Tomatoes grow in abundance with the help of the Tower Garden.

On your patio or balcony

By Gwen O’Neill

Ask experienced gardeners about their secrets to success and they will tell you about the soil. Is it fertile, does it hold water and what is its structure? These are critical factors to succeed for traditional gardeners everywhere. Now take the soil out of the equation and you have another way of growing plants. Hydroponic and aeroponic gardening uses water and mineral solutions but no soil.

Hydroponics has been around for hundreds of years, but recent breakthroughs in technology have yielded new options for the home gardener. Many challenges such as busy home life, jobs, family commitments and other influences like weather and wildlife make what was at first enjoyable, a now backbreaking chore.

No more digging in the dirt.

Digging holes and tilling soil is not fun or easy. Protecting the plants from squirrels and other pests adds another level of

Tower garden

challenge.

A new system of gardening that anyone can do, virtually anywhere is a combination of container gardening and hydroponic gardening. This single unit holds a promise of success for the home gardener with less time involved, is an affordable investment and is moved easily.

Single unit portable system

The plant tower combines aeration technology with the flexibility and convenience of a container garden in a single unit. If you are tired of battling gophers and snails, digging in clay and hauling bags of compost and soil amendments into the garden only to have them break down over time and disappear, this advanced form of hydroponic gardening may be your new gardening passion!

Imagine a lightweight plant tower that assembles like a fountain with a reservoir and pump at the bottom, small enough to sit on a deck or porch, with castors to facilitate easy movement to take advantage of changing sun patterns as the seasons change. The tower garden® is a high quality unit made of food grade plastic with steel hardware for long-lasting durability, which uses closed system technology to recycle 90% of water and nutrients. Taking soil born pests and diseases out of your garden and growing your garden gets easier with the tower garden®.

Produce in Half the Time

This use of technology not only saves backs and pocketbooks, but it produces meals from seeds in half the time of conventional growing techniques. This system delivers the produce for only the cost of seeds and a modest amount of electricity to run the pump, producing a bountiful harvest that any professional farmer could be proud of!

Do you remember sprouting an avocado pit or Lima beans in a glass of water as a child? Do you remember how exciting it was to see that first bit of root emerge, and then a tiny sprout? That miracle of life emerges quickly through this unit in the form of lettuce, tomatoes, chard, herbs, beans, berries and more. The units can be stacked to create taller towers to maximize crop yield in a small area.

The seeds germinate in a day or two, and the seedlings harden off in a week or two, which makes this system easy to be a successful grower. The roots of your seedlings are continually bathed in nutrient solution in a highly oxygenated environment, which allows the plants to grow at an accelerated rate.

The uses for this system are wide and varied. Use them in a greenhouse, on a roof or a deck, for schools, food banks and shelters, restaurants, for commercial or for home use. Good health begins with good organic foods. You no longer need to rely on expensive commercially produced fruits and vegetables to support the needs of your family.

The towers were introduced to the market in April of 2012 and are available for purchase with an interest-free payment plan.

For information, contact Gwen O’Neill at 925-777-9780 or visit her blog at www.gwenoneillgarden.com. Additional information can be found at http://gwenoneill.towergarden.com.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

The Antioch police cost too much. There, I said it. (Actually I wrote it). But, someone needed to and for a long time. We must face facts.

The reality is, after the hiring of five officers through additional revenue in the city’s budget and another five officers with the $1.5 million federal grant for three years, and the loss of one more police officer, according to Chief Allan Cantando, Antioch will still be down 25 officers.

The largest budget item in the city’s General Fund is police.

While I advocated for placing a police tax on the November ballot – a 4 to 6 year parcel tax of no more than $100 per year, dedicated to only paying to hire more police – and complaining that the council blew their opportunity to make that happen, but let pettiness and politics get in the way – I’m not so sure one would have passed anyway.

At least not after I learned that the new police contract included 13% in pay raises over the next three years. Yes, the police agreed to pay 9% of the 39% toward their retirement which I applaud. But 6% of that was back-filled immediately with a pay raise, this year.

That may have been the best this current council could have achieved, in order to buy out the cops’ previous six-year, overly generous contract approved by a previous city council – led by a Mayor who lost in 2008 and is running and wants to be Mayor of our city, again (go figure), and which included two of the current council members, one of whom isn’t running again.

Because had the council not bought out that previous contract, the city would have been faced with two, multimillion dollar balloon payments at the end of this year, due to the two pay raises in the previous contract that the police agreed to postpone.

One problem with that is the cops called that postponement a “sacrifice.”

Since before the 1/2 cent sales tax measure was on the ballot in 2010, I’ve been telling my friends on the police force that they have to join with the rest of us – who have lost jobs, lost our homes, etc. – and make a sacrifice, first.

Do they deserve to be paid well? Yes. Do they earn it? No doubt. Can we afford it? No way. Not when we have 25 fewer officers than we need.

So rather than just complain, I offer a three-part solution:

1. The Antioch police must give up the pay raises in their new contract and make a real financial sacrifice.

2. The Council must find a revenue stream to pay for the 25 needed police officers, the additional Community Service Officers and more Code Enforcement Officers – whether it be a dedicated, temporary parcel tax or another approach – and if it requires a vote of the people, we pass it.

3. Once our city is safer, we must grow our local economy by attracting business – retail and employers – which will create more revenue for the city to pay for more cops without the tax.

We’re all in this together. Our Antioch police offiers need those additional 25 officers, as do we. But we need their help to pay for them and now.

Stockton, Calif. – Congressman Jerry McNerney has received the endorsement of Jim Frazier, former Mayor and current City Council Member, City of Oakley and the Democrat candidate in the race for the 11^th State Assembly District.

“I know Jerry personally, and it gives me great satisfaction to say that I can also support him in his re-election. Jerry McNerney understands East Contra Costa County, and has shown over the last six years that he will be an independent voice representing us in Congress. We’re facing some tough times, and we need Jerry McNerney to continue fighting for us,” said Jim Frazier, former Mayor and Current City Council Member, City of Oakley.

“I am proud to have the support of Jim Frazier.  He has been serving our community for a long time and understands what we need to accomplish here.  I look forward to continuing to work with him and everyone in our region to create a better future and get our economy back on track,” said Congressman McNerney.

Earlier this year, McNerney received the endorsement of the Contra Costa Times.  The paper noted that Congressman McNerney “focuses on policy issues and…has proved to be a centrist who thoughtfully discusses the nuances of the country’s complex problems.”

This adds to a growing list of local elected Democrat officials who have endorsed Congressman Jerry McNerney, also a Democrat:

-Susan Eggman, City Council Member, City of Stockton, and Candidate for State Assembly

-Mark DeSaulnier, State Senator, 7^th District

-Susan Bonilla, Assemblymember, 11^th District

-Ann Johnston, Mayor, City of Stockton

-Cathleen Galgiani, Assemblymember, 17^th District

-Federal Glover, Supervisor, Contra Costa County

-George Neely, Board Member, Lodi Unified School District

The new 9^th district is significantly Democratic, with a voter registration that is D+10.  The new 9^th includes the majority of San Joaquin County and portions of Contra Costa County.  The district voted decidedly in favor of President Obama in 2008.

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) was first inspired to run for office by his son, Michael, who volunteered in the armed services after 9/11.  He has served the area for nearly six years, getting to know the people and issues of the region. He is the Chair of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, a post he has used to champion veterans’ issues, bringing back a brand new veterans’ medical facility that is creating 900 local jobs.  He authored the bill to help veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries and has fought tirelessly to create local jobs, prevent American jobs from being sent overseas, and to restore fiscal responsibility to our government while protecting Medicare and Social Security.

By David Pfeiffer

The County Airport Advisory Commission is having its October meeting at the Byron Airport on Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 10:00AM. . We only hold meetings there once or twice a year. Historically we have had no attendance by anyone from Antiochm while Brentwood, Discovery Bay, and Byron always have someone there.

County Supervisor Mary Piepho has been pushing to have the airport area changed to a free trade zone, with necessary improvements.

It would be good to have leaders and residents from Antioch in attendance and share their ideas and visions for improvement, during public comment.

Pfeiffer is a member of the Contra Costa County Airport Land Use Commission and an Antioch resident. For more information about the Commission click here.

By Ron Parish

Do I have your attention? Quite a funny title for a golf article but in simplicity, a great tip for the golf motion. So how is your belly button? Generally speaking, new golfers are successful with their hands and arms. Innately, these are the parts of our bodies that we know how to use the best when it comes to athletic activities so it isn’t too hard to get them engaged or focus on them. But new players often have a challenge getting there core and lower body involved in the swing.

This becomes particularly evident on the follow through when the hands and arms swing through to a finish on their own becoming somewhat discombobulated with the torso; resulting in an off balanced finish. So let’s think about a few other sports to help create a correlation that may help.

·Forehand in tennis. The tennis player swings the racket back not only with the hands and arms but the turn of the torso (belly button); the weight is on the back foot and then on the forward swing the lower body transfers the weight forward, followed by the turning of the core, followed by the hands and arms swinging forward; the torso doesn’t just stop it keeps turning towards target ala Andre Agassi as the eyes stay focused on the ball and the hands and arms then accelerate through.

·Knockout punch in boxing (Not the jab). Again we see a turning of the core that creates a slight transfer to the rear leg, then the lower body followed by the core lead on the forward swing; and then the arms and hand come through but all while the core is turning and leading over to the front foot.

·My favorite analogy, Baseball pitch from pitchers mound (or football pass deep). Shoulders are turning on the windup along with the core (shoulders about 90 degrees, core about 45 degrees), the lower body balances and stores the energy of the windup (particularly in the right hip….a really good golf association here) and then lower body transfers energy forward off the rubber; the core or belly button follow towards home plate leading ahead of the hands and arms.

So to keep things simple try these two drills:

·Take your back hand (the hand farthest from the target; for a right handed player his right hand) and hold a seven iron with just your thumb and first two fingers. Slowly swing the club with your one arm back and forth, increasing the length of the swing with each motion. Keep swinging back and forth until you go to full length motion. Notice how your arms swing and work with your core and belly button, and also how your legs balance things going back and forth. This is the golf motion.

·Hit balls and just finish with the belly button facing the target. Try hitting a bucket of balls and just see what happens with this one swing thought. There is a really good chance that the arms will sink up with the core, and the legs will sink up with the core and you will find yourself swinging with everything working together.

If you are interested in reviewing other articles from Coach Ron go to www.lonetreegolfcourse.com under “The Course” tab. Thanks for playing this great game and be sure to share it with someone else.

By Brandon Roberts, D.C.

On Saturday August, 18 about a dozen other chiropractors and I went to San Quentin State Prison to adjust inmates. It was the 9^th annual San Quentin TRUST Health Fair (TRUST stands for Teaching Responsibility Utilizing Sociological Training).

The event was sponsored by Centerforce, Bay Area Black Nurses Association, and the Alameda County Public Health Department. There were many other health care workers there including dentists, mental health, as well as cholesterol and blood pressure screens.

I wanted to get involved after hearing about it and talking to some of the chiropractors who went last year. One of the core principles of my chiropractic college (Life West) is Lasting Purpose: Give, Love, and Serve out of abundance. I thought this would be a great way to live that principle.

My thinking was only of maybe helping one person realize some people on the outside do care enough to donate their time and because of that, it might keep my family and community safer when these inmates get released. But after talking to a friend, who is a Sheriff, and hearing her thoughts on it, I had serious doubts if I wanted to be involved in helping these people who have done some very terrible, violent things to innocent people. Was it something cool to check off a list of things I’ve done in my life? Was it just about me?

I spoke with a friend who has participated for a couple of years and he told me he knows some guards who want us there. He said “after you chiropractors come we have a couple of the most peaceful days of the year.” I figured if the guards want us there then I wanted to be there.

We walked through the front gates of the prison and we searched and had out ID’s checked a couple times then had an orientation by some guards and TRUST fellows.

Then we walked out onto The Yard and were out there with the inmates working out, jogging, playing tennis and handball. It was scary and surreal. The inmates had an award ceremony and a keynote speaker. I couldn’t stop moving around I was too afraid to get comfortable listening to the speakers, I wanted to be totally aware of my surroundings at all times.

We then went to the gym and got to work. The inmates were let in about 100 at a time. The line was from one side of the yard to the other. The line to see us was probably the longest except for the dentist (they were giving out toothbrushes). There wasn’t much small talk and I didn’t even get most guys names. Usually a fist bump or maybe a hand shake. I told them “you experience your life through your nerve system, every human action or experience is through your nerve system. If you experience more stress than your body can handle it is like blowing a fuse and your body can’t work properly and you experience less life, if this happens in the spine it is called a subluxation. Chiropractors detect and correct these problems so you are more able to adapt to your environment and can have a better life experience” It doesn’t matter if they had pain or not, all I was doing was finding that stress and removing it.

It was much more calm, orderly and quite than I thought it would be, I kept having to say aloud “We’re inside San Quentin!” to my colleagues to remind myself where I was. The normalcy is what actually bothered me the most I think.

I checked some shoulders and knees from playing football and tennis on the yard. I saw some old bullet wounds that definitely reminded me were I was.

One thing I’ll never forget is a very buffed man probably in his fifties with 3 really long braids in his beard that had no expression, had his ‘Game Face’ on, looked tough as hell and was one of the only men that made me feel uncomfortable get a big grin on his face and giggle after I adjusted him.

I think I saw 45-50 inmates in the few hours we were adjusting.

We got our things together and were leaving walking back across the yard and many of the men were shouting thanks. The last man I talked to I told, I’ll see you next year he said” I hope not.” I smiled and said I hope I never see you ever again then.

There is an inmate newspaper and I adjusted the editor and he said friend me on Facebook. That’s something else I won’t forget.

There was a film crew, the guys were learning filming, editing, directing and they did a couple interviews with us.

The inmates were low to medium security and couldn’t have had any violations for at least a year to be involved in this event.

We are going to try and get chiropractic as a regular part of the inmate’s health care. Some might think, and I heard people say, “Great my tax dollars at work, what next, private chefs?” Chiropractic isn’t a luxury like a massage or a Mani Pedi. It can save the state a lot of money. Many of these inmates were saying they take Motrin, naprosyn or other NSAIDS every day.

These can cause ulcers and are one of the primary reasons for people having kidney failure and being on dialysis. If chiropractic can keep these guys off drugs and prevent these very serious, expensive side effects a lot of money will be saved. I adjusted more than one guy that had shoulder or knee surgery while in prison.

We’re also thinking about doing some kind of event for the guards also.

Democrats Look to Win Battleground California

Sacramento – New registration numbers give Democrats a commanding lead in the newly-drawn ninth congressional district (CD-9), putting Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) in a commanding position as Election Day draws near.

The new CD-9 has 132,235 registered Democrats to the Republicans’ 103,560 – a commanding ten percentage point lead, with 45% Democratic voters to 35% Republicans.  Moreover, in a district that Barack Obama would have won by 58% in 2008, turnout will be key.  Historically, turnout in presidential election years mirrors the voter registration of the district.

“With these strong registration numbers and California Democrats working to turn out voters, Jerry McNerney will win his election, providing a platform for Democrats to pick up other seats in California,” said California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton. “We are going to make real strides this year – people are tired of the misguided, extreme-right leadership they’ve seen for the past two years that Republicans have been in charge of the House.  Strong Democratic candidates like Jerry McNerney will be leading the charge in California and we’re going to make sure Democrats turn out this election.”

Of importance is the fact that the new CD-9 has a significant amount of Decline to State (DTS) voters who historically vote for Democratic candidates.  These voters – undecided or independent voters – actually vote with a loyalty to one party or the other.  In Contra Costa County, these voters consistently vote Democratic 16-20% more than they do Republican. In San Joaquin County, 6-10% more of these voters are loyal to Democrats than are to Republicans.

McNerney’s old district, which he held for three cycles, actually had a Republican registration advantage just shy of one percentage point.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

The field of candidates is set in races for Antioch Mayor, Council, Clerk and Treasurer in the November election. Following are the candidates for each office in the order that they appear in the list from the County Elections website, as well as their self-chosen ballot designations and other information

Mayor

Gary Agopian, Antioch City Councilmember, Real Estate Agent and former Antioch School Board member for four years.

Wade Harper, Police Lieutenant/Vice-Mayor, who served two years on the Antioch School Board, appointed to fill the seat of the late Joyce Seelinger, then was elected in 2010 to the City Council. He works for the City of Tracy

Donald P. “Don” Freitas, Retired Environmental Manager, worked for the county for 30 years, is Antioch’s former Mayor from 2000-2008 and Councilman from 1998 to 2000, and represented Antioch on the Contra Costa Water District Board for 16 years.

Michael Anthony Leon, Marketing Manager for a heating and air conditioning company who is a newcomer to Antioch politics. He describes himself as a “regular Joe” or “Joe the Plumber” type who was encouraged to run by his neighbors after he was featured on Channel 4 news for helping get rid of squatters and some problem Section 8 tenants from his neighborhood.

Council

Noel Pinto, Manager, he’s the Director of Parking and Enforcement for the City of Oakland with a background in engineering.

Monica Wilson, College Dean Assistant, she’s the Executive Assistant to the Dean of Student Life for Mills College in Oakland., is a member of the Antioch Economic Development Commission, Vice Chair of the Contra Costa County Democratic Party Central Committee, is the Treasurer for the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus, and serves as the staff adviser to the Feminist Democrats (Fem Dems), the Mills College Democratic Club.

James D. Davis “Jim”, Mayor/Banker, he chose not to run for reelection as mayor but for council, instead. He was first elected to the council in 1998 and works as a Vice President for Bank of the West.

Mary Helen Rocha, Councilmember / Community Liaison, she has served on the council and as Mayor off and on, and as an Antioch School Board Trustee for the past 30 plus years. This will be her final time running, win or lose.

Walter Ruehlig, Employment Training Director, he is currently an Antioch School Board Trustee, where he has served for two terms.

Clerk

Arne Simonsen, Retired Master Chief in the Navy, but also retired Antioch small business owner of Simonsen Mechanical and a former Antioch City Councilman for two terms.

Argentina Davila-Luevano, Social Worker, who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a Specialty in Child Welfare. But right now she’s the President and CEO of the California LULAC Institute also known as CLI, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. She does social work when she handles case management for families through CLI.

Treasurer

Donna Conley, Incumbent, she is running unopposed.