Sacramento Snapshot: Those who report fentanyl in drugs could be protected if bill continues to advance

• June 19, 2023

Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.

It hasn’t been an easy year to pass fentanyl-related legislation in the California Legislature. But one effort, meant to prevent more overdoses and deaths by extending protections for people requesting medical or police assistance, is finding success.

Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, is proposing a bill, SB-250, that would expand California’s Good Samaritan law — which protects people seeking medical assistance for a drug-related overdose for themselves or another person under certain circumstances — to include those reporting to medical professionals or law enforcement opioid-related overdoses or substances that test positive for fentanyl.

The idea is to extend immunity to those who are using fentanyl test strips, small strips of paper that can detect the presence of fentanyl in various drugs, and report the contaminated substance to law enforcement.

Having already received unanimous support in the Senate, Umberg’s bill cleared the Assembly Public Safety Committee, which held up other fentanyl-related legislation, last week with full support.

“We must tackle this epidemic from all sides to prevent more overdoses and deaths,” said Umberg.

Earlier this year, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the Public Safety Committee, put a hold on fentanyl legislation, saying there were “duplicative efforts” that only offered “temporary solutions.” Instead, he wanted a broader hearing to address the overall crisis, “not just the criminality portion.”

While some smaller bills have seen movement this legislative session, the overarching theme for fentanyl-related measures is that public safety committees in either chamber are not creating new laws or penalties.

In other news

• A group of senators OK’d legislation last week that would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to incarcerate parents near their children. The department already takes family location into consideration when it comes to where prisoners serve their sentences, but there is no requirement to place someone close to their child.

Children of incarcerated parents, according to the Legal Services for Prisoners with Children group, are more likely than other children to suffer a range of negative outcomes, ranging from antisocial behavior to drug use. The LSPC says regular contact between children and their incarcerated parents leads to improved family reunification, as well as lower rates of parole violations and recidivism, following a prisoner’s release.

The bill from Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco already cleared the lower chamber with no opposition. It most recently won the approval of the Senate Public Safety Committee.

• An Assembly committee approved legislation from Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat who represents south Orange County, that would require gun sellers to post warnings about the risk of suicide or death or injuries during a domestic dispute while a gun is present in the home. It also requires the signage to include the “988” phone number for suicide and crisis prevention.

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​ Orange County Register 

Growing seed bank is ‘Noah’s Ark’ for Southern California desert plants

• June 19, 2023

Corina Godoy has an admittedly unorthodox dream.

She hopes to adopt a bird. She’s not yet sure what kind of bird, but it needs to have a taste for feasting on the juicy red berries that grow on lycium, a thorny shrub found throughout the deserts of Southern California.

Sometime after her bird eats those berries, Godoy’s dream continues, she’ll root through its droppings. Then the petite scientist will pluck out the lycium seeds that had been nestled inside the red berries, waiting, as nature intended, for the bird’s acidic digestive system to free them and prime them for planting.

But instead of sowing the seeds, Godoy’s dream is to carefully store them in a refrigerator. That way, if a wildfire or climate change or other disaster decimates the local lycium population, she’ll have seeds ready to help ensure the shrub — and the wildlife that depends on it — can live to see another day.

These are what your dreams look like when you’re part of a small team tasked with trying to preserve the biodiversity of Southern California’s deserts.

Mojave Desert Land Trust started a seed bank at its Joshua Tree headquarters back in 2017 to help restore and enhance habitat for rare, threatened and culturally important species. Over the past six years, Godoy and her colleagues have collected, processed and secured seeds for some 210 species of plants found in the Mojave and Colorado deserts, including the beloved Joshua tree.

“This seed bank acts as an insurance policy — or, if you want to look at it a different way, like Noah’s Ark,” Godoy said. “When there is a need for that seed, our mission is to have it ready and here and in prime condition.”

Still, so far, the Mojave Desert Seed Bank is safeguarding less than 10% of the plant species found in our local deserts.

“We don’t think of the desert as this really lush, biodiverse forest,” said Kelly Herbinson, joint executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust. “But it really is. In fact, we have a higher level of biodiversity than many pine forest ecosystems.”

Bees and ants feed on the blooms of a Saguaro cactus, which stands more than 15 feet tall at Mojave Desert Land Trust in Joshua Tree on Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2023. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Thanks to a $3.2 million state grant, and a large contribution from an anonymous private donor, the trust’s seed bank is about to get a lot of new deposits.

Herbinson said they plan to use the new funding to collect and bank seeds representing at least 300 more species over the next four years. Eventually, if funding and the climate and Godoy’s adopted bird cooperate, the team hopes to have seeds representing all of the roughly 2,400 species of plants now found in our deserts.

Along with preserving “one of the last remaining intact ecosystems in the United States,” Herbinson said her team hopes the work they’re doing might also help scientists around the world chart a survival strategy for plant life in regions that are starting to turn into deserts because of climate change.

And the secret might just be waiting inside a tiny seed in a refrigerator on the edge of Joshua Tree.

A different kind of bank

Farmers have always informally “banked” seeds, saving and exchanging them to replant and rotate their crops. But picture a seed bank and you might conjure up images of a massive concrete structure jetting out from a hillside in the arctic’s frozen tundra.

Appropriately known as the “doom’s day vault,” Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault is arguably the most famous such facility in the world. The structure tunnels deep underground and is capable of surviving a nuclear blast. It’s now holding more than 1.2 million seeds representing the most important food crops from nearly every country in the world.

The Norway facility actually stores copies of seeds. Originals stay with one of the estimated 1,700 other banks around the world that collect seeds for crops grown in their communities. And if a natural disaster or conflict strains those crops, whichever government or research group deposited seeds in the Norway facility can make a withdrawal and hopefully fend off any potential famine.

If Norway’s seed bank is like Fort Knox, think of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank like your local credit union.

There’s no secretive underground tunnel at the Joshua Tree site, which is open to the public. The facility also isn’t focused on crop seeds, though Indigenous populations and various wildlife do eat different parts of the plants they preserve here. Instead, this team wants to preserve all plant life found in local deserts.

The concept, Herbinson said, is based on growing awareness of how even plants of the same species can have different genetics in different parts of the world. So if Southern Californians want to plant white sage or smoke tree and order seeds online, the variety they get might not thrive because it’s not adapted to our climate or it won’t lure local pollinators in the same way. They also could disrupt the genetic lineage of the plants that are here, or introduce invasive weeds that can increase fire danger and choke out native vegetation.

“We kind of joke that we have an artisanal operation,” Herbinson said. “All of our seed is locally sourced to this specific genetic population. So we’re able to restore with the genetic lineages that are supposed to be there.”

Making deposits

For now, the Mojave Desert Seed Bank team does its work in a small room packed with three refrigerators, tools and a Trader Joe’s bags full of plant clippings. The small room does have a big window, making it possible for members of the public who stop by to see the trust’s demonstration garden or to buy common seeds can see what they’re doing.

Since its founding in 2006, the nonprofit trust has bought up and conserved more than 800 plots of desert land that total some 120,000 acres. They’ve donated about half of that land to the National Park Service or Bureau of Land Management, where it’s preserved as wilderness areas. The trust plans to preserve the other half for its own use, which includes allowing Godoy and others on the team to hunt down seeds from plants still on their wish list.

Timing is key. The desert has blooming seasons each spring and fall. But depending on temperatures and rainfall and other factors, windows to collect seeds from blossoming plants can shift significantly, Herbinson said. Some plants bloom for just a few days, some bloom only once in 10 years. And — particularly in superbloom years like this one — many bloom all at once, miles apart, making it tricky for their small staff to get everything before that window closes.

Once staff or volunteers find a plant on the wish list that’s in bloom, Godoy said the labor-intensive process of harvesting and cleaning the seeds (so they don’t get moldy or attract bugs) can vary widely between species.

“Each seed has its own sort of story in terms of how we help it become a plant,” she said.

For most plants, they first gently grind them by hand on a copper filter. Some then go into a blower, where controlled air pressure helps separate seeds from other plant material.

And seeds range widely from rugged to delicate. Seeds of the honey mesquite tree, for example, are so tough that they use pliers to crack open the outer shell. But when they’re handling tiny seeds for, say, screwbean mesquite, Godoy said even a deep breath can be disastrous.

“We can’t laugh at that time because one big guffaw will send everything everywhere.”

After the seeds are cleaned, most go into jars that are stored in white refrigerators. Some go into the trust’s germination chamber, where they try to figure out optimum conditions to make the seeds sprout.

Along with their own trials, the trust also helps agencies such as the BLM do research on seeds. This week, they’ve got fiddleneck seeds in the germination chamber so they can help BLM learn the best way to grow the plants, which are a food source for the threatened desert tortoise.

In a twist of irony, efforts to get Joshua trees declared endangered have prevented the trust from gathering seeds for a few years.

The plants currently aren’t rare. But due to climate change and increased fire risk — as demonstrated by a blaze that started last week in Joshua Tree National Park — a study out of UC Riverside estimates that up to 80% of the park’s Joshua tree habitat might be gone by the turn of the century. For now, with the slow-growing plant’s status under contention, Mojave Desert Land Trust staff can’t harvest new seeds, though they thankfully have seeds from several years ago still in their bank.

The trust uses seeds it collects from other common species to grow plants in its own nursery.

About half are set aside for the nonprofit’s annual native plant sale each October. The event has become so popular that Herbinson said people come from as far as Las Vegas and Los Angeles, lining up at 3:30 in the morning to get first dibs.

The other half of plants the trust grows are for contracts with different agencies or private businesses. They’ve helped the Wildlands Conservancy reseed native plants in portions of the nearby Whitewater Preserve that were destroyed by wildfire in 2020, for example. They also grow plants for developers who often are required to add native plants on their property or nearby land to mitigate any negative environmental effects of their projects. Herbinson said that includes companies that aim to mine for lithium near the Salton Sea.

“We just took on a major contract regrowing 30,000 plants for restoration of the Salton Sea,” she said, as part of a state plan to use vegetation to hold down soil that triggers asthma and other problems for local residents.

To support such efforts, they’re gonna need a bigger bank.

Bigger bank coming soon

In late May, the land trust received a $3.2 million grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board. They plan to use the funds to more than double the species of plants represented in the seed bank, with a pledge to collect more than 2,000 pounds of seed over the next four years and make it available for restoration across the region.

As part of the expansion effort, they also plan to create an inventory of California desert seed and share protocols for the best way to germinate and plant particular seeds. And they’ll create a public outreach program about seed banking and the importance of native plants.

Kelly Herbinson, joint executive director of Mojave Desert Land Trust, shows off a demonstration garden at the nonprofit’s headquarters in Joshua Tree on Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2023. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Using a donation from a private donor, the nonprofit also will build a new 2,500 square-foot seed bank on the back half of its property, near the nursery. The building will house a seed lab, climate-controlled storage inside a large walk-in refrigerator, a processing room and workspace for staff and volunteers. And it’ll be solar-powered, with a generator for backup.

They aren’t entirely certain low long refrigerated seeds stay viable, with tests underway now showing some are good for at least two years. But down the road, Godoy said they also hope to start doing long-term storage of some rarer seeds, as the Norway facility does, since such storage can keep seeds viable for centuries.

There’s a lot of uncertainty looking that far into the future, Godoy said.

“We can just proactively begin to prepare for what is inevitable, which is the need for this seed bank.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Juneteenth: Not a commercial holiday, but a celebration of Black freedom

• June 19, 2023

Riverside native Denise Booker sees Juneteenth not as a commercial holiday, or even a day off for some — but as a “day of remembrance and togetherness.”

“It’s a moment to recognize slavery and celebrate community,” Booker, co-founder of The B.L.A.C.K. Collective, said. She’s been involved with organizing the now-annual Juneteenth Celebration at Fairmount Park in Riverside, which was held this year on Saturday, June 17 — two years after Juneteenth became formally recognized in Congress.

Community members and leaders celebrating Juneteenth across Southern California hope that these public recognitions become concrete steps looking forward — and that the real meaning behind June 19, a day honoring African American freedom and pride, is not lost.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas were notified of their freedom — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. The day marks the formal end of slavery after the Civil War.

Though Black Americans have celebrated it as an independence day for generations, Juneteenth became more widely recognized after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 — which sparked a nationwide racial reckoning and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement.

Over one year later, President Joe Biden signed legislation officially making Juneteenth a federal holiday, to “remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take,” Biden said in June 2021. “It’s not — simply not enough just to commemorate Juneteenth. After all, the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans didn’t mark the end of America’s work to deliver on the promise of equality; it only marked the beginning.”

California lawmakers will soon consider a statewide plan to repay eligible Black people for the political, economic, environmental and educational harms of slavery and systemic racism. A task force, created in 2021 to study the impact that slavery had on Black Californians and the descendants of slaves, made reparation payment proposals that it will present to the state legislature in late June — which could become a blueprint for the rest of the country.

“Slavery happened and is real. And the things we go through today, it’s real,” Booker said. “If we don’t share experiences, then we just leave it for the next generation to go ahead and repeat that, and we’re stuck in that cycle.”

Across the Southland, people honored Black history, freedom, and joy; while calling for an end to systemic racism and injustice.

The San Bernardino Juneteenth Committee put on a community Celebration of Freedom on Saturday, June 17 at the San Bernardino Valley College. Co-founder Edwin Johnson reflected on Juneteenth becoming a recognized holiday after the deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the weeks of protests that followed.

“It shouldn’t have taken that moment — the death of George Floyd — for this holiday or for this historic time to be broadcasted,” Johnson said. “People have been celebrating since 1865.”

Chino resident and historian Margari Hill said that her grandfather was part of the Northern Migration, where 6 million African Americans moved away from the rural South to escape white supremacy and racial violence, and pursue freedom.

Hill, the executive director and co-founder of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, believes that reparations are needed.

“It is very clear when you think about the amount of resources that were lost by the unpaid labor of our ancestors, of the generational wealth, and (how) it continues beyond slavery, through Jim Crow… it affects Black communities, including Black Muslims,” Hill said. “So I think (reparations) would be an important way to right wrongs.”

Hill also attended the White House Juneteenth Concert on June 13. She called the event “emotional,” thinking back to her childhood growing up in San Jose, going to lively Juneteenth celebrations filled with music; eating soul food, peach cobbler and greens.

“Juneteenth was the beginning of summer, where you wear your brand new outfit,” Hill said. “There was always joy to it.”

Filmmaker Tanya Taylor planned a local Juneteenth celebration at the El Segundo Recreation Park on Monday, June 19, put on by her arts nonprofit, Black in Mayberry. She said the event highlights “African American culture, history and resilience” with Black-owned vendors, live performances, keynote speakers and community activities.

“Realizing there was a demand for a Juneteenth celebration in the South Bay, we really wanted to have the space for people to come and celebrate,” Taylor said.

Taylor said that she found out about El Segundo’s past sundown town laws — which banned Black people from living there or visiting after sunset — while creating her documentary, “Black in Mayberry,” about the Black experience in the area.

It’s a “very sad story of a racist past,” Taylor said. “A lot of people don’t realize that it’s by design that (El Segundo) is predominately White. It’s not that Black folks don’t enjoy being in seaside towns.”

Some locals refer to the area as “Mayberry by the sea,” a reference to “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s, which was set in the idyllic, overwhelmingly White town of Mayberry.

Earlier this month, city officials proclaimed June 19 as Juneteenth Celebration Day in El Segundo.

Juneteenth 2023

Thousands celebrate Black heritage, culture at Long Beach Juneteenth event
Vice President Kamala Harris returns to LA for weekend visit and Juneteenth appearance
Mayor Bass and LA County Supervisor Mitchell enjoy South LA’s Juneteenth celebration
Juneteenth 2023 celebration in Redlands promotes unity
Pasadena celebrates Juneteenth, and the ‘stories of overcoming’
Moreno Valley’s Juneteenth Celebration has music, fun
Pierce College welcomed Juneteenth celebration hosted by ‘Black in the Valley’

Being able to openly recognize Juneteenth honors “the true meaning and sentiment of the day,” Taylor said. “It holds greatly for those whose livelihoods are still being fought for.”

Taylor emphasized that allies, companies and organizations should support Black businesses and causes, rather than try to organize their own — that, she said, is what makes real impact in Black liberation.

She and many other Juneteenth organizers hope the holiday doesn’t become over-commercialized — citing an example of when Walmart released a Juneteenth-themed ice cream flavor, swirled red velvet and cheescake, last year.

To brand a product with Juneteenth is to profit “off our suffering,” Taylor said. “I’m hoping it doesn’t become like Halloween.”

“This country has profiteered from the blood, sweat, tears and lives of Black people,” she added. “It’s inappropriate for this celebration to be used for personal gain if that gain isn’t going back to the Black community.”

In Irvine, community leaders partnered with BIPOC Orange County and other organizations for the city’s second annual Juneteenth Freedom Celebration held Sunday, June 18. Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said that the collaboration was “to make sure the event is authentic.”

“Even though the Black population in Irvine is about 2%, they have dealt with inequity and racism the longest,” Khan said before the event. “Juneteenth is just one of the ways we hope people come together, learn about the history and culture, and make new friends.”

Orange County Heritage Council President Dwayne Shipp — whose mother Helen Shipp founded the county’s longtime Black History Month parade — said that Juneteenth events should be hosted by the Black community.

Just because it’s now a national holiday in the spotlight, Shipp said, people should “always look back to Black leaders to cultivate it and put it together, for we were affected by it. And who can tell our stories better than us?”

Shipp helped to bring back a 20-year-old Juneteenth celebration in Orange County. Santa Ana’s Centennial Park became the backdrop for a lively Juneteenth festival held on Saturday, themed “Together, we make a difference.”

While Black joy surrounds the national holiday, Juneteenth is also a poignant, reflective time to honor enslaved people who lost their lives, Shipp said.

“It’s important to our community that we recognize how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.”

Related links

The story behind Juneteenth and how it became a holiday
California puts a price on slavery’s legacy and draws a blueprint for reparations
Juneteenth: The newest federal holiday and trans-Atlantic slavery’s rise and fall
George Floyd protests raise Juneteenth’s profile across Southern California
Manhattan Beach apologizes for taking Bruce’s Beach, other Black-owned land

​ Orange County Register 

This oldies station stopped streaming. And then listeners spoke up.

• June 19, 2023

I received more than a few emails regarding the loss of the LA Oldies (aka K-SURF) stream.

While the station can still be heard over the airwaves if you have an HD radio and are able to clearly tune in to 105.1 HD4, many listeners used the internet or smartphone apps to listen, and that’s what had been turned off, due to the costs involved. The financial burden for streaming rights has been an issue for many stations, especially in smaller markets and niche formats.

Station owner Saul Levine knew that people liked the station and listened through the stream, but he didn’t realize just how many. And it caught him somewhat off guard when he started receiving calls and emails from around the world asking what happened.

“I was amazed at the response and the size of the audience,” he told me in early June. “We are reviewing the potential to bring it back, especially if we can cover the costs to stream it.”

Then, last week, the good news: “K-SURF is making its way back on the air,” Levine told me. “The outpouring of excitement for the format surprised me. K-SURF is truly America’s Oldies station.”

It is taking time to get things going, but it will be back, he says, with an even better experience on the apps. That’s music to many ears.

Legend Sold

The original KRLA (now KRDC, 1110 AM) has been sold. Unfortunately, not to a company that will play top-40 or oldies, as I would have done.

Disney sold its last remaining radio property to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa for $5 million. Calvary also owns KWVE/San Clemente (107.9 FM) … Southern California’s other Wave (K-Wave), not to be confused with KTWV (94.7 FM – The Wave).

(Not that I expect anyone to confuse K-Wave with The Wave, but it is interesting that both stations serve much of the same area.)

I am a little surprised that Calvary bought KRDC as they already own a very powerful FM station, while KRDC seems to send much of the signal out over the ocean. Perhaps they have plans to put some money into refurbishing the transmitter site.

Nominating Class of ’23

The Museum of Broadcast Communications — part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago — received over 2,500 suggestions for new inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame. In the end, they whittled the list down to 24 candidates.

Among the nominees are our own John and Ken (currently heard 1-4 p.m. on KFI 640 AM), former local talk host Larry Elder, and Shadoe Stevens (KRLA, KMET, KROQ). You may also remember Stevens as Fred Rated, the “spokesman” for the now-defunct Federated Group, and the voice of also defunct University Stereo among his popular voiceover work.

The full list, in alphabetical order by first name for whatever reason,  is presented on the website, www.radiohalloffame.com/2023-nominees:

Bert Weiss, Bob Rivers, Charles Laquidara, Dyana Williams, Gerry House, Jaime Jarrin, John & Ken, John DeBella, Johnny Magic, Kevin Matthews, Kid Leo (Lawrence Travagliante), Larry Elder, Laurie DeYoung, Lee Harris, Rev. Louise Williams Bishop, Mark Simone, Mary McCoy, Matt Siegel, Mojo in the Morning, Monica May, Nina Totenberg, Pat St. John, Shadoe Stevens, and Shelley “The Playboy” Stewart.

Voting among 800 specially selected industry insiders will run through the end of the month; this year’s inductees will be announced on July 24th.

Playback

Just a few comments from recent columns …

“I read your column this morning and I sure agree with you regarding KABC. The station could be so much, but it has just become plain awful lately. The presentation is just terrible.

“I would hate to see one of the last stations to leave talk radio. I disagree with you in that it should be converted to music. Don’t we have enough music stations already?” — Mike Skibba

•

Not on AM … and that is a concern for me. Some owners are turning in licenses because the land they sit on is worth more than the station itself. Not enough listeners (and those that do listen are old like me or older, so advertisers don’t want them) because there is too much political talk, sports, etc. … there needs ti be something that attracts younger listeners before the band disappears completely, perhaps as soon as one more generation.

•

“I used to listen to KABC all day but not anymore. It is all politics and especially LA politics and I live in the OC. I would LOVE to find an oldies station (’50s ’60s ’70s) and see John Phillips on TV or on another stronger station. He is the only one I listen to now. — Lin Akins

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email [email protected].

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​ Orange County Register 

Man suspected of stealing 29 ATMs around Southern California is arrested in Riverside

• June 19, 2023

A Riverside man suspected of hauling away ATMs across Southern California was arrested this month, authorities said.

Paul Kolacki, 34, was arrested on June 6 on suspicion of stealing at least 29 ATMs over several months after video surveillance captured a vehicle and license plate, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. He was booked on suspicion of six counts of burglary, four counts of grand theft and six counts of vandalism.

On January 15, two suspects stole an ATM from a business in the 300 Block of Wilkerson Avenue in Perris using a tow strap connected to a Ford Ranger truck, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The owner of the business had received a notification that it was being burglarized and went to the scene, where he said he saw the ATM loaded onto the back of the truck before the suspects fled.

Nine similar ATM burglaries occurred in Riverside County cities including Murrieta, Menifee, Perris, Moreno Valley, Jurupa Valley and Norco, authorities said.

Additionally, law enforcement officials believe at least 20 other ATM burglaries across Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties were connected to the suspects, who employed the same method of using a tow strap to drag the ATMs from the businesses before loading them onto the back of a Ford truck.

More than $6,000 from the ATM thefts was recovered during the arrest, the Sheriff’s Department said.

No details were provided about the other suspect.

Anyone with additional information can call Riverside Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Ramirez at 951-776-1099, or the Perris Station at 951-210-1000.

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​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Rickie Fowler offers up a fine Father’s Day gift – a reason to sweat

• June 19, 2023

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in a long time Rod Fowler was nervous. He got to experience some anxiety these past few days at the U.S. Open, he said, as he watched his son hold the lead for most of the first three rounds before losing his grip Sunday, carding 5-over-par 75 to slip into a tie for fifth.

Those butterflies felt good, I bet. Like a most excellent Father’s Day gift from Rickie Fowler to his dad.

Rickie wasn’t able to gift wrap his first major championship to commemorate the holiday, but he did deliver some history. He went as low as anyone in the history of the U.S. Open with Thursday’s first-round 8-under 62, and his 130 total in the first two days equaled Martin Kaymer’s record at the 2014 U.S. Open.

Another nice touch? He finished the tournament with a record 23 birdies, more than anyone in U.S. Open history.

But a rash of bogeys – 18 of them in all – came back to bite in a tournament that went to his pal Wyndham Clark, who shot even par Sunday to finish 10 under for the tournament, one stroke better than Rory McIlroy.

Though not a victory for Rickie – it would have been his first in four years and his first ever in a major – all those achievements along the way made for a pretty thoughtful Dad’s Day haul, don’t you think?

Because, boy, did Rod’s boy get the juices flowing again, get the adrenaline was pumping so much that, during walks around Los Angeles Country Club’s roiling, hilly North Course, Rod almost didn’t notice the plantar fasciitis that’s been plaguing him.

It was an invigorating tournament in a reinvigorating season for Rickie and family, a tight-knit and supportive crew from Murrieta who’ve always believed in him – before his three-plus year drought and during it, too.

And now that he’s coming out of a stretch that saw him plummet in the World Golf Rankings (from No. 4 to No. 185) and tumble so far in the FedEx Cup standings (to 134th) that he was saved from losing his fully exempt status on the PGA Tour on the strength of his 2015 Players Championship?

Now that he’s back working with famed instructor Butch Harmon, a truth-telling master motivator who’s certain a Rickie victory is nigh?

Now that Rickie is getting the hang of the ropes as a new dad, appreciating very much that his 1½-year-old daughter Maya couldn’t care less “if I shoot 65 or 85.”

And now that he’s proved, on one of the biggest stages in golf, that he belongs atop the top leaderboards?

Think the Fowlers believe?

Do people ride motorcycles in Murrieta?

“After everything he’s been through in the last three, four years, it’s pretty amazing, pretty cool,” Rod said before Rickie teed off in the final pairing Sunday, playing alongside eventual winner Wyndham Clark, a fellow former Oklahoma State Cowboy golfer.

“For him to be up with the best of the best and now we’re on top, that’s where he needs to be,” Rod said. “Like I told all my friends, ‘I just don’t feel like they’ve seen the best of him out here yet.’”

They didn’t see it Sunday, either. Fowler wore his best Sunday orange and made more history with his birdies on Nos. 8 and 14, but his Goldilocks putting – too soft, too hard – contributed to seven ill-timed bogeys.

Meanwhile, after having incorporated a replica of Rickie’s Odyssey Versa Jailbird putter early this year, Clark held it together to hold off a steady McIlroy.

“I told him obviously congrats and proud of him,” said Rickie Fowler, who paid tribute to Clark’s late mother, Lise Clark, who died of cancer in 2013. “And just said, ‘Your mom was with you. She’d be very proud.’”

Clark had raved about Rickie on Saturday night – but not about his playing partner’s rediscovered game. About his demeanor and willingness to help. By many accounts this week, those attributes have been unwavering, even as Fowler’s play dipped and skipped.

“One of the, if not the best Oklahoma State alum,” Clark said. “He talked to us multiple times when we were in college. Even when I came out here, he’s always sent me notes of good playing or even some tournaments he would tell me, ‘Hey, I think this is a better play to play off the tee.’ A class act.”

Austin Eckroat, another former Cowboy and current PGA Tour rookie, also gushed about Fowler: “Every week he puts in a good effort to talk to me. Having friends out here, especially when you’re young, and people you can look up to on Tour is pretty great, and that’s just the kind of guy he is.”

The PGA Tour being something of a Rickie Fowler Admiration Society, that’s another kind of win.

“It’s almost better than winning a tournament,” Rod said. “It’s just nice to know we did bring a good kid up.”

Fitting for Rod and his wife, Lynn, who seemed always to believe in Rickie and his dreams, wanting to help facilitate them, and able to do it without trying to dictate his future. Even now: “Butch can talk to him, tell him, ‘Hey, you look like (crud),” Rod said. “We can’t do that. We always stayed positive.”

Sometimes, the results of that can be positively nerve-wracking.

​ Orange County Register 

Was the U.S. Open crowd and atmosphere a disappointment?

• June 19, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The worst U.S. Open ever! A joke! The crowd stinks!

Prior to the conclusion of the 123rd U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, some on social media had decided that the first championship in L.A. since 1948 was a dud.

Whether or not Wyndham Clark’s one-stroke victory changed minds about the legitimacy of LACC as a championship venue, the social media theme was that the event reportedly catered to an exclusive membership at the expense of the general public. The United States Golf Association brushed off those concerns on Sunday.

“It’s really easy to read negativity on social media and think they’re the only people who are paying attention and that the entire world feels this way,” said Beth Major, USGA’s managing director of communications. “That’s fine. That’s everyone’s right and they can interpret things the way they wish to. For every one of those we know there are way more people who have watched and really enjoyed it.”

Reports of smaller crowds at the behest of LACC, or chatter about tickets being purchased by the country club only to be ripped up in order to diminish attendance at the ultra-exclusive location were “completely inaccurate,” Majors said.

“We’re not sure where that notion came that the members bought up tons of tickets,” she added, “but even more confusing is the fact that they did so so people couldn’t be here on site.”

Thin crowds shots on television, especially along the first and final holes near the clubhouse, contributed to the perception that L.A. no-showed the first U.S. Open here in 75 years.

In reality, Majors said, a variety of factors — site size, venue layout, and spectator experience being the core concerns — prompted the USGA to cap daily ticket sales to general spectators at 22,000 (9,000 for the public and 13,000 for corporate hospitality locations dotting the north course).

A utilization rate of close to 90% — a high figure, per the USGA — plus event staff, volunteers, media and country club members brought the average daily attendance on the weekend close to 30,000, beating the 2022 Open at The Country Club, another older, smaller course, in Brookline, Mass., a suburb of Boston.

“For a smaller venue [LACC] is among the best we’ve ever had” in terms of attendance, Majors said.

CALIFORNIANS MAKE AN IMPACT

Despite falling down the scoreboard in the final round, Californian Rickie Fowler understandably dominated storylines starting on Thursday with a U.S. Open record 62 and the lead through 54 holes.

Others from the Golden State hoped to be in conversation but never quite got there.

After tying Fowler’s 62 on Thurs., 29-year-old San Diegan Xander Schauffele gave most of it back the next three days with scores of 70, 73 and 72 for a three-under 277 to share an 11th place finish.

The 26-year-old 2020 PGA Champion Collin Morikawa, of La Canada, carded a trio of 69s following an opening round 71 to finish -2, tying for 14th.

Long Beach-born Patrick Cantlay, 31, a familiar face at LACC during his days with the UCLA golf team when he was ranked the world’s No. 1 amateur for 54 weeks from 2011 to 2012, equaled Morikawa’s total of 278 thanks to a strong 4-under performance on the weekend.

Clovis bomber Bryson DeChambeau, the 29-year-old 2020 U.S. Open champion, never got going Sunday, shooting four-over on the day to close +1 and tied for 20th.

San Jose native Justin Suh, 26, the Pac-12 Player of the Year for USC in 2018, carded back-to-back 72s over the weekend to tie for 27th at 282.

Sahith Theegala, 25, a three-time NCAA All-American at Pepperdine University, joined Suh at +2 with a rollercoaster tournament (74, 66, 73, 69).

Veteran Charley Hoffman, 46, qualified on golf’s longest day, advancing through a 3-for-2 playoff at Hillcrest Country Club in west L.A. The four-time PGA Tour winner struggled on the weekend coming in eight over par to close his eighth U.S. Open tied for 49th (+6).

BY THE NUMBERS

4 – Clark is the fourth U.S. Open winner in the last 100 years to do so after making his first cut in the championship

6 – Gordon Sargent became the sixth amateur with a pair of U.S. Open rounds in the 60s, leading to his low amateur honors at +4, 284.

63 – The lowest final round score for a U.S. Open was equaled by Tommy Fleetwood, the second time for the Englishman and the seventh overall

71.76 – The lowest scoring average in U.S. Open history

​ Orange County Register 

Nneka Ogwumike and Sparks battle but lose late to Connecticut Sun

• June 19, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Nneka Ogwumike had a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds and 5 assists but the Sparks could not overcome a 9-0 run by the Connecticut Sun in the final three minutes of the game, losing 83-74 at Crypto.com Arena Sunday.

“I’m grateful to be healthy and be out there,” Ogwumike said, who is in the midst of her 12th season in the WNBA. “I just want to be productive for my team.”

Sparks point guard Jordin Canada had 14 points, five rebounds, and six assists. Azurá Stevens added 12 points.

The Sparks are now 5-6 overall. Connecticut improved to 9-3.

Sparks reserve forward Karlie Samuelson, who finished with 11 points, tied the game at 74 with 3:01 to go.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Samuelson said. “Connecticut is a really good team. They’ve been together for a really long time so we feel like we can play with anybody. We’ve had really close games and we just have to find a way to finish those close ones.”

Nneka Ogwumike and Karlie Samuelson talk about what’s different for the Los Angeles Sparks this season after being tied at 74 with 3:01 to go against the Connecticut Sun. #WNBA pic.twitter.com/6oHSbKcSJX

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 19, 2023

Two free throws by Sun guard DiJonai Carrington and a layup by Sun forward Brionna Jones put Connecticut up 78-74 with 1:54 to go.

Sparks head coach Curt Miller received a technical foul with Sparks trailing 78-74 with 1:27 to go.

“I thought that a play was missed in a big moment and I asked her about it,” Miller said in a postgame interview.

Curt Miller on what the LA Sparks are building after a competitive 83-74 loss against the Connecticut Sun. Miller also talks about his late technical foul with the Sparks down 4 with 1:27 to go. #WNBA #WNBATwitter pic.twitter.com/rq57WeR94S

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 19, 2023

Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner, who scored a game-high 20 points, made the free throw and followed that up with a driving layup and the Sparks trailed 81-74 with 1:14 to go.

Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas finished with a double-double with 16 points and 12 assists. Brionna Jones added 17 points and eight rebounds.

Meanwhile, Sparks forward Dearica Hamby scored six of her team’s first eight points. Hamby finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists. The Sparks led 19-15 heading into the second quarter.

The Sun battled back and took a 27-23 lead with 6:01 left in the second quarter on a layup by Thomas.

However, the Sparks responded as Stevens gave her team a 35-34 lead with 2:30 to go before halftime when the 6-foot-6 forward stole the ball on the perimeter and streaked down the court for a fast-break layup.

The Sparks, who shot 56.2% in the first half, finished the second quarter on a 13-5 run and led 44-39 at halftime.

The game was tied at 63 heading into the fourth quarter.

Newcomer Destanni Henderson, who signed a hardship contract with the Sparks on Friday saw action in the second and fourth quarters, spelling Canada, who played all 40 minutes against the Minnesota Lynx on Friday. Henderson was a national champion at South Carolina before spending her rookie season with the Indiana Fever in 2022.

“I think Destanni Henderson belongs in this league and you have to fight your way through your own journey but I think she has a lot of talent and I’m excited to have her until we get some of our injured players back,” Miller shared.

Henderson finished with two points, three assists, and one rebound in six minutes and made it her mission to be a spark off the bench.

“(I) just want to keep building from that,” Henderson said. “I feel like I put in great minutes but it’s still not done yet. I have to put in a lot more work, study the game plan here, build connections with everybody, so I feel like that’s what I need to do.”

The Sparks will host the Minnesota Lynx (3-8) Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena, which will be their third time playing each other in a ten-day span.

LA Sparks PG Destanni Henderson said it was important for her to be a spark off the bench against the Connecticut Sun. @dh3nny #WNBA #WNBATwitter pic.twitter.com/SxT81X11TK

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 19, 2023

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​ Orange County Register