Rebecca Clayton, 11, of Yuba City was crowned Mini-Miss Yuba-Sutter at the bi-county fair Thursday.

Her stage arts presentation was a dramatic soliloquy the judges apparently liked.

Carly Cervantes, 10, of Yuba City was selected Miss Strawberry Festival.

Alexandria Mazerolle, 12, of Marysville was named first-runner up to Clayton. And Tara McManus, 11, of Yuba City, I believe, was picked second runner-up.

Handicappers had it tough in this race. The 12 candidates were all pretty good, with three of them charting out to be close, according some seasoned selectors.

Touts and tipsters seemed evenly split on three strong front-runners. For while it seemed to spectators that those three were running neck-and-neck,

But in the end it was a darkhorse contestant who hadn't been spotted by many of the selectors who came in on the outside to win by a nose.

Me? I had my money on a longshot filly that showed in the money, so I was content to cash in my betting slips and count my modest winnings.

But then I started hearing that the pageant organizers had counseled the young contestants before the ace not to believe the complaints they would be sure to hear afterwards that the race had been fixed.

Whoa! Now that was strange. It hadn't occurred to me there might such a problem. But, if the organizers were talking it up, didn't that suggest something was afoot?

People don't usually say, "If you hear the door bell ring, ignore it!" unless they have a reason to expect a process server.

Now, the nervous organizers have gotten fans reexamining the last race in a brand new light. They've managed to create doubts by the raising fears themselves.

Having thought about it, I think I know the problem, and who to solve it.

The pageant process is currently structured in a way that simply begs suspicion. Half of it is held in secret and the records are locked away. When the decisions made in the public part of it can't be made to square with common sense, the natural tendency is to suspect the worst.

It seems to me that publicly posting the results at the halfway mark would go a long way to allay doubts and suspicions.

In a horse race, for example, the field announcer calls the action all the way though. From up in the box he describes for the fans, which horses are leading when they’re all bunched up over in the far corner and fans in the stands can't clearly make out the order.

That's why none of the fans and horse owners are terribly shocked when they learn which horses are running in the money as the pack spreads out in the final stretch.

Anyway, as I said, my filly came in third in the bettors' Holy Trinity, win-place-and-show, so I'm happy.

YUBA CITY -- Two queens were crowned at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds Wednesday -- one literally, one figuratively.

Sara Danielle Guerrero, 19, of Live Oak was named queen of the Yuba-Sutter County Fair.

As Miss Yuba-Sutter 2003, the Yuba College sophomore will represent the two counties in a year-long train of civic events, including Marysville's nationally-known Bok Kai Parade in the spring.

The poised and leggy brunette is commandingly tall -- so tall she had to bend to one knee for officials to place her royal tiara.

A talented singer and dancer, Guerrero is currently appearing in The Acting Company's production of "Grease." She told judges and the audience she hopes to pursue a career as a recording artist.

First runner-up in the looks and leadership competition was Rebecca Hilton, 18, 0f Marysville. Second runner-up was Kristen Jensen, 18, Yuba City.

Traditionally, the queen of the Live Oak Peach Festival is also chosen at the county fair. This year's winner was Robin Watson, 18, Wheatland.

Later that night at one of the gates to the fairgrounds, Watson was apparently attacked in her moment of triumph by a 17-year-old female, Yuba City police reports indicated.

"There was apparently something going on between the two of them for some time," said Skip King, fair grounds chief executve officer.

"Itt wasn't jealousy. It wasn't fair related, ... (but) tthe iara was damaged," King said.

Singer, songwriter and stage actress Jayne White died at her Marysville home Tuesday at the untimely age of 40 after a short, fierce battle with cancer.

A more complete obituary can be found in the Sacramento Bee.

If epitaphs were still being written, Jaynie White's surely would be: "Born to belt; died too soon."

As a performer Jaynie had an indefatigable personality and a voice larger than life. Notes issuing from her throat ranged in the space of a few bars from raucous to rueful to tender and back again to tough.

One night, listening in the wings to White singing "Small World" in a performance of Gypsy, a cast mate wondered in a whisper, "Where does that voice come from, and where will it go when the audience leaves tonight?"

A chronicle was kept of Ponderosa Theater Company's making of Gypsy. See it here. A few quotes from it give a tiny impression of White's force and talent.

Born to belt, Jaynie White is giving it her all at every rehearsal, proving her voice and spirit to be stronger than Bette Midler, both in this part and in this song. Listen to Jaynie, and every performance is like opening night.

Jaynie bore celebrity comparisons well, and wore them lightly.

She continues to amaze. Liza Minelli was on David Letterman last night. She sang, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and didn’t sound anywhere near as good as Jaynie., which came as something of a shock. Hollywood has America hyped to think that what Tinseltown offers is the top of the crop, but seeing and hearing talent like Jaynie's shakes the foundation of claims like that.

Seeing Jaynie White up there belting out the songs, throwing in a couple of off-hand dance steps, acting narratively in between the song lines, makes one reflect on the fundamental nature of talent, luck and timing.

There is a moment during the finale when Jaynie half sings, half speaks as Rose that she was “born too early and started too late.” One has to wonder whether there might not be more than a little autobiography floating in there somewhere between the notes, You know, one of those bittersweet tales of a little girl born in West Noplace, C-A gifted with an uncontainable voice and a wide dream that all too soon becomes narrowed and stifled and relegated to a hope chest in the attic so she may meet the immediate short-term interests and needs of others, some of whom she loves.

If that were so, and if Jaynie White sang rock ‘n’ roll, then her anthem – maybe – should be Janis Joplin’s, “Get It While You Can."

Shortly after Gypsy closed, but before the terrible news about he illness was revealed, the chronicler ran into Jaynie in a store and the two chatted briefly. She mentioned "Gypsy Journal" and laughed, saying some of his observations had been true, but some had not.

"Everything but the hope chest," Jaynie said. "I'm perfectly happy where I am."

That being so, then it seems Jaynie White likely out-did Joplin, and indeed, got it while she could.