YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 7, No. 8
Including Surrounding Communities
CSD criticized for violation of Brown Act by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer The CSD’s legal counsel has publicly apologized – twice – that a sub-committee formed at his request to discuss the Municipal Advisory Council formalization violated the state’s open-meeting laws by convening without public notice, and the issue continues to provoke reactions from residents on both sides of the issue. Attorney John Stovall reported at the Jan. 20 meeting of the CSD that a board subcommittee formed to provide input to the county on the MAC restructuring issue violated the Brown Act by the presence of three staff members from the CSD. The three members – Stovall, General Manager Virgil
Koehne and Director David Piepho (who participated by telephone) – comprised a quorum, and therefore under the Brown Act, the meeting should have been publicly posted and agendized. “I made a mistake and I sincerely apologize,” said Stovall at the Jan. 20 meeting. “But I want to stress that no actions were taken.” Stovall did not return calls this week. But Discovery Bay residents such as Don Flint consider Stovall’s apology disingenuous. “I am not at all satisfied with the admission from Mr. Stovall,” said Flint. “An apology doesn’t deserve any credit if it’s not the whole truth. This was, in my opinion, a
www.discoverybaypress.com
Break in the rain
Staff Writer A proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fold the California Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW) into the Department of Parks and Recreation is designed to slash $600,000 from the foundering state budget. But some members of the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol believe that the elimination of the designated return-to-source dollars is a recipe for disaster. “We are the only line between the water and public safety,” said Lt. Will Duke of the Marine Services Unit. “It’s frustrating to know that money that should come back for public safety is being (potentially) transferred to projects such as beach restoration. Yes, that is important, but not at the expense of public safety.” The Marine Patrol is funded in part by annual proceeds from the statewide boater gas tax; a
THIS WEEK
Local history comes alive
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Photo by Richard Wisdom
fter several days of much-needed precipitation, forecasters were expecting a brief lull in the rainfall late this week before a return to soggy skies. An earlier hiatus in the storms provided photographer Richard Wisdom a chance to record this rainbow, which appeared briefly over Discovery Bay on Monday.
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see Brown Act page 21A
“ What that would mean is an increased danger to boaters’ property and safety by having boats lying around.
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Sheriff Lt. Will Duke designated return-to-source revenue which is held by the DBW. Duke believes that if the DBW is absorbed into the Department of Parks and Recreation, the gas tax may well evaporate, and ultimately hamper the ability of organizations such as the Marine Patrol to do their jobs. “We are already under-funded from the BTW for just running the marine patrol,” said Duke. “We’re at minimum staffing, and as you know, the county is expecting further cuts. The big question is what the impact of a the proposal would ultimately be.” But the role of the Marine Patrol is not all about fix-it tickets and drunk-boating citations. A
February 20, 2009
A museum that packs a punch for fans of the past is ramping up for its season opener.
Budget cuts could sink Marine Patrol by Ruth Roberts
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lesser-known component of the division includes the removal of derelict boats. According to Duke, since 1997 the Marine Patrol has removed more than 300 derelict and abandoned boats throughout the county. Unlike the roadways, where abandoned cars are eventually towed away and sold for scrap, boats are left to lie on the bottom of the Delta, because there is no financial value to a vessel. It costs money to pull up a boat and haul it away – dollars that come from the boater gas tax. So imagine, said Duke, what the 1,000 miles of inland Delta waterways would look like if those vessels had not been removed. “It would look like ‘Pirates of
the Caribbean’ – without Johnny Depp,” he said. “What that would mean is an increased danger to boaters’ property and safety by having boats lying around … As a taxpayer, if I’m paying additional taxes for that activity, I think it should come back to the source in order to protect the public.” And because there is no telling how much of a hit the Marine Patrol could take if the budget proposal passes, the Marine Patrol is taking a wait-and-see approach as they continue to lobby for safety on the water. The Marine Patrol currently covers 240 miles of coastway with two full-time officers on one boat. Duke said the Patrol deploys to the areas with the most activity –typically Discovery Bay and Bethel Island. At the moment, the proposal remains just that – a proposal – and must be approved by the state legislature. see Patrol page 21A
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Hatred takes no holidays A local mom discovers that the election of an African-American president doesn’t mean the era of racism is over.
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Lions clip Falcon talons
The Liberty soccer squad was in a giving mood and presented Freedom with a big goose egg.
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