Men are invited to join together in prayer for Antioch, this Saturday, November 24^th at 7:30 a.m. The men will meet at 7:15 a.m. at Antioch City Park, 10th and A Streets. Prayer will start promptly at 7:30.

For more information contact Mike Pollard at foreveryoungmike@yahoo.com.

By James Ott

A local church made an unsuccessful, last minute attempt to overturn the city’s initial decision to deny them the ability to close off a street for their annual community carnival this Halloween.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Grace Bible Fellowship of Antioch asked the council members to overturn the city engineer’s decision to deny the church a permit to close a section of Sunset Drive for their “Holy Eve Community Carnival.”

In the end, the city decided that there were too many issues with staging the large event at the suggested location and not enough time to resolve them so the street closure was denied.

The vote was split down the middle with council members Wade Harper and Mary Rocha for and Gary Agopian and Mayor Jim Davis against while Councilman Brian Kalinowski was absent.

Council said that the sheer size of the event and the late pursuit of permission to close the street brought on issues of public safety and potential backlash from neighboring businesses.

Last year the church said they had about 20,000 people when it was staged at the Antioch mall. In previous years people have apparently come from as far as Fairfield, Fremont, Vacaville and Pinole to attend the carnival.

The event was so big last year that the local Starbucks allegedly took in “10’s of thousands of dollars” in sales, something a church representative at the meeting was told was a better sales day than Black Friday.

According to the church’s website, the fair has been held since 2003 and it is such a success because it provides a safe, fun atmosphere for families “on a night that is typically synonymous with heinous pranks and random acts of violence particularly against those who are socially vulnerable.”

The church said they are holding the event at their own church and not a larger venue such as the mall or the Antioch Fairgrounds as in previous years because they have received far less funding from local businesses than they have in years past. As a result they had to scale back this year’s carnival by advertising less and so are expecting less people to attend.

The church said they have written permission from each business within the street closure area. Those businesses apparently gave permission to use their parking spaces for any overflow parking the event might generate.

One of the many issues that surfaced during the council meeting however, was that even businesses outside the planned closure section would likely still be affected by the large amount of vehicles and pedestrians that would potentially block customers.

That’s a problem, Councilman Agopian said, because the issues was an emergency agenda item and so those potentially affected businesses have not had time to come to a city council meeting and give their opinion to city council.

“The reason we have items agendized is so that the other interested parties can come and speak. We have a duty and an obligation to everybody in this city and everybody on this street to do the right thing, otherwise it’s just not good process.” said Councilmember Gary Agopian.

Public safety was also a big concern, especially from the Antioch police who said they did not support the closure of the street.

“The closure of that area is not conducive to public safety,” said Antioch Police Captain McConnell. The captain said that because of Highway 4 construction there is increased traffic on Sunset including heavy trucks. And although the church said they have about 30 people for security and traffic re-direction – some of whom are off duty police officers from neighboring cities – McConnell said that having untrained civilians working traffic would expose the city to “a tremendous amount of liability.”

“We really want to support this because it’s a great event,” said Mayor Jim Davis. But in the end the council just barely missed approving the street closure permit. The vote was split 2 to 2 and so no action could be taken to approve it.

The council however, voted unanimously to allow the event to take place at the new boat launch in downtown pending approval of an administrative use permit. They also agreed to waive any fees for that facility’s use up to $500.

According to the event announcement on the church’s website, the Holy Eve Community Carnival will be held in the church’s parking lot on Sunset Drive.

Join Cornerstone Christian Center for their annual Hallelujah Night ,Wednesday, October 31 from 5:30-7:30. Carnival games, jumpers, trunk or treat and lots of candy. Cornerstone Christian Center is located at 1745 E. 18^th Street in Antioch. For more information visit www.cornerstonechristian.net.

Presented by Golden Hills Community Church, Antioch campus

The Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County (ICCCC) proudly announced the appointment of Rev. Will McGarvey as their interim Executive Director. This position was left vacant when the prior Executive Director, Rev. Brian Stein-Webber, left the council to take a position with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary after serving the council for nearly 12 years. The appointment of Rev. McGarvey was effective September 1, 2012. In this role, Rev. McGarvey will be responsible for overseeing the overall functions of the council and will play a leading role in furthering its objectives.

“The work of the Interfaith Council is so important here in Contra Costa County. Our work supporting Winter Nights Shelter, the Chaplaincy in the Juvenile Detention Facility, and our Social Justice Alliance provide an opportunity for people of faith to work together to make our county a better place.  I’m happy to be able to help the Executive Committee focus on our mission, and organize our committees to help the member congregations work toward greater understanding among our faith groups. This is among the most important piece of work during this time of increasing religiously motivated violence,” said Rev. McGarvey after accepting the appointment.

“We are so thrilled to have Rev. Will McGarvey back in a leadership role. The Executive Committee of the council was unanimous in its decision to appoint him to this position. Will is greatly respected in interfaith circles, and his prior experience and working knowledge of the council will be extremely valuable when he rolls up his sleeves to go to work. We are looking forward to working with him to promote interfaith harmony and understanding, and to make a difference in each of our communities,” said Rev. Alexis Easton, President of ICCCC, on behalf of its Executive Committee and member organizations.

About Rev. McGarvey: Rev. Will McGarvey has served as pastor at Community Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, CA, a PC (USA)-UCC congregation, for the last eight years.  CPC shares ministry with their sister congregation, First Congregational Church of Antioch (UCC).  Will grew up in the LDS tradition and served a two-year mission in New England before finding a new spiritual path within Progressive Protestantism.  He has long been active in interfaith circles, including the early meetings that organized interfaith chaplains for the 2012 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  Will did his seminary studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary, where he specialized in theology of the environment.  Rev. McGarvey served on the Executive Committee of the ICCCC from 2004 to 2010, acting as Vice President for many of those years.  He has also been a part of East County United, an association of the Council that does programming and events in East County. He may be reached at eye4cee@gmail.com or by calling 925.597.9797.

About Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County: ICCCC is a non-profit, 501 c (3) organization solely governed by its Executive Committee. Its mission states, “We as people from a diversity of religions, spiritual traditions and sectors of society, gather to manifest our unity as we promote the spirit of community, service and cooperation through the work of the Interfaith Council.”

The Interfaith Council, as the Council of Churches, was originally organized for the primary purpose of providing chaplaincy ministries in various county institutions on behalf of local congregations. The Council became interfaith in 1997, widening its membership to include congregations and faith organizations that represent the growing pluralistic population of Contra Costa County. The council remains committed to supporting the religious and communities in our county. Program areas have expanded to include Health and Faith in Action, Social Justice, Finance, Spirituality, Youth and Education.

There are more than 100 congregations and organizations holding membership and affiliation from a wide range of Christian and other faith traditions, including Jewish, Buddhist, Baha’i, Unitarian, Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Unity and Religious Science.

FIRST ANNUAL SALVATION ARMY

CLASSIC CAR SHOW, CAR WASH & CRAFT BOUTIQUE

September 15, 2012 at 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

@ Higgins Chapel, 1310 A Street, Antioch

FUNDRAISER

Benefits the Salvation Army’s After School Program

CRAFT OR PRODUCT SELLERS CAN Rent a 10’ x 12’ space for $25 to sell your Arts and Crafts OR PRODUCTS

For rental space or more information contact

Norm (925) 778- 0808 Ext: 17 or email SalArmyAntioch@yahoo.com