Friday Update on May 20, 2020

All,

Just a few items moving into the Memorial Day Weekend:

June 2 City Council Meeting:

• City Budget
• Growth Referendum
• Downtown ABC Permit

A couple other items:

• Yolo County submitted an “attestation document” to the State regarding Covid 19 which allows it to move into the second part of “Phase II” which allows reopening of “non-essential” businesses and dine in service for restaurants. The Yolo County Board of Supervisors has held off on reopening businesses in the County pending additional information and the development of protocols. They will consider options at their May 26 meeting.
• Two new members of the Planning Commission will be seated this week. Nancy Northrop and Chris Rose will join the commission! Welcome!
• The Walnut 10 Subdivision will be on the May 26 Planning Commission Meeting which will be done via a zoom meeting.
• The City will be switching our legal advertising from the Winters Express to the Woodland Daily Democrat newspaper.
• Staff participated in a meeting with PG&E and local emergency planners regarding Public Safety Power Shutdowns. Overall a good meeting with the City in a good position to avoid shutoffs. The County areas will be in the same boat as last year!

Finally, as we honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice this weekend, one can never forget the families affected and the potential lost by those who have served and given their lives for all which we hold dear. With the Covid pandemic, the traditional Memorial Day Services will not be held which is a shame. Our veterans and the Cemetery District always do a wonderful job of honoring those from Winters who have given for us all.

If you are out, I encourage you to drop by the cemetery and walk through to pay your respects to the fallen. A few years ago, our Mayor Wade Cowen shared the following about visiting the graves of our deceased military.

“While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave. These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin. A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited. A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together, while a dime means you served with them in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the soldier when they were killed.”

“According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans. In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war. Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited. The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.”

To all of our countries “Gold Star Families”, may you know the gratitude of all of us who live in the peace and freedoms from your families sacrifice.

Thanks,

John