Discovery Bay Press_11.6.09

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YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa

Vol. 7, No. 45

Including Surrounding Communities

School trustee resigns post

www.thepress.net

Vasco re-opened

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November 6, 2009

THIS WEEK

Heartening Homecoming

by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer Lisa Hultz, longtime trustee of the Byron Union School District Board, has resigned from her position effective immediately. Hultz notified County Superintendent Joseph Ovick on Oct. 23, citing personal reasons for her resignation. She has served on the school board since 2004. “It is with a heavy heart that I do this, but it is not in the best interest of the district for me to stay right now,” said Hultz. “And because of personal and family reasons, I have to do this.” Byron Union School Superintendent Eric Prater praised Hultz for her years of hard work and dedication to the district and its students. “Lisa has diligently served as a board trustee and will be missed,” he said. “I’ve appreciated her willingness to support school-wide programs for students and her desire to move our district to the next level. Unfortunately life circumstances will not allow her to continue.” see Resignation page 13A

She returned from double lung transplant surgery to find that the community had given her house a meticulous makeover.

Page 3A Photo by Richard Wisdom

asco Road reopened in both directions this week following a three-day closure for the completion of the Vasco Road Safety Project. The project included the construction of a new and realigned roadway segment, and the reconnection of the new roadway with the existing roadway at the northern and southern ends.

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Staff Writer With less than two weeks to go before the close of public comment on the 2-Gates Fish Protection Demonstration Project, members of a newly formed Discovery Bay coalition are working to extend that comment period on the proposed project that many feel would cause irreparable damage to the Delta and forever alter the recreational lifestyle and property values of the waterfront community. The San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation (SFBDF) was formed 10 days ago following a public forum hosted by the Bureau of Reclamation. The public meeting was designed to solicit input from the community on the project, but left many residents with more questions than answers. “The takeaway (from the meeting) was that we don’t know what the effects of 2-Gates will be, but they range from not good to devastating,” said Mike Guzzardo, SFBDF publicity chairman. “We feel that they (Bureau of Reclamation, one of the project’s collaborators) are making assumptions on work they have not done. We are concerned that they have not done an EIR (Environmental Impact Report) on the southern Delta and specifically Discovery Bay.” The 2-Gates project is a five-year experimental program designed to save the Delta smelt by rerouting them away from the water

Talk About Town gives you our insider’s take on Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor’s “poultry in motion” campaign to provide turkeys to those in need.

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Group vows to fight 2-Gates project by Ruth Roberts

Rumor has it

“ No matter what our differences are (as a community), we are all coming to this as a united front. I’m fired up to see people so excited about this.

Karen Mann 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 would implement the installation of 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 the year for as much as 10 hours per day, depending on flood tides. Fearful that the project would pass without appropriate public input and research, Guzzardo, along with residents including SFBDF Chair Dave Dove and Vice Chair Karen Mann, created the organization and immediately began soliciting support. In the past 10 days the SFBDF has held two meetings (both at the Discovery Bay Yacht

Club) that were attended by more than 100 residents, and has raised $7,000 in donations for the soon-to-be nonprofit organization’s operating expenses. “What does that tell you?” asked Mann. “It says that our small community is standing up and saying ‘whoa, wait a minute.’ No matter what our differences are (as a community), we are all coming to this as a united front. I’m fired up to see people so excited about this. We are going to make sure our hamlet is protected.” Dove said the immediate focus of the group is to slow down the process and elicit as much community support as possible. “Right now we just want to extend the public comment period so they (Bureau of Reclamation) can do an EIR of Discovery Bay and surrounding areas,” said Dove, who hand delivered more than 400 public comment cards to the Bureau of Reclamation in Sacramento this week. “We feel this project will have a very detrimental effect on the Delta.” Pete Lucero, public affairs officer for the Bureau of Reclamation, says that federal agencies such as the bureau do not conduct environmental impact reports but rather environmental impact studies (EIS), of which the currently completed environmental assessment is the first step. Should an EIS be necessary, it would be conducted after the close of the public see 2-Gates page 13A

Battle lost, war won

A co-championship is still a championship, and Liberty’s water polo team would rather share a trophy than not claim one at all.

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INSIDE Business .............................6A Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................16B Entertainment ................10B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty ............... 9B Opinion ...........................16A Sports ................................. 1B Talk About Town ..............5A WebExtras! ....................... 1B

FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A


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