Daily Republic: Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023

Outing teaches children about wild birds A3

Vanden girls and boys advance to semifinals B6

Police arrest Fairfield man they suspect killed his wife

dAily r epubliC sTAff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — A

61-year-old Fairfield man has been arrested in connection with the suspected killing of his wife.

Gregory Hobson was arrested by Fairfield police officers about 4 p.m. Thursday near Highway 12 and Walters Road He was booked into Solano County jail on suspicion of murder, the police said. Police located Hobson and their 2021 Toyota Tacoma, but Mrs. Hobson was not with her husband.

Anu Anand Hobson, 53, of Fairfield, had not been located as of early Friday, but “based on evidence collected thus far, police believe she has been killed,” the police said.

No details about that evidence were released “to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation.”

The department put out an alert Thursday morning asking for the public’s help in locating the couple. They had last been seen in their truck near Elk Grove on a Flock camera.

Anyone who may have seen Gregory Hobson, Anu Anand Hobson or witnessed any suspicious activity involving a 2021 Toyota Tacoma, license plate 21170G3, is asked to call the Fairfield Police Department’s Investigations Unit at 707-428-7600,” the statement said.

The death of Anu Anand Hobson is the city’s first suspected homicide of 2023.

Chamber leader says Black History

Todd r. H Ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Tamuri

Richardson doesn’t like to make excuses about the success or failures of Black-owned businesses –or, for that matter, color the Black culture in one shade.

But it is hard to escape that 41% of those businesses, across the nation, were shut down due to the pandemic – and pointedly, because those businesses often did not have the same access to resources others did.

It is another part of a history that can be scarred and painful, but rich with innovation, creativity, achievement and culture. And while the past cannot change, Richardson said the future can and should change.

But that only happens when Black history is viewed as American history, and moving forward means moving forward together.

Black History Month, Richardson said, can play a part in that evolution.

“Black History Month is many things for many people because we are not a monolithic culture,” said Richardson, a businesswoman, author and executive direc-

tor of the Solano County Black Chamber of Commerce since June 2021. She was a board member before that.

“And Black History Month doesn’t have value if it’s only for us,” she said. Richardson said perhaps the biggest stumbling block to moving forward is that the wrongs of the past have not been adequately acknowledged, and certainly not addressed.

“Forty acres and a mule” – Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s

Todd r. H Ansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Three-year-old Orson Sanchez will learn some day about what his great-greatgreat-great grandfather, Orson W. Bennett, did to earn a Medal of Honor during the Battle of Honey Hill in the American Civil War.

“The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in pre senting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant Orson W. Bennett, United States Army, for extraor dinary heroism on 30 November 1864, while serving with Company A, 102d Colored Infantry, in action at Honey Hill, South Carolina. After several unsuccessful efforts to recover three pieces of abandoned artillery, First Lieutenant Bennett gallantly led a small force fully 100 yards in advance of the Union lines and brought in the guns, preventing their capture,” the citation reads.

The cannon and other weapons

had been left by early attacks in which 89 men were killed, 629 wounded and 28 went missing, according to written accounts. Bennett served until the end of the war and was mustered out as captain of Company A and as brevet major – “for gallant and meritori-

ous conduct during the war” – of the U.S. Volunteers on Sept. 30, 1865. He received the medal on March 9, 1887.

Capts. George E. Gouraud and Thomas F. Ellsworth also received

Former President Carter enters hospice care

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter, the Georgia native who is the longest living president in U.S. history, has decided against any further medical treatment and has entered home hospice care, the Carter Center said Saturday.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the

Atlanta-based center said.

“He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”

The Carter Center didn’t elaborate on the former president’s condition, but the 98-year-old has endured a host of illnesses as he’s outlived two presidents who succeeded him along with his own vice president.

In 2015, Carter survived a melanoma diagnosis that later

spread to his brain. The discovery followed the removal of a lesion on his liver that took about 10% of the organ. He also suffered several falls in 2019, including one requiring 14 stitches, and other health scares that have required hospitalization.

He and his wife Rosalynn have scaled back their public schedules in recent years, and they spent much of the coronavirus pandemic at their home in the southwest Georgia town of Plains, where they both grew up.

The town, with a population of about 800 people,

is roughly 130 miles south of Atlanta. He didn’t attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, though Biden visited Plains a few months later to rekindle their long friendship. Biden was a first-term U.S. senator from Delaware in 1976 when he became one of the first elected officials outside Georgia to pick Carter in the White House race.

The 98-year-old became the longest-living American president in

Tim McCarver and me: ‘Was I on the team? Do your homework, Brad!’

It was probably 1993 or 1994 (maybe 1995). San Francisco Giants legend Orlando Cepeda had recently moved to Suisun City and momentum was building behind his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. I was writing a big feature article for the Daily Republic about Cepeda.

I’d interviewed Orlando, but needed other sources.

Mike Massa, then the assistant sports editor at the Daily Republic, went to a Giants game with me. I planned to ask Giants manager Dusty Baker about Cepeda, but had no further ideas.

Unbeknownst to us, the following day was a national “Game of the Week” TV broadcast. That became clear when we saw Tim McCarver, the famous broadcaster who was working as the lead analyst on ABC-TV. It hit me: McCarver had

been Orlando Cepeda’s teammate on the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967, the year Cepeda was the National League MVP. He could be a source! I could interview McCarver. Then second thoughts: Was McCarver on that team? He had to be. Or maybe not?

This was pre-internet and I had to rely on my memory, because my Baseball Encyclopedia was at home.

I approached McCarver behind the cage during batting practice and introduced myself as Mike stood behind me. I told McCarver I was working on the article on Cepeda, then made sure I wasn’t wasting my time.

“You were on that 1967 team with Orlando, right?” I asked. McCarver smirked and shook his head.

“Was I on the team? Was I on the team? Come on, Brad! Do your homework!”

He knew my name! (Maybe he read it off my press pass, maybe he just had a good memory). I laughed because McCarver clearly was having fun. He wasn’t mad, he was engaging me. He turned to Massa. “Can you believe this guy, Mike? Was I on the team? Orlando was the MVP and I was second! Was I on the team? Come on! You’re better than that, Brad!” McCarver was indeed on the Cardinals that year and he was indeed second in the MVP voting, although Cepeda got every first-place vote. But McCarver was having fun at my expense, which was fine.

I’d been given a genuinely hard time by other baseball figures (Bobby Bonds, Matt Williams, Tony La Russa) and this was different. McCarver was a huge broadcasting star and he was having fun teasing the smalltown sports writer who was too young to remember 1967. McCarver ended up giving

me some great quotes. He adored Cepeda and respected him as a teammate. When the interview was over, McCarver shook my hand and wished me good luck with the article. That night, Mike and I returned to the office with a great story and a new appreciation for McCarver: “Was I on the team? Come on, Brad! Do your homework!”

Cepeda made the Hall of Fame in 1999. McCarver was inducted in 2012 as a broadcaster.

When McCarver died Thursday at age 81, that interview was the first thing I remembered. Former Daily Republic sports editor Paul Farmer texted me that night, also recalling the story.

Tim McCarver had a legendary career. He was an above-average major leaguer for 21 seasons, then an elite broadcaster for decades more, calling a record 24 World Series on national TV. He was an outstanding

player, a great teammate and a broadcasting legend.

Late in his broadcasting career, McCarver became almost a caricature: A broadcaster who talked too much. His great insight (he was an outstanding communicator who would tell you things you didn’t know) was sometimes overshadowed by his loquaciousness (“You can’t see the wind, Jack! You can see the effects of the wind, but you can’t see the wind.”).

I never bought that view of McCarver. I thought he was a great broadcaster. More than that, I never forgot that Friday night when the network TV broadcaster took time to not only talk to me, but to give me a hard time while winking at my colleague to ensure that we knew he was joking.

He most definitely was on that 1967 Cardinals team! Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.

‘Finch-smuggling kingpin’ sentenced in plot to hide birds in hair curlers

The WashingTon PosT

Insaf Ali had a reputation as a “kingpin” smuggler in New York, federal prosecutors alleged. When he was arrested in January 2022 at John F. Kennedy International Airport before boarding a flight to Guyana, a search of his luggage allegedly revealed items essential to his unique trade: two packages of hair curlers.

The plastic cylinders, a few inches across, are just the right size to smuggle finches. The small birds are commonly smuggled from Guyana into the United States, where they are prized in birdsong competitions, according to prosecutors.

Ali was planning to do just that when he returned from Guyana, prosecutors alleged. They cast Ali, who pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to illegally import wildlife, as a leader in the lucrative trade of finches between Guyana and New York. He’d previously received two years of probation for smuggling live finches hidden in hair curlers in

December 2018, according to court records, but allegedly paid a co-conspirator to smuggle 35 more into the United States in April 2021 before being arrested in January 2022.

“He is infamous in his community as one of New York’s finchsmuggling kingpins,” prosecutors alleged in a sentencing memo.

On Thursday, Ali was sentenced in New York federal court to one year and one day in prison.

Christine Delince, Ali’s defense attorney, said in a sentencing memo that poor health drove Ali to smuggle in birds from Guyana for emotional support. In a statement to the judge, Ali pledged to “make amends for my life changing error.” Attorneys representing Ali did not respond to a request for comment.

Birdsong competitions are a popular hobby in Brazil, Guyana and Suriname, where trained birds are judged on the quality of their melodies and how many distinct “songs” they can sing in a set amount of time, according to a

2018 study cited by prosecutors. The demand for illegally caught wild songbirds, which sing more aggressively than locally bred birds, fuels a lucrative industry that has decimated some species of finches, researchers wrote.

Ali had participated in birdsong competitions as a child in Guyana and, after emigrating to the United States in 1984, sought out finches and competitions for emotional support, his defense attorney said. Competitions held by the Guyanese diaspora in New York took place on weekend mornings in a park in Queens, where participants and referees gathered around cages to watch two birds sing, according to a 2021 NPR report on the tradition.

“They just say this reminds them of home,” freelance reporter Kimon de Greef told NPR. “This is what their parents did in Guyana when they were growing up.”

Participants commonly place bets on the singing competitions, prosecutors alleged, and winning finches can sell for more

BRIGHT spot

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

An article that appeared Friday in the Daily Republic should have stated that Col. Gail Halvorsen died Feb. 17, 2022. Halverson was “The Candy Bomber,” dropping chocolate bars and other goods during the Berlin Airlift. nnn

It is the Daily Republic’s policy to correct errors in reporting. If you notice an error, please call the Daily Republic at 425-4646 during business hours weekdays and ask to speak to the editor in charge of the section where the error occurred.

than $10,000. Finches from Guyana are believed to sing better than those in the United States and are seen as more valuable, investigators wrote.

In her sentencing memo, Ali’s defense attorney said he was moved by a love of birds, not money, and she included letters from members of several Guyanese and Islamic associations in New York who wrote that Ali had donated generously to community organizations and was “a person of integrity.”

Ali was first charged alongside another defendant in May 2018 after they were examined in customs at JFK airport after arriving from Guyana in April

that year. Ali was found to be carrying 12 finches kept in hair curlers hidden in his socks, court documents alleged. He pleaded guilty to smuggling in August of that year and was sentenced to a fine and two years of probation.

Investigators then tied Ali to a second smuggling case in April 2021. Ali allegedly paid for a coconspirator to fly with him to Guyana and smuggle 35 finches back to New York, hidden beneath his pant legs and in the lining of a suit and “held there so tightly that [the finches] could make no sound.”

The co-conspirator was caught with all 35 finches upon arrival in New York, prosecutors alleged in

Ali’s indictment. In Ali’s sentencing memo, prosecutors wrote that five of the finches died during the journey.

In December 2021, shortly before he was arrested at JFK airport, Ali told a second co-conspirator he planned to travel to Guyana in January and asked for a courier to carry finches into the U.S., prosecutors alleged.

Ali committed his second offense amid poor mental and physical health, his attorney said. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in August.

“I indeed exercised bad judgment,” Ali wrote in a January letter to a judge. “I should have known better, but I erred.”

Brad Stanhope

Like I was sayin’

Outing teaches children about wild birds at Rush Ranch

SuSan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN MARSH —

Jocelyn Ruizchavez, 8, might grow up to be a veterinarian or maybe a beekeeper. She got a great opportunity Saturday to learn more about birds during the Backyard Bird Count for Kids.

The event was hosted at Rush Ranch by International Bird Rescue and Solano Land Trust.

Jocelyn’s mother, Leanne Ruizchavez, works with the bird rescue group and thought her children would enjoy the morning looking for birds.

“The kids love the wildlife,” she said. “We come to as many events as we can.”

Ruizchavez hopes exposing the children to animals and nature at a young age will help them grow into adults who care about conserving the environment.

Volunteers from International Bird Rescue educated participants on the basics of birding and the work done at the organization.

Two groups broke off with one staying on the Rush Ranch property but hitting the trails while the other went to the Gold Hill area to count birds.

Jim Walsh is a volunteer with the International Bird Rescue and an avid fan of birds. He got started with his love of birds while attending an event Benicia.

“They had little booklets with local birds you can find in your backyard,” he said. “I started looking at the birds in the backyard after setting up feeders but that soon wasn’t enough for me.”

So he hiked trails with binoculars and gathered

bird books that he took out into the field.

“It’s been over 20 years,” he said.

The goal Saturday was to see as many birds as possible and record them.

“We want to see as many species as possible,” Walsh said.

He said he believes our fascination with birds comes from the fact that they can fly and we can’t.

“You can be interested in things like coyotes and other mammals but they are really hard to see,” Walsh said.

Richard Crowley came out with his granddaughter. The third-generation Fair field native loves the Rush Ranch and he thought a day of bird watching would be fun for both of them.

“This is a great place if you’re looking for something to do with the kids,”

Crowley said. “It is not only a great resource but no cost.”

His granddaughter Flora Foft, 7, got a bit

tuckered out from the long hike but enjoyed sitting with her grandfather on the benches along the way and watching for the birds.

“I like the blue jays,” she said.

Visitors learned about new programs at Get the Rush

SuSan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN MARSH —

One of Samuel Adams’ favorite Solano Land Trust events is the Jepson Prairie walks. Adams is the communications specialist for land trust and was helping with the Get the Rush open house event Saturday at Rush Ranch.

Adams joined Solano Land Trust in March 2020. He previously taught English in Estonia, cleaned schools in Benicia, wrote for regional magazines and worked with adults with developmental disabilities in the North Bay. He received a scholarship from 2016 to 2018 to master of fine arts in creative writing (fiction) from Bowling Green State University.

The Get the Rush event happens the third Saturday of each month. This time they had some new events at the property.

Adams noted that over the pandemic, many of the land trusts had to stop doing public events. Rush Ranch paused many activities but continued the outdoor hikes

with masks.

Nothing, of course, would be possible without all the volunteers, he said.

“At one point the big white barn was moved by volunteer help,” Adams said. “That was quite the undertaking.”

Rush Ranch stretches for 2,070 acres of marsh and rolling grassland. It was purchased in 1988 by the Solano Land Trust, and Rush Ranch became a favorite place for families to find recreational and educational opportunities.

The ranch, with its historical buildings and self-guided trails, is located approximately 2 miles south of Highway 12 on Grizzly Island Road.

It is also a serene drive through marshlands on a two-lane road that lies just a couple of miles from Suisun City but feels like it’s in another world.

“The walk is in March and it’s amazing because you get to see salamanders and fairy shrimp a lot of creatures you don’t see during the year,” Adams said of the Jepson Prairie walks. “The place usually just looks so dry.”

The children eventually came back together around noon and counted up the totals. They counted 23 species of birds at Rush Ranch and 23 species at Gold Hill.

Dodd legislation supports access to nurse-midwives

daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Nursemidwives will be able to continue to provide health care services before and after pregnancy under legislation Sen. Bill Dodd said clarifies existing law.

“Nurse-midwives play a critical role in delivering maternity care, and it is of paramount importance that we increase access to the services they can provide,” Dodd, D-Napa, said in a statement. “This bill enhances the ability of these dedicated practitioners to provide essential services, eliminating red tape that is so often a barrier to healthy outcomes.”

The statement said

Senate Bill 667 “builds upon the momentum in recent years to preserve and protect access to maternity care and abortion in the state,” but offered little detail.

“In recent years, California has committed to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity, and especially to erasing racism-based disparities in maternal and infant outcomes,” Paris Maloof-Bury, president of the California Nurse-Midwives Association, said in support of the bill. “To that end, access to midwifery care has been named as a key strategy. This bill continues the work of integrating com-

munity midwifery and hospital midwifery into the current system of care in order to ensure that access to maternity care, especially for those most in need, is not limited by geography, race, ethnicity, income level or any other health indicator.”

Nurse-midwives in California deliver 50,000 babies a year and provide an array of essential supporting services. Dodd, in 2020, wrote Senate Bill 1237, increasing medical access for all women and birthing people, especially those in rural or inner-city settings. The bill was signed into law

by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Senate Bill 667 builds upon that legislation “to preserve and protect access to maternity care and abortion in the state,” Dodd’s statement said. “It cuts through redundant requirements that might otherwise limit a certified nurse-midwife from practicing to the full extent of their scope and training as the original law intended.”

SB 667 is supported by the California Nurse-Midwives Association and is expected to be heard in committee next month.

Dodd represents the state’s 3rd Senate District, which includes all of Solano County and extends into Yolo County, to include Winters, and into Napa County.

DODD

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic

Richard Crowley with granddaughter Flora Foft, 7, enjoy a quiet moment during the hike for the Backyard Bird Count for Kids event at Rush Ranch, Saturday.

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic House finches perch on a tree during the Backyard Bird Count for Kids event at Rush Ranch, Saturday.

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic Children from the Backyard Bird Count for Kids at Rush Ranch came over to the Crescent Moon Center table to do some painting at the Get the Rush event, Saturday.

See Rush, Page A11

Hudson to say farewell at next council meeting Matt Garcia Academy future looks bright with full school board backing

SuSan HilanD SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

toDD R. H anSen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — Mike Hudson will attend his final meeting Tuesday as a Suisun City councilman.

Hudson’s resignation and a presentation is scheduled early on the meeting agenda. He will be attending virtually from his new home in Utah. Last on the agenda is consideration of how to fill the vacancy being created.

“My reason for leaving is that I have moved to Elk Ridge, Utah, to spend more time with my family, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This move has been a year in the making, as I have finally completed my renovations to my house in Suisun City,” Hudson stated in his letter of resignation.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served the residents of Suisun City. It has been a pleasure to have served my community in so many different capacities. I have always worked to do my best in the good times and the hard times for over 15 years, but really a lifetime of service. As

a veteran, I served my country for 10 ½ years.

“I have been blessed to have served with and learned from so many dedicated public servants. I am thankful for their examples, advice and teaching.

Over the years I have learned the importance of working together to achieve the community’s goals; knowing that only together can we move forward. I have also learned that you must be grateful, appreciative and thankful for all the people who work so hard to accomplish those goals,” Hudson added.

The council is also set to consider midyear budget adjustments.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. in the City Hall chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd. The regular session follows a closed session at 5:30 p.m., during which the council will be updated on labor negotiations and two litigation matters: one existing and one anticipated. A complete agenda for the meeting is available at https://www.suisun.com/ government/city-council/ city-council/.

Vaca commission schedules Vanden Cove Subdivision vote

Daily

VACAVILLE — The city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday will consider approval of the tentative subdivision map and planned development for the Vanden Cove Subdivision.

The development would subdivide three existing lots located at 5742, 5750 and 7038 Vanden Road into 114 lots for the purpose of constructing a new single-family home subdivision, the staff report to the commission states.

The total project area is approximately 26.7 acres and would create new lots ranging in size from 6,000 square

Inbrief

feet to 11,060 square feet. The project would provide two roads connecting to Vanden Road and another internal road connecting to a future extension of Maverick Drive, to be located in the adjoining Vandengate Subdivision to the north, the report states.

The commission meets at 6 p.m. in the council chamber at the rear of City Hall, 650 Merchant St.

Also on the agenda are the 2022 General Plan Report and a review of state housing laws for 2023.

A complete agenda for the meeting is available at https://www.ci.vacaville. ca.us/government/ agendas-and-minutes.

Suisun climate committee to discuss how residents can help

SUISUN CITY — A report on how local residents can make a difference will be given at the Wednesday meeting for the city’s Environment and Climate Committee.

Also scheduled is a Solano Bayshore resiliency roundtable discussion, and consideration of ideas for Earth Day 2023.

The committee meets virtually at 6 p.m.

Public access is available at https://zoom.us/join. The Meeting ID is 844 9550 4564. The public may also call in to the meeting at 707-438-1720.

A complete agenda is available at https://www. suisun.com/government/citizen-governance/ environment-climate-committee/.

FAIRFIELD FUNERAL HOME

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FAIRFIELD — Fairfield-Suisun School District Board President David Isom was clear at the beginning of the board meeting Thursday night that the district was not going to close the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy.

“This discussion is not about closing the school,” Isom said. “The school is not closing. This item tonight is about information only and no action will be taken.”

Isom asked if any board member supported closing the school. Not one raised a hand in support of that idea.

The school is named for City Councilman Matt Garcia, who was shot and killed the night of Sept. 1, 2008, in a case of mistaken identify. Garcia, 22, was one of the youngest elected officials in the state. Elected to office in 2007 at 21, he was the youngest councilman in Fairfield history.

The path to this week’s school board meeting began late last year.

Members of the Facilities Subcommittee toured the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy campus in November. They expressed concerns with some of the findings specific to the facility and requested an update on campus be placed on a future board agenda.

The staff put together a report for a meeting in January, during which the board discussed several options for the next steps. One of the options discussed was the possibility of closing the campus. The board did not take any action toward closing the school, but rather it was matter of discussion.

Board members had further questions and asked the central office staff to gather more information so they could get a clearer idea for future action.

The central office staff met Feb. 10 with Matt Garcia Career and College Academy parents and families, school staff and Matt Garcia’s family, Raymond and Teresa Courtemanche. They heard from staff, parents and students at that meeting that everyone wanted the school to remain open.

Teresa Courtemanche, Matt Garcia’s mother spoke Thursday during the school board meeting.

“I don’t think any school should be closed,” Courtemanche said. “I think it is important to get a principal in there that is committed. What do we have to do, to do that?”

Courtemanche acknowledged that getting a principal in to stay is a community thing.

“Let’s not ever talk about it being closed,” she said of the campus named after her slain son. “We will keep coming back and

keep striving to be the best we can be.”

Sheila McCabe, assistant superintendent of Educational Services, made the formal presentation – to a packed house – on several options the staff had gathered for the board.

One recommendation from the staff was to keep the school open and have the staff move forward with strengthening the program. The other option was to schedule a town hall meeting to gather additional community feedback, or consider closing the school.

The staff in its report did not recommend closing the school. Instead, staff recommended officially identifying the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy as a “school of choice” and

Mary Fuller

Funeral wervices for Mary Lorene Fuller, age 98, of Shongaloo, LA, will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, February 17, 2023, at the Bailey Funeral Home, with Bro. Ed Bryan officiating. Interment will follow in Pilgrims Rest Cemetery under the direction of Bailey Funeral Home. Visitation will be held Friday, February 17, 2023, 1:00 pm at Bailey Funeral Home.

Mrs. Fuller was born on September 12, 1924 to Leonard Holt and Lenora Morgan-Wise in Shongaloo, LA and passed away on Sunday, February 12, 2023 in Haynesville, LA. She was a She was a native of Shongaloo and a former resident of Fairfield, CA. She was a member of Mt. Paran Baptist Church and a homemaker. She is survived by her husband of 40 years Waldo Wesley Fuller Jr. of Shongaloo, LA; son, Christopher Stephen Wolfgram of Fairfield, CA; step-daughter, Lucille Ann (Gary) Miles of Beaverton, OR; step-son, Gerald Wayne Fuller of Austin, TX; step-granddaughter, Gillian Nash Miles of NY; a special friend, Voncille Lank and a number of nieces and nephews. Mrs. Fuller was preceded in death by her parents; three brothers; and three sisters.

The family of Mrs. Fuller would like to give special thanks to her caretaker, Lucy Brown for her years of care, Suzy Evers, and to Haley and the nurses and staff of Regional Hospice and Heritage Manor Haynesville for their care during her final days. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to either Shriner’s Hospital or to St. Jude. Sign our online guest book at www.baileyfuneralhome.net Bailey Funeral Home Springhill, LA (318-539-3555).

Mayrene Bates

Beloved local educational legend Mayrene Bates passed from this world to the next on January 6, 2023. She was a teacher at Fairview Elementary, librarian at Grange Intermediate Vice Principal at Fairfield High, Principal at both Crystal Middle School and K.I. Jones Elementary School, Assistant Superintendent of the Solano County Office of Education, and a Trustee on the Solano County Board of Education. Bates was also a rock-steady wife and mother, a dear friend, a compassionate and creative colleague, and a mentor and role model to many

To say that Mayrene Bates came from humble beginnings is an understatement.. She was born on April 15, 1934, to Ernest and Pauline Beasley in the tiny town of Liberty, Tennessee. She attended a segregated school from first grade to 8th grade in a one-room schoolhouse that served as the church on Sundays. When she went to high school, she had a 32-mile bus ride as she was not allowed to attend a school 16 miles from her home.

After high school, she received a scholarship to Atlanta University Librar y School where she earned a master’s degree in library science. In 1955 she met and married a career Air Force man, James Bates, and as military families often do, they moved frequently and came to Fairfield in 1970.

Through her long educational career, Mayrene Bates was a powerful force for good in the local community. For her tireless efforts, she was honored with numerous state, county, and local awards. Among them are serving as the grand marshal of Fairfield’s Fourth of July Parade, being named honorary commander of Travis Air Force Base, and having a street named after her, Mayrene Bates Lane, which opened in 2003 in the Gold Ridge subdivision off of Peabody Road.

Though she was a very busy woman juggling the demands of a career and home, she always made time for random acts of kindness. Many locals treasure her thoughtful thank you notes or words of encouragement usually accentuated with a cartoon that tickled her fancy that she wanted to share.

The poor girl from Tennessee who attended segregated schools eventually visited all seven continents. In a 2020 newspaper column about her remarkable life, Bates exhibited her attitude of gratitude for those who helped her navigate her life path.

We don’t do anything alone. There is always someone who gives us a hand or encourages us. I have had lots of people like that over the years and I’m very grateful. I’ve had such a wonderful life.”

Mayrene Bates is survived by her husband Retired Lt. Colonel James Bates, her son David Bates (Laura), and grandchildren James and Jazmyn. She is preceded in death by her son Mark Bates and her siblings Joann Floyd, Betty Sue Beasley, James Beasley, and Kenneth Beasley.

Join Solano County Behavioral Health for a community program planning meeting for the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) 3-Year Plan for FY 2023-2027. Virtual and in-person meetings will be held on the following dates:

· Tuesday, February 21, 2023, 9am-11am 1 Town Square, Vacaville, CA

· Tuesday, February 21, 2023, 3pm-5pm Virtual Meeting

· Wednesday, February 22, 2023, 1pm-3pm Virtual Meeting

· Thursday, February 23, 2023, 3pm-5pm JFK Librar y, 505 Santa Clara St., Vallejo

· Monday, February 27, 2023, 10am-12pm Virtual Meeting

· Monday, February 27, 2023, 3pm-5pm Virtual Meeting

· Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 1pm-3pm Virtual Meeting

For more information about these meetings, including how to register, please visit https://www.solanocounty.com/ depts/bh/mhsa/ann_plan/default.asp

You can also email SolanoMHSA@solanocounty.com or call 707-784-8320 for more information about the MHSA.

HUDSON

Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file (2020)

Raymond and Teresa Courtemanche are the stepfather and mother of slain Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. They are shown together Thursday, March 26, 2020.

See Garcia, Page A10

Solano judge sentences

convicted child molester to 90 years to life in prison

daily Republic sTaff

VALLEJO — A man convicted of molesting two sisters over the course of several years was sentenced Friday to 90 years to life in state prison.

Ulysses Pastones was convicted Nov. 15 of six counts of committing lewd acts upon a child who was younger than 14 and one count of aggravated sexual sssault. The jury also found that Pastones engaged in “substantial sexual conduct” with a child and that he had committed lewd acts upon more than one child.

One of the victims appeared in court Friday and provided what the District Attorney’s Office described in a press release as “a powerful impact statement.”

Pastones, while living in Vallejo, victimized a child in his home from 2013 to 2017 while other family members were sleeping. The family moved out of the area in 2017 and the child, who was then

Fairfield council to discuss ways to honor late-Mayor Harry Price

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

12 years old, began locking her bedroom door to prevent Pastones from coming in her room. Pastones stopped sexually assaulting her, but then began to molest her younger sister over what the District Attorney’s Office described in the press release as “a lengthy period of time.”

The sisters told their mother about the sexual assaults in 2019. She then contacted law enforcement. Both sisters testified at Pastones’ trial.

Court records show the trial covered eight days from late October into November. Pastones had faced up to 165 years to life in prison.

Pastones was sentenced by Daniel J. Healy. Retired Detective Bernard Avalos of the Tucson Police Department and Solano County District Attorney Investigator Jason Scott investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro and was assisted by victim advocate Amy Harris.

Solano nonprofits debut Mare Island pollination garden

the future.

TRibune conTenT agency

Solano County nonprofits dedicated to environmental sustainability and conservation have unveiled a community garden to help bolster hurting monarch butterfly numbers across the western United States.

Where the garden now stands was once a space previously left untended and formally referred to as the Pollinator Pathway Garden. Located at the Global Center for Success, the Mare Island Garden is the product of a year-long collaboration among various entities across the county.

The groups involved with the garden include A Plus Tree, Caliground Troops, the Global Center for Success, the Mare Island Company, the Monarch Milkweed Project, the Solano Resource Conservation District, the Solano County Water Agency, the Vallejo Project, the Solano Community Foundation, and Sustainable Solano.

Organizers at the 3,000-square-foot garden are holding planting demonstrations – the second of two on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – and encouraging community members to replicate the project on their own lawns.

The garden is open to the public and will rely on volunteers for handwatering to eliminate the use of plastic, drip-irrigation techniques, and it will operate using watercatching basins instead of installing gutters. Organizers are also hoping to hold classes about gardening in

FAIRFIELD — The City Council on Tuesday will consider the best way to honor the late-Mayor Harry Price.

Price died unexpectedly Dec. 16 while in office.

“Mayor Price dedicated nearly three decades of service to field, becoming the longest serving mayor in city’s history,” the staff report to the council states. It also states council members “have individually discussed ways to honor” Price’s legacy, but no details were provided in the staff report.

The council also will consider transferring $500,000 from the Heart of Fairfield Intergovernmental Loan Fund for economic development activities in the downtown, namely the Revitalization & Enhancement Assistance Program.

That includes increasing grant amounts and creating a low-interest loan program for equipment financing for projects.

The Revitalization & Enhancement Assistance Program program

was established “to encourage business owners and commercial property owners to enhance their properties,” the staff report to the council states.

The program provides grants to make improvements to the appearance and utilization of properties in several ways to include exterior improvements such as windows, doors, stucco, paint, awnings; signage; outdoor dining seating and improvements; and interior improvements in tandem with exte-

rior work, the staff report to the council states.

These improvements can significantly impact the highest and best use, appearance, community pride, economic setting and marketability of the properties and businesses located in the city of Fairfield’s Heart of Fairfield Plan Area,” the staff reported.

Consideration of forming a new community facilities district and a public hearing on an appeal of a Planning Commission decision to approve a use permit for a 138vehicle recreational vehicle storage facility at 490 Edison Court are also on the agenda.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. in the chamber at City Hall, 1000 Webster St. The regular meeting follows a closed session at 5 p.m., during which the council will be updated on cybersecurity and existing litigation.

A complete agenda for the meeting is available at https:// www.fairfield.ca.gov/government/ city-council/city-council-meetings/ current-city-council-agendas.

Benicia to receive $275,000 federal housing grant

BENICIA — The city’s Housing Authority was among the agencies to receive a share of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Public Housing Capital Fund Formula Grant Awards announced Friday.

Benicia is scheduled to receive $275,577, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla report in a press

Vilma Aquino, cofounder of the Vallejo People’s Garden, conceived the project after learning about the monarch’s declining population.

“That sparked kind of an interest in me because I know if there’s a decrease in their population, what about all the other insects and wildlife?” she said.

“We need pollinators in order to yield good food.”

When Aquino contacted Sustainable Solano, Nicole Newell said she initially had doubts about the project’s feasibility. The program manager for sustainable landscaping said the nonprofit typically converts smaller, residential backyards on a voluntary basis for food, as opposed to public spaces.

Newell said that conversations with Aquino revealed an overlapping goal of educating the community, persuading Sustainable Solano to commit to its first largescale project centered primarily around native plants, such as milkweed, and pollinators.

“Just the installation is education in itself because most people that come to these events have a huge knowledge on plants and pollinators, and so just by meeting other people and talking to them, you start learning about the different plants, and then you learn how to kind of properly plant,” Newell said.

Solano County is a hot spot for monarchs to roost through the winter, a process known as

See Garden, Page A10

release. It is the only Solano County agency to receive a grant. More than $95 million was awarded in grants. The largest went to the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, $24.81 million. There were 42 grants awarded.

The funds “will contribute to the development, financing and modernization of public housing projects and for management improvements across California,” the press release stated.

“Affordable housing is essential infrastructure. This major federal investment will be vital to support public housing projects across California,” Padilla said in the statement. “Addressing our housing crisis requires collaboration across all levels of government to ensure every person has dignified and stable housing, and we will continue working to ensure California has the resources that it needs to tackle this crisis.”

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2016) Fairfield Mayor Harry Price at a Fairfield City Council meeting, nov. 15, 2016.

CALMATTERS COMMENTARY

2 major California economic sectors face headwinds

During World War II, California became the staging point for the Pacific Theater and an industrial powerhouse that manufactured ships, planes and other implements of warfare. Industrialization, which continued after the war, replaced resource industries such as agriculture and mining in economic importance and fueled California’s postwar population boom into the nation’s most populous state. However, California’s industrial age was relatively short-lived. By the 1970s, factories were beginning to close, sparking uncertainty about the state’s economic future.

Southern California economic and civic leaders opted for what came to be known as “logistics,” making the region the prime entry point for the goods that a resurgent Asian economy was producing for the American market.

The region committed billions of dollars into upgrading the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and improving transportation facilities to whisk goods from the ports into massive warehouse complexes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Logistics created millions of new blue collar jobs, particularly for immigrants pouring into the region from Latin America and Asia.

Meanwhile, the state’s other major metropolitan area – the counties surrounding San Francisco Bay – opted for exploiting the region’s cutting-edge research into the possibilities of silicon chips. As high technology corporations such as Apple, Intel and Facebook exploded, they transformed quiet suburban communities into what came to be known as Silicon Valley.

The Bay Area became California’s most important economic engine, drawing investment capital and ambitious techies from every corner of the globe and creating enormous wealth that, among other things, is the state’s most important source of tax revenue.

Overall, the decisions of the 1970s on postindustrial economy worked out better for the Bay Area than they did for Southern California – especially after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s nearly wiped out Southern California’s last remaining major industrial sector: aerospace.

That said, the economic mainstays of both regions now face existential threats.

Southern California’s logistics industry is being whipsawed by a decline in ship traffic due to tougher competition from East Coast ports, local transportation bottlenecks, new air quality mandates, such as eliminating diesel-powered trucks, that raise costs, and increasing opposition to inland warehouse expansion.

Last month, a coalition of 60 Inland Empire groups sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking for a moratorium on warehouse construction, citing environmental degradation from heavy truck traffic.

“We have a right to a life not impacted by asthma, heart disease, cognitive, and reproductive problems related to pollution exposure,” the letter states. “We have a right to not be made sick by the air we breathe.”

Four-hundred miles to the north, meanwhile, Silicon Valley is seeing thousands of jobs disappear as major technology firms slash their staffs and a major out-migration of workers who cannot afford to live in the region’s superheated real-estate market. More than 90,000 workers left the region during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and venture capital has declined sharply.

Last week, a local industry group, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, issued its annual report on the region’s economy, highlighting its transition from a yeasty mixture of start-up companies to reliance on a few giants such as Apple.

“Tech is going through a painful period,” Russell Hancock, president of the organization, said as the report was issued, but added, “There is no way to construe what is happening as a crisis” for the tech sector.

Perhaps not, but the fact remains that Southern California’s logistics industry and the Bay Area’s technology industry are facing headwinds they had not experienced previously, and the stakes in their futures are immense for the entire state.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

What about somewhere in the middle?

I have been reading this local paper for many years and only recently become one who has decided to add my 2 cents to some of the back and forth in the opinions or even new pieces contained within. I would guess partly because of my recent

COMMENTARY

venture into local politics, but also the concern for the lack of honesty or fact in the commentary of either side of any issue.

I am baffled to see how it is displayed daily in these two opinion pieces, this local paper, our MSM, cable news, social media and in our government. I would like to see a new opinion writer or weekly column focused on people like the majority of the local people here in Solano

County not far right, not far left, but somewhere in the middle. That might be a catchy little tagline: “Somewhere in the Middle!” Made by focusing on facts.

Let On the Left and The Right Side continue to twist the story to meet the narrative they seek, but the middle may just use the facts so people can decide for themselves.

Joseph Joyce Fairfield

US defense spending will have to go up; Ukraine war shows why

Last February, the world witnessed a massive Russian military convoy driving down the road toward Kyiv. One year later, that convoy of armor and steel is no more. The Russian military failed to seize Kyiv, and Ukrainians are valiantly fighting to preserve their freedom and sovereignty, inspiring the United States and its allies to rally to their side.

As the war enters its second year, and as Congress debates military funding, the United States must take care to heed the lessons that this war has – or should have – taught us.

First, it has shown that providing a country with military capabilities necessary to defend its territory will not necessarily lead to escalation or spillover. Quite the opposite. Western support for Ukraine has helped transform the battlefield. This support helped badly damage Russia’s military capabilities and force Russian President Vladimir Putin to pare back his military objectives (for now).

Second, while the war in Ukraine has revealed how technology is leveling the playing field between great powers and smaller countries, it has also shown the limits of those tools. Conventional forces still matter. Indeed, we are entering a new stage in the war, in which Ukraine will need tanks and other conventional offensive platforms to dislodge entrenched Russian forces and reclaim its sovereign territory.

This second lesson is crucial, and has implications beyond Ukraine’s borders. This lesson matters for the United States’ own defenses: investments in submarines, tanks, fighters, bombers, missiles and munitions cannot be sacrificed in favor of a future capabilities that do not yet exist. We need to sustain our conventional capabilities to prevail in today’s conflicts – and tomorrow’s.

That brings us to a more alarming third lesson: Industrial capacity might be the United States’ Achilles’ heel as it implements its national defense strategy. Just-in-time (JIT)

manufacturing, in which products are made to meet only existing, immediate demand, might make business sense for big-box stores and their suppliers. But the war in Ukraine makes clear that using JIT manufacturing is a recipe for disaster on the battlefield. Whether it is building more Virginia-class submarines, increasing munitions production or scaling up missile and rocket inventory, “just in time” would mean “just out of time.” Equipment must be ready well before the threat is imminent.

With those lessons in mind, it is clear that realizing the objectives of our National Defense Strategy requires a builder’s mind-set. Now is the time to build a force capable of winning both today and tomorrow. There is remarkable continuity across the National Security Strategies released by the Trump and Biden administrations. They both called for greater U.S. leadership in three primary regions of the world: the Indo-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. They sought to win the competition with China and Russia. They also sought to deter Iran, North Korea and terrorist groups. The primary test for any modern defense strategy is whether it can deter an aggressor state. Will China be deterred from seizing control of Taiwan in its pursuit of hegemony in the Indo-Pacific? It is far from clear. China’s aggressive and provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait, and most recently over U.S. airspace, combined with its robust military modernization program, suggest Beijing might be considering such a move sooner rather than later.

Successfully implementing a strategy that is up to this test requires today’s defense spending levels to increase. Those levels are currently at just over 3% of gross domestic product, and according to my analysis, they would need to rise to around 5% of GDP. That is because we have to play catch up. Of the six administrations that followed President Ronald Reagan, all have been seduced by the temptation of claiming the post-Cold War peace dividend.

While some have deployed forces abroad and funded those endeavors, none have committed to funding the military’s modernization.

The Biden administration has in the past parried concerns about being able to sustain support for Ukraine while steeling for a standoff in the Indo-Pacific by saying that we can “walk and chew gum at the same time.” To counter one cliche with another: “It’s time to put our money where our mouth is.” Increasing the defense budget is necessary not only to meet our existing commitments. It will also provide the capital necessary to upgrade and expand industrial capacity for unpredictable military contingencies.

As Congress debates how to manage spending amid debt ceiling negotiations, it should be mindful that cutting defense to 2022 spending levels – which amounts to about a 10% cut to the top line – would render the defense strategy envisioned by either Donald Trump or President Biden completely unachievable. We would fund our capability to lead in only one region, certainly not three. The lack of funds would reduce the U.S. military to nothing more than a regional power.

Instead, we should be focused on preserving American peace and prosperity by building and sustaining a U.S. military that maintains, what Reagan called, our “margin of safety” – the minimum force required to accomplish our strategic objectives.

It is hardly the most ambitious strategy: it does not seek military dominance everywhere at once, nor does it call for a force capable of winning two conflicts simultaneously. Rather, it is a strategy tailored to address the security needs of the dangerous world we are facing. That is the prudent approach after learning the difficult lessons of the past year. Roger Zakheim, a former House Armed Services Committee deputy staff director, is a director of the Reagan Institute and a commissioner on the National Defense Strategy Commission.

Dan Walters

RogeR Zakheim SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

Social Security presents interesting tax scenarios

Social Security has risen as a topic of controversy recently. The ability of the government to pay the promised benefits to retirees is a concern. It is also a sensitive topic because retirees value the benefits, feel they are more than a promise, indeed are a guarantee, and will not hesitate to vote about this important benefit.

Without venturing into the political controversy, this column address some interesting aspects of taxation related to the contributions and benefits received. All earned income (as opposed to investment income) is subject to Social Security tax. This applies whether you are an employee or self-employed. The tax levied comes as equal contributions from the employer and employee. For self-employed, they pay both sides, since they are on both sides of that arrangement.

For this year, the amount of income subject to the tax is $160,200. Employer and employee each contribute 6.2% of the paycheck to a maximum amount of $9,932.40 each. The tax for Medicare does not have an upper limit. All payroll is subject to the 1.45% Medicare tax. For those under the maximum income amount, the total tax is 7.65%

For the employer, their Social Security contribution is deductible as a business expense as all other payroll taxes are.

The employee is in a different position. The Social Security tax applies to all income, even to contributions made to pension plans like a 401(k).

The Social Security contribution amount is not a personal deduction. This means the employee’s contribution is taxed as part of their income. So, it is taken out of the paycheck, but then taxed again on that amount. As an example, a $50,000 income would create $3,825 to Social Security. The regular federal and California tax would result in an effective tax of another approximately $550. Combining these

amounts means the employee has seen an equivalent 11.8% taken from their paycheck. As a person’s income level increases, the effective percentage goes up.

Simply put, the government mandates a contribution and then also taxes you on that amount.

Let us examine the tax situation when the employee draws the Social Security benefit. As with many tax rules, this calculation can be complicated. To provide a simple example, consider a retiree who files taxes as a single person. Since the employee contribution was taxed but not the employer contribution, one could expect only half of the Social Security benefit to be taxed. Maybe, or maybe not.

For the single person with income plus less than half of their Social Security benefit totaling less than $25,000, none of their Social Security benefit would be taxed.

As the total exceeds the $25,000, part becomes taxed. Herein is the surprise. For each dollar of other income that pushes the person above the $25,000 threshold, one dollar of Social Security also becomes taxable. Thus actually two more dollars have become taxable, meaning the tax rate is effectively doubled until half of the Social Security benefit is in the taxable calculation.

Another threshold exists with the same basic calculation but for any amount above this threshold, $34,000 for the single person, up to 35% more of the Social Security benefit is dragged into the taxable amount. Again, this doubles the effective tax rate. In this situation, the combination of income above the thresholds, (50% and then another 35% for a total of 85%) means that up to 85% of the Social Security benefit may be taxed.

The good news is that at least 15% will not be taxed. The bad news is that the employee contribution was taxed when made and potentially a large part is taxed again. Compare this situation with a regular 401(k) where all contributions are deductible, not

See Tax, Page A8

Janric Classic Sudoku

Before investing in crypto, check out California’s new scam tracker

Los A ngeLes Times

After losing about two-thirds of their value in 2022, cryptocurrencies have regained a little of their market mojo since then — they’re now worth about half what they were last April, according to TradingView. So you may be tempted to respond to one of the countless crypto sales pitches that land in your inbox and your browser, hoping that it’s a real rally and not a dead-cat bounce.

Before you put your money at risk, however, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has a new website worth visiting.

Launched Thursday, the DFPI’s Crypto Scam Tracker is a searchable collection of the complaints the agency has collected about crypto offers that now seem too good to be true. The complaints have been reviewed by the agency but not verified, so it’s a bit like a database of confirmed angry Yelp reviews. Nevertheless, it’s valuable in at least three ways.

First, you can search for complaints about the company or website you’re thinking of doing business with. Have other people gotten the same pitch, and if so, how has that worked out for them? Scam sites tend to appear and disappear quickly, though, so the absence of complaints is not by itself proof of legitimacy.

Second, you can search for keywords that appear in the pitch you’re considering, such as “forex” if the offer involves foreign currency trades or “deposit” if the business wants you to deposit a certain amount. Look for similarities between what you’ve been offered and what other consumers

have complained about.

Third, the site includes a glossary that describes an array of scams that fraudsters are perpetrating in the crypto market. At the very least, be sure to read the entry on “Pig Butchering Scams.” You most certainly do not want to fall for one of those.

“We have heard from consumers that scam alerts help them avoid similar scams,” said Elizabeth Smith, a spokesperson for the DFPI. “Our hope is that this tool will be a resource for Californians to use before they are targeted or make financial decisions and help Californians from falling prey to prevent future scams. We also want to encourage people to report scams – it helps us keep all Californians safe.”

Where the site may be most helpful is in the patterns it reveals in the behavior of crypto ripoff artists. A frequent theme in the complaints is scammy behavior by

sites with names that echo a wellknown crypto brand, with just a few letters changed.

According to the DFPI, such “imposter” websites are one of the most commonly reported scams. “The companies or websites listed may sound similar to the names of other companies or websites that also operate in the marketplace,” the agency said. “When companies or websites (fake or not) have lookor sound-alike names, the potential confusion created for consumers is real.”

Here’s one example of a complaint from the Scam Tracker, citing the site coinbasetv.com – a play on Coinbase, a top crypto exchange. Bear in mind that the agency hasn’t verified the complaint:

“The victim met ‘Chris Martin’ on the Facebook Dating app. They exchanged text messages and then moved the conversation to

Difficulty level: SILVER

Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest).

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images/TNS

A visual representation of the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

Crime logs

FairField

FALLS WAY 10:57 a.m. — Grand theft, 500 block of ALASKA AVENUE 11:16 a.m. — Forgery, 200 block of EAST ALASKA AVENUE 11:54 a.m. — Fight with a weapon, 2000 block of FALCON DRIVE

1:37 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 3200 block of MUSTANG CIRCLE

1:51 p.m. — Brandishing a weapon, 3400 block

noted field order to allot land to certain freed slaves, that even included the Army providing some of the mules – was quickly plowed under by Pres ident Andrew Johnson, President Abraham Lin coln’s successor.

Richardson is talking about reparations, specifically, but the public ownership of the past. And now there is a movement to brush it aside, when too much of that history has already been forgotten.

driver, GATEWAY BOULEVARD

7:11 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND AIR BASE PARKWAY

7:49 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND INTERSTATE 80 8:11 p.m. — Reckless driver, EAST TABOR AVENUE 8:59 p.m. — Reckless driver, SAN LUIS STREET

9:04 p.m. — Fight with a weapon, 1700 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

10:24 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND

SuiSun City

1100 block of SANDERLING DRIVE

8:50 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1200 block of GULF DRIVE

8:56 a.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND INTERSTATE 80

9:05 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 1100 block of DANA DRIVE

9:20 a.m. — Reckless driver, CLAY BANK ROAD

9:26 a.m. — Trespassing, 3900 block of CLAY BANK ROAD

10:02 a.m. — Trespassing, 2100 block of SANTA ANA DRIVE

10:43 a.m. — Residential burglary, 1800 block of BEACON

LANE

Richardson notes in her own family’s history, on her mother’s side, they were slaves who had been set free in Scotland. While the American South saw slavery as a way of life, Great Britain and Europe had already acknowledged it was wrong.

When Richardson’s family came to America, they were enslaved again.

She also acknowledges that her great-great-great grandfather was a slave owner, who fathered a number of Richardson’s ancestors. And while they could not come and go as they may have pleased, they were not treated poorly. “And when I tell that story to other Black people, they look at me like, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ ”

From Page One

Medals of Honor for their parts at Honey Hill, which was the third battle in Gen. William T. Sher man’s “March to the Sea.”

In 2001, Cpl. Andrew J. Smith – a Black soldier –was awarded the medal posthumously for his actions at Honey Hill as part of the 54th Mas sachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Smith was born into slavery. His biological father was the planta tion owner, Elijah Smith, who later joined the Con federate military with intentions of taking the then 19-year-old Andrew Smith with him. Instead, Smith and another slave ran away, and came upon a Union regiment.

Smith was shot in the head in the Battle of Shiloh, but survived and continued to serve, including the early fighting at Bennett had originally served in the First Iowa Volunteers and was wounded at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek on Aug. 10, 1861, then re-enlisted in the Army, serving in a number of units until qualifying for his commission and becoming part of Company A, 102d Colored Infantry.

for 76 years.

Over the weekend, several of Carter’s family members traveled to Plains to visit with the former president.

March 2019, when he surpassed former President George H.W. Bush, who died the previous November. He served as the 39th U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, and he and his wife have been married

“I saw both of my grandparents yesterday,” said Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson.

“They are at peace and –as always – their home is full of love. Thank you all for your kind words.”

But that’s why it is important that the past is taught, bruises and all and the different shades, but also to include the full lesson of Black Americans who have fought for and contributed to this nation in great ways.

Charles Lee Jr., chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, grew up in Georgia, and until he moved to San Francisco at age 11, he had never been allowed in a white home. But his father would never let that or history be a crutch.

“We were brought up to be ‘better than.’ My dad

brought me up to be ‘better than . . . because you were Black,’ ” Lee said. Richardson plants the hope of change in the business world.

And that celebration will be front and center at a Black History Month event slated for Saturday at the Bethel Community Church in Fairfield. It will run from 2 to 6 p.m. The church is located at 600 E. Tabor Ave.

There will be artists, music, poetry, food and representation from the Tuskegee Airmen.

“But the focus really is on the businesses,”

said Richardson, noting 40 businesses will be featured at the event.

“I want to see Black businesses to be a force, but not because it’s Black. That’s where I make a left turn,” she said.

“When you are a business owner, you should be able to get your products to everyone, and that’s what we teach here (at the chamber).”

Moreover, she wants the “everyone” to know Black business is, like its history, American business.

While Bennett was white, there were nearly 80 Black commissioned officers in the Union Army. In all, 179,000 Black men – about 10% of the Union forces – served as soldiers and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 died in the war from wounds, infections and disease.

Orson Sanchez is still a bit young to understand all the history, but on Saturday he will get the chance to play the part, uniform and all, at an event to be held at the Rowland Freedom Center at the Nut Tree Airport.

The program is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. The center is located at 300 County Airport Road, Suite C4.

“We told him he was named after a grandfather and he said, ‘That’s cool, Mommy,’ ” said Zoe Sanchez, who along with her son and husband, Sergio Sanchez, live in Fairfield.

The family line back to Bennett, she said, follows her mother’s heritage.

The museum event, while recognizing the Civil War, also served to honor

Black History Month. The 102d Colored Infantry was first organized as the 1st Michigan Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment on Feb. 17, 1863, at Camp Ward, located on a farm outside Detroit.

“Eight-hundred-fortyfive men from Detroit, southern Michigan, Upper Canada (now Ontario), volunteered for the regiment. Some of these early volunteers were escaped slaves from the Underground Railroad; 72 had been living in Canada where their status as free men was assured,” one written account states.

Many of the soldiers were fighting to free their families still held in slavery.

The history of men of African-decent fighting for America, however, goes back well beyond the Civil War, with more than 300 Black men fighting in the Revolutionary War, some who were slaves fighting next to the plantation owners.

The U.S. has bestowed 93 medals of honor to Black soldiers, the first being Sgt. William Carney, a flag-bearer in Company C of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry who took part in the assault on Fort Wagner, a Confederate stronghold in South Carolina, on July 18, 1863. He received the medal in 1900.

Born into slavery in 1840 in Norfolk, Virginia, the family moved to Massachusetts when they were granted their freedom. He joined the Union Army in 1863. During the battle at Fort Wagner, the soldier

who was carrying the flag was mortally wounded. According to written accounts, Carney caught the flag before it hit the ground, and despite being shot several times, carried the flag up the hill to the fort.

Other troopers followed him up the hill.

Robert A. Sweeney is among 19 recipients – and the only Black honoree –to be awarded two of the medals. Both were for saving other seamen who had fallen off their Navy ships but could not swim.

The Bennett medal was discovered in a safe in Zoe Sanchez’s mother’s home in Martinez. It had been put there for safekeeping for her grandmother, and mostly forgotten.

“My great-grandmother had it, and when she died, my mother kept it for my grandmother,” Sanchez said.

“My first reaction was shock. I didn’t know I was related to anyone from history and I thought it was pretty cool,” Sanchez said.

However, her husband – having come from a military family, and arriving in Fairfield when his father was stationed at Travis Air Force Base – knew exactly what it was and began doing some research.

Shortly after the discovery of the medal, Zoe Sanchez was delivering balloons to the Rowland center where a birthday party was taking place.

“So when I delivered the balloons, they gave me a tour and said they were thinking about a Civil War (display), but didn’t have any artifacts, and I told

them I had the Medal of Honor,” Sanchez said.

The family also had documents from Bennett, promotion papers and other service matters –some signed by President Andrew Johnson – but Paul Mirich, general manager of the museum, does not think any of the paperwork is related to the medal. However, there were the original ribbons used to pin the medal as was the practice in the day.

Mirich also told a story about how Bennett had lost the medal, possibly right after receiving it, because he was in Washington, D.C. It was recovered after he placed an ad in the area newspaper.

“The medal is in pretty good shape, especially considering how old it is, but the documents they have were in pretty bad shape and were deteriorating,” Mirich said.

So the museum took the paperwork to Miranda Nigbor, the archivist at Jelly Belly, who preserved the documents.

Sanchez said, for now, the medal and other artifacts will stay on loan with the museum.

“We may decide to take it out and put it someplace else, but that’s up to my mother because technically it is hers,” Sanchez said, noting that one option would be the National Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C.

“We just want it where the public can see it.”

move forward to hire a new principal. Staff also recommend implement-

ing a recruitment program to increase student enrollment and work with what were described in the staff report as “educational partners” to strengthen learning opportunities for students.

“The staff is asking for direction from the board tonight,” McCabe said.

Trustee Ana Petero said she supports keeping the school open.

“We should invest in Matt Garcia,” she said.

“Not any Measure J funds were used at the school. We need to make sure it is funded to their needs.”

Petero suggested Measure S funds should be looked at to boost the Matt Garcia campus and its programs.

Other trustees offered similar comments.

“We should keep it open and get a good principal who will give strong support to the school,” Trustee Judi Honeychurch said.

Trustee Jack Flynn said he thought it would be a mistake to close the school because it would mean the community would lose trust in the board.

“It needs more investment, not less,” Flynn said.

Every board member supported keeping the school open. The trustees supported the recommen-

dation of the staff report and and directed staff to move forward and identify the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy as a “school of choice.” Staff will work to hire a principal and to create a recruitment program to increase student enrollment, and will work with others to strengthen the available learning opportunities there.

Courtemanche thanked the community Friday in a social media post.

“I’m so extremely proud of the students, staff

and parents of the Matt Garcia Career and College Academy. You are the reason this school is still here,” she wrote. “Matt is beaming with pride. That you for all that you do for each other and for our community. Let’s continue to be the lights in this worls. Your example of what community should look like will be in the forfront of my mind and heart forever.”

The full report may be read online at https:// go.boarddocs.com/ca/ fsusd/Board.nsf/Public.

overwintering. Monarchs breed during the summer in the Midwest and eastern North America and travel south to Mexico and along the western coast of the U.S. during the fall.

These butterflies overwinter in eucalyptus and redwood trees in Solano County near St. Peter’s Chapel and off Highway 29 and the I-80. They rely on native plants to lay eggs; when the plants flower, they become food. Using native plants also goes beyond butterflies and establishes a diverse ecosystem of organisms, including hummingbirds, bees and hoverflies.

“The monarchs are the supermodel pollinators, but . . . this is going to support a ton of pollinators, not just

the monarchs,” Newell said. The monarch butterfly’s numbers have declined in annual counts over the years — a result of over wintering habitat loss from practices such as illegal logging in Mexico and municipal and commercial development in California.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, monarchs are poised to be named under the federal Endangered Species Act next year. Less than 2,000 were counted in a fall 2020 Xerces Society Western Monarch Count.

But this past fall, scientists involved in the count identified more than 330,000 butterflies – a 90% decline compared to the low millions of butterflies seen in the ‘80s.

“I’m hopeful because through education, there are a lot more people who are trying to help increase the population.” Aquino said.

Matt Garcia is congratulated by his grandmother, left, and other supporters after wining a seat on the Fairfield City Council, Nov. 7, 2007.

Rush

From Page A3

Rush Ranch gives guests the opportunity to get a closer look at the habitat of the marsh and its inhabitants through docent-guided interpretive hikes, blacksmithing demonstrations, astronomer-led stargazing events or the personal interpretation gained while enjoying a self-guided hike on one or more of three trails.

Andrea Corning came with her husband Paul Corning and friends Cody Clagg and James Clagg for a fun family day.

“My husband was asked to be the blacksmith today,” Andrea Corning said.

The family was checking out the antique tractors.

“I remember coming out here when my daughter was little. I remember it was a lot of fun and it was a cool place,” Andrea Corning said.

Representatives of Crescent Moon Center have in recent months been coming to the Get the Rush events. They offer a type of therapy for emotional healing that uses horses and art to facilitate change for those recovering from addiction.

They brought out paint and canvas Saturday for children to do free-form art.

Victoria Tugwell, Crescent Moon Center community engagement, program coordinator and facilitator, credits art with helping her to recover from addiction.

“I have been recovering for the last four years,” she said. “Art has saved my life.”

The connection between the animals has helped Tugwell work through her issues with addiction and mental illness.

“This is like a therapeutic stepping stone

after you have done treatment,” she said. Along with the blacksmith, visitors could hike, tour the barns and enjoy the great outdoors during the open house.

Rush Ranch always has something planned for visitors. A Communing with Cattle workshop is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 18. Advance reservations are required and may be made online at solanolandtrust.org/

events. Search for the event and follow the directions that are provided.

Afterward, author Rue Mapp, writer of “Nature Swagger” and founder of Outdoor Afro, will sign books at 2 p.m. and take part in a question-andanswer session. This event is limited to 100 participants and also requires advance registration through the land trust’s website.

Your money or your life

PATIENT ON $50,000-A-WEEK CANCER DRUG FEARS LEAVING BEHIND HUGE MEDICAL DEBT

Fred Schulte KAISER HEALTH NEWS

After several rounds of treatment for a rare eye cancer –weekly drug infusions that could cost nearly $50,000 each – Paul Davis learned Medicare had abruptly stopped paying the bills.

That left Davis, a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, contemplat ing a horrific choice: risk saddling his family with huge medical debt, if he had to pay those bills from the hospital out-of-pocket, or halt treatments that help keep him alive.

“Is it worth bankrupt ing my family for me to hang around for a couple of years?” Davis pondered. “I don’t want to make that choice.”

How much Davis will end up owing for his care remains unclear. One of the hospitals that has administered the costly drug is appealing Medicare’s initial payment denials. And the family might not even know their total balance until Medicare rejects all the appeals.

But the uncertainty has compounded the stress of living with an aggressive cancer.

Davis, 71, was diagnosed in November 2019 with uveal melanoma, which afflicts eye tissue and is “one of the rarest tumors on the planet,” he said.

The cancer spread from his eye to his liver, which typically proves fatal within a year. He was told a new rare-disease drug

called Kimmtrak offered the only hope for prolonging his life.

Approved by the FDA in January 2022 as the “first and only” treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma, Kimmtrak has kept his tumors stable, according to Davis. His oncologist told him he should stay on the drug “until it stops working.” Its manufacturer markets the drug’s power to deliver “6-month improvement in median overall survival.”

Davis said he started taking the medicine last summer at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital in Columbus.

The hospital billed a total of $49,367.70 for his intravenous chemotherapy administered on Sept. 13, 2022. The charge for the drug came to $47,838; the rest covered fees for lab

work and administering the drug. Medicare paid the provider $11,668.86 for those services, according to Medicare records explaining his benefits.

His subsequent treatments at the Columbus hospital were covered, too, according to Medicare billing statements Davis reviewed.

But things changed after he transferred his care to a hospital in Findlay in October to spare his wife, Jane, from driving him 100 miles each way to weekly appointments in Columbus.

Medicare has denied Kimmtrak coverage on claims submitted by Blanchard Valley Health System in Findlay, Davis said, pitching him into an agonizing dispute with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical

bills at stake.

After a KHN reporter contacted Blanchard Valley, the hospital connected Davis with a patient relations liaison, who is working to resolve the billing problem. Davis said last week that Medicare apparently rejected the claims because the Findlay hospital mistakenly billed for using Kimmtrak to treat a different cancer, for which its use is not approved.

Davis said the patient relations liaison told him it might take at least 45 days to straighten out the bill, but the hospital would not dun him, even if it lost the appeal.

Meanwhile, the charges for Kimmtrak “are in limbo,” Davis said.

Amy Leach, the hospital’s director of public relations, said she could

not comment on Davis’ case, but in an email wrote: “Blanchard Valley Health System is committed to ensuring that accurate billing occurs and we work with our patients to promptly resolve any concerns.”

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy and drug pricing expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Davis is right to worry.

“I hope the hospital will fix this for him and that they are communicating with him about it,” she said.

Sebastien Desprez, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire, England-based Immunocore, which manufactures Kimmtrak, said its list price was $19,229 per weekly dose. He said the drug’s approval by the FDA shows “there is value for patients.”

Cancer drug prices

“are outrageous,” said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who chairs the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. Kantarjian said the prices manufacturers charge for cancer drugs have soared from less than $10,000 annually in the late 1990s to more than $200,000 annually today.

And that’s not even the full cost. Dusetzina said hospitals often hugely inflate the price of drugs in the bills they issue “so that if someone doesn’t pay, [the hospital] can write it off.”

Merith Basey, executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group, said no

ordinary person can handle the price of these drugs.

“It’s simple: Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them . . . no one should be poor because they are sick or be sick because they are poor,” she said. This is not Davis’ first time staring down a supersized medical bill.

Davis and his daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, were the subject of the 2018 debut article in the KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” series over her $17,850 bill for a urine test.

Davis wound up paying a Texas lab $5,000 to settle that bill, which private insurers said should have cost a hundred dollars or less. Davis spoke at a May 2019 White House event to support legislation to crack down on “surprise” medical bills.

But at least he knew where he stood with the urine testing bill. Now he’s facing escalating costs of his cancer care without knowing how it will affect his family’s finances.

“How do you make an informed choice if you have no information?”

Davis asked.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces indepth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Maddie McGarvey/KHN/TNS

Paul Davis says he started taking the cancer drug Kimmtrak in summer 2022 in Columbus, Ohio, but transferred his care to a hospital in Findlay in October to spare his wife, Jane, from driving him 100 miles each way to the weekly appointments.

This week

THINGS TO DO

I Fairfield

8 p.m. Friday James Garner’s Tribute to Johnny Cash Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas St. www.downtowntheatre.com.

I Suisun City

Noon Sunday Mario B Say it Loud Fashion Show Marina Lounge, 700 Main St., Suite 106. www.marinaloungesuisun.com.

7 p.m. Wednesday Cultural Exchange Wednesdayz Marina Lounge, 700 Main St., Suite 106. www.marinaloungesuisun.com.

7 p.m. Thursday Karaoke Marina Lounge, 700 Main St.,

Be sure to visit for future events

World renowned violinist to play at Vaca museum

Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The Vacaville Museum is hosting renowned violinist –and global instructor – Alina Solodovnikova-Alina for a March 10 concert. The concert is set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. The cost is $35. Born in Ukraine,

Solodovnikova-Alina has lived in Vacaville for more than 20 years. She has performed around the world, and during the pandemic, she offered online courses that were attended by students from a number of countries. In 2021, she launched Empiriani, a violin project, through which she performs

as a solo artist as well as with other musicians. Her music studio in Vacaville is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. She also teaches piano. There are a limited number of tickets still available. Call the museum for more information, 707-447-4513.

Here comes spring TV, even if you’re not caught up on fall TV

tR aviS M. a nDRewS THE WASHINGTON POST

William Shakespeare once wrote, “Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”

He just needed a TV. Though in fairness to the bard, we might have finally reached that point of excess.

9 p.m. Friday

Dueling Pianos: Jason Marion & Lindsay Everly Makse Restaurant, 555 Main St. duelingpianovacaville.com/events.

2 and 7 p.m. Saturday Bliss Dance Company’s 19th Annual Showcase

‘Fuel for the Fire’ Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre, 1010 Ulatis Drive. https://vpat.net.

9 p.m. Saturday

Dueling Pianos: Jason Marion & Lindsay Everly Makse Restaurant, 555 Main St. duelingpianovacaville.com/events.

I Benicia

2:30 p.m. Sunday

Unplugged The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

6 p.m. Sunday Poker Night The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

7 p.m. Tuesday Open Mic Night

The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

7 p.m. Wednesday Karaoke The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

5:30 p.m. Thursday

Sweet Tooth Duo The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

9 p.m. Thursday

DJ Jerry Ross The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

4:30 p.m. Friday Ticket to the Limit

The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

9 p.m. Friday Goth Night

The Rellik, 726 First St. www. therelliktavern.com.

4:30 p.m. Saturday Larc and LeBlanc

The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

8:30 p.m. Saturday PTK Pete the Killer The Rellik, 726 First St.  www.therelliktavern.com.

I Vallejo

5:30 p.m. Wednesday

Charlie Owen and Friends Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St. www.empresstheatre.org.

1 p.m. Saturday

The Diablo Rhythm Wranglers

Vino Godfather Winery, 1005 Walnut Ave. www.vinogodfather.com.

8 p.m. Saturday Vallejo Symphony: ‘Fairy Tales’ Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St. www.empresstheatre.org.

After all, Apple TV Plus released two seasons of the excellent “Slow Horses” last year. And though everyone is still trying to catch up on 2022’s best shows – we’re not even 12 months removed from “The Bear” and “The White Lotus”! – 2023 is already off to a prodigious start.

The first episode of HBO’s zombie video-game-turnedseries “The Last of Us” was the network’s second-biggest premiere of the past 13 years, eventually reaching more than 10 million viewers – only hinting at the deluge of shows to come. Meanwhile, Rian Johnson of “Knives Out” fame is attempting to revive television of a bygone (see: pre-streaming) era with his Natasha Lyonne-starring case-of-the-week dramedy Poker Face” on Peacock.

To ease that nasty paradox of choice a little, we’ve compiled a list of spring premieres worth adding to the never-ending queue. A bit of nostalgia, a touch of satire and a dollop of action. Now, even ol’ Bill couldn’t say that’s too much of a good thing, right?

1. ‘Party Down’ (Season 3)

Feb. 24, Starz

When “Party Down” debuted in 2009, it felt a bit like a secret, a sneak preview. Here was Adam Scott, just before he broke out

with “Parks and Rec,” and Jane Lynch, as she began her ascent on “Glee.” The jokes were wry and nihilistic, disguising a heartfelt earnestness at the story’s core. And all this from a group of disillusioned, pill-popping, shot-taking caterers stuck serving the likes of Steve Guttenberg. (No offense to Steve, of course). Then, after two fartoo-brief seasons, it was gone quicker than a tray of passed hors d’oeuvres. The online campaigns to get another season seemed as doomed as the characters’ big-screen dreams, but every once in a while, miracles do happen – even in Hollywood.

2. ‘The Mandalorian’ (Season 3) March 1, Disney Plus

Baby Yoda may turn 4 this

November (at least, in human years), but fans have only gotten to watch the little green bundle of joy for two seasons. The hotly anticipated third season of Jon Favreau’s bounty hunter saga arrives after a more than twoyear wait, during which Tony Gilroy elevated the live-action Star Wars TV genre with his critically beloved “Andor.” Whether “The Mandalorian” will be able to escape its newly cast shadow rests on the shoulders of star Pedro Pascal. May the Force be with him. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist!)

3. ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’

March 3, Prime Video Christopher Guest, Rob Reiner and Co. perfected the satirical faux rock doc back in 1984 with the seminal, side-

Vaca’s Starbound Theatre offers youth choir program

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — Does your elementary-school-age child love to sing?

Starbound Theatre has started a new program, Show Kids Chorus, “focused on helping young children grow musically.”

The program is for children 6-12 with all levels of interest in music. Classes take place from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, three times a month, at Starbound’s studio space located at 318 Main St. in downtown Vacaville.

The program runs through June 3. Monthly class fees are $65 beginning in March. The chorus will perform at Starbound showcases and at community events this summer.

“Kids Chorus participants will learn the basics of singing including posture, breathing, performance skills and audition technique. They’ll also be introduced to the basics of music theory, rhythmic concepts and ear training. Singing

together helps kids to build confidence, is a natural mood booster and promotes teamwork and a sense of belonging,” theater officials said in a statement. Brooke Fox is the choir director. She grew up performing in a similar Vacaville program called Kids Are Music. She went on to participate in choir and theater at Vacaville High, was selected for California’s All State Honor Choir several years and studied voice and songwriting at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she performed with Viridian Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Fox then spent years in New York City writing and arranging vocals for off-broadway musicals and cabaret performances. She is currently leading children’s vocal ensembles for Starbound’s Beyond The Bell after-school arts enrichment program.

For more information or to sign up, send an email to starboundoffice@yahoo. com or call 707-416-8990.

splitting “This Is Spinal Tap.” But what if they had played it straight? That’s a question the Reese Witherspoon-produced “Daisy Jones & the Six,” based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel stylized as an oral history, will answer. The dramatic series, starring Riley Keough as the titular Daisy and shot documentary style, traces the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock band (clearly inspired by Fleetwood Mac). Will it go to 11? We sure hope so.

4. ‘Perry Mason’ (Season 2)

March 6, HBO

Some greeted the news that the world was getting another helping of America’s

Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in Benicia

Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

BENICIA — The St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl brings Irish cheer to downtown Benicia on March 11.

“A variety of craft beers will be poured at participating downtown shops, providing a fun-filled opportunity for Irish-themed revelry,” organizers said in a statement.

The event runs from 1 to 5 p.m.

Participants must be 21 or older. Check-in starts at 12:30 p.m. at Benicia Main Street, 90 First St. A map of tasting locations and identification wristband will be provided.

Tickets are $30 advance and $40 on event day. They may be purchased at Benicia Main Street or online at www. beniciamainstreet.org.

For more information, call 707745-9791 or send an email to info@ beniciamainstreet.org.

Lucasfilm

Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin and Baby Yoda in Lucasfilm’s “The Mandalorian,” on Disney Plus.

Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file (2022) Violinist Alina Adams, photographed Feb. 24, 2022.

See Spring, Page B3

Village Rhythms to perform at library

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Cordelia Library on Feb. 25 will host an interactive event with African drumming, dancing, songs and stories. Master percussionist Onye Onyemaechi uses captivating music, native dress of West Africa and instruments presented in a historical and cultural context. This free event, starting at 2 p.m., is perfect for all ages and a joyous way to celebrate Black History Month.

The library is located at 5050 Business Center Drive. Visit www.solano library.com or call 1-866572-7587 to learn more about library events.

Stella Stevens dies at 84

LOS ANGELES — Stella Stevens, the 1960s Hollywood starlet known for starring in “The Nutty Professor” with Jerry Lewis and opposite Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” has died. She was 84.

The “The Poseidon Adventure” actor died Friday in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Stevens’ son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, confirmed his mother’s death and told the L.A. Times that Stevens had been in hospice “for quite some time with stage seven Alzheimer’s.”

Andrew Stevens was her only child. She is also survived by three grandchildren, Amelia and Aubrey Stevens, both age 20 and Samuel Stevens, 25.

Newton-John’s shares her last words

Olivia Newton-John had some sweet words shortly before her death, her daughter Chloe Lattanzi shared Friday on “Today.”

“The last words she could say to me was, ‘My sunshine,” Lattanzi said, sitting down to talk to Hoda Kotb with Newton-John’s widower, John Easterling, six months after the “Have You Never Been Mellow” singer’s death at age 73. “And right before she lost her ability to speak, she was making jokes.”

Newton-John, who famously starred as Sandy in the 1978 movie “Grease,” died last August after battling breast cancer off and on for 30 years.

On Friday, a new recording dropped of the Aussie singer performing “Jolene” in a duet with longtime pal Dolly Parton several months before her death.

“I’m excited,” NewtonJohn says in the YouTube incarnation of the song. “I’ve always wanted to sing with Dolly.”

Producer tweets senior love show coming

Will you accept this rose – plus a wallet-sized photo of my grandchildren and some Werther’s caramels?

“The Bachelor” producer Mike Fleiss announced on Twitter Thursday that “The Golden Bachelor” – a version of the long-running dating reality show but with senior participants – is imminent. Viewers say they’re ready to support, but they’ll believe it when they see it.

For years, the show has teased the idea of a “Bachelor” mansion full of olds looking for love, announcing senior casting calls during commercial breaks with enthusiasm.

It’s unclear when the new show is expected to air, but hopefully, it’s soon. As these participants can probably attest, we’re not getting any younger.

From

greatest TV defense attorney with rolled eyes. What’s left to say about Perry Mason, they wondered? And framing it as an origin story? Don’t we have enough of those? The 2020 premiere, featuring Matthew Rhys as the hard-boiled, hard-charging, hard-drinking Mason, locked those eyeballs back in place. The big difference this go-round? The man has a personality outside the courtroom, which the second season will undoubtedly continue mining for lessons about the tenacity of moral courage.

5. ‘Yellowjackets’ (Season 2)

March 24, Showtime

Grab your forks (erm, hands?), because everybody’s favorite cannibalism show is back!

(Our apologies to “Bones and All,” “House of Hammer,” “Fresh” and “Dahmer – Monster.” Wow, 2022 really was the year of the cannibal, wasn’t it?) To be fair, this gripping thriller about a female high school soccer team surviving in the wildness after a plane crash – and trying to come to grips with everything that happened some years later – is more interested in the interpersonal relationships among the survivors and the way unresolved trauma always lurks just beneath the surface. Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress and Christina Ricci return – as, we hope, will a killer soundtrack of ’90s shoegaze, punk and riot grrrl tunes.

6. ‘Succession’ (Season 4)

March 26, HBO

Not since “Game of Thrones” has watching a clan tear itself apart been so delightful. The long-awaited Season 3 of the viciously funny and funnily vicious satire found the Roy family torn ever more asunder while Waystar Royco, the business some of them supposedly help run when they’re not busy plotting one another’s downfalls, is feeling more and more like a corporate dodo. All to say, anything is possible in Season 4. Will this really be Cousin Greg’s year?

7. ‘Mrs. Davis’

April 20, Peacock

Damon Lindelof, the mind behind “Lost,” “The Leftovers” and HBO’s tremendous take on “Watchmen,” is back, baby! He and Tara Hernandez, best known for writing on “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon,” teamed up to write a thriller about a nun

(Betty Gilpin) dedicated to taking down a powerful A.I. known as Mrs. Davis. (With a plot like that, it’s a good thing it’s coming out on 4/20.). If “Poker Face” and “Mrs. Davis” are as good as early buzz suggests, Peacock might finally spread its plumage and emerge as a real player in the never-ending Streaming Wars.

8. ‘White House Plumbers’

Spring TBD, HBO

Some people like to think the folks wandering the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., resemble the characters in “House of Cards.” Anyone familiar with the story of E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, however, knows they’re more like the ones in “Veep.” This limited series about how the pair of intelligence agents planned the Watergate burglaries, accidentally helping to dismantle Richard Nixon’s presidency while trying their damndest to protect it, will certainly drive that point home. We planned on watching for that reason alone, so the fact that our bumbling duo are portrayed by Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux is just a little pork barreling to

sweeten the deal.

9. ‘Secret Invasion’ Spring TBD, Disney Plus

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s foray into television has been as mixed a bag as the Avengers themselves. (Not to digress,

but an expert archer somehow fights alongside a god?!) Aside from the Owen Wilson/Tom Hiddleston-starring “Loki,” the shows have generally made a pretty good argument that the MCU should stick to the “C.” Though “Secret Invasion,” about shapeshifting aliens who have invaded Earth, might be a TV series, it has all the trappings of a silver screen production, down to its stars Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. Which is a plus because, though we never thought we’d say it, the MCU has lacked a certain spark ever since Thanos . . . well . . . you know.

10. ‘Justified: City Primeval’

Early summer, FX

Supposedly no one

leaves Harlan alive, but it seems like Raylan Givens will. Eight years after “Justified” finished its six-season run, the show’s returning for a limited series that finds Elmore Leonard’s beloved U.S. marshal – one Timothy Olyphant was born to portray – in Detroit. Curiously, the story is based on “City Primeval,” a Leonard novel that doesn’t include Givens. So it’s unclear if he’ll be facing off with anyone he once dug coal with, but Motor City will certainly represent an interesting change of pace after so many years in the Kentucky hollers. Put on your Stetson, brush off your boots and pour yourself a finger of Pappy in preparation. Actually, for a show like this, a double is probably . . . justified.

Kailey Schwerman/Showtime

Christina Ricci as Misty and Elijah Wood as Walter in Season 2 of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.”

Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy and Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt in the HBO series “White House Plumbers.”

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

SAN DIEGO — The brightly colored building that once was home to God’s Extended Hand in downtown San Diego is shuttered and slated for demolition, but plans are moving forward to create a new and expanded version of the mission on the site.

The new building may have up to 90 affordable housing units built by Father Joe’s Villages while the ground floor will have a kitchen and dining room to feed residents and people on the street, continuing God’s Extended Hand’s mission of helping those in need.

All of that won’t happen for about three years, however. In the meantime, a handful of people from three churches are carrying on the nonprofit’s tradition each Wednesday night by preparing meals they distribute downtown.

“Food!” a volunteer with God’s Extended Hand called out on a recent Wednesday evening on a downtown street corner. “Dinner! Anyone want food?”

People began to emerge from inside tents along K and 17th streets, eager and thankful as they were handed a cardboard

container filled with warm chicken and pasta that had been assembled earlier that night by about 15 people at St. Anthony Antiochian Orthodox Church in Linda Vista.

Patricia Diaz, a volunteer with St. Anthony, said the need on the street has been growing.

God’s Extended Hand used to seat 110 people and served two meals a day except Sundays and Wednesdays, when breakfast was skipped. Diaz said her church now prepares 200 meals for each outing.

“These people are doing good, coming out here,” said Reuben Degato, who has been staying on 17th Street. “I’m grateful they do this. It’s a blessing.”

Meals and sodas are loaded into a few SUVs and driven downtown each Wednesday night. The first stop is in front of the old God’s Extended Hand building on the corner of 16th Street and Island Avenue.

“The food is great,” said Justyn Taylor, who was waiting for the volunteers in front of the building. “I’ve been coming now for a couple of months.” Word about the food distribution is spreading, and Taylor said he heard about it from another

homeless man. He had been staying in an encampment near the San Diego River in Mission Valley, but was washed out during the recent rains.

“We didn’t think it was going to flood, and we had to abandon ship,” he said.

The San Diego Medical Examiner’s office did not report starvation as the cause of death of any homeless person in the county over the past year, but people living on the street do go hungry. Several people on Wednesday said they would not have eaten that night if it weren’t for what they were given by the volunteers.

“Father Joe’s, they only give feedings at noon,” said a man who gave his name only as Carlos. “There is no breakfast or dinner.”

Carlos said he has a card to receive midday meals from the kitchen at Father Joe’s Villages, but he would have gone hungry at night if the volunteers from God’s Extended Hand had not stopped by.

Other men around his encampment said they see many people come by on weekends to give food, socks and other items to people on the street, but week-

days can be slim.

“It’s amazing how people have such good hearts and do this,” said Rick Gomez. “Most people are afraid to come out here.”

St. Anthony prepares and delivers foods the first, third and fifth Wednesday of each month, and is one of three Orthodox churches volunteering for God’s Extended Hand. Food is prepared at St. Spyridone Greek Orthodox Church on the second Wednesday and at St. Demiana

Coptic Orthodox Church on the fourth Wednesday.

God’s Extended Hand had provided meals and sermons seven days a week from the yellow building it occupied on the corner of 16th Street and Island Avenue since 1983, and the mission itself dates back to 1924, when it was founded as the Full Gospel Rescue Mission to help struggling World War I veterans.

“The People of The United Methodist Church™”

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Hanna, right, passes out warmed, packaged meals in front of the shuttered God’s Extended Hand mission in San Diego.

Readers offer more support for women’s health challenges

Dear Annie: Your advice for “Lost but Still in Love” was perfect. Being a health care professional, I had an understanding of what was transpiring when my wife started to enter pre-menopause, and I could support her during this transition into menopause. I honestly have no idea how so many women go through this with so little support from health care professionals. So, thank you for your response and giving a sound explanation as to what may be transpiring. This leads

me to another concern. Why do women’s health care professionals not include the patient’s partner in educating them? There is no literature in the waiting room for men to read to learn more about their female partners. No practitioner asks me to join them to discuss any future plan of care for my wife so that together we can meet her needs. So, it doesn’t surprise me that the writer doesn’t know what to do to help his wife and calm his own fears. I am hopeful that women’s health education

Horoscopes

by Holiday Mathis

Today’s birthday

You’re a magnet for love and respect. It’s said that good relationships take work; like most work, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Heaps of interactions make you efficient, capable and masterful. What a skill to be excellent at! The applications are endless! More highlights: Dream travel, a sly career move and a big payoff. Aries and Virgo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 12, 30, 17 and 49.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’re an astute observer of other people’s relation ships, which will lend insight into your own. You don’t need to discuss what you see, and in fact silent observances honor friendships better than too much sharing.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Logic can only describe the world in terms of logic and cannot process the life that exists beyond logic, which so much of life does. You’ll come across scenarios that will only be understood after you’ve abandoned reason.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You just want to do, choose, feel and be according to your own wishes. You resist the limits and shackles of other people’s expectations, and to a great extent you will achieve moments of being wonderfully free.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). People move through the world transmitting signals. Many are oblivious to the signals of others. Some can read them but mostly choose not to. You’re in the third category, reading all and responding in empathy.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). The most popular isn’t always the best. Look at data beyond how many people like a thing. What can it really do? You’ll bring attention to the matters that help things work better, more smoothly and for the good of all.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Whether antique shopping or rooting around in family pictures, you’ll be touched by the very specific kind of pleasure that is nostalgia. As it goes with most pleasures, the romance of the past is best taken in moderation.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You’re wise. Don’t discredit your ideas just because people aren’t listening to them yet. Believe in yourself enough for 20 people, and then double it and triple it. Your passion will catch on in time.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). A focused mind doesn’t give you total control over your destiny, but it certainly allows you power over what is yours to move. Beliefs can be more addicting than substances, so stick to thoughts that can only help you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). In some respect you are in top condition, and yet you keep training in anticipation of a certain future scenario. It’s as though the more prepared you are for this dream, the more likely it is to come true for you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Skillful comedians know when to go for the laugh, but they also know when to kill it in order to go for an even bigger payoff later. You will navigate a similar situation and find good fortune when you hold out for the larger payoff.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). In the same way that music is defined by silence, love, beauty and happiness depend on their opposites to define them. You’ll hit idyllic moments and appreciate them deeply because of all you’ve been through.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Confucius says that there is beauty everywhere but not everyone can see it. You’ll be enchanted by an ordinary scene. In your tender attention and poetic description of it, you’ll allow others to see it anew.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus had an outlandish belief that perhaps Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. Future scientists were imprisoned for such theories, but Copernicus managed to avoid controversy because most people didn’t believe him. Copernicus was an ethereal Pisces with Mars in Aquarius, the sign of innovation and the future.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

will improve significantly for women and their partners. — Supportive Husband

Dear Supportive: Thank you for your letter. Knowledge is power, and the more you can educate yourself from professionals about pre- and peri-menopause, the better. That is assuming, of course, that your wife says she wants you to know.

Dear Annie: You gave good advice to the husband exasperated by his wife’s behavior of late due to pre-menopause. If I could, I would like to say to him and to her, “See a doctor!” I thought I could “tough it out”

and handle it on my own, but finally, when my brain was so fogged I couldn’t think clearly and I was so depressed, I went to a doctor, which brought great relief. It was so bad I couldn’t even make decisions. I asked her to decide for me whether I needed antidepressants or hormone replacement therapy, which isn’t like me at all. I normally would never leave such a huge decision for myself to someone else, but that’s how desperate I felt. She chose antidepressants. I have major hot flashes. Still though, I am so grateful for having had any help with the shape I was in. Pre-

menopause and menopause are some of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. A supportive spouse, talking with other women, walking (even short walks) daily all really help, and educating yourself on what you are going through makes all the difference, too. My best to them both! And thank you, Annie, for helping people going through hard times. — Grateful Dear Grateful: I am glad that you were able to get help to relieve your symptoms. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

Want to live a longer life?

The WashingTon PosT

There’s no way to guarantee that you’ll live to be 100. But we can learn a lot from studying the eating habits of the world’s centenarians.

Researchers have identified five places in the world where people have exceptionally long life expectancies –frequently living to 100 or beyond. These areas, called “Blue Zones,” include the Nicoyan Peninsula in Costa Rica, the town of Loma Linda in California, and the islands of Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy and Ikaria in Greece.

At first glance, the diets, lifestyles and habits of people in these Blue Zones can seem quite different from one another.

Many of the long-lived people of Sardinia live in mountainous terrain, where they hunt, fish and harvest their own foods – such as goat’s milk, pecorino cheese, barley, and garden vegetables. The long-lived people of Loma Linda are part of a tight knit Seventh Day Adventist community that shuns caffeine and alcohol and eats a largely vegetarian diet; while in Ikaria, red wine is a staple, and people eat a typical Mediterranean diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables and modest amounts of meat and seafood.

Okinawans have historically consumed a largely plant-based diet. They get many of their calories from sweet potatoes, tofu, and fresh vegetables that they often pluck from their own gardens. They also prize pork, which they traditionally save for special occasions. Nicoyan centenarians meanwhile tend to eat a traditional Mesoamerican diet rich in starchy plant foods like corn, beans and squash.

A number of factors appear to influence life expectancy. Some research suggests that genetics account for about 25 percent of a person’s life span, with diet, environment, exercise and other lifestyle factors making up the rest. And studies show that even if you don’t start until middle age or later to make improvements to your diet, you still can add a decade or more to your life expectancy.

Diet alone is not the only factor associated with high life expectancies. Research has shown that people who reside in communities where long life is common, usually have strong connections to friends and family, a sense of purpose and a positive outlook on life. They engage in high levels of physical activity and spend a lot of time outside gardening, farming or socializing with other people in their communities, says Dan Buettner, the author of the new book “The Blue Zones American Kitchen.”

Buettner has spent years exploring, researching and writing about the Blue Zones. He’s also analyzed detailed scientific studies of their diets. He has found that while their dietary habits are different in many ways, they share at least four common denominators. You can incorporate those principles into your own life by doing the following.

Eat a cup of beans, peas, or lentils every day.

Legumes are especially popular among people who live in Blue Zones. Soybeans are an important part of the traditional diet in Okinawa, as are fava beans in Sardinia and black beans in Nicoya. People throughout the Blue Zones tend to eat a variety of beans and other plant foods that are rich in fiber.

Studies have found that eating a lot of fiber-rich foods promotes satiety and improves your cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It also protects against cancer and diabetes and lowers your risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death worldwide.

A study published last year in PLOS Medicine found that the average person could add years to their life by switching from a typical Western diet to a healthier diet – and that the foods that produced the biggest gains in life expectancy were beans, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes.

“Figure out how to get a cup of beans into your diet every day,” says Buettner. “Just one cup gives you half of all the daily fiber you need.”

Eat a handful of nuts daily.

Nuts are rich in vitamins, fiber and minerals, and they’re a dietary staple for many Blue Zone inhabitants. Almonds for example are popular in Ikaria and Sardinia, where they’re used in many dishes, while Nicoyans love pistachios, says Buettner.

A study in JAMA Internal Medicine that tracked 31,000 Seventh Day Adventists found that those who ate nuts more than four times per week were 51 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack and 48 percent less likely to die of heart disease than their peers who ate nuts no more than once per week.

Grab a handful of almonds, walnuts, cashews or pistachios. For a healthy breakfast, drizzle almond butter over a bowl of plain yogurt or oatmeal. Or sprinkle some diced nuts on top of a salad or a vegetable stir fry for dinner.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

People in the Blue Zones tend to eat most of their calories earlier in the day rather than later. Okinawans traditionally eat a big breakfast and a moderate lunch. “They don’t even have dinner,” says Buettner.

The Seventh Day Adventists he studied would eat a big breakfast at 10 a.m. and a moderate lunch at 4 p.m. “And then they’re done for the day,” he said. Buettner noticed in all the Blue Zones he studied that when people did eat dinner, it would typically be in the late afternoon or early evening. “They’re not eating late suppers, and they’re not eating a lot,” he added.

This pattern of eating aligns with our innate 24-hour clocks, or circadian rhythms, which cause our bodies to be most efficient at metabolizing meals in the morning and early afternoon. Studies show that when people are assigned to eat most of their calories early in the day, they lose more weight and have greater improvements in their blood sugar and cholesterol levels and other metabolic risk factors compared to people who eat most of their calories later in the day. They also burn more fat and experience less hunger when following an early-eating schedule.

Eat meals with your family.

In Blue Zones, it’s common for families to eat at least one daily meal together, typically their midday meal or their last meal of the day. While it’s understandably difficult for families who lead busy lives to eat every dinner together, it’s worth trying to do it as often as you can.

“Families that eat together tend to eat much more nutritiously, they eat slower, and there’s good research that children have fewer issues with disordered eating if they’re eating socially,” says Buettner.

Researchers have found that married couples who prioritize family meals report higher levels of marital satisfaction. Parents who routinely eat home-cooked dinners with their children consume more fruits and vegetables and their children are less likely to develop obesity.

Ultimately, while you can’t change your genes, making some diet and lifestyle changes will increase the odds that you get to celebrate a 100th birthday. The secret to longevity, as Kamada Nakazato, an Okinawan centenarian, explained to Buettner, is straightforward: “Eat your vegetables, have a positive outlook, be kind to people, and smile.”

Linnea Bullion/The Washington Post

One of the four dietary principles you can incorporate into your own life to eat like a centenarian is a handful of nuts daily.

Vanden boys rally, net trip to semifinal

FAIRFIELD — Sterling McClanahan and his Vanden High School teammates knew some serious changes needed to be made in the second half of Friday night’s boys basketball game against East Union of Manteca or the season was coming to a close.

The Vikings finally awoke and made a huge second half surge with some defensive stops, big shots and clutch free throws down the stretch for a 51-46 win in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinals.

Vanden survives to play another day: That will be Wednesday night back at home in the semifinals with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the championship game Feb. 25 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Vanden will take on Central Catholic of Modesto in a 7 p.m. game. The Raiders (21-9) defeated Lincoln 57-27 in another quarterfinal game Friday.

“It was really the defense,” McClanahan said. “We really battled on defense and got the stops we needed to pull it out. We talked at halftime that we couldn’t end it like this on our home floor. We wanted to make sure we went out fighting.”

Vanden trailed 39-33 after three quarters and didn’t take its first lead until Jayden Robinson hit a putback shot with 2:58 remaining in the game to go up 43-42. Justiz Wilson followed with a huge 3-pointer that head coach Micheal Holloway said “he won’t forget for the rest of his life.”

Edric Dennis, McClanahan and Elijah Lewis combined to hit five

of six free throws in the final two minutes and Lewis’ final two shots from the stripe iced the victory.

East Union continued to battle throughout with a gritty determination. Earlier, the Lancers were able to cut through the Vikings’ defense with some strong drives to the basket. But Dylan Lee’s 3-pointer from the top of the key for East Union with 26 seconds left didn’t fall. That could have tied the game.

“The defense really did make some good stops and we had some guys step up when they needed to so we could pull it out,” Holloway said.

“They were making their shots and

Vanden girls rip Pioneer to punch semifinal ticket

M att MillEr

MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Vanden

High School has the last northern Solano County girls basketball team still standing after Thursday night’s 94-24 win over visiting Pioneer of Woodland in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinal game.

Will C. Wood lost Thursday night at Kimball of Tracy 45-27, spoiling what could have been an all-Monticello Empire League semifinal. Instead, the top-seed Vikings (23-7) will now host the Jaguars at 7 p.m. Tuesday night with the winner earning a berth in the section finals Feb. 25 at the Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings.

“This is the fun part,” Vanden co-head coach Jake Johnson said. “All the basketball games are fun but this is the exciting

Giants’ Bart set to move forward after a tough 2022

Evan WEbEck BAY AREA NEWS GROUP SCOTTSDALE,

Ariz. —

The Giants are striking a different tone this spring with Joey Bart. He is 26 years old, almost five years since San Francisco made him its highest drafted player since Will Clark and one underwhelming big-league season since he last appeared on a prospect list.

Nothing is guaranteed.

“Any prospect that comes to the big leagues, the organization wants to give them a chance to perform and to succeed. At a certain point, that player has less of that runway and he’s more just competing like others are in a major-league camp like we have,” manager Gabe Kapler said to kick off camp. “That’s where we are with Joey.”

September. A year later, he’s right back where he was last spring. Fighting for a job.

“At times it was obviously tough,” Bart said of his 2022, speaking to reporters Friday for the first time this spring. “For me, I’ve kind of gotten over that backwards thinking. All the punches I took, how am I gonna react to those? . . . There’s very few guys who can walk in here from day one and just have it. That’s what I’m excited about, taking all of the failures I’ve had and some of the successes I’ve had and moving forward with them.”

they were well coached. I think our size and athleticism was finally able to wear them down.”

In the end, after being down six points after three quarters, Vanden closed with an 18-7 run in the final period.

McClanahan led Vanden with 15 points. Dennis scored 13 and Wilson finished with 11. Vanden improved to 21-9 on the season.

Anthony Sy hit some big 3-pointers for East Union and scored a game-high 21 points. Lee finished with 15. The Lancers finished up their season 18-11.

Last spring, Bart wasn’t anointed the starter, either. He won the role, and when the Giants broke camp, the post-Buster Posey era appeared to be off to a rollicking start. Bart showed off his light-tower power on Opening Day, but the ensuing 161 games were mostly downhill. There was a demotion, a promotion and a swing change; a hot August but a cold

While Bart repeatedly used the word “excited” to describe his emotions, Kapler observed that Bart has been reserved during his first few days of camp. That is his nature, but it was also one hurdle he cleared last spring, when Kapler routinely remarked on Bart’s growing comfort level and the relationships he was building with the pitching staff.

The word of the next six weeks for Bart: contact. He whiffed in 38.5% of his trips to the plate last season. Only one player with as many

Vaca Christian boys moving on; Rodriguez falls

M att MillEr MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

time to see the girls really cut loose. They’ve worked very hard.”

Against Pioneer, the Vikings raced out to a 45-23 lead at halftime but Johnson said the play was a little ragged. The defense wasn’t up to par and the shooting was off. As he said, “they couldn’t throw it in a lake.”

“Before the third quarter, they really challenged each other in the locker room,” Johnson said. “They told each other they had to play better. That’s when they really locked them down. They also started hitting their shots from the perimeter.”

The Vikings went on a 36-1 run in the third quarter and held the Jaguars without a field goal in the period. It was 81-24 at that point and all but over. Vanden closed it out with a 13-5 advantage in the final period.

Alyssa Jackson

paced the Vikings with 21 point. Jaylen Kuehnel had 20 with 14 of those coming in the first half. Calonni Holloway scored 13, Mia Simmano had 12, Gabby Wright scored 10 and Kaylen Harris contributed eight.

“Our whole season is

built for these moments,” Johnson said. “Everything we do is to get ready for the playoffs. Our goal is to execute and play flawless basketball.”

The Vikings overpowered opponents throughout

See Vanden, Page B8

FARIFIELD — The Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title quest continues for the Vacaville Christian High School boys basketball team, while the magical week of Rodriguez came to an abrupt end in Division II with a loss in the foothills.

Vacaville Christian secured a 51-36 win Friday in the quarterfinals at home over the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy of Rocklin. Rodriguez was beaten 76-65 Friday by Ponderosa of Shingles Springs, also in the quarterfinals.

Up next for No. 3 Vacaville Christian (22-3 overall) is a date in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at No. 2 Ripon Christian. The winner advances to the section finals for a noon tipoff Saturday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Landen Graves led the Falcons with 17 points and

seven rebounds. Garrett Kuch had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Brian Laxamana also had 10 points and nine rebounds. Vacaville Christian led just 7-6 after the first quarter and 22-18 at halftime. The Falcons turned up the defense and outscored Western Sierra 14-7 in the third quarter and 15-11 in the fourth.

For Rodriguez, a slow start proved to be the downfall. The Mustangs trailed 22-9 after the first quarter and spent the rest of the night trying to catch up.

The Mustangs closed out their season 17-13 overall and had quite a week. Rodriguez opened with a play-in win Monday at home over El Capitan 70-57 and followed it up Tuesday by traveling to Loomis and upsetting the No. 3 seed Del Oro 56-55. No individual statistics for Rodriguez were made available for Friday night’s game.

3 Solano women earn all-BVC honors, playoffs are up next

Daily r Epublic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

ROCKVILLE — The Solano Community College women’s basketball team had three players named to the all-Bay Valley Conference team Saturday in voting by league coaches.

Jaslyn Woods, Julia Wright and Jade Dickson all earned first-team honors. Wright was the team’s top rebounder and scorer, while Woods and Dickson offered head

coach Matt Borchert skills in all phases of the game.

Solano closed out its regular season Friday night with a 60-54 win over Los Medanos in Pittsburg. The Falcons are 19-9 overall and earned second place in the BVC with a 12-2 record.

Borchert said he is expecting the Falcons will host a Northern California quarterfinal game Wednesday after playoff seedings are determined Sunday.

“I’m very proud of how

we have done this season,” Borchert said. “Laney was just a step above, but we beat seven other teams that had records over .500. I’d like to see us make a little run in this March Madness part of the season.”

Ale Ibarra led the Falcons with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the win in the finale. Woods had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Wright also scored 10 points and had eight rebounds.

Solano softball splits doubleheader

ROCKVILLE — Lindsay Feinberg and Azaria Sanchez had RBI singles in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday as the Solano Community College women’s softball team rallied for a 10-9 win over visiting Redwoods in the first game of a doubleheader. Solano lost the second game 12-3 in five innings.

The Falcons moved to 3-6 overall and will host Sierra at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Redwoods scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning in the first game to send it into extra innings. Both teams scored three runs in the eighth.

Redwoods went up 9-8 in the top of the ninth before Solano rallied for the victory in the home half of the inning.

Bianca Belo-Diaz finished 4-for-4 in the first game with two doubles

and three RBIs from the leadoff position. Naiya Watts homered and had three hits to go with three RBIs. Isa Alegre also doubled, singled twice and drove in a run.

Alexis Wright gutted out nine tough innings for the win. Alegre and Feinberg had two hits apiece in the second game. Mia Valenzuela doubled for the Falcons among the hit leaders.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Vanden’s Sterling McClanahan, left, shoots the ball against East Union’s Alex Cuevas during the boys basketball game at Vanden High School in Fairfield, Friday.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Vanden’s Alyssa Jackson attempts a layup during the girls basketball game against Pioneer at Vanden High School in Fairfield, Thursday.

See Giants, Page B8

Sunday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

• Ohio State at Purdue, 5, 13, 10 a.m.

• North Carolina at NC State, ESPN, 10 a.m.

• Bradley at Southern Illinois, ESPN2, 11 a.m.

• George Washington at St. Bonaventure, USA, 11 a.m.

• Memphis at Houston, ESPN, Noon.

College Women

• Auburn at Tennessee, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

• NC State at Virginia Tech, ESPN2, 1 p.m.

NBA • All-Star Game, TBS, TNT, 4:30 p.m.

Football

XFL

• San Antonio at St. Louis, 7, 10, Noon.

• DC at Seattle, ESPN, 5 p.m.

Golf

• PGA, The Genesis Invitational, GOLF, 10 a.m.

• PGA, The Genesis Invitational, 5, 13, Noon.

• Champions, Chubb Classic, GOLF, Noon.

Motor Sports NASCAR

• Daytona 500, 2, 40, 11:30 a.m.

Soccer EPL

• Manchester United at Leicester, USA, 6 a.m.

Local

From Page B6

High School

Vanden’s Jackson

MVP in MEL hoops

FAIRFIELD — Vanden

High School’s Alyssa

Jackson earned her third straight Most Valuable Player honor in the Monticello Empire League in recent voting by coaches.

The senior is helping lead the top-seed Vikings into the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs. She is averaging 20.7 points per game and 6.0 rebounds. Jackson has signed a national letter-of-intent to go to college and play basketball at San Diego State.

Jackson is joined on the first-team by Vanden teammates Calonni Holloway and Gabby Wright. The rest of the first-team includes Amani Boxdell (Fairfield), Roniya Vaughn (Rodriguez), Brynlie Headrick (Vacaville), Natalie Sanchez (Will C.

Vacaville High’s boys soccer team advances to the section semifinals

M att Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Seasons end for Dixon, Rio Vista boys and Dixon girls after playoff losses

VACAVILLE — Nathan Beltran scored twice and “took over the game like I have never seen,” coach Tony Bussard said as the Vacaville High School boys soccer team beat visiting Cosumnes Oaks

Wood) and Athena Brombacher (Will C. Wood). Vanden, Will C. Wood and Rodriguez all earned postseason berths.

Fairfield’s Altamiro earns co-MVP honors in MEL girls soccer

FAIRFIELD — Jazlyn

Diaz Altamiro of Fairfield High School and Gracie Holbein of Vacaville were named the co-MVPs of the Monticello Empire League in recent voting by coaches.

Lily Fenn of Armijo was named the Defensive MVP.

The rest of the first-team includes Natalia Rodriguez (Vacaville), Kallie Stacey (Vacaville), Emma Stacy (Vacaville), Alicia Rawdon (Vacaville), Payton King (Rodriguez), Ella Belandres (Rodriguez), Lauren Snyder (Rodriguez), Kaleia Grinton (Vanden), Breanna Davis (Vanden), Aaryah Scott (Vanden), Grace Vojkufka (Will C. Wood) and Hailey Rameriez (Wood).

Rodriguez, Vacaville and Vanden went to the playoffs.

Local scores

2-1 on Thursday night in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division II quarterfinal match.

The No. 4 Bulldogs were scheduled to play Saturday night at topseed Rio Americano in Sacramento in the semifinals. The section championship would be at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at Cosumnes River College

in Sacramento. In other playoff action from northern Solano County teams Thursday night, Dixon was eliminated by Kimball 3-1 in the Division III quarterfinals. Rio Vista was knocked out in Division VI by Denair 5-0 in the semifinals. The Dixon girls were eliminated by Placer 3-0 Friday night in the Division IV semifinals.

“What a performance by Nathan,” Bussard said in an email. “With time running down he put it all on his shoulders.”

Vacaville went down 1-0 early in the match. Beltran tied it with his first goal to make it 1-1 at the half. The Monticello Empire League MVP

beat two defenders late in the match and was clipped in the box. He put away the penalty kick for the victory.

Bussard said Christian Brenes and his cousin Freddy Brenes had strong games. Christian Brenes assisted on one of Beltran’s goals.

The Bulldogs’ defense was anchored by Max Galeano, Elijah Cline and Edwin Castaneda. Goalkeeper Colby Moore also helped keep Cosumnes Oaks in check after the early goal.

“The boys really stepped up huge tonight,” Bussard said. “The boys are in the final four. They are on a mission.”

Bussard also thanked his coaching staff of Joe

Koller, Brian Davis and Al Arevalo for helping get the team to this point of the season.

The Dixon boys played Kimball to a 1-1 tie in regulation before the Jaguars broke the stalemate with two goals in the first overtime. Gabriel Sierra scored the Rams’ loan goal. Dixon finished its season 11-8-2 overall. Rio Vista couldn’t slow down top-seed Denair and got shut out, completing the season 12-4-3 overall.

The Dixon girls also couldn’t convert against top-seed Placer, which advanced into Monday’s championship game against West Park of Roseville.

Rahm leads at Genesis; Woods posts 67

los a ngeles tiMes

LOS ANGELES — The grouping was grand, the spectacle stunning. Three unwavering golfers, not a bogey among them through 14 holes, bunched atop the leaderboard of the Genesis Invitational on Saturday.

Would one separate from the others ahead of Sunday’s final round? One would, and it was Jon Rahm, who riveted Riviera with a six-under-par 65 that included a 24-foot birdie putt on No. 18 punctuated by raising his putter to the sky. Max Homa and Keith Mitchell lurked behind.

The No. 3 player in the world

rankings, Rahm posted four birdies on the front nine, two more on the back and had zero bogeys to seize the lead by three strokes at 15-under 198. Rahm is in position to challenge the then-L.A. Open tournament record of a 20-under 264 set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985.

“Sometimes you can get a little blinded because everybody in the group was playing good, especially early on, the first 12, 13 holes,” Rahm said. “We kept looking at the leaderboard and there was a reason why, right? It’s not easy. I feel like we were the only three making putts out there, probably.”

Homa, a rising star from Valen-

cia, matched Rahm until missing par putts on Nos. 15 and 16 to trail by three shots at 201.

Mitchell, whose 64 on Thursday set the tone along with Homa, shot a steady 69 that ended with his only bogey. He’s four shots behind Rahm and one behind Homa.

Behind those three are Patrick Cantlay at 10 under and Gary Woodland at nine under. Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, shot five under for the last eight holes to rise to fifth place. Overshadowed was the stellar round turned in by Tiger Woods, See Golf, Page B8

Giants

From Page B6

plate appearances struck out more often: Joey Gallo (39.8%).

“He has to believe what’s keeping him from being the big leaguer that he wants to be and we want him to be is just more consistent contact,” Kapler said. “He has to really believe that’s the thing that is standing in his way.”

And if not, then, well, that’s why Roberto Pérez, Blake Sabol and Austin Wynns are in camp. (And while only Bart and Sabol are on the 40-man roster, Bart is also the only player they can option to Triple-A.)

That Bart’s competition is made up of his backup from last year,

Vanden

From Page B6

the MEL season and that hasn’t changed in the playoffs. Vanden beat Casa Roble in the opener

a Rule 5 draft pick who hasn’t played a game in the majors (or many professionally behind the plate at all) and a 34-year-old who has struggled to stay healthy, and that he hasn’t won the position outright, could say as much about Bart’s standing in the organization as anything else.

“I would see it as a true competition,” Kapler said. “We have four guys essentially battling for two roster spots and playing time within those roster spots. I think it’s a great thing for our camp. It’s no secret that for us to have the type of season we want, we need two of those guys to step up and be contributors.”

Pérez has a corner locker in the Giants’ clubhouse here, one stall separating him from Bart. It used to belong to Brandon Belt.

Tuesday night 88-13 and now has beaten two playoff foes 182-42.

The Jaguars went out and took it to Will C. Wood for their victory. Kimball is now 23-4 overall after finishing second in the Valley Oak League to East Union

Golf

Bart met Pérez for the first time last week, when they arrived in Scottsdale. He said he remembers watching Pérez in Cleveland, where he spent the first eight years of his career, while Bart was forming into one of the most highly regarded catching prospects in the country at Georgia Tech.

If it were up to them, the Giants would turn the clock back to 2019, when Bart still had the sheen of a top pick and Peréz turned in the best year of his career, hitting 24 home runs and winning the first of two Gold Gloves.

But it isn’t 2019. It’s 2023. And time is running out for Bart.

“I’m not really invested in everything else going on,” Bart said of the competition.

with an 8-2 record. Wood finished 16-10 overall after finishing as the runner-up in the MEL to Vanden.

All-MEL selection Athena Brombacher led the Wildcats with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

who shot a four-under 67 in front of a substantial and appreciative gallery. He’s nowhere near the trio at the top because he began the day one over par, barely making the cut.

Still, it was his lowest Saturday round since he won the 2019 Zozo Championship in Japan.

From Page B6 No. 10. He began the day at even par.

“I felt like I made some nice adjustments with my putting and that was the thing that held make back yesterday,” Woods said. “I’ve driven it well the last three days, my iron play has been good. And the firm conditions I like, that’s kind of right up my alley with iron play.”

The low score of the day was turned in by Denny McCarthy, a sevenunder 64 that included an eagle on his first hole at

“To knock that in, make a two on that hole to start your day feels pretty good,” McCarthy said. “I hit a few more fairways today. I was able to hit my numbers a little bit easier and just played really solid, just had really good commitment, hit some good iron shots, rolled

it well, cleaned up well around the hole and did everything pretty solid.”

In appreciation

Several players, including Woods and Homa, wore black ribbons on their caps to honor John Paramor, a well-liked longtime PGA rules official who died Friday.

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to the following businesses for supporting literacy in Solano County by being a sponsor in the Daily Republic’s “Newspapers In Education” program. NIE provides sponsored newspapers for teachers in Solano County to use as an educational resource in the classroom.

Anderson & Associates, CPA’s Caliber Home Loans - Wendi Lucas Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Downtown Theater Foundation for the Arts

Jim Stever Realty - Stever & Associates

Law Office of Elizabeth Anderson

Medic Ambulance Service

Meyer Corporation

Michael J. McMurry CPA

Napa Solano Medical Society

NorthBay Healthcare

Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3

Pam Watson, REALTOR®

Salvation Army - Suisun City, KROC Center

Vogelpohl Real Estate Consulting & Sales

Yin McDonald’s

CARSTAR Body Best Collision

Eagle Eye Engraving

Townhouse Apartments

Darryl Webb/Bay Area News Group/TNS San Francisco Giants catcher Joey Bart warms ups some pitchers on the first day as pitchers and catchers report to Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona, Thursday.

Harry How/Getty Images/TNS Jon Rahm reacts after his putt on the second green during the third round of The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, Saturday.

Classifieds: 707-427-6936

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS SULLIVAN FAMILY FARM LOCATEDAT5007GordonValleyRd, FairfieldCA94534Solano.Mailingaddress5007GordonValleyRd,Fairfield CA94534.IS(ARE)HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)#1MichaelSullivan5007Gordon ValleyRd.Fairfield,94534#2KarinSullivan5007GordonValleyRd.Fairfield, 94534.THISBUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: aMarriedCouple Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveon 11/01/2022. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/MichaelSullivan INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONDecember28,2027. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OF THERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: December29,2022 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2022002121 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00060951 Published:Jan.29Feb.5,12,19,2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS HENSHAUL JUNK REMOVAL LOCATEDAT355PortsmouthAve,Vacaville,CA.95687Solano.Mailingaddress355PortsmouthAve,Vacaville,CA. 95687.IS(ARE)HEREBYREGISTERED BYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)David PortsmouthAveVacaville,95687.THIS

BUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness name ornameslistedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.)

/s/DavidHenshaul INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONFebruary14,2028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: February15,2023

NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023000292 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00061412 Published:Feb.19,26March5,12,2023

Toallheirs,beneficiaries,creditors,contingentcreditors,andpersonswhomay otherwisebeinterestedinthewillorestate,orboth,of: Antoinette Wade APetitionforProbatehasbeenfiledby:

Da'Shawn Johnson Sabathia intheSuperiorCourtofCalifornia,County of: Solano ThePetitionforProbaterequeststhat:

Da'Shawn Johnson Sabathia beappointedas personalrepresentative toadministertheestateofthedecedent. ThepetitionrequestsauthoritytoadministertheestateundertheIndependentAdministrationofEstatesAct.(Thisauthority willallowthepersonalrepresentativeto takemanyactionswithoutobtainingcourt approval.Beforetakingcertainveryimportantactions,however,thepersonal representativewillberequiredtogivenoticetointerestedpersonsunlessthey havewaivednoticeorcon sentedtothe proposedaction.)Theindependentadministrationauthoritywillbegrantedunless aninterestedpersonfilesanobjectionto thepetitionandshowsgoodcausewhy thecourtshouldnotgranttheauthority.

A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows:

DATE: MARCH 22, 2023; TIME: 9:00 a.m.; DEPT.: 22

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, County of Solano 580 Texas Street 580 Texas Street Fairfield, CA 94533 Old Solano Courthouse

If you object tothegrantingofthepetition,youshouldappearatthehearingand stateyourobjectionsorfilewrittenobjectionswiththecourtbeforethehearing. Yourappearancemaybeinpersonorby yourattorney. If you are a creditor or a contingent creditor of the decedent, youmustfileyourclaimwiththecourtand mailacopytothepersonalrepresentative appointedbythecourtwithinthe later of either(1)four months fromthedateof firstissuanceofletterstoageneralpersonalrepresentative,asdefinedinsection58(b)oftheCaliforniaProbateCode, or(2) 60 days fromthedateofmailingor personaldeliverytoyouofanoticeunder section9052oftheCaliforniaProbate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may wantto consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court.Ifyouareapersoninterestedinthe estate,youmayfilewiththecourtaRequestforSpecialNotice(formDE-154)of thefilingofaninventoryandappraisalof estateassetsorofanypetitionoraccount asprovidedinProbateCodesection 1250.ARequestforSpecialNoticeformis availablefromthecourtclerk.

AttorneyforPetitioner: RayfordE.Reed,LawOfficesOf RayfordE.Reed 22762MainStreet

filedapetitionwiththiscourtforadecree changingnamesasfollows:

Homero Francisco Valdez

Proposed Name: a. Homero Francisco Rodriguez-Valdez THECOURTORDERSthatallpersonsinterestedinthismattershallappearbefore thiscourtatthehearingindicatedbelowto showcause,ifany,whythepetitionfor changeofnameshouldnotbegranted. Anypersonobjectingtothename changesdescribedabovemustfileawrittenobjectionthatincludesthereasonsfor theobjectionatleasttwocourtdaysbeforethematterisscheduledtobeheard andmustappearatthehearingtoshow causewhythepetitionshouldnotbegranted.Ifnowrittenobjectionistimelyfiled, thecourtmaygrantthepetitionwithouta hearing. NOTICE

Date:

The address of the court is:

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF Old Solano Courthouse 580 Texas St, Fairfield, CA, 94533

AcopyofthisOrdertoShowCauseshall bepublishedatleastonceeachweekfor foursuccessiveweekspriortothedate setforhearingonthepetitioninthefollowingnewspaperofgeneralcirculation,printedinthiscounty:DailyRepublic Pleasefileproofofnewspaperpublication atleast5businessdaysbeforehearing (newspaperdoesnotfilew/court)zoom ok.zoominvitewillbeemailed1-2days beforehearing

Date:JAN24,2023 /s/ChristineA.Carringer JudgeoftheSuperiorCourt

FILED:JAN252023

DR#00061408

Published:Feb.19,26March5,12,2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS BOWLERO VACAVILLE LOCATEDAT155BrownsValleyParkwayVacavilleCA95688Solano.Mailing address7313BellCreekRoadMechanicsvilleVA23111Hanover.IS(ARE) HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)BowleroVacaville, LLC(formedinDelaware)222West44th StreetNewYork,NY10036.THISBUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: aLimitedLiabilityCompany Theregistr antcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveon 11/11/2022. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.)

/s/BrettI.Parker,ChiefFinancialOfficer INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONJanuary19,2028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon:

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS DL SERVICES, DINO'S YOUTUBE LOCATEDAT607ElmiraRd,PMB309, Vacaville,CA,95687Solano.Mailingaddress607ElmiraRd,PMB309,Vacaville, CA,95687.IS(ARE)HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)DeanLaing607ElmiraRd,PMB 309Vacaville,95687.THISBUSINESSIS CONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/DeanLaing INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONJanuary24,2028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ET SEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: January25,2023 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023999151 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#0060958

Published:Jan.29Feb.5,12,19,2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS CHANGE DIGITAL COMMUNICATION LOCATEDAT542RibollaCt.,Fairfield, CA94534Solano.Mailingaddress542 RibollaCt.,Fairfield,CA94534.IS(ARE) HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)#1RoelJacobFrancisco542RibollaCtFairfield,94534#2 AngeloPhilippeVelasco2226Burgundy WayFairfield,94533.THISBUSINESSIS CONDUCTEDBY: aGeneralPartnership Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveon 01/01/2023. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/RoelJacobFrancisco INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONJanuary30,2028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: January31,2023 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023000191 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00061143 Published:Feb.5,12,19,26,2023