Eat, Drink & Love for Special Olympics Northern California. Antioch Police Department will serve as celebrity host and wait staff to raise funds for Special Olympics athletes. Tips received will go directly to Special Olympics Northern California. Join us and APD for this amazing cause on Tuesday, March 19 from 5-8 p.m. at Smith’s Landing Seafood Grill at 1 Marina Plaza in Antioch.

Lisa Dianne Norrell

Dear Editor:

It is a downright disgrace what happened, as explained below.

In early November 1998 the 15-year-old Pittsburg teenager Lisa Diane Norrell left a friend’s party held at the Antioch Veterans Hall by the City Park. She decided to walk all the way home by herself, a two-plus miles distance to her home. Sometime that evening she went missing and never reached her home, was found about 8 days later Murdered, and her body dumped/hidden outside a local landscaping business yard. The actual responsibles have yet to be concretely identified or charged. (See related articles, here, and here.)

My Reliable Informant (RI hereafter) shortly contacted me and reported knowing who did it and gave further credible information. The RI agreed to meet with and to disclose the vital information to Law Enforcement I knew would act on it (or so I thought then). Lisa’s case was one of several Murders in a two-month period that occurred from Bay Point thru Antioch (a potential killing spree, not serial killings).

I in-person spoke to the then CCC District Attorney’s Chief of Inspectors at that time, Gene Greenwald, and passed on the information, name of the RI, the RI’s phone numbers, etc. He did not contact the RI, so I then again contacted the Chief and questioned why he hadn’t on such serious matters. He said he would and guaranteed me that he would asap. After a week or two the RI said that the Chief and no one from there had contacted the RI at all. The RI reported to us that he/she then personally went to the District Attorney’s Office and wanted to speak with the Chief, or another Inspector, and was there to provide the information he/she had that would help solve the case. He was questionably ignored and just told to go home! The RI reported that he/she was never contacted by the Chief or anyone else thereafter.

After I had personally informed the then Chief Greenwald I had also contacted one of the Pittsburg Police Department’s Detectives assigned to Lisa Norrell’s murder investigation, giving that Detective the aforementioned RI information, info I was told, RI’s contacts info, etc. Neither the RI nor I were ever contacted by that Pittsburg Detective or anyone else from that agency’s assigned Investigations personnel. I do not know if either Antioch PD or the Sheriff’s Department assigned Investigators were ever given the information, etc.

Within other matters I had later communicated with and passed on formally to a Federal Agent (in early 2011) the aforementioned information, along with additional unrelated reported Police misconduct. Due to that agency’s secretive and confidential regulations whatever was or was not done in reference to those things I am uninformed of.

Recently there was a newspaper article published wherein a Pittsburg PD Detective, Jacob Stage, was assigned to pursue some cold cases – including the highlighted Lisa Norrell 20 years old Murder. I was very happy to see such and contacted him and provided to him the above information. I have come to know that he is actively pursuing the new and previously unknown potential leads and related information. I encourage anyone else who may have any information or leads that may finally help solve Lisa’s and/or anyone else’s still unsolved Murder case to contact that Detective and to provide whatever they can to help him in his pursuit of justice for the Victims, their families, friends, etc. His contact number is with the Pittsburg PD communications center. Do it, now!

NOTE – I have repeatedly called and left phone messages, and my contact info, for the East Bay Times Reporter Nate Gartrell (who co-authored the recent cold cases 12/28/18 article) and he too has failed to contact me in any way whatsoever! I suppose he is no longer interested!

Yes, I am more than angry! It is a tragic set of circumstances that very poorly reflects upon them and their apparent uncaring demeanors, ineptness, etc., that we all are exposed to in our daily lives. Kudos to PPD, Detective Stage, and the Antioch Herald’s Allen Payton for providing their obvious time, space, and interests in these matters.

Anonymous

Antioch

Editor’s Note: We don’t usually publish letters from anonymous sources. But, due to the nature of this matter and on-going investigation the letter writer has chosen not to be identified.

Dear Editor:

I am disappointed that the Antioch City Council has decided to move back in time and judge someone on the color of their skin, rather than the content of their character. Antioch Council hires first African American as City Attorney, the headline above the fold (in the March print edition as well as on this website, here), was such a disservice to both Mr. Smith, and Lamar Thorpe’s comments were equally degrading.

We have lived in Antioch for 31 years and have never run anyone out of town. We really don’t care what color someone’s skin is, but we don’t want to be categorized as someone that would act like Lamar Thorpe.

It just blows my mind that something as trivial would have any impact on the decision. Is he educated? Is he qualified? Does he have the demeanor and manners to be an asset to Antioch? These are more important questions than the color of his skin.

Susanne Larson

Antioch

By Daniel Borsuk

With Supervisor Diane Burgis of Brentwood absent from the meeting because she was recuperating from successful heart surgery on Monday, Contra Costa County Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve a variety of consent calendar agenda items during their regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 26. They included the following, the first two of which will benefit Antioch residents:

Kirker Pass Road Truck Lane Funding

Supervisors awarded a $14,153,763 contract to Granite Rock Company to construct the Kirker Pass Road Northbound Truck Climbing Lane project. Construction is set to begin this summer to add a truck lane on Kirker Pass Road from the Concord Pavilion to Hess Road. The addition of the lane is designed to reduce accidents caused by trucks traveling up Kirker Pass Road. Other contractors and their bids at the Jan. 22 disclosure were: Bay Cities Paving & Grading, Inc., $14,886,666; Ghilotti Construction Company, Inc., $15,225,077. 60; Gordon N. Ball, Inc. $15,528,038.20; Flatiron West, Inc. $15,528,038.20; Granite Construction Co, $16, 073, 185.10; O.C. Jones & Sons, Inc. $16,073, 788 and DeSilva Gates Construction, $17,500,000.

Waterfront Initiative Funding

Supervisors approved the new funding allocations of $142,500 to implement approved Northern Waterfront initiatives planned for 2019-2020. Those expenditures included $50,000 for the Hercules site exploration for bioscience, $12,000 for a May forum, $10,000 for State Lands/Crockett waterfront access, $70,000 for collaborative marketing and a marketing video. Supervisors had budgeted $500,000 in 2017 to cover Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative projects. Since the initiative’s launch, the only expenditure since then has been the $263,000 to consultant contracts or grant match.

Hazardous Materials Response Vehicle Funding

Spending $1.3 million from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District budget to buy a Type I Hazardous Materials Response Vehicle that will be owned and operated by the county fire district. The acquisition of a new Type I Hazardous Material Response Vehicle will allow the fire district to own and operate its own vehicle. Since the formation of the county’s Hazardous Materials Team in 2016, the team has operated a vehicle on loan from the California Office of Emergency Services. That vehicle was recently out of service for over 30 days while it received warranty related repairs in Sacramento. That compromised the Contra Costa County team’s ability to respond to hazardous response incidents. Buying this vehicle will permit the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District to respond to future hazardous material response incidents.

Emerging Aeronautical Technologies to Be Promoted at County Airports

Supervisors permitted County Airports Director Keith Freitas to promote and market Buchanan Field and Byron Airport as testing locations for emerging aeronautical and aeronautical related technologies. There will be no financial cost to the county general fund associated with the promotion and marketing campaign. Airport staff and any county counsel staff time will be charged to the Airport Enterprise Fund.

Paying Additional $11,000 to Winchester for Sheriff’s Department Ammunition

Supervisors agreed to pay an additional $11,000 to buy Winchester ammunition for the Office of the Sheriff because after more than 20 years, Winchester has changed its ammunition distributor in Northern California from Adamson Police Products to Dooley Enterprises. In 2017, the Office of the Sheriff executed a new purchase order with Dooley Enterprises as the new Winchester ammunition distributor to meet future training and duty ammunition demands. As a result of the change in the purchase order. the county will have paid $411,000, not $400,000 for the purchase of ammunition for the period of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019.

Members of the Deer Valley High Business Tech Academy and instructor Kristofer Freeman. Photos by AUSD.

From Antioch Unified School District Facebook Page

It’s an elite group, which Deer Valley’s Business Technology Academy now belongs. The DV team was recently named a 2019 California Partnership Academies Distinguished Academy.

The good news recently came from the California Department of Education. The congratulatory letter noted after more than “30 years of commitment to the implementation of high-quality educational programs mixing core academics and career technical education for thousands of California’s at-risk high school students, this is the fourth time this honor has been bestowed and will be imparted to less than 2% of the CPAs.”

“I am extremely proud of our team and, especially, our students,” said Kristofor Freeman, Business Technology Academy Lead. “While all of our CTE classes are fantastic, at the end of the day, it was our amazing students in The Den and the Virtual Enterprise class that impressed the review team with their hard work and exceptional skills.”

The letter added that all 406 CPAs were “scrupulously reviewed.” Then each making the first cut were visited by experts in the Partnership Academy to “review and certify each component of the model for quality of implementation.”

The Den is an on campus store operated by students in the Marketing class.

It also stated that the “dedication, professionalism and compassion required to develop and implement a program achieving (all requirements) is without parallel in education. … You (and your academy) stand among the best of the best. It’s truly an accomplishment worth celebrating.”

The vision of the academy is to ensure students are educated for the jobs of the 21st century through work based learning projects and simulations, access to technology, and the development of professional characteristics.

The mission of the Business Technology Academy is to promote learning relevant to both a technical and academic education.  It also further develops the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable students to be successful in school and beyond.

The Antioch Police Department holds the title of having one of the largest K9 units in the far East Bay. And as much esteem as the hard-working animals hold in the eyes of APD and their handlers, the K9 unit is often underfunded, which puts added stress on the K9s, their handlers and the Antioch Police Department at large.

What Is So Special About a K9 Unit?

Police dogs are believed to be able to do the work of several police officers.  K9 Officers are used to locate and subdue suspects, find missing people or objects, or detect illicit substances, such as drugs or explosive devices.  Dog teams are also able to search an area 50 times faster than a human and can detect a smell up to 500,000 times better, with certainty, than a human can.  Canines that are integrated into a police force are known for being incredibly hard-working, have a desire to cooperate and please their handlers, and have exceptional tenacity when it comes to fighting a criminal, working in detection or on a search and rescue mission.  Law enforcement professionals know that police canines can assist police departments in ways that no other tool can.  There is no doubt that a K9 unit is imperative to the success of most police departments.  This holds to be true for the Antioch Police Department

Why Are Costs High?

As much as police canine units bring value to active police departments, the cost of acquisition and on-going training for both the canines and their handlers can be expensive.   The average cost of a dog is $12,000. Like many police agencies, APD struggles when it comes to budgeting for a new dog. APD is able to budget the costs of care, training and transportation of each of their canines, but acquisition costs can be prohibitive.   During each canines’ 6-8-year career, their handlers manage many of the costs associated with care, including veterinarian visits, food costs and transportation, when the dog is not working.  However, those costs are handled by the police department when each dog is on active duty.

How Can We Help?

Last year, APD was able to add another canine to their K9 Department thanks to the fundraising efforts of a committed Antioch community member.  This year, the department is facing the pending retirement of another dog, meaning the efforts to fundraise for another canine has increased. This time around, the APD K9 Unit has designed a T-shirt as a part of a continuing fundraising effort for the K9 program.  The current design was created by the department’s six current handlers who are assigned the city patrol.  Each K9 partner’s name is incorporated into the design on the back of the shirts and sweatshirts. Although these shirts were originally designed to be sold only in-house, the interest from the community has been large.  Now the shirts have been made available to the public.  Each black shirt is available in a traditional cotton crewneck, a cotton pullover hooded sweatshirt, or a woman’s style V-neck.  There are also youth and tall sizes available.

Prices are as follows:

-Youth sizes S-XL = $15

– Men’s and Women’s styles and sizes S-XL = $20 (in both cotton or dry fit)

– Cotton hooded sweatshirts S-XL = $40

– For XXL or larger or tall sizes = $25 for shirts or $45 for sweatshirts

To order, complete the attached order form, and return, with payment to:

Antioch Police Department

300 L. St.

Antioch, CA 94509

Attn: Corporal Steve McElroy

Please make checks payable to APOA K9 Fund, or should you choose to use Venmo for payment, we are listed as “APDK9.” Please provide all of your contact information in the notes portion of Venmo if this is your method of payment, as well as submitting your form to the above address. If the order form submission is more convenient to email, it should be submitted to smcelroy@ci.antioch.ca.us

All proceeds from these shirts go directly to the APD K9 unit. The proceeds will be used for a variety of things from training, to equipment, to ultimately purchasing new dogs when the need arises.