Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Writer supports increase in funding for Alzheimer’s research

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Dear Editor:

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are more than five million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 15 million Alzheimer’s caregivers. As an Alzheimer’s Ambassador, it is my honor to represent them to our elected officials – Congressman Jerry McNerney and Assemblyman Jim Frazier.

In California, over 630,000 people live with Alzheimer’s dementia, over 19,000 in Contra Costa County.  Since 2000, deaths from Alzheimer’s dementia have increased 186%, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the state. And, we’re spending $3.464B in Medicaid caring for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.  Today, Alzheimer’s dementia is the only disease that we can’t prevent, cure or even slow its progression.

Gladys Jarvie, my mother-in-law, suffered for years with Alzheimer’s dementia. This funny, sharp, loving woman was oh-so-slowly consumed by Alzheimer’s dementia and eventually lost her life.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s most recent study predicts that by 2025, 840,000 Californians 65 and older will have Alzheimer’s dementia – that’s a 33% increase. Plus, the report predicts that Medicaid costs will increase even faster at 47%.

We need to support research to find a cure.  That’s why I am urging Congressman Jerry McNerney to support a $414 million increase for federal Alzheimer’s research funding for FY2018.

It is only through adequate funding and a strong implementation of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that we will meet our goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025.

To learn more about this disease and how you can help combat it, please visit alz.org.

Pamela Jarvie

Discovery Bay

Stand Down on the Delta 2017 organizer thanks volunteers

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Volunteers assist veterans during a visit by Assemblyman Jim Frazier (center) during the 2017 Stand Down on the Delta at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, Aug. 11-14. Photos by Genevieve Mann

Dear Editor:

Delta Veterans Group would like to thank all of the volunteers that served for Stand Down on the Delta, 2017.

With your help, our community was able to provide services for over 260 veterans and their families.

Over 1,150 volunteers came together over 10 days to set-up, serve and tear-down our encampment. Over 5,800 meals were served in just four days.

Veterans received much needed supportive services, medical services, dental care, vision care, and mental health services.  We also had barbers, beauticians, entertainment, spiritual guidance and much more over the four days.  Plus – their animals were cared for onsite by C.A.R.T. – the Contra Costa County Animal Rescue Team.

We were also able to take over 40 veterans fishing on our Delta Shoreline…and yes, they caught a lot of fish…The largest fish was caught by a female veteran for the second Stand Down in a row…

All of this could not have happened without you – the volunteer.

Respectfully,

Gerald JR Wilson, President/Executive Director, Delta Veterans Group – Stand Down on the Delta

Criminal defense attorneys support Graves for Contra Costa District Attorney

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Dear Editor:

We are some of the criminal defense attorneys who practice in Contra Costa County.  We are the individuals who defend people accused of crimes.   We have worked with the District Attorney’s Office for decades, and are in a unique position to know what qualities are most important for the District Attorney to possess.

We believe in the Constitution, in fairness and colorblind justice, and that every person accused of a crime deserves competent and zealous representation so that the police, the prosecution, and the system are held to the highest standard.

As the top law enforcement official in the County, we believe our next District Attorney should share these values. They should keep our community safe, but also do the right thing even when it’s not popular.

We need someone honest, trustworthy, fair, ethical, diligent, and compassionate.

We need Paul Graves.

Paul Graves’ energy, ideas and fresh approach to the office as outlined in his public application to the Board of Supervisors reveals the dedicated and honorable public servant that we already know him to be.

What really sets Paul Graves apart is that he has dedicated his professional life as a prosecutor to Contra Costa County, and that he has earned the respect of all partners in the criminal justice system, because he treats every defendant as an individual and is fundamentally fair.

Paul Graves’ judgment has always made him stand out as a fair and ethical prosecutor we can trust.  Even though we represent opposing sides in the courtroom, we know Paul Graves is everyone’s partner in fair and equal justice.

Paul Graves provides the character, experience, and integrity our community needs to move forward.  We want the Board of Supervisors to know that as defense attorneys dedicated to the Constitution, fairness and colorblind justice, Paul Graves has our highest recommendation.

Blackie Burak

Derek Ewin

Dan Horowitz

David Larkin

Thomas McKenna

Tom O’Connor

Dan O’Malley

Chris Varnell

Colleague endorses Graves for Contra Costa DA

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Dear Editor:

Colleen Gleason, a close friend and colleague of mine has written a wonderful endorsement on Facebook. I met Colleen 15 years ago and am humbled by her words. Here are a few sentences from my colleague’s social media post that I would like to share with you:

“I’m so excited and proud that my friend and mentor has decided to run for DA of our County. Paul was my homicide supervisor and currently runs the Sexual Assault/Family Violence unit. I also worked closely with him while he was the President of our Association – not only was he amazing at negotiating on behalf of our DAs, but he was instrumental in putting on a successful fundraiser for our local Rape Crisis/Children’s Interview Center every year.

Paul is the type of leader who inspires others; there is always a line of people seeking his solid advice born of experience and common sense. He is the type of leader that people want to follow; when he is heading a unit, other people want to work there…He has handled the pressures of our job in the public eye with grace and eloquence. But, more importantly to me, he is the type of person you can watch handling the little, every-day moments with kindness and integrity… the moments when the cameras aren’t on, when no one seems to be paying attention – the way he treats his staff, victim’s families, opposing counsel, his subordinates – those are the moments when he has impressed me the most.”

Paul Graves

Martinez

Groups recommend process for appointing Interim Contra Costa District Attorney

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Following is a letter from six groups in the county to the members of the Board of Supervisors:

Dear Chairman Glover and Supervisors Andersen, Burgis, Gioia and Mitchoff,

Our community was shocked and angered last week to hear that former District Attorney Mark Peterson pled guilty to felony charges related to the illegal use of campaign funds, leading to his resignation. This unethical and dangerous abuse of power by the elected District Attorney is deeply concerning to us and we write today in the spirit of working to rebuild trust between local government in Contra Costa, including law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office, and the community they are meant to serve.

We believe a critical first step to rebuilding trust is for the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors to engage in a fully transparent and community-centered process for appointing an interim District Attorney.

On behalf of Contra Costa County voters, we urge our Board to commit to a transparent, community-first process in making its selection of an interim District Attorney. In addition, we believe it is important for the Board to only consider applicants who have not filed to run in the June 2018 primary.

The District Attorney is one of the most powerful elected officials in county government and is the most powerful actor in our criminal justice system. The decisions made by the District Attorney impact every county resident, not just those who are directly involved in the criminal justice system. From determining when and what charges to file in individual cases; to making policy decisions that affect local communities as well as county and state budgets; to holding law enforcement accountable for unfair policies and practices, the Contra Costa District Attorney holds significant power and responsibility for the protection of our civil rights and freedoms.

For these reasons and more, it is critically important that our Board protect and uphold the right of the people of Contra Costa County to an inclusive and transparent process for appointment of an interim District Attorney.

In a transparent, community-first process, the Board of Supervisors should consider the following:

  1. Publicly post a proposed process and timeline for appointment of an interim District Attorney;
  2. Allow for public comment on the proposed process for appointment, consider comments, and post final process;
  3. Only consider applications for interim appointment from individuals who are not currently running for District Attorney of Contra Costa County in 2018;
  4. Solicit applications from lawyers in the community to apply for interim appointment and make submitted applications available for review by the public;
  5. Hold public hearings at times convenient to working people with commute schedules, to receive input about nominees and other recommendations; and
  6. Hold a final public hearing to vote for the interim District Attorney.

Due to the recent resignation and guilty plea by former District Attorney Mark Peterson, the people of Contra Costa County deserve transparency and fairness in the appointment of the interim District Attorney. It is incumbent upon the Board to begin to remedy the breakdown of trust between the community and government by taking the lead to ensure a fair and community-first process. We welcome the opportunity to support the efforts of our Board of Supervisors to achieve these very important goals.

Thank you,

Writer, MCE manager, clarifies details on Community Choice Energy

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Dear Editor:

My name is JR Killigrew and I’m a community development manager at MCE, the CCE which the County, Danville and Oakley recently joined. I have worked with the City of Antioch on their climate action plan in my previous role. I did want to follow up and thank you for following the CCE movement in Contra Costa County. MCE is always happy to serve as a resource to media to help provide accurate information. We recently saw May 4th article about community choice  and the County’s decision to join MCE. We wanted to clarify a few items in the article.

1) Feeling the heat from environmentalists, residents, and politicians, Contra Costa County supervisors took the big step Tuesday of picking a solar power plant developer that could potentially help consumers on average cut monthly bills up to 55 percent.

MCE strives to keep its rates competitive with PG&E and MCE has lowered its rates twice in the last 12 months. Since MCE launch, MCE has been less expensive 70% of the time compared to PG&E. MCE’s actual generation rate is much lower than PG&E’s but with additional CCE fees that are collected by PG&E, MCE normally is around the same cost as PG&E.

2) Other supervisors were more impressed with MCE’s seven-year track record, financial stability and $25 million in reserves and capability of generating good paying union jobs.

MCE has $50 million in reserves.

3) Some 285,000 residents residing in unincorporated Contra Costa County could see electricity rates decline in comparison to PG&E rates.  For a large solar power project generating 5 megawatts per hour, the average monthly bills could potentially decline from $105 per Megawatt Hour (MWH) to $85 per MWH.

We believe the point that was trying to be addressed was the difference between PG&E’s Feed-In-Tariff rates and MCE Feed-in Tariff rates. MCE currently offers solar developers $115/MWh which we purchase the electricity from the developer. This program is an opportunity to catalyze the local solar market place to create local jobs and ensure energy resilience. There is no correlation with our Feed-In Tariff program and our customers’ rates.

I hope this is helpful and please let us know if you have any questions.

J.R. Killigrew

Community Development Manager, MCE

San Rafael

Writer says ban on plastic shopping bags was a lie

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Dear Editor:

The local taxpayers have been lied to, again, by big business, special interests and corrupt politicians. Save the ecology was the cry. Stop the over pollution of landfills with non-biodegradable materials they shouted. Help to save the earth was their mantra. All very noble causes, indeed.

However, when one uses these tactics just to reap a much larger profit, there is something that gnaws at the back of my mind, eats away at my common sense, irritates me to no end. They got their way by tugging at the heart strings of decent people and shaming the rest into falling in line. All done in the name of greed cleverly disguised as a god send to the ecology minded.

I am talking about plastic shopping bags and the fact that they were not banned as promised when pushing this law down our throats (like so many others).

They actually banned the retail outlets from providing these bags “free of charge”. One can get as many of these “demon bags” as one desires for a fee. Let me get this straight. I don’t get them free but I still get them, they end up in the same location and the only difference is that the consumer pays for them directly. Prices have not reflected the retailer’s gain but the profit margin certainly has. As I said, lied to again.

Thanks for listening.

Steve Payne

Antioch

Writer says sanctuary states, counties, cities and facilities are illegal, should be prosecuted

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Editor:

I believe that publicly financed “Sanctuary” States, Counties, Cities, and facilities for illegal immigrants are illegal, and they all should be prosecuted. In law one cannot harbor, assist, aid and abet, etc., anyone who has committed any criminal act – including of illegal immigrants. Those doing so are criminal “principals” under law, according to both state and federal laws.

The whole nonsense of allowing them to do so, under the guise of humanitarian and social necessity, are but criminally disguised acts that need to be brought to justice asap! We can no longer allow or justify the ‘bleeding hearts’ and illegal immigrants everywhere to dictate to us what is or is not legally right. They have to entirely be cut off from any related public funding, and now. And, any public cfficial criminally involved should immediately forfeit their position, and forever be barred from ever holding public office again.

Sure, give them their claimed “rights” to a prosecution and court system that America still has in place. Then they each should pay the ‘price’ for their violating our laws, to include incarceration, fines, and dispatching the illegals out of the USA. We must insist on upholding the laws against those who commit the crimes.

Ralph A. Hernandez

Antioch

Writer says Community Choice Energy alternative will create jobs in the county

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Editor:

Contra Costa County will be in direct coalition to Community Choice Energy (CCE) a sustainable choice to cleaner energy usage. They are pleased to announce their plans to bring more unionized jobs that will benefit the CCCounty.

This local renewable build out scenario, would involve a significant number of mostly unionized and non-union hires.  Also, a potential for 40% of the local build out will be near the Northern Waterfront in Concord area. In return this will be a huge deal for those looking to get hired in today’s economy. As the plans are underway to figure out the details there will be more to come on this future project.

Keep posted for more information regarding the Community Choice Energy (CCE) unionized jobs for hire and their announcements.

Lynette Robinson

San Pablo

Letter writer: Obamacare must be saved or people will die

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Dear Editor:

For forty years I have dedicated my professional life to helping the mentally ill, the homeless, substance abuse addicts and low income families with children.

ACA – Affordable Care Act has saved thousands of lives.  I know because many of those lives are my clients. Without ACA, those with drug addictions will be on the streets, trying to survive through stealing, breaking in to homes or stores, and other criminal acts that make our community unsafe. With ACA, my clients are in residential treatment programs and practicing full recovery.  My homeless or mentally ill clients have full medical support, getting their prescriptions so they are not delusional or dangerous.  Our clinics and hospitals need ACA to keep their doors open to our citizens, our families and the children. People will die without ACA.

Please contact your Congressman or Senator and urge them to vote to keep ACA or comparable health care for our citizens. You can contact Daily Action call 1-844-241-1141 (user friendly and free) and you will be directly connected with your Representative.

Jerri Curry, PhD Forensic Psychologist 27385, Licensed Family Therapist 19776, Certified Drug Addiction Specialist, Formerly with Contra Costa County

Benicia