oct 23 concord pioneer 2015

The recent tragic loss of ConcordCity Attorney Mark Coon hasshocked us all. We have struggled tocope with this lesson on the fragilityof life. Our recourse is to pray forunderstanding. I want to express myheartfelt condolences to Mark’s wife,June, and his two beautiful children,Nathan and Lauren. Our loss servesas an appropriate reminder that weneed to reach out to our family andfriends, especially in times of need.

In reference to the past few weeksof turmoil in our city please allow meto turn to Abraham Lincoln, who leftbehind a treasury of quotations thatexpressed his dismay about thosewho deliberately distorted his posi-tion on issues facing the country. Onone occasion he stated, “I do the verybest I can, I mean to keep going. Ifthe end brings me out all right, then

IT’S YOUR PAPERwww.concordpioneer.com October 23, 2015 925.672.0500

TIM GRAYSONMAYOR

Struggling with theaftermath of tragedy

From the desk of...

See Investigation, page 9

See Mayor, page 9

InsideCalendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2From the desk of . . . . . . . . . .8School News . . . . . . . . . . . .14Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Performing Arts . . . . . . . . . .16

Concord swimmerheaded for Olympics

Mariya Koroleva should beenjoying the afterglow of beingrecently named to her secondUnited States Olympic team.Instead, last week the 25-year-oldwas recovering from a concus-sion (“I got kicked in the head inthe pool”) and making fliers topost in her Concord neighbor-hood for her missing Siberiancat, Yarik, who had been missingfrom the family home in TheCrossings for a couple days.

Still, Koroleva can’t help butbe thrilled that she will head toRio next summer with partnerAnita Alvarez to compete in thesynchronized swimming duetcompetition. She teamed withMary Killman at the 2012 Lon-don Olympics, taking 11th in theduet finals. For a number of rea-sons the Concord athlete expectsto finish higher next summer.

Alvarez and Koroleva werenamed as the duet team lastmonth during a USA Synchrofundraiser at the Orinda CountryClub. The team competedtogether this past season andnow the pair has 11 months toget ready for synchro competi-tion Aug. 15-20 in Rio. They dohave one more “easy hurdle” toclear, as they need to finish in thetop 24 at the pre-Olympic quali-fying meet next March in Rio.

GOOD FIT AS A TEAMThe 11th place finish still

nags at Koroleva. “The condi-tions were not ideal [in prepara-tion for London],” she said. Sheand Killman weren’t able tobegin working together on theirOlympic routines until fivemonths before the Games. “Ialso had surgery and there werepolitical issues [that impacted theprep].”

This go-round Alvarez andKoroleva are already developingfresh programs for 2016. At the

See Swimmer, page 7

Aaron Okayama photo courtesy USA Synchro

CONCORD’S MARIYA KOROLEVA (RIGHT) AND HER DUET PARTNER ANITA ALVAREZ perform a synchronized swim-ming routine. The pair have been chosen to represent America next August at the Rio Summer Olympics

Fighting for Freedom

Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, a day tohonor all the men and woman whofought America’s wars. While it is aday to celebrate our freedom andtheir service, it is all too easy to nodyour head to a veteran, say “thanksfor your service,” and go about yourday off.

However, many people who havenever served in the military, especiallyin wartime, understand completelythe sacrifices and experiences ofthese veterans.

In this issue of the Pioneer, weintroduce you to five different veter-ans with diverse stories of war andpeace, but one common thread runsthroughout: their military serviceimpacted, and perhaps defined, thepeople they are today.

Earl J. “Chuck” Kohler, Navy Pearl Harbor Survivor,

WWIILike many others of his genera-

tion, long-time Concord resident EarlJ. “Chuck” Kohler left his family’sMinnesota farm in 1941 to enlist inthe service to help with the wareffort. He was 17.

Since he was under age, he neededhis father’s permission to enlist.

“I was surprised he said okay,” the92-year-old said in a recent interview.“I was responsible for the day-to-dayoperations and did most of the heavylifting, but he was willing to sacrificefor the greater cause.”

After Navy basic training, Kohlerwas assigned to Pearl Harbor. At thetime of the Japanese attack, he wascomposing a letter to his mother on aRemington typewriter. Bomb frag-

ments flew into the back of his head,Kohler ripped out the unfinished let-ter and crumpled it in the trash beforeracing outside.

“I was afraid I’d get in trouble ifsomebody found it,” he confessed.Plenty of other trouble awaited himoutside. “At first I didn’t realize whatwas coming. The sound of bullets ric-ocheting off the buildings didn’t quiteregister as danger.”

An officer outside ordered sailorsinto an uncovered construction

ditch,but as soon as Kohler hit the bot-tom he jumped back out and headed tothe ammo shelter to put up a defense.

“The officer hollered at me to getback in the ditch, threatening to putme on report — a serious offenseduring war time.”

Kohler weighed the consequencesbut didn’t look back, finding someonewith a key to open the ordnanceshack. With considerable effort, he

Questionsplague cityfollowingattorney’ssuicide

Right now it’sjust unused land,but the 2,300 acreson the ConcordNaval Weapons Sta-tion is at the heartof a controversythat has knockedthe city back on itsheels.

The fate of the CNWS land wasset to take a huge leap forward withthe selection of a Master Develop-er earlier this month, but thoseplans were delayed by the suicideof Concord City Attorney MarkCoon on Oct. 6 — right as he waspreparing a report looking intoalleged wrongdoing by one of thefinal two developer candidates,Lennar Urban.

Concerns had been raised by

JAY BEDECARRÉConcord Pioneer

Five local veteransrecall their service

PEGGY SPEARConcord Pioneer

Fuhrman photo courtesy of Kohler archives

ON THE MORNING OF DEC. 7, 2941, CHUCK KOHLER (CIRCLED) WATCHES THE SKY OVER PEARL HARBOR for more at-tacking places while he places sandbags for machine gun nests on the connect apron near his hangar. ThePearl Harbor survivor, 92, lives in Concord with his wife of 64 years.

See Freedom, page 20


CNWS developer choice onhold, while claims ofwrongdoing investigated

MARK COON

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Concord Pioneer • www.concordpioneer.com October 23, 2015

Turkey TrotStart a new Thanks-

giving tradition this yearat Calvary TempleChurch’s InauguralTurkey Trot 5K/10K Runand Walk and KidsDrumstick Dash at 8a.m. on ThanksgivingDay, Thursday, Nov. 26,Todos Santos Plaza, Con-cord. Proceeds supportCalvary’s CompassionOutreach, a multi-faceted program workingto meet practical needsfor the underserved inthe community. Mostlyflat course. Prizes, re-freshments, pumpkin pie.Registration limited tofirst 1000 participants.For registration andmore information, go towww.calvarytemple.org/turkeytrot.

Veterans Day RunJoin the Second An-

nual Veterans Day5K/10K Run/Walk start-ing with a ceremony at8:15 a.m. on Saturday,Nov. 7 at Hillcrest Park inConcord. The event ispresented by the ContraCosta Blue Star Moms toraise awareness andshow support for localveterans and active dutyservice personnel, pro-mote patriotism, assistveterans’ organizationsand assist in homelandvolunteer efforts. Flatcourse route, prizes, re-freshments. For registra-tion and moreinformation, go toccbluestarmoms.org.

COMMUNITYIn Brief...

Each autumn Concord res-ident Paul Vanhoven, 51, com-pletes frequent swims fromAlcatraz to the San FranciscoBay shoreline. Since 2006, hehas made the challenging 1.5-mile open water swim 24

times. Vanhoven is a formerNavy diver and was inspired asa child by fitness guru JackLaLanne who completed theAlcatraz swim while hand-cuffed or towing a boat. Van-hoven now encourages local

youths and adults to tackle thelife-changing, memorableswim.

A chartered vessel drivesswimmers to Alcatraz andswimmers jump from the boatinto San Francisco Bay. Theopen water course proves chal-lenging as strong bay currents,at times, pull the swimmers offcourse which can lengthen theswim to two miles. This year’sgroup of Concord swimmersto complete the Alcatraz swimwere, from left, Arie Vanhoven(14), Koen Vanhoven (17),Dirk Vanhoven (22), SebastianVanhoven (27), Paul Vanhoven(51), Danielle Ware (14) andJadelen Huynh (13).

Photo and story courtesy Marina Ware

Concord residents complete Swim from Alcatraz

Supervisor Karen Mitchoff and Congressman MarkDeSaulnier are joined by PR guru David Bowlby at the DiabloRegional Arts “On Broadway Gala” on Oct. 3. Broadway per-former Alysha Umphress headlined the event which was fol-lowed by dancing to the 80s band, Tainted Love. The gala marked the 25th anniversary of the Lesher Center.

Regional Arts Gala drawslocal celebs

Sophie Brockman4-H Club Secretary

Claycord 4-H broughttheir small animals to theClayton Valley PumpkinFarm on Oct. 11 to celebrateNational 4-H Week.

About 18 club membersattended the event. Severalhundred people came by topet the chickens, ducks, rab-bits, pigeons, guinea pigs andsnake. Megan Eberhart, anew youth member, says, “Ilove telling kids about thedifferent animals and seeinghow the animals react to thepeople.” Likewise, Jack Gal-

lagher, a seasoned 4-H-er,says, “I like telling peopleabout my pigeon and seeingwhat they think of it.”

Grownups and kids alikewere fascinated by the differ-ent animals as visitorslearned the animals’ namesand were shown how to holdthem. Bethany O’Connor, ateen leader, asked one littlegirl, “Are you a pumpkin per-son or an animal person?”The little girl answered, “I’mmore of a rainbow unicornperson,” but she still enjoyedpetting the duck.

National 4-H Week is acampaign to promote 4-H to

the public. The program pro-vides an opportunity for kidsto learn life skills, publicspeaking, community serviceand leadership. It offershands-on projects in manyareas such animal science,technology, home economicsand healthy living. ClaraBrockman says, about herfour years in the program,“4-H has taught me to be abetter leader and I’m moreconfident in my public speak-ing. I’ve also learned sewingand farming skills.” Thesepractical skills strongly equip4-H members to succeed inthe future.

Claycord 4-H meets at 6:45p.m. on the second Tuesday of themonth, September through June,at Farm Bureau Hall, 5554Clayton Road, Concord. For moreinformation, go to ca4h.org.

Bethany O’Connor, local 4-H teen leader, shows a littleboy how to pet a Pekin duckusing her duck, Nike, duringa National 4-H Week cele-bration.

4-H Members Visit the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm

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October 23, 2015 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com

Carnival of Health celebrates 15thyear at Meadow Homes Park

Children, teens, parentsand grandparents walked,biked and drove to MeadowHomes Park in Concord ear-lier this month for the 15thCarnival of Health presentedby Monument Impact.

The event included enter-tainment, food, educationalprograms, health screeningsand giveaways aimed at theestimated 37,000 residents ofthe Monument community,many of whom who do nothave health insurance orinformation on the varioushealth services available tothem.

Program chair ClaudiaVelasco was working on herfifth Carnival of Health(which began in 2000 as theHealth Fair). She says all thefigures are still being talliedbut she estimates about 800people registered (many more

there did not register) andvisited the 51 agencies onhand.

The American HeartAssociation, John MuirHealth and La Clinica de LaRaza provided free healthscreenings including forblood pressure, diabetes,vision, asthma and bone den-sity. There was hands-onCPR training and Walgreensgave free flu shots. Majorsponsor Kaiser Permanentehanded out free produce.

For the second year theWhite Pony Express had itsFree General Store with over250 people getting clothes,shoes, books and toys.

“This is perhaps the onlychance for many residents inand around Monument to beproactive about their health.The Carnival is an excellentway to encourage everyone tobe part of a healthier com-munity,” said Velasco.

Among the groups with a

booth was 18 Reasons, a non-profit organization with themission “to empower ourcommunity to eat, cook andbuy healthy food.” Programcoordinator Juri Sanchezsaid, “We partner with manyorganizations around the BayArea. In collaboration withMonument Impact we pro-vide Cooking Matters seriesin Concord serving low-income communities.” Cook-ing Matters series are six-week cooking and nutritionclasses.

Sanchez quizzed children,teens and adults visiting the18 Reasons table about unitprices and food labels.

Music, dance, Zumba les-sons, cooking demonstra-tions, face painting, mini soc-cer and hula hoop contestswere all going on throughoutthe four-hour event. BikeConcord was on hand to hosta Bike Rodeo.

Jay Bedecarre

PROGRAM COORDINATOR Juri Sanchez (left) of 18 Reasonsgave youngsters at her booth a quiz about food labels dur-ing the 15th annual Carnival of Health earlier this monthin Concord.

HULA HOOPS were swishingthroughout the day inMeadow Homes Park at theCarnival of Health Oct. 3.


Bill Shinn, former mayor, CCSheriff commander, dead at 74

Bill Shinn, a pillar of theConcord community andDiablo Valley, passed awaysuddenly October 16. Hewas 74.

The oldest of seven chil-dren, Shinn moved to Con-cord with his family in l957.He attended Mt. Diablo HighSchool where he played foot-ball and was on the wrestlingand track teams. He graduat-ed in 1959 and was inductedinto the MDHS Sports Hallof Fame in 2006.

He went on to graduatefrom Diablo Valley College,California State College atSacramento, Golden GateUniversity and the FBINational Academy. He servedin the U.S. Navy.

Shinn’s career in publicservice was long and fruitful.It began with the ContraCosta County Sheriff's officewhere he served for 29 years,managing the county deten-tion system and security forthe Superior Court judges.

He served as the chair ofthe Concord Human Rela-tions Commission. Shinn wasespecially proud of thatappointment since Concordwas one of the few cities thathad such a commission.

“Bill had an incredibly bigheart,” says CouncilwomanLaura Hoffmeister, long-timefriend and colleague. “Hetruly cared about the home-less, about the less fortu-nate.”

After an unsuccessful runat the City Council – he lostto Susan Bonilla by only 300votes – Shinn served for twoyears on the Planning Com-mission.

In 2004, he won his sec-ond try at the City Council,serving as mayor in 2008.During his term, he initiatedthe “Open Office” programwhich opened the mayor’soffice one Wednesday amonth for residents to sched-ule an appointment to meetwith him. A second term fol-

lowed the first.Described as a “stand up

guy,” a “real straight shoot-er,” Shinn was mentor andsupporter to many, encourag-ing young people to followtheir dreams and supportingthose seeking public service.

“He was the only electedofficial to support me,”Councilman Edi Birsan saidin his Facebook post thenight Shinn died. “He waskind to me and always lis-tened. And we had great dis-cussions on policy as well asgetting things done. I willmiss him.”

Shinn’s public service alsoincluded serving as the chairto the County Parole Board,Animal Services hearing offi-cer and involvement with theMental Health Commissionand Council for Homeless-ness, an issue he believed theConcord community hadtrouble accepting.

He served on the board ofMDHS Red Devil ClassicGolf Tournament from 2000to 2012 and on the board ofthe MDHS Sports Hall ofFame until his death.

When asked why he wasso involved in all the commu-nities activities all his life hesimply said “I tend to get intotrouble unless I've got a lotof things to do.”

He leaves behind his wifeof 46 years, Gail Lewis Shinnand two daughters; TerryHernard and JaclynFratangeio; five grandchil-dren and 19 nieces andnephews.

Services are pending.Time and place will be postedon www.concordpioneer.comwhen determined.

Carol Longshorecontributed to this story.

Photo from The Concordian, June 2008

BILL SHINN in 2008 at Concordstock, the city’s run atthe Guinness Record for the World’s Largest GuitarEnsemble, with 2000 guitars in Todos Santos Plaza.

October is Breast CancerAwareness Month with theannual campaign to increaseawareness of the disease. Thismonth, Concord and ClaytonValley Charter high schoolshave been involved with thedisease and the cause in verydifferent ways.

CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTERVOLLEYBALL DIG PINKThe Eagles volleyball teams

were all decked out in pink fortheir recent freshman, JV andvarsity matches with visitingCollege Park. In what hasbecome an annual Octobermainstay in its scheduleCVCHS hosted a Dig Pinkevent, part of a nation-wideeffort by the Side-Out Founda-tion. Side-Out was establishedin 2004 to unite volleyball play-ers and coaches and to havethem work toward the com-mon goal of furthering breastcancer awareness, educationand patient services. Admis-sions, raffles and food sales atthe games raised $2442 andover $1300 has already beenraised in a separate online Tilteffort. Clayton Valley won thevarsity match in four sets as,

from left, libero Kiana Smith,setter Mia Mudaliar (8), JessStratton (11) and Kayla Caton(15) battled the Falcons.

CONCORD HIGH WATERPOLO SUPPORTS ITSSTRICKEN TEAMMATE

Rosie Santa Maria is a soph-omore who has played waterpolo the past two years for Con-cord High School and AcademyWater Polo. The 4.0 student inthe classroom is an exceptionalathlete but more than that shehas been the glue that has bond-ed her team this year.

Her CHS girls water polocoach Elizabeth Butticci says,“Rosie embodies for us what itmeans to be an athlete and a

true team player. We have allcome together to supportRosie in her battle to beat amalignant brain tumor. Shemade it to practice every dayand supported her team andeven played in games (the daybefore being diagnosed). Shehad battled through fivemonths of illnesses beforeidentifying a tumor located onher brain stem and spinal cord.

She underwent 14 hours ofextremely high risk neuro-surgery removing most of thetumor and her first vertebrae.“She was our anchor in victory(the girls all played with hernumber 9 on their arms) as weplayed and prayed for her inour Sierra Shoot Out tourna-ment. Rosie snapped chattedthe team during her recovery,giving us encouragement andsupport, never thinking of her-self.

Her coach reports thatRosie is home now after 14days in ICU at Children’s Hos-pital and already trying to getback in the pool. She still hasan incredibly tough year aheadof her with long-term radia-tion and chemotherapy but shehas endeared an entire team to

rally by her side. At the ShootOut tournament in Rocklin theteam showed their supportwith Rosie’s best friendsBrooke Sutton on left andSammi Kotta in front of thebanner.

OAKLAND RAIDERSAND CVCHS EAGLES

RAISE FUNDSThe Oakland Raiders

partnered with the AmericanCancer Society to promotethe High School “A Crucial

Catch” program. In its inau-gural year of 2014 ClaytonValley Charter High Schooland its football team raisedover $4,000 towards thecause, the highest fundrais-ing total of any high schoolin California. The Raiderspaid a visit to the UglyEagles at a recent practice inGonsalves Stadium. Raiderstwo-time Super Bowl winnerMorris Bradshaw along withWendy Cruz of the Ameri-can Cancer Society and twoRaiderettes presented theschool through its captainsand head coach Tim Murphywith a plaque and a big“Thank You.” The presenta-tion included, from left,Raiderette Kelly, Jake Peralta(32), Bradshaw, Jake King(5), Joseph Nguenti (2), LuisRamos (21, Raiderette Janaeand coach Murphy.


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Concord high schools active in Breast Cancer Awareness Month

ROSIE SANTA MARIA

CONCORD HIGH WATER POLO TEAM supports teammate Rosie Santa Maria.

Jay Bedecarre/Concord Pioneer

OAKLAND RAIDERS honor Clayton Valley Charter High School football.CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER VOLLEYBALL Dig Pink.


Photo courtesy Concord High School

Jason Rogers

With the suicide of MarkCoon, our city attorney, peopleseem to have forgotten aboutthe actual nature of depressionand what it is and how it some-times works.

The depth of chronicdepression is often never seenor understood by those aroundthe sufferer. It is like going to abeach on a cool day and beingoverwhelmed at first by a waveof darkness, but unseen to

many is the under-tow pullingyou deeper into the oncomingwaves. Soon you are no longerstanding on the shifting sandsand are there floating into thenext waves of depression.Your pain is hidden from thosearound you by the samedepression that keeps youfrom feeling their out-reach orloving light. Within the waveyou are isolated, lonely, with-out a sense of relief. Ahead is

an ocean of waves coming atyou and that is an ever-tuggingcurrent of despair.

To some, things look quitenormal as you bob your headin and above the surface, noone seeing the desperate flail-ing that just keeps you afloatand upright enough to bepounded by the next darkwave. While in the wave, if youcatch a glimpse of thosearound you, it is through a fil-

ter of that depression whereyour interactions are seen onlyin the most negative of waysbuilding up the delusion thatall around you will be better offif you were not around. Untilthe journey’s end when thepain is finally ended in thedelusion of self-destructivesurrender.

As someone very close tome once described, he wasstanding in a closet trying toreplace the light bulb and fail-ing miserably to thread it, until,in the depths of a depressivewave, he collapsed at the bot-tom of the closet, alone indarkness and concluding thateveryone must be better offwithout him, even the lightbulb. For him it was a turningpoint, but had he succumbed

to a revolver in the house, itwould not have been the lightbulb’s fault.

When we hear of thosearound us whose dark journeyends in a catastrophic decisionof self-destruction, we cansearch for simple answers andblame, or wallow in the denialof the condition, focusing onlyon the last scene of thetragedy. The truth is that thecurrents that carry us alongwithin those depressing illness-es will never be fully under-stood, but they were certainly along torturous struggle whosepath has come to an end.


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DISCLAIMER: To the extent The Pulse of Concord reflects, suggests or implies a view-point, it is not intended or represented to be the viewpoint of the Concord City Council,the City of Concord, or city staff or officials (living, dead or undecided). Nor was this sur-vey or the results created, distributed, tabulated, evaluated or analyzed by the ConcordCity Council, the City of Concord, or its staff or officials. Finally any placement of shoeleather in one’s mouth is most likely the fault of Edi Ersalesi Birsan – or whatever othervariation on that theme may be in vogue, acting as an individual(ist).

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For many concert-goers, itwas “One Hell of a Nite” at theSept. 19 Chris Brown concert atthe Concord Pavilion.

Contra Costa Fire and Amer-ican Medical Response unitstreated about 12 people at thenotorious singer’s concert, rais-ing concern among many Clay-ton and Concord residentsabout safety.

But according to ConcordPolice, there were no arrests, anddespite the usual traffic woesbefore and after the concert, itwas “a fairly smooth night,”according to Concord PoliceLieutenant Nicholas Gartner.

The following night’s Count-ing Crows concert ended thePavilion’s 2015 season, whichsaw more concerts than in pastyears, thanks to a new agreementbetween the City of Concordand Live Nation. But the med-ical emergencies at Brown’s con-cert and a fight at a Nicki Minajconcert on August 14 marred

what some called a great resur-gence in the level of top-notchentertainers playing at the Pavil-ion.

However, there were reportson local blogs of closing thenearby shopping centers atYgnacio/Kirker Pass and Clay-ton Roads after the Minaj andBrown concerts, but that wasdue to traffic management morethan safety issues, according toClayton Police Sergeant RichardMcEachin.

“We didn’t want cars usingthe parking lots as traffic thru-ways,” he said.

McEachin said that Claytondoes not have jurisdiction overthe Pavilion, and only respondswhen mutual aid is necessary,and that was only due to trafficmanagement.

Lt. Gartner said that the “fireand brimstone” accounts onlocal blogs were largelyunfounded, and that “all in all, itwas good season at the Pavil-ion.” He says that the policedepartment prepares for trafficand other possible safety issues

in advance, depending on theday of the concert and nature ofthe show.

If additional publicresources are needed, like at theBrown concert, it is the respon-sibility of the promoter, LiveNation, to cover the bill.

The medical emergencies atthe Brown concert were mainlyalcohol-related, and cases ofdehydration. “It was a busy nightfor ConFire and the paramedics,but it was mainly due to irre-sponsible drinking behavior,” hesaid.

In fact, he said the ConcordPolice, at the request of Brown’ssecurity team, worked hard tomitigate any violence that hasmarred many of the singer’sother concerts, including ashooting at a San Jose show anda gang melee at a show in NewYork.

Just recently, it was reportedthat the singer may not be wel-comed in Australia for scheduledconcerts there. The celebritywebsite TMZ reported an immi-gration official saying, “People

need to understand if you aregoing to commit domestic vio-lence and then you want to travelaround the world, there aregoing to be countries that say toyou, ‘You cannot come inbecause you are not of the char-acter we expect in Australia.’”

In 2009 Brown pled guilty tobeating up his then-girlfriend,singer Rhianna, and since thenhas been a magnet for violentbehavior.

Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj’sAugust show ended early as abrawl broke out in the audiencethat included chair throwing andconcert-goers being pepper-sprayed by security.

Despite multiple phone callsand emails, Live Nation repre-sentatives did not respond torequests for comments for thisstory.

Still, the events of those twoconcerts aren’t dampening theenthusiasm for next season,which will open with Janet Jack-son’s Unbreakable World Touron Thursday, May 19, 2016.

Despite Brown, Minaj problems,Pavilion season deemed a success


Depression is a struggle against the current

EDI BIRSANPULSE OFCONCORD

Send comments to [email protected] or 510-812-8180or visit www.PulseOfConcord.com

When a swarm of smallearthquakes hit the San Ramonarea last week, it was anothershaky wake-up call that we livein “earthquake country.” Thefact that they occurred theweek of the Great Shake Outstatewide disaster drill justunderscored the fact that Cali-fornians need to learn to rollwith it.

The City of Concord isdoing more than learning toroll with earthquakes, fires,floods and other natural disas-ters, however. It’s comprehen-sive public safety programs isbecoming a model in the statein many areas.

Concord Police’s Emer-gency & Volunteer ServicesManager Margaret Romiti toldthe city council last week that itis already ahead of many cities

in disaster training, from train-ing new employees to settingup partnerships with residentsand local businesses to itsefforts to train neighborhoodshow to safely manage an earth-quake, fire, flood or somethingelse that requires the area toevacuate.

Concord also has a systemof volunteers on call to helpwith local communications incase of power outages, theConcord Auxiliary EmergencyRadio Service (CARES).

STRONG CERT PROGRAMAt the heart of the city’s

preparedness, however, istraining residents to help oth-ers. The main vehicle isthrough Community Emer-gency Response Teams(CERT), a local program thatseems to surge in popularity inthe wake of disasters, such asthe 2013 Morgan Fire on Mt.Diablo and last year’s earth-quake in Napa.

Concord’s CERT programis robust, and includes CERTtraining for the safe evacuationof animals, a teen programthat has won national honors, aprogram called Get Ready BayArea that helps fourth and fifthgrade students in local schoolsbecome prepared for disasters,and the LISTOS Program,which gained state recognitionearlier this year for trainingmore than 100 Spanish-speak-ing residents in CERT.

The city has also held sev-eral disaster drills in local

neighborhoods, includingBishop Estates, the BrookviewPark area which focused onassisting the elderly and ani-mals with evacuation drills, andthe Concord Park area byLynne and Todd Avenues foroutreach in the city’s Latinopopulation.

PREPARE YOURSELFDespite all the city and

neighborhood resources, how-ever, Romiti says that the bestthing a resident can do is beprepared themselves.

“Personal preparedness isthe number-one most impor-tant thing our citizens can do,”Romiti told the Pioneer. “Havea [disaster] kit at home, in thecar or at work. Since HurricaneKatrina we now know thathaving essentials for up to 10days is vital in a disaster.

She says she prepares tokeep a kit in her car “becausenine times out of 10, our car isclose by. This is even moreimportant for people with dis-abilities.”

So what do Concord resi-dent have to prepare for themost? Everything, it seems.“Since 9/11, Emergency Man-agement and Homeland Secu-rity have adopted an ‘All Haz-ards’ approach to emergencyservices practices,” Romitisaid. “So our plans and traininginclude an array of scenar-ios. The worst kind of disasteris one with low probability andsever potential for destruction,like an earthquake. Events like

flooding, hazardous materialspills or gas leaks are things wedeal with more often and arefamiliar with. For Concord, thelist [of potential disasters]looks something like this:earthquake, imminent and/oractual flooding, a hazardousmaterials event or mudslides.”

She says that the city isalready taking steps to preparefor the potential El Nino del-uge forecast for this winter.

In addition, there are pre-determined evacuation routesthe city has set up with the RedCross, but many of themdepend on the location of theemergency and neighborhoodsaffected, Romiti says.

Concord’s InformationTechnology Manager DougElloway also gave a presenta-tion on how important citydocuments will be protected inthe event of a disaster andpower outage, and includesmoving back-up servers toRocklin, near Sacramento,which would most likely be outof the disaster’s range.

To help residents get moreinformation on how to preparefor disasters, Romiti andElloway said that more infor-mation will be posted on thecity’s website, and increasedsocial media efforts will bemade this winter in preparationfor El Nino.

For more information on freeCERT training, visit www.contra-costacert.org. Also, residentcan attend American Red Crosstrainings for a fee.

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CERT helps city prepare for disastersWorking with neigh-bors, individual disaster kits are vital


Things are revving up atClayton Valley Charter HighSchool’s auto shop, thanks to a$300,000 grant from the RotaryClub of Clayton Valley.

Club president Dave Kem-nitz, who owns D & H AutoRepair with two shops in Con-cord, recognized that the state ofauto repair instruction was bro-ken down at the high schoollevel.

“With no new blood cominginto the industry, we find our-selves in a position where theaverage age of a shop owner orjourney level technician is 56years old,” said Kemnitz. “Withmore than 60,000 jobs available,we see the need to put fire in thebellies of young people. It’sbecome necessary to grow ourown help.”

The beneficiary of theupgrade, CVCHS shop teacherJohn Ouimet, is understandablyexcited: “There have been very

little updates to the programsince the early 1960s,” he said.“For example, we can’t evenservice many of the tires onnewer vehicles.”

Ouimet, who came to teachat Clayton 10 years ago after a

career in engineering, sees theupgrades as a way for his stu-dents to get a leg up on furthertraining and employment.

Rotary Club pledges $300,000to fuel CVCHS auto shop

See Auto Shop, page 7

JOHN T. MILLERCorrespondent

Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer

CVCHS students Kaden Niepraschk, Stephanie Derickson,teacher John Ouimet, Allyn Moise and Jerron Miller gearup for new auto shop gear thanks to a Rotary Clib grant.


Business ServicesRising Moon Marketing & Public Relations . . . .672-8717

Construction and TradesAppliance Repairs by Bruce, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . .672-2700Belfast Plumbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .457-5423Burkin Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-1519Diablo View Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .822-5144Gary’s Home Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .787-2500Hammercraft Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . .209-814-9412J.A. Ronco Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .872-3049Schaefer’s Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260-6065Tipperary Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216-2679

Dining and EntertainmentClayton Club Saloon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .673-0440Oakhurst Country Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-9737

EmploymentCity of Clayton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .673-7304

EventsCC Home & Garden Show . . . . . . . .capitalshowcase.comPacific Coast Farmers’ Market . . . . . . . . . .800-949-3276

Financial, Insurance and Legal ServicesArchvest Wealth Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215-5600DuRee, Daniel – The Law Office of . . . . . . . . . .210-1400Littorno, Richard – The Law Office of . . . . . . . .432-4211SAFE Credit Union . . . . . . . .www.safecu.org/homeloansVan Wyck, Doug – State Farm Insurance . . . . .672-2300

FuneralsOuimet Funeral Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .682-4242

HealthKomor, Peter – DDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .689-5055STAT MED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234-4447

Home and GardenClean Cleaner Carpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383-1253Diablo Lawnscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381-3757Interiors Panache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-7920Nichols Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-9955Skim ‘n’ Dip – Pool Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .348-5609The Maids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .798-6243The Royal Rooster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-2025Waraner Bros. Tree Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .831-2323Waraner Tree Experts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250-0334

Mailing ServicesThe UPS Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .689-6245

Pet ServicesPittsburg Pet Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .432-7387

Real Estate and Mortgage ServicesBennett, Nancy – Keller Williams . . . . . . . . . . .606-8400Clayton Fair Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .685-0324French, Lynne – Windermere Real Estate . . . .672-8787Hayes, Diane and Bill – Better Homes Realty . .890-4701Howard, Don – Better Homes Realty . . . . . . . .408-3184Howard, Emily – Better Homes Realty . . . . . . .408-1871Laurence, Pete – RE/MAX Realty . . . . . . . . . . .890-6004Lopez, Stephanie – Coldwell Banker . . . . . . . .932-7329Mazzei, Matt – Mazzei Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . .693-0757O’Brien, Michael – O’Brien Real Estate . . . . . .680-5478Stojanovich, Jennifer – Better Homes Realty . .567-6170Vujnovich, George - Better Homes Realty . . . .672-4433

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Directory of Advertisers

The City of Clayton is currently accepting applications for Police Administrative Clerk.Salary Range $3434 - $4173 per month plusbenefits. A city application is required to be com-pleted and may be obtained at City Hall. Applica-tions will be accepted until Friday, Nov. 6 at 5p.m. (postmarks will not be accepted).

For more information and an application please call (925) 673-7304 or visit

www.ci.clayton.ca.us

Bob and Sandy Stricklandcelebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

A Vow Renewal Ceremony was held in the small Concord church where they were married. Congratulations, Mom and Dad.

We are so proud of you and love you very much — Rob and Anne

It’s our business to grow successThe Greater Concord

Chamber of Commerce wantsyour business to succeed. A suc-cessful business community cre-ates a vibrant community inwhich to live. The chamberoffers many resources for you tosucceed in your businessthrough seminars, businessevents and networking, and wecan also connect you with free orvery low-cost services that willbenefit you and your business.

Here are a few of the localresources that are available:SCORE is a nonprofit asso-

ciation dedicated to helpingsmall businesses get off theground, grow and achieve theirgoals through education andmentorship. They have beenassisting entrepreneurs for morethan 50 years. SCORE coun-selors are available to mentoryou as you begin your businessendeavor. The Concord Cham-ber hosts a SCORE counselor inour office two days a month. ASCORE counselor can help youwith your business plan, helpyou to think “outside the box”and go over business basics toget you on the right track. Free

and low-cost workshops are alsoavailable. You can call the cham-ber office at 925-685-1181 andwe will schedule a one hourappointment for you to meetwith a counselor. You can alsovisit www.score.org for moreinformation.

Another great businessresource is the Contra CostaSmall Business DevelopmentCenter (SBDC), hosted by theWorkforce Development Boardof Contra Costa County. Theyoffer professional consultingand training services to businessowners and emerging entrepre-

neurs who need assistance ingrowing or operating their busi-nesses. Some of their servicesinclude customized training forspecific business needs, on-siterecruitment events, job orderplacements, candidate screeningfor employers and on-the-jobtraining support. They also assistsmall business owners in ContraCosta County with small busi-ness loans, operations/financialmanagement, government con-tracting/procurement, exportingassistance and more. Free andlow-cost workshops and semi-nars are also offered throughoutthe area. You can reach theSBDC at 925-602-6806 oronline atwww.contracostasbdc.org.

You may also want to checkout Go Biz, the Governor’sOffice of Business and Eco-nomic Development website.This site has information onstarting a business, relocating abusiness, registering a businessand much more. It also lists sev-eral different programs whichinclude tax credits and/or taxexemptions. You can find thissite online at

www.business.ca.gov.An upcoming resource from

the Concord Chamber ofCommerce is a seminar on thenew EMV chip credit cardsfrom 10 to 11 a.m. on Oct. 27 atthe chamber office at 2280 Dia-mond Blvd., Suite 200. This is animportant, timely topic to ensurethat your business is in compli-ance with the new regulations.Learn how to protect your busi-ness from possible fraud liabilityand how to accept this new typeof credit card. The seminar willbe led by representatives fromJ.P. Morgan Chase. You can reg-ister for this seminar online, orgive the chamber a call at 925-685-1181.

If you need help with yourbusiness, give the chamber a call.We will do our best to help youor refer you to a great resourcein the community. Your successis important to us, and we lookforward to working with you.

For more information on becom-ing a member of the ConcordChamber of Commerce, please visitwww.concordchamber.com or call(925) 685-1181.

MARYLIN FOWLERCHAMBER OFCOMMERCE

B U S I N E S S

“Our program, even witholder equipment, is still viable,but can only get better,” saidOuimet. “This will give the stu-dents a better tool kit to startwith and allow them to move upthe employment ladder quicker.”

Ouimet teaches two introand one advanced auto shopclass, while also teaching Princi-ples of Engineering in the Engi-neering Academy at CVCHS.

One of the real positivesfrom the planned improve-ments, says Kemnitz, is the issueof sustainability, a major con-cern for Rotary International.

“Currently, there are only 20high schools in California whocan even qualify for automotiveindustry grant money. This willput Clayton Valley in the run-ning to be certified to qualify forthese grants.”

Raising the money was rela-tively easy for Kemnitz and hiswife and business partner, MaryKemnitz. “Over 90 percent ofthe money is pledged fromphone calls to the business asso-ciates we’ve done work withover the years. When we toldthem what it was for, theyopened their checkbooks and

jumped in.”Some donors wrote large

checks, while others donatedcomputers, monitors, programsand other equipment. Oneprominent Concord auto dealer-ship offered a car. Many of thedonors prefer to remain anony-mous.

One upgrade the donationswill provide is a computer repairorder program. Previously, withno computer in class, studentshad to handwrite repair orders.

“Since the advanced studentsgrade is dependent on the workthey do during the semester, thiswill give them a way to under-stand and learn the processmuch better, and it will give me amore accurate look at what

they’ve done,” Ouimet says.Another outcome of the

upgrades is that Ouimet will findhimself in need of more train-ing. “It will make me work hard-er,” he said, “but I don’t have aproblem with that since it willmake my job so much morerewarding.”

The project will take about ayear-and-half to two years foreverything to happen, andshould increase student interest.Next on the list for the RotaryClub will be to upgrade the pro-gram at Concord High School.

The current yearly budgetfor the auto program at Claytonis $700, which amounts to lessthan $10 per student.

Auto Shop, from page 6

Olympics they perform twice.The tech program is about twoand one-half minutes in whichthe duo goes through a seriesof required elements in a spe-cific order. How they integratemusic and tie the routinetogether with the requiredmoves will set them apart withthe judges.

Then they have a three-and-one-half minute free pro-gram.

They are selecting themusic and moves at the begin-ning of the “long process”that will include many edits asthey test and refine their pro-grams.

“Anita and Mariya have thesame way of swimming —they complement each otherwell,” USA Synchro High Per-formance Director MyriamGlez says.

“Mariya is solid, experi-enced and reliable, and Anitabrings length and lightness tothe duet. We hope to see themgrow as a duet with new chore-ography and presentation.”

In order to accomplish allthis, the swimmers maintain astrict regimen while trainingseven-to-nine hours a day, six

days a week. “Right now weare doing 60 percent of train-ing in the pool but that will goup to 80 percent as time goesby.” She says they are in “pre-season mode now with a goodamount of strength and condi-tioning work.”

The American senior syn-chro team has been trainingfor the past year at the SodaAquatic Center in Moraga atCampolindo High Schooland will continue there forOlympic prep. This allowsKoroleva to live at home withher parents and youngerbrother Ivan, a senior swim-mer and water polo player atNorthgate High School.

National team membersreceive a small stipend thatdoesn’t begin to cover livingexpenses. Alvarez is from NewYork and shares an apartmentin Pleasant Hill with threeother girls.

SWIMMING HELPEDTO ‘FIT IN’

Koroleva was born in Rus-sia. Her father was one of anumber of software engineerswho came to work in SiliconValley from Russia in 1999,

seeking bet-ter opportu-nities. Ivanwas just 5-months-oldand Mariyawas nine andin fourthgrade.

She saysher WalnutCreek ele-mentary school was constant-ly sending home fliers aboutschool and community pro-grams. One day she broughthome a notice from the Wal-nut Creek Aquanuts about atwo-week “crash course” insynchronized swimming.

Since she had been aswimmer and gymnast in Rus-sia, her mom thought synchrowould combine those twosports nicely. Mom anddaughter both also felt itwould be a great opportunityto get involved with girls herage as she was struggling tolearn English and makefriends in a foreign land. Now16 years later she is still amember of the Aquanuts andalso coaches a young WCAage group team.

During the years, as sherose through the ranks tomake National junior and

then senior teams, Korolevahad to make sacrifices whiletraining four hours a day. Shenever competed in highschool sports or clubs at LasLomas and even missed amonth and a half of her sen-ior year as she trained for theJunior World Champi-onships. That same year thefamily moved to Concord.

Koroleva now holds dualcitizenship in Russia andAmerica and speaks fluentEnglish and Russian (“wemainly speak Russian athome”). She needs to brushup on her French, she says,which she studied for manyyears.

Sports has not onlyafforded her the benefits ofcompetition at the highestlevel but also travel aroundthe world and a Stanford col-lege education on scholarship(where she was a four-timeall-America).

She is finishing up hermasters in sports manage-ment at University of SanFrancisco. When she finallycalls a final curtain on herswimming career she wants toremain in sports in somecapacity, hopefully as part ofan Olympic organization.

Swimmer, from page 1

MARIYA KOROLEVA

—4th Saturday of each month in the Chapel—Saturday, Oct. 24, 2–2:30 pmMusic, Worship, Caregiver Tips, & Fellowship

At Concord United Methodist Church1645 West St., Concord—925-685-5260West St. between Clayton Rd. & Concord Blvd.

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Concord residents areinvited to come enjoy a“taste” of Concord’s newestinternational food festival atthe second annual Taste ofMonument, to be held from12 to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1 at1500 Monument Boulevard.

Organized by the Monu-ment Business Network,attendees will be able to sam-ple exciting international cui-

sine from Monument Com-munity restaurants, includingbaklava, burgers, Mexicanfood, pizza and more. Localservice organizations andbusinesses will also havebooths to highlight theirofferings. Family-friendlymusic will be provided by theband Lucid Rays and activi-ties will be available for chil-dren, including face painting

and outdoor bowling.According to Taste Co-

Chair Maribel Delgado, theTaste of Monument cameabout over two years ago as aresult of networking amongvarious businesses liningMonument Boulevard.

“They were hoping thatthey could organize efforts tohighlight the MonumentCommunity’s vibrancy andbegin changing the percep-tions held by those who don’tlive and operate businesseshere,” she says. Soon after,the Monument Business Net-work was formed, and theidea of a signature event toshowcase businesses and tocelebrate the MonumentCommunity’s diversity andvarious types of cuisine wasborn.

When asked who will ben-efit from this event, Delgadomentioned the residents ofthe Monument Community,local businesses and the Con-cord community at-large.

“In addition to being afun, family-friendly event, theTaste aims to promote andexpose attendees to food out-side of one’s culture,” shesaid. “The Taste of Monu-ment serves annually as anenjoyable eye-opener to all ofthe rich and diverse offeringsoriginating from the variouscultures that reside in theMonument Community. Wehope that attendees will comeback and patronize theserestaurants again in thefuture.”

Taste of Monument Co-Chair Silvia Barajas says thatorganizing this event eachyear is important because, “Iknow that when Monumentbusiness owners see thecrowd of 300 or more atten-

dees, like we had last year,they will be able to begindreaming about what theMonument Community couldlook like in a few years. TheTaste is a vehicle for positivechange. And, planning thisevent together has united usas business owners, andhelped start developinguntapped leadership withinthe Monument.”

The Taste’s sponsorsinclude the City of Concord,Diablo Valley Bowl, Dolan’sLumber, Mi Oficina Comput-er Café, Monument Impact,Los Rancheros, and SIMEC.Proceeds will benefit futureMonument Business Net-work activities promoting thecuisine and cultural diversityof the Monument Communi-ty, including the annual“Monument Lights HolidayStroll.”

For more information aboutthis event, which is free to the pub-lic and includes free parking, con-tact Delgado at 925-682 8248(ext. 2240) or [email protected]. To join the con-versation, visit “Second AnnualTaste of Monument” on Facebookor follow @TasteofMonument onTwitter.

The Board of Supervisorshas voted four-to-one to sup-port Contra Costa Cares, aone-year pilot program thatwill help those who are lowincome but do not qualify forMediCal but can’t affordCovered California, the pro-gram under the AffordableCare Act, and undocumentedindividuals. I wanted to sharewith you why I support thisprogram.

First, the $500,000 sharefrom the county is comingfrom the $12.5 million rebatefrom the State of Californiato repay unfunded mandates.

Second, another $500,000will come from the hospitalsin our area; if that moneydoes not become available,the county will not put up its$500,000.

Third, the $1 million pilotprogram will provide preven-tive health care to 3,000 indi-viduals. This doesn’t coverthe population describedabove, but it’s a start.

Fourth, the county musttreat any individual whocomes into our EmergencyRoom, and the cost by thattime is much more expensive, so I see this as a fiscally-sound way to be a good stew-ard of county resources whileat the same time providingpreventive health care to indi-viduals who otherwise would-n’t receive it — and therebypossibly become a publichealth concern to the rest ofthe population.

And fifth, and what I con-

sider the most important, it isthe right thing to do. I havereceived a few negative tele-phone calls and emails indi-cating that tax dollars shouldnot be used to address theneeds of undocumented indi-viduals. The situation facingour nation today aroundimmigration must be solvedat the federal level. I, howev-er, must deal with real con-cerns here at the local level.

Let me give you a personalexample, and I hope you canrelate it to your own lives: Ihave a weak respiratory sys-tem and must be careful dur-ing flu and cold season.Where someone else may beable to fight off those air-borne germs, I am more like-ly to end up with the sniffles.I can deal with that, but Ihave a very close friend whohas survived a transplant.(Not to mention our ownSupervisor Federal Glover,who is also a transplant sur-vivor.) These individualsmust be extremely careful notto come in to contact withanyone who could compro-mise their immune system.All one needs to do is reflecton the recent measles out-break in Disneyland to seehow easily communicable dis-eases are transmitted withoutany one of us being awarethat it is happening.

The reality is there areindividuals living in our com-munities who are undocu-mented. Some have lived herefor years, and many of themperform jobs that help keepour economy going. We candebate the merits of thesefacts, but the bottom line tome is assuring the public’shealth to the extent I can anddoing that in the most fiscal-ly-responsible way possible.

That is why I voted tosupport Contra Costa Cares.


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CARLYN OBRINGERPLANNINGCOMMISSION

Residents get ‘Taste’ ofMonument Community

When I was in college, Itook several economics classes.There was a section on indus-try indicators. These were signsthe economy was going up,down, or moving along. Iremember one of my profes-sors saying that the Chairmanof the Federal Reserve had aninteresting indicator. Helooked at the purchases/pro-duction of cardboard boxes.As they increased, this indicat-ed people were purchasingstuff, buying houses and otherpositive activities. That indica-tor stuck with me.

Fast forward 20 years and Iam a patrol lieutenant. I had aride along that night and wewere driving through a bed-room community. I was tellingthe ride-along, his name wasScott, that this neighborhoodwas my beat 20 years earlier. Itwas filled with drug users, gangmembers and abandonedhomes. A lot of the homeswere the Victorian style, builtover 100 years earlier.

As we were driving aroundthe neighborhood, traffic was agridlock. It was Halloween.There was hundreds of fami-lies trick or treating rightaround dusk. The streets were

filled. Small shops in the neigh-borhood joined the celebrationwith their own form of activi-ties. Coffee and hot cocoa forthe parents, treats for the kids,and, of course, flyers for theirstore’s items. Scott could notbelieve this neighborhood wasthe previous site of so muchcrime.

I explained the transition ofthis area began with residentsbuying homes. The number ofvacant homes began todecrease and the number ofpeople on the blocks started toincrease. Patrol officers sawfewer calls for burglaries andfewer calls for drug use but sawmore calls for noise, more callsfor blocked driveways. Thesmall businesses followed. Theresidents started a monthlyroutine called “walk about.”Several businesses were desig-nated stops and residentswould walk throughout theneighborhood, visiting thestores. These communitymembers started bringingfriends and families not fromthe area on these “walkabouts.” I told Scott this is howHalloween became this epicspecial event in this neighbor-hood; residents inviting friendsto trick or treat with them intheir community. The residentswanted to show off theirneighborhood.

So guess what indicator Ilook for to show me aninvolved neighborhood thistime of year? Happy Hal-loween!

GUY SWANGERPOLICE CHIEF

Guy Swanger is Concord’s Chief ofPolice. Send questions or comments [email protected].

Vibrant neighborhoodsa treat for Halloween

Carlyn Obringer is a member ofthe City of Concord Planning Commis-sion. Professionally, she focuses on Cal-ifornia education issues as an Educa-tion Policy Analyst. Carlyn resides inConcord with her husband, Justin, anddog Crystal. Contact her by email at [email protected].

Why I support Contra Costa Cares

Catellus, the other MasterDeveloper finalist. A meetingwas scheduled for Oct. 15 toreport on the findings ofCatellus’ allegations, butCoon’s death put a halt tothat. Last week, City ManagerValerie Barone said the inves-tigation of any wrongdoingwould be handled by a neutral“third party” investigation,but won’t happen until thecity hires an interim or newcity attorney.

“I cannot say with certain-ty when the public selectionprocess [of a Master Devel-oper] will come off this tem-porary pause, but the earliestit might occur is in Decemberof 2015 or January of 2016,”Barone said. She said she ishoping to bring in candidatesfor the interim city attorneyto the city council by the endof this month or earlyNovember.

The timing of Coon’sdeath — during the period hewas preparing a report onalleged wrongdoing — jarredthe city staff and residents.Coon was remembered as a“wonderful man” by many ofhis colleagues, who saw nosign he was experiencing any-thing that would lead to a suicide.

“No one knows every-thing that is in someone’slife,” said Vice Mayor LauraHoffmeister. “No one has thewhole picture. It’s never justone thing that drives some-one to suicide.

“People are trying to cre-ate a causal relationshipbetween this [theLennar/Catellus investiga-tion] and the act. That’s notwhat suicide is. It’s never justone thing.”

Coon was laid to rest onOct. 12. He is survived by hiswife, June, and two children,Nathan and Lauren.

CATELLUS’ ALLEGATIONSThe original selection of a

Master Developer, set forSept. 29, was delayed afterCatellus sent a letter to cityofficials raising concernsabout improper lobbying byLennar, including donationsto Mayor Tim Grayson’sAssembly campaign by com-panies associated withLennar, and meetingsbetween Grayson and formerSan Francisco Mayor WillieBrown, who has close ties toLennar. Grayson returned thecampaign contributions, stat-ing he did not know theirconnection to the developer,but Catellus was still con-cerned that the final staffreport to the city council didnot include a recommenda-tion for a developer, a rareoccurrence for a city knownfor its thorough vetting ofmunicipal issues.

COON’S REPORTMany in Concord, includ-

ing Sun Terrace residentHope Johnson, have askedthat the findings of Coon’sreport be made available tothe public, but Barone saidthat won’t happen.

“Because Mark Coon didnot complete his investigativereport prior to his death,there aren’t findings torelease,” Barone said. “Thecity is committed to bringingin a neutral third party toinvestigate from scratchCatellus’ concerns. Once thereport is complete, it will bereleased to the public.”

She said the interim cityattorney will have the respon-sibility of identifying a “qual-ified person or firm to com-plete the investigation.”

Johnson told the citycouncil last week that she andothers felt the allegationsagainst the city and Lennar

had “damaged the trust” theresidents have with theprocess. “The public has aright to know what is goingon,” she said, in light of thecampaign contributions toGrayson, his meetings withBrown, having a staff reportwith no recommendations,and the unfortunate timing ofCoon’s death.

She also disagrees that theportions of Coon’s reportthat were finished should notbe made available to the thirdparty investigators, mainlybecause he was a member ofthe board that was evaluatingthe final two Master Devel-oper candidates. “While someof his work product might beprivileged and not able to bedisclosed to the public, all ofit should be available forreview by any independentinvestigator,” she said.“Because Mark Coon was onthe evaluation board, every-thing he did cannot be classi-fied as attorney-client privi-leged. He was not acting asthat board’s attorney butactually was listed as a mem-ber of the board.”

UNKNOWN DELAYHoffmeister emphasized

later that the investigationwill look solely at Catellus’allegations against the cityand Lennar, and not be aninvestigation into Coon’sdeath.

For now, as Coon’s friendsand colleagues mourn hispassing, the city again waitsto find out the fate of theCNWS land slated for forbuilding up to 12,272 housingunits and 6.1 million squarefeet of commercial space onabout 2,300 acres, dramatical-ly changing the cityscape ofConcord.

Both Master Developercandidates are understandingof the delay.

“We’re happy they’regoing to look into our con-cerns,” Catellus President

Ted Antenucci told the Pio-neer. “We’re very supportiveof taking all the time theyneed to resolve this issue.”

While Lennar representa-tives did not respond torequests from the Pioneer, it’sbeen reported in other mediaoutlets that they too supportthe delay.

City officials are also tak-ing the delay philosophically.

“We’ve been at this for 10years and we’ve had delaysbefore,” Hoffmeister said.

She said there is no linkbetween the selection of aMaster Developer and theNavy transferring the proper-ty to Concord.

“The Navy is not even fin-ished with their environmen-tal paperwork,” she said.“Their tentative timeline wasset for 2016, but Navy time-lines are often optimistic.”

what is said against me won’tmatter. If not, ten thousandangels swearing I was rightwon’t make a difference.”

The business of the Citygoes on. The final decision onthe selection of our MasterDeveloper is currently on hold.The process is delayed becauseof a variety of administrativefunctions that need to be com-pleted before we can bring thisto a public hearing for a finaldecision. I expect we will reachthis point around the first ofthe year. I remain excited andoptimistic about Concord’sfuture.

Earlier this month I attend-ed the League of Cities AnnualConference. The value ofthese meeting is that they serveas a kind of group therapy forboth our staff and members ofthe city council. The exchangeof ideas, experiences, frustra-

tions and aspirations for ourrespective cities is of ines-timable value. The subject-spe-cific sessions foster collabora-tion and occasional heateddebates over the methodologyemployed to resolve problems.One quickly learns that prob-lem-solving is not a “one sizefits all” proposition.

One breakout session deal-ing with funding for infrastruc-ture improvements, specificallystreet repairs, was very wellattended and the subject ofmuch angst and frustration. Icould not help but smile sinceConcord is apparently wellahead of many of the cities inCalifornia.

Thanks to you, the voterswho approved the extension ofMeasure Q, and our staff whodeveloped a comprehensivestreet repair plan, the councilhas adopted an innovative pol-

icy measure that made possiblea $22.4 million bond, enablingus to immediately undertake aseven-year prioritized plan tobring our streets to a high levelof repair. This is somethingyou’ve told me should be oneof our priorities. We heardyou, and action has been taken.

Among the other topicsdiscussed at the conferencewere water, technology, foreigndirect investments, tax reform,policing, labor relations, com-munity wellness, affordablehousing and transportation. Itseemed to me that we are reallyon the right path, although wecan always benefit from somethoughtful fine-tuning. Thataffirmation is one of the fringebenefits of taking the time toattend these meeting.

As your mayor I am com-mitted to working to improvethe quality of life in Concord. Iam always aware of the voicesof dissent, but that’s simplypart of the job. Freedom of

speech is one of our inalien-able rights.

My job is to exercise mybest judgment, based on solidpreparation for every issue thatcomes before me for a vote.There are times when I believemy thorough preparation andin-depth knowledge of theissues must prevail over anindividual’s uninformed opin-ion. That also is part of the joband goes along with my quoteof President Lincoln at thebeginning of this article.

I truly enjoy and appreciatethe honor of serving the peo-ple of Concord. Your supportand affirmation, which manyof you have personallyexpressed so often, and in somany ways these past weeks,have meant more than I canexpress. Thank you your sup-port and affirmation. I willalways keep the faith.

Send comments or questions [email protected].

Mt. Diablo Unified is veryexcited about buildingour Science, Technology,Engineering, andMath (STEM) programs. Tothis end, we want to sharesome of the new initiativeswe are working on to supportour students.

First, we are thrilled to

have the partnership ofTesoro, sponsoring roboticsclasses at all of our middleschools. Tesoro is a valuablepartner in our STEM efforts.This year with their help, wewill expand ourgirls STEM summer campand our robotics programs.Robotics is taught afterschool and within the day aselectives. We thank Tesorofor their sponsorship of ourTech Education Symposiumto be held Feb. 20 at ValleyView Middle School.

Secondly, our engineeringclasses at our middle and high

schools are providing excel-lent preparation for collegeand careers. With the supportof our partners at Chevron,our Project Lead the Wayclasses now start at elemen-tary school and go upthrough our high schools.These courses teach the prin-cipals of engineering withhands on projects and indus-try experiences.

Lastly, we are part of acountywide effort to increasecomputer science with theCODE.org organization.Each year we participate inthe week of code but we

want to make this a year-round event. We hope to pro-vide professional develop-ment and lessons for interest-ed teachers from K-12 thatintroduce the skill of codingwithin math and scienceclasses.

Thank you for your sup-port as we work hard toimprove our students’ educa-tional experience.


P.O. Box 12466200 Center Street, Suite H, Clayton, CA 94517

TAMARA AND ROBERT STEINER, PublishersTAMARA STEINER, EditorPETE CRUZ, Graphic DesignPEGGY SPEAR, Copy Editor JAY BEDECARRÉ, Sports Editor PAMELA WIESENDANGER, Administration, Calendar Editor

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The Clayton Pioneer and theConcord Pioneer are monthlypublications delivered free tohomes and businesses in 94517,94518, 94519 and 94521. ZIPcode 94520 is currently servedby drop site distribution. Thepapers are published by ClaytonPioneer, Inc., Tamara and RobertSteiner, PO 1246, Clayton, CA94517. The offices are located at6200 Center St. Suite H, Clayton,CA 94517

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Dr. Nellie Meyer is Superintendentof Schools for MDUSD. Email questions or comments [email protected]

DR. NELLIE MEYERMDUSD

SUPERINTENDENT

Mayor, from page 1

Community partnershipsfuel STEM education

Investigation, from page 1

Post-season action inNorth Coast Section andbeyond is already loomingfor fall sports teams and ath-letes in the Diablo Valley andEast Bay athletic leagues withleague championships insome sports already in thebooks.

NEW SUPER LEAGUEDVAL Commissioner

Craig Lee and his counter-part from the Diablo FoothillAthletic League, Pat Lickiss,report that league principalsfrom the DVAL’s sevenschools and the five DFALschools (Acalanes, Alhambra,Campolindo, Las Lomas andMiramonte) who have beenaligned together in a newsuper league are meeting thisweek to consider recommen-dations for the fall sportsleague setup in 2016.

It is expected they willalso decide on a name for thenew league.

This is the first step thecommissioners and schoolprincipals will take to set upfall, winter and spring align-ment for each sport in thenew 12-school league. It isanticipated that seeding willbe done per sport and genderthat will place schools in twodivisions to achieve optimalcompetitive equity.

CROSS COUNTRYFreshman Rayna

Stanziano set a course recordlast week at the third DVALcenter meet of the season

when she clocked 21:34 atCastle Rock Park in WalnutCreek over a 3.3-mile course.Even with her lack of highschool experience she hasemerged as the favorite forthe league meet on Hal-loween at Hidden Valley inPleasant Hill. CVCHS sopho-more Kelly Osterkamp andNorthgate’s Jessie Boucherare other top contenders.

Ygnacio Valley’s JorgeBernabe-Velazquez and Clay-ton Valley Charter sopho-more Dylan White are amongthe boys’ favorites, based oncenter meet results.

NCS meet is in Haywardon Nov. 21 and the Statefinals are one week later on

Nov. 28 in Fresno over theThanksgiving weekend.

GIRLS TENNISNorthgate has been the

tennis powerhouse in theDVAL for many years and theBroncos are undefeated inDVAL matches and 19-3overall this fall. College Parkand Clayton Valley werevying for second place.

DVAL dual matchesended this Thursday with theleague meet Oct. 27-29 host-ed by Mt. Diablo.

Carondelet’s EBAL sched-ule doesn’t end until Nov. 3.Nicole Hitomi of Concord isagain the No. 1 player forCarondelet after reaching the

NCS singles tournament lastyear as an EBAL semi-final-ist.

NCS team (Nov. 10-14)and singles/doubles (Nov.17-18) championships arenext month. College Park,CVCHS and Carondelet allmade the NCS team tourna-ment last year.

WATER POLOThe DVAL added Her-

cules, Pinole Valley and St.Patrick/St. Vincent of Valle-jo to College Park, North-gate, Concord and ClaytonValley Charter for a seven-team water polo league.League champs Northgateshould reach the girls DVALtournament finals with Clay-ton Valley a pick for the otherfinal spot.

The Broncos are unde-feated in league matches andfinished seventh at the West-ern States tournament lastweekend. Marisa DeMeo andTatum Turetzky were leadingscorers for NG at the 38thannual tournament inModesto.

Northgate boys were sec-ond at the De Anza Tourna-ment.

DVAL matches for boysand girls water polo wrappedup this Wednesday before theleague tournament Oct. 27-Nov. 4 in Northgate’s newpool. NCS tournaments forboys and girls run Nov. 4-14.

Last year Carondelet,Concord, College Park,Northgate and Clayton Valley

all reached NCS girls tourna-ment while Northgate (DIIfinalists), College Park andDe La Salle were in the boyssection playoffs.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALLDVAL matches double-

round robin schedule contin-ues until Nov. 3. Clayton Val-ley was 8-0 including a five-set win over Northgate lastmonth in Walnut Creek. Therematch was earlier this weekwith the one-loss Broncosseeking revenge to move intoa tie for first in DVAL.

Berean Christian and Col-lege Park are battling forthird place.

The NCS championshipsrun Nov. 11-21. Northgate(semi-finals), Carondelet(quarter-finals), Clayton Val-ley and College Park alladvanced to NCS last year.

GIRLS GOLFNorthgate won the DVAL

championship and tourna-ment a year ago led by fresh-

man medalist Dymphna Uedaand the Broncos figured torepeat with Ueda leading theway. Newcomer College Parkand Clayton Valley battled forsecond place. The leaguetournament was Monday.

Carondelet (14-0) hasbeen paced by freshman Yeal-imi Noh of Concord, whomoved right into the No. 1spot for the Cougars. She wasthe CWAC State JuniorChampion in 2014 and themedalist and runner-up thisyear.

Northgate, CVCHS andCarondelet all made the NCSTournament of Championsin Division I last fall.

NCS Division I qualifyingmeet is this coming Monday,Oct. 26, and the DI champi-onships Nov. 2 at BoundaryOak in Walnut Creek fol-lowed the next two weeks bythe NorCal (Nov. 9 in Salinas)and State (Nov. 16 at PoppyHills in Pebble Beach) cham-pionships.


SPORTSTeams, athletes battling for NCS post-season berths

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Concord Pioneer

Photo courtesy Carondelet High School

ALY BAMBERGER (7) HAS HELPED CARONDELET to a pair of water polo tournament champi-onships this fall. The freshman from Concord has been scoring goals for the Cougarswhile her classmate Alex Brown has been stopping them in goal as Carondelet won PinoleValley and California Capital Challenge tournament championships.

MDSA U13 Earthquakes runners-up at Palo Alto Tall TreesMDSA Earthquakes under 13 girls placed second at the Palo Alto Tall Trees in the under13 girls Samba flight, losing 2-1 to San Ramon U13 Copper in the championship game.Earlier the MDSA team had two draws and a 1-0 semi-final win over Corte Madera. Theteam includes, front row from left, Elena Tung, Nicole Ramirez, Lauren Fong, Sydney Fran-cis, Katie Gavin, Daniela Ramirez; back row, assistant coach Kim Casey, Kendall Albert,Maryam Opeyany, Zahrah Shaghasi, Samantha Mason, Kennedy Walker, SamanthaSchauman and head coach Charles Francis. Not pictured, Ava Watts and Robin Caves.

MDSA Arsenal win Ballistic Fall Harvest ClassicMDSA Arsenal under 12 boys allowed only one goal in four games while racking up threewins and a scoreless draw to win the Ballistic United Fall Harvest Classic boys silver andbronze tournament. The local team blanked Livermore Fusion 3-0 in the championshipgame. The team includes, front row from left, Leandre Pepito, Titus Bishop, Garrett Alton,Kyle Pacak, Anthony Montoya, Cristian Galvan, assistant coach Jorge Calles; back row,Miles Davis, Francisco Ramos, Daniel Calles, Bakari Johnson, Alex Hockenbery, NoahPaschall, Keegan Boustead and Killian Pollock. Not pictured, head coach Jason Bishop.

Photo courtesy Chris Ruzicka

CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER SOPHOMORE KELLY OSTERKAMP tookfirst in a DVAL tri-meet at Newhall Park with Berean Chris-tian and Ygnacio Valley. She was fifth at the league crosscountry meet a year ago as a freshman.

Photos courtesy MDSA

September tournaments lead tohardware for Mt. Diablo teams

Photo courtesy Diablo FC

Diablo FC 02 Blue under 13 girls took first at the Dublin Fall Classic with a 1-0 overMill Valley Rockers Red 03 in the finals. The Diablo FC 02 Blue includes, front row fromleft, Sara Bettencourt, Gema Haro, Ariyah McGlone, Vanessa Hawley, Lauren Wick-ham; back row, assistant coach Lyndy Enriquez, Olivia Bolton, Taylor Davis, Emmy Kin-ney, Clarisa Granados, Kaley Urias, Gianna Lazzarini, Kylie Nielsen, AlexaHarris, Ryanne Boland and coach Brandon Enriquez.

Diablo FC 02 Blue girls claim Dublin Fall Classic

Clayton Valley Charter and De La Sallecontinue to roll through opponents asthey rank 1-2 in Bay Area high schoolfootball polls and each team is hoping towin another North Coast Section champi-onship and return to CIF State bowlgames in December.

The Spartans have three home gamesagainst non-league opponents before theywill begin seeking their 24th consecutiveNCS title. They host Del Oro of Loomisthis Friday then James Logan of UnionCity and California of San Ramon toround out the regular season.

The Ugly Eagles look to extend anongoing 19-game Diablo Valley AthleticLeague winning streak. That unbeaten runfigures to face its toughest 2015 challengethis Friday when rival Concord High visitsGonsalves Stadium at 7 p.m. for theCVCHS homecoming game.

Since the DVAL was reinstituted in2008 Concord and Clayton Valley havefinished first every year but 2011 whenCollege Park won the football champi-onship. In 2009 Ygnacio Valley and Con-cord tied at 4-1 but the Warriors defeatedConcord in their head-to-head game. CVwon the initial 2008 crown and now havethree more championships (2012-14) dur-ing their undefeated league streak thatbegan at the tail end of the 2011 season.

Concord High (5-2, 2-0) led by interimhead coach Mark Bywater has relied onsenior runningback Harold Tidwell tocarry the load on offense. Tidwell has runfor 1202 yards, which is 76% of the Min-uteman rushing total and made that pay-off with 19 touchdowns and six two-pointconversions. The Concord defense hasheld four of its seven opponents to sin-gle-digit scoring.

Coach Tim Murphy’s CVCHS team (6-1, 2-0) navigated its toughest-ever non-league schedule with four wins in fivegames. The Eagles lost their opener toreturning Division I state champion Fol-som 27-26. The Bulldogs now stand 7-0,ranked behind only De La Salle in NorCalrankings.

Once again the wing-gun Eaglesoffense has a featured back. This fall RayJackson III is averaging 10.1 yards percarry with 1212 total rushing yardage thatincludes 10 touchdowns. After giving up27 points to Folsom the Ugly Eaglesdefense has allowed a total of 33 points toits next six foes, including three shutouts.

The other DVAL games this Fridayhave College Park (1-6, 1-1), coming offits first win of the year 50-16 over Ygna-cio Valley, hosting Northgate (4-3, 1-1) at

Diablo Valley College and Mt. Diablo (1-6, 0-2) going to Ygnacio (2-5, 0-2) in amatchup of Concord schools seekingtheir first league victory this fall.

Last year was unprecedented for localhigh schools as all five Concord schools—Concord, Ygnacio Valley, Mt. Diablo,Clayton Valley Charter and DLS---plusNorthgate and Berean Christian were inthe five-tiered North Coast Section play-offs in the same year. This year there willbe 13 state championship divisions so sev-eral local teams may have a shot at post-season play.

Berean (6-1, 3-0) looks like a lock toreturn to NCS Division V playoffs wherethey reached the quarterfinals in 2014.They are the only undefeated team in Tri-Valley – Stone league play.

SPARTANS ROLLING NOWDe La Salle (6-1) lost its opener in

Texas but the Spartans have run off sixconsecutive victories to maintain its spotin CalHiSports.com rankings as No. 1 inCalifornia Division I and Clayton ValleyCharter is first in DII. The Spartans lostthe game in Texas due to a number ormistakes and that pattern has continued astheir first two drives last Friday in Con-

cord against Long Beach Poly ended inlost fumbles.

By halftime in their anticipated renew-al of football competition against Poly theSpartans had three turnovers, had twotouchdowns called back due to penaltiesand gave up a kick return TD. They stillled 22-6 at the intermission and thenscored 30 more quick points in the secondhalf with a running clock much of theway.

“They’re talented and they’re good,but our defense was awesome tonight,”De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaughtold CalHiSports. “All we gave up was thatkickoff return so that’s just three pointsallowed by the defense in the last fourgames [while the Spartan have outscoredtheir opponents 178-9] against some pret-ty good offenses. I’m really happy howthey’ve come along [since the loss to Trin-ity of Texas].”

Long Beach Poly and DLS met in his-toric 2001 and 2002 games. The firstmeeting marked the first time ever thatthe No. 1 and 2 ranked teams in Americaplayed each other. DLS won both thosegames which were prominently featuredin Neil Hayes’ landmark book “When theGame Stands Tall.”


When Nick Chavez was a student atSequoia Middle School he wasn’t doingvery well in the classroom and also notstaying in very good physical shape.Then he was in a dirt bike accident and

broke his fibula and tibia. As herehabbed Chavez began running and heended up losing 75 pounds. When heenrolled at Concord High School three

years ago he joined the cross countryand track teams. His sophomore yearCortez was a co-captain of the Minute-man track squad and this year is captainof the cross country team. Coach Lan-ette Stanziano calls him “a team moti-vator every day. He is our spirit leader.He takes all the new runners under hiswing and is my right hand guy.” Chavezalso turned around his academics andhas been on honor roll since his fresh-man year. Outside of school he runs incharity 5K and 10K runs for charity.

The Concord Pioneer congratu-lates Nick and thanks Athlete Spot-light sponsors Dr. Laura Lacey &Dr. Christopher Ruzicka who havebeen serving the Clayton and Con-cord area for 25 years at FamilyVision Care Optometry.www.laceyandruzicka.com

Do you know a young athlete who shouldbe recognized? Perhaps he or she has shownexceptional sportsmanship, remarkableimprovement or great heart for the sport. Sendyour nomination for the Pioneer Athlete Spot-light today to [email protected].

Athlete Spotlight

Nick ChavezGrade: JuniorSchool: Concord High

Sports: Cross Country, Track

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DE LA SALLE HAS ALREADY PLAYED ONE TEAM FROM TEXAS, three from Southern Cali-fornia and one from Sacramento area while racking up a 6-1 record and claim-ing their familiar No. 1 ranking as they enter the final three weeks of theregular season. Senior runningbacks/defensive backs Antoine Custer (28) andAndrew Hernandez (32) are again leading the way. They’ve combined for about1600 total yards and 13 touchdowns plus nearly 50 tackles on defense for theSpartans.

De La Salle, Clayton Valley footballprove they’re Bay Area’s top 2 teams

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Concord Pioneer

Some habits are hard toshake and for the San Francis-co Giants the habit of missingthe playoffs every year after aWorld Series title is one thatthey’d like to get rid of.

The biggest reason theteam missed the playoffs thisyear was injuries. It seemedlike the Giants were a teamfull of walking wounded,practically sending guys out toplay with casts still on.

Matt Cain, who was sup-posed to have a bounce backyear, injured his elbow early inthe season. Cain’s elbow wassomewhat of a premonitionfor the Giants, who sawnotable starters Hunter Pence,Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, NoriAoki and Angel Pagan all missbig chunks of time due toinjury, as did starting pitchersTim Lincecum, Tim Hudsonand Jake Peavy.

The Pence injury was themost devastating for the 2010-2012-2014 World Champions.Pence changes the entiredynamic of the Giants battingorder by giving Buster Poseysome much needed protectionin the heart of the lineup. Hewas only able to play in 52games this season and theGiants missed him tremen-dously.

Despite the injuries, theGiants still managed a win-ning record, going 84-78 onthe season. The Dodgers wonthe NL West by eight games,which has to stick in the crawof the San Francisco Giantsorganization. Even worse, theDodgers beat the Mets toadvance in the playoffs.

While the injuries theGiants dealt with were cer-

tainly not ideal, it gave someyoung players a chance toshine. Starting pitcher ChrisHeston and third basemanMatt Duffy both performedwell for the Giants in theirrookie years.

Heston was a relativeunknown coming out ofspring training but he pitchedadmirably in his first full sea-son in the majors. Hestonstarted 31 games for theorange and black, winning 12and compiling a respectable3.95 ERA. If he hadn’t runout of gas toward the end ofthe season his numberswould’ve been even better.

Heston faltered at the endof the season, showing clearsigns of fatigue, but fellowyoung-gun Duffy performedlike a champ from start to fin-ish.

Duffy took over the start-ing third-base position rela-tively early in the season afterCasey McGehee flamed out ofthe role. Duffy hit 12 homeruns with 77 RBIs to go alongwith an impressive .295 bat-ting average. The third baseposition was a concern in theoff-season after the departureof Pablo Sandoval but Duffyactually looks like an upgradeover the fat panda.

The Giants season wasn’tideal, no team wants to missthe playoffs. When lookingback on the season though, ithas to be acknowledged thatthe team was still extremelycompetitive, even though theyhad to deal with numerousinjuries.

If the team gets healthynext season and gets a couplenew starting pitchers, there’s agood chance tradition holdstrue for the Giants of 2016.And of course, that’ll meananother World Series trophyfor the orange and black in aneven year.

Odd year curse continuesto plague Giants in 2015

TYLER LEHMANSPORTS TALK

Tyler Lehman is a senior at SanFrancisco State University and a2012 CVHS graduate. He is major-ing in print/online journalism andwants to be a sports writer. Email yourcomments or questions to [email protected].

Four athletes and onecoach will be inducted Nov. 7into the Mt. Diablo HighSchool Sports Hall of Fame asthe Class of 2015. They wereelected from a field of 25nominees and will bring to 77the number of athletes, coach-es, staff and teams since the2003 inaugural class.

Co-chairs Lou Adamo andAl Hagerstrand announced theresults of voting that pickedRon Walsh, Mike Connors andJames “Buddy” King from the1960s and Joe Nelms from the80s as athletes and coachBruce Iversen to comprise the12th class of Sports Hall ofFame inductees for the area’soldest school.

Reflective of their eras, allfour athletes were multi-sportsperformers with Connors“only” playing two sportswhile the others were three-sport standouts.

MIKE CONNORS(CLASS OF 1967 FOOTBALL

AND SWIMMING)A four-year varsity letter

winner in swimming Connorscapped his career as DVALbutterfly champion in 1967.He also played two years ofvarsity football. He went on toget all-Golden Gate Confer-ence honors two years at Dia-blo Valley College includingfor the 1968 league footballchampions. This led to a schol-arship at Weber State in 1969where he played guard, tackleand tight end on the offensiveline. He played in 1971 as asenior at Chico State for theFar West Conference champi-on Wildcats. He was honorablemention all-West Coast andplayed in the Camellia Bowlagainst Boise State.

BRUCE IVERSEN(1956-59 BASEBALL COACH)

Long-time high schoolsports observers remember thelate Bruce Iversen as the suc-cessful Clayton Valley Highbasketball coach for severaldecades. Before CVHS evenopened he was making hismark at Mt. Diablo. His 1959baseball team is considered asperhaps the greatest in schoolhistory. With standouts such asJim Liggett, Ron Lichti, DwainAdams, Marty Piscovich, Tom

Brown, Chuck Midland, Den-nis Treadway, Bud Peebles, BillStone and Lee Grichuhin theRed Devils were undefeated inDVAL play and 11 players hitover .300 that season. The yearbefore they were league co-champs with Las Lomas butwent one step further in ’59.Mt. Diablo won 11 DVALchampionships between 1956and 1966. Iversen was just fouryears removed from his Stan-ford undergraduate days whenhe began coaching at MDHS.His 1959 team was put into the

school’s Sports Hall of Famein 2010. Liggett, Piscovich,Adams and Brown are alsoprevious MDHS Hall of Fameinductees.

BUDDY KING(1969 FOOTBALL, WRESTLING

AND BASEBALL)Buddy King was DVAL

lineman of the year as a seniorafter getting all-league recogni-tion on offense and defense.King was named to both theContra Costa-Alameda andNorth-South Shrine All-Stargames. The Concord Tran-script named him a member ofthe 1960s All Decade Team.He won the P. J. Kramer Awardin 1969. He was a two-year var-sity MDHS athlete in football,baseball and wrestling. Kingattended Clemson Universityin South Carolina on scholar-ship and played offensiveguard from 1970-72 for Tigersfootball.

JOE NELMS(1983 FOOTBALL, BASKET-BALL AND BASEBALL)

Nelms was a versatile three-sport athlete for the Red Dev-ils who went on to Cal Berke-ley where he played three yearsfor the Golden Bears, earningall-Pacific 10 football honorsas a senior in 1988. He wasdrafted in the 11th round bythe Chicago Bears and playedin a pre-season NFL game. Hewas a Red Devils three-year let-terman in basketball and twoyears each in football and base-ball. He was football defensive

player of the week and captainof the basketball team his sen-ior year. He garnered all-leaguehonors in all three sports. Hewas also drafted twice by theKansas City Royals baseballteam.

RON WALSH(1966 FOOTBALL, BASKET-BALL AND BASEBALL)

The team captain andcatcher for the 1966 DVALchampionship baseball teamunder coach Steve Bordi,Walsh was a three-year letterwinner in baseball and twoeach in football and basketball.He was selected to play on theContra Costa All-Star footballteam and was all-DVAL inbaseball as a senior. He wonthe P.J. Kramer Award in 1966.He went on to play for the Hallof Fame 1966 Diablo ValleyCollege football team whichlost only once, to City Collegeof San Francisco led by O.J.Simpson. His DVC footballcareer was interrupted by serv-ice in the U.S. Marine Corps inVietnam.

The honorees will beinducted into the Hall of Fameon Saturday, Nov. 7, at ZioFraedo’s in Pleasant Hill. Tick-ets at $50 for the dinner are onsale by calling Adamo at (925)212-9332 or mailing paymentto MDHSSHOF c/o LarryProsper, 3718 HillsboroughDr., Concord 94520.

Proceeds from the eventhelp fund the girls and boyssports programs at Mt. Diablo.


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THE LEAGUE CHAMPION MT. DIABLO HIGH BASEBALL TEAM OF 1959 featured a star-studdedteam and coach Bruce Iversen. Both the team and head coach are now in the Mt. DiabloSports Hall of Fame. The Red Devils included, front row from left, student manager RonChurchman, Herb Denton, Paul Chaplick, Bill Stone, Bob Armstrong; middle row, EddyJohnson, Ron Rose, Lee Grichuhin, Marty Piscovich, Dennis Treadway, Don Barfus; backrow, Larry Leimone, Dan Barney, Bud Peebles, Jim Liggett, Ron Lichti, Dwain Adams, TomBrown and coach Iversen.

JOE NELMS (88) was a three-sport standout at Mt. Diablobefore graduating in 1983.He played football for oneyear at DVC and then let-tered three years for the CalBears from 1886-88. Nelmswas drafted by the ChicagoBears of the NFL.

CONCORD HIGH SEEKING VARSITY WRESTLING, BOYS TENNIS COACHES

Concord High School is looking for head varsity wrestlingand boys tennis coaches. Athletic director Megan Coddingtonsays the coaches receive a stipend. Candidates must fulfillMDUSD fingerprinting, have current TB test, be FirstAid/CPR certified and complete NFHS or ASEP principles ofcoaching and NFHS concussion courses. Send resume to Cod-dington at [email protected].

MT. DIABLO WORLD CUP UNDERWAY FOR 43 TEAMSThe seventh annual Mt. Diablo World Cup tournament for

under 10, 12 and 14 boys and girls MDSA divisions concludespool play this weekend with quarter-finals, semi-finals and finalsnext weekend, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. The Cup culminates the AYSOfall soccer season with berths in the Area 2C tournament inNovember at stake for the top finishers. For details on theWorld Cup visit mdsoccer.org.

DIABLO FC OFFERINGFREE SOCCER CLINICS IN DECEMBER

Diablo FC is offering free soccer clinics for ages 5-12 thisDecember. Each clinic will be run by the Diablo FC profession-al coaching staff. All levels of players are encouraged to cometo improve skills while having fun. Visit diablofc.org for dates,times and to register online.

HALLOWEEN KICK OR TREAT CLASSIC THIS WEEKENDOver 70 teams will be playing in the 17th annual Halloween

Kick or Treat Classic hosted by Diablo FC this weekend, Oct.24-25, in Concord. Boys and girls under 9, 10 and 11 premier,gold, silver and bronze teams will be playing soccer for two daysand also participating in the annual Halloween Costume Con-test which brings out some very creative, humorous and scarylooks. For more information visit diablofc.org.

PICKLEBALL DROP-IN PROGRAM COMING TO CONCORDPickleball is a racket sport that combines elements of tennis,

table tennis and badminton. It’s played with two to four playerson a court about half the size of a tennis court with woodenpaddles and a plastic whiffle ball. One of the fastest growing

sports among adults of all ages, pickleball is especially popularwith young adults and adults nearing or in their retirement years.To receive information on pickleball drop-in programs five daysa week (including some evenings and Saturday) at Willow PassPark tennis courts in Concord visit teamsideline.com/concordor call 671-3423.

CHEERLEADING BEING ADDEDAS HIGH SCHOOL SPORT IN 2017-18

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will classify cheerleadingas a competitive CIF sport beginning in 2017-18. The stateorganization will come up with the rules, policies and standardsto allow schools to compete. A season for cheerleading will bedecided and students will be subject to the same eligibility andtransfer rules as other sports. “One of the major goals in thisprocess will be to develop guidelines for competitive cheer pro-grams that our member schools can implement, meet the stan-dards and be compliant with Title IX,” said CIF ExecutiveDirector Roger Blake in a statement.

DE LA SALLE PLAYER PICKED FORARMY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL

Senior tight end Devin Asiasi of De La Salle has been selectedfor the prestigious 2016 U.S. Army All-American Bowl Jan. 9 inthe San Antonio Alamodome. The game’s website says, “A bigand physical presence, Asiasi has been one of the premier playersat the tight end position, regardless of class, for the last two sea-sons. He is the consensus best tight end on the West Coast. Hepossesses a premier combination of size, athleticism and blockingand catching ability; he is as complete a tight end to come fromthe West in some time.” The game will be telecast live on NBC.Kahlil McKenzie from Clayton Valley Charter played in the 2015Bowl. He was Asiasi’s teammate in 2013 at De La Salle.

WINTER PROGRAMS OPEN AT ALL OUT SPORTS LEAGUESWinter programs are now open for signups in Clayton

offered by All Out Sports Leagues. Youth basketball signups aretaking place with the league starting Jan. 9. Thanksgiving andChristmas break basketball clinics for boys and girls in firstthrough 10th grades are also accepting signups. Blaze competi-tive team tryouts for baseball, basketball and girls volleyball areupcoming later this year. For complete information on All OutSports programs, visit alloutsportsleague.com.

S p o r t s S h o r t s

Mt. Diablo High School inductsSports Hall of Fame Class of 2015

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Concord Pioneer

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Cake bosses stir up good works“Let them eat cake!”

Marie Antoinette supposedlydeclared during her shortreign of France. The Queen’sperspective may not havebeen the most appropriate atthe time, as the French Revo-lution was in the making, butthis historic statement,almost 250 years later, has amuch more meaningful, moreresounding sentiment thatthe Contra Costa Cake &Sugar Society has fullyembraced. Cake makes every-thing better.

Founded in 2006, CCC-SAS is a volunteer, non-profitorganization dedicated tosharing, promoting, encour-aging and spreading theappreciation and practice ofthe art of cake decoratingand all confectionary artforms.

Arlene Lewandowski has

been a member of CCCSASfrom the beginning. Respon-sible for the groups’ newslet-ter, Lewandowski knows thegroups’ recipe for success.“From professional tonovice, our members are hereto develop and refine theircraft. We conduct hands-onworkshops that take place ateach of our monthly meet-ings, but more importantly,the group is a network ofsupport, morale and fun.”

This past weekend, CCC-SAS had their eighth annualCake & Sugar Art competi-tion, where a wide range ofparticipants debuted sweetconfectionary treasures. Chil-dren, as young as 3-years-oldsubmitted Halloween-inspired cookies. Guestscould also admire beautifullyembellished wedding cakes,using the latest design tech-niques. There were also aseries of miniature flowerpots, a happy seeping teapotand cups, a cake depictingimages of Day of the Dead,cupcakes inspired byTiffany’s, a lovely Mexicangelatin creation with swim-ming fish, an enchanted cas-tle fit for a queen, and evenchicken and waffles.

Marla Erojo, owner of“Cakes Made by M.E.,” creat-ed the chicken and wafflescake with a miniature “pour-ing” pitcher of syrup, prima-rily made of molding choco-late. The project took Erojoabout a week to complete.“My daughter and I could eatbreakfast all day, so seemedlike a perfect project,” shesaid.

Beyond the sprinkles, glit-ter and sparkles, CCCSASuses their creativity andunique skill set to support oftwo local children’s organiza-

tions; the Court AppointedSpecial Advocates of ContraCosta County and CalicoHouse of Alameda County.The group provides decorat-ed birthday cakes to childrenand young people within thefoster system to both ofthese agencies. The thoughtprocess behind this act is thatif a child sees someone carefor them on their special day,they will stay strong through-out their life beyond the fos-ter care years. CCCSAS alsoprovides Calico House withthe funds to purchase ginger-

bread house supplies for theirannual holiday party. Themembers of CCCSAS alsovolunteer their time andexpertise to assist the chil-dren in building and decorat-ing these confectionary holi-day treasures.

For more information onthe CCCSAS, visit:www.cccsas.org. For more informa-tion on the Court Appointed Spe-cial Advocates of Contra CostaCounty and Calico House ofAlameda County, visit www.ccco-casa.org and www.calicocenter.org.

JENNIFER LEISCHER

Correspondent

Sylvia Huerta of Claytonclaimed top prize in the gin-gerbread competition withan imaginative tea setting.

Jennifer Leischer

CAKE SOCIETY ARLENE LEWANDOWSKI took home a blue ribbonfor her planter pot cupcakes at the annual Cake & SugarArt Competition in Concord earlier this month.

If you are an HGTV orDIY fan, you may have stum-bled across the Tiny Housemovement. A tiny house isclassified as a home less than400 square feet and is typical-ly mounted to a trailer so itcan be moved easily.

Concord High will bejoining this growing trend, asthe students in Civil Engi-neering and Architecture andROP Construction Techcourses will work together todesign and build their veryown Tiny House, consistingof 190 square feet of livingspace. Students in ROP Con-struction Tech will interviewfor job openings for posi-tions such as project manag-er, superintendent, foreman,project engineer, etc. basedon industry standard jobdescriptions. These roles willbe put into practice in theconstruction tech class as thestudents build their actual“Tiny House” project.

Tom Trowbridge, whoteaches both courses alongwith Woodworking androbotics, has led the charge inall respects from design,funding and local businesssupport. CHS has developed

many great local partner-ships, who have committedto helping the project. Thisincludes Tumbleweed TinyHouse Company for provid-ing the tiny house designplans, Ashby Lumber for

supplying all the framing andsheathing materials, WestCoast Windows for the dona-tion of custom windows, andHeieck Supply for providingall plumbing materials andfixtures.

We are still looking forcommunity partners whowould like to give back totheir community, be part ofsomething self-sustaining,and help inspire our futureengineering, design andbuilding professionals. Helpus build the future.

As Halloween approaches,Concord High School stu-dents are preparing to partic-ipate in the fifth annual ScareAway Hunger. Every year forthe last five years, ConcordHigh has teamed up with theFood Bank of Contra Costaand Solano and the TesoroGolden Eagle Refinery tocollect can foods/non-per-ishable items and monetarydonations near or on the dayof Halloween.

One of the most interest-ing aspects of Scare AwayHunger is that it’s a competi-tion between different pro-grams on campus. This yearband, leadership, choir, base-ball, softball, and boys andgirls Soccer will be compet-ing against one another to seewho can raise the mostpounds of food. The winneris determined by which groupis able to collect the mostpounds of food and money

donationsAs Scare Away Hunger

enters its fifth year, Concordstudents have used this eventas a great way to learn aboutthose less fortunate in ourcommunity. Scare AwayHunger lets students make ahuge impact on the one ineight of our neighbors whodirectly benefit from theservices of the food bank.

ASB President KarleeKronquist, says ,“I feel thatthe friendly competition andopportunity for service drivesus to do our very best in thegathering the most we can tobenefit the food bank andbeyond.”

Scare Away Hunger willbe on Thursday, Oct. 29 thisyear, and students will be col-lecting between the hoursof 6 to 8:30 p.m.


There are many miscon-ceptions about the studentsand staff at Mount DiabloHigh School. Many rumorsdepict students as lazy trouble-makers and teachers as lessfortunate for teaching here.

Despite these beliefs, weprove to ourselves andour community that we do notdeserve such a reputation. Infact, MDHS is one of themost accepting and diverse

campus in the district. Thursday, Oct. 15 we cele-

brated a bully-free environ-ment by wearing purple on aday known as Spirit Day. OurKey Club — a student ledservice club — has reached anattendance of 86 students.Key Club is very active in ourcommunity, and on Sunday,Oct. 17, the club in theAlzheimer’s Walk inWalnut Creek.

MDHS also hosts monthlycampus clean-ups — our nextclean-up is planned for Thurs-day, Oct. 22.

We are also known for thebest multicultural rallies, whichembrace the different culturesat MDHS.

Negative statementsregarding teachers are alsowrong. Teachers atMDHS provide support inevery way they can. Somechoose to cut short their per-sonal time and chaperone ourevents. Many concern them-selves with our education, andsome even go as far as to hoststudy sessions outside ofschool or stay after hours tohelp students on schoolwork.

MDHS is a high schoolthat embraces diversity andcontributes, as a whole, tothe community within ourwalls and to the communityaround us.

Clearing upthose false impressions

Concord High‘Scares AwayHunger’

Aasim Yahya is a sophomoreand student body vice president. Hehas a passion for basketball andplays on the school team. Send com-ments to [email protected]

Big ideas fromTiny House project

Rianne Pfaltzgraff

CONCORD HIGHPRINCIPAL

Aasim YahyaCONCORD HIGHCORRESPONDENT

C o n c o r d H i g h

Send comments and questions to [email protected]

California State Superinten-dent of Schools Tom Torlak-son and Contra Costa CountySuperintendent of SchoolsKaren Sakata recently visitedMount Diablo High School fora look at our CTE/ROP(Regional Occupational Pro-gram) classes. Mount DiabloUnified School District Super-intendent Nellie Meyer andAssociate SuperintendentChris Holleran also joined theentourage. Torlakson is a for-mer science teacher at MDHS.

The welcome sign by the frontdoor reminded him, “Once aRed Devil, always a RedDevil!”

CTE/ROP is the ContraCosta County Office of Edu-cation’s career training pro-gram designed for high schooljuniors and seniors. The goalof CTE/ROP is to help stu-dents gain knowledge andskills for future careers. Inaddition to the skills developedfor specific fields, each classhelps students develop a

résumé, review effective inter-viewing techniques and identi-fy sources of employment.CTE/ROP is also an excellentway to prepare for college.Internships and hands-onexperience provide studentsthe opportunity to “try-out”career choices before investingtime and money in college orpost-secondary training andhelps students develop skills togain higher paying part-timework to help pay for collegeexpenses.

Our guests started theirvisit in the ROP Biotech classwhere Mr. Jones’ students werebeginning a lab that had themmaking cheese. Torlakson satwith one of the lab groups andwas a valued contributor totheir discussion.

The group moved on to thewoodshop, where students inROP Advanced Woodworkingwere preparing to cut a largepiece of plywood into smallerpieces for the students in theIntroduction to Woodworkingclasses. Their teacher, Mr. Sea-man, insisted on safety glassesall around.

The next stop wasSerendipity, the restaurant onour campus, where Chefs Deb-bie and Kevin were workingwith students in their ROPCulinary Class. Finally, thegroup ended the tour viewingthe new growing towers andthe kitchen in the SustainableHospitality pathway with ChefCindy’s ROP CommercialFood Service class.

The Mount Diablo HighSchool CTE/ROP classes aredoing an excellent job of ful-filling the MDHS vision state-ment: We graduate studentsprepared for college, career,and civic responsibility.

M t . D i a b l o H i g h

SCHOOLS

Torlaksonreviews MDHS’sCTE/ROP classes


Liane CismowskiMDHS PRINCIPAL

Elisa GomezMDHS

CORRESPONDENT

Elisa Gomez is a senior at MountDiablo High School. Email her at [email protected].

The curtain is rising onthe Contra Costa School ofPerforming Arts (SPA), anew, tuition-free, public char-ter school set to open in thefall of 2016 in Concord,serving sixth through 12thgraders.

Organizers say that theschool will combine a “rigor-ous” academic program with“unparalleled” performingarts conservatory training.

“SPA is a unique andexciting educational opportu-nity for our community,” saysSPA founder and principalNeil McChesney. “Finally,Contra Costa can have accessto a specialized secondaryarts and academic programto meet the needs of our

diverse and abundant studenttalent.”

SPA will include:College and career

preparatory education with afocus on 21st century skillsthrough project-based learn-ing and an arts-integratedcurriculum. For example:graduation requirements forSPA are equivalent to theminimum eligibility (“a-g”)for UC and CSU admissions.“This is a higher bar than anyhigh school in our region,”McChesney says. “We believeall students can achieveexcellence with the rightenvironment, time and sup-port.”

Pre-professional per-forming arts training in one

of four Conservatories: The-ater, Dance, Music (vocal andinstrumental), and Produc-tion & Design, with access topremier performance venuesincluding the Concord Pavil-ion for exhibiting the stu-dent’s talent and engaging thecommunity in an arts culturerenaissance.

SPA has already begunpreliminary enrollment forstudents. The school will beaccepting students in grades6 through 10 for year one(2016-17).

For more information aboutSPA, including how to enroll yourstudent, visit www.cocospa.org orcall 925-690-8600.

Performing Arts Charterstarts enrolling students

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS TOM TORLAKSON — whoattended Mt. Diablo High School — checks out the chop-ping of bell peppers with County Schools SuperintendentKaren Sakata, pictured peeking out from behind studentsSarah and Maribel. The two were learning more aboutMDHS’s CTE/ROP classes.

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It’s Homecoming Weekat Northgate High School,and the halls are buzzingwith excitement. Not onlyare students looking for-ward to the daily dress-upthemes throughout theweek, but the HomecomingDance is the hot topic ofdiscussion throughout thestudent body. This dance isgoing to be a first in North-

gate history: for the firsttime ever, the Northgateadministration is allowingoutside guests to attend thedance itself.

Never before have thestudents of Northgate beenable to ask someone from adifferent school to attendthe dance with them. Theold administration wasafraid to allow guests for

liability purposes; theydidn’t want an overwhelm-ingly large amount of stu-dents that they would notbe able to control. However,there have been severalchanges in the administra-tion of Northgate in thepast year, and the new offi-cials at the school have adifferent view of the situa-tion.

I was attending a meet-ing for the school’s SiteCouncil when the topic wascame up. Principal MichaelMcAlister told the groupthat the change was because“administration trusts thestudents.” They have seenhow welcoming our studentbody has been to outsidersat various sporting eventsand other activities, and feelconfident that we can bejust as welcoming to outside

guests at the dance. That iswhat is most important tothem. In fact, the new prin-cipal and vice principals hadno idea why we were notallowing guests to the danceto begin with.

The student body isthrilled with this newchange. Many are excited tohave their significant othersor good friends who do notattend Northgate accompa-ny them to the dance; oth-ers are just excited to meetnew people. Whatever thecase, this change comes as abreath of fresh air for theBronco community, and wehope it is a tradition we areable to keep going.

Homecomingweek bringsnew tradition

Mick UcciferriNORTHGATE

CORRESPONDENT

N o r t h g a t e H i g h

Mick Ucciferri is a senior at North-gate High School. Send questions andcomments to [email protected]

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In next year’s presidentialelection, most students from theClass of 2016 will be able to casttheir vote for the President ofthe United States. As students,they should take advantage ofthe time they have left to under-stand their responsibilities andlearn how to handle them.

With the presidential primar-ies just around the corner, theprocess of determining the nextpresident has already begun.Popular names such Donald

Trump and Hillary Clinton areconstantly being mentioned inthe media. However, there areother candidates that studentsfeel would best represent thecountry.

There is one candidate whois rapidly rising through the pollsthat is garnering support fromstudents at Clayton Valley,Bernie Sanders.

Sanders is the senator fromVermont running for the Dem-ocratic nomination. He is cur-

rently leading the assumedDemocratic front-runner,Hillary Clinton, in the first twoprimary states, New Hampshireand Iowa. His platform is receiv-ing the support of many pro-gressives who are frustrated withthe current state of the country.His campaign aims to addressprevalent issues like corruptionof money in politics, collegetuition, and police brutality—issues that seem to be left unan-swered and unaddressed by

other candidates. While othercandidates may run on the plat-form of stirring up controversy,Bernie supporters argue that thedriving force behind his cam-paign is serving the interest ofthe American people. Accordingto many progressive Americans,they assert that they “Feel theBern.”

C l a y t o n V a l l e y C h a r t e r H i g h Many seniorswill cast first vote in 2016

When the students ofClayton Valley Charter HighSchool look back on the 2015-16 school year, they will beable to take great ownership ofthe positive climate and cul-ture of the school. Underthe guidance of ActivitiesDirector Greg Rosewell andleadership of Associated Stu-dent Body PresidentHosna Opeyani, CVCHS stu-dent leaders are stepping upand re-defining their “studentvoice.”

As the school yearapproached, I met with ASBsenior officers who expressedtheir desire to have studentopinions shared regardingschool culture and the plan-ning of campus activities.What has transpired is nowtaking student voice to a new

level. I am proud of their ini-tiative to accept these leader-ship roles and undertake newresponsibilities on behalf ofthe entire student body.

Currently, the CVCHS stu-dent leadership has takenover the multitude of studentevents on campus for this year.Student leaders from eachclass are assigned to an admin-istrator who models relation-ship building. Key studentleaders are writing for ourlocal newspaper, servingalongside administrationon committees for parentinvolvement and event man-agement, and mentoringour freshmen classthrough our Link Crew pro-gram.

Those attending our homefootball games will witness

a new activity inspired by ourstudent leadership – FridayNight Tailgate Party. It’s agreat opportunity for CVCHSstudents to demonstrate tothe community at large ourenthusiasm and support forour school’s athletic teams.

The pride at the school isunprecedented and with goodreason — our students aremaking their experience exact-ly what they want it to be.

Studentsleading thecharge Jeff Eben

CVCHSPRINCIPAL


Tommy VoTEEN SPEAK

Tommy Vo, 16, is a senior atCVCHS. He hopes to become apublished writer and attendUCLA.”

STUDENTS (CLOCKWISE) HOSNA OPEYANI, MICAELA MUZIO, BAND DIRECTOR JOSEPH SCOTT, Celine Just and Ashlyn Hingemihlemeet to discuss how students can assume leadership roles in school activities.

Contra Costa MusicalTheatre (CCMT) serves up awinner with its current pro-duction of Terrence McNal-ly’s “The Full Monty,” run-ning through Nov. 7 at Wal-nut Creek’s Lesher Center.

Set in Buffalo, New York,the musical tells of six unem-ployed steelworkers so des-perate for cash that theydecide to put on a strip showto compete with the Chip-pendales show that theirwives and girlfriends flock toattend. In order to garneraudience, they agree to bare itall – the full monty.

But this isn’t just a showabout men taking off theirclothes. McNally has addedlots of poignant backstory on

his characters, and all ofCCMT’s talented actors do afine job bringing them to life,especially Noel Anthony(Jerry), R. Martin Newton(the weight-challenged Dave),Taylor Bartolucci (Vicki) andcomedian Zoe Conner(Jeanette).

While David Yazbek’ssongs may not be memorable,this production certainly is.For tickets, call 925-943-SHOW or go to www.lesher-artscenter.org.

Onstage RepertoryTheatre is having lots of funwith its parody of AntonChekhov’s “The CherryOrchard.” Playwright TroyHeard has taken Chekhov’scharacters and put them inhis new comedy “CherryOrchard of the LivingDead,” running Oct. 23through Nov. 7 at the Camp-bell Theater, 636 Ward Street,in Martinez. For tickets, call925-518-3277.

Next up at Onstage Rep isConcord playwright KathrynG. McCarty’s adaptation of“(Not) A Christmas Carol,”running Dec. 2 through 13.

“I’ve integrated a lot ofhumor while modernizing thestory,” McCarty says. “I want-ed to create a comedy thatwas easily accessible totoday’s audiences, yet stillheld true to Charles Dickens’story. I kept wondering, howhe would incorporate worldevents if he were writing hisstory today?” In McCarty’sadaptation, EbeneezerScrooge (Mark Hinds), leadsthe world’s first “Oil andBank Consortium.”

The show runs at 8 p.m.Thursdays through Saturdays

and at 2:30 p.m. Sundays.There is a $5 (plus non-per-ishable food bank donation)preview at 8 p.m. on Wednes-day, Dec. 2, Thursday showsare $10 with Friday – Sundayprices $15 general; $12 sen-iors and $10 students. Fortickets, call 925-518-3277 orgo towww.Onstagetheatre.home-stead.com.

Clayton Theatre Com-pany is busy putting the fin-ishing touches on its produc-tion of “Urinetown.” Run-ning Oct. 30 through Nov. 15at Walnut Creek’s LesherCenter, the musical takesplace in a Gotham-like citywhere private toilets arebanned and residents of the20-year drought have to payto use public toilets.

“With our on-goingdrought in Northern Califor-nia, it seemed like the perfecttime to do this show,” saysRoxanne Pardi, who co-directs with Watts. The castincludes Michelle Ianiro(Penelope Pennywise), Bur-ton Thomas (Bobby Strong),Jarusha Ariel (Hope Clad-well) and Max Minton (Cald-well). For tickets to “Urine-town,” call 925-943-SHOWor go to www.lesherartscen-ter.org.

Meanwhile, CenterREPertory Company pres-ents “Vanya and Sonia andMasha and Spike.” Written byChristopher Durang anddirected by Mark Anderson

Phillips, the show will runOct. 23 through Nov. 21 atthe Lesher Center for theArts in Walnut Creek.

All is well for siblingsVanya and Sonia in theirmundane world until theyreceive a surprise visit from

their fading movie star sister,Masha, with her new boy toy— and a big announcement.

For more information goto www.CenterREP.org orcall 925.943.SHOW (7469).

Tri-Valley RepertoryTheatre has as treat in storefor audiences as it presents alush production of “Jekylland Hyde: The Musical,” Oct.24 through Nov. 8 at theBankhead Theater, 2400 FirstStreet, in Livermore. Thestory follows scientist Dr.

Jekyll, whose recent discov-ery turns him into a horrify-ing character. Directed andchoreographed by ScottMaraj, the production fea-tures Christopher Sanders asJekyll-Hyde with MorganBreedveld as his fiancée,Lucy. Gorgeous costumes, anelaborate set and a fullorchestra should make this aproduction a must-see. Fortickets, call 925-373-6800 orgo to www.trivalleyrep.org.

Pittsburg CommunityTheatre also has a busy fallplanned with something foreveryone. Coming Nov. 20through 22 is the Broadwaysmash hit “13 The Musi-cal.” This hilarious coming-of-age musical features teensfrom the Pittsburg, Antioch,Brentwood and Concordareas. Tickets are availablenow through the CaliforniaTheatre Box office, 925-427-1611.


T H E A R T S

SALLY HOGARTYSTAGE STRUCK

Sally Hogarty is well knownaround the Bay Area as a newspa-per columnist, theatre critic andworking actress. She is the editor ofthe Orinda News. Send commentsto [email protected]

Gigi Benson as1950s Manhattan witch Gillian Holyroyd, with Simon as Pyewacket, her familiar.In John van Druten’s

“Bell, Book & Candle”Fri-Sat-Sun at 7:30 pm, Through Nov. 8

Performing at the Pacific Boychoir Academy215 Ridgeway (2 blocks off Broadway) in OaklandTickets $20 at www.PiedmontOaklandRep.org

Piedmont OaklandRepertory Theatre presents

Robert Sholty and DC Scarpelli

Rebecca Davis, Christopher Sanders,Morgan Breedveld star in lush produc-tion of “Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical,”Oct. 24 through Nov. 8 at theBankhead Theater in Livermore.

KATHRYN MCCARTY

R. Martin Newton as ‘Dave’ and Noel Anthony as ‘Jerry’are best friends ready to bare it all in ‘The Full Monty,’ nowat the Lesher through Nov. 7

Sarah Piane as the Ghost of Christmas Past and MarkHinds as Scrooge take a new look at the classic in ‘(Not) aChristmas Carol’ at the Campbell Theatre 636 Ward Street,Martinez

Diablo Ballet will kick offits 22nd season of celebrat-ing the power of dancewith “A Swingin’ Holidayand More,” Nov. 13 through15 at the Del Valle Theatrein Walnut Creek.

The 2015 Edition of “ASwingin’ Holiday,” was creat-ed in 2012 by Sean Kelly,former resident choreogra-pher for the national tour ofthe musical “BillyElliot” and former principalof Houston Ballet.

Set to the exhilaratingmusic of the 1930s and 40s,the show includes holidaytunes by legends DukeEllington, Glenn Miller, Nat“King” Cole and WyntonMarsalis, as well as jazzy ren-ditions of Tchaikovsky’sThe Nutcracker Suite, per-formed by the Diablo BalletSwing Orchestra, under themusical direction of GregSudmeier.

The program also fea-tures the Diablo Ballet Pre-miere of the award-winning,classical “TchaikovskyDances” duet by NorbertVesak, set to Tchaikovsky’sscore from theopera, “Eugene Onegin,”which made famous by theinternationally renownedduo Cynthia Gregoryand Fernando Bujones.

For tickets/info go towww.diabloballet.org or call theDiablo Ballet office at 925-943-1775.

Diablo Ballet swingsinto the Holidays

‘Monty,’ ‘Jekyll,’ ‘Living Dead’ kick off strong fall season

Richard SchwabEdwin Peabody, Michael Wedgley, Anne Baker and SiobhanO'Brien are featured in ‘Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead,’ aparody on the Chekov classic, now at the Campbell in Martinezthrough Nov. 7.

The cast of Clayton Theatre Company’s ‘Urinetown’warmsup for the rambunctious musical running Oct. 30 throughNov. 15 at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.

IN CONCORDMondays Off the GridRotating lineup of eight food trucks; live music from local musi-cians. Food trucks 5 – 9 p.m.; music 6 – 8 p.m. Grant Street be-tween Salvio Street and Willow Pass Road, Concord.offthegridsf.com.

Tuesdays Farmers’ MarketTuesdays year round. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Todos Santos Plaza,downtown Concord. cityofconcord.org.

Nov. 5Business and BrewsBusiness expo and mixer, hors d’oeuvres, beer samples. Spon-sored by the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce. 4 – 7p.m. Crowne Plaza Hotel, 45 John Glenn Drive, Concord. Freeadmission. concordchamber.com. 685-1181.

IN CLAYTONOct. 26Start Smart ProgramElena Noble, Start Smart facilitator for the American Associationof University Women, speaks about progress for this program inContra Costa County. Start Smart grew out of the 2005 nation-wide AAUW WAGE Project. Start Smart is designed to enlightengraduating college women about the gender wage gap andsalary negotiations for the purpose of receiving equal pay forequal work. 7:30 p.m. Diamond Terrace, 6401 Center St., Clay-ton. Free. For more information, call Jeanne at 672-3672.

Nov. 5RosiesCome hear the personal stories of Rosies, women honored fortheir contributions to the World War II effort. Sponsored by theClayton Historical Society. Potluck at 6 p.m.; society members’annual meeting and election at 6:30 p.m.; program at 7 p.m. Di-amond Terrace, 6401 Center St., Clayton. Free admission; dona-tions benefit Clayton Museum. www.claytonhistory.org.672-0240.

ON THE MOUNTAINSave Mount Diablo programs listed are free unless otherwisenoted. Go to savemountdiablo.org and click on Activities/GuidedHikes for more information. 947-3535.

Oct. 24Hanson Hills HikeA short, steep hike of SMD’s newest property. 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.Meet at Park and Ride lot on Peacock Creek Drive, Clayton. Toregister and for more information, contact [email protected].

EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENTThru Oct. 25“Brighton Beach Memoirs”Bittersweet memoir that evocatively captures the life of a strug-gling Jewish household. Resurrection Ministries, 1275 FairviewAve., Brentwood. $8-$20. thebrentwoodtheater.org.

Thru Nov. 7“The Full Monty”Heartwarming, upbeat comedy performed by Contra Costa Musi-cal Theatre. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., WalnutCreek. $45-$60. lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Thru Nov. 22“Monstress”Exploring the resilience of a community struggling to find a homein the ever-shifting sands of the American dream. Strand Theater,1127 Market St., San Francisco. $35-$95. act-sf.org.

Oct. 23The Great PumpkimprovPresented by Trapped in a Rumor Improv. 8:15 p.m. Lesher Cen-ter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $15. lesherartscen-ter.org. 943-7469.

Oct. 23 – Nov. 7“Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead”An uproarious horror romp. Onstage Theatre at the CampbellTheatre, 636 Ward St., Martinez. $12-$18. [email protected]. 518-3277.

Oct. 23 – Nov. 21“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”Madcap Chekhovian mash up. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $33-$53. centerrep.org.

Oct. 24Improv SpooktacularPresented by Ready or Not Improv. 8:15 p.m. Lesher Center forthe Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $15. lesherartscenter.org.943-7469.

Oct. 24Tribute to Johnny CashPerformed by James Garner. 2 and 8 p.m. El Campanil Theatre,602 W. Second St., Antioch. $25-$27. elcampaniltheatre.com.

Oct. 27Awards BreakfastJoin community leaders to honor awardees. Sponsored by Monu-ment Impact. 7 – 9 a.m. Pleasant Hill Senior Center, 233 GregoryLane, Pleasant Hill. $50. monumentimpact.org.

Oct. 30 – Nov. 15“Urinetown”A side-splitting send up of greed, love and revolution in a timewhen water is worth its weight in gold. Performed by Clayton The-atre Company. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., WalnutCreek. $35. lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 7“The Official Blues Brothers Revue”The only duo in North America sanctioned by Dan Aykroyd andJudith Belushi to don the official hat and sunglasses and walk inthe legendary footsteps of Jake and Elwood Blues. 8 p.m. Califor-nia Theatre, 351 Railroad Ave., Pittsburg. $49. pittsburgcalifor-niatheatre.com. 427-1611.

Nov. 7 - 8“Russian Riches”Performed by Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. 2 p.m. Nov. 7,El Campanil Theatre, 602 W. Second St., Antioch. $7-$15. el-campaniltheatre.com. Nov. 8, Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $10-$30. lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 8ConcertBrad Hogarth makes his debut as music director and conductorof the Contra Costa Wind Symphony. 7:30 p.m. Lesher Center forthe Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $25. lesherartscenter.org.943-7469.

Nov. 11Veteran’s Day ConcertPresented by the city of Walnut Creek. 11 a.m. Lesher Center forthe Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. Free. lesherartscenter.org.943-7469.

Nov. 13 – 15“A Swingin’ Holiday”Diablo Ballet’s 22nd season opener. Del Valle Theatre, 1963 TiceValley Blvd., Walnut Creek. $44. diabloballet.org.

Nov. 13 – 15“November Nocturnes”Performed by Tapestry vocal and handbell ensemble. 7 p.m. Nov.13, United Methodist Church, 1543 Sunnyvale Ave., WalnutCreek. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14, Clayton Valley Presbyterian, 1578Kirker Pass Road, Clayton. 4 p.m. Nov. 15, Saint John’s Parish,5555 Clayton Road, Clayton. Free. tapestryringersandsingers.org.

Nov. 14ComedyPerformed by Erik “Awesome” Alston. 9 p.m. California Theatre,351 Railroad Ave., Pittsburg. $15-$25. pittsburgcaliforniathe-atre.com. 427-1611.

Nov. 14“Waterloo: The ABBA Concert Experience”Presented by West Coast Performing Arts Presenters. 8 p.m.Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $45.lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 15“Hello Gorgeous! A Live Tribute to Barbra Streisand”Presented by West Coast Performing Arts Presenters. 3 p.m.Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $45.lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 15“Too Old for the Chorus…But Not Too Old to be a Star”A musical revue about men and women who find themselves sud-denly 50. 2 p.m. El Campanil Theatre, 602 W. Second St., Anti-och. $10-$15. elcampaniltheatre.com.

Nov. 20“The Improv Games: Scuttlebutt – Part 2”Presented by Trapped in a Rumor Improv. 8:15 p.m. Lesher Cen-ter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $15. lesherartscen-ter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 20 – 21“Dorothy in Wonderland”Presented by El Campanil’s Children’s Theatre. El Campanil The-atre, 602 W. Second St., Antioch. $8-$12.elcampaniltheatre.com.

Nov. 20 – 21Holiday Dance ProgramPresented by Smuin Ballet. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 CivicDr., Walnut Creek. $56-$73. lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 20 – 22“13 the Musical”Hilarious coming-of-age musical about discovering that “cool” issometimes where we least expect it. California Theatre, 351 Rail-road Ave., Pittsburg. $10-$25. pittsburgcaliforniatheatre.com.427-1611.

Nov. 21IllusionistTimothy James performs. 2 p.m. Campbell Theatre, 636 WardSt., Martinez. campbelltheater.com. 518-3277.

Nov. 21Improv All-StarsPresented by Commander Doug Productions. 8:15 p.m. LesherCenter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $15. lesher-artscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 22Tribute to John DenverStarring Jim Curry. 3 p.m. El Campanil Theatre, 602 W. SecondSt., Antioch. $25-$27. elcampaniltheatre.com.

Nov. 22“War of the Romantics”Performed by the Diablo Symphony Orchestra. 2 p.m. LesherCenter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $33. lesher-artscenter.org. 943-7469.

Nov. 24 - 25“Giyera – The Musical”Story set in a small Filipino village during the Japanese invasionof WWII. Presented by Music Repertoire. 7:30 p.m. Lesher Centerfor the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $20.lesherartscenter.org. 943-7469.

SCHOOLSOct. 23 – Nov. 8“Into the Woods”Tony Award-winning masterpiece weaving together beloved fairytales about wishes, family and the choices we make. Diablo Val-ley College, 321 Golf Club Road, Pleasant Hill. $11-$21. dvc-drama.net.

Oct. 30“Trick or Troupe”A Halloween revue performed by Clayton Arts Academy Ad-vanced Drama Troupe. 8 p.m. Clayton Valley Charter HighSchool, Multi-Use Room, 1101 Alberta Way, Concord. $5 stu-dents; $10 general. For more information, [email protected] or call 682-7474, ext. 2678.

CHURCHES AND RELIGIONOct. 31Harvest FestivalGames, face painting, food. All ages and costumes are welcome.4 – 7 p.m. Faith Missionary Baptist Church, 4266 ThompsonDrive, Concord. Free. For more information, [email protected].

Oct. 31Harvest Festival and Trunk or TreatFamilies are invited to join the fun at the Clayton CommunityChurch. Come in costume with a bag for goodies. Games, raffle,refreshments. Prize awarded for best decorated vehicle trunk.1:30 – 4:30 p.m. 6055 Main St., Clayton. Free. To reserve a spotfor a vehicle in the Trunk or Treat or for more information, sendemail to: [email protected].

FUNDRAISERS2nd and 4th SundaysPancake BreakfastVeterans of Foreign Wars serve breakfast to the public: Eggs,pancakes, sausage, beverage. 8 – 11 a.m. VFW Post 1525,2290 Willow Pass Road, Concord. $5, $3 children under 12. vfw-post1525.org.

Oct. 23Fall FestGames, live entertainment, food, haunted house. 5 – 8 p.m.Sponsored by Parent Faculty Club. Woodside Elementary, 761San Simeon Drive, Concord. Free admission; food booth ticketsfor sale. woes-mdusd-ca.schoolloop.com.

Oct. 23Fall FestivalHaunted house, rock wall, air jumpers, pet rides, games, food.Benefits the students and staff at MDES. 4 – 8 p.m. Mt. Diablo El-ementary School, 5880 Mt. Zion Drive, Clayton. Free admission.For more information, contact [email protected].

Oct. 25Plant SaleFall Native Plant Sale Extravaganza to support annual BringingBack the Natives Garden Tour. Six nurseries. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Forlocations and more information, go tobringingbackthenatives.net.

Nov. 6Dinner and Movie NightDonations go towards mission trip to Honduras. Tacos and burri-tos at 5:30 p.m.; “The Chronicles of Narnia” at 6:30 p.m. FaithMissionary Baptist Church Gym, 4266 Thompson Drive, Con-cord. Free. For more information, email [email protected].

Nov. 6 – 7Annual Church Bell BazaarCrafts, bake sale, jewelry, Christmas store, drawing. Proceedsbenefit mission projects. 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Fri.; 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Sat.Concord United Methodist Church, 1645 West St., Concord. Freeadmission; lunch available for purchase. concordumc.org. 685-5260.

Nov. 13 – 14Gala and BoutiqueFriday night “Singing in the Rain,” wine, appetizers, music, auc-tion, wine pull, raffle and boutique; 6 – 8 p.m. Saturday ClassyCrafters Boutique and Country Kitchen continues; 10 a.m. – 3p.m. Proceeds benefit Saint Bonaventure Food Pantry. SaintBonaventure Large Hall, 5562 Clayton Road, Concord. Free ad-mission. 672-5800.

Nov. 14Boutique and Vendor FairShop popular vendor products and handmade boutique items. 9a.m. – 4 p.m. Faith Missionary Baptist Church Gym, 4266Thompson Drive, Concord. Free admission; lunch available forpurchase. For more information, email [email protected].

Jan. 9Surf and TurfCrab and tri tip dinner. Entertainment by Concord High LadiesFirst Choir. Proceeds benefit charitable works of Saint AgnesKnights of Columbus. 6 p.m. Saint Agnes, 3966 Chestnut Ave.,Concord. Tickets available starting Nov. 14. $40.concord.stagnesparish.net.

AT THE LIBRARYThe Concord Library is at 2900 Salvio St. Programs are free unless otherwise noted. See full schedule of events at ccclib.org or646-5455.Oct. 24: Sugar Skulls and Tissue Paper Flower Making, 10:15a.m. Registration required.

Oct. 26: Movie Monday, 7 p.m. Oct. 27: Human Tape Sculpture, 4 p.m. Registration required. Oct. 29, Nov. 19: Financial Education Workshop, 6 p.m.; 7:30p.m. in Spanish

Oct. 31: STEAM activities, 12 p.m. Registration required. Nov. 2: Extreme Science Magic, 7 p.m. Nov. 3, 10, 17, 24: National Novel Writing Month for tweensand teens, 4 p.m. Registration required.

Nov. 4, Dec. 2: Art Journaling, 1:30 p.m. Registration required.Nov. 5: College Planning Program, 6:30 p.m.

The Clayton Library is at 6125 Clayton Road. Programs are freeunless otherwise noted. See full schedule of events at claytonli-brary.org or call 673-0659.

Oct. 26, Nov. 9 and 23: Clayton Knits, 1:30 p.m.Oct. 28: “Maisie Dobbs” book discussion, 7 p.m. Oct. 29: Autumn stories and craft, 11 a.m. Registration required.Nov. 1: World War I feature movie, 2 p.m.Nov. 4: “Sisters in Crime” mystery writers panel, 7 p.m.Nov. 7: Water-Wise Gardening, 3 p.m.Nov. 7, 14, 21: National Picture Book Month, 11 a.m.Nov. 9: Clayton Library Book Club, 7 p.m.Nov. 9: Meditation with Andrew Allen, 7 p.m.Nov. 14: Mystery Program for Teens, 2 p.m.

GOVERNMENT1st, 2nd and 4th TuesdaysConcord City Council6:30 p.m., Council Chamber, Concord Civic Center, 1950 Park-side Dr. cityofconcord.org.

1st and 3rd WednesdaysConcord Planning Commission7 p.m., Council Chamber, Concord Civic Center, 1950 ParksideDr. cityofconcord.org.


Meeting dates and times for local clubs and or-ganizations are listed at concordpioneer.com.Click on ‘Links’

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMUNITY CALENDAR EVENTS BY 5 P.M. NOV. 9 FOR THE NOV. 20 ISSUE. ITEMS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY EMAIL TO [email protected]

CALENDAR

Louise Helen Cohen cele-brated her 100th birthday onTuesday, Oct.13 at a party and

tea dance given in her honor byher daughter Debbie Cohenand granddaughter KristelCohen, both of Concord. Theevent was held at the ConcordSenior Citizens Club on Park-side Drive.

Numerous friends Louisemade over her 40-year affilia-tion with ballroom dancingattended the event. Still veryspry, Cohen continues to enjoydancing and attributes that asher secret to a long life.

Former Senior CitizensClub president Diane Loren-zetti shared her memories ofwhen Louise and her late hus-band Don started the teadances at the senior center.They have been a roaring suc-cess for literally decades, shesaid.

Concord Mayor TimGrayson was on hand to pres-ent Cohen with a plaque fromthe City of Concord congratu-lating her on her 100th birth-day and thanking her for hertireless volunteer work. Cohenalso received letters of recog-nition and congratulationsfrom President and Mrs.Obama and Gov. Edmund G.“Jerry” Brown, Jr.

The highlight of the partywas when Grayson and Cohencut a rug together to herfavorite song, “Billie Jean” byMichael Jackson.

Cohen, originally fromStockett, Montana, and one offour daughters born to Marian-

na and Louis Catelli, was bornOctober 14, 1915. WhenCohen was 8- years old herfamily moved to Oakland, Cal-ifornia. She graduated fromOakland High School andattended business school.

She worked for H.C. Cap-well department store as anaccount clerk. Cohen met herhusband Don on a blind date,but it was love at first sight.They were married on May 4,1940, and spent 69 yearstogether. Dan, a truck driverfor Dreyer’s Ice Cream, moved

his family to Lafayette wherethey resided from 1951 to1971; the couple then relocatedto Concord where Cohen stilllives and continues her tirelessvolunteer work.

Many pet owners enjoydressing up their pets for

Halloween in cute or funnycostumes, but some pets likedressing up more than others.If your dog seems hesitantabout getting into the spirit ofHalloween, there are thingsyou can do to get a finicky dogto put on a costume and enjoythe holiday.

The first step is to pick outa costume that is comfortable.If your dog is unsure aboutcostumes then you probablywant something simple — per-haps a lion mane or a jestercollar or something like that. If

your dog is more amenable todressing up you can try a moreelaborate costume. Alwaysmake sure that the costumedoes not impede your dog’smobility or vision.

Most importantly, don’twait until the last minute to puton your dog’s costume. Starttraining him a couple of weeksbefore Halloween if possible.Make sure to repeat the follow-ing training steps and graduallyincrease his comfort level byincreasing the amount of timehe is exposed to the costume:

First of all make your dogis as relaxed as possible beforebringing out the costume. Thiscan be done easily by showinghim the costume and reward-ing him with some tasty treatsso he will have a positive asso-ciation with the costume.

Once he’s seen the costumeyou can lay it down near him.If he starts sniffing it or standson, it that’s a good thing. Butthat doesn’t necessarily meanhe will wear it right away. Givehim plenty of time toapproach the costume and get

comfortable with it.Once your dog seems com-

fortable around the costume,drape it over him for just a fewseconds while rewarding himwith a treat and praise. Don’tstrap anything on just yet. Lethim get used to the costumejust being draped over him.Repeat this several times, put-ting the costume on and takingit off. Be sure to praise yourdog and give treats intermit-tently as you extend the timethe costume is on your dog.

Next, try strapping the cos-tume on. Try to distract yourwith something entertaininglike a toy or a treat and use

praise. Make sure the costumefits comfortably so your dogcan move about freely.

Don’t expect your dog tolike the costume the first timeyou put it on. It might takesome time for some dogs toget used to the costume. Keepyour training sessions shortand simple. Don’t try to fightyour dog into wearing a cos-tume because you won’t win.Patience is the key. Make it apositive experience and have asafe and happy Halloween.


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Two-year-old Kramer is aconfident little guy who willfill your lap and arms withwarmth. He loves attentionand also loves adventure. Hewill make a great companiondog. We recommend Kramertake a Small Dog or BasicManners class where he canstart a new life with you with

the best paw forward. If youhave small children, we rec-ommend bringing them for ameet and greet before adopt-ing Kramer. He currentlyweighs 12 pounds.

The adoption fee for adultdogs is $250 and includes adiscount on the first six-weeksession of ARF U Manners

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Five-year-old Frida Kahlowill dazzle you with her gor-geous green eyes and hersweet personality. She lovesto cuddle as well as play andwill make a great addition toher new home.

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fee has been prepaid by agenerous donor.

Meet your forever friendat Tony La Russa’s AnimalRescue Foundation, 2890Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek,during adoption hours: Noonto 6 pm Wednesday & Thurs-day, Noon to 7 pm Friday,and Noon to 6 pm Saturday& Sunday. The primary care-taker must be present toadopt. ARF also encourageskids 16 and younger andcanine family members (dogadoptions only) to be presentduring the adoption process.

Would you like to be part of theheroic team that saves the lives ofrescued dogs and cats? Can youshare your talents to connect peopleand animals? ARF volunteers aremaking a difference! For more infor-mation see our website,www.arflife.org, or call (925) 256-1ARF.

Kramer and Frida Kahlo are ARF’s adoption stars for October

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A birthday party for the ages

CHRISTINE KOGUTSAVVY SENIOR

Christine Kogut is a marketingdirector for the Concord Senior Citi-zens Club. She has lived in the areafor 40 years and formerly worked forthe Contra Costa Times. To find out more about the Con-

cord Senior Center, call (925) 671-3320 or see the city’s website at concord.ca.us

Bicycle theft is a big problemall around the Bay Area, but witha little know-how and a few pre-cautions, reducing your chanceof a theft can be as easy as one-two-three.

STEP 1: REGISTERYOUR BICYCLE

This step is the most oftenoverlooked, but still very impor-tant. Having registration info onfile means that you will be ableto make a police report if yourbicycle is stolen, and it alsoallows the police or anyone elsewho finds your bike can get itback to you.

Registering a bicycle is free,and it takes just a few minutesvia the online form atwww.BikeEastBay.org/register.You will need to provide yourbike’s serial number (usuallyetched into the metal on theunderside of the frame) as well

as a photo of you and the bicy-cle, which helps to prove owner-ship. Or, come to the Bike Tentat the Thursday Todos SantosFarmers Market from 5 p.m.until dark and Bike Concord willhelp you register your bicycle onthe spot, and give it a free tune-up too.

STEP 2: USE A QUALITY LOCKDid you know that over 80

percent of all the bicyclesreported stolen at BART sta-tions were secured using only acable? A cable lock by itself canbe cut using shears in just a fewseconds, and offers almost noprotection at all. Upgrading to ahardened metal U-lock will cost$40 or more, but that is muchless expensive than replacingyour entire bicycle. Visit thewebsite www.BikeEastBay.org/discount for a list of bike shops

Tips to avoidbiketheftsROBERT PRINZ

BIKE CONCORD

See Bike Theft, page 19

MAYOR TIM GRAYSON PRESENTED LOUISE COHEN with a CityProclamation honoring her 100th birthday

A FloralExperience

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Flowers for all

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Avoid the howl from Halloween dress-up

Hard winter squashes (notthe tender zucchini and crook-neck squashes of summer) arenow flooding produce bins. But-ternut, acorn, hubbard, spaghettiand kabocha are among themost popular, not to mentionpumpkin.

Native to the Americas,these “veggies” (technically,they’re fruits) got their namefrom the Narragansett Indianword askutasquash whichmeans “eaten raw oruncooked.” While some NativeAmericans perhaps ate squashwithout cooking, virtually all ofthe winter squashes these days

are cooked before eating. Winter squashes come in all

sizes and shapes but almost allhave dense orange flesh.Spaghetti squash differ in thatthe fibers can be shredded outafter cooking to resemblestrands of spaghetti. All squash-es contain tons of beta caroteneand other vitamins and the factthey can be stored in a dark cool

spot for months after harvestwhile retaining lots of that nutri-tion is a real bonus.

The word “pumpkin” is usedin some countries to designatewinter squashes, particularlythroughout much of theCaribbean. If you’ve ever beento the Great Pumpkin Harvestin Half Moon Bay, you’ve nodoubt been astonished by the

huge pumpkins on display. Sorryto burst your bubble, they aren’ttrue pumpkins, but anothersquash bred to grow to gargan-tuan size. If that disclosure isn’tbad enough, it’s likely that thecommercially canned “pump-kin” on your grocer’s shelf isprobably Delicious, Boston Mar-row or a similar squash withmuch richer flesh — and actuallymore nutritious than pumpkin.

While you could eat even theskin on a winter squash after it’scooked, I don’t think it’s all thattasty and it has a weird texture.On the other hand, don’t over-look those seeds. Wash them upand brine them in some reallysalty water for about 30 minutes,pat them dry, drizzle with a littleoil or melted butter, season withyour choice of kosher salt, garlicpowder, cayenne, etc. and roastthem in a single layer in a 300-degree oven for 45 minutes, stir-ring occasionally, until goldenbrown.

Squash is beautifully tenderand delicious when roasted and

caramelized in the oven. Butmicrowaving is a great way to gettender squash on your table inno time at all. For acorn squash,cook for five minutes coveredcut-side down in the microwave.

Here’s a comforting cool-weather soup you can make inunder 30 minutes:

GOLDEN SQUASH BISQUEServes 6

1 tsp. rice bran oil¼ cup minced onion2 cups mashed cooked win-

ter squash1 ½ cups low-sodium

chicken or veggie broth1 tsp. curry powder½ cup plain Greek yogurtSalt and white pepper to

taste½ tsp. snipped fresh thyme

(garnish)

Heat a medium saucepanover medium heat and addthe oil and onion. Cook, stir-ring occasionally, until tender.Stir in the broth (start with acup and add more if needed),squash and curry powder.Bring to a boil then reduce toa simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the soup fromthe heat and stir in theyogurt. Taste, adding saltand/or white pepper asdesired. Serve in warm bowls,garnishing with the thyme.

You’ll probably seemounds of a roundyellow fruit withbrowning skinaround the marketright now. It’s thejujube. Also called aChinese date whendried, this fruit isslightly sweet with thetexture of an apple. It’s agreat snack or can be used inbaked goods or candied. Mostgrowers dry this little fruit.

It has a thin, edible skinsurrounding whitish flesh ofsweet, agreeable flavor. Thesingle hard stone contains twoseeds. The immature fruit isgreen in color, but as it ripensit goes through a yellow-green

s t a g e withmahogany-colored spotsappearing on the skin as thefruit ripens further. The fullymature fruit is entirely red.Shortly after becoming fullyred, the fruit begins to softenand wrinkle.

The fruit can be eaten after

it becomes wrinkled, but mostpeople prefer them during

the interval between theyellow-green stage

and the full redstage. At this stagethe flesh is crispand sweet, remi-niscent of anapple.

Here are a vari-ety of ways to enjoy

this tantalizing fruit:Salads: Enjoy in a

salad that uses apples orAsian pears. Toss with somewalnuts, sliced jujubes, and asweet vinaigrette.Breakfast: Slice thin and

add to oatmeal or yogurt foradded sweetness.Baked: Bake sliced jujubes

with pork chops in the oven,just like you would apples.

Stuffing: Chop and add toyour favorite poultry stuffingwith celery, onion, and spices.Jujube Chips: Slice thinly

and place in a single layer on aparchment-lined baking sheet.Bake at 250 degrees until dehydrated.


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Linda Wyner owns Pans on Fire,a gourmet cookware store and cookingschool in Pleasanton. Send suggestionsor questions [email protected]

Stuff your kitchen with sweet Jujubes

The Concord Farmers Market is inTodos Santos Plaza Tuesdays &Thursdays. See ad page 6 for hours.

Warm up with winter squashes

“Eat less, exercise more.”“Calories in, calories out. ““Burn them or store them.”What is wrong with these state-ments?

I will try to explain why acalorie is not a calorie and howthe food industry — and I meanindustry — is all about makingmoney, not building a healthy,vibrant person.

SO LET’S START WITH, WHY DO WE EAT?

1) To fuel our brains andnervous systems so our bodiescan function properly, thinkquickly, respond to life — thingslike stress and pressure fromoutside of us. Things we can’tcontrol.

2) To build and repair ourbodies so we can work, makelove, have fun … you get what Iam saying. To give us a goodquality of life.

3) Because we like food, itshould taste good and give uspleasure. We use food to cele-brate, and come on, we eat threetimes a day. It is at the center ofour life, not just for us but for all

living creatures. We eat to live. When we eat fresh, real

WHOLE food, not juiced food,we thrive. It’s truly the fountainof youth.

So why do we get so sick?Doctors know 75 percent of alldiseases can be prevented orreversed with a diet change.

WHY ARE WE NOTLISTENING?

It’s not about cutting downthe calories, it’s about changingthe food from less processedfiber and sugar to fresh andREAL food.

Fiber is the key. And notadded cereal fiber but realwhole food. What’s so greatabout fiber? It slows theabsorption of sugar, adds bulkto the diet, which, by the way,helps you feel full longer andfeeds the good bacteria in yourgut . Carbohydrates are the notthe enemy, they are your firstline of defense.

I struggled with my weightand health for years, from onecrazy diet to another, alwaystrying to control the amount Iate and balancing the exercise.Never once did a doctor ask mewhat I was eating.

“Increase exercise, decreaseyour calories.” Limiting sugar orprocessed food was consideredsafe and a way to count calories.In fact, the food industry is ourpartner as they have made iteasy with low-fat, low- caloriemeals. But are they the best onthe road to health?

Remember Metrocal? Howabout Aides candies? Or, justdrink hot water and it fills youup. My doctor told me to trythat when I was 16. The diet

industry grew and so did I. Inever knew that when yourbody released insulin it storedthe excess blood sugar (glucose)as fat and once it is stored as fatit can never be changed back toglucose. So when I cut calories Ialways felt tired.

Fiber is our friend and helpsprotect the absorption of sugarinto our blood stream. We needglucose to run our body, but itneeds to be a slow amount orour blood sugar rises, whichcauses a chain reaction: Ourbody releases insulin, which inturn causes our cholesterol togo up.

Don’t believe fad diets. Justeat smart.

For more on this, view YouTubeUCTV’s “The Skinny on Obesity”by Dr Robert Lustig.

Calories not the only answer to weight control

CINDY GERSHEN

FOOD MATTERS

DEBRAMORRIS

Pacific Coast Farmers Market

around the East Bay that can sellyou a quality lock and show youhow to use it correctly.

STEP 3: KNOW HOW ANDWHERE TO LOCK

When parking your bicycleit is important to make sure theframe and both wheels areeach locked, and that whateveryou are locking to is secured tothe ground. This can beaccomplished using two U-locks, a U-lock and a cable, or

a single U-lock with the frontwheel removed. In each casethe U-lock is used to secureboth the rear wheel and frameto the bike rack. Diagramsillustrating these locking tech-niques can be found atwww.BikeEastBay.org/theft.

Many bicycles are alsostolen when left out overnight,or from backyards or sheds.Instead, consider using asecure bike parking facilityovernight like BART’s Bike-

Link lockers, or lock your biketo an immovable, metal objectwhen stored in a shed orgarage at home.

Check out this column nextmonth for tips on how to drivesafely around people on bikes.

Bike Theft, from page 18

Robert Prinz is the EducationDirector for Bike East Bay, a part-ner with Bike Concord at the region-al level. Bike East Bay is workingto make the East Bay a better placefor bicyclists through education, com-munity events and advocacy. Sendcomments or questions [email protected].

Cindy Gershen is Chef/FoundingOwner of Sunrise Bistro & Catering inWalnut Creek, Mount Diablo HighSchool Sustainable Hospitality Pathwayteacher, founding board member of theWellness City Challenge and co-author of“The Fat Chance Cookbook.” Contacther at [email protected]


and a fellow servicemanmounted a machine gun into aPBY-5A, an amphibious air-craft parked against a bunker.At first, Kohler fed the ammo,but he could tell his mate wasfar off-target, so he mannedthe gun.

“I could hit a jackrabbit onthe run on the farm,” he said,“so even though I hadn’t beentrained on the gun I beganzeroing in on the targets.”

Kohler eventually servedsix years in the Navy andreturned to Minnesota in Mayof 1947. The initial euphoriaof the victory had worn offand the returning servicemenput their war experiencesbehind them.

“It was a shock,” he said.“Everything else had grown,but my town was still the same.I tried to make a go of it, butended up moving to the WestCoast.”

After stints at ColumbiaSteel and the paper mill inPittsburg and Antioch, Kohlerwent into construction in 1952and helped build most of thehighways in the area, some ofwhich people still travel on.

“I’m proud of my contri-butions,” he says. “My experi-ence in the service taught meto be fiercely independent.With limited education andoptions I did whatever I couldto increase my skills so I’dnever have to be dependent onothers.”

Many decades passedbefore Kohler spoke about hisexperiences. In 2010 he wentback to Pearl Harbor and, withthe help of a naval historian,he was able to stand on thespot where the first bomb hit.“Everything came back. Some-where on that day, I lost a 17-year-old youth and aged about20 years in one day.”

What Chuck Kohler wantsmost of all, is for people tolook to the beacon on Mt. Dia-blo that commemorates Pearl

Harbor from sunset on Dec. 7to sunrise on Dec. 8, andremember all the veterans whogave their lives so that we canenjoy our freedoms.

Pete Laurence, ArmyVietman Green BeretIt may have been a genera-

tion after WWII, but youngpeople, like Kohler, still felt thecall to fight for their country.

Pete Laurence, a Claytonresident since 1954, was inCanada in 1964 when he heardPresident John F. Kennedy’sspeech imploring the next gen-eration to do their part forAmerica. The 19-year oldreturned to the U.S. and enlist-ed in the Army with hopes ofbecoming a member of theSpecial Forces.

After a year in Korea as aMilitary Policeman, his tenacityand smarts got him into Spe-cial Forces training. This elitegroup, known as the GreenBerets, spent 16 weeks learningthe Vietnamese language andculture, as it would be theirmission to work directly withthe South Vietnamese people.As an A Team Weapons Ser-geant with his 12 man team, hewas eager to get to Vietnam tohelp the Vietnamese peoplefight Communism. His unitwas welcomed by the villagesthey were sent there to help.

Laurence says his unit as

something like “the PeaceCorp with guns.” They helpedthe villagers get their crops tomarket safely, delivered med-ical services, and became partof their community. In fact,Laurence was asked to be inseveral weddings during histime there. They also trainedthe villagers to defend them-selves against the North Viet-namese Communists. Theyoften found themselves inextreme danger, being firedupon or surrounded by theenemy. On occasion he barelyescaped, carrying an injuredsoldier on his back.

Laurence feels grateful forhis experience serving but alsofor making it home. One of hisgood friends from ClaytonValley High School did not.His buddy Jerry Novakovichwas killed in an ambush in1968. As an only child,Novakovich did not have to goto Vietnam, but he volunteeredto go anyway. Both theseyoung men had strong deter-mination to help their country,to do their part as the nextgeneration of Americans, andto fight for freedom. WhenLaurence returned from hisservice he talked with highschool and college studentsabout Vietnam, correcting mis-understandings about the U.S.role there. He was an adamantdefender of freedom becauseof what he saw with his owneyes – what the communistgovernment of North Viet-nam was doing to the peoplethere.

When Laurence visited theVietnam Memorial in Wash-ington D.C. he made rubbingsof the names of Novakovichand three other of his friendslost to the war. He keeps thoserubbings, framed, above hisdesk to remind himself everyday to make the best life he canbecause they didn’t get thechance to.

Deanna Ped, Air Force Senior Airman

in AfghanistanWhile it is hard to remem-

ber the veterans who didn’tcome home, it’s also difficultfor veterans to think of thosewho were left behind at home.

When Aiden Ped was a tinyinfant in 2009, his grandmoth-er would sing a song to him:“My mommy lies over theocean, my mommy lies overthe sea…”

That’s because Aiden’smom, Air Force Senior Air-man Deanna Ped of Concord,was serving in Afghanistan,and missed most of the firstyear of her son’s life.

Her husband, Matthew, aMarine, was also serving over-seas, in the heart of the warzone.

“Aiden was preemie, borntwo months early,” DeannaPed says. “He was in the hospi-tal for two months. Twomonths after he got out, I gotthe orders I was to report totraining. ‘We need boots on theground over there,’ I was told.”

It was heartbreaking, Pedsays, and an example of whatmany women and familiesfaced in this latest war.

Ped was part of an elite 13-person team stationed at Kan-dahar Airfield, and the first

night she arrived, they suffereda rocket attack. “It was a blur.We were trained to fall on ourstomachs, cover our heads andcross our legs.” It was the firstof many “incoming” incidentsshe would face in the eightmonths she was inAfghanistan, and they soonbecame routine — as did theblistering 120-degree heat.

“We had water, but it wasalways warn,” she says. “To thisday I can’t drink cold water.”

But Ped was a “queen” overthere, earning accolades fromthe highest echelons of the AirForce.

“Little did they know thatwhile I did great things duringthe day, I would wake upscreaming at night, or go offby myself to write poems tomy son. I felt so guilty to havehad to leave him.”

When she returned to thestates, she said that at first shewas “little more than a glori-fied babysitter to Aiden. “Thenone day, I was holding him infront of a mirror, and he waslooking back and forth, thensuddenly he smiled and bur-rowed his head into my chest.He recognized him mom. AndI’ve been mommy ever since.

Ped and Matthew bothretired from the service, andnow have two more children:3-year old Reid and 11-month-old Ailey. But both parents suf-fer from bouts of PTSD —sometimes severe.

“Being in the service gaveme strength and a strong workethic,” Ped says. “But it alsotaught me I’m never going toleave my kids again.”

Raymond Henderson, U.S. Army Sergeant,

World War II (MerchantMarines), Korea, Vietnam

Most veterans serve in onewar, and will say that’s enough.Others, however, find them-selves in throes of two, some-times three different conflicts.

Concord resident RaymondHenderson’s military storybegins in the Mission Districtof San Francisco, and ironical-ly ends up there three warslater.

Not much of student, Hen-derson, at 15, doctored hisbirth records in 1944 to gainentry into the MerchantMarines. “I was told by thecaptain of the ship we’d begone six weeks, and then I’dbetter ‘get my ass in school.’”Well, eight months later, hearrived back. He took one lookat Mission High School, wherehe was supposed to attend,turned around and re-uppedon a merchant ship. He sailedin wartime and peacetime, untilin 1947, he decided he wantedoff the ships. So he decided toenlist in the Army, and becomea paratrooper. Ironically, hewanted to see if he had anyanimosity against Japan — “Ilost two brothers in the Pacif-ic,” he says — so he chose tobe stationed there. “I ended upfeeling sorry for the Japanese,”he says. “There’s no glory inwar.”

He stayed there until 1950,when he joined the MilitaryPolice. He was on his way backto the Bay Area to take a leave,when the Korean War brokeout. He was part of the 7thMilitary Police Company, andsent back to Japan. His wasone of the last units to leavefor the Korean front, protect-ing supply lines. Eventually theChinese forced a retreat.

From there he headed backto San Francisco’s presidio, buthe didn’t connect with thefriends he had left behind. Sowhen he had a chance, he tooka post as an MP in Austria,where he met his wife. Hestayed there for several years aspart of an elite, multi-nationalpeacekeeping unit, butreturned to the states to Ft.Lewis, Washington, where hewas bodyguard for a general.But in 1964 he was called toactive duty again, this time inViet Nam.

“I wasn’t so lucky there,” hesaid. “I was injured in a mortarshell explosion and receivedthe Purple Heart.”

He was sent home and thistime, decided he would use histraining experience to helpothers.

His first assignment? Tak-ing over the “troubled” ROTCprogram at Mission HighSchool.

He loved the job, andended up staying there until he“graduated” with the class of1991 — even though he hasalready completed his GEDyears before.

“The military gave me aneducation and a love of mod-ern military history,” the 86-year-old says. “After all, I livedit.”

Mike Stanley, Navy Radioman Class 1,

VietnamThe one thing military

service does, as shown in Hen-derson’s story, is allow peopleto see the world. That was cer-tainly a benefit for Mike Stan-ley.

Stanley was 19 when Presi-dent John F. Kennedy wasassassinated in 1963. It made abig impact on him and hisfriends, many of whom enlist-ed shortly after that historicevent.

Stanley joined the Navy,and although his initial intent

was to be a Navy cook, he waspersuaded, based on his testscores, to train in radio/radar.

In 1967 Stanley wasassigned to the USS Enter-prise, the Cadillac of ships atthe time. This ship, under thecommand of Admiral McCain(Senator John McCain’sfather), did a tour in theTonkin Gulf supporting the airattacks in Vietnam.

On his second cruise withthe Enterprise a terrible acci-dent occurred during a trainingrun in the seas near Hawaii.Planes and the bombs theywere carrying exploded, withfires erupting and taking thelives of 33 of his shipmatesand injuring 343. This eventwas a sad note in an otherwiseproductive and successful 20year career in the Navy.Radioman Class 1 Petty Offi-cer Stanley eventually achievedthe E6 level and was stationedin many interesting placesaround the world, includingKodiak, Alaska; Honolulu,Hawaii, The Marshall Islands,The Philippines, TreasureIsland, and eventually, theConcord Naval Weapons Sta-tion.

During his time stationedin Honolulu he took a week-end job at a radio station andbecame a bit of a local celebri-ty with the nickname UncleSteamer, interviewing celebri-ties and hosting a talk show. Healso had a small part in anepisode of “Hawaii Five-O.”

A Concord resident since1977, Stanley and his wife of40 years raised two childrenhere and his advice for youngpeople: “Military service is agreat place to start your career.If you apply yourself youmight be surprised to see whatyou can be.” It certainly turnedout to be true for Stanley, see-ing the world, learning newskills, and having unique expe-riences. He retired aboard theUSS Enterprise in 1983 andenjoys sharing his militaryexperiences with students atConcord High School who aredoing research for historyclasses.

These veterans have beenfighting for America for a totalof eight decades, bringinghome memories — somegood, many bad — and scars— some visible, some just hid-ing beneath the surface — andtales of bravery and survivalthat will never get old. That’swhat we truly honor on Veter-ans Day.

Concord Pioneer writers JohnMiller, Kara Navolio and PeggySpear contributed to this article.

Freedom, from page 1

MIKE STANLEY

PETE LAURENCE

RAY HENDERSON

DEANNA PED

EARL J. “CHUCK” KOHLER

Kevan Santos, a 2006 De La SalleHigh School graduate, is serving over-seas aboard the U.S. Navy CoastalPatrol Ship USS Squall, living andworking at a Navy base in Manama,Bahrain.Petty Officer 2nd Class Santos is an

operations specialist on the Bahrain-based ship. Bahrain is a small islandcountry situated near the westernshores of the Arabian Gulf. “I love the amount of responsibility

I have,” said Concord native Santos.“Nowhere else would someone myage have the opportunity to work inthis environment with the amount ofresponsibility I have.“I like that I get to do a variety of

tasks throughout the ship,” adds San-

tos. “No one on board has just onejob and that breaks up the monotonyof ship life.”As a member of the crew, Santos

and other Squall sailors know they arepart of a forward-deployed navalforces team that is heavily relied uponto help protect and defend Americaon the world’s oceans. “I like travelingto places throughout the world,” saidSantos.As a sailor with numerous respon-

sibilities, deployed halfway around theworld away from friends and familyback home, Santos said he is learningabout himself as a leader, sailor and aperson. “I have become more self-reliant and learned how to be a betterteam player,” he says.

KEVAN SANTOS

Concord native patrolling Middle East waters with U.S. Navy

Sixty seconds into ScottCooper’s film “Black Mass,”Johnny Depp gives the mostfrightening close-up in hislong movie career. Annoyedat the actions of an associate,Depp sneers and his eyes dartback and forth. Depp playsnotorious gangster James“Whitey” Bulger. Beneath thethinning, slicked-back hair,disfigured teeth and ice-blue,“dead eye” contacts, it’ssometimes hard to tell that itreally is Johnny. Depp’s trans-formation into this menac-ing, larger-than-life figure isamazing.

Cooper films the gritty,late 1970s/early80s streets ofsouth Boston in subdued,dark tones. Even when

empty, these streets are scary.The supporting cast is full ofwell-known actors who do afine job buoying the filmwhen Bulger is off-screen.“Black Mass” is the best true-crime drama in many years.

Besides the dreadful“Pirates of the Caribbean”films, Johnny Depp hasn’tplayed the starring role in asuccessful film since 2005’s“Charlie and the ChocolateFactory.” With a string offailures including “Mortde-cai,” “Transcendence,” “DarkShadows,” “The LoneRanger” and “The Tourist,”Depp has starred in onepoorly reviewed film afteranother. “Black Mass”changes that. Depp gives per-haps his best performance.Even friends of the realWhitey Bulger said Depp “isWhitey.” Bulger is a verycomplex individual. He isfiercely loyal to his neighbor-hood and his family. Depp

finds the heart in the middleof a black soul during sceneswith Bulger and his son. Bul-ger is somehow able to sepa-rate family from his wicked

Who knew publishing wassuch a dangerous and glam-orous profession? Though “AMurder of Magpies” (Mino-taur Books; February, 2015) isjournalist Judith Flanders firstnovel, her whip smart bravuraand droll sense of humor makethis Murder a fun read.

“Oh, just kill me now!” Ididn’t shriek that out loud, justclenched my teeth more tightly.It was eight thirty, and alreadythe day couldn’t get muchworse. I’m always at my deskby eight not because I’m sowonderful, although I am, butbecause it’s the only time ofday when no one asks me any-thing, when I can actually geton with some work, instead ofsolving other people’s prob-lems.”

Meet snarky book editor,Samantha (Sam) Clair. Sam hasmanaged a fine career in thepublishing business, workingwith a stable of writers, severalof whom churn out pre-dictably good bestsellers. San isa sensible kind of gal. She’s thetype of no-nonsense personwho, when a meeting is dis-rupted by an unexpected visi-tor, will deal with it in her ownsensible way.

“It was probably a friend of

a friend, or someone who’d gotmy name somehow and wastrying to flog a manuscript, nodoubt about how his motherhad abused him, or provingthat his great-great-grandfatherwas Jack the Ripper. We don’thave to deal with real livemembers of the public often,but every now and again, onesneaks under the radar.”

One of Sam’s favorite writ-ers, gorgeous Kit Lovell, is areliably gorgeous writer. Kitcovers fashion and can dishabout the great design houseswith the best of them. But thistime, he’s written a potentiallylibelous biography of a fashionicon whose death appears tohave been murder. While cov-ering the human interest story

about one of the largest andmost respected fashion housesin Europe, Kit unintentionallyuncovers an internationalmoney laundering ring. Bigfashion is inextricably linked tobig money and neither arepleased with Kit’s revelations.

The manuscript provesincendiary. Before long, Samfinds herself embroiled in ahot mess. Kit vanishes, a copyof his manuscript is stolen, acourier is killed, and Sam’s flatis ransacked. This is quite a lotof excitement for a womanwho spends her days readingbooks.

After the break-in Sambegins to investigate her goodfriend and best author’s disap-pearance. Companions in herquest include her corporatelawyer-mother, Helena –who isastonishingly adept at untan-gling the kinks of the criminalmind — and a hunky policedetective, Jake Field.

As a single professionalwoman, Sam is aware of heroptions. She’s had relation-ships, and is currently satisfiedwith her quiet job, and herquiet flat, with its quiet upstairsneighbor, Mr. Ridigers. She tol-erates her young coworkerswith a thin layer of patience

while plotting ways to get herauthors placed on the bestbook club lists. A romanticentanglement with a cop isn’texactly her cup of tea.

In the end, Sam and Helenaand Jake solve the murder ofKit – and Helena uncovershard evidence to corroborateKit’s fashion house moneylaundering scheme. Sam takesJake as a lover, much to Hele-na’s approval.

“A Murder of Magpies” is agreat, fun, smart read. Don’tmiss it.


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“Our goal has been to pro-vide a more advanced level ofimmediate care along with theoutstanding healthcare experi-ence that patients deserve,”says Dr. Samaniego. That iswhy STAT MED is staffedonly by ER-trained profession-als, making it uniquely able tohandle diverse medical needs:routine care as well as moresevere injuries or illnesses, and

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and consistent feedback fromour patients has confirmed weare meeting that need forimmediate care without havingto go to an ER, which can betraumatic in and of itself –regardless of the severity ofthe injury,” says STAT MED’sDr. Allan Drabinsky.

“I am delighted we candeliver ER-quality care in acalm, comfortable, privateenvironment, where clients canavoid the chaos, crowds, longwaits and higher costs of a typ-ical ER visit.”As healthcarereform continues its transfor-mation, Dr. Samaniego notesthat ERs will only becomemore crowded and moreexpensive.

Though not every health-care need is an emergency,many patients may still requireimmediate attention. STATMED is equipped to deliver afull range of medical care withno appointment or referralrequired. Online registration is

available to expedite your visit,though walk-in wait times aretypically minimal. Patients canexpect to have one-on-onetime with the physician andaccess to lab tests and X-raysperformed on-site, allowingfor convenient, well-coordinat-ed care. STAT MED also spe-cializes in sports medicine,providing prompt team physi-cals and sport injury treatment,as well as travelmedicine/immunizations andoccupational medicine/workinjury requirements.

Both STAT MED locationsare open 7 days a week/365days a year; from 8 a.m. to 8p.m. Monday through Friday,and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.weekends and holidays. Twolocations are available: down-town Lafayette at 970 DewingAve., and 901 Sunvalley Blvd.

STAT MED is a participatingprovider for most insurance plans.Please visit www.statmed.com fordetailed information.

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CYNTHIA GREGORYFOR THE BOOKS

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Cynthia Gregory is a NorthBay nonprofit leader, writer of shortfiction, and author of a blog. Emailcomments and questions to Editor@Concord Pioneer.com

Depp’s Whiteyshows a ‘Black’ soul

JOHNNY DEPP transformedinto gangster, Whitey Bulger

See Black Mass, pg 22

Your yard can be a wonderto behold in the early hours ofthe morning as the sun beginsto rise. Dawn in the garden ispeaceful and fragrant. Duringthe afternoon, gardens andlandscapes spring to life. Youcan see lizards darting fromspot to spot, and bees, hum-mingbirds and butterfliessearching for nectar and flow-ers bending towards the sun.As evening approaches andnight begins to fall, what isthere to see? If your gardensand landscapes aren’t empha-sized by outdoor lighting, youmay see nothing. Aside frommoonlit nights, we must relyon exterior lighting to prolongour garden and landscapeenjoyment.

Illuminating ornamentaltrees within the landscape is

desirable. Position either twobullet-style or well- or flood-style lights within the driplineof an Bloodgood JapaneseMaple or multi-trunk FruitlessBonita Olive, and you’ll createan attractive feature. Whenuplighting, illuminate some ofthe trunk, as well as the crownof the ornamental for a pleas-ing light.

Pathway, or walkway light-ing, is a both a wanted andnecessary landscape or gar-den element. Spreadingbeams of light helps visitorsnavigate through the area, aswell as leads one’s eye to aparticular feature. There aremany styles to consider usingfor pathway/walkway light-ing, and whether you areseeking a traditional, contem-porary or casual look, theoptions are endless. It’s agood idea to place some dis-tance between pathway lights,as they are there to setparameters. Place lights nearinteresting plants to addcolor and texture.

Uplighting the façade ofthe home enhances the look

of both the home and thelandscape. Use bullet-stylelights to emphasize the cor-ners of the home, or archi-tectural detail. Fixturesshould be installed to framethe entry. Wall space can behighlighted with a soft-washflood or well-style light.

Indirect lighting will accenta sitting area. Consider usingoverhead lighting, lamps,lanterns or string. The naturallight given off by a fire pit islovely, too.

Hardscape lighting are thelights place within the hard-scape during new construction.If you are building a retainingwall, consider placing outdoorlighting beneath the top-cap.Outdoor lighting may also beinstalled into stairways, bar-beque islands, and aroundwater features.

One rule of outdoor light-ing is balance. Outdoor land-scape lighting needs to high-light not only the landscape,but the walkways, focal pointsand the structure itself. Theother rule is that less is more— we don’t need to illuminate

each and every boulder andshrub.

Landscape lighting has theability to catapult a garden orlandscape setting from typicalto exceptional.

Today’s technology regard-ing outdoor landscape lightingis innovative. Outdoor lightingcan now have color changes,and be dimmed or brightenedall with the swipe of your fig-ure on your smart phone. It isreally remarkable.

Many folks are interested inchanging the colors of theiroutdoor landscape lighting.Different shades of color cancreate different moods in thelandscape. This month in DanaHills, the Holmes-Turner resi-dence is casting a pink light ontheir new front landscape toshow support of Breast Can-cer survivors. For Halloweennight, their landscape will beorange.

lifestyle. The film is told from the

perspective of several of Bul-ger’s lieutenants, picked up bythe FBI and now turning ontheir former boss. RoryCochrane, in particular, givesa stellar performance as Bul-ger’s right-hand man, StevenFlemmi. Besides Bulger, thefilm focuses on FBI AgentJohn Connolly (Joel Edger-ton), a childhood friend ofWhitey’s. Connolly convinceshis fellow agents that allow-ing Bulger to “inform” on

the mafia of north Bostonwould be a smart move.Whitey sees it as an alliance;he gets protection and is ableto operate with impunitywhile also taking down hisrivals.

If there is a fault in thefilm, it is with the portrayal ofConnolly. At times, he seemsboth a genius agent and astar-struck fool. He not onlylooks the other way, but issometimes even complicit inWhitey’s crimes. Connollyswears loyalty to Whitey.

However, we never know if itis due to a specific event or ifConnolly is just holding ontoo tight to his childhoodhero. He puts his wife in awk-ward situations and per-suades one of his fellowagents that Whitey is toovaluable to lock up. Connollyis an intriguing character, butthe best parts about “BlackMass” revolve around James“Whitey” Bulger.

Cooper’s previous film,“Out of the Furnace,” wasteda terrifically creepy WoodyHarrelson by being overlypreachy and boring. With“Black Mass,” Cooper

learned from his mistake. Hecrafted a tight, suspensefulthriller. The film works evenif you already know Bulger’sstory. Johnny Depp, 30 yearsinto his career, is at the top ofhis game. Perhaps he hasfound a renaissance of sortsa la Matthew McConaughey.Let’s hope Depp continueschoosing to do films such asthis, just without the scarycontacts. A-


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Black Mass, from pg 21

Jeff Mellinger is a screen writerand film buff. He holds a BA inFilm Studies and an MFA in filmproduction. He lives in Concord.Email questions or comments to [email protected].

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