By Sergeant Steve Bias, Antioch Police Narcotic / Property Crimes

Paul Morales

On Monday, June 25, 2012 at approximately 2:20 pm, Antioch Police attempted to serve an arrest warrant in the 2200 block of Reseda Way on 36-year-old Paul Morales. Morales was wanted for a parole violation, as well as a recent felony child abuse charge stemming from an incident in Antioch.

When officers confronted Morales, he fought with officers and was armed with a handgun. From preliminary information, it appears that one officer discharged their weapon in defense of their and his partner’s life during this event. Morales sustained a gunshot wound, and was transported to an area hospital, where he has undergone surgery and is expected to survive.

Morales has an extensive criminal history to include theft, weapons, evading police and obstruction of justice.

The investigation is ongoing, and is being conducted in a joint effort of Antioch Police, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office, as well as the Contra Costa Crime lab.

Once again, Waldie Plaza, located in Antioch’s historic downtown Rivertown, will be hopping with good music, families and fun this summer. Due to the generosity of the Lesher Foundation our summer concert series has been expanded to every Saturday in July and August, from 6-8 PM for the 2nd year! Thank you Lesher Foundation and all of our sponsors: Arts & Cultural Foundation of Antioch, City of Antioch, East County Times, Genon, Give Always to Others & Company, Clay, Millias & Co, LLP and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.

The Waldie Plaza lineup: July 7th, Spindrift California (Easy listening to foot stomping tunes); July 14th: Pittsburg’s PHDs (Latin/Jazz/Old School); July 21st: Sumac (Blues & R&B); July 28th: Juke Joint (Classic Soul & R&B); August 4th: Jessica Caylyn (Hometown Country Rocker & Nashville Recording Artist); August 11^th: Soul Request (R&B, Pop, Urban Jazz); August 18th: Bell Brothers (County Rock); August 25th: Tuck & Roll (50’s & 60’s Rock & Roll).

A special kick off concert will be held June 30^th, featuring local favorite, Vocal Ease & the Boogie Men, at the Antioch Historical Society (outside grounds) from 6-8 PM.

Seating is not provided; please bring blankets, folding chairs. For more information, visit www.Art4Antioch.org or call (925) 325-9897.

By Lieutenant Diane Aguinaga, Antioch Police Investigations Bureau

Ernan Hediberto Montiel

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at approximately 7:20 AM workers from the Antioch Corporation Yard on West 4th Street reported finding a man on the roof of one of their buildings, bleeding from the neck. The man asked for help and the police were called. The male (Victim 1), an Antioch resident, stated he and his brother had been kidnapped at gunpoint by Ernan Hediberto Montiel. The brother was later found safe at his workplace in Pittsburg. (Victim 2).

Montiel was upset that Victim 1 may have had a relationship with his estranged wife. Montiel kidnapped Victim 2 from his home in Antioch in order to find Victim 1. Once Victim 1 was located, Montiel let Victim 2 go.

An argument started while Montiel was driving Victim 1 back to Antioch, and Montiel produced a knife. He began slashing at Victim1, cutting him on the neck. Victim 1, fearing for his life, jumped out of the car while it was moving. While running away he heard a single gunshot. He was not hit by the gunfire. He then climbed onto the roof of the Corporation Yard and waited for help. Victim 1 was treated for his injuries and released.

Montiel has not been located, and should be considered armed and dangerous. He was last seen driving a 2000, gray, Nissan Maxima with a California license plate of 6HLP460 or Washington plate AFZ0446. He may be traveling to Washington State. Montiel is also wanted for a drug warrant out of Antioch.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Stenger at 779-6894. Anonymous tips may be texted to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword ANTIOCH in the body of the narrative.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) are widening State Route 4 (SR-4) through Pittsburg and Antioch. As part of this construction work, the contractor will begin demolishing the abandoned roadway bridge and railroad bridge over the highway at Loveridge Road. In order to ensure crew and public safety during this work, the contractor will be doing complete closures of SR-4 in both directions overnight during the next several weeks. The closures will take place on Monday nights through Saturday mornings for approximately 4 weeks beginning on June 18, and continuing until approximately July 13, 2012. The eastbound closure will take place between 12:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. The westbound closure will take place between 10:00 p.m. and 3:30 a.m.

The detours for this work will be as follows:

o Eastbound motorists will be directed off the highway at Loveridge Road and immediately back on the highway at the eastbound SR-4 on-ramp from Loveridge Road.

o Westbound motorists will be directed off the highway at Somersville Road/Auto Center Drive exit, left on Somersville Road, continue on to Auto Center Drive, left on Tenth Street, left on Loveridge Road, right on California Avenue, and left on westbound SR-4 on-ramp.

Motorists are advised to expect delays and allow extra time for their commute. Please drive with caution through the detours and leave a safe traveling distance between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead of you. Caltrans and CCTA appreciate your patience as we work to improve the highways. For the most current information on all SR-4 corridor closures please visit our web site at: http://widensr4.org.

(L-R) Joy Motts, Bill Cook, Kerry Motts, Bob Corrado, Lori Cook, Walter Ruehlig and Nancy Kelly

In preparation for the upcoming Antioch July 4th parade and fireworks, volunteers from the Antioch Garden Club, Rivertown Preservation Society and the Antioch July 4th Celebration Committee braved three-digit temperatures to plant flowers and mulch to beautify the planters along Second Street in Antioch’s historic downtown Rivertown.

Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report 1205 studied the three open- admission public animal shelters in the county – two operated by the County and one operated by the City of Antioch.

This month, the Antioch Chief of Police sent the Mayor and City Council suggested responses (see below) to the Grand Jury asking that Council transmit “as is” or propose alternative language to the responses. (State law requires the City Council respond to Grand Jury reports).

GRAND JURY FINDING: The Antioch Shelter currently has an insufficient number of volunteers to provide adequate time out of kennels for training, socialization, playtime or exercise for the animals each day, which is part of the humane treatment of animals. REPLY: Respondent disagrees. We are unaware of any widely accepted standards for the ratio of volunteers to animals in a shelter. Furthermore, the number of volunteers a shelter has “on the books” seems less important that the number of effective hours that active volunteers as a whole are providing and what duties they are actually completing. (NOTE: In 2010, the Animal Shelter laid off its volunteer coordinator, losing a resource to recruit, train and supervise volunteers.)

FINDING: The Antioch Shelter spay/neuter fees are higher than fees charged for comparable services by nearby shelters and, for this reason, may discourage adoptions from the shelter. REPLY: Respondent agrees.
FINDING: The cost differences between the shelters (Antioch and the County) are great enough to merit closer examinations of the cost effectiveness: REPLY: Respondent agrees.
FINDING: Both the Antioch Shelter and the County Shelters should examine its cost per animal to ensure the amount being spent provides efficient, effective and humane treatment of the animals. REPLY: The recommendation has been implemented.

FINDING: The Antioch Shelter and the County Shelters should consider establishing advisory councils to provide direction and suggest priorities for each shelter. REPLY: The recommendation is not reasonable. Comment goes on to state the formation of an advisory council would create another step of additional bureaucracy for information to reach the Chief of Police, City Manger and the City Council and that currently there is insufficient staff or resources to support such an advisory council.

By Jeanne Falla

Just about everyone, including presidential candidates, agrees that children need responsible fathers. If a noncustodial parent is able to help raise a child, most believe he or she should be held accountable, even if this could mean ending up on a most wanted poster. Yet the reality is too many barriers exist in our society which actually oppose father involvement.

Let’s suppose Mary gets pregnant by John, her unemployed boyfriend, and both later break up. John, himself the son of an absent dad, visits the baby bringing diapers and seeks joint custody. Yet when John’s day in court arrives, his offer to play Mr. Mom is met with resistance from Mary and the family court system where he is served with a summons to pay thousands in child support or go to jail. In the end, John gives up his fight to co-parent and ends up the absent father no one wants because he feels the system is stacked against him. Unfortunately, scenarios like this which alienate dads and men in general happen all too often.

The push for strong child support and domestic violence protections began with good intentions: to safeguard women and children from violent and financially deadbeat men. But father absence must be addressed by engaging men, not keeping them away due to the actions of a few bad apples. The problem is family breakdown often gets blamed on only men (and not also women) behaving badly, perpetuating the punitive “man bad, woman victim” mindset which discourages active fathering lest a man fail to properly change a diaper. Yet the supermom mindset actually hurts women’s equality because women can’t and shouldn’t be expected to do everything and it’s time, of course, for men to step up to the parenting plate.

Studies show joint custody households, where fathers tend to be actively involved parents, get higher child support awards than sole custody households. This follows the logic that parenting is a job and needs to be seen as one – expecting dads to be responsible without the right to co-rule the roost is no less unfair than expecting a full day’s worth of work without the right to fair working conditions. Leveling the playing field for dads by strengthening joint custody laws and reforming the family courts would do much to help bring back men to the home.

In the end, what we need is a type of social and legal system that’s balanced, where the child’s rights trump those of the mother or father. However, while striving towards this goal, let’s not distance dads from children. If you would like to support advocacy efforts to strengthen father involvement, contact Fathers and Families at www.fathersandfamilies.org.

Falla is a Citizen Advocate Program Organizer with Fathers & Families and a daughter of a divorced dad.

By Lieutenant Pat Welch, Antioch Police Field Services Bureau

On Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 7:45 p.m., a detective from the Antioch Police Department was flagged down by two subjects standing next to a stopped vehicle at the intersection of Wilbur Avenue and A Street in Antioch.

Both victims, a 19 year old Antioch resident and a 47 year old Pittsburg resident, had apparent gunshot wounds and were yelling for assistance. The vehicle they were standing near also had several bullet holes in it.

The shooting did not occur at this location and both victims were somewhat uncooperative. They were both transported by ambulance to local hospitals with non life threatening wounds.

The investigation is ongoing and the location of the actual shooting is unknown at this time.