Dear Editor:

Now that the dust has settled on another school year start, it’s a good time to take inventory with a parental quiz.

Are you assuming that everything is going swimmingly or are you taking nothing for granted and communicating vigorously with your child on what they’re doing and how’s it going? Any classwork problems, any bullying? Obviously, your kid doesn’t have a crystal ball and won’t know you value education unless you show it by showing interest, probing for issues, setting high expectations and insisting on hard work.

Are you on School Loop where with the touch of a computer keyboard you can assess your child’s attendance, assignments and grades? Today, there is no excuse to be surprised at a report card; you can catch the problem before it mushrooms.

Are you monitoring your child’s sleep habits? Remember, sleep deficit is a national epidemic and without those crucial 8 to 110 hours rest behavior, attitude, energy and focus all suffer. Be proactive by structuring homework time and limiting internet and T.V. usage.

Are you making sure your child gets a daily jump start with a good breakfast and maintains energy with a balanced lunch?

Have you set aside a quiet, comfortable work area with dictionary for your child to do their homework?

Have you pledged to read to, or with, your child, if not daily for twenty minutes, at least weekly?  Are you a role model of life-long learning who they see reading and do you use daily life experiences as teaching moments?

Do you praise your child’s achievements and honest efforts and, in the face of shortcomings, seek interventions?o If your child is struggling there are after school programs, real-time tutors thru the county library site at ccclib.org and over 3,000 heralded and, yes, free, on-line tutorials at www.khanacademy.org.

Education is a three legged stool of students, teachers and parents. It’s a simple fact that involved parents make a difference. Be an unsung hero as a mom or dad active in your child’s education. After all, you are their ultimate teacher. It all begins at home.

Walter Ruehlig

Antioch

Ruehlig is a former Antioch School Board Trustee

Editor:

The following is our Argument AGAINST the Antioch Sales Tax Measure set for voting on November 5, 2013.  We ask that your readers consider the facts and information we’ve submitted before they vote.

Dear Editor:

“Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face,” was a comment I often heard from my grandmother whenever I would complain, as a teenager, about how I had been wronged in some way and wanted to get back at those that hurt me. She’s been gone now for over forty years but her advice is as good today as it was back then.

If the half-cent sales tax in Antioch is rejected by voters, the community will need a complete face lift, not just a nose replacement. It’s true that we need more police officers, but we also need a whole spectrum of other important things; community development, code enforcement, job growth, road repairs, care for our seniors and young people, water treatment, transportation and many others.

That’s why I accept the council’s decision not to dedicate all the new revenues to just police services and public safety. To do so at this time would be short sighted. If Antioch is to have any kind of a future we need to plan for it now while we still have the chance.

As to the argument that our residents will leave this area to shop in neighboring cities, I don’t buy that argument. Pittsburg and Brentwood residents haven’t flocked to Antioch because of their tax increases. They’re still shopping at the stores they like – it’s just human nature. The fact that the tax will be eliminated in seven years means that the economy is expected to grow and eventually be self-sustaining; making our community a place we can all be proud to call home.

I’m not happy about it but, it is, what it is and it won’t get any better until we all put our money where our mouth is. I‘m confident there are a multitude of people out there who will make darn sure our money is spent wisely!

Barbara Herendeen

Antioch

Dear Editor:

I have turned in the following argument against the proposed sales tax increase measure for the November election 2013.

Argument against the Sales Tax increase

Vote NO on increasing Antioch sales tax beyond the current levels.

The tax dollar would NOT be dedicated to police services and public safety, the number one priority among citizens, but go to the general fund. The sitting council has failed to produce any solutions to Antioch’s crime problem. There is NO plan from our Mayor Harper, Councilman Agopian, and Council woman Rocha, even all three run their re-election campaign in 2012, “tough on crime” Our sitting council had not offered any public discussion, nor produced a plan, how and where the anticipated money will be spend. The City needs to buy locally, and award contracts to local businesses. We need to have open discussions about budget reviews, pension reforms, and reducing the City’s business permit process. We need to conduct independent audit‘s, and a “Workload Study” of our police department. We need to be “brutally honest” if we want to stop our “crime emergency” (Agopian) A created “Crime Sub-Commission”, (Nov/Dec, 2012) has never met. If that measure passes, it does NOT create a steady flow of money, it’s depend on the economy and spending ability/ location of Antioch residents, on top of it, the proposed sales tax increase is eliminated in 7 years. On July 30, 2013, our Chief of Police announced a dramatic, double digest, crime drop for the first 6 month of 2013. We cannot afford to paralyze our businesses with higher taxes, and drive customers to shop in neighboring cities. Antioch residents cannot afford to pay higher taxes.

Vote NO on this tax increase. It is NOT a solution.

Karl Dietzel

Antioch

Dear Editor:

Recent news stories make it perfectly clear: it is not safe to conduct business in Antioch. Doesn’t matter who allowed all the rotten people into town – they’re here. So, now what?

I recommend: 1. Concealed Carry Permits for all qualifying residents. 2. Armed guards posted in front of all businesses.

According to city-data.com, there are 150 registered sex offenders in town. With all due respect to law enforcement, officers cannot be everywhere, all the time. Furthermore, continually raising taxes to hire more police will only serve to drive away law-abiding citizens. That is not what you want.

Until the City of Antioch allow its citizens permits to carry and posts guards at all businesses, I will shop elsewhere; I will encourage all my fellow Antioch residents to do the same.

Anne Ray

Antioch

Dear Editor:

This is written to the woman who caused the wreck in the Target parking lot on May 22^nd of this year. I don’t know your name because no one bothered to get it, the police did not come to make an accident report either – thank you Antioch – and you just drove away!

My husband died from this accident! I know you drive a White Dodge Ram lifted pickup. My husband had just left the Dress Barn where he had been doing me a favor, was getting ready to leave the parking lot, when you came around from another side, in his lane. He tried to get away from you as you were bearing down on him. He tried to get off his motorcycle (bike) and get out of the way. It was not a single person accident as the police were reporting; it is called a non-contact collision! The bike fell on his leg and crushed it. He told me you got out of your truck and stood there watching, while he laid there screaming. We have been married 37 years and it is the first time I ever heard him scream.

Yes, he called and left a horrifying message on our phone. I want you to know what the consequences of your actions were. Roy Adams was the father of 10 kids and grandfather of 23, great grandfather of 9. His greatest honor was to ride with the Patriot Guard and Warriors Watch, honoring our fallen and serving military families and heroes. He served this country for eight years, himself. He was a very safe rider and would never have fallen off his bike. He was healthy and never sick a day in his life, took no medications and had all his body parts except a gall bladder. He was a big strong man who loved his family beyond measure and did more service for people than anyone I ever saw! He was a God loving Christian, went to church every Sunday, paid his tithing and kept the commandments.

It took him a month to die, it was horrible and painful, taking his eyesight and his leg; causing two strokes the last one being massive because he was on blood thinners to prevent more blood clots caused by the severe fracture of his left leg. He begged me to help him get relief from the pain. My saddest regret is that I could not. We have always had each others’ back, but I could not help him, this time. The damage was too great.

I know you walked away and left him there to be taken to the hospital, I don’t think you even called 911. Another woman came out of the parking lot and did that. Now, I am left to deal with the aftermath. I have no accident report and so could not get a lawyer.

We just had to lose one of the most important persons in our lives, and believe me it has changed our lives forever. I just wanted you to know what your negligence caused.

Mrs. Rose Adams (now a widow), Knightsen

Guest Opinion

by Assemblyman Jim Frazier, (D-Oakley)

Many Californians are facing restricted access to health care due to dangerous and expensive health insurer policies that prevent patients from getting timely and effective treatments.

Some California health insurers have implemented a series of draconian restrictions in the name of cost containment that place health insurers squarely in the middle of the physician-patient relationship.

One such barrier is a policy known as “step therapy” or “fail first.” Step therapy requires that patients try and fail on up to five older, less effective medications before the insurer will cover the treatment originally prescribed by the doctor. Under this policy, patients are often forced to try and fail on these treatments even when they have already tried them in the past, and even when their doctor knows the treatments will not work.

Insurers enact restrictions like step therapy under the guise of cost containment, but the practical impact is that California patients – many of whom suffer from chronic conditions or debilitating pain or mental illness – will unnecessarily go for days, weeks, or months without their doctor-prescribed treatment. In short, step therapy hurts Californians, prolongs ineffective treatment, and prevents patients from immediately starting the treatments their doctors think are best.

While it would be tempting to dismiss step therapy as a mild inconvenience for patients, the unnecessary burden of step therapy has very real health and economic consequences. Delays in treatment can exacerbate health problems and often allow manageable conditions to deteriorate into more serious problems or disease.

Imagine, as an example, a single mother living with rheumatoid arthritis in Contra Costa County. When she is denied access to care, it is not only her physical condition that suffers. Every unnecessary visit to the doctor or pharmacist requires out-of-pocket co-pays.  Unnecessary medical appointments can also lead to additional days of missed work, which in turn results in loss of wages, as well as drives up costs for her employer through lost productivity and increased insurance premiums.

A recent analysis from the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP) found that those living with and managing mental illness are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of step therapy protocols. CHBRP found that, when faced with the additional barriers to care created by step therapy, mental health patients are more likely to stop taking their medication. When a person coping with mental illness does not stay on his or her doctor-prescribed treatment regimes, it can lead to dire consequences, including hospitalizations, suicide attempts, and even imprisonment. In addition to the serious health consequences, unnecessary emergency room visits and increased imprisonment drives up the direct costs to the California health care system and all California taxpayers.

Advancements in science and medicine have yielded new treatments that can more effectively treat patients and speed up their recovery. Unfortunately, Californians will only be able to access these treatments when we require the insurance companies to limit their step therapy practices. Patients must not be asked to bear the unnecessary physical and emotional burdens of step therapy.

In an effort to address this issue, I have sponsored Assembly Bill 889, which directly addresses step therapy and the burden it places on patients. AB 889 is common-sense patient-protection legislation that will limit step therapy for all medicines to no more than two steps. In addition, it will prohibit a plan from requiring a patient to go through step therapy again if the patient went through it when covered by another plan.

In this critical era of health care cost containment, AB 889 preserves step therapy as a tool for California insurers, but also keeps decisions about how best to treat patients in the hands of their doctors – a win-win for the California health care delivery system. AB 889 will also help lower the long-term costs of health care, as patients can be appropriately treated for their conditions and not be forced to try outdated medications.

California legislators must take action now to ensure that all patients can access the treatments their doctors think are best. Our constituents are frustrated with current restrictions and it’s important that decisions about how to treat patients reside with doctors, not insurance companies.

Frazier represents the 11th Assembly District of California, which includes Antioch. To contact him, visit http://asmdc.org/members/a11/

Dear Editor:

Citizens of Antioch, pat yourselves on the back….. you made the family-friendly Antioch Fourth of July Parade and Fireworks again happen and once again be a smashing success!!! With many small donations swelling the total, we raised over $60,000 to pay the tab and the crowd was huge, appreciative and respectful.

This year we conclusively proved that the 2012 model was not a fluke and that this event could be pulled off privately. In fact, the Committee was so inspired that we formed a 501c3 non-profit, Celebrate Antioch Foundation, for permanency. There is hope that we can bring back Holiday-delites and incorporate the Veterans Day Parade under this umbrella, and other events, as well.

Special thanks to Wayne Harrison for his tireless Chairmanship; to Allen Payton for handling the fireworks arrangements, signs, printing and advertising; and to Joy Motts and Martha Parson for spearheading fund-raising. Committee members Bill Cook, Sue Davis, Tim Forrester, Jessica Green, Louise Green, Carole Harrison, Connie Kumar, Earlene and Jim Lanter, Frank Rundall, Alma Townsend, Jeff Warrenburg and Velma Wilson all played key roles.

Sponsoring the fireworks were Supervisor Federal Glover and NRG Energy; the Parade, Sharon Beswick and the Beswick Family Fund; and overall logistical support, the City of Antioch.

Platinum sponsors were Macy’s, Allied Waste, Arts & Cultural Foundation of Antioch, Kiwanis Club of the Delta-Antioch and the Antioch Herald.

Gold sponsors were the Contra Costa County Building & Construction Trades Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #312, Mike’s Auto Body, VFW Post #6435 and the Leo Fontana Family.

Silver sponsors were the Gloria Martin Family, Strategic Threat Management, Antioch Education Association, Antioch Rotary Club, Monthly Grapevine, Brentwood Press, Tony Keslinke Family, Christ Embassy East Bay church, Pegnim & Ivancich, LLP, Delta RC, Rivertown Screenprinting, Paradise Skate, Sno Shack, Martha & Joe Goralka and the New Beer Garden.

Bronze sponsors were Pinky’s Klassy Car Wash, Antioch Woman’s Club, eTranzUSA, NAACP East County Branch, Rick’s on Second, Delta Advocacy Foundation, Rivertown Garden Club, Fidelis Advertising, Mayor Wade Harper, Mayor Pro Tem Mary Rocha, Councilman Gary & Robin Agopian, Councilwoman Monica Wilson and Councilman Tony Tiscareno.

Gratitude to all. Perhaps we’ll see you on our Facebook page or on www.AntiochJuly4th.com and see you for sure at America’s 2014 birthday bash.

Walter Ruehlig, Member

Antioch July 4^th Celebration Committee