An unidentified flying object has been spotted over Antioch. Police are asking residents, particularly boys and girls who have been good this year, to be on the lookout.

Witnesses have described the object as a sleigh attached to flying reindeer that is driven by a white male in his late 50s or 60s with a long, white beard, wearing a red and white uniform. He’s been seen landing on rooftops around the city with no damage done and many presents left behind.

Police describe him as a “person of interest” and would like to detain him for questioning. But the unknown philanthropist has eluded attempts to capture him.

Reached for comment, the suspect said, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

Nineteen local non-profits have something to be thankful for – Dow employees who volunteer in their organizations.  Through a newly launched program called “iGive”, The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) allows employees who volunteer more than 25 hours a year to a single organization to nominate that organization for a $500 grant.

The criteria are simple.  The Dow employee must volunteer a minimum of 25 hours to the organization, the organization must be a 501(c)(3), school or municipality, and the organization must be in the community where the employee lives or works.  The organizations sharing this $10,000 gift are:

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  • American Red Cross – Concord
  • Antioch High School Wrestling Team
  • Boy Scouts of America (Troops 153, 298 and 248)
  • Clayton Community Library Foundation
  • Clayton Valley High School
  • Community Emergency Response Team – Concord
  • CYO Basketball Organization – Antioch
  • Delta Youth Soccer League – Antioch
  • Halau Ke Waikahe Lani Malie — Sacramento
  • JARCC Diablo Athletic – Concord
  • Junior Optimist Baseball/Softball League – Concord
  • Lindsay Wildlife Museum – Walnut Creek
  • Michael Valle Foundation (two grants) – Pittsburg
  • O’Hara Park Middle School – Oakley
  • One Day at a Time – Brentwood
  • Solano County SPCA – Vacaville
  • Survivors – Bethel Island

“I knew we had employees giving their time in a variety of places throughout the community,” said Patty Deutsche, Senior Manager of Public Affairs at Dow Pittsburg.  “What surprised me was the number of hours being donated.  In nearly every case (employees’ estimates ranged from 40 hours to 425 hours), as we verified the hours with the organization, the employee underestimated their own hours.”

In total, the twenty employees donated more than 2,400 hours in the past year.  Typically, Dow donations must meet strict criteria – relating to education, science or the environment.  This new program, iGive, “rewards” the employee by rewarding the organization about which they are passionate.  It’s truly a win-win-win situation.

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About Dow
Dow is a diversified chemical company that combines the power of science and technology with the “Human Element” to constantly improve what is essential to human progress. The Company delivers a broad range of products and services to customers in approximately 160 countries, connecting chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. In 2008, Dow had annual sales of $57.5 billion and employed approximately 46,000 people worldwide. The Company has 150 manufacturing sites in 35 countries and produces approximately 3,300 products. On April 1, 2009, Dow acquired Rohm and Haas Company, a global specialty materials company with sales of $10 billion in 2008, 98 manufacturing sites in 30 countries and approximately 15,000 employees worldwide. References to “Dow” or the “Company” mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

About Dow’s Pittsburg Operations

The Dow Chemical Company purchased the Pittsburg facility in 1939 from the Great Western Electrochemical Company. It is one of more than 150 manufacturing sites located in 37 countries around the world and supports two of Dow’s eight global businesses – Dow AgroSciences and Performance Chemicals.  The Pittsburg facility produces a variety of products used in personal care products as well as a variety of crop protection products and intermediates. www.dowpittsburg.com

By Dr. Brandon Roberts, DC

December 2010 marks not only the end of another year but the end of the decade. Over the past ten years we have seen cell phones and the Internet change the way we communicate, access information and interact with each other. We have also seen economic ups and downs and a continuing health care debate that never seems to lead anywhere.

Think about your last ten years and the decade for the people that you love. How is your health? Theirs? Are you happy? Are you making progress in living the lifestyle you want or are you on a treadmill leading nowhere?

Look at your family photos of parents, grandparents and great grandparents. Do you like the way they aged? The choices you make today about what you eat and drink, how you move and take care of your spine and nervous system will affect your life now and for the decades to come.

If somebody said to you ten years ago, “How do you want your health to be in 2011?” you may have thought they were crazy. Well, that decade has passed. 2020, believe it or not, is right around the corner. Just like you may be saying, “I cannot believe it is 2011!” that is how you will probably feel ten years from now. What is it going to take for you to make the changes that you know you need to make to ensure the quality lifestyle that you deserve?

When it comes to your health, it is time to set commit to new goals. If your goal has been to lose weight and you have been on a roller coaster then don’t just go on another diet. Make healthy eating a part of your lifestyle. When it comes to exercise, if you have been a “weekend warrior” it is time to make fitness a part of your lifestyle each day.

Pay attention to your posture and the length of time that you sit at your desk, in the car or on the couch. Excessive sitting can cause spine and nervous system problems that may affect your whole body.

In January 1903, the Newark Advocate published the Wizard Edison, which produced Thomas Edison’s famous quote, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” It is 2011 and the future is now. It is time to make this statement your reality.

Through these newsletters, the educational information we provide and the chiropractic services that care for your frame and impact your entire body through your nervous system, we will strive to help you to be younger, healthier and stronger in a decade than you are right now. Will more stress get you there? How about more sitting, more driving or more drugs? Of course not.

If up until now you have been a crisis-oriented person, stop. If you are on a weight gain, weight loss roller coaster, stop. If you only get adjustments when you have pain or are sick, it is time to make the Critical Transition from Crisis Care to Lifestyle Care and take your health to the next level.

How old is the oldest grandparent in your family who ever lived? Remember, you have their genes and you will most likely be here for another decade, or maybe even two or three at least. It is time to maximize your health and live your ideal 100 Year Lifestyle.

You are the one who must be responsible for your health, not the government or your insurance company. They may or may not help. The laws may change and you may change insurance companies but no matter who is in office, it is your responsibility to take care of you.

Don’t wait for a crisis. Make the next year and the next decade the best years of your life.

Dr. Brandon Roberts, DC is a 100 Year Lifestyle Affiliate Office. This column is reprinted with permission of The Family Practice, Inc.
Deer Valley Chiropractic
3381 Deer Valley Road
Antioch, CA 94531
925-757-7571

Michael Banks is suspected of murder

On December 20 at 5:13 p.m.  Antioch police responded to a report of a man down on Rockspring Way. Police found Arnold Muckleroy, 24, lying in the street, who appeared to have a suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Life–saving measures were taken, and he was transported to a local trauma center where he later died.

Police have determined the victim was driven to the location to meet some people who were in a ’90s era dark green Ford Escort with two doors, which was very dirty. The victim entered the vehicle, which contained several black males, according to police. Almost immediately upon entering the vehicle, shots were heard and the victim was pushed out of the car, which fled the area.

Michael Elijah Pulliambanks, aka Michael Banks, who is 18 years old, 6-foot-2, 164 pounds, is a suspect. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for attempted murder. The bail has been set at $500,000. The arrest warrant was issued prior to the victim dying. Detectives will be seeking an amendment to the warrant charging murder.

Banks is known to frequent the greater Bay and Sacramento areas and should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who observes this suspect should call the local jurisdiction or the Antioch Police Department at (925) 778-2441. Anyone with information regarding this investigation should contact Sgt. Steve Bias at (925) 779-6929.

The murder is Antioch’s 11th homicide this year, which may be a record in this city of 105,000 people.

City officials may nix eBART if the Hillcrest Station doesn't include an agent, escalator and restrooms.

By Dave Roberts

The plan to construct an eBART line to Antioch in five years could become derailed if the station planned at Hillcrest Avenue and Highway 4 does not include a station agent, restrooms and an escalator. That threat was made by Councilman Brian Kalinowski at the December 14 council meeting, backed strongly by former Mayor Don Freitas, and not questioned by other council members.

BART Board Member (and former Antioch Mayor) Joel Keller told the council that there is not enough money in the $462 million project budget to provide the same amenities at Hillcrest as other BART stations, which have station agents, escalators and restrooms (although the restrooms in underground stations have been closed for national security).

But Kalinowski argued that the cost of a full station won’t be known until it’s designed and placed out to construction bidding. “It has to be the full option, and we see what the bids reveal and move from there,” he said. “If it can’t be included in the bid document, I direct city staff to bring back to the City Council a resolution to request the BART Board to not approve the bid to go out.

(more…)

The signs of UC Berkeley’s relative decline are clear: Cal tumbles from 2nd best in the world. In 2004, for example, the London-based Times Higher Education ranked UC Berkeley the second leading research university in the world, just behind Harvard; in 2009 that ranking had tumbled to 39th place.

When UC Berkeley announced its elimination of baseball, men’s and women’s gymnastics, and women’s lacrosse teams and its defunding of the national-champion men’s rugby team, the chancellor sighed, “Sorry, but this was necessary!”

But was it? Yes, the university is in dire financial straits. Yet $3 million was somehow found to pay the Bain consulting firm to uncover waste and inefficiencies in UC Berkeley, despite the fact that a prominent East Coast university was doing the same thing without consultants.

Essentially, the process requires collecting and analyzing information from faculty and staff. Apparently, senior administrators at UC Berkeley believe that the faculty and staff of their world-class university lack the cognitive ability, integrity, and motivation to identify millions in savings. If consultants are necessary, the reason is clear: the chancellor, provost, and president have lost credibility with the people who provided the information to the consultants. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau has reigned for eight years, during which time the inefficiencies proliferated. Even as Bain’s recommendations are implemented (“They told me to do it”, Birgeneau), credibility and trust problems remain.

Bain is interviewing faculty, staff, senior management and the academic senate leaders for $150 million in inefficiencies, most of which could have been found internally. One easy-to-identify problem, for example, was wasteful procurement practices such as failing to secure bulk discounts on printers. But Birgeneau apparently has no concept of savings: even in procuring a consulting firm, he failed to receive proposals from other firms.

Students, staff, faculty, and California legislators are the victims of his incompetence. Now that sports teams are feeling the pinch, perhaps the California Alumni Association, benefactors and donators, and the UC Board of Regents will demand to know why Birgeneau is raking in $500,000 a year despite the abdication of his responsibilities.

The author, who has 35 years’ consulting experience, has taught at University of California Berkeley, where he was able to observe the culture and the way the senior management operates.

Milan Moravec
Chief Executive Officer
Moravec and Associates
http://www.Moravecglobal.com

Walnut Creek PD Sgt Tom Cashion’s 5 year old daughter is fighting cancer. She has already had surgery at Kaiser and is now taking chemotherapy. She has been referred to Stanford Medical Center for follow up.

The out of pocket expenses for the family have reached crisis stages not to mention that they have 4 kids and only one income. We have put together an event to assist the family with those expenses. Could you please help us pass the word?

Also if you want to participate the family would greatly appreciate it. To purchase tickets or make a tax deductable donation please go to: http://www.ismcnorcal.com/ISMC/Events.html. Some businesses and POA’s are purchasing an entire 9 seat table for the event. We really need to sell this out, the family really needs our help.

Mike Schneider
mcschneider@comcast.net

The County’s Office of Emergency Services is preparing for the winter’s first big rain. The National Weather Service expects the rain to last into next week. The series of storms will bring strong winds and as much as five inches of rain to the Bay Area.

“That’s a lot of rain in a short period of time,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover. “Flooding can occur suddenly in some parts of the county along streams and near the Delta.”

As a result, the county is providing free sandbags at three East County locations, including the County Fairgrounds, 1201 West 10th Street in Antioch.