1800 Woodland Avenue at the corner of E. 18th Street in Antioch.

Joanne Waldie, wife of the late Antioch native and former politician Jerome R. Waldie, passed away earlier this month, due to complications related to Alzheimers.  She was born on July 3, 1927 and passed away on October 11, 2017.  She is survived by her three children, Jill Waldie of Placerville, Jon and Kathy Waldie of El Dorado, and Jeff and Kim Waldie of South Lake Tahoe.  She leaves behind 7 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Waldie Plaza where the summer concerts in the park are held in Antioch’s downtown was named for the late Congressman.

No service will be held per her request. She asked that any donations in her memory be directed to local non-profit animal rescue organizations. 

By Allen Payton

According to a post by Principal Louie Rocha on the Antioch High School Facebook page, this week’s Junior Varsity football game against cross-town rival Deer Valley High has been cancelled due sexual assault and bullying by some of the players.

The Thursday morning post reads: “A message from Principal Louie Rocha of Antioch High School: Please note that due to the misconduct of several members of the Antioch High JV football team, the game vs. Deer Valley for this Thursday has been canceled. Antioch High does not condone or tolerate any level of sexual assault and bullying. Any students involved in this type of unacceptable behavior will be held accountable. At our school, we take pride in offering and exposing our students to educational and awareness programs on these topics. For example, we recently hosted the Consent is Everything assembly for all our male students. Antioch Police Det. Brian Rose and motivational speaker and former NFL player Anthony Trucks spoke about the seriousness of sexual assault awareness, making good choices and respecting all. Thank you for your support of Antioch High School.”

In a comment posted on Facebook early Thursday morning, Melissa Waren, a parent of a female Antioch High student who was one of the victims of the harassment and bullying, wrote:

So in case you didn’t know what standards we hold our Antioch Football JV team to, I’m going to let you guys know. Many of the members, not all, have participated in harassing five of the students. One of them being my daughter and her good childhood friend. They threatened to beat up one of the girls, who I will not name, if she came near them. This is after school hours and this is the only way she walks home. She went and got her other friends to walk her to the gate to feel more comfortable. As they walked her to the gate the guys were constantly insulting and harassing the girl with inappropriate profanities, name calling and more. One of the girls walked up to them and POLITELY asked one of the guys to leave her alone to which he responded with by harassing her about her sexuality. He also told her to “hit me so I can drag your a** and beat the f*** out of you.” He also said to another girl “ I’ll drag your white a**”. And to another “ you look like you would be a b**** to press charges.” Another guy physically pulled his pants down and rubbed his bare bottom on this girl. There were also many other things that were said and done to which I won’t mention. Again, this is not the whole football team’s doing, but MANY of them were there +3 randoms. Apparently, they were suspended and their game is cancelled. I’m sorry but I think this needs more attention. And til this very moment some of the girls are still getting messages from people about how wrong it was for them to have gotten suspended and a game taken away. They don’t call it a team for nothing! We should not tolerate this!!! I will not tolerate this and will be paying Antioch High school a visit tomorrow morning.

When reached for comment, Waren said, “I went to the school, today to meet Principal Rocha. I guess I was one of the only parents he hadn’t contacted. He said he had been contacting parents of the students that were involved, yesterday. These students have been suspended. The game has been cancelled. He said that kind of conduct is not acceptable at Antioch High and that the students were being reprimanded. Their parents have come in. They may or may not be able to play their very last game against Pitt.”

“I brought my daughter in and her friend, who the problem had originated with, and Louie thanked them for taking a stand and saying, hey this is what’s going on, that it took some courage and he was proud of them,” she continued. “We spoke for a good hour.”

“They had already had an assembly with the boys and spoke about sexual harassment and the code of conduct, just last week, and this happened,” Waren added. “It was ninth and tenth grades. I think the 11 and 12th grades will have one this week.”

Please check back later for any updates to this story.

By Allen Payton

After three years in the development, the Antioch City Council voted 5-0 to table the Sand Creek Focus Area Specific Plan update to the city’s General Plan on Tuesday night, October 25.

The plan calls for 4,000 new homes in the area surrounding the Kaiser medical center on Deer Valley Road. Approximately 1,174 homes have already been approved in two developments at the east end of the valley.

The decision means that the current Specific Plan for the area adopted by the City Council in 2005 is still in force and that development can move forward under its guidelines. It also means the remaining developments will have to include any General Plan Amendments with the submission of their plans.

According to the city staff report on the agenda item, they made the recommendation because the city is undergoing the development of both a Habit Conservation Plan and the Natural Community Conservation Plan which will allow the city to mitigate any habitat and biological impacts. Those plans are expected to continue to be developed through 2018. Plus, the Ranch project which is proposing 1,337 homes on the west side of Deer Valley Road “is required to undergo extensive environmental review including the development of an Environmental Impact Report, under the California Environmental Quality Act.” The timing of its completion could be confused with the city’s efforts to finalize the Specific Plan Update. So tabling it now would avoid it in the eyes of the public, staff stated.

The final reason given by staff for their recommendation to table was cost. The City has to update the General Plan again in 2023 at an estimated cost of $800,000 and the fund currently has only $80,000 remaining. If the update continued to move forward it would deplete the fund by another $40,000 to $60,000.

What the council decision doesn’t do is to stop or preclude any development of new homes in the Sand Creek Focus Area. The two projects that have already been approved can move forward when those developers are ready to, and the other developers who own the rest of the land can also move forward on submitting their projects to the City for approval through the normal process.