YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 21, No. 32
READ BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.THEPRESS.NET
August 9, 2019
Football Fire forces evacuations, closures BVAL Kicks Off A fast-moving, wind-driven vegetation fire on Sellers Avenue in unincorporated Oakley burned 58 acres, destroyed two outbuildings and left 5,600 customers without electricity (due to a precautionary power shutdown) in the area of Sellers Avenue and Delta Road, Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 7, according to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD). An estimated 50 homes in the area of Crismore Drive, Delta Road and Sellers Avenue were evacuated around 12:45 p.m., but additional evacuations were not expected as of press time, said ECCFPD Fire Marshal Steve Aubert. “We are still at zero containment,” Aubert said Wednesday afternoon around 2 p.m. “We still have active fire that is burning. Obviously we have a couple of the areas knocked down, but we are nowhere near close to be see Fire page 22A
Meet this season’s teams and players inside the pages of this week’s special edition. Page 1B
Meet The Principal
Photo by Tony Kukulich
A vegetation fire on Sellers Avenue in unincorporated Oakley burned 58 acres and prompted mandatory evacuations in the area Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 7.
Neighborhood library fosters community by Deanna Gordon Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Adam Martinez
Catherine Morgan and Adam Martinez pose with her Little Free Library.
When Catherine Morgan moved to Brentwood two years ago, she thought the city needed more accessible books. At the time, the Brentwood Library was under construction for its expansion, and the only bookstore she could find was Barnes & Noble in Antioch, so she set out to find her own way to bring in more books. Morgan learned about the Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization that encourages book swapping among neighbors. The concept is “take a book; share a book,” just like a library, but with no registration or due dates. Little Free Libraries exist in neighborhoods across the U.S. in standalone cases or boxes that hold books — often on street corners, or in parks or front yards. Anyone can set up a Little Free Library and personalize it to their liking, and with the help of the or-
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ganization, they can register it on the official website and add it to a map where readers can find it. Morgan discovered three Little Free Libraries already existed in Brentwood, but she still wanted to add her own. “Keeping books out of landfills is so important,” Morgan said. “I love the idea of borrowing and reusing, and having these book exchanges would make people go outdoors. Maybe they would see (them) as they’re riding along the creek trails or playing along the park.” Morgan is the president of her homeowners association at Sparrow Park in Brentwood, and after reaching out to her neighbors to get their ideas, many of them were on board and wanted to get involved, too. “I had the idea that this could be like our neighborhood water cooler or coffee pot —
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see Library page 22A
Goodguys Show www.thepress.net/news/webextras
Goodguys West Coast Nationals car show coming to Pleasanton Fairgrounds.
La Paloma High School’s principal, Chris Holland, talks with The Press. Page 6A
Feeding The Need For Speed
Local residents travel the world looking to break motorcycle land speed records. Page 15A Calendar.............................23A Classifieds..........................18A Cop Logs.............................21A Entertainment.................... 9A Food....................................... 8A Milestones.........................12A Opinion...............................14A Adopt A Pet......................... 6A Sports..................................15A
Census Helper
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Contra Costa County is looking for coordinator for upcoming census.