DA Schubert Talks Community Challenges at Carmichael Chamber Luncheon
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - “How much our community thrives is one hundred percent dependent on the people who are willing to participate in that,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. “There is no question in my mind that Sacramento has been faced with extraordinary challenges in the last few months and there is no person probably more aware of that than me.”
District Attorney Schubert was June’s Carmichael Chamber luncheon guest speaker, packing the room. Schubert addressed a lot of topics, including the East Area Rapist case, but mostly stuck to what she feels is most important right now – the challenges that face the community.
“My view as the DA, and I say this often, is what I call the blueprint to public safety: prosecution, prevention and innovation,” said Schubert. “We’re going to stand up for victims, we’re going to hold people accountable – if you deserve to go to prison, buddy, you’re going – that’s what I say. But I also believe one hundred percent that if we can prevent crime on the front end, we are far better off on the other end.”
Schubert is a firm believer in education being the answer to lowering the crime rate. “85 percent of our prison population is comprised of individuals that were either chronically truant or absent from school,” she stated. “You cannot expect police and prosecutors to solve the problems that we face in the community alone.”
Other issues that Schubert touched on were homelessness and mental health – especially in the Carmichael area. “Aside from the East Area Rapist, which is probably now the hottest topic, the hottest topic was always two things: ‘What are you going to do about homelessness? What are you going to do about mental health?’”
She touched on the negative affect that the homeless population has on the community’s economy and the complexity of solving that problem. “Public safety, education, healthcare – everything is interrelated,” said Schubert. “If we do not have a vibrant community, if we are not safe as a community, if you have people, transients, using drugs, doing everything on the doorsteps of your business – that’s going to affect your economic vibrancy.”
Schubert continued, “We have seen in Sacramento County and across this country an increase of homelessness of 30 percent (in the last two years). That’s a very significant issue – very challenging, very complex – but it’s not something that police and prosecutors can solve on their own. It takes a community.”
Schubert was raised in Sacramento, went to local schools and is raising her children in the region. She was elected as Sacramento County's District Attorney in 2014. She has 28 years of law enforcement experience, fighting for victims, and putting dangerous career criminal behind bars. As District Attorney and a local prosecutor, Schubert has sent some of the area’s most notorious and dangerous criminals – murderers, rapists and child molesters – to state prison.
The Power of Reading and Writing
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CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - “You will be judged by the language you use and how well you use language.” This conviction has been the driving force for over 50 years behind the work of retired English teacher Elaine Swanson of Carmichael.
Swanson’s goal is to complete her book, “Color Coded Grammar,” to be used as a companion for English textbooks in order to bring the subject of English back to its rightful place of honor in the education system. Swanson turned 90 years young on June 30 and is still actively working on her notes for the book.
Swanson has been developing this new system of teaching grammar to students since the 1970s when she and her friend, fellow teacher Juna Roy, developed the method while team teaching English to ninth graders at Albert Einstein Junior High in the Rosemont area.
The teachers had noticed at the beginning of the year that many of their ninth graders lacked the ability to read or write well and were at risk of failing or not attending college and missing out at successful lives simply because they had never learned the basic rules of grammar.
She had believed the eighth grade exit exam would weed out those not ready for high school and students would be forced to repeat classes, giving them time to get better prepared for college. Instead, when many students could not pass the test, standards were simply lowered. Those not ready for high school would continue to fall behind. According to Swanson, students were sold out, no longer expected to achieve excellence.
Swanson knew that previous teachers had been giving them writing assignments without teaching them to write, often resulting in cheating and low self-esteem.
Reading is power in every country and language – sometimes too much power. In an interview, Swanson pointed out the length many governments and church bodies in history have gone to in order to keep the ‘common’ people from learning to read, even today.
At the same time, other forward-thinking countries such as India and Japan, which recognize the place of English in world commerce, take teaching English in their own country much more seriously than we do.
For two years the teachers combined two full English classes of ninth graders - one person teaching and the other helping students who were confused about what was being taught but did not know how to ask for help. The system worked well and parents were pleased with the outcome, considering what tools the team had to work with.
Understanding the importance of the English language, Swanson and Roy knew something had to be done in the future. Their students needed to learn the rules in order to be understand how to write and speak correctly and to get the most out of what they read.
Seeing their success with the combined classes, in 1974 the school asked the team to teach social studies and English to a class of students entering the seventh grade. Swanson and Roy needed to prove that lowering the standards so students would pass tests was not the answer.
“If kids are held at held to a higher standard, they will meet it,” said Swanson. “They will do more than they think they want to if it is expected of them.” Swanson did not make it easy. If you earned an A you got an A. If you earned a C you got a C. If you cheated you got an F on that assignment. She believed that any student was capable of earning a C.
Students would remember much more than their grades in her class. Besides the basics of color coding each part of speech to help remember its function, such as nouns being red, and verbs being green, Swanson replaced the sentence diagram with eight sentence patterns to help students analyze their own writing.
Learning English and social studies together gave students the opportunity to be immersed in these subjects by writing and putting on plays and skits, and going on field trips. They were able to learn from real world examples in the news about the importance of English on the world stage.
Going into eighth grade as friends added to the trust and success of these 50 students in the 1970s. Now in their fifties, many still stay in touch with Swanson.
On April 28, 2018, more than 20 of these students gathered at Swanson’s home in Carmichael to honor her and thank her personally for changing their lives. One student, Austin McAdam, arranged for the reunion party to show Swanson how her teaching and care for them had affected them on many levels. Three of the students who attended had become English teachers.
“Back then I felt like a nobody, but with the class interactions and her insistence on our doing our best, I came out feeling like a somebody,” said one former student.
“When I told my parents all the different ways we approached learning in class, they said, ‘If all children had this kind of educational experience, all children could be bright.’” Many remarks echoed the common theme of comfort and confidence. “Her class was the only place I felt safe at school,” said one former student in attendance. “She changed the direction in my life.”
Swanson said of the gathering, “It was the most wonderful day for me.”
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The video game industry is rarely labeled as “original,” and this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) illustrated exactly why. Video games’ largest publishers showcased Metro: Exodus, Dying Light 2, Days Gone, The Last of Us Part 2, Rage 2, Gears 5 and Fallout 76. Their common thread? Every one of these flagship, multi-million dollar titles is a post-apocalyptic action game, usually with some sort of zombie or zombie-like enemy. 2018’s store shelves will be utterly saturated with games in the vein of Mad Max and 28 Days Later, and yet despite the saturation, every one of them will likely sell exceptionally well.
Video games have an utter obsession with the post-apocalypse going back decades, to an extent not reflected in any other popular media. The two seem to be a match made in heaven; a primary allure of video games is the ability to escape one's own life and do anything they desire. When a developer is tasked with contextualizing utter freedom in terms of a logically coherent, immersive game world, where better to turn than an anarchic wasteland? Without the binding ties of society and rule of law, the player can believably do whatever they want without the logical necessity of some in-game police coming down on their heads. Even linear, cinematic experiences with little real player freedom benefit from the narrative shortcuts a post-apocalypse allows. Why are we killing thousands and thousands of zombies/people? Easy, this world is kill or be killed in a battle for survival, so further moral justification for Mass violence seems, from the writer's perspective, otherwise unnecessary.
Such justification feeds into why the trend is stronger now than it's ever been. Developers leveraged the computing power of the new generation of consoles not to create photorealism, but to create massive, living worlds in which players can roam free. Open worlds became “stylish” as franchises that were once linear began to expand with huge environments to explore. And as video games began to lean more and more into their most unique artistic asset, the ability to create a sense of player freedom, the need for justifications for such complete freedom spiked upwards. As a result, we have E3 2018, where game after game resorts to the post-apocalypse as its narrative shortcut.
This is hardly a criticism; because video games aren't primarily a narrative medium, narrative shortcuts are easily excused if they accommodate exciting gameplay and interesting worlds, both of which post-apocalypse games often excel at. And even then, video games have occasionally used post-apocalyptic settings not as writing crutches but as tools to explore the complex moral questions of survival and freedom; 2013’s The Last of Us did exactly that, and is widely considered the best-written game ever made (though its incredible-looking sequel may be looking to snatch that title from its predecessor). There's a reason why, despite the saturation, the industry is showing few signs of fatigue. The post-apocalypse both literally and figuratively, remains extensively unexplored, and video games are uniquely positioned to trek into the lawless wilderness.
Korea and World War III - Almost
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Recently there has been high tension and talks of a possible confrontation and even a nuclear war with North Korea. But this is not the first time we have been in this position with them.
In the early 1970s, as a Captain in the US Air Force, I was assigned to Kunsan Air Force Base on the west coast of South Korea. This was an old US Air Force Base from the Korean War days, in the 1950s. At that time, I was the Air Force Chief of Aircraft Maintenance at the base, and part of my job was to prepare our assigned F-4 Fighter/Bombers for emergency launch with nuclear weapons, if the situation required it.
The F-4 twin jet Fighter/ Bomber was, at the time, was one of the fastest and best aircraft ever built. My job required that I have a Top Secret Security Clearance, because I was required to brief the Wing Commander on the status of all our assigned aircraft, and sit in on all Top Secret briefings about the status of the North Korean armed forces and their preparations for War. I remember well, as if it was yesterday. It was one of the most important briefings I had ever attended. It was the early 1970s, and by the time the briefing was over, I knew that we could be at war at any minute.
The North Korean forces, according to the briefing, were moving their fighters, bombers, tanks, military equipment, and soldiers up close to the border between North and South Korea. This would put them just minutes flying time from our aircraft at Kunsan AFB. This had never happened before and I remember thinking, at the time, that our base may not exist after the next few days, or sooner.
That night I walked down to the flight line where our F-4 Fighter/Bombers were stationed and ready for war. My job was to check with the airmen assigned to repair and prepare the aircraft, and to have them all ready for launch if the orders were given by Headquarters. We were an inch away from World War III and I could feel it in the air.
That night, I talked to my maintenance airmen assigned to the aircraft. They didn’t know, at the time, how close we were to war and I couldn’t tell them. There wasn’t a need at that time for them to know, but they were ready. All the F-4 aircraft that were flyable were loaded with bombs and ready for immediate takeoff to their assigned targets. I remember thinking that night on the flightline that this could be it.
I enjoyed my job and all the assigned men were great to work with. Being that I once flew jets myself in the Air Force, I knew how the pilots must have felt - that they may never see their families again - if we went to war. This was the real world and possibly the end of our beautiful planet as we knew it. I had a difficult time sleeping that night. It’s hard to tell someone who hasn’t been stationed on the front lines with nuclear weapons involved what it feels like. But that’s what we were trained for - and we all knew what was at stake.
Fortunately, we all survived or I wouldn’t be writing this article. For some reason the North Koreans began to remove their jets, tanks, equipment, and troops back from the border, and I never heard why. At that time, Chinese and Russian troops were supporting the North Korean communist troops and maybe their leaders realized that once a nuclear war started in Korea that it could speed to their countries and it wouldn’t stop until everything was gone.
We may never know what happened, but events in today’s news are a reminder to me of that time when I was there, and I saw how close we came. I believe that cooler heads in China, Russia, and North Korea prevailed. They knew we had a very large number of nuclear weapons and would use them if threatened, but China and Russia had them as well.
I believe the fact that we did have nuclear weapons and advanced aircraft to deliver them was possibly the reason why we didn’t go to war. What’s interesting to me is that at that time, and even now, the world didn’t know how close we came to World War III, but I was there!
May GOD continue to bless this beautiful planet and let’s do everything we can to keep it special and alive!
Former Captain Jerald Drobesh US AIR FORCE stationed at Mather Air Force Base in the 1970s before retirement. Now living in Rancho Cordova, CA.
Dave Dravecky Pays Visit to Raley Field
Former Giant Throws Out First Pitch
WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Former San Francisco Giant Dave Dravecky was honored by the Sacramento River Cats last Friday night. Dravecky held a meet and greet with fans prior to the game before throwing out the first pitch and then taking the time to sign autographs for a long line of fans during the early innings.
Dravecky played in parts of eight seasons with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants from 1982-1989. He made his Major League debut with the Padres on June 15, 1982 and was an all-star in 1983. The left-hander was acquired by San Francisco in 1987 and was 11-7 with a 3.22 ERA in 27 starts for the Giants.
A cancerous tumor was found in Dravecky’s throwing arm in 1988 and, after a brief comeback, unfortunately ended his career during the Giants 1989 World Series run.
After several surgeries, his left arm continued to deteriorate. On June 18, 1991, less than two years after his comeback with the Giants, Dravecky's left arm and shoulder were amputated. While his baseball career came to an end, Dravecky has since gone on to have a successful career as an author and motivational speaker.
“The challenges I’ve faced in the years following have taught me volumes and I now travel the country sharing the lessons I’ve learned—lessons on how to navigate loss and suffering, and how to experience encouragement and hope,” says Dravecky.
His story is an inspiration to Giants fans, baseball enthusiasts and beyond and that was clear to see through the admiration that he was shown at Raley Field. Visit davedravecky.com for more of his story.
Born in the USA
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Noted last year as the closest recorded bald eagle nest to Sacramento, the same eyrie was this summer blessed with more eaglet babies. These made debut flights earlier this month.
Orangevale kindergarten pupils named the 2017 hatchlings Poppy and Peekaboo. Now 15 months old, these juveniles are established in new American River territory. The children retained naming rights and this year honored explorer Admiral Richard Byrd by choosing “Byrd” for the Alpha chick. They decided on “Rainbow” for the youngest. The twins busted from baseball-size eggs a week before they were first photographed on March 23.
Nourished by non-stop room service, they achieved their parents’ great size in 12 weeks. At 13 weeks, they spread seven-foot wings and flew. Genders are yet uncertain; popular lore has the precocious Alpha as male; the timid Rainbow as female. Like Byrd’s heroic namesake, the Alpha explored air, land and water during his dramatic maiden flight.
Fledge days are stressful for parents and observers. Flapping boldly between trees on June 11, Byrd over-flew home base. His triumph rapidly turned to trial. The novice clipped a high fence to crash-land near a public trail. Without strength or experience for ground-level takeoff, his confusion was agonizing. For 30 minutes, he beat a clumsy to-and-fro on the clay path. Observers formed a mobile shield against dogs and joggers until Byrd at last gathered speed and crested the fence to safety. Even after this trauma, the first-born refused to return to the nest. He ignored his sister’s anguished cries; he defied mama’s voluble instructions. Explorer Byrd completed extraordinary traverses over the river at its widest. He drank from the waterside.
While on the lam, the eaglet was brought enough fish to prevent starvation but not so much as to reward rebellion. After three days, his parents coaxed him back to the family buffet.
Compared to Byrd’s surf-and-turf debut, his little sister managed a text book effort. Early on June 13, her papa delivered breakfast and evidently issued flying orders. Rainbow launched and, talons trailing untidily, flew 50-yards to an adjacent pine. Here she lurched before gaining confidence for the home flight. Papa soon encouraged an encore. This time, the debutant fell asleep on a foreign branch before heading home.
Having raised at least three previous broods, Mama Bald is a nursery pro. Her mate is younger – this is only his second adult season – but he is now a prolific hunter and confident dad. The parents’ combination of protection and tough-love comes with sacrifice. Exhausted four months of 24/7 hunting, mama and papa are now completing their parenting season. The nest is collapsing under the strain of many clumsy landings and sibling food-fights.
Repairs can wait. If this season follows the 2017 template – Byrd and Rainbow will be left in the care of sub-adult relatives while Mama and Papa wing off on distant vacation. By fall, they should return to rebuild and prep for a 2019 family. Hard lessons in self-sufficiency loom for the 2018 babies.
A testament to the regeneration of a species threated with extinction only 50 years ago, this American River family is well now established in Sacramento County suburbia. The raptors’ on-going residence is a joy to human neighborhoods in their flight-path.
Like the nation they represent, bald eagles are resilient. They’re also selfless providers, committed to family. They are single-minded in preparing children for independence. They control vermin populations; they neither waste nor pollute. By instinct, they are fantastic stewards of the natural world.
Our national icon is well-chosen. From these fellow Americans, we might learn much.
Follow Susan Maxwell Skinner American River Nature Blog on Facebook.
Citizen Susan Parade Grand Marshal
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - After many years of photographing the Carmichael Independence Day Parade, Susan Maxwell Skinner will this year ride in its first division as Grand Marshal. “July 4 has always been my favorite American Holiday,” says the New Zealand transplant. “I feel a huge emotional response at celebrations. I’m grateful to the nation that accepted me; I love to share its pride.”
Skinner became a US citizen in March of 2017. “At the naturalization ceremony, I was nostalgic surrendering my Green Card,” she says. “That bit of plastic was a faithful friend for more than 30 years. When my US passport arrived in the mail, I knew I had had something even more precious in my hand. Millions of people dream and sacrifice for the freedom it promises. Some of the greatest US patriots I know are immigrants.”
Married for almost 32 years to the late Sacramento bandleader John Skinner, Skinner is recognized as an enthusiastic Carmichael booster. She led its Chamber of Commerce in 2002; has authored thousands of local stories (many for this newspaper) and produced a photographic book called “Carmichael – Americana on the Move.” She was twice voted “Best Photographer” in the Best of Carmichael contest. The photojournalist is also a singer with the John Skinner Band, a long-time anchor ensemble for Carmichael Park concert seasons.
John Skinner’s sudden death last August barely slowed his wife’s community activities. “I cope with my loss by keeping very, very busy,” she explains. “John would not want his beloved music – or my photojournalism – to stop. He supported and encouraged me all the way. This guy was a celebrity in his own right but he was tickled pink that (Elks Parade organizer) Jim Warrick invited me to be Grand Marshal. John was a Vietnam veteran; a horn-blowing patriot to the bone. I expected him to ride beside me. I’ll leave his seat empty; I know I feel his presence.”
Waving from a classic American Mustang, Grand Marshal Susan will be among about 800 participants in the 60th annual Elks Parade. The pageant is scheduled to leave Marconi and Fair Oaks Boulevard corner assembly areas at 10:30 a.m. next Wednesday. Its crawl along Fair Oaks Boulevard turns into Cypress Avenue, ending at the Elks Lodge (5631 Cypress). Here, free swimming, live music and a barbecue will continue celebrations. Anyone may join the party.
Pyrotechnics will later ignite at the La Sierra Community Center (5325 Engle Road). Admission is free. Food is available for purchase and entertainment starts 7 p.m.; fireworks rumble at 9:30 p.m. No outside fireworks, dogs nor personal barbecues are permitted. Fair Oaks Boulevard will be closed between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Parade and fireworks sponsorships are welcome.
For information on 2018 celebrations, call the Carmichael Elks at 916-489-2103. Carmichael Park District (485-5322) has fireworks event information.