The Davis Enterprise Sunday, March 26, 2023

Redemption story

How college behind bars saved a life

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

There’s a scene in the Ken Burns PBS documentary series, “College Behind Bars,” where Sebastian Yoon addresses his classmates during a graduation ceremony.

Like his classmates, Yoon was a New York prison inmate at the time, having been incarcerated at the age of 16 and serving a 15-year prison sentence for manslaughter.

He had obtained his GED at Rikers Island and now, in his early 20s and serving his time at Eastern New York Penitentiary, was participating in the Bard Prison Initiative, a college program operated by Bard College.

In this clip, he addressed his classmates, who were receiving their associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.

“My fellow graduates, my friends,” he said as he stood on a stage at the prison wearing cap and gown, “let me remind you that we have an obligation to share our stories …”

Fast-forward a decade or so,

and Yoon was doing exactly that, but this time from the stage of the Brunelle Performance Hall at Davis High School.

Since that commencement day at Eastern, Yoon had gone on to complete his bachelor’s degree in social studies, finish his prison sentence and begin working at the nonprofit Open Society Foundation, where he works to this day. He’s also working on a master’s degree now through Baruch College.

Davis High School history

teacher Kevin Williams brought Yoon to Davis High on Thursday, where he spoke first to students in the afternoon and again to the general public in the evening. His message: Education is power. It saved his life. And it can change the lives of many other inmates, reducing recidivism in the process.

Yoon was born to parents who had emigrated to New

Unusual parasite strain killing sea otters

Special to The Enterprise

Four sea otters that stranded in California died from an unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis, according to a study from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and UC Davis. The disease is caused by the microscopic parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Scientists warn that this rare strain, never previously reported in aquatic animals, could pose a health threat to other marine wildlife and humans.

Courtesy photos

York from Korea. His mother left the family when he was 5 and his father, struggling to raise three young children on his own, sent Yoon and his siblings to live with their grandparents in Korea while he worked multiple jobs and saved up enough money to bring them back to the United States.

Upon the children’s return, the family moved from diverse

See REDEMPTION, Page A6

Nonprofit nears 20 years of service

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

Since 2003, Grace In Action has been a boon to Yolo County’s homeless and lowincome individuals offering hope, compassion, food and referrals to a litany of local agencies. As this nonprofit approaches its 20th anniversary of service, it’s important to reflect on the decades of effort it’s put into softening the blow to those who’ve fallen on hard times.

Like many great organizations, Grace In Action has a humble beginning. So humble in fact, that it literally started out of the trunk of Grace In Action’s founder, Cindy Burger.

With a desire to help Davis’ homeless and low-income folks, Burger simply parked her car at the University Covenant Church — then on Anderson Road — opened up her trunk and started passing out water bottles and fresh socks. And with

See SERVICE, Page A7

Grace in Action

Johnson plans lunches with Patti, a volunteer with the organization.

The preliminary findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, note that toxoplasmosis is common in sea otters and can be fatal. This unusual strain appears to be especially virulent and capable of rapidly killing healthy adult otters.

The rare strain of Toxoplasma hasn’t been detected on the California coast before so is likely to be a recent arrival. Scientists are concerned that if it contaminates the environment and the marine food chain, it could pose a public health risk.

At present, no infections with the

See OTTERS, Page A2

State lifts target for 15% water saving as storm nears

By Alastair Bland CalMatters

With the Sierra Nevada smothered in snow, large swaths of the Central Valley underwater and many Californians weary of water, state officials announced today that they are lifting some drought-related provisions on water use.

“Our water supply conditions have improved markedly,” said Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot.

The state is rescinding its request for voluntary 15% water conservation statewide, which was issued in July 2021, and

instead, Crowfoot said, shifting to an approach of making conservation a “way of life.”

“We need to maintain our vigilance,” he said. “It’s not about going back to normal anymore. It’s really adjusting to a new normal.”

Some of the state’s emergency provisions were ended and some were left in place. Wasteful uses of water, such as hosing down sidewalks and watering ornamental grass on commercial property, remain banned, according to state officials.

See WATER, Page A7

Sebastian Yoon, featured in the Ken Burns PBS docu-series “College Behind Bars,” spoke to Davis High School students on Thursday about how being able to earn a college degree in prison saved his life.

Courtesy photo

executive director Edward

Meet

OTTERS: Researchers ‘still have much to learn’

strain have been reported in humans.

About us

“Because this parasite can infect humans and other animals, we want others to be aware of our findings, quickly recognize cases if they encounter them and take precautions to prevent infection,” said corresponding author Melissa Miller of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We encourage others to take extra precautions if they observe inflamed systemic fat deposits in sea otters or other marine wildlife.”

Common parasite, rare outcome

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite hosted by wild and domestic cats and shed in their feces. Although healthy humans rarely experience symptoms, toxoplasmosis can cause miscarriages and neurological disease.

Sea otters are especially vulnerable to Toxoplasma infection because they live near the shoreline where they may be exposed to the parasite’s eggs in rainwater runoff, and they eat marine invertebrates that can concentrate the parasites.

The four sea otters described in this study stranded between 2020 and 2022. All had severe inflammation of their body fat — a condition called steatitis. Severe steatitis is a very unusual finding in sea otters with toxoplasmosis.

MAILING ADDRESS

“The appearance of this lethal type of Toxoplasma in coastal California is concerning for two main reasons: First, because of potential population health impacts on a threatened species, and second, because this parasite could also affect the health of other animals that are susceptible to Toxoplasma infection,” said study coauthor Devinn Sinnott of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Microscopic examination of tissues confirmed Toxoplasma as the cause of death for all four otters. High numbers of the parasites were observed throughout each body except the brain, which is typically one of the major organs affected in sea otters with fatal

toxoplasmosis.

DNA testing identified a rare strain of Toxoplasma called COUG in all four cases. This strain was first found in 1995 in Canadian mountain lions during surveillance after a nearby outbreak among humans, but the strain of Toxoplasma responsible for the outbreak was never reported. Detection of COUG in sea otters is concerning for the health and recovery of this threatened species.

“This was a complete surprise,” said senior author Karen Shapiro of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “The COUG genotype has never before been described in sea otters, nor anywhere in the California coastal environment or in any other aquatic mammal or bird.”

Sea otters under threat

All four otters stranded during periods of high coastal rainfall, which means they may have been exposed to Toxoplasma eggs via storm runoff. Although three of the otters stranded near each other, it

is unclear whether they were all infected in the same location. How this unusual strain might affect humans or other animals is also unknown.

“I have studied Toxoplasma infections in sea otters for 25 years, and I have never seen such severe lesions or high parasite numbers,” Miller said. “We are reporting our preliminary findings to alert others about this concerning condition. Since Toxoplasma can infect any warm-blooded animal, it could also potentially cause disease in animals and humans that share the

same environment or food resources, including mussels, clams, oysters, and crabs that are consumed raw or undercooked.”

With increased surveillance, the COUG strain may be identified in other animals.

“We still have much to learn,” said Sinnott. “Larger-scale studies are needed to understand the potential impact of infection by the COUG Toxoplasma strain on sea otter populations, how geographically dispersed it is, how it is being introduced into the ocean and what other animals might be affected.”

The strain of  Toxoplasma that is threatening sea otters hasn’t been detected on the California coast before so is likely to be a recent arrival.

Acid test: Turn copper pennies green

By Sara Thompson Special to the Enterprise

St. Patrick’s Day might be over, but we can keep the green going with this simple home experiment.

You’ll need a shallow bowl, pennies, white vinegar, salt and paper towels.

To begin, add about a ¼ cup of vinegar to the shallow bowl, then add around a teaspoon of salt to the vinegar and mix until dissolved.

Next, place the pennies into the solution and let them sit for several minutes. After that, pull the pennies out of the solution and let them sit on a paper towel. Watch what happens.

As the pennies rest on the paper towels, they will begin to get a green patina. This can take as little as an hours to up to several days to occur depending on the age and the cleanliness of the penny.

Why does this happen?

Pennies are made from copper, which will form

Explorit SciEncE cEntEr

copper oxide when exposed to the air. This is what makes pennies turn a darker color as they age. The vinegar breaks up the copper oxide and exposed the pure copper underneath. As the penny dries it reacts to oxygen and salt creating the same green substance that made the Statue of Liberty what it is today.

There are many variations you can do with this experiment. You can use different acids instead of vinegar. You could make several batches and leave them soaking for different lengths of time.

Try rinsing a few pennies before laying them on the towel to dry and see how that is different. Check to see if the date of the penny matters in how well the reaction goes. Pennies minted after 1982 are made of less than 3% copper and coated in zinc;

how can this change the reaction?

Explorit's coming events:

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

n Join us for an “Eggs”travaganza on Saturday, April 8, from 10 a.m. 2 p.m. Egg-themed crafts and activities included with $5 admission, Explorit Members are free.

n Summer Science Camp registration is open! Camps for those entering K-2 and 3-5 available. For more information or to join a waitlist please visit: https://www.explorit.org/ camps.

n A Membership to Explorit grants the recipient free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, summer camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to

Opera House presents ‘Young Frankenstein’

Special to The Enterprise

Victorium Legal Inc. presents “Young Frankenstein” at the Woodland Opera House, 340 Second St. in Woodland from April 14 to May 7.

It’s alive! The electrifying adaptation of Mel Brooks’ monstrously funny film will leave you in stitches. Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”) inherits his family’s estate in Transylvania.

With the help of a

hunchbacked sidekick, he finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors as he brings to life a creature that eventually escapes. Needless to say, the villagers are up in arms, but hilarity abounds.

Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks. Original direction and choreography by Susan Stroman.

Performances are set for Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. All seating is

An experiment that can be done at home turns pennies green.

visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https:// www.explorit.org/membership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.

n School Programs are available to schedule for next school year. We have

educational programs that travel to schools and options for field trips at our facility. Please call 530-756-0191 for more information or to schedule.

n Now is a great time to donate and help Explorit continue to educate and

inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www. explorit.org/donate.

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

reserved, ticket prices are $30 for Adults, $28 Seniors (62-plus), and $15 for Children under 17. Balcony pricing is Adults at $18 and Children at $9. The show features adult humor and language. The Opera House recommend this show for audiences ages 14 and older. Purchase tickets online at www.WoodlandOperaHouse.Org and at the Box Office 530-666-9617. Box Office hours are Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m.

courtESy photo

Logos hosts watercolor and oils painter

Special to The Enterprise Logos Books will exhibit “Napa, Sedona, And Points In Between,” oils and watercolors by Terry McIlmoil Henry from April 1 to 28 at 513 Second St. in downtown Davis.

While pursuing a degree in dietetics at UC Davis, Henry’s busy schedule allowed her to enroll in only one art course. After graduating she began a 33 year career at the Robert Mondavi Winery. Throughout, her desire to learn to paint was omnipresent.

After retiring, she enrolled in an art course at Napa Valley College and it sparked the beginning of a journey to fulfill that lifelong dream to learn to paint and enhance her creative spirit. Terry went on to study with Christine Olivo for five years and is taking workshops from

Elio Camacho. Henry finds oils and watercolors to be challenging, yet quite different from one another. Her exhibit will feature oils of Napa Valley vineyards and Sedona vistas, and a few watercolor landscapes.

Meet the artist at her 2nd Friday ArtAbout reception on April 14 from 6 to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

Entertainment will be provided by The Folk Music Folks playing folk songs from around the globe.

Public receptions for local artists will also be held at various venues on that same evening in conjunction with the Davis Downtown 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

You can see more details and a map of venues at facebook.com/davisartabout or https://theartery.net/2nd-friday-artabout.

From left, Christopher Travlos (Igor), Nicole Richter (Inga) and Branden Price (Frederick) star in the Woodland Opera House’s production of “Young Frankenstein.”

Marilyn Wales Trau

February 1928 — February 2023

Marilyn Trau died peacefully at home in Davis at the age of 95. She was born in Oakland to Marcella and William Wales. She grew up in Oakland and Niles during the depression years enduring many hardships, the most notable being when she and her brother had to live with relatives in what is now Fremont while her mother worked in another city to provide for them.

One of her greatest joys was when they could be reunited after a few years. She graduated from Holy Names High School in Oakland and began a long career of work in the service industry: first, at Hastings department store followed by many years with Pacific Bell then AT&T phone companies. After World War II, her younger brother introduced her to an employee at the gas station where he worked, and Marilyn and Frank Trau were soon married.

They welcomed their first daughter a few years later and moved from Oakland to the new suburb of Orinda, where their second daughter was born. They would continue to reside there for more than 50 years.

Marilyn was active in social clubs, school activities and bridge clubs before returning to full time work in the ’70s. She had a lifelong love of baseball (her father played professionally in the minor leagues) and she enthusiastically followed the San

James Bruce Ferguson

Sept. 20, 1932 — Feb. 28, 2023

Bruce Ferguson, 90, of Davis, died peacefully at home on Feb. 28, 2023, of congestive heart failure. He was born Sept. 30, 1932, in Longview, Wash., to Wilmoth and James L. Ferguson.

After growing up in Longview and graduating from R.A. Long High School in 1950, Bruce attended Lower Columbia Junior College before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1952. He was stationed in Korea until he returned home in October 1954 to marry his highschool sweetheart, Dorothy Bauer. Two weeks after their wedding, Bruce and Dorothy packed up a ’51 Chevy with their clothes and wedding gifts, and headed for Greenville, S.C., for Bruce’s stateside assignment.

During the next 24 months, they moved nine different times with each new assignment in Tennessee and South Carolina. They welcomed their first child, Beverly, on the day after their first anniversary.

Following their time in the military, the young family moved back to Washington state, where Bruce used the GI Bill for further education before beginning a decades long career as a computer engineer with IBM, where he

Francisco Giants.

Marilyn was fiercely supportive of her children and a doting grandma to Liz, Sara, Becky, Jenny and Kyle. Family was everything to her. She was a strong woman, exceptionally generous and passionately independent even in her final years when physical and visual limitations challenged her.

TRAU

Nine years ago, Marilyn and Frank moved to Davis, living independently in their own home next-door to their daughter. While they were reluctant to leave their Orinda community, they found the neighborhood community in Davis to be a welcoming place. They adored having frequent visits from family and neighbors and especially their grand-dog Sammy. They truly valued their unique circumstances of being able to age-in-place near family.

Marilyn is preceded in death by her life partner Frank Trau, her beloved daughter Mary Ann, and many relatives and friends. She is survived by her brother Sam Wales, daughter Katie Horn (John) of Davis, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Private services will be held in June.

Donations can be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or the American Cancer Society.

solved complex problems as if they were fun, intricate board games. His career took their family to several trainings in upstate New York; an initial assignment for five years in Albany, Ore., where their son, Daniel, was born in 1960; and an eventual move to Los Angeles, where they raised their family.

Their family time in Southern California included enjoying nearby beaches, Sunday drives, camping vacations, Indian Guides, Boy and Girl Scout trips, and watching jets land at the newly expanded Los Angeles Airport.

Following retirement, Bruce and Dorothy relocated several times before eventually settling in Davis in 2009. Even as his mobility became limited, Bruce continued to enjoy retirement playing duplicate bridge, reading, going to movies and following the UC Davis Women’s Basketball team. After COVID restrictions halted the bridge games, he took up daily online backgammon games with his son.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughter Bev Ransom (Ben) of Davis; son Dan Ferguson (Nancy) of Ventura; granddaughters Chelsea Le (Chris) of Davis, Holly Bull

(Simon) of London, U.K., and Ellen Ferguson of Torrance; and greatgrandsons Theo and Felix Bull, and Ansel and Mattias Le.

Our family is deeply grateful for the wonderful care given by Dr. Radhika Bukkapatnam, Dr. Kelly Siemens, longterm caregiver Rosy Diaz and everyone at YoloCares hospice.

In recognition of the excellent medical care he received, Bruce was proud to contribute to future medical research by arranging to become a donor upon his passing to both the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center and the UC Davis Body Donation Program.

He was a good, kind man, a devoted husband and dad, and loved being “Papa” to his granddaughters and great-grandsons, with lots of games played, puzzles constructed, and birthdays celebrated. He passed away knowing that he was deeply loved by his family, and that he will be terribly missed.

Friends and family will gather in early April for a celebration of life. For details, contact bev. kayaking@gmail.com.

Denise Young, originally of Davis, died unexpectedly on Feb. 17, 2023, of a brain aneurysm suffered while on a two-week assignment at her company’s nursery in Winters. Denise was the company’s greenhouse manager in her hometown of Hillsboro, Ore., where she lived. She was 56 years old.

Denise was born on Father’s Day to parents Bob and Lynn Young of Davis on June 19, 1966. Shortly after her birth the family moved to Las Cruces, N.M., where her sister Diane joined the family in December 1968. They then moved to Ames, Iowa, and again to Washington, D.C., where her father worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During this time Denise lived and attended kindergarten in Fairfax, Va. Even though it was only a block away from the family home, little Denise was so proud of knowing when and how to get on “Bus No. 6” to and from school. The family moved back to Davis in the summer of 1973, where she began to form her identity and blossom into the beautiful, warmhearted spirit that remains in our hearts to this day.

Those who knew Denise knew that her greatest desire and highest priority at all times was to make sure that everyone was happy. Her love of family, and particularly her son Peter, was unquestionably her guiding light and inspiration for everything she did.

Beyond family, however, her next greatest passion was her never ending love of music. From an early

The Enterprise publishes brief death notices free of charge. These include name, age, city of residence, occupation, date of death and funeral/ memorial information. Paid-for obituaries allow for controlled content with the option for photos. Submissions may be made via www.davisenterprise.com/obit-form/.

age, Denise was a flower child and a consummate

Deadhead, attending concerts and festivals, gobbling up as many records and tapes (yes tapes) as she could, and passionately turning family and friends onto the latest thing she was listening to. It wasn’t just the music that Denise embraced. It was the lifestyle, the culture, the ideals or perhaps even the dream that people of all types and backgrounds could somehow live in harmony, and that music and love could be the glue that held it all together.

Another of Denise’s greatest loves was for our planet and everything that lives and grows on it. She grew up surrounded by flowers, tutored from childhood to garden by her father. Dating back to when she first read Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax” as a little girl, Denise was destined to be a student and ambassador of the Earth as her interest in plants grew.

After attending Davis schools and graduating from Davis High in 1984, Denise pursued and obtained her ornamental horticulture degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at the urging of her high school teachers, who recognized her passion for the natural world. She would go on to pursue horticulture in various forms throughout her career, from her early days at Buckholtz Nursery, Oregon Garden Products and Hines Nursery, to Laycock

Gardens, Fred Meyer Garden Center and her most recent position at Everde Nursery, where she would spend her final moments doing what she loved.

She saw that her little plants were cared for lovingly till they were prepared to go out into the world. The greenhouses were her havens, she loved to breathe the breath of plants. She was our Green poet.

Denise is survived by son Peter Laycock of Hillsboro, Ore.; partner, John McNeeley of Hillsboro; father and stepmother Bob and Liz Young of Davis; sister and brother-in-law Diane and Dean Thomas of Moraga; stepbrother and sister-inlaw Charlie and Marilee Ingalls of Ridgefield, Wash.; stepsister and brother-in-law Alyssa Ingalls and Dwayne Fletcher of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and nieces and nephews Dylan and Jessica Thomas, Lee Fletcher, and MacKayla Livingstone. She was proceeded in death by her mother, Carol Lynn Maxwell.

Denise was beloved by all who knew her. A celebration of life party in her honor is being planned for late Spring or early Summer in the Portland, Ore., area.

“Denise was my flower child. A ‘deadicated’ Deadhead.” — Dad

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

California, County of Yolo

Published March 26, April 2, 9, 16, 2023 #2217

Deborah Poulos

170 sq. ft office space for rent at 130 D St. Downtown Davis. $700 per month. (626)375-8336

Windows installer needed in Dixon, CA. $18.00-$20.00 per hour. Experience preferred but not necessary. Daily lunch tap paid. Drive time to and from jobsite paid. Must have dependable transportation. Starts immediately: Call Newpane(707)678-9970

Summer leadership camp opportunities for high school juniors. The Davis Sunrise Rotary club is offering full scholarships to current high school juniors for two summer leadership camps, Camp Royal and Camp Venture. If interested, contact Don Winters, dsw0419@gmail.com

CITY OF DAVIS PUBLIC NOTICE ORDINANCE SUMMARY

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on March 7, 2023, the City Council of the City of Davis, California, introduced an ordinance, and on March 21, 2023 the City Council unanimously adopted the following entitled ordinance:

ORDINANCE NO. 2639

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CITY OF DAVIS MUNICIPAL

Yolo County Housing Authority (“County”) is seeking proposals from qualified persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, associations, or professional organizations to provide construction services for the YCH Migrant Centers Broadband Wi-Fi Service Project (“Project”).

The Request for Proposals (“RFP”), which includes instructions for its completion, is enclosed for your consideration. Responden ts to this RFP shall submit a completed Proposal (collectively “RFP Packet”). Respondents must mail, deliver, or email RFP Packet conforming to the requirements of this RFP to:

YOLO COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY

ATTN: Tom Dogias 147 W. Main St Woodland, CA 95695 tdogias@ych.ca.gov

RE: RFP # 2023-001 YCH MIGRANT CENTERS BROADBAND WI-FI SERVICE

ALL RESPONSES ARE DUE BY 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 13, 2023. RFP Packets received after this date and time will not be accepted and returned unopened.

A Pre-Proposal Site Visit will be conducted on Friday, March 31, 2023, at 8:00 A.M. The meeting will be held at Madison Migrant Center, 20290 State Highway 16, Madison CA 95653 - Meet by the entry gate.

Questions regarding this RFP may be directed to Chris Rodriguez, crodriguez@kitchell.com, and must be submitted in writing on or by 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 5, 2023. All documents associated with this Request for Proposal can be found including all updates at the county website: https://www.ych.ca.gov/doing-business-with-us/

This Project is subject to labor compliance monitoring and enforcement of compliance with prevailing wage requirements by the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code, § 1771.4. Contractors of all tiers must be currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code, § 1725.5. Published March 26, 2023 #2215

FERGUSON

Properties change hands; Picnic shop to debut

Afamily-owned San Diego company purchased two adjacent properties at Third and G streets in downtown Davis, with Temple Coffee and Three Mile Brewing among the 22 tenants.

The Courtyard, which houses Three Mile, Volleys Tennis Shop and several others, was sold along with the 3+G building, which has Temple Coffee, Zumapoke and more office occupants. They sold together on March 3 for $6.4 million.

Jim Gray of Kidder Matthews confirmed that Filson Sawyer Holdings of San Diego purchased the property. Managing partners and cousins Kim Messing and M.J. Filson organized the purchase as a rental income.

The Courtyard was called Court ’N Cedar before it was remodeled in 2015. That’s also when the 3+G building was created.

The sellers are siblings Anthony Ruebner and Sally Mohr. Their parents Boris and Sue Ruebner were among the original investors with majority partner Bob Warren. In 2014, the siblings bought out the other partners before they renovated the properties.

Anthony Ruebner said they “feel very proud of that space. It really revitalized that corner.” He praised its vibrant set of tenants.

Though this is the last Davis commercial property owned by the siblings, Ruebner said the family plans to remain in real estate, focusing on the residential side.

Browman Development Company of Walnut Creek recently purchased more property on Second Street in downtown Davis. It bought the spot occupied by Sleep Center Davis, at 706 Second St. Escrow on the space, the longtime home to Carousel Stationery, closed about a month ago for an undisclosed amount.

Browman made headlines in 2016 when it purchased several buildings along Second Street from the Brinley family. Today, those properties house Armadillo Music, The Avid Reader, Fleet Feet, Froggy’s Bar & Grill, Raising Cane’s and Philz Coffee, among others.

Wednesday is the soft opening for Mabel’s Farm Box

Shelley Dunning’s charcuterie market fills the former Shu Shu’s Clothing space at 227 E St., Suite 3, along the path between Peet’s Coffee and Chipotle dubbed “The Breezeway at Thyme.”

The adorable little store will sell premade charcuterie boxes as well as the ingredients to build your own. These include cheeses, meats, condiments, crackers, breads, pickles veggies, canned fish, drinks, flowers, and jars of her strawberry shortcake. Look for the famous photo of Bob Dunning’s family on Picnic Day. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays. Visit https://www.mabelsfarmbox.com/.

On Monday, the house at 515 First St. closed escrow. The UC Davis chapter of the Theta Xi fraternity sold it for $1.25 million. Theta Xi owned a row of three fraternity houses on First Street, between John Natsoulas Gallery and D Street. It tore two of them down — at 503 and 509 First St. — to build a new, multi-story fraternity house that is under construction.

Jim Gray of Kidder Matthews and his partner Nahz Avery represented Theta Xi. He said proceeds of sale will be used to buy down the construction costs and the mortgage rates for the new development, making it more affordable for tenants.

Barrett McKenzie Properties purchased the 3,964 square-foot house at 515 First. Fraternity members live in the house, and are renting it back until July 1. Buyers Brian Barrett and Brian McKenzie were considering restaurant or retail options for the property before signing an agreement with another Davis fraternity to lease the seven-bedroom 3,964-square-foot house. I don’t know the name of the new fraternity. From my column’s perspective, I was more excited about the other options.

Around the corner, the women’s clothing boutique The Wardrobe planned a 35th anniversary party on Saturday, March 25.

The store at 117 D St. is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and by appointment.

SpeeDee-Midas, the oil change and auto service center at 2000

F St., is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a customer appreciation celebration on Saturday, April 1. The business is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but plans to serve tacos from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Owner Teresa Wanderstadt plans to hand out coupons on oil changes. Her son, Kenny Wanderstadt, will display the sprint car he races, which features the SpeeDee logo. They will also have a drawing for tickets to the Placerville Speedway.

There’s a new mortgage office in Davis. Broker and Davis resident Ed Nakamura recently opened an Omni Fund office at 437 F St., Suite 7. Nakamura has been in the mortgage business for 33 years, including at Young, Sierra Pacific and Finance of America mortgage companies, the last two as branch manager. He works with lending institutions to negotiate rates and costs but processes the loan in Davis. “There’s no outsourcing and no call centers. This is truly a local business,” he said. Email ed.nakamura@omnifund.com for information.

Mamma, the Italian restau-

rant and market filling the former Bistro 33 and City Hall Tavern spaces at 226 F St. is hoping to open in April, but “just found out a couple things may need some attention,” co-owner Michael Galyen said Thursday. So, last week’s projection of April 10 may be optimistic.

And no, I still don’t have news on Bull ’N Mouth, Orangetheory Fitness, Estelle Bakery & Pâtisserie or Yolo Beer Ranch. It’s not for lack of trying. I believe most of them are wading through the permitting process.

Before messaging me about the status of an ongoing project, please review my paywall-free Google spreadsheet, which includes more than 325 Davis businesses. It’s at https://bit.ly/ DavisBusinesses. The most active tabs are Restaurants Open, Restaurants Closed and Coming Soon.

— Wendy Weitzel is a Davis writer and editor. Her column runs on Sundays. Check for frequent updates on her Comings & Goings Facebook and Instagram pages. If you know of a business coming or going in the area, email news tips to wendyedit@ gmail.com.

Woodland Opera House appoints executive director

Special to The Enterprise

After an extensive nationwide search process, The Woodland Opera House Board of Trustees announced Tom Burmester as the new executive director for the historic theater. Burmester will replace Angela Baltezore, who retires at the end of June.

“We are very excited to have Tom join our WOH family,” said Lou Anderson, board president. “Filling the many roles and responsibilities, as Angela has done so well for the past nine years, will not be easy. But we know Tom is well experienced and up to the challenge of continuing the WOH legacy of presenting excellent theatre productions and outstanding education programs, especially for youth, to our community.”

The board believes Burmester’s background as a producer, theater-maker and educator, in Northern and Southern California, will help to further the mission of the organization that is an historical landmark in Yolo County, and home to

an active theater, and theater education program.

Burmester will begin work at the WOH in May and assume the executive director role in July, managing all day-to-day operations for the nonprofit. “His substantial experience in working with a variety of theatrical venues and programs has well prepared him to take on the Executive Director position,” a news release said. In Los Angeles, as audience experience designer for

Center Theatre Group, he created engaging participatory experiences for audiences at the Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre.

He was the founding artistic director of the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, where he produced and directed over 30 new plays and developed "one of the finest and most committed ensembles performing on any Los Angeles stage," according to Backstage. During LATE's residency,

he served as managing director of the historic Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica.

His work as playwright, director and producer of “The War Cycle” earned awards and recognition, including three Ovation Award nominations and a Special Citation from LA Weekly for "Excellence and Breadth of Vision."

Most recently, in collaboration with UC Davis, he was a founding co-director and producer of the Ground and Field Theatre Festival. This three-year sandbox project invited international playwrights to

create new plays and musicals that centered on narratives of environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

Burmester is an adjunct professor of performing

Arts at St. Mary's College, where he teaches Science Fiction Theatre and Season Planning. He has also taught acting, directing, design, and theatre studies at UCLA and UC Davis.

Shelley Dunning is shown through the window of Mabel’s Farm Box, which is scheduled to open March 29.

Wendy Weitzel/ Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo

Tom Burmester, left, will take over for Angela Baltezore, right, as executive director of the Woodland Opera House.

Tuesday

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 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). This month the Village Homes Performers’ Circle will be held inside the Village Homes Community Center, 2661 Portage Bay East, Davis.

Wednesday

n Join the League of Women Voters Davis Area and Davis Media Access for a candidates’ forum on the upcoming Davis City Council election for a new representative from District 3. The free Zoom event will be from 7 to 8:15 p.m. District 3 represents residents in Central Davis. The elected council member will replace Lucas Frerichs, who was elected to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors in November. The all-mail ballot special election will be on May 2. The forum will feature candidates Donna Neville and Francesca Wright. Local LWV board member Michele Van Eyken will moderate the event. Audience members will be able to submit questions before and during the forum.

The LWV is a non-partisan organization committed to voter registration and education. To learn more about the League and to sign up to this event, go to www.lwvdavisarea.org.

Friday

n The UC Davis Arboretum hosts a Folk Music Jam Session from noon to 1 p.m. Folk musicians can bring their acoustic instruments and play together informally during this jam session at Wyatt Deck (next to the redwood grove). Pull out your fiddles, guitars, mandolins, penny whistles, pipes, flutes, squeezeboxes (you name it) and join your fellow musicians for a little bluegrass, old-time, blues, Celtic, klezmer and world music over the lunch hour. All skill levels welcome and listeners are invited. Short-term parking is available in Visitor Lot 5 on Old Davis Road at Arboretum Drive.

Wednesday

April 5

n The Valley Oak Chapter of the Embroiderer’s

Guild of America will host a Zoom presentation at 11 a.m. by Youngmin Lee on Bojagi, a traditional form of Korean hand quilting. Ms. 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. If you are interested in attending, contact Linda Wayne at laws999@ gmail.com by March 31, to add you to the Zoom list.

Saturday, April 8

n The Yolo County Library, the Yolo County Library Foundation and Stories on Stage Davis will present an evening of science fiction with author Kim Stanley Robinson at at 7:30 p.m. in the Richard Brunelle Performance Hall at Davis High School (DSHS), 315 W. 14th St. in Davis. Tim Gaffaney will read Robinson’s short story, “Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars,” followed by a question-andanswer period with Robinson, moderated by Dr. Andy Jones. The evening will also include three DHS actors reading Winters High School student Tristan Cooper’s story, “We Made the Afterlife Better,” which won the “Out of This World” high school science fiction writing contest. To register for this free event, visit: tinyurl. com/scifievening2023.

Yolo County Library Foundation and Stories on Stage Davis are accepting donations through the registration link to further support early childhood literacy, literature and theater arts.

Friday, April 28

n The Avid Reader will host award-winning and best-selling author Karen Joy Fowler for a discussion of her most recent book, “Booth.” A former Davis resident, Fowler is also well known for her books “The Jane Austen Book Club” and “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” (set in Davis). Fowler will be introduced by local author Kim Stanley Robinson. “Booth” was voted a Best Book of The Year by NPR, Real Simple Magazine, AARP and USA Today and was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. The novel is an epic and intimate novel about the family behind one of the most infamous figures in American history: John Wilkes Booth. The event will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase both in store at The Avid Reader Davis and online at www. avidreaderbooks.com.

REDEMPTION: Violence led to trouble

From Page A1

Flushing Meadows to Long Island, where Yoon was one of very few Asian students at his school and the racism and bullying, he said, were relentless.

“I’d never experienced the slanted-eyes jokes,” he said, or the racial slurs.

“In Long Island, it became the norm. Every day, people would slant their eyes at me.”

Sometimes the bullying was physical.

“I would go home and I would cry,” he recalled.

Until one day when he couldn’t take it anymore, he said, and lashed out at a bully, beating him up.

“And I remember as I was hitting him, the only thing I could think of was, ‘Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?’ ”

He also realized his response had silenced the bullies. “And I think I smiled. I smiled because I learned that violence could solve my issues. That violence made me feel powerful. And from that day on, no one ever bullied me without facing consequences.”

But that day was also the beginning of a descent that would ultimately land him in prison, “because I became a bully myself.”

He took to the streets, he said, didn’t care about school any more, became involved with a gang and spiraled.

One night, during a gang initiation, he said, there was a fight in a bar, and someone died.

“It was the first time I realized a fight can be a huge deal,” Yoon says in College Behind Bars. “It can destroy someone’s life. It destroyed the victim’s life in a senseless death and it destroyed mine.”

He was 16 at the time, charged with manslaughter and ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Later, locked in a prison cell, he tried to take his own life, only backing off when he thought of his father, who visited him every other week, often driving for hours each way, and never gave up on him.

“But to keep going, to survive more than 10 years in prison, I had to find something more, an inspiration … to carry me over every day. And that was education.”

Yoon learned about the Bard Prison Initiative and applied. “I was very fortunate because I got picked. I was one of 16 students out of 260 who applied in that facility alone.”

The expectations for participants are high — equal to those of students attending college outside of prison walls — “and they expect excellence,” Yoon said. “And I think that expectation, which is very contrary to how the

criminal justice system perceived and defined us — as irrational, violent and stupid — made us want to excel and do excellent.

“But for me, it was more than that,” he added. “It was a reason for me to live. It became my lifeline. If I could complete education in prison, I could compete in life when I came home. So for the next six, seven years, it became my life.”

When he completed his sentence and was released a few years ago, he landed a job with Open Society and continues to speak out about the importance of educational opportunities in prisons, where “there’s immense potential and humanity.”

“We are the biggest jailer in the world,” Yoon said of the United States, with 2 million people imprisoned.

“And disproportionately, those people who are in prison happen to be people of color or come from lowincome neighborhoods.”

“Punishment alone will not make a better society,” he said.

Fifty percent of those imprisoned will go home and then return to prison within three years of release, Yoon said. “For (Bard Prison Initiative) students who graduated like me, (it’s) 3 percent.”

Prison college programs used to be common, according to Bard College, but the 1994 federal crime

bill gutted funding for them. In New York State, less than 2 percent of the prison population now has access to higher education, according to Bard.

“If you look across history,” Yoon said, “every totalitarian regime, dictatorships, one of the fundamental ways in which they try to maintain power is to suppress education, to take away education.

“Education is not just about receiving a diploma. I think the most important aspect of education is understanding that you… can change the world. And revise the ways in which you perceive the world. Education is power. For me, it saved my life.”

“Sebastian walks the walk,” Williams said. “He’s not just talking about it for him or his friends, but for the entire prison system.”

“As a teacher,” Williams added, “I felt that for all of the students that are here, it’s such a powerful idea that all of us, including teachers, take for granted — the power of education. To hear someone speak to the power that it had in his life. And we shouldn’t take that for granted. And maybe we can share that opportunity with others.”

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

Odd Fellows’ ‘A Taste of Davis’ returning in April

Special to The Enterprise

The popular annual “A Taste of Davis” returns on Thursday, April 27, hosted by the Davis Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St. in Downtown Davis. From 6 to 8 p.m., guests will be able to sample and taste good food, beer, wine, desserts and other assorted goodies from 18 of the premier purveyors in Davis and Yolo County — all for one set price.

This year, the list of Purveyors includes Berryessa Gap Vineyards, Bones Craft Kitchen, Candy House of Davis, Cork It Again, Davis Farmers Market, Dunloe Brewing, Handheld Sweet & Savory Pies, Let Them Eat Cake, Oobli, Sahara Kabob, Steve’s Pizza, Sudwerk Brewery, Sudwerk Restaurant, Super Owl Brwing, Three Mile Brewing, Turkovich Family Winery, Upper Crust Bakery and Yuchon Shokudo.

This event has been sponsored and hosted by the Davis Odd Fellows for the last decade, and hundreds of local residents come to the Odd Fellows Lodge to socialize and to enjoy the good food and drink. “This is a gastronomic feast,” said long-time Taste of Davis Co-Chair Lea Rosenberg, “but it’s also a great local social

event — folks come to see and be seen. It’s lots of fun. And for the low price of $20 you can taste and sample 18 different purveyors to your heart’s content.

Major Event Sponsor of the 2023 Taste of Davis is EdwardJones. The Davis Enterprise is also a significant supporting sponsor of

this annual gathering.

Tickets are $20 per person (or $25 per person if purchased at the door of the event). Online tickets may be purchased starting March 30 at https:// tasteofdavis2023.eventbrite.com. Hard-copy tickets may be purchased at Treehouse Vintage at 423

2nd Street in Downtown Davis.

The Davis Odd Fellows plan to make a contribution to the Davis Community Meals and Housing from the proceeds of this event. The lodge has been a fixture in Davis since 1870.

WATER: Groundwater basins still low

The state, however, is ending its requirement that local water agencies implement Level 2 drought contingency plans, which are locally written water use regulations— such as limits on watering lawns — that are invoked during water shortages.

In total, 81 drought-related provisions were enacted since April 2021. Just 33 remain in place, said Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press briefing today.

State officials also announced today a large increase in the amounts of water that local suppliers will get from the State Water Project, increasing from 35% announced last month to 75% of requested supplies. The water is provided to 750,000 acres of farmland and 27 million people, mostly in Southern California.

The announcements come as some of the state’s reservoirs near capacity, with some of the state’s largest expected to fill by late spring. And the snowpack of the Sierra Nevada, nearing record levels in the southern portion of the range, continues to grow.

When Newsom issued his voluntary conservation target almost two years ago, many water experts said Newsom should have made it mandatory, as former Gov. Jerry Brown did during the previous drought. They also criticized him for failing to reduce use by farmers, who consume 80% of the state’s delivered water supply.

State officials say even though the 15% target was voluntary, it worked. However, the data does not back that up: Californians used 6% less water from July 2021 through December 2022 compared to 2020 — falling far short of Newsom’s 15% goal.

Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland water-supply think tank, said California must not relax its ethos of water conservation.

In spite of wet weather, the state’s largest water supply — its groundwater basins — remain depleted.

“Even though reservoirs are recovering, groundwater aquifers remain depleted. The Colorado

River — a major water source for Southern California — is also facing a massive deficit,” Cooley said. “The reality is we don’t have water to waste in California. We need to continue investing in water efficiency to prepare for a hotter, drier future and more intense droughts.”

Mike McNutt, spokesperson for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Los Angeles County, said the retraction of the conservation target “sends the wrong message” to the public.

“Why put out messaging that says something different, that says, ‘You can conserve if you want to, but you don’t need to’?” said McNutt, whose district serving 75,000 people is totally reliant on water from the state aqueduct.

“The next drought is certainly just around the corner,” he added.

Californians did cut their average water use by 600,000 acrefeet in almost two years That’s almost two-thirds the volume of Folsom Reservoir and enough water to serve 1.2 million households in a year.

Crowfoot stressed that the drought is not over, noting that drought status “is not a completely binary situation.” In some parts of

SERVICE: Mission grew from early effort to help

From Page A1

a simple act of kindness, an idle idea became Grace in Action.

“Later on, that morphed into sandwiches,” said Grace In Action Vice President Lorell Hardaker. “Then she led it with a board of directors to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and it grew to serving hot meals three times a week at a little house out of Davis Community Church. After that we decided to reach out more to the whole community, so we moved to United Methodist Church and Pole Line Baptist Church serving two days a week out of those sites. Funnily enough, we ended up back outside in parking lots again. But we’re back to inside now.”

go to other places and we also have a person who comes in and give free haircuts. We try to take care of basic needs while making someone feel restored. For clothes, we give clean socks, and we also give vouchers to All Things Right And Relevant so people can go there and pick out what they need.”

While Grace In Action is a — as Hardaker described — a Christ-based organization, one doesn’t need to believe or subscribe to any religion or organization in order to attend. All that’s required is an openness for friendship and food.

the state, drought conditions have dramatically eased, but not in others. Crowfoot said the Klamath River basin and the region of Southern California that relies on Colorado River water continue to face “acute water shortages.”

Thousands of households lack drinking water due to depleted groundwater basins, which have been overdrafted for decades and experts agree they will not rebound in a single rainy winter.

Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said the hope is that cities “are not just rebounding” to old ways of water use.

“Conservation remains a priority,” Crowfoot added.

Michael Anderson, a climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources, said snowpack is at 278% of normal, with another storm system expected to hit the North Coast and move inland and south from there, starting Monday. The system, he said, will deliver a relatively cold storm originating in the Gulf of Alaska, unlike some recent blasts of tropical moisture. This means it will drop more snow in the mountains.

Grace In Action serves food on Mondays at United Methodist Church on Anderson Road and on Wednesdays out at Pole Line Baptist Church on Pole Line Road from noon to 1 p.m. both days.

However, it’s not only the homeless Grace In Actions seeks to serve, nor is it only about serving food. Hardaker went on to emphasize how the organization’s mission also includes low-income people who are struggling to meet their basic needs. Beyond providing food, the nonprofit also yearns to restore its visitor’s dignity and hope. Not only in themselves, but the future.

“People need shelter, rest and safety. But they’re not going to make progress unless they know they’re a valued human being, and that’s our goal. To establish relationships and then move up from there,” Hardaker then dove deeper into what Grace In Action entails.

“We don’t just serve lunches and provide friendship, we also give out laundry vouchers, we give out bus passes for people who have to get to an appointment in Woodland or

“We offer prayer if someone wants it and communion on Wednesdays, but no one has to participate in anything. It’s also not first-and-foremost, not ‘come and pray and then you can have food.’ It’s just come and have food and we sit at the tables and talk like anyone,” said Hardaker. “I’ve been doing this over 10 years and I really enjoy this ministry. I enjoy knowing people’s names, they know my name and I can ask about families. It’s just a special place to be. My favorite part is definitely the relationship building and seeing people who have come back to volunteer after making changes in their life.”

Grace In Action’s taking strides in its mission thanks to its collaborations with the aforementioned churches above (along with 10 other churches), Davis Community Meals, Saint Vincent de Paul Society, All Things Right and Relevant, Lava Laundry, Northern California Legal aid as well as various other government agencies within Yolo County and Davis which includes the Respite Center.

For more information about Grace In Action, how to get involved or donate, visit its website at grace-in-action.org. Its address is PO Box 4393 and email address is gracein actiondavis@gmail.com.

Pablo UnzUeta/CalMatters Photo

Sprinklers soak a lawn in Los Angeles on June 5, 2022.

UCD tops in vet science, ag

By Julia Ann Easley Enterprise staff writer

UC Davis continues to be recognized for its leadership in the fields of veterinary science, and agriculture and forestry in the 2023 QS World University Rankings by Subject released March 22.

The influential Quacquarelli Symonds ranked UCD first in the nation and second in the world in both subjects.

Jessica Loya/courtesy photo Yolo Food Bank backers gather for the donor celebration event on March 15 in Woodland.

Food Bank gets its largest gift ever

Special to The Enterprise

WOODLAND — The largest private gift in the history of Yolo Food Bank was announced this week on the occasion of the organization’s inaugural donor celebration held on March 15 in Woodland.

Longtime Davis resident Katherine Chambers passed away on April 6, 2022, naming Yolo Food Bank as a beneficiary of her estate.

The organization said this gift of more than $900,000 will impact tens of thousands of lives for decades to come, and will serve as a seed gift for a planned giving circle to be named after Chambers, launching later this year.

“This is an extraordinary gift that doesn’t happen every day — what a testament this is to our mission” said Karen Baker, executive director of Yolo Food Bank.

She added, “Yolo Food Bank is honored and grateful to receive a gift of this magnitude that will have a lasting impact not only on our organization, but on the members of our community most in need. We are so grateful for Katherine and hope this will inspire other donors to

consider similar ways to shape the present and future of the communities they hold dear.”

Born in Rochester, N.Y., Chambers was the only child of Edward Chambers and Edna Messeroll Chambers.

Her studies lead her to obtain a degree in biological sciences from the Alfred University in Ithaca, N.Y., and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Michigan. Chambers settled in Davis in 1984l, after accepting a position in the biological and agricultural department of Shields Library at UC Davis.

During her 25-year tenure, she curated materials for the library’s collection and taught science database classes and offered her botany and bee culture research expertise for faculty and students.

Chambers lived a life of service and volunteering with numerous organizations in Yolo County, including Yolo Food Bank. She was also a dedicated member of The Friends of West Pond, a volunteer organization and community group who cares for the enhanced wetland wildlife habitat at the West

Area Pond in Davis. As a local resident, her favorite weekend destination was the Davis Farmers Market where she would ride her bicycle, as she chose not to drive a car.

“While the amount of this gift is certainly astonishing, what matters most to us is that Katherine Chambers has chosen to trust us with carrying on her legacy,” said Yolo Food Bank Senior Director of Development and Communications Steven Loya. “As food insecurity levels throughout our region keep rising, this major gift could not have come at a more critical time.”

In the coming months, Yolo Food Bank will introduce a planned giving circle to its supporters in honor of Chambers to inspire future gifts by promoting others to consider Yolo Food Bank in their estate plans. For more information, please contact Yolo Food Bank’s Senior Director of Development and Communications Steven Loya at steven@yolofoodbank.org.

To learn more about Yolo Food Bank, visit: https:// yolofoodbank.org.

Since veterinary science was added to the rankings in 2015, UC Davis has been first in the world five times and is No. 2 for a fourth time. The campus was No. 1 in agriculture and forestry in the first three years the subject was ranked and has held the No. 2 spot since 2016.

UC Davis was ranked 38th in the world and tied for 17th in the nation in the broad category of the life sciences and medicine. The campus was also ranked globally and nationally in each of the other broad categories of the rankings: natural

sciences, engineering and technology, arts and humanities, and social sciences and management.

In addition to being top-ranked in veterinary science and agriculture and forestry, the university had top 50 world rankings in four other subjects and top 25 national rankings in 14 others.

“The rankings shine a spotlight on UC Davis for its leadership in veterinary science and also demonstrate the excellent education and research the campus provides across the academic fields,” said Chancellor Gary S. May.

The rankings consider reputation among academics; reputation among employers; the citations and impact of academic papers from a university; and the diversity of a university’s international research network. In all, the 2023 rankings analyzed programs at 1,594 universities across the world.

In addition to veterinary science, and agricul-

ture and forestry, the top 50 world rankings are: environmental sciences, 22nd; biological sciences, 35th; development studies, 44th; anatomy and physiology, 50th.

The top 25 national rankings are: environmental sciences, 10th; development studies, 11th; civil and structural engineering, tied for 12th; geography, tied for 15th; anatomy and physiology, 16th; biological sciences, 17th; law, tied for 19th; earth and marine sciences, 20th; geophysics, tied for 21st; geology, tied for 21st; economics and econometrics, 21st; sports-related subjects, 22nd; statistics and operational research, tied for 22nd; chemical engineering, 23rd.

The School of Veterinary Medicine has more than 700 students. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has more than 7,400 undergraduates in 27 majors and 1,040 graduate students in 22 graduate groups and programs.

Wings & Wheels event at Woodland airport

Special to The Enterprise

A stunning display of classic cars and airplanes are sure to not only make a visual impression, but an impact on the future as well.

The Wings & Wheels event sponsored by Woodland Sunrise Rotary Club is a fundraiser event intended to connect Woodland to local organizations and businesses that support the community. By shining a light on the classic display of cars and planes, we share the light of the work that is many times behind the scenes.

Join us for a BBQ lunch fundraiser, food trucks, booths, and a silent raffle with a chance to win a scenic flight! Vote for the people’s choice for best in show at our classic car and airplane display while the kiddos participate in activities at the Kids Zone. There is something for everyone.

The event will be held at Watts-Woodland Airport on Saturday, April 29, 10

a.m. to 3 p.m. Public parking is $10, display competition entry is $20, and gate entry is free.

Woodland Sunrise Rotary is a service club that exercises “people in action” and the value of “service above self” within the community. Comprised of local business, professions, arts, medical, and civic leaders, members works together in friendship and community with a commitment to advance understanding, goodwill, peace, locally and internationally regardless of anyone’s background.

Watts-Woodland Airport is the oldest privately owned, public use airport in continuous operation in the United States. Founded in 1919 by the Yolo Fliers Club, the airport has been owned by the Watts family since 1952 and has been honored to host a legacy of aviation excellence for over 100 years of history. More information such as volunteer sign-ups, BBQ lunch menu and donation pricing are all listed on woodlandsunrise rotary.com.

Big West ConferenCe

Aggies strand many runners in loss to Titans

Enterprise staff

The UC Davis baseball team held a short lead over CSU Fullerton in a Big West Conference game at Dobbins Stadium on Friday.

Then the visiting Titans took over the contest.

That led to Fullerton posting an 11-2 victory over UCD (1-3 in the Big West, 6-11).

The Aggies slugged nine hits in Friday’s contest, while Fullerton had 13.

Alex Gouveia went 2-for-4 for the Aggies.

Seven UCD players had a hit each.

Damian Stone, Joey Wright, James Williams, Nick Leehey, Mark Wolbert, Riley Acosta and Nick Iverson.

The Aggies stranded eight base runners in the contest. The Titans had seven left on the bases.

The Aggies also struck out seven times. Fullerton only had four players strike out.

Rome wasn’t built in a day

On The Enterprise’s website at www. davisenterprise. com and Friday’s print edition, a story on the Sac-Joaquin Section holding its final league realignment at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton for the 202428 cycle ran.

Davis High, which has been a member of the Delta League since 2014, will move to the Sierra Foothill League come summer 2024. Both leagues are Division I.

The SFL will have Davis, along with current Delta rivals Jesuit and St. Francis, moving to the SFL to join Del Oro, Granite Bay, Folsom, Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Whitney for an eightschool league.

During the morning session of the March 21 meeting, St. Mary’s Principal Michael Wright shocked nearly all school administrators, athletic directors and people who were present with a football-only proposal.

The proposal would have St. Mary’s moved to the SFL, DHS to the Monticello Empire League and West of Tracy into the Tri-City Athletic League, also D-I.

The MEL, which is D-III, has Pioneer of Woodland, River City of West Sacramento, Rodriguez of Fairfield, Sacramento, Vacaville, Vanden of Fairfield and Wood of Vacaville.

Davis High Athletic Director Jeff Lorenson spoke to the committee about Wright’s proposal.

The Blue Devils have had limited success in recent years — a combined record of 3-16 the last two seasons.

Davis has gone through three head coaches in two seasons.

Nick Garrett enters his second season as the DHS head coach this fall.

The committee took no

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The Aggies continue Big West play, a three-game set, against CSU Fullerton on Saturday and today. Starting time for today is 1 p.m.

Today’s projected starters on the mound are Carter Delaney for UCD and Evan Yates for the Titans.

On Monday, the Aggies will also welcome Loyola Maramount in a nonconference game at Dobbins Stadium. Game time is scheduled at noon.

Then UCD will be playing 11 straight road contests after Monday’s game.

The Aggies’ road trip starts next weekend when they make the trek to Kern County for a three-game series against CSU Bakersfield. First game is Friday at 6:05 p.m.

On Tuesday, April, UCD continues its road trip with a non-conference game at Saint Mary’s College.

Then from April 6-8, UCD wraps up the road trip with three Big West games at UC San Diego.

has

Blue Devils looking for greater success

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

Naomi Kalanetra is one of six returning players on the Davis High softball team.

The junior, who is a three-year starter at catcher, is leading by example on and off the field.

But what’s important to Kalanetra, who has already made her verbal commitment to a college after she graduates from DHS in June 2024, and her Blue Devil teammates is working toward a bigger goal this season.

“It’s been a few years since Davis has been in the playoffs,” said DHS head coach Tyler Gibson. “This is a young group that is very competitive and has made it their primary goal to make the playoffs in the Delta League.”

Playoffs

The last time the Blue Devils were in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs was in 2018. Davis posted an 8-6 record in the Delta League and 12-9 overall.

Davis is off to a 3-3 start, all non-league games. The Blue Devils continued their preseason schedule hosting Nevada Union.

“We have played well in our six games this season,” said Davis head coach Tyler Gibson. “We have been competitive in every game

and are working on getting better at the little things that can turn the close losses into wins.”

The 2022 Blue Devil squad posted a 1-11 record in the Delta League and 5-21 overall.

Kalanetra, who has already made a verbal commitment to UC Davis, has a .421 batting average. She also has a slugging percentage of .823, plus 6 RBIs and two doubles.

Three-year starter

“She has started since she was a freshman, and is a true leader of this team, both offensively and defensively,” said Gibson of Kalanetra.

There are five other Blue Devil players who join the future Aggie on this year’s DHS squad. Four are seniors.

Ella Shorts joins fellow seniors in Maia Romero, Sydney Tuss and Kayla Chin.

Cloe Lamoureux is a junior who like Kalanetra started as a sophomore in 2022. Newcomers to the team are seven players that are two juniors and a combined five underclassmen.

Hannah Fox, whose family came to Davis from Maryland, joins Maya Frank as the only juniors on the team.

The sophomores on the team are Alessandra Trask, Bea Taormino and Kaylie Adams.

Lea Lamoureux and Sofia Lester, both freshmen, round out the team.

“Everyone gels, which makes our energy top tier come game time,” Kalanetra said. “We have a lot of work to do, but I believe in this squad because everyone wants to get better and everyone has fight.”

Gibson pointed out the strong points of this year’s team.

“Defensively, we have good pitching depth, but they are all young,” said Gibson of Trask, Adams and Lea Lamoureux. “Our outfield play is significantly improved, and we have one of the best catchers in this area (Kalanetra).”

Big numbers

Davis has bats that has done well in the preseason, batting .248 and has scored a combined 35 runs in six games.

“Offensively, we have a good mix of speed and power,” Gibson said. “We will be led at the top of the order by last year’s offensive player of the year (Cloe Lamoureux, who is batting .250) and last year’s (team) MVP (Kalanetra). There are no easy outs in our lineup. We have players at every spot in the order who can make significant contributions.”

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Mike Bush/enterprise file photo

UC Davis first baseman Nick Leehey (22) waits for the baseball to hit his glove while a CSU Northridge player slides back in a Big West game at Dobbins Stadium on March 18.

Mike trask/enterprise photo

Naomi Kalanetra, seen here waiting for a pitch during a recent home game, is one of a half-dozen players returning to this year’s Davis High softball team. Kalanetra, a junior who

started since her freshman year, has already made a verbal commitment to UC Davis.

Reparations Task Force crafting recommendations

By Lisa HoLder Special to CalMatters

When the California Reparations Task Force meets again next week in Sacramento, it will begin to share some recommendations on the concrete reparations programs that could be taken up by the Legislature. It’s important that Californians understand that in order to match the scale of America’s greatest injustice, we must be prepared for remedies on a scale approaching the Great Society programs of Medicare and Medicaid.

Reparations is a paradigm for understanding harm and repair as it relates to people who suffered a human rights injustice because of government action. Harm and repair are the two sides of the spectrum. Consistent with this paradigm, the task force is evaluating the severity and articulating the scope of the harm to Black people.

The task force will outline the method for repairing harm, including compensation for the harm that contemplates monetary redress, atonement and apology. For an apology to be a meaningful act of repair and atonement, it must be concrete and tangible. Making the apology tangible ensures that the harm will cease and desist for good because the government is being held patently accountable.

This mandate comports with the United Nations international conventions for reparations, which consists of five components: compensation, restitution, satisfaction or apology, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition.

Reparations will include programs that disrupt racism within our major institutions. These programs will be in housing, criminal-legal systems, education, health and medicine, and financial wealth and asset-building infrastructure. Fixing systemic racism and rehabilitating institutions will require major changes to these sectors.

For example, at its early March meeting, the task force shared data showing a lack of uniform collection of race statistics in prosecutors’ offices across the state, creating opportunities for racially biased prosecution and undermining the California Racial Justice Act, which was enacted to reduce such bias. The task force will use that information to develop recommendations on improving the California Racial Justice Act for the benefit of the harmed group.

Reparations will also likely include monetary compensation to Black people who are descendants of enslaved and persecuted Black Americans.

Reparations to similarly situated groups are a good metric for understanding compensation. Canada is paying almost $32 billion to living victims and descendants of Indigenous people as compensation for state-sanctioned cultural genocide.

The U.S. paid the current equivalent of $30 billion to Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II for state-sanctioned human rights abuses, property loss, forced removal and imprisonment. Germany has paid $89 billion to Holocaust survivors in the Jewish diaspora to compensate for infamous human rights abuses.

Commentary Letters

Globally, we see reparations paid to direct victims and descendants in the quantity of billions of dollars. The task force is mandated to align with these international conventions.

The task force delivered a 500-page interim report establishing that California was, in practice, a pro-slavery state, a Jim Crow state and a post-civil rights apartheid state. It’s appropriate that California became the first state to convene a reparations task force because the real story is that the wealthiest state in the union and the fifth-largest economy in the world was one of the principal purveyors and beneficiaries of anti-Black policies and narratives.

In short, the Golden State garnered a windfall from Black oppression.

With specific and tangible reparations initiatives, California is on the brink of a historic and seismic shift towards finally delivering justice for Black Americans. The task force recommendations will be breathtaking. They must be nothing less.

— Lisa Holder is a member of the California Reparations Task Force and president of the Equal Justice Society.

Newsom likes shiny new things

As a species, politicians love news conferences and other events that celebrate new programs or public works projects.

The syndrome may explain why officials often ignore long-festering problems in existing programs, such as the Employment Development Department and the bullet train project. Simply making things work better doesn’t have the political appeal of something new and shiny.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is particularly prone to the affliction, declaring early on his love for “big, hairy audacious goals” and later adding, “I’d rather be accused of (having) those audacious stretch goals than be accused of timidity.”

That proclivity led him, as a candidate, to pledge that he would try to solve California’s housing crisis by building 3.5 million new houses and apartments by 2025 and make California the first state to embrace single-payer health care.

Later, when both proved to be unattainable, he declared them to be “aspirational” rather than firm promises.

Newsom’s tendency toward the grandiose was very evident this month when he once again shunned

Artwork controversy?

a traditional State of the State address to the Legislature and instead toured the state for serial announcements.

One is converting San Quentin prison into a laboratory to test whether a softer approach to preparing felons for release, modeled after a program in Norway, will be more effective in steering them away from crime. Newsom boasted that the renamed San Quentin Rehabilitation Center will be the “most innovative rehabilitation facility” in the nation, displaying another characteristic, his obsession with being the first to do something.

The splashiest of Newsom’s new things is a multibillion-dollar plan to house thousands of homeless and mentally ill Californians in new facilities that would combine shelter with treatment for their afflictions.

The project would be financed mostly by a bond issue in the $3-5 billion

I visited Victoria, B.C., in 2010 and met Irving Billy of the Nuu-chah-nulth nation along the waterfront walk. He was selling his artwork and I had a wonderful conversation with him. I was very interested in the carvings he was creating and asked him what was represented in the small totem poles he was carving.

He admitted they were just tourist items that sold well. He explained how each totem was placed and the significance of their placement in their importance. I asked him specifically about his family and he said his family totem pole was on their homeland. I asked him to create a pole for me that was significant to him and I have his artwork displayed on my desk. I remember how he explained what each totem represents on the pole. Totems are the significant figures represented on the pole making up a totem pole, each figure alone is called a

Speak

President

range to be placed before voters next year and would be an adjunct to Newsom’s “Care Court” program that allows the mentally ill to be compelled to accept treatment.

“It’s unacceptable what we’re dealing with at scale now in California,” Newsom said. “We have to address and come to grips with the reality of mental health in our state and in our nation.”

Even if implemented as hoped, the two mental health projects would make only a relatively tiny dent in the state’s homelessness crisis. California still lacks a comprehensive approach and is mired in finger-pointing among state, county and city officials over who’s responsible for dealing with it.

Billions of dollars have been spent by all three levels of California government, plus no small amount of federal funds, but the number of unhoused Californians continues to climb, officially approaching 200,000 but probably much higher.

The exchanges between Newsom and county officials have been especially pointed. He’s accused counties of dragging their feet on effectively spending state

totem. Mine has a bear, frog and raven representing his family.

Displaying a totem figure should not be an issue since by definition a totem is a symbolic representation of a particular quality or concept. It is not a totem pole, Irving Billy helped me understand that clearly.

John Clark Davis

Wright a proven leader

I am writing in support of Francesca Wright, who is running for the vacant Davis City Council District 3 seat. In Davis, we are fortunate to have many involved community members who want to see Davis thrive and flourish. What sets Francesca apart is that she actually makes change happen.

A changemaker is “someone who is taking creative action to solve a social problem.” Through her work with Yolo People Power, Francesca was part of a coalition that worked to create Davis’ new Department of Social Services and

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

U.S. Senate

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

e-mail-me

Sen. Alex Padilla, 112 Hart Senate Office

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/

grant money while county officials say they need a dedicated and predictable revenue stream for long-term programs.

As Newsom was touring the state, the California State Association of Counties, or CSAC, issued what it said is a comprehensive approach to homelessness embracing housing, social services, education and employment with clear lines of responsibility and accountability for outcomes.

“No one level of government is solely responsible for the homelessness crisis,” CSAC president Chuck Washington, a Riverside County supervisor, said in a statement. “But any and all efforts to address homelessness will fail without a comprehensive system in which roles and responsibilities are clear.”

Fundamentally, CSAC is calling for making the systems and services already in place work better. That doesn’t have much political appeal but is, to use one of Newsom’s favorite words, “foundational” for progress on the homelessness crisis.

— CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

Housing. Francesca’s efforts were also integral to the development of Davis’ new model of police oversight — a model that emphasizes transparency and accountability.

In addition to being a proven leader and changemaker, Francesca Wright is a listener. Regardless of what side of an issue one is on, we want our elected leaders to take the time to hear us out and genuinely try to understand our perspective. Francesca will do that with respect and humility.

My personal connection to Francesca Wright stems from encounters while working on issues surrounding social justice in Davis. Francesca was an ally and firm supporter of my and others’ efforts to make Davis a more just and equitable community.

The special election ballots for this race will be coming to District 3 mailboxes in a few short weeks. Please be on the lookout for your ballot and please vote for Francesca Wright!

Cindy Pickett Davis

Sending help from Louisville to Ukraine

By Llewellyn King

Special to The Enterprise

Today will be a terrible day in Malawi, where more than 500 died in Cyclone Freddy last month, and everything is flattened.

Today will be a terrible day in Turkey and Syria, where thousands died in the Feb. 6 earthquake and cities are piles of rubble.

And today will be a worse day in Ukraine, where flames will burn off skin, where cordite will propel lead through soft tissue and turn bone into fragments.

This crescendo of horror isn’t the product of aberrant nature, but aberrant men. It didn’t have to happen.

But horror is all in a day’s work for two remarkable women, one in Slovakia and one in Louisville, Ky. Their task is to get life-saving supplies to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine day after day. They share a similar first name.

Denise Sears is the president of SOS International in Louis-

ville. It has a unique position among aid agencies: Its mission is to collect, certify and transport medical surplus of all kinds, from medicines and bandages to X-ray and other imaging equipment and even incubators.

Hospitals across the United States collect and send their surplus to SOS International, where

it is certified for potency or functionality. Then it heads to where it is needed — at present, Ukraine, Turkey and Syria, and Malawi.

There are more than 100 hospital donors, and there are tax advantages for hospital donations. “Their donations incentivize others and boost morale among staff. Donating is their way of being able to impact the lives of people in the world,” Sears said in an interview on Zoom.

As a medium-size organization, SOS International can be very nimble, she said, adding, “We’re big enough to have an impact, but small

enough to pivot.”

Denisa Augustinova is the director of operations and cofounder of Magna, which delivers medical supplies collected by SOS International and other groups to where they are used in Ukraine, Turkey and other places hit by natural disasters, wars and conflicts. It has 2,000 staff on the ground in or near crisis areas.

Denisa has visited almost every war and disaster zone over the past two decades. But today, it is Ukraine that has her attention and where the work has been difficult and distressing.

Icaught up with her when she was visiting — and meeting for the first time — Sears in Louisville. The two women have been working together, collecting and channeling medical necessities to Ukraine for a year.

“We were working for many years with the Ministry of Health in Ukraine. Our medical initiatives are in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions,” Augustinova told me in a Zoom interview. She said that by the end of

Staying alive in a country of death

By Brad Wolf Special to The Enterprise

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

So screamed the character

Howard Beale in the 1976 movie “Network,” a prescient commentary on the corporate capture and slow suffocation of America. Howard was a prime-time news anchor who’d had enough.

To some of his viewers, he was having a mental breakdown on national television.

To others, he saw the country as clearly as a prophet, saw it for exactly what it was: a fetid cabal of the rich obsessed with money at the expense of human life and dignity.

Howard wasn’t losing his mind, but his soul. And he knew it, so he screamed on national television. Millions of viewers followed him, flinging open their windows and screaming the same furious line: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

That film was made almost 50 years ago. The tragedy of Vietnam had just concluded, the disgrace of Watergate was barely behind us, congressional hearings revealed that the United States government had engaged in assassinations of foreign leaders, staged coups to overthrow foreign governments, funneled money to tyrants and terrorists, even worked with the mafia to achieve its political goals.

Meanwhile, inflation and unemployment skyrocketed at home, the nation’s infrastructure crumbled, crime soared, cities went bankrupt. Confidence in the country’s ability to provide a decent quality of life for its citizens hit rock bottom.

Today, in 2023, the Pentagon, that Beast of the Apocalypse epitomizing greed, gluttony, and eternal violence, has grown its annual budget to gargantuan proportions. It fights wars wherever it wants without congressional approval or notice. It remains the only government institution awash in unlimited funding and shiny new technology while the rest of the country rusts and goes without.

Our tax dollars are consumed fighting a proxy war with Russia, using Ukrainian

commenTary

people and land as a testing ground for a seemingly inevitable war with China. The use of nuclear weapons is openly discussed. Countless civilians in Third World countries die beneath the weight of sanctions while our neoliberal economic policies suffocate the livelihoods of millions of others.

Climate Catastrophe bears down, causing droughts, floods, fires, and typhoons. The poor initially bear the brunt of this, but soon Climate Catastrophe, this man-made monster, will come for us all. And plagues, world-wide plagues have struck, killing millions while our disease control centers flail haplessly about beneath a torrent of public and political outrage.

At home, wages erode, debt financially cripples college graduates, CEO salaries shoot through the stratosphere. Housing prices soar as real estate conglomerates gobble up the land. Our infrastructure collapses, healthcare grows scarce. Tent cities, school shootings, toxic spills, and oligarchs stain the land.

All the while, our elected congressional officials earn an average salary of $175,000 per year while dickering over “wokeism” and perverse ideas of patriotism and faith. In 2022, those same elected officials took in $2.4 billion in campaign contributions from bigtime donors seeking bigtime federal favors for their bribes.

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

But simply screaming out the window then slamming it shut isn’t enough. Not now. Not when it’s 90 seconds to midnight. We can’t just be viewers.

A death culture reigns in our country, in our politics, corporations, our entertainment and news, our churches, universities, and our workplace. It seeks to dehumanize, desensitize, divert. It asserts that acquiescence is survival, the best you can hope for in this broken world. Give up and play a video game, watch a cat video, take a pill.

In the movie, Howard Beale succumbs to pressure from the

corporate conglomerate that owns the TV station and so begins spouting nightly nonsense on the holiness of big business. His viewers tune him out, his ratings take a nosedive, and his TV production team plots to get rid of him. They dare not go against their corporate chieftain who wants the pro-business narrative to continue, but they cannot abide low ratings. And so, poor Howard is caught in the middle and winds up being shot to death on live television. He becomes another storyline scripted by a TV production team.

Howard was one of those Americans who keenly felt the loss of their soul from corporate tyranny and endless war, who were astonished at the absurdity of their news screens, the direction of their country, the helplessness they felt in the face of it.

We are not TV viewers but live participants. Innocents across the globe are killed in our name, lands pillaged with our dollars while Americans suffer incalculable indignities here at home. Our souls hang in the balance. The corporate-military state seems intent on canceling this show we call life.

If we succumb to the corporate screed and spout its nonsense as Howard did, we will be morally and spiritually killed, shot full of holes. If we tune out as his viewers did, we surrender to stasis and lose our humanity, with the victims of our indifference strewn around us.

The only way to live authentically in a country of death is to resist, because it is in resisting that we retain our humanity, no matter the odds against us, no matter the outcome.

Being fully human means resisting death in all its forms. It means peacemaking. We have hope because we have the power to nonviolently resist, and that is a remarkable power. When exercised properly, it not only shivers the state, but affirms all of life.

Brad Wolf, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a former community college dean, lawyer, and current executive director of Peace Action Network of Lancaster as well as a Team Organizer for the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal.

2021, Magna had been forced to evacuate most of its medical staff from their facilities.

“We were shocked by the cruelty and the strong bombing. Shocked, but not surprised by the scale of it,” she said.

Supplies from SOS International, sometimes carried by corporations that volunteer transportation — UPS made an aircraft available — make their way to Ukraine mostly from Munich and Warsaw, where Magna takes over and sends them by truck and train to their war-zone hospitals. Sears said 12 shipments, 1.3 million medical items, have been sent to Ukraine.

The two women’s medical supplies are often the difference between life and death.

As a success, Augustinova noted, “Babies were delivered in hospitals without power or beds, the alarms going off and the bombs. We were able to save them because we already had the incubators and the supplies of formula in place.”

But the war rages, and the horror is endless.

le TTers

Shoot first, ask later

In 2019, after Davis Police officer Natalie Corona was murdered, UC Davis English professor Joshua Clover advised us thus:

“People think that cops need to be reformed. They need to be killed.”

UC Davis condemned Clover’s statement but upheld his right to free speech. Clover remains on the UC Davis faculty in the departments of English and Comparative Literature. Shoot first, maybe ask questions after, apparently has become accepted at UC Davis.

Charlie Kirk was invited to the UC Davis campus to exercise his right to free speech, but he was met by “protesters” who clashed with police, smashed windows, and pepper-sprayed people and blocked them from entering the building where the event was held.

UC Davis said in a statement after the event that one police officer was injured.

The event was educational in several ways. Are we going to define as “protesters” those who engage in violence in order to prevent others from speaking? Are we comfortable with UC Davis Chancellor Gary May accusing Charlie Kirk of having “advocated for violence against transgender individuals?” Kirk responded, “I’ve never done that. That is a lie.”

In fact, Mr. Kirk’s words were subjected to wildly ideological misinterpretation. No one, including Chancellor May, asked for a clarification from Mr. Kirk of anything seen as potentially of concern. Shoot first, ask questions after.

Is this the behavior we want people in authority to model for our youth? If so, applaud UC Davis’s success! At UC Davis, a variety of views is no longer tolerated, and the use of violence to prevent free speech is acclaimed as upholding freedom. The chancellor, who should be a model of thoughtful engagement, went for “shoot first” in the name of virtue, and don’t worry about accuracy or consequences. Taxpayer money well spent.

Julia Lutch Davis

Unmatched experience

I am delighted to recommend my friend and colleague, Donna Neville, for election to the Davis City Council on May 2 in District 3. I have known Donna since she was our student at the UC Davis Law School, graduating in 1990.

Augustinova said, “I have in my mind the brutality of the war on children and old people. In 2023, we still have to deal with the killing of innocents. We are still facing the killing of civilians in spite of the Geneva Convention and humanitarian law. Humanitarian workers are attacked: doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers are killed. Our team members are victims.”

She added, “Women are raped, and children are raped. It happens all the time.”

Sears and Augustinova are bound by motherhood and being compelled to help. Sears lost her daughter, Lauren, who died at 23 of a hospital infection. That inspired her to do humanitarian work.

Augustinova has two daughters, far from the war, ages 8 and 14. “They keep asking me why the children can’t go to school, and why they have to die?”

Good questions.

Llewellyn King is the executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

She then pursued a career in state government, serving as the chief legal advisor to the California State Auditor.

In my memory, we have never had a candidate for City Council who knows as much about local government as Donna. She has worked on every aspect of state and local government, as well as investigating misconduct by state employees. She helped develop the Local Government High Risk Program to detect financial vulnerabilities in California cities and towns. In Davis she has chaired the City’s Finance and Budget Commission and is currently a member of the Davis Planning Commission.

Donna’s volunteer work has included serving as the chair of the Davis School District’s Measure M Bond Oversight Committee. She currently serves as Board President of Yolo County’s NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) chapter.

In sum, Donna is a smart, compassionate leader who knows how to get things done. Please join me in supporting Donna for election to the Davis City Council.

Marty West Davis

Sites safeguards

In regard to the March 10 letter to the editor by Mr. Ben King, I would like to assure your readers that the Sites Project is being developed in an open and transparent manner under all laws, rules and regulations governing public water agency business. The project benefactors are made up of 22 public water districts, Colusa County, and the State and Federal government, each representing the interests of all of their constituents. Further, the project is subject to review and permitting by numerous federal and state agencies, and will be constructed and operated in a manner consistent with such permits. The allegation that any individual involved has the ability to make decisions that affect the entire project is false and does not recognize the effective and inclusive public process used to develop this important statewide project in a manner that promotes the interests of the general public.

Finally, input from any stakeholder that has an interest in the project is welcome.

Jerry Brown Executive director, Sites Project Authority

Editors’ choice for web comment of the week

n County shuts down cannabis operation: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4i1r

n No salmon this year: California shuts down fishery: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4i5t

n Bob Dunning: Take advantage of what Davis is offering: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4i5J

n Baseball: One pitch at a time for Blue Devils: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4hUG

n Is Davis really California’s ‘collegiest college town’? http://wp.me/p3aczg-4h4T

“Well the people of Davis are doing their best to kick out the college students so maybe Woodland is the real college town.”

From Jim Hoch

In response to “Is Davis really California’s ‘collegiest college town’?”

Choosing no dishes, own bed over air hockey

Idon’t think of myself as a control freak per se, but it is hard for me to let other people handle things when I actually have the best ideas (wink). One of my rowing teammates has nicknamed me “Boss Lady,” and I’m OK with that.

Side note: I used to have a boss who misused words all the time. Among my favorites of his misspeaks was his insertion of “per se” where it was not meant to be. Example: “Per se you are out to dinner with friends and forgot your wallet.” LOL.

Anyway, I really try to be a benevolent dictator and not put my desires over others who are participating in a trip, activity or outing. I actively think of the individuals within a group, imagining different perspectives. I was especially good at this when our kids were young

and we planned family trips. So when “Boss Lady” volunteered to find lodging for an upcoming rowing regatta — and the group decided a house would be best because we’d all had a fun time staying at two cabins in Tahoe earlier this year — I believed I was the best person for the job because I would be mindful of the range of needs and wants.

For example, our intermediate rowing team has way more women than men. So besides location and number of bedrooms,

finding a house that was going to work for two men and 11 women was at the top of the list. Also, even if I’m personally not into games or activities at the house, I knew the places with pool tables, air hockey and cornhole would be good for the team.

It turns out, however, I had a big-ass internal struggle against my overwhelming need to not cook or have potlucks or clean. I absolutely love staying in kitchen-less hotel rooms for all those reasons. I also like the uncluttered, pristine decor of a hotel, which really feels like a vacation from regular life.

On top of everything else, I view restaurant-going as a fun part of travel. I like to try new eateries as a way of getting the vibe of a city and hanging out in “third places.” And not doing dishes.

For the record, the nightly cost

of 13 of us being in a house that can fit us all was on par with two people sharing a hotel room. And those hotel rooms allow for two queen beds in a room, instead of the more common configuration of one king-size bed plus one person on an air mattress on the floor that even a nine-bedroom house requires.

Ultimately, I prioritized what I wanted most and found a decent hotel near the regatta. I sent a note to the team sharing the links to that hotel as well as to a couple of vacation rentals I’d found. Obviously the other 12 people could still rent a house, but as soon as I bailed, more people decided on the hotel route, too.

To assuage my guilty conscience for killing the grouphome camaraderie, I just

Googled “best reason stay hotel instead of vacation home” to further rationalize the decision I thrust on others. It’s like Google — or the nefarious Big Vacation Rental — didn’t understand the question because the first 25 entries were the exact opposite response: Why staying at a vacation rental was better than a hotel.

Anyway, I’m confident we will all be happy with this choice when, after a long day of rowing, we all sidle up to our big table at a lively restaurant and the waiter asks how many pitchers of margaritas we’d like. Boss Lady will even buy the first round.

— Tanya Perez lives in Davis with her family. Her column is published every other Sunday. Reach her at pereztanyah@ gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter at @californiatanya.

Success — Crab Feed was a 10 out of 10

By Jennifer Thayer Special to The Enterprise

The 11th annual Yolo

Crisis Nursery Crab Feed united the community and brought us back together where we served more than 500 crab dinners, both to-go meals and at our in-person event.

All proceeds from the Crab Feed directly support the Yolo Crisis Nursery Respite Care Programs serving Yolo County children and families facing unimaginable crises.

We are deeply grateful to our community, for turning out in such force, to demonstrate your unified support for the Nursery’s programs to protect children and preserve families.

Thank you to the entire Friends of the Yolo Crisis Nursery committee who produced this event, especially Martha Bernauer, Nancy Storm and Sharon Schauer. Nancy and Martha have co-chaired the Crab Feed for the last 10 years, and Nancy and Sharon co-chair the Friends of Yolo Crisis Nursery group. Many thanks to you for your leadership and dedication to the Nursery’s mission.

We’re overwhelmed with gratitude for the unwavering support and enthusiasm shown by our community for the Nursery and Crab Feed. The event’s incredible success, thanks to our generous sponsors, donors, volunteers, and guests, has raised funds to cover roughly 10% of the Nursery’s annual operating budget. Thank you for making a positive impact on the lives of children in Yolo County.

“Every year the funds raised at the Crab Feed help provide respite care for children when their families are in crisis.

Thank you to all sponsors, donors, volunteers, and guests for being a positive force for change in our client families’ lives,” said Heather Sleuter, executive director of the Yolo Crisis Nursery. “We cannot thank Martha Bernauer, Sharon Schauer, and Nancy Storm enough. Year-after-year this sell-out event would not be possible without their leadership and tireless efforts.”

On behalf of the Board

Yolo Crisis NurserY

of Directors, the Nursery staff, and the Friends of the Yolo Crisis Nursery, we would like to recognize and thank our Premier Sponsor Clark Pacific, King Crab Sponsors Diane Makley and Sutter Health, and Dungeness Crab Sponsor F Street Dispensary, for their generosity and support.

To our wonderful Blue Crab Sponsors: Assemblywoman Cecilia AguiarCurry; Brooks Painting; Carbahal and Company; Coldwell Banker Select; Corner Drug Co.; Gina Daleiden and Bill Weisgerber; Davis Odd Fellows Lodge No. 169 and Rebekah Lodge No. 253; Kay Resler; Kim Eichorn; Lyon Real Estate; Marguerite Callahan and Gregory Wilcox; Morse Custom Homes and Remodeling; David Nakano and Nancy Cronheim; Nicole Davis; Edward Jones; Nugget Markets; Recology Davis — Recycling, Compost & Trash Collection; Redway Friends; Sharon Schauer and Brodie Hamilton; Steam Bright Carpet & Tile Cleaning; Steve and Evon Willhoff, and Virginia Joyce and Oliver Stanton. Thank you.

Thank you to Chelsea Hubbard, Collegiate

Studios, Lamppost Pizza, Matchbook Wine Company, Nugget Markets and Sudwerk Brewing Co. for your generous support.

And a very special thank you to our volunteers from the Davis High School Football team, National Charity League, UC Davis Rotaract, and Woodland High School.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to the numerous businesses, community groups, and individuals who donated items for our live and silent auctions. Your generosity was a critical piece to our success. Our community of small businesses always rallies to support those in need and we encourage you to shop local to support them.

Please save the dates for our upcoming and exciting events!

■ April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Please join us on Friday, April 7, to wear blue to raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month.

■ May 4 — Big Day of Giving. The Yolo Crisis Nursery is helping Children and Families Thrive. Join us for a 24-hour day of giving and generosity to help raise funds to support the Nursery’s safe stays and respite care programs.

■ May 6 — Race for the Roses a Kentucky Derby Fundraiser at the exquisite

Windmill Vineyards to benefit the Yolo Crisis Nursery. A few sponsorships are still available and individual tickets are on sale now at www.yolocrisis nursery.org. ■ Oct. 21 – Y’all, it’s the Barn Dance! Enjoy the live band and dance the night away to the hottest country and rock classic hits.

If you are interested in helping the most vulnerable children and families in Yolo County, please consider lending your time and talents to the Friends of the Yolo Crisis Nursery. Simply email friends@ yolocrisisnursery.org. The Friends currently meet on the secon Tuesday of every month at 5:30 p.m. The rewards are priceless along with the laughter and warm community you’ll encounter in the Friends’ group.

There is so much to come in April and May! Please visit our website, www.yolocrisisnursery.org,

and subscribe to our e-newsletter to stay up to date on upcoming events, donate, or to learn more

By Andy Jones Special to The Enterprise

1. Woodland, California. Why was the Yolo County seat moved from Washington (present day West Sacramento) to Woodland in 1850?

2. Nuts. Macadamia nuts are native to what continent?

3. Pop Culture — Television. Who was the most famous voice actor who portrayed the cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn?

4. Great Americans. In 1947, what then-Air Force captain broke the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 rocket-powered aircraft?

5. Film. Set in the 1820s, what 2022 film stars Viola Davis as a general who trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies?

Answers: Because Washington was flooded, Australia, Mel Blanc, Chuck Yeager, “The Woman King.” — Dr. Andy Jones is the former quizmaster at de Vere’s Irish Pub and author of the book “Pub Quizzes: Trivia for Smart People.” His pub quiz is now seeking a new home. Meanwhile, Dr. Andy is also sharing his pub quizzes via Patreon. Find out more at www.

about the Nursery. — Jennifer Thayer is the president of Yolo Crisis Nursery.

With the support of our community, donors, and volunteers, the Yolo Crisis Nursery Staff pictured here at the 11th Annual Crab Feed, served more than 800 children and their families last year. (Not photographed: Sue Lomax and Katherine Richter).

YOLOlaughs

By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Jerry Scott

Stephan Pastis

39 Novelist Jean

42 “O fairest beauty, do not fear ___ fly!”: “Henry

By Charles M. Schulz

Complete the grids so that every row,

Thursday Live Music: Rendishun Band @ 5:30pm

Good food, live music, beer and wine is a mood!

Three Restaurant, 721 Texas Street, Fair�eld.

Threerestaurant@ gmail.com, 707-673-4129

Wine Women & Shoes, bene�tting A�uarium of the Bay @ 6pm / $150-$200

There are few combinations that evoke glamour and fun as much as the perfect �t of Wine Women & Shoes. InterContinental Mark Hop‐kins San Francisco, an IHG Hotel, 999 California Street, San Fran‐cisco. hannah@bayecotarium.org, 415-623-5313

Blü Egyptian at Harmonic Brewing @ 6pm Harmonic Brewing Thrive City, 7 Warriors Way Suite 206, San Fran‐cisco

Night of Information - End of Life Planning @ 7pm

Come out to our “5th Thursday

Night of Information” as we dis‐cuss Advance Directives and End of Life Planning. 650 Parker Rd, 650 Parker Road, Fair�eld. anears @wofccfair�eld.com, 707-4372257 "Private" @ 7:30pm / $20-$30 Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St., San Francisco

The Tallest Man on Earth w/ Andrea von Kampen @ 8pm The Chapel, 777 Valencia Street, San Francisco Witt Lowry @ 8pm August Hall, 420 Mason St, San Francisco

Left on Tenth w/ Smokey the Groove @ Hotel UtahSan Francisco, CA

Massane @ 9:30pm Audio Nightclub, 316 11th St, San Francisco

Walk With Me for Child Abuse Prevention Month @ 12am Apr 1st - Apr 30th Join Cope Family Center for our annual Walk With Me Walk-A-Thon to help prevent child abuse and neglect! Napa. sjensen@copefami lycenter.org, 707-252-1123

Fri 3/31

Mixed Media Multiples Using Oil & Cold Wax with Sara Post @ 10am / $380 Apr 1st - Apr 2nd

Sign up for this upcoming workshop at the Pence, Mixed Media Multiples Using Oil & Cold Wax with Sara Post. Pence Gallery, 212 D Street, Davis. pence socialmedia@gmail.com, 530-758-3370

Music City Entertainment SF: Music City SF Presents the Fern Alley Music Series @ 12pm Fern Alley, 100 Fern St, San Fran‐cisco Michelle Lambert: SF's Fern Alley Music Series @ 2pm Fern Alley Music Series, San Fran‐

featuring the artwork of Cedric Williams

Saturday Apr 1st

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"

@ 2pm / $14 Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas Street, Fair�eld

Join Missouri Street Theatre for one of the most enduring shows of all time. "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" is a reimagining of the biblical story of Joseph, his father Jacob, eleven brothers, and his coat of many colors. This sensational musical features songs that have gone on to become pop and musical theatre classics, includ‐ing “Any Dream Will Do,” “Close Every Door,” “One More Angel in Heaven,” and “Go, Go, Go Joseph.” The multi-award-winning show has been performed in over 80 countries worldwide and has become one of the world’s most beloved family musicals.

"Clue" @ 7pm / Free San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco Clue @ 7pm San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco

Phil Grif�ths: Marina Com‐edy Nights @ Essi Wine Bar @ 7:30pm ESSI SF Restaurant & Wine Bar, 3330 Steiner St, San Francisco

Bill Nershi @ 7:30pm Crest Theatre, 1013 K St, Sacra‐mento

Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone Part 2 @ 7:30pm American Conservatory Theatre, 405 Geary Street, San Francisco

SF's Brand New Tuesday Comedy Blast @ 8pm / $7.50 Tope Lounge, 1326 Grant Ave, SF

benches @ 8:30pm Bottom Of the Hill, 1233 17th St, San Francisco

Casey Frey @ 10:15pm / $25 Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Colum‐bus Avenue, San Francisco

4/02

530219-8825

Hearst Elementary, 1410 60th St., Sacramento. 916-419-

DeBungus @ 9pm Boom Boom Room, 1601 Fillmore St, San Francisco

Francisco

UC Davis Institute of the Environment Seminar

Series: Climate Scientist Daniel Swain @ 4pm The UC Davis Institute of the Envi‐ronment will host climate re‐searcher Daniel Swain for a fasci‐nating discussion 4-5:30 p.m. April 5, 2023 at the UC Davis Student Community Center. Student Com‐munity Center, 397 Hutchison Drive, Davis. environment@uc davis.edu

Dave Ricketts Music: Dave Ricketts at Arbor SF @ 6pm Arbor, 384 Hayes St, San Francisco

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"

@ 7:30pm / $14 Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas Street, Fair�eld

530-668-0660

@ 7:30pm / $20-$30 Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St., San Francisco

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" @ 8pm / $14 Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas Street, Fair�eld Samantha Pauly in Concert

8pm / $34-$49 Feinstein's at the Nikko, 222 Ma‐son Street, San Francisco

8pm / $15

fresh line-up of SF's Best Comics

Friday at the beautiful Variety Theater in downtown SF's iconic Hobart Building. Variety Club Pre‐view Room, 582 Market Street, San Francisco. bestofsfstandup@ gmail.com, 415-748-5119

Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco

Inhaler @ 8pm The Regency Ballroom, 1290 Sut‐ter Street, San Francisco

Inhaler @ 8pm The Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco College Radio @ 8pm Old Ironsides, 1901 10th St, Sacra‐mento BIT @ 9:30pm DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, San Francisco

Locals Night Featuring: Riverfront District Band @ 7:30pm / $5-$10 Blue Note Napa, 1030 Main Street, Napa

Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone Part 2 @ 7:30pm American Conservatory Theatre, 405 Geary Street, San Francisco

"We Own the Laughs" @ 8pm / $10

Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus Ave, San Francisco

Expres‐sive Wa‐

tercolor

Painting with Misuk

Goltz (6-session class)

@ 11am / $190 Apr 4th - May 9th Register for this upcoming 6-session workshop at the Pence, Expressive Water‐color Painting with Misuk Goltz. Pence Gallery, 212 D Street, Davis. penceso cialmedia@gmail.com, 530-758-3370

Clue @ 7pm San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St, San Francisco Beginner Improv Comedy Classes - Level 101 - 7 Weeks @ 7pm / $319 In this 7-week class, you will learn the basics of improv comedy and build up to your own graduation show. Make friends, socialize eas‐ier, and see shows for free (nonsold out). Endgames Improv

Carrtoons @ 8pm Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St, San Francisco Meow meow @ 8pm Feinstein's at The Nikko, 222 Ma‐son St, San Francisco Meow Meow @ 8pm / $69 Feinstein's at The Nikko, 222 Ma‐son Street, San Francisco

Strangemen @ 8:30pm Bottom Of the Hill, 1233 17th St, San Francisco

Rising Appalachia Music: Bioneers Conference @ 10am bioneers conference, San Fran‐cisco

Michelle Musial @ 5pm Terrene Restaurant at 1hotel San Francisco, 8 Mission St, San Fran‐cisco

Joey OddoElectric Bass: Flock of Seagirls (w/Canadian Red) @ 7pm Retro Junkie, 2112 N Main St, Walnut Creek Bryan John Appleby @ 7pm The Hotel Utah Saloon, 500 4th St, San Francisco Gaucho at Comstock Saloon @ 8pm Comstock Saloon, 155 Columbus Ave, San Francisco "Locusts Have No King" @ 8pm / $15.50-$28 New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue, San Fran‐cisco

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" @ 8pm / $14 Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas Street, Fair�eld

DJ Susan @ 9:30pm Audio Nightclub, 316 11th St, San Francisco

Jesus Trejo @ 9:30pm Punch Line Comedy Club, 2100 Arden Way, Sacramento HoneyLuv @ 10pm Halcyon SF, 314 11th St, San Fran‐cisco

ABAS 63rd Annual Bonsai and Suiseki Show & Sale, April 8th and 9th @ 10am Apr 8th - Apr 9th

AMERICAN BONSAI ASSOCIA‐TION, SACRAMENTO'S (ABAS)

63RD ANNUAL BONSAI AND SU‐

ISEKIU SHOW & SALE, APRIL 8TH & 9TH IN McKINLEY PARK. Shep‐ard Garden & Art Center, 3330 McKinley Boulevard, Sacramento. dodienewman@gmail.com, 916-

799-9575

Castro Easter Eggstravaganza Block Party & Easter Bonnet Contest $500 Prize @ 11am

Nantz is preparing for his last call

Alabama’s presence in March Madness continues to amaze and embarrass.

While it is true that Tide small forward Brandon Miller has not been charged with any crime, what crossed his mind when he retrieved a teammate’s handgun that was later used in a shooting that left a woman dead?

Regardless of whether anyone thinks Miller should be playing or not, the optics are horrid, for the school and the sport.

n When the men’s Final Four rolls around next week, it will be last call for Jim Nantz on CBS’s tournament coverage.

Ian Eagle has been tapped as his replacement.

Nantz has worked 32 Final Fours from 1991 to now. He will continue as CBS’s lead play-by-player on the NFL and golf, notably the Masters.

n At least in the exhibition season, Major League Baseball pace-of-play rules changes are working.

As of this week, games are running on average 26 minutes faster than last year. This is expected to be the norm when

the regular season begins March 30.

n Only two men belong to one of baseball’s ultra-exclusive clubs, the 300-3003,000. That’s 300 home runs, 300 stolen bases and 3,000 hits.

Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.

n Jimmy Garoppolo’s five-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers is finally over. Garoppolo signed a multi-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders that includes $34.5 million in guaranteed money. Great work if you can get it.

n As the World Baseball Classic gains new popularity, there has been one downside, and that’s injuries to prominent players.

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros lost Jose Altuve for two

SUCCESS: ‘Excited’

From Page B1

Gibson feels his underclassmen will need to work harder as the season continues to grow in upcoming weeks.

“We are pretty young with two freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup,” he said. “These girls just need more reps at the varsity level to get used to how fast the game is, both offensively and defensively.”

After Friday’s game, DHS begin league play at home against Franklin this Friday. Game time is scheduled at 4 p.m.

“I’m excited to get the season going and to see how we do,” Kalanetra said.

Davis will play at St. Francis on Wednesday, April 5. That is the Blue Devils’ only game that week.

The Blue Devils return to action at home against Pleasant Grove on Monday, April 10.

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

months when he broke his hand after being hit by a pitch.

n If 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan can straighten out Sam Darnold, the team’s quarterback situation brightens considerably.

Darnold is still only 25 and Shanahan is known for fixing QBs that have bounced around a little. Darnold has gone from the New York Jets to the Carolina Panthers to the Niners in the space of five years.

n A rock singer who had a voice like an opera singer: Jay Black, lead singer of Jay & the Americans.

Listen to ‘Cara, Mia’ sometime. Black could hit all the high notes. He died of pneumonia in 2021 at age 82.

n Our condolences to the many friends and family whose lives Jim Jenkins touched. Jenkins, 80, died earlier this week after a multitude of illnesses.

A longtime sports journalist for The Sacramento Bee, Jenkins covered both the Raiders and 49ers in their respective heydays, which included Super Bowl championships.

He was also among the most knowl-

edgeable boxing writers ever, joining the ranks of Jack Fiske (San Francisco Chronicle), Dave Anderson (The New York Times), Michael Katz (New York Daily News), Ed Schuyler (Associated Press) and not too many others.

Back when boxing was a staple in Sacramento, “JJ’ was ringside during the careers of Bobby Chacon, Pete Ranzany, Loreto Garza, Richard Duran and Tony(“The Tiger”)Lopez.

Jenkins knew ‘em all, the fighters, trainers, promoters, wise guys, oddsmakers, even the ring announcers.

He loved area sporting events that didn’t attract great media coverage. He would implore whoever the Bee sports editor was to be sure to include a couple paragraphs and scoring summary of the annual Pig Bowl/Guns & Hoses charity football game.

The longtime radio and television color man on UC Davis football broadcasts, Doug Kelly is director of communications for Battlefields2Ballfields and managing general partner of Kelly & Associates. Contact him at DKelly1416@ aol.com.

ROME: More fans at home games

From Page B1

action on Wright's proposal. Davis High administration could petition to the section's Board of Managers, which meet Wednesday, April 26.

Points that could be made on moving DHS football to the MEL can be good for students and faculty on campus, plus the community.

On top of that, more fans would attend Blue Devil home games — other than home opener and homecoming games as I've seen the last two seasons — that can bring in greater revenue and that could help finance DHS' sports programs.

This year's sophomores and freshmen will be seniors and juniors when they play in the SFL in 2024. Davis will be playing in a league in which five of its

six teams advanced to the section's Division I and II playoffs last fall.

Could the managers reverse the committee's decision if DHS opted to appeal? Highly unlikely.

Garrett has had returning players and sophomores who will be juniors next school year working hard this offseason to be ready for the 2023 season since January.

Give Garrett and his coaching staff time to rebuild the program that has tasted winning seasons toward the end of the 2010s and off and on prior. But only consistent winning.

Remember the old saying: Rome wasn't built in a day.

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

2023 Readers’ Choice Winners

A-1 Body Shop — Best Auto Body Shop

A-1 Body Shop

215 I St., Davis

530-756-6929

https://collisionprosinc.com

Best Auto Body Shop

Second — Caliber Collision

Third — G&R Automotive & Collision Center

Enterprise staff

Crushed headlights and dented doors are a story of the past for customers of A-1 Body Shop, a Collision Pros company, Davis’ top auto body shop as voted by Davis Enterprise readers.

Collision Pros is the only Tesla-certified shop in Davis. “Tesla certification is an honor only given to less than 1% of shops in the world,” owner Brian von Tress said.

To better service its customers, the business is currently expanding its size by 50 percent, with a bigger office to accompany a growing staff and room for additional technicians, and more importantly, more parking. The shop also recently added new frame equipment, a computerized measuring system and a heated downdraft paint booth.

“We are very honored that the readers and the town of Davis continue to support us,” von Tress said. “Things like this remind us that we are doing the right things.

Vander Hamm Tire Center Goodyear Best Brake Shop, Best Tire Store

Vander Hamm Tire Center Goodyear

2222 Fifth St., Davis

530-758-8282

vanderhammtirecenter.com

Best Brake Shop

Second — Bernard’s Tire, Brake and Alignment

Third — Center City Automotive

Best Tire Store

Second — Davis Tire Pros

Third — Bernard’s Tire Brake and Alignment

Enterprise staff

Whether you need a fresh set of tires to burn rubber or just a routine oil change, Vander Hamm Tire Center, 2222 Fifth St., is prepared to cover all of your tire and auto repair needs.

Three generations have led this local business since they opened up the shop in 1974, said owner Danny Falk, the grandson of the tire center’s founder, Chuck Vander Hamm. Although Chuck died in 2000, Danny and his father continue to run the tire center to this day.

“Thank you for your continued support through all of these years,” Falk said, remarking on how this year

marks the business’ 19th year as a Readers’ Choice winner.

Jeff Rawlinson/Enterprise photo

The staff of Vander Hamm Tire Center Goodyear celebrates 19 years of winning. Pictured from left are, front row, Vibeka Falk, Doug Webster, Blain White, Rich Falk and Danny Falk; back row, Leo Ramirez, Zack Falk, Taylor Clark, Collin Clark, Ross Cowden, Jlian Toledo and Justin Ho.

Courtesy photo

Center City Automotive

Best Auto Repair Shop

Center City Automotive

300 Madson Place, Davis

530-753-3371

Best Auto Repair Shop

Second — Vander Hamm

Tire Center Goodyear

Third — Vickers

Automotive Repair

Enterprise staff

Since 1982, Center City has been a community cornerstone that has withstood the test of time. Originally owned by Doug Hatton, the shop has seen change through the years. From moving from downtown to its current home at 300 Madson Place to a change in ownership to Miguel Leon in 2020, the business has remained true to the original vision of providing top-notch service all while moving into the modern era of vehicles.

Now offering tires , alignment and more, the knowledgeable staff (almost half of whom are bilingual) of 13 hardworking individuals is ready to offer the community

the majority of services it may need. And Davis Enterprise readers responded by voting Center City the top auto repair shop once again.

“We appreciate everyone who voted for us,” Leon told The Enterprise. “We look forward to serving the community for years to come. You can expect the same great service from the team up front in the office and still count on the knowledge from the same technicians in the back.”

Center City is a 2021 Car Fax top-rated service, and a 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 Neighborhood Favorite. “We want to help you keep your vehicle running right, and when needed, get you back on the road with the correct repairs,” Leon said.

SpeeDee Oil Change/Midas

Best Oil Change

as most mechanical and exhaust work are day to day routine at the shop.

As a family-owned business, Randy, Teresa and Kenny Wanderstadt strive to ensure quality as well as efficiency to get their customers’ vehicles back on the road and on with their busy lives. Celebrating the shop’s 30th year in business, they are well rooted in the community with much local support.

Enterprise staff

New customers at SpeeDee Oil Change/ Midas are often surprised to find that the business is more than an oil change shop. Tires, brakes, suspension as well

Although a lot has changed in the past 30 years in the automotive world, Randy, Teresa and Kenny have adapted to keep up with technology needed with today’s vehicle maintenance and repair. Come down and see them at 2000 F Street in Davis or give them a call at 530-753-1633.

Randy, Teresa and Kenny Wanderstadt.

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo

Shottenkirk Honda of Davis Best Car Dealership

Shottenkirk Honda of Davis

4343 Chiles Rd., Davis

530-250-3295

shottenkirkdavishonda.com

Best Car Dealership

Second — Hanlees Davis Toyota

Third — Hanlees Nissan

Enterprise staff

General Manager Georgian Moldoveanu says, “It’s no secret, you can buy or service a new Honda anywhere but you can’t buy the experience that our veteran staff will give you. We take ‘family owned’ to a whole new level. To us, ‘family owned’ doesn’t just mean one family owns our dealership, it means our employees are a part of that family, our customers are a part of that family. Our customers expect to see the same employees they saw when they first started doing business with us. That’s the way a family operates.”

Shottenkirk Honda’s recipe for success is simple: Adopt a “customer first” culture. Support your local community. Hire and train local employees. Invest in technology for your technicians, stock your dealership

with as many new Hondas you can get and have the type of used inventory that your customers want to drive. Follow this recipe and your customer’s will come back and tell their friends and neighbors AND will earn you the right to call yourselves the Best of Yolo County!

After 4½ years, Shottenkirk feels very much at home in Davis. Georgian is proud of the way that Shottenkirk supports local community,and school events. Georgian adds, “we want to be involved and invest in the communities that we serve.”

Shottenkirk Honda of Davis was voted Best Car Dealership in Yolo County by Enterprise readers. Enterprise file photo

F Street Dispensary — Best Cannabis Dispensary

F Street Dispensary

420 F St, Davis

530-746-5122

club420.com

Best Dispensary Second Place

—

Davis Cannabis Collective Third Place  —  Kind Farma Cannabis Co.

Enterprise staff

In operation in downtown Davis since 2018, F Street Dispensary has been voted by Davis Enterprise readers as the top dispensary every year the category has existed, including 2022.

A s Davis’ only locally owned and operated cannabis dispensary, it offers the Sacramento region’s only outdoor walk-up pick-up window for orders placed online. Online customers benefit by saving 25% for online orders placed through club420.com.

“Thank you again Davis Enterprise readers for voting F Street Dispensary Best Dispensary in Yolo County,” owner Rob Read said. “Your continued support means the world to us. Our mission is stronger than ever to provide excellent customer service to match the right cannabis product with a customer’s need. From medicinal to recreational products, we are proud to carry the

industry’s best product at the region’s best prices. We are very excited to serve the community in 2023 and beyond.”

F Street Dispensary has a call center with staff

dedicated to answering cannabis-related questions and assisting with product recommendations and online ordering. Call 530-746-5122 to get your questions answered.

F Street Dispensary was voted Best Dispensary in Yolo County by Enterprise readers.

Enterprise file photo

A1 Smog and Auto Repair

Best Smog Shop

A1 Smog and Auto Repair

5100 Chiles Road, Ste. 104, Davis

530-757-1250

A1smogautorepairdavis. com

Best Smog Shop

Second — Davis Smog

Enterprise staff

A1 Smog and Auto Repair started out in 2013 as a small, one-bay smog shop, owner Jon Epling said, and have persevered through hard work and dedication to our customer we have expanded to accommodate five service bays, including four dedicated automotive-repair lifts, and a crew of four technicians, specializing in all repairs from simple regular maintenance to more sophisticated electrical diagnosis and repair.

It doesn’t just smog vehicles. A1 is licensed to perform all vehicle repairs related to emission testing along with regular vehicle maintenance and

Davis Parent Nursery School

Best Preschool/Nursery School

Davis Parent Nursery School

426 W. Eighth St., Davis

530-757-5377

1447 Danbury St., Davis

530-757-5375 davisparentnurseryschool.

Best Preschool / Nursery School

on Danbury Street adjacent to Montgomery Elementary School. The programs offered include two-, three- and five-day sessions as well as playgroups, summer camps and after-school extended day.

repairs. Epling says A1’s aim is to “provide the best automotive repair that fits our customers needs and more importantly budget especially in an ever-changing economic climate.”

It is ASE-certified, Ford-certified, Snap On-trained, STAR-approved ... and pet-friendly. Make sure to say hello to the special employee, Dewd, a 2-year-old golden retriever.

“Thank you to all of our loyal customers past, present and future,” Epling said. “It has been an honor serving Yolo County for the last 10 years and we hope for many more successful years to come.”

Second — Peregrine School Third — University Covenant Enterprise staff

Davis Parent Nursery School has served generations of families in the Davis area dating back to its founding in 1949.

Even now some students at the nonprofit, parent-participation cooperative nursery school are the children and grandchildren of former students.

DPNS has two campuses in Davis — one on West Eighth Street and the other

“DPNS provides the opportunity to get involved through volunteer positions,” said Jamie Meier, DPNS board president. “DPNS is run by the parents, in conjunction with the directors and the district principle. For the last 74 years, the board of parents worked together to make policies and decisions that determine the trajectory of DPNS. Many of our parents continue on to serve on the PTA, and the Board of Education.”

That parent participation means DPNS has an unusually high classroom ratio of adults to students (one to four) and helps keep DPNS tuition low.

Moreover, DPNS offers a range of parent education opportunities, both on-site with professional teachers and through a variety of guest speakers and workshops scheduled throughout the school year.

Courtesy photo

Grace Valley Christian Academy Best Private School

Grace Valley Christian Academy 27173 County Road 98, Bldg. B, Davis, 95616

530-758-6590

www.gracevalley.org/gvca

Best Private School

Second — St. James School Third — Woodland Christian Enterprise

staff

Now in it’s 25th year, Grace Valley Christian Academy continues to provide excellent and affordable Christian education. Grace Valley is also pleased to announce its eleventh win as best private school in Yolo County in the Davis Enterprise Readers’ Choice survey.

“We are honored that the community has recognized us again as the best local private school,” said Principal Sharon Broderick. “I am especially grateful to God. He has been our guide and help over the last quarter-century. It is God who enabled

us to establish this unique school where outstanding teachers work together with supportive parents to train students in Christian character and to help them grow in discipline, hard-work and responsibility. Given such training, our students experience the joy of excelling in school and meeting the high academic standards set for them. Grace Valley is a blessed place, and I look forward to seeing what God will do here over the next 25 years.”

Grace Valley’s K-8 program offers a comprehensive curriculum, which includes classic literature, history from a Christian worldview, a robust writing program, hands-on science, and challenging math courses at all grade levels.

Grace Valley high school students take advanced high school courses while also fulfilling UC general education requirements through community college classes. This accelerated program allows students to graduate from high school one year early, having already completed a year of college.

Grace Valley is enrolling new students for the 2023-24 school year.

UC Davis Arboretum

Best Tourist Destination

UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden

1 Shields Ave., UC Davis

530-752-4880

arboretum.ucdavis.edu

Best Tourist Destination

Second — Downtown Davis Third — Davis Farmers Market Enterprise staff

The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden spans the campus’ 5,300-plus acres and includes the historic Arboretum — a 100-plus acre campus and regional amenity – comprising demonstration gardens and scientific collections as well as the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve — a rare stream and grassland ecosystem managed for teaching, research, wildlife and habitat protection. Community outreach and education are important aspects of the Arboretum and Public Garden’s mission to inspire human potential to help people and environments thrive.

“Thank you for voting the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden as the Reader’s Choice for Best Tourist Destination in Yolo County!” said Katie Hetrick, the Arboretum’s senior communications manager.

“We are honored that so many of you value the Arboretum and Public Garden as a special feature of our community and proudly share it with visiting family and friends. With your support, we can have an even greater impact as we empower, educate and enrich people while creating a healthier environment for us all.”

The Arboretum is open to everyone. Its gardens, natural areas and landscapes are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year and welcome families, visitors of all ages, even dogs on leashes. Visitors and tourists can engage with the gardens and landscapes through self-guided exploration or take part in free public education events, often planned and hosted by our student environmental leaders.

“We have exciting physical changes happening,” Hetrick said. “Construction of a new Environmental Learning Center is complete.”

Davis Farmers Market

Best Community Event, Best Fresh Produce

Davis Farmers Market

301 C St., Davis

davisfarmersmarket.org

530-756-1695

Best Community Event

Second — Davis Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting

Third — UC Davis Picnic Day

Best Fresh Produce

Second — Nugget Markets

Third — Ikeda’s Markets

By Wendy Weitzel

Special

to The Enterprise

A community tradition since 1976, it’s no surprise that Enterprise readers voted the Davis Farmers Market as Best Community Event and Best Fresh Produce in Yolo County.

Year-round in downtown Davis, thousands gather each week to shop for what is grown, raised and made locally. For 47 years, the Davis Farmers Market has connected and supported communities, area agriculture, farmers and artisan food producers.

It educates the public about nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and the local economic value of buying food and products directly from the producer.

The market, at 301 C St. in Central Park, draws locals and tourists alike. It’s often a model for the thousands of farmers markets across the country.

Open year-round, rain or shine, the market offers an array of fruits and vegetables, including certified organic produce, meats, seafood, wine, local eggs and honey, fresh-baked goods, flowers, plants and gifts. Everything sold in the market is either grown by or made by the seller. More than 70 percent of vendors come from a one-hour radius of Davis.

Market hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, year-round. In spring and summer, it hosts Picnic in the Park on Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m., adding music, children’s entertainment and more food vendors. Picnic in the Park is mid-May through mid-September. The remainder of the year, Wednesdays feature a traditional farmers market, open from 3 to 6 p.m.

The nonprofit Davis Farmers Market Alliance also manages farmers markets at UC Davis, Sutter Davis Hospital and Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento. And the Davis Farm to School program provides

farm- and garden-based education, increases farmfresh foods in school meals, and reduces solid waste through recycling and composting. For more information, visit https//davisfarmersmarket.org or visit it on Facebook or Instagram.

Taqueria Guadalajara Best Burrito

Taqueria Guadalajara

640 W Covell Blvd., Ste. E, Davis 530-297-4000

417 Mace Blvd., Davis 530-753-6100

6 West Court St., Woodland 530-668-0628

tgtacos.com

Best Burrito

Second — Dos Coyotes Border Café

Third — Chipotle Mexican Grill

Enterprise staff

Taqueria Guadalajara started with a small restaurant in Woodland in 1991. Davis students and residents, making the trek to Woodland for authentic tacos and burritos, suggested that owner Rigo Hernandez open a location in Davis. He listened, and it was so successful that there are now two locations in Davis.

Taqueria Guadalajara specializes in quality, freshness and execution of homestyle authentic Mexican cuisine. Since 1999, Davis customers have just kept coming; the taqueria serves an

average of 500 burritos a day.

“Thank you to all of our voters!” Hernandez said. “Your support means everything to us. Taqueria Guadalajara is honored to win the award for Best Mexican Food and Best Burrito.”

Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo

The Davis Farmers Market was voted Best Community Event and Best Fresh Produce in Yolo County by Enterprise readers.

The Upper Crust Baking Co. Best Bakery, Best Bagels

The Upper Crust Baking Co.

634 G St., Davis

606 Railroad Ave., Winters

530-750-1180

https://ucbaking.com

Best Bakery

Second Place — Nugget Markets

Third Place — Village Bakery

Best Bagels

Second Place — Posh Bagels

Third Place — Nugget Markets

Enterprise staff

The Upper Crust Bakery Co. — Davis Enterprise readers’ vote for the top bakery in Yolo County — was founded by Mo and Trudy Kalisky. Both native New Yorkers, they came to Davis as graduate students in 1970 and quickly discovered that there wasn’t much in the way of good bread available. Mo began making baguettes at home, bringing his scientific background to bear upon age-old baking traditions.

By the mid-’80s, the couple had rented a small baking facility and started providing artisan breads and

traditional East Coast Jewish deli-style baked goods to Davis- and Sacramento-area restaurants and specialty food shops, and were among the first non-farm vendors at many local farmers markets.

In 2016 — after having lived in Paris for more than 14 years — Mo and Trudy’s son, Lorin, returned to Davis with his wife, Edith, and their two daughters, and took the baton.

Lorin, who trained with top bakers in the U.S. and France, brought an expanded focus on authentic French baking traditions and sourcing local ingredients.

In 2019, the bakery opened its flagship bakerycafé-boutique next to the Davis Food Co-op, in a location that many locals remember as the former Radio Shack. Then, in 2022, it opened a second location in historic downtown Winters, at the beginning of California’s scenic “Wine to Waves” route 128.

Each of the two locations offers something special. Davis features a Pizza Night each Wednesday. In Winters, by popular demand, Upper Crust makes doughnuts.

“Thank you for your support!” Lorin Kalisky said. “We are proud to serve the Davis and Winters communities, and the whole of Yolo County.”

Courtesy photo

Lorin Kalisky moves fresh baguettes onto a cooling rack at The Upper Crust Baking Co.

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen Best Thai Food, Best Bar

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

129 E St., Davis

530-758-4333

sophiasthaikitchen.com

Best Thai Food

Second — Thai Canteen

Third — Paste Thai

Best Bar

Second — Froggy’s Bar &Grill

Third — Wiki Bar

Enterprise staff

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen took a pair of awards in the Best of Yolo poll, with Enterprise readers naming it Best Bar and Best Thai Food.

Sophia Patterson and her husband Guido started out running the kitchen at the Paragon Grill where Froggy’s/ Tommy J’s Grill now stands. They moved to the current location on E Street in 1996 and opened as Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis’ first Thai restaurant.

In 1999, Sophia partnered with Gordon Langstaff, and Kevin Wan later joined the partnership in 2001, when the business expanded and added a bar. By 2004, Sophia

had departed to open her own ventures in Paradise and Chico, leaving Gordon and Kevin as the co-owners of her namesake business.

Kevin credits the “unique inner courtyard location, plentiful outdoor seating, and separated bar” for helping Sophia’s endure the shutdown months during COVID that had devastated many other restaurants.

Sophia’s contributes to the community through monthly fundraisers for different UCD programs, donations to school auctions and sports organizations, and support for the SPCA. Kevin is currently president of the Davis

Downtown Business Association and chair of the Downtown Bar and Restaurant Committee. He also chairs the subcommittee that launched the Davisphere concerts in Central Park last year.

Kevin and Gordon also want to say, “Thank you so much for the patronage that helped us survive a pandemic that has ravaged our industry. We are so fortunate for the support of our loyal base of customers that we’ve gotten to know for over 25 years. While this is a college town, it’s the strong support of the local residents that sustains us and we strive to maintain those connections.”

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen was voted Best Thai Food and Best Bar in Yolo County by Enterprise readers.

Enterprise file photo

Nugget Markets — Best Grocery Store, Best Dessert, Best Customer Service, Best Wine & Spirit Store

Nugget Markets

1414 E. Covell Blvd., Davis

530-750-3800

409 Mace Blvd., Davis

530-753-6690

157 Main St., Woodland

530-662-5479

2000 Town Ctr. Plaza, West Sac. 916-375-8700

nuggetmarket.com

Best Grocery Store

Second — Davis Food Co-op

Third — Trader Joe’s

Best Dessert

Second — YoloBerry Yogurt

Best Wine & Spirits

Second — Trader Joe’s

Third — Aggie Liquor Best

Customer Service

Second — Lamppost Pizza

Third — South and West Davis Veterinary Centers Enterprise staff

Family owned and operated since the very beginning, Nugget Markets was founded locally in Woodland in 1926. Now headquartered in Davis, Nugget opened its first Davis store on Mace Boulevard in 1981, and their second Davis location on Covell Boulevard in 2000. Davis Enterprise readers sure appreciate the longtime retailer, voting it the top grocery store once again.

Founded by the father-and-son team of Will and Mack Stille, this Yolo County institution is still going strong with fourth-generation CEO Eric Stille at the helm.

“We are a family of dedicated people with a love of food and a passion for excellent service,” marketing director Rebecca Reichardt said. “We are committed to

constant improvement, our people, and most importantly, guest satisfaction. Our associates are our competitive edge — superior quality and great prices are just part of the bargain.”

Along with outstanding quality and selection, Nugget Markets’ dedication to world-class service is the icing on the cake. Nugget earned a spot as one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the 17th year in a row.

From checkers and courtesy clerks to baristas, bakers, wine stewards and more, the friendly and talented team is what truly sets it apart. “Powered by the love of food, passion for excellent service and commitment to quality, we strive to take care of our guests, associates and communities every single day,” Reichardt said.

In all, there are 13 Nugget Markets in and around the Sacramento Valley, and if you’re headed up to Tahoe or down to wine country, you can also stop by sister stores Fork Lift by Nugget Markets in Cameron Park or Sonoma Market in Sonoma. The company plans to open a new store in Rocklin in 2024.

Preethi Indian Cuisine Best Indian Food Chuy’s Taqueria Best Mexican Food

Preethi Indian Cuisine

715 Second St., Davis

530-759-2040

www.preethiindian.com

Best Indian Food

Second — Kathmandu Kitchen

Third — Yeti Restaurant

Enterprise staff

Preethi Indian Cuisine restaurant celebrates its 12th year in downtown Davis as it wins Best Indian Food in the Readers’ Choice survey for 2023.

The Immareddy family has been serving “homestyle” Indian food in the Sacramento area for more than 20 years. All of the family’s dishes are made by Krishna and Nanda Immareddy, who started their business shortly after they married in India.

Nanda and Krishna’s kids, daughter Ramya and son Lalith, help out with the family business on weekends when the restaurant is busy.

Lalith says almost all of their dishes are

made in a South Indian style. Whether it’s the spices, or the dishes, everything is made fresh in the family’s kitchen.

Paneer (Indian cheese) is handmade by Krishna; Nanda makes the tandoori-style naan, along with chicken tikka. But this is just a preview of the many other homemade creations that Preethi Indian Cuisine offers.

“Making a profit is not nearly as important as making the customers happy,” Nanda says. “If they’re not satisfied with something at Preethi, we simply don’t charge them.”

Starting in April, Preethi Indian Cuisine will offer a once-a-week special buffet, and a South Indian buffet on the weekend.

Chuy’s Taqueria 208 Railroad Ave., Winters

530-795-9811

Best Mexican Food Second Place — Taqueria Guadalajara Third Place — Tres Hermanas

Enterprise staff

Chuy’s Taqueria was founded in 2003 by owner Jesus “Chuy” Salazar and wife Martha Salazar.

“All of the food on The menu are Chuy’s own recipes,” Alejandro Salazar told The Enterprise. “We have been in business for 20 years this august and also have a food truck that operates in Vacaville for three years now.” Enterprise readers responded by voting Chuy’s the best Mexican-food establishment.

Chuy’s takes pride in providing fresh food cooked with quality ingredients and from scratch, every day. It’s

family-friendly with a clean environment and affordable for all.

“We have a beautiful back patio area available for reservations for parties of any occasion,” Alejandro said. “We have a taco truck in Vacaville; follows us at @ chuystacotruck on Instagram for location and hours.

“Thank you to our amazing customers for all the support over the years we couldn’t have been in business this long without you all!”

Chuy’s nachos.

Osteria Fasulo Best Italian Food, Best Romantic Dining

Osteria Fasulo

2657 Portage Bay East, No. 8

530-758-1324

osteriafasulo.com

Best Italian Food

Second — Zia’s Delicatessen

Third — Paesanos

Best Romantic Dining

Second — The Mustard Seed

Third — Seasons

Enterprise staff

Leonardo Fasulo just wants to make people feel at home.

That’s been his focus since 2003, when he opened the Italian eatery Osteria Fasulo in Village Homes.

Twenty years later, readers of The Davis Enterprise named it their top choice for Italian food and romantic dining in the community.

“Our cuisine is traditional but also innovative,” Fasulo said. “We always think of a new dish to please the palate of our guests.”

The seasonal menu — featuring a variety of pastas

as well as seafood, chicken, quail and veal entrees — have earned Osteria Fasulo honors including a place on Zagat’s 2009 top American restaurants survey, Best Overall Sacramento Area, best Italian restaurant in Yolo County and previous Readers’ Choice picks as one of Davis’ best romantic dining experiences.

It’s also received high praise on TripAdvisor.com, Yelp and OpenTable.

As for the future, Fasulo’s plan is to “keep doing what we do,” remaining a little secret tucked away in Village Homes. “Thank you to all our guests for your support during these hard times, and for your support during these 20 years.”

Osteria Fasula was voted Best Italian Food and Best Romantic Dining in Yolo County by Enterprise readers. Enterprise file photo

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

Best Japanese Food, Best Seafood, Best Sushi, Best Curbside Service

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

500 First St., Suite 19, Davis

530-756-2111

https://mikunisushi.com/

Best Japanese Food

Second Place — Huku Japanese Bistro

Third Place  — Zen Toro Japanese Bistro

Best Seafood

Second Place — Fish’s Wild Island Grill

Third Place  — Hometown Taiwanese Kitchen & Bar

Best Sushi

Second Place — Huku Japanese Bistro

Third Place  — I Love Sushi

Best Curbside Service

Second Place — Davis Food Co-op

Third Place  — South and West Davis Veterinary Center

Enterprise staff

Since 1987, the award-winning Mikuni Restaurant Group has blended traditional Japanese cuisine and sushi with American innovation. Its Davis location earned four first-place awards from Davis Enterprise readers — Best Japanese Food, Best Seafood Best Sushi and Best Curbside Service.

Mikuni employs more 1,000 people, and operates nine upscale, casual dining

locations in the Sacramento region, as well as one location in the East San Francisco Bay area. The extensive Mikuni menu features more than 300 fresh and original sushi creations served in eclectic, energetic dining settings.

Altogether, Mikuni serves more than 34 tons of seafood each month and 4.6 tons of rice each week.

But it’s not just about the fish. The restaurant says it aims to be the most loving and loved company in the world. Mikuni has a legacy of giving back to the community and to date the Mikuni Charitable Organization has donated more than $2 million to local nonprofits serving a wide range of health and human services.

Enterprise file photo

Lamppost Pizza

Best Pizza, Best Delivery Service

Lamppost Pizza

1260 Lake Blvd. Suite 113, Davis

530-758-1111

lamppostdavis.com

Best Pizza

Second — Woodstock’s Pizza

Third — Symposium

Best Delivery Service

Second — Woodstock’s Pizza

Third — Foodies Catering & Concessions

Enterprise staff

The “Best Pizza” category is always highly competitive, and in 202e, Enterprise readers chose Lamppost Pizza as the best in town.

Jim Matthews opened the first Lamppost Franchise in the Sacramento region in 1982. He opened the Davis location in 1994 with Tim and Marilyn Brophy.

After several years, Matthews and Linda Prato became sole proprietors of the Davis restaurant. In 2022, their daughter Krista returned to the team to oversee management and bookkeeping after having grown up

working in Lamppost through high school and while in grad school at UC Davis.

The menu includes delicious breakfast pizza, vegan and gluten-free pizza options, and craft beers and sodas, and the staff always tries to honor any special requests. It also started a new pizza of the month special this year. Lamppost has numerous big-screen TVs to show national sporting events, with a focus on regional teams.

For the future, the restaurant will be updating the well-loved seating in its dining room.

Customer Curt Robinson added this glowing endorsement: “Lamppost serves great pizza and more! It’s family friendly and selects choice ingredients for their food! Their sandwiches and burgers are great. Nice TVs and happy hour five days a week. Pizza crust and sauces are excellent with generous amounts of toppings. You’re missing out if you haven’t tried their food!”

LEFT: Lamppost Pizza general manager Mike Bryner tosses a pie crust. BELOW: Krista Prato Matthews, James Matthews and Linda Prato Matthews.

Enterprise photos

The Mustard Seed

Best Restaurant in Davis

The Mustard Seed 222 D St., Ste. 11, Davis

530-758-5750

mustardseedofdavis.com

Best Restaurant in Davis Second — Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Third — Lamppost Pizza

Enterprise staff

Serving up fine dining in an intimate setting at 222 D Street in downtown Davis, the Mustard Seed has been a local fixture for a quarter-century.

With a focus of providing exquisite dining, the Mustard Seed’s chefs boast more than 50 years of combined experience. The restaurant prides itself on its locally sourced ingredients, serving dishes with a uniquely Californian style.

The Mustard Seed also offers pleasant indoor and outdoor dining. “For 25 years the Mustard Seed has been serving the residents of Davis, Winters, Woodland, Vacaville, and Sacramento.” said Kim

Reiss, who took over ownership in 2019. “We looking forward to another 25 years. Thank you again for voting us a Best of Yolo County.”

The restaurant recently extended its lunch and brunch ours to seven days a week. Later this year, it plans to open its dinner service to seven days a week as well.

“We are so proud to be the new owners of the Mustard Seed,” Reiss said. “Our Guests have been so warm and welcoming to us. We hope and strive to return the warmth and welcoming. Thank you Yolo County for welcoming us.”

Zia’s Delicatessen Best Sandwich

Zia’s Delicatessen 616 Third St., Davis 530-750-7870

ziasdeli.com

Best Sandwich

Second — Nugget Markets Deli

Third — Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop

Enterprise staff

The Crilly family opened Zia’s Delicatessen in 1995, started by parents Anne Marie and Kevin Crilly, after relocating to Davis from the Bay Area. The San Francisco natives missed their neighborhood deli.

Anne Marie’s father and grandfather both had their own butcher shops in San Francisco. Anne Marie was accustomed to being behind a meat counter where you might say she grew up.

The Crilly children, Angela and Jonathan, grew up behind the counter, and from a young age, they learned from

their parents how to successfully run the family business. In 2022, Anne Marie and Kevin retired, and Angela and Jonathan took over ownership.

Zia’s Delicatessen caters, so your next business meeting or family party needs can be stress-free.

The family knows there are many shops that specialize in sandwiches in Davis and they want to say, “Thank you to our loyal customers for voting us Best Sandwich. We want to thank the community for their loyal support, and for voting us best sandwich,” Jonathan said. “We will continue to strive, just as our parents did, to provide the best quality food and service to our customers. We look forward to serving our community for decades to come!”

Courtesy photo Courtesy photo

Berryessa Gap Vineyards Best Winery Olive Drive Barber Shop Best Barber Shop

Berryessa Gap Vineyards

15 Main St., Winters

530-795-3201

www.berryessagap.com

Best Winery

Second — Great Bear Vineyards

Third — Matchbook Wine Company

Enterprise staff

Founded in 2002, Berryessa Gap Vineyards is a family-owned, award-winning winery based in Winters. The vineyard flanks the California Coastal Range adjacent to nearby Napa and Solano counties. The characteristics of the land, which is similar terroir to the warmer and dryer climate of the Mediterranean, favor the production of fine red and white wines including barbera, malbec, petite sirah, syrah, tempranillo, zinfandel, albariño, sauvignon blanc and verdejo. The winery produces 8,000 cases annually. In recognition of that quality, Davis Enterprise readers voted Berryessa Gap the top winery in

Yolo County.

“Berryessa Gap Vineyards wants to wholeheartedly thank our customers and wine club members who voted for us,” said Carey Bettencourt, vice president of sales and marketing. “We are honored to be named a 2023 Readers’ Choice award winner!”

Berryessa Gap has two tasting rooms in Winters — downtown and at our winery. It also has the first tasting lounge dedicated to apéritifs with its L’Apéro les Trois brand.

“We are unique in that our founders own Martinez Orchards, a premium, industry-regarded grapevine nursery that has served premier Napa and Sonoma wineries and vineyards since 1969,” Bettencourt said. “We have a familial and company continuity of experts that propagate our grapevines, plant and care for our vineyard, and make our wines, which is unique in our industry.”

The winery is part of the movement to make the scenic Highway 128 a wine lover’s favored journey to visit the amazing wine growing regions in Yolo, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Olive Drive Barber Shop 1065 Olive Drive, Davis

916-670-3928

Best Barber

Second — Davis Barber Shop

Third — Razor’s Edge Barber Shop

Enterprise staff

Olive Drive Barber Shop started up in 2011. “In the beginning, I only had three customers per day,” owner Lily Olson told The Enterprise. “This lasted six months. It slowly ramped up to nine per day. It grew from there to dozens per day until COVID hit.”

The shop focuses on providing excellent hair cuts for men, women and children. They only do clipper cuts, scissor cuts and beard trims. They don’t take appointments, but customers are free to walk in any time. Olson says they serve many regular clients and especially cater to college students.

“During the early COVID period, the

state shut all barber shops down completely that times — that was a very rough period,” Olson said. “Things slowly recovered and now we are growing again. We have always been in the same, easy to access, location, across from In-NOut Burger on Olive Drive. Today we have four barbers and look forward to continuing to grow the business.”

Kids often get a surprise visitor. Tofu, a Pomeranian dog, is practically one of the staff. He is very friendly and loves people, especially the little ones.

“Our entire staff is state licensed and experienced,” Olson said. “I only hire the best. Every year prior to this year, we were voted No. 2 in Yolo County and are proud to have earned the No. 1 spot this year.”

Courtesy photo The award-winning Olive Drive Barber Shop staff includes, from left, Sevi Nguyen, Tofu Nguyen and Lily Nguyen Olson.

Marian Zingaro Best Chiropractor Mirror Image Dance Company Best Dance Studio

Dr. Marian Zingaro, DC

423 E St., Davis

530-220-3346

zingarochiropractic.com

Best Chiropractor

Second — Michelle Chu, DC

Third — Dennis Vo, DC

Enterprise staff

Davis Enterprise readers again voted Dr. Marian Zingaro, DC, in business since 1991, as the Best Chiropractor for 2023.

Dr. Zingaro’s primary focus is to help patients recover, heal and live pain-free. With more than 20 years experience treating musculoskeletal conditions, she uses gentle chiropractic techniques and massage to treat acute and chronic pain, injuries and repetitive stress. Her approach to chiropractic and massage flows from her experience that healing goes hand-inhand with relaxation, trust and empathy.

In this day of high-tech/low human contact, a patient receives at least an hour of Zingaro’s attention and care.

“I blend massage and other soft tissue

techniques with chiropractic care and I perform all of the work. (Most chiropractors hire other people to do pieces of the work to be performed.) I am also trained as a counselor and can listen deeply to your physical concerns. Sometimes patients are confused by a diagnosis or medical information. For many years, I have taught anatomy and physiology and know how to make difficult concepts easy to understand. I help my patients understand what is happening.

“I greatly enjoyed helping my patients! Thank you so very much for voting for me!”

Dr. Zingaro also Supervises Chiropractic Interns at Palmer West College of Chiropractic.

Contact Dr. Zingaro at 530-220-3346 or visit zingarochiropractic.com.

Mirror Image Dance Company

2121 Second St., St. A106, Davis

530-400-5144

mirrorimagedancecompany.com

Best Dance Studio

Second — Pamela Trokanski

Dance Workshop

Third — Applegate Dance Studio

Enterprise staff

Founded in 2009 by Marlaina Schroeder

Spivey, Mirror Image Dance Company is more than just a place to learn technique from world-class instructors. It’s a place to laugh, live, love and dance. It’s a place to learn how to be the best version of yourself you can be.

Founded on the idea that everyone should have access to dance, MIDC proudly fosters a fun dance environment where everyone is welcomed with open arms: All body types, ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic statuses, and experience levels. Everyone.

It took over its current location in the fall of 2019, just a few months before the pandemic began. Even through the pandemic, MIDC was able to continue to provide world-class education in a safe way. “We built an outside stage and continued to connect with our young people,” Spivey said.

“We are excited to announce that we will be expanding our dance space to include another dance studio starting in fall of 2023,” Spivey said. “Not only with this new space will allow us to serve adults, but MIDC is also thrilled to offer classes for our local youth with disabilities. This new program, Pure Joy, will launch in fall 2023.” Some things that make Mirror Image Dance Company unique are its competition team, showcase, work-exchange program, class offerings and world-class instructors. “Our competition team has no tryouts,” Spivey told The Enterprise. “We have found that if a dancer wants to compete and work hard — then we welcome them with open arms! Our showcase allows all of our dancers, competitive and recreation, to join forces and perform four shows in one weekend.”

Courtesy photo

Davis Dermatology Best Dermatology/Cosmetic Surgery, Best Facial

Davis Dermatology

132 E St., Ste. 220, Davis

530-756-5758

DavisDermatology.net

Best Dermatology/ Cosmetic Surgery

Second — Sutter Davis

Third — Skin Renewal Center

Best Facial

Second — Torzo Spa

Enterprise staff

In each of the past 11 years, Davis Dermatology has been voted the No. 1 Dermatologist/Cosmetic Surgery in Davis by Enterprise readers. Its goal is excellence every day with each and every patient.

“The last 11 years have been amazing,” said owner Dr. Earlyn Noll. “We have cared for over 12,000 patients, expanded to 10 treatment rooms, five providers, performed over 60,000 procedures, and now offer more than 36, industry leading procedures including skin surgeries, injectables (Botox and fillers), lasers, body contouring, hormone replacement

therapy, chemical peels, and facials. We also offer best in class, medical grade skin care products.”

Noll’s interest in aesthetics dates back to her younger years. At the age of 10, she was fascinated by cleft-lip and palate repairs that she saw in a medical book left out in the library. “The librarian, however, said I was too young to look at the book,” she said. When the librarian informed her mother, she checked out the book. “Today, I still enjoy looking at before-and-after photos, but now they are of my own patients.”

People often ask how Noll managed to become a dermatologist, have four children and open a medical practice. “I’m very honest and say that it wasn’t easy,” she answers. “There were and are many challenges. Over the years I’ve learned to see these challenges as opportunities to grow into the best version of myself. I am also very grateful to have the opportunity to do what I love.”

A s the practice continues to grow, Noll and her staff are committed to exceeding expectations, remaining at the forefront of aesthetic medicine, and to sharing their knowledge and expertise with the community.

Courtesy photo

Delta Hearing Center

Best Hearing Aid Service

Delta Hearing Center

1105 Kennedy Pl., Ste. 3, Davis

deltahearing.com

530-753-3228

Best Hearing Aid Service

Second — Costco

Third — Kaiser Permanente

Enterprise staff

Delta Hearing Center is all about trying to provide professional and quality care for the Davis community’s hearing needs.

“We try to make the process of selecting and fitting hearing aids as simple and painless as possible,” said Dr. Patrick Barga, who purchased Delta Hearing Center in 2001.

Delta Hearing Center had been open since the mid-1980s, and moved to its current suite at 1105 Kennedy Place,

Suite 3.

What sets Delta Hearing Center apart from other similar businesses is it is a small, private practice.

“That allows us to provide care tailored to each individual’s needs,” Barga said.

Barga noted that Delta is a preferred provider for most insurance plans for UC Davis, State, Federal and PG&E retirees.

Barga says he appreciates the community’s support and looks forward to continuing to serve the community’s hearing needs.

Physical Edge Best Physical Therapy

Physical Edge

1460 Drew Avenue, Ste.

200, Davis

530-753-9011

physicaledge.net

Best Physical Therapy

Second —

Burger Physical Therapy

Third —

Sutter Davis Hospital

Enterprise staff

This June, Physical Edge will celebrate 20 years of service. Owners Mat and Marianne Moore, longtime Davis residents since childhood, have owned and operated Physical Edge for almost two decades.

“We have an incredibly skilled rehabilitation staff,” Marianne Moore said, “which includes seven physical therapists, a physical-therapy assistant and a chiropractor. Our staff specializes in orthopedics, spine care, neurological disorders, vestibular therapy and functional movement/injury prevention. In addition we have highly experienced personal trainers who help our clientele as well.”

Physical Edge offers a variety of

classes, including Pilates, Yoga, Injury Prevention/Functional Movement & Parkinson’s Exercise Group Class. New classes getting ready to launch include Osteoporosis Fitness, Small Group Movement Clinic and Golf Performance Screens/ Movement Assessments.

Physical Edge prides itself on being a teaching facility, too, working with several universities to provide 12-week clinical instructions and mentorship programs to physical therapy students. In addition, it has an internship program with several UC Davis students seeking to gain experience and a greater understanding of the fields of physical therapy and chiropractic care.

“Our goal at Physical Edge is to provide our patients with the highest quality rehabilitation services that focus not only on removing someone’s pain but also removing the true cause of their symptoms,” Moore added. “Whether recovering from injury or minimizing the risk for injury with fitness and athletic activities, our staff focuses on restoring normal movement patterns.”

The business has won Readers’ Choice for Best Physical Therapy for the past 10 years.

Courtesy photo

Dr. Patrick Barga

Sutter Davis Hospital Best Hospital

Sutter Davis Hospital 2000 Sutter Pl., Davis

530-756-6440

sutterhealth.org/davis

Best Hospital

Second — Dignity Health Medical Foundation

Enterprise staff

For almost three decades, Sutter Davis Hospital has been dedicated to the Sutter Health mission of enhancing the well-being of people in the communities they serve through a not-for-profit commitment to compassion and excellence. In recognition of the hospital team’s resilience and dedication, readers named Sutter Davis as the best hospital in Yolo County.

What is now Sutter Davis Hospital began as Binning Memorial Hospital in 1968, becoming Davis Community Hospital about seven years later as part of an ownership transfer. When Sutter Health later purchased the hospital, it became an early affiliate of what is now a notfor-profit, integrated network of care that spans a large swath of Northern California. During the intervening years, the number of employees climbed from around 80 to more than 500, making it among the community’s largest employers.

The current Sutter Davis Hospital opened in May 1993. Twenty-five years later, in celebration of its silver anniversary, hospital and community leaders teamed up to announce the launch of a major new expansion of the hospital’s most heavily used services. That work is underway now, with the intention of welcoming the first patients into these

Dr. Steven J. Smith, MD Best Doctor

Sutter Davis Family Practice Group

635 Anderson Rd., Ste. 10, Davis 530-758-1122

sutterhealth.org/find-doctor/ dr-steven-j-smith

Doctor

newly expanded spaces—the Family Birthing Center, Emergency Department and inpatient care — later this year.

Over those 25 years, much changed in Yolo County and beyond, and hospital leaders recognized that it was time to continue to evolve and grow with the evolving and growing community. The hospital has a proud history of serving the Davis area as part of Sutter Health’s integrated network that stretches back decades.

Teams there have delivered thousands of babies, established the hospital as a primary stroke center, been recognized nearly a dozen times as among the “Best Places to Work in Healthcare,” earned additional national recognition for excellence, quality and compassion, and built strong partnerships with organizations like the Davis Farmers Market, the Yolo Food Bank, Yolo Children’s Alliance and CommuniCare — all built on a philosophy of health and wellbeing that goes beyond treating illness and injury.

Just recently, one of these partnerships came to fruition with the grand opening of Paul’s Place, a first-of-its-kind multi-functional building that will provide needed services and a range of supportive housing to at-risk and homeless individuals and families living in Davis.

Sutter Health’s commitment to match up to $2.5 million in private donations to support Paul’s Place is one of our largest investments in our Getting to Zero campaign, an effort that was launched in 2016 to find new ways to come together to better address issues of homelessness in the region. It is a welcome example of what can be accomplished when we work together and of the impact a true culture of caring can have on community health.

Best

Second — Elizabeth Ward Pham, M.D.

Third — Karen L. Mo, M.D.

Urban Body Piercing

Best Tattoo / Piercing

Urban Body Piercing

802 Second St., Davis

530-297-1035

urbanbodyca.as.me

Best Tattoo/Piercing

Second — Death or Glory Tattoo

Third — Sacred Tiger

Enterprise staff

Urban Body is a professional body piercing studio devoted to providing a safe and welcoming environment to every one of their clients. Currently comprised of three piercers, one apprentice and manager/jewelry specialist, they are this years winner of the Reader’s Choice for best Tattoo/Piercing.

“Thank you for the kind readers that have voted for us the past several years,” said manager Cynthia Perez. “It truly means a lot to see the same smiling faces walk through the door, as well as new ones, every single day. We hope to continue to keep making our clients happy

for many more years to come.

The studio offers a wide selection of implant grade body jewelry, spare ends and parts, and custom jewelry orders. And, if you’re ever in the Mideast, looking for a tattoo or piercing, they also have a shop in Tel Aviv, Israel.

European Wax Center Best Waxing / Hair Removal

European Wax Center

768 Fifth St., Davis

530-564-4088

www.waxcenter.com

Best Waxing / Hair Removal

Second — Angels Skin & Beauty

Enterprise staff

Walk in and strut out — that’s the philosophy at European Wax Center, voted by Enterprise readers as the best waxing and hair removal in Yolo County.

“European Wax Center Davis is honored to receive the Best Waxing/Hair Removal in Yolo County award once again,” regional manager Joshua Cadena said. “We are so thankful to our loyal guests that have kept us in business for nearly fourteen years now and we look forward to many, many more!”

Susan and Larry Stieber started as franchisees in 2009 with their first center in San Ramon. Wax Center Partners is a European Wax Center platform launched in May 2021 as a partnership between the Stieber EWC franchise and MKH Capital

European Wax Center Davis staff includes (from left): Chris (Guest Service Associate), Sabrina (Wax Specialist), Laura - crouching (Guest Service Associate), Eddie (Center Manager), Damineh (Wax Specialist) and Jada (Guest Service Associate).

Partners, a family-backed, Miami-based private-equity firm. WCP combines the Stiebers’ operating knowledge and brand culture, with MKH’s expertise in scaling businesses and financial resources.

Today, Wax Center Partners operates 39 locations across four states.

“Our Davis location was one of the earliest EWCs to open its doors, and since 2009 we have seen some amazing growth,” Cadena told The Enterprise.

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo Urban Body Piercing staff includes (from left) Chelsea Kahn (piercer), Mackenzie Brittenham (apprentice), Cynthia Perez (manager), Regina Drenik (piercer) and Skyla Moser (piercer).

Fountain Circle Townhomes

Best Apartment Community

Fountain Circle Townhomes

1213 Alvarado Ave., Davis

530-753-0408

davisapartmentsforrent.com

Best Apartment Community

Second —

Aggie Square Apartments

Third — Almondwood Apartments

Best Self Storage — Harrison Self Storage

Second —

Second Street Storage

Third — South Davis Storage

Enterprise staff

The results are in, and Fountain Circle Townhomes has won best apartment community in the 2023 Best of Yolo Readers’ Choice survey. Davisville Management Company (DMC), umbrella company of award- winning properties Aggie Square Apartments and Almondwood Apartments, placed second in Best Property Management. The organization reflects on the effort that earned them these accolades.

“We’re so proud to have been honored as the best apartment community as well as Aggie Square and Almondwood placing second and third,” said DMC COO, Janna Buccieri. “Another of our properties, Second Street Storage also placed

second for Best Self-Storage Company. It means so much to be acknowledged by the community.”

As a family-owned and operated business, Buccieri stated that the organization prides itself in putting their residents first while providing the best off-campus experience they can. With the awards showering down upon them, clearly they’re doing something right.

“All of our apartment complexes offer spacious units in addition to community features like computer labs, fitness centers, clubhouses, free fiber optic WiFi, free parking, pools and BBQ areas to name a few,” said Buccieri. “We really enjoy holding community events to get to know our residents with homemade chili feeds, holiday dinners, raffles, donut days and more to make them feel at home and provide the opportunity to make friends.”

“In response to asking our residents, ‘What can we do better or improve on?’, we are finishing a massive improvement project to the pool area at Aggie Square Apartments including new built-in BBQs, new furniture, all new decking, and new trellises, just to name a few of the renovations.” This helps us direct efforts toward providing wanted upgrades and events to provide socialization, fitness and a successful living environment,” said Buccieri.” We strive to provide an exceptional housing environment and feel very proud that our tenants have appreciated our efforts by voting us the Best of Yolo County!”

Courtesy photo

Fountain Circle Townhomes has won best apartment community in the 2023 Best of Yolo Readers’ Choice survey.

Stabler’s A-1 Appliance

Best Major Appliance Store, Best Appliance Service & Repair

Stabler’s A-1 Appliance 548 Kentucky Ave., Woodland

530-662-3996

stablerappliance.com

Best Appliance Service & Repair

Second — Dave’s Appliance Repair Third — Wise Appliance Repair

Enterprise staff

Stabler’s A-1 Appliance aims to provide the best service possible, and for that customer focus, the business at 548 Kentucky Ave. in Woodland has been named Best Major Appliance Store once again in the annual Reader’s Choice poll.

Owners Paul and Carman Stabler thank the community for voting their business No. 1. “We are grateful for the opportunity of allowing us to provide great service for the city of Davis,” Carman said.

Walter and Joanne Stabler started the business in 1961. In 1997 it moved from West and Main streets to the current

location, before Paul and Carman Stabler took over the business in 2005.

The Stabler family has experienced an even bigger amount of traffic after their move in 2020 to 548 Kentucky Avenue (just a half-mile down from their old location on Harter Avenue). The showroom floor is on a much more visible street that brings in locals and passersby alike!

As it celebrates 62nd anniversary, Stabler’s A-1 Appliance has stayed true to its mission: “We provide the best knowledge on major appliances and provide the best service for major appliances,” Stabler said.

She notes that many are surprised to learn that the company has been around for so long and that it’s on its third generation of appliance men.

Stabler says their success is due to their focus of providing personal service with a knowledgeable staff and that they service the appliances they sell.

Plus, they have a bonus customers may not expect: “We always have dogs here to greet you!” Stabler said.

For more information, call 530-6623996, email csstabler@yahoo.com or visit www.stablerappliance.com.

Stabler’s A-1 Appliance owners Carman and Paul Stabler know the business of major appliance sales, service and repair.

Enterprise photo

Steam Bright Best Carpet Cleaning

Steam Bright Carpet, Upholstery, Tile and Grout Cleaning

606 Peña Drive, Ste. 300, Davis

530-758-9103

steambrightdavis.com

Best Carpet Cleaning

Second — Cotton Carpet Care Third — Heaven’s Carpet Cleaning

Enterprise staff

Opened in 1992, Steam Bright has provided carpet, upholstery, tile and grout cleaning services to Yolo County residents and businesses for nearly 30 years from its location at 606 Peña Dr., Ste. 300 in Davis.

“We started in 1992 with one van and one technician,” owner Joel Chessher said. “We have continuously served the community for 31 years. We now have three vans serving Yolo County.”

The family-owned business’ goal is to help clients maintain a clean living or working environment by cleaning carpets,

tile and grout. Their technicians also clean area rugs and upholstery. Customers include home owners and renters, businesses, commercial properties and apartment buildings — and they voted Steam Bright the No. 1 carpet-cleaning service in Yolo County.

“Thank you to Davis and Yolo County for your support over the last 31 years,” Chessher said. “We appreciate the recognition by our community.”

Steam Bright proudly carries Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) and continuously trains its employees throughout the year. Chessher says they will add online scheduling later this year.

Woodland Electrical Inc.

Best Residential Electrician

Woodland Electrical Inc.

10

N. East St., Ste. 106, Woodland

530-867-3740

www.woodlandelectrical.com

Best Residential Electrician Second — Country Bear Electric Third — Current Solution Electrical

Enterprise staff

Woodland Electrical Inc. started small with a solo truck and one employee. As word of mouth spread about its dedication to quality work, so too did its fleet and workforce, including moving from a home office to a 2,000-squarefoot office, shop and warehouse space in 2018, and again to a bigger space in 2021. Those dedicated customers voted Woodland Electrical the No. 1 residential electrician in Yolo County once again. Owner Joel Arriaga personally handles most incoming calls and regularly gives out his personal cell phone number. “We provide free estimates and consultations,” Arriaga said, detailing what makes

his business special. “We personally take the time to go over options most others would not bother explaining in order to make sure we are delivering exactly what our customers need. We are also focusing on the electrification and zero-carbon initiatives that are set to be coming out in the next few years to help homeowners make informed decisions about switching from gas to electrical appliances.”

Future plans include adding an app, moving to a larger building and starting a rewards program.

“We are partnering with solar equipment distributor Sun Connections to begin offering full service solar installations in 2023 and we are very excited to get into the solar industry,” Arriaga said.

Davis Glass & Screen Best Glass Replacement

Davis Glass & Screen

920 Third St., Ste. D, Davis 530-758-0910

davisglass.com

Best Glass Replacement

Second — Rainbow Glass

Third – Steve’s Glass

Enterprise staff

In Summer 2016, Johnny Rexroth became the new owner of Davis Glass and Screen (previously Anderson Glass), keeping the same crew but changing the name.

Davis Glass and Screen is a statecertified contractor specializing in residential windows, sliding patio doors, beveled glass/mirrors, solar screens,

screen repairs and replacements as well as shower/tub doors and enclosures.

“We thank the community for voting us ‘Best Glass Replacement’ for the past seven years, we hope to continue to be of service for all projects — big or small,” said Johnny Rexroth.

Laura Nathan Design

Best Interior Design

Laura Nathan Design

606 Peña Drive, Ste. 150, Davis 530-753-3414

lauranathandesign.com

Best Interior Design

Second —

The Design Partner

Third — Wirth Furniture & Interiors

Enterprise staff

For the ninth time, Laura Nathan, owner of Laura Nathan Design, has been chosen by Enterprise readers as Yolo County’s Best Interior Designer.

Nathan has more than 30 years of experience in design.

“My interior designs unite space and light to create timeless environments that embody my clients’ lifestyles,” Nathan said. “My projects range from expansive to intimate spaces and from remodels to new home design.”

“With a faithful client base spanning over three decades, I have built a successful design business that offers new and continuing client opportunities to enrich their lives with a newly designed space,” she added. “My designs embody sustainability and responsible manufacturing. For example, my custom furniture, fabric, and window-

covering resources offer recycled materials, soy-based cushion options, and are wood-certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.”

In addition to winning Best Interior Designer in the Yolo County Readers’ Choice, Laura Nathan also received recognition as the Best of Houzz for Customer Service 2015, 2016 and 2022, and was featured in Sacramento Home Magazine.

“Thank you to my clients for inviting me into your homes and businesses,” she said. “I’ve been honored to work with you and to design interiors that are both functional and reflective of your personalities.”

Courtesy photo Enterprise readers voted Laura Nathan Design Best Interior Design in Yolo County.

Courtesy photo

Enterprise readers voted Davis Glass & Screen Best Glass Replacement in Yolo County.

Blake’s Heating and Air Conditioning Best Heating and Air Company

Blake’s Heating & Air Conditioning 1042 Olive Drive, Davis

530-758-4030

blakeshvac.com

Best Heating & Air Company

Second — Pearce Heating & Air Conditioning Third — BJ’s Heating & Air Conditioning

Enterprise staff

Keeping its clients comfortable since 1973, Blake’s Heating & Air Conditioning took the title of Best Heating and Air from Davis Enterprise readers.

“I am extremely pleased that Yolo County has kept us busy for 50 years,” owner Mark Blake said. “I’m very appreciative of every job that has been given to us. All of us at Blake’s and our families appreciate the work. Thanks again for making us No. 1.”

Blake’s is family-owned and -operated and has been serving Yolo and Solano counties since 1973. It’s the oldest Lennox dealer in California, with one of the the oldest heating-and-air contractors licenses.

The company started working out of a barn on Road 96 for the first five years, with an office inside the house’s laundry room.

“After 47 years, when everyone else has changed to commissioned sales people,” Blake said, “we are still using non-commission estimators which in return saves our customers thousands of dollars.”

Blakes is the most-awarded Lennox Dealer in Yolo County. For 23 years Blakes has won the Centurion Award from Lennox for the top 100 dealers in the nation.

In addition, it’s taken the Circle of Excellence award for the top 40 dealers in the nation, the top one percent performer in Northern California, the 2009 Outstanding Achievement award for leadership, and the 2012 Outstanding Performance Award partner of the year from Lennox.

Courtesy photo

Mark Blake reminesces in downtown Davis as owner of award-winning Blake’s Heating & Air Conditioning.

Andy Gagnon Landscaping Best Landscape Design

Andy Gagnon Landscaping

555 Kentucky Ave., Unit C, Woodland

530-666-0668

andygagnonlandscapes.com

Enterprise staff

Creating unique landscapes and pools is not just about good construction practices: it also requires experienced, educated and creative design personnel.

That’s where Andy Gagnon Landscapes comes in. Gagnon grew up in Davis and graduated from UC Davis with a degree in environmental planning and management with a focus on landscape management. His design personnel live locally and know the unique design challenges in the Davis/ Woodland soils and water. Some have been with him for over 20 years.

Since its beginning in 1979, the Davis company has created multiple award-winning landscape designs recognized through the Sacramento chapter of the California Landscape Contractors Association.

The company’s goal is to create and install any type of feature in the outdoor environment that clients and designers dream up. And since Cricket Pools was added to the business in 1997, “we are the only local company that can provide clients with a one-stop shop for all their outdoor construction needs.”

The company also invests in the community. Over the years, Andy Gagnon Landscapes has donated labor, materials and equipment to help install and improve many local projects, including four different Habitat for Humanity sites as well as parks throughout the region.

Redwood Barn Nursery Best Nursery

Redwood Barn Nursery

1607 Fifth St., Davis

530-758-2276

redwoodbarn.com

Best Nursery

Second — Davis Ace

Enterprise staff

Family owned and operated for 40 years, Redwood Barn Nursery is a mainstay in the local nursery business and winner of this year’s Readers’ Choice Award for best nursery.

“Forty years helping folks create wonderful gardens and landscapes in Davis!” owner Don Shor enthused. “When we built our barn (literally: we had a barn raising right there on Fifth Street) we were on the edge of town!”

Since 1981 the nursery has focused on quality, selection and service. And they look to make more informed gardeners; an informed customer gardens more sensibly, more sustainably and more successfully.

“Consumer tastes change,” Shor said,

“whether it’s the current surge of interest in houseplants or the the huge popularity of vegetable gardens and fruit trees through the pandemic, or a renewed focus on drought tolerant climate-adapted plants for our region.”

Advice can be found on-site, as well as in Shor’s regular gardening column in The Davis Enterprise, which he’s been writing for more than 20 years, and in a garden talk show on KDRT-LP, which Shor and Lois Richter have been doing since 2005. Shor takes pride in reaching a new generation. “This is where your grandma brought me when I was your age,” is one of his favorite things to hear.

Fred Gladdis/Enterprise file photo Andy Gagnon stands in a pool that his company built at a South Davis home.

Enterprise file photo Red Barn Nursery owner Don Shor was voted Best Nursery by Enterprise readers.

Brooks Painting Best Painting Company

Brooks Painting

2860 W. Covell Blvd., Ste. 7, Davis

530-753-5074

www.brookspainting.com

Best Painting Company

Second —

Alan’s House Painting

Third — MG Painting

Enterprise staff

Since 1997, Brooks Painting has been serving the residential and commercial painting needs of Yolo County. Founded by Jeremy Brooks, the operation has grown from two employees to over 30 employees with excellent customer service at the forefront, and they have received the most votes in the painting category of the Readers’ Choice Awards this year and for the past 10 years.

“Thank you to our community for voting us ‘Best Painting Company’ year after year!” Brooks said. “We are so grateful for the trust of our incredible customers and the dedication of our employees. Your support means everything to us, and we are honored to be Yolo County’s

go-to painting company!”

Because of the value that Brooks places on giving back, he wanted Brooks Painting to be woven right into the fabric of the community. Today, the team is proud to be avidly involved in local chambers, donate dozens of Painter for a Day gift certificates each year, and annually give away $10,000 in services to a deserving nonprofit or family. Thanks to continued growth, they are grateful to offer their expertise in Yolo County and the greater Sacramento area.

“At Brooks Painting, we value superior customer service,” Brooks said. “Through relentless dedication to the client, employees, and craftsmanship, our mission is to attract lifelong relationships.”

Their services extend far beyond residential and commercial painting. In fact, services include epoxy floor coatings, concrete staining, acoustic ceiling removal, dry-erase/chalkboard painting, wallpaper removal, and much more.

“Our dedication to our community and our clients is what sets us apart,” Brooks said. “Estimates are always free!

North Pacific Plumbing Best Plumber

North Pacific Plumbing

P.O.

530-845-1121

Davis

northpacificplumbing.com

Best Plumber

Second — Hall’s Plumbing

Third — Plumbing Doctor

Enterprise staff

After opening in 2006, North Pacific Plumbing quickly established a reputation for being one of the best and most reliable plumbing businesses in the area. Owned by Brent Dotson, North Pacific plumbing provides plumbing services to businesses and residents in Yolo County. Dotson said his team is committed to providing quality services and being honest, efficient and reliable with customers.

“Our team works closely with each client to meet all of their plumbing needs and we are dedicated to building trust with our clients so they can rely on us for any future plumbing

services,” Dotson said.

North Pacific Plumbing offers residential services and repairs, plumbing for new construction and remodels, and also provides commercial plumbing services.

“North Pacific Plumbing is honored to be recognized as Best Plumber in Yolo County for the 6th year, and would like to thank all of their clients for their continued support and loyalty,” Dotson said.

Enterprise file photo

Brent Dotson, North Pacific Plumbing owner, installs a sink in a local home.

Lucas Roofing Best Roofing Company

Lucas Roofing 1900 Lehigh Dr., Davis

530-304-3665

geraldlucasroofing1@ yahoo.com

Best Roofing Company

Second — Rabaino Roofing

Third — Valley Roofing

Enterprise staff

Born and raised in Davis, Jerry Lucas started his roofing business in 1992 after working in the industry for more than half a decade.

“It just took off,” Lucas said.

He credits his success on his long-term employees Oscar Jiminez — a 20-plus year veteran of the business — and his sons Brian and Gio Jiminez.

“If I do a roof for someone, as long as a tree doesn’t fall on it, and it gets a leak even after the warranty ends, I have no problem taking care of it for them, no charge,” he said. “I won’t let you down.”

Working mainly in the Davis, Woodland

and Dixon area, Lucas offers all types of roofing, including replacement, inspection, dry rot repair and gutters on new construction.

Lucas builds his roofs under California Title 24 standards using TPO materials that are more reflective and better for the environment, he said. One thing that makes him stand out is that he’s “very personable and takes [his customers’] satisfaction personally.

Mike Rabaino Roofing Inc.

Mike Rabaino Roofing Inc. 20 N. East St., Suite 104, Woodland

530-668-0181

www.rabainoroofing.com

Enterprise staff

Mike Rabaino started his roofing career in 1988. About five years later, he opened Mike Rabaino Roofing Inc. Dedicated to quality workmanship he has kept his roofing company small and treats all of his employees as family. Davis Enterprise readers responded by voting Rabaino the top roofing company in Yolo County.

Over the years Rabaino has installed on residential as well as commercial

buildings. Mike Rabaino Roofing Inc. has expanded with additional licensees which allows them to install gutters and insulation.

“Experienced in commercial and residential roofing, we are capable of handling any project,” Rabaino’s Lisa Miller told The Enterprise. “If you have a leak that you can’t not seem to find, need some broken tiles replaced or want to have a new energy-efficient roof installed to meet current energy requirements you can count on us to get the job completed for you.

“Thank you so much for voting for us as one of the best roofers in the Davis Enterprise,” she added. “We look forward to helping you out in future when your roof is ready to be replaced or repaired.”

Courtesy photo Enterprise readers voted Lucas Roofing Best Roofing Company in Yolo County.

RepowerYolo

909 Fifth St.

530-564-4292

www.repoweryolo.com

Best Solar Company

Second — Citadel Roofing & Solar

Enterprise staff

“Sounds trite, but I love our company,” said Chris Soderquist, owner (with John Walter and Harry Horner) of RepowerYolo. “Every day we have the fortune and responsibility of helping community members harvest the sun and generate inexpensive, clean energy.”

Since its inception in 2014, Soderquist says Repower has helped more local homeowners go solar than any other (local or national) solar company. In 2022, its business doubled — they helped more than twice as many homeowners go solar. “Since we do not advertise, market or employ salespeople,” Soderquist said, “we are thankful for the trust homeowners

place in Repower. In total, we have helped more than 900 property owners in our community go solar.”

Repower’s purpose is simple: to simplify the process, improve the quality and reduce the cost of going solar for Yolo County property owners. It have a triple bottom line: When property owners go solar, they reduce PG&E costs, shrink their carbon footprint and support the community (through Repower’s YoloShines program, whereby they donate $250 to each property owner’s favorite local nonprofit). What’s next? “As PG&E’s rates continue to escalate, climate change intensifies, and the grid’s destabilization worsens, we believe solar will play a more meaningful role in strengthening the resilience and sustainability of our community. That’s cool.”

Past accolades include the city of Davis’ 2018 Environmental Recognition Award, NextDoor’s No. 1 rated solar company in Yolo County, and seven years being honored as the #1 solar company in Yolo County. YoloShines has made more than $200,000 donations to local nonprofit s.

Jeff Likes Clean Windows & Gutters

Best Window Cleaning Service

Jeff Likes Clean Windows & Gutters

P.O. Box 72231, Davis

530-220-4569

jefflikescleanwindows.com

Best Window Cleaning Service

Second — A Touch of Glass

Third — A+ Window & Gutter Cleaning

Enterprise staff

Jeff and Meaghan Likes founded Jeff Likes Clean Windows & Gutters as a “part-time side-hustle” and have systematically grown it to a team of 10-plus window cleaners in recent years.

“Thank you so much for voting us the best window cleaners in Yolo County for the eighth year in a row,” the owners said. “We absolutely love serving our community and doing our part to help make it shine!”

Most recently the team won a World Window Cleaning Championship and, while they won, Jeff was most proud that his team had fewer mistakes in quality than he did, meaning he’s successfully

trained the next generation of quality window cleaners.

They pride themselves on their trustworthiness and reliability.

“We will do what we say we will, how we say we will, when we say we will ... Every time,” Likes said.

When we come to clean windows, gutters and solar panels, they promise to treat customers’ homes as they would treat their own by delivering an exceptional quality of service from the fun and friendly team.

When cleaning your windows, the team does so in a way that is as kind to the environment as possible. They limit their water usage to less than a gallon of water per job. They only use environmentally-friendly soaps and cleaning solutions and, when finished, they pour any unused water into customers’ flower beds. They believe that a job well done does not have to come at the expense of our most precious resource.

“All of our team complete a rigorous ninja training upon hire and are OSHA-10 certified for safety,” the company added.

Davis Home Trends

Best Window Treatments

Davis Home Trends

2300 Fifth St., Davis 530-756-4187

DavisHomeTrends.com

Best Window Treatments

Second —

Laura Nathan Design

Third —

The Perfect Window Enterprise staff

For the 13th year in a row, the team at Davis Home Trends is “proud and honored to receive the award for Best in Yolo County for our Hunter Douglas window treatments,” said store owners Eric and Paula Rich.

The store first opened in 1968 and specializes in luxury home products. Davis Home Trends offers Hunter Douglas window coverings, American-made custom furniture, luxury bedding, and thoughtful gifts. In addition, they are also Yolo County’s premiere swimming pool store. Specializing in quality pool chemicals, great advice, backyard service calls for pool equipment repair and installation of pumps, filters, cleaners and more. The store is so much more than window coverings.

“We have the best clients and are so privileged to help them enjoy their homes,” Eric Rich said.

Their team of experts strive to answer all of your shady questions when it comes to selecting or designing window treatments and all things home. Visit their gallery and explore window coverings on display featuring options that block out heat, offer privacy, and are both energy-efficient and

beautiful. They are ready to help you with each step – design, selection and installation.

“In recent years, we’ve added an extensive collection of American-made custom furniture to our showroom to complement our Hunter Douglas window coverings gallery,” Paula said. “We have been controlling light and privacy in homes for decades, and are now able to guide you in designing and furnishing each room of your dream home.”

The clients asked and the Rich’s searched the country for top quality, handmade custom furniture which can’t be found locally. In their search for the best, the Rich’s found heirloom furniture made by Amish hands and have been overwhelmed by the reception of Simply Amish to the showroom. The quest for custom, quality pieces continued and Norwalk Furniture was introduced. Custom sofas, chairs, sectionals, ottomans and more are proudly made by an employee-owned company in Norwalk, Ohio. “Our customers can now channel their inner designer and create a space truly their own within the Design Center at Davis Home Trends.”

The Richs’ are genuinely humbled by the distinction of being voted the Best of Yolo County and very grateful for the support of our community.

“We sincerely love our clients, our amazing team, and our store. Every day we are excited to come to work and design rooms people dream of,” Rich said.

Visit Davis Home Trends at 2300 Fifth St. in Davis. The store is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Plenty of parking is available! Visit www. DavisHomeTrends.com or through social media @DavisHomeTrends.

Paula and Eric Rich, owners of award-winning Davis Home Trends. Courtesy photo

Kim Eichorn

Most Effective Volunteer

Most Effective Volunteer Second — Aaron Wedra Third — Heidy Kellison Enterprise staff

In a community of volunteers like Yolo County, it is a remarkable honor to be recognized as the “most effective” community volunteer. And there is no shortage of worthy causes, either.

Nonprofit and advocacy organizations focused on everything from preserving habitat to rescuing abandoned dogs to feeding families in need all thrive thanks to local residents generous with both their time and money.

But few have likely contributed to as many different causes as Kim Eichorn.

A lifelong Davis resident, Eichorn entered the real estate business with her mom, Peggy Eichorn, who always bought her clients a gift when escrow closed.

But who really wants a vase from their real estate agent, Eichorn remembers thinking.

She began asking her clients to pick a charity to which she could contribute instead.

“I started doing that and it just felt so good, and a much more meaningful way to honor them than buying them a fruit basket,” Eichorn told The Enterprise in 2019. “There are so many amazing organizations and causes, you never feel like you can do enough.”

She also dabbles in hosting unique, philanthropic events when the opportunity arises.

“I recently hosted what I called a ‘Galentine Party.’ I invited a bunch of gals and hosted the event down at the Davis Wine Bar where we had wine, beer and hors d’oeuvres. We featured a charity called Cancer Champions founded by a local person, Jennifer Miramontes. They just provide health, fitness, mindset and support to people with cancer and everyone’s touched by cancer in some way. We raised about $2,500 just from the people who came, and we donated it all,” explained Eichorn.

“The Galentines Party is a good example of the kind of stuff I like to do. I like to mix hosting something then exposing my network of people to pursue something else like a non-profit or philanthropic activity.”

Even with her full-time job and litany of sponsorships, donations and other charitable activities on the side, Eichorn

maintains that acts of service and giving back are just who she is and the dialect of her love language.

“I’m not a big gift person, myself, even though my mom used to get a kick out of giving gifts. So, I thought about what was something that made me feel connected to the community,” said Eichorn. “My love language is acts of service and quality time, so I liked the idea of giving some of what I make to something bigger than myself and that would positively impact the community I live in. What it ended up teaching me was that we all do what’s comfortable for us. Some people are more comfortable giving and receiving gifts, and doing what I do just feels more comfortable to me.

One of the many hats she wears is as a board member for STEAC, the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee.

“Kim Eichorn has been a passionate and dedicated supporter of the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee (STEAC) and the needs of low-income residents of Yolo County for many years,” STEAC executive director Liane Moody told The Enterprise. “She has served on STEAC’s Board of Directors since 2014 where she currently holds the position of Board Secretary. Kim led STEAC’s fundraising campaign that resulted in the successful purchase of a new office site for STEAC in 2018.

“She volunteers as a STEAC Neighborhood Coordinator for the STEAC Food Project, organizing her neighbors to donate food every two months to keep our food pantry stocked and fight food insecurity in our community. Every year, she organizes her fellow realtors in a hugely successful food drive, a coat drive, and a shredding event, all to provide basic necessities to neighbors in need. Her enthusiasm for STEAC’s mission, her calm and effective leadership, and her creative ideas have made a tremendous difference for our community.”

— Enterprise staff writers Anne TernusBellamy and Aaron Geerts contributed to this story.

Enterprise photo

South Davis and West Davis Veterinary Centers Best Veterinary Clinic

South Davis Veterinary Center

4615 Cowell Blvd., Davis

530-757-1113

southdavisvet.com

West Davis Veterinary Center

1617 Russell Blvd., Davis

530-756-1766

westdavisvet.com

Best Veterinary Clinic

Second — Midtown Animal Clinic

Third — Woodland

Veterinary Hospital

Best Veterinarian —

Michael Yackey, DVM

Second — Kelly Regan, DVM

Third — Cara Bradley, DVM

Enterprise staff

This was a momentous year at Davis Veterinary Centers. South Davis Veterinary Center opened 20 years ago in 2003. It was tucked in the corner of El Macero Pharmacy Center in a small, 1,500-square-foot space next to the hair salon and the future Taqueria Guadalajara. Dr. Michael Yackey started with four assistants. Dr. Bradley left her job in the East Bay as it expanded, and the practice added doctors in 2008 and 2011.

In 2012, the operation moved across the parking lot into its current space, which doubled its size and staff. And in 2017, Yackey purchased Davis Small Animal Hospital and opened West Davis Veterinary Center, which was rebuilt in 2019 and 2020.

“Please come by and visit our beautiful hospital,” Yackey told The Enterprise, “that we designed from the ground up with the point of view of a dog or cat in mind.”

There are now five doctors at each location helping to cover the schedule. The practice employ 15 registered veterinary technicians (RVTs) and 11 veterinary assistants, so it is fully intertwined in the fabric of the community. “We have been around long enough to see kids grow up and go to college and start families with their own dogs and cats,” Yackey said. “We truly enjoy veterinary medicine

and being a part of your families; helping adjust c ourse when things aren’t going well and celebrating your s uccesses when things are. We know that we are just a part of the team and appreciate that you trust us to help your furry friends.” They also appreciate how things change over time. “One of the benefits of having smart students come to Davis is that we get to hire them for part of their lives,” Yackey said. “We have had many vet students work for us over the years. Twenty-four men and women got some practical experience to complement their learning at UC Davis and have gone on to become veterinarians. Many proud parents out there, for sure!”

Yackey and the team recognize that the world has been changing. “Never have we felt more stress than working through the pandemic,” he said. “We hope that demands have already met their zenith and life will be calming down. As health care providers, we were not immune from the difficulties of working through curbside and supply shortages. We appreciate your patience with us, and we know that you were under increased stress worrying about your pets’ health, and hope that we were able to relieve some of it. Our hope is that we all find ways to be kind, positive, and supportive of one another.”

Courtesy photo Dr. Michael Yackey Best Veterinarian

Courtesy photo Dr. Cara Bradley

Law Office of Raquel M. Silva Best Attorney

Law Office of Raquel M. Silva

1109

Kennedy Pl., Ste. 3, Davis

530-758-0500

silvafamilylaw.com

Best Attorney

Second — Chad Carlock

Law Office

Third — Justin C. Lowenthal

Enterprise staff

Raquel M. Silva’s contributions to Yolo County’s legal community extends well beyond her Davis family law and estate planning practice. She trained at the Northern California Mediation Center and is an experience mediator who handles family law and trust administration disputes. She volunteers as a family-law settlement officer once a month at Yolo County Superior Court and covers the traffic court calendar as a pro tem when needed.

For these and other reasons, readers of The Davis Enterprise voted Silva as Davis’ best attorney once again.

Silva moved her office in July 2022 to Kennedy Place to better serve her

clients with an updated office space and expanded parking options. Working with legal assistant and law clerk, Rae Osborne the office offers the convenience of Zoom appointments, as well as in-person appointments upon request. Along with estate-planning practice, she focuses on mediation, collaborative divorce and uncontested matters.

A Davis native, Silva earned her law degree from UC Davis’ King Hall School of Law, earning admission to the State Bar of California in 2005. She went on to become a certified family law specialist in 2012, requiring her to take an additional bar exam focusing on family-law issues.

“My mission remains to provide quality legal services to my clients,” Silva told The Enterprise. “Referrals remain the heart and soul of my law practice.”

She also works as an adjunct professor at King Hall. “I am teaching marital property this semester,” Silva said. “I am thrilled for the opportunity to return to my beloved alma mater and to share my family law and estate planning experience with law students.”

First Northern Bank Best Bank

First Northern Bank 434 Second St., Davis

530-758-7500

thatsmybank.com

Best Bank

Second — Bank of the West Enterprise staff

First Northern Bank works to remain an independent financial services provider, continuously increasing shareholder value by employing the very best people who exceed customer expectations and serve the community. For this, Enterprise readers have voted it the Best Bank in Yolo County.

For more than 110 years, First Northern Bank has served local communities with a commitment to improve the financial wellness on Main Street, and the farmlands and neighborhoods throughout. Its dedication to remain an independent financial-service provider sets it apart from others — and they strive every day to put true meaning to the word “community” in community bank.

Recognized as the No. 1 local smallbusiness lender in the region, FNB is here to build long-lasting relationships where it can address specific financial needs on a personalized basis through innovative, state-of-the-art banking solutions to businesses all around the region. Whether it’s a business or household, First Northern Bank is the bank customers can trust to achieve their financial goals.

“Thank you, again, for voting First Northern Bank as the ‘Best Bank’ in Yolo County for the 19th year,” a press release said. “We’re honored that more and more people are saying, ‘First Northern, that’s my bank!’”

Enterprise file photo

Golden 1 Credit Union Best Credit Union

Golden 1 Credit Union 508 Second St., Ste. 101, Davis

877-465-3361

golden1.com

Best Credit Union

Second — Yolo Federal Credit Union

Third — USE Credit Union

Enterprise staff

Golden 1 Credit Union is committed to living and sharing the credit union difference throughout the Golden State. Since day one, its members and communities have been at the heart of everything they do. Golden 1 is member-owned, not for profit, with a people helping people philosophy. With more than $18 billion in assets, Golden 1 is one of the largest credit unions in the United States and proudly serves all those who live or work in California. The credit union invests in its local communities and is proud to serve Yolo County.

Golden 1 is 1.1 million members strong and growing. As a Golden 1 member, you partially own a not-for-profit financial institution that earns you lower interest rates on loans, higher returns on savings and more free services. In 2022, Golden 1 contributed more than $2.5 million to charitable causes through its grant and assistance programs, food bank donations, help for homeless youth, and more. Golden 1 also provides emergency and disaster relief in times of crisis.

Davis Academy Driving School Best Driving School

Davis Academy Driving School

260 Russell Blvd, Davis 530-759-0464

drivingacademyonline.com

Best Driving School

Second Place —  Acme Driving School

Enterprise staff

Davis Academy Driving School was established in 1996 and is owned and operated by Maria Saez, who has been working as a driving instructor since 1991. She keeps herself involved in the driving school and teaches in class for Drivers Education as well as Behind The Wheel lessons. Having satisfied students is her mission.

The school’s Drivers Education Online is DMV-approved and will fulfill mandatory California Drivers Education Requirements. Upon completion of the course, students are qualified to take the DMV Permit Test and start the six hours of behind-the-wheel training.

Drivers Education is offered online and

in class. Driver’s training is offered the seven days a week, with day and evening classes. The lessons are one-on-one with experienced instructors. The school provides free pickup and drop-off anywhere within the same location.

The school’s vehicles have gas and brake pedals on both sides; and do undergo frequent inspections to ensure student safety. It also have the proper insurance required by DMV for the vehicles.

All of the driving instructors are licensed and background-checked by California Department of Motor Vehicles.

“Why choose us?” a news release asked. “Well ... experienced teachers, friendly and quiet environment, modern teaching methods, all the teaching materials are free, and special classes for adults.”

Enterprise file photo

Enterprise file photo

Smith Funeral Home Best Funeral Home

Smith Funeral Home

116 D St., Davis

530-758-5500

www.smith-funerals.com

Best Funeral Home Second — Woodland Funeral Chapel

Third — McNary’s Funeral Home

Enterprise staff

Appreciating the years of service to the community, Davis Enterprise readers have named Smith Funeral Home the Best Funeral Home in Yolo County.

“We sincerely thank you for acknowledging us as the best funeral home in Yolo County,” owner Vera Smith said.

The business began as Davis Funeral Chapel in 1960. Between 1960 and 2010, there were three owners. Vera came to Davis in 2006 to work for the Wiscombe family. In 2010, she decided to make

Davis her permanent home and bought the funeral home, and continues to serve Davis, Winters, Woodland and the surrounding communities, serving all faiths, customs, cultures and religions. For more information, call 530-7585500, email vsmithfuneralhome@gmail. com or visit www.smith-funerals.com.

State Farm Insurance

Best Insurance Agency

State Farm Insurance

Raul Herrera

2744 Del Rio Pl.,Ste. 120, Davis

530-759-9204

raulherrera.org

Heather Copeland

231 G St., Ste. 1, Davis 530-753-7897

heathercopeland.com

Doug Prichard

405 Third St., Davis

530-756-1591

dougprichard.net

Dave Scheiber

4627 Fermi Pl., Ste. 120, Davis

530-758-8440

davescheiber.com

Best Insurance Agency

Second — Purves & Associates

Insurance Agency

Third — Allstate Insurance Enterprise staff State Farm Insurance took home the

accolade for Best Insurance Agency from Enterprise readers this year.

“We appreciate each and every one of our policyholders and want to thank them for again voting us No 1. — 10 years running. Between the four of us we have provided over 100 years of State Farm service to our community and each of us is ready to serve your insurance needs,” said Raul Herrera.

“We are proud to give back to the community through our involvement with the Kiwanis Club of Davis, the Davis Chamber of Commerce, Sunrise Rotary, the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, the Davis Rotary Club, Meals on Wheels, the Sacramento Rugby Football Club, American Youth Soccer Organization and Little League.”

Courtesy photo

Vera Smith and Kermit.

Courtesy photo

Summit Funding, Marc Thompson’s Office Best Mortgage Company

Summit Funding, Marc Thompson’s Office

530-753-8800

437 F St., Ste. 3 and 5

mortgageindavis.com

Best Mortgage Company

Second Place — Sinor

Mengali Group at Guild Mortgage

Thompson’s holistic approach, which he has honed since 2006, to be clear and straightforward. Thompson’s concern for every detail comes from his knowledge of how a decision of this magnitude will impact how much clients will invest for retirement, save for a rainy day, or pay for kids’ college education.

Third Place  — Fairway Independent

Enterprise staff

Mortgage

“Helping others to feel safe and secure so they can have the freedom to have fun and enjoy life” — that is the philosophy Marc Thompson has espoused since 2006 and why Davis Enterprise readers voted Summit Funding the Best Mortgage office in Yolo County.

In the world of complicated financial transactions, you will discover

What clients get is a devotion to details through Thompson’s simple and clear home-loan process. They see and experience how hard he and his team work to educate borrowers on every option. And he is available to answer every question they might have on each step on the journey toward a new home.

Additionally, with his personalized customer service, customers benefit from the national reputation of Summit Funding, which stands behind Thompson and his team.

Thompson is highly rated on Yelp, Google and Zillow, because he closes loans on time, saves his clients money and helps them eliminate debt.

Sinor Mengali Group at Guild Mortgage

Sinor Mengali Group at Guild Mortgage

404 Second St., Davis 530-406-7200

SinorMengaliGroup.com

Enterprise staff

If you are in the market for a home loan look no further than the Sinor Mengali Group. With over 20 years serving the community, the Sinor Mengali Group continually strives to be a reliable and trusted resource that is passionate about the unique needs of each client and their home loan goals. Their office is located in Downtown Davis at 404 Second St., and from there the team at the Sinor Mengali Group partners with their clients to make home loan financing for a purchase or refinance a smooth, timely and efficient process.

“Local business builds community” is a statement that defines the team at the Sinor Mengali Group and when they aren’t busy helping clients achieve their goals of homeownership or refinancing,

the Sinor Mengali Group is giving back to the community that has s upported them over the years. Every month they proudly sponsor a charity or organization by making a donation for every loan that is closed during that month.

This year marks the 12th consecutive year that the readers of the Davis Enterprise voted the Sinor Mengali Group one of the Best Mortgage Companies in Yolo County. If you would like to contact the Sinor Mengali Group at Guild Mortgage you can reach their Home Loan Team by calling 530-406-7200 or emailing them at HomeLoanTeam@ CaraMengali.com.

Courtesy photo

Jin-Ying Shaw Best Realtor

Jin-Ying Shaw

425 Second St., Davis

530-400-5643

Best Realtor

Second — Johnny Brooks

Third — Kim Eichorn

Enterprise staff

With almost 20 years in the real estate industry, Jin-Ying Shaw has established herself as the top realtor in Yolo County, as voted by Davis Enterprise readers. Her operation has just moved to a new location at 425 Second St., Davis. “It is a better location and the office is bigger,” Shaw told The Enterprise. “Practically the heart of downtown.”

She started her real estate and property business from just a dream and an idea. “It turns out it was a great choice of career,” she said. She helps sellers to reach their property value with a passion. Before each house goes on the market, she completes an extensive market plan for each owner, suggesting something interesting for each wall, corner and room to make the house sweet and homey.

She manages all properties with a sense of duty and responsibility, treating each home as her own. “The favorite question to myself when in doubt is, what do I do if this is my own home?” She said. “Being honorable realtor is very important during my career.”

She did lots of open houses during her career and won many awards for that — sometimes two a day. “Putting up the signs in 100-degree days was always challenging, she said. “If you see a realtor putting up signs with a big hat, that would be me.” She earned the Chairman Circle Award, and the Hall of Fame Realtor Award.

“I call myself a dreamer and a problem solver,” Shaw says. “My goal is to help my clients to find their forever home.”

Courtesy photo

Carbahal and Company Best Tax Service

Carbahal & Company

1107 Kennedy Pl., Ste. 5, Davis

530-758-8111

carbahal.com

Best Tax Service

Second — Virgil C. Smith, CPA Third — Castellucci & Associates, CPA

Enterprise staff

Starting in 1984, local brothers John and Manny Carbahal decided to start their own accounting firm. Carbahal & Company has been a constant champion of the community and an advocate for all clients.

“Today we are proud to be a full-service firm, providing high-quality, professional service with a personal touch,” said Manny Carbahal. “Our strength lies in providing innovative accounting and tax services for individuals and businesses. Our committed staff work together as a team to support client needs while maintaining a

depth of expertise.”

Carbahal & Company continues to grow and recently named two new partners, Eric Carbahal and Sue Westwood, to join current partners John Carbahal, Manny Carbahal, Jennifer Nitzkowski, Stephanie Carbahal-Adamo and Steven Willhoff.

Managing Partner Jennifer Nitzkowski said, “It’s been great working with Eric and Sue, and watching their professional growth during their time with Carbahal & Company. We are all delighted to have them join us as partners and to continue to grow our firm.”

Carbahal & Company currently has 10 CPAs on staff as well as several accountants and a bookkeeping team eager to support their clients and businesses.

“We are well poised to guide our clients through their varied and individual tax and financial situations,” added Stephanie Carbahal-Adamo.

Being active in the community is another cornerstone of Carbahal & Company’s character. Currently, many staff members hold seats on over 10 local boards of directors.

Ken’s Bike-Ski-Board Best Bicycle Shop

Ken’s Bike-Ski-Board

650 G St., Davis

530-758-3223

kensbikeski.com

Best Bicycle Shop

Second — Freewheeler Bicycle Center

Third — Foy’s Bike Shop

Enterprise staff

“We’re serious about your fun!” say the friendly experts at Ken’s Bike-Ski-Board, and Davis Enterprise readers have once again voted them the Best Bicycle Shop.

Co-owner Ken Bradford opened the store in 1988 with staff, equipment and clients from two older Davis businesses: Ski Racquet (since 1974) and Bike Surgeons (since 1980). It continues to grow, with major expansions in 1997-8 and 2004-5. The name was updated from “Ken’s Bike & Ski” to “Ken’s Bike-SkiBoard” in 2011-12. The store merged with local business Blisworks Bikes in 2019, and is now co-owned with Sheldon Blissett.

Ken’s sells and services (almost) anything with pedals and wheels — e-bikes, mountain and road bikes, commuters, kids bikes, recumbents and 3-wheelers to name a few. Ken’s takes care of your winter sports needs, too — from snowshoes to snowboards and skis, boot fitting to base repair — they’re a full-service snow sport shop. The staff at Ken’s have over 100 years of combined experience in everything from backcountry snowboarding to mountain bike repair — yet they delight in helping a beginner with their first real mountain bike, or helping parents get kids ready for the first day of school.

“The global demand for bicycles tripled [during the pandemic], said Bradford. “Demand for snow sports greatly increased, too. However, the market has changed as the pandemic subsided.

“Inventories are now high again. You won’t find the long waits or empty shelves you may have seen at bike shops in 2020 or 2021,” Blissett said. “We’re well stocked, prices are dropping and we’re ready to take care of you! Whatever the market does, Ken’s BSB is here for the long run.”

The Avid Reader Bookstore Avid & Co. Best Bookstore, Best Retailer

The Avid Reader

617 Second St., Davis

530-758-4040

avidreaderbooks.com

Best Bookstore

Second — UC Davis Bookstore

Third — Logos Books

Best Retailer

Second — Newsbeat

Third — Crème de la Crème

Enterprise staff

The Avid Reader was owned and operated by the late Alzada Knickerbocker and her staff for more than 30 years. In 2020, when the Arnold family assumed ownership, many of those wonderful staff stayed on and helped to keep the store running, and thriving, during the pandemic.

Erin and Brett Arnold have since brought on an array of staff who all bring their unique skills to the store, allowing The Avid Reader to expand their selection of books to highlight more voices; create events for local authors and creatives; increase their presence on social media; and work with other community organizations. The Avid Reader has a history of community involvement, and the collaborative relationship between the Avid Family and Davis at large has kept the store a pillar of downtown Davis culture.

“The Avid Reader Bookstore, and sister store, Avid & Co. aim to be a place where everybody belongs, promoting imagination, equity, and empathy in the Davis community through a love of literature and the promotion of play,” Sophia Fingerman told The Enterprise. “All of our branding and imaging has been created by local female artists for the past 30-plus years. The stores are family-owned and woman-operated.”

The Avid Reader has been honored to be the Readers’ Choice for best book and gift store numerous years. Including UC Davis alumni, children of alumni and students, the staff of the Avid Reader brings a variety of specialized skills and accolades to the stores.

Through its website, avidreaderbooks.com, customers can check stock in real time, order for pickup (often by the next day), and keep up with announcements, recommendations and social media.

Through its Instagram feed at @avid readerdavis, customers will find reels every Tuesday, highlighting new releases, as well as fun content from the staff.

A s for the future, “We will be implementing Avid After Hours: Romance Reader’s Book Club, meeting the last Tuesday of the month to discuss books from the Romance genre,” Fingerman said. “Additionally, we have an expanding calendar of events, so make sure to check out avidreaderbooks.com for more updates.”

Courtesy photo Avid Reader employees (from left) Elliot George, Amaralyn Ewey and Gene Lee.

Kind Farma Cannabis Co.

Kind Farma Cannabis Co.

420 F St, Davis

530-231-5695

www.kindfarma.com

Enterprise staff

Kind Farma, which opened its doors on Sept. 19, 2019, earned the trust of the community, placed as one of the best cannabis dispensaries in the Readers’ Choice voting for 2023.

Owner Timothy Schimmel, a Davis native and medical cannabis patient due to an athletic injury, along with his partner Lacie, who suffers from epilepsy, chose Davis for their dispensary location as a way to provide a safe space for cannabis patients, cannabis enthusiasts as well as newer recreational customers in Tim’s home town.

A hidden gem popular with locals, since Kind Farma’s doors opened, it has proudly received six first-place awards as voted on by the public. With expert staff in place, Kind Farma is successfully navigating through an industry in its infancy while simultaneously normalizing cannabis.

Kind Farma offers a Customer Appreciation Day every second Saturday of the month. Home of the $5 menu, it offers unheard of savings unmatched by any other dispensary in the region. “We also offer punch cards to earn 25% off entire order as well as multiple discounts such senior, vet, student and first time-timer,” general manager Jennifer Marston told The Enterprise.

All staff receives regular “budtender trainings” from the brands it carries, so they may give the customer as much knowledge about their favorite products as possible. “We are working on a way to showcase legacy brands we carry,” Marston said, “as well as educate consumers on not just the roots, but the future of California cannabis.”

Bohème Used Clothing and Gifts

Best Consignment / Thrift Store

Bohème Used Clothing and Gifts

409 Third St., Davis 530-341-2004

www.bohemethreads.com

Best Consignment / Thrift Store

Second — Yolo County SPCA

Thrift Store

Third — All Things Right and Relevant Enterprise staff

Bohème Used Clothing and Gifts was founded in 2012 by Dawn Donahue, and purchased by Yelena Ivashchenko in July 2015. Last year, the store celebrated its 10th anniversary with a party with customers and community. Throughout the years, the store has been adding new products, including repurposed and handmade items.

“Bohème strives to provide a fun and affordable eclectic mix of hand-picked clothing and accessories in the vibrant community and college town of Davis,” Ivashchenko said of her shop, “We focus

on repurposing and recycling ‘life leftovers’ while providing personalized customer service.”

The downtown Davis shop carries a variety of unique gifts and a large selection of used boutique-quality items for all different age groups and lifestyles. It also offers a unique “trade-in” process that allows customers to sell their items on the spot in exchange for cash or store credit (get paid now, and don’t have to wait for items to sell like traditional consignment shops).

Ivashchenko is honored by the Readers’ Choice win. “We are always looking to forge relationships with bloggers and collaborators that are passionate about second-hand fashion,” she said.

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo

3rd Street Jeweler Best Jeweler

3rd Street Jeweler

130 G St., Suite C, Davis

530-753-5000

www.3rdstreetjewelers.com

Best Jeweler

Second — Bella Luna Jewelers

Third — Lu’Ro Jewelers

Enterprise staff

3rd Street Jeweler has been in downtown Davis since Jan. 10, 2007. Owner Frank Acosta is enthused about being voted Best Jeweler by Davis Enterprise readers. “Thank you to all my customers for your support throughout the years,” he said. “I really appreciate you. As always, I will continue to do my best to help you when you come into my store. I will always greet you with a smile, and a positive and professional attitude.”

Acosta says he fell in love with Davis in 2001 when he worked for DeVons. Originally, his establishment was on Third Street (hence the name) before moving to G Street in 2019. “Maybe we can move back to Third Street someday,” Acosta said. “But for now I am happy on G Street.”

3rd Street Jeweler is a full-service operation from jewelry and watch repair to custom designs. “Our specialty is custom designs,” Acosta told The Enterprise in 2018. “People come in with a design in mind, and we put it together for them, and create it in their style ... the project may involve hand-carved wax designs or CAD programs.” “Come in and visit us!” he said.

Enterprise file photo

3rd Street Jeweler owner Frank Acosta stands with his mother, Carmen, and niece Nevaeh.

H2O To Go —  Best Water Store/Delivery

H2O to Go

1340 E. Covell Blvd. Ste. 105

530-753-1440

www.h2odavis.com

Best Water Store/Delivery Second — Davis Food Co-op

Enterprise staff

“Better for who?” is the question Paul Taylor, owner of H2O To Go, always wants to respond with when people ask, “Which of their three staple products are ‘better?’”

As a single location offering, reverse osmosis, distilled and alkaline water, that some people are visiting for the very first time, it does make sense to ask.

It is the wrong question, however.

“‘What am I paying for,’” is the better one” Taylor said. “What you’re paying us for is service — reliability, access and support. We don’t have anything trendy in our store,” Taylor said. “What we sell is generally meant to last for years, if not decades. Over half of our sales are returning customers pre-paying for their next 100 gallons. Over the years they may need a new cap or have trouble determining the source of a pesky leak, that is what we are here for. We hope to answer your questions correctly and never sell you garbage. Nothing single use. We are always working on this,” Taylor added.

H2O To Go has operated in Davis since 1986. This year

marks the ninth year with Paul Taylor, the second owner, at the helm.

“I feel like I am just now rounding the corner to understanding what I’m doing. Our systems work well and have been tested repeatedly. I have had very low turnover since 2020, and rely on my staff to keep us running. When catastrophe strikes — we have thousands of plumbing connections, it strikes sometimes — we all know what to do and do it quickly.”

The current staff consists of an operations manager Claire, her assistant Destiny, and delivery drivers Isaac and Jonah who can fill in both on deliveries and in the store. Paul keeps regular hours built around his kids’ school schedule and steps

in to cover shortages as needed.

“The reality is many of the customers have been with the company longer than I have owned it,” Taylor admits. “In the early days, I used to joke that the customers largely trained the staff,” but with so many changes to the way the business is run, that is no longer the case. “We’re always changing something — always for the better. Which also always takes a few attempts.”

Amidst all the changes, Taylor adopts a “Be well / Do well” mentality. For the customers, the store, and for future growth, the staff’s well-being is always a priority.

“I don’t want to provide a job to somebody that they hate. Or, train somebody on a system that doesn’t work. If you cannot trust your staff and they cannot trust you, what is the point? We really have great people who keep us running at the best pace we have ever been. I don’t want to take that for granted.”

As the delivery side of the business grows, the challenges do as well.

“Knowing that local businesses struggle with their national brand delivery service because they never knew about us, is a problem,” Taylor said. “It is so hard as a business to disrupt anything once you have it set up. I sincerely understand the challenges.”

With an eye towards growth and stability, H2O To Go doesn’t really expect fewer challenges ahead, they just expect their ability to handle them will make it seem that way.

Courtesy photo

Car Wash

Cable Car Wash

Sparkles Car Wash

Auto Care

Li’l Bears Car Wash

Tutoring Center

Mathnasium of Davis

Mike and Terri’s Academic Improvement Center

Kumon Math and Reading

Center of Davis

Event Venue

Mondavi Center

The Lodge

at Odd Fellows Hall

Park Winters

Golf Course

Wildhorse Golf Club

El Macero Country Club

Davis Golf Course

Breakfast

Café Bernardo

Crepeville

Putah Creek Cafe

Brewery

Sudwerk Brewing Co

Dunloe Brewing

Super Owl Brewing

Burger

Burgers & Brew

Tommy J’s Grill & Catering/

Froggy’s Bar & Grill

In-N-Out Burger

Chinese Food

Well Season

Wok of Flame

Chinese Restaurant

Hometown Taiwanese

Kitchen & Bar

Coffee

Mishka’s Café

Temple

Peet’s Coffee & Tea

Cupcake/Cookie/

Baked Treats

Let Them Eat Cake

Nugget Markets

Upper Crust Baking

Donuts

Fluffy Donuts

Pink Dozen

Donut Star Woodand

Fries

Froggy’s Bar & Grill

Burgers & Brew

Urban Eats

Hot Dog

The Hotdogger

Doggeros

Hot Dogs y Elotes El Primo

Ice Cream

Davis Creamery

The Good Scoop

Sweet and Shavery

Restaurant in Winters

Putah Creek Cafe

Buckhorn Steakhouse

Preserve

Restaurant in Woodland

Morgan’s on Main

Kitchen428 & Mojo’s Lounge & Bar

Maria’s Cantina

Salad

JACKS Urban Eats

Dos Coyotes Border Cafe

Café Bernardo

Steak

Buckhorn Steakhouse

Morgan’s on Main

The Mustard Seed

Specialty Tea

Tea List

Teabo Café

Share Tea

Vegetarian Food

Davis Food Co-op

Three Ladies Cafe

Farmer’s Kitchen Cafe

Frozen Yogurt

YoloBerry Yogurt

Cultivé Frozen Yogurt

Big Kahuna Frozen Yogurt

Dental Practice

James W. Childress, DDS

Davis Dental Practice

Michelle D. Miller, DDS

Eye-Care Doctor

Helmus Optometry

Baker Optometry

Robert B. Miller, M.D.

Hair Salon

J Cunningham Salon

Style Lounge

Pomegranate Salon

Health Club

FIT House

Davis Swim & Fitness

Get Fit Davis

Martial Arts

Inspire Martial Arts

Rodness Martial Arts Center

Nova Geração Davis

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy

Massage

Massage Envy

Davis Massage Center

Serenity Massage and Wellness

Nail Salon

Natural Nails & Spa

Y2K Nails

ARA Spa

Orthodontist

Matthew L. Molitor, DDS

Benton J. Runquist, DDS

Robert Kelleher, DDS

Pilates Studio

Balance Point Pilates Studio

FIT House

LIFT Pilates

Psychiatrist/Psychologist

Catherine Brennan, M.D.

Rebecca Brunette, LCSW

Mina Hah, MD

Yoga Studio

FIT House

Akasha Yoga

Hot Yoga Davis

Carpet & Flooring Store

Woodland Carpet One

Floors to Go/ Pyramid Flooring Systems

TIE

Garden Supply

Davis Ace Hardware

Redwood Barn Nursery

Woodland Ace Hardware

General Contractor

David A Hill Construction

Bedrock Construction

Morse Custom Homes and Remodeling

Hotel

Aggie Inn Ascend

Hotel Collection

Hyatt Place UC Davis

Western Plus

Palm Court Hotel

Laundromat

Lava Laundry

It’s A Wash

Pest Control

Woodland-Davis

Termite & Pest Control

Aspen Pest Management

Property Management

Elite Property Management

Davisville Management Company

Tandem Properties

Remodeling Contractor

Bedrock Construction

Apex Standard Builders

MAK Design

Senior Living Community

University Retirement

Community

Atria Covell Gardens

Carlton Senior Living

Kennel / Pet Hotel

Woodland Veterinary Hospital

WAG Hotels

29 Palms Pet Resort

Pet Groomer

Feldspar Pet Spa

Pet Supply Store

Petco

Pet Food Express

Davis Ace Hardware

Accountant

Virgil C. Smith, CPA

John Carbahal

(Carbahal & Company)

Nitzkowski Tax and Accounting Services

Dry Cleaners

El Macero Cleaners

Swansons Cleaners

Executive Cleaners

Carbahal Olsen

Financial Services

Symphony Financial Planning

Castellucci & Associates, CPA

Photography Business

Megan Wilkinson

Abaton Consulting

Travel Agency

Davisville Travel

Tradesco Tours

Travel Express

Antique Store

Main Street Antiques

L Street Furniture & More

Art Gallery

The Artery

Pence Gallery

Athletic Shoes / Apparel

Fleet Feet Sports

Big 5 Sporting Goods

FIT House

Clothing Store

pinkadot

Bohème Hip Used Clothing

The Wardrobe

Furniture Store

Nakamura Brothers

Furniture

Design House Furniture

Galleries

Wirth Furniture & Interiors

Gift Shop

Crème de la Crème

Avid Reader

The Artery

Health Food / Organic Store

Davis Food Co-op

Nugget Markets

Farmer’s Kitchen Cafe

Medical Supply Store

Jackson Medical Supply

Shoe Store

Generations Family Footwear

Sole Desire Shoes