oakley press_07.20.12
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12A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY JULY 20, 2012
Antioch holds off on police tax
An idea to place a parcel tax for more police on the November ballot sank immediately after being fl oated at last week’s Antioch City Council meet-ing.
“It was hopeful that the council would consider fast-tracking it and tell-ing the city attorney to put it together, but the council wasn’t willing to do that,” said Councilman Gary Agopian, who had the proposal placed on the agenda on behalf of Citizens for a Safe Antioch. “I think the timing on it was very rough. They asked me to bring it forward, and that’s what I did, but it was too late.”
In order to put a measure on the ballot, the council would need to pass an ordinance requiring two public read-ings, but only one more regular meeting is scheduled before the Aug. 1 deadline. Agopian was unable to garner the sup-port of the rest of the council for a spe-cial meeting on July 17 to make it pos-sible.
The council declined to proceed partly because Citizens for a Safe Antioch had not completed a survey to determine if voters supported the tax, which would require a two-thirds major-ity to pass. The group planned to have the results by July 17, but the council majority did not like the idea of getting
the results and voting on a measure at the same meeting.
Crime Prevention Commissioner Bill Cook originally proposed the idea for a parcel tax at the Jan. 24 council meeting. At that time, the council said the matter would be brought up at future meetings.
Over the last several months, Cook has garnered the support of Antioch Crime Prevention Commission Coordi-nator Hans Ho, retired Antioch Police Lt. Rick Marchoke and resident Terry Ramus. The group has secured indepen-dent funding for the poll, but Ho said its results would be useless since the mea-sure cannot be put on the ballot for the November election.
“It’s disappointing,” said Ho, add-ing that he wasn’t sure what proponents would do next.
Councilmember Brian Kalinowski said that organizations intending to place something on the ballot would be better served if they bring their ideas to the council fi rst. “I feel caught off guard about special elections and things that are near and dear to my heart, but I do not have knowledge of,” he said.
Still, Agopian said he sees a silver lining in missing the November ballot: A bill currently pending in the state legislature would lower the threshold for public safety taxes from a two-thirds majority to 55 percent. Statewide,
California voters have consistently rejected measures requiring two-thirds approval, passing only 45 percent of such measures since 2001, according to Californiacityfi nance.com.
The most recent attempt to pass a police tax in Antioch was 2010’s Mea-sure P. The half-cent sales tax needed 50 percent to pass, but garnered only 48 percent. Opponents said the tax would have hurt local businesses and did not guarantee the money would be used for police.
The parcel tax proposed last week would have been more restrictive, and could be used only for policing. The APD is working with 94 sworn offi cers, 35 less than allocated, and no non-sworn, community service offi cers, who were all laid off in 2009. According to the city’s crime statistics through the month of May, the number of arrests is down, but rape, robbery, aggravated as-sault, burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson are all on the rise.
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by Kyle SzymanskiStaff Writer
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploit-ed Children, as many as 800,000 children nationwide are reported missing every year – more than 2,000 children every day. Child ID is an important step parents can take to help protect their children.
On Friday, July 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Commons at Dallas Ranch, the Brentwood New York Life Team will provide kids with free identifi cation cards, including digital fi ngerprinting and photos. From 1:30-3:30 p.m., kids can enjoy a fi re engine demo plus goodies provided by the Fire Protection Bureau of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection Dis-trict.
The ID cards allow parents, in the event of an emergency, to provide police or other authorities their child’s photo, fi ngerprints and other pertinent information. No appointment is required – just stop by. The Commons at Dallas Ranch is located at 4751 Dallas Ranch Road in Antioch.
Free child ID event at Dallas Ranch
“ I think the timing on it was very rough.
”City C ouncilman
Gary Agopian
OOAKLEYOAKLEYPRESS
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22A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY JULY 20, 2012
LEGAL NOTICESFICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME
STATEMENT File F-0003875-00 The name of the business (es): THE MCCLEAREN GROUP Lo-cated at: 5518 Starfi sh Pl. In: Discovery Bay, CA 94505 is hereby registered by the follow-ing owner(s): Craig McClearen, 5518 Starfi sh Pl., Discovery Bay, CA 94505. This business is con-ducted by: an individual. The registrant commenced to trans-act business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on 06/12/07. Signature of registrant: Craig H. McClearen. This statement was fi led with Stephen L. Weir, County Clerk of Contra Costa County, on: JUN 13, 2012 by Deputy H Frank-lin, Expires 6/13/2017. Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish dates: July 13, 20, 27, August 3, 2012.
Miller. Miller has accepted a position in the Moraga Unifi ed School District and Burnight has moved back to his home state of Iowa to be closer to extended family. Kathleen Brown, formerly from the Brentwood Union School District, will slide into Basmagian’s VP seat at Ex-celsior.
“Kelly worked with us at the vice principal level and did an outstanding job, and both she and Tom rose to the top of the application process without question,” said Byron Superintendent Ken Jacopetti. “They both have a strong skill set and are strong education lead-ers based on integrity. Kathleen has an extensive special-education and adminis-trative background and she comes high-
ly, highly recommended. It’s going to be a great year.”
Jones was an elementary school teacher for 10 years before becoming the vice principal of Park Middle School in the Antioch Unifi ed School District in 2010. The Brentwood resident and married father of four is proud to be-come a member of the Timber Point community and hopes to maintain the quality standards that have garnered the district two California Distinguished School awards.
“I’ve had my eye on this district for a long time,” said Jones. “In part be-cause I love the idea of a small district and because I am at heart an elementary school guy. But I don’t plan to come in here and start fl ipping everything on its
end. I know my predecessor had a lot of communication with the parents and the staff, and those things that the school community is familiar with will continue. There is a great school culture in place here and I’m looking forward to learning the ropes.”
Basmagian, who lives in Brentwood and has three children, is delighted to be Excelsior’s new principal. “I can’t wait to take on this fabulous journey at Excelsior,” he said. “I look forward to working with the community – the par-ent community – and plan to focus on staff development and moving toward some of the programs we’ve been work-ing on. I am absolutely thrilled to be here.”
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Principals from page 1A
Landscape Manager Fairin Perez plant trees and bushes along a stretch of road on Clipper Drive. Under the supervi-sion of Allen and Hieb, the boys are working up a sweat as they dig, plant and water the plants, but they have nothing but praise for the program and
its leadership.“This is my boss,” laughed “AJ” as he
put his arm around Hieb. “I do whatever she says.”
“I’m really happy they’re here; they’ve been a huge help,” said Perez. “It’s a nice community project for everyone.”
The off-site program is volunteer-based, but the boys who sign up must be
in good standing at the ranch and get the OK from their teachers to miss classroom time – even though they receive credit for participating.
For 18-year-old “Adam,” the chance to get off the ranch grounds for a few hours and enjoy some time in the sun is satisfying. “We’ve learned a lot about how to plant things and today we learned
about irrigation and water,” he said. “I’m really enjoying this. When I go home I’ll be able to help my mom plant things. I look forward to that.”
For more information on the Sprouts Garden Club or to help with the Byron Boys Ranch program, call 925-516-2542 or 925-216-8092.
To comment, visit www.thepress.net.
Boys Ranch from page 1A
Brentwood’s 20th CornFest a big hit
For CornFest co-chair Dirk Ziegler, what might have been the seminal mo-ment at the 2012 CornFest had nothing to do with corn, but everything to do with celebrating community: Brentwood Po-lice Sgt. Walter O’Grodnick aboard one of the Charros Los Costenos de Brent-wood’s dancing horses, working his way through the crowd of delighted locals Sunday afternoon.
“It was a real neat thing to see,” Ziegler said. “It really gave me a strong community feel.”
Attendance and income fi gures have yet to be determined, but Zeigler believes the 20th anniversary edition of Brent-wood’s biggest community event will fi nish strong. It won’t match last year’s biggest-ever attendance mark, but Ziegler believes the 30 nonprofi t organizations that helped run the event will fi nd that when all is said and done, their coffers get a nice boost. “We should know in a couple of weeks, after the fi nal bills are paid,” he said.
Also still to be determined is the fi nal outcome of the attempt to break a Guin-ness Book of World Records mark for the most people simultaneously shuck-ing corn. Organizers counted 659 shuck-ers participating in the effort, though the number must still be verifi ed.
“I had no idea what to expect,” Ziegler said of the attempt. It took about a half-hour longer than expected to mus-ter the crowd, which included CornFest Co-chair Ken Seamann, a native of corn-intensive Nebraska. Did he feel he was selling out for Brentwood maize?
“I think people would have been even happier if it had been Nebraska corn,” he
said. (See a related story on page 22A.)The Friday night fi reworks, as al-
ways, met high expectations. Sofi a Klee-man, 8, especially enjoyed the rockets that sent sparklers zigzagging across the sky: “They look like bugs!” she said as the heavens above her lit up. “Daddy, did you see it?!”
It was 20 years ago that Kathy Leigh-ton and Ugenie Murdock put together the fi rst CornFest as a fun community event centered on the area’s most famous crop.
This year’s expanded Ag Heritage area, put together by Madelyn Krebs, Robin Schiavone and the East Contra Costa Historical Society, was the biggest in the event’s history, according to Leighton, and was much appreciated by visitors.
“I’ve been to most of these (Corn-Fests), and this is the best history display yet,” said Rory Ulrich. “The corn and the attractions are neat, but we wouldn’t even have a CornFest if it wasn’t for the farm-ers. It took 20 years for them to get their
due, but the CornFest fi nally caught up.”Zeigler said the smaller footprint
this year kept down most of the dust that marred the event for many last year. Some visitors complained of the long walk from parking lots to the festival, but milder temperatures – and tempers – resulted in no major problems for medics or police.
For a slide show and video of all the goings-on at this year’s CornFest, visit www.thepress.net. To comment, visit www.thepress.net.
Corn shucker Chris Nicholes celebrates with the crowd after 659 people helped break the world record for simultaneous shucking at the Brentwood CornFest Saturday.
Photos by Richard Wisdom
by Rick LemyreStaff Writer
