Brentwood Press 07.11.14

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YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Vol. 16, No. 28

Trainer's quick action saves life by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer

Brentwood resident Sergio Chavez may owe his life to ills friend Celena Barber. Chavez's lung collapsed for unknown reasons outside Fitness Evolu tion in Brentwood on June 17. As his chest cavity was fi lli ng wit h fluid , t he uni nsured 20-yea r-old sat hunched over the steering wheel of his mother's car, st ruggling to breathe a nd using his cell phone to look up his symptoms. Tha t's when Ba rber, a personal trainer at the gym, was alerted to the situation and her ta ke-cha rge a ttitude kicked in. With his mother nowhere to be found a nd his reluctance to call for help o r go to the hospital because of his uninsured status,

Barber left his mother's car keys at the gym, transferred him to her car and left no word as to where they were headed. " He d idn't want to go (to the hospital), but I looked him in the eye a nd told him ' this is really serious. N o is not a n option,"' Barber said . " He's known me lo ng enough to know if something needs to be taken care of, I take cha rge." By the time Barber a rrived at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch about I 0 minutes later, Chavez was still struggli ng to breathe a nd complaining of numb ha nds a nd pa ralysis on his right side. Barber assisted C havez into the emergency room before d octors stabi lized him and di scovsee Trainer page 26A

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A salute to agriculture

The Brentwood Harvest Time Festival makes its debut at City Park this weekend. Page 18

Taking a bite out of cancer Brentwood res ident Sergio Chavez recent ly su rvived a co llapsed lung after h is Fitness Evolution personal t rainer Celena Ba rber persu aded him t o seek h elp and t h en drove him t o t h e hospital.

Press awards Firefighters working overtime The Brentwood Press & P ublisillng Corporation won five awards in the National Newspaper Association's recent 2014 Better Newspapers Competition. Associate Editor Sanlie Hartley won tillrd place in the Best Humor Column category for her Simple & Sassy column "A reflection in selfies." To read her column, visit www.thepress.net/features/columns/samie_ha rtley. Anne Ray a nd Sharon Finerty won first place fo r Best Use of Ad Color in their G ot A Party Brentwood Pumpkinfest advertisement. Lonnie de Lambert and Michele Chatburn collected second place for Best Single Ad Idea for The Little Gym D ate N ight advertisement, a nd Ray a nd Rebecca Porterfield took third place in the Best U se of Ad Color for the Sunshine H ouse ad, willch was described as "absolutely adorable" by NNAjudges. Carol Laird and Connie O'Neill once again received a n hono rable mention for Best C lassified Section, which you ca n check o ut on Page II B.

July 11,2014

by Kyle Szymanski Staff W riter

East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) firefighters a re working a n average of three extra shifts a month to make up for vacancies within the department, Fire Ch ief H ugh Henderson told the district board during its meeting M onday night. The depa rtment has I 0 vaca ncies, requiri ng each of the district's 35 fire suppression personnel to work a n ave rage of 72 extra hours a month at a cost of $85,000 to the district per month. However, with the dist rict expected to vote on Aug. 4 whether or not to proceed with a n atte mpt to create a voter-a pproved benefit assessment district, Henderson suggested the district continue filli ng the vacancies with employees working overtime as opposed to closing a station, which would alleviate nine of the I 0 vaca ncies. " The best service that we ca n provide for our community in this ho t, dry summer that we a re having, a nd to maintain our coverage, is to maintain our staffing level," Henderson said .

Furthering the challenges a head, if the boa rd proceed s with the attempt for a benefit assessment a nd voters approve it d uring a mail-in election that ends in October, it could take up to five months for additional fi refighters to hit the streets due to the lengthy hiring and training process, Henderson said. In all, the district nlight need firefighters to work overtime for the next 10 months to maintain current service levels. The revelation p rompted boa rd d irector Joe Young to ask Henderson fo r a report outlining methodology of closing stations. Director Greg Cooper suggested the board vote on closing a station next month. " We a re in this perfect storm where for years this district has struggled," Cooper said. " We've had layoffs; we've had the SAF ER (S taffing for Adequ ate F ire and Emergency Response) gra nt kick in. There has never been a ny solid foundation to the district. Now all of a sudden, as we get closer to tills decision, we have all these openings and people are being forced to work a lot more. I think it's all conling together at the sa me time a nd having a n impact on the see Overtim e page 26A

American Cancer Society f undra iser Bark For Life ret urns t o The Streets. Page 7A

Motocross mini master

Jacob Jones is making a name for himself in the racing world, and he's only 8. Page 17A

Calendar .. ..... ...... ...... ..... .... 15B Classifieds .... ........... ..... ..... 11 B Comics ..... ...................... ..... .. 9B Cop Logs .. .. ........ .. .... .......... 14B Classifieds .... .. .... .... .... .. ..... 11 B East County Living .. .. .... .. . 1B Health & Beauty .... .... .... .. .. 8B Milestones ........ .. ....... .. .... .. . 7B Opinion .... .. ........ ......... ....... 18A Sports .. .. .. ...... ........... ..... ..... 19A

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