YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 36
Including Nearby Communities
www.thepress.net
Homefront bolstered
The upcoming Freedom Walk will provide an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of 9/11.
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Photo by Gary Augustino/ In-Flight Camera
Garrido gave tip to thwart kidnappers Staff Writer
Prior to being arrested on charges that he kidnapped Jaycee Dugard, held her captive in a seedy backyard compound in East Contra Costa and fathered two children by raping her, Phillip Garrido offered a local child-safety advocate some advice on how to keep children safe from kidnappers. Janice Gomes is an Oakley resident whose National Com-
munity Empowerment Program has been teaching local kids about avoiding “stranger danger” for more than two decades. For the last 15 years, she has been a printing customer of Garrido, whose delivery of one particular job about five years ago is now a chilling memory. “He did some flyers for us, a fact list on how to keep kids safe from kidnappers,” Gomes said this morning. “He said, ‘You know, you’re missing something
here. One thing parents do wrong is they let their kids walk to the bus stop alone. They shouldn’t.’” Garrido allegedly snatched Dugard from a South Lake Tahoe street in 1991 while she was waiting for the school bus. Getting ideas from people she encounters isn’t unusual, Gomes said, adding that Garrido’s suggestion for the tip sheet was “a good idea. I didn’t know he was talking from first-hand experience.”
Gomes said she had visited Garrido’s house on business several times over the years, but she “never saw anyone” other than Garrido: “Nothing was ever out of place inside the home.” The furniture was old fashioned, she said, consistent with the fact that it was actually Garrido’s mother’s house. Still, said Gomes, some things were notably absent: “I did noticed that there were no family pictures, no see Advice page 22A
Rolling up the sleeves, cleaning up the creek The annual Marsh Creek Cleanup Day will take place Saturday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon at seven locations along Marsh Creek and its tributaries, where volunteers will clean trash and debris from nearly 15 miles of creek. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed (FOMCW) conducts this event in partnership with the cities of Oakley and Brentwood, the East Bay Regional Park District and the California Coastal Commission. Cleanup organizers look to build on the success of last year’s event, when more than 600 volunteers turned out to remove approximately 8,500 pounds of debris from the creek– the largest cleanup ever. More than 1,000 pounds of trash was recycled. “This is an event that
September 4, 2009
THIS WEEK
Phillip Garrido is facing 29 felony counts for allegedly kidnapping Jaycee Dugard 18 years ago and holding her in a backyard complex at his East County property, above.
by Rick Lemyre
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promotes community service while helping create an interest in the local watershed,” said Diane Burgis, coordinator of Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. “Folks see what gets into the creek from the storm drains, and cleaning up the creek helps motivate people to keep the creek from getting dirty again. This is an event that you see whole families doing together – it’s a real feel-good event!” Marsh Creek Cleanup is a part of the California Coastal Commission’s California Coastal Cleanup Day that also boasted its biggest cleanup last year, when more than 63,000 volunteers cleaned up just under a million pounds of debris from creeks, rivers and lakes throughsee Creek page 22A
A whoosh on the water
A local water ski racer wouldn’t let a little thing like a broken leg stand in the way of a world championship.
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Lowdown on spiffing up See where the next Neighborhood Cleanup event will be enhancing Antioch’s environs.
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INSIDE Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................15B Cop Logs ..........................18A Entertainment ................10B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty ............... 6B Milestones ......................... 9B Opinion ...........................17A Sports ................................. 1B Talk About Town ..............5A WebExtras! ....................... 1B Press file photo
A volunteer adds trash to a growing stack of debris collected during last year’s Marsh Creek Cleanup. This year’s event is scheduled for Sept. 19.
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A