Granite Bay Wins the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse Conference
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Granite Bay High School wins its fifth Sacramento Valley Lacrosse Championship (SVLC) in six years with a 14 to 9 victory over Jesuit High School in the championship game. Granite Bay finished the regular season with a 8-0 conference record and an overall record of 16-3.
Sacramento Valley Lacrosse Conference Division I consists of Granite Bay, Davis, Jesuit, Oak Ridge and Vista Del Lago High Schools.
As voted on by the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse coaches, Scott Pink of Granite Bay High School was chosen as the Coach of the Year. This is Pink’s sixth time as Coach of the Year.
As voted on by the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse coaches, Ryan Rogers of Oak Ridge High School was chosen, for the second year in a row, as the Conference Player of the Year. Ryan is a four year starter for Oak Ridge moving between attack and middie. Ryan is a two-time US lacrosse All-American as well as a 2019 Adrenaline All-American. Ryan has 4.0 grade point average at Oak Ridge HS and will attend the University of Utah this fall to play NCAA Division 1 Lacrosse.
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Saint Mary’s High School wins the first Sacramento Valley Lacrosse Conference Division II Championship with a 12 to 11 victory over Bella Vista High School in the championship game. Saint Mary’s finished the regular season with a 7-1 conference record and an overall record of 12-4. Division II consists of St Mary’s, Lincoln, Bella Vista, Casa Robles, Christian Bros and Rio Americano High Schools
As voted on by the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse coaches, Mike Mulvimill of Saint Mary’s High School was chosen as the Division II Coach of the Year.
As voted on by the Sacramento Valley Lacrosse coaches, Derek Walaitis of Rio Americano High School was chosen as the Division II Player of the Year.
Plant Fans Pack Cactus Festival
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Despite weekend-long deluges, the recent Carmichael Cactus and Succulent Society’s 43rd annual festival drew record numbers.
“We had our best-ever show,” reported society member Gerri Wigglesworth. “Cacti are trendy at the moment but people are also more conscious of drought-tolerant plants for their gardens. In recent years, our society’s numbers have exploded. We now have about 150 members; more than we’ve had in 50 years.”
Rain storms scarcely deterred festival goers. “It was too wet for people to get out and garden,” considered Wigglesworth. “So they came to the show instead.” In a two-day crush, more than 800 visitors lined up to view succulent exhibits and to purchase thousands of potted specimens.
Festival proceeds support society activities; members also donate to plant-related programs at UC Davis. Annual membership dues are $10 per year or $15 per family. Anyone may attend Carmichael Cactus and Succulent Society meetings. These convene at 10 am on the first Friday of each month in Carmichael Park Clubhouse. For information, visit www.ccandss.com
Earlier this year, Governor Newsom announced that he was going to make housing his top priority, and called for 3.5 million new homes to be built in California within six years. I believe this is a laudable top priority, and have previously written about the great need in our region for more housing. To start with, Governor Newsom wisely announced $500 million in awards to cities and counties that meet new, short-term housing goals. I believe the enticement of these funds can propel real change, and I hope Sacramento County will win some of this money.
Unfortunately, Governor Newsom coupled this “carrot” with an extremely dangerous “stick”, in the form of withholding gas tax money from cities and counties that don’t meet the regional housing targets set by the state. This has shaken virtually the entire state, as 97% of California cities and counties (including Sacramento County) are not hitting their housing targets.
This plan has a fundamental flaw in logic because it ties gas tax money to production goals, when counties are only accountable for planning. We should, and do, encourage housing through the land use process, but the decision whether to build more housing comes largely from factors outside our control. We cannot force builders to build, nor can we force financial institutions to lend the builders money.
Even when projects have been approved, lately we are seeing production slowed down because the builders cannot find enough carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. to do the work, in part because the state has seemingly abandoned vocational education. Too few schools have a “shop class”, and too many children have been told that college was the only route to success, when in reality jobs working in the trades can often pay more than jobs that require a college education.
Beyond that, I believe it’s wrong to threaten our gas tax road funding, especially after voters went to the polls last November and voted to keep the gas tax. I’m not sure the gas tax repeal would have failed, had voters known the funding could be taken away for something entirely out of their control.
Our roads cannot bear even a small reduction in funding. As I wrote about earlier this year, even with the gas tax in place, the County needs an additional $15-20 million yearly just to maintain the roads at the current level, or an additional $50 million yearly to get them to a standard people would describe as “good”.
If Governor Newsom is serious about wanting to build 3.5 million new homes in California, beyond incentives he needs to look at the high cost of construction. It is extremely expensive for a builder in California to conform to the unique regulations contained within the California Environmental Quality Act, and the enormous California Building Code grows larger each year. These regulations are part of the reason that a home in California is 2.4 times more expensive than a comparable home in Texas.
There are potential solutions to this housing crisis, but threatening counties like Sacramento for a problem out of our control ignores the root of the problem, and is ultimately doomed to fail.
Thank you for reading – and as always, if you want to contact me call me at 916-874-5491, or e-mail me at SupervisorFrost@saccounty.net.
Volunteers Pack 75,000 Meals to Feed the Hungry
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Rotary District 5180 has 41 clubs in the Sacramento Region that collaborated on a district-wide meal-packaging event on May 17 at Rusch Park Community Center in Citrus Heights. More than 250 volunteers worked in shifts to bag over 75,000 meals, which will be distributed by Rise Against Hunger, a non-profit international hunger relief organization.
Music blasted through the gymnasium as hundreds of volunteers enthusiastically worked their stations, filling buckets with ingredients, bagging, sealing, packing the finished meals into boxes, and stacking boxes onto shipping pallets. Youth exchange students from Rotary International, players from the Casa Robles High School football team, members of local churches, and rotary members from throughout the District all worked together to package meals for those in need.
The meal bags include a nutrient package, a scoop of dehydrated vegetables, soy protein, and rice. One meal package boiled in a gallon and half of water will feed six people. Rich Hale, president of the Citrus Heights Rotary Club, said the meals are sent to developing countries: “They go all over the world, wherever the need is.”
“There’s a lot of starving people in the world, and you cannot function in society if you’re hungry. That’s why this is so important,” said Hale. “One bag can feed a family of six, so you can see the impact. That’s why we do it.”
District 5180 held a Poker Night fundraiser in April to raise $20,000 for the meal-packing event, and Heinz donated an additional $3,000. With a total of $23,000, the District was able to set the goal of more 75,000 meals.
Hale said, “We’ve been wanting to have a big District event, so this was very successful.… Hopefully this gives us momentum for years to come and we can do this again.” Hale said that next year they’d like to fill a shipping container, which holds 289,000 meals.
Hale said Rise Against Hunger is “a very well-organized company.… They bring all the materials and all the equipment we need.”
“This is an amazing undertaking,” said Pete Schroeder of the Fair Oaks Rotary Club. “It’s just incredible when people get together and it’s organized and they know what they’re doing.”
Jim Quinney, Rise Against Hunger community engagement manager for the Sacramento territory, said, “We started working with the Rotary in Citrus Heights four years ago for the 10,000-meal event, and it’s grown and now we’re collaborating with other clubs.… It’s just been wonderful to see the spirit of collaboration, and all these people are true advocates working to end hunger by 2030.”
Quinney described the Rise Against Hunger meal-packing events as “scalable turn-key operations.” They have the resources to organize events of any size, from large work parties to small team-building events.
Quinney said, “We want to engage as many people as possible. Every day we want people thinking about hunger and how they can help.”
“Helping others is a big part of who we are, and who the club is,” said Fair Oaks Rotary Club member Joe Arguelles. “It’s important to come and stand by your fellow man and help other people, help those who need help, so you can really feel like you’ve done something good for somebody.”
Making a Difference
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The Playmakers Organization is a local non-profit that coaches character through leadership and provides free programs to underprivileged and at-risk youth. Playmakers hosted their 10th annual fundraising dinner on Saturday, April 27 at Divine Savior Church in Orangevale.
The evening’s festivities included live and silent auctions to raise money for the organization. Proceeds from the event will fund Playmakers’ free six-week all-day Summer Character Academy. Playmakers founder Greg “Coach Roz” Roeszler said, “We seek out the kids whose families cannot afford any kind of summer enrichment, so it is extremely important we have funding for our trained coaches and volunteers.”
The Summer Character Academy will serve at least 100 kids, teaching them teamwork and improving their self-confidence.
Phil Oates, part-owner of the Sacramento Kings, was the keynote speaker of the event. Oates explained that the most important part of coaching is character development. He said, “Coaches sacrifice for their teams and always put the kids first.”
“Playmakers are making a difference for kids,” said Oates. “They are very fiscally responsible with the contributions they receive.… They’ll make you proud.”
The dinner was donated by Chicago Fire and was served by players from the Rio Americano and El Camino football teams. The teams are working together as part of a unique reconciliation effort after a brawl last season forced them to forfeit the final game.
The fundraiser’s title sponsor was Fitguard president Ryan Meier. Playmakers’ sponsor Harrison Phillips of the Buffalo Bills was honored at the event, and Stanford defensive linemen Michael Williams and Jovan Swahn attended as honored guests.
Thanks to many generous donations, Playmakers raised more than $30,000 to fund their Summer Character Academy. The largest donations came from the Country Club Optimists and the Azevedo Foundation.
Coach Roz thanked Playmakers civic group participants — Rotary, Optimists, and Lions — and all of the donors and volunteers for making it possible to help so many kids in the region. “Sometimes kids need extra attention. It’s about investing time,” said Coach Roz. “That’s what we do at Playmakers. That’s what we do as coaches. We never give up on the kids.”
The Food Must Get Through
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - As if delivering full loads of mail on the eve of Mother’s Day were not enough, American mail carriers served a humanitarian cause on Saturday, May 11.
The National Post Office food drive gathered groceries for food banks across America. Paper sacks were distributed to millions of homes days before collection and carriers began their Saturday routes expecting to return to base heavily laden. “It was a long, hard day, but worth it to know we were helping needy families,” said the Carmichael Office union president Barry Wilson. Zone 95608’s 50 carriers and many volunteers toiled from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. collecting, hauling and sorting over 16,218 pounds of non-perishables. These were dispatched to the Sacramento Food Bank.
In days that followed, hundreds more pounds of groceries rolled in to the Post Office. The food bank also received these late donations.
“Too many people in this country are still going hungry,” said National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando. “We see this first hand in communities we serve. For more than two decades, our members have taken the lead in the effort to help. It’s an easy way for our customers to help people in their own communities. Food banks usually benefit from an upswing in donations during the holiday season. By spring, stocks dwindle.” Because school lunch programs are suspended during summer, Rolando added, many families scramble to feed children.
The success of the food drive demonstrates “the remarkable connection between letter carriers and the communities they serve,” he said. “It’s a bond that serves the nation well.”