YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Vol. 9, No. 3 Antioch, California www.antiochpress.com January 16, 2009

National Award Winning Newspapers

THIS WEEK

Lightning on the draw

Lynn House Gallery is featuring the work of four local artists, and reports of the exhibit’s success are anything but sketchy.

Page 14A

Sisterhood of swing

When these Wolverines prowl the fairways, the competition turns green with envy.

Page 3B

Brains before beauty This photogenic female wouldn’t have made the grade without lots of grade-A gray matter.

Page 6A

FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A

Arts...................................14ACalendar ..........................19BClassifieds ........................15BCoplog .............................17AEducation ..........................7AEntertainment ................18BHealth & Beauty ...............8BMilestones .........................7BOpinion ...........................16ASports .................................1B

INSIDE

Tracy cop picked for school board seat

City cuts budget to avoid bankruptcy

City offi cials agreed Tuesday night to implement $4.4 million in savings to avoid potential bankruptcy next year, but more cuts might be needed, including employee layoffs.

The cost-cutting measures have been agreed to only verbally so far. The council will need to take formal action at an upcom-ing meeting to implement them.

If no cuts are made, the city would face an $8.5 million shortfall in the 2009-10 bud-get, which takes effect in July, according to a city staff report. That 22-percent defi cit would prevent the city from paying all its bills, setting up a potential bankruptcy.

With the savings discussed Tuesday night, which are a combination of account transfers and cuts, the city is expected to maintain a miniscule 1.6-percent reserve fund at the end of the 2009-10 budget year. City policy man-

dates at least a 10-to-15-percent reserve.As a result, if the economy doesn’t pick

up in the coming year or the city doesn’t re-ceive some form of bailout or additional rev-enue, more cuts will likely be needed, includ-ing possible layoffs, according to Assistant City Manager Arlene Mornick.

“Seventy percent of our expenditures are personnel,” she said. “So, yeah, once you cut bare bones on services and supplies, the only other place to cut is personnel or benefi ts to personnel. The council made clear they want

Wayne Steffen, who spearheaded the renovation of City Park, will be awarded Citizen of the Year for Most Impact in 2008 by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce at the chamber’s Inaugural Gala on Jan. 23 at

Lone Tree Golf & Event Center. Other awards to be conferred are Citizen of the Year – Lifetime Achievement; Youth of the Year; and Business of the Year. For more information, call 925-757-1800 or visit www.antiochchamber.com.

Inspirational impact

Photo by Richard Wisdom

Over the course of 3½ hours on Jan. 8, the Antioch Unifi ed School District Board inter-viewed candidates to serve out the remaining two years of the term of the late Joyce Seelinger, and all of the candidates assured the board that they would put in the time, work and dedication needed to do the job right.

But none of the eight can-didates had even bothered to show up at the previous night’s board meeting to see the board in action and fi nd out the latest news on the district, according to board member Claire Smith.

“I was disappointed that none of you guys showed up,” Smith told the remaining candi-dates just before the board unan-imously voted to appoint Tracy police lieutenant Wade Harper to the vacant position. “I hope that when we make this choice

you will make me happy and not sad that you haven’t come to the board meetings.

“I appreciate, Wade, that you did some homework. I know you have done some research online. I’m very impressed with

your speaking ability. All of the candidates did a super job (in the interviews).”

Harper is a seven-year An-tioch resident with two children in Antioch schools, one at Deer Valley High and the other at Dal-

las Ranch Middle School, and his wife works as a special-needs assistant for the district. Harper has been in law enforcement for 20 years, has been a speaker for the DARE anti-drug program in Tracy schools and started the DARE program in the Emery Unifi ed School District.

“I’m proud of the school district,” Harper told the board in his opening statement. “I’ve met people with competence and character. I bring my leadership, love for people and experience in strategic planning. I’m collabor-ative, calm and easygoing.”

In response to the question of why he wants to be a school board member and what are his goals, Harper said, “Excellence in the classroom starts with ex-cellence in the board room. I can bring excellence, equity and ac-countability. I love this city and school district. My children are

by Dave RobertsStaff Writer

Following his appointment to the Antioch Unifi ed School District Board, Wade Harper receives the congratulations of board members Teri Lynn Shaw, left, and Claire Smith.

by Dave RobertsStaff Writer

Photo by Dave Roberts

see Budget page 21A

see Board page 21A

http://www.cbamaral.com

JANUARY 16, 2009 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 3A

5453 San Martin Way, Antioch

308 Turnstone Circle, Pittsburg

This 3 bdrm./2ba. 1539 sf home has an open floor plan with lots of space. Master bedroom/bath is set for disabled access. Huge lot with side yard access and swimming pool. Easy commute location. Priced at $374,000

1043 Fox Meadow Way, Concord

This property has an elegant tree lined drive, fenced pasture, RV parking, swimming pool and much more! There are 7 level acres, 7 acres for grazing or planting PLUS plans for a 2nd home. Call Lori for details. Price reduced to $599,000

4901 Briones Valley Rd., Brentwood

Huge Price Reduction! New Price at $849,000 gets it all! Now includes home on 3.5 acres, barn, plus approved conditional sub-division map by city of Oakley for two 1 acre parcels to be split off. Almost 1200 sf of living space, featuring 3 over sized bdrms. and 2 ba. Priced at $849,000

91 Lozoya Way, Oakley

1300 Central Blvd. • Brentwood

Features newer appliances with separate dining area. Lots of storage. Priced to sell. 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 1251 sq. feet. w/gated patio. Priced at $84,900

8 Madrid Place, Antioch

Lori Abreu(925) 216-6317Owner/Broker www.DeltaRanches.com

Cerelle Carstairs(925) 382-4307

Real Estate Agent

5 level acres w/your own private pavered driveway to your custom 3,000 sf single level home. 4 bdrms, 2.5 baths w/open floor plan, vaulted ceilings, and formal dining rm. In-ground pool w/pool hse. Huge full power shop w/overhead lighting and concrete floor; has open area for hay storage, horses or parking. This property also has its own fully lit sports court that kids of all ages will love. Priced at $1,195,000

Country Club living with golfcourse and lake views for a WOW price! Great floor plan for this 2 bdrm. 2 ba., 1632 sf home. Open kitchen has corian counters and laminate floors. Outside has large side yard and nice back patio. Priced at $245,000

2468 Wayfarer Court, Discovery Bay

Custom 3 bdrm., 2.5 bath, 2,831 square foot home with large bonus room above the two car garage on 5.98 acres.

Priced to sell at $675,000

9671 Deer Valley Rd., Brentwood

ASK ABOUT

OWNER FINANCING!

This one has it all! 4 bdrms., 2 baths on an acre. Gourmet kit w/granite counters, spa like master bath w/travertine tile. New roof and paint. Covered building includes horse set up. Beautifully landscaped, ready for new owner Just Reduced to $770,000

1230 Eden Plains Rd., Brentwood

155 Eagle Lane, Brentwood

This 5 bdrm., 3.5 bath, 3,148 sq ft home will not last. This bank owned property has tile floors through most of the lower level, corian kitchen counters w/ choice of 2nd master, teen suite, or bonus room upstairs. Custom tinted windows. Great commute location, and close to shopping. Reduced to $324,900

Great newer home waiting for your personal touches. This two story, 2,232 sf home has 4 bedrooms that are a little larger, 2.5 baths and open floor plan with tile and wall to wall carpeting. This is a must see. Priced at only $229,900

Brentwood to crash Inaugural bash

Brentwood residents Yvonne Gamble and Merthia Thompson planned to be in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20 for the presi-dential inauguration, but in keeping with the theme of Barack Obama’s campaign, a plan for change was presented.

“We had it all planned,” Thompson said. “We had the hotel and everything, but then we realized that it would be better to bring this historic event to the entire Contra Costa community instead of just the two of us fl ying out there.”

Thompson and Gamble, founders of Women Leading Change Now, an educa-tional non-partisan organization that helps women improve their leaderships and com-munication skills in order to advance in busi-ness and political arenas, decided to create an event to not only celebrate the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, but to honor the newly elected offi cials in East Contra Costa County. Mayors and city council members from Brentwood, Oakley, Antioch, Discovery Bay and Pittsburg will be recognized during an award ceremony at the end of an inauguration party.

Gamble said the event is a time to em-brace a turning point in the nation’s history, but it is also a time to thank our local leaders for volunteering to serve the public in these diffi cult times.

“Anyone can be honored after the game

has been won,” Gamble said, “but these men and women who are stepping up to the plate to represent us on a local, statewide, national and global level have a tremendous challenge in front of them.

“There are millions of people out there looking for answers right now. ‘How will I pay my mortgage?’ ‘How will I feed my family?’ ‘How will I keep my job?’ We need to honor these elected offi cials for their bravery to stand up and tackle these issues.”

Thompson said this event is to salute the individuals who are willing to take on the up-hill battle of helping bring the country back to the prosperous nation it has been in the past.

“Everyone is starting at square one,” Thompson said. “It’s time to start over, so this

event is meant to celebrate the incoming presi-dent as well as thank our local offi cials and of-fer them our support. Our community needs to come together.”

Gamble agreed. She said that although the votes have been cast and the elected offi -cials are taking offi ce, the work of the public is still not done. It is important for people to stay involved in the process and make their voices heard. She hopes this event will promote open communication between the public and elect-ed offi cials.

The event will take place at Cortona Park in Brentwood, and the celebration will be tele-cast live to the gala in Washington, D.C. where footage of parties from around the country will be featured throughout the night.

“This is going to be an exciting event,” said Desty Shoemaker, secretary of the Brent-wood Diversity Committee. “This is some-thing big for our community as well as the country.”

The event will feature a business vendor’s area where the Brentwood Diversity Commit-tee will operate a booth.

Gloria Hartsough, Brentwood Diver-sity Committee member and operations director of Women Leading Change Now, said the event will provide an opportunity for people to socialize and have fun but also network with local businesses and offi cials.“This is a unique event, and we want the community to participate. You know everyone is going to be around their TVs watching the coverage, so why not come out and celebrate as a group? It doesn’t mat-ter who you voted for. It is time to come to-gether and embrace this new change.”

The Brentwood Presidential Inau-gural Celebration will be held at 150 Cor-tona Way in Brentwood on Tuesday, Jan. 20 from 3 to 7 p.m. The award ceremony to honor local offi cials will begin at 6:30. Food and wine will be provided. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance at www.theprosperouswoman.com. Pro-ceeds will be donated to Women Leading Change Now. Vendor registration has been extended through Jan 19. To register, call Thompson at 925-435-2783

For more information about the celebra-tion, call Gamble at 925-752-6241.

by Samie HartleyStaff Writer From left, Merthia

Thompson, Yvonne Gamble, Desty Shoemaker and Gloria Hartsough are hoping residents will come to their Inaugural Celebration on Jan. 20 to wel-come elected of-fi cials, locally and nationally, into offi ce.

Photo by Samie Hartley

4A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY JANUARY 16, 2009

City balances budget, trims programs

The Brentwood City Council slashed $2.6 million from this year’s city budget Tuesday, in part by ceasing funding for a number of Park and Rec activities and an after-school program run by the Police Ac-tivities League.

Most of the savings were made pos-sible by a freeze on all hiring except police offi cers, tighter restrictions on travel and purchases of supplies, and changes in the amount set aside for equipment and main-tenance. Director of Finance and Informa-tion Systems Pam Ehler assured the council that the savings in the latter category re-fl ected a change from an “aggressive” level of set-asides to one more refl ective of ac-tual costs, and that maintenance and other internal service funds remain 100-percent funded.

A host of Park and Rec programs ranging from adult basketball and pre-school fl oor hockey to the Spring to Life Fun Run and Skate Park hours during win-ter months will no longer be offered unless sponsors from other agencies or the private sector can be found. Although the programs paid their own direct expenses through par-ticipant fees, they did not cover the staffi ng costs, and will be trimmed as the result of a trio of unfi lled staff positions. Park and Rec Director Craig Bronzan said the affect-ed programs drew a total participation last

year of between 15,000 and 20,000, or less than 2 percent of the 900,000 registrants served by the department in 2008.

One of the unfi lled Park and Rec posi-tions also coordinated PAL’s After the Bell after-school program, which will no longer receive city funding and will be discontin-ued effective Feb. 1. The program, run on all three Brentwood middle school campus-es from 3 to 5 p.m., served an estimated 90 children per day (150 participants in all) at a cost of about $216,000 per year.

“The decision is unfortunate, but when there’s no money, there’s no money,” said PAL President Jeff Altman. He empha-sized that PAL itself is not going away; it will merely change its focus to a growing list of activities it can pay for through its own fundraising efforts.

Offi cer Roger Wilson, who manages PAL and other youth services for the Brent-wood PD, said he hoped to add instructional golf, martial arts and ATV riding activities to the PAL roster this year after enlisting the volunteer aid of a half-dozen members

of the department. The ramped-up partici-pation of police offi cers will enable PAL to expand its core mission, he said, which is to break down barriers between potentially at-risk youth and the police.

Also as part of the budget adjustments approved this week, the council voted to maintain $176,000 in funding that allows the Brentwood Library to offer extended hours. The county pays for only 29 of the 56 hours the library is now open. Council-man Brandon Richey said he felt the budget adjustments should be sent back to staff for some fi ne tuning. In particular, he suggested that the city reduce the library funding and use the money to save the Parks and Rec programs. He pointed to the council’s 2007 decision to cease additional funding for the county-run fi re district as precedence.

“The county has the responsibility to fund programs in a way that meets the com-munity’s needs,” he said.

In response, City Manager Donna Landeros said that although both are run by the county, the library and fi re situations are different in that all library branches are supported by their host cities, whereas the additional money for fi refi ghters came only from Brentwood. Councilman Bob Brock-man added that the library offers services not available elsewhere and serves residents with fewer resources, while the benefi ts of Park and Rec programs on the chopping block could be obtained through “other avenues.”

Richey also felt additional savings could be realized by reducing the city’s fi rst-time home buyer program, which he felt would “increase exposure to foreclosures” and potentially increase neighborhood blight and expenses for code enforcement. Councilman Erick Stonebarger countered that the current market was a good time to help people buy homes, and that he rather a house be occupied by “a homeowner who might be struggling a little” than see it turn into another rental.

The council voted 4-1 to accept the budget adjustments, with Richey dissent-ing. The changes balanced the city’s $36 million operational budget without dip-ping into its 31-percent reserves. Council-man Chris Becnel said that “budget cuts are not an easy thing to do,” but tough economic conditions often require a change of direction. “We are not like the Titanic,” he said. “We’ll turn the ship if we have to.”

Stonebarger agreed, and carried the metaphor one step further. “There are go-ing to be some Titanics among municipali-ties,” he predicted, “but Brentwood won’t even be close to the icebergs.”

Nevertheless, Stonebarger added, the ongoing economic crisis could mean that more painful decisions will need to be made when next year’s budget comes before the council in six months.

“The budget adjustments we do in June might be even harder,” he said.

by Rick LemyreStaff Writer “ We are not like the

Titanic. We’ll turn the ship if we have to.

”Brentwood City Councilman Chris Becnel

Serving East Contra Costa for over 25 years

Residential ● Commercial

634-0272

● HOME REPAIRS & SERVICE

● REMODELING

● NEW CONSTRUCTION

● SEPTIC SYSTEMS

● WATER SOFTENERS

● WATER HEATERS

● UNPLUGGING DRAIN LINESLIC. #

888355INSUREDPL & PD

PLUMBING INC.

real estate auctions

800.801.80035% Buyer’s Premium May Apply

San Francisco Area Homes Selling January 13th - 22nd

williamsauction.comCA RE LIC 261559 KEN SWITZER BROKER

Nominal Opening Bid: $50,000ANTIOCH, CA3BR 2.5BA 1,990+/- sf. Approx .17ac lot.Open house: 1-4pm Sun Jan 11th, 18th and 2 hours before sale.

Nominal Opening Bid: $10,000CONCORD, CA Unit #D2BR 1BA 854+/- sf condo. Built 1967. Taxes approx $2200 (‘08).Open house: 1-4pm Sat Jan 17th and 2 hours before sale.

Nominal Opening Bid: $25,000PITTSBURG, CA 3BR 2.5BA 1,621+/- sf. Approx .09ac lot. Taxes approx $5339 (‘08).Open house: 1-4pm Sun Jan 18th and 2 hours before sale.

Nominal Opening Bid: $1,000BAY POINT, CA 2BR 1BA 978+/- sf. Approx .11ac lot. Taxes approx $3177 (‘08).Open house: 1-4pm Sat Jan 17th and 2 hours before sale.

Nominal Opening Bid: $10,000MARTINEZ, CA 4BR 2BA 2,000+/- sf. Approx .95ac lot. Taxes approx $10019 (‘08).Open house: 1-4pm Sat Jan 17th and 2 hours before sale.

These properties sell: 8:30am, Thu, Jan 22nd at 4143 Mount Isabel Rd, Antioch, CA5108 PREWETT RANCH DR

1838 TESORO CT

2748 14TH ST

JANUARY 16, 2009 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 5A

Thousands of East County homeowners are needlessly losing their homes to foreclosure. If the value of your home is now less than your loan, if your adjustable monthly mortgage payment has increased or if you are behind on payments, Brule & Rooney can negotiate with your lender to stop foreclosure and modify the loan, often with low fi xed interest rates for 30 or 40 years and even reducing the balance owed! Your home is important.

Let Brule & Rooney, LLP, licensed local attorneys, represent your interests in negotiating a loan modifi cation with your lender for a reasonable fi xed fee-- no surprises. Call now for a free 1/2 hour consultation with an attorney.

Danville Antioch

The Loan Fitness Counselors

925-934-7400www.BruleRooney.net

q Lose weightq Save Your Homeq Reduce Mortgage Payment

q Stop Foreclosure

q Call Brule & Rooney!

Lose weight Save Your Home Reduce Mortgage Payment

Stop Foreclosure

Call Brule & Rooney!

✔✔✔✔

Pellet, Gas & Wood Stoves on Sale!

ALL SEASONS SPA and STOVENEW LOCATION: 1213 Auto Center Dr., Antioch | 753-5191 | www.spa-stove.com

Save up to 70%On your

utility bills

Assemblyman says California’seconomy on perilous flight plan

California Assemblyman Jim Silva – the guest speaker that the East Contra Costa Re-publican Women Federated had to import from Orange County last week to discuss the state budget crisis because there are no longer any Bay Area Republican representatives in Sacramento – used an aeronautical analogy to describe the state of the state.

“Right now, the state of California is fl y-ing upside down,” said Silva in his half-hour discussion at Prevot’s restaurant in Brent-wood. “The plane is loaded and going into a mountain and we can’t agree on which way to turn.”

According to Silva, the state’s budget crisis – underscored by a $42 billion defi cit projected through June of 2010 – is the handi-work of former governor Gray Davis, a Dem-ocrat, who signed onto a plethora of social programs passed by a Democratic-controlled state legislature in the late 1990s when money was plentiful due to the high-tech boom.

When the dot-com industry imploded early in this decade, the state found itself without enough money to pay for all of the programs that had been passed. The recent economic meltdown has signifi cantly exacer-bated the problem.

“That’s why my (Republican) colleagues

are saying, ‘We are not going for a tax increase; we have to see some cuts in the budget,’” said Silva. “That’s tough, because once a program is in place, people don’t want to give it up.”

There’s a lot of waste in state govern-ment, he said, citing an example of needing to add a shelf in his offi ce. He went through gov-ernment channels and was told, after waiting four weeks, that it would cost $420. Instead, he went to Home Depot and put up the shelf himself at a cost of $17.

Silva faulted Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger for not following through on his promise when he was elected to “blow up the boxes” of state government.

“We haven’t made any cuts,” said Silva. “We haven’t cut the waste out of our budget. I had a meeting with Gov. Schwarzenegger and

brought up the shelf. I said, ‘I met you three years ago and you told me that your number-one priority is to cut the waste in the budget.’ I said, ‘I have been here two years and haven’t seen any cuts at all.’ He wouldn’t make eye contact with me.

“I cannot support raising taxes when we have waste in our budget. I would like to see the state legislature set up priorities in the budget the same way you set up your priori-ties in your budget at home.”

Silva said the top priorities for funding should be public safety, education, health and transportation. The lowest priorities should be items like the $90 million spent every year “on a train to nowhere,” the $12 million the

by Dave RobertsStaff Writer

see Economy page 7A

California Assemblyman Jim Silva discusses the state budget crisis at a recent meet-ing of East Contra Costa Republican Women Federated at Prevot’s restaurant in Brentwood.

Photo by Dave Roberts

6A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY JANUARY 16, 2009

Credit and collateral subject to approval. Only for Bank of America customers. Program, rate, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Bank of America, N.A.

Equal Housing Lender ©2008 Bank of America Corporation.

Kirk FraleySr. Mortgage Loan Officer

Cell: 925.628.3435

Fax: 866.517.9088

kirk.fraley@bankofamerica.com

THE NEXT BEST THINGTO NO MORTGAGE AT ALL

NEW No Fee Mortgage PLUS$0 APPLICATION FEE$0 CLOSING FEES

+ NO PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE

+ CLOSE-ON-TIME SERVICE GUARANTEE

+ BEST VALUE GUARANTEE

To learn more, contact a Bank of America mortgage loan specialist:

A Place of Learning

School House Rock Fundraiser•

January 31, 2009•

6:00 pm Wine and Dinner

7:00 pm Entertainment•

Shadowlakes Golf Club Event Center401 Country Club Drive, Brentwood, CA

•Tapas-Style DinnerWine / Beverage

Entertainment, RaffleSilent Auction

& Sponsor Recognition

•

Tickets $40.00To purchase tickets, contact Bill Foster at 925-783-6147*For sponsorship information, contact Dave Wahl at

925-634-1812 or email: wahlfamly@sbcglobal.net

All proceeds benefit A Place of Learning a 501(c)(3) organization: ID No. 20-5694677

Full disclosure welcomed

Ashley Gesell is a busy young woman. Just a year away from earning a degree in marketing from San Francisco State University, the former Freedom High cheerleader works full-time for a hedge fund group, has her eye on an MBA, and was recently featured in the cyber pages of Playboy Magazine.

Yep, Playboy. And while the smart, sassy and independently-minded 23-year-old has more to add to her resumé than her measurements, she’ll be the first to tell you she’s proud of her accomplishments – all of them.

“I have always wanted to be in Playboy,” said Gesell, who appears on Playboy’s All Naturals Web site. “I mean, I don’t think there is a girl out there that, if she could make it, would say no. I think you should embrace what you have. I’m proud of myself and so is my family.”

Mom Rhonda says she is indeed proud of her bright and beautiful daughter, despite the occasion-al maternal twinge. “We’ve always supported all of Ashley’s ambitions, and this is just one of them,” said Rhonda. “But sure, I’m a little torn. I’m proud of what she’s done, but I’m not sure I want strange men looking at her; that’s just the mom in me.”

Gesell’s Playboy adventure began a year ago after she sent in some photos to the magazine and was called back for an interview. The process in-cluded a photo shoot that was later posted on the magazine’s Web site.

The experience said Gesell, was a bit surreal but certainly not intimidating: “I was just so ex-cited to have made the cuts, I couldn’t believe I was

finally there. They (the crew) were just the sweet-est people ever. They spend a lot of time adjusting the lights and making sure your hair and makeup are perfect. I wasn’t embarrassed at all; I was very comfortable.”

But how comfortable are her colleagues? Work-ing in a corporate environment where the dress code is decidedly more subdued, how does Gesell feel her peers might view her photos?

“Not a problem,” she said. “Maybe back in the day it might have been a bit of a stigma, but I work with almost all men and they have no problem with it. Times are different; look, we have a black presi-dent. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of and I definitely don’t see it as a liability. Shyness and confidence are not a problem for me.”

And it is that sense of self that has helped the currently single Gesell accomplish much in her young life. A savvy world traveler, she has em-barked on a career that is already reaping financial benefits. So much so, says Gesell, that if all goes according to plan, she hopes to retire while in her 40s and spend her time soaking up the sun in Ari-zona.

For now, however, her plans are more immedi-ate – finish up her degree and focus on her career. As for future Playboy work, Gesell says she’s con-sidering auditioning as a Playmate of the Year.

“That is something I would love to do down the road; something I would love to continue,” she said. “But for now, I’m just proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. For all the things I’ve done, I’ve kept my head, I’ve set my dreams and I got here. I have a great career, I have my own place and I’m having fun. My plate is very full and I’m very grateful.”

by Ruth RobertsStaff Writer

Former Oakley resident Ashley Gesell, left, pictured with her sister Courtney, was recently featured on Playboy Magazine’s All Natural’s Web site.

Photo courtesy of Ashley Gesell

JANUARY 16, 2009 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 7A

Calling All Chefs8th Annual Brentwood

BBQ King Cookoff$100 First Place Prize

Dessert Contest at Half Time$50 First Place Prize

Cook off is Superbowl Sunday, February 1, 2009 at

Harvest Park Bowling CenterEntry deadline is January 23

(or the fi rst 15 entries)Proceeds go to:

Brentwood Police Activities League (PAL)

East Contra Costa Historical Society

Name

Phone(You will be contacted regarding the rules for cookoff )

BBQ Contest Entrance fee $50 (inc. meat)

FREE For Dessert Contest Mail or drop off at the Brentwood Press

248 Oak St., Brentwood, CA 94513For more information, call Greg - 634-1441 or Jeff - 890-8296

MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE

TO BRENTWOOD P.A.L.Sponsored by

Preserving The Past ~ Preparing For T

he

Fu

ture

E

ast

C

ontra Costa Historical S ociety

FREE Apron to All

Contestants

“Best of Brentwood” AttorneyRetired Superior Court Judge

JOHN M. ALLEN

1210 Central Blvd, Suite 115, Brentwood • (925) 240-2700

JOHN M. ALLENATTORNEY AT LAW

Serving East Contra Costa County

• Personal Injury• Business Litigation• Real Estate

• Construction• Wills & Trusts• Mediation

• Arbitration• Litigation• DUI

– Advertisement

I get calls all the time where someone says, “Hey, I want to go look at this house that’s for sale, it looks really cheap!” When I look it up, I’ll call them back and say, “Oh, that’s a short sale, that’s why it’s priced so low.” Their normal response is to say, “So? It’s cheap. I want to see it.”

Let me explain why some short sales are priced at what look to be incredibly low prices. A short sale is where the Seller owes more on the property than what it is worth. In this instance, for a sale to happen, the lender(s) has to agree to take less than a full payoff in order to let the sale move forward. When a short sale closes, one of the lender’s requirements is that the Seller can receive absolutely NO proceeds from the sale. So for many Sellers, they really don’t care what the home sells for, they just want to get it sold. [They would care if they are going to have a 1099 tax issue, or if the lender is going to pursue them for a deficiency.]

On top of that, many agents and/or buyers don’t want to even look at short sale

listings. They perceive them to be a hassle and that they take too long. They’d rather avoid them if there are similar non-short sale homes available at the same price. So some short sales are listed at prices well below what they are “worth” in order to garner attention, and hopefully more show-ings since they appear to be a “great deal.”

The danger of this approach is that one of the first things the lender(s) does is to have the property appraised after an offer is submitted. So if the home is listed at $300,000, a buyer can offer full price, but if it appraises for $350,000, the lender isn’t going to let it go for $300,000 just because the buyer offered “full price.” The lender rarely approves the list prices of short sales, so they have full veto power later.

If you have questions on this or any other real estate topic, call me at (925) 240-MOVE (6683). To search the MLS for free and view virtual tours of homes for sale, go to: www.SharpHomesOnline.com.Sharp Realty

WHY ARE SHORT SALES PRICED SO LOW?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

325 Towncentre Terrace Suite B, Brentwood • www.rbbjj.com925-240-7091

FREE month & uniformCall for details

• Classes for men, women & kids• Conditioning classes

LUHSD to consider transfer requests

In order to balance enrollment among the comprehensive school sites in the Liberty Union High School District, attendance ar-eas for Liberty, Freedom and Heritage high schools were established.

Students who live within the LUHSD boundary but would prefer to attend a school not designated for their residential area must submit an intra-district transfer request during the month of February. The requests will apply to the 2009-2010 school year. Decisions regarding these requests will

be made by May 15.Intra-district transfer requests are gen-

erally approved as long as the enrollment for all schools is balanced by total numbers and by ethnicity. As the LUHSD continues to grow and enrollment capacities at all schools are reached, not all requests for intra-district transfers will be approved.

Intra-district transfer requests can be picked up at the district offi ce, 20 Oak St. in Brentwood. For more information, call Pat Kanyuh at 925-634-2166, ext. 2025.

state gives to small counties to neuter dogs and money spent to train union representa-tives.

He criticized the recent move by Demo-cratic legislators to attempt to skirt the re-quirement to get two-thirds approval for tax increases by instead calling them fees. “Your billfold doesn’t know the difference between a tax and a fee,” he said.

Silva said many of the Democrats’ pro-posed tax hikes may be counterproductive. Raising the sales tax would further hurt the already ailing retail industry. Raising the in-come tax would result in more of the rich buying apartments in Florida (which does not have an income tax) and declaring them

their primary residences. Raising business taxes would result in more businesses fl eeing to other states, taking their jobs with them.

Silva could not predict how it will all play out as budget negotiations continue in a highly partisan legislature.

“Democrats want more taxes and Re-publicans want more cuts,” he said. “In my desk on the fl oor (of the Assembly) I have a toothbrush and toothpaste, because they could lock us down. We are on call. They can lock the door and we have to stay there. May-be that’s what it will take. I don’t know.”

At the end of his talk, Silva was pre-sented with a bag of goodies that included a bottle of alcohol. “I might need that,” he said with a smile.

Economy from page 5A

8A | THEPRESS.NET EDUCATION JANUARY 16, 2009

Getting kids readyfor kindergarten

A successful start to a child’s academic career means more than just getting them to school on time the fi rst day of kinder-garten, and the Brentwood Union School District wants to make sure parents know it. That’s why the district, in conjunction with seven other agencies, is holding the fi rst Brentwood Community Kindergar-ten Readiness Fair on Thursday, Jan. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m.

The fair, which is free, will give par-ents with children 5 and under an oppor-tunity to speak to school principals and kindergarten teachers, apply for a free li-brary card, get a free parenting kit, fi nd out about youth sports and art programs, learn about free tutoring programs, par-ticipate in the Ballet Folklorico dancing school, as well as many other fun and valuable activities.

“The district recognizes the immense importance of early childhood develop-ment and wants to partner with each and every parent and future student from the earliest possible age,” said Dana Eaton, director of student services for the BUSD. “We realize the family is every child’s fi rst teacher and want to provide parents with

free tools, information and support as well as connect them to wonderful agen-cies that provide ongoing support to fami-lies.”

The event will include fi ve 20-minute presentations on various aspects of early childhood development. One will be a user-friendly overview on brain develop-ment by the Child Care Council of Con-tra Costa County.

“We just want make sure that parents are aware of how important development of the brain is,” said Candy Duperrori, resource referral supervisor for the Child Care Council. She said that 80 percent of a person’s brain has developed by age 3, and that stimulation provided by parents, child care providers and teachers through play, music, arts and crafts, and reading is critical.

“Preschool does matter,” said Dup-errori. “Children who have attended pre-school are able to catch on to reading faster, they can sit in class and socialize better, and do what they need to do in the classroom to thrive.”

Other presentations will be on kinder-garten curriculum expectations (presented by the BUSD); early literacy (Brentwood

by Rick LemyreStaff Writer

see Kindergarten page 21A

JANUARY 16, 2009 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 9A

ANTIOCH—3385 Deer Valley Rd. (Safeway Shopping Center)

753-1167

DISCOVERY BAY14870 Hwy. 4, Suite B

(Safeway Shopping Center) 516-8291

www.DeltaOneInc.com or e-mail us at: DeltaOneInc@yahoo.com

Delta One Martial Arts

MARTIAL ARTS

Are You Looking For a Martial Arts School That Stands Out? A place where you can go and feel

special? A place where the instructors

are patient, caring, knowledgeable and

friendly? Then look no further because

we have what you’re looking for. Not

only do we teach what all the other

schools promise to teach, we give and

do more! We teach financial self-defense

through our special business program

designed for kids, known as the

“Young Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow” and we believe in

education first! We reward our students

for good grades and have a

“FREE Tutoring Program” for those

struggling with their grades.

Don’t Take Us at Our Word! See for Yourself! Try it for FREE!(1) One FREE Month,

(1) One FREE Uniform and

(1) One FREE Private Lesson

Offer ends: Jan. 31, 2009

Black Diamond Kids Center(formerly Black Diamond Gymnastics)

2015 Elkins Way • Brentwood(925) 516-6619

www.BlackDiamondKidsCenter.com

NEW YEAR’S SPECIAL!

1/2 OffMembership

FeeNew Students Only

Exp. 1/31/09

Celebrating 10 Years

of Helping Kids Succeed!

Gymnastics * Dance * Cheer * Tumbling

Birthday Parties * Educational Preschool

Holiday Camps * Summer Camps

Exciting Classes for Children Ages 0-18

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke the following words in 1964 during his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Peace: “I accept this award,” he said “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.”

Forty-fi ve years later, as we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy on the holiday honoring him, the United States prepares to swear in our fi rst president of African-American descent, Barack Obama. This historic moment speaks volumes about the progress our nation has made in realizing Rev. King’s faith in the

American people. No matter what political party we belong to, we can all be proud of this collective triumph.

Perhaps one of the most positive aspects of this triumph is that the victory is viewed not only in terms of Mr. Obama being the fi rst black U.S. president. Throughout his political career, President-elect Obama has not characterized himself by race, but rather by his ideas of how citizens as a whole need to overcome the nation’s problems. He understands both typically “black” and “white” perspectives, and is therefore able to bring them together to see a larger picture. This is evidenced in his extraordinarily frank “A

More Perfect Union,” the memorable March, 2008 speech regarding race relations. In it he details with empathy the unique concerns of all races, but goes a step further to say that Americans have bridged the gaps between these concerns and that his candidacy is proof of this success.

Current polls show an overwhelmingly positive acceptance of Mr. Obama as an element of immense change. His actions so far show that he truly wants to fulfi ll his campaign promise of a greater unity within government. His cabinet appointments have shown a respect for knowledge and a willingness to understand views different from his own. His ideas look past the surface and recognize that we all want the same things for us and our children: peace, justice and the opportunity to better ourselves.

One of the anthems of the Civil Rights movement was the song “We Shall Overcome.” America has overcome. We have overcome tragedies like Dr. King’s assassination and the Los Angeles riots. We have overcome divisive radio commentators and insensitive stereotypes in the media and within our own community. These travesties still exist, but they are now seen by most people for what they are – appalling offenses against our basic humanity. And so we shall continue to overcome such events because the great majority of us know in our hearts that we are all created equal, and that incidents like these

Bridging the gaps

see Bridging page 20A

BRENTWOOD

DIVERSITYCOMMITTEE

DESTYSHOEMAKER

10A | THEPRESS.NET EDUCATION JANUARY 16, 2009

Home

Concepts

32733

Congratulations to the Mission Elementary School Students of the Month of November, 2008, who were recognized for displaying the character trait of Citizenship. In the front row, from left, are Joann Gaytan, Mayra Arellano,

Nandi Loving, Jennifer Fung, Maranda Hanshew, Jessica Hernandez, Marco Lozano and Daniel Sedano; middle row: Jasmine Gomez, Alexis Xaysana, Emma Ramos Garcia, Abby Garcia, Derrick Johnson, Jordi Contreras Camarena, Yaneli Aguilar, Nesrine Nekkab, Kayla Houston and Fernando Alarcon; back row: Shea Calvert, Ricardo Padillo, Deiloni Coleman, Frances Mariano, Samantha Grijalva, Jackelyn Rodriguez, Destiney Johnson and Jocelyn Silva. Not pictured is Iziah Williams.

Cited for citizenship

Congratulations to the following Diablo Vista Elementary School Students of the Month, who were awarded certifi cates for displaying the

character trait of Fairness for the month of December: in no particular order are Nicole Arroyo, Paiman Arwand, Anthony Bergantino, Anthony Bonilla, Henry Damani Bow, Jacob Dacus, Caden Easter, Chase Easter, Brandon Gee, Melissa Gee, Kyla Geraldo, Christopher Gomez, Leonela Gomez, Taylor Holt, Phillip Huff, Mason Padilla, George Mills, Jorden Montgomery, Jeremy Rolandelli, Francesca Rodriquez, Danny Romero, Amanda Rovner, Anahi Samaniego Aldaba, Jacob Scates, Fernanda Solano, Kiana Steward, Idanea Jacqueline Talbott, Jennifer Vargas, Daniel Valdepena, Mary Gaele Vocal, Justin Williams, Zachary Zulawski and Joshua Zulawski.

Fairness affirmed

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 11A

Call today to learn how you can receive $100 off your next fuel delivery!

1-800-641-2417 or 1-925-686-5811 Ext. 3

AUTOMATIC DELIVERY BUDGET PAYMENT PLAN 24/7 EMERGENCY SERVICE SAFETY TRAINED PROFESSIONALS OVER 80 YEARS EXPERIENCE

7 Reasons Suburban Propane is the right choice for your fuel needs

CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONWhen we say “Our business is customer satisfaction,” we mean it. We’re focused on it. And we deliver it every day.

EXPERIENCEOver 80 years of serving families and businesses in this community have

taught us that there is only one way to deliver fuel: your way.

RELIABILITYWhen we make a promise, we deliver. Our nationwide propane supply network ensures dependable fuel delivery all year long.

SAFETYOur employees receive extensive safety training to help protect you and your family,

plus provide a system safety check with each installation and service.

INTEGRITYWe honor our commitments and take the utmost care with your energy equipment and property.

24/7 AVAILABILITYOur team of After Hours Emergency Call Center Representatives is

standing by to help you 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

VALUEIt all adds up to superior service, worry-free home comfort, and greater peace of mind.

Offer expires 11/31/09 and is available to new customers only. Valid at the Concord, CA location only. Customers must sign a fuel service agreement that is subject to credit approval. Offer applied as a credit to your account. Not to be combined with any other offer or discount. Additional restrictions may apply. See store for details.

www.suburbanpropane.com

Our Business is Customer Satisfaction

12A | THEPRESS.NET COMMUNITY JANUARY 16, 2009

Dennis Lee Mata wasn’t expecting a package that day, but the contents delivered by UPS one December afternoon gave him the thrill of a lifetime. In the parcel were two copies of “Asoiavan: Enter the Six,” Mata’s fi rst novel.

“It’s very surreal,” Mata said as he held a copy of his novel. “This is what I want, to see my name on the cover, to see my work on bookshelves.”

After running out of entertaining things to read, Mata decided it was time to write his own novel. He had been writing short stories since he was in elementary school and attempted to write a novel during his sophomore year of high school before he took an interest in screenplays. After years of kicking ideas around in his head, he began to compile his notes.

The end result is part one in a series of six about the fi rst female Paladin named Ijol Halen, who is destined to follow in her father’s footsteps as the King of Uvidalov’s Crown Champion. However, a crew of six evil wizards plots to keep the young warrior from her birthright.

Mata, 30, said the book has a fl are of “The Lord of the Rings” as it follows the protagonist and her friends as they

elude evil while protecting a sacred artifact from the wizards.

“It’s a fun adventure with lots of action,” Mata said. “I want to take the fantasy genre to a new level. You don’t often see the girl as the hero. It’s always the dude with the family sword off to fi ght the battle, so it was important for me to incorporate a strong female lead. It’s rare to fi nd the girl power in fantasy.”

Mata makes sure to note that there are also a lot of fi ghting and battle sequences throughout the book as well. He said while there is violent content in his works, there isn’t anything too grotesque, so the novel is appropriate for readers at the junior high level and beyond.

Mata is already at work on the second part of the story, and hopes to have the entire series published within fi ve years.

Mata admits that his fi rst book deal came with a lot of luck. He Googled “publishers” and sent an electronic query letter to Publish America. Within a week, he had a response of interest and a few months later, he received his contract. “I was expecting ‘no,’ but I was surprised by how quickly the process moves. I started typing everything out to prepare sample chapters, but something went wrong with the computer, a bug or something, and I lost it all. Luckily,

I hand write everything, so I wasn’t completely lost. My mom and my girlfriend helped type it in to meet the deadline.”

He said he has no plans for fame, but wouldn’t hate it if it happened. “I’m not doing this to be famous. If it happens, it happens, but I don’t want to be in magazines or on TV. I just want to be able to write full time, and entertain readers. I want to share the stories going through my head with as many people as possible.”

Mata, who currently works part-time at Aaron Brothers, said friends and family have been supportive of his aspirations. “My mom bought 10 copies to hand out to family, and many of my friends have said they will buy a copy. I know some of them won’t read it, but they’ll at least buy it to support what I’m doing.”

Mata’s current project is promoting his novel. It is not available in major bookstores yet, but it is available online. “I still need to talk with bookstore managers in the area about setting up book signings. Right now, I’m letting it sink in.”

“Asoiavan: Enter the Six” is currently available at the Los Medanos College bookstore in Pittsburg. It is also available online at www.amazon.com. For more information, visit www.publishamerica.com.

by Samie HartleyStaff Writer

Oakley author publishes first novel

The Antioch Advantage Is Energy

www.mirant.com | © 2008 Mirant Corporation | 0408-AD010-AContra Costa Generating Plant

A good quality of life doesn’t just happen. It is fueled by

passion for the community and a commitment to sustained

progress. At Mirant, we’re proud to play a role in helping

Antioch thrive through reliable power generation, vocational

training support, and employee volunteerism. Together,

we’re building a bright future.

Chiropractor Blamed For Huge Explosion!Brentwood – Local chiropractor, Dr.

James Martin D.C. was found to be re-sponsible for a huge explosion in Brent-wood. He was going on about his business helping Brentwood men and women elim-inate a serious life altering medical condi-tion in his clinic when he unknowingly got himself into a precarious situation.

A very slick medical equipment sales-man from Florida talked Dr. Martin into buying a very large expensive shiny new machine with lots of digital displays that was supposed to be the next big thing for eliminating a serious medical condition that affects over 80% of the population during their lifetime.

This health condition that affects a large portion of the population does not really have a successful treatment. Lots of different treatments are tried only to fail, leaving its victims helpless and hopeless, only to suffer this affl iction for the rest of their lives.

Local Doctor Duped By Slick Salesman? Dr. Martin thought he had been

duped by this fast talking salesman from Florida, when this new medical treat-ment for a seemingly incurable disease was supposed to be a new miracle treat-ment showed up in a huge moving truck. The doctor reluctantly looked on as some technician from this Florida based medi-cal equipment manufacturer assembled a mammoth, shiny, metallic spectacle cov-ered in beeping fl ashing numbers.

After a few hours of clanking, ratch-eting and drilling Dr. Martin was asked to verify and sign for this huge mechanical beast. Skeptically the doctor signed and the technician left the doctor with an ap-pointment for a Training Doctor who was going to train him and his staff to operate this big machine.

Just What Had The Doctor Done?! Dr. Martin could have bought a Fer-

rari, but instead ended up with this ma-chine! Well, the “Training Doctor” came, did her training and left. Dr. Martin then began treating this seemingly incurable condition with this alleged miracle break-through treatment.

Dr. Martin then performed these treatments over the course of four weeks and he was absolutely fl oored by the re-sults of this new medical breakthrough!

Dr. Martin Had Found The Biggest Breakthrough In The Treatment Of Back Pain And Leg Pain As Well As Neck Pain And Arm Pain Caused By Herniated, Bulg-ing, And Degenerated Discs!

He just could not believe that he was watching hopeless cases of back pain and leg pain that would not get better after chiropractic treatments, physical therapy, pain drugs, epidural pain shots in the spine, and even back surgery GET BET-TER! How could this be?

And this is why Dr. James Martin has been blamed for the huge explosion in Brentwood. His offi ce has literally explod-ed with so many people that are suffering with back pain and leg pain he had to hire extra staff and add offi ce hours to keep up with demand for this new treatment!

Dr. Martin’s offi ce receives inquiries about his new non surgical treatment for herniated, bulging and degenerated discs

from all over the nation, sometimes over 400 inquiries per month. As a result, he has three non surgical disc machines. Two for low back and leg pain and one to treat neck, arm and hand pain from disc prob-lems in the neck.

He is also looking to hire doctors to work for him to keep up with the demand. If you are suffering with SERIOUS back pain, leg pain, neck pain or hand or arm pain caused by a bulging, herniated or de-generated disc, pay attention. This may be the most important article you read this year!

Do You Have A Disc Problem?If you experience any of the follow-

ing, chances are your pain is due to a disc bulge, herniation or degeneration:

A vice squeezing your back, Sitting causes back or leg pain, Stabbing pain at the belt line, Turning over in bed with-out hurting, Numbness in your toes, Fire down your legs, Prickling in your thigh.

Finally, Some Good NewsIf you have been suffering with back

pain or leg pain caused by a disc bulge, disc herniation or squashed or compressed discs.

It’s all because of 14 recent medical studies on spinal decompression.

Until recently, the only advice for many of you suffering in pain was to try what you’ve been told:

Try exercising, Try physical therapy, Try pain medications, Try muscle relaxers, Try pain shots, Try dangerous back sur-gery, Just live with it.

If you’re like most, none of these have worked for you or you are afraid of what could happen if you do try some of these.

Exercising makes you hurt more, pain medications and muscle relaxers cover up the problem and give you side effects. Pain shots can cause more pain, don’t work or don’t last very long or FIX the prob-lem, back surgery didn’t work or made you worse. Or maybe you were one of the lucky ones that back surgery actually helped, but now the problem is back with a vengeance.

Whatever your situation, you owe it to yourself to check into a Breakthrough Computerized Non-Surgical Treatment for back pain and sciatic or leg pain as well as neck pain or arm pain caused by a bulging, herniated or squashed disc or discs. It has helped dozens of people who were suffering just like you. This new treat-ment machine I’m calling my squashed disc machine.

How Do Discs Go Bad?Over time the discs in your back tend

to get squashed or compressed, especial-ly if you’ve played certain sports when younger or have a job that requires lots of sitting or standing in one place for long pe-riods of time. Car accidents, lifting things, very physical jobs just to name a few.

It’s kinda like a cookie with cream fi lling, and the cream fi lling will start to ooze out from between the sides of the cookie if pressure is applied on top of the cookie (like gravity on our spines). Even-tually this happens to a lot of us. Statistics are something like over 80% of Americans will suffer with back pain sometime in their life.

Back to my new computerized squashed disc machine. You’re probably wondering how this new machine works.

How Does This Machine Work? Haven’t you ever had the thought…

”Gosh, if somebody could just pull me apart. I would feel a whole lot better”. Yeah, I know you have. And it kinda makes a bit of sense.

Well someone else, actually a medical manufacturer, back pain specialists, neu-rosurgeons and engineers have come up with just that. A machine that gently pulls you apart, stretches the disc to a certain point that causes a drop in pressure inside the disc (like a little vacuum in the middle the cream fi lling) causing the cream fi lling to suck back in!

Warning: Decompression is NOT like old fashioned traction or hanging

upside down which can send you into severe spasms and squeeze the discs even harder!

In my clinic, I’ve successfully treated

dozens of patients with spinal decompres-sion so there’s no reason your back prob-lem should be any different.

In fact, I’m so confi dent we can help you, I’m willing to back it up…but not with empty promises.

I GUARANTEE you will only be ac-cepted into our program IF YOU QUALI-FY for the treatment AFTER having THE MOST THOROUGH AND COMPRE-HENSIVE ASSESSMENT YOU HAVE

EVER HAD or I will buy you lunch! (I haven’t bought one yet!)

Yes! I am very confi dent, but I can’t help EVERBODY. You see, there’s a very small percentage of folks we can’t help. Here’s what a couple applicants said after I told them both I couldn’t help them:

“I was treated very nicely. The doctors have listened to me and they didn’t rush me out of the offi ce, despite the fact I wasn’t a candidate. The exam I had was super, the best I’ve had anywhere. The doctor explained things to me that no one else ever has.”

Non-Candidate, Brentwood, Ca“I thought I’d write a note to you and all

of those potential patients who have serious doubts (as I had) about your decompression treatments. Actually, I thought your pro-cedure was more of a psychological placebo designed for everyone, instead of a non-sur-gical process that could repair injured verte-bral discs. Imagine my surprise when you advised me that my condition was too severe

for your procedure to correct. To me, that refusal added world’s of credibility to your program. It showed me that you are only there to help patients; not just to take their money. I assure you that I will recommend you to anyone I know or meet that suffers from spine and/or disc pain. I can do this knowing full well that they will be treated right.”

Non-Candidate, Antioch, Ca

And that’s why I’m offering a limited time…

The FREE 19 Point “Flat-Disc”Qualifying AssessmentThat’s right, no charge and we won’t

try to sell you anything. But you will fi nd out if you are a candidate for this revo-lutionary new therapy. You won’t be left wondering if it’s something that could have eliminated your pain.

As your FREE ASSESSMENT we’ll check out your: ligaments, muscles, hips, pain index, refl exes, discs, tendons, spine, pelvis, x-rays, fl exibility, and nerves.

Expires 1/23/09

Most Serious Back Pain Or Neck Pain Sufferers Are Very Skeptical Of This New Procedure As I Was Very Skeptical When I Purchased My First Decompression Ma-chine, So If You Are Skeptical…

See What Some Of Our Clients Have Had To Say About Our Program:

“I had unrelenting back pain, gloom and disappointment as I had several doctors who were unable to help me. Spinal Decompres-sion is really amazing!

I have gone through a transformation of pain, gloom and disappointment to a new value, new hope and a new lease on life.”

Herb Olsen – Retired “I had severe back pain and was los-

ing ability to function. My problem started 13 years ago and it got severe in the last 2 months or so. After the fi rst treatment, the numbness in my left leg and foot went away.”

Burna McClelland- Rancher “I had serious back pain. I was taking

several pain medications when I started the program. After the 5th treatment, I woke up feeling thirty fi ve again! It was amazing. I am now off all pain drugs and am totally pain free.”

John Marek – Pet Care “I had severe leg pain and numbness in

both feet and could not walk without a cane and the leg pain would not change no mat-ter how I layed down to sleep. I’ve had this problem for 40 years.

Dr. Martin has made a believer out of me. My wife and my dog Bongo says thank you! I can now walk him again.”

Angelo Mirabella–Retired

CALL TODAY!925-516-5855

HealthSource2200 Sand Creek Road #B

Brentwood, Ca 94513

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 13A

Dr. James Martin D.C.

Advertisement

14A | THEPRESS.NET ARTS JANUARY 16, 2009

Photo courtesy of Lynn House Gallery

“Yosemite Meadow” by Brentwood artist Milt Bullard is part of the current exhibit at Antioch’s Lynn House Gallery.

Drawing is arguably the most important skill or tool of a visual artist. For some artists, drawing is primarily a means to an end, and they rarely if ever exhibit their drawings. The Lynn House Gallery is hosting an Emphasis on Drawing Exhibit featuring local artists Milt Bullard, Mark Eanes, Mary Lieser and Anthony Riggs. The exhibit runs through Jan. 31.

For the four artists in this exhibit, drawing is often an end in itself, a fi nished artistic statement. Though these artists work in other areas, such as painting and print making, drawings make up a considerable

portion of their exhibited works.Bullard’s paintings and watercolors

have been shown in juried exhibitions at the state capitol and in San Francisco. His work has also been displayed in several galleries within Contra Costa County, as well as included in Yosemite National Park’s annual Renaissance. In the park, he teaches pen and ink drawing for Art Center visitors. Milt’s e-mail address is miltbullardart@aol.com.

Benicia artist Eanes is a painter and

Exhibit draws on local artists’ talent

see Exhibit page 15A

JANUARY 16, 2009 ARTS THEPRESS.NET | 15A

Photo courtesy of Lynn House Gallery

The Emphasis on Drawing exhibit now at the Lynn

House Gallery in Antioch in-cludes “Camp Fire,” above, by Anthony

Riggs.

print maker. He teaches at the California College of the Arts in Oakland and recently served as a juror for the current Soupcon Small Works Show at Arts Benicia.

Also from Benicia, Riggs has been an award-winning artist since 1975, though still only in his 30s. He received the Sears Kindergarten Art Award in 1975 and the California College of the Arts Faculty Honors Award in 2003. He is currently earning his master’s of fi ne art degree at the California College of the Arts in Oakland.

Lieser is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she majored in fi ne art, working in graphite, oils and ceramics. After graduation, she moved to

Hawaii, where she spent time working in art conservation and restoration. Hawaii is where Lieser met her future husband, artist Francis Palermo. Upon returning to the mainland, they took up residence in Pittsburg, where they became the fi rst Seafood Festival commemorative prints artists. Lieser has been involved with the Pittsburg Arts Collaborative, hanging in many of their shows. She works in watercolor and plein-air painting.

The Lynn House Gallery is located at 809 W. First St. in downtown Antioch. Gallery hours are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. during exhibits. For more information, visit www.art4antioch.org or call 925-779-7018.

Exhibit from page 14A

16A | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

Community should be a pal to PALIn tough economic times, tough choices

must be made, and the Brentwood City Council certainly had one of those on its plate Tuesday evening. As it considered how to meet the

challenges of a shrinking revenue stream, one of the programs whose continued funding

the council was forced to scrutinize was an after-school program offered through the Police Activities League.

Currently conducted at all three of Brent-wood’s middle schools, the PAL After the Bell program provided a place for about 150 children to go after school and do homework, play games and simply not be alone and at risk of engaging in, or being victims of, crime.

In the past, the city has provided support for the program through the Parks and Rec Department. By holding fundraisers and getting grants, PAL has reimbursed to the city about $50,000 of the program’s $250,000 annual cost. Unfortunately, grant money is much harder to come by these days and communities with higher crime rates have edged out Brentwood’s PAL in getting cash assistance. (Ironically, if Brentwood’s crime rate were higher – as might have been the case had PAL not existed – Brentwood might have a better shot at grant funding.) There is likely no money forthcoming from PAL this year.

As PAL’s reimbursement to the city has diminished and the city’s own coffers have been increasingly strained, the council this week made the hard decision to discontinue funding for

After the Bell, and the program will end Feb. 1.PAL has been an integral part of the

city’s emphasis on youth for more than a decade, and it’s important for residents to know that despite the loss of After the Bell, it will continue to be in the future. Numerous activities, from wrestling and skateboard tour-naments to martial arts and golf instruction, are either in existence or on the horizon. The expanding list of activities will help PAL con-tinue its primary goal of breaking down barri-ers between at-risk kids and police offi cers.

There are several ways members of the public can support this important group. First, they can make a direct donation. Second, they can attend fundraisers benefi ting PAL, such as the Brentwood Barbecue King Cook-off on Feb. 1 at Harvest Park Bowl.

Third, they can enroll their children in PAL programs such as a wrestling tournament set for Feb. 22. While not specifi cally fundrais-ers, increased participation in PAL activities makes them more affordable and broadens the program’s reach.

It’s hoped that eventually the city will be able to restore funding for after-school programming, but until that can happen, PAL represents an important asset for our youth, one we can all support simply by participating in. We encourage everyone to do so, and in the process help improve the community in which we live.

To learn more about PAL or its activities, contact Offi cer Roger Wilson at 925-634-6911. For tickets to the Barbecue King Cook-off, call 925-634-1441.

EDITORIAL

Rubbing salt into Delta’s woundsEditor:

Our California Delta’s health has made a surprising comeback in the last 20 years. The water quality has improved immensely; the areas that used to smell like sewage no longer do. There is a lot less foam and cloudy water from fi eld drainage. Heavy metals are still present in the water from placer mining 100 years ago, making the consumption of fi sh in large quantities unhealthy.

I have noticed within the last 10 years the decline in fi sh population. I no longer see schools of smelt around dock pilings or tules; when swimming, I no longer feel fi sh brushing against my legs. Ducks don’t have any competition from fi sh when I drop bread-crumbs in the water. The water is beginning to taste salty; I noticed this in the last four years. The brackish water will damage the fi nish on my boat if I don’t immediately wipe it off after removing the boat from the water.

I am not an environmentalist or a scien-tist. I am an avid water sports enthusiast and have noticed what is happening to our Delta. The peripheral canal idea will not save the Delta; any uneducated person like me can see

that. Wouldn’t the money for the periph-eral canal be better spent on desalinization facilities for Southern California? Reduction in pumping water from the Delta is the only option for saving the habitat.

There is a lot of water fl owing down storm drains. I noticed this on my last trip to Southern California while strolling across a park with lush landscaping. Asking the pub-lic to conserve is not working. Water ration-ing seems to be the only answer. Rationing would be statewide, not just certain areas. We have to save our Delta for the survival and enjoyment of future generations.

Christopher CoadFourth-generation Contra Costa native

Antioch

Remarkable rosterEditor:

Antioch citizenry just underwent two rigorous examinations on its commitment to public service. It passed with fl ying colors. Fourteen applicants, all top-notch, went through a grueling elimination process for City Council and eight others vied for school board. Happily, the belief that the very breath of life is service to others proved not lost on Antioch.

Reaching a consensus was, indeed, a for-midable task for the school board. We were determined to choose not only the best of the best but to choose someone fi tting the needs of the time. We wanted continuity, someone in the game for years to come. Someone, also, who added a complementary perspective to the collective assets of the other four board members.

Might I say, what a diverse board it is! We now have two African-Americans, three women and two men, representing education, the corporate world, criminal justice fi eld, school volunteering and youth mentoring. Our superintendent is an African-American woman. Obviously, we are quality driven and color and gender blind.

In truth, in the heat of the intense interviewing process, I honestly didn’t refl ect

on this, but in retrospect, how fascinating that we choose a police lieutenant what with next year’s opening of a Law and Criminal Justice Academy and with a community that demographically tops Contra Costa with 38 percent of our population under 18.

Congratulations, though, to all eight. Angie Ayers-Smith, certainly we haven’t heard the last of you. After a successful corporate career in San Francisco, you are “back home,” now involved in the Youth Intervention Network. You are modest but savvy, decidedly exemplifying a collaborative demeanor.

Diana Bello, six kids and a distinguished business career! Dare say, what vitamin are you taking? You are energetic, determined, skilled at policy and negotiations, and, un-mistakably, exemplify resolve.

Dale Hudson, you bring unquestioned depth of experience to the table, with previ-ous school board experience and 16 years superintendency. You are affable, composed and strikingly exemplify enduring commit-ment.

Vincent Manuel, kudos on being a fi nalist in both council and school board appointments. Your resume is stellar, with a doctorate in public administration at grasp and years of agency directorship and chief of staff experience. You surely exemplify cool competence.

Joyann Motts, Antioch is blessed to have you. You carry on in the unselfi sh volunteer-ing spirit of your mom, who served on the board for 20 years. Your work with Antioch High, community clubs, and chairing the successful $61 million older school renova-tion bond is laudable. You exemplify inspired passion.

Larry Osorio, your many years on the Mello Roos Board, Scoutmaster mentoring, and unfl agging congeniality bodes well for the future. You perfectly exemplify the Scout motto, “Be Prepared!”

Sean Wright, you have a bright future in continued community service ahead of you, building upon school volunteering and

Chamber of Commerce leadership. You vividly exemplify an outgoing, creative, roll-up-your-sleeves demeanor.

Now, to the last man standing, Wayde Harper. Outlasting eliminations against such a talented fi eld speaks volumes. You comple-ment the board with your master’s in business administration, training in strategic thinking, demonstrated team spirit, and in-the-trenches background rooted in police work, youth development, school volunteering and the faith community. You resoundingly exemplify conviction. Welcome aboard!

I can honestly say I would be pleased serving with any of you. Bravo for joining the fray. Stay active. Please run in 2010. Lastly, thank you for echoing, by example, the con-viction of Maria Wright Edelman: “Service is the rent we pay for living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time.”

Walter RuehligPresident, A.U.S.D. Board of Trustees

Arrogant and thoughtlessEditor:

I agree with Mr. Blunk. In this present recession, why would the city offi cials even think of building a $75 million Civic Center project and, as he stated, “putting their own comfort fi rst?”

Look around at all of the empty build-ings and offi ces. There are already numerous spaces that the city could use. If they are lay-ing employees off, why would they even need more offi ce space?

Take a hard look at the Streets of Brent-wood, occupied by “high-end” shops. Who do you think is going to be shopping there? Mervyn’s has closed,; Macy’s will be closing stores and I would safely bet that during 2009, some of those stores at the Streets will be closing also.

Homeowners are going to ask for another round of property-tax cuts, which again will slice money from the city budget.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

see Letters page 18A

The Press Newspapers are adjudicated in the the cities of Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, and the Delta Judicial District

of Contra Costa County.

No part of this publication may be reproduced for commerce or trade without written permission from the publisher.

BRENTWOOD PRESS & PUBLISHING CORPORATION

National Award Winning Newspapers

Founder & President - Jimmy ChamouresPublisher& General Manager - Greg Robinson

Executive Editor - Rick LemyreProduction Manager & Webmaster - Lonnie de Lambert

Business Manager - Heather Reid

Main Office / Brentwood248 Oak St. Brentwood, CA 94513

Phone (925) 634-1441 Fax (925) 634-1975website: www.thepress.net

Advertising - 634-1441 ext. 115Classifieds - 634-1441 ext. 142

Editorial - 634-1441 ext. 111Circulation - 250-1405

Editorial email - editor@brentwoodpress.com

OPINIONEDITORIALS, LETTERS & COMMENTARY Natio

nal Award Winning Newspapers

“ People often overlook the importance of the fine arts programs and the individu-als who teach them.

”Justin Wilson

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 17A

THE PRESS PET OF THE WEEK

Cheryl and her dog Jumpin bask in the sun on a hot summer day in

beautiful Brentwood.

Submit your “Pet of the Week” to ads@brentwoodpress.com

4071 Orwood Road - Brentwood 925-634-4431 • www.petsfrolicinn.com

ONE FREE DAY DOGGIE DAY CAMPNew Day Camp Customers Only. Expires January 31st, 2009

• Private & Group Lessons

• Reasonable Rates & Package Discounts

• Well-Trained Lesson Horses

New Year’s Special: 50% Off First Lesson!

(925) 437-0862www.CunninghamRidingAcademy.com

GIFTCERTIFICATES

AVAILABLE

Cunningham’sRiding Academy

Cheryl ThompsonTAX PREPARATION

925-367-7224

I come to YOU!

10% of your tax preparation fee donated to Antioch Animal Shelter with this coupon

HELP HOMELESS PETSOne coupon per tax return please

SIREN SOUNDSFROM EMERGENCY SERVICES DISPATCH LOGS

A sampling of recent law enforcement activity reported by East County police departments.

BRENTWOODJan. 2, 7:26 a.m. On McHenry Way, a driver stopped for a vehicle code violation provided false information. He was arrested and re-leased on a Notice To Appear.Jan. 2, 11:22 a.m. An unidentifi ed person stole a vehicle parked on Mountain View Drive.Jan. 2, 12:55 p.m. An unidentifi ed person stole items from locked vehicles on Walker Court.Jan. 2, 4:34 p.m. A subject attempted to take several items from a business on Lone Tree Way without paying for them was placed un-der citizen’s arrest and released on a Promise To Appear.Jan. 4, 1:07 p.m. On Lone Tree Way, an un-identifi ed person used a stolen check to make a purchase at Kohl’s.Jan. 4, 3:35 p.m. An unidentifi ed person used the personal information of a resident of Mericrest Street to open a fraudulent account at The Home Depot.Jan. 4, 4:59 p.m. A subject contacted during a pedestrian stop on Sunset Road was found to be under the infl uence of a central nervous system stimulant. He was arrested and trans-ported to the Martinez Detention Facility.Jan. 4, 7:53 p.m. On Upton Pine Drive, a subject was inadvertently struck by his own vehicle.Jan. 4, 11:57 p.m. On Lone Tree Way, an un-identifi ed person stole a purse and fl ed in a vehicle.Jan. 5, 2:25 p.m. Offi cers responded to the re-port of a civil dispute on Shady Willow Lane. One of the subjects was found to have an out-standing warrant out of Solano County. He was arrested and transported to the Martinez

Detention Facility.To view the Brentwood Police Depart-

ment’s public logs on the city’s Web site, visit www.ci.brentwood.ca.us/department/pd/reports/index.cfm.

ANTIOCHJan. 1, 11:11 p.m. Antioch resident Narcico Morales answered a knock on the door of his residence on Aldagrove Road and was forced back inside by two males and a female point-ing a handgun at him. Morales was confi ned to a closet as his house was ransacked. The robbers fl ed the house with a small amount of cash and property. Morales escaped the closet, went outside and yelled for help. A neighbor called the police as another neigh-bor observed the robbers run to a vehicle, which he described to Antioch Police. An offi cer familiar with the suspect vehicle went to the last known address associated with the vehicle: 2201 Sycamore Drive, the site of an apartment complex. Upon arrival, the offi cer located the suspect vehicle in a carport. Three suspects were removed from the car and ar-rested: 21-year-old Kirk Davis, a 17-year-old male and a 16-year-old female. A loaded

handgun, stolen property and other evidence were found in the car. The victim identifi ed the three suspects. Offi cers made contact with a fourth subject, 18-year-old Louis Davis, in the apartment associated with the robbery suspects. A probation search was conducted and a loaded assault rifl e was discovered. The fourth subject was also arrested. Both juve-niles were transported to the Contra Costa Juvenile Hall, and both adults were booked at the Martinez Detention Facility on robbery and related weapon charges.Jan. 6 The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Offi ce fi led charges against 29-year-old Mau-rice Green for the Oct. 11, 2007 murder of 28-year-old Antioch resident Jose Victor Sanchez. Sanchez was the victim of a rob-bery, during which he was punched, causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head. He died at the hospital several days later. The same night of the robbery, Green was caught a short distance away with Sanchez’s credit cards in his pocket. Green stated he had just bought the credit cards. Green, on parole at the time, was sent back to prison for violat-ing parole. Meanwhile, the Antioch Police

Department obtained additional evidence leading to charges being fi led against Green, including a December, 2008 robbery arrest.

For information on law enforcement in Antioch, visit www.ci.antioch.ca.us/citygov/police.

OAKLEYDec. 29 Subjects were cited for driving with suspended or revoked licenses on Laurel Road and Bernard Road.Dec. 29 A vehicle accident involving property damage occurred on Laurel Road at O’Hara Avenue.Dec. 30 On Meadow Creek Court, a subject was cited for possession of dangerous drugs.Dec. 30 Incidents of unlicensed driving oc-curred on Chablis Way, Douglas Road and Empire Avenue.Dec. 30 Arrest warrants were served on the 1700 block of Cedar Court and the 1200 block of Laurel Road.Dec. 30 Residences on the 4600 block of Chelsea Drive and the 100 block of Hill Av-enue were vandalized.Dec. 31 On the 4800 block of Edgewood Court, a subject was found in violation of a weapon probation.Dec. 31 Separate incidents of misdemeanor driving under the infl uence occurred on East Cypress Road.Dec. 31 A misdemeanor battery was reported on Main Street at Miguel Drive.Dec. 31 A business on the 2500 block of Main Street was burglarized.Jan. 1 A stolen vehicle was recovered on Em-pire Avenue.Jan. 1 On Bayside Way, a subject was found in possession of dangerous drugs.Jan. 1 On the 100 block of East Bolton Road, a subject was found in possession of an un-lawful weapon.

On Upton Pine Drive, a sub-ject was inadvertently struck by his own vehicle.

Jan. 4, 7:53 p.m.

18A | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

513-8883Dale Giessman, D. C.

John Muir Pkwy • Brentwood, CAwww.deltaspinecare.com

With a series of non-surgical treatments you

will begin to enjoy the freedom from pain.

Decompression Therapy creates negative

pressure to draw nutrients and herniated

material back into disc. Decompression

Therapy is fast, effective, drug-free and cleared

by the FDA. Call today for a free consultation.

Herniated Discs? Sciatica?Degenerative Disc Disease?

Delta Spine & SportcareDelta Spine & SportcareDelta Spine & SportcareDelta Spine & Sportcare

New YearNew YearLet us help YOU

Reach your goals IN 2009

Circuit Training

Pilates Classes

Aerobic Suite

◆◆◆

Massage Therapy

Nutrition Classes

Weight Loss Programs

◆◆◆

Only $24.95 Per Month

Join Today & Receive a Free 30 Minute Massage!

Must present this coupon

Open 24/7!Open 24/7!

5351 Neroly Road, Oakley 978-2225978-2225

A New YouA New You for the for the 22 888882008 G

O

LD MEDALAWARD

most insurances accepted

But hey, what do we care? Let’s spend $75 million (and you know it will be more) on a new “fancy” city hall for all the unemployed people to be able to look at. No doubt it will make them feel better as they struggle to sur-vive until the economy turns around, which according to fi nancial predictions, will not be until 2010 or possibly later.

How arrogant and thoughtless of city offi cials to even entertain building the new Civic Center during this economic downturn!

Diane BlairBrentwood

Music education is no luxuryEditor:

With the next round of impending state budget cuts upon us, I fi nd it important to raise awareness within our community and send a message to our school board members in regard to the importance of our school music programs.

A pro musician myself, and private instructor, I fully support our valued music teachers within the district. People often over-look the importance of the fi ne arts programs and the individuals who teach them. I have kept fi ve teachers close to my heart over the years, and four of them were music teachers.

Science and research have proved that music enhances an individual’s brain develop-ment in ways that nothing else can compare to. Students develop stronger social skills, higher test scores, enhanced spatial reasoning and an overall higher intellectual level than those who don’t study music. The list goes on and on.

Music in many ways is the fabric of our

lives and the defi nition of society. Ask your-self what the world would be like without music or any kind of art. Might as well sit down in front of the TV all day and rot your brain out on reality shows. The unfortunate thing about our society is that normal day-to-day life is so clouded with white noise that we tend to lose site of the things that defi ne us, the past, and the future.

The school district will announce budget cuts in February and our music programs are at stake. I am asking for the community’s support by writing letters to the administra-tors and school board members. Put some heat and pressure on those people. Make some phone calls and do whatever is neces-sary to steer them toward making the right decisions when it comes to our children’s futures. Unfortunately, we can’t save all the teachers, and good people will lose their jobs.

To the state, a teacher is just a number. They fail to recognize that number has a life and a family, or that number is a mentor to your kids, or that number has gone beyond the call of duty to better your kids’ educations.

I tell you what: history has shown us that when people stand up for themselves and support others for the greater good, things start to happen. I encourage you to contact the appropriate school offi cials, fi nd out when board meetings are, and make your voice heard. We all owe it to the teachers in this town.

Justin WilsonBrentwood

Votes tallied in public viewEditor:

This is in response to a letter to the edi-

tor questioning the vote-counting procedure for the bylaws. The procedure for counting the ballots will be open and in public view, as has been done for at least the last 10 years for the election results.

The board has appointed an Election Committee made up of community individu-als not involved with any association activity, and the chairman in this election does not live within the DBPOA boundaries. The committee’s task is to see that the ballots are distributed, received back by legitimate voters, opened and a result determined at the stated time and place on the ballot, once a quorum has been achieved or at the end of any extended election period. All fi nalized activities and decisions of the Election Com-mittee are certifi ed and delivered to the board and made a part of the public record of the association.

The vote-counting process, time and place, is clearly designated in the voting material distributed to all voters, and anyone is welcome to view the vote-counting process. The only requirement is that non-election committee members must remain in the designated area and not talk or otherwise dis-turb the process. There is an area away from the vote counting that observer conversation can take place.

This process is open, independent and economical, maintaining our continuing ef-fort to keep costs in line.

Mark B. LeePresident, DBPOA

Reefer sadnessEditor:

Concerning the article “Oakley says

nope to dope dispensaries” (Oakley Press, Jan. 2, 2009), it’s interesting to see that Oak-ley is adopting the same “Reefer Madness” attitudes used to outlaw marijuana to begin with:• “Marijuana infl uences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” (Hearst newspapers nationwide, 1934).• “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic mu-sic, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertain-ers and any others.”• “The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”• “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality and death.” “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”• “(Smoking) one (marijuana) cigarette might develop a homicidal mania, probably to kill his brother.” (see U.S. government propagan-da to outlaw marijuana at www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/t3.htm).

Perhaps Police Chief Chris Thorsen can tell us which of these threats is most preva-lent in the Oakley area.

Ralph GivensDaly City

Bypass surgery urgently requiredEditor:

After being a part of the Vasco Road Task Force for the past few years, I have come to the following realization: “Task Forces

Letters from page 16A

see Letters page 19A

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 19A

Ask about refund anticipation loans (funded same day to 3 days)

• E-File

• Federal & State

• Instant Refunds

• Trusts & Estates

www.ChrisMobileTax.com

MBA, EA, Tax Consultant

Chris Christopherson

786-7660 fax 626-3488

In home tax preparation

Trevor’s Weekly Mortgage MattersBy Trevor Frey

Not loosely, but literally translated the phrase laissez-faire is French and means “Let do”, or, “allow to do”. According to the former CEO, and man responsible for taking Salomon Brother’s public, the “King of Wall Street” per Business Week circa 1985 and the defi nition of an excessive era, John H Gut-freund, the investment banks on Wall Street practice that very economic theory, laissez-faire capitalism: the separation of economy and state, or rather, a free market where pro-duction and productivity is controlled by only one of two entities, privately held or publicly traded companies…not the government.

“It’s laissez-faire until you get in deep (explicit)…” Gutfreund was quoted as saying in 2008. And now, in 2009, how much more relevant, and to the point, can that statement possibly be when summing up the burst real estate bubble America now fi nds itself neck deep (and then some) in. Free market and the lack of regulation lead to a gap between interests of those who made their living on Wall Street and the wider population of those that did not, now known as main street. In retrospect and to put it more bluntly, a gap so large the global economy is now forced to share the burden. With more than a $490 bil-lion increase from 2000 to 2005 in subprime loans it’s very easy to see how free market, not regulation, had taken over the fi nancial sector of Wall Street. Where an “F” on Wall Street once stood for fun, now, raised high, an “F” on main street sadly represents foreclosure.

No one knows this fact better than the residents of “Foreclosure Alley”, this nation’s hardest hit region; a strip of southern Califor-

nia behind Los Angeles and Orange County where nearly 500 families lose their home to foreclosure daily. Residents of Lake Elsinore, CA can only swallow a very bitter bill and take irony in the once upbeat ad campaigns of now failed fi nancial institutions. Still standing erect are billboards for the now F.D.I.C con-trolled Indymac, that, as tongue-in-cheek as it sounds, simply state, “You can count on us”.

However, both Wall Street and Main Street seem to still be in agreement on one thing; our markets need to bounce back, and that needs to be done almost single handedly by credit, as a whole, again fl owing through the arteries of real estate. Said best by Chair-man Wilbur Way, of the $8 billion private equity fi rm Invesco, “Th e fi rst step is to get banks to where they’ll continue to make new mortgages.”

So until banks overcome their own knee jerk reaction, and begin lending again, we as main street America have to sit on the sidelines and wait for the opportunity to do our part. You see in a laissez-faire theory type economy, it’s the consumers not the govern-ment that is the lifeboat. Best summed up by Gentleman’s Quarterly, or GQ, journal-ist Charles Bowdin, “It is not a question of whether or not they deserve a seat on the lifeboat. Th ey are the lifeboat: the family-rais-ing, credit-card spending, American Buying Machine.”

As always, I welcome all questions and or concerns pertaining to real estate lending on my cell phone, 510-798-0060, or via email, tfreymortgages@yahoo.com.

Laissez-faire 101

– Advertisement

don’t work.” Now, I am sure that we will hear from our locally elected offi cials that what “they” have done has resulted in no deaths in 2008.

But of course they don’t talk about the accidents that still occur, including head-on crashes, or that injuries still happen, or that speeding still occurs, and even with the plastic dividers, passing still occurs. Their ultimate solution: spend $30 million on a small stretch of the road to construct a concrete divider while the majority of the road remains undi-vided.

During these meetings, I have made two recommendations. The fi rst would have created a barrier for the entire length of the road for under $1 million. The other would have changed the way the lanes compress at the Alameda/Contra Costa County border. This would prevent the same type of ac-cident that killed four men and injured two other people. The cost of that project would be minimal.

Yet, both were ignored. I came away from these meetings sensing an attitude from the county and our elected representatives that is – “well, thank you for your input, but

because we are county workers and/or elected representatives, we know more than you.” So they pat us on the head and return to their thrones back in Martinez.

Now we have an issue with the Highway 4 Bypass; specifi cally, the intersection of the Bypass and Sand Creek Road. I am sure by now we all have seen the congestion that oc-curs at this intersection and has extended back over the Lone Tree overpass for southbound traffi c and created backups for northbound drivers as far back as Balfour Road.

There is one major problem: the Bypass’ southbound left turn lane to Sand Creek. The left turn traffi c is so long that it backs up the southbound traffi c to a point beyond the Lone Tree/Bypass merge, where there is only one lane. The left turn light has to stay on so long in order to relieve this southbound backup that backups occur northbound.

So, is there an easy fi x that can be achieved now without creating a “Task Force” and at a minimal cost? The fi x: We don’t need two southbound lanes at the intersection of Sand Creek and the Bypass. Currently, at that intersection, we have two through lanes and

Letters from page 18A

see Letters page 20A

Diabetic Drugs May Be Dangerous To Your Health

New guide sheds light on the dangers of diabetic

drugs and why doctors prescribe them anyway.A new free guide has just been released that reveals why current therapy

may make your condition worse. If you are frustrated that your blood sugars

don’t budge or continue to rise despite all of your medications then this

guide may be the answer. To receive your free guide entitled “Type II Dia-

betes: Th e Untold Truth Behind Current Treatment” call 24 hour recorded

message toll free 1-800-791-5833 James Martin, D.C.–Advertisement

20A | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

one left turn lane. Those two through lanes merge into one lane just past the intersection. Anyone who travels though that intersection knows that there must be at least 10 times as many cars turning left than going straight. The remedy: we convert one of the south-bound lanes as a left-turn-only lane (now we have two left turn lanes) and one lane proceeding south.

This will permit twice the number of cars into the left turn lanes, thus reducing the backup on the bypass and allowing less time for the traffi c to turn left. Northbound traffi c therefore will not back up, and with the

addition of a right-turn-only arrow for the Sand Creek traffi c to enter the bypass, traffi c through this corridor should fl ow faster and safer.

I am not saying this is the solution or the only solution. But what is apparent is that our local, Bypass or country authorities, who created this problem, have done nothing to correct it. We have already had one death in this corridor and we don’t have the time to “study” this problem for the next few years. Let’s not turn the Bypass into other “Vasco Road Task Force.”

Albert Del GrandeBrentwood

Letters from page 19A

spring from a dark and ignorant place that we can rise above.

Like Rev. King, President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden believe in each of us as Americans. They are urging Americans to take responsibility for themselves and their brothers and sisters by participating in a National Day of Service on Jan. 19. Schools are closed, and this is a perfect opportunity to volunteer as a family to sponsor

a cause you believe in. Obama and Biden are challenging us not only to devote this one day to furthering the goals of that organization, but to maintain that support through a continued dedication of time and effort. My family and I intend to proudly honor this challenge, and I hope yours will as well.

The Brentwood Diversity Committee meets at 5 p.m. on the fi rst Thursday of the month in the Delta Room at the Brentwood Police Station, 9100 Brentwood Blvd. Please join us!

Bridging from page 9A

JANUARY 16, 2009 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 21A

1300 Loveridge Road in Pi�sburg

OPEN TO THE PUBLICWe’ll recycle & dispose of your:

Construction Debris ● Yard WasteLarge Bulky Furniture & Appliances

Household Garbage ● Old Wood & MetalRoofing Materials ● Cardboard & Paper

No Hazardous Materials Accepted

Open daily 7 am to 6 pm•(925) 473-0180

Loveridge Rd

Contra Costa Waste

Recycling Center & Transfer Station Pi

�sbu

rg-A

ntioc

h

Hwy

Recycle Your Waste At Our Place!Recycling Center & Transfer Station

high achievers.“There is a disparity in scores with minorities and the

socio-economically disadvantaged. We need to bring that up. I can bring my leadership and experience in planning, setting goals and objectives to be accountable to the citi-zens and parents. I have the leadership to move the school district forward.

“This is a tough budgeting time. My ZIP code has the highest foreclosure rate in the county. Gas prices have been up and down. (The state is) threatening to give employees work furloughs. It’s going to need a steady hand; someone with compassion, who loves and is concerned about the school district and teachers. I will provide that collabora-tive style of leadership.”

Before voting to appoint Harper, board President Wal-ter Ruehlig described him as “very eloquent, passionate. I wouldn’t mind having a lieutenant on the board; that looks awfully good. He’s been in the trenches. With the changing demographics of Antioch, with 38 percent of our popula-tion being youth under 18, he brings a lot to the table.”

After he was appointed, Harper thanked the board and the other candidates, then said, “I love our schools. I know they work; they work for my children. And I’m impressed by a lot of the administrators.

“And I want to be a part of this to help our students achieve, to help them do well for this community. I’m go-ing to be an excellent representative for this school board, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity and the chal-lenge.”

Harper will be offi cially sworn in on Jan. 28, but AUSD Superintendent Deborah Sims told him that his homework to get up to speed on the district will begin immediately and that she and the other administrators would assist him through the process.

Board from page 1A

this done across the board so that all of the (employee union) bargaining units will share and contribute to cost-saving measures.”

Councilman Reggie Moore has asked city staff to look into whether residents would support raising their taxes for police services, adding $50 to $100 to their property tax bill.

“We haven’t talked about putting it on the ballot yet,” said Mornick. “We talked about how to determine if it’s a viable option. Putting it on the ballot is going to cost money. So the direction was to look at ways to determine if it’s viable.”

When asked to sum up the city’s handling of its fi s-cal situation, Mornick said, “I am very proud of the council and its ability to see the big picture of what’s happening in the city. I think we need to take this in stages. We just made the fi rst step of what our direction is to reduce our expenditures. And we will be coming back to the City Council as other steps are needed.”

On the plus side, the cost-saving measures are pro-jected to keep the current 2008-09 budget with a healthy 13-percent reserve fund. City administrators will need to get the employee unions to agree to some of the ben-efi ts cuts, however.

The following are measures planned to be imple-mented in the General Fund budget and the savings that will result in the current budget and the 2009-10 budget:• Reduce services and supplies – $546,340 each year.• Reduce vehicle replacement – $233,700 this year; $467,000 next year.• Postpone hiring a deputy district attorney – $100,000 this year; $125,000 next year.• Use residential development allocation (RDA) funds

for community benefi t programs – $74,700 this year; $41,000 next year.• Don’t fi ll vacant positions – $638,353 this year; $823,481 next year.• Reorganize the Public Works Department – $127,876 this year; $316,118 next year.• Hold off on sidewalk repair for two years – $60,000 over two years.• Don’t spend additional money for City Hall improve-ments – $100,000 next year.• Use RDA money to pay for additional library hours – $140,600 this year; $140,600 next year.• Use RDA money to pay for the Economic Develop-ment Incentive to Bluerock Business Center – $150,000 this year.• Publish the city newsletter online instead of printing it – $80,000 each year.• Postpone the citizen’s satisfaction survey – $50,000 next year.• Use the Calpine donation for recreation programs – $300,000.• Require an unpaid furlough of employees for one or more days a month, excluding the Police Department – $217,700 this year; $435,000 next year if it’s one day per month.• Postpone the 3-percent cost-of-living raises for em-ployees – $80,000 this year; $320,000 next year.• Eliminate training and travel budgets – $87,000 this year; $122,000 next year.

The council also asked staff to look into reducing the council stipend by 4.5 percent, asking employees to pay a portion of their retirement contribution, privatiz-ing the programs at Prewett Water Park and using left-over funding in the city lighting and landscape mainte-nance districts.

Budget from page 1A

YMCA construction campaign in last phase

The Delta Family YMCA Board of Directors is reaching out to the community for help in securing the fi nal funds for its $6 million permanent multi-use facility in Oak-ley. Now in the last phase of its Together We Build campaign, the YMCA is looking to make its longtime dream a reality.

“We are excited to have reached this fi nal but crucial phase of the campaign,” said Patrick Shannon, vice president of East County YMCA operations. “And the advisory board will now be asking for support from key business and community leaders.”

Working in conjunction with the

Special Kids Foundation – an organiza-tion dedicated to special-needs children and their families – the 25,000-square-foot-facility on O’Hara Avenue will house services, therapies and programs for the special needs and general population of East County. The combined facility will also include an All Abilities Playground for children with limited physical abilities. The emphasis at the combined site will be inclusion, family and healthy lifestyle.

“What I think is so important is the collaboration taking place between the Special Kids Foundation and the YMCA so that they can provide services to all members of the family,” said YMCA Advi-sory Board Member Vickey Rinehart. “It’s a big undertaking that has taken a long

time, and with economics the way they are right now, it’s been diffi cult. But we need to continue working toward the goal and getting the word out.”

In order to qualify for bond monies to build the new facility, the YMCA is re-quired to raise a total of $400,000 in local fi nancing. To date, the organization has gathered $89,000 from corporate partners, community leaders and local businesses. Now the group is hoping to secure the last $246,000 so construction can begin within the next four to six months.

“No donation is too small,” said Shan-non. “Everyone can make a difference.”

And in an effort to make a signifi cant difference, the YMCA advisory board is hosting a fundraising reception Feb. 5 from

5 to 7 p.m. at Vic Stewart’s Restaurant in Brentwood. The community is invited to attend the event, which will include hors d’oeuvres and beverages, plus an update on construction schedules, timetables and information on current and future YMCA programs.

The new structure will include an aer-obics, cardiovascular and strength-training facility, a health and fi tness center, family aquatic services, multi-generational tech-nology center and a community gathering place. A demonstration and nutritional teaching kitchen will also be on site, as well as a childcare facility.

To attend the reception, or for ad-ditional information or ways to help, call 925-887-4645.

by Ruth RobertsStaff Writer

22A | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

http://www.sharphomesonline.com

NOW ONLINE! THEPRESS.NET January 16, 2009

H O M E S | D I N I N G | H E A LT H | R E C R E AT I O N | C L A S S I F I E D S

THIS WEEK

Diners flock to Kitchen

A new restaurant in town is serving up homestyle cuisine in a family-friendly environment.

Page 10B

Miraculous moo juice This udderly healthy substance is packed with vitamins, minerals – and even comes in chocolate form. Got it?

Page 8B

Spreading good cheer

For the third straight year, the Edna Hill cheer squad took home the top trophy at a prestigious competition.

Page 4B

Don’t see your team?If you’d like to see your favorite team more often in our sports pages, just send us a

short write-up, preferably with photos, describing how the team is doing. This could be an article on a recent game or tournament, the season so far, or a description of an out-standing or special athlete. E-mail your articles and photos to sports@brentwoodpress.com. Space limitations might prevent us from publishing every last submission, but we’ll try to squeeze in everything we can.

Patriots win Battle of Brentwood

The Liberty High School public ad-dress announcer said before the start of the boys basketball game last Friday night against Heritage High, “Welcome to the Battle of Brentwood!” But there were actually several battles taking place in Liberty’s gym.

There was the battle of the signs. On the wall at the entrance to the gym, Pa-triot fans put up a banner reading, “We have more heritage than you!” On the other end of the gym the Lions’ banner read, “Age before beauty, we have 100 years on you!” Advantage Liberty.

There was the battle of the fans. On one side of the court, loud Liberty fans chanted “Dee-fense!” and gave the refs a hard time on questionable calls. On the other side, the Heritage faithful engaged in a finger-waving voodoo when one of their players was at the free-throw line, shouting “swoosh!” when the ball went through, thanks to their friendly mojo. Advantage Heritage.

There was the battle of the cheerlead-ers. Both squads put on good halftime shows with the requisite kicks, cheer-leaders thrown in the air and hoisted on

shoulders. But the Liberty squad ended its routine with five cheerleaders held high in the air, two of them upside down. They also outbackflipped Heritage dur-ing timeouts. Advantage Liberty.

And, by the way, there was also the

battle of the basketball teams, which was advantage Heritage with a 65-54 victory over Liberty. The Patriots led for most of the game, but the Lions hung in close.

by Dave RobertsStaff Writer

Photo by Stacey Chance/DiscoveryBayStudios.com

John Moffatt of Heritage goes up with the ball against Aaron Castillo of Liberty. Heritage prevailed in the heated crosstown rivalry.

see Battle page 6B

Liberty High School ju-nior Brittany David claimed the title Queen of the Mat recently at Pittsburg High School’s annual girl’s wres-tling tournament.

David took first place and was named the tourna-ment’s Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weight classes by pinning all five of her op-ponents, including a decisive first-round pin in the finals over Cisca Harriss of Gunn High School. She followed up that performance with a first-place finish in the 11th annual Asics Napa Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High School, the oldest all-girl

wrestling tournament in the country. Among 265 female wrestlers competing from all over the state, David was voted Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weight classes.

This season, David has also taken first place in all-girl tournaments in Fresno, Stockton, San Leandro and Castro Valley. She wrestles in the 146-pound weight class, posting a 24-0 record that in-cludes 18 pins, two tech-falls, two major decisions and two injury defaults. She was cho-sen Athlete of the Week by California-USA Wrestling for the week of Jan. 1-7.

Queen of Mat pins hopes on dominance

Liberty High School junior Brittany David is one of the best girl wrestlers in the state.

Photo courtesy of Eileen David

see Queen page 6B

Classified section Looking to buy or sell some-thing? Looking for a job? Look no further than our Classifieds, Home Services and Directory of Professional Services section.

Page 15B

Calendar East County is a busy place, and there’s no place like our Community Calendar to bring you up to speed on events you won’t want to miss.

Page 19B

2B | THEPRESS.NET SPORTS JANUARY 16, 2009

Xplosion rips through Winter ClassicAfter losing seven girls from its 2007

squad and losing its starting left forward to a major knee injury, the Delta Xplo-sion U12 Girls Class 1 Team hasn’t missed a beat.

On Dec. 14, the Xplosion, led by Head Coach Mike Rainsford and as-sistant coaches Tim McCarthy, Nick Howliston and Ed Prieto, played in the Mustang Tournament in Blackhawk, win-ning the fi rst four games and then beating the Mustangs in the fi nals 3-1 to capture the championship.

On Jan. 10 and 11, the Xplosion girls played in the Castro Valley Winter Clas-sic Tournament against some of the top teams from the state. In its fi rst game, the Delta team faced the home team and tour-nament-favorite, the Castro Valley Fury. In a fi erce battle and behind 1-0 early in the second half, the Xplosion girls never gave up and forced the contest into a 1-1 deadlock.

Later that evening, the Xplosion girls beat the Pleasanton Rage 2-0, setting up a semifi nal match the following day against rival Diablo FC Shockwave. The Xplo-sion scored with fi ve minutes left, winning 1-0.

The championship game was a tough defensive struggle against the Bay Oaks Breakerz. The Xplosion girls were relent-less, scoring the only goal of the game to win the tournament.

– Contributed by Ed Prieto

Players for the Delta Xplosion U12 Girls Class 1 Team, front row from left, are Monica Prieto and Megan Pato; sec-ond row: Ale Hinojosa, Siobhan Williamson, Kailee Soares and Rebekah McCarthy; third row: Janis Gamboa, Alyssa Rodriguez and Dominique Guerra; back row: Danielle Dickerson, Jacqueline Laird, Anjelica Yee, Sidne Spencer, Callie Rainsford and Kaylee James. The coaches, from left, are Ed Prieto, Tim McCarthy and Nick Howliston.

Photo courtesy of Ed Prieto

4B | THEPRESS.NET SPORTS JANUARY 16, 2009

Bobcats are golden

Pitbulls unleashed

Photo courtesy of Lori Abreu

The Edna Hill Middle School Competition Cheer Team took fi rst place at the recent UC Davis Jamz cheer competition. This is the third year in a row that the Edna Hill Bobcats have brought home fi rst-place honors at this elite competition. Coaches Lori Abreu, Ashley Abreu and Nikki Hart are proud of how hard everyone worked for this achievement. Competition

team members are co-captains Katelyn Digiorgio and Jaylyn Glenn, Cheyenne Bell, Aubrey Bradshaw, Sabrina Carasco, Bianca Chan, Samantha Duran, Marcia Fernandez, Esperanza Hernandez, TyTiana Jones, Natalia Maitoza, Ashley Masselli, Whitney McEachin, Lissett Quezada, Mikaela Raimondi, Jewels Rios and Oriana Tumanuao.

The Bay Area Soccer Academy Pitbulls Club, based in Pittsburg, won the 2008 San Francisco Soccer Football League First Division Championship and will move to the league’s Major Division. From left are BASA-PC Marketing and Communications Director Daniel Lopez, SFSFL President Leo Shoomiloff and BASA-PC President Dario Arredondo at SFSFL’s Awards Ceremony. The club specializes in academic youth player and competitive club team development and provides premier high-level competition in multiple divisions of league play.

To comment on any story go to

thepress.net

Local Doctor Exposes Weight Loss

Industry And Saves You Big Money

On Your New Years Resolution…Brentwood Doctor gives you the “skinny” on the tactics

used by the diet and weight loss industry to help separate you from your hard earned dollars while selling you a pipe dream and tips on how you can lose weight without wasting money on gym memberships, outrageous diets or dangerous pills.

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 5B

—Advertisement

Brentwood, Ca – Dr. James Martin D.C. has had it with the diet and weight loss industry and is indeed exposing the diet and weight loss industry and helping guide you to the most direct, fastest, effective and SAFE ways to lose the extra 5, 10, 45 or even 100 lbs. you’ve put on over the last few months or years. This local doctor has had so many of his patients doing everything under the sun to try and lose weight and failing miserably or succeeding at losing the weight only to have it return and then some, that he has just tired of seeing people victimized by these money sucking vampires that prey on innocent consumers at their weak-est point. Yeah, they are waiting and salivating for YOU to make your oh so predictable and SHORT LIVED….you know….NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!! Some of you say it every year. This year I will lose the weight. Or for some of you it’s your fi rst year to start the nev-er-ending year after year HOPE that you will succeed at losing the unwant-ed and unsightly fat hanging around your belly or cottage cheese thighs. For some of you, you really want to lose the weight for the health benefi t to avoid diabetes and heart disease associated with being overweight. Whatever your case may be, There is FINALLY HOPE! Dr. Martin isn’t going to be making any friends by giving you the follow-ing information, but he is sick and tired of watching people devastated or even depressed by their weight gain and helpless feelings of despair when they fail time and time again. So here goes…. IF you are reading this and you have tried it ALL already, and you re-ally would like to lose the weight and succeed, then pay close attention. If you have tried counting points only to throw your calculator out the win-dow, If you have embarrassed yourself enough with public and humiliating “weigh-ins”, If you are tired of mail order, microwaved and probably un-healthy food, If you are tired of silly

“Hollywood” type diets, If you are sick of taking dangerous stimulant diet pills (yes, they are dangerous), If you are tired of starving yourself, If you have succeeded at losing the weight with any of these, BUT gained it ALL back with a few extra pounds you are in for the biggest breakthrough in weight loss Dr. Martin has ever seen. Dr. Martin believes the TRUE CAUSE of “Weight Loss Resistance Syndrome” is NOT in your mouth! It IS in your head!! My name is Dr. James Martin and No I’m not trying to be funny. Let me explain. This amazing discovery hit me like a ton of bricks and I wasn’t even looking! A while back, I was in-vited by a world famous doctor (now a good friend) who specialized in a non surgical, non invasive brain based behavioral repatterning treatment to help patients quickly and effectively lose weight, to bring my offi ce staff to spend three days with him at his estate and he would train me and my staff on how to do this treatment. This world famous doctor did share with me that he had operated up to 38 weight loss centers at one time and had people los-ing up to HALF THEIR BODYWEIGHT and kept it off for years after receiving treatment at his centers. He showed me the before and after pictures and their stories….Dozens and dozens of them!! I was astounded!! I was so impressed that I had to try this new technology and treatment on my own patients to see if it really worked. I im-mediately started treatment on what I call the ULTIMATE COUCH POTATO! My mother in law had been through fi ve back surgeries, can’t walk more than 3 houses on her block, can’t stand more than 10 minutes, can’t really do much of anything! She tried EVERY-THING! Popular weight loss centers that do public weigh-ins, mail order microwave foods, starvation, all kinds of diets, dangerous pills, you name it. And NO lasting results! She could NOT lose weight! She was severely

depressed to the point of depression medication. I called her to come into my offi ce as I had what I called a break-through treatment to help her actually lose weight. She got a little excited as she could see how excited I was as I ex-plained the treatment and she agreed to be my test subject. Well, she lost 36 pounds over 6 months doing NO EX-ERCISE, NO REAL ACTIVITY, NOT EVEN WALKING!! She can’t due to severe debilitating back and leg pain! I was SOLD! I watched a colleague lose over 100 pounds over 12 months! It was amazing. So, great news for you. I am now releasing this new Doctor supervised weight loss program for the fi rst time ever in Brentwood. Imag-ine the feeling you get when you look good again, feel attractive, feel good about yourself. Imagine melting off the pounds quickly and easily without the hype and short lived results! I am so convinced that this program will work for you that I am offering an unheard of Satisfaction Guarantee In Writing!Yes! A real old fashioned guarantee. But there are a small number of people out there this may not work for. So, I am offering for a limited time…

13 Point Weight Loss Qualifying Assessment

During your assessment the doctor will review your medical history and

list of prescribed medications, perform Semg testing, suggestability testing, 12

minute treatment response testingExpires 1/23/09

Warning! Not Everyone Is Accepted For This Program.

Dr. Martin and Dr. Leung are consistently overbooked and

accept only cases that they feel will respond well to the treatment.

Call TODAY to receive your FREE WEIGHT LOSS

ASSESSMENT 925-516-5855

HealthSource Weight Loss Center2200 Sand Creek Road #B

Brentwood, Ca 94513

My Mother-in-Law Before Treatment

After Treatment

James Martin D.C./Brian Leung N.D.Does not apply to federal benefi ciaries

or acn members

David will be defending her 146-pound-class title at the Northern California CIF regional tournament in Sacramento on Jan. 16 and 17. At the end of the month, she’ll com-pete against girls from Northern and Southern California in the California Girls State Invitational in Hanford – the unofficial girls state champion-ship, where she placed second last year.

After the state championships, David plans to raise funds to compete in national tournaments in Oklahoma City, Denver and Fargo. Those who’d like to sponsor Brittany should call 925-308-7089. Sponsors will receive a Team Brittany T-shirt and access to a Web site where they can watch videos of her wrestling matches and keep up with her current stats and informa-tion.

– Contributed by Eileen David

6B | THEPRESS.NET SPORTS JANUARY 16, 2009

Heritage lead 14-9 at the end of the first quarter with the aid of a cou-ple of three-point shots, and length-ened the lead to nine points just two minutes into the second quarter.

At that point, however, Liberty’s star guard Aaron Meeks, who is any-thing but meek with a basketball, took charge. He hit several three-point shots, including an amazing, crowd-rousing desperation throw at the buzz-er, and was deadly at the line, notching 16 (of his game-high 26) points at the half.

Liberty outscored Heritage 14-6 in the final six minutes of the first quarter and trailed by just one point at the half, keeping it still anybody’s game. An evenly matched third quar-ter ended with Heritage holding onto a tenuous 43-39 lead.

The Patriots then began to pull away, led by Jordan Knox, who scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quar-ter. The Lions were still within striking distance with two minutes to go, how-ever, trailing by only five. But Knox’s clutch 15-foot jump shot followed by a charging call on Meeks pretty much sealed the deal.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said Heritage Coach Pat Cruickshank af-terward. “I thought both teams played really hard. They kept coming after us. Aaron Meeks had a tremendous game tonight. He played really hard.

“But our kids are resilient. A lot of guys on our team chipped in, a lot of guys had big games. Knox did some nice things. Defensively, Jimmy (Eno-moto) and Sean Packard really shut down their guys. It was a good, hard-fought game. Two teams in the same city playing for pride and bragging rights – and then we play again.”

The next showdown promising more playoff atmosphere in this great rivalry takes place Jan. 27 at Heritage. Tonight, Jan. 16, Heritage plays at Freedom High, and Liberty at Deer Valley High. Tipoffs are at 7 p.m.

Battle from page 1B

Queen from page 1B

A Liberty player hits the deck and watches

his shot go in. Heritage won

the hard-fought contest last

Friday night.

Photo by Dave Roberts

Save on the dotted line:

It’s a savings event so big, it comes with a really big coupon: 10% off

the price of your extraordinary Centex home when you act by 1/18/09.

It’s a great time to buy. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity. Visit

a Centex neighborhood today.

10% OFF*

Bring in this coupon for extra big savings on a new Centex home when you act by 1/18/09. One coupon per purchase.

99

580

5

4

680

Merced

San Ramon

Modesto

Oakley

Big Savings EventFor big savings, act fast.(And don’t forget to bring your coupon.)

*Offer valid on contracts accepted 1/08/09 through 1/18/09 in select neighborhoods on quick move-in homes that can close escrow by 3/31/09. Some conditions, limitations, and restrictions apply. Coupon savings is off the selected home’s base price, excluding any options, upgrades, and lot premiums. Limit one coupon per purchase. Coupon not required to receive discount. Program may not be combined with other promotions or discounts. See a Centex sales representative for details. Terms, prices and availability are subject to change or withdrawal without notice or obligation. Additional conditions or restrictions may apply. See a Centex sales representative for details. This material shall not constitute a valid offer in any state where prior registration is required, or if void by law. Photographs and drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not necessarily intended to be an actual representation of any particular community, neighborhood or the completed improvements being offered. All commissions are subject to the conditions of the Centex’s broker cooperative commission agreement. Broker must accompany and register purchaser on fi rst visit to the applicable neighborhood. ©2009 Centex Homes. All rights reserved.

Bring your money-saving coupon to your favorite Centex neighborhood today!

Find your new home at

JANUARY 16, 2009 MILESTONES THEPRESS.NET | 7B

GOLF IN BRENTWOOD!New Hwy. 4 Bypass drops you on our front door!

www.ShadowLakesGolf.com 401 West Country Club Dr. | 516-2837

Not valid on Holidays, tournaments or with any other discount off er. Other restrictions may

apply. Valid through Jan. 31, 2009. Must Present ad at the time of use. Proper golf attire required.

East Bay’s BEST Golf Value! Award-Winning Golf Course and Clubhouse

New Winter Rates Weekdays $25 Weekends $45

East Bay’s FAVORITE Golf Course! Quality and Tradition

www.DeerRidgeCC.com801 Foothill Dr. | 516-6600

Not valid on Holidays, tournaments or with any other discount off er. Other restrictions may

apply. Valid through Jan. 31, 2009. Must Present ad at the time of use. Proper golf attire required.

New Winter Rates Weekdays $40 Weekends $60

Locally Owned & Operated

516-2710857 Second St. #A, Brentwood

www.bayareacremations.comFD1945

Bay Area Cremation &

Funeral Services

• Caring, personal

service

• Serving the Bay

Area for 8 years

• Veteran Benefi ts

Accepted

• Pre-planning

available

• Free Test Lane Free Test Lane • Full Service Repair FacilityFull Service Repair Facility• Smog TestSmog Test Saturday 8-5Saturday 8-5

5060 Neroly Rd, Oakley | Shop Hours 7am-5:30pm | Lobby Hours 5am-8pm | www.paulsauto.net

522.8367522.8367PAUL’S AUTOMOTIVE CENTERPAUL’S AUTOMOTIVE CENTER

Guen “Worden” Norris Guen was a true woman of God and be-

loved wife of Bob Norris, devoted mother of Bobby and Missy Norris, caring Grammy of Dawn and Samantha, and treasured daugh-ter of Arlie and Betty Worden. She was also the sister of Den-nis (Kathy) W o r d e n , Linda (Jack) Hall, Darrell (Cheryl) Wor-den, Don-nie Worden, Gayle (Mark) Littorno and David Worden, as well as the cherished aunt of 12 nieces and nephews.

Guen touched many lives with her gen-tle spirit and giving heart. She was born in Oregon but was raised in Brentwood, gradu-ating from Liberty Union High School. She was a homemaker for 41 wonderful years. She enjoyed cooking, baking, quilting, craft-ing, reading, gardening, spending time with family and worshiping the Lord. We all have spent many blessed years with Guen. She will be missed for now, but we will see her again in Heaven one day. In lieu of fl owers, contact Shepherd’s Gate at 925-308-7507 to make a donation. Family and friends attend-ed a memorial service on Dec. 30. Arrange-ments were made by the Brentwood Funeral Home.

OBITUARIES

Warren Taylor of BSA Troop 298 is a senior at Freedom High School in Oakley. He will re-ceive his Eagle Rank at his Court of Honor on Jan. 17. For his Eagle Project, Warren built an outside reading area for Laurel Elementary School. He organized a crew to put down pav-ers, plant fl owers, put up a decorative fence and build an arbor with a bench for teachers to read to students.

Eagle ranks

Rebecka Allene DavisRebecka Allene Davis passed

away Jan. 7 in Lamesa, Texas at the age of 95.

Allene was born in Lamesa on Sept. 15, 1913 to Elijah and Eva Salser. She married Aubrey Davis on April 6, 1947 at First United Meth-odist Church in Lamesa. Allene graduated from Texas Tech Univer-sity in 1937, and was a member of the Delta Kappa Gamma fraternal organization for 60 years. In July of 1945 she enlisted in the United States Navy, where she earned the rank Pharmacist’s Mate Second.

Allene began her teaching ca-reer in Knot, where she taught for two years, then moved to Rotan and also taught for two years. She taught the fi rst through 12th grades in Lamesa and in 1958 began teach-ing in Hobbs. In August of 1967 she moved to Antioch, where she also taught. In December of 1984 she moved back to Lamesa after retiring in 1979.

Allene was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church, a member of the Dawson County Retired Teachers Association, the Genealogical Society, Gideon’s Aux-iliary and the Medical Arts Hospital Auxiliary. She took pride in garden-ing and had a great love for fl ow-ers, including beautiful iris beds in Lamesa and rose beds in Hobbs.

She is survived by her husband, Aubrey Davis of Lamesa; children, Donna Rafuse (Bill) of Rapid River, Mich. and Michael Davis of An-tioch; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, Elijah and Eva Salser; and fi ve brothers. The fam-ily suggests memorials to Gideon’s Auxiliary and Medical Arts Hospital Auxiliary.

Funeral services were held Monday, Jan. 12 at First United Methodist Church and offi ciated by Bill Rafuse. Burial followed in Lame-sa Cemetery under the direction of Branon Funeral Home.

8B | THEPRESS.NET HEALTH & BEAUTY JANUARY 16, 2009

LIMITED TIME ONLY!

$99COMPLETE PAIR OF EYEGLASSES*

FREE NO-LINEBIFOCALS!

HURRY IN!

■ Any frame up to $130■ Scratch-resistant lenses■ Single vision, lined bifocals or

*$99 offer includes any frame up to $130, single vision, ST28 lined bifocals or standard Instinctive no-line bifocals with scratch-resistant lenses excludingRayban and SunSpot Collection. Some special orders excluded. Additional charge may be applied for strong Rx. Complete pair purchase required. Bifocalsand/or progressives, specialty lenses and lens options are additional. Some exclusions may apply. See optician for details. Frame selection varies bystore. Cannot be combined with any other offer, vision care plan, package pricing or prior orders. Participating stores only. Void where prohibited by law.Eye exams performed by independent state licensed Doctors of Optometry. **$30 manufacturer’s rebate and $10 instant rebate. Must purchase an annualsupply of ACUVUE® Brand UltraComfort Series contact lenses. Valid prescription required. Contact lenses not available in AR. See Optician for details. Eyeexams performed by independent state licensed Doctors of Optometry. Offer ends January 18, 2009.

Call Today forYour Eye Examor Bringin Your RX.

MKT CODE: NP

CALL 1-877-JCPEYES SHOP JCPEYES.com

We Accept Most Vision Care Plans

JCPenney® Optical

$40**

Rebate onACUVUE®

UltraComfort Series

Antioch: The Orchard at Slatten Ranch (925) 779-1844

Those ‘Got Milk?’ believers get fit

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than half of adults in the United States do not get enough physical ac-tivity. Getting the body moving and eating right should be at the top of those people’s New Year’s resolutions, and the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) – creator of the “Got Milk?” campaign – has teamed up with Jason Walsh, trainer to the stars, to help Californians get that fresh start.

Walsh, who trains the likes of Jessica Biel and Sophia Bush, says the secret to a stronger, leaner and higher-performing body is exercise and proper nutrition. Be-low are some of Walsh’s hottest tips.

Nutrition• Cut calories and fat. Lessen your intake of foods and beverages high in calories and fat. Choose foods that are high in vitamins, minerals and fi ber to keep you full longer.• Consume more fruits and vegetables daily. They’re loaded with vitamins, minerals and fi ber and make you feel full faster.• Get milk. It’s rich in essential vitamins and minerals and is the number-one source of calcium for optimal bone health. The cal-cium in milk initiates muscle tissue for con-traction.• Drink chocolate. Chocolate milk can aid post-workout muscle recovery.• Keep those portions moderate. A good rule of thumb is to cut portions in half, sav-

ing the other half for the next meal a couple of hours later to keep hunger sensation low and energy high. And eating slower can help you eat less.

Exercise• Cardio, cardio, cardio. Californians sim-ply aren’t moving enough to maintain good health. Exercising 30 to 60 minutes daily is integral to a healthy lifestyle. Change the way you think about exercise from have-to to want-to. A brisk walk around the neigh-borhood is an easy way to get started.• Step it up. Interval training or high-inten-sity training is key. Interval training also spares lean muscle, which is optimal in maintaining a higher metabolism.• Movement matters. Perform squats, lung-es, step-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. These exercises help you obtain maximum results for a toned body and should be a part of every exercise regimen.• Increase your workout. All workouts should be based on a progressive scale. Aim for a 10-percent progression each week.• Recuperate. Recovery from each workout is crucial for optimal results. Make sure to get enough sleep, stretch properly and eat a balanced diet that includes nutritious foods. Your next workout is only as good as your last recovery.

For more information, visit www.gotmilk.com.

JANUARY 16, 2009 HEALTH & BEAUTY THEPRESS.NET | 9B

Imagine a beautiful smile to last a lifetime!

When you imagine their future…

Dr. John I. Esterkyn… Caring for our communities’ smiles

for more than 20 years!2901 Lone Tree Way, Ste. D, Antioch | 754-3197

1145 Second Street, Ste. F, Brentwood | 513-9320

Voted Best of Brentwood2003 through 2008 www.eastcountybraces.com

22 888882008 G

O

LD MEDALAWARD

Ring in 2009 with some extra income

More than 50 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefi ciaries will greet the New Year with a little extra in their pocketbooks each month: a 5.8-percent increase, the largest since 1982. Locally, more than 14,708 So-cial Security and SSI benefi ciaries living in Antioch will receive an increase in their 2009 benefi t checks.

Judy Root, a Bay Area resident, says she’s thrilled to receive the increase: “It couldn’t have come at a better time. I worry about what’s going on with our economy, and this gives me hope. I don’t know how I would manage my expenses each month without my Social Security benefi t.”

Another Bay Area resident, Miguel Rios, fi nds some comfort in the good news of the increase. “The last year has been ex-tremely diffi cult fi nancially,” he said. “The medications I take are very expensive, and I have a lot of monthly expenses, including credit card debts. Every little bit will help.”

According to Social Security spokes-person Linda Zamfi no, “Sometimes people just don’t realize how important Social Se-curity is to millions of American families, as well as our economy. One in every six Americans receives a Social Security ben-efi t, and for many of them, it’s their only source of income. Without Social Security,

many retirees and people with disabilities wouldn’t have any money to pay for basic necessities, and wind up homeless on the streets.”

Social Security and SSI benefi ts in-crease automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Con-sumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the cor-responding period of the current year.

With the annual rate increase come other changes as well, including an increase in the amount of wages subject to Social Security tax. In 2008, the maximum tax-able amount was $102,000. Beginning in 2009, the maximum taxable amount will be $106,800. This change will affect about 11 million of the 164 million workers who pay Social Security tax.

The tax rate remains the same: 6.2 per-cent for employers and employees, and 12.4 percent for the self employed. The average retired worker will receive $1,153 per month in Social Security benefi ts in 2009, up from $1,090 in 2008. Visit www.medicare.gov or www.socialsecurity.gov for information on changes coming in 2009.

– Contributed by Linda Zamfino, California Social Security Public Affairs Specialist

FREE EVALUATIONby appointment

WE ACCEPT: Medicare · Blue Shield Kaiser · UHC · Interplan – Healthsmart

3903 Lone Tree Way, Antioch

(925) 484-6400

Harvest Park Bowl5000 Balfour Road • Brentwood

harvestparkbowl.com

(925) 516-1221

INTERNATIONAL

KARAOKESUPERSTAR CONTEST

Top Prize Is

$5,000Qualifying starts January 15 Thursday nights at 9:30pm

Come enjoy our Neapolitan style

pizza and pastas prepared with

the freshest ingredients.

5411 Lone Tree Way, Brentwood

(LOCATED NEXT TO TRADER JOE’S)

925 516-6696 | TavosPizzeria.com

Family owned and operated.

D I N E - I N • T A K E - O U T • C A T E R I N G • D E L I V E R Y

$200 OFFany large or extra large

2-topping pizzaDine-in or pick-up only

exp. 2/12/09

Harvest Park Bowl5000 Balfour Road • Brentwood

harvestparkbowl.com

(925) 516-1221

INTERNATIONAL

KARAOKESUPERSTAR CONTEST

Top Prize Is

$5,000Qualifying starts January 15 Thursday nights at 9:30pm

Come enjoy our Neapolitan style

pizza and pastas prepared with

the freshest ingredients.

5411 Lone Tree Way, Brentwood

(LOCATED NEXT TO TRADER JOE’S)

925 516-6696 | TavosPizzeria.com

Family owned and operated.

D I N E - I N • T A K E - O U T • C A T E R I N G • D E L I V E R Y

$200 OFFany large or extra large

2-topping pizzaDine-in or pick-up only

exp. 2/12/09

12B | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

470 Harvest Park Dr. Ste. E, Brentwood • 634-7153Mon, Wed -Fri 10-5:30 • Tues 10-9 • Sat 10-5

WWW.SEWEWEQUILT.COMWWW.SEWEWEQUILT.COM

• Fabrics • Thread • Quilt Kits • Patterns

http://www.diamondhillssc.com

Construction

FAIRVIEWHEATING &

AIR CONDITIONINGService • Repair

Installation625-4963

Lic.#533790

Landscaping & Design

Painters

634-2221

Residential, Commercial & Industrial

30 Years Experience

Pest Control

Plumbers

Tree Service

RWIZARD1 PHOTOGRAPHY

Family portraits, & events

Call Richard Wisdom at 925 - 634 - 7539 for scheduling info.

Photography

Electrician

Landscapers

General Contractor

Handyman

Housecleaning

FirewoodHauling

, .

Heating & Air

Heating & Air

Handyman

Remodeling

PaintersLandscapers

Discovery Bay

212) Out of Area Prop. 224) Houses for Rent 235) Rooms for Rent

257) Real Estate Investment

230) Office Space

200) Real Estate

Local person for

P/T Customer Service/

Sales Representative for

local Self Storage. Must

be Friendly, Professional

& Reliable. Hourly +

Bonuses!! Weekends a

must. Email

or fax resume

(925) 634-6438

Jazz up your party,

wedding or restaurant.

The Delta Jazz Trio

makes special events

even more special!

or visit

4) Lost/Found

24) Employment

24) Employment

106) Pools & Spas

1) Announcements

150) Automobiles

108) Steel Building

32) Lic. Childcare24) Employment

25) Business Opp.

Fem Chihuahua

Brn w/wht stomach. Last

seen 1/11 on Trailside

Dr. nr Sunset in BTWD

16B | THEPRESS.NET PUBLIC NOTICES JANUARY 16, 2009

NAME CHANGE NOTICE PETITIONER OR ATTORNEY: Wilver Ma-tias/Maricruz Cuevas, 2151 Sand Creek Road, #28, Brentwood, CA 94513 SUPE-RIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 725 Court St., Mar-tinez, CA 94553 PETITION OF: Wilver Matias/Maricruz Cuevas FOR CHANGE OF NAME ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUM-BER: N08-1489 TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner: Wilver Matias/Maricruz Cuevas fi led a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: a. Allisson Nichole Matias to Proposed Name: Allison Nichole Matias Cuevas 2. THE

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE .S. No. 07-20830-SP-CA Loan No. 0010603561 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 12/22/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, (cashier’s check(s) must be made payable to Na-tional Default Servicing Corporation), drawn on a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal cred-it union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Finan-cial Code and authorized to do business in this state; will be held by the duly ap-pointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust de-scribed below. The sale will be made in an “as is” condition, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as provided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be great-er on the day of sale. Trustor: MONIQUE FROME, A MARRIED WOMAN AS HER SOLE AND SEPARATE PROPERTY Duly Appointed Trustee: NATIONAL DE-FAULT SERVICING CORPORATION Re-corded 12/29/2006 as Instrument No. 2006-0416683-00 of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of CON-TRA COSTA County, California. Date of Sale: 01/23/2009 at 10:00 A.M. Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (Corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA Estimated amount of unpaid balance and other charg-es: $522,250.86 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 619 ARMSTRONG WAY, BRENTWOOD, CA 94513 A.P.N.: 010-770-042 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common desig-nation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, directions to the location of the property may be obtained by send-ing a written request to the benefi -ciary within 10 days of the date of fi rst publication of this Notice of Sale. If the Trustee is unable to convey title for any reason, the successful bidder’s sole and exclusive remedy shall be the return of monies paid to the Trustee, and the successful bid-der shall have no further recourse. The undersigned mortgagee, benefi ciary or authorized agent for the mortgagee or benefi ciary pursuant to California Civil Code 2923.5(b} declares that the mortgagee, benefi ciary or the mort-gagee’s or benefi ciary’s authorized agent has either contacted the bor-rower or tried with due diligence to contact the borrower as required by California Civil Code 2923.5. Date: 12/24/- 2008 NATIONAL DEFAULT SER-VICING CORPORATION 2525 East Camelback Road, Suite 200 Phoenix, AZ 85016 phone 602-264-6101 Sales Line 714- 259-7850; as of 6/23/08 714-730- 2727 Sales Website: www.ndscorp.com/sales NICHOLE AL-FORD, TRUSTEE SALES REPRESEN-TATIVE ASAP# 2956682 01/02/2009, 01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009231-00 The name of the business (es): Ortega’s Yard Maintenance Located at: 828 South Estates Drive In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Esequiel Z. Ortega and Celia Ortega, 828 South Estates Drive, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: Hus-band & Wife The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of regis-trant: Esequiel Z. Ortega This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 29, 2008 By: H. Franklin, Deputy Expires: December 29, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 2, 9, 16, 23, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009206-00 The name of the business (es): Michael DiGuido Photography Located at: 421 Madison Court In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the follow-ing owner(s): Michael Anthony DiGuido and Kim Theresa DiGuido, 421 Madison Court, Brentwood, CA 94513. This busi-ness is conducted by: Husband & Wife The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious busi-ness name or names listed above on: 12/24/- 08. Signature of registrant: Mi-chael Anthony DiGuido This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 24, 2008 By: H. Franklin, Depu-ty Expires: December 24, 2013 Brent-wood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 2, 9, 16, 23, 2009

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Department of Alcoholic Bev-erage Control, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 622-4970 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAG-ES Date of Filing Application: Janu-ary 2, 2009 To Whom It May Concern: The Name(s) of the Applicant(s) is/are: VIRK PARAMJIT SINGH The ap-plicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Con-trol to sell alcoholic beverages at: 41 SAND CREEK ROAD BRENTWOOD,

NAME CHANGE NOTICE PETITIONER OR ATTORNEY: Robert L. and Carol J. Graves, 1959 Evergreen Avenue, Antioch, CA 94509 SUPE-RIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 725 Court St., Mar-tinez, CA 94553 PETITION OF: Robert L. and Carol J. Graves FOR CHANGE OF NAME ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUM-

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000046-00 The name of the business (es): Delta Dental and Medical Maintenance Located at: 1120 Alder Creek Way In: Brentwood, CA 94513, Mailing: P.O. Box 1387, Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the follow-ing owner(s): Zacharia Willis, 1120 Al-der Creek Way, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi cti-tious business name or names listed above on: 1/5/09. Signature of regis-trant: Zacharia C. Willis This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on:Janu-ary 5, 2009 By: C. Garcia, Deputy Ex-pires: January 5, 2014 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009

AMENDED FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

File #F-0008068-00 The name of the business (es): Sugimoto Dental Laboratory Located at: 4501 Ohara Ave., #J In: Brentwood, CA 94513, Mail-ing: 2155 Cypress Pt., Discovery Bay, CA 94505 Is hereby registered by the fol-lowing owner(s): Jeffry S. Sugimoto, 2155 Cypress Point, Discovery Bay, CA 94505. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of regis-trant: Jeffry S. Sugimoto This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: Octo-ber 31, 2008 By: Courtney Munn, Deputy Expires: October 31, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000152-00 The name of the business (es): Mboya IMPORT-EXPORT MERCHANT Lo-cated at: 100 Birmingham Court In: Discovery Bay, CA 94505 Is hereby reg-istered by the following owner(s): Sheri Bond 9050 Deer Valley RD Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: an Individual The reg-istrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of registrant: Arthur M. Perry This state-ment was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: January 8, 2009 By: C. Garcia, Dep-uty Expires: January 8, 2014 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0008989-00 The name of the business (es): Rock ‘N’ Hess Products Located at: 704 Red-haven Street In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Barry Strock II and Amber Hess-Strock, 704 Redhaven Street, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: Husband & Wife The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi cti-tious business name or names listed above on: 11/8/08. Signature of regis-trant: Barry Strock II This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 15, 2008 By: C. Sullivan, Deputy Expires: December 15, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000190-00 The name of the business (es): A-Maid For You Located at: 1649 Lillian Street In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby regis-tered by the following owner(s): Angel E. Vidana, 1649 Lillian Street, Brent-wood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious busi-ness name or names listed above on: 1/9/09. Signature of registrant: Angel E. Vidana This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: January 9, 2009 By: J. Odegaard, Deputy Expires: Janu-ary 9, 2014 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, Febru-ary 6, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000176-00 The name of the business (es): Johnson Educational Services Located at: 702 Blake Court In: Discovery Bay, CA 94505 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Randy Alan John-son, 702 Blake Court, Discovery Bay, CA 94505. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of reg-istrant: Randy Johnson This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: January 9, 2009 By: C. Garcia, Deputy Expires: January 9, 2014 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0008927-00 The name of the business (es): Goodnes-sology Located at: 224 Mountain View Drive In: Brentwood, CA 94513, Is here-by registered by the following owner(s): Ali-Jaffarzadeh, 224 Mountain View Drive, Brentwood, CA 94513. This busi-ness is conducted by: an Individual The registrant commenced to trans-act business under the fi ctitious busi-ness name or names listed above on: 12/10/08. Signature of registrant: Ali Jaffarzadeh This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 10, 2008 By: D. Acuff, Deputy Expires: December 10, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009055-00 The name of the business (es): The Huang Law Firm Located at: 1767 Diamond Springs Lane In: Brentwood, CA 94513, Mailing: P.O. Box 1783, Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the fol-lowing owner(s): Tsz-Hai Huang, 1767 Diamond Springs Lane, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names list-ed above on: 1/2/09. Signature of reg-istrant: Tsz-Hai Huang This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 17, 2008 By: M. Oliver, Deputy Expires: December 17, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009064-00 The name of the business (es): Creative Events By Ashley Located at: 524 Stirling Court In: Discovery Bay, CA 94505 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Creative Solu-tions By Ashley, LLC, 524 Stirling Court, Discovery Bay, CA 94505. This business is conducted by: a Lim-ited Liability Co.l The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: 12/17/08. Signature of registrant: Ashley Dicksa This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 17, 2008 By: M. Oliver, Deputy Expires: December 17, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009092-00 The name of the business (es): E Motors Located at: 111 Center Ave., Suite J In: Pacheco, CA 94563 Mailing: P.O. Box 2033, Brentwood, CA 94513 Is here-by registered by the following owner(s): Fazli Auto Sales Inc., 1006 Natwick Way, Brentwood, CA 94513. This busi-ness is conducted by: a Corporation The registrant commenced to trans-act business under the fi ctitious busi-ness name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of registrant: Farhad Fazli, CEO This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 18, 2008 By: B. Basch, Deputy Expires: December 18, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009125-00 The name of the business (es): KR Pack-aging Located at: 1170 Amanda Circle In: Brentwood, CA 94513. Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Kenneth James Rocconi; Malinda Sue Rocconi, 1170 Amanda Circle, Brentwood, CA 94513. This busi-ness is conducted by: Husband and Wife The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of registrant: Ken-neth J. Rocconi This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 19, 2008 By: P. Cornelius, Deputy Expires: December 19, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9,16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009187-00 The name of the business (es): Cutiedoo-dles Located at: 1019 Pear Tree Court In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Lacyne L. Elness and Erik M. Elness, 1019 Pear Tree Court, Brentwood, Ca, 94513. This business is conduct-ed by: Husband and Wife The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on N/A. Signature of registrant: Lacyne Elness This state-ment was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 23, 2008 By: Courtney Munn, Deputy Expires: December 23, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 2, 9,16, 23, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009195-00 The name of the business (es): whybuynew-autos.com Located at: 8111 Brentwood Boulevard In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the follow-ing owner(s): Saratoga Vehicle Man-agement, 8111 Brentwood Boulevard, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: a Corporation The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of registrant: Dave Mata-razzo-President This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 24, 2008 By: T. Ragsdale, Deputy Ex-pires: December 24, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 2, 9,16, 23, 2009

CA 94513-7321 Type of license(s) Ap-plied for: 41-ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

BER: N09-0009 TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner: Robert L. and Carol J. Graves fi led a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: a. Araya Lynn Messer to Proposed Name: Araya Lynn Messer-Graves 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this mat-ter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. NO-TICE OF HEARING a. Date: 2/27/09 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept. 60 Room 102 b. The ad-dress of the court is same as noted above. 3. a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following news-paper of general circulation, printed in this county: BRENTWOOD PRESS b. Petitioner is to bring the minor’s birth certifi cate to the hearing.Date: 1/2/09 Judith A. Sanders, Pro tem Judge of the Superior Court Brentwood Press No. 02- 1273 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Brentwood will, at 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the normal course of business permits on January 27, 2009, hold a public hear-ing to consider the following: An Or-dinance adding Chapters 16.050.070, 16.060.050 and 16.166.020 to the City of Brentwood Municipal Code for the purpose of establishing parcel map waiver procedures and a resolu-tion amending the City’ s 2008/09 Cost Allocation Plan to include parcel map waiver fees. Said hear-ing will be held at the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 734 Third Street, Brentwood, California. Further infor-mation may be obtained from the City of Brentwood, Public Works Depart-ment - Engineering Division at 118 Oak Street, Brentwood, California 94513. Any court challenge of City Council decisions may be limited to raising only those issues raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Brentwood City Council at, or prior to, the public hearing. January 16, 2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Date: January 16, 2009

LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICESCITY NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICES

NAME CHANGE NOTICE PETITIONER OR ATTORNEY: Victoria Marie Holmes, 204 Continente Av-enue, Brentwood, CA 94513 SU-PERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 725 Court St., Martinez, CA 94553 PETITION OF: Victoria Marie Holmes FOR CHANGE OF NAME ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: N08-2030 TO ALL IN-TERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner: Victoria Marie Holmes fi led a petition with this court for a decree chang-ing names as follows: Present Name: a. Victoria Marie Holmes AKA Poppy Marie Holmes to Proposed Name: Poppy Victoria Marie Holmes 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons inter-ested in this matter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated be-low to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 2/20/09 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept. 60 Room 102 b. The address of the court is same as noted above. 3. a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of gen-eral circulation, printed in this county: BRENTWOOD PRESS Date: December 22, 2008 Judith A. Sanders, Pro tem Judge of the Superior Court Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 23, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000134-00 The name of the business (es): Books And More Located at: 4492 Silverberry Court In: Concord, CA 94521 Is hereby regis-tered by the following owner(s): Wilson Currie, 4492 Silverberry Court, Concord, CA 94521. This business is conduct-ed by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of reg-istrant: Wilson J. Currie This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: Jan-uary 7, 2009 By: J. Odegaard, Deputy Expires: January 7, 2014 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

NAME CHANGE NOTICE PETITIONER OR ATTORNEY: Po Liu, 10032 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CON-TRA COSTA, 725 Court St., Marti-nez, CA 94553 PETITION OF: Po Liu FOR CHANGE OF NAME ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: N08-2033 TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Pe-titioner: Po Liu fi led a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: a. Po Liu to Pro-posed Name: Paul Liu 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the peti-tion for change of name should not be granted. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 3/2/09 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept. 60 Room 102 b. The address of the court is same as noted above. 3. a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of gen-eral circulation, printed in this county: BRENTWOOD PRESS Date: 1/2/09 Ju-dith A. Sanders, Pro tem Judge of the Superior Court Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

SUMMONS NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: Emebet Tegegne; State Farm Insurance Co.; DOES 1-10 YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: Paul Roberson and M. Jelani Roberson CASE NUMBER: C 08 01128 You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal pa-pers are served on you to fi le a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written re-sponse must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can fi nd these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/- selfhelp) your county law library or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the fi ling fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not fi le your response on time, you maylose the case by default and your wages, money and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofi t legal services program. You can locate these nonprofi t groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org) the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/- selfhelp) or by contacting your local court or county bar association. CASE NUMBER: C 08 01128 The name and address of the court is: SUPERIOR COURT of CONTRA COSTA COUN-TY, 725 COURT STREET MARTINEZ, CA 94553 The name, address, and tele-phone number of plaintiff’ s attorney, or the plaintiff without an attorney, is: PAUL ROBERSON AND M. JELANI ROBERSON, IN PRO PER, 4528 PAM-PAS CIRCLE, ANTIOCH, CA 94531 (925) 776-8344 DATE: April 24, 2008 Clerk, by: D. Wagner, Deputy NOTICE TO THE PERSON SERVED: You are served 1. as

COURT ORDERS that all persons inter-ested in this matter shall appear be-fore this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 2/19/08 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept. 60 Room 102 b. The address of the court is same as noted above. 3. a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of gen-eral circulation, printed in this county: BRENTWOOD PRESS Date: 12/22/08 Judith A. Sanders, Pro tem Judge of the Superior Court Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009

an individual defendant. 2. as the per-son sued under the fi ctitious name of: State Farm Insurance Company; DOES 1-10 Antioch Press No. 06-1617 Pub-lished: December 26, 2008, January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE TS No. 08-0079616 Title Order No. 08-8-296125 Investor/Insurer No. 781168333 APN No. 035-593- 007-4 YOU ARE IN DE-FAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DAT-ED 08/17/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER.” Notice is hereby given that RECONTRUST COMPANY, as duly appointed trustee pursuant to the Deed of Trust executed by: ROBERT ANGLEY, AN UNMARRIED MAN, dated 08/- 17/2006 and recorded 08/25/06, as Instrument No. 2006-0270048- 00, in Book , Page ), of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the County Recorder of Con-tra Costa County, State of California, will sell on 01/- 22/2009 at 10:00AM, At the Court Street entrance to the Coun-ty Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash or check as described below, payable in full at time of sale, all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust, in the property situated in said County and State and as more fully described in the above refer-enced Deed of Trust. The street ad-dress and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 1711 GATE-WAY DRIVE, OAKLEY, CA, 94561. The un-dersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street ad-dress and other common designation, if any, shown herein. The total amount

of the unpaid balance with inter-est thereon of the obligation secured by the property to be sold plus reasonable estimated costs, expenses and ad-vances at the time of the initial publica-tion of the Notice of Sale is $357,385.72. It is possible that at the time of sale the opening bid may be less than the to-tal indebtedness due. In addition to cash, the Trustee will accept cashier’s checks drawn on a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, savings association, or sav-ings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state. Said sale will be made, in an ‘’AS IS’’ condition, but without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession or encumbrances, to satisfy the indebt-edness secured by said Deed of Trust, advances thereunder, with interest as provided, and the unpaid principal of the Note secured by said Deed of Trust with interest thereon as provided in said Note, plus fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts creat-ed by said Deed of Trust. If required by the provisions of section 2923.5 of the California Civil Code, the declaration from the mortgagee, benefi ciary or au-thorized agent is attached to the Notice of Trustee’s Sale duly recorded with the appropriate County Recorder’s Offi ce. DATED: 11/02/2008 RECONTRUST COM-PANY 1800 Tapo Canyon Rd., SV2-202 SIMI VALLEY, CA 93063 Phone: (800) 281 8219, Sale Information (626) 927-4399 By:-- Trustee’s Sale Offi cer RE-CONTRUST COMPANY is a debt col-lector attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. ASAP# 2954492 01/02/2009, 01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE TS No. 08-0095340 Title Order No. 08-8-348901 Investor/Insurer No. 138923765 APN No. 037-490- 069-4 YOU ARE IN DE-FAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DAT-ED 09/14/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER.” Notice is hereby given that RECONTRUST COMPANY, as duly ap-pointed trustee pursuant to the Deed of Trust executed by: CARLOS VAZQUEZ AND SONIA VAZQUEZ, HUSBAND AND WIFE AS JOINT TENANTS, dat-ed 09/14/2006 and recorded 09/28/- 06, as Instrument No. 2006- 0307742-00, in Book , Page ), of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the County Recorder of Con-tra Costa County, State of California, will sell on 02/05/2009 at 10:00AM, At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash or check as described below, payable in full at time of sale, all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust, in the property situated in said County and State and as more fully described in the above referenced Deed of Trust. The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 4796 SNOWY EGRET WAY, OAKLEY, CA, 945611698. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common des-ignation, if any, shown herein. The total amount of the unpaid balance with in-terest thereon of the obligation secured by the property to be sold plus reason-able estimated costs, expenses and ad-vances at the time of the initial publica-tion of the Notice of Sale is $587,653.27. It is possible that at the time of sale the opening bid may be less than the to-tal indebtedness due. In addition to cash, the Trustee will accept cashier’s checks drawn on a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, savings association, or sav-ings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state. Said sale will be made, in an ‘’AS IS’’ condition, but without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regarding title, possession or encumbrances, to satisfy the indebt-edness secured by said Deed of Trust, advances thereunder, with interest as provided, and the unpaid principal of the Note secured by said Deed of Trust with interest thereon as provided in said Note, plus fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts creat-ed by said Deed of Trust. If required by the provisions of section 2923.5 of the California Civil Code, the declaration from the mortgagee, benefi ciary or au-thorized agent is attached to the Notice of Trustee’s Sale duly recorded with the appropriate County Recorder’s Offi ce. DATED: 12/06/2008 RECONTRUST COM-PANY 1800 Tapo Canyon Rd., SV2-202 SIMI VALLEY, CA 93063 Phone: (800) 281 8219, Sale Information (626) 927-4399 By: Trustee’s Sale Offi cer RECON-TRUST COMPANY is a debt collector attempting to collect a debt. Any infor-mation obtained will be used for that purpose. ASAP# 2962608 01/16/2009, 01/- 23/2009, 01/30/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-164566-C Loan No. 7438794810 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 12/2/2004. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrect-ness of the property address or oth-er common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: ANTONIO RODRI-GUEZ, AN UNMARRIED MAN Re-corded 12/- 14/2004 as Instrument No. 2004- 0478434-00 in Book , page of Of-fi cial Records in the offi ce of the Re-corder of Contra Costa County, Cali-fornia, Date of Sale:1/30/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Prop-erty Address is purported to be: 4625 LA VISTA DRIVEOAKLEY, California 94561 APN #: 041-210-007-5 The to-tal amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $354,377.17, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (including accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses, and advances at the time of ini-tial publication of this notice. ETS Ser-vices, LLC Date: 12/30/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, Cali-fornia 91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Christine Gomez-Schwab, TRUST-EE SALE OFFICER ASAP# 2960613 01/09/2009, 01/- 16/2009, 01/23/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE TRUSTEE’S SALE # 08-3109- CA LOAN NO. 0033704016 TITLE ORDER # Q801334 APN NUMBER: 033-420-026-8 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 01-12- 2007. UN-LESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD

AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAW-YER. ON 02-06-2009 AT 10:00 A.M., ROBERT E. WEISS INCORPORATED as the duly appointed trustee under and pursuant to deed of trust record-ed 01-22-2007, book , page , instrument 2007-0019071-00 of offi cial records in the offi ce of the recorder of CONTRA COSTA county, California, executed by: RALPH M. BIGGS AND ADRIANA BIGGS, HUSBAND AND WIFE, as Trustor, MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REG-ISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. ACTING SOLELY AS NOMINEE FOR LENDER, as Benefi ciary, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION SALE TO THE HIGHEST BID-DER FOR CASH, cashier’s check drawn by a state or national bank, a cashier’s check drawn by a state or federal cred-it union, or a cashier’s check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, savings association, or sav-ings bank specifi ed in section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state. Place of sale: AT THE COURT STREET ENTRANCE TO THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 725 COURT STREET (CORNER OF MAIN AND COURT STREET), MARTI-NEZ, CA all right, title and interest con-veyed to and now held by it under said deed of trust in the property situated in said county, California describing the land therein: AS MORE FULLY DE-SCRIBED ON SAID DEED OF TRUST The property heretofore described is being sold “as is”. The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 64 GRAND CANYON CIRCLE OAKLEY, CA 94561 The under-signed trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street ad-dress and other common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encum-brances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as pro-vided in said not(s), advances, if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, estimated fees, charges and expenses of the trustee and of the trusts creat-ed by said deed of trust, to wit: Amount of unpaid balance and other charges: $399,782.75 (ESTIMATED) ACCRUED IN-TEREST AND ADDITIONAL ADVANCES, IF ANY, WILL INCREASE THIS FIGURE PRIOR TO SALE The benefi ciary un-der said Deed of Trust heretofore exe-cuted and delivered to the undersigned a written Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale, and a Written No-tice of Default and Election to Sell. The undersigned caused said notice of default and election to sell to be re-corded in the county where the real property is located and more than three months have elapsed since such recordation. DATE: JANUARY 07, 2009 ROBERT E. WEISS INCORPORATED, AS TRUSTEE ATTN: FORECLOSURE DEPARTMENT 920 VILLAGE OAKS DRIVE COVINA CA 91724 (626)967-4302 FOR SALE INFORMATION: WWW.FIDELITYASAP.COM OR 714) 730-2727 CRIS A KLINGERMAN, ESQ. WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION WE OBTAIN WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. ASAP# 2966116 01/16/2009, 01/23/2009, 01/30/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, 2009

JANUARY 16, 2009 PUBLIC NOTICES THEPRESS.NET | 17B

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000031-00 The name of the business (es): Coffee and Gelato Located at: 2170 Main Street, Suite B In: Oakley, CA 94561 Mailing: 1589 Cornell Drive, Brentwood, CA 94513

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0000116-00 The name of the business (es): LightHeaded Designs Located at: 28 Chelsea Court In: Oakley, CA 94561 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Nathan-iel Lopez, 28 Chelsea Court, Oakley, CA 94561. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names list-ed above on: 1/7/09. Signature of regis-trant: Nathaniel Lopez This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: Janu-ary 7, 2009 By: J. Odegaard, Deputy Expires: January 7, 2014 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009315-00 The name of the business (es): Allitech Services Located at: 2063 Main Street, Suite 244 In: Oakley, CA 94561 Is here-by registered by the following owner(s): Marianne Allison and Darrin Allison, 67 Sun Chase Court, Oakley, CA 94561. This business is conducted by: Hus-band & Wife The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: 12/31/08. Signature of registrant: Sheri Bond This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, Coun-ty Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 31, 2008 By: D Acuff, Deputy Expires: December 31, 2013 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish: January 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009247-00 The name of the business (es): Cypress Cleaners Located at: 2927 Main Street In: Oakley, CA 94561 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Choonwon Cho, 5100 Vista Grande Drive, Antioch, CA 94531. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of reg-istrant: Choonwon Cho This state-ment was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 29, 2008 By: Courtney Munn, Deputy Expires: December 29, 2013 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE Trustee Sale No. 708098 Loan No. 0216060056 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DATED 6/20/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. On 1/22/2009 at 10:00 AM, Max Default Services Cor-poration, as duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust recorded 6/28/2006, as Instrument No. 2006-0203220- 00, in book -, page -, of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the County Recorder of Contra Costa County, State of California, executed by Emily Hoptry, A Married Woman as Her Sole and Separate Property, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION TO HIGH-EST BIDDER FOR CASH, CASHIER’S CHECK/- CASH EQUIVALENT or other form of payment authorized by 2924h(b), (payable at time of sale in

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE Trustee Sale No. 708425 Loan No. 0216060022 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DATED 6/9/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. On 1/22/2009 at 10:00 AM, Max Default Services Cor-poration, as duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust recorded 6/19/2006, as Instrument No. 2006-0192433- 00, in book -, page -, of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the County Recorder of Contra Costa County, State of California, executed by Edgar Hernandez, An Unmarried Man, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUC-TION TO HIGHEST BIDDER FOR CASH, CASHIER’S CHECK/CASH EQUIVALENT or other form of payment authorized by 2924h(b), (payable at time of sale in lawful money of the United States), At the Court Street entrance to the Coun-ty Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. All right, title and interest con-veyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the property situated in said County and State, described as: FULLY DESCRIBED IN THE ABOVE DEED OF TRUST. APN # 018-470-046-6 The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 2809 Pristine Way, Brentwood, CA 94513 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common des-ignation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encum-brances, to pay the remaining princi-pal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as provided in said note(s), advances, if any, under the terms of said Deed of Trust, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust. The total amount of the unpaid balance of the obliga-tion secured by the property to be sold and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses and advances at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale is: $408,028.77 The benefi ciary under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and delivered to the under-signed a written Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale. The undersigned caused a Notice of Default and Elec-tion to Sell to be recorded in the county where the real property is located. The benefi ciary or authorized agent has declared that pursuant to the require-ments in California Civil Code 2923.5(c), contact was made with the borrower. Dated: 12/23/2008 MAX DEFAULT SER-VICES CORPORATION Ryan Reming-ton/Authorized Signature Max Default Services Corp. is attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. FOR TRUSTEE’S SALE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 714-259-7850 ASAP# 2956530 01/02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/- 2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

NAME CHANGE NOTICE PETITIONER OR ATTORNEY: Desiree Lai and Don Huey, 28 Puffi n Circle, Oakley, CA 94561 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, 725 Court St., Martinez, CA 94553 PETITION OF: Desiree Lai and Don Huey FOR CHANGE OF NAME OR-DER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: N08-2025 TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Pe-titioner: Desiree Lai and Don Huey fi led a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: a. Kaylee Allison Lai to Pro-posed Name: Kaylee Allison Huey 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons in-terested in this matter shall appear be-fore this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 2/17/09 Time: 9:00 a.m. Dept. 60 Room 102 b. The address of the court is same as noted above. 3. a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of gen-eral circulation, printed in this county: OAKLEY PRESS Date: 12/19/08 Judith A. Sanders, Pro tem Judge of the Su-perior Court Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE TS No. 08-0078081 Title Order No. 08-8-292701 Investor/Insurer No. 145703006 APN No. 010-660- 005 YOU ARE IN DE-FAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST, DAT-ED 08/08/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-

Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Brentwood Coffee, LLC, 1589 Cornell Drive, Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: a Lim-ited Partnership The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: 1/2/09. Signature of registrant: Sheri Bond This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: Jan-uary 2, 2009 By: H. Franklin, Deputy Expires: January 2, 2014 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish: January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

lawful money of the United States), At the Court Street entrance to the Coun-ty Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. All right, title and interest con-veyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the property situated in said County and State, described as: FULLY DESCRIBED IN THE ABOVE DEED OF TRUST. APN # 017-390-024 The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 1334 Willowood Court, Brentwood, CA 94513 The undersigned Trustee dis-claims any liability for any incorrect-ness of the street address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but with-out covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest there-on, as provided in said note(s), advanc-es, if any, under the terms of said Deed of Trust, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust. The total amount of the unpaid balance of the obliga-tion secured by the property to be sold and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses and advances at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale is: $540,341.56 The benefi ciary under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and delivered to the undersigned a writ-ten Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale. The undersigned caused a Notice of Default and Election to Sell to be recorded in the county where the real property is located. The benefi -ciary or authorized agent has declared that pursuant to the requirements in California Civil Code 2923.5(c), contact was made with the borrower. Dat-ed: 12/23/2008 MAX DEFAULT SERVIC-ES CORPORATION 43180 Business Park Drive, Ste A103 Temecula, CA 92590 Ryan Remington/Authorized Signa-ture FOR TRUSTEE’S SALE INFORMA-TION PLEASE CALL 714-259-7850 Max Default Services Corp. is attempting to collect a debt. Any information ob-tained will be used for that purpose. ASAP# 2956452 01/02/- 2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-149562-C Loan No. 7426438305 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 12/27/2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrect-ness of the property address or oth-er common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: PAUL E. ECHEVAR-RIA AND TONYA M. ECHEVARRIA, HUSBAND AND WIFE, AS JOINT TENANTS Recorded 12/30/2005 as In-strument No. 2005-0498966-00 in Book , page of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa Coun-ty, California, Date of Sale:1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the Coun-ty Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Property Address is pur-ported to be: 1769 PONDEROSA DRIVE OAKLEY, California 94561 APN #: 035-552- 040-4 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $368,776.52, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (includ-ing accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, expenses, and advances at the time of initial pub-lication of this notice. ETS Services, LLC Date: 12/18/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, California 91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Il-eanna Petersen, TRUSTEE SALE OF-FICER ASAP# 2952138 01/02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER.” Notice is hereby given that RECONTRUST COMPANY, as duly appointed trustee pursuant to the Deed of Trust executed by: JUANITO I. RELOVA III, AN UNMARRIED MAN, dated 08/08/2006 and recorded 08/16/06, as Instrument No. 2006-0259312-00, in Book , Page ), of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the County Re-corder of Contra Costa County, State of California, will sell on 01/22/2009 at 10:00AM, At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash or check as described below, payable in full at time of sale, all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust, in the property sit-uated in said County and State and as more fully described in the above refer-enced Deed of Trust. The street address and other common designation, if any, of the real property described above is purported to be: 200 CONTINENTE AVENUE, BRENTWOOD, CA, 94513. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. The total amount of the unpaid balance with interest thereon of the obliga-tion secured by the property to be sold plus reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses and advances at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale is $692,867.25. It is possible that at the time of sale the opening bid may be less than the total indebtedness due. In addition to cash, the Trustee will ac-cept cashier’s checks drawn on a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state. Said sale will be made, in an ‘’AS IS’’ condition, but without covenant or warranty, express or implied, regard-ing title, possession or encumbrances, to satisfy the indebtedness secured by said Deed of Trust, advances there-under, with interest as provided, and the unpaid principal of the Note se-cured by said Deed of Trust with inter-est thereon as provided in said Note, plus fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust. If required by the provisions of section 2923.5 of the Cali-fornia Civil Code, the declaration from the mortgagee, benefi ciary or autho-rized agent is attached to the Notice of Trustee’s Sale duly recorded with the appropriate County Recorder’s Offi ce. DATED: 10/31/2008 RECONTRUST COM-PANY 1800 Tapo Canyon Rd., SV2-202 SIMI VALLEY, CA 93063 Phone: (800) 281 8219, Sale Information (626) 927-4399 By: - Trustee’s Sale Offi cer RECON-TRUST COMPANY is a debt collector attempting to collect a debt. Any infor-mation obtained will be used for that purpose. ASAP# 2954262 01/02/2009, 01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-152398-C Loan No. 0601444323 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 12/22/2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrect-ness of the property address or oth-er common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: MARK T. GREEN-WOOD, A MARRIED MAN, AS HIS SOLE AND SEPARATE PROPERTY. Recorded 12/30/2005 as Instrument No. 2005-0500397-00 in Book , page of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale:1/30/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street en-trance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Property Address is purported to be: 5132 STRATFORD DRIVE OAKLEY, Cali-fornia 94561 APN #: 034-360- 001-1 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $480,627.70, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (including accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses, and advances at the time of ini-tial publication of this notice. ETS Ser-vices, LLC Date: 12/29/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, Cali-fornia 91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Christine Gomez-Schwab, TRUST-EE SALE OFFICER ASAP# 2958756 01/09/2009, 01/- 16/2009, 01/23/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-152680-C Loan No. 0359296673 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 5/4/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrect-ness of the property address or oth-er common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: JANET S. RAYO

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-153095-C Loan No. 0359142653 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 3/21/2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the property ad-dress or other common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: VERON-ICA HURTADO, A MARRIED WOMAN, AS HER SOLE AND SEPARATE PROP-ERTY Recorded 3/24/2005 as Instru-ment No. 2005-0100371- 00 in Book -, page - of Offi cial Records in the of-fi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale:1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Marti-nez, California Property Address is purported to be: 215 DOUGLAS RD OAKLEY, California 94561-0000 APN #: 033-070-050-1 The total amount se-cured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $503,643.47, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (in-cluding accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses, and advances at the time of ini-tial publication of this notice. ETS Ser-vices, LLC Date: 12/24/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, Cal-ifornia 91504-3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Emerlita Medrano, TRUSTEE SALE OFFICER ASAP# 2955485 01/02/2009, 01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-162034-C Loan No. 0713914393 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 12/13/2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the property ad-dress or other common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: ISMAEL RIVERA AND MARIA RIVERA, HUS-BAND AND WIFE Recorded 12/21/2005 as Instrument No. 2005-0487761-00 in Book , page of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale:1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Proper-ty Address is purported to be: 539 5TH ST OAKLEY, California 94561-0000 APN #: 035-300-027- 6 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $388,474.73, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (includ-ing accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, expenses, and advances at the time of initial pub-lication of this notice. ETS Services, LLC Date: 12/18/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, California

AMENDED FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

File #F-0009130-00 The name of the business (es): Star Castle Daycare Lo-cated at: 4175 Brown Road In: Oakley, CA 94561 Is hereby registered by the fol-lowing owner(s): Alexis Kuhn, 4175 Brown Road, Oakley, CA 94561. This business is conducted by: an Indi-vidual The registrant commenced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: N/A. Signature of registrant: De-cember 19, 2008 This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: De-cember 19, 2013 By: J. Odegaard, Dep-uty Expires: December 19, 2013 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish: January 9, 16, 23, 30, February 6, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-153160-C Loan No. 0359506024 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 3/1/2007. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the property ad-dress or other common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: ANDREA SANDERS, A MARRIED WOMAN, AS HER SOLE AND SEPARATE PROPERTY Recorded 3/8/2007 as Instrument No. 2007-0068686- 00 in Book , page of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Re-corder of Contra Costa County, Cali-fornia, Date of Sale:1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, Califor-nia Property Address is purported to be: 1644 MARINA WAY BRENT-WOOD, California 94513- 0000 APN #: 018-530-044-9 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $547,056.90, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (includ-ing accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, expenses, and advances at the time of initial pub-lication of this notice. Date: 12/- 26/2008 ETS Services, LLC 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, California 91504-3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Ileanna Petersen, TRUSTEE SALE OF-FICER ASAP# 2956015 01/- 02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

AND MICHAEL T. RAYO, WIFE AND HUSBAND, AS JOINT TENANTS, WITH RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP Re-corded 5/- 11/2006 as Instrument No. 2006- 0148624-00 in Book , page of Of-fi cial Records in the offi ce of the Re-corder of Contra Costa County, Cali-fornia, Date of Sale:1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Prop-erty Address is purported to be: 4651 BIG BEAR RD OAKLEY, California 94561 APN #: 033-380- 007-6 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $599,381.77, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (including accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, ex-penses, and advances at the time of ini-tial publication of this notice. ETS Ser-vices, LLC Date: 12/22/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, Cali-fornia 91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Christine Gomez-Schwab, TRUST-EE SALE OFFICER ASAP# 2952445 01/02/2009, 01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Il-eanna Petersen, TRUSTEE SALE OF-FICER ASAP# 2952078 01/02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No.: 2008-00505 Loan No.: 1006895014 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 3/15/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or federal cred-it union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Finan-cial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the here-inafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but with-out covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as pro-vided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale. BENEFICIA-RY MAY ELECT TO BID LESS THAN THE TOTAL AMOUNT DUE. Trustor: MANU-EL VELASQUEZ, AN UNMARRIED MAN Duly Appointed Trustee: Atlantic & Pacifi c Foreclosure Services, LLC Re-corded 3/30/- 2006 as Instrument No. 2006- 0097752-00 in book , page of Offi -cial Records in the offi ce of the Record-er of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale: 2/6/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Mar-tinez, California Amount of unpaid bal-ance and other charges: $471,399.71 Street Address or other common des-ignation of real property: 4457 PAMPAS CIRCLE ANTIOCH, California 94531-000 A.P.N.: 055- 090-011 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, di-rections to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the benefi ciary within 10 days of the date of fi rst publication of this Notice of Sale. We may report in-formation about your account to credit bureaus. Late payments, missed pay-ments or other defaults on your account may be refl ected in your credit report. This communication is for the purpos-es of collecting a debt, and information obtained will be used for that purpose. This notice is required by the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and does not imply that we are at-tempting to collect money from anyone who has discharged the debt under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. If you have been discharged from person-al liability on the mortgage because of bankruptcy proceedings and have not reaffi rmed the mortgage, this letter is not an attempt to collect a debt from you, but merely provides informational notice that foreclosure proceedings to enforce the lien against the prop-erty to satisfy some or all of the debt are commencing. Date: 01/13/2009 At-lantic & Pacifi c Foreclosure Services, LLC 1610 E. Saint Andrew Pl., Suite 150F Santa Ana, CA 92705 Automated Sale Information: 714-730-2727 or www.lpsasap.com for NON-SALE information: 888-313-1969 Tai Alailima, Foreclosure Manager ASAP# 2967988 01/16/2009, 01/- 23/2009, 01/30/2009 Antioch Press No. 06-1617 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 30, 2009

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE Trustee Sale No.:08-02094-5 Loan No.: 7509482 TSG No.: E834837 APN: 076-424-005-7 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED July 8, 2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. On January 22,2009 at 10:00 AM, Fidelity National Title Com-pany as the duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust Recorded on July 21, 2005, as Instru-ment No. 2005- 0268923-00 of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, CA, executed by: MATTHEW PIERCE AND STAC-EY PIERCE, HUSBAND AND WIFE AS JOINT TENANTS, as Trustor, and CBSK FINANCIAL GROUP, INC., DBA AMERICAN HOME LOANS AS LENDER AND MORTGAGE ELECTRON-IC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. as Benefi ciary, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER FOR CASH (payable at time of sale in lawful money of the United States, by cash, a cashier’s check drawn by a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state): at the Court Street entrance to

the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA , all right, title and inter-est conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the prop-erty situated in said County, California describing the land therein: AS MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN SAID DEED OF TRUST The property heretofore de-scribed is being sold “as is” The street address and other common desig-nation, if any, of the real property de-scribed above is purported to be: 3114 PINE STREET, ANTIOCH, CA 94509 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common des-ignation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regard-ing title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as pro-vided in said note(s), advances, if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, es-timated fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust, to-wit: $315,559.92 (Estimated) Accrued interest and additional advances, if any, will in-crease this fi gure prior to sale. FOR REINSTATEMENT OR PAYOFF QUOTES, PLEASE CONTACT THE LOAN RESOLU-TION DEPARTMENT AT: 877-596-8580 Benefi ciary: HSBC BANK USA, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLD-ERS OF ACE SECURITIES CORP. HOME EQUITY LOAN TRUST, SE-RIES 2005-ASAP1, ASSET BACKED PASS- THROUGH CERTIFICATES C/O Fidelity National Title Company 3075 Prospect Park Dr, Ste 100 Rancho Cor-dova, CA 95670 916- 636-0114 SALE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED ON LINE AT www.fi delityasap.com AUTO-MATED SALES INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 714-259-7850 The benefi cia-ry under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and delivered to the under-signed a written Declaration of Default and Demand for sale, and a written No-tice of Default and Election to Sell. The undersigned caused said Notice of Default and Election to Sell to be recorded in the county where the real property is located and more than three months have elapsed since such recordation. DATE De-cember 22, 2008 FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE COMPANY AS TRUSTEE Rozalyn Tudor Authorized Signature The undersigned mortgagee. ben-efi ciary or authorized agent for the mortgagee or benefi ciary pursuant to California Civil Code 2923.5(b) declares that the mortgagee, benefi ciary or the mortgagee’s or benefi ciary’s au-thorized agent contacted the borrower to assess the borrower’s fi nancial situation and to explore options for the borrower to avoid Foreclosure. Fidel-ity National Title Company, authorized agent for the mortgagee or benefi ciary By: Rozalyn Tudor, Authorized Sig-nature ASAP# 2955464 01/- 02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Antioch Press No. 06-1617 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF PERSON-AL PROPERTY

(CIVIL CODE ‘a7 1988) Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to Civil Code ‘a7 1988, on the 28th Day of January 2009 Litton Loan Servicing, shall sell at public auction at 10:00 AM at 2314 Mandarin Way Antioch CA 94509 the following personal property: Washer, dryer, refrigerator, miscellaneous fur-niture, televisions, and miscellaneous household contents. Property to be sold in bulk to the highest bidder. All proper-ty must be removed at the conclusion of the sale at the expense of the high-est bidder. All payments to be in cash or cashier’s check or some combina-tion thereof. Seller reserves the right to cancel the sale without notice or, if per agreement with the owner of the above property, to sell a portion of the above the property. Public Sale conducted by Auctioneer Forrest O’ Brien: CA Bond # 00104533207. An-tioch Press No. 06-1617 Publish Dates: January 16, 23, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009122-00 The name of the business (es): Ralph Far-ber Hauling Located at: 4285 Pacheco Boulevard In: Martinez, CA 94553 Mailing: 5855 Yawl Street, Discovery Bay, CA 94505 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Ralph David Far-ber, 5855 Yawl Street, Discovery Bay, CA 94505. This business is conducted by: an Individual The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: 12/19/- 08. Signature of registrant: Ralph D. Farber This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Costa County on: December 19, 2008 By: J. Odegaard, Deputy Expires: Decem-ber 19, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

18B | THEPRESS.NET JANUARY 16, 2009

Friday, Jan. 16

Jazz Piano

Delta Jazz Trio pianist Dave Roberts plays tunes from the Great American Songbook made famous by Frank Sinatra, Diana Krall and others from 6-8 p.m. at Shutters Brasserie, a French-American pub/bis-tro at 2013 Elkins Way at Sunset Road in Brentwood. There is no cover charge. For reservations, call 925-516-4131. For more information, go online to shuttersbrasserie.com or deltajazztrio.com.

Wednesday, Jan. 21

Ingrid Noyes

Ingrid Noyes will perform bluegrass, folk, country and old-time mountain music at a free event in the Antioch Library at 3 p.m. For more information, call 925-757-9224.

Saturday, Jan. 24

Michael Paul Band

If you like new country and southern rock, don’t miss The Michael Paul Band at Tugs in Bethel Island. Showtime is 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 925-852-7915.

James Clark

The El Campanil Theatre will host James Clark in a Tribute to Elvis at 8 p.m. For tickets and more information, call 925-757-9500.

Saturday, Jan. 31

Chris Cain

Blues guitarist Chris Cain and special guest

Volker Strifler Band will perform at The El Campanil Theatre in Antioch at 8 p.m. For tickets and more information, call 925-757-9500.

Life in Song

The husband and wife team of Jacovia and Seracy, who will amaze you with their pop and R&B talents, will be performing at Tugs in Bethel Island at 9:30 p.m. For more infor-mation, visit www.lifeinsong.com.

Sunday, Feb. 8

Voices in Harmony

The Liberty High School singers welcome Voices in Harmony to Brentwood at 2 p.m. for a joint concert. Voices in Harmony is an award-winning a cappella chorus of 90-plus men based in San Jose. For more informa-tion, call 925-550-3582.

Saturday, Jan. 17

and Sunday, Jan. 18

Wine Tasting

Hannah Nicole Vineyards, 6740 Balfour Road in Brentwood, holds a wine tast-ing every weekend. Enjoy award-winning wines in the indoor tasting room surround-ed by the beautiful vineyards and a view of Mt. Diablo. The tasting runs from 1-5 p.m. For more information, call 925-513-0769.

Monday, Jan. 19

Martin Luther King Celebration

The City of Antioch will hold its inaugural

celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday at an event beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the El Campanil Theatre and con-cluding at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit ci.antioch.ca.us/mlk.

Tuesday, Jan. 20

Finding Your Roots

The Delta Women’s Connection of Brentwood invites you to begin finding your roots at a luncheon held at Nines in Brentwood at 11 a.m. Virginia Kysh and Jan Villott will be there to answer questions. Tickets are $18. For more information and reservations, call 925-634-7540 or 925-513-7644.

Monday, Jan. 26

Body for Life Challenge

Susan Emmett, a certified A.F.A.A. personal trainer, is sponsoring the next fitness and nutrition event. Lose those holiday pounds and meet past winners. Reservations are limited. Call 925-240-5123 for more infor-mation.

Friday, Feb. 13

Romancing the ’20s

Fil-Am of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church will present Romancing the ’20s, a Valentine’s Dinner Dance held from 7 p.m.-1 a.m. at Resurrection Ministries, 1275 Fairview Ave. in Brentwood. Tickets are $35 and proceeds will benefit the church parking lot. For more information and tickets, call Jan at 925-354-1999 or Emma at 925-325-5249.

Friday, Jan. 16

Local Artists Show

Fridley Art Gallery, 613 First St. in Brentwood, will host the works of local artists Byron Elmore, Tiffany Galer, Gwenn Spratt, Edward Lott Jr. and Scott Perry. The show runs through Saturday.

Saturday, Jan. 17

Standup Comedy

The best of the San Francisco international standup comedy competition will be onstage at Antioch’s El Campanil Theatre at 8 p.m. For more information, call 925-757-9500.

Sunday, Jan. 25

‘Roman Holiday’

El Campanil Theatre, 602 W. Second St., will screen the classic film “Roman Holiday,” starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 and $6. For more information, call 925-757-9500.

Friday, Feb. 6

and Saturday, Feb. 7

‘Meet Me In St. Louis’

Stage Right Conservatory Theater will pres-ent “Meet Me In St. Louis” at 7 p.m.; 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8. Performances take place at the Nick Rodriguez Theater in Antioch. For ticket prices and more information, call 925-550-0318.

ENTERTAINMENTOUT & ABOUT IN EAST COUNTY To have an entertainment event listed, email information to calendar@

brentwoodpress.com by noon, Friday, at least one week prior to publication. Or post your event online at www.thepress.net.

Music

Events

Shows

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No.: 2008-00241 Loan No.: 7000015476 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 3/13/2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or federal cred-it union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Finan-cial Code and authorized to do business in this state will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right, title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the here-inafter described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below. The sale will be made, but with-out covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with interest and late charges thereon, as pro-vided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale. BENEFI-CIARY MAY ELECT TO BID LESS THAN THE TOTAL AMOUNT DUE. Trustor: RUBEN CALDERON AND GUADALUPE CALDERON, COMMUNITY PROP-ERTY Duly Appointed Trustee: Atlan-tic & Pacifi c Foreclosure Services, LLC Recorded 3/20/2006 as Instrument No. 2006-0083544-00 in book , page and rerecorded on --- as --- of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale: 1/30/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Amount of unpaid balance and other charges: $395,564.08 Street Address or other common designation of real property: 205 SPINDRIFT CT OAKLEY, California 94561 A.P.N.: 035-600- 024 The under-signed Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address or other common designation, if any, shown above. If no street address or other common designation is shown, di-rections to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the benefi ciary within 10 days of the date of fi rst publication of this Notice of Sale. We may report in-formation about your account to credit

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE Trustee Sale No. 06-7722 Title Order No. E710350 APN 33-070- 049 You are in default under a Deed of Trust dated 08/11/08. Unless you take action to protect your property, it may be sold at a public sale. If you need an explanation of the nature of the proceedings against you, you should contact a lawyer. On 01/29/- 09 at 10:00 a.m., Aztec Foreclo-sure Corporation as the duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust Recorded on 08/22/05 in In-strument No. 2005-0315072-00, Book - Page - of offi cial records in the Of-fi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, executed by: Luis Ruben Mendoza and Griselda Men-doza, husband and wufe, as Trustor, Deutsche Bank National Trust Compa-ny, as Trustee for the registered hold-ers of New Century Home Equity Loan Trust, Series 2005-B, Asset Backed Pass- Through Certifi cates., as Ben-efi ciary, will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash (payable at time of sale in lawful money of the United States, by cash, a cashier’s check drawn by a state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, savings association, or sav-ings bank specifi ed in section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state). At: the Court Street entrance to the County Court-house at 725 Court Street (corner of Main & Court Streets), Martinez, CA., all right, title and interest conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the property situated in said County, California purported to be: 219 Douglas Road, Oakley, CA 94561. The property heretofore described is being sold “as is”. The undersigned Trust-ee disclaims any liability for any incor-rectness of the street address and oth-er common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but with-out covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as provided in said note(s), ad-vances, if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, estimated fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust, to-wit: $592,090.98 (Estimated) Accrued in-terest and additional advances, if any, will increase this fi gure prior to sale. The benefi ciary under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and de-livered to the undersigned a written Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale, and a written Notice of De-

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE TS # CA-08-183874-ED Loan # 3017678115 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 6/5/2007. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 to the Finan-cial code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by duly ap-pointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, ex-pressed or implied, regarding title, pos-session, or encumbrances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by the Deed of Trust, with in-terest and late charges thereon, as pro-vided in the note(s), advances, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, interest thereon, fees, charges and expenses of the Trustee for the total amount (at the time of the initial publication of the Notice of Sale) reasonably estimated to be set forth below. The amount may be greater on the day of sale. BENEFICIA-RY MAY ELECT TO BID LESS THAN THE TOTAL AMOUNT DUE. Trustor(s): MO-HAMMAD KESSER JAWED, A MAR-RIED MAN Recorded: 6/13/2007

as Instrument No. 2007-0171493-00 in book xxx, page xxx of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of CONTRA COSTA County, California; Date of Sale: 1/- 29/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA. Amount of unpaid bal-ance and other charges: $598,873.32 The purported property address is: 1302 PORTSMOUTH ST OAKLEY CA OAKLEY, CA 94561 Assessors Parcel No. 034-380- 021-5 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any in-correctness of the property address or other common designation, if any, shown herein. If no street address or other common designation is shown, di-rections to the location of the property may be obtained by sending a written request to the benefi ciary within 10 days of the date of fi rst publication of this Notice of Sale. Pursuant to Califor-nia Civil Code 2923.5 ( c), the benefi ciary or authorized agent declares as follows: In compliance with California Civil Code 2923.5(c) the mortgagee, trustee, ben-efi ciary, or authorized agent declares: that it has contacted the borrower(s) to assess their fi nancial situation and to explore options to avoid fore-closure; or that it has made efforts to contact the borrower(s) to assess their fi nancial situation and to explore options to avoid foreclosure by one of the following methods: by telephone; by United States mail; either 1st class or certifi ed; by overnight delivery; by personal delivery; by e-mail; by face to face meeting. If the Trustee is un-able to convey title for any reason, the successful bidder’s sole and exclusive remedy shall be the return of mon-ies paid to the Trustee, and the suc-cessful bidder shall have no further recourse. Date: 12/24/2008 Quality Loan Service Corp. 2141 5th Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 619-645- 7711 For NON SALE information only Sale Line: 714-730-2727 or Login to: www.fi delityasap.com Reinstatement Line: 619-645-7711 Erik Rasanen If you have previ-ously been discharged through bank-ruptcy, you may have been released of personal liability for this loan in which case this letter is intended to exercise the note holder’s rights against the real property only. THIS NOTICE IS SENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF COLLECTING A DEBT. THIS FIRM IS ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDER AND OWNER OF THE NOTE. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED BY OR PROVIDED TO THIS FIRM OR THE CREDITOR WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. As required by law, you are hereby notifi ed that a negative cred-it report refl ecting on your credit record may be submitted to a credit report agency if you fail to fulfi ll the terms of your credit obligations. ASAP# 2956382

bureaus. Late payments, missed pay-ments or other defaults on your account may be refl ected in your credit report. This communication is for the purpos-es of collecting a debt, and information obtained will be used for that purpose. This notice is required by the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and does not imply that we are at-tempting to collect money from anyone who has discharged the debt under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. If you have been discharged from person-al liability on the mortgage because of bankruptcy proceedings and have not reaffi rmed the mortgage, this letter is not an attempt to collect a debt from you, but merely provides informational notice that foreclosure proceedings to enforce the lien against the prop-erty to satisfy some or all of the debt are commencing. Date: 01/05/2009 At-lantic & Pacifi c Foreclosure Services, LLC 1610 E. Saint Andrew Pl., Suite 150F Santa Ana, CA 92705 Automated Sale Information: 714-730-2727 or www.lpsasap.com for NON-SALE information: 888-313-1969 Tai Alailima, Foreclosure Manager ASAP# 2955929 01/09/2009, 01/- 16/2009, 01/23/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICESLEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE Trustee Sale No.:071261JV Loan No.: 40885196 TSG No.: E734262 APN: 034-280-018-2 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED. OF TRUST DATED October 25, 2006. UNLESS YOU TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER. On January 22, 2009 at 10:00 AM, Fidelity National Title Company as the duly appointed Trustee under and pursuant to Deed of Trust Recorded on October 31, 2006, as Instrument No. 2006-0348455-00 of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Con-tra Costa County, CA, executed by: LEOPOLDO ORTIZ, A SINGLE MAN AND YERALDIN HERNANDEZ, A SIN-GLE WOMAN AS TENANTS IN COM-MON, as Trustor, and RESMAE MORT-GAGE CORPORATION AS LENDER AND MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGIS-TRATION SYSTEMS INC. (MERS) as Benefi ciary, WILL SELL AT PUBLIC AUCTION TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER FOR CASH (payable at time of sale in lawful money of the United States, by cash, a cashier’s check drawn by a

01/- 09/2009, 01/16/2009, 01/23/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

fault and Election to Sell. The under-signed caused said Notice of Default and Election to Sell to be recorded in the county where the real property is located and more than three months have elapsed since such recordation. Date: December 17, 2008 Robbie Weav-er Assistant Secretary & Assistant Vice President Aztec Foreclosure Cor-poration c/o 3350 Country Club Dr., Suite 202 Cameron Park, CA 95682 Phone: (800) 731- 0850 or (602) 222-5711 Fax: (847) 627-8803 For Trustee’s Sale Infor-mation Call 714-730-2727 www.fi del-ityasap.com ASAP# 2954184 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009, 01/23/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 9, 16, 23, 2009

state or national bank, a check drawn by a state or federal credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan association, savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state): at the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, CA . all right, title and inter-est conveyed to and now held by it under said Deed of Trust in the prop-erty situated in said County, California describing the land therein: AS MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN SAID DEED OF TRUST The property heretofore de-scribed is being sold “as is” The street address and other common desig-nation, if any, of the real property de-scribed above is purported to be: 3842 HARVEST CIRCLE, OAKLEY, CA 94561 The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the street address and other common designation, if any, shown herein. Said sale will be made, but without covenant or warranty, expressed or implied, re-garding title, possession, or encum-brances, to pay the remaining principal sum of the note(s) secured by said Deed of Trust, with interest thereon, as pro-vided in said note(s), advances, if any, under the terms of the Deed of Trust, es-timated fees. charges and expenses of the Trustee and of the trusts created by said Deed of Trust, to-wit: $407,708.20 (Estimated) Accrued interest and additional advances, if any, will in-crease this fi gure prior to sale. FOR REINSTATEMENT OR PAYOFF QUOTES. PLEASE CONTACT THE LOAN RESOLU-TION DEPARTMENT AT: 877-596-8580 Benefi ciary: WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF STRUCTURED ASSET SE-CURITIES CORPORATION MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SE-RIES 2007- OSI C/O Fidelity National Title Company 3075 Prospect Park Dr., Ste 100 Rancho Cordova, CA 95670 916-636-0114 SALE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED ON LINE AT www.fi del-ityasap.com AUTOMATED SALES IN-FORMATION PLEASE CALL 714-259-7850 The benefi ciary under said Deed of Trust heretofore executed and delivered to the undersigned a writ-ten Declaration of Default and Demand for sale, and a written Notice of Default and Election to Sell. The undersigned caused said Notice of Default and Elec-tion to Sell to be recorded in the coun-ty where the real property is located and more than three months have elapsed since such recordation. DATE De-cember 19, 2008 FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE COMPANY AS TRUSTEE Roza-lyn Tudor Authorized Signature The un-dersigned mortgagee, benefi ciary or authorized agent for the mortgagee or benefi ciary pursuant to California Civil

NOTICE OF TRUSTEE’S SALE T.S. No. GM-153003-C Loan No. 0359168308 YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED 4/20/2005. UNLESS YOU TAKE AC-TION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT A PUBLIC SALE. IF YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD CON-TACT A LAWYER. A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, cashier’s check drawn on a state or national bank, check drawn by a state or fed-eral credit union, or a check drawn by a state or federal savings and loan as-sociation, or savings association, or savings bank specifi ed in Section 5102 of the Financial Code and authorized to do business in this state, will be held by the duly appointed trustee. The sale will be made, but without covenant or war-ranty, expressed or implied, regarding title, possession, or encumbrances, to satisfy the obligation secured by said Deed of Trust. The undersigned Trustee disclaims any liability for any incorrectness of the property ad-dress or other common designation, if any, shown herein. TRUSTOR: JOSE-PHINE DOLLENTE FERREIRA, A MAR-RIED WOMAN AS HER SOLE AND SEP-ARATE PROPERTY Recorded 4/27/2005 as Instrument No. 2005-0147921-00 in Book -, page - of Offi cial Records in the offi ce of the Recorder of Contra Costa County, California, Date of Sale: 1/23/2009 at 10:00 AM Place of Sale: At the Court Street entrance to the County Courthouse, 725 Court Street (corner of Main and Court Street), Martinez, California Property Address is purport-ed to be: 2838 PRISTINE WAY BRENT-WOOD, California 94513- 0000 APN #: 018-480-033-2 The total amount secured by said instrument as of the time of initial publication of this notice is $648,009.60, which includes the total amount of the unpaid balance (includ-ing accrued and unpaid interest) and reasonable estimated costs, expenses, and advances at the time of initial pub-lication of this notice. ETS Services, LLC Date: 12/26/2008 2255 North Ontario Street, Suite 400 Burbank, California 91504- 3120 Sale Line: 714-730-2727 Il-eanna Petersen, TRUSTEE SALE OF-FICER ASAP# 2955901 01/02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish Dates: Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File #F-0009065-00 The name of the business (es): Ferrel Cus-tom Design Pools & Spas Located at: 3860 Balfour Road In: Brentwood, CA 94513 Is hereby registered by the following owner(s): Dellinger & Ferrel, Inc., 2426 Chestnut Street, Brentwood, CA 94513 Brentwood, CA 94513. This business is conducted by: a Corporation The registrant com-menced to transact business under the fi ctitious business name or names listed above on: 12/17/- 08. Signature of registrant: Jerry Dellinger-President This statement was fi led with Stephen L Weir, County Clerk Of Contra Cos-ta County on: December 17, 2008 By: M. Oliver, Deputy Expires: December 17, 2013 Brentwood Press No. 02-1273 Publish: December 26, 2008, Janu-ary 2, 9, 16, 2009

Code 2923.5(b) declares that the mort-gagee, benefi ciary or the mortgagee’s or benefi ciary’s authorized agent contacted the borrower to assess the borrower’s fi nancial situation and to explore options for the borrower to avoid foreclosure. ASAP# 2953865 01/- 02/2009, 01/09/2009, 01/16/2009 Oakley Press No. 03-0477 Publish Dates: January 2, 9, 16, 2009

JANUARY 16, 2009 THEPRESS.NET | 19B

Saturday, Jan. 17

Book Club for ‘Little Women’

The Liberty High School POPs announces a Book Club for Little Women of all ages. Members will read the classic “Little Women” and meet at Liberty to discuss it on six consecutive Saturdays from 10-11:30 a.m. New members are encouraged to join at any time. For more information, e-mail PLY_little_women@hotmail.com.

Winter Basketball

Children in preschool through fifth grade can play winter basketball at the Delta YMCA in Oakley through March 7. For more information, call 925-625-9333.

Delta Strikers Crab Feed

The third annual Delta Strikers crab feed will be held from 5-11 p.m. at the flower building at the Contra Costa Fairgrounds in Antioch. Tickets are $35. For more informa-tion, call Tim or Cindy at 925-757-5424.

Crochet with Chris

Chris always has ideas up his sleeve. Join the group at the Antioch Library at 3:30 p.m. and work on a project you need help with, or come and learn how to crochet. For more information, call 925-757-9224.

Tuesday, Jan. 20

Parenting Workshop

The Brentwood Union School District invites parents of Brentwood K-5 students to LEAP – Learning Excellence About Parenting – a free workshop on Jan. 20 at Krey Elementary School. For more information, e-mail schurch@brentwood.k12.ca.us.

First-time Homebuyer Seminar

Cherry Creek Mortgage Company is hold-ing a First-time Homebuyer Seminar at Humphrey’s on the Delta in Antioch from 7-8 p.m. Learn everything you need to know about buying your first house. For more information, call 800-325-2062.

Children’s Health Alliance

The Antioch Children’s Health Alliance would like to help you improve the health of your family and the Antioch community. Meetings are held at the Reach building, 1023 W. Second St., at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. For more information, call Mickie at 925-779-6908.

Wednesday, Jan. 21

Adult Literacy

Project Second Chance, the Contra Costa County Library adult literacy program, is looking for volunteer tutors. Training begins at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 925-927-3250, or e-mail psc@ccclib.org.

Thursday, Jan. 22

Food Addicts in Recovery

A new group meeting in East Contra Costa County will be held on Thursdays from 6:45-8:15 p.m. in the John Muir/Mount Diablo Medical Center’s second-floor conference room, 2400 Balfour Road in Brentwood. For more information, call Steve at 925-513-3015.

Weight Loss Challenge

Meetings will be held on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. through March 30 at the Church of Christ building, 1020 E. Tregallas Road. For more information, call Jeff at 925-783-4043.

Job Training & Placement

Opportunity Junction, 3102 Delta Fair Blvd. in Antioch, will help you with job training, placement information and application sessions during the month of January. For times and dates, call 925-776-1133.

Books for the Homebound

Volunteers are needed to provide this ser-vice to homebound Brentwood, Antioch and Pittsburg residents. The service is pro-vided by the Contra Costa County Library. To become a volunteer, call Susan at 925-927-3211.

Weight Loss Challenge

The 12-week program provides advice on proper nutrition and food choices, and encourages exercise. A $29 entry fee creates the jackpot and is paid out in weekly prizes and cash to the three biggest weight losers. The weekly nutrition class is free. For more information, call Nicole at 925-418-5635.

Flames Before Bulbs

Explore how miners lit the underground in the days before electricity. The event takes place Saturday, Jan. 24 from 10-11 a.m. and 2 -3 p.m. at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch. For more information, call 925-757-2620.

Crab Feed

East County Youth Football will host its fourth annual Crab Feed Saturday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. at Veterans Hall in Brentwood. Tickets are $35. For more information, call Mario at 925-625-1698 or Jim at 925-206-9580.

Delta Informal Gardeners

Mike Moran of the East Bay Regional Park District will be the guest speaker at DIG’s monthly meeting on Monday, Jan. 26 at the Brentwood United Methodist Church Social Hall in Brentwood. For more infor-mation, call Jon at 925-240-6060 or visit www.deltainformalgardeners.org.

Parents of Eighth-graders

On Tuesday, Jan. 27, Freedom High School will host an event for parents of eighth-graders about to enter high school. English-speaking sessions are scheduled for 5-6 and 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room; Spanish-speaking session at 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the staff lounge of the A Building. For more information, call 925-625-5900.

Do-It-Yourself Tax Assistance

Those whose income is $52,000 or less can electronically file their 2008 tax returns for free at a tax assistance event held Friday, Jan. 30 from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 31 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information and to sign up, visit www.opportunityjuction.org/taxes or call 925-776-1133.

Credit Repair and Savings Strategies

What do you do when your job doesn’t pay the bills? A free workshop and pizza will be available Saturday, Jan. 31 from noon-1 p.m. at Opportunity Junction, 3102 Delta Fair Blvd. in Antioch. For more information, call 925-776-1133 or visit www.opportunityjuction.org.

School House Rock

A Place of Learning invites you to the Shadow Lakes Golf Club Event Center in Brentwood on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. for a fundraiser featuring a tapas-style dinner,

wine and entertainment. Proceeds provide free tutoring for underprivileged children in Brentwood. For tickets ($40), call Bill at 925-783-6147. For sponsorship information, call Dave at 925-634-1812.

Crab Feed and Auction

Krey Elementary will hold a Crab Feed Dinner and Auction on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. at Veterans Hall in Brentwood. Tickets are $35. For more information, e-mail kreycoyote0708@yahoo.com.

Jewelry Making for Older Adults

Learn to make many kinds of jewelry at the Brentwood Senior Center, 740 Third St., on Tuesdays, Feb. 3-24 at 9:30 a.m. The fee is $30. For more information, call 925-634-2565.

Hurricanes Crab Feed

The Harvest Park Bowl Hurricanes boosters club will host its ninth annual Crab Feed at Veterans Hall, 757 First St. in Brentwood, on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. For tickets and more information, call 925-516-1221.

Reno Bus Trip

Fundraising for East County Arts is a non-profit organization sponsoring a Reno Bus Trip on Saturday, Feb. 14. Tickets are $40 and include roundtrip transportation via charter bus from Oakley’s Raley’s to Silver Legacy in Reno. For more information, call Gina at 925-679-1954 or Tracy at 925-625-2063.

One-day Jewelry Workshop

Learn how to create your own custom jewelry at a one-day workshop held at the Liberty Adult Education Center, 929 Second St. in Brentwood, on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The fee is $25. For more infor-mation, call 925-634-2565.

Hospice of the East Bay

Hospice of the East Bay is pleased to offer a variety of support groups and workshops for adults, children and teens experiencing grief after the death of a loved one. Classes are offered at Hospice’s administrative offic-es, 3470 Buskirk Ave. in Pleasant Hill, and 650 John Muir Parkway in Brentwood. For more information, call 925-887-5678.

Special Kids Foundation

Come and meet parents facing similar chal-lenges in an atmosphere of support and encouragement at the Black Bear Diner, 3201 Main St. in Oakley, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, call 925-516-9690.

4-H Meetings

4-H Community meetings are held the sec-ond Thursday of the month at Veterans Hall in downtown Brentwood at 7 p.m. For more information, call 925-381-6729 or e-mail juliecarter31@yahoo.com.

Eyeglasses and Hearing Aids

The Lions Club of Brentwood and Delta Community is helping low-income seniors, children and persons in need obtain eye-glasses and hearing aids. The glasses are free and the co-pay for a hearing aid is $150. For more information, call 925-634-8275 or visit www.delta-comm.org.

Brentwood Holiday on Ice

The Streets of Brentwood invites every-one to lace up those ice skates on a rink protected from the elements by a gigan-tic outdoor tent. Skating runs through Sunday, Jan. 31. Admission is $10; skate rental is $5. For more information, visit www.brentwoodholidayonice.com.

Events

Sign-ups

On the Horizon

Ongoing Events

CALENDARLOCAL EVENTS & SERVICE CLUBS To have a community event listed, e-mail information to calendar@

brentwoodpress.com by noon, Friday, at least one week prior to publication. Or post your event online at www.thepress.net.

http://www.heartofthedelta.com