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Michael David Ramirez Makes HISTORY in Elk Grove 2/7/06
CSD board names baseball field after slain teen
By Cameron Macdonald
Citizen Staff Writer - Community members, friends and relatives of the late Michael Ramirez wanted parks and recreation officials to name a park after him, as a future park site is next to the place where the 13-year-old was hit and killed by a driver last May.
The Elk Grove Community Services District (CSD) Board instead decided to name a baseball field after Ramirez at the park site – the first time they named such a facility after an individual. The board members voted to name the East Franklin park in question after a historic rancher, Henry Backer, Sr.
“I’m happy that they decided to name a baseball field after Michael, we wish it could’ve been an entire park but we’re glad that they moved a huge step in even doing this,” said Danielle Ramirez, Michael’s mother.
The Feb. 7 decision ended a chapter in the controversy over who in the community should parks be named after, and what is the value of a park name.
CSD policy holds that a park should be named after local residents who made a significant, long-lasting contribution to the Elk Grove community.
Last November, Ramirez supporters advocated to the CSD Parks Naming Committee that they name a 10-acre park site on Bilby Road, tentatively called Quail Ridge, after Ramirez. He died next to the park site.
The child was killed while crossing Bilby Road near Stathos Road on May 31. The Harriet Eddy Middle School student had just gotten off his school bus and went across the street to retrieve a scooter that he hid in bushes.
An SUV driver then struck Ramirez, killing him and the fled the scene. Jason March, an off-duty Sacramento police officer at the time, was found by police parked at Lambert Road a few miles away and was arrested on suspicion of killing Ramirez while intoxicated.
March’s preliminary hearing has been set for March 2 at the Sacramento Superior Court.
Community members argued to the naming committee that they should make an exception to their policy and name the park after Ramirez as he died near the park site and raise awareness about drunk driving.
Community member Daniel Golden stressed that position when he spoke to the CSD board on Feb.7. He emphasized the longevity of a person’s name if granted to a park, saying that names in news events are usually forgotten.
“We need to make a point about what happened, we need to somehow send a message to the community at large that this is not something that we should tolerate and we cannot let it go and forget about it,” Golden said.
Diane Tussey, Ramirez’s seventh grade science teacher, argued that her student made a major impact on his classmates, adults and the community – significant enough for a park name.
“If you’re talking about age, Michael fulfilled more in his 13 years than I have seen in so many adults that are my age or older,” Tussey said. “And so if you’re taking in the impact of age, he had so much wisdom and you do not know how many children he affected and how many adult lives he affected.”
Deborah Sacker, who said she was working as a substitute teacher at Harriet Eddy Middle when the school heard about Ramirez’s death, said that she loves local history but believes that Ramirez should be honored.
“I have deep respect for the desire of the families to name these parks to honor their family members. I also think that sometimes extraordinary circumstances arrive,” Sacker said. “And I do feel that is the case regarding Michael.”
At their Nov.22 meeting, the naming committee instead stuck with its naming policy and decided to recommend naming the park after Henry Backer, Sr. and name a ball field after Ramirez.
Backer was a Bavarian immigrant who settled in the Sacramento area in the late 19th century and went on to become a successful farmer in the Elk Grove/Franklin area where several generations of his family continued to farm there.
The CSD had named another East Franklin park as Backer Ranch Park.
After hearing the arguments for having a Michael Ramirez Park, CSD board members said they understood that position, but went on to accept the naming committee’s recommendation for Henry Backer, Sr. Park and “Michael Ramirez Field.”
Director Gerald Derr, a retired Elk Grove fire chief, mentioned his many years of seeing teenagers die, but said he was concerned that naming a park after one might set a precedent for naming parks after the recently deceased.
“I’m trying to figure out what to do with the rest of these folks,” Derr said.
Director Elliot Mulberg said that he understood the tragedy of Ramirez’s death, and addressed the diffculty of deciding park names, given other local tragic deaths.
“I am concerned about the others who were tragically killed as well,” Mulberg said. “How would we as a board and a community decide which one is the most tragic one that we have to memorialize with naming a park?”
CSD Board President Elaine Wright said that naming a ball field after Ramirez is a honor, given that it would be the first time that the district named a baseball field after a community member.
“We heard that he loved to play baseball, so what better thing could we do than to name a baseball field in his honor?” Wright said.
She later said, “That is quite an honor and I hope that you will eventually feel that in your hearts, but we are trying to honor Michael in the best way we can.”
After the CSD board voted to name the park after Henry Backer, Sr., Ramirez’s relatives, friends and teachers went into the lobby to talk.
Chris Jones, who said he was a friend of Ramirez, said that he disagreed with the CSD board vote.
“There are other parks in the area that could’ve been named after the Backer family, but where Michael passed away was right on the site where the park was at,” Jones said.
Danielle Ramirez said that she looks forward to working with CSD staff on memorializing her son at the baseball field.
“Hopefully someone will contact us, and we’d love to get involved in that,” she said. The CSD board went on to approve the recommend naming of an 9.1-acre East Franklin park site after Frank and Henry Luttig who both owned a Franklin general store across three generations from 1882 to 1970.
The board also approved an amendment where the CSD begins naming a park site once its development’s final land use map is approved by the city or other land use authorities. This new policy is meant to avoid park naming conflicts between developers and park officials, where developers often name parks during the planning stages.
The board then directed the staff to create options for places to memorializing community members.
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