enterprise THE DAVIS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
Council picks draft map for redistricting Final vote on Feb. 15 By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer One of the side effects of redrawing City Council district lines less than two years after the city’s first by-district election is that some residents who voted in that 2020 election will get to vote again in 2022, while others who did not get to vote two years ago won’t get a chance to vote in 2022, either. That’s because the city’s process for electing council members uses staggered four-year terms with elections held every two years. Residents moved from one district to another in this round of redistricting may find they they get to vote in November even though they voted in a different district in 2020, a situation known as acceleration. On the flip side, there will be residents who were in a district that was not on the ballot in 2020 who now find themselves in a new district that is not on the ballot in 2022 either, known as deferral. In selecting a draft map that will
See MAP, Page A5
Cannabis plants grow at the Pure Beauty site in Sacramento on Jan. 26. Miguel Gutierrez Jr./ CalMatters photo
Smoke screen? Legal pot industry looks to governor for help amid stumbles By Alexei Koseff CalMatters When California voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in November 2016, it was also a victory for Gavin Newsom, who spent months traveling the state as the face of the campaign. At an election night
party at a San Francisco nightclub, the then-lieutenant governor celebrated this “point of pride,” telling attendees that California had sent a “message powerfully to the rest of the nation.” It was an important résumébuilding moment for Newsom,
already deep into his first run for governor, who during decades in office has put himself at the forefront of political change. In a profile in Billboard magazine a few months later, he acknowledged that his legacy and that of Proposition 64, the legalization measure, were now tied together: “Put it this way: Everything that goes wrong, you’re looking at the poster child.”
Enterprise staff writer Thursday, Feb. 3, was a lengthy meeting for the Davis School Board, due not only to the multitude of important updates, but another public-comment section filled with students and teachers protesting the bell schedule change. Early announcements by Trustee Joe DiNunzio included the various ways the district’s schools are paying homage to Black History Month. He also touched on how this week’s bomb threats to historically black colleges and universities are a reminder of how important it is to educate students on U.S. history in its entirety and to stand
VOL. 124, NO. 16
INDEX
Business ����������B4 Forum ������������� B2 Obituary ���������� A4 Classifieds ������ A3 Kid Scoop ������� A4 Sports ��������������B1 Comics ������������B5 Living ����������������B3 The Wary I �������� A2
with one another amidst these threats. After the announceDiNUNZIO ments Trustee came another lengthy public comment section focused largely on the protest of the bell schedule change. This time around, however, were more teachers and students from Da Vinci High. They expressed discontent included the increased stress levels the new schedule would bring upon students, how curriculums are designed around the
WEATHER
“He championed our message and he rode our coattails all the way to the top,” said Michael
See SMOKE, Back page
Five years later, Newsom is
Trustees face more ire on schedule By Aaron Geerts
governor, and farmers, dispensary owners and other advocates are calling on him to rescue a legal market they say has been pushed to the brink of collapse by a steep drop in prices — and the inattention of a man who was once its most prominent proponent.
current bell schedule and that alterations would affect the integrity of the lessons taught. Da Vinci site administrative assistant Adela Johnson spoke about the special-education program. “Students of different abilities require a consistent, reduced schedule,” she said. “With the implementation of this schedule, there will be many inconsistencies.” Following the public comments, the meeting transitioned to an update on the Local Control Accountability Plan. Among the vast update were a budgetary overview, graduation rates, data on student
See SCHEDULE, Page A4
City plans full slate of summer recreation programs By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer After two summers of limited offerings due to the pandemic, the city’s Parks & Community Services Department is anticipating a full slate of summer programming and will need to fill many positions to make it happen. The city announced Friday it plans to offer almost all of the usual summer camps, classes and programs for the first time since the pandemic began. Expected to return are Camp Putah (celebrating a belated 50th anniversary), Arts &
Crafts Camp, Teen Camp, Kinder Camp, Summer Sampler Camp, PM Kids and Trekkers. Summer Quest will return with its full-day schedule from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. All the offerings will be available in the Summer 2022 Rec Guide which will be available online in mid February. Registration will be held over the course of two dates: Wednesday, March 16, and Wednesday, March 30, beginning at 8 a.m. Additional details will be included in the Rec Guide online.
HOW TO REACH US
www.davisenterprise.com Today: Frost, then sunny. Main line: 530-756-0800 High 69. Low 38. Circulation: 530-756-0826
http://facebook.com/ TheDavisEnterpriseNewspaper http://twitter.com/D_Enterprise
See RECREATION, Page A5
SUNDAY • $1.50
Local
A2 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
Briefly Physics of sport on KDRT show Sports are a constant display of physics in action — whether it's helping athletes run faster, developing a training routine, preventing injuries, or designing athletic gear and clothing. On “Timeout Radio,” host Rohan Baxi talks to Mr. Nathan Kwan — full-time science teacher, part-time runner and occasional rapper — who tells the program about the physics of running and how you can use physics to improve sports performance. “Timeout Radio,” hosted by 15-year-old Rohan Baxi, is a radio show and podcast based in Davis for youth. It airs on KDRT 95.7 FM from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and 8 to 8:30 a.m. Saturdays.
About us 2022 Member
California News Publishers Association
Certified Audit of Circulations
The Davis Enterprise is published Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays by The Davis Enterprise Inc., 315 G Street, Davis, CA 95616. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Davis, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617-1470. Phone 530-756-0800 ———— R. Burt McNaughton Publisher Taylor Buley Co-Publisher Sebastian Oñate Editor Nancy Hannell Advertising Director Shawn Collins Production Manager Bob Franks Home Delivery Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR CARRIER DELIVERY
(plus tax) Home delivery..............$3.69 per week Online..........................$3.23 per week 12 weeks................................. $44.84 24 weeks................................ $89.30 48 weeks............................... $159.79
MAILING ADDRESS Please send correspondence to The Davis Enterprise P.O. Box 1470 Davis, CA 95617-1470 or The Davis Enterprise 315 G Street Davis, CA 95616 HOME DELIVERY If you do not receive your Enterprise by 5 p.m. on Wednesdays or Fridays or 7 a.m. on Sundays, please call 530756-0826. Missed issues will be delivered on the next publishing day.
HOW TO REACH US PHONE, MAIL OR IN PERSON Home delivery: 315 G St., 530-756-0826 Delivery phone hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Sun. 7-10 a.m. Business office: 315 G St. 530-756-0800 Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
FAX
Advertising ������������������530-756-7504 Home Delivery (Circulation) ��756-7504 News ����������������������������������756-1668
EMAIL News �����������newsroom@davisenterprise.net Sports ����������������sports@davisenterprise.net Home Delivery � circulation@davisenterprise.net Classifieds ������ classads@davisenterprise.net Advertising ������������ads@davisenterprise.net Legal Notices ���� legals@davisenterprise.net Obituaries ������������� obit@davisenterprise.net Production ���� graphics@davisenterprise.net
ON THE WEB www.davisenterprise.com Copyright 2022
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
Frogs on the run in Great Northwest
T
hey say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, which means the city of Portland continues to flatter our humble Central Valley burg. A few years ago I was in Portland, my original hometown, a place I remain fond of even if I did grow up on the wrong side of the Willamette. (That’s “will-lamb-et,” dammit, with an emphasis on the lamb.) One day as I was walking around downtown with my family I noticed a large billboard proclaiming Portland as the “Bicycle Capital of the World” or the universe or some such thing. Clearly, a Portlander had visited Davis, realized that we are truly the Bicycle Capital of the World, and decided to steal our thunder. I mean, does Portland have a Bicycle Hall of Fame? I rest my case. Put simply, Portland has too many narrow bridges over big scary rivers, too many hills that are too steep to bike and too much rain to be the bicycle capital of anything. So, the other day my dear friend Meg sent me another story out of my old hometown, a story that screams once again of Davis Envy. The story was authored by one Nicholas Kristof, the same Nicholas Kristof of New York Times
to cross Harborton Road as part of a migration. Unfortunately, the frogs were being squished by traffic.”
A
fame who now hopes to become governor of Oregon, a state of which he is also a native. At this point Kristof has been declared ineligible to run because the secretary of state has determined he hasn’t met the residency requirement to run for governor, and that dispute is now before the Oregon Supreme Court. Be that as it may, in the piece sent my way by Meg, Kristof is writing about frogs, not politics. “In 2013 a resident of Northwest Portland was out for an evening stroll and encountered a parade of frogs,” Kristof begins. Now I don’t know if “parade” is the proper word for a bunch of frogs — much like a flock of geese, a pack of wolves, a herd of cattle and a murder of crows — or if this was an actual parade of frogs, complete with decorated floats and a marching band. “A previously unknown population of red-legged frogs was trying
re you sensing the strong Davis connection here? “From that chance encounter was born a quirky frog taxi service that saves amphibian lives and captures so much of what I love about Oregon.” We have a toad tunnel, they have a frog taxi, but who cared about slimy four-legged green things first? If you said “Davis,” move to the head of the class. “So this post isn’t about politics or homelessness or how to save lives through better women’s health programs. This is just a window into a nifty little program that brings good people together to save frogs – and a celebration of small solutions that solve problems around us.” Cue the violins. As luck would have it, the redlegged frogs live in Forest Park, a vast and beautiful expanse that is the pride of Portland. “It turns out that the red-legged frogs must make an annual migration from Forest Park to wetlands that lie across two roads, two rail lines and a highway.” Why the frogs make this dangerous trip to the wetlands cannot
be fully explained in a family newspaper unless the children have been tucked safely into their beds. “Later in the year, the frogs must make a return trip to Forest Park. Predictably, a considerable number of frogs end up as roadkill.” Thus, the Harborton Frog Shuttle was born. “The volunteers scoop up the frogs and hand-deliver them to the wetlands, and later in the year they help them make the reverse trip.” Best of all, the frog shuttle works. Concludes Kristof, “I’d like to think that if volunteers can come together out of compassion for frogs, and work with scientists on evidence-based approaches to reduce amphibian mortality, we can surely also do better with evidence-based approaches to tackling homelessness, mental health, addiction, child care and more.” One hopes the Oregon Supreme Court rules in Kristof ’s favor. If not, he can always move to Davis and save frogs and turkeys and squirrels to his heart’s content. — Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning at davisenterprise.net.
Survey: Vacancy rate up from pre-pandemic lows By Julia Ann Easley Special to The Enterprise The apartment vacancy rate in the city of Davis eased some from its prepandemic lows as students returned to UC Davis for in-person instruction in the fall, according to a survey report released on Feb. 2. The 1.4% blended vacancy rate — including apartments leased by the unit and by the bed — is significantly lower than the 12.2% for fall 2020 when the campus planned for remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But excluding that year, it is the highest since 2016, when the report began calculating a combined vacancy rate, and it ranged between 0.3% and 1.0%. Rent for bed- and unitleased apartments increased by a combined average of 10.9% in fall 2021 compared to the previous year. The results are from the university’s vacancy- and rental-rate survey, conducted since at least 1975 to provide the campus and surrounding communities with information to support planning.
Vacancies by unit According to the survey, 81 apartments, or 1.1%, of 7,083 leased by unit were vacant and available for
lease, compared with 570 or 8.4% vacant among 6,797 apartments in fall 2020. The number of units leased by the bed rather than the unit as a whole more than doubled since fall 2020 and now account for 30% of the market-rate apartments in the survey. “This increase is a result of new deliveries of bed-leasing properties, expansion of existing bed-leasing properties, and conversion of unit-leasing properties to bed-leasing arrangements,” the report said. Among the 2,996 units leased by the bed, 225, or 2.4%, of the 9,376 beds were vacant. In fall 2020, 29.8% of 4,300 beds in this type of unit were vacant.
Rental rates The combined average rental rate increased 10.9% from $2,183 per unit in fall 2020 to $2,420. The report attributes the increase, in part, to the growing number of larger bed-leased units, which bring in more rent per unit compared with unit-leased apartments. It also suggests that properties may have increased rents in 2021 at a higher rate to make up for lower increases in 2020. The average monthly rent for unit-leased apartments of all sizes — from studios to
four or more bedrooms — was up 4.7%, from $1,943 in fall 2020 to $2,034. The average rate for a bed lease rose 1.1%, from $1,050 in fall 2020 to $1,062. While average rents increased, 9% of respondents reported decreasing their asking rents to fill vacancies. Reductions ranged from 2% to 30%, with an average of 10%. Representatives of 40 complexes — down from 44 in 2020 but up from 13 in 2019 — said they offered incentives and move-in specials to help fill vacancies and attract new residents. With the value averaging about $700, common incentives and specials included free or discounted rent, waived application fees, gift cards and giveaways.
A total of 119 apartment complexes and property management companies representing 10,540 rental units, or 18% more units than last year, responded to the survey, commissioned by UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services.
Campus housing In the fall quarter, UC Davis housed about 14,080 students and their family members. In addition, more than 250 beds have been designated for isolating students living in residence halls who test positive for COVID-19. With capacity to accommodate slightly more than 15,000 students on campus, the campus has already met the goal of providing at least that
many beds by fall 2023 under the terms of a 2018 memorandum of understanding with the city of Davis and Yolo County. In fall 2021, a total of 41,158 students enrolled at UC Davis. While most students are associated with the campus in Davis, about 2,000 of the total participate in programs at locations outside of Davis, such as the Sacramento campus. UC Davis also tracks student population as a threequarter average for implementing the 2018 Long Range Development Plan forecast of 39,000 students at the Davis campus. Estimates indicate the LRDP three-quarter average will be approximately 37,000 students for the 2021-22 academic year. — UC Davis News
Local
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022 A3
Save Mart doubles donation for foster kids Special to The Enterprise
Adrianne Smits/UC Davis photo
Ireland Lake in Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 2019.
UCD: Mountains losing their winters Special to The Enterprise Amid snow declines, what happens to Sierra lakes? How small mountain lakes spend their winters is largely unknown to scientists, despite winter representing nearly half the year in such environments. A study by UC Davis helps demystify what happens above and below the ice. The study, published in a special issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, is the first to look at ice cover and under-ice conditions in small Sierra Nevada lakes, which number in the thousands. Such baseline knowledge is critical for understanding how high-elevation lakes respond to climate change and to the loss of ice and snow. Despite heavy snowfall this winter, climate projections estimate the Sierra snowpack could drastically shrink or even disappear by 2100. “Winter is a big part of the year. We don’t understand it, and we’re losing it,” said lead author Adrianne Smits, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis. “Lakes in many cold regions of the world are losing ice cover fast, and very few studies examine what happens to them in winter. People assume they’re hibernating or dead, and the more we learn, we find that’s completely false.”
A sense of snow For the study, researchers placed a network of underwater sensors in 15 remote mountain lakes
throughout the Sierra Nevada to try to understand what type of lakes may be the most sensitive to loss of snow and ice cover. Placed during the more accessible warmer months, the sensors took hourly measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, the timing of ice formation and breakup, and other climate variables for up to five winters. The study found that most mountain lakes will have shorter ice cover, warmer water and higher oxygen concentrations as winters warm. But small and large lakes will respond differently to the loss of ice cover and snow, with small lakes being more susceptible to changes between wet and dry years. Other findings include: n Snowfall and air temperature determine when ice breaks up and how long it lasts. n Lake size and shape control oxygen and temperature immediately after ice forms, but late winter conditions depend on other variables that dictate how long ice covers the lake. n Small, shallow lakes experience low-oxygen conditions more so than large, deep lakes. However, shallow lakes are also more dynamic because heavy snowfall causes ice to submerge, changing oxygen levels as water is displaced by ice. The findings can help inform conservation management related to water resources, endangered and threatened species, and summer algal blooms, which thrive in years with early ice breakup.
“We are used to mountain lakes being crystal clear, but they are likely to become increasingly ‘green,’ with large algae blooms around the shoreline,” Smits said.
Remote work At least 12,000 small lakes are scattered throughout the slopes and valleys of the Sierra Nevada. Getting to them is challenging even when not socked in with ice and snow — a key reason they are understudied. For Smits, a typical field visit included an all-day drive, then backpacking 8 to 15 miles each way while carrying more than 50 pounds of gear. In addition to the data, she was rewarded with spectacular views and a landscape few others experience. One of the more arduous treks became Smits’ favorite site, Boundary Lake, along the edge of Yosemite National Park. She saw it in lush, wet years and in dry years with smoke-filled air. Remnants of the Rim Fire made the hike a slog through broken trail and a scramble into the forest. But at the end was a quiet beauty under a blue and pink-streaked sky that she had all to herself. “It’s really amazing to be able to go to places like that for work,” said Smits, who
is also an artist whose paintings are clearly inspired by a love for the natural world. “These lakes are beautiful and all different in their own way. I used to think the Sierra was just pine trees and granite, but that’s not the case.”
On the record The network includes two long-term study sites: Castle Lake, which UC Davis limnologist Charles Goldman began studying more than 50 years ago, and Emerald Lake, studied since the 1980s by the study’s senior author Steven Sadro, a UC Davis professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. The sites anchor points tied through time, creating a historic record that can greatly inform climate research. “We know climate change is causing ice cover to decrease,” Sadro said. “What are the implications of that? What is the climate sensitivity of lakes? It’s not a one-paper answer. This will be at least a decade of work to characterize the basic function in the lakes. But we’re learning more that will help us make more accurate predictions about why and how the system will change.” — UC Davis News
Make It Happen for Yolo County has received a grant of $5,000 from the Save Mart Companies C.A.R.E.S. Foundation to fully furnish homes for local transition age youths in need, mostly foster youths, moving out on their own for the first time in 2022. The gift is double the amount the nonprofit received last year. “We are honored that Save Mart sees such value in Yolo County’s transition age youth that they chose to double their donation to us this year,” said Jan Judson, board president, Make It Happen for Yolo County. “Save Mart has become a steadfast partner in our work to ensure local transition age youth have what they need to create their homes and be successful first-time renters.” Make It Happen for Yolo County works with clients to complete a wish list of desired household items and then select items at the group’s storage units. Thanks to donated furniture from the community, it costs an average of $650 to fully provide for one home, including furnishings and appliances for a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area, as well as cleaning supplies.
Make It Happen for Yolo County is a volunteer-run nonprofit providing transition age youths (ages 18-24) in Yolo County with the furnishings, household goods and resources needed to move into their first apartments. The group receives furniture donations from the community and purchases new appliances and household items to help youths involved with the Yolo County child welfare, mental health and probation divisions, as well as the UC Davis Guardian Scholars program for students who have experienced foster care. Since its founding in 2014, Make It Happen for Yolo County has served 160 Yolo County transitionage youths. To make a financial or furniture donation, visit MIHYolo. org. Save Mart Companies C.A.R.E.S. Foundation supports community, arts, recreation, education and sports. The foundation was created by Save Mart Supermarkets and operates with a separate board of directors maintaining a separate focus on supporting the company’s principle of giving back to the communities it serves. For information: www.savemart.com/ save-mart-companiescares-foundation.
Local
A4 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SCHEDULE: Board moves ahead From Page A1 mental and emotional wellness, K-12 growth and a layout of the DJUSD instructional coherence map which according to Associate Superintendent of Instruction, Rody Boonchouy, is the heart of a plan envisioned for teaching and learning at the DJUSD. “Our goals include 21st century teaching and learning for all students, closing the opportunity gap and creating inclusive and safe environments for all students,” said Boonchouy. “Our goals remain true, but our strategies evolve as we learn what works and what’s most impactful towards our goals.” After that came the January governor’s budget update. This spanned over the cost-of-living adjustment and inflation, increased special education funding, early literacy, universal meals, what’s not in
the proposed budget as well as local DJUSD considerations. A difficult reality taken away from the update was that of the decline in local enrolment and its impact on the district. Next came the health and safety update on the status of COVID-19 in Yolo County and DJUSD plans for the safe return to campus for staff and students in the 2021-22 school year. Fortunately, the omicron variant surge is showing a decline, as are hospitalizations. Associate Superintendent of Student Support Services, Laura Juanitas, also touched on updated quarantine guidelines and announced a vaccine clinic will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 22, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Holmes Jr. High. Near the meeting’s conclusion, trustee Lea Derrah proposed a reconsideration of the secondary bell schedule. After a discussion
Obituary
amongst the trustees, the motion to reconsider the bell schedule did not pass, with only Derrah voting in favor.
Jacqueline Couper
Nov. 1, 1929 — Dec. 30, 2021 Jacqueline (Jackie) Couper, 92, passed away Dec. 30, 2021, at Sierra Pointe Assisted Care in Roseville.
“Changing structures that we live by every day is hard,” Board President Tom Adams said before the vote, emphasizing that his concern was providing opportunities for economically disadvantaged students. “The students of greatest need are being left out of our system,” he said.
She was born Nov. 1, 1929, in Bend, Ore., to Graydon and Auda McGreer. She graduated from Forest Grove High School in Forest Grove, Ore., where she met her husband Rollin Couper. Rollin and Jackie were married in 1948 and moved to Casper, Wyo., where Rollin worked in the oil industry. They had two children while living in Casper, Robin, born in 1950, and Kevin, born in 1953.
With that, the meeting concluded with the next being scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 17. One can attend the 6:30 p.m. meeting in person at the Community Chambers at 23 Russell Boulevard, on TV by switching to the DJUSD Education Channel 17, or online at http://djusd. davismedia.org/.
Later in 1953, Rollin and Jackie moved to Moses Lake, Wash., to help with a dairy farm that her parents acquired after World War II. Rollin later started his career in the credit union business in Moses Lake and Jackie started working at the junior high school as the school secretary. In 1964 they relocated to Davis, where Rollin managed the Retail Clerks Credit Union in Sacramento. Jackie took a job as
— Reach Aaron Geerts at aaron.geerts@ mcnaughton.media.
City launches Polar Pedal event in February Special to The Enterprise The city of Davis announced today that its Safe Routes to School program will launch its annual Polar Pedal program. For the entire month of February if DJUSD elementary students bike or walk to school, they earn points toward adopting a Polar Bear for their school. DJUSD elementary schools will work together on a goal to adopt 20 polar bears through Polar Bear International. For every 500 biked or walked trips to school, one polar bear will be adopted. The target
goal is 10,000 walk/bike trips for February. To participate, students must scan in with the Active4me program when they arrive at school. To
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
register for Active4me, visit this link: https://www. active4.me// For information, contact Daniela Tavares at dtavares@cityofdavis.org
secretary at Davis Junior High School and later at Holmes Junior High, where she worked until she retired. Jackie was an avid reader and bridge card player. She and Rollin travelled extensively, both before and after retirement. Jackie was also the family historian and authored several papers chronicling the family heritage. She loved to spend time with friends, children, and grandchildren. Jackie will be remembered by the many, many junior high students that she mentored during her career. Jackie was preceded in death by her husband
Rollin. She is survived by her brother George McGreer (Margie) COUPER of Salem, Ore.; children, Robin Shurtz (Randy), of Cool and Kevin Couper (Beverly) of Grass Valley; grandchildren Diedre Shurtz of Cool, Lesley Williamson of Citrus Heights, Brian Couper (Lesli) of Granite Bay and Michael Couper of Upland; and great-grandchildren Noah Shultz, Tyler Williamson and Evelyn Couper. Graveside services will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Davis Cemetery, 820 Pole Line Road.
The Enterprise publishes brief death notices free of charge. Paid-for obituaries allow for controlled content with the option for photos. Obituaries will be edited for style and grammar. Submissions may be made via www.davisenterprise.com/obit-form/. For information, call 530-756-0800.
© 2016 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 32,, No No. 9
There are a lot of candies on Valentine’s Day. And, to protect your teeth and health, we suggest using some of them for science experiments!
STUFF YOU’LL NEED:
STUFF YOU’LL NEED:
water
pencil
clear cup
lollipop
WHAT TO DO:
1. Place a Valentine’s Day lollipop in a clear cup. Draw a picture of the lollipop in the cup here:
water
clear cups
Valentine candies
WHAT TO DO:
1. Get three or four different kinds of Valentine’s Day candy and one cup for each kind. 2. Fill each cup halfway with water. 3. Drop a different kind of candy in each cup. 4. Check the candy every 15 minutes to observe how it has changed. Describe with words or pictures how the candies change each 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES: 30 MINUTES: 45 MINUTES: 60 MINUTES: 2. Add water to fill the cup halfway. Draw a picture of the lollipop in the cup with water here:
WHAT YOU ARE OBSERVING IS SOLUBILITY (There’s a great science word!)
EXPERIMENT VALENTINE DISSOLVE OBSERVE SOLUBLE BUBBLES DENSITY CANDIES HEART BENDS DRAW RAYS DROP TEST AIR
S E V L O S S I D E
E X P E R I M E N T
L T S S C R I I S D
B T R Y I W T D O E
B S E A A N N R L N
U E V R E S B O U S B T D L C H E P B I
D C A N D I E S L T
A V B E N D S Y E Y
When something dissolves in water, it is called soluble. Different things dissolve at different times. And some things don’t dissolve at all.
What is different between the two pictures? Scientists are good observers. Test your powers of observation with this game for three or more players.
1. Pick a picture or drawing in the newspaper. 2. Players take turns telling a fact or detail about it. 3. When a player can’t add a new fact, he or she is out. Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Follow written directions.
STUFF YOU’LL NEED: Why do you think the lollipop looks different in the cup with water?
clear cup
candy hearts
Find one or more articles that describe a change that has happened or is happening. State the change. What was true before the change? What are the planned and/or unplanned effects of the change? Standards Link: Investigation: Considering cause and effect.
club soda
WHAT TO DO:
1. Fill the cup with club soda (any clear carbonated soda will work). 2. Drop a few candy hearts into the cup. 3. Do some hearts flip or float? Keep observing.
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
Before and After
The carbon dioxide soda creates bubbles that form on the hearts. If enough bubbles form, the candy is lifted towards the surface. But as bubbles pop, the candy sinks again until more bubbles form.
Hold this paragraph up to a mirror to discover the science behind this experiment! ot ecnatsbus eno hguoht sessap ti nehw ”sdneb“ thgiL gnilevart tsrfi si thgil ehT .ytisned tnereffid a fo rehtona ecniS .retaw eht hguorht sessap ti neht dna ,ria eht hguorht ni dneb syar thgil eht ,ria eht naht esned erom si retaw eht ehT .llew sa dneb ot mees ydnac eht sekam sihT .retaw eht .noitcarfer dellac si gnidneb thgil fo ssecorp
Come up with five or more silly reasons to explain why blood is red.
From Page One
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022 A5
MAP: Some voters will miss chance in boundary change From Page A1 govern council elections for the next 10 years, current council members last week voiced a preference for avoiding the latter circumstance as much as possible. “Minimizing deferrals, I think, is critical,” said Councilman Will Arnold, who voiced his support for draft Map A as a result. “I’m also in favor of A and it boiled down for me to the accelerations and deferrals of voters,” said Councilman Josh Chapman. The result was a unanimous vote on Tuesday for Map A, one of three draft maps prepared for the council. All three of the maps prepared by Redistricting Partners took into account population changes in the city over the last 10 years that were not reflected in the 2010 Census data used to create district lines for the 2020 election. Specifically, the build out of The Cannery caused the population of District 3, currently represented by Vice Mayor Lucas Frerichs, to increase, while the population of District 2, represented by Arnold, decreased, possibly due to fewer college students being in town during the 2020 Census. Equalizing populations
Courtesy graphic
The Davis city council unanimously backed redistricting Map A on Tuesday. as much as possible across all of the districts largely came down to shifting parts of District 3 into District 2 and parts of District 2 into District 1 as well as some other changes. The end result under Map A is that 757 people who voted in 2020 will get to vote again in 2022, while 68 people who didn’t get to vote two years ago will now have to wait until 2024. The deferral numbers were higher under Maps B and C. Under Map B, 1,339 people who voted in 2020 would get to vote again in
2022 while 909 people would miss out on a second straight election. Under Map C, which redrew lines in a way that moved voters from District 1 to District 3, 757 people would have been able to vote in two elections in a row while 321 people would have missed out on another election. In voicing their support for Map A, the council requested additional changes before the map returns to them Feb. 15 for a final up-or-down vote. Those changes involve moving a small number of residences on West Eighth
Street, Acacia Lane and Cornell Drive into District 2. Other elements of draft Map A include: n District 1 in West Davis, represented by Councilman Dan Carson, is expanded eastward beyond Highway 113 to include more of central Davis; n District 2 is expanded eastward to include all of the North Davis neighborhood; n District 3 pushes westward to include more of central Davis and southward to include Aggie Village; n District 4, represented
by Mayor Gloria Partida, remains unchanged; and n District 5, represented by Chapman, recedes slightly, giving up Aggie Village. The total population deviation between districts would be 8.4 percent, as compared to the current deviation of 24.9 percent, with District 3 having 15,702 residents and District 2 having 12,248. Under Map A, District 2 would be the largest, with 13,787 residents and District 5 would be the smallest with 12,756 residents. There is a larger deviation when it comes to the voting-age population. There, District 2 is also the largest, with 11,986 residents of voting age, but District 1 is close behind with 11,264. Both Districts 4 and 5 have voting-age populations of less than 9,000. The two council seats up for election in November are Carson’s in District 1 and Partida’s in District 4. Arnold, Frerichs and Chapman all won their district seats in 2020 and won’t be up for re-election until 2024. All of this work began back in 2019 when the council voted unanimously to switch from at-large to by-district elections under the threat of a lawsuit. Attorney and former
Yolo County Supervisor Matt Rexroad contended the city’s at-large voting system violated the California Voting Rights Act and, facing legal fees in the millions of dollars had the city gone to court and lost, the council approved a resolution transitioning to district elections in August 2019. “When we were forced to go down this path towards districting, reluctantly, we all realized it was necessary,” said Carson on Tuesday night. But he also noted that back in 2019 the council also passed a resolution “committing ourselves to helping anybody in any district who asked for our assistance. “So to me, that lowers the stakes here,” Carson said. “I’ve gotten calls from folks in these neighborhoods (asking for help) just as I’m sure my colleagues have gotten calls from folks in West Davis. So I’m happy to abide by what happens here.” Davis residents can find their current districts — and, once a final map is approved later this month, whether that district has changed — at https://www. cityofdavis.org/city-hall/ city-clerk/elections/district-elections.
RECREATION: City recruiting volunteers to help make sure programs run smooth From Page A1 In anticipation of a full summer of programming, the city is hiring for many positions, including senior leaders, day camp leaders, camp managers, lifeguards,
cashiers and more. All available positions are posted on the city website at: www.cityofdavis.org/ jobs Deadlines vary, so interested candidates should apply early. In addition to those jobs, Camp
Putah will be recruiting volunteers to help with the logistics for the 50th anniversary celebration. Application information also will be included in the Summer Rec Guide. “The Parks & Community
Services Department appreciates the support and patience that all participants and families have shown over the last two years as we have navigated the impacts of COVID-19,” the city said in a press release. “We look forward to
a summer of fun while following any current guidelines and protocols.” — Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at aternus@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.
From Page One
A6 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
SMOKE: Newsom unlikely to embrace radical changes From Page A1 “Mikey” Steinmetz, cofounder of Flow Cannabis Co., a manufacturer and distributor. “We feel that he has turned his back in some capacity.” The cannabis industry’s appeal for help is aggressively aimed at the heap of taxes that put it at a disadvantage with the robust illicit market in California. Steinmetz has proposed a boycott of the state’s cultivation tax unless there is financial relief in the upcoming state budget. Newsom expressed support for taking unspecified steps to “stabilize the market” while unveiling his budget proposal on Jan. 10, but he seems unlikely to embrace radical changes to the system he put his name on with Prop. 64. No plan has yet materialized, and his office declined to make him available for an interview. “It is an oversimplification to say that tax reduction will solve all of the industry’s problems,” Nicole Elliott, director of Newsom’s Department of Cannabis Control, told CalMatters. “It’s just a vast oversimplification of the number of variables that impact the health of the legal market and that support or foster illegal activity. It is not tax alone.”
Pro or con Newsom once stood, cautiously, at the forefront of the legalization movement in California. He declared at the time that he was not “pro-marijuana” — he says he has never tried it — but “vehemently anti-prohibition.” As lieutenant governor, he formed a blue ribbon commission on marijuana policy, which issued a report in 2015 warning that legalization would be a
“process that unfolds over many years requiring sustained attention to implementation.” Prop. 64 followed the next year, pitched by Newsom more as an opportunity for social justice — to erase the damage of a drug war that had disproportionately targeted Blacks and Latinos — than for new tax revenue. After 57% of California voters approved the measure, his focus has shifted to issues including health care, homelessness and early childhood education. In his first three years as governor, Newsom rarely discussed marijuana policy publicly, even before the coronavirus pandemic response consumed his administration. That silence has disappointed many in the cannabis industry who expected he would continue to lead on the issue. Some steps are viewed positively — consolidating the state’s three separate cannabis licensing programs into a single department and, in what was perhaps an industry-saving move, declaring marijuana dispensaries and delivery services an essential business that could remain open during the pandemic. But there is widespread frustration with Newsom’s inaction on the problems
Rahul Lal/CalMatters photo
Supporters of cannabis tax reform gather for a rally at the state Capitol on Jan. 13, 2021. preventing the licensed system from competing as a viable alternative to the dominant illicit market. Legal sales in California reached $4.4 billion in 2020, according to the industry publication MJBizDaily, while experts estimate that illegal sales could be at least twice as much.
Difficult transition Those problems are not entirely Newsom’s creation. Long before legalization, the Emerald Triangle of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties established itself as the base of marijuana cultivation for the entire country, making the transition to a regulated system uniquely challenging in California. Many long-standing farmers have
been reluctant to make the jump. And despite a stated intent to give small growers a five-year head start, regulations on acreage limits adopted before Newsom became governor, though not over his opposition, opened the door for investors to link parcels into megafarms and flood the market with their crop. Prop. 64 requires local governments to opt in, so recreational sales are still blocked in about twothirds of jurisdictions, including some large cities such as Bakersfield and Anaheim. There are 866 licensed dispensaries in California, along with 374 licensed marijuana delivery businesses. That’s just a fraction of the number per capita in other states where cannabis is legal, including
Oregon, Washington, Colorado and even Oklahoma. Growers and distributors say they have fewer shops where to sell their products now than when only medical marijuana was legal and licensing for dispensaries was looser. In addition, taxes — stacked by state and local authorities for growing, distributing and selling — raise the price of legal marijuana by as much as 50% for consumers. Industry advocates argue that the Newsom administration has not done nearly enough to lower costs for licensed businesses, or to expand the legal market. “He’s responsible for
setting the agenda for what’s important in the state,” said Imelda Walavalkar, chief executive officer of Pure Beauty, an “environmentally conscious” marijuana brand that has indoor growing and production facilities in Sacramento. “It doesn’t seem like a super priority for them.” The state, for instance, has not ramped up pressure or incentives to persuade reluctant communities to permit recreational marijuana sales. And social-equity programs started by some cities and counties to diversify the industry are taking years to get off the ground.
sports
B Section
Forum Living Business Comics
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE — SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
B2 B3 B4 B5
Keller excels on, off the pitch By Madilynn Sepp Enterprise correspondent
Changing your role models is healthy
A
re superstars role models? Hardly. “Aaron Rodgers claims people rooted against Packers because of his vaccination status,” said the headline over a Sporting News story by Jake Aferiat. My first reaction to that would be that Rodgers is probably correct. Some people no doubt did root against the Packers, or at least against Rodgers, because of his vaccination status. Heck, I’d be willing to bet my seven-figure salary against Rodgers’ eight-figure salary that there were people who rooted for the Packers because of Rodgers’ vaccination status. Others rooted against the Packers because they were playing the 49ers. On the other hand, some folks root for the Packers because they like the color of their uniforms or their old-fashioned helmets. Some folks root for the 49ers because Jimmy Garoppolo is so darn good-looking. I didn’t realize there was an NFL rule that says people must have valid reasons for rooting for or against a specific team. I rooted for the Packers when I was a kid because they always played on Thanksgiving Day right after the Macy’s parade. Later, I rooted for the Packers because of the person that I imagined Bart Starr to be. And I probably even rooted for Aaron Rodgers for a while because he grew up in Chico and made it all the way to the big time. That, and the fact that during player self-introductions on Sunday television, he would say “Aaron Rodgers, Butte College.” I thought that was a great and fitting shout out to the value of a California community-college education. Must have made the folks at Butte College burst with pride.
I
generally don’t root for the Rams because I’m not fond of Los Angeles, and I quit rooting for the Chargers after they abandoned San Diego. And never mind that the Rams and the Chargers share the prize for having the coolest helmets around. I did, however, root for the Rams when they beat Tampa Bay because I’m tired of all the attention Tom Brady gets and still can’t help associating him with Bill Belichick. These things get complicated. Walter Payton was easy to root for. The same for Jim Brown, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Bob St. Clair, Norm Van Brocklin and Refrigerator Perry. Aaron Rodgers seems to think his vaccination status should be irrelevant to the average fan. But he was the one who made that status known. When a famous person opens his mouth and advocates a lifestyle that’s harmful to society, we have every right not to be loyal fans anymore. John Stockton, the all-time assist leader in the NBA, recently had his Gonzaga basketball season tickets pulled when he refused to wear a mask to his alma mater’s games. Rodgers and Stockton have decided that vaccination rules and mask-wearing rules are things they don’t wish to follow. Fine and dandy. And those of us in the cheap seats have decided to judge them as arrogant and selfish and unconcerned about the health of others. Those are not qualities I admire. We also can choose to knock them off our list of heroes and take our passions and loyalties elsewhere. — Contact Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.
Davis High has a long legacy of strong female student-athletes. Una Keller, a junior center-back on the Davis High girls soccer team, is making a solid case for her name to be added to the list. Entering the final weekend of Delta League play, the Blue Devils (6-1-5 overall, 5-1-5 league) are in second place behind league-leader St. Francis and secured one of the league’s four playoff berths. “Where we are right now, we’re in second place and I think if we keep playing the way we should be we will be good,” said Keller, a three-year starter. Competing on club and high school teams, Keller is known for her versatility and stamina. Davis High girls soccer coach Sara Stone said: “She is so smooth as a player, and running is definitely a strength of hers. She has great stamina in games. Soccer requires lots of running, and she does it with ease; she’s very calm-and-collected on the field and never backs down from tough competition.” Keller got into soccer when she was around 6 years old, after watching her older brother play. “My older brother (Rowan) was playing and I really looked up to him, so it made me want to try out and play,” Keller said. Many years into her career, Keller now plays center for the Blue Devils and outside back for her club team. Going back and forth between the two can be a challenge but not
Mike Bush/Enterprise file photo
Davis High’s Una Keller (13) gets to the ball before a Pleasant Grove player does during a Delta League game at Ron and Mary Brown Stadium on Jan. 4. when you lean on your strong skill sets. When asked about her strengths as an athlete, Keller said: “Staying positive and keeping the energy up, encouraging your team. I also try to maintain good academics and be a good role model for younger girls.”
Keller currently carries a 4.0 weighted GPA with three AP classes. “Junior year has been hard academically, especially coming back from online school which has been a big change and took some getting used to,” Keller explained.
See KELLER, Back page
DHS girls overpower Huskies By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor Three Davis High girls basketball players scored in double digits in Friday’s Delta League home game against Sheldon. Toss in a combination of defense and free throws, and the Blue Devils (8-12 overall, 7-3 league) cruised to a 56-21 win over the Huskies inside North Gym. The victory strengthens Davis’ hold on second place in league, with two games remaining on the schedule. The Blue Devils have won five of their last seven games. In front of Davis in the league standings is Cosumnes Oaks (10-0 league). St. Francis and Franklin are tied for third place with 5-4 league marks, and Pleasant Grove Next game: follows at Monday at 4-5. Franklin, 7 p.m. According to the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Website — www.cifsjs.org — the top four teams in the Delta League advance to the playoffs, which are scheduled to start on Friday, Feb. 17. In the second quarter, Davis held a slim 13-9 lead. Then the Blue Devils’ defense took charge for the bulk of the game off the glass. That is where they pulled down 10 rebounds, while boxing out the Huskies’ front court from grabbing an offensive rebound. Davis finished with 41 rebounds. Those boards were pivotal for the Blue Devils, who finished with an 18-0 run for a 31-9 halftime lead. On defense, Davis used a mixture of zones to shut down the Huskies in the final five minutes
Devils 56, Huskies 21
Christoph Lossin/Enterprise photo
Davis High forward Mara Bledsoe (20) battles a pack of Huskies for the ball in Friday’s Delta League contest. of the quarter. At the free throw line in the same quarter, the Blue Devils made 4 of 7 shots. Forward Mara Bledsoe made two of those shots, for some of her game-high 20 points. On offense, Davis guard
Malia Abrencia scored 8 of her 10 points in the first half. That included making two 3-pointers in the first quarter. Davis Tessa Schouten, a 6-foot sophomore forward, scored a mixture of points from the line as well as the paint.
Schouten scored 10 in the paint and five at the line for a total of 15 points. Moving to the third quarter, Davis continued where it left off in the second quarter. But this time, the Blue Devils created their own baskets, thanks mostly to offensive rebounds. Davis grabbed 10 boards in the quarter, including four on offense. That led to the Blue Devils having another double-digit run in the quarter, another 14-0 for a 45-9 score toward the end of the quarter. Sheldon (5-13, 2-6) finally got a bucket when guard Amirah Rode-McKissack hit a basket with 1:23 left on the clock to make it 45-11. The Blue Devils led 47-12 entering the final quarter. Both teams scored 9 points each in the fourth quarter. Sheldon picked up most of its points thanks to eight rebounds. The Huskies had 20 in the game. Behind Bledsoe, Schouten and Abrencia in scoring were forward Alia Cordone with 8 points. Cordone, also a sophomore who stands at 6-0, scored 4 points in each half. Davis guard Pauline Anasco had 3 points. Davis made 15 of 28 free throws in the game. Rode-McKissack led the Huskies in scoring with 9 points. Guard Kaydince Montgomery had 4 points. Before the start of Friday’s game, Bledsoe and Anasco were honored as part of Senior Night. On Monday, Davis plays at Franklin at 7 p.m. This Friday, the Blue Devils close out the regular season, also on the road, at Pleasant Grove. — Contact Mike Bush at mike@davisenterprise.net. Follow on Twitter: @MBDavis Sports.
Aggie duo make a run at the leaderboard Special to The Enterprise WAIMEA, Hawaii — UC Davis sophomore Jacob Westberg finished with five birdies and an eagle en route to a 3-under 69, while classmate Lucas Carper posted three birdies on the front nine to finish with his second straight round of 70, leading the Aggie men’s golf team on Day 2 of the Amer Ari Intercollegiate at Hapuna Golf Course in Hawaii on Friday. The Aggies finished with a second-round 285 as a team to fall two spots into 13th place
Local roundup overall at 8-under after 36 holes, just one stroke out of a spot in the top 10 and four shots ahead of TCU. Texas Tech leads the team event by a stroke over Arizona State. Westberg led the charge to the red on Friday, sharing team-high honors with five birdies and adding an eagle on the par-five third hole en route to his 3-under 69, shooting up the leader board into a tie for 47th after standing
in a tie for 69th on Day 1. After carding a 6-under 66 on day one, senior Thomas Hutchison fell into a tie for 21st after shooting an even-par 72. He finished with birdies on No. 12, No. 14 and No. 3 to close out his day, standing seven shots off the lead.
DHS soccer On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Davis High boys and girls soccer teams could be seen checking their phones, laptops or tablets.
That is because the SacJoaquin Section will be releasing the playoff brackets for both sides. The Davis boys squad (12-2 overall) won the Delta League title with a 10-2 record. The Blue Devil girls (6-1-5 overall, 5-1-5 league) are in second place behind St. Francis. According to the section’s Website — www.cifsjs.org — the first round for the boys begin Thursday. The first round for the girls begin Friday, Feb. 11.
Forum
B2 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
Commentary
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
Hoffer warned of ‘true believers’
UCD moving E toward being fossil-free U C Davis, long recognized as a leader in environmental sustainability, is taking a bold first step to confront the sizable carbon emissions that result from its own daily operations and contribute to the climate crisis. The campus has officially announced that it is drawing up concrete plans to electrify both of its campuses with the goal to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. In October 2020, an informal group of UCD students, faculty, staff, and alumni met with Chancellor Gary May and other campus officials to press for a commitment to go fossil-fuel free, eventually resulting in the creation of a new Campus Advisory Committee on Sustainability. Branding itself Fossil Free UCD, the group met with Chancellor May again in December 2021 and presented a petition signed by over 1300 UCD affiliates, including more than 260 faculty, 795 students, and 135 alumni. The petition called for the Chancellor and other UC Davis leaders to commit to ending the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy for UCD’s campuses by 2030, and to develop a plan for doing so in 2022. As members of this group, we are motivated by three ideas: 1) the urgency of acting now to try to avert the worst local and global consequences of global heating, including wildfires, extreme rainfall, extreme heat, hurricanes, drought, flooding, sea level rise, damaged ecosystems, species extinction, and changed disease vectors, 2) UCD’s core missions of education, research, and service to local and global communities and its longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability, and 3) UCD’s power and obligation to lead and inspire others to decarbonize rapidly. Other universities are also taking steps to eliminate fossil fuels in this way, including Stanford, Oberlin, and Ball State. We acknowledge that UCD has taken important steps toward electrification already. The Big Shift project is possibly the most notable, which is currently underway to replace an aging steambased heating system to a more efficient system that uses hot water and can be powered by electricity. However, UC Davis is currently still using fracked methane for its heating and cooling needs and will need to switch this to renewable electricity it purchases or generates on site. The University of California system is still pursuing an outdated Carbon Neutrality Initiative that relies on purchasing offsets after 2025 to atone for oncampus emissions. Carbon offsets only shift our burden of action to others — at best — and at worst result in no net reduction in emissions if they duplicate actions that would have happened anyway
ric Hoffer was a former migrant farm worker who achieved praise and fame in the 1950s and 1960s as a writer and philosopher. Hoffer’s first of many books,”The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements,” was published in 1951, while he was a longshoreman in San Francisco. He continued to labor on the docks and continued to write for another 13 years, before becoming an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, but “True Believer” remains his most cogent work. Hoffer applied the term “mass movements” to “revolutionary parties, nationalistic movements, and religious movements” and added, “A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of actions.” As summarized in Wikipedia, “Hoffer argues that fanatical and extremist cultural movements, whether religious, social, or national, arise when large numbers of frustrated people, believing their own individual lives to be worthless or spoiled, join a movement demanding radical change. But the real attraction for this population is an escape from the self, not a realization of individual hopes.” Thus, a mass
movement attracts followers “not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.” The phenomenon, Hoffer importantly concluded, is not confined to any one religious or ideological belief, noting that in postWorld War I Germany, communists and Nazis competed for allegiance among the same frustrated, marginalized and angry slices of the population. Although published seven decades ago, Hoffer’s observations strike home today in a nation that might more accurately be called the Disunited States of America. True believers abound and they see others with differing views as an evil scourge that must be eradicated. The most obvious example occurred 13 months ago, when hundreds of Donald Trump followers, believing — without a shred of evidence — that his re-election
bid was stolen, invaded the Capitol to prevent Joe Biden’s election as president from being confirmed. However, it was not an isolated example of mindless movements, nor are they confined to the right side of the political ledger. On the left, some members of the so-called “anti-fascist” movement have engaged in street violence directed at just about anyone and anything its followers choose to target, at times making some big city neighborhoods virtually uninhabitable.
T
he “if-you’re-notwith-us-you’re-ourenemy syndrome is also evident in non-violent political situations, as two current events in California underscore. The left wing of the California Democratic Party has declared war on members who do not 100% hew to its agenda. It was demonstrated four years ago when progressive activists denied long-serving U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein a re-election endorsement because she was seen as too moderate and too willing to work across the partisan aisle. Now the same activists are fuming because legislation that would have
declared California’s intention to create a single-payer health care system stalled without a vote in the state Assembly. The coalition backing the legislation threatened to bar party endorsements for any legislator who voted against the bill and now promises to cancel support for any who fail to publicly endorse it, even though the measure is half-baked at best. North of Sacramento, in Shasta County, the ideological cousins of those who invaded the U.S. Capitol last year launched a recall campaign against a county supervisor, former Redding Police Chief Leonard Moty, whom they deemed not right-wing enough, and it may have succeeded. Initial returns last week indicated that Moty, by any rational standard a conservative Republican, will lose his seat, giving the right-wing ideologues control of the board. Hoffer warned us about mindless true believers undermining civic stability and democracy itself. — CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.
E
lectrifying the campus will require significant strategic investments, but will in the long run help avoid crippling economic, health, and equity costs of climate disasters. We are unfortunately well past the time when partial measures can be helpful; only bold and swift action has any hope of preventing global temperature increases to remain below 2 degrees Celsius. We were pleased when, shortly after our December meeting, Chancellor May committed to a plan to end UCD’s fossil fuel use by directing the aforementioned Campus Advisory Committee on Sustainability to develop a fossil-free plan by Dec. 31 — a plan that would be an important tool to drive decisions and projects at UC Davis. The Chancellor stopped short of agreeing to a 2030 goal to decarbonize UCD, wanting to wait for CACS to complete its plans before committing. With Fossil Free UCD’s Professor Mark Huising serving as a member of CACS, we hope to continue to provide inspiration and input into the campus’s decarbonization plan. While commitment to developing a plan to make UCD fossil free is certainly a huge first step, of course our true goal will only be realized if the plan is implemented. UC Davis can be a leader in sustainability yet again, inspiring other institutions and universities throughout the country to address their carbon emissions. UC Davis would signal that climate science matters in the real world, with implications for large-scale international policies. We are grateful that UCD has recognized that it needs to embark on a path toward a fossil fuel free future. However, the real work to make this plan a reality within a timeframe that reflects the urgency of our climate emergency is only just starting. If you would like to sign our petition, learn more about our ongoing efforts, or join our cause, please see our website at https:// fossilfreeucd.org/ — Roberta Millstein; Mark Huising, Stephen Wheeler, Megan Phelps, Emilio Ferrer, Jacqueline Crawley and Christine Shewmaker.
Letters High school schedule change Dear DJUSD trustees, I’m writing in regards to the change the board recently approved to the high school schedule. I just watched a recording of the Jan. 20 school board meeting and was impressed by the advocacy of the students (and teachers and parents), as I’m sure you were. They were passionate, they were thoughtful, and they brought up many consequences of the new schedule for their lives that clearly had not been considered. When the changes were proposed, I was probably not alone among parents in not paying close attention. I assumed that any change would be based on input from DSHS and DaVinci teachers and students and based on evidence from best practices in education. So it was shocking to learn how quickly this decision was
enterprise A McNaughton Newspaper Locally owned and operated since 1897
Foy S. McNaughton
R. Burt McNaughton
Taylor Buley
Sebastian Oñate
President and CEO Co-Publisher
Publisher Editor
Official legal newspaper of general circulation for the city of Davis and county of Yolo. Published in The Davis Enterprise building, 315 G St., Davis, CA. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617. Phone: 530-756-0800. An award-winning newspaper of the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
made, and how the knowledge of the teachers and students about what’s best for them was casually disregarded. I find the timing of this change to be bizarre. My older child graduated from DSHS in 2018, and my younger child is a junior there now. Because of COVID, their high school experiences have been crushingly different. No potential benefits of the schedule change could be worth the further disruption, uncertainty, and feelings of powerlessness that this prospect is creating for students right now. Furthermore, we already have difficulty attracting and retaining highquality teachers to our district because our pay and benefits are less than those in surrounding districts. These unfortunate circumstances are something that you as trustees cannot control. You can’t give teachers in Davis more money, but what you can give them is more respect. Their efforts throughout the pandemic to keep providing our kids with a high-quality education have been nothing short of heroic. And the pandemic has added countless tasks to
Speak out President The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
U.S. Senate Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: http://feinstein. senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me Sen. Alex Padilla, B03 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;
their existing responsibilities. But when they partnered with you in good faith to come up with a new schedule, you picked the option that had the least support among them. Please have the courage to reverse this decision. Megan Rabin Davis
Local food banks My name is Kyla Steen and I am a 14-year-old ninth grader at Emerson Junior High. I am writing to you to talk about the food banks. They provide so much for people who need help, whether they are homeless or even just tight on money. Sometimes we forget just how much they do for everyone. These food banks are such a huge part of our community and could use our help. If you are able to, consider donating or helping out at your local food bank today. Even the smallest things can make a big difference. Thank you. Kyla Steen Davis
202-224-3553; email: padilla.senate. gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
We welcome your letters
House of Representatives
Addresses and phone numbers should be included for verification purposes; they will not be published. Limit letters to 350 words. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit all letters for brevity or clarity. Mail letters to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617; bring them to 315 G St.; fax them to 530-756-1668; or email them to newsroom@davis enterprise.net.
Rep. John Garamendi (3rd District), 2368 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202-225-1880. District office: 412 G St., Davis, CA 95616; 530-753-5301; email: visit https://garamendi.house.gov/contact/ email
Governor Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: visit https://govapps.gov. ca.gov/gov40mail/
Living
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022 B3
How large an audience does a writer want? T his week I’m reading only books that I first read many years ago. They cover a single topic: writing. One of them, “Bird by Bird,” by Anne Lamott, helped me in the 90s during my early days as a columnist and again in 2006 when I explored writing fiction. I’m reading it for the third time because I’m about to teach a writing class. I’m trying to imagine what my students, all seniors like I am, will want. Will they write for their families or a larger audience? ———— I never thought of becoming a writer. In the upwardly mobile suburb of New York where I grew up, I was probably surrounded by young people who aspired to write. I liked keeping a diary and I was thrilled when chosen as editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, but the actual writing was not a draw. Working on a project with my friends, now that was fun. In college, I had no special sense of being a good writer but I did puzzle mightily over my final exam in religion, my least favorite class, when the professor gave me an A+ and wrote a private note to say how remarkable my test paper had been.
Any confidence I picked up via my religion teacher was quickly torn away in graduate school. The first hurdle was a written exam for the master’s degree in literature on which I scored so poorly that I was required to take it again. Passing the second time is a little like rolling up in my kayak after a failed first try. It’s good to be upright, but everyone watching knows I barely made it. When studying for my second set of literature exams, three years later, I created my own pandemic-like environment. All day I sat alone in an apartment I shared with a mostly-absent roommate. At first, I did nothing but read; then the Watergate hearings began and they grabbed my attention. Now, 50 years later, I remember much more about those hearings than I do about the books that were required of me, although I did pass the darn test. ———— Eventually, I changed course and never became a Ph.D., although I still ended up writing. We all do, even if it’s just notes to family members, emails, sympathy cards or recipe directions. We don’t have the ambitions of a professional, but we practice
writing in spite of ourselves. In older age, many people start thinking about writing a memoir. Maybe not a whole book, maybe just a chapter, maybe just one story of one incident that the writer wants to get down. The urge hits to have someone else, maybe someone younger, maybe a grandchild, know you better by reading your story. I believe that few people write so badly that they can’t communicate. The books I’m currently reading convince me that a writing teacher’s job is to buoy the spirits of people who want to risk writing and risk showing it to someone, maybe someone important to them, but haven’t done that before. I doubt that anyone in my class will plan to pen a bestseller. As a person who came to writing in middle age, I didn’t start
with grand ambitions and I didn’t acquire them. After I’d been at The Davis Enterprise for a few years, friends advised me to apply to a bigger newspaper, but I only made one half-hearted try. I like getting feedback from people I see at the grocery store and via emails from readers and friends, but that’s plenty. That’s where my writing ambition stops. Rereading Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” I can feel her ambition crawling up my arm as if her book came with a snake. She is disarmingly funny and in person very engaging (I’ve seen her speak) but she also seeks success, which means a large readership. What would I get if more readers read my stuff? I’m always interested in the feedback local people send me, but do I need more? ———— My students aren’t real to me yet — I don’t know their names — but I imagine that they resemble me. They want to write for a limited audience, maybe just themselves, their family or their friends. Maybe they’re like novice musicians, whose greatest pleasure might be playing for the folks at home, or like amateur
actors who want their relatives to come to the show. When we do something creative, who are we doing it for? Just ourselves may not be enough, but just ourselves plus a few others might be. If we look at small audiences as a desirable thing, consider how many of us can become writers or musicians or actors or quilters. My husband recently surprised me with a quilted bedspread made for me, with pictures of places I love. Since it resides in our bedroom few people will ever see it. Does that bother the artist who made it? Was making it the best part for her? I hope she also feels good imagining the pleasure with which I look at it every day. All artists must ask themselves, “Who sees my work?” For a writer, how does the experience of becoming well-known differ from being recognized only by family and friends? Is one kind of recognition better than the other? Here’s one writer who believes a small audience is fine. — Marion Franck has lived in Davis for more than 40 years. Reach her at marionf2@gmail. com.
Students learn real-world lessons about dating violence Special to The Enterprise
Empower Yolo
ebruary is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, a national effort to help raise awareness about teen dating violence, provide prevention education and promote healthy relationships. The focus of the awareness effort is preventing teen dating violence, which impacts one out of every three youths every year. According to the California Partnership To End Domestic Violence, the essence of preventing teen dating violence is “stopping dating and domestic violence before they ever occur which requires stopping the conditions that support violence and promoting conditions that prevent violence. We must end systematic/cultural power imbalances (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.), and instead, build healthier communities, form strong connections, and know our self-worth.” Teen dating violence is an issue that impacts everyone — teens, their parents, teachers, friends, and the whole community. Together, we can raise the community’s awareness about teen dating violence and promote safe, healthy relationships. Educating our youths about the issues is one of the primary goals of teen dating violence awareness month. “Teen dating violence is an issue that impacts teens throughout the world. It is crucial that we take the initiative to educate youths and provide a safe space where students can share their experiences and thoughts on what healthy relationships are meant to look like,” says Tony Morales, Empower Yolo ASSETs Site Coordinator, Woodland High School. Romantic relationships
between teenagers can be incredibly complicated. Having a relationship during these challenging years often requires more maturity than most teens have developed. These relationships can have many problems with communication and jealousy and can be further complicated with the pressures of social media. “Many students don’t know that abuse comes in many forms and is not limited to physical but also includes emotional and verbal,” Morales said. “This stems from the lack of conversations being held. It is critical for youths to begin learning the skills needed to create and maintain healthy relationships. These skills include how to manage feelings and how to communicate in a healthy way.” In an effort to educate local teens, provide a safe space, and equip them with healthy relationship skills Empower Yolo’s After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) program is hosting a month-long TDVAM campaign at Woodland High School. The campaign will include weekly workshops and a fun, month-long meme contest on healthy relationships. The series of workshop topics will include: what is teen dating violence awareness month; what does teen dating violence look like; in their shoes: teens and dating violence; and healthy relationships. Resources where students can get help will be provided at every workshop. New this year ASSETs will use the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s In Their Shoes: Teens and Dating Violence program to give students a more
By Natalia Baltazar
F
By Andy Jones Special to The Enterprise 1. Internet Culture. Stephen Colbert recently called what company’s $230 billion stock drop “karmic retribution” for misinformation? 2. Sports. What American football coach and former quarterback is the current head football coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines? 3. Science. Starting with the letter M, what phyllosilicate mineral is used in cosmetics to add “shimmer” or “frost”? 4. Unusual Words. We use “octothorpe”
Courtesy photo
Tony Morales, Empower Yolo ASSETs Site Coordinator, discusses dating abuse and healthy relationships with ASSETs students during teen dating violence awareness month. in-depth view on teen dating violence. “With this program, students will be able to see the different ways that teen dating violence can show in different relationships. The ASSETs team is confident that with this program we will be able to more thoroughly educate students on this topic,” says Fabian Iglesias, Director of Youth Programs, ASSETs Program Manager, Woodland High School. During the year ASSETs provides prevention education through its curriculum. Even during online school through the pandemic, the ASSETs team provided prevention education to students making 12 prevention education presentations to 90 students from July through December 2021. In the current school year, the program is engaging even more students. “Every Thursday, the ASSETs team hosts weekly Our Strength meetings, a prevention education program devoted towards raising awareness on various issues which affect teens in Woodland such as
symbols often, but call them other names. What are they? 5. Pop Culture — Television. What 12-season sitcom that ended in in 2017 took place in Pasadena? Answers: Facebook (Meta); Jim Harbaugh; mica; a hashtag, pound sign, or numbers symbol; “The Big Bang Theory.” — Dr. Andy Jones is the former quizmaster at de Vere’s Irish Pub and author of the book “Pub Quizzes: Trivia for Smart People.” His pub quiz is now seeking a new home. Meanwhile, Dr. Andy is also sharing his pub quizzes via Patreon. Find out more at www. yourquizmaster.com.
stalking, gang violence, mental health and levels of poverty,” says Morales.
A
SSETs also provides resources and services for students. “ASSETs works hard to deliver programming that touches upon teen dating violence throughout the year. Our focus is to prevent the students we serve and the community from experiencing dating violence by showing our teens the warning signs of abuse. In those situations where students are experiencing dating violence, we refer them to various partners and in-house departments. At Empower Yolo we refer students to the counseling department which provides free counseling, the legal department which helps with restraining orders, as well as an array of other services,” says Iglesias. Other local TDVAM campaigns will be run by Empower Youth at Davis High School and Emerson Junior High School. Empower Youth is a community service club led by local teens that supports Empower Yolo and the
children at Empower Yolo’s shelter. “Many young people are still learning what a healthy relationship looks like for them and what they feel comfortable with. It’s important to teach teens what unhealthy behavior in relationships is because they may not be able to see it for themselves, or don’t realize that something is not right,” said Zach Agnew, Empower Youth DHS member, and treasurer. Efforts to raise awareness are also happening in junior high school. “Teen dating violence is important to talk about with teens early on so that unhealthy behaviors are prevented in adulthood. Teens should know from a young age how to be treated and how to treat their partner in a relationship with love and respect,” says Isabel Churchward, Empower Youth Emerson member, and president. The community can help support our local teens in the following ways: 1) donate to Empower Yolo’s prevention education program to
help us reach more teens at: empoweryolo.org; 2) wear orange on Tuesday, February 8 in support of Wear Orange Day to raise awareness about teen dating abuse; take a selfie and tag Empower Yolo on Facebook @empoweryolo, Instagram and Twitter @ empower_yolo; 3) become a sponsor for TDVAM next year to help us engage the community and reach more youths; 4) follow ASSET’s month-long awareness campaign and meme contest to show your support of TDVAM and healthy relationships. Follow their efforts on social media and join Empower Yolo’s email list at empoweryolo.org. The ASSETs program is also always looking for the community to become more involved with teens. They invite community members to become club advisors, or help with their leadership, academic, and enrichment programs. If you would like to know more about getting involved, please contact Fabian Iglesias at fabian@ empoweryolo.org. Thank you to Woodland Presbyterian Church for sponsoring TDVAM this year and supporting Empower Yolo’s prevention education program. We appreciate their support. Join Empower Yolo this month in raising awareness in our community about teen dating abuse and supporting our teens in healthy relationships. For questions about teen dating violence contact: assets@empoweryolo.org. For more information or to support Empower Yolo’s prevention education program visit: empoweryolo. org. — Natalia Baltazar is the Director of Development and Community Relations of Empower Yolo.
Business
B4 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
New Chinese on South Davis horizon
C
hinese food is returning to Oakshade Town Center in South Davis. A new restaurant is planned in the former Hong Kong Cafe site at 2151 Cowell Blvd., Suite C. Tian Shun Ju will feature traditional Chinese food like Peking Duck and Kung Pao Chicken, owner Jack Liu said Thursday. He hopes to have it open in about three weeks. Liu graduated from UC Davis in 2021 with a degree in managerial economics. He owns Motor Master, a luxury used-car dealer with businesses in Davis (1700 Olive Drive, Suite G), Sunnyvale and San Bruno. The dealership caters to international students, he said. Liu, a Woodland resident, said he wanted to open a restaurant because he couldn’t find his style of traditional Chinese food in Davis. “This is not American Chinese food,” he said. Hong Kong Cafe opened in 2016 and closed in the fall of 2021. The site is 2,100 square feet. When Tian Shun Ju opens, it will offer lunch and dinner, six days a week. The menu and hours are still being finalized as they wait for health and building department inspections. ———— Next door, in the former Round Table Pizza space, there are no visible improvements yet to the future Orangetheory Fitness center at 2151 Cowell Blvd., Suite A. I’ve been leaving messages with the fitness company but have not heard back. The space is 3,878 square feet. ———— On Thursday, I spoke briefly with Gloria Kutternig, co-owner of Konditorei Austrian Pastry Café, about its pending sale. “We are in the process,” she said, and told me she will call as soon as things are finalized. She
would not comment on the timing or the buyer. The bakery cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays at 2710 Fifth St. ———— Work is still underway on Dah Bao, an Asian street food eatery coming to 2880 Fifth St., Suite 140. Presumably, it will serve bao bao and boba tea. ———— Hikari Sushi & Omakase hopes to open this month. It fills the former Cookies N Cones (CREAM) space at 110 F St. It’s waiting for city permits. Owner Zin Khine and her husband Sithu Tun formerly owned the Mermaid Sushi business inside the Davis Food Co-op. They hoped to open the new sushi restaurant by Valentine’s Day, but now they’re unsure. They post updates on the business’ Instagram page. ———— There was a lot of pent-up demand when The Dumpling House reopened on Feb. 1. One reader decided to use my Comings & Goings social media as an avenue for complaining about – get this – a DoorDash delivery from Dumpling House. Let me remind y’all, please: Stop using delivery apps that take all the profits from small businesses. Unless you’re isolating with COVID, it’s not helping anyone. Be kind. Dumpling House just reopened, in a pandemic, after
Wendy Weitzel/Courtesy photo
The Chinese food restaurant Tian Shun Ju will open soon in the space last occupied by Hong Kong Cafe. suffering a fire in 2018. The owners are very nice, generous people. For someone to post this a couple of days after they opened is a head-shaker. And don’t get me started on Yelp. Also, when businesses first open, give them some space. It’s news that they’re open, so I report it. However, many restaurants do quiet, soft openings for a reason. I rarely patronize them on the first week or two unless they personally invite me. They are figuring things out. If you must go right away, bring extra patience. And while you’re at it, let’s give all service workers some grace. It’s been a long two years. Don’t go looking for the string of comments. The person deleted it, shortly after admitting
that their spouse placed the order through a different restaurant. I guess we all make mistakes. ———— SwimAmerica, which added Sweet Peas gymnastics late last year, recently expanded those offerings. When it launched the program, it included children ages 6 months to 3 years. Now 4-year-olds are part of the mix. Sweet Peas is an educational gymnastics program designed to promote physical, social and cognitive development in children 6 months to 6 years old. Owner Rose Cholewinski said they will eventually expand to 5and 6-year-olds. She said check their website at https://www.swimamericadavis. com/ for updates. SwimAmerica
Davis is at 2121 Second St., Suite A101. ———— I keep track of Davis businesses on my Google spreadsheet, which includes more than 325 Davis businesses affected by COVID-19. It’s at https://bit.ly/ DavisBusinesses. In it, there are sheets for Restaurants-open, Restaurants-closed, Coming soon, Businesses-retail, Businesses-service, and more. Email me (address below) to suggest updates. — Wendy Weitzel is a Davis writer and editor. Her column runs on Sundays. Check for frequent updates on her Comings & Goings Facebook and Instagram pages. If you know of a business coming or going in the area, contact her at wendyedit@gmail.com.
THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
YOLOlaughs
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022 B5
B6 THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
Sports
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022
More trouble for NFL KELLER: Finds time to relax, too
T
he explosive charges former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores leveled this week against the NFL and three of its teams do not figure to go away anytime soon. Among the various allegations, Flores claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked him to lose games in order for the Dolphins to get a better draft position. Many refer to this as “tanking.” It is not. Playing to lose and not to win is akin to “throwing” a game. Once anyone has control of an outcome, the “game” is no longer played fairly. In short, the fix is in. The only way to get at the truth is with an independent, thorough investigation to any and all charges, determine if any laws have been broken, and take appropriate action. This should be conducted much as the Washington Commanders, formerly known as the Washington Football Team, investigation was. n If the Cincinnati Bengals win the Super Bowl, Joe Burrow will join two other quarterbacks to have won both a Super Bowl and collegiate national championship game in their careers. Answer below. n Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s. Two of the top six pizza locations in the United States, according to various culinary polls. Each located one and a half blocks from one another in New Haven, Conn. Worth any wait in the home city of Yale University. n Au revoir Fred Parris, who was the lead singer for the Five Satins, a Los Angeles vocal group that performed for more than five decades. Their most wellknown tune, “In The Still Of The Night,” is considered the standard-bearer of the doo-wop generation. Parris was 85. n Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams has had just three “primary” quarterbacks in his career. At Palo Alto High, he caught passes from Christoph Bono, son of the former San Francisco 49er Steve Bono. In college at Fresno State, his QB was Derek Carr, now with the Las Vegas Raiders. For the past eight NFL seasons, he’s been on the receiving end of throws from some guy named Rodgers. Aaron, to be
exact. n Had the 49ers won on Jan. 30, they’d have matched up against Cincinnati for the third time in Super Bowl history. Sadly for the 49er Faithful, it did not come to pass. Two teams, however, have faced each other three times in the Super Bowl: Dallas and Pittsburgh in Super Bowls X, XIII and XXX. n Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Kevin Gausman signed with Toronto for five years and $130 million. Recently, Gausman told various media outlets the Giants never made him an offer. Not true. What the Giants did not offer was a five-year, multi-million contract to a pitcher who is 32. That is not Farhan Zaidi’s modus operandi. Long-term deals to pitchers, starters or relievers, are risky business. n Since the 49ers spent a ton of draft capital to select Trey Lance, it is only natural that they want him to play in 2022. The question is whether Lance next fall will be as capable as Jimmy Garoppolo was this season. Enterprise Sports Editor Mike Bush speculated in these pages on Friday what the 49ers could get in return for the outgoing Garoppolo, whom the 49ers should trade so he can continue his career elsewhere. General Manager John Lynch will try to obtain a first-round pick for the 30-year old Jimmy G, and there are QBneedy teams throughout the NFL. If a No. 1 isn’t in the cards, get as many second-, third- and fourth-round choices as you can. Good players abound therein. Fred Warner was a third rounder. One of the best tight ends in the game, George Kittle, came on the fifth round. The 49ers’ biggest need is no secret, the secondary. A bonanza of draft choices do nothing for a team that makes poor selections. Nothing worse than spending money on players who can’t play. n Quiz answer: Joe Montana (Notre Dame, 49ers); Joe Namath (Alabama, New York Jets). — The longtime radio and television color man on UC Davis football broadcasts, Doug Kelly is director of communications for Battlefields2Ballfields and managing general partner of Kelly & Associates. Contact him at DKelly1416@ aol.com.
From Page B1
COVID-19 took a lot from young athletes, especially those looking to grow their team chemistry. Although the pandemic has made it difficult, the Blue Devils have found ways to make the best of the situation. “Team bonding has been really affected, like pasta feeds and team lunches, which they haven’t been able to do,” Keller said. “Two outdoor dinners have helped and we have been finding new creative ways to bond.” The ability to connect with teammates is key to any team’s success. Keller said: “Getting to know each other on and off the field as a person through team bonding has helped connect better.” Despite the complications the pandemic has created, Keller is very optimistic for the season ahead. “The first few games we had new players and we’re getting the hang of it, but recently we’ve been connecting better and playing well together,” Keller said. Playoff wins and even a section championship title would be a great addition to Keller’s repertoire.
When she is not leading the charge on the field, Keller has found ways to escape from the stresses of a junior year. “I really enjoy art and have liked doing it since I was little,” she said. “I also really enjoy reading to wind down and relax.” Keller utilizes her relaxation techniques after long weekends of club soccer as well. In the peak of her recruiting process, Keller is looking at schools back in the east, with no decision on what she wants to study yet. “The recruiting process was definitely stressful at first,” she said. “It went from having no one watching to having dozens of colleges watching, which could potentially be a future coach, but it has been much more exciting.” When asked what goals she’s set for looking into her future, Keller said: “ I really want to find a good balance between athletics and school in college.” With the work ethic and athletic ability such as Keller’s, there is no limit to what this young athlete can do. — Madilynn Sepp is a senior at Menlo College in Atherton, majoring in marketing and minor is journalism. Follow on Twitter: @_madisepp_.