s-2019-03-21

By Scott thomaS anderSon

midnight

burning The True sTory of Three murders, Three deTecTives a n d T h e m ay h e m T h aT s p i l l e d from sacramenTo To placer pa g e 1 4

Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Volume 30, iSSue 49

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thurSday, march 21, 2019

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contents

march 21, 2019 | Vol. 30, Issue 49

New Roma, a traditional bakery in the Boulevard Park neighborhood, opened in 1934.

One year later, the Tower Bridge was completed. Read more on page 25.

editor’s note letters essay + streetalk greenlight 15 minutes news feature arts + culture music

04 05 06 08 09 10 14 20 22

25 stage dish calendar capital cannabis guide ask joey

23 24 26 33 42

cover design by maria ratinova cover photo by scott thomas anderson

Our Mission: To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

Editor Foon Rhee News Editor Raheem F. Hosseini Managing Editor Mozes Zarate Staff Reporter Scott Thomas Anderson Copy Editor Steph Rodriguez Calendar Editor Maxfield Morris Contributing Editor Rachel Leibrock Editorial Assistant Rachel Mayfield Contributors Ngaio Bealum, Amy Bee, Rob Brezsny, Aaron Carnes, Jim Carnes, Joey Garcia, Kate Gonzales, Howard Hardee, Ashley Hayes-Stone, Jim Lane, Ken Magri, James Raia, Patti Roberts, Shoka, Stephanie Stiavetti, Dylan Svoboda, Bev Sykes, Graham Womack Creative Services Manager Elisabeth Bayard-Arthur Art Directors Sarah Hansel, Maria Ratinova Publications Designer Katelynn Mitrano Publications and Advertising Designers Nikki Exerjian Ad Designer Naisi Thomas, Cathy Arnold, Contributing Photographers Ken Magri, Kate Gonzales, Serene Lusano, Nicole Fowler, James Raia, Ashley Hayes-Stone

Advertising Manager Michael Gelbman Sales & Production Coordinator Skyler Morris Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Kelsi White

Advertising Consultants Mark Kates, Michael Nero, Rodrigo Ramirez

Director of First Impressions/Sweetdeals Coordinator Reid Fowler Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Assistant Lob Dunnica Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Beatriz Aguirre,

Rosemarie Beseler, Kimberly Bordenkircher, Mike Cleary, Tom Downing, Marty Fetterley, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Joanna Kelly Hopkins, Julian Lang, Calvin Maxwell, Greg Meyers, John Parks, Perdea Rich, Lloyd Rongley, Lolu Sholotan, Carlton Singleton, Viv Tiqui N&R Publications Managing Editor Laura Hillen

N&R Publications Staff Writer/Photographer Anne Stokes

N&R Publications Staff Writer Thea Rood N&R Publications Editorial Assistant Caroline Harvey

Marketing & Publications Consultants Steve Caruso, Joseph Engle, Traci Hukill, Elizabeth Morabito, Luke Roling, Celeste Worden, Greta Beekhuis

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of People & Culture David Stogner Nuts & Bolts Ninja Norma Huerta Director of Dollars & Sense Debbie Mantoan Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Accounts Receivable Specialist Analie Foland Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Fax (916) 498-7910 Website newsreview.com Got a News Tip? sactonewstips@newsreview.com Calendar Events newsreview.com/calendar Want to Advertise? Fax (916) 498-7910 or snradinfo@newsreview.com Classifieds (916) 498-1234, ext. 5 or classifieds@newsreview.com Job Opportunities jobs@newsreview.com Want to Subscribe to SN&R? sactosubs@newsreview.com Editorial Policies: Opinions expressed in SN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permissions to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. SN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to snrletters@newsreview.com. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

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golden spike sculpture and a video of its own outlining its proposal for an arts and culture zone, an entertainment pier, an interactive water fountain, riverfront terraces and a nighttime light show and fireworks at Tower Bridge.

Another appealing design isn’t from a city-hired team. Page & Turnbull, an architectural Sacramento’s waterfront is firm with offices in historic, but it’s hardly exciting.

Sacramento, and Gretchen Steinberg of SacMod have a very kid-friendly Many of my favorite cities share at least one suggestion that features a thing—an exciting waterfront: Barcelona, floating park-playground, water sports and river Paris, Vancouver, Venice and, of course, San raft rides.

Francisco.

Other brainstorms include an old-time music We’ll never be Paris, but surely we can preservation hall, a Western outpost of the do better than our Old Sacramento riverfront, Smithsonian Institution, an aquarium, a Ferris historic but also boring. wheel, even a gondola.

So I was very curious what designers—both The goal—and it’s not easy—is to design professionals and amateurs—came up with for a destination that appeals to both locals and the city’s “Waterfront Idea Makers” competition. visitors, and that is also unique to Sacramento Entries were due by March 11 and the public and its history, not just another cookie-cutter voting continued through Wednesday. waterfront attraction.

The winner of the open contest gets $1,000, The ideas may be brilliant, but, of course, it’ll while five design teams picked by the city and take some big bucks to turn them into reality. being paid $10,000 each are also vying for the Some cash could come from hotel tax reve$5,000 People’s Choice award. nues, once the Sacramento Convention Center The prize money is good for the winners. But expansion is complete. Some could come from the much bigger payoff could be for the city, Measure U, though there are many competing which is hoping to transform the 28-acre historic priorities, including the mayor’s proposed $200 waterfront, between the Tower and I Street million economic equity fund for neighborhoods. bridges.

And it’s possible that the waterfront could attract This is a priority for Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “opportunity zone” investment from wealthy Michael Jasso, the assistant city manager in people seeking tax breaks. charge of the project, says he’s excited about Money problems have, at least for now, seeing ideas “out of the Sacramento box.” derailed a long-planned streetcar line that was “We want to expand our vision of what’s supposed be stopping in Old Sacramento by now. possible,” Jasso told me.

In January, the lowest construction bid came in While I’m no expert on urban design, some of $76 million more than projected, forcing officials the 41 entries appear quite intriguing. to reevaluate.

New York-based Perkins Eastman, one of the The bottom line: Reimagination doesn’t hired design teams, has an engaging before-andcome cheap. The city probably can’t afford the after video for its plan that includes a terrace, more ambitious visions, at least not all at once. theater, market square, promenade and, to top it But doesn’t Sacramento deserve something nice off, an “iconic spire” leading to a new K Street along its river? Ω pier. The Hettema Group out of Pasadena has a

letters

Email to sactolEttErs@nEwsrEviEw.com @SacNewsReview

@SacNewsReview

Facebook.com/SacNewsReview

Action, not talk Re: “I’m listening and changing the city” by Darrell Steinberg (Essay, March 14): Anyone can say they are listening. Mayor Darrell Steinberg has claimed to be listening for over two years now. So far he hasn’t done anything substantial to show we are being heard. He talks about money, and we see no results. He talks about reforms, but does nothing meaningful about them. We don’t need him to tell us he’s listening, we need him to show us that he HEARS us.

James faygo Clark s acr am en t o / v i a f a c e b o o k

Community policing Re: “Stephon Clark: One year later”

by Raheem F. Hosseini (Feature, March 14): Following the lead of San Francisco, some of our police officers should be walking beats and riding bicycles through our neighborhoods.

This would help unify our city as a safe gathering spot for residents and surrounding businesses. Officers out walking the streets, talking with people and developing relationships create a positive presence and build trust that can help our efforts to ease tensions and make our city safe and welcoming for everyone.

Cops who practice community policing are statistically less likely to draw their guns. Having law enforcement officials monitor Sacramento from glass and steel bubbles isolates police from our communities, and it sets up usversus-them hierarchy on our streets.

evan Jones sac rame n to / v i a em ai l

Callous disregard Re: “Appropriate response” and “Who’s really at fault?” (Letters, March 14): Regarding Stephon Clark, social media and letters are full of assumptions. Not all Sacramentans are so callous and disengaged.

One letter said that the “‘police brutality’ amounted to somebody getting bumped by a bicycle.” One of them testified at City Council on crutches with a broken ankle.

Another letter writer says, “If the protestors can’t see the whole picture and admit that Clark caused this, then it seems that they just want to make things worse.” What makes things worse are dismissive disrespect and

misinformed opinions. The letter also says, “This was a crime that had a bad ending, but it was not a race issue until the lawyers entered the scene.”

Socioeconomic injustice and disproportionate use of force against people of color is a reality.

Not all neighborhoods have the privilege of assuming that every family member will make it home safely at night.

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A manufactured crisis Re: “The case for homeless shelters” by Jay Schenirer (Essay, March 7): This is a poor solution as it only puts a $40 million Band-Aid on a manufactured problem. The majority of homeless are simply an extension of the county jail. The inmates enter jail homeless and they leave jail homeless and fall into the same homeless patterns until they are jailed again.

The governor, the mayor and the Sacramento City Council have manufactured a homeless crisis to their advantage. The homeless issue is here to stay, and will never go away.

Terry Colorado s acr am e nt o / v i a e m a i l

Correction Re: “I’m listening and changing the city” by Darrell Steinberg (Feature, March 14): The photo of Mayor Darrell Steinberg should have been credited to Kris Hooks. read more letters online at newsreview.com/sacramento.

03.21.19

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5

essay

by kirin kumar

streetalk

by Patrick Hyun Wilson

Asked At the sAcrAmento wAterfront:

Who shouldn’t be famous? menle y bAber crew member

Don’t vilify scooters If regulated, they can be good for Sacramento Kirin Kumar is executive director of WALKSacramento, For many, just the thought of motorized which advocates for active transportation to make the scooters from companies such as Lime, Bird region healthier, safer and more sustainable. and Jump can induce a panic. And in many cases, rightfully so.

In cities across California—including Santa when wearing dresses. And while there have Monica, San Jose and San Diego—scooters certainly been cases where people have been have cluttered walking and bike paths, sped injured riding scooters, we must also consider rapidly down sidewalks and blocked access for the health benefits of traveling by an active the disabled. mode of transportation.

A recent lawsuit filed on behalf of disability Given the benefits of these kinds of travel rights groups in San Diego accuses the city of options, many of us in the active transportaallowing scooter providers to operate with a tion advocacy world are still quick to vilify disregard for those protected by the Americans scooters and their riders. Often the arguments with Disability Act. These are major issues, center around user behavior and uncooperative that if go unresolved, will not only continue to providers. impact pedestrians, but can lead to providers Instead, I think we should consider the being banned and riders moving back into their scooter craze as a boon to our work, enabling cars. thousands of new users to experience Scooters have already landed in our streets—and the need for Sacramento, with more on their improvement—first hand. City way. The City Council is schedstreets that allocate a miniuled to vote March 26 on an Whether you mal amount of space to amendment to the ordinance like them or not, it’s healthy, alternative forms regulating “shared rideables” of travel while prioritizdifficult to argue that including bicycles and ing motor vehicles are scooters. These amendments getting more people out of going to continue to seek to proactively address their cars and on to shared leave pedestrians, bicymany of the concerns other clists, scooter riders and bikes and scooters isn’t cities have faced by requireveryone else fighting for ing companies to help pay a good thing for the limited space. for parking, by fining those planet.

We must use this who leave electric bikes and opportunity to collectively scooters blocking the sidewalk and push our cities to rethink how we imposing permit fees that ensure the allocate space on our streets. Wider city has adequate resources to manage the sidewalks, more protected bicycle lanes, more shared rideables. While we fully support these pedestrian crossings and narrower travel lanes amendments, it’s important to also consider not only make things safer for all roadway the underlying reason we continue to have this users, but encourage more people to walk, bike fight: car-oriented design of cities. or scooter.

Whether you like them or not, it’s difficult At the end of the day, common-sense reguto argue that getting more people out of their lations are a must. But to truly be proactive, cars and on to shared bikes and scooters isn’t California cities must dramatically rethink how a good thing for the planet. Uber has shown our streets work for people of all ages, abilities that there have been more rides in downtown and modes. Ω Sacramento on Jump bikes than in Uber vehi-

cles. We also hear from women in Sacramento that scooters are much easier to use than bikes 6 | sN&r | 03.21.19

The Dr. Phil girl—“Cash me outside” girl—definitely shouldn’t be famous. She acted like a brat and got famous for being a brat.

sAmAnthA l Awless residential counselor

Donald Trump, because he’s racist, he sucks, I hate him …

He’s famous because of his money and that’s really all that gets him anywhere.

Joe y freitAs college student

Miley Cyrus … She could have moved forward as far as being a role model.

helenA beckert college student in Germany

All the Kardashians. I hate them all. [In Germany] we have all these YouTubers—they are all as stupid as the Kardashians. They stand for nothing.

mAlik Pinckne y barista

I disagree with “celebrity-ism” as a whole thing. Why are we following other people? Why can’t we just live our own lives and be progressive about that?

kevon robinson-hArris sales associate

Mumble rap is not really music, it’s just people making noises to a beat and they’re getting a lot of money for it. Young Thug irritates me.

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greenlight

Support soda tax, oppose flavored tobacco ban

by Jeff vonKaenel

je ffv @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

However, I do not believe the While I support a proposed statewide proposed city ban on selling flavored soda tax increase, I am against tobacco and vaping products to adults Sacramento’s proposed ban on selling is a good idea. First, it should be clear flavored tobacco and vaping products. after trying to ban marijuana for the last Here’s why: half a century, bans do not work as well Soda taxes have reduced sugary drink as regulation and taxation. sales and have raised money for needed I sincerely doubt that people will health programs. Data from Berkeley, stop smoking or vaping because of Philadelphia and Mexico clearly demonthe city ban. What will happen is that strates that such taxes significantly and residents and visitors, who the industry quickly reduce sales and consumption of says are buying $110 million a sugary drinks. year of flavored tobacco Drinking sodas is linked and vaping products in to many health problems, It should Sacramento, will buy including diabetes, heart be clear after their products elsedisease, asthma, dental where or online. disease and obesity. trying to ban As a result, Americans will reach marijuana for the last Sacramento’s small into their pockets half a century, bans stores, many of and pull out $237 which are struggling, billion a year for the do not work as well will take a severe hit, direct costs of treating as regulation and losing tobacco and diabetes alone, and then taxation. vape product sales, as will still need to cover well as gas and food items $90 billion for diabetesoften purchased at the same related losses in productivity, time. according to the American Diabetes Last week, the American Petroleum Association. and Convenience Store Association ran In addition to lowering consumption, an ad in SN&R conveying its concerns. soda taxes bring in significant revenues.

These sales will simply shift from In California, a proposal to add a 2-cent Sacramento to surrounding cities. And tax per ounce on soda and other sugary the city of Sacramento will lose more drinks would raise an estimated $2 billion than $2 million in sales tax revenue a a year. year.

So the soda tax accomplishes two Let’s focus instead on increasing major goals. First, it reduces consumption penalties and enforcement against of products with severe health consethose retailers who illegally sell these quences. And second, it raises money to products to minors. treat those same health consequences.

However, soda taxes have a proven Tobacco use also has severe health impacts. There is less clarity about vaping track record. Let’s enact a soda tax in California. Ω products, though most experts agree that they are 80 percent to 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes. And there are concerns about the increasing use of vaping products by teenagers, even Jeff vonKaenel is the president, CEO and majority though it is illegal to sell these products owner of the News & Review. to anyone under age 21.

8 | Sn&r | 03.21.19

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Trial by forest Bob Burns was indoctrinated at an early age into what have become two lifelong interests: journalism and track and field. His parents met as newspaper reporters in Reno, and he and his father both worked at The Bee for many years. When Burns was 11, his father took the family to Echo Summit in Eldorado National Forest to watch the 1968 Olympic trials unfold. The high-elevation track was used to acclimatize the team to the conditions in Mexico City, the event’s host city.

A month after the trials, the U.S. team won 12 gold medals in the 1968 Olympic Games.

Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who placed first and third in the 200-meter dash, raised their fists on the awards podium as a protest during an era of social unrest.

It’s among the most iconic images in sports, one that Burns will never forget—but the freeze-frame wasn’t why Burns wrote The Track in the Forest. It focuses on how the 1968 U.S. Olympic team was built. SN&R sat down with the former reporter, now a SMUD public information officer, to talk about his passion for track and field.

You’ve spent a lot of your career as a daily journalist. What was it like writing a book?

When I was at The Bee, every once in a while you go to write a monster feature, like the history of Notre Dame football or whatever. I had to write 10 of those monster features in one chapter. It was hard to get my hands around that. But it gave me a lot of freedom. It was a challenge, but it was fun. I had the bulk of the book done in four months.

What was the thought process of coordinating the book the 50th anniversary of the Olympic trials at Echo Summit?

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I had thought about writing a book about the 1968 Olympic team for about 10 to 15 years. I’d written some features for The Bee on the subject, so I had a pretty good knowledge of it. What really triggered it was that some other books came out about the political part of the ’68 team. They were decent. I read them and thought, “Well, that’s already sort of been done.”

I spearheaded the effort to get the track registered as a California historical landmark. In June 2014, 11 of the athletes were up there for the ceremony. The guys were great. I hung out with them for a couple of days. It was in conjunction with the national meet here [in Sacramento]. I just thought, “Maybe I could do a book on the Echo Summit trials.” I had a lot of notes.

Did you think about your father a lot while writing the book?

Yes. We used to go to all of the meets. He took me to a U.S.-Russia meet in 1971 at Berkeley, so that’s how I really got into it. He got me a subscription to Track & Field News; I’ve gotten it every year since 1971.

What are your memories of going to the Olympic Trials with your family?

My sisters didn’t want to go, but I did. My father had press passes from The Bee. I remember the setting among all of the trees. My father noticed Jay Silvester [then the discus world record-holder] and said I should ask him for his autograph. I didn’t know who he was. I went up to him with this press pass. I was 11 years old. He looked at me and said “Are you with the media? I don’t like media.” Then he laughed. I lost the autograph. I wish I still had it. Ω You can order a copy of Burns’ The Track in the Forest: The Creation of a Legendary US Olympic Team from Chicago Review Press for $26.99.

03.21.19 | sn&R | 9

Members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association announce March 15 that they have the votes to strike if the district doesn’t agree to their demands over a 2017 labor agreement.

Photo by Sarah hanSel

Failing math Sacramento’s school district is racing toward fiscal disaster. Can anything, or anyone, stop it?

by Kate Gonzales

In November 2017, Sacramento City Unified School District and the union representing its teachers reached an eleventh-hour agreement to avert a strike.

Among the Sacramento City Teachers Association’s demands were salary increases, reduced class sizes and additional nurses and school psychologists. At the time, the district was in the black and the parties fleshed out an agreement with the help of Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

Less than two years later, the district is in the red and trying to avoid both a state 10 | SN&R | 03.21.19

takeover and its first teacher strike since 1989.

At a March 15 press conference, SCTA President David Fisher cited the district’s “unlawful, unfair labor practices” as the reason that 92 percent of the union’s members authorized a strike. Fisher said SCTA, which represents about 2,500 teachers, librarians, psychologists and others, has requested a sit-down with Superintendent Jorge Aguilar at the end of March to work on a solution and avoid a strike.

“We don’t want to go to a strike,” Fisher said. “However, that is our lawful way of getting the district to live up to its commitments.”

At the same time, the district is on the brink of a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.

Last August, the Sacramento County Office of Education rejected the district’s adopted budget for 201819, citing a projected $62.1 million deficit over the next two school years.

Subsequent revised budgets were also rejected.

A December 2018 report from the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, or FCMAT, projected the district would be insolvent by 2019. The team, which helps California school districts identify, prevent and resolve financial issues, called for $30 million in reductions, imploring the district to focus on cuts that could be made immediately.

“Without action, state intervention is certain,” the FCMAT report summarized.

“Failure to act quickly and decisively will result in imminent fiscal insolvency and loss of local control.”

The district has until June 30 to figure out how to cut $35 million over the next two years, or risk running out of money by November. If that happens, the district will have to take out an emergency loan from the state, which would shift decision-making power from the elected local board to a state-appointed administrator.

Four of the five labor unions representing SCUSD employees have agreed to work together on a plan to make the necessary cuts in the next two years to avoid state receivership.

in the name of stephon clark see neWs

12

Governor’s death penalty crusade see neWs

13

Behind a chillinG arson murder see feature

14

beatS

puttinG separation on ice As the district works to identify cuts before the summer deadline, the school district may also be the latest in California to see its teachers walk out. In January, a high-profile teachers strike got the Los Angeles Unified School District to commit to limits on class sizes and nurses. In February, a strike led Oakland Unified School District to agree to a halt on school closures and an 11 percent pay increase. at the heart of the tension between teachers and administrators are conflicting interpretations of the deal they reached in 2017.

The district and SCTA agreed they were losing mid-career teachers who could earn more at nearby districts. In the framework agreement made at Steinberg’s home, teachers received three flat raises of 2.5 percent, two implemented retroactively and the third on July 1, 2018.

Aguilar and school board president Jessie Ryan have said they agreed the salary hikes would cap out at 11 percent, including a 3.5 percent salary increase for mid-career teachers.

“The board [has] always said we wanted to give the maximum amount we could afford and a total raise of 11 percent, we felt, was as generous as we could be,” Ryan told SN&R. But SCTA says that cap only applied to the 2018-19 contract and that the deal made mid-career teachers eligible for higher salaries sooner. “It was always known that the union-proposed salary schedule would cost more than 3.5% in ongoing years,” union Vice President Nikki Milevsky said in a written response.

In November, the district filed a complaint; a judge sent the matter to arbitration.

“Right now we’re not in the space where we can work together in a healthy way,” said teacher Kara Synhorst, who voted for a strike, attended SCUSD schools and now sends her children to them.

“Do I want to strike? No,” she added.

“I don’t think anybody ever wants to strike. You’re leaving your students in the lurch and the students are what you’re here for every day.” as parents of children in the schools, Aguilar and Ryan say they and three other school board members are personally invested in the district’s finances.

Leticia Garcia, who was elected to the board in 2018, has twin daughters

in fourth grade. In the short term, she Many parents who attended a board worries about how a strike will impact the meeting to defend teachers and afterquality of education for her daughters and school programs on the chopping block other students. agreed. But Aguilar says the district’s Working parents who can’t take financial state is too dire to rely primarily time off will have to send their students on administrator cuts. to schools that may be staffed with substitutes or staff from nearby districts. last month, scta sent a request to state If parents can keep students home, their schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond projects and lessons are delayed. to have the California Department of “There’s a loss of learning time for Education audit and investigate the our kids, there’s a loss of revenue for the district. district and no one wins here,” Among the concerns raised in Garcia said. “These are days the 215-page request are the [students] just don’t get possible misuse of funds back.” at two high schools and Her father was a potential conflict of a union member, interest stemming which she said from Aguilar’s afforded him better employment with working conditions UC Merced’s Center and health benefits. for Educational Leticia Garcia But she believes the Partnerships. member, Sacramento City Unified best way forward is When Aguilar School District Board to work together on a was hired by SCUSD of Education budget solution. in 2017, he also held “Strike or no strike, the title of associate vice we have to address this chancellor of UC Merced’s budget shortfall and I’m confiCenter for Educational Partnerships dent we will,” she said. “A state takeover and was paid 5 percent of the full salary, is just not an option.” about $8,600 a year. That June, SCUSD Since 1990, only nine districts in entered into an agreement with the center California have taken out state emergency to share student data, including birth date, loans, with several taking well over a contact information, grade-point average decade to pay them back. and parents’ education level.

When districts receive these loans, Aguilar said the partnership is decision-making shifts from the school intended to assess students’ needs in board to an adviser or trustee appointed real time and provide individualized by the county superintendent of schools, support to help them graduate and go state superintendent of public instruction on to college. “The nexus between K-12 and the president of the state board of and higher education is one that is not as education. strong as it can be,” he told SN&R. “We Last year’s FCMAT report identified thought that we could advance this vision “severe financial risks in many areas” and of equity, access and social justice.” found the district’s business department He said the district has already seen to be disjointed and lacking in experience positive results, with an increase of graduand communication with schools and other ation rates and completion of college-prep departments. As salary and benefits make courses. The four-year contract could cost up a large portion of any district’s budget, SCUSD up to $1.75 million. the report stated those areas must be consid“The idea that we’re paying UC ered for reductions.

Merced to share data and he’s getting a The SCTA contends that the district can stipend from them … I mean, it looks make the necessary cuts without going back shady,” said Synhorst, the teacher. on the salary schedule. It has developed Thurmond has not said whether its own plan for $60 million in savings CDE will investigate the district, but by cutting central office staff, controlling state Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a administrators’ vacations, changing to less Sacramento Democrat, has supported an costly health plans and reducing the use of audit. outside lawyers for labor relations.

The SCTA says the superintendent’s “We’re quite openly saying that the actions are damaging the system. “The district needs to make the cuts as far away real issues are serious fiscal mismanagefrom the classroom as possible,” Fisher ment,” Milevsky said. Ω said at the March 15 announcement.

“A state takeover is just not an option.”

A broad coalition of nonprofits and labor groups recently unveiled a new tool for shielding local immigrant families from being separated by the Department of Homeland Security.

The strategy involves widely distributing bilingual guides and pictorial pamphlets across three counties, ones that explain the rights every undocumented person has under U.S. law. According to the Sacramento Immigration Coalition, the coordinator of the effort, at the heart of these publications are real human stories about coming into contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ice.

The announcement about this outreach happened March 18 at the Sacramento office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. That group, Sacramento Area Congregations Together and others are forming a multi-organizational phalanx to distribute the information to immigrant families.

Called “What to do if ICE Comes Knocking,” the dual publications handle questions like what to do if an ICE agent stops an undocumented person on the street, or knocks on the door of that person’s house, or tries to interfere in their employment. Those questions are all answered by retelling true stories that have happened in sacramento county. The pictorial guide conveys similar information in a comic book form.

“These are two publications that will really help families stay safe from the dangers of ICE,” said Mahmoud Zahriya, a policy and advocacy specialist for CAIR. The content was created with help from the Independent Journalism Fund and published by N&R publications. So far, 65,000 copies have been distributed in Sacramento and Yolo counties via inserts in SN&R. Another 25,000 copies are to be circulated by hand. (Scott Thomas Anderson)

residential doWnsizinG Amid a worsening housing shortage, a Manhattan Beach-based property management company is seeking to sharply reduce the number of homes it would need to build on a key property in an up-and-coming neighborhood.

Located on the former State Fair site near Tahoe Park, the undeveloped 8.68-acre lot at 325 Fairgrounds Drive would be downzoned from multi-unit zoning—requiring at least 18 units per acre, or nearly 160 units—to single-unit zoning for future construction of 68 single-family homes.

The property is blocks from economic hubs in the uc davis medical center and planned aggie square, the highly-anticipated technology and innovation campus. The move toward less future residential development has some nearby residents concerned.

“This is a prime infill opportunity,” said Tahoe Park resident Zach Miller. “If we want to avoid gentrification effects from Aggie Square, we should be looking at building more homes, not less.”

Nestled between newly-built single-family homes to the north and townhouses to the south, a multi-family development on the property would make for an awkward fit, says City Councilman Eric Guerra.

“There’s no question we need more housing,” Guerra said. “But I would like to look at places like Stockton Boulevard—higher transit frequency spots—for multi-family construction. Trying to squeeze a couple hundred units [at 325 Fairgrounds] wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it just doesn’t fit.”

Jim Perley of Western american properties, the listed applicant, didn’t respond to written and phone inquiries from SN&R. (Dylan Svoboda)

03.21.19 | SN&R | 11

to change the way the justice system polices communities of color—and itself.

Stephon Clark’s mother SeQuette (dressed in pink) and grandmother Sequita Thompson (in braids) pose outside the Capitol following a March 18 press conference acknowledging the one-year anniversay of Clark’s death.

Photo by Raheem F. hosseini

Lessons and legacy On the one-year mark of his death, Stephon Clark continues to inspire public demand—and new ideas—for reform

by Raheem F. hosseini ra h e e m h @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

One year after two Sacramento police officers gunned down an unarmed black man in his grandparents’ backyard, the victim’s brother reiterated a prediction he had been making since he learned the news: Stephon Clark would survive his March 18, 2018 slaying.

“Stephon Clark will never die,” Stevante Clark said Monday from the steps of the state Capitol.

He made his remarks at a press conference presided over by Clark family attorney Benjamin Crump, headlined by the Rev. Al Sharpton and attended by relatives of Clark and others killed by law enforcement. Speakers sought to build support for Assembly Bill 392, which would tighten the circumstances under which officers could use deadly force in California.

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Stevante, his grandmother and mother used their time at the lectern to do what they’ve been doing for 365 days—tell the public about somebody they love who’s no longer here, and push for the kind of peaceful change that was stolen from a 22-year-old father of two still figuring out his life.

“Let’s march peacefully, because they want us to act ugly,” Clark’s grandmother Sequita Thompson said.

“Let’s stand tall and proud. We will get justice one day for all our loved ones.”

That no longer sounds like the wishful thinking of a grieving matriarch.

Clark’s death a year ago has sustained the public’s interest and, in recent weeks, galvanized efforts

Much of the recent energy has come from the system’s self-inflicted wounds, reformers say. While it was an open secret that Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert would clear the officers who shot Clark—to the extent that the Police Department reserved Cal Expo to detain arrestees nearly two months before Schubert announced her decision—Clark family members and community leaders say they didn’t expect Schubert to focus her press conference on his personal life.

Reaction to Schubert’s implication that Clark may have wanted to die because of a recent domestic violence allegation enraged those who noted she didn’t put the same effort into unpacking the emotional states of the officers who fired 18 rounds on the mistaken belief that Clark’s cellphone was a gun.

“I’ve never seen a district attorney try so desperately to justify an unjustifiable shooting,” Crump told reporters. Clark, he said, wasn’t trying to commit suicide by cop. “He was trying to get home.”

In a civil lawsuit, Crump is seeking $20 million in damages for the family against the city and its Police Department, as well as policy changes. He and Sharpton also reiterated the family’s desire to see Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet fired.

“Anybody that don’t know the difference between a gun and a cellphone ought not still be on the force,” Sharpton said.

The Police Department says it is conducting an internal investigation to determine whether officers should face discipline or dismissal. Chief Daniel Hahn told Capital Public Radio host Beth Ruyak on Tuesday that he expected the results of that investigation soon, possibly within a month. For now, Mercadal and Robinet remain on the force.

The DA’s press conference, as well as California Attorney General Xavier Becerra clearing the officers of criminal charges, has sparked other ideas as well.

Crump and Sharpton want the state to revisit a 2017 law that allows counties to convene grand juries following police killings by making them mandatory to let the public see how the investigations are conducted.

Both Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the NAACP, and Mark T. Harris, co-founder of the Law Enforcement Accountability Directive, or LEAD, say that officers involved in deadly

encounters should undergo mandatory blood tests.

And then there’s AB 392, which stands a better chance of navigating the Legislature than a similar bill last year, when Clark’s death was fresh.

On March 11, the city’s Community Police Review Commission sent a recommendation to the City Council to not only support AB 392, but implement its use of force changes immediately.

The commission added that second bit to its resolution of its own accord, following a presentation by AB 392’s authors, Democratic Assembly members Shirley Weber of San Diego and Kevin McCarty of Sacramento.

The lawmakers explained that they simply ran out of time to get an earlier version of their bill through the legislative churn last year, but have both time and stronger public support on their side.

What they don’t have is the blessing of law enforcement, which is backing a Senate bill that would merely require more training for police.

Weber told the commission they tried to broker a compromise with law enforcement groups for five months before talks broke off at the beginning of February.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg and three council colleagues didn’t respond to emails asking how receptive they’d be to implementing AB 392’s policies on a local level, no matter what the Legislature does.

Harris, who co-founded LEAD following the Sacramento police killing of Joseph Mann in July 2016, said he believes the city is the perfect laboratory for trickle-up reforms, such as the video-release policy that went statewide this year.

In the final event of a weekend full of remembrances for Stephon Clark, approximately 200 people gathered Monday night for Black Lives Matter Sacramento’s march for Clark and other victims of police violence. It was less eventful than a march two weeks ago in East Sacramento, where approximately 100 officers in riot gear arrested more than 80 people. No one was arrested this night and the mood was somber, peaceful and weary.

Marchers stopped on a residential street opposite a park and made a space for those affected by police violence to speak. After a long spell, Clark’s younger brother Jaylen accepted the microphone and spoke softly about a kind of pain that bewilders.

“I wouldn’t wish this on nobody,” he said. Ω

No executions on Newsom’s watch New governor declares a moratorium on death penalty

by LaureL rosenhaLL

C A L M a t t e rs

A leading supporter of the death penalty Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order said Newsom’s action is legal but “contrary to last week putting a moratorium on the death basic democratic principles.” penalty in California and shuttering the execu“The decision of whether we will have the tion chamber at San Quentin, a move that death penalty or not is one the people have overrides a decision the state’s voters made in made over and over again through the initiative 2016 to maintain capital punishment. process,” said Kent Scheidegger, legal director While campaigning for governor last year, of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, Newsom said he was fervently opposed to the which advocates for capital punishment. death penalty but didn’t “want to get ahead of GOP Assemblyman Tom Lackey of the will of the voters” and wanted to “give the Palmdale said Republicans were looking for voters a chance to reconsider.” a way to reverse Newsom’s action but hadn’t On March 13, he said he changed his yet figured out how. He criticized Newsom for mind because his decision whether to permit changing his position from the campaign but executions had become more urgent and less ruled out an effort to launch a recall. abstract. The state’s lethal injection protocol It appears Californians may yet have was getting closer to being finalized and another chance to weigh in. two dozen death row inmates had Democratic Assemblyman exhausted their appeals.

Marc Levine of San Rafael “I cannot sign off on has introduced a measure executing hundreds and that would, if approved hundreds of human by two-thirds of the beings,” Newsom said Legislature, put the at a Capitol press question on the ballot conference. in 2020. He said having Under the governor’s a governor campaign reprieve, all 737 people against the death penalty on death row will remain could make the difference in prison and, on paper, in convincing voters to sentenced to death. But Gov. Gavin Newsom repeal it. executions will be halted as Death penalty opponents long as Newsom remains goverurged Jerry Brown to grant a nor. A future governor would have reprieve when he was governor, but the power to change their fate. he never did, despite his personal opposition to Newsom’s executive order argues that the capital punishment. They have been lobbying death penalty is unfair, applied disproportionNewsom to do the same since he was sworn-in ately to people of color and people with mental in January. disabilities. It says innocent people have been Now they have their sights set on the next sentenced to die, including five Californians goal, said longtime anti-death penalty advocate since 1973 who were found to have been Natasha Minsker: “The next step would be to wrongfully convicted. go further and convert death sentences to life His move is part of a larger swing in without parole.” Ω California away from tough-on-crime policies. But the death penalty so far has been politically untouchable—repeatedly favored by voters despite their progressive tendencies on other issues. In 2016, California voters passed a ballot measure to expedite executions and CALMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture defeated a measure to end the death penalty. explaining California policies and politics. An unabridged version Voters also defeated a 2012 measure to end the of this story is available at newsreview.com/sacramento. death penalty.

“I cannot sign off on executing hundreds and hundreds of human beings.”

Can’t get enough of our coverage?

CheCk out our new blog www.sacblog.newsreview.com

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By S c ott t h om aS a n d e r So n

sco tta @n e ws r e v ie w . c om

D

midnight

burning three murders, three detectives and sacramento’s violent drug world Photo by Scott thomaS anderSon

14 | SN&R | 03.21.19

oyle Hemling was in his bedroom when a car door slammed in the darkness.

Hemling lived on Annabelle Avenue, a one-way country road dipping through fields on the edge of Roseville.

He heard the car speeding along its shadowed oaks and mailboxes. A dog barked in the distance. He stepped into the hallway and saw a glow against his windows. Moving closer, he realized flames were rising nine feet from his driveway, sharp and glaring against the night.

Hemling thought a tree was on fire. Using his cane, he hurried outside and grabbed a hose from his flower garden.

As he sprayed water into the flames, two shapes began emerging from the smoke. At first, it didn’t register. Then, gradually, Hemling’s eyes settled on the truth—two blackened people were on fire.

He heard one of them gasp for air. Seconds later, his neighbor Roberta Crawley was outside, calling 911.

“There’s two boys on fire!” she said, almost hysterically.

“Hurry, please!”

“Can you see them?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes, I can see them,” Crawley stammered. “They’re not moving, but they’re breathing.”

Hemling was still trying to put out the blaze, but every time he got one spot contained, another would flare. One man had long hair that kept catching on fire, as did the men’s clothes. When Hemling finally saw emergency lights, he was still spraying water.

It was 11:25 p.m. on June 25, 2015.

Placer County Sheriff’s detectives Bryan Mattison and Chris Joyce pulled into Annabelle Avenue’s hectic maze of lights. The report was grim: Both burn victims also had gunshot wounds. A blood-spattered gasoline can had been found a few driveways away. Security footage from a nearby house captured a silver sedan slowly rolling down the street and then, moments later, accelerating back up from a flash.

At nearly the same moment Mattison and Joyce were arriving at the horrific scene, a California Highway Patrol officer was 25 miles away in Sacramento’s Rutter Park, staring at a silver sedan being immolated by flames.

Twelve days before, Sacramento Police Detective Thomas Higgins had crossed the crime tape at a faded apartment complex on Rio Linda Boulevard. Just after sunrise, he saw fresh bullet holes and shell casings from a 9mm, a .38 caliber and .380 caliber scattered along the street. Some 27 bullets had punched into surrounding cars and cut through the old stucco and wood of the apartments. And behind one of those walls, a round hit 50-year-old Stacy Norman in the chest as she slept. Her son called 911, staying by his mother’s side as the blood and life ebbed out of her.

Whatever this was, Norman’s apartment wasn’t the target. And minutes after the storm of gunfire on Rio Linda Boulevard, another drive-by shooting erupted a mile away at apartments on Beaumont Street. A bystander was shot there, too, though that woman was alive. A blue Honda was seen speeding away and This quiet stretch of found engulfed in flames 20 minutes Annabelle Avenue near later in Hagginwood Park. Later that Roseville and Granite day, there was another gun attack at the Bay was the site of a shocking crime.

Beaumont apartments.

The main characTers thomas “Pat” higgins: A 31-y

ear veteran of the Sacramento Police Depa rtment and longtime homicide investigator wh o, two weeks before his retirement, was assign ed the shooting death o f Stacy Norman on June 13 , 2015.

bryan mattison: A Placer Coun

ty Sheriff’s detective who had bee n working homicides fo r two years before catc hing the double-murder o n Annabelle Avenue on the outskirts of Roseville o n June 25, 2015.

Chris Joyce: Mattison’s partn

er in Placer County Sheriff ’s homicide unit, assigned to that job eig ht months before the doub le-murder on Annabel le Avenue.

Jason benson: A low-level m

ethamphetamine dealer who sold around Citrus Heights and Roseville and was killed on June 25, 2015 in Placer County. He was b est friends with Warren Galsote.

Warren galsote: A small-time

meth dealer who sold mostly around Old North Sacramento an d was killed June 25, 2015 i n Placer County. He was

best friends with Jason Benson.

Lydiana “Kalani” gorgostiz

a: Warren Galsote’s girlfriend who tried to escape Sacramento’s drug world by fleeing to Fresno in the weeks before Galsote and Bens on were killed.

Joshua “Whetto” Smith: A N

orth Sacramento man who had been arrest ed 11 times, including fo r assault with a deadly wea pon, prior to the violence

in North Sacramento and East Roseville. He was close friends with Warren Galsote.

Laurencio “goppy” Quintero:

A suspect in a 1994 Sacramento slaying , though never convicted, Quintero was spending most of his time with Joshua Smith and Richie Gutierrez in the weeks prior to the violence in Sac ramento and Placer counties.

richard “richie” gutierrez

: The nephew of Joshua Smith and a friend of Laurencio Quintero, Gutierrez had already b een convicted of robbery before the violence.

Three detectives, three killings, two counties, two cars on fire and four shootings: Over time, the investi investigations slowly converged into one chilling saga about the heart of Sacramento’s drug world. It took more than three years to unravel and to find some measure of justice for the victims.

What actually happened that summer can finally be pieced together through towering stacks of witness affidavits, court documents, scientific reports and trial transcripts.

This is that story.

St r a n g e r S i n t h e n i g h t At the very moment Hemling was trying to save two men from burning alive, Placer County Sheriff’s Deputy Garland Lew was a mile-and-a-half away on East Roseville Parkway, taking a young man to the hospital for mental health treatment. Video from the in-car and outer cameras on Lew’s patrol vehicle show the deputy was having a friendly chat with his passenger when a set of headlights came up fast from behind. A silver sedan careened around Lew’s driver’s side.

“You got him,” the young man urged from the back seat.

“I can’t chase him, man, with you in the car,” Lew said over his shoulder.

When Lew’s encounter was related to Mattison and Joyce at the Annabelle Avenue crime scene, they had to consider if it was another piece of their puzzle.

While both victims were alive, they were expected to die within hours. Inside a wallet found on the charred gravel near Hemling’s white picket fence was $1,000 in cash and a driver’s license for Jason Benson, age 33.

Mattison, a soft-spoken former medic who served in the Iraq war, had been a cop for 12 years. Joyce had been in law enforcement for 11 and had already survived a firefight with a cop killer. Mattison and Joyce worked together so much that some called them “the wonder twins,” or just “the twins.” Months earlier, the partners had solved a 24-year-old cold case. But the scene on Annabelle Avenue was like nothing they’d ever encountered.

“There was almost zero evidence at that point,” Mattison later remembered.

On June 29, 2015 the first autopsy was performed on the victim who was identified through fingerprints as 34-year-old Warren Galsote. More than 50 percent of his body was covered in second- and third-degree burns.

Forensic pathologist Greg Reybar could see patterns where the gasoline had been poured on Galsote. He found a bullet wound in the right side of Galsote’s skull and a second behind his earlobe.

The next morning, Benson’s body was examined.

His burns were mainly around his head, face and

shoulders. Reybar extracted two bullets from the back of his cranium.

But Reybar couldn’t determine if Benson and Galsote were conscious while on fire.

Among the few things the detectives did know in the early hours of their investigation was that the silver sedan belonged to Benson. It was nearly burned to its axles, its windows were gone and the interior was a flame-gutted mess of charred metal and mangled seat frames. An evidence technician found the scorched remnants of a Beretta pistol. The bullets in its clip had exploded from the heat.

Meanwhile, Mattison and Joyce were finding out more about the victims, who had been childhood friends. Galsote was an on-and-off-again construction worker with young kids. He had long, dark hair and a thin beard and was known for his sense of humor and signature laugh. But Galsote’s friends also said he’d begun to reinvent himself as a low-level methamphetamine dealer, selling quarter-pound scores and re-upping for about $300 in product at a time. He had recently decided to elevate his status in the drug world, slinging full pounds of meth and carrying a gun. Rumors were spreading he’d been killed by the Latin Kings gang or a Mexican drug cartel.

Benson had a different profile. Pale with a broad jaw and short curly hair, he was also a meth dealer, but a fastidious one. He kept his silver Acura meticulously clean. Benson was punctual, reliable, generous with family and had numerous female friends. Yet he also had problems. Three months before his death, he took a road trip to Mississippi and someone stole $10,000 from him. Just before that, a drug house linked to Benson got raided by law enforcement.

Some blamed him as either reckless or a snitch. The detectives also learned Benson had been the victim of a home invasion. Word on the street was that, ever since, he’d been hiding from someone called “Big Germ.” By the rules of the drug world, Benson was soft and an easy target.

The detectives did have one good lead. They tracked down Galsote’s girlfriend, Lydiana Gorgostiza, in Fresno. Known on the streets as “Kalani,” she still had access to Galsote’s email account. It pinpointed his last location at a Chevron station in South Sacramento, 30 minutes before he was set afire. On security footage of Benson’s silver Acura pulling up to a gas pump, Galsote could be seen climbing out of the front passenger seat. But there was something else in the frame, a shadowy, faceless figure in the car’s back seat with his arm hanging out the window.

In the last text messages Benson sent that night, he seemed stressed out, as usual, this time because a compatriot in the drug scene had been talking to the police. “I can’t save or help him anymore,” Benson

“midnight burning” continued on page 16

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“midnight burning” continued from page 15

Photo by Serene LuSano

Placer County Deputy District Attorney Jeff Moore begins to tell a jury about the brutal murders on Annabelle Avenue.

texted a female friend. “The streets are going to eat him alive.”

“Why are you tied up with him!!!” his friend exclaimed.

“I’m not anymore,” Benson replied. “I’m different now … live by the sword die by the sword.”

“Stay safe Jason,” the woman messaged back.

Benson’s response came immediately. “Fuck safe.”

t h e l a st c a l l- o u t On a blinding day in July 2015, Higgins, the Sacramento homicide detective, drove by a bare, brown yard off South Avenue. He was following the trail of a gun. Higgins, who had been a cop for 31 years, had put off his retirement to solve Stacy Norman’s murder. He drove from street to street with Galsote’s girlfriend as she pointed to different locations.

Why was a woman tied to the slayings in Placer County riding with a Sacramento investigator up in the old north town?

When Mattison and Joyce first interviewed Gorgostiza, she mentioned Galsote had a group of friends, separate from Benson. She knew them by their street names: “Whetto,” “Goppy” and “Richie.”

All of them had histories of violence, and in the weeks before Galsote’s death, all of them had a feud with a group of men they referred to as “the Paisas.”

Gorgostiza also said she overheard a conversation between Whetto and Richie about a series of Sacramento shootings. Mattison and Joyce called the only detective they really knew in the neighboring jurisdiction—a man who’d taught them at homicide school—Thomas “Pat” Higgins.

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As it turned out, their tip was directly tied to the m e e t i n g i n ‘ t h e b ox ’ case Higgins was investigating. Following the lead, Higgins and Gorgostiza drove through the neighJoshua “Whetto” Smith sat in a white room with a borhoods between where Norman was killed on single table at its center. Staring from the other side Rio Linda Boulevard, and where a woman named was Higgins. It was July 9, 2015, and the two were Belinda Gamez was shot on Beaumont Street 10 facing off in an interview room at the Sacramento minutes later. Higgins had worked murders before Police Department. where innocent people died in street wars. Talking Smith was 38, with broad shoulders, a shaved head to Gorgostiza, he was hearing a similar story. and a curled tattoo near his left eye. He was wearing What Gorostiza said she’d witnessed between baggy shorts and an odd-colored striped polo. He’d June 3 and June 13, 2015 was convoluted and just been picked up for a breaking-and-entering. chaotic. But it was also the key to knowing what Higgins brought up the day all the shootings happened to Norman. But if a trial ended up hanghappened in North Sacramento. “Who were you ing on Gorostiza’s testimony, Higgins knew her with?” Higgins asked. helter-skelter tale would need corroboration.

“My friend Warren,” Smith answered, a voice like Higgins started putting real names to street a bass drum. monikers. “Goppy” was Laurencio Quintero, while “Anyone else?”

“Whetto” was Joshua Smith and “Richie” was “His girlfriend,” Smith replied.

Richard Gutierrez. Galsote and Smith had been Higgins asked what Smith and Galsote were up friends since they were teenagers. Gorgostiza to, and if Smith had run into Quintero and Gutierrez recalled that 10 days before Norman’s murder, that day. “I can’t remember if I did or I didn’t,” Smith she’d driven Galsote and Smith to River City Guns, replied in a hoarse grumble. where the men asked her to buy a box of .380 Higgins suddenly got word that Mattison and Joyce caliber rounds for Smith’s gun. Higgins confirmed had arrived. “These guys are detectives from Placer that purchase through the store’s sales records.

County,” Higgins said. “They wanted to talk to you.”

Corroboration point one.

Mattison opened up by saying they were there Gorgostiza also remembered that Galsote asked about two men burned alive on Benson to buy Annabelle Avenue. “And your a gun-cleaning name’s come up,” he told Smith. kit at a Walmart.

“Just as a guy who knows them.”

Higgins found “I know Warren,” Smith the security corrected. “I didn’t know the other footage and guy too well. ... Warren, he’s a even bought the good guy … I’ve known him for same kit to make 16 or 17 years.” sure its product “Now, obviously, just because code matched of the way it happened, the fire 911 call to Placer county sheriff’s the exact and all that, everybody kind of purchase in the office, June 25, 2015 immediately goes, ‘Cartel! Right? video’s frame.

Big cartel hit,” Mattison said in a Corroboration relaxed tone. “But based on what point two. you know, is Warren a guy who’s Gorgostiza also said that after the shootings got thousands of dollars and 80 pounds of meth?” she and Galsote met up with Smith and Quintero “He doesn’t,” Smith grunted. at a drug house in North Highlands. Quintero was “The cartel’s not hitting anybody for six hundred wearing a shoulder strap with a gun on each side. bucks,” Mattison went on.

Higgins brought photos to the drug house and “And,” Joyce jumped in, “he seems like a guy interviewed a woman there to confirm Gorgostiza’s who’s going from motel to motel every night.” memory. Corroboration point three.

Smith answered their questions in muted grunts.

Finally, after listening to stories about a They tried to ask him about other low-level meth clash with the Paisas, Gorgotiza said she hid out dealers. He said little. They attempted to show photowith the men at the Motel 6 on 16th Street in graphs of people they were investigating. Smith didn’t Sacramento. Higgins found the manager and verilook interested. fied that the group had stay there through receipts.

Then Mattison asked about Quintero. “Do you Corroboration point four. have any concerns that he did it?”

Gorgostiza’s story was hectic, but it could lead “No way,” Smith’s deep voice ratcheted up. “Why him to Norman’s killer. And Higgins was beginning would he?” to have an idea of who the shooters were.

What Mattison and Joyce didn’t tell Smith was

“there’s two boys on fire! they’re not moving, but they’re breathing.”

that they had interviewed Quintero the day before and Quintero claimed that he barely knew Galsote and

Benson. When asked what he thought of them, the bald, girth-laden man with tats wrapping his skull gave the detectives a bizarre response.

“I just thought they were nice people,” he said.

“They were happy people.”

With Smith being unhelpful, it was time for Higgins to come back in the interview room.

Before leaving, Joyce looked at Smith and said, “The fact is we got two guys shot in the head and burned. Nobody deserves that, right?”

“Nobody,” Smith murmured.

Once Higgins returned, he instantly had a question. “So how come you didn’t tell me the guy died?” he asked, referring to Galsote.

“I don’t like talking about it,” Smith responded.

Higgins decided to play a card. He revealed that he knew that 10 days before the north Sacramento shootings, Smith had gotten Galsote’s girlfriend to buy ammunition that matched shells found at the Norman crime scene. Smith clammed up. He grumbled that he didn’t remember what kind of rounds were bought, and he didn’t know who touched them or where they’d gone after that.

Higgins started applying the pressure. “I don’t think you were the shooter there, but I’ve got to explain this,” he demanded, raising his voice. “If you loaded somebody else’s gun, lent somebody a gun, we don’t care about any of that bullshit. But I’ve got a murder to solve!”

Photo by Serene LuSano

Placer County Sheriff’s homicide detective Bryan Mattison watches evidence from his case presented to jurors in May 2018.

Remnants of a s avag e s u m m e R One afternoon in May 2018, Mattison and Higgins sat in an empty hallway of Auburn’s 124-year-old courthouse, waiting to tell a jury how the tsunami of slayings and shootings three years earlier were all connected.

Their cases broke open in the fall of 2015, when Mattison and Joyce started getting results on their DNA evidence, along with ballistic analysis and data from cell phone warrants. Plus, Higgins had found more witnesses.

Perhaps the biggest revelation was that the same .380 caliber pistol used at the Stacy Norman murder scene also fired bullets into the heads of Benson and Galsote. The gun topped a broad pyramid of evidence.

On June 3, 2015, after convincing Galsote’s girlfriend to buy ammunition for his .380 caliber, Smith went back to the Beaumont Street apartments, where he was living with Quintero’s disabled brother. Over the next few days, as tensions rose with the Paisas, Quintero and Gutierrez were seen flashing guns. On June 13, at 2:37 a.m., a fight broke out at a unit of the Rio Linda apartment next to Norman’s flat. Not long after, a friend of Quintero’s appeared from the darkness at the Beaumont Street apartments, saying he’d been jumped by the Paisas and demanding someone give him a gun.

Quintero walked out with a pistol and asked the friend, “Are you ready?” The two then disappeared into the night. Gutierrez soon met up with Quintero and they headed off to face the Paisas.

Gutierrez had borrowed Smith’s recently reloaded .380 caliber. At 4:45 a.m., Quintero and Gutierrez sprayed the Rio Linda apartments with a hail of bullets. Norman lay dying as they drove away.

Ten minutes later, someone in a blue Honda tried to retaliate against Quintero’s crew, opening fire on the Beaumont Street apartments. Belinda Gamez was shot near her front door, but survived.

Another gun attack that happened later that afternoon at the Beaumont Street apartments had nothing to do with these

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“midnight burning” continued from page 17

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apparently made a preemptive strike against the other.

What’s known for sure from cellphone records is that on the night Benson and Galsote died, Smith started leaving voice messages for Galsote.

Geo-data indicates at 10:52 p.m., as Galsote and Benson were seen on video at the Chevron and the unknown man’s arm was hanging out of the car window behind them—a man prosecutors believe to be Smith—a signal from Smith’s phone pinged at the nearest tower. From that spot, data tracks Smith’s phone from South Sacramento all the way to the border of East Roseville and Granite Bay, near the spot where Galsote and Benson met their end in flames. Hemling saw the glow in his window at 11:25 p.m. Minutes later, after the silver sedan sped by Garland’s patrol car, Smith’s phone pinged at a cell tower in that neighborhood, too.

And Smith’s DNA was found on the handle of the blood-stained gas can.

In February 2018, Sacramento Deputy District Attorney Laura West persuaded a jury to convict Quintero and Gutierrez of Norman’s murder.

They were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Smith’s trial in May 2018 for the killings of Galsote and Benson didn’t go as smoothly. He was represented by local defense legend Linda Parisi, who hammered at every weak spot in the evidence. Parisi reminded jurors that cell tower data could only show where Smith’s phone was, but not who held it. She noted that DNA evidence could say her client touched the gas can, but not when. She told jurors that Galsote and Smith had been friends since high school, while Quintero watched Galsote threaten his disabled brother with a gun. And where was the now-convicted killer, Quintero, on the night of the burnings? How many people were actually in the back seat of that sedan?

“In the underworld of methamphetamine sales in Sacramento, the normal values of these players don’t equate to the normal values of our society,” Placer prosecutor Moore countered in his closing arguments.

Phot o by Sere ne LuSa no

events, but it did involve Galsote, who had left a large quantity of meth in Smith’s apartment. Galsote showed up around 5 p.m. looking to get his product back. Smith and Quintero were there, but the stash had vanished.

Gorgostiza testified that Smith quickly blamed his disabled roommate and that Quintero sat and watched as Galsote put a gun to his disabled brother’s head and threatened to kill him. Crying, Quintero’s brother blamed the apartments’ maintenance man for stealing the drugs. Two witnesses said they saw Galsote, Quintero and Smith storm over to that man’s apartment, kick its door in and fire numerous shots through the wall of the bedroom.

With Sacramento police on the way, the crew took off. That’s when Quintero was spotted with his guns in the drug house. After that, the group fled to the Motel 6 that Galsote’s girlfriend later remembered.

During those hectic hours, Galsote made the fateful decision to bring his two worlds together by calling Benson. Galsote asked his old friend to buy the crew a gun-cleaner and to give them rides around Sacramento in a car that hadn’t been spotted in the last shooting.

Dominoes were falling toward the flames on Annabelle Avenue.

Gorgostiza testified that Quintero became paranoid, convinced he was “going down” for Norman’s murder.

They drove by her apartment that afternoon and heard from others in the neighborhood she was dead. And now someone Quintero barely knew was aware of that crime: Benson, the luckless, slightly preppy dealer who was on law enforcement’s radar and considered a pushover by some and a songbird by others.

At the same time, Galsote still wanted to know what happened to his missing methamphetamine. If Smith’s roommate didn’t take it, there was an obvious suspect, Smith. So Smith had Gutierrez return his .380 caliber.

Trust was breaking down in every direction, as Placer County Deputy District Attorney Jeff Moore later told a jury. One part of the drug crew

Joshua “Whetto” Smith

Richard “Richie” Gutierrez

Laurencio “Goppy” Quintero

Yet the jurors were only allowed to hear snippets of what happened in Sacramento.

Seven of them apparently couldn’t accept that Smith would set a childhood friend on fire for the fragmented motives they’d heard. The jury could not reach a verdict.

Last week, faced with Moore expanding his case—and faced with spending life in prison if a second jury convicted him—Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years in state prison. Moore said he accepted the deal “with a heavy heart,” but could not risk Smith going free.

The families of Benson and Galsote say they’re haunted by the sadistic nature of the crime and by the question of Quintero’s involvement that night.

During the reading of victim impact statements at Smith’s sentencing, Benson’s father said he still has nightmares about his son’s final moments. Benson’s sister screamed at Smith to look at her while she was speaking. Both Benson and Galsote’s mothers cried and struggled for breath when recalling their sons.

Detectives Mattison and Joyce, who wrote more than 50 warrants and interviewed dozens of people over nine months, have their own reflections. For Joyce, what stands out is working alongside a veteran detective like Higgins on his final case.

“You pick up so much being around someone like that,” Joyce said, “and you try to take as much as you can from that wealth of experience.”

Mattison said he thinks about the victims’ families. “This crime ruined so many lives—Warren’s kids—and obviously the conviction doesn’t change anything,” he said.

“But we work a lot of cold cases, and we know about the suffering families go through when they never get any closure.

They may not know why it happened, but they know how. We want to at least give them that.” Ω

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story and photos by Kate GonzaLes

Our fight

A California Museum exhibit chronicles the overshadowed history of labor activist Dolores Huerta

J Labor activist Dolores Huerta, during a private tour of the new California Museum exhibit dedicated to her life.

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ust after International Women’s Day, a California activist whose work has had an immeasurable impact on the balance of political power visited Sacramento to see a new exhibit focused on her life.

After years of fighting for change, Latina labor activist Dolores Huerta isn’t easily shaken.

But seeing her life on display at the California Museum was, “a little overwhelming.” “The photos bring back a lot of memories,” she said.

Huerta championed workers’ rights as a union leader alongside Cesar Chavez starting in the 1960s. She often credits her mother, Fred Ross and the Central Valley for setting the course of her life.

Now 89, she continues to organize people through the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

“She is a powerhouse,” said Taína Caragol as she stood inside the museum, a block from the state Capitol, the destination of a historic farm worker march from Delano in 1966. “To be able to open this show here is so significant.”

Caragol works at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., where she curates painting and sculpture and Latino art and history. In 2015-16, the gallery featured an exhibit that focused on Huerta’s place in American history.

“Some people knew Dolores, many did not,” Caragol said.

Now, a bilingual touring exhibit takes Huerta’s story on the road. Dolores Huerta: Revolution in the Fields / Revolución en los Campos, which focuses

my kind of sunday school see music

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vietnamese american comedy see stage

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alonzo’s moves to ... see dish

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civil-war style baseball see calendar

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The phrase “¡Sí se puede!” is often incorrectly attributed to the late labor activist Cesar Chavez. Huerta coined the phrase, still chanted at protests today. Also pictured: Taína Caragol, left, and María del Carmen Cossu, far right, of the Smithsonian Institution.

disregarded. Even today, she’s mentioned far less on UFW’s website than Chavez. She resigned from the union in 2002. “[Huerta] was up front, but history has not always given her that place,” said María del Carmen Cossu, project director for Latino Initiatives with the Smithsonian Institution.

“It’s very important to hear it from the main actors in their own stories, especially when unacknowledged in history books.”

moving forward

on six large panels of photos and stories chronicling Huerta’s life and work in English and Spanish, opened at the California Museum on March 9 and runs through July 7.

After the exhibit leaves Sacramento, it will travel to six museums over the next two years. The next stop will be Haggin Museum in Stockton.

looking back Born in 1930, Huerta was raised in Stockton by her single mom, Alicia. Huerta is often quick to bring up her mother’s generosity; she offered poor farm workers free rooms in her hotel.

“My mother was an equal-opportunity mother,” Huerta said. “My brothers, they had to do the dishes, they had to do housework.”

Huerta taught elementary school briefly, but thought she could do more for kids by improving their parents’ lives. She left to work with Fred Ross at Community Service Organization, which organized people to improve their neighborhoods. The CSO helped get officers with the Los Angeles Police Department convicted or suspended for their role in brutality against prisoners, including MexicanAmerican men.

Huerta was impressed. She became CSO’s political director and began drafting legislation and lobbying in Sacramento. Ross introduced Huerta to Chavez, and they began organizing farm workers throughout California. In 1962, they resigned from CSO to launch the National Farm Workers Association in Delano.

While Huerta sacrificed time with her 11 children, the union that later became United Farm Workers made history.

“many people say, ‘oh darn it, i miss the ’60s. well guess what, they’re back.” dolores huerta, labor rights leader

In 1965, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, a union of mostly Filipino-American farm laborers, organized a walkout that NFWA joined. At the time, there were no protections for farm laborers, who were protesting poor pay and working conditions in Delano-area vineyards.

The walkout kicked off a five-year strike. The 300-mile march from Delano to the Capitol led by Chavez and Huerta drew national attention. The strikes and an international grape boycott, which Huerta organized on the East Coast, put pressure on growers to allow workers to unionize and seek healthier working conditions, including access to cold water, shade and toilets in the fields. By 1970, many grape growers signed union contracts.

As a Latina activist in the ’60s and ’70s, Huerta’s role was often overshadowed. Chavez, who was president of UFW, has been wrongly credited for coining the phrase, “Sí, se puede,” which inspired Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign slogan, “Yes, we can!” and continues to be chanted in Spanish at protests today. It was Huerta who coined the term and made it the UFW slogan.

The 2017 documentary Dolores shows how, after Chavez’s death in 1993, Huerta’s role was sometimes

The exhibit largely focuses on 1962 to 1975, but includes moments from her early life and recent achievements. On the final panel, a photo shows Obama presenting Huerta with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the nation’s highest civilian award.

About an hour before the grand opening of the exhibit at the California Museum, Huerta, two of her daughters and a few others took a private tour. The museum borrowed mementos from Huerta’s personal collection, including an iconic red knitted sweater bearing the UFW logo. The exhibit also features posters from the Royal Chicano Air Force, a Sacramento-based Chicano arts activist group that helped promote the UFW. Later, as Huerta stepped onto the auditorium stage, a voice called out, “¡Viva Dolores Huerta!”

The crowd loudly responded, “¡Viva!”

Huerta sat down with Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and California’s first lady.

They discussed her upbringing, police violence and her advice to women in any position: Own their role because they are as capable as anyone else.

“I’m grateful for all she’s done for society— women, children, men, no distinction. It was for everybody,” said Sarah-Michael Gaston, who attended the talk.

It’s work that Huerta continues today. Her foundation is organizing Kern County residents on issues such as education, economic development and the environment.

“Many people say, ‘Oh darn it, I miss the ’60s,” she said. “Well guess what, they’re back.” Ω

The touring exhibit Dolores Huerta: Revolution in the Fields / Revolución en los Campos runs through July 7. Admission is $6.50-$9, free for kids under 5. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am-5pm, and Sunday noon-5pm. 1020 O Street. For more info, visit californiamuseum.org.

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Eat. Drink.

Be Merry.

Repeat.

book shows, or threaten venues if they didn’t pay them. Sullivan has since gone into early retirement.

In February 2017, the band played to its first packed house when it opened for Hobo Johnson at Ruhstaller, a downtown basement taproom and music venue.

That April, Sunday School held its debut EP release party at the thenStarlight Lounge on 21st Street (now Holy Diver).

“I lost my shirt that night and we were pretty [hammered], so Do they look like a band who takes themselves too fairly solid night,” Giddings said. seriously?

The shows caused buzz, landing the pop-rock band a nomination for the 2017 SAMMIES in the Best Rock Act and Best New Act categories. They rolled into Dozens of guitar pedals litter the practice room the awards show like rock stars, sporting fur coats floor. The electronics of a 1986 synthesizer shake the and sunglasses. walls, which are plastered with posters, including one “Will and I concluded that if we won, we would of Radiohead and a massive one of Cop Out, starring only do a speech to the lyrics of ‘All Star’ by Smash Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Willis peers down Mouth and not even say anything else,” Giddings at the members of Sunday School as they push their recalls. “That was the only reason I wanted to win.” pop-punk toward dance-pop.

The band didn’t win. But Sunday School carried This is Sacramento Rehearsal Studios on 88th on, until Green left the band in 2018 to teach English Street, the band’s temporary home. It’s filled with in South Korea. They needed a replacement: an abundance of instruments, including a 1986 Giddings had booked another gig with Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizer and a 1987 Hobo Johnson, this time at Bottom of Simmons SDS electronic drum kit.

“It the Hill in San Francisco.

The vintage equipment isn’t just One drunk night, a nervous for looks. was one of and intoxicated Giddings “We are trying to go for a more my better drunk messaged a former bandmate, ’80s dance kind of thing,” guitarist Michael Gompers, to play bass.

Alex Giddings explains. “We all decisions.”

“It was one of my better like new wave and ... we have gear drunk decisions,’” Giddings says.

Alex Giddings, for that.”

Gompers said yes. guitarist, Sunday Sunday School began in 2014, “It’s really great to play music School with lead singer Will Heimbichner anyway, but to be able to play with and drummer Cameron English. The duo people that you have a commonality, would rock out in English’s father’s church taste and influence ... that’s what it’s about for in Eureka. me,” Gompers said.

When a full band formed a year later, a list of Outside the studio, the band puts on killer band names included the Super Friends and the live shows; high energy, with a commitment to Weird Uncles. They settled on a church-oriented entertain. one because Heimbichner says he wanted to make a “I feel like there’s a sense of us being genuine Sunday School that people would enjoy. That congrewhen we play,” Giddings says. “We don’t take gation included Heimbichner (vocals), Giddings ourselves too seriously, but we should probably (guitar), English (drums) and Zachary Green (bass). should take ourselves more seriously.” Ω They booked gigs but worried they weren’t being taken seriously—or getting the best shows. To score bigger shows and gain credibility, they needed a manager. So, Heimbichner created Oz Sullivan, a Check out sunday school’s self-titled eP on bandcamp: sundayschoolband. fake manager who had his own Facebook profile. bandcamp.com.

They say they only used him a handful of times to

now playing

Reviews

5

A Doll’s House, Part 2

Coming to Arkansas

by Patti RobeRts

Photo courtesy of charr crail PhotograPhy

Isaacson, and it’s a winner.

While Gabriel Mark is good as Oliver, his one problem is that he needs to control the smile on his face at all times! Fri 8pm, Sat 8pm, Sun

Lucas Hnath’s Tony-nominated play imagines a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll’s House, in which Nora drops by the family she left behind 15 years prior. For this story, you need a resilient and talented cast to hold their own, and thankfully B Street Theatre has assembled an ace team. Wed

2pm; Through 3/24; $16-$18;

Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive in Davis; (530) 756-3682; dmtc.org. B.S.

5

Reborning

After decades, a still-grieving mother steps into a distressing mess with she asks a dollmaker to fashion a replica of her dead child. Russell Dow directs this harrowing emotional journey. Taylor Fleer, Anthony Person and Laura Kaya star. Thu 8pm,

2pm & 6:30pm, Thu 8pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm & 9pm, Sun 2pm; Through 4/7; $28-$47; B

Street Theatre, 2700 Capitol Avenue, (916) 443-5300; bstreettheatre.org. P.R.

4

Oliver!

The Davis Musical Theatre Company, celebrating its 34th year, has opened its production of “Oliver!” directed by Jan

the cast of Vietgone will absolutely destroy you in a rap battle.

Vietgone

5

Wed 7pm, thu 7pm, fri 8pm, sat 2pm & 8pm, sun 2pm & 7pm. through 4/14; $30-$40; capital stage, 2215 J street, (916) 995-5464; capstage.org.

Playwright Qui Nguyen was never going to tell his Vietnamese parents’ story in a traditional way.

His theater style is bold and in-your-face, all while subverting Asian-American stereotypes.

Nguyen sticks to his own rules in Vietgone, his self-described “action sex comedy” about his family’s history that’s raw, funny, raunchy and a bit sentimental, with Hamilton-style rap lyrics, pop-culture references, brash humor, fast-paced dialogue and more than a couple of sex scenes.

His parents’ story is neither linear, nor saccharine.

His father, Quang, was a helicopter pilot for South Vietnam’s air force who had a wife and two kids before fleeing and landing in Arkansas, where he hooked up with Nguyen’s tenacious and outspoken mom, Tang, in a refugee camp.

For the Sacramento debut of Vietgone, Capital Stage has gathered a vibrant, cohesive cast and topnotch director Jeffrey Lo, all from the Bay Area.

Jomar Tagatac gives us a swaggering, sexy Quang while Rinabeth Apostol answers with a sharp-tongued, do-as-she pleases Tang—both bringing fuel to the couple’s fiery chemistry. Michelle Talgarow plays several characters, including the protective mother bear, not afraid to insert herself in everyone’s life.

Rounding out the cast with numerous characters are actors Anthony Chan and David Crane.

What makes Vietgone so powerful is Nguyen’s way of inviting the audience to witness American culture through the eyes of immigrants. These are refugees who have lost country, family and identity, who see the Vietnam War through a different lens, and who must rebuild lives and loves in a brand new world. Ω

4

The Whipping Man

Celebration Arts follows up its production of the pre-Civil War drama Abolition with a strong showing of the post-Civil War drama The Whipping Man. A fine cast and outstanding direction

by James Wheatley give this play about the scars of slavery and the responsibilities of freedom a fierce strength. Thu 8pm, Fri 8pm,

Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm; Through 3/24; $15-$20, All seats $10 Thursdays; Celebra-

tion Arts Theatre, 2727 B Street; (916) 455-2787; celebrationarts.net. J.C.

Fri 8pm, Sat 8pm; Through 4/6; $12-18; Big Idea Theatre,

1616 Del Paso Boulevard; (916) 960-3036; bigideatheatre.org. J.C.

1 2 3 4 5 foul

fair

gooD

5 Up against the wall

In a refreshing political satire, director Manuel José Pickett leads a cast of five brilliant actors into Teatro Espejo’s 44th season with We Won’t Pay! Nunca! at California Stage Theatre. The play was adapted from Dario Fo’s original farce to include current events, such as the recent government shutdown and President Trump’s border wall.

Set in South Sacramento, Kim Ramos, playing the quick-witted Antonia, explodes onto the stage with an intense energy that she maintains throughout the two-hour show. Antonia and her friend Margarita (Olivia Lopez) comically evade the law, while their husbands, Gerardo (Panagiotis Roditis) and Luis (Jonathan Guzman), find themselves in their own misunderstandings and struggles with the National Guard, an inspector, a trucker and a mariachi musician, all played by Catalina Serrano Bucheli. Bucheli’s hilarious comedic timing and incredible ingenuity is clearly seen through her five characters.

The show is bilingual, but it’s accessible to English-speaking audiences who are woefully ignorant of the Spanish language (like me). And with just the right amount of breaking the fourth wall, the actors’ audience interaction is downright fun. It’s a wonderfully light and comical production with a passionate and talented cast.

The play may leave viewers wondering: “Are resistance or lawlessness the only solutions?”

But perhaps that’s the purpose—to address such concerns in the current political situation and start conversations. The play also touches on the more positive situations of bringing people from opposite sides together and asks: “Who’s the radical and who’s the Republican here?”

—Tessa MaRgueRiTe OuTland

Well-DoNe

short reviews by Patti roberts, Bev sykes and Jim carnes.

suBliMe DoN’t Miss

scReen pick swoons over color coordination.

An American in Rochefort Let’s face it: A movie is only good if it involves meticulous set design and intricate scene blocking. Anything else is garbage. That leaves The Young Girls of Rochefort, a whimsical Hollywood-esque musical starring Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as two sisters looking for love and a way to escape their quiet seaside town.

Director Jaques Demy not only captures some of the greatest choreography put to screen, but he also wrote the lyrics to every song. Sure it’s all in French, but it’s nearly impossible to avoid humming along, or smiling when a remarkably spry, 50-something Gene Kelly leaps onscreen in homage to a bygone era.

—Rachel Mayfield We Won’t Pay! Nunca!: friday 8pm, sat 8pm, sun 7pm; through 3/31; $15-$20; teatro espejo at california stage theatre, 2509 r street; (916) 451-5822; teatroespejo.com

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its doors. However, Alonzo’s is a local favorite. People who grew up in South Sac and have moved on to other cities still return for their favorite dishes when they’re in town.

They show up for pork chile verde, caldo de res (a clear beef soup with zucchini, carrots and onions), pork chicana and lots and lots of pozole and menudo. Pozole contains only chunks of pork, while menudo includes bits of pork and tripe in a rich and murky-red broth.

A bit of cabbage, a squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of raw white onion are the proper accompaniments to enjoy the full experience of both homemade soups.

Coincidentally, all these dishes are perfect Janet Lara dishes stacked club sandwiches and fresh for when you have the cruda (hangover). taco plates for lunchtime at As someone who was also born and Alonzo’s in South Sacramento. raised in South Sac, I ask Sam about the news that a portion of the plaza which Photo by nicole fowler includes the small, standalone drivethru coffee hut, Java Express, will be demolished and replaced with a CVS and a Starbucks soon. It’s a blow to the neighborhood’s small business culture. This also happened to the Mexican supermarket Mercado Loco on Franklin Boulevard, which was demolished and replaced with another CVS. For many living in the area, that market was the nearest grocery store.

What does the Fruitridge Shopping

by Illyanna MaIsonet Center’s pending makeover mean for Alonzo’s?

“We’re moving into a larger space. Just He is one of Jesus and Wanda’s sons, down the way near Happy Garden,” Sam and also the second generation to run the Alonzo says excitedly. “We’re looking restaurant. He balances his time between forward to a larger space.” huevos rancheros and his full-time job in A fresh black-and-red sign now hangs Galt. He says his mom doesn’t come in at Alonzo’s new location at 5709 Stockton to the diner as much anymore, a sort of Boulevard, a sign that will mark the retirement. But customers will still see restaurant’s legacy for the next generation. her from time to time taking orders and A look inside reveals that it’s getting running the register. closer to opening; newly The Mexican and painted walls are adorned American dishes served Alonzo’s with photos of customat Alonzo’s nourish ers who’ve been not a “hidden is the neighborhood coming to Alonzo’s gem.” Many of the Sam was raised for decades, some in as he grew restaurant’s customers for nearly 50 years. up across the The new restauhave patronized the street near the rant will open this business since the family McDonald’s. spring, but its loyal “I remember opened its doors. customers can still eating at the front savor their ritual of is a However, Alonzo’s table when I was a Sunday breakfast at its local favorite. kid. That was the late current location, which is ’60s,” he recalls. still open until the transition.

Alonzo’s is not a The Alonzo family says they “hidden gem.” Many of the look forward filling the new restaurant restaurant’s customers have patronized with the same warmth and comfort as its the business since the family opened old space. Ω

A neighborhood favorite’s next move Alonzo’s is still open at 5649 Stockton boulevard until it moves to its larger location.

Visit facebook.com/ Alonzos1969 for updates.

A constant stream of people flow in and out of the restaurant’s door. Most turn around to wait outside underneath the cement breezeway because as usual, Alonzo’s, a Mexican-American diner in the Fruitridge Shopping Center, is packed.

And a quick glance at the large chrome and neon clock on the corner of Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard signals that Sam Alonzo is running late.

It’s 15 minutes past our scheduled meeting inside his family’s restaurant. And for the first time, I ask myself, “Who is Alonzo?”

Jesus and Wanda Alonzo opened the beloved South Sacramento restaurant in 1969. Wanda came from Minnesota, and Jesus moved to the United States from Mexico when he was 16 years old. He passed away 17 years ago. But the restaurant—and its homestyle dishes—remain.

Jesus Alonzo was from a community called El Rucio, the municipality of Villa de Cos in Zacatecas, Mexico, says Nora Santana, who was a waitress at Alonzo’s in 1989. Her brothers introduced her to Jesus.

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Behind the restaurant’s bar are photos of a young, muscular man in boxing trunks.

Is that Alonzo?

“That’s Jesus’ grandson, Hildo Silva,” says Daniel Savala, a South Sacramento native and longtime regular at Alonzo’s. “He and I fought on the same card a few times.”

Savala says he used to train at the old Capitol Boxing Center as a young man. He also worked for Alonzo’s until his senior year of high school.

“He was such a good man. Humble and took care of his people,” Savala recalls. “I was in the restaurant having breakfast with my mom and sisters. Jessie walked over to talk to us … my mom jokingly asked him in Spanish, ‘When you gonna put this boy to work?’ Jessie looked down at his watch and said, ‘As soon as he’s done eating. I need a dishwasher.’”

Sam finally shows up. He extends his hand and immediately invites me to take a seat at the counter, “You want to eat something? I’m having the huevos rancheros.”

IllustratIon by Mark stIvers

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On its 60th anniversary, then-City Councilman Darrell Steinberg signed a resolution congratulating New Roma Bakery for its longtime service to Sacramento.

That was in 1994—and it’s a milestone that’s quite a feat considering many small businesses don’t make it past three years. This year, New Roma, the little bakery on the corner of 18th and E streets, celebrates 85 years of assorted pastries, towering wedding cakes and fresh-baked breads pulled straight from its brick oven.

The bakery first opened in 1934.

For a bit of period reference, the Tower Bridge was completed a year later. It’s nice to think that the iconic bridge’s builders once enjoyed New Roma on their breaks. So what lends to a bakery’s permanence? A recent casualty is The Bread Store, which closed its doors in February after being in business since 1990.

Spots that have solved this riddle for now include Freeport Bakery and Grateful Bread. There’s also Mahoraba Japanese Bakery known for its sweet Kobe Cream filling and ABC Bakery with its delicious Chinese steamed and baked pork buns. New Roma is cradled by the charming,

tree-lined streets of the Boulevard Park neighborhood that looks like something out of the opening credits of Portlandia. A faded vintage neon sign with glowing pink letters shines bright in the early morning hours.

Upon entering the bakery, customers are greeted by the smell of sugary sweet donuts one minute, while the next is dominated by the aroma of piping-hot French, sourdough and rye loaves.

On a recent weekday morning, a handful of customers gathered in front of glass display cases filled with eclairs, turnovers and pies. A visiting contractor wore blue jeans covered in white paint. A young girl selected a doughnut before heading off to school across the street. English, Spanish and Japanese conversations blended in among the chatter, and there was not a single smartphone in sight.

Doug Maxwell, a regular customer and owner of the E Street Bike Shop (formerly Rex Cycles) across the street, said he’s hooked on peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches made with New Roma’s milk bread that he’s enjoyed for the last decade.

Cathy MacBurnie, a clerk for two years, explained that the popular

milk bread has the same ingredients as French bread, but substitutes milk for the traditional water. The bread is pillow-soft on the inside, and its crust has just the right amount of crunchy chewiness. She’ll ask if you’d like the loaf sliced. The bread slicer looks like a long, narrow white-toothed mouth, and it has been providing convenient sandwich bread at New Roma since, you guessed it, 1934. As the bread is sliced, my eyes wander to the freakishly large Texas doughnuts in the display case: $2 a piece in maple and chocolate varieties. Nearby are the “Glazed Men,” pudgy sweet breads with frosting for eyes and mouths that attract excited children to the glass.

Master baker and owner since 1997, Tim R. Costa is unseen on the sales floor. MacBurnie described his work schedule as 72 hours a week plus extra time on his days off. Maybe he’s thinking about the century mark that beckons 15 years in the future.

When asked what she enjoys about New Roma, MacBurnie explained, “It’s a family place. The last of the small hometown bakeries are dying out like weeds. No, no. Flowers.”

It’s a fitting concern for the Camellia City. Ω

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for the week of March 21

by maxfield morris

POST EVENTS ONLINE FOR FREE AT newsreview.com/sacramento

MUSIC THURSDAY, 3/21 MECHANIZM: Wendell & the Puppets and Painting Fences join Mechanizm for an evening of pageantry and sound. 6:30pm, $10-$12. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

MORGAN JAMES: Singer, actor, performer—

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Blast from the pastime Woodside Park, 11am, no cover The game: baseball. The year of the rulebook: 1864—more than 150 years ago, in the middle of the Civil War. It’s the mission of Central Valley Vintage Base Ball to bring the 19th century version of America’s national SPORTS & OUTDOORS pastime to the public, and that means you’re invited to join in the fun. With equipment, outfits and rules

TICKET WINDOW SUSAN STAMBERG The former

All Things Considered host on NPR and interviewing dynamo will be speaking for about an hour. She’ll then take questions and give answers in return.

4/9, 7:30pm, $28-$58, on sale now. Harris

Center in Folsom, harriscenter.net.

AJJ Get some folk-

punk from the folks with punk songs and a whiny voice, plus Antarctigo Vespucci and

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FRIDAY, 3/22 ADRIAN LEGG: Adrian Legg is a guitar player whose Wikipedia page intro exactly matches his own website’s description. Check out his “impossible to categorize” music and guitar-playing. 7pm, $30. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

CAPITOL POPS CONCERT BAND PERFORMANCE: It’s a free music concert, featured on page 27. 7pm, no cover. California Automobile Museum, 2200 Front St.

THE DECIBELS: It’s re-opening weekend for Cafe Colonial, and that means the Decibels are playing with Reverberations, and DJ Ann Tindall, too. 8pm, $10. Cafe Colonial, 3520 Stockton Blvd.

THE EASYCHAIRS: Life’s easier when your

that are period-accurate, the historical reenactment recreates actual teams that existed in the Central Valley at the time.

On this particular Saturday morning, you can catch or play in a double-header. Just show up an hour early to get acquainted with the rules and find a new home in an old sport. 1615 Cottonwood Street in Woodland, cvvbb.org.

chairs are easy. Stop by and join the rock ’n’ roll experience with this local band. 7:30pm, $8-$10. Goldfield Trading Post, 1630 J St.

EMPRESS NIKO & LION’S PAW: 2019 SAMMIES nominee Empress Niko & Lion’s Paw is playing in the pub. Show up for some potentially award-worthy reggae tunes. 8pm, $5-$7. Fox and Goose, 1001 R St.

GENESIS: Join Home Bass for an evening of flashing lights, lasers, music, sounds from RIOT, more sounds from Champagne Drip and more great acts. 8pm, $25. The Rink Studios, 1031 Del Paso Blvd.

$OMPARTY: It’s an R&B dream with The

Get your tickets while they’re hot. Purchase them legally, please.

Pllush. 4/17, 8pm, $17, on sale now. Harlow’s, ticketfly.com.

THE DODOS The Dodos are great—they have good songs. Come check them out in person; don’t just send your butler to experience the show vicariously. 5/2, 8pm, $15, on sale now. Harlow’s, ticketfly.com.

LA DISPUTE Catch the Michiganders

and their post-hardcore act along with supporting acts Gouge Away and Slow Mass. 5/4, 7pm, $22.50, on sale now. Ace of Spades, eventbrite.com.

FREDDIE GIBBS The rapper behind

You Only Live 2wice and Piñata is coming to Sacramento to rap songs. 5/5, 7:30pm, $22.50, on sale now. Harlow’s, ticketfly.com.

LOVELYTHEBAND Don’t feel “Broken”Get considering, Susan.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CENTRAL VALLEY VINTAGE BASEBALL

Millennials are killing the vintage baseball industry— help keep it alive.

each of these descriptors could be claimed

by Morgan James if she wanted them. Join James for a jaunty night on her Reckless Abandon tour. 7pm, $35. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

hearted—lovelytheband will be playing here shortly, as will flora cash and

Jagwar Twin, all in the same show. 5/23, 7pm, $22-$85, on sale now. Ace of Spades, eventbrite.com.

WAzzMATAzz This festival has it all—if

all you want is Halsey, Ellie Goulding, CNCO, Ava Max, Fletcher and Ty James.

Those are the acts performing at this show. 6/2, $29.50-$129.50, on sale 3/22.

Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, livenation.com.

INDIGO GIRLS Catch the all-

Americana, all-the-time musical duo Indigo Girls at the Mondavi Center. 6/21, 8pm, on sale 3/22. Mondavi Center in Davis, tickets.mondaviarts.org.

311 Not the helpful municipal service line— the rock band. They’re playing with Dirty Heads. 8/16, 6:30pm, on sale 3/22. Papa Murphy’s Park, ticketmaster.com.

Philharmonik, Jeaux, James Cavern, Harlequin Rose and DJ Gio. Join in the party for a night of smooth sounds, music and more. 7pm, $18. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

VIVA VIVALDI!: Antonio Vivaldi is the man of the hour, and he’s got all kinds of musical tricks up his sleeves. Join the Sacramento Baroque Soloists as they perform Vivalvdi’s songs—and maybe, if you wish hard enough, Vivaldi himself may make an appearance.

You heard it here first! 7:30pm, $15-$30. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1430 J St.

SATURDAY, 3/23 THE “1ST ANNUAL” LOVEMAKERS SHOW: In what is billed as the first in a series of shows from the LoveMakers, the band that pairs nicely with a glass of Hobo Johnson is taking their act into the spotlight. 7pm, $12. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

BEN OTTEWELL & IAN BALL: Two parts of the indie rock band Gomez will be playing— namely Ben Ottewell and Ian Ball, as will Los

snr c a le nd a r @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Online listings will be considered for print. Print listings are edited for space and accuracy. Deadline for print listings is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Deadline for NightLife listings is midnight Sunday.

Send photos and reference materials to calendar editor Maxfield Morris at snrcalendar@newsreview.com.

Angeles indie rock group Buddy. 6:30pm, $20. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

CLUB SEANCE: The Barfly will turn into a place to commune with the less-living in this séance-themed dance session with DJ Chat Noir 9:30pm, $5. Midtown Barfly, 1119 21st St.

DRUG APTS: The Apartments are joined by Nocturnal Habits, Grave Lake and Dots at this Red Museum night of punk-rock-garage excitement. 8pm, $10. The Red Museum, 212 15th St.

INTERCHANGE: The genres are many, the amps will be gone, Aaron Gayden will be there, as will Billy J. Walsh and Michael Gregory. 7pm, $15. Antiquité Midtown, 2114 P St.

ODE TO SATURDAY LOVE PARTY LISTENING PARTY: If you’re a fan of Ode to Saturday, come celebrate yourself at this fan-appreciation party. There’s music from Ode to Saturday—who are SAMMIES nominees— along with other performers, catered food and more. 6:30pm, no cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

SUNDAY, 3/24 PKEW PKEW PKEW: Canadians, punk rockers and mosh-folks all, Pkew Pkew Pkew will be performing, as will Lightweight and Sad Girlz Club. 8pm, $10. Cafe Colonial, 3520 Stockton Blvd.

SUSTO: Frances Cone and Susto are both indie rock groups, so if you like indie rock, come hear some from two groups with great sounds. 8pm, $15-$18. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

UP WITH PEOPLE LIVE ON TOUR 2019: You may remember them from their stints at Super Bowl halftime shows, or if you’re Glenn Close, you likely remember performing songs with them. Through the careful application of buzzwords and music, Up With People aims to help young people feel hope and empowerment. 6pm, $10$50. Sacramento Convention Center Complex, 1400 J St.

TUESDAY, 3/26 THE HAPPY FITS: The Happy Fits, along with Deal Casino, will partially fill the venue with alternative and indie rock ’n’ roll. 7:30pm, $13-$15. Goldfield Trading Post, 1630 J St.

H.R.: The man behind the initials behind Bad Brains, H.R., will perform with Downtown Brown, ¡Las Pulgas! and Sacto Storytellers. 8pm, $15-$20. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

ROBBIE FULKS: The singer-songwriter with a heart full of songs and alternative-country music and broad appeal to a sizable chunk of the concert-going market will be performing. 7pm, $25. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

WEDNESDAY, 3/27 EPISODE 1 PILOT: Join Empire Arts Collective for this evening of songs sung on TV sung in front of you instead. With music from “Cheers” and “Galavant” as well as hits from the Lonely Island and Queen, this is one song-singing session you won’t want to miss out on because you got sick. 7:30am, $10$25. Track 7, 826 Professor Lane, Suite 100.

Friday, 3/22

Capitol Pops Concert Band California automobile museum, 7pm, no Cover

The Capitol Pops Concert Band is steering toward the Cal Auto Museum for an evening of revved-up music.

MusiC Volunteer musicians all, the band’s roaring theme of the evening is “Take Me Away,” so get dressed to the V8s and join in the music amidst vehicles galore. It’s the seventh annual installment of the free evening, and the two-hour show has a 20-minute intermission so you don’t get exhausted.

PHOTO COUrTESy OF MELiSSa HardiN At 6 p.m., the museum opens to the public without charge so you can drive yourself wild with car appreciation.

2200 Front Street, facebook.com/CapitolPops/events.

FESTiVaLS SaTUrday, 3/23 i sTREET LANTERN FEsTiVAL: Are you jazzed about the I Street Bridge being transitioned into a pedestrian haven and kicking the cars to the curb of a new bridge? Then come celebrate with this lantern walk! There will be an introduction and information about the bridge, as well as musical performances and lantern festivities, along with a walk that goes for nearly a mile. 7pm, no cover. I Street Bridge, 201 C St. in West Sacramento.

MEADOWViEW COMMuNiTY HisTORY FEsTiVAL: This festival, brought to you in part by Capital Public Radio, seeks to document the people living in Meadowview, and what it means to live there. It’s part of an effort to put in the historical record the people who live there. Folks from Meadowview are encouraged to bring old photos to share and be scanned, old videos and old stories. You’ll be able to take photos, eat food and meet people who live in the neighborhood. 10am, no cover. Samuel Pannell Meadowview Community Center, 2450 Meadowview Road.

POC + QuEER MARKET: Sol Collective will be full to the brim with good vendors and good eats. Half Plastic, Tasha Throws Raw, Bummer Books, Daisy Cards, Birdmilk Vintage, The Cozy Broke, Esther Hall and more vendors will be sharing their unique goods. 10am, no cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

SUNday, 3/24 KiTH AND KiN MusiC FEsTiVAL: Claimstake Brewing presents … in collaboration with the genres Americana and bluegrass … featuring seven different bands … with Burning Daylight People, SAMMIES nominee Tre Burt, Pine Hurts and more … a festival with food, beer and T-shirts to get very excited about. 10:30am, $5-$20. Claimstake Brewing Company, 11366 Monier Park Place in Rancho Cordova.

GRAPE CiTY CON: Join the city of Lodi for a convention chock full of pop culture icons, including Tony Fleecs, My Little Pony comic book author. There’s wrestling, food, Victoria Atkin, Jack Swagger and more fun. 10am, $5. Lodi Grape Festival, 413 E. Lockeford St. in Lodi.

thing on the menu. The Mariachi Festival de Sacramento features Grupo Bella, Mariachi Las Colibri, Dinorah and Mariachi Neuvo Nexico along with Mariachi Angeles de Pepe Martinez Jr. 3:30pm, $25-$60. Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St.

MONday, 3/25 THE TRiViA FACTORY PREsENTs sTAR WARs TRiViA: Put your extensive knowledge of the family history of Jabba the Hutt, including his great-grandfather’s brief foray into moisture farming, to the test. Eight people can play on one team, so try your best to divvy up the trivia studying about a galaxy distant, distant from here. 7pm, no cover. Highwater, 1910 Q St.

FOOd & driNK THUrSday, 3/21 TAsTE OF TuNisiA: Want to see what the country of Tunisia has to offer, flavor-wise?

Well, you’re about to be in Flavortown, Tunisia, population: everyone who attends this event. Two native Tunisian teachers are putting the event on, and it consists of cuisine samples, presentations on the Tunisian culture and even a primer on Tunisian dance. 5:30pm, $10-$15. Alliance Française de Sacramento, 2420 N St., Suite 225.

Friday, 3/22 GREAT HALL sPRiNG FEAsT: Through the magic of an Undetectable Extension Charm and a whole bunch of portkeys, when you step into Knobs and Knockers in Old Sacramento, you’ll be transported to the Spring Feast in the Great Hall. All house elves that prepare the food will be compensated. 6pm, $22.50$30. Knobs and Knockers, 1023 Front St., Suite A.

SUNday, 3/24 MAKEuP & MiMOsAs DRAG BRuNCH WiTH A PuNCH: Brunch isn’t the only thing on the menu. So are drag performances from Apple Adams, Roselia Valentine, Hellen Heels and Precious Cargo. Get some bottomless mimosas, some food and some swell performances. 11am, $12. Punch Line, 2100 Arden Way, Suite 225.

MARiACHi FEsTiVAL DE sACRAMENTO: Mariachi is on the menu—in fact, it’s basically the only

CALENDAR LisTiNGs CONTiNuED ON PAGE 28

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See mOre eventS and SuBmit yOur Own at newsreview.com/sacramenTo/calendar

Through sunday, 3/24

SaCramentO PreParatOry muSiC aCademy: Beer and Ballet 2019. Beer meets ballet in the brew-dance crossover of the stage-drink crossover season, featured below. through 4/7. $60-$0. 2420 N St.

Spamalot hARRiS CenteR, 7pm, $48-$82

Historians agree that the way musicals depict history is seldom accurate. Often, they feature more singing than can reasonably be assumed to have happened.

Despite this concern, Monty Python’s On Stage Spamalot is universally adored by historians who like musicals based on Monty Python films. With songs by Eric Idle and John du Prez that debuted nearly 15 years ago, the Tony Award-winning show will serve up some of the greatest comedic hits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail while providing some additional material to pad the run time. 10 College Parkway, harriscenter.net.

comedy

CaLendar LiStingS COntinued FrOm Page 27

BLaCKtOP COmedy: Stand Up 101 Graduation

monday, 3/25

Showcase with Keith Lowell Jensen. Catch some more of those newest of the area comedians, the ones who recently graduated from Blacktop Comedy’s Stand Up 101 class. through 3/24. $5. 3101 Sunset Blvd., Suite 6A in Rocklin.

COOL CuiSine Burger BattLe: Davis locations across Davis are participating in this goodspirited competition of the vegan burger variety. Try out the offerings and rate them. 12pm, $6.50-$20. Seventeen locations in downtown Davis and UC Davis campus.

LaugHS unLimited COmedy CLuB: Daniel Dugar.

The Bay Area comedian starred as Skycap #2 in Nash Bridges, and he’s been doing comedy for a long while. Corey Michaelis also performs. through 3/24. $20. 1207 Front St.

Film

PunCH Line: Chris Distefano. He’s a comedian

Thursday, 3/21

of multiple talents—he co-hosted Ultimate Beastmaster, he’s in some of MTV’s and MTV2’s non-music video programming and has been doing stand-up for less than 34 years. through 3/23. $20. 2100 Arden Way, Suite 225.

dOrOtHea Lange graB a HunK OF LigHtning: Take to the Crocker for an evening full of Dorothea Lange and her artistry in the form of a film screening. The film in question is directed and narrated by Dyanna Taylor, who is Lange’s granddaughter. 6:30pm, $8$16. Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St.

StaB! COmedy tHeater: Forbidden Knowledge.

STAB! goes all necromancy on the region as Charlie Norton and Court Hanson put forth trivia questions for guest panelists to attempt to answer. The full name of the evening is “FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE, BOOK I: WELCOME TO SCREAM TOWN. A MISERABLE QUIZ SHOW FOR MISERABLE PEOPLE.” Friday 3/22, 9pm. $7. YAK w/ Chelsea Hughes.

Variety show with Cory Barringer, Chelsea Hughes in the role of Musical Guest #1, and David Samuel, Morty Stein, Sydney Roll and Cristian Amaral. Friday 3/22, 7:30pm. $7. 1710 Broadway.

BOOm FOr reaL: Join Movies on the Verge for this documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s late teens and the influences that affected his artistry. With lots of all-new footage and images, Sara Driver puts the life of Basquiat in focus. 7:30pm, $7$9. Verge Center for the Arts, 625 S St.

saTurday, 3/23 ZOmBiFeSt: Zombie short films meet German fodder and libations. Watch zombies satisfy their otherworldly hungers as you satisfy your own desire for sustenance. 9pm, $10-$30. Knobs and Knockers, 1023 Front St., Suite A.

SaC Bag COmPany: COMIC SANS, Comedy Without. It’s time for comedy—but without something. One thing will be removed from the show, and the comedians and the audience will just have to deal with it. thursday 3/21, 7:30pm. $15-$20. 530 Q St.

wednesday, 3/27 guardianS OF tHe PaSt: KVIE public television shares this screening of Guardians of the Past: The Sacramento Pioneer Association.

Looking into the work of the association to preserve the history of the city, this short documentary details the present-day work of the organization. Have some appetizers, watch the thing, then it’s Q&A time. 5:30pm, no cover. KVIE Studios, 2030 W. El Camino Ave.

tOmmy t’S COmedy CLuB: Simon Gibson.

The Oregonian, energetic maven, Inside Jokes docu-series star and wild standup comedian will be performing. through 3/21. $10-$15. 12401 Folsom Blvd. in Rancho Cordova.

on sTage aCtOrS wOrKSHOP OF SaCramentO: Annual One Act Festival. One act is all these actors need to tug at your heartstrings, yank on

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tHe BriCKHOuSe gaLLery & art COmPLeX: Awardwinner Offers Short Film & Live Musical on California’s Mother of Civil Rights. Susheel Bibbs shares this evening with you, featuring her own film on Mary Ellen Pleasant immediately followed by a live performance on Pleasant as well. through 3/24. $20-$50. 2837 36th St.

tHe guiLd tHeater: Mahogany. Take in some poetry, music and laughter brought by local performers. Saturday 3/23, 8pm. $10. 2828 35th St.

tHe auditOrium at CLara: Stories on Stage PhoTo courTesy oF harris cenTer

your emotions and wrench out your feelings. Check out the variety of genres and performances while you can. through 3/24. $20. 1721 25th St.

B Street tHeatre: New Play Brunch. Take in the monthly installment of brunch and drinks paired with a staged reading. This one is The Deception of Kathryn Vask by Mark Steensland, about a stage séance for mother looking to talk to her son and the staged proceedings that ensue. Sunday 3/24, 11:30am. $12. 2700 Capitol Ave.

Big idea tHeatre: Reborning. Take in Big Idea’s disturbing work about dolls, sculpture and loss. through 4/6. $12-$22. 1616 Del Paso Blvd.

Sacramento with Sarah Stone and Tim Foley. Hungry Ghost Theatre by Sarah Stone and Nineteen-Sixty-Five Ford Falcon by Tom Foley are the stories on the stage and Katie Rubin and Matt Rives are the actors reading. Friday 3/22, 7:30pm. $10 suggested donation. 1425 24th St.

not being chosen from The Price is Right audience even though Drew told you you were a shoo-in—said you had what it takes, that anyone who told you otherwise was wrong. Saturday 3/23, 10:30am. no cover. 2109 Del Paso Blvd.

tHe atrium @7300: Upcycle Pop Interactive Purim Market. Celebrate the lesser Jewish holiday thwarting the efforts of Haman.

Have some refreshments, take in some art and appreciate some sellables. Saturday 3/23, 2pm. no cover. 7300 Folsom Blvd.

waL PuBLiC marKet: Artist Talk with Tess Gallagher. Tess Gallagher’s impressionistic landscape artwork features lots of lines, like a seismograph working overtime. Come and spend some time with Gallagher at her artist talk. wednesday 3/26, 6:30pm. no cover. 1104 R St., Suite 110.

BooKs Friday, 3/22 reLaPSe: Talk with Robert Hunter, author of

arT artSPaCe 1616: Lynn Beldner and Steve Briscoe. Briscoe’s sculpture is produced from reused materials that have found a new home amidst a work of art. Beldner’s artwork is a mixed medium medley of sewing, drawing, fabric, paper and other things. through 3/22. no cover. 1616 Del Paso Blvd.

nOrtH SaCramentO-HagginwOOd LiBrary: Abstract Painting in the Morning. Paint some wacky, wild abstractions in an attempt to explore your repressed emotions about

Relapse: a Love Story. 7:30pm, no cover. Avid Reader, 617 Second St. in Davis.

sPorTs & ouTdoors Friday, 3/22 SaCramentO regiOnaL: Robots are taking over UC Davis, and 66 teams are competing to show that their robots are the best robots.

Stop by and see what mechanized robotics are taking place. 8:30am, no cover. ARC Pavilion at UC Davis, 750 Orchard Road in Davis.

BraZiLian Center: Art and Poetry by Anna Marie. Anna Marie will share some of her poetry and other people can share their spoken word as well. Saturday 3/23, 6pm. no cover. 2420 N St.

CaPitaL Stage: Out&BOLD!. Catch a performance of Vietgone after an evening hanging out with Hoppy Brewing Company and memebers of the LGBT community. Friday 3/22, 7pm. $30-$40. 2215 J St.

CreSt tHeatre: MonSTARS of Motivation Scared Great-A Benefit Show for IT TAKES GUTS. 6:30pm. through 3/23. $10-$20. 1013 K St.

daviS muSiCaL tHeatre CO. PerFOrming artS Center: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Come spend some time with the resourceful and often mischievous Tom Sawyer as he deals with the repercussions of his irresponsible actions. through 3/30. $8. 607 Pena Drive in Davis.

gOLden 1 Center: Cirque du Soleil Crystal. The Canadian acrobatic troupe brings its trademark whimsical fantasy and performance to the Golden 1 Center with ice skating and flowing outfits. through 3/31. $58-$99. 500 David J. Stern Walk.

HarriS Center: Monty Python’s Spamalot.

Grab a seat at this comedy musical, featured on this page. through 3/24. $48-$72. 10 College Parkway in Folsom.

OOLey tHeatre: Cheaters. Cheating is the subject of this production from EMH Productions. Written by Michael Jacobs and exploring affairs, it’s probably a fun date to bring your mistress to. through 4/6. $22. 2007 28th St.

Thursday, 3/21 Through sunday, 4/7 Beer and Ballet CLARA CunninghAm-BindA StAge, vARiouS timeS, $60

I’ve heard of hoppy beers, but this is ridiculous! Join the Sacramento Ballet for a match made in heaven: anything paired with alcohol. In this case, the anything is ballet, and the alcohol is beer from Ruhstaller and Bike Dog brewing companies (or champagne or wine if you prefer).

The dancers choreograph their own work, so On Stage you’ll get a broad taste of artistry along with your taste of brewski. 2420 N Street, sacballet.org.

PhoTo courTesy oF KeiTh suTTer PhoTograPhy

Sunday, 3/24

Pet First Aid & CPR The AnimAl Den PeT ResoRT, 11:30Am, $89

When disaster strikes and your furry best friend needs emergency ClAsses assistance, what will you do? Be prepared.

Register for this class and get basic training for a variety of pet first aid treatments, including what to do if your pet is choking, bleeding, overheated, not breathing and more techniques. You love them like your own family, now you can be prepared to act when the worst happens. Maybe take a human first aid course, too. 4060 Power Inn Road, animaldenpetresort.com.

SaTuRday, 3/23 19TH CeNTURY BAse BAll IN WOODlAND: Check out the “base ball” highlight on page 26—it’s not your usual pick-up game of America’s national pastime, I can promise you that. 11am, no cover. Woodside Park, 1615 Cottonwood St. in Woodland.

TaKE aCTIOn THuRSday, 3/21 AMeRICAN RIVeR BAsIN COllABORATIVe MeeTING: What’s going on in the American River Basin? You won’t know unless you show up to this meeting, exploring trash management for MS4 trash amendment compliance and homeless camping in the basin. 1:30pm, no cover. 5620 Birdcage St. in Citrus Heights.

CAlIFORNIA sTATe ARCHIVes sPeAKeR seRIes: Steve and Susie Swatt will speak on their book on the history of women making strides in California: Paving the Way: Women’s Struggle for Political Equality in California. 5pm, no cover. California State Archives, 1020 O St., 4th Floor.

SaTuRday, 3/23 CARDs AGAINsT URBANITY: Do you like Cards Against Humanity and also urban planning?

Then come join in the fun as Sacramento Fair Planning shares this urban planningthemed card game, pizza and water. You’ll learn a little, laugh a little, smile a lot and chew your food. 12:30pm, no cover. Organize Sacramento, 1714 Broadway.

MOnday, 3/25 eMPTY BOWls sUPPeR 2019: Help raise funds for River City Food Bank with this dinner or luncheon fundraiser. There will be some 1,400 people participating, taking home handmade bowls and putting a meal in their stomachs for a good cause—it’s the biggest opportunity for the Food Bank to raise money to provide emergency food programs. 5:30pm, $30-$70. Sacramento Convention Center Complex, 1400 J St.

WEdnESday, 3/27

PHOTO COuRTESy OF JF BROu

people facing homelessness. 9:30am, no cover. California State Capitol, 10th and L Streets.

CLaSSES SaTuRday, 3/23 DO-IT-YOURselF IRRIGATION WORKsHOP: The City of Roseville presents this DIY-style workshop on getting your irrigation set up your way—without compromises. It’s Fix-a-Leak Week, so get yourself educated on how to do that. 2pm, no cover. Maidu Community Center, 1550 Maidu Drive in Roseville.

Sunday, 3/24 PeT FIRsT AID & CPR: Check out the event highlight directly above this listing if you want to learn how to save a pet’s life in a hands-on, nurturing environment. 11:30am, $89. The Animal Den Pet Resort, 4060 Power Inn Road.

TuESday, 3/26 sPRING BReAK CAMP INFlATABles!: Kids can spend their spring break doing something that will fill things up with air—making inflatable sculptures at Verge Center for the Arts. They’ll go from design to fabrication in no time flat—or should I say, no time bulbous, which is an adjective that may describe how the sculptures’ appearances once they are inflated fully. 10am, $60-$280. Verge Center for the Arts, 625 S St.

sTARTUPsAC HAPPY HOUR: This installment of StartupSac features Eric Knopf, the co-founder of Webconnex. Join in for some fun discussion, some entrepreneurship and some pizza. 5:30pm, no cover. Hot Italian, 1627 16th St.

WEdnESday, 3/27 BeGINNING DANCeHAll: Find out all about Dancehall from instructors who know about and plan to share the history of the Jamaican dance. All levels are welcome. 7:45pm, $10. 1900 28th St, 1900 28th St.

7TH ANNUAl CsH CAlIFORNIA ADVOCACY DAY: Head to the state Capitol to promote legislative solutions for housing and

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THURSDAY 3/21

FRIDAY 3/22

ArmAdillo music

Chris Baron, 6pm, no cover

BAdlAnds

Poprockz 90s Night, 9pm, no cover

207 F ST., DAvIS, (530) 758-8058 2003 k ST., (916) 448-8790

BAr 101

101 MAIN ST., ROSEvIllE, (916) 774-0505

Blue lAmp

1400 AlHAMbRA blvD., (916) 455-3400

The BoArdwAlk

9426 GREENbAck lN., ORANGEvAlE, (916) 358-9116

Empress Niko and the Lion’s Paw

SUNDAY 3/24

Indigo Elephant, 7pm, no cover

Adam and Jade, 7pm, no cover

Lakuna, the Outside and County Fair, 2pm, no cover

Fierce Fridays, 7pm, call for cover

Spectacular Saturdays, 7pm, call for cover

B.P.M. & Sunday Funday Remixed, 4pm, call for cover

Merry Mac Band, 9:30pm, no cover

Todd Morgan, 9:30pm, no cover

Club Klymax, 9pm, $10-$25

What Rough Beast, Smokey the Groove and Swoon, 8pm, $10

The Browning, Betraying the Martyrs, Extortionist and more, 6:30pm, $15

In Her Own Words, Oh, Weatherly, Never Loved and more, 7pm, $10

cApiTol GArAGe PHOTO bY SN&R STAFF

SATURDAY 3/23

Capitol Fridays, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm

1500 k ST., (916) 444-3633

cresT TheATre

1013 k ST., (916) 476-3356

FAces

Faces Karaoke, 9pm, call for cover

2000 k ST., (916) 448-7798

9pm Friday, $5 Fox and Goose Reggae

Absolut Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

FATher pAddY’s irish puBlic house Steve McLane, 8pm, no cover

1001 R ST., (916) 443-8825

Open-Mic, 7:30pm, W, no cover; Monday Night Trivia, 6:30pm, M, no cover RocDaMic Showcase with Mac Mall, 9pm, $20

Dinner and a Drag Show, 7:30pm, $5$25; Karaoke, 9:30pm, call for cover

Boot Scootin Sundays, 8pm, $5

Kevin Bracy, 6:30pm, $15-$100

The Bodyguard, 7pm, $7.50-$9.50

PULSE, 1pm, $25

Soju, call for time, $5-$10

Empress Niko & the Lion’s Paw, 9pm, $5

Western Spies & the Kosmonaught, 9pm, $5

Open-Mic Night, 7:30pm, M, no cover Cirque du Soleil Crystal, 7:30pm, W, $58-$99

GoldField TrAdinG posT

The Easychairs and Wild Montane, 7:30pm, $8-$10

1630 J ST., (916) 476-5076

College Night, 10pm, call for cover

hArlow’s

2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

The Happy Fits and Deal Casino, 7:30pm, T, $13-$15

Brian Lee Bender, 9pm, call for cover

Rash, 9pm, $15

Let’s Get Quizzical, 7pm, T, no cover; Cornhole, 6pm, W, $10

Wonder Bread 5, 10pm, $15-$18

Ben Ottewell & Ian Ball of Gomez and Buddy, 6:30pm, $20

Com Truise, Jack Grace and Ginla, 8pm, M, $20-$25

hideAwAY BAr & Grill PHOTO cOURTESY RAzOR AND TIE PUblIcITY

Hippie Hour Live, 5pm, no cover

2565 FRANklIN blvD., (916) 455-1331

hiGhwATer

All That Remains

DJ Mez, 10pm, call for cover

1910 Q ST., (916) 706-2465

with ATILLA and more 5:30pm Tuesday, $25 Ace of Spades Metalcore

holY diVer

Mechanizm, Painting Fences and Wendell & the Puppets, 6:30pm, $10-$12

kupros

Live music with Dylan Crawford, 7pm, no cover

1517 21ST ST.

1217 21ST ST., (916) 440-0401

live MuSic 3/22 3/23 3/29 3/30 4/6 4/12 5/4 5/10 5/11 5/17

merry mac band todd morgan nate grimmy dylan crawford toast & Jam nate grimmy toast & Jam banJo bones bongo furys Jacob westfall

101 Main Street, roSeville 916-774-0505 · lunch/dinner 7 days a week fri & sat 9:30pm - close 21+

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Geeks Who Drink, 8:30pm, W, no cover

Every Damn Monday, 8pm, M, no cover; Noche Latina, 9pm, T, no cover

500 DAvID J STERN WAlk, (888) 915-4647

5681 lONETREE blvD., ROcklIN, (916) 626-3600

Mondo Deco, the Deadrones and the Roa Brothers Band, 8pm, W, $10 Prying Free, 2KLIX, Footclan, Down Hollow and more, 7pm, T, $10

Golden 1 cenTer

hAlFTime BAr & Grill

Trapicana, 10pm, W, no cover

Jammin’ James & the Wing Women, 8pm, no cover

435 MAIN ST., WOODlAND, (530) 668-1044

Fox & Goose

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/25-27

/bar101roseville

Harlequin Rose, the Philharmonik and Jeaux, 7pm, $18

Star Wars Trivia, 7pm, M, no cover The LoveMakers, Jordan Moore, JMSEY, David Baez-Lopez and more, 7pm, $12

The Black Queen, Uniform and SRSQ, 7pm, T, $20-$25 Trivia Factory, 7:30pm, no cover

voted best dance club in sacramento by kcra a list 2016-17-18

WeDnesDay

hot country college nights

thursDay

industry night $3 U call it for industry guests

FriDay & saturDay

free line dance lessons 7pm dancing 8pm karaoke Up front 9pm

Shitshow Karaoke, 8pm, M, no cover; Record Roundup, 8pm, T, no cover

Live

Live music with Robert Kuhlmann, 5pm, T, no cover

music grand opening Dining & Full Bar

Sunday Jazz March 31 3N1

Live MuSic

March 27 The Walking Dead April 3 Chris Jones

sunDay

18 and over college nights

1320 Del paso blvD in olD north sac

2 steps from downtown | 916.402.2407 stoneyinn.com for nightly drink specials & events

910 Second Street | Old Sacramento ambiancesac.com Booking BandS now! caLL 916.793.8157

suBMit youR CalendaR listings foR fRee at newsReview.CoM/saCRaMento/CalendaR Luna’s Cafe & JuiCe Bar 1414 16TH sT., (916) 737-5770

THursday 3/21

friday 3/22

saTurday 3/23

Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2

Joshua Wisterman & Casey Lipka and Marti Sariul-Klijn & Lucas Bere, 7pm, $8

Invisible Disabilities Comedy Open-Mic, 8pm, $10

Hello, I’m Sorry, Roland Tonies and Eazy Dub, 6:30pm, $10

Roc Da Mic Sacramento, 6pm, $20-$25

Cassette Idols, Zen Arcadia and Ghost Color, 8pm, $5

The Loose Threads, Brotherly Mud and Adam Poe, 9pm, $7

momo saCramento 2708 J sT., (916) 441-4693

oLd ironsides

Open Acoustic Jam, 8pm, no cover

1901 10TH sT., (916) 442-3504

on tHe Y

Wurm Flesh, Bavmorda, West Coast Fury and Nexdeus, 7pm, $10

670 fuLTOn ave., (916) 487-3731

PaLms PLaYHouse

PLaCerviLLe PuBLiC House

414 Main sT., PLacerviLLe, (530) 303-3792

PowerHouse PuB

Corduroys, 9:30pm, call for cover

tHe Press CLuB

No Fun, 9pm, no cover

614 suTTer sT., fOLsOM, (916) 355-8586 2030 P sT., (916) 444-7914

Harley White Jr. Orchestra, 9pm, no cover

1000 K sT., (916) 947-0434 1320 deL PasO BLvd., (916) 927-6023

Little Charlie’s Organ Grinder, 3pm, $16-$20

Take Out, 10pm, call for cover

Briefcase Blues Brothers, 3pm, call for cover

Karaoke, 8:30pm, T, call for cover; 98 Rock Local Licks, 9pm, W, call for cover

Pop 40 Dance with DJ Larry, 9pm, $5

Sunday Night Dance Party, 9pm, no cover

New Candys, Honyock, Pets and MC Ham, 8pm, M, $8-$10

Peter Petty, 9pm, no cover

Tenor Explosion, 9pm, W, no cover

Country Thunder Thursdays, 8pm, no cover

College Night Wednesdays, 9pm, W, $5-$10

Roselit Bone & Donald Beaman, 9pm, no cover

The Gold Souls, 9pm, no cover

Fashion with DJ JB, 10pm, no cover before 11pm

Romeo Reyes, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm

Hot Country Fridays, 7:30pm, $5-$10

Stoney’s Saturdays with Free Line Dance Lessons, 7pm, $5

Sunday Funday, 9pm, no cover 21+

Outlaw Trail, 2pm, call for cover

Bump City ReUnion, 2pm, call for cover

Dana Moret & Mr. December and Melissa Ruth, 9pm, $10

You Front the Band, 8pm, no cover

The Blue Boys, 9pm, T, $5; Jon Emery & The Uncoventionals, 9pm, W, $5

Travis Greene, 7pm, $29.50-$75

All That Remains, ATILLA, Escape the Fate and Sleep Signals, 5:30pm, T, $25

5871 Garden HiGHWay, (916) 920-8088 904 15TH sT., (916) 443-2797

Live Music with Heath Williamson, 5:30pm, M, no cover

Power Play, 10pm, call for cover

swaBBies on tHe river tHe torCH CLuB

Ray “Catfish” Copeland Band, 6:30pm, W, $8

Tiki Dreams, Drug Apts, Nocturnal Habits and Dots, 8pm, $10

soCiaL nigHtCLuB

stoneY’s roCkin rodeo

Street Sects, Killer Couture and DJ Dada, 7pm, $8-$12

OneLegChuck & the Hustle, 8pm, call for cover

212 15TH sT., (916) 750-4733 1409 r sT., (916) 231-9121

Jazz Jam with Byron Colburn, 8pm, W, $5

Johnny Mojo, 8pm, call for cover

red museum sHadY LadY

MOnday-Wednesday 3/25-27

Chaos Mantra with Tzimani and Dreams of Madness, 6pm, $10 Rita Hosking Trio, 8pm, $20

13 Main sT., WinTers, (530) 795-1825

sunday 3/24

Matt Rainey & Dippin Sauce, 9pm, $6

Groove Session, 9pm, $10

all ages, all the time aCe of sPades

1417 r sT., (916) 930-0220

Cafe CoLoniaL

3520 sTOcKTOn BLvd.

sHine

1400 e sT., (916) 551-1400

The Shine Jazz Jam, 8pm, no cover

The Decibels, the Reverberations and DJ Ann Tindall, 8pm, $10

Sitting & Waiting, Phono Pony, Freature and Free Candy, 7pm, $7

Jet Black Popes, the Chandelier Ravens and Anxious Power, 8pm, $8

Nzuri Soul Band, 8pm, $15

the

music

PHOTO cOurTesy Of cHaOs ManTra

Chaos Mantra with Tzimani and more 6pm Sunday, $10 On the Y Metal

PHOTO cOurTesy Of GeT LOud cOLLecTive

Pkew Pkew Pkew, Lightweight and Sad Girlz Club, 8pm, $10 Speak Out Sacramento Open-Mic Night, 8pm, W, no cover

+

Roselit Bone with Donald Beaman 9pm Friday, no cover Shady Lady Rock

winners

S AC R AMENT O MUS IC AWAR DS

announced!

issue on stands

0 3 . 2 8 .1 9 lillian frances

2019 sammies nominee, electronica/ experimental, new artist

03.21.19

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Relicense Redux Cannabis businesses run up against a reliCensing deadline

B

y the end of July, over 10,000 temporary cannabis business licenses across California will have expired as they have not been processed yet, and current law doesn’t allow extensions. In an urgent effort to keep cannabis businesses compliant, two North Coast legislators have introduced an emergency relicensing bill called SB-67.

“This bill will protect thousands of cannabis farmers, in particular, who did the right thing and applied for and secured a state license,” said co-author Senator Mike McGuire, who represents the 2nd Senate District from Marin to Del Norte counties.

Three state agencies — the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the Bureau of Cannabis Control, and the Department of Public Health — are behind schedule on awarding the provisional and annual licenses designed to replace temporary ones. The time it would take state regulators to process them all was miscalculated.

“SB-67 will provide some short-term relief to those who have submitted their annual license applications on time and allow the various state agencies to catch up with the volume of applications that have been submitted,” added co-author, Assembly Member Jim Wood from Healdsburg.

“this bill will protect thousands of cannabis farmers, in particular, who did the right thing.”

California Department of Food and Agriculture cannabis cultivation application forms

for relicensing soon. “With farming, it is crucial to have a timeline for planting and production in order to continue revenue and stay operating.”

SB-67 allows licenses to remain in effect, assuming the replacement license application has been filed. It also extends provisional licenses to July 1, 2020, and allows authorities to convert temporary licenses to provisional and annual ones.

senator mike mcguire, California senate District 2

The press release on SB-67 explained that growers, distributors and retailers “will no longer be operating legally, and will be kicked into the black market.”

The bill raced through the Senate Business and Professions Committee in February, with an 8-0 vote. But even with quick passage once signed by Governor Newsom, some businesses may already be operating illegally.

The North Coast is home to a lot of cannabis businesses. The bill’s authors are particularly concerned for their own area growers. Cannabis farmers were first in the production chain to apply for licenses, so theirs are the first ones expiring.

Over 1,000 licenses from the CDFA expire in March alone.

“We’re moving quickly to keep a legal, regulated market here in California from collapsing,” said McGuire.

“I do believe this could create gaps in supply chain, and could be a risk to existing businesses,” said Mike Hicks, President of Yolo Family Farms, who is coming up

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37

get the lead out

Jacqueline McGowan, a cannabis expert and patient advocate, predicts California’s cannabis industry will see several losses throughout 2019.

Photo by Ken Magri

cannabis, interrupted Will 2019 be a smooth year for California’s cannabis industry? One expert says upcoming ‘extinction events’ prove otherwise.

by Ken Magri

“We were told they would regulate us like alcohol, not like plutonium,” said cannabis expert Jacqueline McGowan, about California’s regulation of adult-use cannabis.

McGowan is a compliance specialist for Sacramento’s K Street Consulting, which represents the cannabis industry in California. She recently published a report predicting that “extinction events” this year would injure the statewide cannabis industry. The sky isn’t falling, but individual businesses such as dispensaries, manufacturers and even cultivators could fall, one by one, from overzealous state regulations, she warns.

“I don’t want to cause a panic,” she told SN&R. “I’ve caused enough panic with this.”

Still, it’s not something cannabis businesses should take lightly, whether it’s a veteran manufacturing company or the new dispensary on the block. An extinction event is any law, regulation or enforcement action that could financially harm or destroy thriving cannabis businesses.

McGowan, who worked as a Wall Street analyst for 18 years, is a voracious reader of articles relating to new regulations and actions within the cannabis industry, and she uses analytical data to prove her points. She cites

the legalization of recreational use in 2018 as the first extinction event; many established dispensaries shut their doors while waiting for a business license, a process slowed with backlogs of applications.

Then last July, the state’s more comprehensive Phase 2 testing forced cannabis products that were on dispensary shelves to be sold, destroyed or retested by July 1 to stay compliant with the new standards. “We saw a lot of businesses go under from that,” she said.

As for any dangerous curves on the road ahead, here are a few more areas of concern McGowan highlighted in her report, “Upcoming Extinction Events.”

On December 31, California implemented new rigorous testing known as Phase 3, which requires all harvested cannabis products to be tested for heavy metals (such as lead) and mycotoxins created by mold.

Phase 3 lab tests are a more than 40 percent increase than the Phase 2 tests, and McGowan predicts more cannabis businesses will close because of it.

Yet, companies must find a solution for unhealthy, lead-laced vape cartridges with measurements above 0.5 parts per million showing up in test results.

Dispensaries and retailers are allowed to sell off any cartridge inventory manufactured prior to the December 31 deadline, but when they restock they must sell cartridges with a later date stamped on the packaging. Now, businesses are scrambling to find replacements that will pass a Phase 3 test.

“This will have a negative impact on manufacturer sales and the retailers that run out of cartridges,” said McGowan.

“We’re not seeing the drop-off yet, that’s more in the future.”

Matt Z’berg, vice president of Marysville’s Perfect Union dispensary, said that a half-percent of the vape cartridges being tested at local labs have failed lead contamination tests.

He theorized, as have other industry insiders, that acidic terpenes from the oil caused lead to leach into the cartridge.

But Josh Wurzer, president of SC Labs in Santa Cruz, a cannabis testing lab that meets California and Oregon requirements, has a different concern.

“Lead is not soluble into oil,” Wurzer said. He blames the lead levels on “cheap “cannabiS, interrupted” continued on page 35

03.21.19 | SN&R | 33

Everyone loves cute animals, but uncute animals get less love.

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“cannabis, inTerrupTed” conTinued from page 33

manufacturing techniques” in China, where a majority of cartridges are made.

A recent study on e-cigarette cartridges, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, also cites heating coils inside empty cartridges as the source of lead.

And while no amount of lead is safe, California’s limit of 0.5 ppm is far lower than current standards, forcing manufacturers to redesign cartridges.

“I think it’s a really good example of regulations working for the consumer,” Wurzer said in a phone call to SN&R. “If I was in Oregon or Colorado, I would be more concerned, because they’re not doing any heavy metal testing.”

Nevertheless, McGowan’s report says the overall delay will cause shortages and eventually hurt businesses.

Test lab scrutiny

information from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. When asked to confirm, the CDTFA would only say that it “conducts audits of all account types.”

Track-and-trace tie-ups A “track-and-trace” requirement follows a cannabis plant from seed to sale. California is implementing a software system called Metrc so that businesses can do the tracking. McGowan says Metrc hasn’t been tested for a market the size of California’s.

Meanwhile, a severe processing backlog has held up new business licenses. An estimated 10,000 cannabis cultivators could lose their temporary licenses, set to expire in the coming months. When a temporary license expires, it forces the cannabis business to operate in a de facto black market, while waiting for the new license.

Also, business owners need those licenses before they can receive training on the Metrc system.

While a legislative fix, Senate Bill 67, would grant a one-year extension from the December 31 deadline, it may not be signed in time by Gov. Gavin Newsom to help businesses with licenses expiring as early as March.

“There may be, not just a loss of connectivity by individual licensees, but a wholesale loss of access to an entire system,” McGowan said. Such a failure could prevent businesses from transporting cannabis.

Juli Crockett, a former chief of compliance officer with W Vapes and current director of compliance with MMLG, a cannabis consultant in Los Angeles, shares that sentiment.

“If you, as a Metrc operator, haven’t set up a culture of compliance and system of record keeping yet, it’s going to devastate some businesses,” she said during a recent panel discussion hosted by the Future Cannabis Project, a media and advocacy company.

To help avoid extinction events, McGowan said there needs to be more communication from the state. “A monthly Metrc update, a list of FAQs would give guidance on some of the issues that all of us are wondering about.” Ω

With sharp cost increases caused by mandatory state regulations, Jacqueline McGowan predicts more cannabis businesses will go under.

McGowan says that California testing labs will be “under exceptional scrutiny following the very public failure of Sequoia Analytical Labs in Sacramento.” Last December, Sequoia admitted to falsifying test results and failing to test for 23 different pesticides.

“As test labs proceed through ISO (International Organization of Standardization) certification, look for more of them to undergo significant recalls and threats to their licenses,” McGowan said.

SC Labs’ Wurzer agrees that test inconsistency is an industry problem. “There are people who saw an opportunity to make a lot of money in the testing business without regard to how much more complicated the tests were,” he said.

Several labs under review by the state, including Sequoia, have been suspended until they can pass recertification.

The taxman cometh With $2 million budgeted for tax enforcement, 2019 will be the year many cannabis businesses get audited.

“There are hundreds of distributors which have not filed a single cannabis tax receipt,” said McGowan, who got her

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By Ngaio Bealum

as k 420@ n ew s r ev i e w . c o m

Like more money with your weed? See online-only discounts at: capitalcannabisguide.com

GettinG reacquainted with cannabis?

Summer drought Hey, aren’t you in Barcelona right now?

How’s the weed?

—ColoCada Vale

Woot woot! Yes, indeed. I have been in Barcelona this past week for the International Cannabis Business Conference.

The ICBC (I work for them, by the way) is always dope. According to event producer Alex Rogers, just about 600 people from 60 different countries attended the day-long event.

There was much discussion of the farm bill that legalized hemp farming in the United States, making it easier for American farmers to jump into this new market. High-CBD hemp plants are in demand all over the world.

Apparently, CBD is the future. It will be interesting to see what that future holds.

On to the weed.

Cannabis is still illegal throughout Spain, but it is widely tolerated and easy to find. There are hundreds of social clubs all over Barcelona. You have to be invited to join, or have a friend recommend you. Some places charge you a fee (usually 20 euros) to join.

Once inside, you will find about 10 to 20 different kinds of weed, plus various concentrates and edibles. And coffee, snacks and good Wi-Fi, like a 420-friendly coffee shop or co-working space.

Since it’s still unregulated, you can find weed from all over the world.

California weed is very popular here, but I didn’t fly to Barcelona to smoke Cali weed. I will say this about the grass in Barcelona: It may not be as flavorful as the weed on the West Coast, but collectively, Spanish weed may be the strongest weed I have ever smoked. I got knocked on my ass the first few times. Also, they love sativas up here, so look for those. I recommend

the Amnesia Haze at the Dank Grass Club, and the Clementine Kush from La Kolada. I love Barcelona, and the folks out here tell me that the Cosecha Cup—a competition to find the best sungrown weed in Spain—is happening in November. I am already planning to my trip. You wanna go?

Someone told me that California is gonna run out of weed this summer. What gives?

—M. T. Coffers

Yeah. It’s gonna be brutal. All the temporary licenses that have been granted by the state are going to expire in July. The Bureau of Cannabis Control has granted annual licenses to only about 50 of the more than 6,900 businesses that have applied.

There is no way for the BCC to catch up, and the deadline for extensions has passed. If nothing is done, the whole thing is effed, and the black market will continue to reign supreme. Fortunately, lawmakers have introduced Senate Bill 67, which would extend temporary licenses until the end of the year. The bill has a good chance of passing, but if you love legal cannabis, call your rep and let them know how you need them to get it together and support jobs, weed and weed jobs. Ω

If you love legal cannabis, call your rep and let them know how you need them to get it together.

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Ngaio Bealum is a Sacramento comedian, activist and marijuana expert. Email him questions at ask420@newsreview.com.

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FRee will aStRology

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For the week oF March 21, 2019 ARIES (March 21-April 19): During the coming

No perfect endings

by JOey GARCIA

@AskJoeyGarcia

anxieties. It doesn’t necessarily mean I was dating a guy who works a lot and has his kids every other week (he’s he’s emotionally unavailable. It may separated). I tried talking to him about mean your emotional needs are too big. things in my life, but he didn’t seem to Healing will begin when you manage connect. I noticed a lot of flirty girls your feelings with the clarity of a commenting on his Instagram posts. It surgeon who knows how to cut away made me feel really insecure. he dodged what is diseased. my questions about it and didn’t say It’s your job to manage your anything reassuring. after that, his worries, fears and feelings. Begin by responses to my texts took forever and finding the thread of self-talk that leads then he ghosted me. the other day he from this situation back through your liked one of my posts and I responded: personal history. If you’re someone “hey, haven’t heard from you for a while. who struggles with emotions and rides a how are you?” he didn’t answer. how do rollercoaster of big feelings every day, I get him to respond so I can have you may be too high-maintenance closure and move on? for a man who works a lot, has Drop your concept of kids and is going through a closure. You’re expectdivorce.

Instead of ing a conversation in That doesn’t mean which everything is seeking a perfect being extra is something talked out until all ending, dig down and you should change. It the ugly feelings does mean you might learn how to take are resolved, and consider that not everygood vibes prevail. better care of one will find it thrilling But you’re not at a yourself. to ride a rollercoaster campfire kumbaya. with you every day (or even Human relationships are every week). It’s exhausting messy. So know the truth: for people who prefer a centered sometimes closure is abrupt. life, one that avoids the extremes. It’s Sometimes, it’s a slow but steady also exhausting for you to continue to erosion of intimacy. Either way, it’s an try so hard to be seen, to keep reaching invitation to grow in resilience. out to engage with a man who isn’t Instead of seeking a perfect ending, interested. So let go. That’s how you dig down and learn how to take better move on. Ω care of yourself. If seeing flirtatious comments on a guy’s Insta disturbs you, ask why. But don’t ask him. Ask yourself: Are you comparing yourself to other women and judging yourself MedItatIoN oF the week as not good enough? Did you think you were in an exclusive relationship “Success doesn’t come to you that would require your man to draw … you go to it,” said educator a boundary that pushed other women Marva Collins. Are you running a race, a relay or a marathon? away? If so, did you both verbally and clearly agree to an exclusive relationship? Before talking with him, these are the kind of questions you needed to answer honestly for yourself.

We all have insecurities. Personal Write, email or leave a message for growth requires that we understand why Joey at the News & Review. Give we choose to act out those insecurities your name, telephone number (for verification purposes only) and question—all at only certain times and how to do it correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. less often so we reduce the chaos it causes in our lives.

Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA In your situation, the man you were 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 1360; or email dating wasn’t down to tend to your askjoey@newsreview.com.

42 | SN&R | 03.21.19

weeks, everything that needs to happen will indeed happen only if you surprise yourself on a regular basis. So I hope you will place yourself in unpredictable situations where you won’t be able to rely on well-rehearsed responses. I trust that you will regard innocence and curiosity and spontaneity as your superpowers. Your willingness to change your mind won’t be a mark of weakness but rather a sign of strength.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the animated kids’ film Over the Hedge, ten talking animals come upon a massive, towering hedge they’ve never seen. The friendly group consists of a skunk, red squirrel, box turtle, two opossums and five porcupines. The hedge perplexes and mystifies them. It makes them nervous. There’s nothing comparable to it in their previous experience.

One of the porcupines says she would be less afraid of it if she just knew what it was called, whereupon the red squirrel suggests that from now on they refer to it as “Steve.” After that, they all feel better. I recommend that you borrow their strategy in the coming weeks. If a Big Unknown arrives in your vicinity, dub it “Steve” or “Betty.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I urge you to locate a metaphorical or very literal door that will give you access to a place that affords you more freedom and healing and support. Maybe you already know about the existence of this door— or maybe it’s not yet on your radar. Here’s advice from Clarissa Pinkola Éstes that might help. “If you have a deep scar, that is a door,” she writes. “If you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much that you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Musician Carole Kaye is the most famous bass guitarist you’ve never heard of. Over the course of five decades, she has plied her soulful talents on more than 10,000 recordings, including gems by Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys. Twenty-seven-time Grammy-winner Quincy Jones has testified that Kaye has written “some of the most beautiful themes I’ve ever heard in my life” and that she “could do anything and leave men in the dust.” I trust this horoscope will expand the number of people who appreciate her. I also hope you’ll be inspired to become more active in spreading the word about the gifts that you have to offer the world. It’s high time to make sure that people know more of the beautiful truth about you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “When you want happiness, what are you wanting?” asks aphorist Olivia Dresher. The repeat of an event that made you feel good in the past? A sweet adventure you’ve thought about but never actually experienced?

Here’s a third possibility. Maybe happiness is a state you could feel no matter what your circumstances are; maybe you could learn how to relax into life exactly as it is and feel glad about your destiny wherever it takes you. In my opinion, that third approach to happiness will be especially natural for you to foster in the coming weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): There are old traditions in many cultures that pay special attention to the first brick or stone that is laid in the earth to initiate the construction of a future building.

It’s called a cornerstone or foundation stone. All further work to create the new structure refers back to this original building block and depends on it. I’m pleased to inform you that now is a favorable phase to put your own metaphorical cornerstone in place. You’re ready to begin erecting a structure or system that will serve you for years to come. Be sure you select the right place for it, as well as the best building materials.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Born under the sign of Libra, Ivan Kharchenko (1918-1989) was a military officer and engineer for the Soviet army.

His specialty was disarming explosive devices

before they detonated. Over the course of his career, he defused an estimated 50,000 bombs and mines. Let’s make him your patron saint for the coming weeks. Why? Because I suspect you will be able to summon a metaphorical version of his power: an extraordinary capacity to keep volatile situations from blowing up. You’ll be a virtuoso at waging peace and preventing strife.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): There was a time, less than a century ago, when pink was considered a masculine color and blue a feminine hue. In previous eras, many European men sported long hair, wore high heels and favored clothes with floral patterns. Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of America’s most prominent 20th century presidents, sometimes wore skirts and feather-bedecked hats as a child. With these facts as your keystone, and in accordance with astrological omens, I encourage you to experiment with your own gender expressions in the coming weeks. It’s prime time to have fun with the way you interpret what it means to be a man or woman—or any other gender you might consider yourself to be.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to estimates by population experts, about 109 billion humans have been born on planet Earth over the millennia. And yet I’m quite sure that not a single one of those other individuals has been anything like you. You are absolutely unique, an unmatched treasure, a one-of-a-kind creation with your own special blend of qualities. And in my prophetic view, you’re ready to fully acknowledge and celebrate these facts on a higher octave than ever before. It’s high time for you to own your deepest authenticity, to work with extra devotion to express your soul’s code, to unabashedly claim your idiosyncratic genius.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): We don’t know as much about European history between the sixth and ninth centuries as we do about other eras. Compared to the times that preceded and followed it, cultural and literary energies were low. Fewer records were kept. Governments were weaker and commerce was less vigorous.

But historians don’t like to use the term “Dark Ages” to name that period because it brought many important developments and activities, such as improvements in farming techniques. So in some ways, “Lost Ages” might be a more apropos descriptor. Now let’s turn our attention to a metaphorically comparable phase of your own past, an era that’s a bit fuzzy in your memory, a phase about which your understanding is incomplete. I suspect that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to revisit that part of your life and see what new evidence and insights you can mine.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Why do some American libraries ban certain books, ensuring they’re unavailable to local readers? The reasons may be because they feature profanity or include references to sex, drug use, the occult, atheism and unusual political viewpoints.

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is one of the most frequently censored books. Others are Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini. In my astrological opinion, these are exactly the kinds of books you should especially seek out in the coming weeks. In fact, I suggest you commune with a variety of art and ideas and influences that are controversial, provocative and intriguing.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): At the age of 97, Piscean cartoonist Al Jaffee is still creating new material for the satirical Mad magazine, where he has worked since 1964. There was one 63year stretch when his comic stylings appeared in all but one of Mad’s monthly issues. I nominate him to be your role model during the next four weeks. It’s a favorable time for you to access and express a high degree of tenacity, stamina and consistency.

Remember when we first met? At that coffee shop? I still have my receipt.

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