While 2020 may have won “the worst year of the millennium,” 2021 was little better.
A year filled with moments Americans would rather forget: the continuation of COVID-19, cancellation and return of events, the delta variant, face mask wars, mandates, vaccinations, government corruption, the omicron variant, and much more.
Here’s a look at all the news that filled our pages, the pandemic that continues to plague our lives,
and a community near its breaking point.
JANUARY
► SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that caused COVID-19 disease, entered its second calendar year after emerging in Colusa County in early 2020 – and continued to dominate the headlines and stories that shaped 2021. The ninth elderly person to contract the disease died just after the New Year. The news came the same day that Gov. Gavin Newsom warned California could soon see another COVID-19 surge in the coming days and weeks. Colusa County Public Health officials reported that 1,396 persons locally tested positive for COVID-19 by Jan. 4, 2021, with 1,085 recovered. There were 302 active cases in isolation, 145 people in quarantine, and 10 people in the hospital.
►The first week of 2021 saw the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Colusa County. Colusa County Public Health began to administer the coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and patients at Colusa Medical Center and Valley West, firefighters, and home care providers.
► Sites Reservoir picked up more momentum in the early weeks of the New Year when it was awarded $13.7 million in the 2021 federal spending bill, authorized through the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. With the passage of this legislation, Congress has now appropriated roughly $23.7 million in WIIN Act funding to the Bureau of Reclamation for the project.
►Colusa County and the cities of Williams and Colusa announced the expenditures of their Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding by the Dec. 30 deadline. Colusa County’s $2.2 million in CARES Act funding included $800,000 given as grants to help small businesses impacted by coronavirus; $210,000 for food and nutrition programs for homebound seniors; $144,000 for administrative expenses; $386,000 for payroll for public health and safety employees; $40,000 for previously budgeted personnel services that were diverted to other uses; $173,000 to improve telework capabilities for public employees to work remotely; $54,619 for personal protective equipment; $49,000 for nursing home assistance; $49,000 for medical expenses; and $37,000 for public health assistance. Williams spent $67,000 from the CARES Act entirely on technology, including two electronic monument signs and an upgrade to their computer and phone systems to improve telework capabilities and enable virtual meetings. The City of Colusa’s $60,000 in CARES Act funds covered $12,000 for non-specified COVID-19 expenses; $15,800 for payroll for finance personnel; $14,900 for payroll for fire department; $1,300 for meals for fire personnel; $8,000 for technology for online meetings; and $6,000 for personal protective equipment and sanitizer.
► New District 2 Supervisor Daurice Smith was sworn onto the Board of Supervisors Jan. 4, after being elected in the November presidential election in 2020. District 4 Supervisor Gary Evans was selected Chairman of the Board.
► Almost three years to the day after beating 21-year-old Karen Garcia to death, the murdered woman’s partner and father of her child, Salvador Garcia-Vaca, 25, of Colusa, was sentenced Jan. 6, to 25 years in state prison. Garcia-Vaca was sentenced to 11 years for voluntary manslaughter, which the Colusa County District Attorney’s Office accepted in a plea deal as a “heat of passion” killing, and 10 years, additional and consecutive, for the use of a firearm in commission of a felony. Garcia-Vaca also received 20 months for kidnapping and 16 months for residential robbery, after taking Karen’s car keys and using her vehicle to transport her body out of Colusa County. Garcia-Vaca, who had fled to Mexico after the crime, was also sentenced to one year for battery, regarding the domestic violence incident several weeks earlier that led to the couple’s bitter breakup and Karen’ death.
► Court proceedings resumed in January after going dark for the Christmas and New Year’s break, but with unmistakable new signs of the times. The primary courtroom, located inside the Oak Street annex building, where most proceedings are held, was transformed into a plexiglass maze to reduce the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. Freestanding clear dividers were placed between seats in the jury box, as well as scattered throughout the spectator gallery, where a maximum of 20 to 22 visitors were allowed to be seated about six feet apart at any one time. More plexiglass partitions were strategically placed to separate witnesses on the stand from the court reporter and those in the well, while others provided protection to the parties at dispute.
► Frustrated with the ban on sports, which was going into its 10th month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, high school students and their parents held a “Let Them Play” rally in Arbuckle on Jan. 14, to send a message to government officials, the California Interscholastic Federation, and others about the significance of high school athletics and the health benefits for youth to play.
► A drive-by parade was held in Williams on Jan. 17, 2021, to honor Marie Spooner on her 100th birthday.
► The former Safe-Haven Recovery Center on Oak Street was demolished by a wrecking crew on Jan. 25, 2021, about 15 months after it was destroyed by an arson fire. The historic building was the original Colusa Woman’s Club. Robert Dean Cates, 74, a former peer leader for the group, who had a violent criminal history, was eventually convicted of the crime and sentenced to three years in state prison.
► The Colusa City Council approved a resolution to accept a Proposition 68 allocation for the construction of a Splash Pad in Davison Park. The funding comes from the $4 billion voter-approved California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018.
► The bus driver sentenced to 26 years and four months in state prison in connection to the 2008 crash that killed 11 people and injured nearly two dozen others was resentenced on Jan. 25, 2021, to 14 years in prison after the California Supreme Court determined that sentence enhancements imposed for “personally inflicting great bodily injury” are not applicable in vehicular manslaughter cases. Quintin Joey Watts, now 65, was convicted by a jury of 11 counts of manslaughter and 21 counts of causing great bodily injury to the surviving passengers for falling asleep at the wheel, after having as little as three hours sleep in a 36-hour period. The bus was headed to the Colusa Casino for a night of gambling. Watts was released from prison in 2021 after serving 11 years behind bars.
► The Colusa County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 19, 2021, appointed Anastacia Allen Colusa County Agriculture Commissioner and Sealer of Weights and Measures, replacing Greg Hinton, who served as the department head since 2016.
► The Board of Supervisors appointed former Williams Mayor John Troughton to serve on the Colusa County Planning Commission, commencing Feb. 1, 2021. Troughton, who serves as Williams Treasurer, served eight years on the City Council and 10 years on the Williams Finance Committee.
► At their first meeting of the new year, the Williams City Council, which included newcomer Don Parson, selected Councilman Roberto Mendoza to serve as mayor in 2021. Mendoza, who ran for his second term of office in the November 2020 presidential election, edged John Troughton off the council by just three votes.
FEBRUARY
► The Colusa Police Department started off 2021 with an overall increase in the number of calls for service. Chief Josh Fitch said the call volume for January 2021 was 361, with 26 agency assists, up from 257 calls for service during the same period in 2020, a 29 percent increase. January’s call volume also exceeded December 2020, which had 333 calls for service. During the first month of the new year, there were 28 arrests that resulted in 12 Colusa County Jail bookings. The other arrests resulted in citations (a state COVID-19 protocol), a majority of which were drug-related offenses and driving without a vehicle license. In January, one domestic violence arrest was made. There were no DUI arrests. There were 49 police reports initiated, of which 46 were investigated. On Feb. 1, the Colusa Police Department lobby was reopened to the public for the first time in 10 months. Concealed weapon permit applications and interviews also resumed.
► Colusa County reported its 11th death to COVID-19 as the pandemic officially entered its second year. While Colusa County opened vaccines to individuals 65 and over, Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Kelly said on Feb. 2 the county only received about 200 vaccines to distribute about every 10 days, which Kelly described as a “slow, painful drip.” By Feb. 1, the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in isolation in Colusa County dropped to 111, down from its peak on Jan. 26 of 493.
► Despite COVID-19 curtailing most school activities, Arbuckle FFA upheld a 23-year-old tradition by hosting its annual field day on Saturday, Feb. 6. Although all 25 competitive events took place virtually, the first field day of the year was well attended, with 110 schools participating and accounting for 75 percent of the usual attendance, according to a press briefing issued by Arbuckle FFA reporter Karina Gonzalez. While minor issues relating to technology arose, the day proved a success, with Gonzalez reporting that “responses from other schools were positive and showed appreciation” for the effort of putting on the field day.
► The Williams City Council became the first local legislative body to openly allow outdoor cannabis cultivation when they created an overlay zone north of the Williams wastewater treatment facility to allow legal marijuana activity. The overlay zone for Williams’ outdoor cultivation is located about 1,200 yards north of the Police Department, and next to the sewer facility, which officials said has its own musty odors originating from the anaerobic decomposition of organic compounds. Officials said the operation, with a north wind, would likely have just faint odors at certain stages of cannabis development that could be detected by those living in the far northern part of the city. No project has yet to be approved by the Williams Planning Commission, although there is a project in the works that could be up and running by spring of 2022.
► The Colusa City Council approved a temporary moratorium on certain fees to incentivize property owners in Colusa’s downtown to upgrade their facades or make general repairs to their buildings. The fee moratorium covers permit fees, plan check, and inspection fees for existing buildings in Colusa’s historic downtown. The fee moratorium was proposed as an economic stimulus incentive to increase overall economic vitality and tourism. The moratorium was later extended to property owners on Fremont Street.
► What became the new normal for fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic was no different for Maxwell firefighters, who found success with a drive-thru “crab feed” and online auction. With Colusa County in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “purple tier,” which banned social gatherings, most local non-profits held take-out events.
► The 44th District Agriculture Association made the decision on Feb. 10 to scrap the Colusa County Fair for the second year in a row, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a drop in active virus cases, Colusa County remained under the state’s most restrictive tier, which guided capacity limits and physical distancing requirements. All events at the Colusa County Fairgrounds had been canceled since March 2020, and the fair board said there was no clear path for moving forward with a normal 2021 Colusa County Fair in June. The Fair Board agreed to hold only a livestock show and sale. The 44th District Agriculture Association, at the same meeting, selected President Michael Doherty to remain at the helm of the Colusa County Fairgrounds for 2021. The Fair Board agreed to keep the current leadership in place, due to the coronavirus pandemic causing the cancellation of most events. Vice-President Walt Seaver remained in the second chair.
► Colusa County Public Health announced that a 12th resident died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The death came amid a downward trend in active cases of coronavirus, although Colusa County remained in Tier 1 on the state’s blueprint. As of Feb. 11, Colusa County had received 2,485 doses of the coronavirus vaccine with 923 distributed to Health Care providers countywide for distribution to patients, and 799 doses were administered by Public Health. Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Kelly reported to the Board of Supervisors that Public Health staff faced hostility from people who had unrealistic expectations when it came to vaccine availability, including hostility from people who were younger than 65 and not at risk of severe complications from the virus. Colusa County teachers catapulted to the top of the coronavirus vaccination list, regardless of age, which was supposed to get schools a step closer to returning to normal.
► Premier Mushrooms (Farmers’ Fresh), in partnership with the Colusa County Chamber of Commerce, awarded small but meaningful community grants of $200-250 to the Friends of the Colusa County Library, Colusa County Free Library Literacy Program, Arbuckle College Fire Protection District, Studio ABC, Maxwell Park and Recreation District Auxiliary, and the Williams Art Club, and the Stonyford Community Hall Association, at a socially-distanced Grant Awards Breakfast at the Colusa Business & Visitor’s Center on Feb. 11, catered by Market Street Grill. A special $250 grant went to Stonyford Museum to update the veteran’s memorial, which had fallen in disrepair.
► The sign of a career well served is retiring from a department you helped to create. Dolores Gomez, the division director for the Colusa County Office of Education’s Children’s Services, retired after 38 years of service. Gomez’ last day of work was Feb. 18, the day before her 58th birthday. Children’s Services includes Head Start, State Preschool, Alternative Payment programs, and Resource and Referral, which helps local families with their childcare needs.
► Members of local legislative bodies, including school boards and city councils, found out that violations to California’s open meeting requirements could happen with just a simple click of a button. A change to the Ralph M. Brown Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, permits members of legislative bodies to use social media to provide or solicit information from the public regarding matters within the board’s jurisdiction, but only as long as they don’t communicate directly with each other or respond to another member’s social media post, including the use of a digital icon if the post is regarding business of the legislative body. The amendment is in recognition of issues that developed regarding “serial meetings” through social media, in which members of boards and councils easily – with just a click of an emoji – reached a consensus on matters before the legislative body prior to taking formal action in meetings that were required to be open to the public. The Colusa County Office of Education in February was one of the first agencies to instruct their elected officials on the new hazards of navigating social media platforms, which, prior to Jan. 1, were not explicitly addressed by California law.
► The Colusa County Board of Supervisors were split 3-2 on Feb. 23 over the $45,000 per year lease of six new 2021 model vehicles slated for the Behavioral Health Department. The six new vehicles replaced seven models declared surplus, most of which were less than 10 years old. Four of the vehicles had less than 150,000 miles on them. While there was general consensus on the board that several of the department’s vehicles needed replacing, including a 1997 Ford Taurus with about 156,000 miles on its odometer, there were conflicting opinions regarding the type of vehicles selected as replacement. While some of the vehicles did not have particularly high mileage, officials said they had mechanical conditions that made them unreliable. The dissenting vote of Supervisors Daurice Kalfsbeek and Merced Corona had far more to do with why a Behavior Health staffer would need a 2021 high-powered Dodge Charger, an American muscle car used typically by law enforcement for its high-speed capabilities. Behavior Health was the third Colusa County department to enter into a lease agreement (as opposed to purchasing outright) with Enterprise Fleet Management, which county officials said saves taxpayers money over time because the monthly lease includes general maintenance.
► The Colusa City Council continued to delay filling three positions the city had previously authorized and funded when they approved the 2020-21 budget: Finance Analyst, Utilities Superintendent, and Building Code Enforcement Technician. The three positions together came with a price tag of approximately $227,000, officials said, which was reallocated toward economic development and tourism.
MARCH
► A Colusa man wanted in connection to a stabbing on Cynthia Drive in December 2020 was discovered behind bars in San Joaquin County. According to the Colusa Police Department, Kevin Barajas-Jimenez, 26, was identified as the suspect in the Dec. 21 stabbing of another man, following an altercation. The stabbing occurred around 4 PM, but Barajas-Jimenez managed to flee the scene before police arrived. Barajas-Jimenez, who has a violent criminal history in Colusa County, had been released from state prison on parole just six months before the reported stabbing. He was located inside the San Joaquin County Jail after his Jan. 25 arrest by the Stockton Police Department on robbery charges, the day after he was scheduled to appear in Colusa County Superior Court on a drug possession charge.
► The Colusa County Board of Supervisors and Department of Health and Human Services threw out the state’s coronavirus vaccine eligibility matrix in order to vaccinate those who needed it the most: people ages 65 and older. Colusa County, effective March 1, skipped the state’s working-sector eligibility matrix to get vaccines into the group that has suffered the most from complications of COVID-19 or have died. Colusa County had reported a total of 2,139 positive cases of COVID-19 since its emergence a year earlier, with 13 deaths. The youngest Colusa County resident to die from COVID-19 complications was a 59-year-old with multiple underlying health conditions, including lung disease. The others were community members over the age of 65, mostly elderly residents in skilled nursing facilities.
► The Colusa County board of supervisors said enough is enough to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “blueprint for a safe reopening” of the economy. Despite the downward trend of COVID-19 across the nation, Colusa County was still in the “purple” tier on the state’s blueprint one year after the pandemic began, which placed onerous restrictions on local businesses and schools. County officials said the state’s one-size-fits-all blueprint to reopening communities and schools proved to be a failed approach to handling the coronavirus pandemic, as Colusa County had just 21 active cases of COVID-19 (in a population of over 20,000), which the state still considered “widespread” in terms of the disease. The board of supervisors, in a resolution approved March 2, said Colusa County was too geographically diverse, making it ill-suited for the countywide restrictions imposed by the state. The board of supervisors asked the governor to enable Colusa County’s response to the pandemic to be “tailored” to local conditions. The county had achieved the “red” status on March 8, but was returned to purple on March 9 after a 14th death was attributed to the virus.
► The third time adopting a resolution to accept a per capita allocation from the State of California was a charm last week for the City of Colusa. The Council City’s pursuit of its allocated $177,000 from Proposition 68 started in January but had to be brought back to the council because of a posting error on the agenda. The City Council subsequently adopted the resolution at their Feb. 16 meeting, but officials brought it back to the March 2 meeting to affirm that the money will be used to construct a splash pad at A.B. Davison Park. City Manager Jesse Cain said he wanted to clarify that the splash pad did not just arise from requests during community meetings held over the summer and fall, but over a period of more than a decade. Drought and water conservation was not considered.
► A local grandmother and advocates of family reunification made it their mission to see a baby reunited with its biological family, even if it meant fighting Colusa County in court. The baby’s paternal grandmother accused Colusa County Child Protective Services of subverting California rules of the court that allow for familial guardianship of newborns taken from their biological parents due to neglect or endangerment. A street protest was held on March 18 to alert the public that the baby, then 5-months-old, was removed from its mother not long after birth by a Colusa County social worker and placed into foster care of another Colusa County employee, without going through state requirements to identify and notify relatives for guardianship, said Mary Ellen Smith, a certified addiction counselor, who was assisting the family in regaining custody.
► The Maxwell Road was closed March 22 after a 120 ft. arch pipe transecting the road near the 2047 canal failed. Officials said the failure of the culvert, located between Four Mile Road and Holloway Road, caused the westbound lane to subside under the weight of traffic, and that the repairs needed are beyond the technical capacity and equipment abilities of the Colusa County Road Department. The Colusa County Board of Supervisors called a special meeting earlier in the day to authorize the $130,000 cost to repair the road, which was closed for about 10 days.
► While it was unusual for there not to be a standing room only crowd at the Rice Bowl, there was somehow a sense of normality when the Williams Yellowjackets and Pierce Bears took the field under the lights at McCarl Field in the 90th meeting between the long-standing rivals on March 26. And although the game was not flawlessly executed by either side, and ended in a 36-0 shutout in favor of the Bears, for the first time in 16 months, high school football was being played, and that in itself was a victory for both sides.
APRIL
► With active cases of COVID-19 holding steady, Colusa County on April 6 moved into the “orange” tier on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state reopening blueprint. The advancement to a less restrictive tier came after a steady decline in local COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations since mid-February. The average new case of COVID-19 per day was less than one, which was minimal, according to Public Health officials. At that time, 9 percent of Colusa County residents (25 percent of the county’s population aged 65 and older) had been fully vaccinated. Another 21 percent of the county’s elder population have received at least the first dose.
► The Colusa City Council on April 6 authorized a new income survey that could help the city receive grant funding if it proves the community is economically disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged. The city’s last income survey, which was performed in 2014, good only for five years, expired in 2019. City officials said for Colusa to be eligible for no or low match funding, particularly infrastructure grants such as sewer, water, and streets, the state and the federal government requires that an updated income survey be in place. Because the city plans to use a new income study to apply for a variety of grants, the cost of the income survey – estimated at about $20,000 – was divided equally between the general fund, the sewer fund, the water fund, and the cannabis fund.
► California Governor Gavin Newsom on April 12 lifted location and capacity limits on places of worship in response to five U.S. Supreme Court decisions that his shelter-in-place orders were unconstitutional. The lift on church restrictions was effective immediately. Three of the Supreme Court’s five rulings centered around lawsuits filed by the Center for American Liberty, the first of which was filed the day after Easter last year when the state and several California counties (including Colusa County) expanded the state’s stay-at-home order banning travel, including travel to church for drive-in services. Colusa County was not specifically named in the lawsuit, but the Public Health Officer’s expanded order went into effect at 11:59 PM on April 10, 2020, the Friday before Easter, despite unchanged COVID-19 cases in the community and no hospitalizations.
► After the California Supreme Court decided on March 25 that the state’s cash bail system was unconstitutional because it unfairly incarcerated poor people, Colusa County Superior Court was put through its first test. A Colusa woman, charged with a serious violent felony, was released from the Colusa County Jail on her own recognizance on April 12 because she was too poor to post bail. She subsequently failed to appear in court and was rearrested on a bench warrant.
► After multiple starts and stops in the criminal proceedings against accused double murderer Martin Christian Ehrke, Colusa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson on April 19 found the 50-year-old was not mentally competent to stand trial or aid in his defense. Ehrke is accused of killing Kimberly Lynn Taylor, 39, and Jessica Lynn Mazak, 25, whose bodies were discovered hidden on the Hillgate Road property in southwest Colusa County in 2018. Ehrke was committed to a state mental hospital. Although his case is subject to periodic review by the court, Ehrke will remain hospitalized until he is found fit to stand trial, officials said.
► With very little rain over the winter months, California’s persistent drought put the state right back to where it was six years ago, when Gov. Jerry Brown declared a water emergency and mandated a 25 percent reduction in water usage across the state. California’s drought resulted in croplands left fallow, with farmers taking drastic measures to keep trees alive by drawing on groundwater from the basin’s aquifers. The Bureau of Reclamation on April 19 announced adjustments to water releases at Shasta Dam to give spawning Chinook salmon the best chance at survival. Water users who relied on transfers from Tehama Colusa Canal Authority received 5 percent of their water allocations this year. Water users on Sacramento River settlement contracts were cut to 75 percent.
► The Colusa City Council on April 20 voted 5-0 to purchase the site of the former Pirelli Cable plant for $3.1 million. The facility was in operation from 1966 to 2002 and employed hundreds of people. City officials hope to turn the plant back into gold as a multi-tenant biomaterial facility, even though it means taking some financial risks with local taxpayer funds. City Manager Jesse Cain said the city applied for state/federal grants to cover the purchase price of the shuttered facility. The facility was appraised between $2.9 and $4.7 million. The city has leased the property for the past year for $5,000 per month while moving forward with funding applications.
► Davis Ranches in Grimes on April 24 provided a tranquil setting for the Virginia Yerxa Community Read Day. The annual event celebrated the 2021 book-in-common selection “Watership Down,” a 1972 adventure novel by English author Richard Adams. The 413-page book, which was announced in December 2020, centered around a small group of wild rabbits that travel through the English countryside to find a new home. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, VYCR fashioned a single-day outdoor event, which included nature walks and plein air painting.
MAY
► The first day in May turned out to be eventful in Colusa, after the community turned out for the annual Friends of the Library wine tasting fundraiser in Will S. Green Park. The event was established on Kentucky Derby Saturday nearly two decades ago. Since 2011, the fundraiser has been connected to a small festival called the May Surprise, after six organizations, the Pacific Flyway Quilters, the Friends of the Library, the Colusa County Arts Council, the Colusa County Garden Club, the Colusa Lions Club, and the Colusa Heritage Preservation Committee combined their events into one. This year, the Friends of the Library billed the gathering simply as a May Day Celebration because not all the groups were able to come back this year, due to the pandemic.
► California Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 10 expanded his April 21 proclamation of drought emergency to 39 additional water parched counties. The declaration added Colusa and most of Northern California, where Newsom said accelerated action would be needed to protect public health, safety, and the environment. In total, 41 counties were first under the drought state of emergency, representing 30 percent of the state’s population. The drought emergency was later expanded to the entire state. Newsom said early warm temperatures and extremely dry soils further depleted the expected runoff water from the Sierra-Cascade snowpack, resulting in historic and unanticipated reductions in the amount of water flowing to major reservoirs, especially in Klamath River, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and Tulare Lake Watershed counties.
► Peace Officers Memorial Day came and went on May 15 with no proclamations or observances by the City of Colusa, the City of Williams, or the Colusa County Board of Supervisors. The national memorial event, observed throughout the United States, pays tribute to local, state, Tribal, and federal law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice or were injured in the line of duty. Among Colusa County’s killed in the line of duty are two from the Sheriff’s Office, two from the Colusa Police Department, and one from California Fish and Game. All five are on the California Peace Officers’ Memorial in Capitol Park, Sacramento, and the National Memorial in Baltimore, Maryland. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Fund, more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serve in the United States today. Each year, the National Memorial adds new names to the wall, averaging about 163 new deaths per year of officers mourned by their families and communities.
► The Colusa City Council on May 18 agreed to host a contest for local artists and designers to come up with a new, modern look to the city’s official seal. The contest, which is part of the city’s re-branding efforts, is in lieu of hiring a professional design firm to produce a modern image that best highlights the city’s connection to the Sacramento River, while still considering heritage and culture. The city’ current logo is a circle divided into four quadrants. Three of the images accurately depict Colusa with a lush green tree, fish, and waterfowl. The top quadrant depicts a Native American in a headdress that inaccurately depicts the aboriginal people of California before settlement, but was a popular caricature used throughout the U.S. by agencies and schools since the early 20th century. While city officials said they wanted to look at what artists might create for a possible new logo, any actual change would require the availability of funds.
► Colusa County District Attorney Matthew Beauchamp joined two-thirds of California district attorneys in a lawsuit against the state seeking to block an emergency rule that potentially granted early release to thousands of violent and serious offenders. The May 25 lawsuit, initiated by Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, sought declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from awarding additional conduct credits, known as “time off for good behavior,” to about 76,000 inmates. Colusa County has a number of violent offenders with pending releases. The CDCR’s additional good conduct credits were the product of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency regulations, which were passed and first made public on April 30. The district attorneys said the award of the additional credits could shorten sentences for over 76,000 inmates, about 20,000 who had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and over 10,000 prisoners who had been convicted of a second serious, but nonviolent offense under California’s “three strikes” law.
► All around Colusa County, veteran organizations, cemetery districts, and residents paid tribute to fallen troops on Memorial Day in ways that were impossible last year – when COVID-19 restrictions were still observed in most places. Formal ceremonies returned to Colusa and Williams on May 31. Short ceremonies were held at Holy Cross Cemetery, Arbuckle, and Maxwell. American Flags dotted the gravestones by the hundreds of those who served, although the annual observance honors those who gave their all as payment for the cost of everyone’s freedom.
JUNE
► After more than a year in near lockdown conditions, the streets of Williams were bustling on June 5. The 49th Pioneer Day Parade was the first large public event to be held in the city since March 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions began. The Colusa VFW and Maxwell American Legion Color Guard led the parade, followed by a large contingency of police and fire vehicles from across Colusa County, as the parade honored its “Hometown Heroes.” Citizens for a Better Williams, which hosts the annual event, recognized one of their own when former CBW President Andi Armstrong rode through the parade in a red convertible as Grand Marshal. The event also served as Williams High School alumni weekend. Graduates from various classes toured recent renovations at the gym and held a memorial planting for Steve Tuttle, Class of 1966. Pioneer Day festivities concluded with a fireworks display, sponsored by Morning Star.
► The Colusa County Board of Supervisors on June 8 terminated the local health emergency relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, although Gov. Gavin Newsom planned to let his state of emergency declaration linger. The board initially proclaimed Colusa County’s public health emergency on March 20, 2020, following Newsom’s declaration three weeks earlier on March 4, which put the state in near total lockdown. Ending the local emergency coincided with Newsom’s announcement that he was ending the Blueprint for a Safer Economy on June 15, which allowed everyday activities to resume and all businesses to fully open. County officials announced there was no longer an imminent and proximate threat to public health from COVID-19 – after the coronavirus vaccine became widely available.
► Colusa’s streets were lined with people on June 11 for the “Barn in the USA” Lions Club Fair Parade. Although the 2021 Colusa County Fair was canceled, the community found the traditional Friday night parade back to some semblance of normal. After 15 months in coronavirus lockdown, the parade was the first large gathering held in Colusa after the state began to ease restrictions that allowed local jurisdictions to resume normal activities.
► The Colusa County Fair Foundation recognized an individual, a group, and a family when they presented their annual Heritage Awards prior to the 2021 Junior Livestock Auction on June 12. The non-profit, whose mission is to keep the fairgrounds viable for future generations, presented awards to former longtime Colusa Farm Show Committee Chairman David Zwald, the Colusa Western Days Committee, and the Frances and Leon Etchepare family for their outstanding support of the fair and 44th District Agriculture Association.
► Hundreds of Colusa County youth in 4-H and FFA converged onto the fairgrounds June 12 for an event that is historically a big part of the Colusa County Fair experience. While the 2021 “Barn in the USA” exposition wasn’t everything residents had hoped for, youth that showed animals over the course of five days found the experience far more satisfying than the virtual livestock show and sale held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The auction got underway at its usual time at the TK Marshall Pavilion, on June 12, with professional auctioneer Jake Parnell back at the microphone.
► Although Colusa County in the past few weeks resumed most activities, following 15 months in COVID-19 pandemic mode, the state – for the most part – officially opened businesses to full operations and allowed vaccinated individuals to forgo covering their faces. With coronavirus cases continuing to decline in California as vaccinations increase, Gov. Gavin Newsom officially gave the green light for the state to move beyond the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” on June 15. “California is turning the page on this pandemic, thanks to swift action by the state and the work of Californians who followed public health guidelines and got vaccinated to protect themselves and their communities,” Newsom said in a statement. “With nearly 40 million vaccines administered and among the lowest case rates in the nation, we are lifting the orders that impact Californians on a day-to-day basis while remaining vigilant to protect public health and safety as the pandemic persists.”
► Colusa’s history was celebrated June 19 at the inaugural Founder’s Day Festival. Vintage tractors on the levee and a photo exhibit at the Colusa County Arts Council gallery were the gems of the festival, which also included vendors in Memorial Park and two walking tours of Colusa’s downtown. A number of nonprofit groups participated in the first Founder’s Day Festival, which is intended to be an annual event every third Saturday in June to celebrate Colusa’s agricultural heritage, cultural diversity, and incorporation on June 16, 1868. The Colusa County Chamber of Commerce was the primary sponsor.
► The California Water Board issued notices in June to all public water systems to prepare for drought impacts statewide. The notices were issued before Colusa County announced on June 22 that six or more residential wells dried up, mostly in the Arbuckle and College City area. Glenn County had 30 or more wells go dry in the Orland area. Colusa County Assistant Sheriff Michael Bradwell said the last time Colusa County trucked water to residents whose wells went dry during drought, it was in late September and October, not June.
► After days of scorching temperatures, the cloud cover on June 24 provided much needed relief for those attending the Colusa Certified Farmers Market – and more than 200 of the market’s biggest supporters. The fifth annual Farm to Fork Dinner highlighted a wide variety of foods produced throughout the region and sold at the Farmers Market, held each Thursday during the summer in Colusa’s Veteran’s Memorial Park. The Colusa County Chamber of Commerce organized the dinner fundraiser, which supports the market and helps fund the Premier Mushroom Grant Program, which provides small but critical grants to many local non-profit organizations for art and literacy programs, fire prevention education, and community events.
► The temperatures soared again on June 26, but it didn’t stop people from enjoying the city’s first big entertainment effort. The ticketed and costly Country in Colusa Music Festival, organized by the City of Colusa, featured three stages and eight country music acts, including headliner Jay Allen, whose band flew in from Iowa via Nashville. The festival was held in the Old Chinatown District, with people sitting in the shade of Levee Park until the sun went down enough to shade the entire venue. Performers included Buck Ford, Presley & Taylor, Stoney Mountain Ramblers, Pleasant Valley Boys, Desert Moon Band, Dust in My Coffee, and Jimbo Trout. ■
See Dec. 30 edition for Part two