IS THIS YOUR PET? This cute dog was seen running down East 18th Street between A Street and Viera, in Antioch, Thursday evening at approximately 8:30 pm. The woman who was able to catch her will be posting her phone number below this article for the owner to contact. Or please contact the Antioch Animal Services on Monday at (925) 779-6989.

By Sergeant Santiago Castillo, Antioch Police Field Services Bureau

On Sunday, June 15, 2014 at approximately 10:14AM, the Antioch Police Department received a 911 call regarding a possible drowning victim near the Antioch Marina. Upon arrival, it was discovered that a group of men from Oakland were fishing along the waterfront for Father’s Day.

One of the members of the group entered the water in order to untangle his fishing line and slipped on a rock. During the fall, the male is believed to have struck his head on a rock and subsequently drowned before other members of the group could pull him out of the water. The victim in this case is a 52-year-old male from Oakland. According to other news reports, he has since been identified as Carlos Arriola.

This incident appears to be a tragic accident.

No further information is being released at this time.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By John Crowder

“Show me the money” could have been the theme for the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) School Board meeting held on Wednesday, June 11 at the School Services Building.

Early in the meeting, a presentation was made by District personnel regarding the development of AUSD’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). The development of an LCAP is a requirement of all Local Education Agencies (LEA’s), including AUSD, under the latest methodology used by the state of California in determining school funding. Its purpose is to describe how a school district plans to meet “annual goals for all pupils.” Further, all LEA’s are required to “obtain parent and public input in developing, revising, and updating LCAP’s.” In other words, it is supposed to allow parents and the public a say in how education funding is spent.

Tim Forrester, Associate Superintendent-Business and Operations for AUSD, made a presentation to the Board regarding the AUSD LCAP budget. Included in his presentation were a list of services currently provided by AUSD, including such things as counseling, additional student support for special education, instructional and bilingual aides, and numerous other items.

Several citizens spoke about the LCAP process during the public comments portion of the meeting. First to speak on the subject was Yuritzy Gomez, Community Organizer with the group Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO). The organization bills itself as “a multiracial, multigenerational, interfaith federation committed to building civic engagement and increasing public participation by those most affected by injustice and inequity in Contra Costa County.”

“Let us, community members, work with you,” Gomez said to the board, with respect to developing the LCAP.

Later in the meeting, she stated that she had provided a “Community LCAP” plan to AUSD via email earlier in the day. Several other community leaders, including representatives of the Education Trust-West, NAACP, Parents Connected, and RAAMP all spoke in favor of incorporating ideas from the Community LCAP in the AUSD LCAP.

Some of the Board members seemed to be taken aback by the public comments regarding the LCAP process.

Board member Diane Gibson-Gray asked why, based on the public comments, it appeared that AUSD and community members were separated on the process. Stephanie Anello, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, responded that the two plans were “not that far apart,” and that she had spoken with Gomez about the matter earlier in the day. In later remarks, she noted that the district had held 27 meetings and spoken with approximately 1000 parents, students, and community members about the process.

“We are committed to including as many of these recommendations as possible in our LCAP,” Anello stated.

A request to fund instrumental music in Antioch schools was also made during the public comments. Betty Lawrence, a former instrumental music teacher at AUSD and founder of the Antioch Strolling Strings, along with three others, all stressed the importance of music in providing a quality education.

Another issue that generated some controversy, even among Board members, was the adoption of two math programs for the local high schools, College Preparatory Math (CPM) and Big Ideas by Houghton Mifflin.

Julie Young, a mother of a student at Deer Valley High School, spoke in opposition to the adoption of the CPM books. Quoting directly from research studies conducted by college and high school mathematicians, she told the board that CPM was known to follow a “guess and check” method that, according to one author, produced “mathematical morons.” She derided the program as one that had been tried before, and had horribly failed. Her daughter, Megan Young, a former AUSD student, also spoke, reading a statement given to her by Deanna Donaldson, the parent of a Deer Valley High School student.

“Kids do the teaching, not the teachers,” she said.

Mrs. Young and her daughter were supported in their assessment of the program by board member Claire Smith. Even so, after Board Vice President Gary Hack received assurances from Anello that Antioch’s math teachers had vetted the curriculum, it was approved by a majority of the board.

The next board meeting, a special meeting dealing with the LCAP process, will take place beginning at 6:00 p.m. on June 18^th. The next regularly scheduled board meeting will take place on June 25^th at 7:00 p.m. Both meetings are slated to take place at the School Services Building, 510 G Street.

By John Crowder

The Antioch City Council approved a balanced operating budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year on a 4-1 vote at their regularly scheduled meeting on June 10th^. Council member Gary Agopian cast the lone dissenting vote.

The small, positive balance projected for the end of the budget cycle in 2015 ($2,914) was, in the end, only possible because of projections that Measure C funds totaling a little over $1.2 million will not have been spent. Since they are technically part of the General Fund, they provide the positive outcome. Without the Measure C money, the budget would have shown deficit spending of just under $1.2 million.

Since March, the Council has been conducting study sessions on various aspects of the budget, wrestling with ways to bring expenditures under control and discussing potential revenue sources (minutes of the meetings can be found online, at www.ci.antioch.ca.us/CityGov/citycouncilmeetings.htm). The difficult choices that had to be made in order to approve the budget were evident in both the budget document that was produced and the ongoing discussions. In order to keep expenditures down, city staff members have been subject to furlough days, elected officials have reduced their compensation, earthquake insurance for both city hall and the police station was not purchased, and the city’s contribution to library maintenance has ceased.

Prior to the budget discussion, one of the first items taken up by the Council was a resolution “encouraging City of Antioch elected officials (Mayor, City Council, City Treasurer, and City Clerk) to voluntarily agree to an irrevocable 10% reduction in their salaries and a $100 monthly decrease in their automobile allowance for fiscal year 2014-2015 due to the financial challenges facing the city.” The resolution passed on a 5-0 vote.

Another resolution, also adopted by a unanimous vote of the council, called for approval of the Benefit Document between the City and the Confidential Employees Bargaining Unit. The tentative agreement, which covers the period from October, 2013 through September, 2015, allows for no salary increase, and continues the 36 hour work week and 10% salary reduction currently in place. Employees subject to this agreement will continue working four 9-hour days per week, Monday through Thursday, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., “with specific hours designed by the employee’s supervisor.” That means what have been labeld as “furlough Fridays” will continue.

Regardless of the positive financial outcome projected for the coming fiscal year, city staff, led by City Manager Steve Duran, continue to sound the alarm with respect to deficit spending. In her presentation of the budget to the Council, Antioch’s Finance Manager, Dawn Merchant, noted that, even with Measure C funds, deficit spending in Fiscal Year 2015-2016 is estimated to be about $810,000 and $3.4 million the following year.

Some attending the Council meeting, however, appeared to be reaching their limit with respect to reduced working hours. Michael Davis, a Business Agent for Public Employees Union Local #1, spoke to the Council during the budget hearing.

“There are some signs in the audience today,” he said, referencing individuals seated in the council chambers holding signs advocating a 40-hour work week.

“Our contract negotiations are coming up,” he continued. “As men and women of the public works department who are present have in their hands, 40 hours, economic equality, I guess these are just previews of what’s to come. This furlough has been going on for approximately five years, I believe, with a 10% reduction, there has been a slew of issues regarding it.”

Although expressing a desire to work with the City to resolve any issues, he concluded, “We believe that the public works department needs to get back to 40 hours.”

Immediately following the statement by Davis, Mayor Wade Harper closed the public hearing and brought the matter before Council for discussion. Mayor Pro Tem Mary Rocha, then almost immediately made a motion to adopt the budget resolution, Council Member Tony Tiscareno seconded it, and with no further discussion, the council passed the resolution on the aforementioned 4-1 vote.

The next meeting of the council is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, at 7:00 in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Ethan Bilotti – from his Facebook page.

In order to be eligible to be on the Dean’s list a student must carry at least 12 credit hours and attain a grade point average of at least a 3.0.

Bilotti is studying biology and serving the U.S. Army while attending college.

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation’s six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). For more information visit www.norwich.edu.

By John Crowder

Labor agreements negotiated by the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) with the Antioch Education Association (AEA) and California School Employees Association (CSEA) were both ratified at the May 28th meeting of the school board. The board also approved an adjustment to salary schedule and benefits for the Antioch Management Association (AMA).

According to documents submitted to the board by Keith Rogenski, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources, the compensation for members of all three groups was increased by 5.21%. The total cost of the compensation increase for each group is listed as $2,442,195 with AEA, $1,029,960 with CSEA, and $384,245 with AMA. Together, the agreements raise the combined total compensation costs to AUSD by about $3.5 million.

Later in the meeting the Board revisited an item that had been discussed earlier this year during their January 22nd meeting. At that meeting, the idea of placing a parcel tax on the November ballot had been raised, and staff had been directed to gather further information. The board had not been willing, however, to authorize conducting a survey of Antioch citizens on the matter. Now the decision to move forward with a survey of voters appears to be gaining support.

During the discussion on the potential for placing a parcel tax on the ballot, all three board members who were present, President Joy Motts, Vice President Gary Hack, and Trustee Barbara Cowan, indicated they were in favor of moving forward with a survey.

However, before a motion was made supporting this step, both Superintendent Dr. Donald Gill and Hack voiced the opinion that it would be better to wait until the full board was present before taking any action on the matter. Board members Diane Gibson-Gray and Claire Smith were absent from the meeting.

Nonetheless, it was agreed that Associate Superintendent Tim Forrester could begin working to determine what questions the survey should ask in order to save time should the board decide to move forward with the survey in June.

According to Forrester, the purpose of the survey would be to determine whether or not there is public support for putting a parcel tax on the ballot in support of various programs that might be implemented or expanded by AUSD.

“School boards have no authority to tax anyone,” Forrester said. “A survey is a way for the board to gauge if the public would support the board in placing a parcel tax on the ballot for needed programs for students. A survey would ask, at what level, would the public consider supporting the district’s needs.”

Some of the programs mentioned during the meeting that might be supported by a parcel tax included technology, counselors, art and music classes, and after-school programs. The cost of conducting such a survey was estimated to be between $25,000 and $30,000.

Not everyone at the meeting was happy with the idea of a parcel tax. Prior to the board discussion, one Antioch resident, Julie Young, addressed the matter during public comments. Young urged against placing a parcel tax on the ballot, citing a long list of other taxes either already in place, such as Mello Roos, Measure B and Measure C, or proposed, such as Measure E (which passed on June 3rd), the landlord business license tax and the increase in the minimum business license tax.

She made an analogy between a family that must budget for a large expense and government.

“We are already taxed and if you want something else, you should budget and save to get it,” Young stated. “If you decide to put the parcel tax on the ballot for November, be prepared for a huge campaign against it.”

The next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 11th, at 7:00 p.m. The Board is expected to take up the question of whether or not to move forward with the survey to gauge the support for a parcel tax at that time. Meetings are held at the AUSD School District Office located at 510 G Street.

By Lou Davis

Yes, you read right. Now we’ve reached a new low in politics, and we the people are suffering the consequences. If former Democrat President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could witness the undoing of their strides forward for black Americans they would be truly shocked.

That’s right, for the most part, these class and race wars are infecting both black and white politicians, mostly at the federal level. The resulting sad truth is that it’s crippling government and hurting its citizens.

People who have most to lose in this new kind of race and class separatism are black leaders and politicians, who are being castigated by members of their own race, simply because they belong to a different political party, and this is a new and unforgivable low. In the process, they are dragging ultra liberal white politicians along with them.

The way I see it, Democrats are mostly to blame; both black and white, and this is still another reason why all Americans are being unfairly victimized. Here is just one recent example:

During a recent statement by the official Democratic Congressional Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, he said South Carolina’s U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, does not “vote his color.” What’s that supposed to mean? Both men are black.

This is only one among many instances when black Democratic legislators have harshly criticized black legislators, who are members of the Republican party.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus do not welcome black legislators who are Republican. Big government (Democratic) advocates, such as Senate Leader Harry Reid, and Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi almost always cast their votes, in line with conditions approved by the Black Caucus.

With class wars such as these continuing, how can the average citizen expect to see laws passed that benefit all Americans, regardless of color.

Our history will show that it was President John F. Kennedy who did most of the work, putting the Civil Rights laws together, which were later signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. These laws, coupled with tireless fights, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., brought us to the point where we are today.

It is truly highly disrespectful of these great men, that today’s selfish lawmakers, joined by organizations like the modern day NAACP are taking so many steps to reverse positive advancements we’ve made in this country.

These class and race warfares are tearing down the American dream. It’s past time that our so-called “leaders” would recognize they’d be best off, by following those who want to reinstall the moral and productive activities which placed this country into First Place in the world.