Fire Staffing: Rifkin Took a Swing, Council Took a Gamble
Last week, Davis Enterprise columnist Rich Rifkin took a volatile situation, disagreement over fire staffing and, pardon the pun, threw rhetorical gasoline on the fire.
His column lead with: “Stupidity. Corruption. Fear. Take your pick. One or more of those explains why the Davis City Council, when given the choice between a more expensive option that provides worse service and a less expensive structure that promises better outcomes, chose last week to stick with what we now have – the costlier, inferior model.”
The Davis Short Term Emergency Aid Committee (STEAC) provides immediate short-term assistance with basic necessities to Yolo County families and individuals whose income falls below the poverty level. That assistance may include help with rent, utilities, furniture, clothing, food and other basic necessities.
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court Decision Gideon v. Wainwright, many will lament the demise of indigent defense – the many in the system who lack access to good and effective counsel, and the many who are represented by defense attorneys with indefensibly large caseloads as counties are forced to cut their budgets in the times of economic downturn, where indigent defense ranks below many other priorities.
The other day we published an article with an update on the Prop. 218 process, which will come to a close at the Davis City Council meeting on Tuesday. While the No on Measure I side has been continuing, at least to some extent, their efforts, it is starting to look like they are simply going through the motions.
By Robb Davis
In 1997, I was an intern working in Washington, DC, and one of my issues was hate crimes. Earlier that year, President Bill Clinton had called on Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. However, that legislation would die in 1998 and it was not for a decade later (in 2009) that the act was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
In a strange case of identity fraud, a group called Davis Excel created a petition on Change.org, a website that allows people to form online petitions in order to bring about social change. The group was attempting to lobby the school district to urge them to preserve the status of the current GATE program.
On Thursday, the Davis Police announced the arrest of Clayton Garzon, a 19-year-old resident who attended Davis High School, with a history of violence and drug problems.
Two years ago, in January 2011, the Third District Court of Appeals threw out the conviction of Kyle Vigil, who received a 15-year to life sentence for his role in a drive-by shooting in Woodland, after being acquitted of the first shooting, but convicted of aiding in the subsequent drive-by gunfire with gang enhancements.
We have had an amazing amount of support in the last three months and I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to help the Vanguard.
Opponents of Surface Water Project Make Final Push with Op-Ed: The opponents of the surface water project, despite the result a week ago Tuesday where the voters approved Measure I by 1200 votes, or a 54-46 margin, continue to work for ways to oppose the water measure.
When a crash on I-5 in Woodland on August 8, 2011 left three people dead and seven others with injuries – some very serious – the Yolo County District Attorney’s office put the blame on “one man and one man only,” Gubani Roderico Rosales Quinteros.
by Ibrahim Baig
The crime is stunning – around 3 am on Sunday morning a young man was violently attacked, beaten nearly to death. He suffered a fractured skull, bleeding on his brain, multiple fractured bones in his face and a laceration to his head that left a pool of blood on the lawn where he was beaten.
The Vanguard was deeply disappointed last week when the Davis City Council pushed off the decision on fire staffing to coincide more with the public discussion of the budget. We believed at the time and continue to believe that the issue needs to be addressed within a budgetary framework, but the issues of staffing also need their own context.
By: Alexandra Rose and Catherine Woodward
