Williams Pioneer Review - July 13, 2016

July 13, 2016WEDNESDAyA INSIDE STORy | Uber arrives in Colusa County - See Page 2

Serving the communities of: Arbuckle • Colusa • Grimes • Maxwell • Meridian • Princeton • Williams colusacountynews.netVOL 9 • ISSUE 27 • SEQ 266

COLUSA COUNTY HALL OF FAME

Class of 2016 inductedBRIAN PEARSON

[email protected]

On Saturday, five out-standing athletes from years past and eleven graduating senior ath-letes were inducted to the Colusa County Hall

of Fame during the 14th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner, before a crowd of about 150 people.

Also enshrined were this year’s section championship teams from Colusa County, former Pierce High coach Charles Frederick Grimmer, and a number of team members from the storied Chung Sun softball team.

The high school athletes honored this year were Jared Huff and Mol-lie Townzen (Colusa), Renee Orosco and Luis Davalos (Williams), Peyton Schmidt, Devin Lee and Molly Dunlap (Maxwell), Colby Bates, Riley Voorhees and Carissa Cabral (Pierce), and Laura Mitchell (Princeton).

Paul Sengo, Ron Dixon, Mike Smith, Jim Marengo and Brady Myers were the five individuals inducted into the Colusa County Hall of Fame Class of 2016.

Mike Smith was the first to be in-ducted on Saturday, and Joe Kalfsbeek did the honors of introducing him.

“I graduated from Pierce High School in 1965… I remember the Wil-liams game in 1964…. Prior to kickoff (coach) huddled us in the locker room to give us our inspirational pep-talk. He went on to tell us that man for man with Williams we were the best team, with the exception of one individual: Mike Smith,” Kalfsbeek said. “He was an animal… little did I dream that I would marry his sister five years later and be his presenter at this banquet, 47 years after that.”

Smith, now a resident of the Yuba City area, accepted the award in person. He thanked the Hall of Fame Committee and congratulated the other honorees for the night. He also credited a number of great coaches who helped him succeed athletically.

“I think the biggest thrill of my athletic career was playing college football… That’s why I think this hall of fame is so important: to point out to high school athletes of this county that it doesn’t matter that you came from a small county or small school. If you have the desire, you can play at the next level and be competitive,” Smith said.

The late Jim Marengo was the next to be honored, who was presented by Vance Boyes.

“I became good friends with Jim over time, and in about 1973, Jim started playing rugby,” Boyes said during the presentation.

“(A few years later) he coordinated I think one of the teams in Colusa County history that competed at a level

higher than any I could think of.”Boyes went on to explain Marengo’s

work in establishing and coordinating the Colusa County Farmers Rugby Club, which played at the highest level of rugby in the nation.

“We played in the same league as the national champions, and it was pretty neat… It was just a rare group of indi-viduals,” Boyes said.

The rugby team that he established helped break down some of the bar-riers between the communities in the county, Boyes said, and it continues to do so today.

“Jim is dearly missed. He was gone too early,” Boyes said.

Morgan Marengo accepted the award on behalf of his father.

“I’m grateful on behalf of my father

and my family, and I just want to thank everybody for this,” Marengo said.

Ron Dixon was the next individual inducted, and was presented by Eddie Martinez.

“Even as a young boy, Ron was moti-vated to be the best… He worked hard at everything he did, and is probably the most positive person I have ever known,” Martinez said.

Whether it was in basketball or base-ball, it was often Dixon’s smarts that set him apart.

“Ron’s passing left a void in many lives, but we’re left with many fond memories at the thought of him. He had this subtle way about him,” Marti-nez said.

Williams Police Chief on Administrative Leave

BRIAN PEARSON [email protected]

The Williams Chief of Police has been on administrative leave for more than two weeks, and an announce-

ment from the city regarding his future at the department is not expected for another four to seven days, city administrator Frank Ken-nedy said.

“All I can say is that Chief (John) Osbourn continues to be on ad-ministrative leave,” Kennedy wrote on July 8. “I believe that leave will be ending in the next 7-10 days, at which time I will issue a press release… because it is a personnel matter, there is very little I can discuss.”

Attempts to reach Osbourn for a comment have been unsuccessful.

The announcement comes after a special closed session meeting of the city council on June 29, prior to which Kennedy, city clerk Mariana Pineda, and a city council member said they would be discussing the position of Chief of Police. That was not the position on the agenda for evaluation, however.

Instead, the agenda listed “Public Employee Performance Evaluation” for the position of City Administra-tor.

“It is (for the position of Police Chief), but it was placed on the agenda as City Administrator, based on the city attorney’s advice,” Pineda said prior to the June 29 meeting.

Also prior to that meeting, Ken-nedy said that it was placed on the agenda as a performance evaluation for the city administrator due to “a technicality.”

If the city council did indeed discuss the performance of the chief of police, it may have violated the

Ralph M. Brown Act in the process.When asked prior to the June 29

meeting why the city administrator position was listed for a perfor-mance evaluation, and not the chief of police, Williams City Attorney Ann Siprelle explained that the chief of police served at the pleasure of the city administrator, and not the council. As such, the council could not evaluate the chief ’s performance and could not take any action with respect to that position.

Siprelle cited a 2002 opinion of the California Attorney General, which she said prevented the council from evaluating the performance of an employee of the city administra-tor.

In that opinion, the attorney general considered whether a county board of education could meet in closed session under the “personnel exception” of the Ralph M. Brown Act to consider the appointment, employment, evaluation of per-formance, disciple or dismissal of certificated or classified employ-ees of the county superintendent of schools. The attorney general’s opinion was that a county board of education could not.

Siprelle said that the council was not discussing the position of chief of police, but rather the perfor-mance of the city administrator at large.

“The city administrator is being evaluated as to his performance, which includes his management of the department heads,” Siprelle said. “(Per the city code, the city adminis-trator) has authority to hire and fire all department heads, except for the city attorney.”

Williams Police Chief | Page 4

2016 Hall of Fame | Page 8

BRIAN PEARSON | WILLIAMS PIONEER REVIEWSenior athletes present to receive their awards included: (L to R) Back Row: Jared Huff, Peyton Schmidt, Molly Dunlap; Front Row: Laura Mitchell, Mollie Townezen, Carissa Cabral, and Devin Lee

Gioia visits county libraryBRIAN PEARSON

[email protected]

California Poet Lau-reate Dana Gioia visited the main branch of the Colusa County Free Li-brary last week, and was welcomed by a crowd of about 20 people.

Among other things, Gioia spoke about his upbringing and his expe-riences as the chairman of the National Endow-ment for the Arts, read from a diverse selection of poetry, and explained his aim as the state’s poet laureate: to bring poetry to everybody in the state, rather than just the al-ready poetically inclined.

The final point in particular resonated with Roberta James, who was one of the 20 people in attendance last Thursday.

“I thought it was won-derful that he wanted to go around to all the counties of California. As an educator, I think it was an excellent approach to bringing poetry to everyone, rather than just people who enjoy poetry,” James said.

While the assemblage was lacking in numbers, those in attendance were impressed, both by Gioia’s personality and his artis-tic ability.

“When he spoke, he was magical,” said Friend of the Library Cynthia White.

Pam DaGrosa, also a member of Friends of the Colusa County Library, described the evening as terrific. She said that she was particularly im-

pressed with the variety of poetry that Gioia read.

“The variety of poems that he read were won-derful in their diversity -- from funny to serious to thought provoking to ro-mantic… I can’t remem-ber what the name of the poem was, but I really loved his poem told from the perspective of the cat, Fred – I like a little com-edy in my poems, and I thought it was hysterical. It was beautiful too, but mostly hysterical.”

That poem, titled “Alley Cat Love Song,” offered a comical take on the high-romantic style of poets such as Lord Alfred Tennyson.

“That’s good stuff! The problem is, working in an office, I didn’t have much occasion to write poetry in the high tragic roman-tic vein. But then I sort of came across a sort of doomed love affair, and I thought somebody should write a poem about it,” Gioia explained. “A friend of mine had a sort of

superannuated orange tabby cat named Fred, and she decided to sort of brighten up his twilight years, and brought him home a child bride. It was a sort of unusual May-December marriage, because the young cat was completely smitten with Fred, but it proved too late in December for Fred to reciprocate… And so I wrote her this poem.”

In addition to showing his comedic side, Gioia’s works included poems that were touching, somber, and nostalgic. The selection from which Gioia also included a poem that dealt with the loss of his son to sudden infant death syndrome, the secret language between longtime lovers, and much more.

“Colusa is very fortu-nate that he visited,” Da-Grosa said. “Hopefully, he will be able to come back so he can reach more peo-ple in the community.” ■

BRIAN PEARSON | WILLIAMS PIONEER REVIEWDana Gioia speaks to a crowd of about 20 people during the Colusa County Libraries Summer Poetry Series.

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