YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 38
Including Surrounding Communities
www.thepress.net
Oakley to expand youth programs by Samie Hartley Staff Writer
The Oakley City Council unanimously approved a Youth Master Plan and Oakley Youth Empowerment Program in order to get more of the city’s youngest citizens involved in the community. Recreation Supervisor Lindsey Bruno, who presented the master plan to the council last week, said that while the city’s current programs have led to many success stories for local youth, more needs to be done to help them feel connected with their community. Based on a survey conducted last year, Oakley students in sixth through 12th grade don’t feel “valued by adults in their community,” and would like the city to offer more youth-friendly programs. According to the survey, Oakley teens leave town an average of three times a month to seek recreational activities in a different city. While programs are in place, the problem is getting the word out about local events, so Bruno proposed the creation of an Oakley Teen Web site, where information about events could be posted as well as videos and other interactive media tools such as message boards and blogs. Councilman Kevin Romick supported the digital strategy, but recommended a more contemporary approach, utilizing the Internet’s most popular Web sites to promote lo-
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September 18, 2009
THIS WEEK
How low can you go?
A crook copped a charity donation jar, but the community refused to let him have the last word.
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Photo courtesy of Lindsey Bruno
Oakley youth who participated in community service projects over the summer were treated to a trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The Oakley City Council recently approved a master plan to get more young adults involved in the community. cal events rather than creating a new site. “Web sites tend to be rather static, and unless you’re going to come in every day and update things, it’s hard to keep people excited about the site,” Romick said. “Maybe instead of a Web site, we can use Facebook
or Twitter to actively message people with updates to let them know what we’re doing now. That might be a better way to reach the young adults in our community and get them
Improved proficiency Recently released API scores confirm that Oakley schools are getting it right.
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Great walls of water
see Youth page 18A
Delta advocates hail water bill impasse by Dave Roberts Staff Writer Local Delta advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after a package of state water bills that they consider all wet were bottled up in Sacramento last week when legislators failed to reach agreement on their passage. The water legislation included support for a water conveyance system such as the proposed peripheral canal that would take fresh water from the Sacramento River near Sacramento and directly convey it south, bypassing much of the Delta. Local advocates are concerned that the canal would decrease local water quality, including adding more salinity, resulting in a further decline in the fish population. A 14-member conference committee that included only one legislator representing the Delta (Sen. Darrell Steinberg) failed to reach agreement on the water bills before adjourning its latest session Saturday morning. “We won the battle for now, but the war will still rage on,” said Oakley Councilman Bruce Connelley, who has been an East County leader in the lobbying effort to save
“ I think the failure to pass the (water) bills is definitely a victory for us that have been trying to preserve the ecology of the Delta. This is probably the first round (of what) will probably be a long fight.
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Jim Cox, California Striped Bass Association the Delta, including the recent Million Boat Float from Antioch to Sacramento. “This isn’t going to be the end of it. (They) are still working hard and heavy and still fully intend to destroy the Delta and put the peripheral canal in. “I don’t see how any logical person can think that will get more water. By putting in a canal, that will actually get less. But I guess it’s money that’s talking. There hasn’t been a proper legislative process whatsoever.”
Roger Mammon, an Oakley resident and board member of the advocacy organization Restore the Delta, credits the lobbying efforts by sport fishing groups, recreational boaters, conservation and environmental organizations, commercial fishing businesses and Delta farmers for helping head off the peripheral canal legislation for now. “I was with a group of us that lobbied in all of the legislative offices on Friday,” said Mammon. “We didn’t get to talk to any of the legislators because they were all on the floor; we talked to the staff members. The feeling was that their legislator wasn’t going to vote for anything that they didn’t understand. There were too many things that weren’t adding up on the bills. They withdrew it from the floor because it was obvious to Senator Steinberg and (Assembly Speaker Karen) Bass that they didn’t have the votes to pass.” Connelley believes the opposition to the water bills by representatives from the five counties bordering the Delta also contributed to the legislative impasse. “It’s pretty hard to vote against five counties that are in the heart see Delta page 18A
Diablo Shores erupted in shimmering sheets as world-class skiers converged on East County for a recent pro-am.
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INSIDE Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................14A Entertainment ................10B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty ............... 8B Milestones ......................... 7B Opinion ...........................13A Sports ................................. 1B Talk About Town ..............5A WebExtras! ....................... 1B
FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A