Michael Banks is suspected of murder

On December 20 at 5:13 p.m.  Antioch police responded to a report of a man down on Rockspring Way. Police found Arnold Muckleroy, 24, lying in the street, who appeared to have a suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Life–saving measures were taken, and he was transported to a local trauma center where he later died.

Police have determined the victim was driven to the location to meet some people who were in a ’90s era dark green Ford Escort with two doors, which was very dirty. The victim entered the vehicle, which contained several black males, according to police. Almost immediately upon entering the vehicle, shots were heard and the victim was pushed out of the car, which fled the area.

Michael Elijah Pulliambanks, aka Michael Banks, who is 18 years old, 6-foot-2, 164 pounds, is a suspect. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for attempted murder. The bail has been set at $500,000. The arrest warrant was issued prior to the victim dying. Detectives will be seeking an amendment to the warrant charging murder.

Banks is known to frequent the greater Bay and Sacramento areas and should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who observes this suspect should call the local jurisdiction or the Antioch Police Department at (925) 778-2441. Anyone with information regarding this investigation should contact Sgt. Steve Bias at (925) 779-6929.

The murder is Antioch’s 11th homicide this year, which may be a record in this city of 105,000 people.

City officials may nix eBART if the Hillcrest Station doesn't include an agent, escalator and restrooms.

By Dave Roberts

The plan to construct an eBART line to Antioch in five years could become derailed if the station planned at Hillcrest Avenue and Highway 4 does not include a station agent, restrooms and an escalator. That threat was made by Councilman Brian Kalinowski at the December 14 council meeting, backed strongly by former Mayor Don Freitas, and not questioned by other council members.

BART Board Member (and former Antioch Mayor) Joel Keller told the council that there is not enough money in the $462 million project budget to provide the same amenities at Hillcrest as other BART stations, which have station agents, escalators and restrooms (although the restrooms in underground stations have been closed for national security).

But Kalinowski argued that the cost of a full station won’t be known until it’s designed and placed out to construction bidding. “It has to be the full option, and we see what the bids reveal and move from there,” he said. “If it can’t be included in the bid document, I direct city staff to bring back to the City Council a resolution to request the BART Board to not approve the bid to go out.

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The signs of UC Berkeley’s relative decline are clear: Cal tumbles from 2nd best in the world. In 2004, for example, the London-based Times Higher Education ranked UC Berkeley the second leading research university in the world, just behind Harvard; in 2009 that ranking had tumbled to 39th place.

When UC Berkeley announced its elimination of baseball, men’s and women’s gymnastics, and women’s lacrosse teams and its defunding of the national-champion men’s rugby team, the chancellor sighed, “Sorry, but this was necessary!”

But was it? Yes, the university is in dire financial straits. Yet $3 million was somehow found to pay the Bain consulting firm to uncover waste and inefficiencies in UC Berkeley, despite the fact that a prominent East Coast university was doing the same thing without consultants.

Essentially, the process requires collecting and analyzing information from faculty and staff. Apparently, senior administrators at UC Berkeley believe that the faculty and staff of their world-class university lack the cognitive ability, integrity, and motivation to identify millions in savings. If consultants are necessary, the reason is clear: the chancellor, provost, and president have lost credibility with the people who provided the information to the consultants. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau has reigned for eight years, during which time the inefficiencies proliferated. Even as Bain’s recommendations are implemented (“They told me to do it”, Birgeneau), credibility and trust problems remain.

Bain is interviewing faculty, staff, senior management and the academic senate leaders for $150 million in inefficiencies, most of which could have been found internally. One easy-to-identify problem, for example, was wasteful procurement practices such as failing to secure bulk discounts on printers. But Birgeneau apparently has no concept of savings: even in procuring a consulting firm, he failed to receive proposals from other firms.

Students, staff, faculty, and California legislators are the victims of his incompetence. Now that sports teams are feeling the pinch, perhaps the California Alumni Association, benefactors and donators, and the UC Board of Regents will demand to know why Birgeneau is raking in $500,000 a year despite the abdication of his responsibilities.

The author, who has 35 years’ consulting experience, has taught at University of California Berkeley, where he was able to observe the culture and the way the senior management operates.

Milan Moravec
Chief Executive Officer
Moravec and Associates
http://www.Moravecglobal.com

Walnut Creek PD Sgt Tom Cashion’s 5 year old daughter is fighting cancer. She has already had surgery at Kaiser and is now taking chemotherapy. She has been referred to Stanford Medical Center for follow up.

The out of pocket expenses for the family have reached crisis stages not to mention that they have 4 kids and only one income. We have put together an event to assist the family with those expenses. Could you please help us pass the word?

Also if you want to participate the family would greatly appreciate it. To purchase tickets or make a tax deductable donation please go to: http://www.ismcnorcal.com/ISMC/Events.html. Some businesses and POA’s are purchasing an entire 9 seat table for the event. We really need to sell this out, the family really needs our help.

Mike Schneider
mcschneider@comcast.net

The County’s Office of Emergency Services is preparing for the winter’s first big rain. The National Weather Service expects the rain to last into next week. The series of storms will bring strong winds and as much as five inches of rain to the Bay Area.

“That’s a lot of rain in a short period of time,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover. “Flooding can occur suddenly in some parts of the county along streams and near the Delta.”

As a result, the county is providing free sandbags at three East County locations, including the County Fairgrounds, 1201 West 10th Street in Antioch.

The Public Utilities Commission recently approved placing a  natural gas-fired power plant on 22 acres of the old DuPont property on Bridgehead Road in Oakley near the border with Antioch.

Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover joined Oakley officials at the PUC meeting Dec. 16 to speak in favor of Oakley’s bid to approve the PG&E power plant proposal. “The City of Oakley will benefit greatly from the revenue generated by the energy plant,” said Glover, “and strengthen its financial foundation.”

On December 18 just after 2 a.m., Antioch police dispatch received a call of a solo vehicle accident in the area of East 18th Street east of Hillcrest Avenue. Officers found a vehicle had crashed into a tree and a fence on the south side of the road. One of the occupants of the vehicle, a 19-year-old male Antioch resident, appeared to have suffered major injuries as a result of the collision.

He was transported to John Muir Medical Center and listed in serious condition. The driver of the vehicle, Robert Kilcourse, 18, was treated at Sutter Delta Medical Center for a minor injury and immediately taken into custody upon his release for suspicion of felony DUI, according to police. The other two passengers in the vehicle were uninjured. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

In a posting on the Antioch Police Officers Association website titled “6 Police Officers Less in Antioch is Just the Beginning,” APOA President Tom Fuhrmann
discusses the recent layoffs and potential for more: