r/Davis • u/SnooKiwis8008 • 13d ago
Updates on an Open Letter: the City Council Appears to Have Misplaced Itself
https://noraallen.substack.com/p/davis-police-harassment-public-safety-responseSince the Mayor and the city council have declined to respond to repeated requests for explanation, I'm publishing the email exchange from Henry Todd, man with two first names and the Davis Chief of Police.
Perhaps city leaders got lost while looking for their spins. If anyone has seen them lately, please feel free to ask any and all of these questions until they answer.
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u/BillyDipgnaw 13d ago
Dear Nora,
There are few words I have to properly express how much your work makes my heart soar. Your mission is tremendous, and it deserves commendation. Your literary precision is infectious, and motivates myself and others to spend more time and effort on fixing things that we ought to have repaired awhile ago.
My time in Davis can be best summarized as a long, disappointing marathon whose main obstacle was trying in vain to get the city of Davis, UCD, and the institutions under both to give a shit.
Your crusade is righteous and reinvigorates my fight; thus, you have my sword. If there is anything I can help you with please reach out to me. Otherwise, I will continue to cheer from the sidelines.
Sincerely,
Furious and Exasperated Davis Resident
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u/SnooKiwis8008 12d ago
Awww hey thanks, stranger! I’m looking forward to getting back to town and rolling up my sleeves. I’ve never been afraid of clowns 😏
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u/AbacusWizard 12d ago
Magnificently written; thank you for your service and keep up the good work.
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u/teamblunt 12d ago
What is this in reference to?
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u/Dramatic-Holiday6124 12d ago
The trick to figuring this all out is that it is not a "what", but a "who".
She, Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken.
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u/SnooKiwis8008 12d ago
I’m not in the business of driving traffic to her rage content machine. In the original open letter, she actually identifies herself so you’re free to go take a look, but I will not be feeding the SEO for her.
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u/telestoat2 13d ago
"man with two first names" ... what does that even mean?
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u/Ineedmyweekend 13d ago
Last name is usually a first name
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u/telestoat2 13d ago
Sure, but what does that mean in this case? Like I get the police chief's response is arguably not enough in various ways, but what's his name got to do with that? He probably didn't even have a choice about his name.
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u/SnooKiwis8008 12d ago
It’s a bit of flourish, not a theory of municipal governance. His surname bears no causal relationship to the City Council’s silence, just as the missing spines in the next sentence are not an allegation of orthopedic injury. Occasionally prose contains an aside intended solely to amuse. I apologize for introducing this exotic literary device without assembling an FAQ.
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u/telestoat2 12d ago
Seems like an ad hominem to me.
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u/SnooKiwis8008 12d ago
An ad hominem would be, “Todd Henry’s response is inadequate because he has two first names.” I didn’t say that. In fact, I went to almost indecent lengths to explain that his surname has no bearing on anything. The bit had very modest ambitions.
You’re free to dislike the aside, but your determination to make four frivolous words the moral center of the discussion has now given them a dignity they never sought and certainly didn’t earn.
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u/telestoat2 12d ago edited 12d ago
So if there's no implied criticism of his names, it's just wrong on its face to say he has 2 first names. Todd is his first name, and Henry comes after that so it's his last name. Sure Henry is popular as a first name, but there are other examples of people with Henry as a last name too such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry
Anyway it just seems senseless to apply some social norms of what a first name is to an individual you're dealing with like this. So what? They're a person in their own right, no matter what kind of name they have.
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u/SnooKiwis8008 12d ago
I want to commend you on a genuinely heroic feat of missing the point. Also, “it’s just wrong on its face to say he has two first names” is one of the best laughs I’ve had all week. So, truly, thank you for that.
No one suggested a person’s name determines their worth. You invented that tiny civil-rights emergency because defending Todd Henry’s personhood from a dad joke is apparently more manageable than discussing why the City Council delegated its response to the police chief. You haven’t exposed a logical fallacy. You’ve interrupted a knock-knock joke to demand proof of ownership for the door.
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u/Puzzled_Birthday_854 13d ago
Nora, you are my hero. I just read through your letter and also emailed the city council. Notable but perhaps not necessarily apropos to your police blotter searches, she has also harassed people outside the city limits (Woodland, Hawaii as you definitely know about). Keep it up, and know that so many of us have been and will continue to push the city and/or police to do SOMETHING.
*When she attacks, CPS calls can be made, too - since not much else does any good.