Alamo • Danville • Blackhawk • Diablo • San Ramon
VALLEY
Special Section...... page 7
THE
SENTINEL
Holiday Gift Giving
always for the community
November 2009
VOL 15, NO 1
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SPOTLIGHT
Danville’s Star Swimmer heads to Europe By Staff Writer
Madison White, the star swimming sweetheart with a seismic smile and a twinkle in her eye, headed for Berlin and Stockholm on November 7, 2009 to take her mark in the World Cup Madison White swimming competition. She will be competing against some of the best swimmers in the world. Twenty-three 18 & under girls from the nation were selected for the U.S. National Team — six of them were from the Bay Area. At the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, 13-year-old Madison, competed in the 200 backstroke and qualified for the semifinals, finishing 12th overall. Swimming for the Crow Canyon Sharks in Danville, under Coach Dan Cotham
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Residents in the San Ramon Valley are used to seeing wild turkeys running in the fields and even across busy streets. These turkeys were roaming around a San Ramon hillside. They look like turkeys... but don’t think you can put one of these on your Thanksgiving table.
San Ramon Valley group gets to See Blue Angels “Sully” Tops Community up Close! full bar was wonderful! None of us knew whether the “Blues” would fly, but you don’t By Mark Curtis Hero Awards want to miss a chance to see them up close. While thousands It was a chilly and foggy day on Sunday October 11, when a group of twenty from the San Ramon Valley ventured out on the bay to see the famed U.S. Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron. This was a dicey a d ve n t u re, a s t h e S a t u rd ay performance by the Blue Angels was cancelled due to fog. Undaunted, we left the dock at Oakland’s Jack London Square aboard the tour boat “Celebrations on the Bay,” operated by Greg and Sharon Schuyler of Alamo (www.CelebrationsOnTheBay.com). The ride on the bay was spectacular, and the catered barbeque lunch with
prepared to watch from the shoreline (at quite a distance), we had a vantage point between Treasure Island and Alcatraz that was just below the flight path, meaning the planes would zoom right over our boat at times. I had the good fortune to be a reporter in Pensacola, Florida for five years, where the Blue Angels are based. I saw them fly dozens of times in performances, as well as their weekly practices. I always saw them while standing firmly on the ground, so the view from San Francisco’s Fleet Week was the first time I saw them from the water. See ANgELS page 5
You care about what you put in your body... Remember to care about what you put on your body too. See page 8 730 Camino Ramon, Danville, CA 94526 • 925-362-0767
By Mark Curtis, Valley Sentinel Correspondent
“Sully” Sullenberger
He may be “America’s Hero,” but he still remains a favorite son of Danville and Contra Costa County. Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, known to the world simply as “Sully,” was honored as a Community Hero of Contra Costa County by the American Red Cross on November 3. Sullenberger was presented with the “Act of Courage Hero” award. He was not the only one. In all, seven individuals or organizations were honored for their volunteerism—some See HEROES page 5