Discovery Bay Press_10.30.09

Page 1

YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa

Vol. 7, No. 44

Including Surrounding Communities

www.thepress.net

Applicants step Fog farmer up to fill vacant CSD board seats by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer

Nine Discovery Bay residents have applied to fill the two available CSD seats left vacant last month with the resignations of Treasurer Dave Dove and Director Shannon Murphy-Teixeira. The deadline for filing applications to the town offices was Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. The applicants are Dominic Carano, Brian Dawson, Roger DiFate, Don Flint, Kevin Graves, Bud Kyle, Michael McCleery, Walter MacVittie and Rose Solberg. Carano, the current Discovery Bay Property Owners Association (DBPOA) president, said if he were appointed to a CSD seat, he would step down from the DBPOA board: “I just feel that I could possibly do

more good there (on the CSD) than where I am now. I know that you’re always going to have people that hate you and people that love you, but as long as you give it your best and try, then you’ve done your job, and I’m trying to give my best to the community of Discovery Bay.” Dawson says he is interested in a seat on the CSD as a way to better serve the community. “I just want to continue to do the good work the board has been doing and that the directors want to do,” he said. “I am active in the community and I look forward to serving the community.” DiFate, a retired engineer, said he would bring no hidden agenda to the CSD board, just a willing-

Be sure to set your clocks back Saturday night and grab an extra hour of sleep. Standard time takes effect at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1.

New fire board OK’d Photo by Stacey Chance

tractor makes its way across what appears to be a field of fog near Discovery Bay just after dawn recently. Photographer Stacey Chance happened upon the scene while apparently out searching for UPick water vapor.

A

see CSD page 18A

by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer

Photo by Ruth Roberts

Roger DiFate was one of many residents who spoke out against the 2-Gates Fish Project during the Bureau of Reclamation’s public forum this week at Discovery Bay Elementary School. not the smelt, you’re interested in.” The public forum, held in the Discovery Bay Elementary School gymnasium, was the second of three informational meetings hosted by the Department of Reclamation (the other meetings were held in Fresno and Stock-

October 30, 2009

THIS WEEK

Forum on 2-Gates project gets raucous The standing-room-only crowd might have left their torches and pitchforks at home, but there was no denying the passion of the Discovery Bay residents who showed up Tuesday night to protest the controversial 2-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project. Michael Jackson of the Bureau of Reclamation chose a different analogy. “I know we are coming into the lion’s den tonight, but that’s OK. We didn’t expect to be greeted necessarily with open arms,” said Jackson, whose agency is one of the collaborators on the project. “But we’re here because we thought it was the right thing to do.” Right or not, it was a tough room to work for reclamation representatives, who grappled with more than 50 speaker cards and spontaneous chants of “No gates, no gates, no gates.” “Why don’t you just tell the truth?” shouted out one audience member. “It’s the water supply,

rs

Na t

pe

ion

ton) in an effort to gather input from the public as well as present information on the $80 million proposed operation. The 2-Gates project is a five-year experimental program designed to save the Delta smelt by rerouting them away from the water pumps on Old and Middle

rivers in Bryon. The project is a joint venture by the State Department of Water Resources, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation and the Southern California Metropolitan Water District, and plans to install gates at Old River between Holland Tract and Bacon Island, and at Connection Slough between Mandeville and Bacon Island. The automatic gates would be closed at various times of year for as much as 10 hours per day, depending upon flood tides. Many of the residents who spoke at the forum voiced their concern over how the gates might affect boating in their recreationbased community. “There are good reasons not to do this,” said David Rhoads, Discovery Bay Yacht Club commodore. “Discovery Bay is a waterfront community … We (the Discovery Bay Yacht Club) will not support this.” Local business owner David Travers said the gates project’s intermittent closures would steer see 2-Gates page 18A

Far East County will soon exert local control over its fire protection district.

Page 3A

Patriots bowl over Lions

Due to circumstances beyond Liberty’s control, the Brentwood Bowl trophy will stay on display at Heritage for yet another year.

Page 1B

INSIDE Calendar ..........................27B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................14A Entertainment ................13B Food .................................14B Health & Beauty .............10B Milestones ......................... 9B Opinion ...........................13A Sports ................................. 1B Talk About Town ..............5A WebExtras! ....................... 1B

FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Discovery Bay Press_10.30.09 by Brentwood Press & Publishing - Issuu