Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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serving the uc davis campus and community since 1915

www.theaggie.org

volume 132, number 13

Tuesday, january 29, 2013

The magic of the Central Park Gardens Volunteering never looked so good By RITIKA AYER

Aggie Features Writer

If you step onto the gravel-covered paths within the Davis Central Park Gardens, do note that there is a high probability of a sensory explosion. Split into seven parts by theme, the Central Park Gardens are located in the park parallel to B street and act as a place for Davis residents to relax and enjoy the sights and smells the garden offers. “We are providing a habitat for birds and insects, but it’s also a refreshing place for people to come to,” said Emily Griswold, Central Park Gardens steering committee chair and director of GATEways horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum. “A lot of people enjoy sitting in the garden to just enjoy the setting.” The garden is run by a steering committee which is made up of people from the Davis community and “master gardeners” from the Yolo County Master Gardening Program, among other members. “The goal of the Yolo County Master Gardeners (YCMG) program is to promote adult education in horticulture,” said master gardener and steering committee member Peg Smith. “No site in Davis has a hands-on teaching experience for adults. [The garden] just seemed like an ideal opportunity [for the YCMG to help out with] for its beauty, but predominantly for an outdoor education classroom.” Smith said that even when there is no one from the steering committee present at the garden, it still serves as an educational spot because of how it is laid out. “We wanted to start with the bones of what was here already, and build off [of ] that foundation,” Griswold said. “[The signs in the garden] provide information about why the plants are here and about the basic themes of the garden.” Although the steering committee does

Zach Land-Miller / Aggie

The Central Park garden is run by a steering committee which is made up of people from the Davis community. The garden is maintained by members of the public. much of the administrative planning and garden layout, the public, including UC Davis students, are encouraged to participate in garden workdays and workshops

News iN Brief

Davis Rebekah Lodge’s second annual charitable crab feed will be on Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at the Davis Odd Fellows Hall. Only 30 tickets are left and the event is open to the public. Tickets are $40 and are available at the Avid Reader bookstore at 605 Second St. Last year, the event sold out. The feed will feature fresh-cracked crab, pasta, salad, bread and butter. There will be a no-host bar as well as a silent auction and raffle. All the proceeds will go to the at-risk and foster youths in Davis. — Claire Tan

Man hit by Union Pacific freight On Monday morning, a man sitting on railroad tracks in Davis was killed by a Union Pacific freight train coming from Roseville. He was two miles from the nearest railroad crossing. The Davis Police responded to the area of Second Street and Pena Drive after a call at around 4:30 a.m. The incident delayed Capitol Corridor train commuters until Amtrak opened up a second track. Union Pacific said the incident is currently being investigated. — Claire Tan

Sexual assault and robbery on church property

Award honors individuals, businesses, nonprofits By MEREDITH STURMER Aggie News Writer

Feb. 8 is the deadline for Davis residents to submit nominations for the UCD City of Davis’ 19th annual Environmental Recognition Award. According to the city website, the awards are intended to recognize the environmental stewardship of Davis individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations. The winners of each category are selected by the city’s Natural Resources Commission. Nominees are judged on four criteria. The first criterion is that the nominee’s actions address a current environmental concern. The nominee must also have an established history of benefiting the environment. In addition, the nominee must show a commitment to environmental issues. Lastly, the nominee must be implementing environmentally sustainable practices in a creative or innovative manner.

To be considered, nominated individuals must be a resident of the City of Davis. Businesses and nonprofit organizations must be located in Davis.

James Kim / Aggie

Businesses must be licensed and nonprofit organizations must have a 501(c) or 23701d nonprofit certification. Past recipients include the Davis Cemetery District, which won the 2012

award in the nonprofit category. “It was an honor to win the award,” said Susan Finkleman, office manager for the Davis Cemetery District. “We were nominated by one of our office management interns from UC Davis. We have quite a lot of interns from UC Davis for horticulture and office management.” The 20-acre cemetery is a designated wildlife habitat and over 50 species of birds can be found there, according to Finkleman. “We have plantings deliberately intended for birds,” Finkleman said. “We also have integrative pest management, so we don’t have to use any chemicals to eradicate bugs.” The cemetery utilizes other environmentally sustainable practices such as solar power and water conservation. “We have our own well, and the well pump is powered by solar panels,” Finkleman said. “We use a lot of drip irrigation and native plantings. We’re very conscious of water use.” Other past award winners include the Davis Food Co-op, which has won twice in the business category, in 1997

See ENVIRONMENT, page 4

High scores and chili peppers By ALYSSA KUHLMAN Aggie Features Writer

— Claire Tan

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See GARDEN, page 5

Students rate professors on and offline

On Saturday at about 11:40 a.m., the Davis Police received a call that a sexual assault and robbery took place 20 minutes beforehand at the Davis Community Church at 412 C St. The victim was approached by a suspect who brandished a stabbing instrument while walking across the property. The suspect sexually assaulted her, as well as took the victim’s personal belongings. The suspect is described as an African American male, early 20’s, between 5’10” and 6’0” tall, heavyset and with a bad complexion. He was last seen wearing dark-colored clothing and red shoes.

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only thing you need to bring with you is curiosity.”

City’s environmental award nomination period open

Thirty crab feed tickets left

Today’s weather

every month. “We provide the tools and the knowhow, and we teach people what needs to be done,” Smith said of the programs. “The

An un-illuminated chili pepper, a blue frowney face, low ratings on helpfulness or easiness and blunt comments about negative aspects of the professor dissuade Stephan de la Rosa, an undeclared second-year, from taking a particular professor’s course. He wants to find flaming hot chili peppers, smiley faces and numbers above 4.0 out of 5.0. UC Davis students fill out evaluation forms at the end of every quarter to assess the professor and the course, yet the students never see the results of their ratings. In order to judge a professor’s quality, students thus often turn to using infamous website rateForecast

You want to know what grinds my gears? This nice weather because we really need the rain! Besides, it’s fun to work rain into your life, it adds spice like cayenne or chipotle does to food, minus the burning sensation. Enjoy the unsalted weather for the remainder of the week. Tyson Tilmont, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team

myprofessor.com. Rate My Professor has several categories in which a professor is ranked: overall quality, helpfulness, clarity, easiness and hotness. The first four are rated on a 1 to 5 scale while the hotness factor is indicated by an illuminated red hot chili pepper icon. If the professor is flaming hot, the pepper will appear with flames as if on fire. However, should opinions on ratemyprofessor.com and the ratings on course evaluations be allowed to affect a professor’s salary? “I think the course reviews we do in class at the end of the quarter should be looked at when they decide a professor’s salary,” said Andrew Zufall, a third-year psychology major. “[But]

See PROFESSOR, page 4

Tuesday

Wednesday

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High 62 Low 37

James Kim / Aggie

Ashton Kutcher hospitalized after trying to follow Steve Jobs’ fruitarian diet (seeds, nuts and fruits) for an upcoming movie. It’s called ACTING, Ashton. Allison Ferrini


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