Daily Republic: Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Page 1

Local Covid hospitalizations nearly double over 4 days A3

Vanden softball opens up the playoffs by routing foe B1

WEDNESDAY | May 18, 2022 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

Council has no power on sex offender halfway house Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — If the City Council wants to have more authority about where halfway houses are located – particularly those with sex offender parolees living there – it will have to convince the state Legislature to do something about that. But even that has no guarantee of success as the voter-approved Jessica's Law, which prohibited such houses within 2,000 feet of a school or places where children commonly gather – was eventually determined to be unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, City Attorney David Lim told the council on Tuesday. The issue is a house located on Waterman Boulevard with parolees who are registered sex offenders. Councilwoman Pam Bertani said she understands the need to have places where the parolees can be monitored and assisted in efforts to re-enter the communities. "It's the location of this place that is the problem," Bertani said. Lim told the council it has little or no authority over the parolees, and the planning and business license authority the city does have specifically prevents the city from using the parolees as the reason to deny either. Furthermore, Councilwoman Catherine Moy said she and others who have spoken out against the location of the house have received a letter from an attorney threatening legal action if they continue their vocal campaigns. Moy said the letter has had a chilling effect on residents speaking out, but promised, "I will not be silenced by a person like this." Bertani called on the residents of the neighborhood to organize and present a political front, and if swaying the Legislature is needed, then that is the action that should be taken. From the surface, however, it would appear only a constitutional amendment addressing the Supreme Court's reasoning is likely to move the needle.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Fairfield police officers investigate the scene of a stabbing at Smoke Shop N More in Fairfield, Monday.

1 dead, 2 in custody after stabbing at Fairfield store Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — One person is dead and two men are in custody after a stabbing Monday outside a downtown area shop that authorities suspect may have stemmed from a robbery. The victim was identified Tuesday by police as Charles David Parsons, 56, of Fairfield. Lt. Jausiah Jacobsen said in a press release Tuesday that police suspect the stabbing happened after an altercation that potentially stemmed from a robbery. The case remained under investigation, he said. The suspected robbery led to the stabbing and Parsons’ death, Jacobsen said in the press release. The knife used in the attack was recovered. Police were called to NorthBay Medical Center just before 1 p.m. Monday on a report of a man with a stab wound to the chest. He died soon after arriving at the hospital, police report. See Stabbing, Page A8

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic Photos

Sy Karfiol, at home in Monday in Fairfield, survived the Holocaust and will share his story Sunday at Solano Chabad.

Fairfield man to tell family story of ‘surviving’ the Holocaust Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — If Sy Karfiol got in trouble at his elementary school, his father beat him. If he broke a glass, misplaced something at home or even cut a worm in half as young boys are known to do, he was beaten. It was not until years later, as an adult himself, Karfiol came to understand his father’s anger – the rage of a man who spent three years at Auschwitz, collecting bugs so he would have enough to eat. That is just part of the story Karfiol will tell Sunday at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Vacaville. He is part of the Central Valley Holocaust Survivors and Descendants group out of Sacramento – survivors and the children of survivors who tell their stories at schools and other places so the world will not forget. Karfiol has done a number of these presentations over the years, but said the emotions can still cause him to break down. Karfiol moved to Fairfield about six months ago, where he lives at Paradise Valley Estates with his wife of 58 years, Beverly. She was

An engagement portrait of Sy Karfiol’s mother and father, Berthe and William Karfiol, hangs on a wall at his home in Fairfield. born and raised in Iowa. They came here for better medical options than were available at their previous home. Karfiol and his sister, Renee, were hidden away with a Catholic family in a small village near Brus-

sels, Belgium. He was 2; she was 11. It was not long after their father, William Karfiol, and the others at the diamond store where he worked, had been whisked away by German soldiers and taken to Auschwitz. The store’s inventory was taken as well. The siblings’ mother was afraid the same would happen to her children, so she contacted an underground group she had learned about, and arrangements were made to have Sy and Renee placed with the Poelmans, a Catholic couple with no children of their own. That was September 1942. “My mother came to visit every week, or at least every month,” Karfiol recalls. “That ended in April 1943 . . . and then nothing.” Berthe Karfiol would not survive the war. No one from her family survived. “The Germans were very good at that. They wiped everyone out,” Karfiol said. The 82-year-old Karfiol was born in Antwerp, Belgium, where his parents had moved from Poland. His father went to work at a diamond center, cleaning the shop and doing other odd jobs as he worked his way

Fairfield City Council learns of city prosecutor office for homeless option Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The City Council on Tuesday was given the option of establishing a city prosecutor's office as one way to increase enforcement on the homeless – or more accurately – behaviors that violate city municipal codes. That can include everything from improper use of a shopping cart to having an unlicensed dog, and turning code infractions into misdemeanors. No action was taken by the council. The presentation by City Attorney David Lim comes out of a special meeting in March during which a united council wanted to push toward a "zero tolerance" policy on homelessness. That

followed a report that suggested there were enough shelter beds for all the homeless residents in the city. The issue then became one of how to enforce such a policy. It was ironic then, that Nora Martinez, a homeless woman who is well known to city officials, told the council she has not been able to get a shelter bed and called on the city to provide more tiny home options. The council was told Mission Samoa was moving toward that goal right now. Lim was not suggesting a city prosecutor's office is the right direction, only that it is an option. He noted, however, it would come at a significant cost. Lim said his office

could likely handle 12 to 15 cases in a year without an increase in its contract with the city. Any more than that, another attorney and support staff would have to be hired. It would also likely mean shifting funds from some other use to cover those costs. What wasn't discussed

WEATHER 95 | 64 Sunny and hot in the day. Five-day forecast on B10.

is what would be the punishment, and how could a homeless resident pay any fines if they were levied. One option, which has been discussed, is a court program that would force those individuals to get the help they needed, whether for substance abuse issues, mental health, joblessness or other issues.

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INDEX Arts B5 | Classifieds B7 | Comics A7, B6 Crossword A6, B5 | Obituaries A4 | Opinion B4 Sports B1 | TV Daily A7, B6 | Weather B10

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