YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 50
Including Nearby Communities
www.thepress.net
Cop oversight Holiday hills proposal gains scant traction
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December 11, 2009
THIS WEEK
Guidelines for gifting
by Dave Roberts Staff Writer A proposal to form a civilian board to provide oversight of the police department and help select a new police chief appears all but dead after numerous residents spoke against it at Tuesday’s City Council meeting and council members declined to comment due to litigation against the police and the city. Of the dozen people who spoke against the oversight board, the most powerful and poignant comments came from Phyllis Lasater Loya, mother of Larry Lasater, the 35-year-old Pittsburg police officer gunned down in Antioch in April of 2005 while attempting to apprehend two Antioch robbers. “My son’s blood was sacrificed to preserve the safety of this community, of the community of Pittsburg,” she told the council. “I am begging you to not to let his sacrifice be in vain by hamstringing the police department by forming this proposed civilian police board. “Before coming here today I did some research on the ACLU Community Action Manual. ‘Item 4 – Con-
Hoping to wrap up your holiday shopping swiftly and smoothly? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide.
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Photo by Richard Wisdom
ast County awoke to a vision of winter Monday as snow blanketed Mt. Diablo and dusted its foothills lower and earlier than it has in years, giving photographer Richard Wisdom a chance to capture the rare spectacle of the mountain clad in white, top to bottom. We’re pretty sure a lot of snow shots are swirling out there, and we’d love to post them on our Web site. To upload yours, visit www.thepress.net/ pages/submit_article.
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see Board page 30A
Town hall interrogators grill Garamendi by Dave Roberts Staff Writer Congressman John Garamendi held his first town hall meeting in Antioch on Saturday, a month after being elected to serve out the remaining year of Ellen Tauscher’s 10th Congressional District term, and found himself on the firing line. Hostile, skeptical East County residents peppered him with questions about runaway deficit spending in Washington, D.C., coercive health care legislation and an expensive energy plan to fight global warming, among other issues. Their verbal jabs were met with applause from many in the three-quarters-full City Council chambers. Garamendi, who supports increased federal spending and regulation, voted for the House health care bill and supports legislation to curb greenhouse gases, stood his ground throughout the two-hour meeting. He listed a variety of national woes in his introductory remarks, but said his main focus for now is helping reduce the nation’s 10-percent unemployment rate. “There are a lot of things going on in America: issues of wars,
Photo by Dave Roberts
Antioch Mayor Jim Davis, left, and Congressman John Garamendi smile during one of the lighter moments at a mostly contentious town hall meeting Saturday. the environment, what are we going to do about climate change, health care,” he said. “All of those are critically important to all of us. Also important is the issue of jobs. My immediate goal as your member of Congress is to get the economy moving long term, and short term, putting people to work.” In addition to continuing to fund the extension of unemployment insurance and the COBRA
health insurance subsidy for laid-off workers, Garamendi supports reenactment of the Great Depressionera Civilian Conservation Corps program to provide government jobs to the unemployed for public works projects. He also supports spending more on infrastructure projects such as widening Highway 4, bringing eBART to Antioch and building a ferry terminal in Antioch. Only 4
percent of the $787 billion federal stimulus passed in February went for infrastructure, yet that spending has accounted for 25 percent of the jobs created, he said. Spending $60 billion more for such projects would create more than 1.5 million jobs, he said. But Tom Young, the first resident to speak, provided a simpler, less expensive formula for reducing unemployment: “To put people to work all you need to do is cut the corporate income tax to 10 percent, shorten the permit time to get businesses going, start building nuclear plants – drill, baby, drill – and get the heck out of the way. Because America will put itself to work.” Another speaker, Richard Weaver, voiced concern about the proposed $500 billion cut to Medicare in the Democrat-sponsored health care legislation. Garamendi responded that the only thing being cut is the subsidy to insurance companies for Medicare Part D coverage. An Antioch nurse criticized the health bill for making it tougher for doctors to receive adequate compensation, an assertion that Garamendi denied. He also told Betty see Garamendi page 30A
Straw target bullseyed The Panthers’ hopes for a happy New Year got a boost at the recent Straw Hat Classic.
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Kids combat trafficking
When it’s time to help children in dire straights, these kids don’t wait for the adults to give them the green light.
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INSIDE Calendar ..........................19B Classifieds ........................12B Cop Logs ..........................13A Entertainment .................. 8B Food ................................... 9B Health & Beauty .............18A Holiday Gift Guide ........... 1B Milestones .......................10A Opinion ...........................12A Sports ...............................21A
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A