american river
current Vol. 66, Ed. 12 • May 6, 2015
Water use cut due to drought SCHOOL TO STOP WATERING IN ‘KILL ZONES’ ON LAWNS By John Ferrannini [email protected] Students returning to American River College for the fall semester may notice grass that has turned brown and sidewalks that are dusty. All that is part of the Los Rios Community College District’s efforts to save water following Governor Jerry Brown’s April 1 executive order that curbs water use in response to the drought. “We have what we’re going to be calling ‘kill zones,’ where we’re going to have no watering at all,” said groundskeeper Brenda Baker. “If there’s no tree in a square of turf, then it’s a kill zone.” Without water, the grass in the “kill zones” will go brown. Planned locations include the lawn in front of the theater and the lawn that stretches from the library to the science classrooms. “We can’t have it look like that before graduation,” said Baker. “We have to keep it looking nice because so many people come onto campus who don’t normally see campus.” Baker and head groundskeeper Michael Kuuskvere agreed that the potential for fire is the biggest risk. “You obviously don’t want to drop a cigarette in there,” said Kuuskvere. According to Baker, people walking over the less watered areas of the lawn instead of strictly on the sidewalks will bring dirt and dust to the sidewalks and walkways of the campus. “What’s normally green and watered will be muddy,” said Baker. “Students don’t adhere to traffic patterns. They don’t stay on the sidewalk. They’re going to get dirty, dusty feet. It’s going to get carried into the classrooms.” Brown’s April 1 executive order, a response to the drought that has afflicted California since 2011, asks most water districts
SEE DROUGHT, PAGE 3
Kameron Schmid / [email protected]
Pat Brown and her granddaughter Kayla Childers first began attending ARC together in 2012 and will walk together at graduation this semester.
Graduating together GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDDAUGHTER BONDED AS THEY PURSUED HIGHER EDUCATION By Kameron Schmid [email protected] When Pat Brown and Kayla Childers walk together at graduation at the end of this semester, it will mark the ending of a threeyear period when the two, grandmother and granddaughter, spent every day at school together.
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She works so hard on everything she does that it made me want to work harder.
KAYLACHILDERS
SEE GRADS, PAGE 9
Area shooting leads to arrest MAN HAS FIVE-HOUR STANDOFF DOWN THE STREET FROM CAMPUS By Kameron Schmid [email protected] A Carmichael man was taken into custody on April 27 after a five-hour standoff with Sacramento County Sheriff deputies and SWAT teams outside of his Madison Avenue duplex near Schuyler Drive, less than two miles from American River College. Jeremiah Hankins, 35, allegedly shot a woman in the neck around 10 a.m., and shot multiple times at police forces during the standoff. Hankins has been booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail on five felony charges including attempted murder. According to Chris Hoff, a neighbor to Hankins, the woman shot was the shooter’s wife or girlfriend, who lived with him at the duplex. She was running away from him, covered in blood and
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For Childers, who first began taking classes at American River College in 2011, driving to school together and spending breaks hanging out with her grandmother was “probably one of the coolest things ever,” but it was also inspiring. “She works so hard on everything she does that it made me want to work harder,” said Childers, a math major who has already
Emily K. Rabasto / [email protected]
Jeremiah Hankins allegedly shot a woman he lived with and fired at police during a standoff that lasted for hours.
screaming, when Hoff first went outside. Another neighbor of Hoff’s
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was also targeted, but not hit, according to Hoff. “As I was running out the front
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Scene pages 9 & 10 Opinion page 11
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door, the girl was running down the street and bullets were flying
SEE SHOOTING PAGE 3
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17-year-old ARC student Justina Sharp has written for The New York Times and appeared on NBC’s “Today” show.