City Manager Jim Jakel and Councilman Brian Kalinowski discuss the budget crisis.

By Dave Roberts

There will be more fiscal bloodletting at Antioch City Hall in the coming months, including the likelihood of cutting police officers for the first time, to deal with a $3.6 million deficit. City officials are feeling an urgency to plug the budget hole in the wake of the 52-48 defeat of Measure P, the half-cent sales tax hike that was projected to bring in an extra $4 million per year.

“We really need to move on this thing sooner rather than later,” City Manager Jim Jakel told the City Council Tuesday night. “The burn rate right now is $300,000 a month. So we are spending $300,000 a month more than we have got. It will cost people their jobs literally if we don’t make changes. Ultimately, that may be the changes that are made. The way I look at it, $300,000 a month is $10,000 a day. I can do it by hour if you’d like. That’s what keeps me up at night now. We need to move post-haste.”

A special council meeting will be held at City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 30 to deal with the deficit in a city budget that has already reduced spending by $13 million in recent years. Overall city staff has been cut 31 percent from 400 employees in 2007 to the current 275 – the staff funded through the General Fund has decreased 47.5 percent.

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Possession of Cocaine for Sale

Quincy Ford, 33, of Pittsburg;  Timothy Davis, 39, of Martinez; and Johnny Denton, 25, of Pittsburg were arrested on Nov. 9 on suspicion of dealing rock cocaine.  The Antioch Police Department Narcotics Unit has been conducting investigations into several local rock cocaine dealers, according to a police press release.

On Nov. 8 at around 10:30 a.m., detectives attempted to pull over a vehicle being driven by Ford, who had an outstanding felony warrant for narcotic violations, according to police. He failed to stop and led officers on a pursuit through Antioch. Ford was arrested minutes later in Pittsburg after he attempted to flee on foot. He was found in possession of rock cocaine. A firearm belonging to Ford was located at one of his residences during a subsequent service of a search warrant, the police said.

In connection to the arrest of Ford, detectives drove to an Antioch hotel on West 10th Street at approx 11:45 a.m. and arrested two additional cocaine dealers as they prepared to leave in their vehicle. Several ounces of cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy were located in their possession, according to the police statement. They were identified as Davis and Denton. All three were sent to the Martinez Detention Facility and charged with varying drug violations. Ford will also be charged as a felon in possession of a firearm.

One writer’s quest to defend those who hate to spell correctly, but love to communicate

I know what you’re thinking, or at least some of you are. Where’s the ‘b’ and why the extra ‘m’ in your headline in the word “dumbing.” Sure I saw the red squiggly line Microsoft Word automatically placed under that word that’s supposedly misspelled. I just ignored it. But honestly, is it really misspelled? Who says? Webster?

Did you know that there were 315 misspelled words in the 1996 Webster’s dictionary?

Back to my word dumming. You understood the message, right? I basically used my journalistic license and spelled the word phonetically. Remember when you were learning how to spell back in the second grade and you stumbled upon a word you had no clue how to spell? What did your mom or very old and gray teacher tell you. That’s right: “sound it out.”

I’m told the English language is one of the most difficult languages to learn. If the ‘b’ is silent in the word ‘dumbing,’ then why is it needed in the first place?! Take for example the word “there.” It has three different meanings and is spelled three different ways, depending on the sentence.

Their words were spelled their way, because they’re the ones who wrote them and there is no wrong or right way to spell them. Explain that one to your second grader without getting a WTF look on their face. And just for this article, ‘wtf’ stands for why-the-face!

Now enter (stage left) texting on cell phones. Many parents, educators and other peeps hate to see those condensed words from texting teens and texting adults. They call it a form of dumbing down too. But is it really dumbing down or speeding up?

In the text message, “i wil b ther 2morow bcuz im bizy 2day,” is the message ambiguous, vague or abstruse?

Let’s visit Gregg’s Shorthand, remember that? It’s what your mom did when she was a secretary back in the ’60s. Named after John Robert Gregg (1867-1948), he was an Irishman who invented a form of stenography in 1888. He created a style of writing similar to cursive longhand, completely based on elliptical figures and lines that bisect them. It was highly used in the business and reporting world, mostly for speed. Really? People needed to speed things up in the writing and business world back then?

Maybe texting in abridged words is more about saving cellular (billable) minutes, but it’s also about speed and communication. Does that make it bad? Does that make Gregg a dumbing-down guy for teaching us how to condense words?<

Let’s travel back in time a little further to the scribblings of Indians. Check out the birch bark scroll pieces of the Ojibwa Indians of North America who wrote complex geometrical patterns and shapes. Their writings enabled the memorization of complex ideas in order to pass along history and stories to succeeding generations. I wonder if they had spell-check back then? Did they have a dictionary to look up words or symbols they needed to communicate?

Okay, let’s get back to Mr. Webster himself. Noah Webster (1758-1843), notably known for his creation of the dictionary in 1806. He was a lexicographer, but who died and made him Sir. King Word Speller?

Did you know that the word “misspell” wasn’t introduced into our vocabulary until 1655? Before then, I’m sure they simply wrote: that ain’t spelled right!

My point is this. Texting with butchered English words is not so bad after all. Lighten up, all you who have master’s degrees in English, who won every spelling bee from grades K through 12, and who never got an essay marked up so bad, the red markings could not be deciphered between ink or blood.

Now before you judge me, know this. I’m a high school journalism teacher and a freelance writer for daily newspapers and magazines. Spelling correctly is my job. Okay, maybe the burden falls more on my copy editor’s electronic pen than mine before it goes to press, but let’s just say if I turned in copy riddled with spelling boo-boos, my editors would not be so inclined to give me more work. They’d probably call on the writer who has a big fat Webster’s dictionary sitting on his desk.

I believe spelling is important, especially when you’re trying to reach the masses. But the next time your fifth grade son shows you his essay, before you speed-dial the Sylvan Learning Center, just be proud he sounded it out and spelled it foneticly.

We all know that our State is in crisis and that our families are being affected by the impacts on education and unemployment.  I had a choice to make with my term on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ending this year.  I could play it safe, sit tight, and run for reelection for a job that has no term limits and much more stability.  After all who is crazy enough to want to go to Sacramento?  However, I felt the stakes were too high to shrug my shoulders and give up on changes ever being made in our State government.  As a high school teacher, a mother of four daughters, and a grandmother of two, I believe that I can help bring accountability, collaboration, and our priorities to Sacramento.

I look at what I accomplished in our County government and it encourages me that significant change is possible. I came into office facing a 2.6 billion dollar unfunded liability for retiree health care and no funding plan in place. Many people thought it would be impossible to meet this challenge, however, working with our employees, we reduced our liability by more than half and have a complete funding plan in place. Employee health benefits have been significantly reduced, and retiree health coverage is no longer available to new hires.

Another goal I had was to increase accountability within the county to help break down the silo culture that has been persistent for years.  I discovered that many department directors reported directly to the Board, in effect having five “bosses” and had not had performance reviews for years.  Hiring our new County Administrator and then bringing all of our department directors under his direction has begun the shift to an integrated and much more accountable organization.

Serving for the last several years on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority has allowed me to vote for funding for the widening of Highway 4 and eBART.  I plan to continue my involvement in transportation in Sacramento to see these projects to completion.

Job creation and stability is another looming challenge we face.  I have spoken to many small business owners about the needs they have in this difficult economy and will continue to work with them through regular small business round tables to resolve their concerns.   In the County I created a student job program for our emancipating foster youth to give them work experience and to launch them towards self sufficiency. I also formed a center for Economic Opportunity in the most disadvantaged portion of my district that brings a number of different resources directly into the community.

Finally, I am committed to stop cuts to education and to bring leadership to rebuilding education in our State.  As a credentialed teacher, a parent of a high school senior, and the mother of a young teacher, I see the full range of challenges that we must address in education.  I have a passion to see children learn and succeed in life. I believe our children deserve more access to preschool, highly trained administrators, top quality teachers, and local school boards who have more control over finances.

I don’t think there are any quick fixes and I don’t underestimate the challenges of trying to impact the entrenched systems of Sacramento.  I do know that I want to take what I have learned and work hard to represent you and your family.  I would appreciate your vote on Tuesday.

Susan Bonilla

Candidate for California State Assembly, AD-11

www.susanbonilla.com