“the more we come together in groups, the more COVID-19 spreads in the community.” – Dr. Chris Farnitano

By Allen Payton

In a rather ironic announcement Thursday, with reports of COVID-19 spreading rapidly in many Bay Area neighborhoods, members of the Association of Bay Area Health Officers (ABAHO) representing thirteen jurisdictions, urge residents to protect themselves and the community by celebrating Independence Day while remaining at home, under what amounts to house arrest, during the July 4th holiday weekend.

The Fourth of July, the day on which we as a nation celebrate the declaration of our independence from the tyrannical rule of England’s King George III, with his oppressive regulations and taxation, is traditionally a time to celebrate with firework shows, parades and cookouts. But this year the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many community leaders cancelling public events. Gatherings with others from outside your household, such as members of the extended family, are also considered potentially risky, according to the Association of Bay Area Health Officials (ABAHO).

Health officers from across the greater Bay Area say staying home this year is a healthy choice.

“Nobody wants to be cooped up, or to miss out on the holiday,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer, a member of ABAHO. “But the more we come together in groups, the more COVID-19 spreads in the community. And the more it spreads, the more it endangers older adults and others at high risk of serious illness.”

So, instead of merely requiring those older adults and others at high risk to stay home, he wants all of us to.

“You can spread COVID-19 even if you don’t feel that sick,” the ABAHO explained in a their press release announcement. “You can pass the disease to someone else before you have symptoms, and even if you never develop any symptoms at all. When infected people come in contact with others who are high-risk, there can be deadly consequences.”

Those deadly consequences have so far amounted to 78 deaths out of 1,115,000 residents in Contra Costa County, or one death in every 14,300 people. Currently there are a total of 41 patients with the virus in our hospitals and not all of them are from our county. At the same time, some county residents who have tested positive are in hospitals in Alameda County. In addition, according to the Contra Costa Health Services Coronavirus Dashboard, as of today at 11:30 a.m. a total of 76,139 people have been tested in our county and 3,326 have contracted the virus. The good news is, to date, 2,311 who have tested positive in Contra Costa have recovered, which means there are currently 896 residents in our county who have the virus and should be staying home under self-quarantine.

Yet because of the risks they have outlined, Bay Area health officers recommend people who are not members of the same household remain physically distant. Unless you choose to follow the county’s guidelines for sexual activity, which can be found, here and recommend that “If you do have sex with others, have as few partners as possible.”

According to the ABAHO, the best ways to protect yourself and slow the spread of COVID-19 include:

• Continuing to stay home as much as possible
• Practicing physical distancing outside the home
• Wearing face coverings or masks when outside your home
• Avoiding gatherings with people outside your immediate household – (even though Contra Costa allows gathering in groups of 12 people, and as many as 100 if you’re attending an outdoor or indoor worship service or protest. So, be sure if you’re number 101 or more, to please leave and either worship or protest on your own.
• Washing your hands thoroughly and frequently
• Staying home from work, school or daycare if you feel sick

Bay Area residents who have symptoms are also encouraged to get tested for COVID-19, and to do so immediately. Check with your local health department for more information about testing and about efforts in your community to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, please visit cchealth.org/coronavirus.

ABOUT THE ABAHO

The Association of Bay Area Health Officials (ABAHO) represents health officers and other public health professionals from thirteen jurisdictions. ABAHO coordinates and communicates regional messages to save lives, promote and protect health, prevent injury and illness, and improve wellness in the region’s diverse communities. According to an article on CaliforniaHealthLine.org “The alliance, formally called the Association of Bay Area Health Officials, was born in 1985 in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.” That article, entitled “The Inside Story Of How The Bay Area Got Ahead Of The COVID-19 Crisis”, is dated April 21, 2020 a week after Contra Costa experienced it’s peak, so far, of 44 Coronavirus patients in county hospitals on April 14.

The members of the ABAHO and other government leaders have returned us to the days before 1776 with even more oppressive regulations than those of King George, III – who still allowed the colonists to freely worship, go to work, operate their businesses (unless they were seditious newspaper publishers), earn a living, and go about their daily lives – while instilling fear into the populace about the virus, as well as by releasing inmates from federal and state prisons, and county jails, and increasing the national debt in order to keep providing unemployment payments, grants and loans (with interest, further burdening business owners) to most, but not all those who qualify and have been approved, yet who are still waiting to receive even a penny from either the state or federal government, while at the same time allowing the homeless, protesters, looters, vandals, Antifa members, and CHOP and CHAZ residents to enjoy maximum freedom, in effect guaranteeing only to them the full exercise of the freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights, while restricting most of the rest of us from enjoying them.

Enjoy celebrating your freedom on Saturday!

By Velma Wilson and Allen Payton

Come celebrate FREEDOM and a community of firsts: Antioch’s 1st African-American Mayor,  1st African American Councilman, 1st African-American Councilwoman,  1st African-American Police Chief, 1st African-American City Attorney, 1st African-American Antioch School Board Trustees, 1st African-American Planning Commissioner, 1st African-American District Attorney and 1st African-American County Supervisor, on the land of the 1st African-American resident of Antioch.

It will be held at the corner of 6th and A Streets in Antioch. Attendees will be adhering to social distancing, and everyone must wear a mask.

According to the Juneteenth website, it “is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.”

Also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth dates back to June 19, 1865 “when the Union Army soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of Confederal Army General Robert E. Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3 which began most significantly with:

‘The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.’

Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement.”

The Emancipation Proclamation

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

“That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.”

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of

January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight

hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the

United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

 

On Monday, May 25, 2020, the City of Antioch will host a social distance drive-by Memorial Day Commemoration honoring those who gave their all for the freedoms in our country. The event will begin at 11:00 AM at the Antioch Marina in front of the Veteran’s Memorial at the foot of L Street.

Those who attend will then proceed to the Contra Costa Event Park (fairgrounds) to lay a wreath at the World War I Memorial.

That will be followed by a drive to Oak View Memorial Park to lay a wreath at the First Responders Memorial and conclude with a grab and go lunch in the parking lot of the VFW Post 6435 on Fulton Shipyard Road. The event is sponsored by the Rivertown Lions Club, VFW, and Delta Veterans Group. Please join us as we honor the lives of our fallen heroes.

For more information, please contact the event coordinators JR Wilson, Darlene Horn or Velma Wilson.

By Milanka Schneiderman

Antioch is recognized as one of the most diverse communities in the Bay Area and the Antioch Historical Society Museum would like to celebrate that diversity during the month of February with a multicultural exhibit called “Antioch, a Cultural Perspective”. The exhibit includes the following cultural groups who each has their own display: Italian, Portuguese, African American, Hispanic and Chinese.

Other cultures will be featured in future exhibits as this is hoped to be an annual exhibit. The exhibit will be on display in the Riverview Room on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. during the entire month of February.

The museum, located at 1500 W. 4th Street at the curve of Auto Center Drive, has a mission statement to preserve history of “cultural and historic value”.

“We really want the Antioch Historical Society Museum to be very inclusive of all and relevant to the changing demographics of residents of Antioch by showcasing their history and culture in February,” said Dwayne Eubanks, President, Antioch Historical Society Museum. “A focus on diversity will be a major goal of the museum now and in the future as we embrace all of Antioch’s residents including the youth.”

The exhibit’s African American display will be updated to include Roger Henry, the first African American to serve in elected office, having been elected to the Antioch School Board, and the first to serve on the city’s Planning Commission. In addition, Teri Lynn Shaw, the first African American woman to serve on the Antioch School Board, will also be added to the display.

Modernizing presentation equipment is one method that the museum hopes to reach out to younger generations of residents. They recently received two grants from the City of Antioch and the Antioch Community Fund to purchase new electronic presentation equipment. February’s “Antioch, a Cultural Perspective” hopes to reach out to a wider audience of Antioch residents with this exciting, new exhibit.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

The public is invited to an opening reception on Saturday, February 1 to kick off the new exhibit “Women Win the Vote, in California, Contra Costa and the Nation” at the Contra Costa County History Center in Martinez.  “A Toast to the Indomitable Suffragists,” a program featuring feminist local historian Beverly Lane, will begin at 1 p.m.

The exhibit features the 72-year battle for American women’s right to vote, ending 100 years ago with passage of the 19th Amendment on Aug. 26, 1920.  It includes a display from the National Archives “Rightfully Hers,” suffrage banners, and a history of the movement. Stories of Contra Costa County woman leaders beginning in the 1920’s are also included.

The reception is sponsored by the Contra Costa County Historical Society and the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the History Center, 724 Escobar in Martinez.  Street parking is available.

The Contra Costa History Center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays each month.  Go to cocohistory.org for more information.

For more information on reception contact: lwvdv.org.

By funischeap.com

In honor of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we invite you to attend the annual “Eye of Diablo” beacon lighting ceremony to pay tribute to and honor our veterans, Saturday, Dec. 7 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Cost is free and the event will be held at Cal State East Bay – Concord Campus, 4700 Ygnacio Valley Road in Concord,

Every year since 1964, the Pearl Harbor survivors and their families have memorialized Pearl Harbor Day by relighting the historic Beacon atop Mount Diablo’s summit. When those who experienced Pearl Harbor are gone, the history is lost with them. That tragedy should never happen again, “Lest We Forget.”

“When that beacon light is turned on, that’s a tribute to those individuals that lost their lives at Pearl Harbor,” said Earl “Chuck” Kohler, Pearl Harbor Survivor

The Pearl Harbor Survivors and Save Mount Diablo are grateful for the assistance and support from Mount Diablo State Park, CCTV, California State University East Bay Concord Campus, Vietnam Helicopters Museum and the Sons & Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.