By Tom Lamothe, Coordinator, Antioch Sports Legends

As in the past decade, the Antioch Historical Sports Legends Museum’s Hall of Fame class is amazingly full of talented athletes, a spectacular team, an exceptional coach and a community leader dedicated to bettering our city through sports.

The 10th Anniversary, 2016 Hall of Fame Gala induction class is no exception. They will be honored at the annual Gala on Saturday, October 8th.

This Hall of Fame class has many accomplishments to be honored. We begin with Antioch High’s legendary Golf Coach Joe Gambetta, who’s unparalleled coaching success enjoyed at least 15 league championships in 31 years of coaching.

Then, Bob Beswick, a community leader dedicated to improving our city by helping start, Antioch Little League, our Sutter Delta hospital, the Antioch Community Investment Fund and more. Also being honored will be the 1979 Track & Field Team, believed by Hall of Fame Coach Mike Hurd, as the greatest Antioch High Track & Field Team of all time.

As in so many previous Hall of Fame classes the Antioch Sports Legends is inducting a professional athlete and this year it’s, former NFL Chicago Bear, two-time BYU All-American and Antioch High linemen class of 1990’s, Evan Pilgrim. Also representing the NFL is AHS class of 1972’s Rich Hall. Besides having a high school football career as one of Northern Cal’s best linemen and championship years at University of Arizona, Rich is now in his 13 year as an NFL Umpire. Rounding off the football inductees will be Antioch High’s 1950’s, All-Northern California defensive tackle, 6′ 185 pound Ray Salazar.

The 2016 Class will also be remembered as the night of the Wolverine, as two Deer Valley High athletes will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, high school All-American Volleyball player and Cal Bear Pac 10 honorable mention, Gabrielle Abernathy and  2000 North Coast “Player of the Year” by Sports Focus, and St Mary’s soccer player, Niles Almarinez.

Many like to think Antioch’s a football town. Just don’t tell the 13 AA and above Antioch natives who played baseball in the bigs or chased the dream. Continuing Antioch’s baseball legacy are three outstanding ball players; 1992 All-California Interscholastic Federation softball pitcher Stephanie Andrews; three-time All-BVAL and AHS class of 1990’s, UC San Diego’s catcher, Al Del Favero and wrapping it up with Steve Ochoa who put on the burners after AHS and was first team- Junior College All-State in ’84, first-team All Pacific Coast Athletic Association at San Jose State and Philadelphia Philly’s free agent pick.

A wrestler will also be honored. Bill Dupree, of Antioch High’s Class of 1979, was the two-time North Coast Section wrestling medalist, and who as a freshman at Park qualified for North Coast, placing fourth.

Larry Lentz II, the 1995 volleyball “All North Coast Section MVP” and “AHS Male Athlete of the Year,” will be honored with the high flying pole vaulter, Mitch Mikula of the AHS Class of 1984, who jumped 15’ 6” at the 1984 California Interscholastic State meet and set the school record that still stands, today.

In the Hall of Fame’s special category of their own, are the All- Around Athletes, those amazing female athletes that varsity lettered in at least two sports at high levels, and male athletes in three. This year’s Female All-Around is, AHS 1994 “Athlete of the Year” Christine Brockett. Whether it was basketball, track or volleyball, Brockett rocked it.  A two-time, first team All-BVAL and team MVP in basketball, Brockett also held the long jump and triple jump records as the team MVP in Track and was 1993’s “Most Outstanding Defensive Player” in volleyball during her junior year.

The Male All-Around honoree is AHS Class of 1981 Doug Snyder, the two-time All- DVAL and team MVP outfielder in baseball and first team All- DVAL and honorable mention All East-Bay in football. While at LMC he received the 1983 All-State honors, and was the Major League Baseball 37th round draft choice by the Astros.

The Alumni Golf Tournament will be held on Friday, October 7, at the Lone Tree Golf & Event Center 4800 Golf Course Road in Antioch. Call Alumni Chair Steve Parks 925-550-3819 for details. 10:00 AM start followed by Alumni and new Inductees social from 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Gala is October 8 from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM, also at the Lone Tree Golf Course & Event Center. For Gala dinner tickets at $65.00, mail your check payable to Antioch Sports Legends to Joanne Bilbo by mail at 234 Flagstone Drive Antioch, CA 94509 by September 19. Tickets will be mailed to you. You can also pay online at www.antiochsportslegends.com by the September 19th deadline. A convenience fee will apply. Or call Antioch Sports Legends Coordinator Tom Lamothe at 925-639-2536 by October 1.

Don’t wait this event has sold out for nine years.

The Antioch Sports Legends Museum is inside the Antioch Historical Society Museum at 1500 West 4th Street in Antioch. It’s open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

By Allen Payton

If you’ve ever wanted to be in a movie, this may be your chance. Antioch’s own Anthony Ferrante, the director of the Sharknado films, is back in town with his crew filming a new movie entitled Forgotten Evil. And they need extras, starting tonight, Monday, August 22nd.

More about Ferrante and the movie, later. But, for now, according to Kris Wynne, Line Producer for the movie, following is the schedule for extras needed for the film:

 (Please don’t wear black, white or stripes and NO logos)

MONDAY 8/22 – El Campanil Theatre – 6PM-10PM

TUESDAY 8/23 – Riverview Lodge 6PM

WEDNESDAY 8/24 – Southern Cafe 8PM

THURSDAY 8/25 – Los Medanos College (Time to be announced)

FRIDAY 8/26 – Antioch Convalescent Home (3PM)

If interested, please email casfilm2016@gmail.com

I fight crime with a little help from my friends

By Allen Payton

Recently, residents have asked questions on social media, about calls that the Antioch Police Department dispatch does not take and why. Captain Tammany Brooks offered the following explanation and information, and the process for online reporting the APD is asking residents to follow, to assist in their efforts:

“Here are certain incidents and/or crimes where dispatch will direct the caller to complete an online report.  Antioch is not unique in this aspect, as many other agencies use this service as well (including Brentwood, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek just to name a few locally).

When the citizen completes the online report, the report is reviewed and (if completed correctly) approved by a patrol supervisor.  This report is then given an Antioch case number and is routed to Records and sometimes the Investigations bureau.  If it is a Part 1 crime (i.e. theft report), it is coded appropriately to be included in the UCR report sent to the FBI.

An event generated by dispatch is generally handled by an officer who gets dispatched to make contact with the reporting party.  If a report is taken, it too is routed to Records and possibly Investigations in the same manner as the online reports.  In other words, the completed product (report) is the same and ends up in the same place regardless of whether it was generated by an officer or a citizen filing an online report.  But if an event is not generated, and an officer is not dispatched, you are correct that this incident would not show up in the weekly total calls for service.  This is the case with all online reports whether the citizen called dispatch first or not.

Now, to answer your question as to how APD would know about a crime if an officer is not dispatched and the citizen does not file an online report…we won’t.  We can only stat the crimes we know about, just like any other agency.  Understand, online reports are used in limited circumstances, designed as a convenience for our citizens and to free up officers to handle other crimes that require a response.  If for some reason a person cannot complete an online report, he/she can demand an officer and one will be dispatched.  Obviously, like every other call to be dispatched, it is placed in a queue and will be sent to an officer when one is available (which may take an extended period of time since calls are dispatched based on priority).  As I’m sure you already know, it would be MUCH quicker and easier for a citizen to just go online and complete a report than it would be to wait for an officer to come take the same report.  Heck, we even have a link to the online reporting system on our PD app so people can complete the report on their smart phone if they like.

So, to close the loop on this, every agency is faced with the “unreported crime” issue.  We cannot force people to report a crime, but obviously we need their cooperation.  I back the chief 100% in that we want people to report crimes.  Not just so we can track them, but so that if a lead is established, we can hold the people responsible for these crimes accountable for their actions.  But in today’s technologically advanced society, this may not always mean making a call into dispatch.  Documentation of certain crimes can be more quickly and efficiently handled through these online reports, and I would encourage people to take advantage of this service when the need arises.

p.s. Also, I will remind you that calls for service and crime stats are two completely separate and individually distinct measurements of different things.  Not all crime reports come from a call for service, and not all calls for service result in crime reports.”

So, be a friend to the Antioch Police Department and help them fight crime by either calling dispatch, texting an anonymous tip to to the PD by texting: 274637 (CRIMES) and including the word ANTIOCH in the body of the text, or by completing an online report. Here’s the link to the online report form or visit the APD’s webpage on the City of Antioch’s website, for the link to the online report on the left side of the page.

By Allen Payton

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, as the old saying goes. The proponents of what has become known as the Save The Yard effort, to create a park and event center on the former Antioch Lumber Company site in downtown, are following that advice.

According to Antioch City Manager’s Weekly Report, dated August 19th: On Monday, August 15th Joy Motts, the representative for the proponent, Jim Lanter, submitted a revised request for a “Title and Summary” for a revised Initiative Ordinance based on inconsistencies found by the City Attorney on Friday, August 12th. The proponent had been given the opportunity by the City Attorney and City Clerk/Elections Official to leave the initiative Ordinance as submitted on August 12th or to resubmit with corrections and that the City Clerk/Elections Official would waive a new Filing Fee. It was immediately sent to the City Attorney who has up to 15 days to prepare a “Title and Summary” and present it to the City Clerk/Elections Official for delivery to the proponent.

According to Motts, the proponents have 180 days to gather signatures from at least 10% of the registered voters in Antioch during the latest election. That figure is 46,677 as of June 25, 2016. If so, the initiative will be placed on the November, 2017 ballot. However, if they gather signatures of at last 15% of the registered voters, a special election can be called, which would occur sometime, next spring.

Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho is seeking qualified, motivated candidates to serve on the following county advisory committees:

County Library Commission

2 seats

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The Commission serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Supervisors and the County Librarian. They provide a community linkage to the County Library and establish a forum for the community to express its views regarding goals and operations of the County Library. The Commission assists the Board of Supervisors and the County Librarian to provide library services based on assessed public needs and develops and recommends proposals to the Board of Supervisors and the County Librarian for the betterment of the County Library including, but not limited to, such efforts as insuring a stable and adequate funding level for the libraries in the County.

The Commission meets on the 4th Thursday of every other month at 7:00 p.m. located at 75 Santa Barbara in Pleasant Hill.

Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board

1 seat

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The board assesses family and community needs regarding treatment and prevention of alcohol and drug abuse problems and provides input and recommendations on prevention, intervention, and treatment services to the Contra Costa Health Services Department, the Board of Supervisors, and the communities they serve.

The Board meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 3:45 p.m. located at the Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Division, 1220 Morello Avenue, Suite 200 in Martinez.

Emergency Medical Care Committee

2 seats

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The Emergency Medical Care Committee (EMCC) function is to review the operations of each of the following at least annually:

1. Ambulance services operating within the county.

2. Emergency medical care offered within the county,

3. First aid practices in the county.

Regular meetings of the EMCC shall be held at least four (4) times per year or more often as deemed necessary. Meetings will convene at 4:00 p.m. on the Second Wednesday of March, June, September, and December unless otherwise directed by the EMCC or its Executive Committee. Location: Contra Costa County Schools Insurance Group, 550 Ellinwood Way, Pleasant Hill, CA.

Family & Children’s Trust Commission

1 seat

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The Commission conducts a bi-annual needs assessment on family and children’s services in the County.

The Commission meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 8:30 a.m. located at the Employment and Human Services Dept., 40 Douglas Drive, in Martinez

Discovery Bay P-6 Citizen Advisory Committee

1 seat – Ravenswood Development

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

To make reports and recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on extended police protection services which shall include, but not limited to, enforcement of the State Vehicle Code where authorized by law, crime prevention, and litter control.

The Committee meets on the 2nd Monday of every month at 7:30 p.m. located at 1800 Willow Lake Road in Discovery Bay.

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District’s Fire Advisory Commission

1 Alternate seat

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The Commission shall review and advise on annual operations and capital budgets; to review district expenditures; to review and advise on long-range capital improvement plans; pursuant to district ordinance to serve as the Appeals Board on weed abatement matters; to advise the Fire Chief on district service matters; to meet jointly with the Board of Supervisors and provide advice to the board as needed; to communicate with the other fire district advisory commissions on services and functional integration; to assist in the Fire Chief’s selection process as required; to serve as liaison between the Board of Supervisors and the community served by each district; to perform such other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned and as directed by the Board of Supervisors.

The Commission meets on the 2nd Monday of February, April, June, August, October and December located at the Administration Building, 2010 Geary Road in Pleasant Hill.
Bethel Island Municipal Advisory Committee

1 seat

Closing Date: Open Until Filled

The Council shall advise the Board of Supervisors on land use and planning matters affecting the community of Bethel Island and may represent the Bethel Island community before the Board of Supervisors, the East County Regional Planning Commission and the Zoning Administrator on such issues as land use, planning and zoning. The Council may also represent the Bethel Island Community before the Local Agency Formation Commission no proposed boundary changes affecting the community. The Council may advise the Board on services which may be provided to the Bethel Island Community by Contra Costa County or other local governmental agencies.
The Council meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. located at Scout Hall, 3190 Ranch Lane in Bethel Island.

Background

The Board of Supervisors receives valuable input and community participation from numerous citizen advisory boards on a range of issues. Boards usually meet monthly on a regular basis.
Candidates for these positions must live in District III or any specified boundary area for special districts.  District III is comprised of the cities of Antioch, Brentwood, and Oakley, and the unincorporated communities of Bethel Island, Blackhawk, Byron, Diablo, Discovery Bay, and Knightsen.

For more information about the advisory committees, click here.

Click here to download an application from the County’s website.  Applications should be submitted to the Clerk of the Board’s office, 925.335.1900, located at 651 Pine Street, Martinez, CA 94553.

For more information, including on how to apply, you may contact Supervisor Piepho’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Lea Castleberry at 925.820.8683.