Four turns out to be loneliest number

YET ANOTHER VACANCY ... First it was Lucas Frerichs who gave up a Davis City Council seat when he left for Woodland as a newly elected member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Where, by the way, he is representing our town’s interests well.

That vacancy eventually led to a special election over four months later to bring the council back to five members. Indeed, there was an extended period of time when the council muddled along with four members, but the town survived.

Now we learn that Davis School Board member Betsy Hyder has resigned, leaving the board with just four members.

As always, there will be discussion of having the remaining School Board members appoint a replacement, either permanent or as a temporary placeholder. Fortunately or unfortunately, appointing an “interim” gives that person a sense of incumbency, even if they promise not to run when the term expires.

Promises, promises.

In this case, however, it appears the board is willing to limp along with four members, hopefully avoiding 2-2 votes, until an election can be held to fill Hyder’s seat.

Or maybe 2-2 ties would be a good thing, given that the board not long ago ungraciously decided not to renew the contract of a beloved faculty member at Davis High School. Maybe they should revisit that vote now that Hyder is gone.

The odd thing about a 2-2 vote with any governmental body is that the status quo always wins. If you want to keep things as they are, a tie vote will suffice. If you want to change things, you’ll need a majority. Seems to me a tie vote should be decided by a coin flip or a roll of the dice. No matter, ultimately letting the people decide who is on the board is invariably the right course of action.

Sheriff’s detectives bust a pair

Circulations

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SPEAKING OF SCHOOL MAT-

TERS ... I had the distinct honor, along with Davis High journalism guru Kelly Wilkerson, of presenting a journalism scholarship to Davis High School senior and HUB staffer Maria Anderson at last week’s DHS senior awards night at the Brunelle.

Maria has been accepted to the prestigious Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State, regarded as one of the best such institutions in the country.

However, as I told the assembled group that packed the Brunelle to see so many talented seniors honored, the No. 1 school of journalism and mass communication in the country is right here at Davis High School.

GET YOUR ICE COLD

PEPSI ... As if we don’t have enough division in this world, a group of UC Davis students is protesting UCD’s desire to give an exclusive “pouring rights” contract to PepsiCo.

According to Monica Stark’s piece in The Enterprise, UCD Preferred Partnership assistant director Ethan Shawlee says there are