Years Ago

Dispatches from the Express archives.

0222 Years Ago

145 Years Ago

February 23, 1878

(From the files of the Winters Advocate)

On Saturday last, our hope that the rain had ceased for awhile was disastrously disappointed. That night a heavy rain storm set in, about the heaviest of the season. The railroad bridge, which had been repaired and the usual trains running over it for a week, was again, by the great rise of water in the creek bringing down great quantities of trees, etc, placed in jeopardy.

All day Sunday hands were busily employed endeavoring to clear the accumulation of drift wood from the piling, but without success, and early in the afternoon it became evident that the bridge must again be carried away by the pressure accumulating against the piling. Everything that could be moved was taken from the bridge, it having already began to to get out of line in the centre, which continued until about five o’clock when the central portion of six bents gave way with a crash, and floated down stream.

130 Years Ago

February 25, 1893

B. R. Sackett’s familiar face is seen on our streets nowadays, he having moved his family up from Alameda to the ranch recently purchased by him from Henry Seaman. It looks like old times to see Mr. Sackett about again.

Col. Sam Taylor and “Uncle” John Wolfskill came up from Alameda on yesterday morning’s train.

Rev. M. J. Jeffries, a Baptist minister, recently arrived from Missouri, has been in Winters this week and held services in the Baptist church here on Thursday evening.

A cane has been shown by J. B. McArthur, presented to him by Mr. J. R. Wolfskill which is a gift worthy of the honor and a valuable keepsake. The stick was cut by Mr. Wolfskill from the bearing date tree on his farm, which is the only tree of the species which perfects its fruit in the country. The cane has an ivory handle, silver ferule and steel tip, and is handsome, strong and durable.

95 Years Ago

February 24, 1928

Winters High School won its 5th basketball game from Vacaville by the score of 23 to 13. Streeter played center for Winters and showed up very well, playing a fine defensive game as well as the offensive. He proved to be a much better player than Perkins, who has been on the crippled list for the past two weeks.

Rufus Chapman received severe burns about the left arm and chest one day this week when he removed the radiator cap from his tractor. He was taken to the Woodland Clinic for treatment and is now recovering at home.

Miss Dorothy Sackett who is specializing in music at the College of the Pacific with a purpose of becoming a concert singer was a performer at a student recital Tuesday evening.

80 Years Ago

February 26, 1943

Yosolano Chapter O.

E. S. held a pleasing meeting Friday night in observance of the 39th anniversary of the organization, Mr. R. B. Bigelow, Worthy Matron, presiding.

Relatives heard from Chris Martinez and Tony Martin, recently inducted into the service, that they would this week be en route to Mississippi.

Rev. and Mrs. Zimmerman were business visitors in Sacramento Wednesday.

Mrs. Sadie Cook and granddaughter of Oakland, J. E. Briggs and son Jimmie Jr. were holiday guests of members of the Briggs clan.

1932–2023

Verbena Jean McGhee passed away on Feb. 7, 2023 at the young age of 90 years old. She was a current resident at the Wesley Woods memory care facility in Waco, Texas at the time of her death. She was born Verbena Jean Ferguson in Hickman County, Ky. on July 26, 1932. She grew up in Columbus, Ky. where she met her loving husband Smitty McGhee at the young age of 18 years. They were married for over 43 years.

In 1952, they moved out West to California

Charlotte Ann Kimball passed away on Jan. 29, 2023, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Charlotte and her second husband, Tom W. Neely lived in Winters for nearly 30 years, until Tom passed away on July 6, 2020.

Charlotte was born on Nov. 17, 1943 in Berkeley. Charlotte’s upbringing in a family with three brothers forged a lifelong pattern of proving herself while retaining empathy for the downtrodden. Following the example set by her mother Betty, throughout her life, she sought out opportunities to help others. In Winters, Charlotte particularly enjoyed teaching gardening for many years, at Wolfskill Continuation High School, seeing in students’ great potential, where others only saw misfits.

Charlotte attended UC Davis, immersing herself in the study of botany while also meeting her first husband John Glenn, and lifelong family friends, Jim and Gay VerSteeg. Charlotte began teaching in Mo-

Obituaries

and lived in Southern California and San Jose where they raised their three daughters.

In the mid-80s, they moved to Winters where they bought their forever home on Russell Street. The home was restored and remodeled in the style that was to be their little piece of heaven on earth. They lived there happily until her husband Smitty passed away in 1993.

While in Winters, Verbena was always busy lending her hand to any new opportunity that came her way. Cooking was a passion of hers and she honed her skill at the famous Buckhorn restaurant making soups and chili for John Pickerel, who gave her an opportunity to show off her love of cooking. She helped open the Putah Creek Café across the street. She worked there baking, making pies, chili and soups.

Verbena Jean McGhee (also known as Bea or Bena) was preceded in death by her loving husband James Smith McGhee (Smitty) and her sweet grandson Kyle Wayne Lederer. She is survived by her loving daughters lotte went on to found Le Marche Seeds International, an early supporter and proponent of the California Cuisine revolution. the annual tree and bulb sales and they believed strongly in providing educational access for all.

Le Marche built on Georgeanne’s experience living in Southern France and Charlotte’s deep technical knowledge of botany. Jointly they brought in vegetables, herbs and particularly lettuces from global sources to be grown locally.

LaDonna Pearson (Mark), Carol Holtkamp (Dwight) and Pamela Rudy (Steve). She leaves behind five grandchildren Erin Gill (Rohan), Nikole Craft (Daniel), Clinton Lederer (Tabby), Scott Holtkamp, and Joshua Pearson (Jessica). She is also blessed to have eight great-grandchildren — who fondly called her GiGi or Grandma Great — Mia, Tearyn, Abbigail, Bowen, Colby, Connor, Madison and Noah. In lieu of flowers, kindly donate to the Memory Care facility of your choosing.

Crystal

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Charles R. Wallace, Publisher Emeritus

doc County in 1968/9 as the first woman Ag teacher in the state, for which she was later honored by UC Davis’ School of Education. (See https://education. ucdavis.edu/spotlight/ charlotte-kimball).

During that time period, Charlotte and John lived on the Vassar Ranch, becoming close to Ann and Lucy Vassar. There were innumerable trips and adventures as life took Charlotte and John first to Oregon, then to Georgia, and then back again to Dixon and the Vassars.

Later, as a teacher, first in Vacaville and then in Dixon, Charlotte became lifelong friends with Georgeanne Brennan. Georgeanne and Char-

Things just aren’t the way they used to be. Whatever happened to businesses that were eager to please? Well, there is one right here in our town. We offer the same outstanding service offered decades ago.

Are we hopelessly out-of-style?

We certainly hope so.

One of their most lasting accomplishments was formulating the bagged salad mixes that are now so ubiquitous.

Charlotte subsequently went on to manage large-scale re-vegetation projects for utilities, initially at Bechtel in San Francisco, and then via Kimball Neely Associates, a consulting firm run in partnership with Tom. Remaining interested in education, Charlotte was an ardent supporter of the Winters Friends of the Library. She and Tom were very involved in

Charlotte and Tom enjoyed plays, music and the Winters community. Nana Banana and Tommy Two-Tone, affectionate names given by Charlotte’s grandchildren, Sage and Max, were always up for an adventure with the grandkids — from riding donkeys to trips to the Oregon coast.

As her Alzheimers progressed Charlotte treasured her daily dog walks with her loyal dog Bo and the Russell Street crew — remaining topics of conversation well into her advanced illness. Charlotte’s interests, curiosity, and acceptance of others created a vast network of friends, wherever she went.

As her brother-inlaw, Bob, remarked, there wasn’t much that Charlotte couldn’t do and, if she wanted to do it, there wasn’t much dissuading her.

Lake Levels

The level of Lake Berryessa is up by 0.19 feet during the past week, with an increase in storage of 3,070 acre-feet of water, according to Ken Emigh of the Solano Irrigation District. Tuesday morning the lake level was 413.07 feet above sea level, with storage computed at 1,078,749 acre-feet of water. and commented that the Winters Hotel was supposed to step in and help develop the park. He urged the City to engage with the community to develop a park concept, and provided a signin sheet of attendees from a 2010 community meeting.

Evaporation on the lake averaged 93 acre-feet of water per day. The SID is diverting 50 feet per second of water in the Putah South Canal, with 32 feet per second flowing at the Diversion Dam.

Laddish expressed concern for the urban heat island effect and encouraged landscaping and seasonal shade. She suggested that the site furnishing be resistant to graffiti and cautioned against a water feature that would be turned off in drought conditions noting “waterless water features are a bummer.”

Councilmember’s discussion led to the

PLAN

Continued from Page 1

Michael asked Gibb logistical questions regarding the plan, including whether Van Pelt’s assessments will include all land assets, not just the facilities themselves, and inquired as to who would be the demographer.

Gibb answered that yes, the assessment would include all of the school district’s assets and that Van Pelt’s demographer is King Consulting, with whom Van Pelt has worked in the past and whom Gibb described as, “very true to their projections.”

Trustee Everardo

Zaragoza sought clarification on the cost estimates Van Pelt request to have the topic come back on a future agenda so they can create an ad hoc committee since it was not on the current agenda.

Councilmember Jesse Loren urged the need for finding common ground and suggested the City consider looking into a Public Art ordinance similar to one in Santa Rosa.

Mayor Pro Tempore Albert Vallecillo said that the park has a lot of potential, but noted that realizing it will cost money — far more than the already allotted $100,000 from SACOG. He also stated that the designs for the park are not yet ready to implement, saying that what the council has “are not construction drawings, they’re concept drawings.”

Councilmember

will provide, asking if each recommendation will have a corresponding estimate, to which Gibb affirmed that Van Pelt’s project report “will come with site plans, and then it will have each of the

Richard Casavecchia expressed his hope that the city and the community can build off this momentum to promptly form an ad hoc committee to lay out phases for design/ construction and the next steps.

In a separate statement to the Express, Biasi expounded on some of the decisions and rationale of the council.

Clarifying on the ad hoc committee concept to during the meeting, Biasi said “the council’s direction was to bring this gestion as to when to access the funding.

Trustees expressed excitement over the Facilities Master Plan, with Michael noting that he has “been through a lot of these, and sometimes back to a future council meeting and have a discussion on forming an ad hoc committee” formed of “two councilmembers as well as some community members” who will “collecting the various concepts and ideas and try to come up with direction on what we want to see on the park and try and bring that back to the council.”

“This is just a beginning phase,” Biasi clarified. “This isn’t what the park is going to be as a finished concept, it’s just the

(Facilities Master Plan) is going to be something we can carry through for years to come,” Michael said.

Board President Carrie Green said she was “very much looking forward to this process” and that this collaboration “is all shaping up to be a really good plan.” projects defined, and with the project, you will have the project budget, and then you’ll have a funding strategy assigned to it,” as well as a sug- you don’t get the total cost” and oftentimes master plans would just lapse without ever getting worked on.

The 2022–23 fiscal impact is a one-time cost of $94,720 to be paid from the following funding sources: Developer Fees (Fund 25), ESSER III (Resource 3213), and Discretionary Block Grant (Resource 6762), as needed.

“The detail of this

Public Safety Report

Fire

We expect that the fire log will return next week.

Police

Arrest Log

Feb. 8: Perez Valdez, Ruben Jr (Age 47), Charges: Five Yolo County Warrants, Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

Feb. 9: Cowdery, Norman (Age 56); Charges: Four Tehama Co Warrants, Possession of drug paraphernalia; Disposition: Released on Notice to Appear ~Ables, Jonathon Mark (Age 28), Charges: Glenn County Warrant, Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

~Luxford, Serenity Christen (Age 21); Charges: Seven Tehama Co Warrants, Possession of controlled subs; Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

~Robinson, Jamie Sizanne (Age 45); Charges: Three Tehama Co Warrants, One Red Bluff PD Warrant, possession of drug paraphernalia; Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

Feb. 10: Garcia Duran, Salvador (Age 35), Charges: Winters PD Warrant, Disposition: Released on Notice to Appear

Feb. 11: Gutierrez, Doreen Laray (Age 44); Charges: Driving under the influence, DUI .08 percent plus, Basic Speed Law violation; Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

Feb. 12: Brown, Kent Stewart (Age 56), Charges: One San Bernardino Warrant, Disposition: Released with a Notice to Appear

~Streets, Aurielle L (Age 32), Charges: Driving under the influence/.08 plus BAC, Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

~Faulkner, Tristan Taylor (Age 21), Charges: Assault with a deadly weapon, Disposition: Transported to Yolo County Jail

Case Log

Feb. 6: 5:36 p.m., 800th block of W. Grant Avenue, Commercial Burglary

~6:07 p.m., 400th block of Grant Avenue, Stolen Vehicle Recovery

Feb. 7: 2:07 a.m., 100th block of E. Grant Avenue, Audible Alarm

The Trustees voted unanimously to adopt and move forward with the Facilities Master Plan as recommended.

~3:15 p.m., 700th block of Valley Oak Drive, Missing/ Located Person

~6:30 p.m., 800th block of Jefferson Street, Child Endangerment

Feb. 9: 7:50 a.m., 40th block of Main Street, Audible Alarm

~8:52 a.m., 800th block of Dutton Street, Towed Vehicle

Feb. 10: 10:38 a.m., 400th block of Anderson Avenue, Distribution of Child Pornography

~5:04 p.m., 10th block of Main Street, Distribution of Child

Feb. 12: 6:45 p.m., 500th block of East Street, Suspected Elder Abuse

~11:02 p.m., Martinez Way, Traffic Collision

Feb. 13: 8 a.m., 10th block of Baker Street, Battery

~9:20 a.m., 900th block of E. Grant Avenue, Fraud Theft

~1:27 p.m., 700th block of Matsumoto Lane, Misc Information Report

~2:21 p.m., 900th block of Kennedy Drive, Stolen EBT Card

Feb. 14: 6:42 p.m., 900th block of Railroad Avenue, Sodomy beginning with the money we have to use now” and that at this moment “we don’t really have any funding to go forward.” This means, according to Biasi, the completion of the park will “still have a couple more years” before completion.

Biasi summarized his belief in this project by reiterating his commitment to getting input from the community, “we (City Council) do want to get community feedback on it, we’d like to make sure it does maintain that aspect of being an art park… and we’re all looking forward to it being an asset for our downtown community to be able to enjoy.”

Trepa informed attendees that more public input could be shared at a joint Planning Commission and City Council meeting on Thursday, March 2 from 6–9 p.m. at the Public Safety Facility’s Community Room. She said the intention is to host a community workshop to discuss various policy options and recommendations for the Downtown Visioning Project.