In the early morning of Jan. 8, Beth Kivel awoke to a loud thud, which shook her Oak Park home. She was startled by flames shooting up the front side of her house from a Molotov cocktail thrown at her window.

The explosion caused minor structural damage and, according to Kivel, the entire explosion made only a scorch mark on the front of the house.

An assistant professor and Department Chair of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Kivel said she has lived in Oak Park for two years, and that this is the first time her home has been directly attacked. “I just want to live in a quiet neighborhood,” Kivel said.

When Kivel first moved to Oak Park, she found the area to be filled with prostitution, gangs and drug dealers. Since then, Kivel said she has played a progressive role in the neighborhood by working to remove such activity. It is because of her work in the community that Kivel said she believes she was targeted in the attack.

“I’m active in terms of trying to clean up the neighborhood ?” getting the illegal dumping off the streets, working to get abandoned cars towed and slum lords to take responsiblility for their property and their tenants,” Kivel said.

Kivel said she has been working independently and with other organizations in the effort to improve the conditions in Oak Park. By writing letters to the editor of the Sacramento News and Review, Kivel tried outlining the problems taking place in the area.

She has called the police over 60 times since moving to Oak Park, and has worked with the police on several projects. Kivel has also been active in writing letters to landlords, alerting them of the presence of possible drug activity.

Working with the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, Kivel has helped make their presence known. The association presented an outline of what changes they want to see in Oak Park to the City Council, and promote camaraderie in the area by organizing community events.

Kivel has collaborated with Joany Titherington, a fellow neighbor and association member, who she has worked with on several community events.

Titherington said she believes Kivel has been instrumental in the association and in improving the neighborhood.

Recently, Kivel helped Titherington confront a drug dealer who was being disruptive in front of Titheringtion’s home.

“Beth (has) let people know,” Titherington said. “We don’t stand alone on Oak Park.”

In light of Kivel’s firebombing incident, the association held a candle light vigil for her the following night at her home. Attendees included fellow neighbors, association members, faculty staff and other supporters from surrounding areas.

After speaking with officials for several hours the morning of the attack, Kivel was told by the Sacramento Police Department that her case has become a high priority. Sgt. Terrell Marshall, a spokesman with the Sacramento Police Department, said there are no suspects or a motive for the case. In response to the attack, police officials have increased patrol in the area.

Sgt. Marshall said that Oak Park has been a problem for years, but over the past year he has seen a vast decrease in crime. Sgt. Marshall said he believes the reduction is due to collective activists like Kivel, investors in the area, homeowners, new construction and the police effort to remove criminal activity in the area.

Kivel is in the middle of her second year of teaching at Sacramento State. She joined the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in the summer of 2003 after teaching for five years, from 1998 to 2003 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kivel received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1984, a masters in science degree in recreation administration from San Francisco State University in 1992 and in 1996 she received her doctorate in education from the University of Georgia in Athens.

Kivel has been an activist for almost 20 years. She has been involved in lobbying for pay equity for a national women’s organization in Washington, D.C., interned for a national feminist publication in the mid-1980s’, was co-founder and former director of the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center in San Francisco and has worked with many other non-profit and community-based organizations.

She is most recently serving on the board of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association and the YWCA of Sacramento.

Anyone with information regarding this crime or suspect(s) can call the Sacramento Police Department at (916) 264-5471. Callers can remain anonymous.

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]