Holiday Shopping Guide See
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December 7, 2012
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Clayton Valley football champs in first Regional Bowl Game JAY BEDECARRÉ Clayton Pioneer
JULIE PIERCE
MAYOR’S CORNER
‘New’ mayor among other fresh faces at city hall As your new – and returning – mayor, I have the honor of writing this column for the coming year. I hope you will take an active role in the discussion and let me know if there are issues you’d like me to address. A few notes: This has been a year of transition for the City of Clayton staff. We’ve had some long-time city hall employees who have retired or will very soon: Lynn Cupit, accounting; Rita Howe, code enforcement;
See Mayor, page 6 Mike Dunn photo
THE COLD, RAIN AND WET TURF COULDN’T DAMPEN THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS last Friday evening after they defeated Rancho Cotate of Rohnert Park 35-7 to earn the Eagles their first-ever North Coast Section football championship. Kristian Mamea (44) and Luke Jalbert (24) shared the NCS pennant that will soon hang in Dan Della Gymnasium signifying the initial section title in 54 years of varsity football at Clayton Valley.
Clayton Valley Charter will be making California high school football history this Saturday night when the North Coast Section champion Eagles oppose the Oakdale Mustangs in one of five first-ever CIF State Regional Football Bowl Games. After winning the school’s first NCS football championship last Friday coach Tim Murphy’s team had little time to celebrate before beginning preparations for the Regional Bowl clash with Oakdale. The stakes are high as the winner of Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game at Lincoln High School in Stockton will be going to the CIF State Bowl game a week later in Southern California at The Home Depot Center in Carson. First-year coach Murphy saw his team reach a new pinnacle in the 54th year of varsity football at Clayton Valley when the Eagles beat previously undefeated Rancho Cotate of
It’s all about See Champs, page 15 the cookie at Pioneer’s 9th Pearl Harbor survivor remembers morning of infamy annual contest JOHN JACKSON Clayton Pioneer
During the holiday season, it doesn’t get much more Norman Rockwell than the Clayton Pioneer’s Annual Christmas Cookie Contest set for December 13, 6:30 p.m. at the Clayton Library. For weeks before the contest, families pore over cookbooks and old family recipes looking for that sure winner, and the Pioneer is lining up the judges. On contest night, while the judging panel is getting its final instructions from the Pioneer’s Food for Thought columnist Linda Wyner, the cookies begin arriving – one plate for the contest and one for the sharing table. As the judges set about their work, the party begins with live music and caroling by popular Clayton trio Vintage and a visit from Santa. The suspense builds as the See Cookie
The morning of December 7, 1941, began like any other on the base of Pearl Harbor for Navy Third Class Petty Officer John Tait. Then something happened on that calm Sunday morning that altered the course of American history and made Tait, now a Concord resident, witness to what then-President Franklin Roosevelt described as “a date that will live in infamy.” After waking early in his cabin aboard the USS St. Louis, Tait enjoyed what he describes as the “best breakfast of the week.” The first thought on Tait’s mind that day was getting to shore. It was a Sunday, a day
for him to relax a bit and prepare for the week ahead. These plans, however, would quickly be cut short. “I probably got up to the bunkroom about 7:45 a.m., and was I wondering, should I go to shore today or not,” says Tait. “Then we heard CLANG, CLANG, CLANG and the Boss of the deck passed the word, ‘General quarters, all hands man your battle stations: we are under attack!” Tait rushed to his station, which was on the ship’s second deck, far to the front. He was stationed there for the entirety of the attack. MEMORABLE FIRST WEEK In the first week of December, 1940, John Tait boarded the
USS St. Louis, as a 20-year-old kid fresh out of boot camp in Long Beach, California. Six days later, he was in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. Soldiers spent much of their time “practicing” for war. To rehearse for air attacks, planes would fly pulling “sleeves” while the ships shot rounds of artillery at them. “Sometimes they’d get kind of close to the airplane,” he says wryly. Tait himself was a ship fitter. He was busy on his ship with metalwork of all kinds, including welding, burning and repairs related to steel fabrication and assembly. His job became increasingly valuable after the December 7 attack.
See Survivor, page 6
JOHN TAIT DOESN’T HAVE TO RELY ON OLD NEWSPAPER HEADLINES to remember December 7, 1941. Tait’s ship, the USS St. Louis, was the first to escape when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The ship spent the weeks after the attack escorting injured soldiers and their families safely back to the Port of San Francisco.
Fire District plans to close Station 11 in January TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Contest, page 2 CLAYTON
WILL HAVE TO RELY
on two Concord stations for fire services if supes approve closure plan.
What’s Inside Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Club News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Cookie Contest Entry Form . .2 Community Calendar . . . . . .13
Directory of Advertisers . . . . .5 DVMS Reporter . . . . . . . . . . .9 Earthtalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Estate Planning . . . . . . . . . . .9 Food for Thought . . . . . . . . .17
Clayton’s fire station will close in early January as part of a cost cutting plan proposed by the Contra Costa Fire Protection District. Station 11 landed on the list of planned closures after a temporary parcel tax on the November ballot received only 53 percent of the votes, falling short of the two-thirds supermajority required.
Garden Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Holiday Guide . . . . . . . . . .10 Mind Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Performing Arts . . . . . . . . . .18
Measure Q proposed a seven-year parcel tax that would have preserved fire and emergency services at the current level and given the District time to come up with a permanent solution to its budgetary bleed. The recession and real estate market crash beginning in 2008 severely cut into the District’s property tax revenues. Declining revenue coupled with increasing salaries and burgeoning pension
See Station 11, page 6 Police Activity Report . . . . . .12 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Sports Shorts . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Weather Words . . . . . . . . . . .6
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA PERMIT 190