By Lieutenant R. Kelley
Antioch Police Department

A volunteer orientation has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 13th at 6:00 P.M., in the police department community room.

We will be giving an informational presentation with regard to the various volunteer positions within the police department. We will also have some of our volunteers present in order to answer any questions interested applicants may have.

Community Resources 4 Youth, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization recently co-hosted a baseball tournament with Elk Grove-based All World Sports on Saturday, February 11, 2012 and Sunday, February 12, 2012 at the Antioch Community Park.

More than a hundred people came out to cheer and support ball players ages 11 and under from eight teams throughout the Bay Area going head to head in the 2-day Weekend Invitational tournament. North Bay Crushers, Walnut Creek Bulldogs Red, Brentwood Rampage, DP Bombers, Nor Cal Predators, SL Bomberz, Rays Baseball and Pleasanton Thunder.

The night-time championship game pitted the DP Bombers against the North Bay Crushers. Players from both teams received medallions and T-Shirts while trophies were presented to the managers of the tournament champion (DP Bombers) and runner-up (North Bay Crushers) by the founders of CR4Youth and their 10-year old son.

Community Resources 4 Youth, Inc.
Community Resources 4 Youth, Inc. was founded by Cheryl Rhodes Alexander and her husband Alex Alexander because of their passion and commitment to youth development. CR4Youth’s mission is to educate, equip and empower youth to reach their full potential and achieve personal and professional success.

Fulfillment of CR4Youth’s mission will be accomplished through its four separate yet related programs:
 Education Program – offers a variety of educational resources to help increase and enhance student learning and academic success.
 Mentorship Program – empowers youth to develop trusting and meaningful interactions with adults that produce positive outcomes for youth who may lack the presence of a positive role model.
 Life Training Program – teaches and equips youth with practical and useful information and tools necessary to be productive and successful contributors to society and helps youth acquire job-ready skills essential to success in the workforce
 Recreation Program – helps develop and promote physical, mental and social health/fitness and the overall well-being of youth.

Prospective board members for CR4Youth include: Walter Ruehlig, AUSD Board Trustee; Dennis Laniohan, management team executive (Delta Diablo Sanitation District); Lanetta Marshall, Independent Associate (Legal Shield); Michael Johnson, Deacon (Allen Temple Baptist Church) and Mentor/Trainer; and Teri Lynn Shaw, Youth Advocate and former AUSD Board Trustee.

Community Resources 4 Youth, Inc. is engaging with other local organizations such as Parents Connected to provide various educational programs and services that serve the needs and interest of youth, parents and the community.

CR4Youth and Parents are planning to co-host an Education Summit: A Call to Action this summer. The summit will focus on encouraging further efforts to diminish the achievement gap between White/Asian students and African-American/Hispanic students. Working with Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) administrators and other community organizers, a practical action plan can be developed to help stem the significant achievement gap between White/Asian students and African-American/Hispanic students.

In early May, CR4Youth and Manny Rin, a Deer Valley High School Alum (class of 2008) will be co-facilitating an Academic Achievement Conference for AUSD high school students, primarily juniors and seniors. The purpose of the conference is to motivate and inspire students to pursue higher education after high school. The conference will provide students with tools, resources and advice to help prepare them for college and life.
For more information about Community Resources 4 Youth, Inc., including how you can help support their efforts, visit their website: www.communityresources4youth.org.

By Walter Ruehlig

These are trying times for Antioch. Fact is, there’s trouble brewing in Dodge City and it’s spelled lawlessness.

This in no manner deters from the good work done by Police Chief Allan Cantando and his crew of dedicated men and women. Under Cantando’s watch homicides dropped from thirteen in 2010 to five in 2011. That’s no small potatoes. Overall, violent crimes dropped some 5%.

Other good city news is the high schools have seen lowered suspension rates and the graduation drop out rate fell from 27% to 18%.

Where Antioch got hit hard, though, was in burglaries, up over 25% in 2011. The epidemic of recent shootings also put this year off to a very shaky start in the violence realm. With a city staff payroll that is the same as Brentwood, which is half our size, even Houdini must run out of tricks.

Antioch has not been replacing officer retirees and is now paying the Piper. We are simply asking too much of a police force to be down some 30 sworn officers. We’ve got the size of the police force in the 1970’s when we were more a burg.

The pickle is both in size and in challenging demographics. Antioch has the highest rate of population under eighteen (38%) in the County; one of the highest rates of foreclosures in the state, hence causing transitory issues; an increase of 250% in foster home and 150% in group home population; a staggering influx of urban migrants that Sociology 101, unarguably, instructs takes time to absorb and acclimate.

I knew bad times were in gear when a friend called me from Key West, Florida asking me if the wild west had broken out in Antioch. He had seen news on Huffington Post of the six-person garage party shooting, knowing it before I did. It was carried nationwide through the Associated Press.

Then the home invasion happened. To think, these bummers just when we were recovering from the shocks of the Dugard decades-long kidnapping story and the god-awful Jasmine Davis locked-in-her room and brutalized tragedy.

Right or wrong, people can get numb about shootings in the Sycamore corridor because they may say to themselves, “Well, I avoid the area.” A home invasion, though, touches a different nerve. A home, after all, is meant to be our castle.

Given the upheavals, I suggest we need a three-pronged attack to take control and not let fear rule the day.

Firstly, more boots on the ground. The City Council is to be commended for saying that come hell or high water they will find the money for two or three more officers for immediate hire. Remember, response time was once closer to five minutes. It is now closer to eight. A great deal of havoc can occur in those lost three minutes.

Then there’s the issue of no response, as many calls are now simply off the priority radar screen. I know, because my alarm system would go off and there’d be no response.

Exhibit B: A neighbor down the street saw four youth knock down a front door in December and called the police to be told they had no available units because of a sprawling fracas somewhere. As the youths were leaving the home some ten minutes later the neighbor called again and now was told the police were free to come out. No doubt, we need more bodies out there.

Secondly, all citizenry need be proactive. We’re told that God helps those who help themselves. Simple things can make a difference in defending your life and property. Light sensors, outside cameras, locked side gates and front door grills; a reinforced garage side-door; a police lock; dog; alarm systems (we save the monthly fee by hooking up our own, which rings to our phone). Cold truth is, why would a thug hit your home when easier pickings are down the street?

Thirdly, unite. Strength is in numbers and Neighborhood Watch is a proven safeguard. I know it turned our neighborhood around.

Biggest success was driving out a house with 53 police calls. Neighbors all started calling the police when there were issues. We also wrote the landlord, who we threatened to individually bring to small claims court and sue for $5,000 for interfering with our right of enjoyment. The landlord finally got rid of the chronic offenders and neighborhood disruption has calmed immeasurably.

Watching out for each other while others are working or on vacation and being the eyes and ears of the police does wonders. I recommend neighbors exchange work or cell numbers and notify each other of suspicious activity like a truck in their driveway during a weekday. One scam out there is to have a truck with some phony carpet cleaning or other tag and pick a house clean while people on the street “mind their own business.”

Antioch has too many good people and too many gems to give up on; career-themed schools, the Delta, Black Diamond Mines, Contra Loma Reservoir, Lone Tree Golf Course and Event Center,, 28 city parks, the Water Park, Prewett Community Center, the El Campanil Theatre, Antioch Historical Society, unchopped hills and undulating streets, etc. I know that I’m not giving up. I hope you’re not.

It only takes a single lamp post to lighten a darkened street. A small core of committed individuals focused on the crime problem can turn this around. Against all predictions, Rudy Guliani did it in New York. Antioch’s not a city of eight million, so it’s not impossible.

Antioch is our home. It’s worth fighting for.

On February 18 at 12:35 a.m. Antioch Police Officer Matt Harger spotted a reported stolen vehicle being driven by Douglas Martinez, 18, of Antioch, in the 2300 block of Sycamore Drive. When Officer Harger attempted to stop the vehicle and detain Martinez and his passenger, they both jumped out of the car and fled on foot.

Officer Harger and his K9 ,Thor, gave chase. When Martinez refused to stop, Thor was deployed and took him to the ground. However, when Martinez jumped out of the car, he failed to put it into park. The vehicle continued to roll forward and struck Officer Harger, knocking him to the ground. The vehicle then ran over K9 Thor as he was detaining Martinez.

Thor held onto Martinez until Officer Harger was able to pull Thor from under the vehicle before the rear tires rolled over Martinez. The vehicle eventually came to a stop after it struck a light pole. Officer Harger sustained minor scrapes from being knocked to the ground, and Thor appears to be okay at this time.

Martinez was then taken into custody and transported from the scene to SDMC. Brentwood PD sent their K9 to assist in the search for the second suspect, but he was not located.

On February 24th, 250 lucky kids get to visit the San Francisco Symphony for a special performance as part of the Symphony’s celebrated Concert4Kids Program.

The tickets and buses are being sponsored by the non-profit Antioch Music Foundation, courtesy of a grant from the San Francisco Foundation. Schools sending students are Belshaw, Carmen Dragon, Fremont, Kimball, Jack London., Mission and Turner Elementary and Park Middle.

The program has been been sponsored the last four years by the Music Foundation. The project is a brainstorm of Mission music specialist Geneva Payne who was also instrumental in bringing Ken Bergmann’s exhilarating Percussion Discussion concert to the El Campanil Theatre.

On March 1st the renowned Bergmann, who has performed at the Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Royal Albert Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York, will perform three shows for over spellbound 1,600 kids. A music teacher at Jack London, Bergmann yearly donates his time and talent for this Antioch treasure at which which he percusses on everything but the kitchen sink while running the gamut from Beethoven to rock, throwing in an enactment of an old-time radio show for good measure.

Walter Ruehlig, President of the Antioch Music Foundation, exclaims, “After seeing the Percussion Discussion twelve times I know I will again get bug-eyed and rabbit-eared at the upcoming shows. It’s a rush of inspiration and I laugh so hard my insides hurt. This guy has entertainment coming out of his pores.”

For more information on the Foundation and upcoming events, including the East County Idol on April 20th, visit www.antiochmusic.org.

Winners of the Park Middle School Spelling Bee who are going on to regional competition are, from left to right, 2nd place medalist , sixth grader Katelyn Pham; 1st place winner, seventh grader Chelsea Abillano: and 3rd place finisher, sixth grader Sofia Dasilva. Congratulating them are (left to right) A.U.S.D. Trustee Joy Motts, President Diane Gibson-Gray, Trustee Walter Ruehlig. Principal Didi del Chiaro and Superintendent Dr. Donald Gilll.

Come join Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando on Saturday, March 10th from 9-11 A.M. in a casual setting to discuss public safety issues, crime statistics, etc. Captain Steve McConnell will also provide a brief presentation on Community and Problem Oriented Policing. Open communication about community issues is encouraged.

The location for this casual “Coffee with the Cops” workshop will be held in the Antioch Police Department Community Room located at 300 L Street. Members of the Antioch Crime Prevention Commission will be in attendance, and make themselves available to answer questions with a focus on enhancing Neighborhood Watch programs for Antioch residents.

The “Coffee with the Cops” concept was developed as a pilot program by the Antioch Police Department in an effort to improve communication between the Police Department and the citizens they serve. These meetings will consist of a “one-on-one” type format with a member of the police command staff and members of the community. The format of these meetings has been designed to be informative.

The Antioch Police Department is dedicated to promoting the quality of life in Antioch in partnership with our community, by proactively reducing crime with integrity and commitment to excellence.

The Antioch Police Department is excited to announce the 32nd installment of the Neighborhood Cleanup Program on Saturday March 3, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Volunteers should report to Eagleridge Park located at 4200 Eagleridge Dr. Volunteers will receive instructions and the equipment necessary to accomplish the goal. The targeted area is within walking distance. Excluding inclement weather, future Neighborhood Cleanup events will be scheduled for the first Saturday of every month and the locations will be announced in advance.

Remember, cleaning up your neighborhood can make life better for your family, your neighbors and your community! Collectively, “We”, everyone who works and lives in the City Antioch, can make a difference and improve the quality of life. It’s our community and it’s our chance to make a difference.

The City of Antioch Neighborhood Cleanup program is not just for residential neighborhoods. It is a program that will change venues on a monthly basis and it will include business and commercial areas as well. Neighborhoods that are free of trash and refuse are inviting, and a clean community instills a sense of community pride.

This is a collaborative community effort which involves active participation from United Citizens for Better Neighborhoods (UCBN), community volunteers, and the Antioch Police Department Crime Prevention Commission; Neighborhood Watch Program, Target Volunteers, Volunteers in Police Service, community volunteers and the Public Works Department.