The Antioch Unified School District has hired Ken Gardner as the new principal for Deer Valley High School. Don’t know the man but the fact that, in addition to spending the past 12 years in the education field, he is a former Air Force major and a police lieutenant is reassuring.

It will take a good communicator as well as one willing to implement tough discipline policies to steer Deer Valley High off rocky shoals. It was just this past April 14th that fights broke out in different areas of the campus after lunch. When a teacher jumped in to stop one of the assaults, the teacher was hit and kicked by students as was another teacher, bringing the total to five teachers and two staff members assaulted by students during the school year.

Teachers have been complaining about a communication gap and expressing safety concerns since 2009 when former Superintendent Dr. Deborah Sims abolished teacher representation on the District Curriculum Task Force Committee and instituted a weakened discipline policy, which led to a significant reduction in appropriate suspensions and expulsions. (Sims later resigned amid a storm of controversy.)

Regrettably, unless Ken Gardner can get newly appointed Superintendent Donald Gill and school trustees, who live in fear of lawsuits, to address problems with the district’s current discipline policy, he’s got a hard row to hoe. Assaulting a teacher verbally or physically should lead to instant expulsion, no ifs and or buts about it. And the assault should be reported to the Antioch Police Department immediately. Negligent parents should be cited as well as their children.

Inasmuch as the AUSD has expressed considerable concern for possible funding cutbacks by the state (87 percent of the General Fund budget being utilized for salary and benefits of district personnel), school district Trustees Diane Gibson-Gray, Claire Smith, Walter Ruehling, Gary Hack and Joy Motta should advise administrators to stop throwing money at numerous “educational consultants” who run programs such as the recent “I Understand” training for teachers and staff.

They should also rethink their decision to put a bond measure to modernize Antioch High School on next year’s ballot. Ongoing maintenance of facilities is supposed to come out of district operating funds – districts being required to dedicate 3 percent of their General Fund budget for this purpose.

Just three years ago trustees put a $61 million bond measure on the ballot stating that the tax was needed to fund improvements at older non Mello-Roos Schools, e.g. Belshaw, Fremont, Kimball, Marsh, Mission, Muir, Sutter and Turner elementary schools as well as Antioch and Park Middle Schools, Antioch, Bidwell Continuation, Live Oaks and Prospects High School.

Due to how the prior bond measure was structured, the bond only required 55 percent approval to pass, as would the proposed new bond. (Six other school bond measures were on the ballot at the same time as Measure C and all had exemptions for senior citizens except for the AUSD bond measure.)

There’s an old saying “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Putting a bond measure on next year’s ballot sounds like a loser to me.

The Dow Chemical Company’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP), in conjunction with Dow’s Pittsburg Operations, is accepting applications for its sixth annual competitive grant program. Grants will range from $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the scope of the project. Prospective grantees, serving the East Contra Costa communities, must focus on education, science or the environment.

The competitive grant program was established in 2006 to help fund sustainable community service projects in Eastern Contra Costa County. Though Dow Pittsburg Operations gives more than $100,000 throughout the year to non-profit organizations in the surrounding communities, designating $15,000 for competitive grants enables Dow to diversify the amount of charitable giving within the community.

Applicants must meet certain criteria to be eligible. Guidelines, criteria and the application itself are all available online at www.dow.com/pittsburg/community/cap/index.htm. The deadline for submitting the application is September 8 and grant winners will be announced in early October.

Members of the Dow CAP Grants Committee will rank applications based on relevance, sustainability, and overall impact and benefit to the community.

By Antioch Police Department

Here is yet another example of our citizens sending a strong message to criminals that neighborhoods are organized and neighbors care for each other. It also shows that the neighborhood spirit is strong, which also strengthens the police-community partnership. Crime can be prevented by neighborhood involvement. If criminals know that people are watching, they will be deterred from committing crime.

Shortly after 6 p.m. on July 13, a resident in the northeast portion of Antioch observed a suspicious male sitting on a fence of a nearby residence. The resident was familiar with her neighbors and the person she had seen was unfamiliar to her. With her curiosity piqued, she decided to take a closer look and believed the person saw her looking at him because he ran away.

A second male soon joined the first, and they fled from the area. Responding officers checked the neighboring residence and confirmed a burglary had occurred. After receiving the neighbor’s call, responding officers were able to quickly locate and detain several people who were suspected of committing the burglary.

Not only did the concerned neighbor take the initiative to safeguard her neighborhood, but she also positively identified the suspects after they had been detained by officers, which resulted in their arrest. As the investigation progressed, an additional residence nearby had also been targeted for burglary, but the suspects were not successful in gaining access.

There are two grateful neighbors in this neighborhood today because their caring neighbor took the initiative to get involved and take action against these criminals. The reporting neighbor, police dispatch and responding officers worked together in a cohesive fashion, further strengthening our police-community partnership. A great job was done by all!

Remember, if criminals know people are watching they will be less likely to commit crimes.

Steve Morris, representing the Knights of Columbus 4th of July Parade combination Color Guard marching unit and ‘Knights on Wheel’s’ motorcycle contingent, accepts a second place certificate from Walter Ruehlig, a parade organizer. The certificates were awarded at the July 12th Antioch City Council meeting and were provided by the California State Assembly through Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla’s office.

At approximately 3:58pm, there was a hit and run, auto versus pedestrian accident on A Street near 8th Street in the city of Antioch. A 40-year-old Antioch man is in serious, but stable condition at a nearby hospital.

Witnesses describe the vehicle as a white Nissan Sentra-type vehicle. The investigation is on-going, but anyone who either witnessed the accident or who might have information as to the whereabouts of the responsible vehicle or as to the identity of the driver is encouraged to call the Antioch Police Department.

By Walter Ruehlig
President, Antioch Mello-Roos Advisory Board

Tracing back to 1989, Mello-Roos has been a long and winding road. So where are we at?

The Antioch Mello-Roos Board recently had a second public meeting soliciting citizen input on what to do with a remaining two million dollars left in the kitty after the last construction. Additionally, some 250 people answered the Antioch Herald’s online survey. And others responded to a daily newspaper’s weekly e-view question.

The Mello-Roos Board is now passing on these collected suggestions to the City Council, which has the ultimate authority for disbursement. Remember, the citizen board comprised of two City Council members, two School Board trustees and three at-large citizens is merely an oversight agency. It facilitates a citizen voice and oversees, but doesn’t dictate, expenditures.

So what, pray tell, did we learn from engaging the public sounding board? Not surprisingly, a healthy 38% asked for the return of the money, which would equate to, on rough average, $115 a household. That shortens the bond payoff, now projected to end in 2016, about a month.

62%, though, wanted the money spent. Turf athletic fields led the nearest other choices (a tie between building a golf disc course and a library extension) by 3-1. Tallying only a few votes were a dog park, BMX track, and lazy river feature on the existing pool. An eleventh hour suggestion was for solar panels.

One other suggestion was for enrichment classes, but by law the bond must be spent on capital construction, not operating expenses. Legally, any expenditure must also be used within the confines of the eight designated schools or for Prewett, not for street landscaping as someone mentioned.

The turf proponents, incidentally, argued that Antioch is the only town far and wide without turf and that thousands of kids suffer unsafe conditions or get denied playing time during the rainy season. They also argue that turf would not only, pardon the pun, level the playing field but would buff our city image and generate tens of thousands of dollars in tournament fees and restaurant business.

So it’s now up to our City Fathers to weigh the options and either refund or build something. If they do in fact build, the citizens’ board encouraged them to attempt leveraging through perhaps naming rights, matching grants or corporate donors.

Of course, in addition to the recent public suggestions the Council, if they opt not to refund, can also consider any of the remaining items on the original wish list sketched out in 1989. That vision includes a meadow, lagoon, central plaza, Olympic pool, enhanced walking trails, cafe, and outdoor basketball or volleyball courts.

The estimated cost for that short list is 9 million dollars; obviously money not at hand. Not in play, too, is the originally dreamed-for full 40,000 square-foot library, now a distant reality with a formidable 30 million dollar price tag.

Before we run off with checkbook in hand, then, it must be noted that intertwined in any building consideration is cost of maintenance and staffing. As well, the remaining grounds have the worst of the never construction-friendly Prewett area slope and soil. To further muddy the mix, parking and lighting may be issues, as well as mitigation to the burrowing owls. Though a turf field generally costs 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars the remaining two million might not, in fact, accomplish that.

The heartening news is that, due to favorable state hardship deals on the schools, we benefited from better than expected matching funds. We’re, in fact, some nine years ahead of our once estimated bond payoff. We also saved several million on the community center due to the competitive bidding climate caused by the building slowdown.

Thanks, then, to the 11,400 sacrificing Mello-Roos taxpaying families, we can boast 8 gorgeous schools, a splendid water park, a state-of-the-art community center, gymnasium, police sub-station, amphitheatre, library annex, technology center, kid’s learning area and kitchen. Prewett is, unarguably, a well appointed place and it is hopping with activity, far exceeding projected attendance at banquets, conferences and library and gym use.

We now have some new certified jewels to go along with our other causes of city pride: Black Diamond Mines, the Delta, Contra Loma Park, Lone Tree Golf Course and Event Center, the El Campanil, the Antioch Historical Museum, the police headquarters, 27 city parks, our vibrantly diverse population, places of worship and career-based academies.

We’ve entered the last major bend on this now 22-year journey, with all its ups and downs. The Mello-Roos Board has facilitated and passed on public input. Now public attention needs go to the City Council to encourage Solomon wisdom as they navigate last curves.

Be heard. Democracy works, but only if we, the citizenry, work at it.

Light Outreach Ministries presents: Bread of Life. Come join us for free lunch & fellowship 11am-1pm every Saturday (except holidays).

Sonya Gasaway, Director, Light Outreach, 415 West 6th Street, Antioch. (925) 778-1639 phone, (925) 777-2093 fax, www.Light-Outreach.org.

In preparation for the next phase of the widening of Highway 4, which will take place at Contra Loma Boulevard and G Street in Antioch, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is relocating some utilities.

As part of that work, PG&E will close all westbound and eastbound lanes of Highway 4, just to the west of Contra Loma Boulevard in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 17, 2011. The westbound closure will be between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. The eastbound closure will be between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. This work is to ensure public and crew safety while crews work to relocate high voltage power lines over the Highway.

The detours for this work will be as follows:

• Motorists traveling westbound on Highway 4 will be directed off the Highway at Lone Tree Way/A Street, right on A Street, left on W. Tenth Street, left on Auto Center Drive, and right on Highway 4 westbound on ramp.

• Motorists traveling eastbound on Highway 4 will be directed off the Highway at Somersville Road/Auto Center Drive, right on Somersville Road, continue on to Auto Center Drive, right on W. Tenth Street, right on A Street, and left on Highway 4 eastbound on-ramp.

The westbound on ramps at Lone Tree Way, G Street and Contra Loma Boulevard as well as the eastbound on ramp at Somersville Road will also be closed due to this full freeway closure. Signs will be in place at each of these ramps to direct motorists to alternate routes. Please be alert and carefully follow all directional signs when encountering detours.

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