Tell It To Waffles

Tell It To Waffles

Waffles was a stray when he arrived at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter last September. The friendly 3-year-old shepherd/bull terrier mix became a shelter favorite. Volunteers called him a “belly-rub addict.”

The brown and black brindled canine was adopted Oct. 6 and returned Oct. 18; adopted again Dec. 11 and returned Dec. 15.

One day later, Waffles was euthanized.

No More Bellas

No More Bellas

This is about Bella and the system that failed her.

Dec. 4, a neighbor calls 311 about a dog at her apartment complex in South Natomas. The canine is left 24/7 on a small uncovered patio with no food or shelter. Storms are raging, temperatures are in the 30s.

Photos taken over the fence show a short-hair, medium-size, brown dog on a 3-by-5-foot cement patio. Her ribs protrude. She stands in her feces.

Have Fun. Get It Done’

Have Fun. Get It Done’

In 1921, when women were not allowed to join male community groups in Oakland, 80 women signed a charter for the first Soroptimist Club, of and for women.

Not far behind Oakland, Soroptimist International of Sacramento was chartered in 1923.

Now global, 72,000 members in 121 countries belong to this volunteer service organization. Celebrating 100 years, Sacramento’s club is the fourth oldest active soroptimist club in the world.

A Capitol Mardi Gras

A Capitol Mardi Gras

I don’t want to give anything away, but Wes Samms’ outfit for the City of Trees Parade Feb. 18 is amazing. I got a sneak peek of the sequined suit jacket he had custom-made in Thailand. It’s spectacular.

The word “spectacular” comes up a lot during our conversation. It describes the tradition of Mardi Gras as a “showcase of culture, music and art.” It covers Sacramento’s diverse talent pool. It includes Burning Man, which plays a part in this month’s festivities.

Most important, it describes the City of Trees Parade.

“Mardi Gras is such a fantastic event,” says Samms, a veteran of 13 New Orleans Mardi Gras. “The perception that outsiders have is completely wrong. It’s not debaucherous, it’s actually quite family-focused.

‘We Can Do This!’

‘We Can Do This!’

The future may be female, but author Christine Hunter is here to remind us so was the past.

Hunter’s new book, “We Can Do This! Sacramento’s Trailblazing Political Women and the Community They Shaped,” released last year, profiles dozens of women who led Sacramento from the 1970s into the 2000s.

The names are locally renowned: Anne Rudin, the city’s first elected female mayor; Kim Mueller, former City Council member and now a federal judge; and Lauren Hammond, the first Black woman elected to the City Council.

No Sitting Still

No Sitting Still

Clive Savacool has a hard time sitting still.

For the first time in years, he only has one responsibility—running LogRx, the narcotics tracking app he co-founded for paramedics—instead of countless demands as a fire chief.

“As a fire chief, you’re always in crisis mode,” says the 44-year-old who lives in Sierra Oaks after resigning from South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue last May. “Every day is a form of damage control. You can make great progress forward, but your to-do list is going to be bigger at the end of the day no matter how much you get done.”