Dalet Access Labs is going into the most underserved areas and building “infrastructure grid of the future” from the bottom up

By Allen D. Payton

A locally minority-owned tech firm in Antioch, CA was the only company to complete the requirements of the $1 Million Dollar State of California Innovation Challenge by deploying a system in Fairhaven, CA near Eureka in Humboldt County. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the global competition in early 2021, to award “up to $1 million to the boldest, most revolutionary proposals to eliminate the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all Californians.” After they entered the competition in August 2021, Dalet Access Labs was assigned that community by the California Department of Education (CDE) to deploy their innovative network fabric

The CDE estimates that nearly a half-million students still lack either a device to attend school online, network access to their classroom, or both. 

The rules of the challenge stipulated that competitors had to test their innovation with students experiencing a lack of connectivity either due to barriers of affordability or infrastructure. The solution had to be at a cost of no more than $15/month per household, include 100 megabits synchronous upload and download speed with no data caps, and have fully deployable implementation within a year.

The competition was the result of a partnership with Genentech and the Genentech Foundation, General Motors and Dr. Gary K. Michelson, Founder and Co-Chair of Michelson Philanthropies and the Michelson 20MM Foundation – and Dalet Access Labs was in it to win it.

On July 1, of 2022 the company successfully deployed broadband connectivity services to the Fairhaven community with upload and download speeds that exceeded the competition requirements. It was tested with students who came to visit the site and learn as part of the Technology Exploration Summer Institute (TESI) program sponsored by Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE).

In October of 2022, HCOE sponsored a ribbon cutting ceremony to showcase the success of the broadband deployment in the Fairhaven community by inviting the leadership from CDE and other government officials to come tour the site with hopes of a winner being declared at this event.

According to the October 6, 2022 CDE press release, they celebrated the launch of the new high-speed digital internet system in Fairhaven. The newly installed broadband network is a model in an effort to reduce rural California’s internet “digital divide,” and is a collaboration between the HCOE, the Samoa Peninsula Fire District in Samoa, CA and Dalet. The fire district’s Fairhaven fire station was chosen as the base of operations due to its proximity to all the homes in the community. “The Fairhaven model surpassed the minimum requirements for the Innovation Challenge by providing download speeds of around 100 megabits. Dalet Access Labs led the project with HCOE to create the broadband system under guidelines set forth in the CDE competition. The group worked with Cogent Communications and AT&T to launch a live fiber optic line to the Fairhaven firehouse structure and through the system’s optimized sensor-networking software, the system was enabled, providing low latency, and high-speed internet coverage to families in Fairhaven. The infrastructure for high-quality distance learning was in place as a result,” the press release reads.

Edehomon claims the actual speeds were around 700 megabits.

Although Dalet Access Labs is a small tech start-up, this is big news for them and the City of Antioch, as the opportunities for this technology are endless. According to their website, the company was “founded in 2019 and has become one of the world’s premier disruptive innovation partners that is praised by customers and vendors as we forge strategic partnerships and create new opportunities for our clients and vendors. We are known for getting stuff done. We pride ourselves on working efficiently, on time and within budget.”

“We were one of the four finalists for the high-speed broadband for the underserved,” CEO Odion “Odie” Edehomon shared. “COVID exposed the poor state of infrastructure in our country. The California Dept of Education invited companies to innovate. We were one of the 48 companies to participate. They narrowed it down to seven, then to four companies. We were the only company to deploy our intelligent network fabric.”

“We have the corporate office, here in Antioch. The lab is in Fairhaven,” he shared. Damon Owens, known in the community as the head pastor of Genesis Church on E. 18th Street is Vice President of Community Development.

Dalet spent over $700,000 to prove their solution would work. They were able to successfully deploy its innovative Network as a Service (NaaS) network platform that provides broadband connectivity services that met and exceeded all competition requirement, as was stated by the CDE representative, Chief Deputy Superintendent Mary Nicely, during the official ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by HCOE. Edehomon and Owens said they were told that Dalet was the only remaining participants who had completed the challenge, which gave them hope that they would be declared the winner of the competition and be awarded the $1 million prize. 

“We knew from the beginning we were going to win,” Edehomon said with a laugh.

Asked how he said, “We are vendor-neutral. I’m from the dev-test industry. We are the equal system behind any technology development. Our knowledge of where infrastructure is going to be in 10 years, we knew we were going to build something that will transform.”

However, none of the competitors won, according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article which reads, “a Chronicle investigation has found that state officials misled contestants about the contest, then proceeded to ignore their urgent emails and calls for months at a time. State officials said they and the prize’s funders, who later judged the competition, hoped someone, maybe at academic heavyweights like MIT or CalTech, was sitting on an invention that would provide universal, fast and very cheap internet access — within a year’s time.”

But the result was practical solutions from Edehomon’s work and a very pleased Humboldt County community.

The platform deployed by Dalet Access is a “Public Infrastructure Network Node (PINN) compliant network.  This is a model that enables the full functionality of Fourth Industrial Revolution 4.0 technology of the future like, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and drone technology through the implementation of an intelligent grid platform,” he explained.

“It is the standard for an infrastructure grid of the future,” Edehomon said. “It is software driven. It’s a single platform, whether it’s 5G or 6G, satellite or fiber. Smart cities will be plugging into it, driverless cars and buses. B2B (business to business), car to car, ultrawide band. Smart Dot, Smart Pavement, Smart Vault.”

“Autonomy Institute is taking the lead on it. They’re based in Texas,” Edehomon continued. “We’re looking at things five to ten years ahead. We’re building this intelligent transformation platform on a broadband network. Everything has to do with latency for the applications.”

Gas stations will still be there, but they will be converting to charging stations,” he stated. “Digital transformation is being brought to consumers. It’s what we call the shared economy, a heavy amount of data will be generated.”

They will use “distribution or smart nodes. The intelligence will be in the software, no longer in the hardware as it used to be,” Edehomon stated.

“They don’t build things that are available to poor people. They always develop from the top down. That’s what created the digital divide,” he continued. “We do things the other way around. We choose to go into the most underserved areas and build from the bottom up.”

Asked if the company is for profit or non-profit Edehomon said, “We are for profit. We are a Network as a Service (NaaS) provider.”

Asked who are their customers he shared “As a NaaS provider to all, our service is ubiquitous, and we are an early adopter OpenRoaming offers affordable access and connectivity to small and mid-size businesses, residential, enterprise and government customers through the platform. Just like you take your mobile phone or your laptop and can get service anywhere, but you can’t do that everywhere you go with services from most existing providers. The goal is to provide seamless connectivity to all our customers by leveraging the PINN-compliant platform. For customers the key is to provide them with seamless connectivity.”

“We are filling in the gaps,” Edehomon explained. “They sometime call it the last mile. But there’s a misconception as a minimum point of entry from the home to the business. We build from the edge to the last mile.”

“We have an infrastructure in which we are expanding the fabric into the entire city of Eureka,” he shared. “We use MmWave nodes that transform, and the optimization takes place in the software, not the hardware. You eventually get to 100 gig. The nodes are about half the size of a laptop and can be on existing infrastructure on the side of buildings, on light posts. Some of the unique advantages of the way the self-organizing nodes work, is like a flock of birds that fly in synchronized form, they operate together but as individual devices.”

“We are starting in a more rural area, but it’s designed it more for high-density areas,” Edehomon shared.

Asked how we get this application to come to Antioch he responded, “We need money, and we need the city to buy into it. We need a few fiber hubs. We actually had a meeting with the mayor, last year because we wanted to start in Antioch, first. But not everyone sees the need. We also had a meeting with Brentwood. We want to do an intelligent corridor from the Brentwood Blvd. exit all the way to Pittsburg. But they don’t see the way we see how infrastructure can work.”

“We want to bring industry to Antioch and East County, that’s the goal,” Owens added.

In spite of the outcome of the competition, the company has moved on and they are focusing their efforts in other communities.

“We already signed off on the U.S. 30 Project which is a smart corridor in Ohio. It’s similar to what we want to do with Highway 4 east,” Edehomon stated. “It includes LIDAR (laser imaging, detection, and ranging) Data and smart cameras. You must build the infrastructure to be compliant. We want to help the knowledge transfer. It takes a visionary.”

Without city attorney’s knowledge violating ordinance; helped mayor with performance evaluations of city attorney, possibly manager; on Tuesday’s council meeting agenda

By Allen D. Payton

On October 13, 2022, Antioch City Manager Con Johnson engaged the services of an outside law firm regarding internal investigation procedures, less than two weeks before the council on a 3-2 vote hired him as the permanent city manager on Oct. 25.  Then, on Nov. 4th, the embattled Johnson, who was placed on paid administrative leave on March 17, 2023, signed a “procedurally invalid” contract with the firm.

According to the city staff report for Item O. on tomorrow (Tuesday) night’s council meeting Consent Calendar agenda, the contract is “with Attorney Greg Rolen of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP (‘Haight’) to provide legal services to the City concerning its internal investigation procedures…without the knowledge…and was not approved by the City Attorney as required by Antioch Resolution Number 2021/26. Therefore, the agreement is procedurally invalid. Since that time, Haight has billed the City $38,744.52 for legal services purportedly pursuant to the Agreement.”

However, the staff report only includes the latest invoice, dated March 13, 2023 for just $1,405.57, but not the first two invoices dated Jan. 12 for $30,107.20 and Feb. 21 for $7,231.75.

The staff report further reads, “The City cannot lawfully provide Haight with any compensation pursuant to a procedurally invalid contract. However, any failure to pay Haight for services rendered to the City could result in a claim for payment by Haight, further litigation expenses to the City, and potentially legal liability to the City. Therefore, in order to avoid the risk of a legal claim by Haight – and corresponding litigation costs and potential liability – the City may lawfully provide Haight with payment for its legal services to the City pursuant to the Agreement, provided such payments are duly ratified by the City Council. If the City ratifies this payment, the City should also declare that no further work shall be undertaken under the invalid Agreement.”

Meetings With Outside Attorney, Mayor, Council

The latest invoice, third of three, shows work by attorney Greg Rolen with Mayor Lamar Thorpe on Feb. 2 and listed as “Teleconference with mayor regarding representation city manager” which lasted for 30 minutes. It also shows Rolen billed for “Attend, virtual closed session” on Feb. 14 for 50 minutes. That meeting which was listed on the council’s agenda as a performance evaluation of the city attorney. The next day, Rolen held a “Teleconference with mayor regarding Council meeting” for 60 minutes. Finally, on Feb. 21, the attorney composed an email to Antioch City Attorney Thomas L. Smith.

Questions for City Attorney, Others

City Attorney Thomas L. Smith, Acting City Manager Forrest Ebbs and Finance Director Dawn Merchant were asked Monday afternoon for copies of the first two invoices and a few questions about the matter.

They were asked, “since the contract signed by City Manager Johnson was procedurally invalid, why should the taxpayers pay for the bill and it not be charged to Mr. Johnson and anyone else who spoke with the firm’s attorney(s), including Mayor Thorpe, whose name is listed on the latest bill for the ‘Teleconference with mayor regarding Council meeting’ on Feb. 2 and again on Feb. 15, plus the firm’s time on Feb. 14 to ‘Attend, virtual closed session’? Why would the mayor and/or city council need advice from outside legal counsel for the city attorney’s performance evaluation which was on the Closed Session agenda for the Feb. 14th meeting?”

Merchant responded, “I do not have the copies of the invoices since they have not been paid.”

She was pressed further, following business hours on Monday, pointing out the latest invoice was addressed to her and asking who has the previous two invoices.

Questions for Thorpe, Councilmembers

Thorpe and the other council members were sent the following questions Monday afternoon:

Regarding Item O on tomorrow night’s Consent Calendar agenda, the legal bills for an invalid contract, why did you need advice from outside legal counsel for the city attorney’s performance evaluation which was on the Closed Session agenda for the meetings on Oct. 11 and 25, and Nov. 22, 2022 and Jan. 10, Jan. 24, and Feb. 14, 2023?

Also, why was the ‘Teleconference with mayor regarding representation city manager’ on Feb. 2 necessary? Was that for the city manager’s performance evaluation or the fact Con had hired the law firm through a ‘procedurally invalid’ contract? If so, why couldn’t you have just sought advice from Thomas? Were there any other such teleconferences between the mayor and the outside attorney(s) regarding the city manager, his performance evaluation also previously scheduled for Nov. 11, 2022, Jan. 10th and 24th, or anything else? If so, what else was discussed?

Is this a new practice in helping prepare you and follow up with the preparation of the city attorney’s and/or city manager’s annual performance review? Has this been done by the mayor or council in previous years?

Did you know Con was going to hire the firm on Oct. 13th, less than two weeks before he was hired as the permanent city manager? Did you direct him to do so, or did he suggest hiring the law firm and you approved it? 

Since the first two bills and their details were not included with the staff report on the item, what else did the firms’ attorneys discuss with either any of you, Con or anyone else on city staff and in what other closed sessions did they participate?

Also, was the fact that Con’s contract with the law firm was ‘procedurally invalid’ one of the reasons you placed him on paid administrative leave?

Finally, since you can’t legally pay the bill, why should the taxpayers foot the bill for Johnson’s mistake (and possibly yours, if you approved the law firm’s hiring) and he not be required to pay the almost $39,000 out of his salary which is about equal to two months, which would be fair since he’s currently being paid to do nothing?”

“Not to my knowledge,” District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica said in response to only the question if the council had ever used an outside law firm to assist in the evaluations of either the city manager or attorney. He said other questions might be related to closed session matters which he can’t discuss. Barbanica was the only council member to respond prior to publication time.

Any discussion by the council and direction to Johnson to hire an outside law firm, it if occurred, was never reported out of Closed Session by either the mayor or city attorney.

Former Mayor Freitas Says Consulting Outside Law Firm for Performance Evaluations “Strange”

Asked if he had ever hired an outside law firm to help him and the city council evaluate either the city attorney or city manager, former Antioch Mayor Don Freitas said, “It never happened. The city attorney is an at-will employee and can be terminated by the city council. If the council loses faith in either the city attorney or city manager, or they no longer trust them, they can terminate their contracts.”

“Why you would need to hire an outside counsel to tell you how to evaluate your in-house counsel. It’s strange,” he added. “As mayor, I would never have permitted, unless the council had appointed me to speak on their behalf to speak with an outside attorney. All council members should have been able to speak with the attorney.”

Please check back for any additional responses or any other updates to this report.

Presented by Tackle Warehouse

OAKLEY, Calif. (April 24, 2023) – The Liberty/Heritage High School Team of Noah Nguyen and Tyler Petersen, both of Antioch, California, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the second, and final, MLF High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing Open on the California Delta Presented by Tackle Warehouse event of the year in Oakley, California.

A field of 33 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from Russo’s Marina in Bethel Island. In MLF High School Fishing competition, the top 10% of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.

The top three teams that qualified for the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship are:

1st: Liberty/Heritage High School – Noah Nguyen and Tyler Peterson, both of Antioch, Calif., five bass, 17-12

2nd: Casa Roble Fundamental – Ian Peatross and Preston Schweiger, both of Citrus Heights, Calif., four bass, 17-5

3rd: Lake County High School Fishing Club – Tyler Bryant and Joey Gentle, both of Kelseyville, Calif., five bass, 16-9

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

4th: Lake County High School Fishing Club – Payton Lyndall, Kelseyville, Calif., and Kaine Navarro, Glendora, Calif., five bass, 16-6

5th: Hughson High School – Logan Dekleva and Landon Mason, both of Hughson, Calif., five bass, 14-8

6th: Delta Saints Bass Team – Jax Soto, Courtland, Calif., and Nathan Tritt, West Sacramento, Calif., five bass, 14-1

7th: Delta Saints Bass Team – Zachary Carli, Ryde, Calif., and Jake Feldheim, West Sacramento, Calif., five bass, 13-11

8th: Liberty High School – J.D. Farage, Discovery Bay, Calif., and Fisher Perkins, Rocklin, Calif., five bass, 13-7

9th: Hughson High School – Hunter Cook, Hickman, Calif., and Cooper Scarbrough, Hughson, Calif., five bass, 13-4

10th: Oakdale High School – Troy Cox and Zane Ravalin, both of Oakdale, Calif., five bass, 11-12

Complete results from the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

MLF High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing tournaments are free, two-person (team) events for students in grades 7-12 and are open to any MLF and TBF Student Angler Federation-affiliated high school club. The top 10% of teams at each Open event, along with the TBF High School Fishing state championships, will advance to the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship. The 2023 MLF High School Fishing National Championship will be held on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 20-24, and is hosted by Explore La Crosse.

The High School Fishing National Champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice and advance to the 2023 MLF Toyota Series Championship to compete as co-anglers.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Grundens, Lawless Lures, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular High School Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing

Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.

Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing™

By Allen D. Payton

The track at Antioch High School is now named after former coach Mike Hurd, who was honored during a dedication ceremony at the school on March 29, 2023. The 1964 Antioch High grad was the Panthers’ cross country and track coach from 1970-79 leading his teams to multiple league and North Coast championships.

“I found out, it was before COVID and I only found out because my wife went to a school board meeting…to present what they were going to do,” Hurd said. “It’s terrific. It’s very humbling. The thought that there were people that thought highly enough to do this. I feel really blessed.”

“I stand here because I’ve got God at my back and this wonderful woman by my side,” Hurd said during the ceremony, getting choked up while speaking of his wife, Lisa. “Thank you to Gary, Tom, Louie, Trine, John, the full committee that worked on this. It’s not something that I would have ever campaign for. But I’m so blessed to have friends who thought it was important to do.”

During the ceremony, Gary Bras of the Antioch Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the track and field team when he was in high school said, “When he was done with us, we were men and women and little did we know the lessons that he taught us would take us through the rest of our lives.”

Former Antioch High Principal Louie Rocha also spoke at the ceremony, “We’re so thankful and appreciative, Coach Hurd, for not only for what you did in high school, but how that carried on to the years beyond our high school experience. Many of us thank you for instilling upon us the skills, the self-confidence, and the belief about setting goals and reaching and striving for those to be attained.”

A post on the Antioch High School Facebook page reads, “Legendary coach Mike Hurd, a 1964 Antioch High graduate, returned to Panther Country after college and took the school’s track program to an unprecedented level.

On Thursday, March 29, 2023, he was honored for his more than 10 years of leading and inspiring hundreds of student athletes during the dedication of the Mike Hurd Track.

At the ceremony attended by family, friends and many of his former students, Coach Hurd recounted several stories from the glory days of the 1970s, which included an impressive 16 league championships and three North Coast Section Divisional titles.

He is the winningest coach in the history of Antioch High School’s track and field and cross country. Hurd is also an inductee in the Antioch Sports Legends Hall of Fame.

Congrats to Coach Hurd!”

“It’s never been about me it’s always been about the athletes and my coaches. I got plenty of recognition as a head coach,” Hurd said later during an interview with The Press. “It was more shocking than anything else. My feelings are somewhat between embarrassment and humble. I think what it does is it reinforces that you made an impact in their life and that was the most important thing. To be able to teach them some life lessons through athletics and be able to take those life lessons forward to teach to their children and the people that followed. That was the key thing.”

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce shared the following about the 2022 Citizens of the Year for Lifetime Achievement, Mary and Bob Franchetto, who were honored at the annual Gala on Friday night, March 24, 2023.

“Standing beside every active community-involved person is a loving spouse. Mary and Bob Franchetto are a beautiful example of this. Residents of Antioch for years, Cottage Florist was purchased by Bob’s parents in 1947 and Bob and Mary took it over in 1965.  Third generation Paula Franchetto-Trotta now owns and operates the business under their new name Paula’s Family Florist. Paula stated that Bob’s record of volunteering over the years is unbelievable.

We honor them for being such an important part of the Antioch community. If you are lucky, the next time you call to order flowers, you might hear the beautiful voice of Mary Franchetto picking up the phone and asking how she may help you or bump into Bob Franchetto at a meeting of one of Antioch’s important service clubs!

This is our night to express our love and appreciation to you and your family for all your hard work, talent and kindness over the years.”

“Not too long ago, these two individuals financially saved the Antioch Chamber of Commerce,” said Chamber Executive Director Daniel Sohn.

Bob said, “I got Citizen of the Year in 1974. I’ll tell you this is a topper.”

The pair met in 1961.

“We’ve been active in over 13 organizations. We’ve tried to help promote the city through the Antioch Chamber of Commerce,” he stated.

“She’s done more to this city that people really don’t understand,” Bob said about Mary. “We came into Antioch together and the Chamber was having difficulty.”

He obtained a $25,000 loan from a local bank until the City could come through with the funds a few months later. They paid for the meals for the dogs to start the police K-9 program.

Bob introduced his family members including all their grandchildren who were in attendance at the Gala.

Mary said, “I’d like to thank everyone for being here tonight to help us celebrate this award.  It is really an honor and we really, really appreciate it.”

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report which first appeared in the April/May issue of our print edition.

Antioch Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Daniel Sohn read the following about 2022 Citizen of the Year Most Impact, Martha Goralka during the annual Gala Friday, March 24, 2023.

“When you need help or assistance, we are always told to look for someone who is ‘busy’.  Over the years, Martha Goralka is not only someone who is ‘busy’, but she knows how to get it done and does it correctly.

She is a 50 plus year member of the League of Women Voters.  She has served as a past president, past co-president and for the past six years has served as the Voter Service Co-Chair in charge of candidate forums and Roundtables, as well as a variety of duties.

As a 34-year member of the Rotary Club of the Delta/Antioch, she was Charter president in 1989 and carries a perfect attendance record.

She participated in building casitas in San Luis Rio Colorado, delivered wheelchairs in Mexico City and Monterey, Mexico.  Worked the ‘Polio Plus Vaccination Day’ for children in India as well as visiting Rotary projects in Uganda and Zambia, Africa.  She has participated in ‘Home Team’ projects doing minor repairs for seniors, Meals on Wheels deliveries, Bedford Center pandemic deliveries and much more.

Other areas she has tirelessly worked in:  Chapter QS of the P.E.O. Sisterhood raising money for women’s scholarships, grants, loans and a woman’s college, the Antioch Chamber of Commerce both as an employee and a volunteer, Delta Learning Center, Antioch Schools Education Foundation, Arts & Cultural Foundation of Antioch, the PTA, the Bond Oversight Committee and the list goes on and on.

At this Gala, we celebrate you tonight, Martha. Thank you for all you have achieved over the years.”

“Others I’ve worked with seem to believe ‘Martha really doesn’t do anything she just shows up.’ I’ve come to think of myself as a catalyst that everything else happens around,” Goralka said. “In Antioch people donate their time, their treasure and their talent.”

She said when she first started at the Antioch Ledger newspaper, she met “Leo Fontana who has been an inspiration.”

“Antioch is a big, small town. Everybody seems to know everybody else,” Goralka continued.

She said she met her husband, Joe through their participation in Rotary.

“My whole family has been behind me, and I so appreciate it,” said Goralka.

She volunteers most of her time at the Delta Learning Center she shared.

“There are so many of you that I know and wanted to mention,” Goralka added.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report which first appeared in the April/May print edition.

By Livermore Police Department

On Friday, April 21 around 11:30 a.m., Livermore Police responded to a report of a victim who was robbed of cash as he walked out of the Wells Fargo Bank on K and 2nd Streets.

A short time later, police found a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s car in the Bank of America parking lot on Railroad Avenue.

Officers arrested two people, 18-year-old Derrick Rose Jr. of Antioch and 20-year-old Rajanae Bynum of Antioch, who were identified as being involved in the robbery at Wells Fargo. Both were transported to Santa Rita Jail and are facing robbery and conspiracy charges.

Police are investigating if the two are connected to a similar robbery last week (Thursday, April 13) at the Bank of America on Railroad Avenue.

Anyone with information that may help with the investigation can call Livermore Police’s anonymous tip line at (925) 371-4790.