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YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 12, No. 8
Maiocco takes down his shingle by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer Dr. Hugh Maiocco sits in a comfortable leather chair chatting with a visitor in his Brentwood living room, his broad, ever-present smile accessorized by his sparkling eyes. Outside the picture window to his right, green grass and flowerbeds are bordered by a phalanx of tall trees ringing the property and serving as a visual barrier between his home’s rural setting and rapidly encroaching suburbia. But the shift from neighboring farm fields to next-door dwellings isn’t the only change taking place in the Maiocco household. After more than a half-century of practicing medicine in East County, helping health care make the transition from house calls to hospitals, Maiocco has finally hung up his stethoscope. “I didn’t want to retire, but the computer shot my legs out from under me,” said the 83-year-old Maiocco. His unique method of
Photo by Rick Lemyre
Hugh Maiocco stands by one of the paintings once shown in a San Francisco Art Festival show. The pioneer East County physician retired last month after more than a half-century of practice. keeping hand-written records had served him well, but he admits it was simply “no longer appropriate for the times.” But while bits and bytes might have been his downfall, they stand as perhaps the only thing he failed to master. Described as a “Renais-
sance man” by one of his dearest friends, the late Bill Bristow, Maiocco the athlete won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in track at the 1952 Pan American Olympics. As an artist, his paintings earned him an exhibit at the San Francisco Art Festival. As a psychologist, he was
schooled at New York’s Bellevue School of Medicine, and as a philosopher he spent a week at a Buddhist monastery in Shasta. During World War II, he took a month off of work to teach himself electronics and passed the Navy’s Radar program entrance exam with flying colors. He even owns a patent for a simplified system of music that eliminates the half-step progression represented by the black keys on a piano. Maiocco says his lifelong yearning to learn stems from wandering away from his New York home and getting thoroughly lost at the age of 6. Rather than panic, he carefully reviewed his surroundings and how he had gotten there, and eventually made his way back. “It turned out that finding my way home that day was a seminal life-changing experience because it taught me a fundamental lesson about the nature of knowledge acquisition,” Maiocco wrote in a see Maiocco page 18A
Red flag raised over school officials’ pay by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer
Photo by Ruth Roberts
Teachers and parents are protesting the recent raises approved by the Brentwood Union School District board for three of the district’s top employees during a budget year that will include $1.9 million in program reductions and teacher layoffs.
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As the Brentwood Union School District (BUSD) continues to grapple with $1.9 million in cuts for the coming school year, teachers and parents are outraged over the school board’s recent decision to slash classroom programs and lay off dozens of educators while simultaneously approving pay increases for three of the district’s highest paid employees. The BUSD School Board unanimously agreed at its Feb. 10 meeting to a 3-percent salary increase for Chief Business Official Scott Anderson and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Margaret Kruse, along with a 2-percent raise for BUSD Superintendent Merrill Grant. Along with the salary increases, the board also voted to increase class sizes for grades K-3 (to the low 20s), eliminate the
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computer program for fourth- and fifth-grade students, and serve pink slips on 22 full-time teachers. The pay increases – coming at a time when neighboring school district superintendents and administrative staff are taking voluntary reductions as a show of solidarity – are, said one Brentwood parent, “Unconscionable.” “What we are expecting our children to accept, what we are asking our teachers to accept, is unconscionable,” said Laura Phillips. “I wonder if there is a way to have these folks revisit this (budget and raises) decision. I’m a parent, and I’m very, very concerned … what I heard about the meeting was shocking.” One teacher who attended the board meeting, but requested anonymity because of fear of retribution, said the board members
Open house
go to news/WebExtras! Students and parents sampled a buffet of career and college choices.
see Pay page 18A
Weekly briefing go to news/press releases
New statistics give an inside look at the state of housing in East County.
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February 19, 2010
This Week Grimm consequences
A new stage production offers a realistic take on traditional fairy tale scenarios. Page 10A
Bridging the seismic gap
An upcoming retrofit should keep traffic on the Antioch span above water. Page 3A
No doubt about it
A convincing payback victory made the Lions’ league crown fit more comfortably. Page 1B
Plus: Calendar ............................ 23B Classifieds ......................... 16B Cop Logs ............................14A Entertainment ................. 12B Health & Beauty .............. 10B Milestones ........................18A Opinion ..............................13A Sports ................................... 1B
Ban on packin’ go to multimedia/videos
Some shops are prohibiting the open carrying of sidearms on premises.