Where is the level playing field?

Transgender women competing against bio logical (cisgender) females in athletic competi tions has been controversial for nearly 50 years. It recently drew the ire of many when Austin Killips, a 27-year-old trans woman, won a high-level UCI stage race in New Mexico in April.

The rules set by the Union Cycliste Internationale require transgender women to take injections that suppress their testosterone levels to no higher than 2.5 nanomoles per liter for two years prior to competing in female events.

A normal biological male has from 10 to 35 nmol/L; a biological female 0.5 to 2.4 nmol/L of testosterone. In other words, the amount of this naturally occurring hormone hugely favors males. That is part of the reason the very best female athletes cannot win competitions with the best men.

The sex difference is clearly seen in sports that take speed, power or endurance. A 2018 study demonstrated the distinction comparing the best times for women and men in the world in 2017 in track events from 100 to 5,000 meters and in jumping events.

In the 100 meters, for example, the fastest woman that year, 10.71 seconds, was 1.02 seconds slower than the fastest male. If that elite female who ran the fastest time were competing against men, she would have been beaten by 2,474 different men. Her best time would have been defeated 10,009 times in 2017.

In the 5,000 meters, the fastest man was 1 minute 23.14 seconds faster. The best male pole vaulter cleared a height 1.09 meters higher than the top female in that event.

Let them down easy

As far as I know, Killips, who started racing bicycles four years ago, never competed against men when she was a biological male. She did, however, go through puberty as a male and, as a result of that, grew to be bigger, taller, stronger and faster than she would have had she had testosterone levels in the female range from age 10-16.

As a consequence of post-pubescent development, men typically have larger muscles, more fast-twitch muscles, denser bones and higher fractions of lean body mass than women. Males also have larger hearts. A study published by the NIH notes this: “The smaller female heart, pumping less blood with each beat, needs to beat at a faster rate to match the larger male heart’s output.”

In endurance sports, men also have an advantage due to a roughly 10% higher maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) rates. An NIH study explains, “We can think of VO2 as the ability for oxygen delivery to, and utilization by, the muscles during exercise. As intensity approaches maximal levels, VO2 reaches a plateau unaffected by further increases in exercise intensity.”

So even if a biological male transitions to being female and takes drugs that suppress her testosterone levels to 2.5 nmol/L or less, it seems reasonable to guess that trans

I have been giving much thought to the tragedy in Davis which happened recently, and what could be done in the future, to address the procedure utilized to inform a student they have not adequately performed to continue.

I am not sure how colleges and universities handle the separation process now, but here are suggestions I have thought about.

When a college student is told he has flunked out, it would be wise to convey the message in person! Not with a cold impersonal letter.

A spiritual counselor, as part of the procedure, should be present, to offer support and encouragement. For many students, it is the death of their cherished plans for the future!

It is important to be sensitive, and caring, and compassionate, when delivering the news.

It is important to be prepared, after research, as to whether the student can, through city college courses, eventually return to original major. If not possible, then search alternative areas, to suggest, utilizing what he has already achieved in his successful classes.

In other words, continue to show value to the student and what they have been able to, and still can, accomplish.

Encourage the student to try to take some time to recoup, and consider a positive course of action to pursue.

Also, ask if they have someone to talk to. Offer to call a family member, or friend, to come and accompany them home.

If they have no one, a volunteer peer, who could comfortably reach out, to offer to accompany them home, would help.

It is a frightening time for the student. They may flunk out, but need encouragement more than ever, not abandonment. Make the goal that they leave with hope, not in total despair.

Susie Aronson Sacramento

Speak out

President female would still have an advantage competing in sports against cisgender women.

Unfortunately, at this point, that hypothesis is not scientifically proven one way or the other. It’s largely conjecture.

What we do know in a very limited sample is that when male athletes have become transgender women, they can move from being moderately successful to elite.

Richard Raskind was the first famous case in point. As a male, Raskind was a good college tennis player at Yale University, won singles and doubles titles in the U.S. Navy and had some success competing against men professionally. He was never in the top 100 male tennis players. But at age 41, Raskind had sex reassignment surgery and became Renée Richards in 1975. It took two more years (following lawsuits) to allow Richards, an ophthalmologist, to play in women’s professional tennis tournaments.

Despite being in her mid40s, Richards, who was still banned from many events, rose to the 20th ranked woman tennis player in the world. She reached the doubles final at the U.S. Open in 1977, losing to a team featuring Martina Navratilova.

Navratilova, who is gay, has come under fire for opining that trans females should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports. She has said she thinks their biological advantages amount to cheating. For expressing that opinion, several transgender advocates have said Navratilova is “transphobic.”

Navratilova first weighed into this issue in a Times of London op-ed in 2019. When

Bike swap another success

A big thank you to all who helped at the César Chávez Elementary 10th annual Citywide Bike Swap Event on Sunday, April 23. It was our biggest year yet and continues to be a win-win situation for those who consigned bikes, donated bikes, or bought bikes at the Swap.

More than 400 bikes and bike-related items consigned or donated, the majority of which sold — all for great prices! The CCE Bike Swap is a true community effort with local business support from several starting with Winston from Davis Bikes & Skateboards adjusting bikes and answering questions, Maria from The Bike Campaign sharing bike safety and maintenance tips, Davis Cyclery consigning bike lights and bike locks for us to sell (which the school received a percentage of), and Davis Freewheeler and Ken's Bike, Ski, & Board, along with the previous mentioned bike shops, offering discount tune-ups to folks that bought bikes at the Swap.

We continued to expand the Bike Swap again this year to make it a fundraiser for other Davis schools so Bike Swap volunteer support came from parents 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/

Lia Thomas — who was born male and competed in men’s swimming at the University of Pennsylvania before transitioning to female — won the women’s NCAA 500 yard freestyle championship a year ago, Navratilova opined that was unfair to the biological females in the race.

Thomas was a good swimmer as a 6-foot-1 biological male. He was ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1,650 freestyle. But he was not close to being a champion.

Then Thomas underwent hormone replacement therapy, declared herself a trans woman and began her rise to the top.

When Austin Killips won the Tour of Gila bike race, Navratilova and many other professional women athletes said Killips ought not be allowed to compete. Former world champion cyclist Alison Sydor tweeted, “The current UCI rules that allow males to compete in female cycling events are not fair to female athletes.”

Hannah Arensman, a 35-time winner on the cyclocross circuit, chose to retire from her sport after losing to Killips. Arensman said, “… a man with the unfair advantage of an androgenized body that intrinsically gives him an obvious advantage over me, no matter how hard I train.” students of Chávez, Emerson, Korematsu, North Davis, Pioneer, Harper, Davis High and Willett schools. We also had mechanical support from the Davis Composite Mountain Biking Team and organizational support from Golden Valley 4H Club who both made the CCE Bike Swap their April community service project. We also had the City of Davis Safe Routes to School Coordinator Daniela Tavares busy registering bikes into the city's bike index system at the Swap.

Even though the science is not yet definitive, I agree with Navratilova that anyone who goes through puberty as a male should not compete in women’s sports. Trans athletes ought to be allowed to contest an “open” category.

— Rich Rifkin is a Davis resident; his column is published every other week. Reach him at Lxartist@ yahoo.com.

Lastly, a huge thank you to Davis Bike Club and Ink Monkey for their continued support with canopies and signage. And, of course, Davis Enterprise for helping us get the word out on this citywide, annual event.

All profits support César Chávez Elementary Spanish Immersion Parent and Teachers (SIPAT) as well as participating school PTA programs. Thank you again to all who made this continuing event so successful and so fun by either consigning a bike, donating a bike or buying a bike. It's a great way to recycle your bicycle! Hope to see you again next year!

Jill Bonner César Chávez Elementary Bike Swap coordinator

By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

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

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PETITION requests codicils if a n y b e a d m i t t e d t o p r o b a t e e w l a y d c i l s a r e a v a i l a b l e f o r e x a m i n a t i o n i n t h e f i l e k e p t b y t h e c o u r t

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act with full authority (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action ) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an o bjection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority

A HEARING on the petition will be held on 06/09/2023 at 9:00

AM in Dept 14 located at 1000 MAIN STREET WOODLAND CA 95695 YOLO COUNTY COURTHOUSE

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11:00 am and 12:00 pm at Madison Migrant Center 29289 State Highway 16, Madison

Scope of Work

The Scope of Work will consist of all work shown on Laugenour and Meikle drawings dated 3-28-23 This work includes b u t i s n o t l i m i t e d t o r e l o c a t i n g a n d r e fu r b i s h i n g a n e x i s ti n g s t o r m d r a i n p u m p a n d i n s t a l l i n g a n e w p u m p w i t h i d e n t i c a l capabilities so that these pumps can alternate as a duplex installation or possibly both run in extreme cases Each pump w i l l h a v e v a r i a b l e f r e q u e n c y d r iv e s c o n t r o l l e d b y Y a s k a w a controllers There will be a new steel platform installed over an existing concrete basin where the pumps shall be mounted to Preliminary investigations show that the existing

Madison Migrant Center RFP 23-002: Ramp Replacement/Construction Request for Proposals

Yolo County Housing is requesting proposals with cost estima t e s f o r R a m p r e m o v a l a n d c o n s t r u c t i o n o f v a r i o u s r a m p s throughout the site from licensed, experienced vendors and contractors who can respond quickly to this request and meet the construction and installation timelines set forth below

Background The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Office of Migrant Services (OMS) oversees affordable rental housing during peak harvest season for migrant farmworkers and their families Of the existing twentyfour (24) OMS housing centers statewide Yolo County Housi n g o p e r a t e s t h r e e ( 3 ) M i g r a n t C e n t e r s i n Y o l o a n d S o l a n o C o u n t y

Migrant Center Sites • Madison Migrant Center 29289 State Highway 16, Madison, California 95653 48 Buildings 86 rentable units

Timeline The following have for project completion:

May 15 2023 Proposal Advertised

May 26, 2023 Site Walk at Madison Center @ 10 am

May 31 2023 Final Day for questions

June 02 2023 Final Addendum posted to YCHA website

June 09, 2023 Proposals Due via email or hand delivered

June 12-23 2023 OMS approval

June 23 2023 Notice to proceed

Nov 13 2023 Construction begin

Minimum Standards for RFP Referenced in Attachment A Please ensure that every component of the Minimum Standards is addressed in the proposal, so as not to be disqualified for missing items

Pre-Proposal Site Visit A pre-proposal site visit is scheduled for Friday May 26 2023 between 10:00 am and 11:00 am at Madison Migrant Center 29289 State Highway 16 Madison

Scope of Work

The Scope of Work for this project is to provide the removal a n d r e p l a c e m e n t o f r a m p s a n d i n s t a l l a t i o n o f s i