DJUSD Drops Request for Restraining Order against Bourne

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By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor

Davis, CA – The Vanguard learned on Thursday that DJUSD filed for dismissal in their request for a permanent injunction against Bourne.

According to the Yolo County Superior Court website, the request for dismissal was filed on Thursday “without prejudice,” presumably meaning they could reinstate their request should the need arise.

The District did not publicly comment on the TRO at the School Board meeting on Thursday and did not issue a comment to the Vanguard when reached for comment on Thursday.

The TRO arose out of incidents that began in late August when Bourne, who has been the head of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, had a public meeting that was cancelled by library staff.

That led to around six bomb threats to the library and district sites and personnel, mainly in the month of September.

Bourne was seen as potentially targeting district staff with some of her social media posts.

One in particular: “I’ve also included the names of the 900 plus people in this town who believe it’s okay to tell children that their biological reality means nothing.”

She warned, “DJUSD counselors and teachers to be listed tomorrow.”

It was an event in late August at the Davis Library, on trans-athletes, that led to escalating tensions in Davis.  A Davis librarian shut down the event which led to at least six known threats to the library as well as DJUSD facilities.

Some of the threats specifically listed district employees and clearly the district is concerned about the future safety of teachers and employees.

While Bourne has never been directly linked to the bomb threats, local officials have been concerned for sometime with the incendiary nature of some of her social media posts.

In September, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel warned, “Although there is currently no evidence pointing to any involvement between local members and the threats, the correlation between the two cannot be ignored as part of the overall criminal investigations.”

Chief Pytel specifically singled out social media posts where individuals were essentially gaslighted.

He warned of “some of the local social media postings affecting the community that may constitute criminal doxing (threats or harassing communication via communications including social media).”

However, the district attorney declined to file criminal charges and the bomb threats have ceased.

Attorneys privately conceded that, given the free speech dimensions, a permanent restraining order was a tough reach.  With the situation having calmed down considerably since early October, officials seem inclined to let things lie as they are.

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  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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26 comments

  1. Beth Bourne wins again because she is on the side of good.  Beth has done nothing wrong and as much as her detractors would like to take her down they can’t because Beth has broken no laws.

    1. Basically there hasn’t been a bomb threat in six weeks. As long as that continues, this was probably not going to fight the district can or should win. I cringe that you’ve interpreted it as you have. I think there were things that she did that were clearly wrong, irresponsible, and most of all from her perspective, counter-productive.

        1. This is where history teachers get their moment in the sun, demonstrating their critical importance.

          Anyone who is not familiar with the story of the rise of Fascism in Italy, later echoed / magnified in Germany really needs to brush up by watching some documentaries.  There are many to choose from.    The parallels cannot be ignored.

        2. “Anyone who is not familiar with the story of the rise of Fascism in Italy, later echoed / magnified in Germany really needs to brush up by watching some documentaries.  There are many to choose from.    The parallels cannot be ignored.”

          Thank you for raising this issue, Tim.

          There are too many nice, polite bystanders here in Davis who seem to ignore those parallels, which are screaming at us right now to pay attention.

          Honestly, I expected more from such an educated populace. I expected such people to have more of a historical consciousness to be able to recognize this when it’s staring them in the face.

          It’s very disturbing.

        3. Tim, are you talking about how the library shut down M4L’s free speech at their event?  Those kinds of parallels?

          No, Im talking about where populist / nationalist politicians concoct a narrative that goes along the lines of: “The country used to be great, and now its not, and <<insert marginalized group here>>  are to blame”

          For Mussolini, it was hearkening back to the roman empire and the marginalized group was the Jews.

          For Maga, it is hearkening back to the 1940’s and 50’s when white privilege meant a lot more, and the marginalized groups are immigrants (esp. muslims) and the LGBTQ community.

          Its a historical cut-and-paste.   Even the personality characteristics between Mussolini and Trump are astounding / frightening.

          Seriously… there are a number of documentaries on Mussolini out there.    Hitler gets most of the attention when people study the period, but he was literally playing from Mussolini’s template, as is today’s GOP.  Every American should watch one of the many documentaries of that period and ask themselves if we are on a similar track.

      1. I knew this would bring out the false neo-fascist squawks from the usual crowd.  I believe that trans women should not be competing in women’s only sports and that parents have the right to know that their children want to change their identity and I also believe parents have a right to know what their children are being taught in the classroom. If you consider that extreme or neo fascist then so be it. I think it’s more mainstream than many of you will admit.

        If you ask me it’s the people on the other side that are acting neo-fascist and authoritarian in nature.

        1. Act disingenuous all you want, but it’s not just about the trans women in sports thing.

          It is neo-fascist to remove books from a library. It is neo-fascist to attempt to change an entire curriculum (despite what other parents want for their children) due to a person or a small group of people’s narrow and religious-based views.

          It is neo-fascist to try to remove other parents choices under the color of “concerned parenting.”

          And the fact that Moms for Liberty were just trounced into the mud in recent elections (along with the “parents rights” advocates) really shows us that their ideas are NOT mainstream and will never be mainstream among reasonable, decent, compassionate, educated people.

          They are being sent packing and they well should, and the Chair for the local M4L is no hero and is not on the side of good, despite how fascist fluffers attempt to water all of this down.

        2. It is neo-fascist to remove books from a library.

          Hello, progressives have pushed for books to be removed from libraries for years.

          It is neo-fascist to attempt to change an entire curriculum 

          You mean like today where Democrats are pushing gender studies and CRT curriculums instead of concentrating on the staples like math, English, science, etc?

          So who are the real fascist fluffers?

           

           

          1. “progressives have pushed for books to be removed from libraries for years.”

            That’s not very accurate…

            “Organizations against censorship, including PEN America and the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom, have fought against all efforts to ban books, calling it censorship.

            However, organizations who’ve long tracked book bans nationwide said complaints by liberal groups are not comparable to the large wave of conservative book challenges being seen across the country.”

            https://abcnews.go.com/US/conservative-liberal-book-bans-differ-amid-rise-literary/story?id=96267846

        3. “Hello, progressives have pushed for books to be removed from libraries for years.”

          More right-wing propaganda that is easily dismissed.

          “While activists across the political spectrum have sought to restrict or protest some forms of literature, the vast majority of book challenges are from conservative-leaning groups, researchers say. Only a handful of efforts have also come from liberal sources, mainly targeting books with racist or offensive language.”

          More disingenuousness from the usual suspects here. It’s laughable. We know and see who the fascist fluffers are. The ones who usually try most to squirm out of being labeled such because deep in their hearts they know they are supporting something that could very easily turn horrific.

          https://abcnews.go.com/US/conservative-liberal-book-bans-differ-amid-rise-literary/story?id=96267846#:~:text=While%20activists%20across%20the%20political,with%20racist%20or%20offensive%20language.

           

    2. Neo-fascism and authoritarianism is never “good.”

      Her and the Moms for Liberty’s actions are neo-fascist and authoritarian in nature no matter how people like you want to squawk to the contrary.

    3. Beth Bourne wins again because she is on the side of good.
      .

      That is an interesting interpretation/conclusion Keith.  What is the “good” that Beth is on the side of?

  2. Dear Davis Vanguard,
    Thank you for the timely report about the DJUSD dropping the outrageous restraining order that they sought to impose on me, a DJUSD parent, after I raised concerns over certain policies and practices that I believe are oppositional to student health and safety.
    Unfortunately, the Vanguard once again attempts to tie me to bomb threats that were emailed to local media outlets in recent months. I had nothing whatsoever to do with any threats and the origin of those threats is still entirely unknown, at least to me. I also never doxxed anyone as the Vanguard implies here.
    And, the Vanguard left out of the story that the first amendment rights of speakers and attendees of an entirely legal, peaceful and properly planned event were denied by the Davis library.
    Kind regards,
    Beth
    p.s. Everyone is welcome to be my “friend” on my facebook page, “Beth Young Bourne,” and I don’t moderate comments so feel free to share your thoughts there as well.

    1. Beth – the bomb threats are legitimate context to the actions by the school district both in their decision to file the TRO and their decision to back off.

    2. “Feel free to join me on my hard right-wing social media stream, where you, too, can be outed to the most extreme of right wing antisocial thugs and potentially be doxxed and have bomb threats lobbed at you, too!”

    3. Of course you don’t moderate comments …. you feel like you need to build a database, and moderation keeps the hate from freely flowing… just ask Fox News.

      Just curious, Beth, was I one of those 900 people you doxxed “who believe it’s okay to tell children that their biological reality means nothing”?

  3. It isn’t so much about Beth’s campaign to delay gender reassignment surgeries for minors and concerns about transgender girls participating in girls sports.  It is how she runs her campaign.  The threats, the abusive rhetoric, the targeting of teachers, administrators and public employees, her alignment with Moms for Liberty, her attempts to disrupt the lives of others, her anger – this completely obliterates her message.  It is now impossible to have any productive conversation about her concerns.  Beginning the conversation with the complete denial of the existence of gender dysphoria pretty much ends the discussion for many.  It is just impossible to get past that.   I said early on that an association with Moms for Liberty and their association with far right religious conservatives and militia groups was not going to be well received by the Davis community.  If Beth was going to make any headway at all, she needed to disassociate herself from these groups.  I, personally, don’t want to hear about removing books from our libraries, calling the police on teachers and their students chalking rainbow sidewalks at their elementary schools, screaming at teachers about classroom displays, doxing teachers and people in the community who are just doing their jobs, threatened lawsuits over free speech, etc.  When I hear about these things, I turn away or am impelled to lodge a protest.  It doesn’t prompt me to listen.

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