Member of the Berkeley Farms Dairy business family.

Randall Allen “Randy” Sabatte

January 3, 1960 – July 23, 2020

On Thursday, July 23, 2020, Randall Allen Sabatte passed away after a short battle with cancer. He went home to be with the Lord at the age of 60.

Randy was born on January 3, 1960, in Oakland, CA. He graduated from Washington High School in Fremont in 1978. His career path took him from real estate to working at the family business, Berkeley Farms Dairy, to eventually owning his own franchise business with FastSigns in Antioch, California.

One of his most memorable jobs was frying chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken where he met the love of his life, Debbie Renee Hunter. Randy and Debbie shared a spiritual journey together in marriage for 38 years after marrying on October 17, 1981. They traveled extensively between ski slopes, the Grand Caymans, cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska, snorkeling in Mexico and most recently to Wyoming in a blizzard on a snowmobile. One of their proudest accomplishments was raising their three beautiful children – one daughter, Kristin, and two sons, Michael and Joel.  Randy adored his four grandchildren Esmae, Adelynn, Sage, and Jack (and one on the way he would call, “Jeff”).

Randy had a strong passion for volunteering and serving his local community, especially working with small businesses to help them achieve their individual goals in growing their own brands. Many in the community admired and respected Randy for his humble, kind spirit and his love for taking on any challenge.  He tackled any project whether it be big or small with enthusiasm. The expression of his artistic talents and attention to detail resulted in products that were admired and valued by many. Randy highly valued the relationships he worked hard to build with his clients. He went out of his way to keep his customers and own staff happy.

Randy shared his faith with teens and adults alike through the ministry of Young Life. He and Debbie were part of the team that helped launch Young Life in Brentwood, CA in 2006. He had Young Life clubs in his living room where 30-40 teens would gather weekly. He served as a volunteer leader, committee member, donor, and behind-the-scenes specialist. Because of their involvement in this ministry, Randy and Debbie’s home was an open door to many.

Randy loved the outdoors including camping, jeeping, running, snowboarding, and coaching for his sons’ teams (soccer/baseball/Boy Scouts).  Randy was a kid at heart.  He loved being around and helping children. He was known as The Leprechaun, Olaf, and “Mr. Debbie” at Apple Tree Christian Preschool, the business Debbie owns.

Randy is survived by his parents Norman Sabatte and Joanne Spiller, Pete Spiller; wife of 38 years Debbie; daughter Kristin (Kevin) Hazelton; son Michael (Chelsea); son Joel (Jessica); sisters Denise Sabatte-Pedersen, Janine Sabatte-Caspillo, Deanne Sabatte, and his five grandchildren: Esmae, Adelynn, Sage, Jack (+1 on the way).

A celebration of life service will be held on August 13, 2020 at Golden Hills Community Church in Brentwood at 9:00am. Check in begins at 8:30am for temperature scans. Bring your own chair and mask. In lieu of flowers and/or gifts, Randy requested donations would be made to Young Life’s Woodleaf camp, a ministry he was very passionate about. giving.younglife.org/randysabatte

 

No one struck by bullets, but pit bull released by one person involved in argument bites arm of another involved party, and “good Samaritan” sprays bear repellant on man fighting with girlfriend

By Allen Payton

Multiple Antioch Police Officers and Animal Control arrived on the scene of a family dispute, gunshots and domestic violence incident in the 300 block of W. 4th Street Monday afternoon about 3:30 p.m.

According to neighbors who heard the gunshots, but didn’t see the incident, they saw two cars speed away from the scene and a car of an uninvolved neighbor was struck by one of the bullets.

According to Antioch Police Corporal Brian Rose, “a disturbance and argument happened among a variety of family members. During the argument, someone, and we’re not sure who, released a pit bull and it bit the arm of one of involved parties.”

“Then, somehow, we don’t know who or how, a gun dropped to the ground according to the involved parties there, and fired off a couple rounds,” he continued. “How or who, that’s still a mystery. We found two shell casings at the scene to confirm. No one was struck. There may have been some kind of struggle over the gun, but no one was forthcoming.”

“One of the involved parties, a male, one of the primary aggressors, was there with his girlfriend – he was having a beef with her family,” Rose explained. “They get into her vehicle and fled the scene. Then, as they were fleeing something happened between them and caused a domestic violence situation. He put his hands on her and it left her face bleeding. They were outside the car on the street and witnesses saw it and reported it.”

“A good Samaritan tried to come to the aid of the female and sprayed bear repellant on the male but, some of it sprayed the female, too. The domestic violence suspect had his own can of pepper spray and tried to spray the good Samaritan but missed,” Rose stated.

“Then one of the domestic violence suspect’s friends came by and picked up the suspect and they left the scene,” he said. “We were provided with a description of the friend’s car. An officer saw a car that matched the description and stopped the car, which was the right one, and was able to detain the domestic violence suspect.”

“However, the female was uncooperative, not wanting to provide any information saying, ‘I don’t know who this guy is and he just jumped into the car,’ trying to protect her boyfriend,” said Rose. “But we were able to find out from family members that he was her boyfriend.”

“We were also able to recover the firearm in the female’s vehicle with the serial number obliterated, filed off which is illegal, but we couldn’t pin it on anyone, because she said it was hers but some people at the scene heard the boyfriend say, after the gun dropped on the ground, ‘grab my gun, grab my gun,’” Rose explained.

“Even though she doesn’t want to be treated like a domestic violence victim, she is, so we weren’t going to arrest her,” he added.

“At the end of the day, we arrested the domestic violence suspect, not because of anything the victim said, but based on what witnesses said, and we seized the gun,” Rose concluded.

Asked about the dog he replied, “Yes, the dog was taken away.”

Site of homeless program praised by Governor Newsom during June 30 press conference at the location

By Pittsburg Police Department

On Thursday, July 30, 2020, Pittsburg officers responded to Motel 6 at 2101 Loveridge Road in Pittsburg, for the report of a kidnapping during which the suspect, “pistol whipped” the female victim with a handgun causing a significant injury, threatened to kill her son, etc. The suspect was positively identified by the victim and Motel 6 cameras. The suspect in the Motel 6 incident was also found to have an active felony warrant for a similar pistol whip incident that occurred in the City of Oakland days prior. Furthermore, the suspect had just recently been released from prison and was on active parole for prior violent felonies convictions.

The motel was the site for a press conference by Governor Gavin Newsom about the state’s Project Roomkey and new Project Homekey programs on June 30. (See related article)  UPDATE: However, according to Contra Costa Health Services spokesperson Kim McCarl, the program does not include the entire motel, and the victim and suspect involved in the incident, which occurred in the other building, were not part of it.

On Friday, July 31, Pittsburg officers were patrolling the area where the suspect was believed to frequent. Officers located the suspect exiting the same vehicle he was driving during the Motel 6 incident. The suspect fled from the vehicle on foot, a perimeter was established and a short time later he was apprehended without incident. The vehicle was searched, and the above pictured firearm was located inside along with multiple high-capacity magazines and ammunition. The suspect was transported to jail on multiple different charges. -P375

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is seeking an individual to serve on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) as Public Representative on behalf of the County. The individual selected for this position must live in the unincorporated area of the County, be available to attend committee meetings on the 4th Wednesday of every month at 6:00 pm, normally held at the CCTA offices located at 2999 Oak Road, Suite 100, Walnut Creek, have the ability to review CAC agenda packets, and develop input on agenda items beforehand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings presently occur via videoconference. The individual will serve a four-year term in a volunteer capacity and be eligible for reimbursement for travel expenses.

The CCTA Citizen Advisory Committee reviews transportation programs and plans throughout the County (https://ccta.net/about-us/#what-we-do), with the objective of advising and providing recommendations to the CCTA Board of Directors. This includes transportation projects and programs funded by the county half-cent transportation sales tax (“Measure J”) (https://ccta.net/2018/10/17/measure-j), which CCTA oversees. CCTA maintains its standing CAC in order to provide citizen perspective, participation, and involvement in the Measure J-funded and voter-approved Transportation Expenditure Plan and Growth Management Program. The CAC members have an opportunity to learn about and influence transportation and growth issues within Contra Costa County and in other jurisdictions through scheduled presentations by transportation experts, advocates, and CCTA staff.

The deadline to apply is August 31, 2020. For more information on this position, please call (925) 674-7822. To apply, visit the Contra Costa County Boards and Commissions website at www.contracosta.ca.gov/6408, or download an application at www.contracosta.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6433. Applicants can fax the completed form to the attention of Robert Sarmiento at (925) 674-7250.

All five council members supported a feasibility study. 

By Allen Payton

The Antioch City Council continued the remainder of their Tuesday night meeting on Friday night, to discuss the final agenda items, including discussion of the Transitional Housing Ad Hoc Committee’s proposal to lease the Executive Inn motel on E. 18th Street for use by homeless residents. The presentation was made by committee members Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts and Council Member Lamar Thorpe.

About 20 members of the public commented on the item before the council members took up the matter.

“As you’ve said, the key to whatever program you decide to operate there, for it to be successful, it needs to be robust enough to deliver the services folks need,” stated Kate Bristol, the consultant hired by the city to help on homeless issues.

“Joy and I have to do the groundwork,” Councilman Lamar Thorpe said. “That would coincide with the feasibility study, as well. Folks think homeless encampment. But that’s not what we’re doing at all. Ironically, right down the street from Rocketship (charter school on Cavallo Road) is a homeless encampment.”

“We’re happy to walk through the process with the public,” he added.

Mayor Sean Wright then said, “I think everyone is centering around a housing, first model. That’s what the nationwide studies are showing works.”

“What kind of collaboration has there been with the county supervisors?” he asked.  “They don’t think they’re part of the process.”

“That’s funny. I just spoke with Federal Glover, today. We had an extensive conversation,” Motts responded. “There’s a reality piece of this we’re looking at. It’s complicated. What I’m seeing over at Motel 6, so far, it’s being run very, very well and it’s a success, so far. It’s bridging people into permanent housing.”

She spoke of a couple and their experience at the Pittsburg motel.

“Literally in this short period of time…they’ve been over at Motel 6 since May,” Motts shared. “This has allowed them to get their life together. Get back on their feet. Get a job. I was pleased to see how quickly the program worked for them.”

“It won’t work for everybody,” she continued. “These are people that want to. These are long-term homeless and for them it’s working.”

“I’ve spoken to Federal Glover as well,” Thorpe said. “But the contact has been LaVonna Martin. So, I’m puzzled that you reached out to both of them to see if we engaged them. If the Supervisors want to be directly involved and sit at meetings with us, they’re more than welcome to.”

“I really, truly believe this needs to be a regional approach, working with the county. They have access to state dollars that we don’t have. With a regional approach we have more access to more money. Is that correct?” Wright asked.

“It strongly needs to be connected to what the county has,” Bristol responded, and spoke of the Continuum of Care.

“I hear you and it’s a good point,” Thorpe. “We never approached this absent of the county. The Continuum of Care we will always be a part of that. You won’t find any disagreement from Joy or me on that.”

“If we’re talking about bridge housing, then we’re talking about permanent housing. That’s the county,” he explained.

“There’s a different model, as the county is looking at Motel 6 as a purchase,” Wright said. “What we’re looking at, here is a lease year after year.”

“But it started as a lease. Then they said, ‘let’s look at buying the motel,’” Thorpe responded.

“What I believe is, they’re looking at the money that was set aside for the LMC location (in Antioch) to buy the motel,” Wright said. “Looking at a purchase is a much better model.”

“That’s something we’re looking into as well,” Thorpe responded. “But I don’t want to get sidetracked by that, when we’re looking at a lease.”

“That’s what I’m looking at, here with the lease by the city,” Wright said. “You can’t tell me we’re going to rent 32 rooms and not have a $1.2 million cost. It’s great that we’re helping 32 of them, that does not take away the cost from helping the rest of the homeless on the streets.”

“This is bridge housing,” Motts stated. “There’s lots of homeless on the streets. We’re not going to be able to help all of them.”

“I just wanted to give you an idea of what we’re spending, now. We’re continuously cleaning up encampments in town and moving people from place to place,” she said. “It’s expensive to do something. It’s also expensive to not do anything.”

“There are entities out there who are willing to make financial commitments to this effort. So, the entire cost won’t be born by the city,” said Thorpe. “But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I don’t want to make anyone believe there will be no cost to the city.”

He then made a motion to direct staff for a feasibility study to look into the lease of a hotel for bridge housing, and for our city manager to start the process of an RFP (request for proposal) to be sent out to hotel owners. Motts seconded the motion.

“I don’t have a problem with starting a feasibility process…but this RFP process, it’s sending out an RFP to the motels in Antioch. There are only three in Antioch. I’m not ready for that. If you want the city manager to look at the room rates, that’s fine. I’m for the feasibility and service models.”

“I’m fine with my motion. I understand the RFP process will take a little longer,” Thorpe said. “I’d like to have these things happen concurrently.”

“I just thinking we’re wasting time,” Motts said referring to waiting on the feasibility study before pursuing the RFP.

Wright then asked Councilwoman Monica Wilson if she had any comment.

“Waiting for the vote,” Wilson responded.

“Do we need a vote?” Ogorchock asked. “I thought this was direction.”

“For direction a motion is not required,” City Attorney Thomas Smith said. “But a motion has been made.”

“I’m in the same boat as Councilmember Ogorchock,” Wright said. “I’m all for the feasibility study. I think the RFP puts the cart before the horse.”

“Can you split it?” Ogorchock asked Thorpe of  his motion.

“I’m fine with one motion,” Thorpe responded. “We did an RFP for the five trailers and nothing happened.”

With no other discussion Wright called for a roll call vote. Wilson, Thorpe and Motts voted yes, and Wright and Ogorchock voted no, and the motion passed on a 3-2 vote.