TreVista Senior Living & Memory Care is located at 3950 Lone Tree Way in Antioch. RSVP by calling (925) 407-3395

Somersville Towne Center, East County’s only enclosed mall, will be featuring free performances of Christmas music by local groups, including two premier high school singing ensembles this weekend and next week. 

The Deer Valley Divine Voices and Show Choir will be performing today, Saturday, December 16, 2017 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

On Sunday, Dec. 17 Mariachi San Miguel will offer two performances from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Antioch High Music Masters will perform on Monday, December 18 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and again on Friday, Dec. 22 also from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 pm.

Finally, on Saturday, Dec. 23 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. enjoy a performance by the Antioch Strolling Strings.

Somersville Towne Center is located at 2550 Somersville Road in Antioch. For more information about these performances and other events and activities at the mall, visit https://www.somersvilletownecenter.com/events/.

Photo courtesy of armintrouts.com

By Allen Payton

To show their holiday cheer Antioch City Hall staff have been giving away Christmas trees, again this year to needy families and businesses.

According to Antioch Economic Development Manager Lizeht Zepeda, “It’s part of our contract with ABC tree lot on Delta Fair (Blvd. that rents space on City-owned land). Over a dozen trees this year went to a needy family or business.”

It was promoted on social media and Zepeda handed “Christmas tree coupons out while people were standing in line to pay their water bill and last night I went to the tree lot and gave three coupons out to families looking for a tree.”

“With these coupons we got City Hall, PD, and PW trees,” Zepeda added. “Every year I try to do something different, but my first priority is that it benefits the community.”

The graduating class of the Antioch Police 3rd Citizens Academy with Chief Tammany Books (in suit, back center) The class included Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock (center, 2nd row) and Economic Development Commissioner Tim McCall (front row, 2nd from right). Photo by APD

By Allen Payton

A post on the Antioch Police Department’s Facebook page on Thursday, Dec. 14 announced the graduation of the 3rd Citizens Academy class on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

“What an amazing group of citizens! In 13 weeks we have made some great friendships. We hope you learned a lot from our officers and you gave us some great perspective as well. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to learn about your police department, your staff, and the many different ways we serve you. With this class complete it begs the question….Are you up for the challenge of our next Citizens Academy?”

Graduate Tim McCall, an Antioch landscape contractor and member of the Economic Development Commission shared about his experience in the academy.

“The Citizens Police Academy was an amazing opportunity to get to see what APD does on a daily basis, how well trained and what real genuine people our officers are,” he said. “Their job is long and hard, and many serve in several positions.”

“I am grateful for the understanding of our police department and for the many relationships I made,” McCall continued. “Too many people make assumptions without true understanding and this course helped me to gain a great knowledge of what it means to serve in the APD. Their job is dangerous and unpredictable, and our officers do it with a great deal of pride.”

“I am very proud of our department and believe they are truly the best,” he added. “I recommend this course to all citizens of Antioch. You will not regret the time you spend.”

McCall also provided a description of the ride-along he participated in with an Antioch police officer, one night in an Oct. 21 email to Lt. Tarra Mendes who runs the academy:

“On Friday night I had the special opportunity of riding along with a young officer who has only been a cop for 2-1/2 years. Jake…is just 33 years old.

1st off as we left, Jake, known as Y4, asked me to call dispatch on the radio and let them know we were heading on a call. He told me what to say and I repeated it perfectly. I sounded very cool. No response from dispatch… 5 seconds later a message was typed to him asking if everything was ok?  This very alert dispatcher knew I wasn’t Jake and was checking on his safety. As Jake and I were having a good laugh at this, I was amazed at the awareness this dispatcher showed. It was a lite, funny way to start off a busy night and set the stage for the true professionalism I was about to experience.

As we left on the 1st call of the night, the 1st thing I noticed was the awareness and admirable multitasking abilities Jake showed. As he drove to the call he was checking suspicious cars along the route, never wasting a minute of ‘doing police work’.  He made himself familiar with all the specifics of the call we were going to and all this time Jake was teaching me what he was doing. I was amazed.

As the night went on and I watched Jake interact with the people from each call there was one thought that kept entering my mind. THIS is true ‘community policing’. I am not sure how he did it but he remained courteous, soft spoken, smiling and showed a genuine concern for the the people he interacted with. Honestly, some I wanted to tell to shut up. All of this time Jake maintained control and his actions brought about respect for him from the people he was dealing with. He raised his voice only once through the night which brought the guy into compliance and then immediately lowered it again. I witnessed a child in a very unfortunate situation smile at Jake like she was in love as he took a moment to smile and talk with her, give her a sticker and let her know cops are good people. As we left we discussed how she was the real victim of this situation.  For a young cop like Jake, I was very impressed. He showed maturity and integrity well beyond his years as an active cop. His actions this evening was a gold star on the city on Antioch chest.

If I have one critique of Jake it would be that he should take more bathroom breaks. He tried to take one during the middle of my ride, but the bathroom was being used. He told me we didn’t have time and we left. I was aware even if he didn’t remember that 3 hours later he still never took that break. Jake, go to the bathroom, the city will survive.

In conclusion, I am very impressed and feel fortunate that Jakes beat is where I live. The city of Antioch and APD should also feel fortunate to have Jake working to make us safe. I honestly feel he has a genuine concern for people and a great passion for his job. Thank you, Jake for your service.

Please do share this with Jake, his supervisors and feel free to read it to the Citizens Academy.

Sincerely,

Tim”

To inquire about the next Antioch Police Citizens Academy, contact Lt. Mendes at (925) 779-6900.

A percentage of your purchases will benefit the Delta Contra Costa American Association of University Women scholarships to LMC students and Tech Trek for middle school girls. Please download the form and use the voucher with your purchase. bnvoucherflyer2017

See related article about Eddie Hart, here.

Antioch Police Special Weapons And Tactics Team. Photo by APD

By Captain Tony Morefield, Antioch Police Support Services Division

On December 15, 2017 at 11:04 AM, an Antioch Police Officer responded to an apartment complex on Hudson Court on a report of an unknown male trespassing and sleeping in his vehicle. When the officer approached the suspect, the suspect fled on foot into a neighboring apartment complex in the 3900 block of Delta Fair Blvd. The suspect, a 36-year-old Antioch resident, who fled was identified to have a warrant for his arrest for a Domestic Violence, Burglary and Assault with a Deadly Weapon case out of Antioch. As the suspect fled, he forced his way into an apartment on Delta Fair Blvd. threatening the residents that he had a gun.

The residents were able to escape the apartment leaving the suspect barricaded inside. Antioch PD Patrol Officers were then able to quickly surround the apartment and evacuate all of the neighboring units. After multiple attempts to order the suspect out of the apartment over the loud speaker, the Antioch PD SWAT and Hostage Negotiation Team were called in and took over the scene.

After a several hours-long stand-off with the suspect, he was located by SWAT Team members in one of the neighboring apartment units after he had tunneled through a narrow, ceiling crawl space and broke through the ceiling into that unit. The suspect was arrested without further incident and taken to the County Jail in Martinez to be booked on his warrant and additional charges from today’s incident.

No further information will be released at this time.

This investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Antioch Police at (925) 778-2441. You may also text a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) using key word ANTIOCH.