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YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 13, No. 27
Volta goes to head of class
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July 8, 2011
Wet year at Yosemite
by Samie Hartley Staff Writer Although 25 applicants competed to fill the position of superintendent of the Liberty Union High School District, the governing board didn’t need to look far to find a replacement for outgoing Jerry Glenn. In a special meeting last week, the LUHSD Board unanimously appointed Eric Volta as superintendent. Volta has been with the district for 11 years, beginning his LUHSD career as an assistant principal at Freedom High School before spending seven years as principal. He moved to a district position as assistant superintendent of human resources in 2009. “When the opportunity for an increase in responsibility becomes available, I always jump at the chance,” Volta said. “I’m looking forward to serving the district in a greater capacity and taking on new
The winter melt of 2010-11 has made California’s scenic shrine more jaw-dropping than ever. Page 6A
From Boston to Broadway
VOLTA challenges.” According to Director Daron Spears, the process for selecting a new superintendent was competitive, but Volta was the clear leader of the group. “Eric is very bright and has a clear understanding of the district,” Spears wrote in an e-mail to the Press. “His previous experiences
A Liberty High stage star earned a scholarship that she plans to convert to a career in the Big Apple. Page 9A olleen Masadas of Oakley enjoys a bite of roasted sweet corn at last year’s Brentwood CornFest. The corn – plus lots of music, games, vendors, fancy cars, kids’ activities and the world’s tallest, moveable Ferris wheel – returns to Brentwood for three days starting Friday. Find out about all things corn and CornFest in the East County Living section beginning on Page 1B.
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In it for the long haul
see Volta page 26A
Redistricting process moves ahead by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (BoS) will head back to the bargaining table next week to review – and possibly approve – a new supervisorial redistricting map for the county. Every 10 years as dictated by the federal census, electoral districts are required to redraw their boundaries to accommodate changes and/or growth in population. Following a series of community workshops and public comment periods, the BoS pared down its choices on June 28 (each supervisor originally submitted a version of the redistricting map) to include
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“ The number-one thing we’ve been hearing is that people want to keep the cities whole.
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District 3 Supervisor Mary Piepho three possibilities. County staff was instructed to bring those three maps back to the board on July 12 with the requested revisions, amendments and modifications. “This is my first time doing this,” said Patrick Roche, Contra Costa County project planner. “And it’s definitely challenging because there are, as you can imagine, many ways to draw a map. But we’re working on it and we fully appreciate how important this is
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for the board. It’s coming along.” Of the 13 original concepts and proposals, the supervisors agreed to further consider options six, nine and 12. Concept six is a hybrid of District 1 Supervisor John Goia’s original map proposal, and meets the BoS guidelines, including maintaining each district’s population within 5 percent of the others and avoiding splitting communities and cities where possible. Concept
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six would give Goia the incorporated cities of El Cerrito, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo and its surrounding unincorporated areas as well. Map nine was first proposed by District 2 Supervisor Gayle Uilkema and modified by District 3 Supervisor Mary Piepho. “The number-one thing we’ve been hearing is that people want to keep the cities whole,” said Piepho. “And I think that is very important. This proposal (with some amendments) does that. It would essentially shrink my district and put all of Walnut Creek in District 2 and leave Alamo and San Ra-
A local couple’s odyssey in mere weight loss has culminated in a lifestyle of fitness. Page 21A Business ............................. 11B Calendar ............................ 19B Classifieds ......................... 13B Cop Logs ............................19A East County Life ................ 1B Entertainment ................... 2B Food ...................................... 8B Health & Beauty ................ 7B Opinion ..............................18A Outdoors ............................. 6A Sports .................................21A ravemotionpictures Brentwood 14 +
see Redistricting page 26A
We R Grateful
go to news/press releases An arts and crafts studio is joining a campaign to boost the morale of our troops.
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FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A
Flashy bash
go to multimedia/videos Oakley marked its 12th birthday with a barrage of colorful kabooms.