Antioch Police responded to a go-cart accident and had the incident area taped off on North Lake Drive, Saturday night, Nov. 2, 2024. Photo courtesy of a resident who chose to remain anonymous.
By Lt. Joe Njoroge #7052, Antioch Police Field Services Division
On November 02, 2024, at approximately 7:56 PM, Antioch Police officers responded to reports of a solo go-cart collision on N. Lake Drive. Upon arrival, officers found the 54-year-old male (unknown resident) driver of the go-cart on the ground, suffering from major injuries and unresponsive. Officers on scene immediately provided medical assistance to the driver until paramedics arrived. The driver was thereafter transported to an area hospital where he is currently being treated.
Traffic Accident Investigators took over the investigation. This collision investigation is in the preliminary stages and the names of the parties involved are not being released at this time.
Based on preliminary information at the scene, it was determined the go-cart driver was traveling eastbound on N. Lake Drive at a high rate of speed and collided with a parked vehicle after veering off the roadway.
According to a resident who chose to remain anonymous a neighbor said, “I thought someone had died. There was blood everywhere.”
“APD towed a go-cart, I was told,” the resident continued. “Someone always driving around Lake Alhambra in a go-cart. Those don’t belong on the street!!!”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Antioch Police Department non-emergency line at (925) 778-2441 or Traffic Collision Investigator Sergeant Green at 925-779-6864, email rgreen@antiochca.gov.
Antioch District 3 Councilwoman and City Treasurer candidate Lori Ogorchock. Source: 2024 campaign
Davis had his turn, newcomer Rojas falsely claims Antioch had “balanced…budgets in the last four years” and calls facing three years of double-digit deficits “financial progress”
By Allen D. Payton, Publisher
In the race for Antioch City Treasurer there are only really two candidates who should be considered, current District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock and former Mayor and Councilman Jim Davis. The decision between the two common-sense candidates was a challenge.
The third candidate in the race, newcomer Jorge R. Rojas, Jr., doesn’t have a campaign website nor even a Facebook page, but has been endorsed by Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe. That’s enough to disqualify him, as the mayor has proven he cannot be trusted with the workings inside City Hall, and previous elected and appointed allies have played political games. Rojas might be willing to do the same in reporting the use of our taxpayer dollars. Plus, while there’s little he can do in the position, it could give him a leg up for a future council run. Antioch can’t afford another ally of the mayor on the city council.
Rojas
The only information about Rojas and his campaign are found in his ballot designation of Chief Financial Officer, what in his ballot statement, which shows he’s an immigrant from Peru and works for a janitorial services company, and his campaign finance reports. Those show he chose to not raise or spend more than $2,000 in the campaign, and his only contribution was $1,449 from Hernandez-Thorpe. But Rojas did not submit a report of how he spent those funds.
The candidate never once reached out to the Herald nor respond to the effort to contact him to provide any information about him and his campaign to our readers. Worse, his candidate statement provides false information about the City’s finances. He wrote, “Antioch has built a $63,000,000 rainy day fund, balanced its over $220,000,000 budgets in the last four years, and made significant efforts to pay down employee retirement debt. We need to protect our city’s financial progress.”
Yet, as previously reported, about the “rainy day fund” first mentioned by the mayor, City Finance Director Dawn Merchant responded, “I am not sure about the claim as we do not have a $63M rainy day fund. I can only assume that claim is adding the Stabilization Fund and General Fund reserves, however, again, I am not sure.”
Furthermore, as that report shows, the City has been deficit-spending using money from those two funds. The budgets for this and the past three Fiscal Years include the following deficits: $3,995,625 in FY 2022-23; $5,343,928 in FY 2023-24; and $4,617,143 projected for the current, FY 2024-25.
In addition, according to the General Fund Projections for 2023-2028 presented to the city council on June 11, 2024, the General Fund is projected to run the following deficits: $12,995,259 in FY 2025-26; $13,561,074 in FY 2026-27; and $14,855,649 in FY 2027-28.
Furthermore, because those projected double-digit deficits the Budget Stabilization Fund will be depleted by the end of June 2008. It will result in that last year’s deficit being covered by the General Fund reserve leaving it with an Ending Balance of just $17.4 million or 17.06% in reserves versus over 31% and 32% for the previous fiscal years.
If that’s what Rojas thinks is “our city’s financial progress” he’s seriously misguided. While his candidate statement shows he “enrolled in DVC to study Business Administration” before a “20-year career in the banking industry, specializing in financial services” it appears Rojas needs to school to gain more education and a better understanding of budgets, deficits and “financial progress.”
Davis
Jim Davis is a good man, and my friend, and has served our community well as a councilman, mayor and then as city treasurer. He has also served as president of the Antioch-Chichibu Sister City Organization. While his background is in banking, Jim had his turn in the position, and I endorsed him for it in 2020, but he was defeated for re-election by current City Treasurer Lauren Posada, that year. I’m sure he will continue to serve Antioch in one way or another.
Orgorchock
That brings me to Councilwoman Ogorchock, who is also a friend, and with whom I’ve interacted since she first ran for city council. She has a background in real estate and years on the council dealing with the City’s budgets. Yet, this year for her is bitter-sweet as she was unable to run for re-election to the city council. That was due to the corruption by the mayor and his two council allies, Tamisha Torres-Walker and Monica Wilson, who gerrymandered Lori out of District 3, literally drawing the line around her neighborhood in live time during a council meeting for all to see and moving her into neighboring District 4 represented by Wilson. While Ogorchock ran for that seat in 2022, due to two others in the race splitting the vote, she lost to Wilson. Worse, the three planned it during at least one private meeting at Hernandez-Thorpe’s home and were investigated for it by the Contra Costa DA’s Office and Civil Grand Jury.
Thus, being elected and serving as city treasurer will be kind of like a consolation prize for Ogorchock and I’m sure she will do a good job. Plus, she has been endorsed by the incumbent, Posada, who chose to not seek re-election and that says something.
So, I’m happy to support and ask you to join me in voting for Lori Ogorchock for Antioch City Treasurer in Tuesday’s election. To learn more about her and her campaign, visit the Facebook page entitled “Lori Ogorchock for Antioch City Treasurer.”
Sideshow at W. 10th Street and Auto Center Drive on Saturday night, May 29, 2021. Source: Antioch PDdrone video screenshot
Helps fund the STREET III – Sideshow, Takeover, Racing, Education, and Enforcement Taskforce
By CHP Media Relations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol (CHP) received $2 million in federal funding that will expand its major crackdown on dangerous sideshows and street racing statewide, holding participants and organizers accountable for reckless driving behaviors.
Federal funding for the Sideshow, Takeover, Racing, Education, and Enforcement Taskforce (STREET III) grant comes after the CHP received $5.5 million in state funding to combat illegal street racing and sideshow activities, resulting in a 40% decrease in illegal sideshow incidents from 2021 to 2022. The STREET III grant aims to reduce the number of fatal and injury traffic crashes attributed to reckless driving, street racing, and sideshows. The CHP will implement a public awareness campaign to tackle these unlawful activities and conduct specialized enforcement operations such as excessive speeding behaviors where motorists are traveling more than 100 mph on state highways. Last year, CHP officers participating in specialized speed enforcement operations from January 2023 to July 2024 issued over 30,000 citations to motorists exceeding 100 mph.
“Sideshows and street takeovers are reckless, criminal activities that endanger our communities and make streets less safe. We have seen too many people killed or hurt at these illegal events. California will continue to ramp up our efforts to crack down on sideshows. For anyone considering attending a sideshow: know that not only do you risk getting hurt at these events, but you also risk the potential loss of your vehicle,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.
Since February, the CHP has made 1,125 arrests, seized 110 illegal guns, and recovered more than 2,000 stolen vehicles in Alameda County and the East Bay alone. Last month, Governor Newsom signed four bills into law that impose stricter penalties and strengthen law enforcement’s ability to combat sideshows and street takeovers.
“The CHP’s top priority is the safety of our communities. This new grant allows us to strengthen our efforts in addressing the growing issues of sideshows and illegal street racing, which endanger lives and disrupt neighborhoods,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.“By increasing patrols, deploying advanced technology, and partnering with local organizations, we are committed to making our roads safer and holding those responsible for reckless driving accountable.”
Alongside allied agencies, the CHP established task forces to tackle the challenges posed by street racing and sideshows. In addition, social media initiatives have been introduced to enhance public awareness regarding the dangers associated with aggressive driving behaviors, including illegal street racing and sideshows. The STREET III grant allows for a campaign starting this month through September 30, 2025.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security.
By Rudy Recile, Retired U.S. Army Major, candidate for Congress, CA District 8
Rudy Recile. Source: 2024 campaign
Grassroots candidates running for an office don’t have it easy. People don’t know your name, you have no money in your campaign account and adding insult to injury, depending on what party you are affiliated with, the media may or may not be friendly towards you or your campaign.
With a title like that would any challenger have a chance? Depending on whether or not the reader keeps up with current events would determine what type of article they are reading. I don’t know if this was an article, opinion statement or hit piece.
I know Rep. John Garamendi has cancer, and I mentioned to the reporter during the interview I wouldn’t disparage the congressman in any way. I wanted to run a clean race and not a smear campaign. Instead of John Garamendi going after me the reporter decided to write an article seemingly attacking me.
All stories have a point of view and there is always some truth in the telling of the story. When I was being interviewed, I didn’t remember all of the details of the current events we were discussing. I was able to get most of the information correct and instead of the reporter doing her due diligence she took the negative side and stated I am passing dis-information.
For example, when hurricane Helene devastated the east coast, I stated the Government was restricting air space and it was in fact happening.
Eventually the restrictions were lifted. The point the reporter emphasized was the lifting of restrictions which means there were restrictions in place. The reporter failed to mention that FEMA and other federal agencies didn’t show up for almost a week after the hurricane and there were many people posting on social media platforms that they were being restricted from flying.
I spoke about a Veteran being evicted to make way for migrants. The reporter found an article where some people acted and reported they were evicted to make way for migrants from a hotel which was found to be a hoax. The article I was referring to was about a New York Army Veteran who was evicted from a nursing home to make way for migrants and not the story she mentioned. https://nypost.com/2023/11/30/news/army-vet-kicked-out-of-nyc-nursing-home-to-make-room-for-migrants/ There are many stories out there she could have chosen but the story she chose to back her story was the one regarding the hoax.
I also mentioned how crime is not being reported based on an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Contrary to Media Myth, U.S. Urban Crime Rates Are Up” – https://www.wsj.com/opinion/contrary-to-media-myth-u-s-urban-crime-rates-are-up-violence-cities-9ce714f6. “National Crime Victim Survey (NVCS) 2023 finds no statistically significant evidence that violent crime or property crime is dropping in America…” NVCS. “In the 2023 NVCS, crime victims conveyed that a majority – 55% of violent victimizations weren’t reported to the police, while 70% of property crime victimizations weren’t reported.”
Since crime is not being reported as it was in the past the statistics seem to be decreasing. It is so easy to find articles regarding how Prop 47 has affected California. She decided to identify an article which soft plays Prop 47 which I mentioned.
Even with all the negativity the best parts of the article were the parts where she directly quoted my full statement and not just parts of my statements
The bottom line is this, if you’re a grassroots candidate, realize running for office isn’t easy and it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows. If you’re going to vote, do your own due diligence and be an educated voter before you vote. Vote the policies the person supports and not the person or the party.
Martinez, CA — In an age where there’s so much information available to us, why would the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office start a podcast?
The answer is simple: to inform the public on legal issues that directly impact our community. The approach of the Cross-Examination podcast is one that focuses on depth and detail, wrapped up in engaging discussions.
Cross-Examination aims to unpack the complexities of the criminal justice system, shine a light on important public safety topics, and foster transparency in law enforcement as it applies to residents in Contra Costa County.
The debut episode features District Attorney Diana Becton in a conversation with hosts Ted Asregadoo and Deputy District Attorney Brian Feinberg. Together, they explore the vital role of the District Attorney’s Office in seeking justice, maintaining public safety, and balancing these responsibilities with the need for reform.
Other episodes delve into timely and relevant topics, such as retail theft. Chief of Inspectors Arnold Threets shares insights from real-world cases and discusses crime prevention strategies, while criminologist Dr. Samuel DeWitt examines how media coverage influences public perception of crime.
By launching this podcast, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office is providing a way for the public to gain a better understanding of the criminal justice system from multiple angles. District Attorney Diana Becton said, “I think podcasts about the kind of work our local government does — especially the District Attorney’s Office — will be beneficial in building trust by fostering stronger community relations through deep discussions about issues related to public safety.”
Cross-Examination is available now on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and other podcast platforms.
With experience in law enforcement, private sector and government he offers common-sense views unlike his left-leaning opponent
By Allen D. Payton, Publisher
In the race for Contra Costa County Supervisor District 5 seat held by Federal Glover who is retiring after six consecutive terms, Antioch Councilman Mike Barbanica is clearly the best choice to replace him. He faces Pittsburg Councilwoman Shanell Scales-Preston in the November run-off, after both made it past the four-candidate March primary election. The district includes the county’s northern waterfront cities and communities from the Senator John A. Nejedly-Antioch Bridge in East County to Hercules in West County.
Scales-Preston is Too Socialist and Progressive
Scales-Preston has some applicable experience having served as a councilmember and rotated vice mayor and mayor for the City of Pittsburg for the past six years, as well as on the four transportation boards serving East County, three for just the past two years, as past president and current member of the East Bay League of California Cities, and chair of the Los Medanos Health Advisory Committee. That committee worked with the now defunct healthcare district where Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe was the executive director for which the County Board of Supervisors settled with two of his female employees over sexual harassment claims for $350,000.
According to her bio on the City of Pittsburg’s website, Scales-Preston grew up in the City of Pittsburg graduated from Pittsburg High School and earned a degree in Political Science with an option in Pre-Law from Cal State East Bay. Her career has been in government, working for over 20 years as a staff member for both former Congressman George Miller and now Congressman Mark DeSaulnier.
That’s one of the challenges I have with Scales-Preston. Unlike her current boss, DeSaulnier who was a restaurateur in Concord before getting elected to local, then state and now federal office, Shanelle hasn’t worked in the private sector. So, she can’t truly understand what it takes to create jobs or wealth and grow the economy. That’s what is one of the key issues that needs to be addressed in District 5, especially along the waterfront.
Another issue I have with Scales-Preston is her political alliances and from whom she has accepted and promotes endorsements. They include Our Revolution East Bay, which according to their website, ourrevolutioneastbay.org, is “a progressive political organization that emerged from the historic Bernie Sanders campaign.” Sanders for decades described himself as a democratic socialist and has been the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, except when now-Vice President Kamala Harris was serving. Those are not the kind of bigger, more expensive government views we need on the Board of Supervisors.
That brings up another issue, the blatant injection of partisan politics into local, non-partisan races, which I’ve harped on for the past 12 years, ever since Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson put her face and name on one side of a mailer and Obama’s on the other. Scales-Preston’s running a billboard ad on Highway 4 in Antioch with her face on one side of the ad and Harris’ on the other side. That’s completely inappropriate, and unnecessarily, and foolishly divisive. Scales-Preston also touts the endorsements of several Democratic Party organizations, including the State Party which surprisingly is opposing Prop. 36, the anti-crime measure, on the November ballot.
Finally, the other alliance and endorsement Scales-Preston promotes in her campaign is from the nation’s top abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. As I called out District Attorney Diana Becton for doing the same in 2022, I’m calling out Shanelle. Why would a Black woman take the endorsement of an organization founded in racist eugenics which by Margaret Sanger who spoke about and worked to eliminate the Black and brown races, which includes Hispanics, and has been very successful. Because the majority of abortions in the U.S. each year are by Black and Hispanic mothers. That’s why Planned Parenthood continues to focus and located their so-called “clinics” in neighborhoods with high populations of African- and Hispanic Americans. Scales-Preston is literally siding with the organization that continues to work against her own people of color. (Please see Margaret Sanger: Ambitious Feminist and Racist Eugenicist, https://womanisrational.uchicago.edu/2022/09/21/margaret-sanger-the-duality-of-a-ambitious-feminist-and-racist-eugenicist/)
While I like her and find that she’s a nice lady in our few conversations, Shanelle is seriously misdirected in her thinking and views and needs some experience with a job in the private sector before running either for re-election or higher office, again.
Backed by the Badge, Councilman, Former Cop, Business Owner Barbanica is Better and Best for the Board
Barbanica, on the other hand, has a much broader career experience having served as an officer and retired lieutenant after 21 years with the Pittsburg Police Department, where he helped fight against eight dirty cops, one of whom is still in prison for murder. He also worked as a sexual assault detective and a homicide detective, where he “helped women in the worst times of their lives,” Barbanica stated. That included saving a 13-year-old girl from repeated sexual assaults from an older man. He also ran the traffic division, oversaw not only Code Enforcement and all the other specialized enforcement units, including gangs, alcohol and tobacco, and street-level drug dealing teams.
He developed and led a six-officer team for six years, that worked on violent and street-level crime, which was reduced by almost 24% over a few years. Barbanica also ran the K-9 and Field Training Officer programs, and the Emergency Operations Center working with the FBI after 9-11 to prevent any terrorist attacks inside local industrial plants.
For the past 19 years he’s owned a successful, local real estate business in both residential and commercial sales, property ownership and management, the appropriately named Blue Line Property Real Estate & Management. That has given him the experience of dealing with renters and owners, understanding the issues that both sides have to deal with.
For the past four years, Barbanica has also served on the embattled Antioch City Council where he’s been the mature voice of reason in spite of the chaos, cronyism and corruption in which he did not participate. Nor can he be blamed for it, as he was on the short end of a variety of 3-2 and 4-1 votes while at the same time he was able to push for and successfully obtain majority votes in favor of his proposals, such as body cameras for police officers and dash cams for their vehicles, and tougher penalties for sideshows. In fact, Barbanica was the one who found common ground with the mayor to include penalties for advertisers planners, participants and spectators, as well.
He also pushed for expanding Antioch’s Code Enforcement by seven officers, doubling it to 14.
Barbanica has developed private-sector solutions to the challenge of homelessness in our county. He worked to revise the existing HUD contract with the County “to make it more palatable for owners to want to do business with homeless residents,” he said. “The program was actually my wife’s idea. We started with one single mom with her children, one of whom is disabled, and who are still housed with us, today.”
They expanded it to include homeless veterans.
“We work with seven different agencies to get people off the street and today, we have over 575 people housed that were facing homelessness or instability, who now have a roof over their head,” the candidate shared.
Barbanica’s platform focuses on his top priorities which are public safety, homelessness and blight.
Asked about economic development he said, “It’s always a constant. But we have to deal with the other issues, first. If we want business to come here, we have to provide them a place where their business will thrive.”
Regarding the Northern Waterfront Initiative, “It needs retooling,” Barbanica stated. “Because the zoning doesn’t match the long-term plans and developers have struggled and are very frustrated with the County. I’m going to be an advocate to develop that area and work with those developers but balance it with the concerns for the environment.” He will also work on the Green Empowerment Zone, “to bring green jobs into our county to boost our local economy,” he added.
Barbanica also worked to bringing in 1,100 new, upscale homes in the Sand Creek area of Antioch in which “both sides, the developer and the environmental community, specifically Save Mt. Diablo, were satisfied,” following multiple meetings.
About transportation, he says supports extending BART to Tracy and back to Pleasanton, as well as completing the Highway 4 bypass / extension and building Route 239 from Brentwood to Tracy to connect Highway 4 to I-5, 205 and 580, “an East Bay loop” he said. It will permanently open East County for economic development. “Finally, it’s being planned after being on the books for almost 65 years,” Barbanica added.
Not surprisingly, he has the support of law enforcement, including Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston, the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs Association, Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Association, Contra Costa County District Attorney Investigators’ Association, California Association of Highway Patrolmen, PORAC – Police Officers Research Association of California, as well as the Police Officers Associations of Antioch, Pittsburg, Concord, Martinez, Hercules, Brentwood, Clayton, Moraga, Pinole, Pleasant Hill, Richmond and Walnut Creek and the United Professional Firefighters of Contra Costa County.
Regarding the police scandals that affected both the Antioch and Pittsburg Police Departments, one thing needs to be clarified. When Antioch’s mayor and one councilwoman were irresponsibly and publicly calling for all 35 Antioch officers caught up in the racist text scandal to be fired – most of whom merely received the texts, but didn’t send any, and before the investigations were completed, and most returned to their jobs – Barbanica was again, the voice of reason. He said he, the mayor and other council members needed to shut their mouths and let the investigators work through the process, and not give the dirty, guilty cops anything they could use to keep their jobs, such as claiming their terminations were politically motivated. Yet, his opposition has been attempting to twist his words to mean something he didn’t.
One additional thing I like about him, having dealt and worked with with him in a councilman-reporter relationship for the past four years, Barbanica is available and responds to phone calls, texts and emails including any and all questions no matter how challenging. I respect that in an elected official.
“I truly believe the media’s responsibility is to keep government and politicians honest, and the people informed,” he stated. I completely agree.
On a personal note, Barbanica is married to Kristine, they have three children and six grandchildren, most of whom live in the area. Two of his children have followed him into law enforcement as his son is a Pittsburg Police Officer who “works my old beat with the same call sign assigned to it,” Barbanica shared. His youngest daughter is a prosecutor in another county in California. His older daughter is a physician’s assistant.
For the benefit of the northern portion and all of Contra Costa County, please join me in supporting Mike Barbanica as our next Supervisor representing District 5.
Application period for Kaiser Permanente’s Community Health Care Program opens Nov. 1st
By Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Many low-income Californians make too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal, but they’re unable to get affordable health coverage anywhere else. Kaiser Permanente’s Community Health Care Program (CHCP) was designed with them in mind.
The Kaiser Permanente CHCP provides comprehensive, affordable health care coverage for qualified low-income adults and children in California who don’t have access to other public or private health coverage.
Open enrollment for CHCP is Nov. 1, 2024, through Jan. 31, 2025.
Eligible Californians receive comprehensive health coverage from Kaiser Permanente including preventive services, without paying a monthly premium. They also don’t pay copays or out-of-pocket costs for most care at Kaiser Permanente facilities.
“Even with the expansion of Medi-Cal in 2024, too many Californians remain uninsured,” said Yvette Radford, vice president, External and Community Affairs, Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “The Community Health Care Program helps address this gap, providing Kaiser Permanente’s high-quality care and coverage to eligible Californians in our service areas.”
Who is eligible for the Community Health Care Program?
The program is designed for applicants who meet the following criteria: • total household annual income of no more than 3 times the federal poverty level (Example: up to $45,180 for an individual or up to $93,600 for a family of 4 in 2024) • not eligible for any other health coverage, including Medi-Cal, Medicare, a job-based health plan, or Covered California • must live in a Kaiser Permanente California service area
Individuals do not have to be U.S. citizens to qualify. Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2025.
How to apply
As of November 1, you can apply online at www.kp.org/chcp. Click the “apply now” button at the top of the website for a link to the application. If you need assistance, click the “get help” button for a list of community agencies that can provide help, or call Kaiser Permanente Member Services at 1-800-464-4000 (TTY 711).
