

Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202225-3311. District office: 622 Main Street, Suite 106, Woodland, CA 95695; 530-753-5301; email: https:// https:// mikethompsonforms.house.gov/contact/

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

Jerry Scott and Jim

Jerry Scott

Stephan Pastis

Charles M. Schulz

Blue Devil softball beats Panthers in extra innings

Enterprise staff

The Davis High softball team posted an 11-3 win over West Park in a non-league game in Roseville on Thursday.

Davis (3-1) was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the game tied at 3-3.

Then the Blue Devils erupted for eight runs in the top of the eighth inning to silent the Panthers.

Naomi Kalenetra’s three-run triple was the big hit for the Blue Devils.

Cloe Lamoureux had a two RBI single in the game.

In the circle, Alessandra Trask pitched four innings, allowing only one run. Lea Lamoureux pitched the rest of the game. Davis continues its preseason schedule at Dixon on Monday. Game time is 4 p.m.

DHS baseball

Davis only two hits to beat Delta League rival Jesuit on Wednesday.

The Blue Devils took advantage of 12 walks and three Marauder errors. That led to Davis (2-0 in the Delta, 3-2) to a 3-0 road win.

Entering today’s finale of the best-ofthree series, Davis has outscored Jesuit 9-0 in their first two games. The Blue Devils posted a 6-0 victory, also on Jesuit’s field.

Brooks Ochoa, along with DHS teammates Brian Chin, Carter Stoltz and Christian Reyes, walked twice each. Ochoa had two stolen bases.

Andrew Keegan and John Churchward had a hit each for the Blue Devils.

Jesuit had seven hits.

Reyan Islam was one of four DHS pitchers in Wednesday’s game. Keaton Carpenter, along with Cade Castles, Reyes and Charlie Sheridan, also threw pitches in the game. Today at 4 p.m., Davis and Jesuit meet in the final game on the Blue Devils’ field. Davis continues league play against Cosumnes Oaks on Monday. Game time is also scheduled at 4 p.m.

UCD women’s water polo

IRVINE — For the second time this season, Ally Clague received the Big West Player of the Week honors after leading UC Davis to a perfect 2-0 start in conference play.

Clague was outstanding in the Aggies’ win over No. 10 UC Santa Barbara, posting a team-high five goals while dishing out an assist. The center defensive also made a huge impact on the other end of the pool, tallying two field blocks.

UCD has ascended to No. 9 in the most recent Collegiate Water Polo Association.

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers inked five players, which was announced on Thursday.

Cornerback Isaiah Oliver was signed to a two-year deal.

The 49ers also signed quarterback Sam Darnold to a one-year contract.

Three more were added in defensive linemen Javon Hargrave and Clelin Ferrell and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles.

DHS: Game next week

From Page B6

likewise in helping her team enjoy its 5-0 run late in the first half.

Davis breaks away from league action to play at Carondelet of Concord on Friday.

Game time is scheduled at 7 p.m.

HONORED: Moneymaker is a Sacramento native

The Blue Devils are back on the road again on Thursday, March 23, when they play at Roseville.

— Mark Honbo is the sports information director at St. Francis High of Sacramento. He is also a Davis resident.

From Page B6

State assistant — is the only individual across all sports in MPSF history to be named an athlete of the year and coach of the year in the conference.

Moneymaker is the first Aggie to be named Freshman of the Year since

2019 and the third overall in program history. The Sacramento native earned first-team honors on floor and was named to the second team on vault and bars.

The newcomer was a three-time MPSF Freshman of the Week, tying for the second-most

weekly awards in the conference this year. She picked up one event title and finished in the top-three on three occasions.

Moneymaker won the floor exercise with a score of 9.925 against Sacramento State, helping the Aggies post a school

record 49.525 in the event and No. 2 all-time school and MPSF total of 196.750.

UC Davis will head to Colorado Springs for the MPSF Championships hosted by the Air Force Academy. The championship is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Mike Bush/enterprise photo Davis High pitcher Keaton Carpenter throws a pitch in Wednesday’s Delta League baseball game at Jesuit. The senior and the Blue Devils beat their rivals 3-0 on only two hits and 12 walks.

—

Lacrosse

DHS girls outlast St. Francis in close game

By Mark Honbo Special to the Enterprise

RANCHO CORDOVA — One of St. Francis’ girls lacrosse players scored a double hat trick while a teammate added five goals and ignited a second-half comeback.

But the Davis High girls lacrosse team stopped St. Francis’ rally to post an 18-17 win in a battle of last year’s Delta League co-champions at the Mather Sports Complex on Wednesday night.

Davis (2-0 in the Delta League, 6-2 overall) held a 16-10 lead. St. Francis even its record to 3-3, with an 0-2 mark in league play.

St. Francis endured a rollercoaster battle with its guest, taking a 5-3 lead in the first half before falling behind to an 8-6 halftime deficit.

The Blue Devil edge swelled to 16-10 when junior Tory Agnew netted one of her eight goals at the 10:37 mark in the second half.

However, the Troubadours answered with a 7-1 run across the next 10 minutes to erase that deficit, thanks in large part to Brynley Hodge and Keira Miles’ play off the draw. Hodge converted eightmeter chances in the 46th and 49th minutes to cut the lead to 16-12.

Then St. Francis’ Jane Tattersall scored on a crease roll in the 50th to trim the margin to 16-13. Miles and Tattersall each

UC Davis gymnastics coach, freshman honored

Enterprise staff

The UC Davis women’s gymnastics team was well represented when the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation unveiled its yearly awards on Thursday.

Aggie head coach Tanya Ho was named the Head Coach of the Year and Amelia Moneymaker was nabbed Freshman of the Year honors.

The Aggies earned 18 conference accolades, including 10 first-team selections.

Ho earns UCD its first Head Coach of the Year honor since 2017 in just her first season at the helm of the Aggie program.

The Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Famer took over the head coaching duties when she was named the interim head coach last October.

Ho guided the Aggies to the MPSF’s No. 2 championship seed with a team national qualifying score of 195.965.

UCD broke 196 in four meets, including twice on the road.

The Aggies totaled three of the MPSF’s topnine all-time scores in the final month of the regular season, including the No. 2 all-time ranking of 196.750. The last seven meets of the season all went for at least 195.250.

In the final regular season meet at No. 7 California on Sunday, the UCD vault (49.225) and beam (49.275) squads both equaled the third-best total in MPSF history. The Bars team recorded an all-time top-10 MPSF total of 49.200 (Feb. 12).

In consecutive weeks in February, the Aggie floor squad tied their school record and tallied the No. 2 all-time MPSF total of 49.525, a score not reached in the conference in two decades.

Ho, who earns her third coach of the year honor in the MPSF — in 2019 as UAA Head Coach and 2016 as a Sacramento See HONORED, Page B5

scored in the 51st to close the gap to one goal at 16-15.

But Agnew won the next draw and scored to bump the Davis lead to 17-15 with 3:43 left. The Troubies quickly answered with Tattersall assisted Zia Smith’s quick stick to make it 17-16 with 3:06 remaining.

Davis sophomore Katie McMullen won the following draw — her whopping 12th total in the contest — giving the Blue Devils another chance to work the clock and add an insurance goal.

But St. Francis senior Hayley Labia came up with a save against DHS junior attacker Ruby Adler. This put SF back on the counterattack. Miles drew a shooting space foul on the opposite end, then buried the eight-meter try for the 17-17 equalizer with just 48 seconds remaining.

Agnew struck again, winning the subsequent draw and eventually scoring the go-ahead for DHS with 23 seconds left.

Miles gave the Troubies one final gasp to tie the contest for a fifth time when she won the next draw, but Elizabeth Barger’s shot missed just high of the cage.

Not surprisingly, the draw played a major part of the varsity game’s flow. While Hodge and Miles helped the Troubadours gain possession to mount the second-half comeback, McMullen did

big West conference

opener

Aggies welcome Matadors at Dobbins Stadium

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

Now the UC Davis baseball team and the rest of the Big West Conference squads get real starting today.

After going 5-8 in preseason, the Aggies welcome CSU Northridge for the first of a three-game series at Dobbins Stadium on Friday. First pitch is scheduled at 2 p.m.

“We’ve learned a lot about ourselves the last few weekends,” said UCD head coach Tommy Nicholson, who is in second season. “With a lot of new faces getting their first taste of D-I action, our guys are working hard to continue to get better as we move throughout this season.”

Alejandro Huezo is the probable starter on the mound for UCD. Northridge’s Lucas Braun is expected to take the bump.

Saturday will feature a doubleheader between the two teams. The first game starts at 1 p.m., with the night cap to follow approximately 30 minutes after the first game.

The Aggies and Matadors were going to wrap up the series on Sunday. But weather forecasters are calling for a chance of showers on Sunday morning.

UC Davis’ Bryan Green is scheduled to start the first game on Saturday, while Northridge’s Thomas Bainton is listed to go.

The Aggies’ Rowen Barnes and Northridge’s Kenji Pallares are scheduled to take their spot on the hill in the nightcap.

Offensively, UCD has shown flashes of brilliance with a 20-run game on its resume.

Nick Leehey, a sophomore from Newbury Park, leads the team in batting average at .333.

Leehey has been all over the infield this season. The everyday shortstop from a season ago, Leehey has transitioned between third base and first base and as a result, locking down the corner positions.

Alex Gouveia, a junior who is a Manteca native, is next in hitting at .321. A transfer from Modesto Junior College, Gouveia was an All-Big 8 infielder in 2022.

Mark Wolbert, who was the Big West Freshman of the Year in 2022, has a batting average of .286. Wolbert is still recording an on base percentage of .426 and is undoubtedly the main cog in the Aggie offense.

The Aggies’ defense has sparkled during the preseason. UCD currently leads the Big West in fielding percentage at .980.

“As a team, we have played solid defense overall,” Nicholson said. “We need to get more consistent both on the mound and at the plate. We are looking forward to being back home and starting conference play after a couple of weekends on the road.”

UCD was going to play at Santa Clara University on Tuesday, but the game was canceled because of rain.

The Aggies played at Arizona State last weekend and at Seattle the first weekend of this month.

In between those games, Sacramento State beat UCD 9-6 in a nonconference game at Hornet Stadium on March 7.

Meanwhile, Northridge is off to a 9-3 start. Eddie Cornejo is in his first season as the Matadors head coach, succeeding legendary coach Dave Serrano.

Graysen Tarlow, who picked as a Big West Player of the Week earlier in the year, leads the Matadors are leading the conference in on base percentage and second in batting average.

After this weekend’s series against Northridge, UCD will host CSU Fullerton March 25-27.

Toward the end of March, UCD will hit the road for its first Big West road games at CSU Bakersfield.

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

Mark Honbo/courtesy pHoto

Davis midfielder Tory Agnew (11) gets near St. Francis’ Brynley Hodge in Wednesday’s game at the Mather Sports Complex in Rancho Cordova. The Blue Devils posted an 18-17 win.

See DHS, Page B5

Leroy yau/uc Davis atHLetics-courtesy pHoto

Members of the UC Davis baseball team, seen here in a huddle during a recent home game, open Big West Conference play against CSU Northridge at Dobbins Stadium today at 2 p.m.