Almost lost in all the turmoilsurrounding the termination ofadministrator Pat Middendorf,the Clayton Valley Charter High

School Governing Board rati-fied a new collective bargainingagreement May 21 that effec-tively gives all employees —administrators, classified staff,security, as well as teachers — a6 percent raise retroactive toJuly 1, 2013 and an improved

three-year benefits packagethrough the 2015-16 schoolyear.

The approval culminated 18months of negotiations with theteachers’ union. When ClaytonValley High School converted tocharter status before the start of

the 2012-13 school year teachersand staff were paid off theexisting Mt. Diablo UnifiedSchool District salary schedule.

Teachers at CVCHS are rep-resented by the California

A simmering feud betweentwo top Clayton Valley CharterHigh School leaders exploded inthe waning weeks of the schoolyear, resulting in the dismissal ofa top administrator.

Pat Middendorf, Director ofOperations and Athletics, wasterminated without cause by thecharter school board at a stormygoverning board meeting May21. This followed a flurry ofrumors, intrigue, politics,charges against ExecutiveDirector David Linzey, counter-charges and complaints, alllargely played out in a very pub-lic forum on local website Clay-cord.com.

The bitter battle sharplydivided the school and commu-nity at a time when the Eaglesshould be soaring. CVCHS wascelebrated for having one ofthe largest state test scoreimprovements — 62 APIpoints — in California andreceiving a maximum six-yearcertification from the WesternAssociation of Schools andColleges. In March, Linzey andadministrator Neil McChesneywere invited to Washington,D.C. to speak to the U.S. Houseof Representatives Educationand the Workforce Committeeon the subject of “Raising theBar: The Role of CharterSchools in K-12 Education.”

DETERIORATING

RELATIONSHIP

It was just two years ago thatMiddendorf was on the com-mittee that chose Linzey asexecutive director to run thenewly chartered high school.

Middendorf enthusiasticallychampioned the new directorand immediately became part ofhis administrative staff as direc-tor of operations and athletics.

But that partnership beganto fray late last year over plans

to expand the school and Mid-dendorf ’s claims of Linzey’s“aggressive and disrespectfulmanagement style.” The criti-cism snowballed with someteachers attacking Linzey’s lead-ership ability, “top-down struc-

ture,” lack of trust and absenceof “shared decision-making.”

The antagonism between thetwo administrators boiled overwhen Middendorf and otherLinzey critics claimed that the

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See Teen Speak, page 8See High School, page 8

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JAY BEDECARRÉ

Clayton Pioneer

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Clayton Pioneer

www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014 925.672.0500

SSUUMMMMEERR FFRREEEE925.672.6700

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3-Day Sale June 16-18 Zero EnrollmentJoin today!

Bitter CVCHS feud ends with Middendorf firing

Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer

JUST TWO YEARS AFTER A TEACHER-LED MOVEMENT CONVERTED CLAYTON VALLEY HIGH TO A CHARTER SCHOOL, strife between the executivedirector and the administrator who was on the board that hired him, erupted in a firestorm of controversy at the end of theschool year. When the smoke cleared, Pat Middendorf, who led the movement to convert two years ago, was without a job.

The usual end-of-the yearexcitement at Clayton ValleyCharter High School waseclipsed by another type ofexcitement, a scandal that playedout over the local news websiteClaycord.com, fueling gossipthat spread from the school hall-ways to the streets of Clayton;false information spreadthrough the town like wildfire.

In the end, an explosiveboard meeting resulted in riledstudents, staff and communitymembers, teachers calling forthe ouster of Executive Direc-tor David Linzey and the termi-nation of Director of Opera-tions Pat Middendorf.

At the June 3 city council meeting, city staff proposed a $9.37million budget for 2014-2015 which includes $3.26 million in fiduciary funds. The General Fund budget balances with a small $30ksurplus which assumes Misc. Employees’ salaries and benefits remain status quo. This surplus is supported by a healthy uptick in real property assessed values and further return of a portion offormer Redevelopment Agency revenues to the General Fund. Capital projects planned for next year include a federal collector street rehab project targeting Keller Ridge Drive, a new SUV policecar and replacement of a 23 year old Maintenance tractor. Last year’s budget suffered one-time spikes for audit delays/ finance dept. illness, overtime expenses for Clayton PD staffing shortages,and water overages caused by constant irrigation breakages at Community Park. Landscape District planned improvements include trail bridge renovations, a neighborhood median landscapingand refurbishing the downtown planters. Source: City Manager Gary Napper.

General Fund Revenue Budget2014-15 – $3,879,561

General Fund Expenditures by Department

2014-15 – $3,849,444

Revenues - Total Budget*2014-15

Expenditures - Total Budget2014-15

Clayton balances 2014-15 budget with small surplus

Scandal atCVCHS splitsloyalties

LILIANA HERNANDEZ

TEEN SPEAK

City calls for July 4Parade entries

Red, white, blue…and goldare the Fourth of July colors thisyear as Clayton celebrates Amer-ica’s birthday and Clayton’s 50thyear as a city. Gather the starspangled gear, add a dash ofgold sparkle and prepare tomarch, drive, ride or stroll

‘Celebrating Clayton’s Milestones’

See Parade, page 4

CVCHS contract includes 6 percent raise

Landscape District16.6%Misc. Funds**6.0%

Gas Tax 5.2%Grants Fund 2.4%Grove Park 2.2%Street Lights 2.1%Stormwater 2.1%

General Fund63.5%

Landscape District16.3%Misc. Funds**5.2%

Gas Tax 5.1%Grants Fund 3%Grove Park 2.8%Street Lights 2.2%Stormwater 3.3%

General Fund62%

Franchise Fees 13.5%

Transfers In 9.1%

User Fees/Permits8.5%

In-Lieu 4.0%Interest 1.0%Misc. Other 0.1%

Taxes63.9%

Admin/Finance 20.7%

Community Dev. 7.7%

Community Park 4.4%Public Works 4.4%Library 4.2%Gen. Gov. 3.2%Engineering 2.1%Legislative 1.7%

Police49.2%

Each year, the ClaytonBusiness and CommunityAssociation gives out awardsto several outstanding graduat-ing seniors. Each finalistreceived $5,000 to use to helpdefer the cost of their highereducation.

The winners of the 2014CBCA education scholarshipsare: Kasey Fitzsimmons, SadieDowling. Grant Melan, KyleMetz and Rachel Siver. Theoriginal field was made up of18 applicants, of which 11were invited for a formal inter-view with the CBCA scholar-ship committee.

“Every one of the appli-cants has an outstanding aca-demic and extracurricularresume. And it was very diffi-cult to narrow it down to justfive,” said Rory Richmond,chairman of the committee.

The winners are graduatesof CVCHS, with the exceptionof Fitzsimmons, who attendedCarondelet.

F i t z s i m -mons’ inter-est in theh e a l t h c a r efield is evi-dent by herpast volun-t e e rwork/intern-ship at JohnMuir Hospi-

tal. She is alsoactive in her

church, where she is a youthgroup leader. She also playedon the tennis team for fouryears. She plans to major inBiochemistry/Biological Sci-ence at Cal Poly-San Luis

Obispo.Dowling is off to UC Santa

Cruz and will major in Molec-ular Biology/Bioengineering.For the past four years she hasbeen a member of the CVCHSJazz Ensemble and FullOrchestra PerformanceEnsemble, is actively involvedwith her church as a youthleader, and organizer of manycommunity projects.

M e l a nwill attendSanta ClaraU n i v e r s i t yand focus onthe school ofArts and Sci-ences. Heearned sixvarsity letterswhile atCVCHS. Asa member ofthe CVCHS Public ServiceAcademy, he has been involvedin many public service pro-grams and contributed hun-dreds of hours of communityservice.

Metz isplanning toattend SanDiego Stateand will pur-sue a degreein business.His role instudent gov-ernment isoutstanding,and he has adeep appre-

ciation for the theater as well.While at CVCHS, he wasinvolved as a performer, tech-nician, and director for many

stage productions. He also is adrama volunteer at the localelementary schools. He is avarsity letterman in both trackand cross country.

Siver willattend UCLAwhere she willmajor inA e r o s p a c eEngineering.

Her aca-d e m i cachievementsare impres-sive, includ-

ing member-ship in the

California Scholarship Federa-tion. She also has a rich athlet-ic history, including three yearsDVAL All-League-Softball anda NCS Scholar Athlete threeyears running. In addition, shehas donated many hours to avariety of community serviceprojects.

Page 2 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

Around Town CBCA honors stand-out

high school seniors

TravelsKathy O’Toole and Herb Yonge had a

chance to read the Pioneer while visiting theTower of London. They took a river cruisebeginning and ending in Amsterdam. While inAmsterdam they visited the Keukenhof Gar-dens and the Rijksmuseum. After their cruisethey ventured to England for nine days andvisited Bath and London.

Julie Caruso receiveslaw degree from

Gonzaga UniversityClayton native Julie Caruso

graduated from law school atGonzaga University on May 10in Spokane, Washington. She isthe daughter of long-timeClayton residents David andAnn Caruso.

Julie is a 2007 graduate ofCVHS. She received a dual BA

in political science and Frenchfrom Whitworth University.

During her undergraduateeducation, Julie worked at theCenter for Justice, a Spokanenonprofit law firm providinglegal aid to low income clients.In law school, she receivedawards for her work with vari-ous organizations. Most recent-ly, she served with the Washing-ton State Office of the AttorneyGeneral in the Social and HealthServices division.

Julie will take the bar exam inWashington where she plans topractice law.

Still cruisin’ after 60 years

Ken and Jean Williamson ofClayton celebrated their 60thwedding anniversary by enjoyinga seven-day Alaskan Cruise.They were joined by 21 mem-bers of their family, includingfour children and spouses, sevengrandchildren and spouses, plusthree great-grandchildren. Fami-ly members came from as far asFlorida, Tennessee and Ohio tojoin in the celebration. On thevoyage, they enjoyed stops inJuneau, Skagway, Ketchikan andVictoria B.C. One special high-light of the trip was watchingthe glaciers calving at GlacierBay. The Williamsons weredelighted by a special musicalslide show presentation of their

60-plus years together given tothem by their family. They alsosavored a champagne breakfaston their balcony as a gift fromfamily.

Ken was raised in Scottsbluff,NE, and Jean was raised in ElSobrante, Ca. They met whileKen was in the Navy stationedon Treasure Island.

When Ken was dischargedfrom the Navy, he moved to Lin-coln to attend the University ofNebraska. Their relationshipstrengthened even with the longdistance and they were marriedon June 12, 1954 in El Sobrante.Congratulations on 60 yearstogether.

AAUW honors AbeleIn the

May 23issue, therewere toerrors int h eA A U Ws c h o l a r -ship story.The recipi-ent wasS a r aAbele, not Ashley Abele,and the amount was $1000,not $500. Our congratula-tions to Sara.

GEORGE VUJNOVICH Number #1 Broker in Clayton 2013*

Representing more Buyers and Sellers than any other agent!*data provided by Paragon MLS

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321 Chardonnay Cir ............$745,000 . . . .2391 . . . . .4/2.5 . . . . . .5/23/14

3017 Windmill Canyon Dr....$735,000 . . . .2313 . . . . .4/2.5 . . . . . .5/23/14

1025 Feather Circle .............$470,000 . . . .1338 . . . . .2/2 . . . . . . .5/21/14

5193 Keller Ridge Dr ...........$640,000 . . . .2237 . . . . .3/2 . . . . . . .5/14/14

1853 Yolanda Circle.............$638,000 . . . .1880 . . . . .4/2.5 . . . . . . .5/8/14

100 Mt. Etna Drive...............$680,000 . . . .2619 . . . . .5/2.5 . . . . . . .5/7/14

216 Condor Way..................$636,000 . . . .1710 . . . . .3/2.5 . . . . . . .5/6/14

25 Widmar Court..................$640,000 . . . .1715 . . . . .3/2 . . . . . . . .5/6/14

269 El Pueblo Place ............$598,000 . . . .2643 . . . . .5/3 . . . . . . . .5/6/14

5211 Keller Ridge Drive.......$820,000 . . . .2843 . . . . .4/3 . . . . . . . .5/1/14

239 Mountaire Parkway .......$690,000 . . . .2694 . . . . .5/2.5 . . . . . . .5/1/14

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3043 Windmill Cyn. Dr. – Clayton Windmill Canyonat OakhurstCountry Club!3 bedrooms, 2.5

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5718 Verna Way – Clayton Rarely availableflat lot! Tucked

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8045 Kelok Way – Clayton Top of Falcon Ridge back-ing to open space w/views! 4 bedrooms, 3 full

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962 Easy Street – Alamo FantasticWooded Settingon a half acre+/-lot! 3 bed/2 baths,

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3205 Coyote Circle – Clayton Diablo Ridge at OakhurstCountry Club!2 bedroom, 2 bath

unit, inside laundry,

fireplace, plus 1

attached and 1

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Coming soon!

3385 Aspara Dr. – Clayton Best of bothWorlds! Country liv-

ing yet close to town!

8 acres! Views! &

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bedrooms, 3 baths +

a loft, approx. 2800sf.

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925 Douglas Rd. – Clayton Stately Custom Homewith separate cottageon .56 ace lot! 5

bed/4.5bath + a bonus room &

den! Magnificent Creekside

setting! A rare find! $899,000

Alamo Elegant & Stunning Roundhill North CustomHome! Built in 1991 and Extensively remodeled in 2014!

Approximately .85 acre lot! 4 bed/4.5 baths, approx. 3900sf,

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2715 Oak Rd, #D – Walnut Creek Extensiveremodel in OakRoad Villas!2bed/1bath, approx.

878sf, inside laundry

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PENDINGPENDING

PENDINGPENDING

KYLE METZ

GRANTMEYLAN

KASEYFITZSIMMONS

RACHEL SIVER

SARA ABELE

KEN AND JEAN WILLIAMSON

JULIE CARUSO

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 3

What’s happening Around Town?We want to know what’s happening in your families and in your

neighborhoods.Send news of births, weddings, anniversaries, celebra-tions, special recognitions, etc. to us at info@claytonpioneer.com.

Please attach your photos to the email as JPEG files betweenbetween 3MB and 6MB and include a caption to identify people inyour photos.

Around Town

Saturdays 6 to 8:30 p.m.

At the Gazebo in The GroveSet up chairs and blankets on the lawn after 4 p.m.

Clayton Concerts

in The Grovein The Grove

June 21 City Swing Big Band featuring the big band sounds of the 40s,

50s and 60s including era greats like Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Glen Miller

July 5 The Fundamentals - R&B, rock, pop and soul tunes.

July 19 Rachel Steele & Road 88 - modern country and rock and roll High energy dance music.

Aug 2 Diamond Dave – sings the classics of Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Justin Timberlake and even Lady Gaga

Aug 16 AJA VUplays the music of Steely Dan and Chicago

Aug 30 Apple Z –high energy rock and roll spanning the decades from Rolling Stones to Lady Gaga

Sept 13 East Bay Mudd - 10-piece cover dance band with a powerful 4-man horn section

For more band information, go to

www.cityofclayton.org.

A ‘Thank You’ for our freedom

Local teen to study atTanglewood

Sarah Carrico, a ClaytonValley Charter High Schoolsophomore, will take her

French horn to Boston Uni-versity for their prestigiousTanglewood Institute summerprogram. While there she willstudy with notable guest artistconductors and perform sever-al concerts with three largeensembles on the Tanglewoodestate in July and August.

Students for the programare selected through a rigorousapplication and auditionprocess and come from allover the world.

Sarah has studied FrenchHorn for five years. She is thedaughter of Archie and JoanCarrico.

ZZ says life is more fun at camp

ZZ the mule, outreach direc-tor from Doodleton Ranch wasin town last week remindingClayton kids that the June 23deadline to sign up for naturecamp is fast approaching.

This summer, ZZ wants tosee all these kids out at her 20-acre Doodleton Ranch on Mor-gan Territory Rd., bordering Mt.Diablo State Park.

The four one-week sessionsbegin July 7 and continuethrough Aug. 4 for kids between7 and 11. Campers will get toknow ZZ and her four-leggedpals. They might spend a morn-ing learning what and whythings grow where they do, cre-ating art masterpieces from nat-ural materials, catching tadpoles,studying a rotten log or hiking inthe state park.

Each professionally staffedsession is five days, 9 a.m. until 3p.m. with before and after childcare available.

Sessions begin July 7 andcontinue through Aug. 4. Toenroll, go to www.doodleton-ranch.org, or call camp director,Kathryn Palau, (925) 207-7467.

Thursdays 7 to 8:30 p.m.

June 12 Tone Pony (Country)

July 10 LAST MINUTE (Rock / R&B)

July 24, Plan B (Rock)

August 7 CROSSMAN COUNTRY (Country)

August 21 PHD’s (Latin Jazz / R&B )

ConcordCrystyl Ranch – Exceptional home has 4BD/3BA within a 2,797 sq. ft.floor plan. Marvelous backyard offers patio, lovely gardens, and hugekoi pond w/waterfall. 1BD/BA downstairs and up is a large loft for flex-ible use and a huge master suite with veranda & views.

Clayton $648,888Regency Woods – Single-story 3BD/2.5BA on a corner lot offers hard-wood thru most of the 1,800+ sq. ft. floor plan. Sparkling kitchen hasa garden window, granite & ample cabinetry. Master suite with gardenviews through bay window, 2 closets. Close to Mt. Diablo trails.

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242 El Pueblo Place, Clayton $759,000Regency Meadows – Stunning views from this beau-tiful, updated 4BD/3BA Mediterranean home. 2,643sq. ft. open floor plan could be easily converted back to5BD. Sought-after neighborhood close to Mt. Diablotrails.

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5523 Nebraska Drive, Concord $588,000Clayton Valley Highlands – Stunning remodel ofdetached into duplex w/separate meters and yards! Mainliving space is1,500 s.f., 3BD/2BA; Income/In-Law unit is680 s.f., 1BD/1BA. Spa-like bathrooms, dream kitchens,fantastic living spaces in both units!

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Clayton

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As we have just commemo-rated Memorial Day and theFourth of July is around the cor-ner, my thoughts have turned tothis great nation we call homeand to the men and women thathave fought for our country.

With the exception of twoyears living in South America, Ihave lived all my life in the Unit-ed States of America. It is easyfor me to take for granted thefreedoms this nation offers. Ihave been able to worship freely,speak freely and vote freely. Ihave been able to pursue an

education and a career of mychoosing. I have been able toown a home.

At times it seems that peaceis valued more than freedom.However, I believe that peacewithout freedom is shallow.

I wish to thank those menand women that responded tothe call of their country, whoput country above self. I wish tothank those men and womenwho gave their lives in obtainingour freedom as a new nation.And since the RevolutionaryWar, I wish to thank those men

and women who have giventheir lives protecting, maintain-ing and ensuring not only ourfreedom but also the freedom ofmany around the world.

I also wish to thank the menand women that served along-side those that lost their lives. Iwant to thank the veterans thatbear the scars and memories oftheir sacrifice for freedom. Ithank those men and womenthat are currently serving in thearmed forces today.HANK STRATFORD

MAYOR’S CORNER See Mayor, page 4

JULIE CARUSO

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downtown in this year’s paradeto the theme of “CelebratingClayton’s Milestones.”

The Kiddie Parade does notrequire advance entry. Childrenline up along Oak Street withtheir bicycles, roller skates, nonmotorized scooters, wagonsstrollers, small kids’ batterymotorized play vehicles alldecked out in the celebratorycolors.

The Main Parade requiresadvance registration so applica-tions can be approved beforethe parade. New and returningclubs, bands and organizationsare encouraged to sign up.

For those patriotic soulswanting to be somewhere

between the sidelines and themiddle of Main Street, volun-teers are needed.

Clayton’s Cw Wolfe will beback on the grandstand asGrand Marshall. Local choirYesterday’s Kids will be joinedby soprano Mechele Fong forthe National Anthem.

The Parade starts at 10 a.m.on July 4.

For parade applications, go to city-ofclayton.org or pick one up at CityHall. Applications must be post-marked by June 23. To volunteer, call673-7304 to help out even a portionof the day between 6 a.m. and 12p.m.

Clayton Parade, from page 1 Mayor, from page 3

Page 4 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

Concord residents will havethe opportunity to learn howto become a bit greener in aworkshop that takes the con-cept of recycling to the nextlevel — and can help savemoney in the process.

The City of Concord ishosting a free workshop enti-tled Zero Waste & Be a Sus-tainable Citizen from 6:30 to8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June25. at Civic Center, 1950 Park-side Dr., in the City CouncilChambers.

“Almost everyone knowsabout recycling and mostlyeveryone does it. That’s a goodthing,” says Concord SeniorPlanner Joan Ryan. “Many ofus know we can do more, wantto do more, but are not surehow. This is an opportunity to

learn how to do more, be moresustainable, and take action tobe part of the solution, rightnow, and right here in yourcommunity.”

She says that the workshoptakes residents “to the nextlevel – beyond basic recycling– and arms you with informa-tion and simple, meaningfulactions you can practice imme-diately so you become a ‘sus-tainable citizen.’”

The workshop uses the“Sustainable in 10” principle –10 actions that cost no money,create savings and reduce envi-ronmental footprints. Theaverage “sustainable citizen”household can save over $550per year, while simultaneouslyeliminating significantamounts of carbon dioxide per

year and reducing greenhousegas emissions.

The instructor, Todd Sut-ton, an expert with over 20years in the environmentalfield, has appeared on nationaltelevision including Discoveryand the History channels, andhas educated thousands onbeing sustainable.

The Zero Waste & Be a Sus-tainable Citizen class is free but reg-istration is required and space islimited. To register, emailjoan.ryan@cityofconcord.org or call925-671-3370. To register online,visit the Eventbrite website athttp://www.eventbrite.com/e/city-of-concord-zero-waste-be-a-sustain-abl e - c i t iz en -workshop- t i cke t s -11665031423 . Registration dead-line is June 25.

Concord workshop will train ‘sustainable’ citizens

My heart goes out to themothers and families of notonly our current soldiers butalso of all of the past soldiers. Iacknowledge the worry andheartache that is felt at home.

I am grateful for the free-doms we enjoy here in the Unit-ed States of America. I amgrateful for these freedoms thatwere bought and purchased withthe blood and sacrifice of dedi-cated patriots.

May God bless America andmay we have the courage to liveour lives in a way that honorsthose individuals that have losttheir lives for our freedoms.

Housing in Concord hasbeen called a lot of things overthe past 50 years – plentiful,affordable, diverse – but now ithas a new tag: Hip.

A recent study by the web-site RealtyTrac concluded thatConcord is one of the top com-munities in the U.S. appealing to“hipsters,” that vague age groupof people aged 25 to 34.

Whatever your age, however,the fact remains that real estatein Contra Costa’s largest city ishot.

“I’m really bullish on Con-cord,” says longtime local real-tor Pete Laurence. “The city hasa great future.”

Laurence is quick to say that

the sheer diversity of the city,along with good planning, hasalways made Concord “a greatplace to live.” He cites theneighborhood feel, the pre-planned community parks, andthe many options and styles ofhomes as reasons Concord hasattracted a wide range of home-owners and renters. By attract-ing more businesses to the com-munity, people who once feareda nasty commute can find workcloser to home.

That’s not to say that therearen’t problem areas wherecrime rates are higher, such asnear the Monument corridorand around Solano Way, butrecent inroads made by theConcord Police Department arehelping that as well.

Laurence says that like in allcommunities, schools play thelargest role in determining homevalues in the city. Neighborhoodsthat feed Northgate and CollegePark high schools — like LimeRidge, The Crossings and CrystylRanch – command higher homeprices because of higher testscores of the local schools.

But lately, homes that feedthe Clayton Valley Charter HighSchool are rising in popularity,mainly because the school hasshown such great improvementin its test scores.

Another issue that hasalways impacted Concordhomebuyers is proximity totransportation. Homebuyers inthe past may have preferredsuch neighborhoods as Sun Ter-

race and Holbrook Heightsbecause they have easier accessto Highway 4 – and therefore I-680 – than neighborhoods outYgnacio Valley Road, like Clay-ton Valley Highlands, otherwiseknown as the “State Streets.”

“People didn’t want to livefar from the freeways,”Laurence says.

The biggest issue Laurencesays that faces Concord housingis that the community is already“built out.”

“There’s not anyplace else tobuild,” he says.

That will change if and whenthe city develops its downtownplan over the next decade or so,which aims to bring as much as3,000 new housing units to thedowntown area and near theconcord BART station, accord-ing to Concord Mayor TimGrayson. Most, if not all, ofthat housing is mixed-use, withliving units on upper floors andretail and business below.

The other major change onthe housing front is develop-ment of the Concord NavalWeapons Station land. Plans call

for an additional 12,000 housingunits, in a mix of single-familyhomes, townhouses and apart-ments. At least 15 percent ofthe units built will be affordable,offered below market rate.

MOST HOUSING IN

CONTRA COSTA

Currently, Concord has about47,125 housing units, based on2010 data, says John Montagh,Concord’s Economic Develop-ment & Housing Manager. Morethan 27,300 are detached resi-dences, 3,184 are single-attached,3,425 are du- and four-plexes,and the rest are five-plus unitapartments and mobile homes.Concord has more than 1,700mobile home units.

“We have more housingunits than anywhere else in thecounty,” he says.

One of the growing areas inConcord housing are multi-fam-ily developments like those neardowntown.

It’s the sheer diversity ofhousing available in Concord

Median %Year Price Change

2004 $416,500 18%

2005 $505,000 21%

2006 $523,750 4%

2007 $485,000 -7%

2008 $309,000 -36%

2009 $240,000 -22%

2010 $250,000 4%

2011 $225,000 -10%

2012 $260,000 16%

2013 $351,500 35%

The above chart shows themedian home price for sin-gle-family detached homesales in Concord for theyears 2004 through 2013.

Faced with having to cut morethan $4 million in upcoming yearsfrom its city coffers, the ConcordCity Council this month made thefirst moves to extend Measure Q,its half-cent sales tax set to expirein 2015-16.

City Manager Valerie Barone’sprojections were bleak when sheaddressed the council at the firstof its two public hearings for the2014-15 budget and 10-yearfinancial forecast on June 3.

“To maintain the vital servicesthat the people of Concordexpect and deserve, we are look-ing at having to cut $4 millionfrom the next two years’ budg-ets,” she told the council.

Her report was spurred byquestions at the May councilmeeting unveiling next year’sbudget and the 10-year forecast.Council member Dan Helix hadasked to see what the impact oflosing Measure Q would do tocity funds.

“There are no easy cuts outthere,” Barone told the council,saying that most of the cutswould have to be made to thecity’s police department, Con-cord’s biggest expense. To keep

patrols at a level the city needs,she says “vital services” like trafficenforcement and gang preventionwould suffer, if not be eliminatedaltogether.

Other possibilities includeclosing the city jail, increasing theworkload of officers, looking atlonger response times in emer-gencies and overall “decreasingpublic safety and the quality oflife in Concord.”

She also listed cutting city staffand the city’s economic develop-ment funds, both of which shefeels will hurt the city.

“When you cut staff, you cutservices,” she said. She also saidthat economic development isvital to keeping much neededsales taxes flowing into the city.

She also mentioned closing acommunity center and cuttingrecreation activities, two thing thatwould have a direct impact on thecity’s youth. “I know you feel thesame way I do, that keeping kidsbusy is important to public safe-ty.”

The city would also use up anyreserves it has built up, withoutmaking a dent in “unfunded liabil-ities,” like deferred maintenanceon roads and public buildings, aswell as employee pension costs.

Her dire warnings came

despite the fact that the proposed2014-15 fiscal year budget is “sta-tus quo,” and its $85 million inrevenue and $8.4 million inexpenses calls for no cuts. That’smainly due to $11.6 million com-ing to the city from Measure Q.The difference of $3.6 millionwould be put to the city’s reserves.

The sales tax was approved byvoters in 2010 for five years. Cityofficials felt that would give thecity time to recover from therecession. But a slower-than-expected recovery and the loss ofvital redevelopment funds to thestate has made Measure Q “a life-line” for the city, Barone said.

She said that the councilwould have to pass an official res-olution asking that Measure Q beextended by June 24 to make sure

it would get on the Novemberballot, something the councilmembers seemed willing to do.

It is also something residentsseemed willing to embrace, atleast those on hand at the publichearing.

“At first I wasn’t a Measure Qsupporter…but thank God thepeople of Concord were smartenough to pass it when it firstcame up,” said Ray Barber. “Now,I’d stand up on a street corner andholler for it.”

Barone likened Measure Qand the long-range financial fore-cast to having a broken finger.“You can keep the cast on longer,allowing the finger to heal proper-ly,” she said. “Or you can cut offthe arm altogether.”

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 5

Concord News

PEGGY SPEAR

Clayton Pioneer

PEGGY SPEAR

Clayton Pioneer

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Concord housing: new market for the hip

Concord eyes Measure Q extension

Concord Concert Schedules

The city of Concord’s freeThursday night “Music in thePark” series in Todos SantosPlaza has begun! We’ve alreadystarted rockin’ to the ConcordHigh Jazz Band, Stealin’ Chicagoand some Cajun music. Look forthe music of the Beatles, MichaelJackson, Led Zeppelin, Animals,Yardbirds, Johnny Cash andPrince

But it isn’t all rock and roll.The Symphony appears on Aug.28 and a moving 9/11 Memorialbig band concert. The CaliforniaSymphony will appear on Aug. 28and on Sept. 11, the Lafayette Stu-dio Band will honor 9/11 withthe sounds of the big bands era.

This marks the 26th anniver-sary of our summer music series.Two years ago the music serieswas in jeopardy of closing whenthe Economic RedevelopmentAgency money used to fund theseries dried up.

To balance the State’s budget,Governor Brown and our StateLegislature took $7.8 millionannually from our city’s budgetwhen they shut down our Rede-velopment Agency. Fortunately

we’ve had the support from thegeneral public. We’ve collectedabout $20,000 in donations frompassing the jug around at the parkduring concerts. We have securedseveral corporate sponsors suchas Concord Disposal, Tesoro,Dolan’s Lumber, Ashby Lumber,Chevron, Pacific Service CreditUnion, Pacific Coast Farmer’sMarket and Cole Printing. In addi-tion, the Brenden-Mann (The-aters) Foundation supports thesummer series with a $20,000matching grant on any moneycollected when we pass the jug.

The concerts draw betweenfour and five thousand people toTodos Santos Plaza. Manyvenders will be surrounding thepark with goods to eat and itemsto buy while you enjoy theFarmer’s Market and Music from4 to 8 pm.

The Tuesday Night BluesSeries will continue during Julyand host a Father’s Day treat Sun-day June 15 with the rockin’ Jail-house Rockers with their ElvisPresley revue.

It’s no wonder that Concordhas been named as one of the topten music cities in the nation bylivibility.com.

See this page for a completeconcert schedule and for moreinformation on the guests and theevents, go towww.concordfirst.org.

Ron Leone, Vice Mayor of theCity of Concord and former Mayor,welcomes comments and questions.Call him at (925) 680-1776 orronaldleone@comcast.net.

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CONCORDCITY BEAT

By the end of summer, theClayton Police Department willhave seen a full 50 percentturnover in uniformed policeoffices.

In the past few months Dar-ren Billington, Todd Sorrell,Andre Charles and Sgt. RichMcEachin have all moved on tobigger departments that offermore opportunities for careeradvancement and better pay.Another sergeant has been ouron medical leave for a workrelated injury for several monthsand is slated for retirementsoon. Three of the vacancieshave been filled by three newhires, the newest to begin onJune 16. All are or will be insome stage of training until

August, said Thorsen.That leaves five fully trained

officers to do the work of 10,says Chief Chris Thorsen, whohas been covering patrol shiftsin addition to his managementduties.

Thorsen says they are con-sidering asking Concord Policeto help out at least on graveyarduntil they are at full staff. Clay-ton currently contracts withConcord for dispatch and book-ing.

Two of the positions openare at the sergeant level. Thors-en will consider filling fromboth inside the department andrecruiting from outside.

There are a lot of advantagesto working in a safe, small town.But, it seems, high excitementand big paychecks don’t countamong them

Q. My daughter recentlymarried and she and her hus-band want to buy a house.They both have jobs but don’tmake enough to qualify. Theyasked me if I would co-sign forthe loan. They will make all ofthe payments. Do you thinkthis is a good idea? Is it like co-signing for a car where I amliable if they don’t pay?

A. I can’t tell you if this is agood idea for your family. It justmakes me wonder that if theycan’t qualify for the loan how arethey going to make the payments?You, the co-signer will be liablefor 100 percent of the debt forwhich you co-sign if the kidsdon’t make their payments. Theloan will appear on your creditreport as well as theirs. Themissed payments will appear onboth their credit report and yours.The loan will affect the your debtratios and your ability to qualifyfor other financing for yourself.

I hope you will make the rightdecision with this knowledge.

Q. My husband and I feelthe time is right to downsizeour home. We need to reduceour expenses. We need a sin-gle-story in a safe location. Wedon’t know how to get started.Do we sell or buy first? Wehave gone to a few open hous-es and noticed first-time buy-ers looking as well as otherseniors. It seems very compet-itive. Where do we start?

A. You need to find a rep-utable realtor that you can trust toguide you through the process. Itsounds like you realize that thesmaller single-story homes are themost competitive. It is an unpleas-ant fact that you pay more persquare foot for the smaller thehome. For instance, if you buy ahome half the size of your cur-rent home it won’t be half theprice. It will be much higher. Thereason is both that they are morein demand and because a largerhome has a lot more air space.You only have one kitchen and somany bathrooms on either a smallor large home. The question ofwhether to buy or sell first is adilemma for trade down buyers aswell as other seller/ buyers. Iunderstand the anxiety of sellingfirst and wondering where youwill live, or buying first and notknowing exactly how muchmoney you will end up with or ifyou will find the house you want.Fortunately many senior home-owners are in a good financialposition to buy the new housefirst. If you have benefitted bymany years of appreciation onestrategy is to take out an equityloan on your current home tohelp fund the purchase of thenew home. Then sell the currenthome.

If buying the trade-downhome first is not possible and youfeel uncomfortable selling firstbecause you don’t know if youwill find the right home, youcould sell first and put the pro-ceeds in the bank. You could thenput your things in storage and

live in an interim rental until theright house comes along.

One good thing about thisstrategy is that you will have pareddown the amount of yourbelongings before you moved soyou are ready to move right intothe new house when you find it.

Recently there has been anuptick in property crimes. This istypical for many communities this

time of year. With the warmweather, windows and doors areleft open to allow the cool breezein and cool off the house. Crimi-nals see this as an invitation toentry, so the practice can result inyou being a victim.

There are steps you can taketo help your police departmentkeep you safe and prevent crimesfrom happening:

If you have an alarm on yourhouse or car, please use it.

Lock your car, don’t leavevaluables inside, even whenparked in the garage.

If you leave windows open onyour home, use a secondary lockor dowel that does not allow thewindow to open more than a fewinches.

Know your neighbors, knowwhat cars they drive and have abasic idea of their habits.

Lock gates leading to the sideof your home.

Most importantly, don’t hesi-tate to call the police when yousee something suspicious. Weoften hear that a resident hesitat-ed because he/she didn’t want tobother the police departmentwith minor issues. In most cases,

when you report a suspicious cir-cumstance, we find there was arational reason for the activity youare reporting. However, we havesolved crimes based upon neigh-bors calling in and reporting whatappear to be minor incidents.

The Clayton Police Depart-ment takes great pride in helpingmake Clayton a safe place with ahigh quality of life for all our res-idents. Please help us help you.

Varinder Ragbotra had a verystrong reason why he sold hisFrench Camp SUBWAY andbought the Clayton SUBWAY inApril, 2013: Not only did thefinancials add up, but he wantedto be part of a small communitywhere he could interact with thepeople. And he’s doing that everyday, making sandwiches and sal-ads and greeting customers dur-ing the lunch rush.

Varinder lives by his fatherJasbir’s words, “Don’t thinkabout yourself. Think about thefuture.” Jasbir encouraged hisson to think beyond his aspira-tions and interact with hisemployees and community as away to build a better future forall. When he is not at the subshop, he is introducing himselfto local schools, clubs, businessesand other organizations offeringmeals and deals. He donatesfood to volunteers for civicevents and also provided sand-wiches and drinks to firefightersduring the Morgan Fire.

Varinder was born and raisedin India. He earned his bachelor’sdegree in computer science. Theplan was for the family to cometo America to work at his uncle’srestaurant in San Francisco.Varinder made the trip a littlesooner than expected in 2006when his father died of a heartattack upon arrival at the airport.

Varinder married wifeJaspreet and worked at the

restaurant for a few years beforebuying a SUBWAY franchise inFrench Camp. Jaspreet’s familyowned several SUBWAYS, so itwas familiar territory to the cou-ple.

To overcome the challenge ofwhat Varinder calls his “hiddenlocation” and entice people tocome to Clayton instead of near-by SUBWAYs, he says, “Wemake it comfortable. We main-tain a good quality of food.”

Jim Burkin, a local electrician,frequently lunches with his wifeat Clayton’s SUBWAY. Burkinsays, “People use me. I certainlyuse other businesses locally.”This camaraderie is what broughthim to SUBWAY, but it is theclean environment, good foodand welcoming staff that keephim coming back. “They defi-

nitely mesh with the communi-ty,” Burkin says.

Arlene Huerta of Claytoncame in for the salads and regu-larly returns because she saysVarinder is so pleasant, the storeis clean and they make her salad“exactly how I like it.”

Varinder’s short-term goal isto expand his business in Claytonby gaining more customers andoffering a variety of menuoptions.

He lives with Jaspreet andtheir two children in Lathrop.Long-term, he would like tomove his family to Clayton andopen more SUBWAY locations.“I want to be a part of the com-munity anytime, any day.”

The Clayton SUBWAY is locat-ed at 1026 Oak Street. For moreinformation, call 925-693-0621.

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Page 6 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

TAMARA STEINER

Clayton Pioneer

Chris Thorsen is Clayton’s chiefof police. For questions and com-ments, call him at (925) 673-7350.

CHRIS THORSEN

BEHIND THE BADGE

Send your question and look for youranswer in a future column. EmailLynne@LynneFrench.com. French is thebroker/owner of Windermere LynneFrench & Associates. Contact her at672-878 7or stop in at 6200 CenterSt., Clayton.

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VARINDER RAGBOTRA WITH HIS WIFE, JASPREET,who also works attheir Clayton SUBWAY. He says whether working at his uncle’srestaurant or SUBWAY, “It’s still our family business and weare trying to expand...We are all together.”

PAMELA WIESENDANGER

Clayton Pioneer

CVV takes a village

Thank you for the article byJohn Jackson on the ClaytonValley Village in the May 23issue. All of us involved in thedevelopment of the CVV ideaappreciate the chance to getthe story out about a conceptthat allows us to remain in ourgreat community and “age inplace” in our own homes forthose of us who so choose.

On behalf of all the peoplewho are helping get our villageoff the ground, I want to pointout that it truly takes a villageto make a village. The articlemight make it seem like this isa one-person show, but noth-ing could be further from thetruth. Clayton Valley Village isa group effort by what is, sofar, a small but dedicated band

of people concerned about thefutures of our fellow residents,seniors and others who wouldlike support to live independ-ently and thrive. CVV is less aretirement community then anactive part of our larger com-munity in which seniors canlive among us comfortably andproductively.

We have a great task beforeus and are looking for volun-teers, sponsors, and others whocan make Clayton Valley Vil-lage come alive. You canmonitor our progress atwww.claytonvalleyvillage.organd contact us at (925) 672-8717.

Sincerely,Maria Xiaris and the CVV

Development Committee

Letter to the EditorThefts are warming up in Clayton

Clayton PD looking fortwo new sergeants

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Business Services

Rising Moon Marketing & Public Relations . . . . .672-8717

Construction and Trades

Appliance Repairs by Bruce, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-2700

Belfast Plumbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .457-5423

Burkin Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .672-1519

Diablo View Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .822-5144

Gary’s Home Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .787-2500

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Tipperary Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216-2679

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saries, births and deaths all weavetogether as part of the fabric of ourcommunity. Please let us know ofthese important events. We ask onlythat the announcement be for a Clay-ton resident. You will find the appro-priate form for your announcementon our Website. Attach your photo tothe form. Make sure the image sizeyou are about to send is at least 3 MBbut not bigger than 6MB. The onlyformat we accept is JPG. You can alsomail or bring your print to the officeand we can scan it for you.

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June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 7

ResponsibilityDo the Right Thing

A memorial cele-bration will be held onJune 27 for Cynthia L.Smith Johansson, whodied May 26 at herhome in Clayton, sur-rounded by family.

Born and raised inYoungstown, Ohio,daughter of the lateJessye M. Farris Con-dello and Thomas A.Smith, Cindi attended St. Chris-tine, St. Dominic, Our Lady ofLourdes (East Palestine) gradeschools as well as Poland Juniorand Seminary High. In 1979 shemoved to San Francisco to joinher brother Jeffrey and sisterJudith. She enjoyed careers atBlue Cross, Del Monte, andHoneywell/Bull, and laterworked as a real estate agent andas a dental assistant in ContraCosta County.

In 1989 Cindi moved toClayton, and in 1995 she mar-ried the love of her life, LeifJohansson, residing with him inClayton.

In addition to world travel,the California Shakespeare Festi-val, the San Francisco Symphonyand San Francisco Giants, Cindialso loved running five miles aday and gardening. She enjoyedentertaining innumerable friendsfor holidays, special events andjust for fun. Cindi was kind,compassionate, and generous,

and always had a smileand a kind word foreveryone she encoun-tered.

In addition to herhusband Leif, she issurvived by siblingsJeffrey of San Francis-co, Daniel, Judith andKatherine of Con-cord, CA; Leif ’s chil-dren Erik of Alameda,

CA, and Jennifer of Toledo,Ohio. Cindi enjoyed returningoften to Mahoning Valley to visitfamily and is survived by heraunt Bonnie Oliver of Hubbard,uncle Duke Farris ofYoungstown, niece MelissaSmith of Boardman, and manycousins throughout the UnitedStates.

The June 27 memorial cele-bration will be at 1:30 p.m. at St.Mary’s Catholic Church, 2039Mount Diablo Blvd., WalnutCreek. Private Internment serv-ices will be held at Queen OfHeaven Cemetery in Lafayette ata later date.

The family suggests memori-al donations in Cindi’s honor bemade to the following organiza-tions: St. Jude’s Hospital forChildren (www.stjude.org),Southern Poverty Law Center(www.splcenter.org), DoctorsWithout Borders (www.doctor-swithoutborders.org) and PacificSiamese Rescue.

Obituary

Cynthia L. Smith JohanssonJanuary 17, 1956 – May 26, 2014

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executive director oversteppedbounds in late 2013 when hesubmitted expansion plans to theContra Costa Board of Educa-tion without any input fromstaff, buy-in from faculty orboard approval.

Linzey defended his action,referring to the documents as“placeholders” on the countyboard agenda that could bechanged at any time prior toapproval. In order to get countyboard approval in time for the2014-15 school year, the applica-tion needed to be submittedquickly, he said. The requirednumber of credentialed teacherssigned the application.

The expansion for 2014 raninto roadblocks with the school’slandlord, Mt. Diablo UnifiedSchool District, and has beenshelved for the time being.

Besides opposition to theexpansion plans, Middendorfand some teachers also objectedto the hiring of Linzey’s wife as aClayton Valley Charter coun-selor. Linzey says the subject ofhiring his wife was addressed atthe time of his hire since he saidhis family would need to find heremployment in order to move tothis area.

Middendorf and the rest ofthe board unanimously approvedhiring Ms. Linzey as coordinatorof guidance and collaborativeservices for the recently conclud-ed 2013-14 school year. Ms.Linzey was the No. 1-ranked can-didate for the position.

MIDDENDORF LEFT IMPRINT

Middendorf‘s firing markedthe end of a nearly two-decadecareer at the school. She came toClayton Valley as a coach in1996, began teaching there in2002 and was a leader in themovement to convert to a char-ter school in 2012.

As a coach and athletic direc-tor she was instrumental in thedevelopment of Gonsalves Sta-dium lights and turf and thenspearheaded the formation ofUnited Mt. Diablo AthleticFoundation that picked up theslack when MDUSD stoppedfunding sports at the six districthigh schools in 2009. Last year,she reduced her work load andwas planning to retire after the2014-15 school year.

She says “everyone wantedLinzey” when he was hired buttheir working relationship dis-solved to the point that she filed

a complaint with the board in thebeginning of April and morerecently submitted a secondcomplaint. She said “little thingsbegan coming up” and sheobjected to his “in-your-face”management style.

TEACHERS TAKE ON LINZEY

A few teachers at the schoolalso targeted Linzey. In May, twoteachers, (who have asked that theirnames be redacted because their letterswere sent to this paper without theirpermission) submitted letters tothe board complaining aboutLinzey and his relations withstaff and faculty. Middendorfsent copies of both letters to theClayton City Council and to thePioneer.

In (one) letter (the teacher) says,“Our school is at a dangerouscrossroads...a significant numberof teachers and other staff mem-bers have serious concerns thatDavid Linzey is not an effectiveleader for Clayton Valley CharterHigh School.”

(In the other letter, the teacher saidhe) wrote the board “with a veryheavy heart” and as one whocalls Linzey “an enormously tal-ented administrator.” He adds,however, “Linzey does not havethe support necessary to remainan effective leader [at CVCHS].”

The board has 60 days fromearly May to respond to all thecomplaints, which have not beenmade public. The board hasretained an outside investigationsgroup to look into the complaintsand report back to the board.

Some students also wanderedinto the fray, expressing theirsupport of the teachers and crit-ical of Linzey at the May 21board meeting and on socialmedia and Claycord.com. Thestudent involvement didn’t sitwell with Linzey.

In a two-hour interview withthe Pioneer last week his onlysharply-worded statement was,“There is an unwritten rule ineducation, an ethic that everyoneagrees to: You don’t use kidswhen it comes to politics and inan administration vs. teachersmatter. Several teachers have cho-sen to use kids in the worst waypossible. I’m ashamed for them.”

CITY SUPPORT FOR LINZEY

Despite the criticism, Linzeyhas widespread parent and com-munity approval, including thefull support of the Clayton CityCouncil. In a letter to the board

prior to the May 21 meeting,Councilwoman Julie Pierce calledMiddendorf ’s charges “Un-sub-stantiated accusations, half-truths and outright lies,” andurged the board to “excise thecancer for the health of theremaining organism”

Among those most vocal inhis support of Linzey and theboard is Clayton Vice MayorDavid Shuey, a leader in the char-ter school conversion effort.Shuey also took to the Internetto make his feelings known.

In fact, it was a posting byShuey that first alerted Midden-dorf to the fact that her com-plaints, aired online, might leadto termination. “I never thoughtI’d be fired…until readingShuey’s comments onClaycord.com,” she said.

Middendorf fired back,immediately posting her own let-ter on the site, setting off afirestorm of back-and-forth com-ments – mostly anonymous –between supporters of Midden-dorf and the teachers in her cor-ner and the administration andLinzey on the other side. Manycomments were blistering person-al attacks. Family members alsotook up support of Middendorfand her board ally, athletic direc-tor Amber Lineweaver.

CONTENTIOUS BOARD MEETING

By the time of the once-post-poned board meeting on May 21,the CVCHS multi-use room hadmore than 250 people facing theeight board members.

Most in the audience seemedto have pre-formed opinions andreacted with cheers and applauseto speakers reinforcing theirviewpoint. A large number ofCVCHS students were in atten-dance.

Because they are schoolemployees with an inherent con-flict of interest, board membersMiddendorf, Lineweaver andDiane Bailey were not eligible toparticipate in discussions or voteon agenda items in the closedsession that would follow thepublic comment.

About 20 people spoke dur-ing the public comment period.City council member HowardGeller and long-time ClaytonValley coach and teacher DennisBledsoe both urged a satisfactoryresolution of the Middendorf-Linzey issue. Geller said, “Weshould be celebrating not mud-slinging.”

Most of the other speakersspoke passionately on one side orthe other. There seemed to be nomiddle ground.

After an hour of public com-ment, the board adjourned to aclosed session in the schoollibrary to decide the Middendorfmatter as well as a new employeecontract (see separate story onPage 1.)

During the closed sessiondeliberations, which lasted nearlyfour hours, Bailey went to herschool office while Lineweaverand Middendorf waited outsidethe library.

TERMINATED WITHOUT CAUSE

Eventually board presidentTom Branich and school attor-ney Jim Young came out toinform her that the board hadvoted to “terminate her withoutcause.” She was offered thechance to resign but “Ideclined,” Middendorf said.Branich, reportedly a close per-sonal friend of Middendorf ’s,passed on a request to speak tothe Pioneer for this article.

Bailey and Lineweaverreturned to the board meeting.Middendorf, accompanied byhusband Jim, joined the audiencein the multi-use room.

The final vote was 4-1 infavor of termination withBranich dissenting. April Win-ship, Megan Kommer, vice chairTed Meriam and Dick Ellis votedin favor.

When the board reconvenedin public session they announcedthe actions and then listened todozens more speakers. ACVCHS parent called it “brutal.”

Among the most critical ofMiddendorf ’s firing was DebraGonsalves. She and husbandSteve are Clayton Valley alums,members of the school’s Athlet-ic Hall of Fame and heavy finan-cial supporters of the school.The football stadium bears theirname. Within days after theboard meeting they informed theboard that “we are unhappy withthe apparent current culture thatexists at Clayton Valley” andwithdrew committed capitalfunding for the football field andany “future capital requests.”

Linzey says the school willmake up the estimated $250,000needed to supplement MeasureC funds, and that the stadiumrenovation and expansion –which has been a pet project ofMiddendorf ’s – is set for com-pletion by early September.

CVCHS ‘IN GOOD HANDS’Before the new school year

begins Aug. 13 Linzey and hisadministrators can reflect on astatement the new director madeto the Pioneer in June 2012 whenhe first came on board: “For me,test scores are a signal, a sign thatyou’ve done good work. Butmore than that, did we create aculture where the staff is united?”

Linzey answered his ownquestion last week by saying,“Parents love the school. Wehave a 97 percent approval rat-ing. We were united for the firstyear and a half. There will alwaysbe a diversity of opinions andissues to debate but at some timeyou need to agree to disagree andget things moving. Our test is toget everyone reunited for thegood of the kids and our schoolcommunity.”

“We are very proud of

CVCHS and the success wehave achieved to date,” Linzeysaid in a prepared statement tothe Pioneer.

“The distraction created thepast several weeks is truly unfor-tunate for our community. I amvery confident CVCHS is ingood hands. There is tremen-dous support from our commu-nity in the leadership of theirgreat school.”

He added that the May 29commencement ceremony at theConcord Pavilion went off with-out a hitch or protest. “It was agreat event and best grad nightever,” he added.

Although I am not toofamiliar with the true events ofwhat happened leading up tothe infamous board meeting, Ido believe I am familiar enoughwith the school as a whole tosay that we have phenomenalteachers and that the school hasshaped up in recent years. Nev-ertheless, the scandal caused arift among community mem-bers, teachers, and specifically,students. One of the mainthings that contributed to thechange in atmosphere atCVCHS was Claycord.com, anews source that seems to bemore petty talk than reliablenews. Claycord.com brings outthe immaturity of every personwho comments (mostly anony-mously) and only serves toadvertise false informationabout delicate matters.

Moreover, as the communi-ty split into pro- Linzey andpro-teacher factions, so did thestudents. Students were con-fused, having only receivedinformation from social mediacomments, yet what was certainwas the attack that our belovedteachers were facing: accusa-tions of laziness and lack ofprofessionalism.

Students of all grades woulddefend their teachers, includingmyself, because teachers havethe biggest impact on the livesof students than any otheradults at school and deservetheir rightful appreciation forthe hard work they do.Nonetheless, other studentsdefended Linzey, and thus unityamong the student body wasdemolished.

The scandal at CVCHSbrought out the worst and eventhe best of some people; fromit we learned that people shouldfocus on the students and whatthe students need. Truly, it isthe teachers at CVCHS thatcare the most about their stu-dents; I and many other stu-dents feel that certain membersof the administration really donot care, that they are runningCVCHS to be a business. Acold hard business like environ-ment is not what this highschool is about. CVCHS is notmaking products, it is educatingthe new generation and tryingto create leaders with the skillsnecessary to succeed.

Over the course of a coupleweeks, arguments arose andpeople defended their opinionswithout fail. Nevertheless, nowis a time to compromise and forthe adults to set an example forthe students. Pat Middendorfgave 17 years of her life to helpour high school, and she had apositive impact on the school.Although the circumstances areregrettable, I hope she mayreflect and admire how far theschool has come in recentyears, and have others respectthe part she played on theCVCHS team.

Page 8 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

High School, from page 1

TeenSpeak, from page 1

Teachers Association and theyformed their own Clayton ValleyEducation Association chapter,replacing their former bargainingunit, Mt. Diablo Education Asso-ciation.

The previous MDEA contractincluded 26 articles in an inch-thick document. Since MDEArepresents teachers from pre-school through adult ed at a mul-titude of schools, the CVCHSnegotiations entailed a completereworking of the contract, whichnow contains 25 articles, said NeilMcChesney, the charter school’sdirector of administrative servic-es. The contract covers myriadissues including class size, workhours, benefits, leave, vacation,professional development, peerreview and many more.

CVCHS Executive DirectorDave Linzey added that salarydidn’t enter the discussion “untilMarch or April.” He added thatsalary talks “went pretty quickly.”McChesney and Legal CounselJim Young represented the char-ter school in negotiations whilethe teachers group this yearincluded Kip Penovich, CateSundling and Maureen Allan.

The entire negotiating processwas described by the administra-tors as “cordial and professional.”

The 6 percent salary increasestarts first-year teachers with abachelor’s degree at $47,329 whileteachers with more than 30 yearsservice and maximum additionaleducational units earn $87,265.Advanced degrees add pay to allsalary steps.

McChesney, a 1999 graduate ofthe school who was on the school’sfaculty for nine years before join-ing the administrative staff thispast year, also noted that healthbenefit increases were “significant”and “quadruple the benefit pack-age (for a family of four).”

Teacher Amber Lineweaver,administrator Middendorf andboard classified staff representa-tive Diane Bailey were recusedfrom closed door discussions onthe contract. The public sessionreconvened after a four-hourclosed door session that includedthe contract discussion as well asthe vote to terminate Midden-dorf.

In that tense atmosphere sur-rounding the Middendorf firing,Bailey and Lineweaver were

incorrectly allowed to vote onboth motions concerning thecontract, although they shouldnot be voting on matters in whichthey have a financial stake.

The first motion was unani-mously approved to accept theteacher’s contract.

A second “me too” motionthat applied the same salaryincrease and benefit package tothe rest of the CVCHS employ-ees was passed with Lineweaverdissenting. Lineweaver, theschool’s athletic director and closeally of Middendorf ’s, questionedthe final contract’s impact onadministrators. She said it was herunderstanding that administratorswould be getting an additional 5percent raise, a claim both Linzeyand McChesney deny.

Salary negotiations for a newteacher’s contract can be openedat any time by mutual consent,although no talks are anticipateduntil late this year at the earliest.

MDEA ratified and theMDUSD board approved a three-year contract for MDUSD teach-ers in March that included 3, 2and 4 percent raises, respectively,over the three years ending withthe 2015-16 school year. Thosewere also retroactive to July 1,2013.

Contracts, from page 1

Liliana Hernandez is a Senior atClayton Valley Charter High School.She loves to read and plans to pursueher interest in writing in the future.Send email to her at liliana@-claytonpioneer.com

Clayton Pioneer archive photo

IN HAPPIER TIMES JUST TWO YEARS AGO Dave Linzey (left) signedpapers to take the position of executive director at newlyconverted Clayton Valley Charter High School. PatMiddendorf served on the committee which selected Linzey.Two years later Middendorf was terminated in the wake of adispute with her boss.

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With Father’s Day arriving injust days, kids are excitedlypreparing the art projects theymade in those last hours ofschool and dad is looking for-ward to a “day off ” that mayinclude barbequing and receiv-ing some appreciation fromthose he loves.

A day of relaxation is exactlywhat many fathers will enjoy onSunday, June 15. For many, thiswill include family, friends, foodand possibly watching the lastround of the U.S. Open on tele-vision. No matter what, it’s a dayto celebrate.

Some local “experts” — kids— discuss what makes Father’sDay special.

“On Father’s Day you have aspecial dinner and take yourfather out to lunch,” says 5-yearold Reese Jackson. “He’s so spe-cial and I love him.”

Bernie Conrad, the 12-yearold 2014 Student Body Presi-dent at St. Agnes School, sees itthis way: “Father’s Day is saying‘well done, you’ve made it thisfar and you haven’t gone crazy.Every day you go to work, youcome home and have to dealwith a messy house and crazykids.’ It’s just kind of sayingcongrats, you earned a day off.”

Bernie also expresses a greatappreciation for his dad, Charlie.“He’s a great mentor and a greatfriend, because he’s always thereto lend a helping hand. He’s justthere to guide me through life.”He also recounts his most amaz-ing moment with his dad. “Wecame home from school oneday and he just, out of nowheregoes, ‘Hey, we’re going to Dis-neyland for the week!’ Every-thing was packed and we left like10 minutes later.”

‘BE THE BEST DAD I CAN BE’Even adult children get into

the spirit of the day. GerardFreed of Concord says that hisfamily of five always makes theirway to his father’s house to cele-brate. Freed has a deep appreci-ation for what this day means tohim and his dad.

“On Father’s Day, I realize

how much my father sacrificedfor me,” he says. “He was alwaysthere for me, no matter what.”And now that Freed is a fatherto three girls, there is added lev-ity to fatherhood. “As a dad,

When I run out of article ideas, my instinct isto turn to my father. When I publish an article,he’s the first to read it. Yet rarely is it that one’sfather is the news. But in this case, the focus is onmy father, Peter Laanen.

Dad will become the fourth foreigner recog-nized by the U.S Senate with a resolution for hiswork as the International Trade Director of theNetherlands Business Support Office in SanFrancisco, and that’s worth an article. SenatorBerryhill awarded this prestigious honor May 16in the State Capitol.

As I Interviewed my Pa on his achievement, itdonned me that his story, from the ruins of postWorld War II Rotterdam to the 31st floor of theMontgomery Building, where the Dutch Con-sulate is based, in itself is newsworthy. As Father’sDay approaches, the achievement made me thinkabout how he has balanced his work while alwaysbeing there as a Father. In other words, I’m simplysaying “Papa, you rock.” As I’m preparing to walkthe stage and receive my diploma at the ConcordPavilion, I started thinking that if my Dad can makeit this far in life while remaining so happy, then I

think the future holds a fulfilling life for me.My dad, Peter, was born in July 1946 as a baby

boomer in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. When hewas 12, he lost his father due to illness yet foundhimself picked out of hundreds of kids to be onHolland’s oldest professional soccer club, Sparta,Rotterdam’s youth squad. (He may have passed hisgenes of a receding hairline to me but the soccerskills never truly broke for me.) Nonetheless Peterwould have to quit Sparta in order to work and sup-port his family.

Luckily. after a few years of work, Peter foundhimself back on the squad before asking for a con-tract from his club — to which they respondedwith an open door off of the team. He looks backon that moment humbly with little remorse. Peterwould compete at several other clubs such asAlexandria, also in Rotterdam, while working as acomputer analyst on the side.

From his days on the playing field on, Peterbecame a major player in MultiFunction Comput-ers, a software company based in Holland. After heguided his company to the Amsterdam StockExchange and a successful IPO, the Dutch Base-ball Federation appointed Peter to become theircommissioner. With success, he rebuilt the pro-gram, especially financially, and led them to the1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, even throw-ing a ceremonial first pitch.

Following that Peter made his way to Germanyand served as director of Arcade Records for manyyears, working with artists like Prince, LutriciaMcNeal and Alan Parsons.

In 1999, Peter moved the family to the Bay Areain order to co-create Ex’pression College for Digi-tal Arts in Emeryville. After many successful years,Peter moved on to his current position at the DutchConsulate.

My senior year is nearly over and I have anunknown, boundless journey before me. But seeinga success story like my father’s, where a man withonly a high school diploma goes on to do some-thing successful and enjoyable is inspiring. Congrats(or “Gefeliciteerd” in Dutch), you’ve really made it,Papa.

Ivar Laanen is a senior at Northgate High School.The “Dutch speaking, German born man with a Swedishname” has a passion for journalism and enjoys turningevents and ideas into stories freshly printed in newspapers.Contact him at ivar@claytonpioneer.com.

Everyone hates first days ofschool. Sometimes they’re pre-dictable, and other times, theycompletely take you by surprise.But what if you made one of theworst decisions you could evermake the day before?

In “Sometimes It Happens”by Lauren Barnholdt, Hannah

starts off her senior year in theworst way possible. She is goingto have to face Sebastian (the guywho broke her heart on the lastday of junior year), Ava (Han-nah’s best friend) and Noah(Ava’s boyfriend, and the guyHannah has secretly fallen for).Over the summer, Noah had sur-prised Hannah by showing up ather work, confessing all his secretfeelings for her, and kissing her.

Throughout her first day,secrets slowly but surely comeout, friendships are broken arefixed, and the number of betray-

als rank up higher and higher bythe minute. By the end of the day,everyone is back together, but notin the order you would expect.This book has a little bit of every-thing: love, betrayal, friendshipand change. Barnholdt has put aunique twist on the idea ofteenage drama and rekindling“friendships.” Sometimes youmess up, sometimes you makemistakes, and sometimes it hap-pens.

Father’s Day is a day to cele-brate the male role model in yourlife, no matter who they might be.If it is a dad, an uncle, grandfa-ther, family friend or a very spe-cial person that you know, cele-brating Father’s Day is a time forreflection.

Father’s Day is celebrated dif-ferently in every family. Usually itinvolves gifts, food and mayinclude activities of celebration,but, what are we celebrating everyFather’s Day?

In the early 20th century, thefirst Father’s Day was celebratedon the third Sunday in June,where it has remained ever since.The celebration of Father’s Daystarted as a complement to Moth-er’s Day.

In the 21st century, Father’sDay is not only a day to celebrateour fathers, but it is also a day tohonor our fathers, no matterwhere they are or who they mightbe. If they are not here on thisday, serving overseas, or at homewith us now, fathers or father fig-

ures, the male mentor in your lifehas much meaning to you andthat meaning may be different foreach of us.

Mychal Dolan, a fifth graderat Mt. Diablo Elementary, lost hisfather to lung cancer when he wasfairly young. Mychal says that“On Father’s day, if I made aFather’s Day project in class, Ibring it to his grave and leave itfor him.” Mychal remembers hisfather as “a wonderful man; a fire-fighter, sometimes funny, and

someone who I cared a lotabout.”

Kellie Hintzoglou, another ofmy fellow fifth graders, says,“Father’s Day is about celebratingmy father for everything he doesfor me and I get to spend timewith him too.”

Then my sister Liana, a firstgrader, says, “I love my daddy. Heis the most special person in thewhole world to me.”

Father’s Day is much morethan a day to give your fatherpresents. It is a day to celebrateyour father’s time, his concern, hisinterest in you and the way henever gives up. And celebratingthe male role model in your lifemay be as simple as telling him“thank you.”

“Thanks dad!”

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 9

See Fathers, page 14

Emily York is a freshman atCVCHS.

EMILY YORK

TEEN READS

NATALIE PURSCHE

MDES CORRESPONDENT

When friendships andromances go awry

Father’s Day is a time for ‘thanks’

Natalie Pursche is a fifth grader atMt. Diablo Elementary School who isan avid reader, enjoys writing, loves theoutdoors, and is a member of theMDE school council. Send commentsto natalie@claytonpioneer.com.

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MIKE HANSEN AND HIS DAUGHTER, MELISA, take on a roller coast-er at Great America in Santa Clara. The birth of his childrenis a memory that Hansen cherishes each year at Father’s Day.

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Clayton Pioneer

“… if my Dad can make it this far in lifewhile remaining so happy, then I think thefuture holds a fulfilling life for me.”

The law of unintended con-sequences has visited itself onthe Clayton Valley Charter HighSchool athletic program as fourcoaches have reportedlyresigned and the school’s majordonors have withdrawn finan-cial support in the wake ofschool administrator Pat Mid-dendorf ’s termination lastmonth.

Boys lacrosse coach MattHill, tennis coach Rick Ortegaand trap shoot coach Jim Mid-dendorf have confirmed theirresignations. Softball coachKristen Morley is rumored tohave also resigned but she had“no comment” in an email tothe Pioneer. Debra and SteveGonsalves have also withdrawntheir financial support of thecurrent $2.7 million stadiumimprovement project.

Middendorf was terminatedwithout cause May 21 after astormy governing board meet-ing that featured accusationsand harsh words for CVCHSExecutive Director Dave Linzeyand Middendorf from an audi-ence that had been fueled forweeks prior to the meeting byrumors and hundreds of postson local websites.

Middendorf was the school’sdirector of operations and ath-letics until her termination. Shebegan coaching soccer at theschool in 1996 and was ClaytonValley athletic director until tak-ing on her administrative rolefor the 2012-13 school year. She

taught at the school from 2002-2012.

She was also the foundingpresident of United Mt. DiabloAthletic Foundation started in1999 to ensure the continuationof sports at the six Mt. DiabloUnified School District highschools, including Clayton Val-ley, after the school board sus-

pended funding of sports. Iron-ically, MDUSD recentlyannounced it would resume fullfunding of sports for the 2014-15 school year, so UMDAFrecently suspended operations.

Hill and Ortega considerthemselves friends of Midden-dorf and reacted quickly follow-

ing her termination. Jim Mid-dendorf is her husband and heboth spoke and wrote passion-ately in her defense during therecent process.

Morley and Pat Middendorfgot embroiled in a controversythis spring with Clayton ValleyLittle League. Morley arranged

for a weekend College Showcaserecruiting clinic at CVCHS onfields that are shared with theyouth baseball program. Playersfrom throughout the WesternUnited States attended.

The little league’s ChallengerDivision was scheduled to usetwo fields on Sunday, April 13,

for two hours, the only time theleague was using the site thatweekend. Morley felt that thereweren’t a sufficient number ofChallenger players to take uptwo fields (which would havenecessitated moving the show-case to an alternate site) and theCVLL moved to a single fieldwhere five teams attempted toplay.

The clinic had been dis-cussed just several days beforewith CVLL and CVCHS offi-cials, including Middendorf, andthe disruption that Sundaycaused a strong reaction fromlittle league officials towardsMiddendorf and Morley.

The league claimed that theyhad a tenuous relationship withMorley for several years as theyouth baseball group shared thefields they have played on for 40years with both CVCHS softballteams and Morley’s club softballteams. Linzey apologized for thesituation to the little leaguewhile adding that he felt Morleyhad “no bad motives” in makingher decision about field use,which Middendorf had left upto Morley.

LACROSSE LEADERS LEAVE

Matt and Michele Hill tookover the fledgling CV boyslacrosse program in the 2004-05season from Jim Burkin, whoalong with some students peti-tioned Middendorf to start theteam in 2003. Matt Hill says, “Ihad never coached the sport

Sports

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Clayton Pioneer

Page 10 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

See Fallout, page 12

Jay Bedecarre photo

PHASE 2 OF THE MAJOR RENOVATION OF THE CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM that the Eagles football, soccer, lacrosseand track and field teams call home is underway with the stadium scoreboard rising at the southeast end of the complex.Gonsalves Stadium continues to carry the name of the family that has been the major donor to school programs for many yearsbut Debra and Steve Gonsalves have withdrawn their financial support from this current project after the termination of adminis-trator Pat Middendorf.

High school sports seasoncame to a close last weekend withthe CIF State track and fieldchampionships and local athleteshave been hauling in honors fortheir exploits during the springsports season.

BOYS & GIRLS LACROSSE

Clayton Valley Chart boyslacrosse had a steak of five con-secutive North Coast Sectionappearances ended while rivalNorthgate made it into the sec-tion playoffs but lost to top seedRedwood in the opening round.Neither team had a first-team all-league player with Austin Chan-nell was second team for theBroncos and junior Brent Tovreafor the Eagles.

Honorable mention went toNorthgate’s Jonathan Madden,Kyle Muller and Vincent Gar-aventa. For CVCHS the trio ofClayton Martin, Alex Pishneyand Drew Larke were noted.

Clayton Valley’s girls madehistory this spring with their firstNCS appearance and wererewarded by having Kyra Ortizand Morgan Bennett (a repeatpick) on first team all-Diablo Val-ley Athletic League, while PritiLal, Quincy Winship and AlainaCampbell were second team andRita Regelbrugge and HopeBoone honorable mention.

Northgate’s Val Wirfelrepeated on the first team andwas joined by teammate AilishCasey on all-league. Holly Fleckand Lauren Valla were secondteam and Koryna Boudinot,Colleen Shepherd and DemitraVictor were HM.

BOYS GOLF

Seniors Kyle Austin andEthan Helms were co-most valu-able golfers on the all-DVALteam which was dominated by

the Broncos. Cody Jones andMatt Carter were first team all-league, Grant Russell, AlexChristodoulou and BillalAchekzai second team and KevinWieder honorable mention. TheBroncos advanced to the NCSTournament of Champions.

Clayton Valley Charter’sDaniel Schaefer was first-teamall-DVAL, Liam Calkins secondteam and seniors Eric Carlsonand Tyler Blazer HM.

SOFTBALL

Clayton Valley nearly reachedthe mountaintop a year ago witha runner-up finish in the NCSplayoffs but this year wasbounced in the first round.Rachel Siver, Cheyenne Harman,Kimiko Zapanta, Julia Morganand Cat Buenrostro earned first-team all-league laurels for theEagles. Tyce Miranda, MadiTamichi and Jenni Zukowskiwere second team while KaitlynMontgomery was honorablemention.

Northgate lost to local rivalsCarondelet in the NCS openinground. Shortstop Octavia Bondwas co-MVP in the league afterbeing first-team all-DVAL thepast three seasons. Lucy Decker,Morgan Batesol and MaddieCaswell got second-team noticewhile Aerial Miraflores, PaytonBuccellato, Julia Pelletier andMaddie Thompson honorablemention.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Northgate was the secondseed at NCS and lived up to thatbilling going to the finals beforefalling to Campolindo, whichended up winning the NorthernCalifornia Division II champi-onship. The Broncos were elimi-nated in four sets of the openingNorCal round by Drake. MattD’Angina of CVCHS and WillWright of Northgate sharedleague MVP honors. Both were

first team all-DVAL a year ago.Steven Daily was first team

and Garrett Blatter second teamfor the Eagles. Zach Hanson washonorable mention.

For the league championBroncos Matt Hall, Chris McDo-nough and Jackson McDonoughwere first team, Sam Spoden sec-ond team and Eddie Carson andBrecon Richards HM.

BASEBALL

On April 23 the Clayton Val-ley Charter baseball team wasriding a school record 19-gamewinning streak to open the sea-son. Less than a month later theyhad lost five of their last eightgames to not only fail to gaineven a share of the DVAL cham-pionship but were bounced fromthe NCS playoffs in the firstround, a distinction they hadalong with four-time champCampolindo. This was the Eaglesearliest exit from post-seasonplay since 2006. Clayton Valley

has been a fixture in NCS for thepast decade and a half.

The Eagles can take a littlesolace in that three of those loss-es were to College Park, whichwent on to DVAL and NCS titlesbehind league MVPs Joe DeMersand Chris Brown. AustinCannedy of CVCHS shared theleague MVP designation.

Gabe Taylor, Garrett Nelson,Ethan Utler and Grant Meylanwere first-team all-league choic-es. Cannedy, Meylan and Utlerwere repeat choices for top hon-ors. Brandon Truesdell, RyanMilligan and Jordan Chin weresecond team all-DVAL whileJohn Allen and Riley Smith werehonorable mention.

Brandon Gazdar and RyanStrong of Northgate got all-DVAL first team places withBroncos Tyler Sandberg, DrewDowning and Spencer Johnsonsecond team. Kyle Graham,Anthony Dito and nick Simmonswere HM.

David Chin photo

AUSTIN CANNEDY (left) recently committed to attend Cal StateNorthridge this fall on a baseball scholarship. The ClaytonValley Charter High School pitcher was co-MVP in the DiabloValley Athletic League for the second-place Eagles. Austin’sdad, Greg, joined him in signing his letter of intent toNorthridge. The senior Cannedy is a nationally-renowned slo-pitch softball player who was on the 1990s National All-Decade team for the ASA Softball.

Fallout from administrative strife reaches CVCHS teams, facilities

Photo courtesy Community Youth Center

A HALF DOZEN LOCAL GIRLS ARE PART of the Community YouthCenter Diamond and Amethyst cheer squads that compet-ed last month in the Galen Center at the University ofSouthern California for The U.S. Finals. Clayton’s FionaSundy along with Lexi Smith, Jessie Lopez and MerissaLopez from Concord were on the Diamond team (pictured)that won the Senior Level 3 competition. The CYC Amethystteam, which includes Concord sisters Kali and MadiBlackmon, was second in the Junior Level 3 meet. Headcoach Nicolle Tissot and program director Kim Garciarecently started the new season for their eight CYC cheerteams.

Community Youth Centercheer squad scores atSouthern California event

With the major motion picture release of “Whenthe Game Stands Tall” about De La Salle footballcoming in August the Pioneer would like to speak toformer Spartan players from our area who were partof the 151-game winning streak (1992-2003) thatforms the backdrop for the movie.

Please email us at sports@claytonpioneer.com ifyou’d like to give us your input. Include your nameand years on the team. We’d also like to hear fromfans of the teams.

All-league honors come to spring sports standouts from Clayton Valley, Northgate

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Clayton Pioneer

We’re looking for 1992-2003 De La Sallefootball players, fans

Clayton Valley Little League’sregular-season has wrapped upand league winners have movedon to the District 4 Tournamentof Champions which begins thisweekend.

On the baseball side, themajor Marlins and minor AGiants are in the TOC with theMinor B champ determinedafter deadline earlier this week.The CVLL softball teams inTOC are the junior CV Red,major CV Blue and minorMagic. The mini minor Thun-der won an end of season tour-nament last weekend defeatingPurple Jaguars of WCLL/Con-tinental 16-12.

The local youth baseballorganization has also announcedthe players on its seven divisionall-star teams. All-Star playbegins in late June culminatingwith the international LittleLeague World Series inWilliamsport, PA Aug. 14-24.The second Intermediate WorldSeries will be held in LivermoreJuly 29-Aug. 4.

BASEBALL

12 year olds: Riley Chris-tiansen, Joe Course, Sean Curran,Tristan Daly, Jayson Downs, SethGwynn, Anthony Hughes, LucasLauricella, Derek Luedtke, JackSaylor, Daniel Ward, Eric Zim-mer; alternates- Dennis Curran,Jack Gwynn, Dustin Hurtz,Nicholas Stelchek, JulianRodriguez.

11 year olds: Joey Hawk,Clayton Mahloch, QuintonMahloch, Jake Lucas, MikeyMann, Aidan Reinwald, MitchellHansen, Sean Nimr, Tyler

Perkins, Matthew Hubbard, EricAbbett, Lukas Linkhart; alter-nates- Tanner Maltbie, TerrellHopson, Joey Berardi.

10 year olds #1: Jason Zim-mer, Charlie Saylor, Mason Bam-berger, Alexander Friedman,Andrew Pesmark, JeremyLaGrave, Nolan Degener, DavidSeeno, Dane Elento, AlexanderKowalewski, Zakary Rath, AidenHopfner. 10 year olds #2: GabeLauricella, Joey Dern, Dane Jor-gensen, Angelo Rodriguez, IanWright, Jack Skow, Niko Bohler,Wade Elento, Ryan Bomar,James McCaffrey, Ryan Ward,Scott Tomaszewicz. alternates-Ian Mayer, Luke Cuneo, JacobSolis, Thomas Tarantino, DrewWarner, Michael Boyle.

Minor B: Colton Seastrand,Dominic Seeno, Mo Garcia, AlexWalker, Cody DeMartini, JerryCoakley, Jake Morris, AidanMoss, Ryan Buddle, Al Mendoza,Ryan Cuddy, Dominic Vines,Pablo Blanco, Richard McKay,

Michael Sawyer, Ethan Cline,Aaron Woodling, Daniel Sanna,Justin Mitchell, Kian Connors,Nick Johnson, Zylar Anwar,Lucas Hilderbrand, Liam Trost;alternates- Nicholas Rowoldt,Mathew Oswald, Payton Crua,Francisco Partida.

SOFTBALL

9/10 year olds: Abby Hallet,Cat Shuey, Clarice Reinwald,Emma Postlethwaite, GracePugh, Haley Brown, HalleCohen, Juliana Balestrieri, KarlieSeastrand, Katie Pike, MakaellaCherepy, Sophia Miller, TaylorNunez; alternates- Ella Potts,Emily Storn, Julianna Vandal,Katie Mirabella, Miya Quesada,Taylor Sandy.

11/12 year olds: Aliya Sarna,Ellie Hilderbrand, Emily Lyons,Grace Zodikoff, Isabell Collins,Katie Harkness, Lauren Fried-man, Olivia Linkhart, SarahBarker, Sarah Stahl, SkylarAldridge, Tammy Mason,

Taylor Keys; alternates- EmmaCuddy, Juliet Beach.

The honors continue to pileup for Clayton’s Kara Kohlerwho recently completed her col-legiate career at Cal Berkeleyand is once again spending hersummer in Princeton, N.J. at theUS Rowing training center asshe endeavors to be selected torepresent America at anotherinternational competition.

Kohler was a swimmer atClayton Valley High School dur-ing her 2008-09 senior yearwhen she visited Berkeley andwas exposed to rowing for thefirst time. Her physical abilitymanifested itself and the Calcoaches recruited her to walk-onthat fall.

Five years later Kohler hasracked up a slew of awards as aGolden Bear rower and helpedher team to excellent finishes ininvitational, conference andNCAA competitions, includingthe 2013 national championship.

This spring the Bears varsityeight was third in the NCAAfinals and the Cal women’s crewteam finished second overall.The Bears have now placed inthe top three as a team at theNCAA Championships for theseventh straight season and nineof the last 10 years.

Kohler is a three-time all-conference selection and shewas the Pac-10 Newcomer ofthe Year in 2010. The Claytonnative sat out the 2012 collegeseason while she prepared forthe London Olympics whereshe won a bronze medal withthe USA quad team. She hasserved in the varsity eight each

of her four seasons competingat Cal.

She is now in competitionfor a spot on a USA boat for theWorld Rowing Championshipsin Amsterdam Aug. 24-31.Kohler will be back in Berkeleyfor the fall semester to completeher studies and then return toPrinceton and remain until 2016when she hopes to gain anotherOlympic berth for the SummerGames in Rio de Janeiro.

Kohler told the Pioneer, “Inever imagined my time in col-lege to be as life changing as ithas. The best part of my time atCal was meeting and witnessingsome incredibly talented and

driven people do some amazingthings academically, athleticallyand, most impressively, in theface of adversity. Those interac-tions inspired me to challengemy own limits and push beyondwhat I thought I was capable ofboth physically and mentally. Iam so grateful for the relation-ships that have come out of mytime at Cal.”

The local woman added,“With that, I really had not theslightest idea of what kind ofcommunity I was getting myselfinto when I decided to pursuerowing at Cal. Now, havingcompleted my college rowingcareer I can say how lucky I am

that I crossed paths with thisopportunity to row at Calbecause the Cal Crew communi-ty has been and will be invalu-able to all my future endeavors.

“Although my achievementson the team have been writteninto history, my commitment toCal Crew is everlasting. Giventhe opportunities Cal Crew hasafforded me and the opportuni-ties available in women’s rowingin general, I hope more youngwomen will be able to receivethe life experiences and fulfill-ment that I have from being apart of such a well-establishedand supportive athletic commu-nity. Go Bears!”

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 11

Photo courtesy Clayton Valley Little League

CATCHER CHARLIE SHUEY CHASES AFTER A WILD PITCH in an all-star game at Clayton Community Park.The Clayton Valley Little League intermediate stars edged Pinole Hercules 7-6. Pitcher DerekGardner (right) came in to cover home plate.

Sports

Photo courtesy Golden Bear Sports

CLAYTON’S KARA KOHLER IS NOW A THREE-TIME ALL-PACIFIC 12 CONFERENCE SELECTION as well as beingthe Newcomer of the Year in 2010. She was on the varsity eight each of her four seasons atCal which concluded at the 2014 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis as the Bears team fin-ished second overall and the varsity eight were third.

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Clayton Pioneer

JAY BEDECARRÉ

Clayton Pioneer

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Clayton Valley LL names 7 all-star teams

Kara Kohler ends distinguished Calcareer, looks ahead to Olympics in Rio

before that time and never anysport at the high school level.Pat Middendorf mentored meas a new coach and taught memany things about high schoolcoaching.”

The program struggled forwins the first few seasons but in2009 the Eagles won the first offour straight league champi-onships and five straight NorthCoast Section tournamentberths.

“We put our heart and soulinto the lax program and Patsupported us every step of the

way. We became very involved involunteer activities for the ath-letic booster club as a result ofthe example Pat set for theschool and athletics. My wife(Michele) became the boosterssecretary, normally a two-yearterm and stayed from 2008-14. Ibecame booster President forthe 2012-14 term.”

Matt Hill adds, “I have beencontemplating retirement frommy position as head coach ofthe lacrosse program, while stillstaying on as program director.During the last CVCHS Gov-

erning Board meeting we weredismayed at the outcome of themeeting resulting in terminationof Pat Middendorf. It is ourfeeling that we no longer believein the direction of CVCHSwithout the leadership of PatMiddendorf as Director ofOperations and Athletics.

“Following the meeting[where Matt Hill spoke passion-ately on behalf of Middendorfin the public comment section]we both decided that after 10years of volunteering at CV, wewould both retire, especiallysince both our children havegraduated from Clayton Valley.”

The CVCHS Athletic Boost-ers have a slate of board mem-

bers which will be voted on inAugust. Alicia Farr is the newpresident and MaryAnn Quinnthe VP.

TENNIS COACH RESIGNS

Rick Ortega coached tennisat Clayton Valley for nine years.Last fall Brian Corbett took overthe girls program while Ortega,who is a tennis pro at OakhurstCounty Club, continued thisspring with the boys team.

He told the Pioneer, “Iannounced my resignation dur-ing the last CVCHS BoosterClub meeting. I decided toresign my position after the ter-mination of Pat Middendorffor no cause. Pat has always

been the heart and soul of Clay-ton Valley High. She wasinstrumental in the develop-ment of our school into a char-ter school. Her life was dedi-cated to the students, staff andschool.

“I built programs that devel-oped students into leaders.Those students had integrity,honor and commitment to ourteam and school. After Linzeyand the board fired Pat thoseelements were no longer presentin this administration. I came tothis decision with a heavy heart.I will miss all the students andstaff but I can’t work foradministration that lacks hon-estly and integrity.”

Jim Middendorf started theCVCHS trap team two yearsago. There were 30 kidsinvolved this year. He hadserved as athletic booster clubpresident at one time and wasalso a youth sports coach formany years.

MAJOR DONORS WITHDRAW

Clayton Valley alums Debraand Steve Gonsalves have beena part of the school communityfor over four decades. The foot-ball/soccer/lacrosse/track andfield stadium bears their familyname. In 2013 they were induct-ed into the Clayton Valley Ath-letic Hall of Fame as Communi-ty/Leadership honorees andthey are both close friends ofPat Middendorf.

Debra Gonsalves was a vocalsupporter of her friend at thepublic meeting May 21. Six daysafter that meeting the couplesent a letter to the CVCHS gov-erning board saying “…we areunhappy with the apparent cur-rent culture that exists at Clay-ton Valley Charter High School.

As a result, we are withdrawingall committed capital fundingfor the football field and futurecapital requests.” They conclud-ed their letter by saying, “We aredisheartened by the currentcourse of action and are hopefulfor a change in the future.”

The Gonsalves’ were alsothe first donors with a six figurecontribution to kick start theUMDAF effort in 2009.

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES

There is a major construc-tion project in progress at Gon-salves Stadium, primarily fundedby MDUSD Measure C money,to update the facility with addi-tional bleacher seating for over900, a new snack shack withrestrooms, landscaping, lightingand a dramatic new entrancefrom the school pavement tothe stadium including a new per-manent ticket office.

On May 19, two days beforeher ouster, Middendorf sent anemail notice that project con-struction of this Phase 2 at thestadium was underway. As headof operations and athletics thisand other projects had been inher pervue.

The new snack shack andrestrooms have also been target-ed for potential use by studentsduring the school day.

It’s understood that theGonsalves’ Conco Companieswere donating nearly a quartermillion dollars to this project.Linzey says the school’s budgetwill replace that funding and heexpects the project to be com-pleted around the start ofschool this fall.

First-year athletic directorAmber Lineweaver couldn’t bereached for comment on thecoaching vacancies.

Page 12 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

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Fallout, from page 10

Bay Area baseball is lookinggood right now; real good.

The Oakland Athletics andSan Francisco Giants are eachterrorizing their league. Theyaren’t just beating opponents,they are humiliating them.

Some baseball teams havestellar pitching and are able toget wins by scoring a few runs.Other teams have great lineupswhich simply outscore the otherteam making up for a lacklusterpitching rotation.

It’s a hard combination tocome by when a team has excel-lent batting and pitching. TheA’s and Giants have both.

Either team can score 10runs on any given night, whiletheir pitching blanks the oppo-nent. It doesn’t get much morehumiliating for an opposingteam when they get swept in aseries and get outscored 30-2.

What is most impressiveabout the A’s and Giants recordsis the fact that they are in com-petitive divisions.

The Giants have to deal withthe Los Angeles Dodgers, whohave an endless stream ofmoney to continuously add newtalent. Even with the highestpayroll in baseball, the Dodgershave taken a backseat to theGiants so far this season.

The Giants success is a teameffort, but the off-season addi-tions of Michael Morse and TimHudson have seemed to revital-

ize the team which has won twoof the last four World Series.

Hudson appears to havefound the fountain of youth,because at 38 he is havingarguably the best season of hiscareer. He is pitching wellenough to win the Cy YoungAward.

Along with Hudson, Morseis tearing it up for the orangeand black. The Giants haveneeded a consistent left fielderfor several years and Morse hasbrought consistency to the posi-tion as well as filling in for theinjured Brandon Belt at firstbase.

Morse isn’t the only player inthe Bay Area who is mashinghomeruns, as many of the A’shave been going yard repeatedlyso far this season.

The A’s success can be attrib-uted to many different factors.The heart of their lineup isarguably one of the best in base-ball; with Yoenis Cespedes,Brandon Moss and Josh Don-aldson. The A’s consistently pro-duce runs, making it easier ontheir pitching staff.

The A’s starting pitching isstatistically the best in baseball.Four of their starting five pitch-ers have sub-3 earned run aver-ages It is almost impossible foropposing teams to take a seriesfrom the A’s since the team’spitching and hitting is simplytoo good.

Bay Area baseball fans have alot to be excited about this year.The A’s and Giants are two ofthe top teams in baseball rightnow and it isn’t a long shot tosay we might have a Battle ofthe Bay World Series this year.

DIABLO FC INTRODUCES RECREATIONAL LEAGUE THIS FALLDiablo FC is rolling out a youth soccer recreational league program

starting in August that will focus on individual technical development,building confidence in young soccer players, improving cognitivedevelopment and increasing imagination by allowing players to learnthe game gradually in a fun, engaged environment. Diablo FC is thearea’s premier youth soccer program and is offering open registrationto all players ages 4-10, regardless of ability or previous experience. Amini-camp will be held Aug. 18-22 and the league runs through Oct.11. Refer to diablofc.org for more details.

MDSA FALL SOCCER REGISTRATION OPENBoys and girls 4-18 years of age wanting to play in Mt. Diablo Soc-

cer Association fall league can register for guaranteed placement untilJune 12. After that date players will be placed on wait-list until end ofthis month. Fall league play begins in August when registration closes.Families are requested to sign up for volunteer duties to help theorganization offer its AYSO program. For complete information visitmdsoccer.org.

3 BASEBALL CAMP SESSIONS AT CLAYTON VALLEY THIS MONTH

Clayton Valley Charter High School coach Casey Coakley has puttogether a staff of current CVCHS coaches and players as well asEagle alumni to provide baseball instruction to youngsters 6-13 yearsof age at the school. Summer baseball school sessions will be heldJune 16-19, June 23-26 and June 30-July 3. Each daily session runs 10a.m.–1 p.m. Fee is $120 for one session with discounts for multipleweeks. To reserve a baseball school spot or to get more informationemail casey.coakley@claytonvalley.org.

DIABLO FC SOCCER PLAYER EVALUATIONS CONTINUETryouts for U9-U19 players with Diablo FC are complete but play-

ers who missed formal tryouts can contact the club for an individualevaluation and possible placement on a competitive team for the 2014season. Visit diablofc.org to register for free tryouts in all age groups.

UGLY EAGLES BASKETBALL CAMP THIS MONTHHead coach Eric Bamberger and his Clayton Valley Charter High

School coaches and players are offering a pair of Ugly Eagles Basket-ball Camps this month for boys and girls. The two sessions for incom-ing third through ninth graders are June 16-20 and 23-27. Sessions runfrom 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. with the gym open an hour before and after theformal camp for pickup play. The camp includes offensive and defen-sive instruction and games. For more information and to register con-tact coach Bamberger by phone (925) 726-9999 or email ericbamberg-er@sbcglobal.net.

CLAYTON VALLEY FOOTBALL CAMP JULY 21-24Two-time DVAL champion Clayton Valley Charter High School

hosts its Future Champions Full-Pad Youth Football Camp July 21-24from 1-5 p.m. at the Concord school for players in second througheighth grades. Camp Director Michael Dominquez and Eagles headcoach Tim Murphy explain that the camp has individual and groupinstruction and team competition with fundamentals and techniquesof football taught by the CVCHS staff. To register, emailcoach.dmngz@gmail.com or call (925) 726-1503 for an application.

DE LA SALLE FOOTBALL PLAYING AT LEVI’S STADIUM AUG. 29 The De La Salle High football team will open its 2014 season at

Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers, in a nation-ally-televised game on ESPN2 against Jesuit of Carmichael. The Spar-tans will play Jesuit in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Friday, Aug.29, with an 8 p.m. kickoff. “It’s an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” DeLa Salle athletic director Leo Lopoz said. “We had a chance to tour thestadium before it was complete. I can only imagine what it’ll look likewhen it is complete.”

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION OPEN FOR

ALL OUT SPORTS LEAGUESSignups are still available for some All Out Sports League summer

programs at Clayton Gym. Flag football academy camp (June 24-26),weekly basketball camps (June 30-July 4 and July 7-11) and adult vol-leyball league (games on Wednesdays from July 2-Aug. 20) have regis-tration deadlines upcoming. For complete information on all the Clay-ton programs including a full slate of fall programs, visit alloutsport-sleague.com.

RED DEVIL GOLF CLASSIC JUNE 27The 19th annual Red Devil Golf Classic benefiting Mt. Diablo

High School athletic programs is on Friday, June 27, at Diablo CreekGolf Course. Contact chairpersons Lou Adamo(louadamo@gmail.com) or Ralph Vallis (rv76667@aol.com) for moreinformation. Registration deadline is June 13.

FOOTBALL, CHEER SIGNUPS ONLINE FOR CV FALCONSRegistration is open online for Clayton Valley Youth football and

cheer. Football is for ages 7-14 while cheer accepts ages 5-14. The sea-son starts July 28. All players and cheer members must attend themandatory final registration “Falcon Day” on Saturday, July 19, from9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Clayton Valley Charter High School. For more infor-mation and online registration visit CVAAFalcons.com.

Sports Shorts

TYLER LEHMAN

SPORTS TALK

Tyler Lehman is a sophomore atDiablo Valley College and a 2012CVHS graduate. He plans to majorin journalism and wants to be a sportswriter. Email your comments or ques-tions to Tyler@claytonpioneer.com.

Sports Bay Area baseballlooking mighty fine

Clayton Pioneer wants tohear your sports story

We get plenty of information from local high schools,sports leagues and clubs. What we don’t hear about sooften are from our neighbors who are competing belowthat radar screen. There are Claytonians who are partic-ipating in sports and recreational endeavors that wedon’t normally hear about but we’d like to tell their sto-ries too. If you know of someone—-or even if you arethat someone—-let us know what you’re doing and per-haps we’ll find it something our readers would love toread about!

If you’re running, jumping, hiking, biking, swimming,skydiving, bowling, golfing or participating in any ofdozens of other sports and recreational activities let usknow. Give us a brief rundown and your contact infor-mation and we might be in touch with you. It’s as simpleas sending an email to sports@claytonpioneer.com.

Recently I fielded a ques-tion from a Pioneer readerconcerning the accuracy oftemperature forecasts foundin local daily newspapers. Atissue was the large discrepan-cy between maximum tem-peratures predicted for Con-cord and Clayton.

I really couldn’t explainwhy the newspaper forecastfor Clayton was more than 10degrees warmer, but it didmake me think about the vari-ety of ways weather informa-tion is presented to the pub-lic.

Most newspapers do notprovide weather forecasts in-house, but subscribe to third

party weather informationservices. These serviceproviders have access toNational Weather Servicemodel data and local forecastproducts. Weather maps,forecast points and graphics

design are tailored for eachnewspaper client.

In my opinion, the mainissue with newspaper weatherforecasts is the timeliness ofthe information, not theaccuracy. By the time thenewspaper lands in yourdriveway the weather forecastcan be more than 12 hoursold due to printing deadlines.

Broadcast media like TVand radio usually offer tem-perature forecasts based onnewer information than printmedia. Unfortunately, TVweather forecasts are avail-able only a few times per dayand offer limited local detail.Radio weather reports may

appear hourly, but local infor-mation is nearly non-existent.

In the new age of smartphones and even smarterdesktop computers, weatherapps have sprouted up likesummer corn. Clayton tem-perature observations andforecasts are now just a fin-ger-poke away anytime, any-where.

The app dilemma is thatthere can be several differenttemperature observations andforecasts for Clayton availableat any one time. Apps can befulfilling and frustrating atthe same time.

One solution to the Clay-ton temperature prediction

problem is quite simple: godirectly to the source of theforecast. The most recentweather data and forecasts forthe San Francisco Bay regionare available online at theNational Weather Service sitewww.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/.

There is an interactivemap at that site and you candial it right in to Clayton.

A lot of weather informa-tion is packed into this page.The menu on the left sidecontains links to real timeweather observations, radardisplays and climate informa-tion.

One of my favorite links islabeled “Forecast Discus-

sion.” It provides a technicalanalysis of current and fore-cast weather conditions forour region.

The best feature of theNWS site is that all forecastsare the most current available.Unlike the newspapers, mediaand apps, the issue time ofeach forecast is posted.

If you are interested inweather forecasts anywhere inthe United States check outthe interactive map atwww.weather.gov.

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 13

ACCIDENTS:May 17, 12:21 a.m. Center

St. No Injuries.May 29, 8:32 a.m. Mt. Ver-

non Dr./Mt. Etna Dr. Injuries.June 1, 12:31 a.m. El Pueblo

Place. No Injuries

ARRESTS:Mar. 18 1:305 a.m.Clayton Rd./El Camino Dr.

A 33-year-old Clayton male wasarrested for disorderly con-duct/under influence of alco-hol.

May 24, 2:20 a.m.Oak St./Center St. A 28-

year-old Concord male wasarrested for DUI.

May 25, 12:51 a.m. KirkerPass Rd. A 21-year-old Con-cord male was arrested for pos-sessing a controlled substance;warrants.

May 26, 1:02 p.m. Main St.A 39-year-old Hayward malewas arrested for disorderly con-duct/under the influence ofalcohol.

May 28, 2:56 p.m. YolandaCr. A 21-year-old Concordmale was arrested on a war-rant.

May 29, 1:30 a.m. KirkerPass Rd./Olive Dr. A 28-year-old Concord male was arrestedfor driving on a suspendedlicense.

May 30, 9:35 p.m. KelokWy. A 19-year-old Concordfemale was arrested for pos-sessing narcotic controlled sub-stance; possessing marijuana28.5 grams or less.

June 1, 12:31 a.m. El PuebloPlace. A 21-year-old Claytonmale was arrested for DUI.

June 2, 3:18 a.m. KirkerPass Rd./Concord Blvd. A 31-

year-old Concord male wasarrested for DUI; DUI/Over.08.

BURGLARIES/THEFTS:May 18, Mt. Washington.

Burglary – Residential.May 19, Fleming Dr. Bur-

glary – Residential.May 20, Regency Dr. Vehi-

cle Theft.May 23, Mountaire Cr. Bur-

glary – Vehicle.May 28, 7400 Marsh Creek

Road. Petty Theft.June 2, Kelok Wy. Burglary

– Residential.June 3, El Camino Dr. Bur-

glary – Residential.June 4, El Camino Dr.

Petty Theft

VANDALISMS:None.

Police Activity for three weeks ending June 5, 2014

Police ActivityReport

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Play therapy can helpemotionally distressed kids

Most people tend to beshocked that children as youngas 3 could need help in the men-tal health capacity. However,there are many events in life thatcould result in a child strugglingand having emotional chal-lenges. Here are some commonquestions that can come upwhen considering therapy for achild:

WHY MAY CHILDREN NEED

TO SEE A THERAPIST? There are a variety of rea-

sons why a child could be hav-ing a hard time. At times, adultsthink that some certain experi-

ences are not a big deal or that achild is too young to know whatis going on. However, sincemost children learn to read theircaregivers’ facial expressionsand body language as infants,they tend to be clued into whatis happening around them.Some of the events that couldlead to a referral include, but arenot limited to, a new sibling,medical issues, moving to a newtown, separation or divorce ofcaregivers, starting at a newschool, the loss of a loved one(including pets), natural disas-ters, witnessing something vio-lent on television, in the homeor community, caregivers work-ing longer hours, caregivers withillnesses, and/or removal fromthe home.

What behaviors could lead

to a referral?Every child responds to feel-

ings and events in differentways. Some children maybecome angry and aggressivewhile others are sad and with-drawn. There could be regres-sion in milestones they havealready mastered, such as eating,sleeping through the night andusing the bathroom. Socialinteractions with other childrenmight be difficult and they mayshow some anxiety in any givensituation.

WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?In play therapy, the therapist

provides a safe space for thechild to play out whatever iscausing their emotional distress.Oftentimes, it is difficult forchildren of this age range to talk

about what they are feeling orexperiencing. Because childrenlearn to play before they talk,play is considered the first lan-guage of a child, making it acomfortable environment evenwhen limited in verbal commu-nication.

HOW DOES THERAPY WORK?Prior to meeting with a child

individually, the therapist willmeet with the child’s caregiversto gain a better understanding ofthe child, the family and thechallenges they are having. Theywill set goals for the child andwill ideally work towards themtogether. Sessions are usuallyonce a week though can some-times be increased or decreased,depending on the progress or ifthere is a crisis.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?This depends on the child,

the reason for the referral andthe goals that were set with thechild’s caregivers. Informationfrom the caregiver about howtheir child is doing in differentenvironments helps the thera-pist determine how muchprogress the child has made.

Children, especially youngchildren, are just beginning toexperience big feelings and donot know how to manage themin the way grown-ups do. Thisdoes not mean that there issomething wrong with a child,but rather that they just need alittle more support in learningsome tools on how to controltheir emotions in a differentway.

WOODY WHITLATCH

WEATHER WORDS

Woody Whitlatch is a retiredmeteorologist from PG&E. Emailyour questions or comments to clayton_909@yahoo.com

Did you know that the oddsof developing skin cancer(melanoma) rise as you getolder?

Now that the season ofwarmer weather is upon us thebarbeques, trips to the beachand shorts will be out in fullforce. Although most of uslike a good tan, we must alwaysremember to put on sunscreen, especially seniors. It isadvisable to limit outdooractivity between the hours of10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to avoidunhealthy sun exposure. Makesure to also wear clothes thatcover as much of your body aspossible. (That also includeswide-brim hats.) Use lotionfrequently to help keep skinmoist but avoid bathing toooften because it can actually

dry out your skin and worsenwrinkles.

Melanoma is one of theleading causes of cancer in theelderly and at least one in fiveAmericans will develop skincancer in their lifetimes. Themore sunlight you are exposedto throughout your life corre-

lates to how likely you are todevelop melanoma.

Keep an eye out for newmoles or spots that appear onyour skin as melanoma typical-ly takes on those characteris-tics. Fortunately, if caughtearly, it is usually treatable,with high survival rates.

Finally, please avoid usingtanning beds. There really isn’tanything worse you can do foryour skin than by lying inclosed bed with UV rays hit-ting your skin for hours at atime.

Shedding light on skin cancer

ALEXANDER PAYNE

SENIOR MOMENTS

Alexander Payne is the ActivitiesDirector at Courtyards at Pine Creekin Concord. Email questions andcomments to susan@courtyardsat-pinecreek.com

LIZA BRENNAN

POCKET PARENT

Liza G. Brennan, LMFT is achild and family therapist for WeCare Services for Children. She canbe contacted atlgbrennan@wecarechildren.org.

Page 14 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

The Rotary Club of ClaytonValley/Concord Sunrise is spon-soring a Youth Exchange stu-dent from Belgium for the 2014-15 school year, and is lookingfor volunteer families to hostthe teen.

Aline will arrive in Californiain mid-August and will return toher native Belgium in mid-July2015. While in the U.S. she willattend a Concord-area highschool, where she will be a sen-ior.

While French is her nativelanguage, Aline also speaksDutch and English. She saysshe likes to dance, ski and playtennis, and appears to be verygood at tennis since her dadteaches it. She also mentions inher application letter that shewould like to study psychologybecause she likes to help people.Her dream” is to work with dis-abled people or with people in

jails.”Aline will stay with the host

families for a three to four-month period during the timeshe will be here. Host familiescan come in all shapes and sizes(including single parents) andmight include young children,older children or no children atall. Like other Rotary-spon-sored Youth Exchange students,Aline will be provided a month-ly allowance by Rotary.

Each year Rotary districtsworldwide arrange more than9,000 international youthexchanges for secondary schoolstudents. A primary goal of theprogram is to foster worldunderstanding and peacethrough intercultural exchange.

Youth Exchange promises toenrich the lives of the studentand every member of a hostfamily. Not only do familiesprovide an unforgettable service

to a student from abroad, butthe students will educate thefamily about the world aroundthem.

In addition, Rotary sponsorsoutbound students to liveabroad in one of 188 countrieswith qualified host families foranywhere from a few months toan entire year. If your child hasan interest, contact Rotary. TheRotary Youth Exchange plan isfor students 15 to 18-1/2 yearsold, and the majority of Ameri-can students choose to go rightafter they graduate high school.Most colleges will hold a stu-dent’s admission slot, acknowl-edging the exchange experiencemakes for a much better stu-dent.

For more information, contactMonica Fraga at the Clayton/ValleyConcord Sunrise Rotary Club at925-566-8166 or monica@travel-2-go.com.

Rotary club seeks hostfamilies for Belgian teen

[Editor’s Note: This is thethird in a series on strength train-ing.]

In past articles I havelooked at the value ofstrength training. Now, here

are some tips for gettingstarted on the right foot:

• Check with your doctorbefore starting an exerciseprogram.

• Always warm up for atleast five to 10 minutesbefore strength training.

• Proper form is essentialfor safety and effective-ness. Start with lightweights as you perfectyour form and get accus-tomed to strength training.Gradually increase theamount of weight you liftover time, by no morethan 10 percent each week.

• Always cool down at leastfive to10 minutes at the

end of your workout.• Vary your exercise pro-

gram to avoid boredomand plateaus. Changingyour routine every six-to-eight weeks is crucial tokeeping your body/mus-cles surprised and con-stantly adapting. They’llhave to work harder, you’llbe challenged, and you’llburn more calories andbuild more lean muscle inthe process. Learn how tochange your exercise rou-tine to avoid plateaus.

• Drink plenty of waterbefore, during and afterexercise to stay hydrated.

TAKE CARE WHEN

LIFTING WEIGHTS

Machines are best forbeginners. They usually havedetailed instructions and apicture on them, plus theyshow which muscles you areworking. They are set up toput your body in proper formand isolate the right muscles.They are usually groupedtogether (upper body, chest,arms, legs, etc.) in a weightroom, so that you can easilymove through them and tar-get every major muscle group.

Free weights are moreadvanced. After you’ve had agood foundation withmachines (or body weightexercises) you can move into

free weights. When using freeweights, form becomes evenmore important because thereis nothing to support you ormake you do it properly. Liftin front of a mirror and usethe proper benches for sup-port. Always watch the align-ment of the joints and theirrelationships: shoulders, hips,knees and ankles should bealigned. Your back shouldremain flat and your absshould be contracted to helpsupport the lower back. Havea trainer assist you and havesomeone there to spot you ifyou are lifting heavy weights.Use your trainer to help youachieve proper form.

Don’t hold your breath,

which can be dangerous (itincreases blood pressure andcan cause lightheadedness,for example). Exhale fullyand forcefully on the exertionphase — usually the phasewhere you are lifting theweight. Inhale deeply on theeasier phase — usually whenreturning to the starting posi-tion. Try to keep this rhythmthroughout every set. In thebeginning, it will take someconcentration, but after awhile, it will become habit.

Kick-start your strength training program

Ilima Heuerman holds multiple fit-ness certifications. She trains at LevityFitness studio in Clayton. Email Ilimaat IlimaHeuerman@levityfitness.com

ILIMA HEUERMAN

FIT WITH LEVITY

Father’s Day reminds me to bethe best dad I can be, to be a goodman in their life. I try to emulatemy own father.”

The Father’s Day concept wasoriginally created in 1910 bySonora Dodd in Spokane, Wash-ington, who staged the first cele-bration at the Spokane YMCA. Itwas done in response to Mother’sDay, which began in 1908. Thecelebrations, led mostly by Dodd,lost steam in the 1920s and nearlydied out when Dodd moved toChicago. She then got the move-ment going again in the 1930s,but the national governmentrefused to officially recognize it.Finally, after five decades, Presi-dent Richard Nixon signed theFather’s Day holiday into law in1972.

Nearly all dads have momentsthat come to mind in their father-ing journey that are frozen intime. No one forgets the first time

they held their little one at thehospital. Some remember fright-ening nights when their child wassick with a high fever. Othershave great memories foreveretched into their mind of sport-ing events where a kid accom-plished something spectacular.

FOOTBALL VS. LABOR

Mike Hansen of Claytonremembers like yesterday the dayhis daughter Melisa entered theworld. “At first, we were at homeand the Vikings were playing theRaiders. I was watching the game.I told my wife, ‘You can make ituntil 1:30.’ But things got worseand worse and I started feelingguilty. We got to the hospital andhad to have a c-section done. Ijust remember being in that roomand when they said it was a girl, Ijust started weeping.”

Hansen describes the over-whelming emotions of trying to

care for his wife in the hospitalwhile suddenly realizing that henow had a new life to care forwho had just taken her firstbreaths. “I was so happy,” he says.“All I could think about was herhealth. Is she okay? Is everythingokay? And everything was per-fect. My wife and daughter werefine and healthy.”

Recently Hansen received aletter from his now-teenagedaughter, Melisa, that gave him abeautiful perspective on parent-ing. “She wrote me the nicest let-ter for my birthday and basicallytold me that she thinks I set agood example for the family andthat she admires me. It’s one ofthose things that I’ll alwaysremember and cherish,” Hansensays.

“It brings a tear to your eye,because sometimes you don’talways know how your kids feelabout you. It was one of thosetimes where you realize that theyreally do appreciate you.”

Fathers, from page 9

There is something sad andbeautiful about an Irish novel,and Michele Forbes’ debut tale,“Ghost Moth” (BellevueLiterary Press; April, 2013), isno exception. Set in Belfast inthe turbulent 1960s, and alter-nating to a parallel storyline ina more hopeful, post-war1940s, “Ghost Moth” tells thestory of Katherine andGeorge, of their courtship andsubsequent marriage, of theirlife with children Maureen,Elsa, Elizabeth and Stephen.By sly contrast to herordinary life, Katherinebecomes lost in thememory of an affairshe had with a youngtailor before marry-ing George, andwhich provides anundercurrent oftension in an oth-erwise commonexistence.

In the sum-mer of 1969,Katherine nearlydrowns on a family outing tothe seaside town in NorthernIreland. Leaving her husbandand children on the beach andswimming past the point ofwisdom or stamina, Katherineencounters a seal, bobbing inthe water near her, and is terri-fied by the beast’s suddenappearance.

“The seal appears fromnowhere, an instant immutablepresence in the sea—althoughhe must have been swimmingsilently beneath the surface forsome time without her know-ing.”

Though she is rescued by

George, Katherine is shaken,and when they return home,she can’t dodge the sense that adark menace is immanent. Andyet, their life goes on as nor-mal. George is a devoted hus-band, and her daughters andson weave a rich tapestryaround her. Katherine, likeMrs. Dalloway, moves throughher days as she should, lookingafter her children, taking careof her husband. Increasinglyhowever, in the aftermath ofher own near-drowning, she

recalls the achingly illicit affairshe had as a young

woman, withthe handsome

young manwho, when she

broke it off withhim, was found

drowned the nextday. She can’t help

but feel that whileshe made the safe

choice in husbands,she might have made

the wrong one.Forbes’ prose is

lyric and she perfectly capturesthe vulnerability a city on thebrink of civil war. Maureen andElizabeth are tormented byProtestant toughs as they walkhome from their Catholicschool, and Katherine herselfbecome the victim of a hatecrime in a city that grows moreviolent by the day. Of her threegirls, the youngest, Elsa, ismost like Katherine, with herblonde hair and sensitivenature. Elsa is friends with arough girl from the neighbor-hood, Isabel. The girl is bossyand rude, but Elsa tolerates

Isabel and even seems to craveher attention. Isabel is aProtestant and barely enduresElsa for many reasons, butmainly because her family isCatholic.

When the threat thatKatherine sensed was comingarrives, it does not claimGeorge, who is a volunteerfireman, or her children orBelfast itself, but it comes toKatherine. She is diagnosedwith an aggressive cancer andwastes away, even as devotedGeorge watches and her chil-dren grow frightened by theshadow she becomes.

“Ghost Moth” is a story ofthe heart; of love and itsimmovable faces. Like a sweetfable of family, it will wrap youup and love you. And then likelove sometimes does, in itssweetness, it will break yourheart.

Book Review

Haunting Irish novel clutches the heart

CYNTHIA GREGORY

FOR THE BOOKS

Cynthia Gregory writes bookreviews, award-winning short storiesand a blog. Visit her blog at PersephonesStepSisters.Wordpress.comor send email to her at cgregory111@gmail.com

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Kittens are oh-so-cute bun-dles of fun — and also require alot of time, energy and patience.Most kittens are born in thespring and summer, so manyhouseholds are thinking aboutadding a little one during thistime of year. How do you knowif a kitten is right for yourlifestyle?

Kittens are basically babies,which means you must super-vise them, prevent accidentsfrom occurring, and, mostimportantly, socialize them. Atthis stage, kittens may be more

open to new experiences (suchas meeting gentle dogs), butthey are also malleable enoughto be affected by negative influ-ences. For instance, if a kittenisn’t handled enough while he’syoung, it can be difficult tomake up for that later in life. Orif someone is too rough with akitten, she may grow to dislikehandling. Reinforcing goodbehaviors and discouraging nor-mal but problematic behaviorssuch as nipping of hands andfingers — without using physi-cal correction or harsh disci-pline — is especially importantfor proper development.

A kitten’s temperament is amix of genetic factors and envi-ronmental factors. Thoughthere hasn’t been enoughresearch to say exactly whattraits are “genetic” and whattraits are determined by the

environment, it is safe to saythat both play a part. That sweetkitten you fell in love with at theshelter might not turn out to bethe lap cat you wanted...andthere’s nothing you can doabout that. If you have yourheart set on a particular person-ality, like a mellow lap cat or ahigh-energy, ready-for-actioncat, it is better to adopt anadult cat who alreadydemonstrates those traits.

Kittens are physicallyfragile and need to behandled carefully. Sincethey play with everything(like electrical cords),you will need to kitten-proof your home.Adult cats can requirethis too, but with kit-tens it is espe-cially crucial.Also be pre-

pared to keep a close eye onyour kitten. They are smallenough to squeeze into ridicu-lously tiny spaces, but not alwayswise enough to figure out howto get out. We have heard of kit-tens getting into places likechimneys, under stoves, insidewalls and even in pipes. If youhave young children, an older

kitten over fivemonths or an adultcat may be a better

match than a two-pound kitten,

because the fragilityof very young kittensmakes them espe-

cially vulnerable toinjury.

Kittens need lotsof attention and getbored quickly, so agreat way to getyour kitten off on

the right foot in life is by adopt-ing two kittens. Two kittens arenot more trouble than one, andwill play together and teach eachother important things like biteinhibition, which preventsnaughty boredom behaviors. Ofcourse, both kittens will needsocialization to people and lotsof cuddle time, but that’s thefun part.

There are lots of beautifulkittens this time of year who

need good homes. If you are inthe market for a feline, we hopethis has helped you decide if ababy or an adult would be a bet-ter match for your lifestyle andyour household. Whatever youdecide, ARF has plenty tochoose from.

Six-year-old Blondie is asweet older lady that would liketo go for daily walks around theneighborhood and then gohome and spend the rest of theday on your lap or next to youon the sofa. Blondie loves to get

attention and if snuggling werea sport she would win first prize.We would recommend taking aBasic Manners class withBlondie to help her bond withher new family.

Blondie’s adoption fee has

been prepaid by a generousdonor.

Four-year-old Ringo Starr isa handsome and confident fel-low. He likes petting and he likesto explore and play as well. He

lived successfully with childrenin his previous home. He is suit-able for a first time cat guardian

Ringo Starr’s adoption feehas been prepaid by a generousdonor.

Meet your forever friend atTony La Russa’s Animal RescueFoundation, 2890 MitchellDrive, Walnut Creek, duringadoption hours: Noon to 5 pm.Wednesday, 3 to 7 pm. Thursdayand Friday, Noon to 5 pm. Sat-urday and Sunday. The primarycaretaker must be present toadopt. ARF also encourageskids 16 and younger and caninefamily members (dog adoptionsonly) to be present during theadoption process.

Would you like to be part of theheroic team that saves the lives of res-cued dogs and cats? Can you shareyour talents to connect people and ani-mals? ARF volunteers are making adifference! For more information seeour website, www.arf.net, or call925.256.1ARF.

Josie Van Fleet, Owner & Operator

(925) 432-PETS (7387)

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June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 15

Blondie and Ringo Starr are ARF’s stars

BLONDIE RINGO STARR

Don’t let the fur fly when dealing with kittens

Elena Bicker is the Executive Directorof Tony La Russa’s Animal RescueFoundation. She can be reached at (925)256-1ARF (1273)

ELENA BICKER

PET PALS

that appeals to homebuyersand renters, Montagh says.“We have housing units that fita wide range of needs andwants, from smaller homesthat appeal to first-time homebuyers to executive single-fam-ily homes.”

The wide range of multi-family homes is also a plus, hesays. “We have higher-endapartments like Park Central

and Renaissance near TodosSantos Plaza, to the more tra-ditional apartments along Clay-ton Valley Road and Monu-ment Blvd.”

And even though land forbuilding is scarce, Montaghsees infill developments –those collection of homesbuilt in pockets on a few acresin established neighborhoods –as continuing to grow.

As for those hipstersdescending on Concord? Mon-tagh says that the city’s qualityof life and resurgent down-town commerce is driving that.

“There are two new alehouses in downtown Concord,and people are already attract-ed to the summer Music &Market Series,” he says. “It’sjust a really cool place to be.”

And that’s why realtor Lau-rence thinks Concord has abright future in the housingmarket. “We are just going tosee our home values going up.”

Concord Housing, from page 5

Page 16 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

IN CLAYTONSSaattuurrddaayyss tthhrruu OOcctt.. 2255FFaarrmmeerrss’’ MMaarrkkeett8 a.m. – 12 p.m. Diablo Street between Main and Center streets,downtown Clayton. Music: June 14, Lacey Baker. June 21, ApryllGilbert. pcfma.com/clayton.

JJuunnee 2211,, JJuullyy 55CCoonncceerrttss iinn tthhee GGrroovvee6 – 8:30 p.m. Grove Park, downtown Clayton. Free. For a com-plete concert series list, see Page 3.

JJuunnee 2211DDiiaabblloo BBoowwmmeenn’’ss OOppeenn HHoouusseeA once-a-year opportunity to try archery. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. $10 fora lesson and lunch. For directions, visit diablo-bowmen.org.

JJuullyy 44PPaannccaakkee BBrreeaakkffaasstt aanndd PPaarraaddeeThe day begins with the Clayton Valley Sunrise Rotary pancakebreakfast at 7 a.m. at Endeavor Hall, 6008 Center St., followedby the parade down Main Street at 10 a.m. Breakfast: $5 adults;$3 kids. No registration for Kiddie Parade. Register for mainparade at cityofclayton.org.

IN CONCORDTTuueessddaayyss FFaarrmmeerrss’’ MMaarrkkeettTuesdays year round, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Todos Santos Plaza,downtown Concord. cityofconcord.org.

TTuueessddaayy NNiigghhttss iinn JJuullyyBBlluueess SSeerriieessSome of the best blues in the Bay Area. July 1, Frank Bey andAnthony Paule. 6:30 – 8 p.m. Todos Santos Plaza, downtownConcord. Free. cityofconcord.org.

MMuussiicc aanndd MMaarrkkeettThursday night live music and farmers’ market. Market 4 – 8p.m.; music 6:30 – 8 p.m. Todos Santos Plaza, downtownConcord. Music: June 19, The Sun Kings. June 26, MidnightNorth. July 3, The TuneRiders. cityofconcord.org.

JJuunnee 1155DDaaddDDaayyCelebrate Dad with James Clark and the Jailhouse Rockers per-forming their vibrant Elvis revue. 12 p.m. Todos Santos Plaza,downtown Concord. Free. cityofconcord.org.

JJuunnee 2211SSuummmmeerr SSoocciiaallFood, fun, raffle presented by the Concord Historical Society. 1 –4 p.m. Historical Galindo Home, 1721 Amador Ave., Concord.$10. For tickets and information, contact Diane at 682-9281.

JJuunnee 2255SSuussttaaiinnaabbiilliittyy WWoorrkksshhooppZero Waste and Be a Sustainable Citizen program taking you tothe next level beyond recycling. Hosted by the city of Concord.6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Civic Center, City Council Chambers, 1950Parkside Drive, Concord. Free. Registration required: Emailjoan.ryan@cityofconcord.org or call 671-3370.

JJuullyy 44CCeelleebbrraattiioonnFun run, parade, festival, fireworks. Events start at 8 a.m. Formore details, go to concordjuly4th.com.

ON THE MOUNTAINMount Diablo Interpretive Association programs listed are freewith the exception of park entrance fee. Go to mdia.org and clickon Events Calendar for more information.

JJuunnee 1144FFiirree RReeccoovveerryy HHiikkeeMary Bowerman Trail. 10 – 11:30 a.m. Meet at Lower SummitParking Lot. Registration required.

JJuunnee 1144FFiirree RReeccoovveerryy HHiikkeeNorth Peak Trail. 12 – 2:30 p.m. Meet at Lower SummitParking Lot. Registration required.

JJuunnee 1155RRoouunndd tthhee MMoouunnttaaiinn HHiikkeeThis classic loop provides views in all directions circling thepark via Deer Flat, Prospector’s Gap and Oak Knoll. Passthrough burn areas; wildflowers should be abundant. 10:30a.m. – 5 p.m. Meet at Juniper Camp Trailhead.

JJuunnee 2200CCoommmmoonn PPoooorrwwiillll BBiirrdd WWaallkkListen to the birds of the early evening in White Canyon. 7p.m. Meet at Mitchell Canyon Trailhead. Registration withDenise Wight required: blkittiwake@yahoo.com.

JJuunnee 2211SSeeaarrcchh ffoorr AAlliieenn WWoorrllddssHeld by Mount Diablo Interpretive Association and MountDiablo Astronomical Society. Explore where weird life exists onEarth. 8 - 11:00 p.m. Meet: Lower Summit Parking Lot.

JJuunnee 2211SSuummmmeerr SSoollssttiiccee SSaauunntteerrExperience Mother Nature’s evening shift as we search forowls, bats, tarantulas and other creatures. 7 – 10 p.m. Meet atMitchell Canyon Visitor Center. Registration with Liz Watsonsweettrails00@gmail.com or Ken Lavinmtdiablohiker@aol.com required.

JJuunnee 2288CCoommmmoonn PPoooorrwwiillll BBiirrdd WWaallkkListen to the birds of the early evening in White Canyon. 7p.m. Meet at Mitchell Canyon Trailhead. Registration withDenise Wight required: blkittiwake@yahoo.com.

Save Mount Diablo programs listed are free unless otherwisenoted. Go to savemountdiablo.org and click on Activities/GuidedHikes for more information. 947-3535.

JJuunnee 2288MMaannggiinnii RRaanncchh FFaammiillyy HHiikkeeVisit a secret spring and look for bobcats, coyotes, owls, quailand other feathered friends. 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Meet at hikergate on Crystal Ranch Drive between Autumn Oak Circle andRolling Woods Way. Registration required: smdinfo@save-mountdiablo.org.

EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENTTThhrruu JJuunnee 2211““TThhee 2255tthh AAnnnnuuaall PPuuttnnaamm CCoouunnttyy SSppeelllliinngg BBeeee””Riotous musical comedy about six adolescent outsiders vying forthe spelling championship of a lifetime. Lesher Center for theArts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $37-$65. centerrep.org.

TThhrruu AAuugg.. 2200AAmmaatteeuurr RRaaddiioo AAuuxxiilliiaarryy TTrraaiinniinnggClasses to improve emergency and radio skills. For more infor-mation, go to saternconcord.org. Register:radioskillsclass@gmail.com.

JJuunnee 2211BBeesstt IInntteennttiioonnssOne of the most talented Motown shows touring today. 8 p.m.California Theatre, 351 Railroad Ave., Pittsburg. $15. pitts-burgcaliforniatheatre.com. 427-1611.

JJuunnee 2211TTuucckk aanndd PPaattttiiA musical marriage unparalleled in jazz. Presented by RedLegged Frog Productions. 8 p.m. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $40. lesherartscenter.org.

JJuunnee 2255 –– JJuullyy 66““EEllllaa tthhee MMuussiiccaall””The story of one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time. LesherCenter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $37-$65. cen-terrep.org.

JJuunnee 2288FFaalllleenn HHeerrooeess,, RRiissiinngg SSttaarrssA Juneteenth Dance Celebration honors African American musi-cal artists that have died since 2000, but will inspire for genera-tions to come. 8 p.m. California Theatre, 351 Railroad Ave.,Pittsburg. $25 in advance; $30 at the door. pittsburgcaliforniathe-atre.com. 427-1611.

JJuunnee 2288SSppeeaakk NNoo WWeeeevviillPresented by Ready or Not Improv. 8:15 p.m. Lesher Center forthe Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $15. lesherartscenter.org.

JJuunnee 2288 –– 2299““OOnn GGoollddeenn PPoonndd””Classic American comedy/drama. El Campanil Theatre, 602 W.Second St., Antioch. $12-$15. elcampaniltheatre.com.

JJuunnee 2299CCoonncceerrtt15th anniversary gala concert by Music Repertoire. 3 p.m. LesherCenter for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek. $10. lesher-artscenter.org.

JJuullyy 44CCoonncceerrttPatriotic salute performed by Walnut Creek Concert Band. 6 p.m.Civic Park, 1375 Civic Drive, WC. Free. walnutcreekband.org.

CHURCHES AND RELIGIONSSuummmmeerr PPrrooggrraammssVacation bible school, camp outs and more at Concord UnitedMethodist Church. For more information, go to concordumc.orgor email concordumc@sbgcglobal.net.

FUNDRAISERSJJuunnee 1144PPllaanntt SSaalleeSummer herbs, especially those that are drought tolerant, arefeatured. Free class on culinary uses of common summer plants.9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Markham Regional Arboretum Society Nursery.1202 La Vista Ave., Concord. 681-2968.

JJuunnee 3300DDiinnee OOuutt Support local theatre and a local eatery. Pavilion Bar and Grillwill donate 20 percent of all receipts to the Clayton TheatreCompany. Good for dine in or carry out orders. Download flierfrom claytontheatrecompany.com or mention Clayton TheatreCompany. 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Pavilion Bar and Grill, 1508 KirkerPass Road, Clayton. For more information, call Beth at 381-1615.

AT THE LIBRARYThe Clayton Library is at 6125 Clayton Road. Programs are freeunless otherwise noted. claytonlibrary.org or 673-0659.

SSttaarrttiinngg JJuunnee 1144PPhhoottoo CCoonntteessttChildren grades 6 – 12: Snap a photo of your pet or an ani-mal and enter the contest. Prizes for Best Looking, Grumpiestand Best Action Shot. Part of Summer Reading Festival. Entryforms available at library. Deadline: July 31. Judging byCreekside Artists Guild.

TTuueessddaayyss JJuunnee 1177 tthhrruu AAuugg.. 1122PPaattttyy CCaakkeessStory time for babies to 3-year-olds. Child attends with care-giver. 11 a.m.

TThhuurrssddaayyss JJuunnee 1199 tthhrruu AAuugg.. 1144PPiiccttuurree BBooookk TTiimmeeStory time for 3- to 5-year-olds. Child may attend withoutcaregiver. 11 a.m.

JJuunnee 1144 –– AAuugg.. 1166CCoonntteessttGuess the number of pet treats in the jar. Closest guess wins aprize. All ages. One guess per person.

JJuunnee 1166KKiidd’’ss SSccaavveennggeerr HHuunnttComplete the hunt and get a prize. Children in grades kinder-garten through fifth. 4 – 5 p.m.

JJuunnee 1166MMaaggiicciiaann//IIlllluussiioonniissttThe magic of Timothy James. Family fun. 7 p.m.

JJuunnee 1188BBeeaaddiinngg wwiitthh YYoollaannddaaFor children in grades 6 through 12. 4 – 5 p.m. Registrationrequired.

JJuunnee 1199BBuussyy BBeeee DDooggssFormerly homeless pets who amaze and educate audiences ofall ages through heart-capturing, extraordinary entertainment.4 p.m.

The Concord Library is at 2900 Salvio St. ccclib.org or 646-5455.

JJuunnee 1166BBuussyy BBeeee DDooggssFormerly homeless pets who amaze and educate audiences ofall ages through heart-capturing, extraordinary entertainment.7 p.m.

GOVERNMENT11sstt aanndd 33rrdd TTuueessddaayyssCCllaayyttoonn CCiittyy CCoouunncciill7 p.m. Hoyer Hall, Clayton Library, 6125 Clayton Road. 673-7304 or ci.clayton.ca.us.

22nndd aanndd 44tthh TTuueessddaayyssCCllaayyttoonn PPllaannnniinngg CCoommmmiissssiioonn7 p.m., Hoyer Hall, Clayton Library, 6125 Clayton Road. 673-7304 or ci.clayton.ca.us.

11sstt,, 22nndd aanndd 44tthh TTuueessddaayyssCCoonnccoorrdd CCiittyy CCoouunncciill6:30 p.m., Council Chamber, Concord Civic Center, 1950Parkside Dr. cityofconcord.org.

Clayton Community CalendarPLEASE SUBMIT YOUR CLAYTON COMMUNITY CALENDAR EVENTS BY 5 P.M. JUNE 18 FOR THE JUNE 27 ISSUE. ITEMS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY EMAIL TO calendar@claytonpioneer.com

Meeting dates and times for local clubs andorganizations are listed atclaytonpioneer.com. Click on ‘Links’

Comes to the East Bay

Sat., July 26 –– 8 p.m.••TThhee SSaann FFrraanncciissccoo BBooyyss CChhoorruuss,,

uunnddeerr tthhee ddiirreeccttiioonn ooff IIaann RRoobbeerrttssoonn••MMeezzzzoo--SSoopprraannoo AAnnnnaa YYeelliizzaarroovvaa••PPiiaannoo CCoonncceerrttoo iinn DD MMiinnoorr,, ••SSeeyymmoouurr LLiippkkiinn,, ppiiaanniisstt

First Congregational Church,Berkeley, at 2345 Channing Way

Tickets $30-65. Student/Teacher discounts available

40th Annual

MozartFestival

For tickets & full program info: www.midsummermozart.org

George Cleveconducts the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra

Sun., July 20 –– 7 p.m.••MMeezzzzoo--SSoopprraannoo TTaanniiaa MMaannddzzyy IInnaallaa••OOvveerrttuurree ttoo TThhee MMaarrrriiaaggee ooff FFiiggaarroo••SSyymmpphhoonnyy NNoo.. 4400 iinn GG MMiinnoorr

in two different

programs

FFaatthheerr’’ss DDaayy SSppeecciiaallss

Call for reservations

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Entertainment from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

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2 for the price of 1Beer only. Good anytime withoriginal coupon. Exp. 6/26/14

Karaoke Mon. & Wed. nights Open Mic Thur. nights, 8-11 pm

This year the Clayton Businessand Community Association iscelebrating its 30th anniversary,and the 180 members are instru-mental in creating and maintain-ing the quality of life so manyClaytonians enjoy. From eventslike the annual Art & WineFestival and Chili Cook-off tohelping fund scholarships for thearea’s youth to helping preservecity properties, the CBCA is at theheart of the community.

“I feel that the CBCA hasgrown to an amazing size and[level of] participation,” says Skip

Ipsen, one of the club’s originalmembers. “John Morris and Ioriginally thought in terms of 50-75 people becoming members ofthe Clayton Business andProfessional Association.”

Fellow original member JohnRubiales agrees that the club hasmade an impact on the city. “Thedowntown area is better now thanit used to be,” he says. “The city ispaying attention to what we doand what we say. “

It wasn’t always that way. In1984, the merchants in downtownhad long needed to promote theirinterests. Clayton’s population wasa little more than 4,300 with verylittle room for growth within itsboundaries. Main Street was theonly way in or out of town. Itcontained three blocks of com-mercial establishments.

NO BUSINESS INPUT

Downtown was zoned forcommercial use, but had notattracted new building in years.The city’s building criteria madedevelopment costs prohibitiveand did little to encourage busi-ness or residential expansion. Cityfunds could barely maintain theroads, much less finance capitalimprovements. City and utilityservices were inadequate to sup-port long-range development.And business owners, as individu-als, had been ineffective in gaining

the city’s support for the down-town area. This situation was par-tially the result of unsuccessfulinput from the business commu-nity. Efforts either met withopposition or total lack ofresponse.

Ipsen and Morris contactedthe businesses in the area asking ifthey saw a need for a downtownmerchant’s association. Thiswould allow the group to worktogether with city representativesand Clayton residents. The busi-nesses — and therefore the com-munity — could move in a morepositive direction to create aware-ness and solve some of theseproblems.

The inaugural meeting of theClayton Business Council washeld in June 1984 at the PioneerInn with 17 businesses represent-ed. Businesses from surroundingareas showed interest as well, andthe name changed to the ClaytonBusiness and ProfessionalAssociation. The first board ofdirectors consisted of JohnHelmer, Gloria Utley, DeborahKline, Nancy Younce and RoyHawes. The motto was and still is“For the good of the Claytoncommunity.” Membership hasalways been open to businessesand residents alike.

In September of that year, theCBPA participated in a “Main

Street USA” teleconference heldat the Pioneer Inn. It was broad-cast from Washington D. C. to300 cities around the U.S. andCanada. It addressed revitaliza-tion of downtown areas, lasted sixhours and was locally viewed by30 people involved in the businesscommunity and local govern-ment. It ignited a lot of interest inthe community.

REELIN’ AT THE

ROUND-UP

The first of what wouldbecome many fundraisers, theClayton Round-up, was held inOctober of 1984 and was theclub’s major fundraiser for 12years. Tickets were $10 for achuck wagon dinner and danceheld at John Lemke’s DiabloHorse Center (now the Stranahansubdivision). Members did all ofthe work and cooking. The ActingPolice Chief, Fred Albrecht, wasgrill master.

The club estimated an atten-dance of 300-350. The eventactually drew 500 people. It wastruly a town party where every-one knew everyone else. A fewyears later, the Round-up movedit to the Easley Ranch with1,200 in attendance and a $50admission. The club raised$4,179. The club’s first donationwas to the Clayton PoliceReserves for $100.

The club began giving backto the community in other ways,as well. At Christmas, membersconstructed a lighted Christmasbanner and purchased and hungwreaths downtown. Membersserenaded the neighborhoods inthe back of trucks with portableradios for music. The decora-tions have since been expandedupon. These days the Claytonmaintenance department helpsto hang the wreaths and deco-rate the live tree downtown. Theclub has added the tree lighting,a visit with Santa and Dessertwith Mrs. Claus.

For 30 years the CBPA —now the CBCA — has spon-sored community events andfundraisers to give back to thecommunity. “I am most proud ofcontributing to the city and beinga part of major improvements

like the Grove Park and benchesaround town,” Rubiales says.

FROM BUBBLE GUM TO BOCCE

The first Clayton Classic golftournament was held in 1987 atBoundary Oaks with the pro-ceeds to help fund Clayton ValleyHigh School’s golf team. Theclub also held a bubble gumblowing contest and an art con-test for CVHS students. Winningartists displayed their work atSkipolini’s Pizza.

The Clayton Art and WineFestival was started in 1986.There were more than 40 booths,a food court and music. It waswell received by the vendors andthe community and increased to

100 booths the second year. Theclub now provides areas for ven-dors as well as the food courtand musical entertainment.

“I am most proud of watch-ing the CBCA grow and all thecitywide events it provides,”Ipsen says. “The CBCA is themain benefactor of so much ofthe local happenings aroundClayton and its outside environs.The CBCA provides help to localschools, scout troops, downtowngroups and many others. It isnow able to help finance such awide swath of the community.”

Most recently, the CBCA hasbeen co-funding the construc-tion of the new Clayton boccecourts, adjacent to Ipsen’s

Skipolini’s restaurant. The clubwill manage and operate thepark.

Coincidentally, in 1987, Ipsenproposed that two bocce courtsbe built on land owned by JimCox across from Endeavor Hall.(Flora Square is on that lot now.)Ipsen recommended that theClayton Business & ProfessionalAssociation take this on as aproject. It was voted down.

CBCA dinner meetings areheld the last working Thursdayof each month at the OakhurstCountry Club.

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After 30 years, CBCA means business in Clayton

Courtesy Sher Laurence

FRED ALBRECHT (FAR LEFT) AND DON WILLIAMS (FAR RIGHT) grill upa pile of beef at the CBCA’s first Round-up fundraiser in 1984,held at the Lemke Horse Ranch on Marsh Creek Rd. Today, theranch is the site of the Stranahan development.

Moving forward from therecent success of the Art &Wine Festival, the ClaytonBusiness and CommunityAssociation focused on theneeds of students and scoutsat their May 29 meeting atOakhurst Country Club.

CBCA overwhelminglyapproved a donation to theClayton Valley Charter HighSchool football team for newhelmets. The club alsoapproved a grant to supportthe CVCHS “Every 15Minutes” program, which usesgraphic reenactments of autocrashes and their aftermath towarn students of the conse-quences of drinking or textingwhile driving.

Further assistance to youthcame as a grant to Boy ScoutTroop 484 for a storage shedand camping equipment. TheCBCA convinced the troop totake half of what they askedfor and to use the money tobuy materials to build theirown shed. The boys readilyaccepted the challenge to theirskills and ingenuity.

In an update of the down-town bocce courts, Ed Hartley

reported that the opening hasbeen moved back from June 15to June 22, with adjustmentsalready having been made ingame schedules. Hartley saidthat all four courts are ADA

compliant and wheelchairaccessible, as are two of thefour picnic tables. The newbathrooms adjacent to thecourt are also wheelchairaccessible.

Volunteers are needed to help atthe Fourth of July parade. Just showup an hour or so before the parade,said Julie Pierce. To volunteer, call925-672-2272 or visit the website,www.claytoncbca.org.

Sign up today.

A local service bringing

organic, in-season produce

straight from local farms

to your doorstep.

“Good nutrition brings good health, brings happiness. Thank you, Doorstep Farmers.”

Clayton resident, Leo Schindler

Try this beautiful, water-wise sage

Salvia Clevelandii WinifredGilman is an exceptional sagethat any Clayton Valley land-scape lover would be proud togrow. It is a sturdy, evergreenperennial with fragrant foliage,and a long bloom season.Salvia Clevelandii is aCalifornia native shrub that iseasy to find and adapts quicklyonce planted.

Maturing to four- to-five-feet- tall and wide, SalviaClevelandii can be utilized inthe landscape as a foundationplant. It can visually stand upagainst a fence or propertyline. Since it keeps its leavesthroughout the winter, SalviaClevelandii also makes a nicebackdrop for deciduous trees.

Considering this year’swater issues, Salvia Clevelandiiis the type of plant thatClayton Valley residentsshould consider installing. Thisshrub is very water-wise, sur-viving on very little water, andstill thriving.

There are many membersto the Salvia Clevelandii family.Winifred Gilman is one of thebest. The foliage of WinifredGilman is mostly gray, whilethe stems are a dark eggplantcolor. In the summer, whirls oflight lavender, two-lippedshaped flowers bloom in rowsatop this evergreen’s strongstems. Both bees and hum-mingbirds are attracted to thissage.

Install Salvia Clevelandiiwith companion plants thatrequire similar watering. Mixwith other water-wise nativeplants such as manzinita, arbu-tus, other salvia, and sedum.Many non-native plants wouldalso mix well with SalviaClevelandii. Consider installingwith crape myrtle, smoke bush,teucrium, nepeta and lavender.

A couple tricks to remem-ber when purchasing and plant-ing Salvia Clevelandii WinifredGilman is not to buy too large

of acontainer at thenursery. Actually,the smaller the con-tainer the better. Withnative plants, you wantone that hasn’t live fortoo long in a pot. Four-inch sizes are the best,with one gallon com-ing in second. Wheninstalling, avoid anyplanting mix withbuilt-in fertilizers.Natives do best with ahand full of soil condi-tioner.

Once installed, SalviaClevelandii Winifred Gilmanwill need babysitting the firstthree weeks after planting.Week one, the plant should bewatered every day, week two,you should water every otherday, and week three, skip threedays between watering. Afterthe three week establishingperiod, your plant should onlyneed water a couple times aweek its first summer.

Water-wise, drought toler-ant, whatever you want to callthese types of plants, justunderstand that they all don’thave to look like dry grass.Many beautiful, desirableplants are water-wise and readyto be discovered.

NICOLE HACKETT

GARDEN GIRL

Page 18 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

Club News

FREE ESTIMATES

925-250-0334

OwnersDustin & Kim WaranerContractors Lic #879423

Arborist Lic WE-7372A

Nicole is the Garden Girl at R&MPool, Patio, Gifts and Garden. Contacther with questions or comments atGardengirl@claytonpioneer.com

LINDA LANDGRAF (925) 876-0311Real Estate Professional lindalandgraf@comcast.netCal BRE License #01504011

1830 Tice Valley Blvd.,Walnut Creek, CA 94595

SOLDfor

Asking Price!

2809 Ptarmigan Dr. #6, Rossmoor in Walnut Creek

• Rossmoor is an affordable adult community in Walnut Creek.• Rossmoor offers an ideal environment for active adult living.• Rossmoor homes offer unparalleled luxury• Rossmoor is rich in award winning amenities.LET ME HELP YOU ACQUIRE IT ALL!

Mike KavanaughBroker/Associate CDPE

Town & Country Realty Associates Inc1026 Oak St., Suite 204Clayton

Fantastic 4 bedroom 2.5 home in Regency Woods. Over 2,300 square feet with

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DiabloViewConstruction.com

Kitchens BathroomsWindows MouldingsDecks SidingPainting interior & exterior

license 962284

Clayton Valley Woman’s Club 2014-15 Officers

GARY CARR

Special to the Pioneer

CVCHS receives grants for safety

Officers for the 2014-15 year were installed for the Clayton Valley Woman’s Club onMay 27 at the Oakhurst Country Club. The newly-elected officers are, in the first row:First Vice President Linda Pasini, Co-Presidents Kathy Hester and Merle Whitburn; in thesecond row: Second Vice President Sheila Driscoll, Treasurer Rosemary Harwood,Recording Secretary Jeanne Groschwitz, Co-Third Vice Presidents Aleta Huck andBarbara Glass, Budget Director Joyce Atkinson, Newsletter Editor Maggie Gardner andCorresponding Secretary Kathy Olson. For more information, call 672-7947 or go toclaytonvalleywomansclub.org.

Clayton residents since 1959

mazzeirealty.net 6160 Center St. Suite #C, Clayton

925-693-0757 (Main) � 925-693-0752 (Fax)

COMING SOON

ACTIVE LISTINGS

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925-766-6745mazzeirealty@yahoo.com

Matt Mazzei, Jr.Broker/Owner

DRE# 01881269

2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, Listing agent: Matt Mazzei

� 3944 Bayo St. Oakland $480,000

� 2004 Alvarado Dr. Antioch $299,0004 bedroom, 2 bathroom, Approx. 1,794 sq.ft. Listing agent: Matt Mazzei

� 4701 Keller Ridge Dr. Clayton 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 1,595 sq. ft. Listing agent: Matt Mazzei

� 113 Westminster Way, Vallejo $430,0004 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 2,251 sq.ft. Listing agent: Matt Mazzei

� 174 Mountain Cyn. Ln. Alamo $1,799,8494 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom

Approx. 2,892 sq.ft.

Listing agent:

Rula Masannat

� 2123 Arabian Dr. Fairfield $474,9004 bedroom, 3 bathroom

approx. 2,626 sq.ft

Listing agent: Matt Mazzei

� 1340 Louisiana Dr. Concord $499,0004 bedroom, 2 bathroom

approx. 1,437 sq.ft

Listing agent:

Doug Van Riper

SOLD

Paula JohnstoneBroker Associate

DRE# 00797857

925-381-8810heypaula10@gmail.com

Diane and Bill HayesSales Agent

DRE#01222762

925-890-4701Dianemariehayes25@

yahoo.com

June 13, 2014 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com Page 19

�� Lawn & Plant Installation �� Paver Patio & Walkway�� Retaining Walls �� Drainage �� Low Voltage Lighting

925-672-9955www.nicholslandscape.com

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kirsten@interiorspanache.com carol@interiorspanache.com

www.interiorspanache.com

Full-Service Design Firm

Pioneer Photo Album

The Pioneer is proud to spotlight our readers’ photos. Email your photo in a high-resolution format to tamara@claytonpioneer.com with adescription of the photo, where and when it was taken and a little about why you like it. Include your name and phone number. Then look for it in the next Pioneer.

Can you see me now?

Friends Laura Kelly and EliseAgnew found this very camou-flaged California Horned Lizardnear the top of Eagle Peak on Mt.Diablo on May 15. At first, Laurathought it was a frog, by the shapeof its body and by the way itmoved. But once she got aglimpse of its “spiky” head, sheknew it wasn’t. “It looked to melike a medieval dragon lizard,”Laura said. Upon research at home,she found it to be a CaliforniaHorned Lizard, also named“Horny Toad” by its spiky head(and not by the way he looks at hismate). There are four species thatcan actually squirt blood out oftheir eye up to five feet as a way tofend off predators.

Celery root, also called cele-riac, is an edible root vegetablein the celery family. The stalksand leaves strongly resemblecelery, although they are notvery good to eat. The root itselfis a lumpy tuber in appearance,resembling a misshapen turnip.The brown outer skin shouldbe washed and peeled beforecooking.

Whenp i c k i n g

out celeryroot to eat,

look for firmtubers without fleshy spots ordiscolorations. Smaller roots willtaste better, while larger rootsare woodier and more suitablefor roasting or long stewing. Inflavor, the root resembles a con-centrated version of celery, witha spicy hint of parsley.

Celery root can be used inany recipe that calls for celery,

and a variety of others as well. Itcan be stored in the refrigeratorin a brown paper bag with stemstrimmed for approximately oneweek before use. Celery root isexcellent when roasted, added togratins, or added to soups andstews. It can also be eaten raw inthin slices on salads and appetiz-ers, and it adds a zesty crunch.

Celery root needs to bepeeled — and be aggressivewhen you do it. Remove all ofthe slightly hairy brown exteriorto reveal the creamy, solid fleshinside. Celery root is most clas-sically and commonly usedshredded and cooked in a sim-ple celery root salads. It is alsodelicious added to soups andstews. Like all root vegetables,

celery root is quite flexible, tak-ing well to roasting, braising orsimmering

CELERY ROOT SALAD

1 celery root (celariac)fresh lemon juiceextra virgin olive oil1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard1 teaspoon chopped

fresh parsleytoasted sesame seedssea salt and black pepper

Peel and cut the celery rootinto matchsticks. Shake the oliveoil and lemon juice with theother ingredients in a small jarand combine with the cut-upvegetable. Serve over raw babyspinach leaves.

The root of tasty salads and delicious soups

DEBRA J. MORRIS

Pacific Coast Farmers Market

www.rodiesfeed.com

(925) 672-4600 �� 8863 Marsh Creek Rd. in Clayton

www.rodiesfeed.com

(925) 672-4600 �� 8863 Marsh Creek Rd. in Clayton

Open 7 days �� Mon - Fri 10 to 6 �� Sat 9 to 6 �� Sun 10 to 4

VIP Shot Clinic Sat. 10 - 11:30am June 14 & July 12

If we do not have your product, we can special order.

Rodie’s Gourmet

Wild Bird Mix

20# bag

Wild Bird

Value Mix

40# bag

Reg. Price $29

.99

$26.99

Reg. Price $25

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SeniorTuesdaySeniors 55+ take 10% offevery Tues.

Excludes livestockfeed & sale items.

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We have a wide variety of exotic birds

from Finches to Macaws

Bird Grooming First Saturday of each month

Bird boarding Includes daily handling & TLC

Huge selection of bird cages, toys and food

Our passion is pets.

While supplies last

Nyjer Thistle Special

Buy 1 . . . . . $3 Off (ea)

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Buy 5+ . . $10 Off (ea)

• Congo African Grey• White-Bellied Caique

• Black-Headed Caique• English Budgies

20# bag

NewBabiesavailable

Page 20 Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com June 13, 2014

Scale. It’s one of the mostimportant concepts to under-stand when taking on a designproject. Knowing how to imple-ment a range of differentlyscaled building products, fur-nishings, lighting and accessoriescan mean the difference betweena living space that has depth anda feeling of being collected overtime, rather than a living spacethat falls flat due to a lack ofvarying sizes and shapes.

Maybe this “scale” businessseems pretty obvious, but take aquick inventory of your furnish-ings and see how things stack up.Are your furnishings perfectlybalanced? Or are you in need ofa little scale adjustment?

SMALL, MEDIUM OR LARGE?It’s pretty basic know-how to

determine if a piece of furniturewill fit in a living space by look-

ing at the dimensions. And toprove this theory, you’ve justpurchased a sectional sofa foryour family room that fits justright, floating in the middle ofyour family room, facing the flatscreen TV perfectly hung abovethe fireplace.

So here’s your chance to pushyour inner designer to think out-side of the box and try some-thing new. Consider an oversizedfloor lamp that arcs over the sec-tional or maybe a pair of twopharmacy lamps, sitting low atreading height, on either end ofthe sofa. Maybe a petite 24-by-36-inch wooden coffee table fitsjust fine, or a big, bold 48-by-48-inch square or round upholsteredottoman is a better fit.

And what about your walls?Do you hang one or two extralarge pieces, or create groupingsof smaller scaled art or familyphotos?

Area rugs come in several dif-ferent sizes, but how do youknow which size will work foryou? If you’re looking to some-what ground your furniture andpull everything together, trygoing for an area rug that iseight-by-10-feet or larger. Ifyou’re looking for more of a dec-orative accent, just a splash ofcolor, a smaller rug like a five-by-seven-feet might be a better fit.

Work within the footprint ofyour living space, but push the

limits on sizing so you don’t endup with a setting that’s fit for agiant, or sized more appropriate-ly for children.

WHY IS THIS NOT

FITTING HERE?Flipping through the physical

or online pages of retail cata-logues can sometimes be a littlemisleading. The photos showbeautiful, desirable vignettes. Butsometimes, in order to show offas many products as possible,these same retailers need to worka little magic. Often, lighting fix-tures are hung lower than typical-ly hung above dining tables, fur-niture is placed close together,oversized bedding looks full andvoluminous laid across a smallmattress. I’m not suggesting thatour favorite retailers are trying totrick us, but I am strongly recom-mending that you know the exactdimensions of your living spacefrom width to length to heightwhen purchasing any type of fur-niture or accessory. Once youhave the basic dimensions ofyour living space, then you canstart to increase or decrease siz-ing and scale as necessary toachieve your desired look.

Make sure furnishingsare sized, scaled to fit your home

Make sure furnishingsare sized, scaled to fit your home

JENNIFER LEISCHER

DESIGN & DÉCOR

Jennifer Leischer is the owner ofJ. Designs Interior Design based inClayton. Contact her with questions,comments and suggestions atjenna@j-designs.com.