$1
including tax
Free meals for local youth this summer News, Page 2
Local fisherman crafts “fly” earrings Features, Page 1
Volume 140, Number 19 — Locally-owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Walt Neil
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Senior Commission hosting special meeting June 14 By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief
Courtesy photo
Upper Crust Baking creted two vegan doughnut recipes to compete in the 2023 Yolo County Vegan Chef Challenge which resulted in winning “Most Wanted” doughnuts.
Upper Crust wins Yolo’s ‘Most Wanted’ vegan doughnut By Aaron Geerts Express staff writer
EXPRESS
It’s official, Winters’ own Upper Crust Baking won the title of “most wanted donuts” in the 2023 Yolo County Vegan Chef Challenge. Although Upper Crust is known for much more than doughnuts, this award is a sweet surprise nonetheless. While doughnuts weren’t part of Upper Crusts’ usual pastry lineup, the family business opted to dabble in creating the tasty treats to appease the town’s clamoring. Yolo Foodies applauded Upper Crust’s vegan doughnuts that were crafted specifically for the April challenge. “The Yolo County
Vegan Chef Challenge was a month-long event where chefs from around the county were invited to create a special vegan dish. The challenge was marketed to promote veganism, its benefits and the fact that vegan menu items can be just as good or better than non-vegan things,” said Upper Crust owner, Lorin Kalisky. “We were invited to participate in that event during the month of April, so we made two different types of vegan doughnuts to take part in the challenge and I think people really enjoyed them. We had a raised doughnuts and a cake doughnuts that were both vegan, then we decorated them and glazed them the way we do for the rest of our doughnuts, and they sold pretty well.” Essentially, Yolo County foodies of all lifestyle food preferences were invited
to visit the different restaurants, cafés and bakeries participating in the challenge in various categories. Over 220 people made up of vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike voted on the participating dishes. The taste buds did their tasting, the people did their voting and the results yielded Upper Crust with the ‘most wanted doughnuts’ on May 25. “The chefs behind the doughnuts are me and our lead doughnuts maker, Armando Pedraza. We also worked with our ingredients supplier to make the recipe, and all of the different things we use to decorate and glaze our doughnuts are vegan already,” said Kalisky. “We separated them and kept a label on our vegan doughnuts for the competition and so people knew what they were. Some
Index
We at he r
Features ........................ B-1
See VEGAN, Page 3
Date
Rain
High
Low
May 31
.00
79˚
53˚
Jun. 01
.00
81˚
51˚
Jun. 02
.00
84˚
54˚
Jun. 03
.00
87˚
53˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-2
Jun. 04
.00
94˚
57˚
Jun. 05
.00
96˚
59˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Jun. 06 TRACE
93˚
57˚
Real Estate ................... B-2
Rain for week: TRACE Season’s total: 37.62 in. Last sn. to date: 18.51 in.
Classifieds ................... B-4 Community .................. A-2
Sports ........................... A-6
Members of the Winters Senior Commission On Aging discussed the next steps for the future of the commission and explored programming opportunities at its May 17 meeting. The senior commission has experienced regular turnover since its inception in 2019. Commissioners Eleanor Yeatman and Karen Croley both resigned from their seats over the last two months. Commissioner Tina Lowden informed the group she would not renew her term following the term’s
expiration in June. Following Lowden’s term, the senior commission would be left with only three active commissioners and four vacant seats. The commission was originally approved to be a commission of seven. Through discussion, commissioners identified a few options: • Asking City Council to reduce the number of commissioners from seven to five and change the number of meetings help during the year, possibly to quarterly • Recommend that the senior commission disband until
buckhornsteakhouse.com
By Jacob Hoffman Express staff writer The city of Winters hosted a 2x2 meeting between officials from Winters and Yolo County to discuss a few topics relevant to Winters including unhoused individuals, local health needs and the I-505 project. Those in attendance included Winters City Council member Jesse Loren, Mayor Bill Biasi and City Manager Kathleen Trepa sitting down with Yolo County Super-
visors Angel Barajas and Lucas Frerichs, along with Yolo County Administrator Gerardo Pinedo, Yolo County Public Works Director Vin Cay, Yolo County Community Services Director, and Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency officials Brian Vaughn, Rebecca Tryon, Nolan Sullivan, and Samar Lichtenstein. The first section of the meeting dealt with a report on homeless residents in Winters. Biasi asked what services and connections the
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1 Main St., Winters, CA 530.795.2682 putahcreekcafe.com
See CITY, Page 3
Ashlynne Brooke Neil and Timothy Dwayne Mendonca Jr. of Winters announce the birth of their daughter, Milanna Darlene Mendonca. Milanna arrived at 10:15 p.m. on May 27, 2023 at the Vacaville Kaiser Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and measured 20.5 inches at birth. Milanna’s maternal grandparents are John and Karen Neil of Winters and great-grandfather Walt Neil of Winters. Her paternal grandparents are Leda Mendonca and the late Timothy Mendonca Sr. of Elk Grove and great-grandparents Roger and Mildred Hanney of Sacramento. Her late maternal grandparents are John and Darlene Benson and Sally Neil. The Mendonca and Benson/Neil families are very excited to announce the birth of their sweet Baby Girl. She is surrounded with lots of love, joy and gratitude!
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county has available for people experiencing homelessness, specifically asking about some specific unhoused populations living under the Winters bridge. Sullivan provided some background of the county’s approach to the issue, saying that usually there’s a city or county partnership in each of the larger cities in the county, while the county covers most everywhere outside the larger cities. This is usually
Future subscriber: Milanna Darlene Mendonca
Winters rainfall season began 7/1/22. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily by local weatherman Joe Bristow.
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See SENIOR, Page 3
Officials discuss local homeless populations, I-505 project
WINTERS AGGREGATE 2 Main St., Winters, CA 530.795.4503
the Senior Center is constructed, and ask the council to create an ad hoc to work in the meantime to handle furniture and governance • Recommend the senior commission disband and recommend they create a broader Parks and Recreation Commission to be formed Chair Cheryl Sandoval and commissioners Marianne Boyer and Mark Rowan (who would be the remaining three commissioners) discussed the pros and challenges of each option. Sandoval pointed
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