Daily Republic, Monday, October 17, 2022

Banks wants to bring businessman’s bent to mayor’s office, City Council

FAIRFIELD — Chauncey Banks says his qualifications to be mayor are rooted in his busi ness background, and specifically his work in helping to establish local musical groups, and work to advance business interests at the Solano Town Center mall.

He called running for mayor a bucket list item.

Once he re-opened The Fonky Chicken – changing from a hip-hop styled music store to an apparel outlet – one of the next items on the list was running for office, and the mayor’s seat seemed a com fortable seat for him.

But Banks has never served on a public committee or commission or any other kind of government agency, and has not been attending meetings, in part because of his

store hours.

However, if he is elected, he said he plans to hire staff to cover the store hours, and actually hopes to lease space to “pop-up businesses” – to young entrepreneurs who are just getting started and have their own cloth ing line ideas.

Banks said he is part of the mall’s efforts to start a similar program, and thinks it is a model that would work in the downtown area – bringing more customer choices and helping existing busi nesses with their costs.

“I know what I have done in life . . . and I know it is different running a city, but I think it is the same because you have to bring people together,” the 56-year-old Banks said. “One thing you have to

understand, leader ship is part of every aspect of life.”

Banks said he also has had experience in dealing with attor neys, with contracts and general business challenges that will help him as mayor. But he said as a newcomer, he is willing to lean on the more experienced members of the council.

His first foray into running for office has not always been a pleasant one.

Banks said he has endured being falsely labeled a felon and false claims that he is under or has been restricted by restrain ing orders. He admits he has twice been arrested for domestic

Vaca harvest festival helps support small businesses

SuSan HilanD SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — A raft of boutique popup tents Sunday morning out in front of Golden Coast Studio downtown greeted visitors and invited them to enjoy a seasonal harvest festival.

The 16 vendors offered candy for visi tors and children who were encouraged to dress up and trick-or-treat a little early this year. Mountain Mike's Pizza provided a tasty pizza lunch for guests.

Iris Ruther opened her photography studio last year on Dec. 3 and said she immediately felt it was important to engage with other small businesses. So she did two popup festivals the first few months after opening her studio.

"I think it is impor tant to facilitate other businesses, especially for small business owners," she said.

Ruther came up with the idea of having seasonal festivals throughout the year in the parking lot in front of the studio.

"This was my third event this year. Each one coincides with a holiday," she said. "I have one more planned for December. It will have Santa Claus, who will be inside."

Each of the booths represents a small busi ness selected by Ruther.

"They are all great and this is a way for them to get support from the community," she said.

Defiant Xi tells world China will stand its ground

SUISUN CITY — The Solano Land Trust will open two of its sites this weekend for the commu nity to experience the native vistas.

A trail crew volunteer opportunity is available from 9 a.m. to noon Sat urday at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park. Participants will help prepare the scenic open space for public access by com pleting trail work at the site. Gloves are advised,

along with water and comfortable shoes.

Participants will meet at the Ice House parking lot at the corner of Rock ville and Suisun Valley roads in rural Fairfield and drive to the prop erty together.

A birds of prey hike

is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sat urday at Lynch Canyon Open Space to coincide with the winter migra tion season.

Lynch Canyon is home to golden eagles and hawks and is a magnet for migrating and over-wintering birds of prey. It provides these birds with more than 1,200 undeveloped acres where they can hunt and rest. Some feathered vis itors come from as far away as the Arctic Circle. This guided hike will be between 4 and 6 miles

and costs $10 per person. Parking is $6 per vehicle, which goes to support Solano County Parks.

A nature hike will also start on 9:30 a.m. Sat urday at Lynch Canyon Open Space. This hike will take visitors west ward along Middle Valley Trail to Prairie Ridge. Expect a mod erately paced hike of about 5 miles. Terrain is occasionally uneven and there are several steep climbs. The park is excellent for seeing birds

bloombeRg newS

President Xi Jinping had a clear message to those who want to thwart China’s rise: You will fail.

In a speech running almost two hours on Sunday, Xi let the world know that China wouldn’t change course even as it faces “danger ous storms” in a more hostile world. Instead, he declared the “rejuvena tion of the Chinese nation is now on an irreversible historical course” and more forcefully offered

China up as an alter native to the U.S. and its allies.

“China’s interna tional influence, appeal and power to shape the world has signifi cantly increased,” Xi said in kicking off the Communist Party’s once-in-five-year party congress, at which he’s set to secure a normbreaking third term in office. “Chinese mod ernization offers humanity a new choice

One of the vendors was Sabrina Monique

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic

Angela Calbario and her daughter, Penelope, 6, enjoy the Harvest Festival in downtown Vacaville, Sunday.

Email from Jay Dahl about George Martin made my week

This is an email I received Oct. 11 from my Armijo High School basketball coach, Jay Dahl, about former Armijo sports standout/Super Bowl winner George Martin: “Tony, Hope you and the family are doing well. I read your column religiously and brag that I coached you in high school every time your name comes up. I don’t know if you saw that George Martin is being inducted into the SacJoaquin Section Hall of Fame on Sunday. I wanted to tell you I used a lot of your editorials about him along with my nomination letter for the nomination packet. This is a very special honor for both Armijo and the city of Fairfield. Alicia Hol lowell from Fairfield High is also being inducted at the same time to make it even more of a ‘Fairfield night.’ Just wanted to let you know your writing skills were a big reason for George’s induction. Thanks for all you do, stay safe my friend.”

The last laugh

kind email absolutely made my week. He was a legend at Fair field High School as a basket ball player and then added to his legacy as a coach and athletic direc tor at Armijo. I am so grateful that I had the experi ence of being part of a team when I was in high school even though I was hardly a great player. As a sophomore I won the Most Improved Player award at our basketball banquet, but that’s mainly because I really had nowhere to go but up from where I started.

I went to coach Dahl’s retirement party at Pep perbelly’s in 2005 and he gifted his past players in attendance with our old basketball jerseys. At that time, mine was some thing I could only use as a napkin, but now I am able to wear it and did so at my 40th class reunion mixer we had back in August.

profusely. When I intro duced Coach Dahl, he brought the house down when he said, “Tony is sweating more tonight than he ever did when I coached him!”

I posted his email on Facebook and today I wanted to share some of the responses and close the feedback loop on our mutual admira tion society.

First, congratula tions to star Fairfield athletes George Martin and Alicia Hollowell who are both so deserving of this high honor. They are amazing athletes and amazing people.

Coach Dahl’s super-

I was honored to induct both George Martin and Coach Dahl into the Armijo High School Hall of Fame back in 2015. It was a packed house, I was the emcee and while I’m comfortable talking in front of a crowd, I was still a little nervous. Couple that with that fact that back then I was carry ing over 150 more pounds around and I was sweating

Obituary

Keiko ‘Kay’ Lieberman Dec. 31, 1933 — Aug. 19, 2022

Keiko ‘Kay’ Lieberman was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Mr. and Mrs. Gunichi Matsue on Dec. 31, 1933. She passed away at her home in Suisun at the young age of 88, on Aug. 19, 2022, with her daughter at her bedside.

Kay met her husband, Stanley Arthur Lieberman, when they were both 19, while he was stationed at Yokota Air Base near Tokyo. After a few years apart, Stanley returned to Japan to marry Kay. They were 24 and were married for 62 years. Kay and Stan raised five children and adored their two grandchildren.

The couple purchased a house near Travis AFB in 1979 after Stan retired from the Air Force. They lived together in Suisun for 40 years.

Kay was employed at Travis Base Exchange as a cus tomer service supervisor, retiring in 1997. She enjoyed growing vegetables in her backyard with Stan and harvest ing persimmons and plums from the trees they had planted. Stan made the coffee for both of them to enjoy with their breakfast, that he also liked to prepare for Kay. They couldn’t resist having a favorite treat to go along with the coffee.

Stan passed away in January 2019 and was given full military honors at the Sacramento Valley National Ceme tery. After a service scheduled for Nov. 1, 2022, Kay will join her beloved husband there for eternity.

Kay is survived by daughters, Jennifer (Suisun) and Donna (Vacaville); sons, Mark (Los Angeles) and Jeff (Sac ramento); granddaughter, Danielle (Denver); and grandson, Julian (Boulder).

Husband, Stanley, and son, David preceded her passing.

The service for Kay will be held at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon, California.

Arrangements were made by Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, 707-425-4697.

Chantel Bennett: Mr. DAHL! The best PE teacher hands down! He was my mother’s high school PE teacher back in the ’80s and came full circle as my PE teacher at Armijo from 2002-2006! He was the first teacher to really motivate me, taught me to understand my limits and guide without being a TEACHER teacher if that makes sense! Sorry I never went out for softball, Mr. Dahl! YOU DA BESSST! And much respect!

Susanne Myers: I worked with him a few years after graduating from Armijo and when I was moving on to another school, I was asked to work on a Saturday to train a replacement. I told them I was a single parent with a small child

and that I couldn’t come in. Jay volunteered to take my son for a few hours on campus. The memory of my then 2-year-old holding Jay’s hand at 6 feet 9 inches or so still brings a smile to my face!

Vicky Valentine Proud: I remember meeting George Martin when I was in sixth grade at Fair view Elementary. He autographed my program from the 49ers-Giants game I’d attended with my flag football team. We were in awe looking up to him like he was a real giant. Tony, it just goes to show how proper written English pays off. [Armijo English teacher] Mr. Scherr would be so proud.

Christine Donahue Brimer: Mr. Dahl was my PE teacher in kinder garten! To us littles, he was the tallest man in the world. He was a gentle giant, though, and such a great teacher!

Shelli Hunt: I remem ber Jay Dahl as a coach with city baseball. He was so tall and so ded icated to teaching us. Then, years later, his wife and I worked together. Tony Wade, what a sweet thing to be honored in this way from Jay and glad

it helped George Martin get inducted. I remember George Martin coming in and talking at my school. He was very nice.

Lorri Gomez: Fun facts . . . Mr. Dahl was my PE teacher in kindergarten at Bransford in 1975 and then my Driver’s Training teacher (behind the wheel, back when they did that) at Armijo in 1986. George Martin owned the house we lived in on Hopkins Drive. My dad was so stoked when he came to check on the house! He had to duck down to get in the front door!

Dave Wink: My Dad managed Fairfield Bowl and got George’s auto graph for me when I was a kid. “ ‘Stay cool and in school’ #75 George D. Martin!”

Joy R Maldonado: That’s so cool! And how nice of Coach Dahl to put so much work into the nomination AND into letting you know what an important role you played. Kudos all around!

Maria A. Meyers: George and Doug Martin were the first professional football players I knew in person. Great family!

Carolyn Kaup Hunt: It’s great ALL AROUND!

George is in, Jay nom inated him, Tony is the keeper of the Fairfield faith! Thanks to you all!

Raymond Brown: Con gratulations. I played mud football at Fairview ele mentary back in the day with George.

Robert F. Faucher: I was a ball boy for the bas ketball team for Mr. Dahl when Doug Martin played. I was in sixth grade. George Martin came to a couple of the games. Great time to be a kid.

Matt Choy: What a team effort in helping establish Mr. Martin’s legacy. I remember lis tening to him talk to our class of Tolenas Tigers in 1977 and feeling so special to receive a signed picture of him along with my classmates. Well done, gentlemen!

Donia Williams: Con gratulations to you Tony Wade! Jay Dahl is my much respected and loved brother-in-law. His endorsement bumps you up a notch, kinda. Lol.

Roy Pearson: Good job, Jay, and congratu lations, Big George. It is well deserved. You not only were a great football player (basketball, too), but a very good example.

Bill Boyce: Kudos to a former coach, former player turned acciden tal historian and an NFL high school alumnus. Armijo greatness.

Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local histo rian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California” and “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California.”

Bill Gates pledges $1.2 billion to help speed an end to crippling poliovirus

BloomBerg News

Bill Gates says polio came tantalizingly close to being eradicated in the spring, before new out breaks were seeded in Africa and a man was paralyzed in New York. Now the billionaire’s phil anthropic foundation is pledging $1.2 billion to complete the mission.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its largest financial commitment yet to the Global Polio Eradi cation Initiative in Berlin on Sunday. The money will help plug a shortfall in funding which, along with floods in Pakistan, the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, have frustrated a 35-year effort to rid the world of the crippling disease.

“About six months ago was the closest we’ve ever been,” the Micro soft Corp. co-founder said in an interview Thursday. For more than a decade, wiping out polio has been

the top priority of the foundation he co-chairs with ex-wife Melinda French Gates. The Seat tle-based nonprofit, with an endowment of about $70 billion, has donated almost $5 billion directly to the cause.

“We’re very commit ted,” Gates, 66, said. “I can’t say forever, but giving up would mean hundreds of thousands of kids being paralyzed.”

Since the World Health

Rouse says Fed inflation push is starting to work

BloomBerg News

The Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes to bring inflation under control are starting to work, while President Joe Biden is doing everything possible to support the U.S. central bank, two administration economic advisers said.

“What we can see in the economic data is the Fed is focused on bringing down inflation,” Cecilia Rouse, chair of Biden’s council of economic advis ers, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And we are starting to

see signs that the actions they are taking is having an effect.”

Inflation is spread ing deeper into the U.S. economy, slamming the door on hopes that Fed will dial back rate increases that threaten to tip the U.S. — and perhaps the world – into recession. The Fed has boosted its benchmark target by 3 percentage points this year to a range of 3% to 3.25%.

Core inflation, exclud ing food and energy, jumped to 6.6% in Septem ber from a year.

Organization declared the international spread of wild poliovirus a global health emergency in 2014, cases worldwide have fallen from 359 to just 29 in 2022. Over the same period, cases linked to a mutated strain derived from the oral polio vaccine have jumped from 56 to 398 after the pan demic forced a four-month pause of immunization and disease surveillance campaigns in 2020.

The eradication pro gram’s current five-year strategy needs $4.8 billion to reach 370 million children annually with polio vaccines and other essential health services through 2026. As of last week – before Gates’ latest pledge – it had indica tions of only $2.2 billion in support, after the U.K. and Norway, historically key donors, cut their planned contributions. Gates said he hopes the gap will be narrowed when Germany co-hosts a pledging event at the World Health Summit on Tuesday.

“We’re a little disap pointed that some of the other donors aren’t as generous as they were historically,” Gates said.

“There’s so many dis tractions right now, it’s more challenging than you’d think, given the value of getting this eradi cation done.”

The U.K. government made a pledge to the polio program before lowering its aid spending in 2021.

Tony Wade

Yumi Wilson Photography/Courtesy photo (2015)

Tony Wade, left, congratulates Coach Jay Dahl with George Martin speaking at the armijo High school Hall of Fame event in 2015.

Mandel Ngan NGAN/AFP via Getty Images/TNS file

Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during the Global Fund seventh Replenishment Conference in new York in september.

GOP rushing to end democracy

As all gentle readers of my columns know, I am worried our 240-year old democ racy might actually give way in the next six years to a “single-party dicta torship with a charismatic leader.” That’s the phraseology used when I went to college.

Never in all my born days . . . .

So I’m amazed and slightly appalled that few Democrats and absolutely no Republicans are talking about it much less worried about it. So let me give examples from the DR just recently.

Jack Batson

A respected retired attor ney here criticized me for accusing “MAGA Republi cans of being semi-fascists” and describing Donald Trump, Sean Hannity and Republicans as “lying fascists.”

Yes, MAGA Republicans and Hannity, but not all Republicans. There’s a huge difference and that difference is why I’m writing this.

My Republican friends in Fairfield are not fascists, they’re just strong, loyal Repub licans. Ditto the local writers of The Right Stuff columns. But have they looked where the leaders of their party are heading? Fascism.

Fascism is a form of government featuring a dictatorial single ruling party that is supported by big money, controls the media and uses out right force. It’s usually marked by foreign conquests, so we have “semi-fascists” here, thank heavens. American fascists surely won’t be putting people into labor camps, either. It will be softer.

The drive to dictatorship was revealed when Trump tried “domesticating” the courts, espe cially the Supreme Court. This was done by luck and by the ruthlessness of Sen. Mitch McCo nnell, the man who just received a Trumpian death threat for his troubles. Death threats and death are common in fascist nations.

All fascists control the “internal security” apparatuses of their nations.

To form, Trump tried to “domesticate” the Department of Justice after his electoral defeat. That would also tame the FBI. I trust all readers know about that effort. Mercifully, the Republi cans in the leadership of the DOJ resisted.

Fascists control the media. Trump mounted full-on, chilling attacks against the media. Regu larly. I’m sure readers recall them. No bad news allowed under the charismatic, flawless leader!

Only the enemy errs.

Fox News prepares us for fascism. To Fox, to err isn’t human; only Democrats err.

All fascists destroy opposition, especially other parties. Right now, MAGA Republicans in swing state legislatures are passing state laws that restrict the right to vote of Democrats.

A reporter recently counted the Republican candidates for Congress and for the top swing state offices, 597 in all. She found the major ity, 53%, to be 2020 election deniers. If they control the House of Representatives next year, I believe we’ll have Soviet-style, Benghazi-style “show trials” and very possibly an impeachment waiting for President Joe Biden.

The Supreme Court has helped by gutting the Voting Rights Act. They’ve also said they will “revisit” two decisions in which state supreme courts stopped extreme GOP gerrymandering.

I predict their ruling on the North Carolina case will result in giving state legislatures the right to overturn state election results they don’t like. Another win for a single-party dictatorship.

There’s no Democratic analogues to these bald challenges to democracy.

I would hope local conservatives would at least be worried. But no. They continue on with the same penny-ante stuff that’s been going on since Newt Gingrich.

Let me illustrate. Our past, respected local school board member worries about public debt, ignoring the fact that Democratic pro grams are largely paid for (by taxes on rich people – yeah!).

Inflation is mentioned. Those big 10-year programs weren’t even begun when inflation appeared. Is everyone aware that inflation is worldwide and largely the responsibility of the Federal Reserve, not the president?

Ironically, he worries about packing the court.

The Right Stuff columnists apparently take their content right off Sean Hannity. Tune in every night to hear Hannity’s smooth Jere miad about the “Russia Hoax” and the “dirty dossier.” Every night. Except it’s almost all completely wrong. Russian interference in 2016 was not a hoax. The Republican-dominated intelligence committee affirmed that in 2020.

Alas. Do conservatives understand that in the next two elections, a GOP vote means gutting the Constitution?

A soft, American form of fascism is looking right at you.

Jack Batson is a former member of the Fairfield City Council. Reach him by email at jsbatson@ prodigy.net.

A hard head makes a soft behind

How many middleage folks have heard their parents hit them with one of these clas sics: “You don’t believe fat meat is greasy” or “I know you heard me, but you ain’t listening” or “A hard head makes a soft behind.” What do these sayings mean? Basically, your child is not responding to your paren tal directives, guidance or advice.

Of course, none of this paren tal wisdom resonated with me until I became a father with hardheaded children of my own. Suddenly, I started sounding just like my mother. Without the profanity, of course, which was totally normal and accept able back then. Today you are labeled as abusive for raising your voice at your child.

Now I’m a grandparent of three and I enjoy seeing my oldest son struggle trying to get his 4-year-old to behave. Not sure why I find so much joy and amusement in that. Maybe because I feel vindicated for the struggles I had raising mine.

As effective parents or youth workers, we would like to meet the youth where they are to establish a connection – then gradually guide them toward the direction of change that will benefit them. Not in a force ful demeaning way that many older generation folks tend to do in the form of self-righteous adultism. If only they would see the value and listen to this and apply the much-needed

advice of caring adults.

Scripture helps us realize we all need some sort of guidance (Jeremiah 10:23): “It does not belong to man walking to direct his own step. . . .” If man needs direction, certainly inexperienced youth need it even more. It’s in their best interest to listen. This speaks to the self-righteous, often arrogant, know-it-all mental ity that some youth (and adults have) that often leads them to trouble.

The hazard in that is that unfortu nately the consequences of their bad decisions are severe these days. As often emphasized by Joseph “Doc” Marshall on the “Alive and Free” radio show on Sunday nights: “All it takes is one bad decision to cost you everything.”

I began to realize that through the generation gap, we evolved into speaking different languages. My experience has instilled in me to never assume what some youth know or do not know. It’s important to be mindful of the fact that some of the youth we serve just don’t know what they don’t know.

To help youth with the chal lenges they face, we need to realize they are their biggest challenge. So as youth workers and parents, we must embrace the challenge even if the process of helping them becomes uncomfortable and is met with resis tance. Even if you think they are not listening, tell them what they need to hear anyway, in a way that is recep

tive to them.

During a youth life-skills group session, the topic of discussion was on the need for code switching. The intention was to help these youth understand the need to know when to adjust or adapt to certain envi ronments. I often encourage them to develop a dual persona. There is a professional image you would like to maintain as well as a social image that is ever present. Today’s youth generation tend to be more concerned about their social identity, which hinders their capacity to obtain and maintain gainful employment.

We recently worked with a young man in his early 20s who we had just helped land a position at a popular chain restaurant. He needed support with work attire and a clipper card for transportation to work.

As he prepared to leave for his first shift, I noticed a noticeable cent of marijuana. He thought it was a good idea to smoke before going to a new job. We had to have a serious conver sation about his choices, professional image and hygiene for work.

Unfortunately, he did not take my guidance and advice seriously enough to make the necessary changes. He lost his job shortly after that. As my mother would say, “I know he heard me, but he didn’t listen.”

Deon D. Price is an author and youth life skills coach who lives in Fairfield. He can be reached at this youthgeneration@gmail.com or www.deondprice.com.

Biden’s student loan forgiveness a scam

President Joe Biden intends to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt (arbitrarily $20,000 for those with federal Pell grants) for those with annual incomes of up to $125,000 and $250,000 per household. According to a Federal Reserve study, the median outstanding debt is between $20,000 and $24,999.

This is a gross, negative, regres sive and inflationary redistribution of income, taking debt from highincome college graduates and effectively transferring it to lower income workers who did not have the opportunity or choice to go to college.

The average workers with less than or only a high school diploma makes $32,188 per year. Salaries increase with each additional level of edu cation to more than $200,000 for physicians.

In reality, all students on govern ment loans get a free gift of $10,000 or $20,000 from the government, which only collects or redistributes money. It prints money at its choosing. Penn Wharton puts the cost of this illegal inflationary act at $400 billion. Essentially, 70% of the top 60% of high-income students get the benefit. There would also be a government loss of annual interest of $16 billion.

Do they really think lower income non-college graduates are stupid, that they don’t understand they are being stuck with the bill for priv ileged college graduates who are making much more that they are?

This smacks of an attempt by Pres ident Biden to buy votes with taxpayer money.

The act is a short-sighted gimmick. What is the treat ment of those yet to take loans? How are foreign stu dents handled? Twenty million high-income Ameri can college graduates would have their student loan debts completely canceled, but 19.6 million blue collar workers will be paying off these student loans though they didn’t go to college.

President Biden based his authority on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act of 2003 (https://www. washingtontimes.com/news/2022/ sep/15/bidens-plan-to-cancel-stu dent-loan-debt-is-unconst), which gives the Education secretary the authority to grant student loan relief during a war, military operation or a national emergency. The secre tary is authorized to waive or modify student loans on behalf of those “who are affected individuals (to ensure that they) are not placed in a worse position financially in relation to that financial assistance because of their stratus,” All six sections of the bill reference the military and make it clear the assistance is intended for the military personnel who are in active duty/service or transitioning out of active duty/service.

Seven states – Nebraska, Arkan sas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina and Arizona – are suing Joe Biden over his student loan forgive ness plan. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge stated: “President Biden’s unlawful political plan puts the self-wrought college-loan debt on the backs of millions of hard-work

ing Americans who are struggling to pay their utility bills and home loans in the midst of Biden’s infla tion. President Biden does not have the power to autonomously erase the debts of adults who chose to take out these loans.” (https://www. cnet.com/personal-finance/loans/ student-debt-loan-forgiveness-faqwho-gets-relief-how-much-is-can celed-and-when-will-it-happen)

How long are the American cit izens going to have to put up with the blatant disregard of the Consti tution that President Biden exhibits with his unlawful executive orders, which violate the legislative branch of government’s responsibility for passing laws that authorize expen ditures by the federal government? It is extremely important to vote this November to restore the balance of powers of our national government.

The present course of our country, with rampant inflation, crashing stock markets, unfunded spending, forgive ness of billions of dollars of student debts and free handouts of unearned money are going to drive our country into a severe recession if something doesn’t change drastically.

This illegal program is a one-time, costly, regressive and inherently unfair stunt that sticks it to the less fortunate and inflates college costs, all for the sole purpose of securing student votes.

Roger Oberbeck is a Navy veteran, electrical engineer, Navy nuclear engineer, author and biotech senior validation engineer. He is a member of the Right Stuff Committee and can be reached at rogeroberbeck @yahoo.com.

Deon D. Price

Roger Oberbeck

Columns&Games

I don’t think my grandchild is old enough to choose gender

Dear Annie: I am an attentive, loving grand mother to a handful of grandchildren.

Last Christmas, it was announced two weeks prior to their arrival that one of the grandchil dren was choosing to identify as the opposite sex while being under age. We were asked to play along with the new name!

We are trying to wrap our heads around this. In the mean time, the child has started taking drug therapy to per manently deepen their voice. Would this not be considered child abuse on the parent’s part to allow their underage child to make an adult decision that is irreversible?

Another question: What young teen is capable of making such a life-altering decision? —

Concerned Grandparent

Dear Concerned Grand parent: Since you are the grandparent and not the parent of the child, your options are limited. You can tell the parents how you feel about this, espe cially your thoughts on the measures being taken that are irreversible. As for the child, embrace them with open arms and lots of love and call them by whatever name they want to be called by.

Dear Annie: I am 60 years old, and my husband is 65. When we are out together, he stares at younger women in their 20s. I mean – he stares and stares. This is very embarrassing for me, and it makes me feel disrespected.

When I tell him what he does, he says I am lying and that it’s all in my head. He says I have no confidence.

Please can you help me? Am I making too much of this? — Embarrassed

Dear Embarrassed: Your husband is disrespecting you. To make you feel bad about not wanting him to leer at 20-yearold women is just plain wrong. You are 100% correct that his behavior is inappropriate. It has nothing to do with confi dence and everything to do with class and respect. He has to cut that out.

Dear Annie: I am writing about the letter from “Griev ing Cousin,” and I want to state emphatically that suicide is never someone else’s fault.

Suicide is not the fault of an ex-lover, former boss or anyone else. We have all been dumped, fired or otherwise snubbed. While it doesn’t feel good, most people don’t respond by taking

Horoscopes by Holiday Mathis

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

You’re hanging on to an arrangement until one outcome makes it all worthwhile. What would it take to be openminded on the matter? There are other situations to fit your need and more ways than one to fulfill your aim.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You’ve sampled enough coping mechanisms to know that some ways of dealing with stress are better than others. It’s a worthwhile effort to rearrange things to make the superior methods the easiest and most readily available.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The problems you encounter are indicative of the current system. These results are showing you something. Every outcome can potentially be put to use to improve you. Nothing is a failure unless you see it as such.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). Are you hungry or bored? Hunger is easily remedied with any sustenance. But boredom is a function of being trapped with options you do not prefer. To end boredom, more options must be freed up.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). The exercise ethos “feel the burn” will apply in another context today. You put forth a great effort and get the clear, if uncomfortable, sensation that tells you this thing you’re doing is really making a difference.

Today’s birthday

The reason you’re a wonderful leader is that you do not revel in the sense of control it affords you, rather you respect the responsibility of power and wield it for the betterment of the people you love. More highlights: a cherished love letter, an expansion of property and a slow and steady physical improvement. Virgo and Capricorn adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 12, 4, 44 and 17.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). The random events may seem to mean nothing on their own, but the pattern means every thing. Keep track of what’s happening so you can spot the pattern, which will then become a kind of map you can use to plot and predict.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Are your expectations unrea sonable? Opinions will vary, but perhaps it doesn’t matter in the least. As long as the expecta tion is somewhere in the realm of possibility, and someone is willing to meet it, it can come into being.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). It won’t be important to agree with your partner on every little thing if the big things are fairly in line. So focus on getting

their own lives. No one should be made to feel it’s their fault that someone died by suicide.

Similarly, people who do die by suicide have usually been feeling hopeless and depressed for some time. Many have a long history of suffering with depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophre nia, trauma or other mental health issues. It is rarely an impulsive act.

I’d like to share some accu rate, professional resources about suicide: https://nami.org/GetInvolved/Awareness-Events/ Suicide-Prevention-AwarenessMonth-(SPAM) www.mayoclinichealthsys tem.org/hometown-health/ speaking-of-health/8-commonmyths-about-suicide https://988lifeline. org/?utm_source=google&utm_ medium=web&utm_ campaign=onebox

Suicide is indeed painful for the survivors, so please take the time to review these resources rather than going for the easy out. — Resources to Help Dear Resources to Help: Thank you for sharing this information.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

agreement on the big ideas first. A lot of the disagreeable minu tiae will become irrelevant and melt away.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). Maybe you can sense that someone isn’t telling the truth. Keep it to yourself for now. Whether you do this out of kindness or strategy, it will be better for your overall plan. There’s nothing to gain from calling others out.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). In some key way, you are different from the others. Use this to your advantage. Your unique qualities give you a competitive edge if you see them as assets. Your friends are as much a source of help as you rivals are.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Your expectation of yourself is higher than anything others are expecting from you. Maybe you shouldn’t relax your demands, but it’s good to be aware of how they fit the bigger picture. An accurate sense of scale is healthy.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You may be restricted by wellmeaning loved ones. They’re worried about what will happen when you grow and change. This subtle restriction should not be tolerated. Handle it now, while it is still of minor consequence.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

READING SIGNALS IS

VITAL FOR DEFENSE

Winston Churchill said, “The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.”

You hope that that does not apply when you are defending against a bridge contract. You wish that your signals will be interpreted correctly by partner, and vice versa.

by Phillip Alder

The theme of today’s deal has appeared in this column several times over the years, but it still trips up a lot of partnerships. Let’s try to win this battle. South is in four hearts. West leads the diamond two. What should happen after that?

South’s weak two-bid would have been considered doubly verboten two or three decades ago because it contains four cards in the other major and a void – not today, though.

After North jumped to game, East probably should have bid four no-trump, showing at least 5-5 in any two of the three unbid suits. If North was sacrificing, West would have at most one heart. If North had a good hand, five of a minor would probably be a cheap sacrifice. (Five clubs would be down one on any lead but a spade, when it could make.)

East, knowing that his partner has led a singleton (low from length guarantees an honor in the suit), wins with his ace and returns a diamond –but which one?

East’s card transmits a suit-prefer ence signal, telling West which suit to return to give East the lead again for a second ruff. Here, East wants a spade shift, so at trick two he leads the diamond 10, his highest-remaining. The play goes: diamond to the ace, diamond ruff, spade ruff, diamond ruff, spade ruff: down two.

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9, with no repeats.

means that no number

repeated in any row, column

box.

computer

Bridge

Annie Lane Dear Annie

Coltrane, who starred in ‘Harry Potter’ series, dies

Tribune ConTenT Agen

Actor Robbie Col trane, known for portraying the grizzly, but friendly half-giant wizard Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, has died, the Los Angeles Times can confirm.

Representatives for Coltrane’s talent agency WME told the L.A. Times that the actor died Friday at the at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, United Kingdom. No cause of death has been revealed. He was 72.

Coltrane was widely known for starring in the “Harry Potter” fran chise, inspired by the books from J.K. Rowling, alongside Daniel Rad cliffe in the title role.

Ian Gavan/Getty Images/ TNS file (2011) Robbie Coltrane attends the world premiere of “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2” at Trafalgar Square in London, England, July 7, 2011.

His first appearance in the book-turned-film series was in 2001 for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” His additional television and film credits include “Cracker,” “The Comic Strip Presents” and “Tutti Frutti.”

Baby

Crime

SATURDAY, OCT. 15

12:26 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 300 block of EAST TABOR AVENUE

2:18 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 200 block of PACIFIC AVENUE

4:15 a.m. — Vandalism, 4900 block of RIALTO AVENUE

8:13 a.m. — Hit-and-run prop erty damage, 3900 block of BUSINESS CENTER DRIVE

8:49 a.m. — Reckless driver, 1000 block of FIRST STREET

10:17 a.m. — Drunken driver, 2700 block of NORTH TEXAS

STREET

2:03 p.m. — Shots fired, 3100 block of POTRERO WAY

2:58 p.m. — Battery, 800 block of ILLINOIS STREET

3:11 p.m. — Robbery, 2000 block of CADENASSO DRIVE

3:53 p.m. — Fight with a weapon, 1900 block of GRANDE CIRCLE

4:39 p.m. — Vandalism, 900 block of OAKBROOK DRIVE 6:07 p.m. — Reckless driver, 300 block of SANTA MARIA DRIVE

7 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 1700 block of SANTA MONICA STREET

Banks

From Page One

violence, found not guilty in each case, and ulti mately won custody of children involved. He lost custody on an appeal, and later unsuccessfully sued the Daily Repub lic for its coverage of the family issue.

Banks does have a restraining order against his mother, issued on the advice of a judge, he said, and related to a property dispute and other activ ities that turned violent. He said he was the victim.

It is particularly hurtful, Banks said, that a rival for the mayor’s seat, Councilwoman Catherine Moy, has been one of the individuals who has been spreading the inaccurate information.

Banks sees it as part of a pattern in which Moy has accused other council members of being corrupt, but without naming who she means or providing any details or proof of the claim. Moy said she will do so after the election.

Moy denies that she has said anything against Banks, and wonders if Banks’ real motivation in the campaign is just to

7:30 p.m. — Vandalism, 2200 block of GREENFIELD DRIVE

7:37 p.m. — Vandalism, 2300 block of PEACH TREE DRIVE

7:46 p.m. — Reckless driver, BEL AIR CIRCLE

9:14 p.m. — Indecent exposure, 1600 block of PARK LANE 11:03 p.m. — Drunken driver, OAKBROOK DRIVE

SuiSun City

SATURDAY, OCT. 15

9:23 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 200 block of JOSIAH CIRCLE

6:17 p.m. — Reckless driver, EAST WIGEON WAY / PINTAIL DRIVE

9:45 p.m. — Reckless driver, RAILROAD AVENUE / SUNSET AVENUE

help Mayor Harry Price get re-elected given the effusive praise he has offered for the incumbent.

Banks admits he likes Price a great deal.

Banks said he works to push the distractions to the side to focus on the issues important to him: homelessness, youth and helping the busi ness community.

He said one of the criti cal things for the homeless situation is to convince local residents not to hand them money, or even give them food. He is not trying to be cruel, he said, but rather force them to seek help at shelters and other locations designed to help them.

“It will be better if we guide them back to the shelters and places to get help,” Banks said.

Banks said too often the money is just going to drugs or alcohol, and if they are getting fed, there is no incentive to seek help.

High on his priority list is lifting the next genera tion, and he said if elected, he would make sure more resources go to youth pro grams, and specifically in areas of highest need.

The election is Nov. 8.

Police: Parents key to keeping teens safe behind the wheel

VACAVILLE — Police across the country and here in Solano County are encouraging teens and their parents to talk this week about the importance of following the rules of the road and driving responsibly.

Car crashes remain the leading cause of death for teens. The Insur ance Institute for Highway Safety reports 2,378 teenagers died in car crashes in 2020 – a 14% increase from the prior year. Per mile driven, teen drivers are nearly four times as likely to be involved in a crash as drivers in all other age groups.

“Parents play a critical role in teen driver safety and in commu

Week

of prey and other wild life and boasts stunning views of Mount Tamal pais and the northern San Francisco Bay. The hike is free; parking costs $6 per vehicle.

Lynch Canyon Open Space is located at 3100 Lynch Road in rural Fairfield.

A nature hike with Solano Land Trust, Bay Area Ridge Trail and Outdoor Afro take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park.

Enjoy a brisk, some times strenuous, hike, some off-trail, at the site formerly known as Rock ville Trails Preserve.

Participants will travel about 4 to 6 miles up and down hills while enjoying views of Solano Coun ty’s valleys, the Delta and Mount Diablo.

Participants will meet at the Ice House parking lot at the corner of Rock ville and Suisun Valley roads in rural Fairfield and drive to the prop erty together.

Registration is required for each activ ity. Reserve as space for these events at solanolan dtrust.org/events.

Alzheimer’s walk set for Saturday

nicating important driving safety information,” Vacaville police Lt. Frank Piro said Sunday in a press release. “Teen drivers are still gaining experience behind the wheel and more likely to take risks and pick up bad habits. This is why it’s important for parents and caregivers to play an active role in talking to their teens about risky driving behaviors that can lead to deadly and tragic consequences.”

Police offers a variety of tips to parents and guardians for starting conversations about safe driving with teens:

n Provisional Driver’s License: Learn about California’s provi sional licensing law, which places restrictions on passengers and driving at night during the first year they have a license.

n Lead by example: Have driving sessions with your teen. Tell, but also show your teen how to drive safely.

n Set ground rules: Be firm on rules such as no phone use, being distracted by friends, always fol lowing the speed limit and always buckling up.

n Sober driving: Emphasize the importance of never driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or riding with someone who has been drinking or using drugs. This can include certain prescrip tion and over-the-counter medica tions that can impair response times.

The message coincides with NationalTeen Driver Safety Week, which began Sunday and continues through Saturday.

something more, so we thought a Harvest Festi val was perfect.”

The festival begins at 10:45 a.m. at 1600 Union Ave. and continues through the afternoon.

Home Show Fall Festival returns

VACAVILLE — This year’s Home Show Fall Festival will give visi tors a chance to take a look at numerous ideas for the home.

Boutique, owned by Sabrina Esposo, who has created her own line of health products for the body from top to bottom.

"I have been doing this since Aug. 12, 2021," she said.

Esposo said her plan originally was to be a teacher. She went to college in Hawaii and worked for a few years as a first-grade teacher. After moving to Vacaville and working for the school dis trict, she said she realized it was not fulfilling work.

"I got into the skincare industry because of the deep, cystic acne I dealt with in 2015, and through out my college years. It was strongly due to the emotional and mental stress that I went through at the time," Esposo said.

The condition made her

feel self-conscious about her face, she said, and as she learned more about what was going on with her breakout, which was reflected in other physical issues, she came to realize this was her passion.

"I loved making people feel beautiful and confi dent," Esposo said. "And I decided that I wanted to create a line of prod ucts to make people feel beautiful."

She works full-time giving facials and selling her homemade products.

Angela Calbario of Vacaville saw the Harvest Festival event online and decided to come down for a visit with her children.

Her daughter Penel ope, 6, dressed as her favorite Disney character Aurora and made sure to get some candy to carry in her Minnie Mouse bucket.

"I love doing local events because I think it is important to support local businesses," Calbario said.

SUISUN CITY — The Solano County Walk to End Alzheimer’s will take place Saturday at the Harbor Plaza in Suisun City, 600 Main St.

Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. with a ceremony to follow at 9:30 a.m. and the walk at 10 a.m. Tony Wade, Daily Republic col umnist and local author, will serve as emcee.

This will be an inperson walk, keeping in touch with the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Registered participants who wish to walk from home may find more details on how to do so in the participant center at act.alz.org/solanocounty.

Participants may take part in a 1- or 3-mile walk around the Harbor Plaza, while learn ing about Alzheimer’s disease, advocacy oppor tunities, clinical studies enrollment and support programs and services from the Alzheimer’s Association.

A tribute ceremony is held each year to honor those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, there is a Promise Garden, live music and activities for children.

China

From

Registration continues at the official website.

Participates are encour aged to sign up as a team captain, join another team or register to walk individually.

The Solano County walk is one of 600 walks nationwide. It is the world’s largest series of events to raise aware ness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

Community invited to animal blessing, talk

SUISUN VALLEY — The annual Blessing of the Animals will happen this week at Rockville Presbyterian Fellowship.

This year’s blessing includes a talk at 7 p.m. Friday on whether pets go to heaven. The talk features the national award-winning Solano College speech and debate team. One side will debate that pets go to heaven and the other side will debate pets do not. Admission is free with free snacks and drinks. The talk is open to the public, with dona tions accepted.

The Blessing of the Animals is sched uled from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Each pet/animal will be blessed, giving thanks and hoping for a long and healthy life. All animals are welcome. Dogs must be on leash, cats in a carrier and all others under control. One of the most unique pets blessed to date was an African grey parrot named Gregory Peck.

Rockville Presbyte rian Fellowship is located at 4177 Suisun Valley Road in Suisun Valley, 1 mile past Solano Com munity College if coming from Interstate 80 and just past the intersection at Rockville Road.

For more information, contact Gary Dreibelbis at dr.dribs@yahoo.com or 707-631-4573.

Art from the Heart helps SafeQuest

BENICIA — Safe

Quest Solano will host an Art from the Heart benefit Saturday.

The fundraiser will go to help SafeQuest Sola no’s domestic violence and sexual assault pro grams, which have been around since 1976. Vis itors to the event will enjoy a local art auction, wine, appetizers and more while supporting Solano County’s oldest domestic violence and sexual assault trauma response team.

Every ticketholder receives a free entry to win a Caribbean vacation for up to eight (airfare not included). Purchase a VIP ticket and get in 30 minutes early for a “Meet the Artists” champagne reception. All proceeds will benefit SafeQuest Solano.

The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. at Benicia Senior Center, located at 187 E. L St.

VIP ticketholders and sponsors get in at 1 p.m. for the “Meet the Artists” champagne recep tion. General admission ticketholders are admit ted at 1:30 p.m.

To purchase tickets, go to www. eventbrite.com/e/artfrom-the-heart-2022-tick ets-396024037557.

St. Mark’s to host Fall Harvest Festival

FAIRFIELD — St. Mark’s Lutheran Church invites the community to a free Fall Harvest Festi val on Sunday.

This family friendly event includes live music, food, face paint ing, harvest games, prize drawings, ice cream and a chili cook-off.

“Our mission is to welcome everyone, and what better way than to celebrate autumn with a party for the commu nity,” said the Rev. Karen Stetins, St. Mark’s pastor, in a prepared state ment. “We’re blessed to be able to offer a Manna Food Pantry for those in need in our com munity, as well as a Back-to-School Resource Fair each year for fami lies. But we wanted to do

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Harbison Event Center, 1661 E. Monte Vista Ave.

For tickets or more information, go to solano homeshow.com.

Government meetings on week’s calendar

FAIRFIELD — Numerous government meetings will take place this week. They are all open to the public with some viewable online and in person.

The meetings include:

n Suisun City Council, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www.suisun.com/govern ment/city-council.

n Fairfield City Council, 6 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, 1000 Webster St. Info: www.fairfield.ca.gov/gov ernment/city-council/ city-council-meetings.

n Rio Vista City Council, 6 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, City Hall, One Main St. Info: www.riovistacity. com/citycouncil.

n Solano Irrigation District, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Lake Berryessa Room, 810 Vaca Valley Parkway, Vacaville. Info: sidwater. org/AgendaCenter.

n Vacaville Planning Commission, 6 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, City Hall, 650 Merchant St. Info: www. ci.vacaville.ca.us.

n Solano Community College Governing Board, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Administration Building, Denis Honeychurch Board Room 626, 4000 Suisun Valley Road, rural Fairfield. Info: www. solano.edu/governing_ board/meetings.php.

n Solano County Plan ning Commission, 7 p.m. Thursday, 675 Texas St., Fairfield. Info: solano county.com/depts/rm/ boardscommissions/ solano_county_planning_ commission/agendas.asp.

One

for achieving moderniza tion,” he added.

Xi’s remarks indi cate that China is ready

to stare down a growing challenge from the U.S., who has moved to hinder Beijing’s ability to access advanced technology and deter military action against Taiwan. The Chinese leader hailed the nation’s “fighting spirit”

and said the country was “well-positioned for pur suing development and ensuring security.”

“The message to the party is that China can develop its technologi cal advantages without the United States, and is

going to be able to with stand the policies that Biden and others are pro moting to cut China off from certain high-tech goods like semiconduc tors,” said Neil Thomas, a China analyst at Eurasia Group Ltd.

Nicole Braddock/Courtesy Photo

A view at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi open space, which is managed by the Solano Land Trust.

Mmoh jumps for joy after win in Fairfield pro tennis tourney

m att mIlleR MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

ROCKVILLE — Michael Mmoh showed the hops of his name sake, Michael Jordan, as he celebrated his singles victory at the Taube-Haase Men's Pro Championship under overcast skies Sunday afternoon at Solano Com munity College.

The American Mmoh leaped high into the air and pumped his fist before a full crowd at Cammisa Court after fin ishing off Gabriel Diallo

6-3, 6-2 for his second ATP Challenger title in a month. He also won in September in Cary, North Carolina, and con tinues a solid 2022 run that has featured at least nine trips to the quar terfinals and three finals appearances.

The 24-year-old who was born in Saudi Arabia but now lives in Florida started the tournament ranked 133rd in the world. He now climbs closer to the top-100 and will land at 109 with the win in Fairfield. There are other Challenger

tournaments ahead but a bright 2023 could be ahead with more major appearances at the Aus tralian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

"Everything came together," Mmoh said. "I came out guns blazing. He gave me his best shot, but I was able to execute and get the win."

Mmoh came in as the tournament's third seed and raced through with five victories and the title. He didn't drop a set the entire week and made surgical work of each of

his opponents.

Diallo, the native of Montreal and tennis standout at the Univer sity of Kentucky, entered the tournament 325th in the world. He should get a points boost as well by his solid performance all week and a little extra spending money for his return to Lexington. He simply ran into a veteran buzzsaw in Mmoh who showed patience and pep on his groundstrokes and a solid serve.

"I've been happy with

Rio Vista sinks Vacaville Christian

and the Falcons fell to 2-6 overall and 2-1 in the SDL.

VACAVILLE — Rio Vista High School's football team feasted on some second half mistakes by host Vacaville Christian and the Rams pulled away for a 66-18 win Satur day night over the Falcons.

Rio Vista led 26-14 at halftime before some penalties and inter ceptions helped the Rams break away. Rio Vista improved its record to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the Sierra Delta League.

The loss ended Vacaville Chris tian's two-game winning streak

Tony Bellante had three touch down runs for the Rams and Damien Castellanos had two, in statistics posted on MaxPreps. com. Angel Mendoza had a touch down run. Quarterback Emmett Medders connected with Isaiah Turner on a pair of pass connec tions for TDs.

Vacaville Christian quarterback Brendan Jackson had a 3-yard touchdown pass to DJ Seymour and a 35-yard strike to Wesley Krier. Dominique Ruff also had

an option pass for a score to Gio Calderon. Krier ran back a kickoff return for a touchdown just after the half but the play was nullified by a penalty.

"It really was a tale of two halves," Vacaville Chris tian head coach Manny Tarango said Sunday. "We were still in it in the third quarter until we started giving away some points."

Vacaville Christian will try and rebound Saturday night against league-leading Esparto. Rio Vista has a game Friday night at Highlands.

49ers turned away without much fuss in loss to Falcons

Cam Inman BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

ATLANTA — Defen sive coordinator DeMeco Ryans huddled his unit for a stern sideline speech as the 49ers’ game fell further out of reach Sunday.

It wasn’t a big huddle.

This was a differ ent defense without Nick Bosa and five other would-be starters missing because of inju ries. This wasn’t the NFL No. 1 crew.

By the time Ryans lashed out in that min ute-long sideline huddle, the Atlanta Falcons already had built up a 28-14 lead, and that held up as the final score before a biparti san crowd in the 49ers’ first visit to MercedesBenz Stadium.

The 49ers (3-3) had plenty of time to rally, thanks in part to Ryans’ defense not allow ing any more points after his minute-long sideline speech in the third quarter.

“We had our chances to overcome. We made it harder on ourselves,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Yeah it’s a big deal missing those people (to injury) but we had every chance to pull that off and had no room for error.”

Downfield drops by Ray-Ray McCloud and Charlie Woerner, as well as a Falcons intercep tion off a deflected pass, seemed to doom the sec ond-half comeback.

What really finished things off, however, was a weird fourth-down play with 2:33 to go. On-target throws by Jimmy Garop polo to Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle shoved the 49ers into the red zone, but after Tevin Coleman lost a yard on a pitch, the 49ers had one more shot to keep alive a vital drive.

On fourth-and-2, with nine seconds left on the play clock, Garoppolo took the snap and threw

Wiggins took pay cut to stay with Warriors

By Shayna RuBIn BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SAN FRANCISCO — Andrew Wiggins came to Golden State labeled a bust. A first overall pick once dubbed the Cana dian Michael Jordan as a teen couldn’t live up to his lucrative con tract as a lead playmaker in Minnesota.

A refined role in a new home with the Warriors landed the 27-year-old a four-year, $109 million contract extension offi cially signed hours after Jordan Poole inked his rookie contract extension on Saturday.

“Love the city, love

the fans. I’m excited,” Wiggins said.

Despite his pending free agency, this exten sion for Wiggins came as somewhat of a sur prise. Unlike Poole, who had an Oct. 17 dead line to sign, the Warriors and Wiggins could have let this season play out and decide on terms this summer.

Not only did Wiggins sign the extension earlier than expected, but he took a pay cut to stay. He will make $33 million this year, but will earn an estimated $28 million in 2023. That’s nearly

Roberts expected back after Dodgers’ postseason failure

By JaCk h aRRIS LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — After a decade of unprecedented reg ular-season dominance, but all too familiar playoff disap pointment that continued on Saturday with their elimination in the National League Divi sion Series, the Dodgers find themselves in a familiar place entering this offseason.

Trying to sustain the success that saw them win a franchiserecord 111 games this year – but build a team more consistent come October, where they’ve captured just one World Series championship during a current stretch of 10 consecutive post season appearances.

One thing that likely won’t change is the manager.

Dave Roberts is expected to return in 2023 for his eighth

season as manager, and first under the new three-year con tract extension he signed before this past season, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

But after a disastrous NLDS defeat to the San Diego Padres this past week, which was sealed when the Dodgers blew a three-run lead in Game 4 on Saturday night, there are plenty

of other unknowns the club will have to address.

“The goal is to win a champi onship,” third baseman Justin Turner said in the aftermath of the Dodgers’ elimination on Sat urday. “To fall short of that in any round, it doesn’t matter, it’s not a good feeling.”

A couple common themes emerged during the NLDS defeat.

Their potent offense slipped

into a postseason drought, transforming from the high est-scoring unit in the major leagues during the regular season to an underwhelming, inefficient group that managed just seven runs in three consec utive losses after Game 1.

Their pitching staff also failed to sustain its strong reg ular-season performance, too

Courtesy of Robin Miller/NorthBay Health

Michael Mmoh of the United States leaps into the air after defeating Gabriel Diallo of Canada 6-3, 6-2 in the singles final of the Taube-Haase Men’s Pro Championship Sunday at Solano Community College.

Miguel Martinez/alc.com/TNS Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota chats with 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after Atlanta defeated San Francisco 28-14 on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Finding random beauty in Library of Congress’ 16 million images

Iforage regularly through the online images in the Library of Congress’ Prints & Photo graphs Division, and sometimes I come across a picture – con struction equipment at the U.S. Treasury building, tennis players on a bridge, a poster advertising catsup – catego rized with the evocative label “Miscellaneous Items in High Demand.” That sounds like one of the world’s most interesting collections of miscellany; I wondered how it worked.

So I went to the Prints & Photographs Division reading room in the library’s Madison Building, where rows of wide maroon file cabinets hold troves of material. A corkboard wall displayed book covers that feature photographs from the library, on topics as varied as baseball and architect Eero Saarinen. The division holds more than 16 million images (on – and off-site) of just about anything conceivable: court room sketches and comic drawings along with litho graphs, fine prints, Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” pho tograph, and a daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln. About 1.6 million are digitized.

As it turns out, Miscella neous Items in High Demand is not actually a collection, at least not in the way I’d imagined (i.e., a sturdy box, with a happily messy stack of photos offering hours of vintage-record-storestyle serendipity). Instead, it’s an online grouping made up of more than 130,000 images. The items sorted into this category lacked a spot in another specific collection. They were requested and pulled for use in a book, for example, or an exhibition –hence the “high demand.”

Researchers access the Prints & Photographs Division for many reasons, division ref erence librarian Hanna Soltys told me, including school work or publishing, or because they want to print and hang a favorite picture. Seated at a computer, Soltys pulled up a grid layout of images. “The beauty of Miscellaneous Items in High Demand is really kind of this, I think,” she said, “being able to click the ‘View All.’ . . . You scroll through and there’s no rhyme or reason why images are appearing in here. It’s solely because it appeared somewhere, or somebody bought a copy of it, or it was used in an exhibition and so it’s appearing in this bucket.”

“I’m usually looking for something specific and then one of the hits might come from that category,” professional researcher Athena Angelos says. She owns (and is) Pictorial Research Services of Washing ton, D.C. “Say you were doing something about George Wash

ington – you find there’s some image of an illustration of him chopping down the cherry tree and that’s from Miscellaneous High Demand.” From a specific image page, she might move on to browse others as well. “It branches out,” she says.

Images that a user might be seeking are often also available in the library’s more frequently updated Free to Use and Reuse Sets. (Topics include ice cream, natural disasters, fish and fishing, motion picture theaters and hats.) To maximize results, people can search across all collections. For example, my recent search for “circus horse” turned up 62 results in Miscel laneous Items in High Demand. But a search of the entire online catalogue revealed 168 results, and if you try “circus posters,” which often include horses, you will get 584 hits. In the reading room, Soltys had laid out a few of the images from that expanded search: a circa 1909 photograph of an “edu cated horse” looking at a blackboard, and one of a per former and her sturdy dapple gray. Others included a pho tograph of a Barnum & Bailey representative at a horse auction, and a stereograph of Piccadilly Circus in London, in which a horse-drawn car riage advertises an animal feed called Molassine Meal.

Similar discoveries can occur when searching inside the reading room, where some original items are stored. Soltys tugged on a file-cabi net drawer that glided open with a satisfying whoosh, and expertly cruised through pho tographs stored in protective sleeves. Separators bore labels:

carnivals, motor parks, live stock shows.

To sift through the drawers, Soltys says, “you don’t have to come in and tell us what you’re doing; you don’t have to get per mission to come in.” Anyone with a reader registration card may have a look. But if you need something specific, Soltys advises, make contact ahead of time, in case, for example, the material you seek is stored offsite or is too fragile to handle.

Angelos emphasized that because of their specialized knowledge, the librarians in the Prints & Photographs Division are key resources. So did Mike Constandy, owner of Westmo reland Research – whom I also asked about any cool discov eries he had made. “From a researcher standpoint, ‘cool’ is actually finding what you’re looking for,” he said.

That practicality may not be a selling point of brows ing Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, but, as Soltys said in a later email, the collec tion has its place: “In essence, the ‘Miscellaneous Items in High Demand’ bucket is a way to keep items from float ing around in the catalogue on their own.” For me, it’s a col lection that invites a certain restrained chaos into your research projects. Here is an etched illustration of Ursa Major, dating from 1825. Here are Chico, Harpo, Groucho and Zeppo Marx. Two girls stand on a beach in 1897, holding up their left feet. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re looking for. You just have to stay open to what you might find. The demand is high, even if it’s only your own.

HE DISCARDS, YOU SWITCH

You are defending against three no-trump. Partner leads fourth-high est from his longest and strongest. You win an early trick and, all things being equal, do what? Right – you lead back partner’s suit. However, there is an occasion when you should know that this isn’t the best continuation. (No, I don’t mean when you have a

by Phillip Alder

solid suit of your own!)

South is in three no-trump. You are East. Your partner leads the heart four: three, 10, king. Declarer plays the diamond four: seven, 10. How would you plan the defense?

Probably your first thought is to win with the diamond ace and return the heart seven. You hope partner can cash four heart tricks, having started with A-J-x-4-2.

However, there is another possibil ity: that your partner has five weak hearts and four strong clubs. How do you know which it is?

You don’t, but you will if you have patience. Hold back your diamond ace. Then rely on your partner to make a helpful discard on the third round.

If he throws a low club, return a heart. If, though, he pitches one of his hearts, he is warning you that the suit isn’t going to run. Then, you should shift to a club.

Sounds easy enough, but your problems aren’t over. To which club should you switch? As you need to take four club tricks immediately, you must lead the jack – bingo!

When you aren’t sure how to continue the defense, permit partner a chance to give you the guiding signal.

From honor-third, when you need two tricks in the suit, lead low. When you require three or four, lead high.

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Bridge

repeats.

means that no number

repeated

any row, column

box. Solution, tips

HE DISCARDS, YOU SWITCH

computer

You are defending against three no-trump.

leads fourth-high est from his longest and strongest.

win an early trick and, all things

equal, do what?

you lead

Bridge

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother” photograph.

TVdaily

Billionaire futurist

Swann

Fraser)

‘Black Adam’ dominates in theaters this week

FAIRFIELD —

Coming to local the aters this week is “Black Adam,” which stars Dwayne Johnson as a man who is given God-like powers in ancient Egypt.

Also coming is “Tickets to Paradise,” a film about parents played by George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who think they know best for their daughter who is planning to get married in Bali.

Opening nationwide are:

“Black Adam,” in which nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods – and imprisoned just as quickly – Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world. The film is rated PG-13.

“Tickets to Paradise,” a film that follows a divorced couple (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) who go to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years before. The film is rated PG-13.

Opening in limited release are:

“Aftersun,” a film about a father and daughter who take a trip to a fading resort in a Turkish beach town in the late 1990s. Twenty years later, the memories take on new meaning as the daugh ter tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.

The film is rated R.

“All That Breathes,” a documentary that follows two Indian broth ers who’ve devoted their lives to protecting the black kite, a bird of prey essential to the ecosys tem of New Delhi, and caring for them in a makeshift avian base ment hospital. The film is not rated.

“American Mur derer,” which is based on a true story and follows Jason Derek

Brown (Tom Pelphrey), a charismatic con man bankrolling his extrav agant lifestyle through a series of scams, and Lance Leising (Ryan Phillippe), a dogged FBI special agent determined to put Brown behind bars. The film is rated R.

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” in which life long friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) end their friendship abruptly on a remote Irish island. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavors to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer.

But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ulti matum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences. The film is rated R.

For information on Edwards Cinemas in Fairfield, visit www.reg movies.com/theatres/ regal-edwards-fairfieldimax. For Vacaville showtimes, visit www. brendentheatres.com. For Vallejo showtimes, check www.cinemark. com/theatres/ca-vallejo.

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

Alon Amir/Warner Bros.

for “Black Adam.”

therefore,

not

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Monday’s TV sports

Baseball

• MLB Playoffs, Cleveland at N.Y. Yankees, TBS, 4:07 p.m.

Football

NFL, Denver vs. L.A. Chargers, ESPN, 5 p.m.

Tuesday’s TV sports

Baseball

• MLB, NL Championship Series, Philadelphia at San Diego, Fox/FS1, 4:35 p.m.

Basketball

• NBA, Philadelphia vs. Boston, TNT, 4:30 p.m.

• NBA, L.A. Lakers vs. Golden State, TNT, 7 p.m.

Hockey

• NHL, Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay, ESPN, 4 p.m.

• NHL, San Jose vs. N.Y. Islanders, NBCSCA, 4:30 p.m.

• NHL, L.A. Kings vs. Nashville, ESPN, 6:30 p.m.

Soccer

• EPL, Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Nottingham Forest, USA, 11:30 a.m.

49ers

From Page B1

low to a double-covered Samuel for an incomple tion that, essentially, put an end to the 49ers’ twogame win streak.

A 14-0, first-quar ter deficit presented the 49ers a chance to show they – an often conservative, run-first offense – could play come-from-behind football. They suc ceeded – in the second quarter, when Aiyuk caught two touchdown passes from Garoppolo in a 4 1/2 minute span to tie the score at 14.

The second half went almost just as discour agingly for the 49ers as their first: Ray-Ray McCloud dropped a potential, 70-yard touch down pass after racing past the Falcons’ defense and letting Garoppo lo’s strike fall at the 25-yard line.

Garoppolo finished 29-of-41 for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Aiyuk and Kittle both had eight catches for 83 yards, and Samuel had seven for 79 yards.

Garoppolo’s counter part, Marcus Mariota, completed all but his final pass, going 13-of-14 for 129 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons again leaned on their rushing attack (40 carries, 168 yards).

The 49ers’ defense, not surprisingly, missed Bosa, whose groin injury from last game kept him out of uniform for the first time in 26 games.

Midway through the third quarter, after falling behind 28-14, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans huddled up his injury-riddled corps for a minute-long tough-lashing.

Cornerback Charvar ius Ward (groin) headed to the locker room at the two-minute warning, and he would not return for the second half, nor would right tackle Mike McGlinchey (calf). Other would-be defensive

starters out or on injured reserve were defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw, line backer Azeez Al-Shaair, cornerback Emman uel Moseley and safety Jimmie Ward.

Safety Talanoa Hufanga and punt returner Ray-Ray McCloud were cleared to return after evaluations for possible concus sions. Others wounded in the first half: defensive ends Samson Ebukam and Drake Jackson and safety Tarvarius Moore.

No opponent had scored more than 19 points in the 49ers’ previous games, against a defense that had yielded the fewest yards and was tied with the Buffalo Bills for fewest points allowed.

Next up: Sunday’s homecoming against the NFL’s No. 1-scoring team, the Kansas City Chiefs, who the 49ers last faced in the 2019 sea son’s Super Bowl.

The 49ers entered halftime down 21-14 after allowing a 75-yard touchdown drive. Marcus Mariota put the Falcons back in the lead on a 3-yard keeper. Rookie corner back Sam Womack lost outside containment on the play-action fake, and Womack did the same gaffe on the previous play that resulted in a 16-yard run to the 3 by Caleb Huntley.

That proved to be the deciding score.

After winning last Sunday in 37-15 fashion at Carolina, the 49ers figured to keep the offen sive momentum rolling, after practicing all week at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., where they bunkered each of the previous two seasons in sweeping back-toback East Coast games.

This time, things opened bleak out the gate – from a 7-0 deficit after one series, to a 14-0 hole when Jeff Wilson Jr.’s third-down fumble was returned for a Falcons’ touch down with 1:26 left in the first quarter.

Scoreboard

BASEBALL MLB Playoffs

Wiggins

From Page B1

$15 million less than a max offer he might field in free agency.

But it’s not clear what team would offer top dollar for Wiggins, who showed to be most valu able in Golden State’s unique playing style. He’ll take that pay cut for the job stability he may not find on any other team in the NBA.

“You never know what the future holds. I’m happy here,” Wiggins said. “We have a chance to do something special. I believe in the guys, the organization. So we have a deal done and I’m happy about it.”

For the Warriors, Wiggins accepting a pay cut could pay dividends down the line when piecing together next year’s roster. The team is on the hook for a payroll that, with taxes, could ring up to more than $480 million in 2023 with Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in line for extensions.

Another strong Finals run might determine Green and Thompson’s future with the team; will the Warriors continue to commit to record-break

ing payrolls to keep this contention window open a little longer? Or will the team slip up and chal lenge owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber pull the plug and lean into the younger players like Poole and Wiggins? The long term commitments will be determined on a game-bygame basis, Myers said.

“I’m well aware of what the numbers are, but what I would say to every one is that’s next season and this is this season and we can’t play this season now,” Myers said. “If you told me a year ago we’d be playing Poole and Wiggins this I wouldn’t have believed you.”

But Wiggins’ growth last year changed his value. That Wiggins shares agent Drew Morri son out of CAA with Poole

expedited the process this month, Myers said. Both wanted to stay in the Bay Area, and their agents were already at the table.

It took Wiggins a yearplus to adjust to Golden State’s style around Steph Curry, but last season he mastered a role that took the ball out of his hands.

“What I see with Wiggs is just a comfort level with his daily routine and our style,” coach Steve Kerr said. “The way we play is very different from the way he played his first years. So he looks relaxed and ahead of the game compared to the first years where ehe had to figure out how we played, he’s comfortable in it because he’s got a couple of years of work within the style.”

He transformed into an ideal wing next to

Said pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the long-time face of the fran chise: “It’s just another good regular season.”

Followed by another bout of playoff heartbreak.

often faltering in key situations against a Padres team the Dodgers had beaten 14 times in 19 tries this year entering the series.

The Dodgers’ collapse in the seventh inning of Game 4 on Satur day encapsulated it all.

Their lineup managed just one run after having the bases loaded with no outs, missing an opportunity to further extend a three-run lead.

Their bullpen imploded against the Padres’; opportunistic offense, which scored five times in front of its raucous home crowd.

And the Dodgers couldn’t recover the rest of the way, suf fering one of the biggest upsets in MLB playoff history and becom ing the sport’s first 110-win to not even reach its league champion ship series.

So how do the Dodgers fix this? How do they reverse their postsea son torment, with the 2020 World Series they won during a pandemicshortened season still their only recent October reprieve?

That’s what the team’s front office decision-makers, from presi dent of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on down, will begin pon dering in the coming days.

Roberts appears to be safe, despite drawing criticism for several decisions during Saturday’s fateful seventh inning.

“We didn’t accomplish our goal, and that’s the bottom line,” Roberts said after the game. “Yeah, this one hurts.”

No manager in MLB history has managed more games than Roberts

Curry, a primary defender against opposing teams’ best offensive player able to hit 3-pointers at a clip that earned him his first All-Star nod in 2021. In the playoffs, Wiggins ramped up his aggression on the boards and flashed scoring chops that earned him those Jordan comparisons as a teenager.

“There are a handful of guys like Steph or LeBron (James), Giannis (Ante tokounmpo) who are going to be great no matter where they are,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But most of the league, you have to find a good spot. And Wiggs found a good spot.”

Concerns around Wiggins before the exten sion revolved around his intensity — at various points, Wiggins would space out defensively and on the boards. Not until the playoffs did Wiggins turn up his energy to turbo mode and keep the pedal to the metal for their entire title run.

The 6-foot-7 forward is often the most athletic player on the court; he’ll succeed when he uses it.

“I just want to keep up with the rebounding,” Wiggins said. “I feel like I took a step with the play offs and I can keep doing it. That’s the most impor tant thing. And defense, keep at it.”

with a better winning percent age than his .632 career mark. His 653 total wins are fifth-most in fran chise history.

He and the core of his current staff, including pitching coach Mark Prior and hitting coaches Brant Brown and Robert Van Scoyoc, helped navigate the team to its 2020 World Series title, too.

However, they have now over seen early eliminations in the last two postseasons, with the latter involving a crucial lapse of communication during Saturday’s seventh-inning debacle.

In hopes of giving reliever Alex Vesia an extra moment to warm up, the Dodgers dugout signaled for pitcher Yency Almonte to lob a pick-off to first base. The sign was missed, however, with Almonte instead delivering a pitch to the plate and theDodgers to then make a risky mid-at-bat pitching change.

Moments later, the Padres took the lead with a hit.

Tennis

From Page B1

the way I've been playing the last month, but today just showed that I still have much work ahead," Diallo said.

this season to Kentucky, the Wildcats should be in the running for an NCAA championship.

Regional forecast

Shown

Diallo sported the blue and white of his Wildcats for the cham pionship Sunday. He earned his place by grinding through some three set matches during the week and some tiebreakers.

He eventually defeated his college teammate Alafia Ayeni in the semifinals. With the two of them committed

Mmoh forced Diallo into some unforced errors and was able to break his serve to grab a 6-3 win in the first set. He went up 5-0 on the Cana dian in the second set. But Diallo dug deep and powered to win a pair of games, including one service break, to try and extend the match, before Mmoh put the tourna ment title away.

It was also a suc cessful return for the local tournament that returned for the first time since 2019 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group/TNS Andrew Wiggins (22) holds up a Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy during the Warriors’ championship parade in June.