02/03/2011 - The Independent

PAGE 4 - The Independent, FEBRUARY 3, 2011EDITORIALSpecial Group Of VolunteersEighteen “therapy dogs” were recently honored for theirvolunteer work at the Livermore Veterans AdministrationMedical Center. They’re being used in the treatment ofillnesses such as depression, PTSD, Alzheimer’s and evencancer.C. Winn Crannell, a retired physician’s assistant, explainedat the fete, “With their quiet, gentle ways, theirunconditional love, their wonderful sense of what preciselyis needed — extra attention or just a quiet presence — thepatients who are agitated are calmed, those who are withdrawnare drawn out, those who need love but don’t knowhow to ask are loved completely.”The VA program was launched in July 2004 by thePleasanton based Valley Humane Society.Some of the therapy dogs have been with the programfor a long time. A nine-year-old lab with the witty nameLawrence the Livermore Lab was honored for 1000 hoursof service. Albert, a lab/border collie mix, received acclaimfor 750 hours.The talks at the fete were eloquent. Story after storywas told demonstrating how the dogs bring comfort to theveterans.One incident involved Lawrence the Livermore Lab. Apatient was growing increasingly agitated as he talked abouthis struggle with alcoholism and PTSD. The dog, sensingtension in the air, went over to the tormented man and layhis head on his knee, instantly calming the situation.This is a very special group of volunteers.Swim ProgramDraws PraiseProject 2010 drew praise fromthe Livermore Area Recreationand Park District (LARPD) boardof directors.The project offered an opportunityfor low income children totake swim lessons. Sharon Grant,LARPD Recreation Supervisor,reported that 120 children wereable to participate. The programis financed through a grant program.The students pay $10 each;the grant fund pays $25 for eachchild. “This allowed us to providelessons for a population that weneeded to reach,” stated Grant.The program was conducted atthe May Nissen Swim Center.The grants were from theThomas J. Long Foundation andthe American Red Cross. Grantadded that the Foundation grantwas for one year. “We are applyingfor other funding to continuethe program.”Director Laureen Turner commented,“I am impressed withproject 2010. It is a job well doneto get 120 students into the water.The program enables an achievementthat without the grant wouldnot have been possible.”Other board members echoedher comments. Maryalice Faltingsadded, “I feel very stronglythat teaching children to swim issomething that parks and recreationshould do. Getting everylittle child in the water we can isso important.”Grant also reported on otherprograms and activities thattook place over the past year atboth the Robert Livermore CommunityCenter and May Nissenpools.Aquatics programs includelessons, lap swim, recreationalswim, water exercise, water poloand synchronized swimming, aswell as rentals to competitiveteams and pool parties.Despite the unusually coolsummer and the loss of a largeswim meet rental causing a slightdip in attendance, programs stillshowed improvement in 2010.The overall aquatic attendancewas 96,000; the summer swimteam grew to 70 swimmers; synchronizedswimming tripled insize; and $27,000 was raised forKaiser Pediatric Oncology fromLAND(continued from page one)though it still meets city minimumrequirements. Also, Paragon’sapproach to shoppingincludes operating motor coachesto bring shoppers to the mall.Paragon is hopeful thatgroundbreaking for the firstphase will be in April. The mallshould be open for business by(INLAND VALLEY PUBLISHING CO.)the SwimStrong fund-raiser inmemory of Korrine Croghan.The board also heard a reporton the impact of budget cuts ondistrict nature programs.Two full-time positions wereeliminated from the nature program,a park ranger and theranger/naturalist. Reductionswere also implemented in severalprograms and services includingenvironmental education, openspace staffing levels, ranger patrolsof open spaces, fee-basedoutdoor recreation programsand general maintenance. Thereduction has also resulted infewer resource managementprojects such as native plantrestoration, invasive pest controland monitoring of native wildlifeand plants.Assistant General ManagerJohn Lawrence noted that feebased outdoor programs wereeliminated, mainly in the equestrianarea. Kayaking was transferredto Sunrise Mountaineering.He told the board that the fullimpact won’t be known until theend of the fiscal year.In another report, Bob Sanchez,a leading volunteer to promoteValley Rock Gym, sharedan update on the gym. He reportedsuccesses in both participationand revenue. He noted that theDecember finances were ahead ofthe proposed budget. Cuts in stafflabor have made a big difference.In addition, membership, rentalsand sales are up.”General Manager Tim Barryinvited the public to attend theupcoming Seniors Helping Seniorsdinner dance on Feb. 10.The event, put on by the LivermoreHigh School senior classof 2011, serves as a fund-raiserfor the class and LARPD seniorprograms. Tickets are on sale atthe Community Center throughFeb. 3. For more information,call 925-373-5760.Board President Steve Goodmanstated that volunteers willbe needed to help with the AmgenTour event in Livermore inMay. The bicycle race will startin Livermore on May 18. Forinformation email livermoreatoc2011@yahoo.com.the fall of 2013, said Antill.Livermore and Zone 7 WaterAgency have come to an agreementon flood control managementfor the property. There alsowill be major road improvementsto enable traffic to come into thecenter from the nearby El CharroRoad exit from Interstate 580.Publisher: Joan Kinney SeppalaAssociate Publisher: David T. LowellEditor: Janet ArmantroutThe Independent is published every Thursday by Inland Valley Publishing Company, 2250 First St., Livermore,CA 94550; (925) 447-8700. Mailed at Periodical Postage Prices at the Livermore Post Office andadditional entry office: Pleasanton, CA 94566-9998. The Independent is mailed upon request. Go to www.independentnews.com to sign up and for more information. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TheIndependent, 2250 First St., Livermore, CA 94550.Advertising rates and subscription rates may be obtained by calling (925) 447-8700during regular business hours or by fax: (925) 447-0212.Editorial information may be submitted by editmail@compuserve.com.Mayors Lobby for i-GATE, Public Access TVBringing news to Congressionalmembers about the i-GATE I-Hub being developed inLivermore, and lobbying for operationalmoney for TV 30 weremajor topics covered by LivermoreMayor Marshall Kamenaand Pleasanton Mayor JenniferHosterman in a visit to WashingtonD.C. in mid-January.The mayors were part of aTri-Valley mayors delegation thatattended the National Conferenceof Mayors convention. It isheld annually in January so thatmayors can have contact withCongress early in the legislativesession.The mayors spent the daybefore the conference meetingwith Reps. Jerry McNerney andJohn Garamendi, and the staffs ofRep. Pete Stark and Sens. DianneFeinstein and Barbara Boxer.The mayors had been briefedon i-GATE before their trip. Theymet with Sandia National Laboratoriesand Lawrence LivermoreNational Laboratory officials,who also provided them the latestinformation about the facilities(Livermore Valley Open Campus)that have been put in place atboth labs to facilitate technologytransfer from the labs to privatebusiness.Hosterman said the visit washighly beneficial, in that it putPresident Obama’s referencein his State of the Union addressJan. 25 to the U.S. Congressabout needing to make currenttimes another “Sputnik moment”resonated with Rep. Jerry Mc-Nerney of Pleasanton.Obama’s point was that whenthe Russians sent Sputnik up intospace in 1957 as the world’s firstsatellite orbiting the Earth, theUnited States rallied to meet thechallenge. There was a big pushto catch up with the Russiansby making school curriculumsstronger, and turning out moreengineers and physicists.The United States can do thatnow with the green economy, andworking cleaner and smarter tooutproduce other nations, saidObama.McNerney told The Independentthat he was in fifth gradewhen Sputnik was launched. “Itenergized everyone. We realizedthat we were in a race. I wentPOLICE(continued from page one)enforcement efforts in the pasttwo weeks have resulted in theidentification and arrests of 14gang offenders. Some of thesearrests are a result of criminalinvestigations stemming fromrecent crimes.Among the charges are felonyvandalism, weapons violation,and possession (drugs) for sale.In addition to proactive gangenforcement, Livermore policeare working with other lawenforcement agencies and theLivermore School District inorder to curb future problems.The department would also liketo involve the community in itsefforts to address gang relatedincidents.Currently, the prominentLivermore gangs are the Surenosthe i-GATE information beforeDavid Agnew, the mayors liaisonwith the White House. Theinnovative projects “are exactlythe kind of project that PresidentObama wants to share withpeople,” said Hosterman.Kamena said that the i-GATEinformation was so much on thecutting edge of Obama’s scienceand technology theme that anundersecretary of commerce whomet with the mayors said that hewould try to have a reference toLivermore’s i-GATE insertedinto the State of the Union address.However, it did not makeit into the speech.Kamena was glad to have thechance to tell Congressmen abouta new effort to provide publicprogramming channels, suchas TV 30, the chance to obtainoperational funding from cablefirms after June.In June, a new federal actcalled DIVCA takes over in cablefunding for PEG, which is thepublic, educational and governmentsegment of cable TV. Up tothat time, cable firms had to giverevenue to the locally generatedpublic programming entities suchas TV 30, based on a 50-cent persubscriber fee.After June, all those agreementswill be void. The newinto engineering because of it,”he said.McNerney went on to a sciencecareer. He is the only congressionalmember with a Ph.D.in math. Before his election toCongress, McNerney workedas a consultant on wind-powertechnology.Looking at today’s challenges,McNerney said, “We have tomaintain our lead. I am excitedabout the idea of encouragingand inspiring our young people.I have a little fear about whatwould happen if we don’t. Weneed to be competitive.”McNerney said that when hewas working as an wind engineer,he saw many clean tech jobsgoing abroad. For that reason,he was glad to hear Obama talkabout investing in clean energyjobs to keep the money in theUnited States, and reduce thenation’s dependency on foreignoil.formula will allow funding basedon a percentage, not the 50-centfee, provided that cities pass anordinance enabling it. Tri-Valleycities have passed it. However,the new fee will apply only tocapital improvements.What TV 30 and other localprogrammers need is to have theflexibility to also use that moneyfor operations. TV 30 has somevolunteers, but others are paidstaff.Melissa Tench Stevens, theexecutive director at TV 30, saidthat the station will be able to usethe revenue it receives from producingprograms for local groupsas part of its revenue. There arealso grants to be sought.TV 30 is establishing a communityfoundation, led by DavidWright, to promote grants foroperations.However, there is no questionthat allowing public cable to fundoperations with the future feepercentages would help TV 30,said Tench Stevens. Since the billis seeking no new money, justoffering more flexibility for theuse of the funds, Tench Stevenssaid that she is optimistic that itwill pass.Kamena said the bill hasbetter prospects in this sessionof Congress. For one thing, aRepublican congressman is beinglined up to be a co-author of thebill. In addition, the bill is beingseen as a “good government bill,”since it helps promote transparencyinto local government, saidKamena.Previously, DIVCA was seenmore as a money bill related totelecommunications.HOSTERMAN CHAIRSWATER PANEL AT MEETAt the National Conference ofMayors, Hosterman chaired thegroup’s water council, which has40 members.The group decided to hold asummit meeting in Racine, Wisc.,in September. “There will bemeaningful discussions with EPAand the Department of Justice”concerning regulations set byEPA that turn out to be unfundedmandates, said Hosterman.The issue affects cities thathave underground systems thatmove treated and untreated effluentand storm run-off water.EPA regulates the combinedoverflow, but there is no moneyto meet the regulations. Somecities across the country were notcomplying. The Department ofJustice is suing for compliance,Hosterman explained.McNerney, Garamendi Relate to Obama’s Sputnik Call(Opinions voiced in letterspublished in Mailbox are thoseof the author and do not necessarilyreflect the opinion of TheIndependent. Letter Policy: TheIndependent will not publishanonymous letters, nor will itpublish letters without names.Abusive letters may be rejectedor edited. Frequent letter writersmay have publication of theirletters delayed.)Mayors Go to DCMaurice DuenasLivermoreA recent article discussedhow 4 local mayors traveled toWashington DC to meet withCongressman McNerney. Inthese financially troubling times,when city budgets, public safetyand park services are being cutleft and right, these four mayorsfound it necessary to spend ourtax dollars to visit DC to "speak"with our Congressman.Reviewing the topics thatwere discussed I have to askWHY the mayors found it soimportant to waste money on atrip when there were two reallyeasy and significantly less expensivealternatives: McNerneyand the Nortenos. Sureno gangmembers wear variations of blueclothing and associate with thenumber 13. Some examples ofSureno gang graffiti are; “SSR,LSL, Sur, Chestnut, and XIII.”Sureno gang members are primarilyHispanic.Norteno gang members wearvarious items of red clothing andassociate with the number 14.Examples of Norteno gang graffitiare; “LVM, Winos, Norte, andXIV.” Norteno gang members areprimarily Hispanic; however, inLivermore the police have identifiedmembers from many races.Norteno and Sureno gangshave been in the City of Livermorefor decades, with little actsof violence between the two.A trend was identified severalregularly visits his district - whynot have met with him here, or iftime was of the essence, why nothave used technology - a videoconference - and saved thousandsand thousands of dollars thatcould have better well spent addressingimmediate needs withinour cities.I would love to see a full accountingof the money spent andalso the trip agenda / time actuallyspent with the Congressmanversus vacation time in our capital.Are any of the mayors willingto post the full accounting of thetrip on his or her city's website sowe can see how you spent OURmoney in DC?GARAMENDI EMPHA-SIZESKEEPING JOBS AT HOMEKeeping the money at homewas also a theme in Rep. JohnGaramendi’s response. Garamendihas been sponsoring legislationthat he calls “Make it inAmerica.”Garamendi said in a statement,“With the Recovery Actand other pro-growth, pro-jobslaws, we accomplished a lot, butwe need to do more. PresidentObama is right to call on thisCongress to pass legislation thatcreates jobs now.”Referring to the President’sSputnik remark, Garamendi said,“The President is correct. This isour Sputnik moment. Imagine ifwe had responded to the challengeof Sputnik by soaring to themoon in a space shuttle that wasmade in the Soviet Union.”“We could have gone thatroute — admitted failure andyears ago that showed SouthernCalifornia gang members movingnorth. Livermore was not immuneto the trend and now crimeprovoking rivalries are presentwhere none existed previously.Recent investigations revealedthat Livermore “active”gang membership (those whoare currently committing crimesin furtherance of a street gang)is relatively low. Police believethe same group of 10 -15 memberson each side (Sureno andNorteno) are responsible formost, if not all, of Livermore’sgang-related crime.The Livermore Police Departmentneeds the assistance of thepublic. Citizens are encouragedto report any suspected gangResponse to LetterKathy StreeterLivermoreNatalie Molina is obviouslya hard working wife and motherwho wants the best for her daughter.She is distraught by the cutsthat have disrupted our schoolsystem and she is looking for asolution. I have complete understandingand utter sympathy forher feelings.But, our schools are not supportedin any way by the GeneralFund. Our schools are supportedby property taxes, other State andFederal funds earmarked for specialpurposes, and a small amountfrom the California Lottery. Theonly local funding of our schoolscomes from interest income anddonations from the LivermoreValley Education Foundationand from individuals and groupsthat give money directly to thedistrict.But the major source of incomeis from property taxes andthose go up when our propertyvalues go up, and property valuesgo up when we live in a desirablelocation, one that has a lotto offer.It is important to understandthat the planned continued developmentof our downtown intoa cultural destination is a criticaldriving force for our future economicwell being. It enhancesthe value of our property andis the foundation of our downtownrenewal and expansion. Itincreases future school incomethrough property taxes and itfeeds our General Fund by promotingbusiness development.surrendered our economic andsecurity assets to another country.Instead, we focused on inventingand constructing crucial technology,which sparked a wave ofnew businesses and jobs.“Similarly, to address our twin21st century challenges of energysecurity and advanced infrastructure,we cannot depend on thekindness of other countries. Toenhance our geopolitical securityand to create the jobs of the future,we have to strengthen thesekey manufacturing sectors,”stated Garamendi.Pete Stark, Ranking Memberof the House Ways and MeansHealth Subcommittee, commented,“If we want to speedup our economic recovery, Republicansmust offer some ideasto create jobs. Their laser-likefocus on refighting health reformis hurting America’s economyand threatening our long-termcompetitiveness.” Stark representsa portion of Pleasantonand Sunol.activity. If suspected gang membersare congregating or involvedin criminal activity call LPDDispatch (925) 371-4987 (nonemergency).If the incident islife-threatening immediately call911 (emergency). Please provideas much information as possible,to include:1. Clothing descriptions andnumber of individuals involved.2. Vehicle descriptions andlicense plate numbers.3. Weapons involved, if any.4. Location and or the directionthe group is moving.Questions regarding Livermoregangs or gang information,should be addressed to SergeantK. Santin, Officer D. Blake orOfficer A. Grajeda.I also understand Mrs. Molina’sfrustration at not being ableto afford to take her daughterto the Bankhead Theater. Weneed to do better in making ourcultural advantages available toall our children.Sue Marchand, a talented andcreative teacher in our schoolsystem applied to the LivermoreCultural Arts Council for a grantto take her class to the Bankheadto see the Nutcracker. She spentthe weeks before the field tripeducating her class about liveperformance. By the time thechildren got there they were fullyprepared for the experience andit was a resounding success. Weneed to follow Mrs. Marchand’slead and come up with more waysto include all of Livermore’schildren in the benefits of artisticeducation.The Arts, our creativity andimagination are what set us apartfrom all other living beings. Itmakes us think in new ways andleads to unimaginable discoveryand innovation. We need toprotect and grow our culturalcommunity to ensure our childrenevery advantage in this verycompetitive world.