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49ers season ends with a loss to the Seahawks
Santa Clara, CA – The 49ers did everything they could to end the season on a high note. A season riddled with injuries, controversy and in the end, another head coach on the chopping block. But this time he was accompanied by General Manager Trent Baalke who was also shown the door.
Chip Kelly is the second head coach to finish the season 2-14 in his first year. Bill Walsh also record the same record his first season. Kelly gave his best and understands this is a business in the end. Nonetheless after a compelling first half, San Francisco fell 25-23 to the Seahawks in their season finale.
“I’m supposed to meet with [Owner] Jed York after the game,” Kelly said. “We were 2-14, that’s how I would analyze the season. It’s a bottom line business, we didn’t win enough games.”
The 49ers had some miscommunication on opening drive which led to a fumble and Seattle kicking a 31-yard field goal. Colin Kaepernick was sacked on the first play. By the next he handed off the ball to Shaun Draughn, in that process Bobby Wagner forced a fumble.
“You’re going to have those ups and down in the game,” said Draughn in regards to his fumble. “You just have to put that behind you and keep the next play in your view.”
The duo quickly recovered from their mistakes and on the next series Kaepernick led his offense down field in 7 plays for 75 yards with Draughn rushing in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown making it a 7-3 game.
To start the second quarter, Draughn rushed in for another 1-yard touchdown extending the 49ers lead 14-3. Steve Hauschka kicked a total of 4 field goals, his second field goal of the day came after the Seahawks failed to convert on third down.
But another mistake by San Francisco proved costly and the Seahawks took advantage. DuJuan Harris rushed up the middle and Ahtyba Rubin forced him to fumble. Frank Clark picked up the ball and rushed for 27 yards setting up Luke Wilson 11-yd touchdown.
“We gave up two-thirds of their yards in the first two times they had the ball it seemed,” Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said. “And then the guys adjusted beautifully. I thought the 49ers played tough as hell today, they were in it all the way and battled in all three phases.”
The Seahawks were back in the game down by one. Russell Wilson went deep to Jimmy Graham for 42 yards. That setup Thomas Rawls 1-yd touchdown giving Seattle a 19-14 lead to end the half.
The 49ers offense collapsed in the third with Kaepernick getting sacked for the third time today. San Francisco defense held the Seahawks to a field goal in the third while the offense struggles continue.
The 49ers got lucky when Nolan Frese fumbled out of bounds late in the third and into the end zone for a safety. While it looked like San Francisco’s defense had given up, they held them to field goals in the second half.
The 49ers however were able to trim the lead late in the fourth when Kaepernick connected with Garrett Celek in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown making it a 25-23 game.
But too little to late for San Francisco as time ran out. As the team prepares to head into the offseason, they reflected on the year and gave their thoughts on the latest transactions that overshadowed their season and final game.
“You want to build that camaraderie and know who your going to work with every single day,” said Navarro Bowman. “Going through so many [coaches] in a short time is tough. So you have to be a professional and understand that’s apart of this lifestyle. Whatever happens the guys who are here will go out and represent this team well.”
“I appreciate Chip Kelly and what he’s done as far as coming work every single day and making sure this team stays focused and being resilient,” Kaepernick said. “Not very good circumstances on as far as how our team was playing win-loss record wise. I appreciate him working his tail off in making sure this team was prepared.”
Notes – The San Francisco 49ers announced that both Trent Baalke and Chip Kelly have been relieved of their duties. The organization has begun its search for the team’s next general manager and head coach.
49ers Chief Executive Officer Jed York will address the matter at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning in the Levi’s Stadium auditorium.
“I have informed Trent and Chip of my decision to pursue new leadership for our football team,” said York. “These types of conversations are never easy, especially when they involve people you respect personally and professionally.
Activism
‘Jim Crow Was and Remains Real in Alameda County (and) It Is What We Are Challenging and Trying to Fix Every Day,’ Says D.A. Pamela Price
“The legacy of Jim Crow is not just a legacy in Alameda County. It’s real. It is what is happening and how (the system is) operating, and that is what we are challenging and trying to fix every day,” said D.A. Price, speaking to the Oakland Post by telephone for over an hour last Saturday. “Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.
By Ken Epstein
Part One
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price gave an exclusive in-depth interview, speaking with the Oakland Post about the continuing legacy of Jim Crow injustice that she is working to overturn and her major achievements, including:
- restoring and expanding services for victims of crime,
- finding funding for an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors and
- aggressively prosecuting corporations for toxic pollution and consumer violations.
“The legacy of Jim Crow is not just a legacy in Alameda County. It’s real. It is what is happening and how (the system is) operating, and that is what we are challenging and trying to fix every day,” said D.A. Price, speaking to the Oakland Post by telephone for over an hour last Saturday.
“Racial disparities in this county have never been effectively eliminated, and we are applying and training our lawyers on the (state’s) Racial Justice Act, and we’re implementing it in Alameda County every day,” she said.
Passed by the State Legislature, this law “is an extremely helpful tool for us to address the racial disparities that continue to exist in our system,” she said.
(The law addresses) “the racial disparities that we find in our juvenile justice system, where 86% of all felony juvenile arrests in the county are Black or Brown children.
“We trained the entire workforce on the Racial Justice Act. We are creating a data system that will allow us to look at the trends and to clearly identify where racism has infected the process. We know that where law enforcement is still engaging in racial profiling and unfair targeting and arresting, we’re trying to make sure we’re catching that.”
Many people do not know much about the magnitude of Alameda County District Attorney’s job. Her office is a sprawling organization with 10 offices serving 1.6 million people living in 14 cities and six unincorporated areas, with a budget this year of about $104 million.
Asked about her major achievements since she took office last year, she is especially proud of the expanded and renewed victims’ services division in the DA’s Office, she said.
“We have expanded and reorganized the entire claims division so that we are now expediting as much as possible the benefits that victims are entitled to. Under my predecessor, they were having to wait anywhere, sometimes as long as a year, to 400 days to get benefits.
“Claims had been denied that should not have been denied. So, we’re helping people file appeals on claims that were denied under her tenure,” D.A. Price said.
“Under my predecessor, (the victims’ service office) was staffed by people who were not trained to provide trauma-informed services to victims, and yet they were the only people that the victims were in contact with. We immediately stopped that practice,” she continued.
“We had to expand the advocate workforce to include people who speak Hmong, the indigenous language of so many people in this county who are victims of crime.”
More African Americans advocates were hired because they represent the largest percentage of crime victims and we hired a transgender advocate and advocates who speak Cantonese and Mandarin. “The predominantly Chinese American community in Oakland was not being served by advocates who speak the language,” said D Price
“We reduced the lag time from the delivery of benefits to victims from 300 to 400 days down to less than 60 days.”
She increased victim advocacy by 38%, providing critical support to over 22,500 victims, a key component of community safety.
Other major achievements:
- She recently filed 12 felony charges against a man accused of multiple armed robberies, demonstrating her seriousness about prosecuting violent crimes
- In October, a jury delivered a guilty verdict in the double murder trial of former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Devin Williams, showing DA Price’s commitment to holding law enforcement accountable.
- She recently charged a man and woman in unincorporated San Leandro with murder, felony unlawful firearm activity, and felony carrying a loaded firearm in public.
- A. Price’s office was awarded a $6 million grant by the state for its CARES Navigation Center diversion program. In partnership with the UnCuffed Project at a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Oakland, the program provides resources and referrals for services to residents as an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental health-related misdemeanors.
“This is the largest grant investment in the history of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office,” said D.A. Price.
She explained that the program now has a mobile unit. “We have washers and dryers. We have a living room. We have a television. It’s a place where people can decompress, get themselves stabilized,” she said.
The project has “the ability to refer people to housing, to more long-term mental health services, to social services, and to assist them in other ways.”
- Her office joined in a $49 million statewide settlement with Kaiser Health Plan and Hospitals, resolving allegations that the healthcare provider unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste, medical waste, and protected health information. The settlement, which involved the state and a half dozen counties, resulted in Alameda County receiving $7 million for its residents.
- DA Price charged a former trucking company employee for embezzling over $4.3 million, showing her commitment to tackling white-collar crime.
- For the first time, Alameda County won a criminal grand jury indictment of a major corporation with two corporate officers that have been sources of pollution. “They had a record of settlements and pollution in this community, and they had a fire that constituted a grave danger,” she said.
Attorney Walter Riley contributed to this article.
Activism
‘Criminal Justice Reform Is the Signature Civil Rights Issue of Our Time,’ says D.A. Pamela Price
Speaking about the destructive impact of mass incarceration, Price asked people to consider “how many children have incarcerated parents, where the practice has always been to isolate and eliminate connections between people who are incarcerated and their children and their families and the community. So, when we bring people home, they have no more connection.”
“As long as our criminal justice system is stuck in the mentality and practices of the 1950s, our country is not going to move forward,” she said.
By Ken Epstein
Part Two
District Attorney Pamela Price, facing a recall that began before she took office in January 2023, explained in an exclusive interview with the Oakland Post how she came to dedicate her life to transforming a deeply flawed criminal justice system into one that provides equal justice and public safety for all and ends mass incarceration for African Americans and other working-class people.
She summarized her life experiences as someone who was “traumatized and radicalized” by Dr. King’s murder, joining the Civil Rights Movement full force, getting arrested when she was 13 years old in a civil rights demonstration, being tracked into the juvenile justice and the foster care systems, and making it as a foster kid from the streets of Cincinnati to Yale College.”
“I understand a lot of things about struggle, about sacrifice, about trauma and fortunately survived all of that, and as a survivor learned some important lessons, and I brought all of that with me into the law and have been able to become a civil rights attorney in Alameda County,” she said.
“That’s been the joy of my life; I’ve lived every lawyer’s dream,” she said.
“Years ago, when I first decided to run for district attorney, I realized that mass incarceration was so destabilizing to our communities,” she said.
She saw that the “criminal justice system has so many impacts on our community, the safety of our community, the stability of our community, the growth of our community, the direction of our community.”
“As long as our criminal justice system is stuck in the mentality and the practices of the 1950s … our society is going to be mired in discord, and we will not have social justice, racial justice, economic justice, none of the things that actually make our communities worth living in.”
Speaking about the destructive impact of mass incarceration, Price asked people to consider “how many children have incarcerated parents, where the practice has always been to isolate and eliminate connections between people who are incarcerated and their children and their families and the community. So, when we bring people home, they have no more connection.”
It is crucial to address the needs of “young people in the juvenile justice system when they are more likely and able to be rehabilitated and redirected,” she said. Young people are much more able to be rehabilitated before the age of 18, really before the age of 26, and before they end up in an adult prison.
D.A. Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’ Malley, joined the D.A.’s office in 1984, where she remained for 39 years. She was promoted to a leadership position after just six years in the office during the era of mass incarceration when there was an explosion of prison construction in California.
“Prosecutors like my predecessor were the ones who filled (those prisons) up. She became a leader in the office around 1990. And what is very important for the public to know is that prior to becoming the district attorney in 2009, she was the chief assistant district attorney for 10 years under Tom Orloff.
“O’Malley worked very closely, hand-in-hand with him for the period of time that included the illegal conduct or the unconstitutional exclusion of Jewish people and Black people from death penalty juries.”
Commenting on the recall campaign against her, she said that had not a handful of multimillionaires and billionaires “put millions of dollars into this, we would not be having this recall. It is not a grassroots movement. It’s a platinum movement.”
“People have no idea what the vision is for the next district attorney, or where the office will go if I am, in fact, recalled, she continued. “I’m just running against a billionaire,” who does not show his face in public, she said.
If they successfully paint Oakland as a failed city, then hedge fund billionaires and real estate developers can come in and buy up the property cheap, she said.
Though D.A. Price has been bombarded by a massive tsunami of lies, slanders, and misrepresentation, she remains strong and positive because she is a woman of faith, she said.
“I’ve been saved and guided by (a) higher power since I was 13 years old. So, I’m not a new person to faith, and I’m grounded in that,” she said.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
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