Express Yourself The chicken incident

Gramps Says

This is the tale of the unfortunate incident of the chicken, with some background references to my past experiences with barnyard fowl.

First, let’s talk about the past, as it lends perspective to the current story. As a young child, I would often visit my grandparents, who tended a large garden, a small fruit tree orchard, a milk cow and a flock of chickens. On my visits, I was assigned to gather eggs. The coop housed about 20 chickens and the number never increased because chicken dinners were often served on Sundays. On a few occasions, I was assigned the task of plucking chicken feathers.

Later in life, when I had a family of my own, we rented a house on some acreage in Sonoma Valley owned by Sally Stanford. Sally was a colorful character who ran a restaurant in Sausalito and at one time was elected mayor of that city. Prior to her mayorship, she was well known as the madam of several ‘comfort houses’ in San Francisco and had added to her fortune through various divorce settlements with wealthy San Francisco businessmen.

Upon moving into our new rental we discovered that we inherited a large flock of chickens that Sally had rescued from an Easter sale of chicks. It was not a happy flock, as all of the chickens grew up to be roosters and they were constantly fighting. As fortune would have it, a neighbor had a large white Samoyed dog that had a penchant for chickens and on one occasion I saw him wipe out about 20 roosters in all but a minute, and a half before I could chase him off. I never told Sally about it and she never noticed that the flock decreased by about 20 percent. Collectively, the only name I had for them was “Foul Fowls.”

This leads us to the current incident of the chicken and the three deputy sheriffs on my doorstep. For the past 18 months or so, I have been walking my neighbor’s dog Teri, a rambunctious German shorthaired terrier that turns her walk into a constant tug of war on the leash. On the day of the incident, the collar on the leash became disengaged and she escaped.

Teri can cover a quarter of a mile in seconds and is oblivious to all of my calls to come, heel or stop.

I caught a glimpse of her heading north and by the time I got to the north, she was chasing three chickens within a fenced yard. Teri caught up with a black hen and after climbing the fence I was able to collar her. To my observation, the chicken was a goner.

I noticed a phone number posted on the fence and notified the owner who was then at work. I knew this was not going to be a

See SOPHIE, Page 4

Letters

Celebrate Easter services

Easter is coming upon us again and after 2,300 years we still mark the beginning of the “common era” with the death and resurrection of Jesus!

The Christian churches here in Winters have two events scheduled this year to celebrate as the unified brothers and sisters in the faith.

The first will be an evening of worship at the Pioneer Church (205 Russell St.) on Good Friday; singing songs and hymns about Jesus and the Cross of Calvary. The music starts on April 7 at 7 p.m.

The second is the Sunrise service at the Gazebo in Rotary Park celebrating the resurrection of Christ starting on April 9 at 6:30 a.m.

All are welcome to both events.

DAVID HALK

Share feedback on how to spend Measure W funds

The Winters Joint Unified School District would like to thank you, the community of Winters, for your continued support of our students and District. At our Board Meeting on Feb. 2, 2023 the Trustees approved a revised Measure W project planning process, to include an updated Master Facilities Plan and Demographic Study so that we could better address short and long-term facility needs while pursuing additional state funding sources to augment Measure W funds. We have created a Facilities Master Planning Committee, composed of city leaders, parents, athletic youth groups, classified staff, certificated staff, and other community partners and organizations.

We welcome any community member who is interested in participating in this important work to join us at one of our upcoming Community Engagement meetings on April 11, 2023, or April 12, 2023. Both meetings will be held in the Margaret Parsons Room at the Winter Community Library, 708 Railroad Ave., Winters, CA 95694 from 6–8 p.m.

If you are unable to attend one of these meetings, or if you have additional questions, please check out the website at https://tinylink.net/8AjOe or email your questions to FMP@wintersjusd.org.

RODY BOONCHOUY, Ed.D Superintendent, Winters Joint Unified School District