VOLUME LI, NUMBER 51 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 …independentnews.com/app/pdf/12-18-14.pdf ·...

SECTION A

Art & Entertainment...........8

Bulletin Board..................10

Milestones ................10 & 12

MAIN SECTION

Classifieds......................11

Editorial..............................4

Mailbox...............................4

Roundup...............................3

Short Notes.....................9

Sports..................................7

Obituaries........................9

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Your Local News Source Since 1963 SERVING DUBLIN • LIVERMORE • PLEASANTON • SUNOL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014VOLUME LI, NUMBER 51

PET OF THE WEEKPrudence is a dear! Come greet the two-year-old Oriental shorthair mix next time the sun is up. She’s a gorgeous grey; you’ll have nothing but blue skies with Prudence! Despite her name, she’s confident, bold, and adventurous. You can look around, but you won’t find another cat like Prudence! Come out to play with her at Valley Humane Society, 3670 Nevada Street in Pleasanton, Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. For more info visit valleyhumane.org or call (925) 426-8656. Photo - Valley Humane Society/D. Smith

By Carol GrahamWhile known as the home

of the "P Street Santa," that's not what we called it.

After discovering it when we moved to Livermore in 1997, my family soon

'P Street Santa' to Say Farewelllooked forward to visiting it each December. Less glitzy and more charming than the Valley's more famous holi-day attractions, the house on the corner of P and Sixth Streets became a tradition

we never missed. We weren't alone. Often

we'd bump into friends and stand bundled up and chat-ting with the lights sparkling around us.

On either side of the

porch stairs stood a tall, glowing candle with the word "Noel."

"When are we going to the Noel House?" my chil-dren would ask soon after

(See SANTA, page 2)

Photo - Doug Jorgensen

John Wirtz, a familiar holiday sight in Livermore, will be leaving after this season.


Entertainment was part of the annual Breakfast with Santa in Dublin. For a photo of Santa, go to page 8.

By Jeff GarbersonPoor management prac-

tices over decades have put the entire U.S. nuclear secu-rity enterprise “at risk over the long term,” according to a report issued last week by a high level advisory panel.

While the nuclear de-terrent is safe and reliable today, and the quality of the

Report: Management Practices PutNuclear Security Program ‘At Risk’

research that supports it is high, “decades of neglect” have led to a “dysfunctional” system characterized by micromanagement, mistrust and even outright antago-nisms at times, the report concluded.

The report, titled A New Foundation for the Nuclear Enterprise, was published by

the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security En-terprise, established by the 2013 National Defense Au-thorization Act.

It was co-chaired by two nationally prominent nuclear defense experts, Norman Augustine, former head of Lockheed Martin, and re-

tired Navy Admiral Richard Mies, former head of the Strategic Command. Board members with a local con-nection include Michael Anastasio, a former leader of Lawrence Livermore weapons research and later director of Lawrence Liver-more and Los Alamos Na-tional Laboratories, and

Ellen Tauscher, former Tri Valley congressional repre-sentative.

The report was only the latest in a series over the past two decades that have com-plained that the U.S. nuclear security program is being hampered by the very gov-ernmental bureaucracy that

(See NUCLEAR SECURITY, page 5)

Barbara Mertes, PhD, will be retiring from the Chabot-Las Positas Com-munity College Board.

Mertes has a long history with the district. She began as an instructor at Chabot College and became the first Dean of Las Positas College (LPC) in 1975 when it was known as the Valley Campus of Chabot. After her work at LPC, she served as an administrator at the District office. In 2000, she was elected to the Board, where she has represented the greater Livermore Valley for 14 years.

Her retirement creates a vacancy on the board, which could be filled via an appointment or through an election. A special meeting will be held to discuss the options.

At least one board mem-ber, Carlo Vecchiarelli, who represents Dublin, Pleas-anton and Sunol, said he perfers an election rather than an appointment. His choice would be the June 2016 primary over a special election. He stated that a special election would be too costly.

According to a memo sent to faculty by LPC Presi-dent Barry Russell, "The members of the Board of Trustees will miss Barbara Mertes' institutional history and her long association with the college and Dis-trict."

Russell added that Bar-bara Mertes is still in mourn-ing after the recent loss of her husband, California Community College State Chancellor-Emeritus, Dr.

Mertes AnnouncesRetirement

(See MERTES, page 4)

By Jeff GarbersonLawrence Livermore Na-

tional Laboratory announced that its giant laser system, the National Ignition Fa-cility, will add plutonium research to its repertoire of weapons program experi-ments in the coming year.

Expansion of Sycamore Grove Park and a no smok-ing policy were among items approved by the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District (LARPD) Board of Directors.

T h e d i r e c t o r s a l s o reached an agreement with Shea Homes regarding Cay-etano Park.

All of the votes at the Dec. 10 meeting were unani-mous, with director Mary-alice Faltings absent.

The board changed its no smoking policy to reflect new developments in smok-

Plutonium Experiments ExpectedOn National Ignition Facility

The goal of the research will be to make high qual-ity measurements of the properties and behavior of plutonium at the extremely high pressures that can be attained only on the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, ac-cording to the Laboratory.

Mike Dunning, director of the Laboratory’s Primary Nuclear Design Program, said that this kind of precise information has been col-lected and studied at low and medium pressures since 1995. The research has been done in high explosive “sub

critical” experiments at Los Alamos National Labora-tory, gas gun research at Los Alamos and in Nevada, and on a powerful X-ray genera-tor called the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque.

(See PLUTONIUM, page 4)

ing products, such as e-ciga-rettes. Also addressed were similar products, such as cloves and marijuana. Staff noted that the need to expand the policy includes concerns regarding the health hazards of smoking, as well as the danger of accidentally start-ing fires in parks.

Under the new policy, smoking is defined as ignit-ing or heating substances for the purposes of inhaling the smoke or steam. The old policy listed locations where smoking was prohibited.

LARPD Adds Acreage to Sycamore Grove; Revises Smoking Rules

(See LARPD, page 4)

TVLC Re-elects Board Member, And Officers

Tri-Valley Learning Cor-poration (TVLC) held its an-nual meeting during which board member Umashankar Meda was re-elected to a two-year term.

Meda had already served a one-year term.

The board also re-elected its officers, giving another year to president Tim Hall, vice-president Scott Les-sard, treasurer John Zu-koski, and secretary Dick Corso.

Livermore-based TVLC operates an elementary and a separate secondary charter public school in Livermore. It operates the Acacia k-5 and middle schools in Stock-ton, and in July acquired Old Town Academy (OTA) in San Diego.

TVLC CEO Bill Batch-elor told the board at the meeting that there are a couple of public charter schools that may want to affiliate with TVLC. He did not mention their loca-tions, but said that it could be a consideration in a few months.

Batchelor said that the candidate schools would have to pass staff scrutiny before an application was brought to the board.

Board members were asked to look over revisions to the checklist that TVLC used in evaluating Old Town Academy's application. The academy, with 250 students, joined this past summer.

Batchelor said that more check points have been add-ed to the list by staff in look-ing at candidate schools. He also said staff plans to develop a new check list

Candidates Asked Views of Measure T

Twelve candidates ap-plied to be appointed to the seat left vacant with David Haubert's election as mayor on Nov. 4. All but two of the candidates were women.

Environmentalists made their contribution to the Dublin City Council inter-views.

The candidates were Mona Lisa Ballesteros, Anita Carr, Dan Cunning-ham, Richard Deets, Lynna Do, Eddie Jo Mack Theresa Muley, Melissa Sladden, Melissa Strah, Janine Thal-blum, Lisa Trujillo, and Doreen Wehrenberg.

Interviews were not fin-ished in time for The Inde-pendent's deadline.

Opponents of Measure T who addressed the council regarding the appointment choice included longtime Dublin residents David Be-wley and Moran King, and Save Mount Diablo land conservation director Seth Adams. They did not en-

(See BOARD, page 5)

(See CANDIDATES, page 4)

PAGE 2 - The Independent, DECEMBER 18, 2014

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Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation and developer Braddock & Logan hosted a welcome and key presentation for a wounded veteran, Billy Jan-nisch, at the Autumn Springs Apartments in Livermore on Monday.

Livermore mayor John Marchand attended the brief ceremony and presented a ‘Welcome Proclamation’ on behalf of the city.

The veteran, a 31-year-old Air Force Senior Airman, suffers from PTSD, mild TBI (traumatic brain injury) and other physical injuries sustained during his service in Afghanistan. He accepted the keys to a rent-free apart-ment donated by Braddock & Logan for his use while attending Las Positas Col-lege on a 4 year Sentinels of Freedom (SOF) scholarship.

SOF is providing a ve-hicle, clothing, and furni-ture for the veteran while Braddock & Logan and the Autumn Springs staff will

Chabad of the Tri-Valley will present two Menorah lightings.

Chanukah Under the Stars will take place in front of the Bankhead Theater on Sat., Dec., 20 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The event will include latkes and doughnuts, as well as glow in the dark Chanukah fun for children. Livermore music and danc-ing with Isaac Zones, mem-ber of the Jewgrass dance band Shamati, will add to the festivities.

There is no admission charge. Donations are wel-come.

On Sun., Dec. 21 there will be a Chanukah Parade and downtown Menorah lighting in Pleasanton.

The parade depar ts Chabad, 1258 Quarry Lane at 6 p.m. and arrives in the downtown at 915 Main Street where the Menorah will take place at 6:30 p.m.

A procession of vehicles adorned with menorahs will parade through Pleasanton with a special police escort.

The popular East Shore Trail at Del Valle Regional Park has been closed for the indefinite future after parts of it col-lapsed early last week.

A six-inch water supply pipe broke at the same time. It is unclear whether gushing water caused the trail to erode or slumping soil broke the pipe, according to park supervi-sor Shelly Miller.

The trail, also known as the dog run trail, was closed along with the entire east side of the park in August of last year because of a broken water pipe.

Miller said the water supply pipe that broke last week is from the Park’s original infrastructure, which is some 45

Thanksgiving. It was as exciting as visiting Santa. Well, actually, it was visit-ing Santa.

"About seven years in, I started being Santa," says John Wirtz. "We had all the scenes up and a lot of people were coming by. Then I'd go outside and hand out candy canes. When the kids saw Santa out there, the word really spread."

Listed on the website "Lights of the Valley," John and Louise Wirtz's holiday decorations attracted visitors not only from across the Tri-Valley, but from as far away as South Africa, Finland, Japan and Australia.

This year's display, how-ever, will be the last. In the spring, the Wirtzes are plan-ning to move to Tennessee to be closer to relatives.

"I've had 28 trips to the hospital over the last three years," says John. "It's one of those things where you look at yourself and say, 'Okay, I can't do this anymore; what can I do?' Then you go from there. I love this town, and the decorations have been a lot fun, but I just can't do it anymore."

The Noel House decora-tions began in the early '90s and continued to evolve over two decades.

"Louise's aunt l ived across the street. She was housebound so she would look forward to us putting up our lights and decora-tions," says John. "About five years later, I got my nativity scene and then we really got started."

Beginning in October, John would start setting up scenes on the lawn, the walls, the rooftop and the trees. For many years, the towering mimosa tree was decorated with lights, bells and occasionally Sarge, the Wirtz's handsome Maine Coon cat who clearly enjoys the holiday décor as much as

any visitor. "We call the mimosa the

Proposal Tree," says Louise. "Over the years, there have been quite a few proposals under the lights."

At one time, Louise's fa-ther owned the whole block and built the house in which John and Louise live.

"It's great because living on a corner, we've had two sides to decorate," says Lou-ise, adding that her favorite decoration is also one of the oldest: three ringing bells. "I just love those bells."

This year, decorations are of necessity limited. Santa's reindeer are no longer pranc-ing on the roof. Ironing Santa is no longer in the window eternally readying his outfit for a midnight ride. The lovely nativity scene, for which John built a rustic lean-to, is no longer nestled near the mimosa tree.

In fact, the Wirtzes will not be taking their decora-tions with them when they move. Instead, they have decided to sell them.

"Come by and ask to see what I've got," says John. "Make an offer, some stuff is even new!"

Yet what John and Louise will be taking is more valu-able than their collection of decorations: they will take with them two decades of wonderful memories. Like of the soldier fresh out of ba-sic training whose girlfriend insisted he sit on Santa's lap. "He said, 'I'm a Marine and I'm not sittin' on Santa's lap,'" remembers John, who

served more than 40 years in the military. "I said, 'I'm a master sergeant, you're sitting on my lap!' He sat and the girl got the picture, snickering the whole time." And, of the little boy who earnestly asked Santa for a Winnebago, a couple of jet skis, some motorcycles and two ATVs. And, of the woman with a little girl who told John, "I've been coming here since I was a little girl, and now this is my daughter."

"Being Santa taught me that it is every bit as much fun to give as it ever will be to receive," says John. "The big thing to realize is that when you stop contribut-ing you stop living. You've got to contribute something whether it be making a child smile or helping somebody who has lost all hope find it. Do something for somebody else. It will come back to you tenfold. I have never been so happy as when I am able to help somebody else."

While he won't miss De-cember's $600 electric bills, John says, "I will miss the joy of adults and children coming out to see the efforts of my labor - just stopping by to say thank you and to let me know that I had made a difference, that I had helped make their holiday just a little bit brighter."

John and Louise, you made a difference. Thank you for the years you so generously added sparkle, beauty and joy to Liver-more's frosty winter nights.

There will be latkes, doughnuts, and Chanukah treats.

For more information, go to .www.jewishtrival-ley.com

Menorah Lighting Ceremonies Planned

be adding homey ‘touches’ and holiday flair to the resi-dence prior to the veteran’s move-in date. SOF Program staff will also work with

the veteran on a long-term basis through mentoring and networking during his academic studies and degree pursuit.

For information about the Sentinels of Freedom, go to www.sentinelsoffreedom.org/

Merry Christmas now, and always.

To contact John, call (925) 447-0459, or visit 1610 6th Street in Liver-more.

SANTA(continued from page one)

Del Valle Trail Closedyears old. Apart from the East Shore Trail, the Park remains open and accessible. The flush toilet by the boat ramp is closed. The Park is using existing supplies of drinking water until they run out.

Fixes now being discussed are both short and long term, she said. In the near term, the Park needs to decide how to restore a potable water supply. In the longer term, it has to repair the East Shore Trail and water supply pipes running under it.

She was unable to estimate a time when the trail would reopen. Those wishing to visit the Park are urged to check its website regularly, http://www.ebparks.org/parks

Livermore, Sentinels of FreedomWelcome Airman


Billy Jannisch opens some of the gifts that awaited him in his new apartment.

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See Recycled Water ProcessRecycled water eased the impact of

drought in the Tri-Valley this year. So far this year, one billion gallons has been produced.

The public is invited to see how wastewater becomes recycled water at a tour of the Dublin San Ramon Ser-vices District (DSRSD) treatment plant on Wed., Jan. 7, at 1:30 p.m. The free tour lasts 60 to 90 minutes. It is open to adults, teens, and children ages seven and up. The facility is located at 7399 Johnson Drive in Pleasanton. Reserva-tions are required: visit www.dsrsd.com/tour or call 925-875-2282.

Dublin, Pleasanton, and southern San Ramon produce 10 million gallons of wastewater every day that must be handled efficiently and safely to protect public health. Increasingly, wastewater treatment is a resource recovery opera-tion that creates recycled water for irri-gation and construction and biofuel for generating electricity. DSRSD partners with East Bay Municipal Utility District and the City of Pleasanton in produc-ing recycled water, which has grown to more than 20 percent of DSRSD’s total water sales.

Police Seeking InformationThe Livermore Police Department

is seeking information regarding an incident that occurred in the parking lot of the Livermore Premium Outlet Mall on Dec. 9.

Officers dispatched to the southwest parking lot found an adult female lying on the ground unconscious. The female was transported to the hospital for care where she was admitted to the ICU with life threatening injuries to her head.

At this point in the investigation, it is unknown what occurred. Information provided by the public reported that a white 4-door sedan was seen leaving the area around the same time as the incident.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who has any information about this incident, is encouraged to contact De-tective Glen Robbins of the Livermore Police Department at (925) 294-7568. Those who wish to remain anonymous may do so.

DSRSD Given AA Bond RatingDublin San Ramon Services District

(DSRSD) has received affirmation of the “AA” rating on its $35.36 million worth of water bonds from Fitch Rat-ings, a global leader in credit ratings and research.

According to Fitch Ratings, DSRSD’s rating outlook is stable for several rea-sons: (1) the District’s financial perfor-mance has been healthy since 2010 and is expected to remain so through 2018; (2) the District reduced its heavy reli-ance on capacity fees during the recent economic downturn by implementing the temporary infrastructure fee, which has since been suspended due to recovery in revenues; (3) the District’s rate structure has several components that allow it to pass through cost increases directly to its customers; (4) the District’s five-year capital plan is manageable and will be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis with longer-term projects focusing on devel-opment of additional water resources to meet future demand and system up-grades; (5) the District’s stable, affluent customers provide a high degree of rate revenue stability; and, (6) the District’s access to water storage serves as a hedge against potential uncertainties in future water supply.

More information on the District is available on its website, www.dsrsd.com.

Golf Course ManagementCourseCo, the San Francisco Bay

Area based golf management and de-velopment company which oversees Callippe Preserve Golf Course in Pleas-anton, has been awarded an Environ-mental Leader in Golf Award (ELGA) for superior environmental stewardship at two Bay Area golf courses, including Callippe.

CourseCo was among 15 ELGA chapter award winners, and also took the national award for Metropolitan Golf Links in Oakland. The award was announced in Golf Digest Magazine and the Golf Course Superintendents Asso-ciation of America. It recognizes overall course management and environmental excellence in several areas, including water and resource conservation, water quality management, integrated pest-management, wildlife/habitat manage-ment and education/outreach.

Callippe Preserve Golf Course was developed as part of a cooperative effort to create an 18-hole golf course, hiking and equestrian trails, endangered species habitat, wetland establishment, and dedi-cated grazing land. The golf course has also been a certified Audubon Sanctuary golf course since it opened in 2005. The course site includes protected habitat for the federally endangered Callippe Sil-verspot Butterfly and the California Tiger Salamander, and the federally threatened California Red Legged Frog.

New Pleasanton school trustee Mark Miller and re-elected trustee Joan Laursen have been sworn into office. The board then chose new officers.

Miller, whom voters chose over one-term in-cumbent Jeff Bowser, was sworn in by former trustee and ex-City Councilmem-ber Cindy McGovern. A member of the state com-munity college board, Ar-noldo Avalos of Pleasanton, administered the oath of office to Laursen.

The board chose Val-erie Arkin as its president, replacing Jamie Hintzke. Arkin served as board president once previously. Chris Grant was selected as vice-president.

Later in the meeting, Miller asked that next year's change in the school calendar be put on the board's agenda. The board agreed to do so, after a brief discussion. The issue will be an item on the Jan. 13

Miller Joins Pleasanton School Board, Calls for Another Look at Calendar Revision

agenda. Miller, a parent, advo-

cated against the calendar alternative approved by the board on a 3-2 vote on Sept. 9. The calendar authorized a realignment of the school year begin-ning in 2015-16. Arkin and trustee Jamie Hintzke voted against it then. The two trustees said that a sur-vey of parents was faulty, with five options asked of respondents. However, some specific alternatives were lumped together as all supporting a calendar change.

Technically, those who favored change outnum-bered those who did not, but all five specific choices were not presented to the board. There were only two choices: Stay with the status quo calendar, or choose the one version of change that already had been negotiated with the teachers union.

Since calendar changes

affect policies such as teacher workshop days, any change needs to be agreed upon by the union. There was not enough time to do that, and approve a new calendar to go into ef-fect in 2015-16, said staff.

Arkin also said she didn't think that hearing from 20 percent of the par-ents constituted a thorough survey.

Jeff Bowser was among the three-member board majority who approved the calendar. He finished third in the Nov. 4 race for the two board seats. Miller said at the Dec. 9 meeting, "I feel my second place fin-ish -- and I was vocal about the calendar, and more so about the process -- affirms the community's real vote on this."

Many parents objected to the semester start being moved ahead in August, because it would make their children's lives out of sync with community

activities and sports, which include children from other school districts. There also would be an impact on family vacations, they said.

Miller said during the campaign that he felt it is possible to avoid the early start, and still come up with a calendar that would end the fall semester at the holiday break.

BOWSER HONORED

The meeting was the last for Bowser. He received certificates of appreciation from public officials for his four years on the board. Honors came from Con-gressman Eric Swalwell, the City of Pleasanton, County Superintendent of Public Schools Sheila Jordan, and outgoing As-semblymember Joan Bu-chanan.

Bowser also received an award from the entire board and Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi.

Bowser thanked his supporters and family, and said a few words each to administrators and fellow board members. He com-plimented Chris Grant on his articulate expressions of thought, saying, "I'm always amazed at the way you distill complex things

into simple statements that we all understand."

Bowser said to Arkin, "I appreciate your ability to take a position in op-position, and stick to it. He thanked Hintzke for be-ing "a strong advocate" for students' health and health-related issues. Bowser said of Laursen, "You are the best prepared, most well-read trustee that I know. It's amazing what we have accomplished over the past four years."

Bowser said that Ah-madi came to the district four years ago with a goal of closing the opportunity gap. "We had a problem. We (were ranked fourth in the nation by a magazine), but we still have kids who struggled. You opened our eyes to show us how to close the gap," said Bowser. He praised her "integrity, hones-

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EDITORIAL

Publisher: Joan Kinney Seppala Associate Publisher: David T. Lowell

Editor: Janet Armantrout

ThE InDEPEnDEnT (USPS 300) is published every Thursday by Inland Valley Publishing Company, 2250 First St., Livermore, CA 94550; (925) 447-8700. Mailed at Periodical Postage Prices at the Livermore Post Office and additional entry office: Pleasanton, CA 94566-9998. ThE InDEPEnDEnT is mailed upon request. Go to www.independentnews.com to sign up and for more information. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Independent, 2250 First St., Livermore, CA 94550.

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Editorial information may be submitted by [email protected].

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David Mertes. Her family has requested that her many college and community friends respect her privacy at this time.

The Board of Trustees has called a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 22, 2014 at the District Office to accept the retirement/resignation of Barbara Mertes. Trustees are expected to establish a process to fill out the remain-ing years on her term, which expires in November 2016.

The meeting agenda will be posted on the webpage (http://www.clpccd.org/board/BoardMeetingAgen-da.php).

MERTES(continued from page one)

Funds for FieldsHurrah for sports leagues in Pleasanton

for stepping up and agreeing to raise up to $2 million to help finance construction of new fields.

The youth of the City will gain new insight into what it takes to accomplish the goal. It will require work and planning, which will be coordinated by a steering committee.

The end result will yield three all-weather lighted multi-purpose synthetic sports fields. Councilmember Kathy Narum’s comment on the agreement would undoubt-edly be echoed by all of the teams, “As a former field director for Pleasanton Rage, I appreciate the need for these fields.”

Leagues signing on to the campaign include Ballistic United Soccer Club, Pleasanton Rage Girls Soccer, Pleasanton American Little League, Pleasanton Foothill Little League, Pleasanton National Little League, Pleasanton Junior Football League, Pleasanton Lacrosse Club, and Pleasanton Pride Girls Lacrosse Club.

Being a part of the effort will instill a feeling of pride in the players as they enjoy the new fields.

(Opinions voiced in let-ters published in Mailbox are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opin-ion of The Independent. Let-ter Policy: The Independent will not publish anonymous letters, nor will it publish letters without names. Abu-sive letters may be rejected or edited. Frequent letter writers may have publica-tion of their letters delayed. Letters should be submitted by e-mail to [email protected].)

Library ProgramsMary McMahonLivermore

With hesitation I would like to thank the Friends of the Livermore Library for their outstanding Sunday afternoon programs that are free for the public.These in-clude many musical presen-tations from country to jazz to ethnic.Add to this authors, book reviews, local speakers and many interesting people.

Why hesitate? You need to arrive a few minutes ear-ly because these popular presentations soon become SRO.

Climate ChangeDon HomanLivermore

The letter on Decem-ber 11th by Mohammad Abri about climate change was very thoughtful and a

good letter to read. As he points out, our government is AWOL on this very impor-tant topic. The U.S.should not only do its share of the cost but take the lead by do-ing more than its share since we have contributed much more than poor countries to climate change.

One thing that I wish to add to his wonderful letter is to tell about the new book "This Changes Everything" by Naomi Klein. It deals with climate change all over the world and is extremely well researched. It is proba-bly the most complete docu-ment about climate change.

Sec. of DefenseRich BuckleyLivermore

Looking over the back-ground of the likely replace-ments to Sec. Chuck Ha-gel, a review of the various Think Tank “publications” with which these candidates are usually incubated, help shape the background of concerns and awareness, resident in the candidates for Hagel’s cabinet post.

Reviewing the hundreds of “publications” on the various think tank websites from which replacement Defense Secretaries are of-ten hatched, it becomes apparent the tax exempt research funding, which

the American Tax Payor pays for through write-off subsidy, is sponsor-driven by secret donors. This of course is totally out of step with the modern concept of open transparency for a functioning peaceful democ-racy, especially when think tanks appear on candidate resumes. The candidates are programmed for desired out-comes and correct thinking, much as boot camp recruits.

Missing from the long lists of sponsored research topics of course, are any re-search publications looking into (a) The relationship of the interlocking corporate boards of directors, and the massed consolidation of top-down corporate policy influence to drive foreign affairs, corrupt House and Senate members, and a paper trail list of civilians who pull strings for Black Ops inside the CIA — now there would be a study! or (b) a study into the current mass barrage of US funded mainstream media propaganda, repeated frequently for effect based on lies, and their resultant foreign policy implications, or perhaps (c) Identified in-dices of banking hegemony interests and False Flags.

There are tomes writ-ten on mass manipulation, gene modification, vari-ous chemicals, drugs, aerial

sprays, even ELF range transmissions to cause mass depression, social paranoia, and suicide. But no where are the simple questions asked, researched, or an-swered: (a) Whose financial interests are being served by US voyeuristic – CIA funded “rebellions” in the Ukraine, Georgia, Syria, Asia, and South America, probably even China. (b) Where did all the missing nuclear bombs go? Or (c) If “All wars are Banker Wars” as indeed history eventually bears out, are we the people better off with these finan-cial links reported and made known years ahead of time?

As a result, what we seem to end up with are a herd of Defense Secretary can-didates rewarded in our think tanks to believe they are equipped and knowl-edgeable, who respond to the world with a conflated self-induced paranoia like an angry dog that unwit-tingly enters a house of mir-rors. The herd is perfectly trained with secretly funded sponsor-driven research yielding must-have arsenal weapons, who graduate as policy-wonks with their moral compass aligned to serve a closed-loop system that never asks or researches the right questions for peace.

Beginning next year, NIF experiments every month or two will allow the study of plutonium behavior at much higher pressures. The resulting high quality data will enable researchers to fill some of the gap between the lower pressure measure-ments made in recent years and the historical data from full scale nuclear testing, which ended more than 20 years ago.

The research is part of the Stockpile Stewardship program, which aims to keep the aging U.S. nuclear arse-nal reliable through mainte-nance, small scale tests and computer modeling.

Plutonium, an artificial element, is an essential com-ponent of modern nuclear weapons. Its properties and behavior are very complex, changing with time and under varying pressures and temperatures.

Its behavior, described mathematically in “equa-tions of state,” has been studied since plutonium was first synthesized prior to World War II.

Today, scientists in the Stockpile Stewardship pro-gram apply extremely pow-erful computer models to predict future problems in nuclear explosives with far greater sophistication than was possible when comput-ers were less capable.

As with any big model – weather forecasts are an-other example -- the more precise and comprehensive the input data, the more likely the prediction will be accurate and complete.

Specific results of indi-vidual experiments can’t be discussed publicly, Dunning said. (His organization, the Laboratory’s Primary Nuclear Design Program, is also known as B Division. “Primary” refers to the first stage of a nuclear weapon.)

However, he did say that a typical experiment will hit one side of a wafer-shaped target the size of a “crushed poppy seed” with 16 of NIF’s 192 power laser beams.

Extreme precision is re-quired both in on site target manufacture, and laser beam timing.

The target will consist of several layers of diamond and gold whose thickness

is measured in microns, or millionths of a meter.

The various layers shield an 8-micron layer of pluto-nium-242 from excessive heat and hold it in place for five or six billionths of a sec-ond while the energy from the laser beams squeezes it to extremely high pressures.

In the meantime, another 24 NIF beams will hit a tar-get made from the element germanium, generating a pulse of X rays that allow the researchers to visualize structural changes within the plutonium after it has been squeezed.

Detailed information about observed changes will become part of the input that makes computer models of weapons performance more complete and reliable.

Plutonium-242 was cho-sen for the studies because it is significantly less radioac-tive and therefore simpler to handle than the pluto-nium-239 used in nuclear weapons, Dunning said. The Laboratory no longer has much Pu-239 on site, he said.

Pu-242 is about as radio-active as the americium-241 found in ordinary household smoke detectors, he said. Both emit alpha radiation, which is non-penetrating but can be dangerous if it gets inside the body. The plutonium’s radioactivity and its toxicity as a metal mean that the target area will be carefully cleaned. Any debris will be collected and inventoried after each experiment.

Another reason for col-lecting the debris is eco-nomic. Plutonium is ex-traordinarily expensive, so technicians will take care to recycle it for further use.

Several past and present laser program staff noted that working with radioac-tive materials at NIF is not new. NIF’s program of ther-monuclear fusion research includes a radioactive ingre-dient – tritium, the radioac-tive form of hydrogen – and can generate bursts of alpha particles and neutrons.

The neutrons themselves can make surrounding met-als radioactive, the staff pointed out, so safety pre-cautions were part of the facility’s original design.

PLUTONIUM(continued from page one)

General Manager Tim Barry stated, "The new policy identifies areas where people can smoke. The remainder of the district's properties will not allow smoking."

Assistant General Man-ager John Lawrence add-ed that a draft copy of the policy has been sent to the city attorney at his request. Lawrence stated that the policy also includes ac-tivities that imitate smoking. For example, pretending to smoke candy cigarettes is prohibited. "The goal of the new regulations aims at helping to keep Livermore a healthy community."

The board approved a deed of perpetual open space and regional parkland con-servation easement for 72 acres adjacent to Sycamore Grove Park. The former Bobba property will be-come part of the park upon completion of the easement through escrow and pay-

ment of $150,000 to the Tri-Valley Conservancy (TVC). The money helps to cover the cost of purchasing the property.

In order to construct a regional trail connection be-tween Sycamore Grove Park and Lake Del Valle, LARPD worked with TVC to acquire the property. A grant from the California Coastal Con-servancy, and, TVC funding and contributions from East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and LARPD paid for the acquisition. Follow-ing the purchase, a trail ease-ment was granted by TVC to EBRPD.

Director Steve Good-man said, “I want to thank Tri-Valley Conservancy, East Bay Regional Park District, LARPD staff, and legal counsel and others who helped make this possible. It’s going to be a great addi-tion to the park.”

LARPD and TVC will

be planning an opening ceremony for the extension property after the first of the year."

Jeff Williams, represent-ing the TVC board, stated, "TVC is pleased and ex-cited to have worked with LARPD to acquire the 72 acre extension to Sycamore Grove. We hope to work with the district in the fu-ture to acquire more ag and open spaces, as well as land the public can use. Most of the easements are private property and don't have the same benefit this particular one does, which allows public access. That is particularly satisfying to the TVC board."

A third action by the LARPD board approved an agreement with Shea Homes that will allow the district to take possession of the park and operate it. The grand opening will take place sometime in January.

LARPD(continued from page one)

The 9.8 acre park is located in North Livermore near Las Positas College.

At the beginning of the meeting, a proclamation was issued to David Hutchinson, who leaves the board. He stated that serving on the board was a lot of fun and a lot of work especially around budget time. "I know my wife will be happy, be-cause I can spend more time at home with the kids."

David Furst, who replac-es Hutchinson on the board, thanked those who voted for him. "For those who didn't, I hope to show I am worthy of your support and trust."

LARPD board members elected Bob Coomber as chairman, and Steve Good-man as vice chairman.

Democrat Joan Buchan-an officially launched her ‘Positively for Us’ cam-paign in a bid for Califor-nia’s 7th Senate District (SD7). Buchanan and her campaign staff have com-mitted to run a strictly posi-tive race, promising to reject all negative tactics.

The Governor will call a special election for the SD7 seat when Senator Mark De-Saulnier resigns to be sworn into Congress in January.

She is the second candi-date to officially announce plans to run for the seat. Mark Meuser, an attorney, made his plans know in November. Meuser, a Re-publican, campaigned for California State Senate Dis-trict 7 in 2012, losing to DeSaulnier.

Buchanan said in an-

Buchanan Pledges to Focus on the Positive in Her Campaign for State Senate Seat

nouncing her candidacy, “I firmly believe that our democracy is harmed by the level of negativity that has become the standard in po-litical campaigns. This was amplified last November when we were overwhelmed with endless negative TV, ra-dio ads and mailers that did little more than anger voters of all political persuasions. I’ve heard from our com-munity time and time again that they are tired of these tactics and are reluctant to participate in such a destruc-tive process."

Her “Positively for Us” campaign will focus on her record of accomplish-ments and goals for the State Senate. "No attacks or comparisons - which are merely attacks in disguise - will be made by me or my

campaign. With such a short window to communicate with voters, it is important that we focus on the issues, and not waste valuable time with attacks and negativity that do nothing more than keep voters from the polls," she added.

Nearly 60 local leaders are already backing Bu-chanan’s candidacy. They include Livermore Mayor John Marchand, Former Antioch Mayor and current Councilmember Mary Ro-cha, Walnut Creek Mayor Bob Simmons, Danville Mayor Mike Doyle, Orinda Vice Mayor Victoria Smith and Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor. They are just a few of those who have already joined the grassroots support for Joan.

Joan Buchanan was first elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 and just completed a success-ful six year term, serving California’s 16th Assem-bly District (formerly 15th) which includes the cities of Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Danville, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore. Prior to her service in the State Assem-bly, Buchanan served on the San Ramon Valley School board for 18 years, including four terms as president.

The 7th Senate District contains 100% of Buchan-an’s former seat of AD 16, and portions of three other Assembly Districts, includ-ing most of Contra Costa and Alameda counties east of the Berkeley hills.

dorse any particular candi-date. However, they pointed out that voters defeated Measure T with an 82 per-cent "no" vote, providing a good sampling of Dublin opinion concerning growth and open space. The council should take that into consid-eration when in making its appointment.

After the interviews be-gan, Haubert asked each candidate where they stood on Measure T, and whether

they voted on it. Seven of eight interviewees by dead-line time said they voted against Measure T. Wehren-berg said that she did not vote against it.

Other questions directed to candidates concerned whether they supported a swing from commercial to residential zoning on some large properties, what their visions were for the city, what their top three con-cerns were, and whether they

would support a revenue bond or some other method to raise money if the city developed deficit.

The council was sched-uled to narrow the field down to three finalists for further questioning. It was not clear whether the council would wait a few days to make the appointment, as discussed at an earlier meet-ing, or make the appoint-ment at the end of Tuesday's meeting.

CANDIDATES(continued from page one)


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it is serving, particularly the U.S. Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous arm, the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA.

The latest report may well be the most effective of them at identifying un-derlying causes, according to several observers with long experience at the na-tional laboratories and in Washington.

Past reports tended to emphasize the cost of federal micromanagement in forc-ing the national laboratories to divert resources away from science and into ad-ministrative and regulatory duties.

The report released last week takes note of this issue, but addresses the problem at a more general level: the absence of support for nuclear defense in Washing-ton. “Nuclear weapons have become orphans in both the Executive and Legislative branches,” the report reads.

Since the end of the Cold War, there has been “little agreement on priorities…regarding the roles of the nuclear enterprise,” accord-ing to the report. Some want to emphasize stewardship of nuclear weapons; others want to focus on prevent-ing the spread of nuclear weapons; and still others would like to maintain U.S. leadership in nuclear secu-rity science and engineering.

“These views compete in setting programmatic and resource priorities. Priori-ties are matters that must be resolved among the most senior leaders in the Execu-tive Branch and Congress.”

The report stresses the importance of the task. “This is no time for complacency... Nuclear forces provide the ultimate guarantee against major war and coercion, and America’s allies depend on these forces and capabilities for extended deterrence,” ac-cording to the report.

“There are few undertak-ings more important, more demanding, or less forgiving than those pursued on a daily

basis by the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Adminis-tration (NNSA) in address-ing current and future U.S. nuclear security require-ments. The consequences of failure are enormous, potentially placing large numbers of lives at risk and even changing the course of history.”

To improve the nuclear security function, the report makes 19 recommendations ranging from increased Pres-idential and Congressional engagement in priority set-ting to the fuller integration of nuclear security functions into the Department of En-ergy under a new Office of Nuclear Security.

A critical observation by the review panel is that the roles and functions of NNSA and DOE are not clearly defined today. Under its proposal, a new cabinet level organization, the Depart-ment of Energy and Nuclear Security, would combine their functions with a Direc-tor of the Office of Nuclear Security at the level of a deputy secretary or under secretary.

The Director, according to the proposal, would be appointed for at least a six year term and would have direct access to the President as well as to the Secretary of Energy on all relevant nuclear security matters.

On a topic of close inter-est to the national laborato-ries, the report recommends a major reform in the manner by which managing contrac-tors are rewarded for their work, offering fixed fees and contract extensions rather than “large award fees” for meeting narrow criteria.

This is reminiscent of the public service management model that prevailed in the patriotic times following World War II, when the Los Alamos, Sandia and Law-rence Livermore national laboratories were operated as a public service rather than as a money-making proposition.

Whether such changes

are possible to make in po-litically gridlocked Wash-ington, and whether there is even the will to try, remains to be seen. At least there has been a serious effort to identifying them, noted several observers.

In an email, Mike May, former director at Lawrence Livermore National Labora-tory, praised the recommen-dations as “very well taken” and “quite ambitious… as I would expect from such a distinguished and experi-enced panel.”

He wrote that they re-quire “changes in several (management) cultures” which would “take quite a bit of time and plenty of support from higher leader-ship.”

In a subsequent inter-view, he said that such changes have to be made at high levels in order to effect lasting day-to-day improvements. Absent top-level reform, “microman-agement, mismanagement and miscommunication will be pervasive, will grow like weeds,” he said.

Bob Kuckuck, a senior manager at Lawrence Liver-more and Los Alamos who served as principal deputy administrator of NNSA when it was established in 2001, called the latest study the “most informed” he has seen on the subject of management of the nuclear security system.

He praised its “vast num-ber and variety and specific-ity of recommendations” as well as the panel’s many site visits and extensive gather-ing of testimony.

“If all the recommenda-tions were implemented, it would make a tremendous difference” in operations throughout the nuclear de-fense complex, he said.

While his strongest re-action was praise for the thoroughness and potential benefit of the effort, he said he also wondered if the report intentionally left out certain topics as too difficult to tackle. For example, he said there is a great need

NUCLEAR SECURITY(continued from page one)

Several Livermore el-ementary schools demon-strated a lack of physical fitness based on test results. The fitness test is required by the California Depart-ment of Education.

Students take the exam in grades five, seven and nine. They are assessed on the following: aerobic ca-pacity, abdominal strength, upper body strength, body composition, trunk exten-sor strength and flexibility.

The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School Dis-trict received a summary of test results at its last board meeting.

Amy Robbins, Director of Curriculum and Special Projects, noted that a trend across the district showed the schools with the higher number of low income students scored lower in regard to fitness.

Passing the test requires a student to reach what is called the healthy fitness zone in five of the six cat-egories.

In grade 5, Jackson Ave-nue, Joe Mitchell, Junction K-8 and Marilyn Ave were below the 50 percent level in the number of students who passed, with Marilyn the lowest at 19 percent. Sunset showed 86 percent of its students achieving the healthy fitness zone.

At the seventh grade level, schools were at or above 50 percent with Mendenhall the highest at 77 percent and Christensen

the lowest at 50 percent.Ninth graders at both

comprehensive high schools were above the 70 percent mark.

Board president Kate Runyon expressed concern about the physical fitness level at low achieving el-ementary schools.

Superintendent Kelly Bowers said the district is making efforts to improve performance. One program focuses on changing the eat-ing habits. Cooking classes emphasizing healthy eating are offered to families in the lower performing schools. Exercise, such as walking to school, is encouraged.

Runyon wondered if a league that charged no fees could be established to en-gage the students in sports. Perhaps, the district could work with Supervisor Scott Haggerty on the issue, she

to streamline the approval process for facilities at the national laboratories.

Both May and Kuck-uck agreed with the review panel’s view that there has been a “loss of focus on the nuclear mission across the nation and within U.S. leadership as a whole since the end of the Cold War.”

Past studies criticizing management in the nuclear security arena include:

• The 1995 Galvin report on Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy laboratories described fed-eral micromanagement that diverts effort away from sci-ence and technology as the national laboratories have to respond to “thousands of people…on the government payroll…(who) oversee and prescribe tens of thousands of how-to functions.”

• In 2000, during a period of extremely intense public-ity over alleged Chinese espionage at Los Alamos, a commission headed by former Deputy Secretary of Defense concluded that U.S. Department of Energy mi-cromanagement was making it impossible for the labora-tories to do both science and security well.

• In 2009, America’s Strategic Posture, issued by a congressional com-mission chaired by two for-mer defense secretaries, concluded that “NNSA has failed to meet the hopes of its founders. Indeed, it may have become part of the problem, adopting the same micromanagement and unnecessary and obtrusive oversight that it was created to eliminate.”

• Last year, a report issued by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences raised many of the same points in describing NNSA manage-ment. It used terms like “broken” and dysfunctional” to describe the agency’s re-lationship with its scientific laboratories.

stated.New board member

Craig Bueno asked to see the supporting data on fit-ness outcomes, as well as information on the benefits of physical fitness.

One parent who spoke noted that schools do not offer instruction of equal quality in physical education classes. For example, the Sunset PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) pays for a professional PE teacher. There are no funds provided to other schools for this pur-pose. In addition to a lack of quality PE instruction, many of the students cannot afford sports outside the school.

Bowers explained that the district elected to fund core subjects during the bud-get downturns. PE teachers were cut. The district may see fall-out from the budget cuts with reduced fitness.

Lower Income Elementary Schools Score Lower in Fitness Testing

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sometime for expansion of any school already in TVLC. That could include creation of new high schools, he said.

Batchelor reported on accomplishments in the past year. He said they that highlight was the switch to the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District's su-pervision for the Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory School (LVCP). He also praised the good working relationship with the school

BOARD(continued from page one)

district in its sponsorship of the Livermore Valley Charter School (LVCS), a relationship that began last year.

Livermore voters passed Measure G, which Batchelor included in the highlights. He told The Independent that the two Livermore charter schools will receive approximately $300,000 combined from the measure, beginning in the 2015-16 school year.

The Livermore Public Library will host Puppet Art Theater Company’s production of Cinderella on Monday, December 29, 2014 at 10:30am at the Civic Center Library, 1188 S. Livermore Avenue.

The show features the classic tale Cinderella. Cinderella wants to attend the fancy ball and dance the night away, how-ever her mean stepmother and stepsisters conspire against her to prevent Cinderella from attending the ball. Will her Fairy Godmother get her to the ball so she can dance the night away? Will the Prince find the foot that fits the glass slipper? Find out in Cinderella!

This program has been funded by the Friends of the Livermore Library and is recommended for children ages preschool to 3rd grade. For further information, please call 925-373-5504, or visit the library’s website at www.livermorelibrary.net.

Puppet Theater at the Library


Photos - Doug Jorgensen

The annual Victorian Yuletide Christmas was held last weekend at the Ravenswood Historic site in Livermore. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus (Mr. and Mrs. Don Meeker) were on hand to hear what children wanted for Christmas. They also posed for photos. At right, the newly restored fireplace tiles create a welcoming sight. Music added to the festivities.

Diverse and creative companies are driving the economic renaissance and innovative spirit of the East Bay. The East Bay is home to a wide variety of inno-vators in activities ranging from clean fuels to local cuisine, digital animation to medical devices, and much more. Many compa-nies have spun off from, or are working with, the three National Laboratories, UC Berkeley, the business in-cubator hubs or the industry cluster networks unique to the East Bay.

To celebrate the region’s culture of innovation, the East Bay Economic De-velopment Alliance (East Bay EDA) will host its an-nual East Bay Innovation Awards on February 19, 2015 at the Fox Theatre in Oakland. Over 175 nomi-nations for the awards were received in October, with 16 organizations selected as finalists in 8 competi-tive categories. Nominees represented businesses and organizations from 23 East Bay cities. Although many past nominees have histori-cally come from Alameda County cities with tech clusters, there was a sharp increase in the number of Contra Costa County nomi-nees for the 2015 awards, representing a 157% in-crease, including a finalist based in Richmond.

The highly popular awards ceremony high-lights East Bay EDA’s mar-keting of the competitive advantages and assets that attract innovative business-es to locate and grow in the East Bay, and outstanding companies who embrace innovation in their manu-facturing, services, design and information. The 2015 master of ceremonies will be Scott McGrew, host of NBC’s Press: Here, a reporter for KNBR radio, and an anchor for NBC’s “Today in the Bay” morn-ing news.

Awards are given out in the categories of Ad-vanced Manufacturing, Clean Tech, Education, En-gineering & Design, Food, Information and/or Com-munication Technology, and Life Sciences. A Cata-lyst of the Year award is presented to an individual, organization, or company that is currently transcend-ing organizational boundar-ies to pull East Bay assets together in new ways and/or to catalyze new thinking or processes.

An annua l Legacy award is also presented for a company with a history of innovation that has impact-ed the quality of life and/or business development. The 2015 Legacy awardee is The Clorox Company.

The 2015 East Bay In-novation Award awardees will be revealed at the an-nual event in February 2015.

Finalists, in alphabetical order, include:

Catalyst of the Year Aw a r d : S f u n C u b e , TopLine; Advanced Man-ufacturing: Bayer Health-Care, FATHOM; Clean Tech: Natel Energy, Sfun-Cube; Education: Law-rence Livermore National Laboratory & Sandia Na-tional Labs, Oakland Digi-tal Arts & Literacy Center; Engineering & Design: Ap-plied Spectra, Deep Ocean Exploration & Research; Food: Blue Bottle Coffee, Community Grains; Infor-mation and/or Communica-tions Technology, OSIsoft, PhaseSpace, Inc.

For more information on East Bay EDA, the 2015 East Bay Innovation Awards, and a complete list of assessed nominees, please go to: www.east-bayeda.org

An international research team that includes research-ers from Lawrence Liver-more National Laboratory has captured the highest-resolution protein snapshots ever taken using an X-ray laser. The image reveals how a key protein in a photosyn-thetic bacterium changes shape when hit by light.

Human biology consists of a massive collection of chemical reactions. All in-volve proteins, known as the molecules of life. Scientists have been moving steadily toward their ultimate goal of following these life-essential reactions step by step in real time, at the scale of atoms and electrons.

Marius Schmidt, a bio-physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, led the experiment at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

The results, detailed in the Dec. 5 issue of Science, have implications for research on some of the most pressing challenges in life sciences, including understanding biology at its smallest scale and discovering molecular targets for drug design.

The experiment took place at SLAC’s Linac Co-

East Bay Businesses Nominated for Awards

herent Light Source (LCLS). LCLS’s X-ray laser pulses, which are about a billion times brighter than X-rays from synchrotrons.

Lawrence Livermore researchers Mark Hunter, Brent Segelke and Matthias Frank contributed to the work in sample preparation,

laser setup and conducting the experiment.

The experimental station used in the study. LCLS pulses, measured in quadril-lionths of a second, work like a super-speed camera to record ultrafast changes, and snapshots taken at different points in time can be com-

piled into detailed movies."This experiment marks

the first time that LCLS has been used to directly observe a protein’s structural chang-es at such a high resolution as it happens,” Frank said.

The protein the research-ers studied, found in purple bacteria and known as PYP

for "photoactive yellow protein," functions much like a bacterial eye in sens-ing certain wavelengths of light. The mechanism is very similar to that of other recep-tors in biology, including receptors in the human eye.

In the LCLS experiment, researchers prepared crystal-lized samples of the protein, and exposed the needle-shaped crystals, each about 2 millionths of a meter long, to optical laser light before jetting them into the LCLS X-ray beam.

The incident X-rays pro-duced diffraction patterns as they struck the crystals, which are used to recon-struct the 3-D structures of the proteins. Researchers compared the structures of the light-exposed proteins to structures of proteins that had been held in the dark to identify light-induced struc-tural changes.

Other contributors in-clude Arizona State Univer-sity; University of Hamburg and DESY in Hamburg, Germany; State Univer-sity of New York, Buffalo; University of Chicago; and Imperial College in London. The work was supported by the National Science Foun-dation, National Institutes of Health and Lawrence Liver-more National Laboratory.

This artist’s rendering depicts an experiment at SLAC that revealed how a protein from photosynthetic bacteria changes shape in response to light. Samples of the crystallized protein (right), called photoactive yellow protein or PYP, were sprayed into the path of SLAC’s LCLS X-ray laser beam (bottom left). Some of the crystallized proteins had been exposed to blue light (left) to trigger shape changes. Diffraction patterns created when the X-ray laser hit the crystals allowed scientists to re-create the 3-D structure of the protein (center) and determine how light exposure changes its shape. Image courtesy of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

X-ray laser acts as tool to track life’s chemistry


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The Pleasanton Seahawks sent 6 of their Elite Swimmers to the AT&T Winter National Championships Dec. 3-6, in Greensboro, NC. Iris Brand achieved a best time in the 200 free and 100 breast; Christie Chong a best time in the 200IM, 100/200 back, Moriah Simonds finaled in the 500 free, Maxime Rooney swam a best time in the 200 free, 200 back, 200 fly and finaled in all four of his events. Pictured are (from left) Maxime Rooney, Moriah Simonds, Anna Parker, Christie Chong, Iris Brand, and Katie Woods.

Pleasanton Seahawks competited in Pacific Swimming Winter Championships Invitational. Pictured are Caroline Eckel, Emma Valentine, Miranda Heckman, Christy Neufeld, Coach Jon Pallesen, Sydney Lu and Tyler Lu.

Tri-Valley Karate team members from Pleasanton competed in Tibon's Goju Ryu Winter Pearl Anniversary Karate Tournament in Stockton on Dec. 7. Each student performed his or her very best and came away with 12 medals. Pictured (left to right) are Ramya Ayyagari (12): 2nd Kata and 2nd Paddle Kumite; Aditi Sharma (12): 1st Kumite and 3rd Kata; Nitya Ayyagari (10): 2nd Kata; Emajee Summers (21): 1st Kumite, 2nd Kata, 3rd Blind Fold Kata; Neela Mandal (5): 3rd Kumite; and, Yezzen Alwari (13): 1st Blind Fold Kata, 2nd Kata, 2nd Kumite.

Pictured are members of the Pleasanton Seahawks' Girls 9-10 Medley Relay Team (from let) Sydney Lu, Olivia Kim, Aven Lee and Emily Tsai.

Pleasanton SeahawksThe Pleasanton Seahawks

swim team swam away with third place overall at the Pacific Swimming Winter Champion-ships Invitational. The Morgan Hill Makos hosted the event for ages 14 and under. There were 1337 swimmers from 99 teams swimming in 6445 total entries on December 5-7, 2014 at the Morgan Hill Aquatic Center, Morgan Hill.

Swimming for PLS at this event: Dominick Wonosaputra (age 8), Zoe Chu (10) , Chris-tina Coatney (10) with 4 New Best Times, Hailey Fesai (10) 3BT, Olivia Kim (10) 11BT, Aven Lee (10) 8 BT, Sydney Lu (10) 11BT, Sophia Pedersoli (10) 1BT, Sophia Stiles (10), Christina Tsai (10, 5 BT, Emily Tsai (10) 4BT, Crystal Wang (10) 3 BT, Akshay Gupta (10) 2BT, Alexander LeCoque (9), Jordan Lee (10) 14 BT, Alex-ander Smedley (10) 1BT, Ronin Tsang (10) 2 BT, Ethan Wang (9) 1BT, Emily Harris (11), Grace Kim )12) 1 BT, Kaela Lee (12) 1BT, Mackenzie Lee (12) 8 BT, Stephanie Shao (12) 11 BT, Nicole Stiles (11) 14BT, Claire Suen (12) 8BT, Gwyneth Wong (12) 5BT, Sophia Xing (12) 5BT, Bryson Huey (11) 1BT, Jaewoo Kim (11) 7BT,

Aditya Mehta (12), Lleyton Plattel (12) 11BT, Alex Ren (12) 10 BT, Andrew Wang (11) 1BT, Elisabeth Balicanta (13) 3BT, Emily Claridge (13)

5BT, Caroline Eckel (13) 8BT, Amber Fornoles (14) 2BT, Hannah Franzwa (14) 3BT, Daniella Hawkins (13) 9 BT, Laurel Heckman (14), Miranda Heckman(13), Isabella Hernan-dez (13) 1BT, Nawoo Kim (14) 2BT, Marissa Lawrence (13) 3BT, Amanda Mobley (14), Christy Neufeld (14) 5BT, Grace Nimmo (13) 2BT, Katherine Risher (13), Isabelle Smedley (13), Paullina Umansky (13) 5BT, Emma Valentine (14), Nja Zuniga (14) 4BT, Raza Aziz (13) 1BT, Mattias Blanco (13) 6BT, Nathan Caparaz (14), Calvin Chui (13) 9 BT, Darron Dai (13) 1BT, Calvin David (13) 6BT, Kyle Kenny (13), Aaron Lin (13) 1BT, Tyler Lu (14) 11BT, Robert Mitu (13) 4BT, Nicholas Skinner (13) 9BT, Benjamin Sproul (14) 6BT, Robert Tor-res (13) 2BT, Justin Tsai (13) 1BT, Hudson Tsang (13) 1BT, Jack Wilkerson (14) 2BT, and Nicholas Wonosaputra (13) 1 new Best time.

Many new record breaking relays were recorded. The 9-10 girls; Emily Tsai, Sydney Lu, Olivia Kim and Aven Lee, broke the Pleasanton record for the 200 medley relay and came in second place in their event. The 11-12 girls 200 Free Relay team of Mackenzie Lee, Nicole Stiles, Stephanie Shao and Claire Suen took home first place and the 13-14 girls free relay team of Carline Eckel, Daniella Hawkins, Christy Neufeld and Miranda Heckman also took

home first place.SENIOR TRIALSThe Pleasanton Seahawks

swam at the ‘2014 Pacific Swim-ming Walnut Creek Aquabears Short Course Senior 2 Trials and finals meet on December 5-7, 2014 at Diablo Valley College in Pleasanton Hill California.

Swimming for the Pleasan-ton Seahawks: Jacqueline Davis (14 years old), Christopher Jhong (14) with 2 new best times, Alexandra Hernandez (15) 3BT, Victoria Kaleta (16), Sofia Moufarrej (15) with 7 new BT, Ryane Skinner (16), Sarah Wang (16), Danielle Zacharias (16), Jared Brandley (16) with 7BT, Brandon Brown (15) 3BT, Alex Kuang (15) 3BT,

Christopher Lee (15) 3 BT, Michael Martin (15) 5BT, Jonathan Mui (16) 2BT, Rishab Nair (15) 7BT, Benjamin Song (15), Nathaniel Sproul (16) 8 BT, Alex Suehiro (15), Jeffery Tang (16) 4 BT, Shahini Ananth (17) 1 BT, Eva Chung (17) 3BT, Amanda Helle (17) 7 BT, Rachel Knowles (17), Caitlyn Plattel (17) 2BT, Kennedy Truex (17) 3BT, Alexander Gilchrist (17) 5 BT, Anthony Jhong (17) 7BT, Trevor Lee (17) 2BT, Robert Scott (17) 1BT, Preston Tsang (17), Bailey Wong (17) 3BT, and Carson Wood (17) 2BT.

CYO Basketball

SM/SC (St. Michael/St. Charles) 4th grade boys, Su-personics, played a very hard fought game against St Isidore on Sunday, December 7th in CYO basketball. The boys kept the game close, and even held the lead through the first half. Falling behind in the third pe-riod, the boys rallied back in the

fourth quarter, but were unable to regain the lead.

Owen Omweg kept the Supersonics in the game with a few great shots along with his very aggressive play in the key, as well as defensively. Duncan Maxwell, helped start plays with steals on the defensive end and some excellent passes to team-mates, resulting in points. Eric Spruiell was dominant on de-fense, preventing the other team from taking shots and getting control of the ball for his team.

Double Racing FestivalThe 3rd Annual Pleasanton

Double Racing® Festival will be held on December 21, 2014. The Pleasanton Double is a Christ-mas-themed running event for the entire family that showcases the innovative new sport of Double Racing® and benefits PPIE (Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation).

Pleasanton families and sup-porters of PPIE are encouraged to participate in the Pleasanton Double. It’s a great opportunity to train and race in preparation for the PPIE Run on April 13th.

Called the Double for short, each Double Racing® event is a two-stage running challenge. It’s “running with a halftime.” Participants first run the longer stage, take a halftime break/recovery period during which runners can ride stationary bikes, stretch, refuel, rehydrate, or simply do anything to get themselves ready for the next stage. Times are combined for scoring.

Depending on fitness level, the Pleasanton Double Rac-ing® Festival offers runners three distance options: A 15K

Double (10K + 5K), a shorter 8K Double (5K + 3K) and the 1 ½ Mile Kids’ Cup Double (1 Mile + 1/2 Mile).

Double Racing® was cre-ated by Bob Anderson, the founder of Runner’s World magazine. The Pleasanton Double Racing® Festival will also feature live music, food, a Santa Runner contest, Most Fit Team/Company and tons of healthy fun for the entire family.

Event Details & Online Registration: www.Pleasanton-Double.com. Discount code is: PTOWN.

PPIE raises funds to sup-port critical programs for our students that have been threat-ened in recent years by state budget cuts.

PGSL Registration

2015 Registration is now open for all divisions in the Pleasanton Phantom Girls Soft-

ball League. All girls living in Pleasanton, Dublin or Sunol are eligible to play. Visit the PGSL website for registration informa-tion (www.pleasantonsoftball.org). For more information, contact PGSL Registrar-Kris Jernstedt. Evaluations for grades 3-8 will be scheduled for early December. Dates, times and location TBD.

LGSA RegistrationLivermore Girls Softball

Association welcomes all Livermore girls aged 5-18, no experience necessary. Online registration is available at LivermoreGirlsSoftball.org. Players in 8U through middle school must attend an evalu-ation. The next evaluation is scheduled for January 10. Visit the website or email [email protected] for more information.

Volunteers will be spreading out throughout the Valley to take part in the annual Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 19.

It will be the 115th annual Bird Count across the nation sponsored by the National Audubon Society.

Rich Cimino of Pleasanton organizes the Valley's bird count. He said that the birds are counted for up to a 24-hour period. However, volunteers can begin scouting their areas days before the official count takes place. He said that sufficient volunteers are already signed up; no more are required.

Last year, 92 birders participated. They covered a 15-mile circle with its center near Pigeon Point on Highway 84.

"The Tri-Valley is very rich in resident bird population, both winter and spring migrants. Last year 152 species were identified," said Cimino.

Patti Cole, an LARPD ranger, takes part in the count.

The City of Dublin has been named a winner of the “Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet” Award from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. The city was chosen for its work using innovative government solutions to enhance customer service, help improve the quality of the Bay Area’s business climate, and grow jobs. Dublin received the small city award in the Excellence in Workforce Housing category for the its role in successfully completing the Emerald Vista develop-ment. Dublin joined the large city award winner, the City of San Carlos, for its transit-oriented housing.

Dublin was lauded for its efforts to preserve the site’s affordable housing, create a more vibrant mixed-income community, and provide amenities for the Emerald Vista neighborhood while contributing toward a greener, more sustainable Dublin community. The Emerald Vista project created nearly 600 jobs (120 are ongoing). It increased the supply of affordable housing in the region by targeting in-come ranges for the affordable apartments at 30% to 55% of Area Median Income.

The City was one of 14 public agencies participating in the “Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet” Award program,

Physics World, an international monthly magazine pub-lished by the Institute of Physics, has named the National Ignition Facility’s (NIF) achievement of fuel gain one of its top 10 “Breakthroughs of the Year.” NIF is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Ignition is the process of releasing fusion energy equal to or greater than the amount of energy used to confine the fuel. It has long been considered the "holy grail" of inertial confinement fusion science. Before achieving ignition, a key step along the path includes having "fuel gains" greater than unity, where the energy generated through fusion reactions exceeds the amount of energy deposited into the fusion fuel and alpha-particle self-heating of the fusing region.

NIF was the first facility ever to reach the milestone of achieving fuel gains greater than 1 with significant levels of alpha-heating. In a paper published in the Feb. 12 online issue of the journal Nature, scientists detailed a series of

Valley Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 19Cole leads two of the 26 sections in the survey. Her territory covers Sycamore Grove Park and Springtown.

Cole said that she has noticed at least one species in decline, the yellow-billed magpie, which is found only in California. Magpies in other states have black bills.

"They were common in the Valley. In the first year, in 2009, we saw 20 of them. After that, the population just plummeted. They used to be common in Sycamore Grove Park, but not now," said Cole.

It is not clear whether the observed lower population is the result of migration pathways that may be changing, or perhaps a disease, such as West Nile Virus, or some other factor, said Cole.

Cole noted that Sycamore Grove Park has taxidermy birds in the rangers office, which are helpful to people who want to learn how to identify specific species.

which submitted a total of 24 applications involving pio-neering programs and services that have made a positive difference in the region. The awards program was judged by an independent group of Silicon Valley experts.

In 2013, Dublin received the “Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet” Award in the Business Retention and Expan-sion category for the City’s Toolkit for Revitalization and Job Growth.

Dublin Recognized for Innovative Government Solutions

experiments conducted on NIF which showed an order of magnitude improvement in yield performance over past experiments.

“Creating the conditions for sustained nuclear fusion to occur in the laboratory has proven notoriously challenging, but persevering is essential because success could lead to safe and clean sources of energy,” said Hamish Johnston, editor of physicsworld.com. “By obtaining a fuel gain of greater than one, the team working at the National Ignition Facility has taken an important step towards realizing fu-sion energy.”

The Physics World editorial team recognized the achieve-ments from 2014 in a range of topics from nuclear physics to nanotechnology. The top 10 breakthroughs were selected using the following criteria: fundamental importance of research; significant advance in knowledge; strong connec-tion between theory and experiment; and general interest to all physicists.

Fuel Gain on NIF One of Breakthroughs

John Schuster snapped a photo of the start of a flash flood in the Arroyo Mocho near the Holmes Street bridge.


Reserve Our Lovely Grounds for Your

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Livermore Cinemasnight at the museum: secret of the tomb (pg) 12:10 12:55 2:55 3:40 5:45 6:40 8:30 9:30 annie (pg) 11:45 12:30 2:30 3:30 6:30 9:20wild (r) 12:40 4:00 5:15 6:55 8:10 9:40hobbit: battle of the five armies (pg13)-cc 12:00 1:00 3:30 4:30 7:00 8:00 hobbit: battle of the five armies (pg13)-3d-dbox 2:00 5:30 9:00exodus gods and kings (pg13) 12:00 3:20 4:20 6:35 7:30 9:50mockingjay pt 1 (pg13) 12:45 3:40 6:40 9:30 penguins of madagascar (pg) 12:00 2:25 4:50 7:15 9:45big hero 6 (pg) 12:20 3:00 5:35 8:15 interstellar (pg13) 12:20 no shows 24th – (in bold)preview december 24th: interview (r) 7:00 unbroken (pg13) 7:00 big eyes (pg13) 7:00 into the woods (pg) 7:00 the gambler (r) 7:00

Granada High School, a candidate school for the International Bacca-laureate (IB)Diploma Programme, will host an informational meeting on Tuesday, December 16 from 7 - 8 p.m. in Grana-da’s Little Theatre. All parents of current fresh-men and Granada bound eighth graders are invited to attend. The meeting will introduce the program and provide information on student enrollment, eligibility, and program expectations.

Currently, Granada High School is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy that includes a commitment to improve the teaching and learning of a diverse and inclusive community of students by delivering challenging, high quality programs of international education that share a powerful vi-sion.

Granada plans to be fully authorized prior to the initial enrollment of students from the class of 2018 for their junior and senior years, the two years during which students may enroll in IB Diploma Programme courses.

One of the teachers preparing to instruct IB Spanish, Kelly Drief, vis-ited other IB schools last year. She commented, "When I saw how the stu-dents seemed so worldly … I knew our population

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SECTION A

Art & Entertainment........... 8

Bulletin Board................... 11

Milestones ...................... 12

Short Notes...................... 7

MAIN SECTION

Classifieds........................ 10

Editorial..............................4

Roundup...............................3

Sports.................................6

Obituaries......................... 9

Inside

Find Out What's

Happening

Check Out Section A

Section A is filled with

information about arts,

people, entertainment and

special events. There are

education stories, a variety

of features, and the arts and

entertainment and bulletin

board.

Your Local News Source Since 1963 SERVING DUBLIN • LIVERMORE • PLEASANTON • SUNOL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012

VOLUME XLIX, NUMBER 52

PET OF THE WEEK

Shallow (pictured) and Makita were recently surrendered

to us after their family could no longer care for them. They

are four year old boxers who know all simple commands

such as sit, stay, and shake. They both love to be with

people and enjoy spending time with each other. If you are

looking for a well-trained dog who will be your best friend,

look no further. For more information, call 925-426-8656

or go online to www.valleyhumane.org or www.facebook.

com/ValleyHumaneSociety to see other adoptable dogs and

cats. Valley Humane Society is located at 3670 Nevada Street

in Pleasanton. Photo by Melissa Bonnel


Friends and family gathered to welcome home Marine Lance Corporal Anthony Fernandes (AJ) of Livermore.

He is returning from deployment in Afghanistan. AJ serves with the HMLA-469 Helicopter Squadron, Marine Air

Group 39, 3rd Marine Air Wing. The ceremony was hosted by the Livermore Military Families organization. He

was met at a downtown business, then escorted to his home.

County Fair

Manager Will

Lead State FairRick Pickering, who

has managed the Alameda

County Fair in Pleasanton

for the past 14 years, will

have a new job on Dec. 28

-- manager of the California

State Fair.Pickering said that he is

looking forward to the chal-

lenge of helping the state

fair, known as Cal Expo, rise

again in attendance.

The state fair reported

more than 1 million in at-

tendance at a peak about 10

years ago, said Pickering.

That number has declined

steadily to 736,000 in 2011,

according to Venues Today,

a publication devoted to

coverage of the sports and

entertainment industry's live

locations.Cal Expo attendance de-

clined because of tougher

economic times in the Sac-

ramento area.

Pickering will replace

Norb Bartosik, who is re-

tiring. He will face a new

set of circumstances at Cal

Expo. The county fair is a

non-profit, and has paid its

own way for many years,

including the capital im-

provements to facilities. The

fair is run by directors from

throughout the county, who

hire the general manager.

Cal Expo is owned by

the state, so state money is

used, although the objective

is for the fair to be self-sup-

porting, said Pickering. The

governor appoints the board

of directors.

Pickering said that his

proudest achievements at

the county fair have been

"so many things we have

done so very well to become

the fastest growing fair in

North America in the past

four years."Pickering credited his

staff, the 26-member fair

board, and the support he has

received from other officials

and the community for the

success."There are more than

3000 fairs in North America.

We are ranked 33rd, which

puts us in the top 1 percent,"

said Pickering.

In addition to being a lo-

cation for the fair in summer,

and the stabling of horses

year-round, the fairgrounds

in Pleasanton play host to

community events and com-

mercial shows more than

300 days each year.

Success is "all about the

people that surround you.

There is not much great-

ness without them," said

Pickering. The fair em-

ployees 82 full-time staff

members, and 400 part-time

workers, such as parking

attendants and grounds-

keepers.During fair time, 1000

volunteers are added, and

2000 business partners. He

is aware of the numbers,

because "each day, they

are looking for something

to eat. We become a city

overnight."Pickering many fair man-

agement honors include the

presidency of the Western

Fairs Association, and up-

coming induction into its

Hall of Fame.

Pickering is proud that

during his tenure, the county

fair began many green poli-

cies. The site's green waste -

- grass clippings and leaves -

- is made into ground mulch,

(See PICKERING, page 6)

2012 was a significant

year at Axis Community

Health, with more people

using services than ever be-

fore. Axis provided 38,000

medical visits; 7,000 mental

health visits for children,

adults and families; 4,800

teen drug and alcohol visits;

22,000 adult drug and alco-

hol visits; and 36,000 WIC

nutrition visits.

“Each month, 300 new

medical patients came to

Axis,” said Sue Compton,

Axis CEO. “To meet this

need, we expanded evening

and weekend hours. In

fact, the need for affordable

primary medical care is so

acute, particularly for low-

income and uninsured Tri-

Valley residents, that we’ve

begun planning for an ad-

ditional clinic set to open in

2014, which will double our

service capacity.”

Axis purchased a build-

ing at 5925 W. Las Positas

Blvd. in Hacienda Business

Park. When renovated it

will include 28 exam rooms,

8 mental health counseling

rooms, a pharmacy and

other services. The overall

project cost is $9 million.

The new facility will signifi-

cantly impact healthcare in

the Tri-Valley. More people

will be able to access pri-

mary and preventive care,

resulting in better health

outcomes. When people

Axis Growing to Meet The Need

(See AXIS, page 12)

The Dublin City Council

approved a revised plan for

the Moller Ranch subdivi-

sion, reducing its density,

and giving the green light

to two important open space

areas.The council voted unani-

mously for the change at its

Dec. 18 meeting. Included

in the vote were an altera-

tion in the East Dublin plan

and the General Plan, and

approval of a supplemental

environmental impact report

Dublin Sees Vineyard Potential, Major

Open Space in OK for Moller Ranch

(EIR). The Moller subdivision

was approved five years

ago. The new plan reduces

maximum allowed density

from a maximum of 684 to

478 homes.

Developer Braddock and

Logan's plan comes in well

below that cap, with 370

single family homes pro-

posed for 79.6 acres, for an

average density of 4.6 units

per acre.The total Moller Ranch

parcel is 236 acres. It is com-

prised of 7.6 acres in creek-

side trail open space, 1 acre

neighborhood park, and 136

acres of rural residential/ag-

ricultural open space.

The 136 acres is not

zoned for dedicated open

space, but given the agri-

cultural zoning in hopes that

it would attract vineyard

operators. That would add

to the Valley industry and

nicely complement the ag-

ricultural historical theme of

the whole development, said

city officials.

POTENTIAL FOR 1650

ACRES FOR E.B.R.P.D.

The most significant open

space connected to Moller

Ranch is 1650 acres north

and east of the development,

just outside the city.

That land is projected

to go to East Bay Regional

Park District (EBRPD), and

serve as an open space buffer

for northeast Dublin.

The land would link to

other EBRD holdings in

adjacent Contra Costa Coun-

ty, forming an even larger

holding that would provide

recreational activities for the

Tri-Valley.

Ayn Wieskamp, the Val-

ley's representative on the

EBRPD board, told the In-

dependent, "We don't have

the land yet. There has been

a lot of discussion at the city

council. The council wants it

to happen. There has to be an

(See DUBLIN, page 4)

California utilities will

use the advanced technolo-

gies and expertise of Law-

rence Livermore National

Laboratory to improve the

efficiency, security and

safety of the state’s utility

systems under an agreement

approved last Thursday by

the California Public Utili-

ties Commission (CPUC).

The agreement will provide

up to $150 million in fund-

ing over five years.

The CPUC approved

funding for a five-year re-

search and development

agreement between Pacific

Gas and Electric Company,

Southern California Edi-

son Company, San Diego

Gas and Electric Company,

and Lawrence Livermore

(LLNL). The grant will

provide the utilities with

access to LLNL techno-

logical capabilities, such as

supercomputing, and related

domain expertise in engi-

neering and applied science.

The collaborative project

will tap LLNL expertise

to develop new tools and

techniques to address chal-

lenges California faces as it

implements its clean energy

policy agenda.

Called California Energy

Systems for the 21st Century

(CES-21), the initiative is

expected to yield benefits

including: creation of the

tools needed by California

to achieve aggressive renew-

able energy and greenhouse

gas goals; application of the

country’s most sophisticated

cyber security technology

to the state’s energy grid,

which relies increasingly on

digital systems; planning for

widespread deployment of

electric transportation; and

helping to build a smarter

energy system that will ac-

California Utilities Partner with Lawrence

Livermore to Improve State’s Energy Grid

(See ENERGY GRID, page 4)

Castlewood Country Club

will appeal a National Labor

Relations Board (NLRB)

ruling that declared its lock-

out of union employees to

be illegal.Unite Here Local 2850

president Wei-Ling Huber

told The Independent that

she received a courtesy call

from Castlewood manager

Jerry Olson notifying her of

the filing.The appeal was turned in

Dec. 21, the last day that it

could be.At issue in the appeal is

whether or not the manage-

Castlewood Appeals

Ruling on Lockoutment lockout during contract

negotiations in 2010 was

legal or not. An NLRB judge

ruled that it was illegal.

Castlewood disputes that

finding.If the illegality of the

lockout stands, Castlewood

would have to pay the locked

out employees the wages

they would have earned be-

fore they came back to work

Oct. 16, some 25 months

after the lockout began.

Some of the 61 employ-

ees went on to other jobs

at some point during the


Dawn softened the colors of the hills as seen from May Nissen Road.

(See LOCKOUT, page 4)

During the first six

months of 2012, Pleasanton

rezoned properties for high

density affordable housing,

meeting the requirements

of a lawsuit settlement with

Urban Habitat and the State

Attorney General's office.

First Half of 2012 Pleasanton Rezoned Land; Livermore Focused on Creating Jobs

Also in Pleasanton, candi-

dates began filing for vacant

seats on the city council and

for mayor.

Livermore continued its

focus on developing high

tech jobs through coop-

eration with the national

laboratories. In answering a

survey, residents found the

city to be a great place to live

and raise a family. The city

again served as a host for the

Amgen Tour of California

bicycle race.

Dublin launched a new

event that included wine,

food, and fun.

JANUARY 2012

The Alameda County

Transportation Commission

(ACTC) held a workshop

on December 16 to develop

a final draft for the Trans-

portation Expenditure Plan

(TEP), which would deter-

mine how monies collected

through Measure B1 would

be spent over the next 30

(See 2012, page 3)

For new subscription:

8 Online: Visit www.independentnewsfree.com

) Phone: Call us at (925) 243-8014.

*Subscription is free to residents of Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton & Sunol.

IB Informational Meeting to be Held at Granada High School

could reach that height of academic intellect. The IB Programme creates students who are produc-tive and inquisitive, and develop lifelong skills to constantly reach for a higher level of knowl-edge.”

As a current Advanced Placement Spanish Lan-guage and Culture teacher, Drief also noted that the rate at which our students successfully pass the AP Spanish Language and Culture exam would in-dicate that they could perform equally as well in an IB Spanish course. “Granada has a very di-verse population that can be recognized and acknowledged in a new unique way by studying topics in an in-depth man-ner at a global level.”

Science teacher Re-gina Brinker, who will be teaching IB classes, stated, “I want to be part of the IB program because my science students have par-ticipated in international collaborative projects. I see what a strong and posi-tive impact these projects have on students. Students are compelled to produce their best work when they know that the work will be peer reviewed.”

Sherry McGowan, an English teacher at GHS who attended several IB school site visits last year, left one particular visit impressed by the potential IB offers. “The students struck me as especially

intellectually mature and eloquent."

Bringing the Internation-al Baccalaureate Diploma Programme to Granada also means bringing the Pro-gramme to the Livermore community as well. Students will engage in extensive research, in some instances seeking out expert men-torship beyond the school campus to support their inquiries. Moreover, they will be involved in various, meaningful service projects and creative endeavors that engage them with their com-munity and their world.

Over the next year, Granada teachers will con-tinue to develop the program prior to its initial offering.

The informational meet-ing to be held December 16th at Granada will be the first of several.

Parents who cannot at-tend the meeting but would like to know more are en-couraged to contact the pro-gramme coordinator, Valerie Nebo, at [email protected]. Additional information re-garding IB can be found at ibo.org.


Santa Claus greeted guests at the annual Breakfast with Santa held at the Shannon Community Center in Dublin. He also spent time learning what each child would like to have delivered for Christmas

WWF with her special friend Arland Amos. She had an infectious laugh.

Amy is survived by her daughter Amanda Sargent and her father Ron (Jackie) Yarolimek, both of Antioch. She is also survived by her brother Matthew (Tammy) Yarolimek of Fernley, NV. She was preceded in death by her mother, Pam Yaro-limek.

Amy will be interred at Holy Sepulchre Mausoleum in Hayward. A memorial service is scheduled at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch on Thursday, Janu-ary 8th at 11:30 am. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to a favorite charitable organization on her behalf.

Arrangements by Cal-laghan Mortuary.

Julie Mingoia RosaOct. 19, 1942-Dec. 14, 2014Resident of Livermore

Julie passed away on Dec. 14, 2014, after a val-

iant s ix year bat-tle with stage IV lung can-cer (she n e v e r smoked). She was s u r -rounded b y t h e l o v e ,

laughs and tears of family members and friends. She was an amazing person with her unbelievable positivity, spirit and great attitude, of-ten attributed to her long sur-vival. She never complained about the cards dealt her and her friend, a registered nurse, claimed she survived

Daughters Nicole Campiotti (Carl) and Noel Cole (Ken), and son Jason Livermore, all of Livermore. She leaves behind five Grandchildren in Alyssa (Guzman), Kyle, and Nicholas Campiotti, Logan and Dylan Cole, as well as one great grandchild Malakai.

The service for Terry Livermore will be on De-cember 19, 11:00 AM at St. Michaels Church, 458 Maple St, Livermore, CA 94550. A celebration of life will follow at the barn, 3131 Pacific Avenue, Livermore Ca. 94550.

The family would like any donations to be to Hope Hospice of Dublin, 6377 Clark Ave, Suite 100, Dub-lin, CA 94568 in the memory of Terry Livermore.

Amy Lovelle (Yarolimek) Weyandt

Amy Lovelle (Yarolimek) Weyandt, 40, died peaceful-ly at her home in Tracy, Cali-fornia on Friday December

5, 2014. She was born to Pamela (Pavon) and Ron-ald Yaro-limek on Novem-b e r 5 , 1974 in

Fremont, California.Amy grew up in Union

City, California and at-tended James Logan High School. Being a member of the Foxy Ladies Youth Soccer Team was one of her favorite childhood memo-ries. She moved with her father to Antioch, California and graduated from Antioch High School.

Shortly after high school she was married to Ryan Sar-gent and they were blessed with their only child, Aman-da Lovelle Sargent. Amy worked at Carrow’s Restau-rant in Antioch as a waitress for many years. In 2008, she moved to Livermore to be with her mother and took a job in customer service at Target. Approximately 2 years later her mother be-came ill and Amy was her caregiver while she contin-ued to work. Her mother passed away in April 2013.

Amy moved to Tracy in March of 2014. She was enjoying life, making new friends while keeping in touch with old friends. She loved watching the San Jose Sharks, listening to music (her favorite was Barry Manilow), singing Karaoke, watching movie musicals (like “Annie”), Facebooking, playing Face-book games and watching

nal Avenue, Alameda, CA 94501.

In lieu of flowers, dona-tions may be made to the Al-ameda Naval Air Museum, 2151 Ferry Point, Building 77, Alameda, CA 94501.

Terry Cecile (Claverie) Livermore Resident of Livermore

In the early morning of Thursday, November 20, 2014, Terry Cecile Liver-more passed away peace-fully at the age of 72 after a yearlong battle with pancre-atic cancer. Terry was sur-

rounded by he r f a m -ily dur-ing her passing.

Terry w a s born on J a n u -ary 5th, 1 9 4 2 ,

at St. Paul’s Hospital in Livermore, Ca. to Peter John Claverie and Margaret (Hachmann) Claverie. She was a lifelong resident of Livermore, where she at-tended St. Michaels School. She graduated from Liver-more High School in 1959. During High School, Terry fell in love with Nicholas Livermore. They were mar-ried in 1960, and remained married up until Nick passed away from ALS (Lou Geh-rig’s disease) in 2010. To-gether they raised three children; daughters Nicole, Noel, and son Jason. Terry was mainly a homemaker while raising their children, and did the bookkeeping for Livermore’s Electric, a business that they started together.

Terry was very active in the Native Daughters of the Golden West. She also en-joyed bowling in the senior league at Granada Bowl, as well as playing bingo and taking daylong trips to the Indian casinos. She also took her family to Hawaii for a vacation that will never be forgotten.

Her greatest love was her grandchildren. You could always find her in the stands watching Alyssa cheering, or playing softball, Kyle and Nick on the football or baseball fields, or on the wrestling mat, Logan and Dylan rounding the bases or making a great tackle, or watching Malakai’s eyes light up when he would see his Mimi.

Terry was preceded in death by her parents Peter and Margaret, Step mother Wanita, and husband Nick. She is survived by her broth-er John Claverie of Nevada,

George Robert “Frank” MussoAugust 9, 1926 – Dec. 2, 2014

George “Frank” Robert Musso was born in Alameda on August 9, 1926 to George and Jean Musso. He attend-ed Versailles and Lincoln Schools and graduated from Alameda High School in

1944, at w h i c h time he enlisted i n t he N a v y a n d served a t t h e A l a m -eda Na-

val Air Station and on an aviation supply ship in the Pacific.

Following his release from active duty, Frank at-tended San Francisco State College where he received his bachelor’s degree with an Earth Science major. In 1950 he was recalled to ac-tive duty and assigned to a fighter squadron on the air-craft carrier USS Princeton, serving in North Korean waters. Upon his second re-lease from service Frank was employed as a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Sur-vey, and built river gauging stations and made river run-off measurements between Salinas and the Oregon Bor-der. His experience taming nature led him to an interest in planning, and he became a planner for the Northern California Counties. From there, he embarked upon seventeen years as the Plan-ning Director of Livermore, where he was responsible for drafting the city’s original general plan. Lastly he was employed as the Planning Director and City Manager of Saint Helena.

During his tenure in these communities he was char-acterized by the local press as the “conscience of the community” and “a rapier sharp technician.” After retirement Frank returned to Alameda where he was a member of the Aeolian Yacht Club; on the board of the Italian American League; and on the Board of Direc-tors of the Alameda Naval Air Museum. He also did extras work for a number of film and television pro-grams. He is survived by his sister, Lillian Molzan; sons Mark (Annette) and Paul; and daughter Juliet (Chris Weare). He is also survived by five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

There will be a celebra-tion of Frank’s life at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at the Italian American League Hall, 2712 Enci-


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Obituary/ Memoriam Policies

Obituaries are published in The Independent at no charge. There is a small

charge for photographs in the obituaries.

Memoriam ads can also be placed in The Independent when families want to honor the

memories of their loved ones. There is a charge for memoriam ads,based on the size of the ad.

Please send an email to [email protected]

longer than any lung cancer patient she knew.

She was born in Liver-more on Oct. 19, 1942 at St. Paul's Hospital to Ben Min-goia of San Jose and Bernice Uliana. She graduated from St. Michael's School, Liver-more High, and San Jose State University where she majored in nursing until her last year, then received a BA degree in sociology.

She was employed at the Department of Social Ser-vices in Alameda County as a social worker for 27 years. Upon retiring, she enjoyed the pleasures of socializing with family and friends, playing board games, do-ing crossword puzzles and watching old movies. She was an avid tennis fan and traveled to Indian Wells an-nually for the tournaments. She was also a Giants base-ball fan.

She enjoyed domestic and international travel, traveling cross country and touring Canada, Mexico, Italy, Greece and her fa-

vorite, Africa, particularly South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

She was preceded in death by her father, Ben Mingoia and husband, Phil Rosa. She is survived by her mother, Bernice Min-goia, sister Barbara Torrison, nephew raised as a son, Tony, and grandchildren Anthony of Los Banos and Jules of Livermore, numer-ous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Sat., Dec. 27 at Callaghan Mortuary with a reception immedi-ately following.

The family requests do-nations be made in Julie's name to the Sandra J. Wing Healing Therapies Founda-tion (treating cancer pa-tients) at 1807 Santa Rita Rd., D-182, Pleasanton, CA 94566, Kaiser Hospice, or St. Jude's Children's Hos-pital.

Arrangements by Cal-laghan Mortuary, 447-2942.

Yule Log HuntA Yule Log Hunt will be

led by the Livermore Area Recreation and Park Dis-trict ranger staff on Sunday, Dec. 21. Meet Chief Ranger Pat Sotelo and his Ranger Elves at 2 p.m. at Sycamore Grove Park in the reserv-able picnic area.

Grab your silliest hats and join the 20th annual hunt for the fabled yule log. There will be games, mer-riment and tales of ancient Yule celebrations followed by an old-fashioned hunt for that elusive log. After the hunt, gather around the fire and make your own Yule logs to take home. Canceled if raining. Call 925-960-2400 if you need directions.

There is a $5 per vehicle parking fee at either en-trance to Sycamore Grove Park. A $3 donation is re-quested to help support the programs unless other fees are specified. Participants may call 925-960-2400 for more information.

Festivities on TV30Holiday parades and tree

lightings held in Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton are airing on TV30.

TV30 is broadcasting the taped holiday events for each city at various times throughout the holiday sea-son and all day long on Christmas Day. The shows

may be viewed on Comcast TV Channel 30 and AT&T U-verse via Channel 99, as well as streaming live and video demand on the TV30 website at www.tv30.org DVDs are also available for purchase on the website.

Kicking off the festivities was Dublin’s 31st Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony that took place on Thursday, December 4th at the Dublin Civic Center Plaza with seasonal entertainment and refreshments. The Dublin Unified Elementary School Choir performed holiday songs as everyone awaited the arrival of a special guest from the North Pole.

The Pleasanton Home-town Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting was held on Saturday, December 6th on Main Street in downtown Pleasanton. The annual community celebration in-cluded a parade with floats, marching bands, drill teams and more. It was followed by the lighting of the holiday tree in front of the Museum on Main Street.

Also taking place on De-cember 6th was the 19th annual Downtown Liver-more Holiday Sights & Sounds Parade featuring local marching bands, floats, light displays and the official tree lighting.

Sister City ApplicationsThe Pleasanton Tulancin-

go Sister City Association youth cultural exchange summer program is begin-ning the candidate process. To participate in the pro-gram, a student needs to be entering his or her sopho-more –senior year in high school in the fall and have completed a second year of Spanish by the end of this school year.

This experience can ap-ply as community service graduation requirements and is an excellent experience to enhance any potential col-lege entrance portfolio.

Students can attend any informational meeting re-gardless of their school of attendance to learn about the application and selection process.

• January 7 at Foothill High School (students only) lunch time room B27

• January 8 at Amador High School (students only) at lunch time room Q201

• January 14 at 7-8 PM at Foothill HS, parents and students meeting room C-6

• January 15 at 7-8 PM at Amador HS, parents and students meeting Q201

• January 21 at 7-8 PM at Chamber of Commerce,777 Peters Ave

• February 18 7-8 PM at Chamber of Commerce, 777 Peters Ave

More information about the exchange program can be found on Pleasanton

Tulancingo Sister City As-sociation's website at ptsca.org. Those with questions or who would like to rec-ommend a student, email [email protected] or call at 925 209-5825.

Book of Acts ClassA new adult class focused

on a recently published study, "The Book of Acts from Scratch," will begin on Wednesday, January 7 at the First Presbyterian Church in Livermore.

The Rev. Dr. Donald Griggs, a co-author of the book, will lead the class. Although this course is a follow-up of the study of Luke’s Gospel from Scratch that was offered last winter, it is not necessary to have participated in the earlier class. The class will empha-size several major themes relevant to the church of Jesus’ earliest followers: the centrality of worship and prayer, the roles of key leaders, the work of the Holy Spirit, the movement from Jerusalem to Rome, and the inclusion of a diverse community of believers. Connections will be made between the life of Chris-tians in the early church to life and work as believers in the Body of Christ today.

The class will be held on Wednesday evenings from 7:00-8:30 PM for six weeks from January 7 through

February 11 at First Presby-terian Church. The public is welcome to join in this fascinating study.

Registration is encour-aged, but not required. To

register, contact the church office at 447-2078. The study book will be available for purchase from the church office at 2020 5th Street or at the first meeting.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employ-ees, along with Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), raised $3.4 million to give to charities.

Laboratory employees pledged $2.4 million through the Helping Others More Effectively (HOME) Cam-paign, an annual employee charitable giving campaign celebrating its 40th year. Through the campaign, Lab employees pledged donations via payroll deduction or gave onetime donations that go directly to agencies selected by employees.

In addition, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, which manages the Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration, announced it would donate $1 million in matching funds again this year. With the LLNS match, the total amount raised was $3.4 million to benefit more than 600 community/nonprofit agencies in the Tri-Valley, San Joaquin Valley and Greater Bay Area and beyond.

“During the HOME Campaign, I watched contribu-tions rise with excitement and pride in the generosity of our employees,” said Bill Goldstein, LLNS president and director of the Laboratory. “Their gifts will help make a difference in the lives of many people in our community. I'd also like to thank LLNS, LLC, for its commitment to HOME, and amplifying the Lab's impact through its matching donation.”

Since 2009, the Lab's HOME Campaign has raised more than $3 million annually (including the annual LLNS $1 million match) with a total amount raised of nearly $30 million overall in the last 10 years.

Lab Has Raised $3.4 Million for Nonprofits


1385 S. Livermore Ave., Livermore, CA

Celebrate with Us atOur Savior Lutheran Church

Candlelight Christmas Eve ServicesDec. 24, 7pm & 10pm

Christmas Day Service

10:00am(Festival

Communion Service)

2014 CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE

CHRISTMAS EVE MASSESWednesday, December 24

4:00 p.m. Children’s Vigil Mass 4:15 p.m. Children’s Vigil Mass (Hall) 6:00 p.m. Children’s Vigil Mass 8:00 p.m. Spanish Vigil Mass 12:00 Midnight (11:30 p.m. Prelude)

CHRISTMAS DAY MASSESThursday, December 25, Nativity of the Lord

9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

SOLEMNITY OF MARY MOTHER OF GODThursday, January 1, 2015

8:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

St. Raymond Parish

11555 Shannon Avenue, Dublin (925) 828-2460 • st-raymond-dublin.org

557 Olivina Ave, Livermore (925) 447-1848

www.trinitylivermore.org

Discover the true meaning of Christmas. Sundays in December 8:30 & 11 am

Church

Christmas Eve Services at 5 & 7 pm ( childcare available @ 5 )

Churches Plan Special Services

5:00 pm Service: Intergenerational worship service featuring familiar carols and a small vocal ensemble

9:00 pm & 11:00 pm Service: A traditional service of lessons and carols,

telling the Christmas story with scripture, and uplifting seasonal anthems and carols from

our Sanctuary Choir and Celebration Chimes

2020 Fifth Street, Livermore, CA 94550

Christmas Is . . .

We Invite You to One of our Christmas Eve Services

We are located on the corner of 4th and L St.

The Rotarian Founda-tion of Livermore hosted its fifth annual Holiday Party for Deserving Children on December 7. The event continues the Foundation's history of supporting programs for youth in the Livermore community. The Barn in Livermore was filled with the sights and sounds of the holidays, as 175 children and their parents took part in an afternoon of song, food and enter-tainment.

The children arrived to find the hall decorated. Festive greenery adorned the tables and doorways. The tables were laden with food for snacking. As one of the entertain-ers, Ravioli, said, the Barn was transformed into a place where children could play. This year, steel drum musician Steve McDowell played Carib-bean style holiday music, which the children loved to dance to.

The doors opened at 1:45 and the hall quickly filled up with families. The tiny guests were treated to face painting and balloon creations, while they snacked and played, eagerly anticipat-ing Santa’s arrival from the North Pole.

“Sparkles the Elf and Ravioli” entertained the attendees for the entire afternoon, with slapstick, riddles and funny tricks followed by a comedy/magic show.

Santa arrived giving each child, aged 3-5, a sturdy bicycle complete with training wheels and a helmet. As the guests left for home, many asleep in their parents’ arms, they

Tri-Valley residents donated over two tons of food at the Saturday, December 6th Wheels “Stuff-A-Bus” holiday food drive. The Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA), operator of the Wheels bus system in the Tri-Valley, hosted the holiday food drive in support of the Open Heart Kitchen and Tri-Valley Haven Food Pantry. This year, Safeway Supermarkets hopped on board to promote the holiday food drive at three of its Tri-Valley stores. Wheels bus drivers and other volunteers col-lected non-perishable food donations to help bring good cheer to families this holiday season.

““We are pleased and deeply thankful for the generosity of Tri-Valley shoppers during this holiday season. Impacts to families due to economic hardship can hap-pen anywhere and anytime. The generous donations to support our neighbors is truly heartwarming.” said Chair of the LAVTA Board and Alameda County Supervisor, Scott Haggerty.

Ann King, Executive Director, Tri-Valley Haven and Linda McKeever, Executive Director, Open Heart Kitchen, said, “The donations from the food drive will help over 3,000 people at our agencies this holiday season, and for months to come. It’s wonder-ful to have Wheels and Safeway partnering together to make a difference for those in need in the Tri-Valley.

Safeway provided $10 food donation bags at their stores and donated 100 turkeys as their contribution to the food drive. Safeway’s Public & Government Affairs Direc-tor, Keith Turner, said “In partnering with the Wheels’ for their annual ‘Stuff-A-Bus’ event, we helped ensure that all donations collected at Safeway that day go to the two local food pantries, helping serve those in need in the Tri-Valley.” Safeway also pro-vided 20 gift cards for prizes as part of radio station’s KKIQ livecast at the Livermore Safeway location. Participants there spun a prize wheel for the gift cards, Wheels bus passes and other items.

Wheels “Stuff-A-Bus” food drive is an annual event, and this years’ collection of over two tons of food exceeded all expectations and was the most food collected in the history of the food drive.

For more information on Wheels, visit www.wheelsbus.com.

Volunteers moving the turkeys onto the bus. Included in the photo: Keith Turner (Safeway), Christy Wegener (LAVTA), Linda McKeever (Open Heart Kitchen), John Marchand (Mayor of Livermore), Scott Haggerty (Alameda County Supervisor), Ralph Johnson (Tri-Valley Haven), Wendy Gutshall (Safeway), Gregg Eisenberg (Wheels).

Food collected onboard the Wheels bus at the Livermore location.

Buses Stuffed

with Food for Local Pantries

In the top photo, children enjoy the entertainment; in the bottom photo, one of the partygoers tries out his new bicycle. Photos courtesy of Don Wentz

Rotarian Foundation of Livermore Presents Annual Holiday Party

were given a brightly colored tote bag filled with special gifts for the holidays.

The Rotarian Founda-tion is grateful for the

support provided by local businesses, Rotarians, In-teract Clubs, CAPE Head Start and volunteers.

Information provided by Kathy Coyle

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD OR LEGAL NOTICE IN THE INDEPENDENT,

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LEGAL NOTICESFOR INFORMATION

PLACING LEGAL NOTICES

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESSNAME STATEMENTFILE NO. 498366-7

The following person(s) do-ing business as: (1)MAP Guitars (2)Livermore Guitar Labs, 2127 South Vasco Rd, Suite E, Livermore, CA 94550, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Mike Peterson, 912 Loyola Way, Livermore, CA 94550This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant began to transact business using the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 11/1/2012.Signature of Registrants:s/: Mike PetersonThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alameda on November 18, 2014. Ex-pires November 18, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3718. Published November 27, December 4, 11, 18, 2014.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESSNAME STATEMENT

FILE NO. 498206The following person(s) do-ing business as: Value Auto Sales, 6990 Village Park-way, Suite 208, Dublin, CA 94568, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Cleve R. Brown, 483 Kens-ington Common, Livermore, CA 94551 This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Cleve R. BrownThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alameda on November 13, 2014. Ex-pires November 13, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3719. Published Novem-ber 27, December 4, 11, 18, 2014


FILE NO. 498019The following person(s) do-ing business as: Harrah’s Theatre Equipment Compa-ny, 2468 Genoa Highlands Drive, Genoa, NV 89411, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Harrah’s Amusements Inc, 2468 Genoa Highlands Drive, Genoa, NV 89411This business is conducted by a CoporationThe registrant began to transact business using the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 1984.Signature of Registrants:s/: Jerald L. Harrah, Presi-dentThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alam-eda on November 6, 2014. Expires November 6, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3720. Published November 27, December 4, 11, 18, 2014.


FILE NO. 498583The following person(s) do-ing business as: Health And Wellness Chiropractic, 1726 N. Vasco Rd, Livermore, CA 94551, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Christopher Pham, 1001 S. Main St #Q203, Milpitas, CA 95035 This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Christopher PhamThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alameda on November 24, 2014. Ex-pires November 24, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3721. Published December 4, 11, 18, 25, 2014.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESSNAME STATEMENTFILE NO. 498528-29

The following person(s) do-ing business as: (1)Ameribiz Company (2)AmericAsia Economic and Cultural De-velopment Group, 24837 Joe Mary Ct, Hayward, CA 94541, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):(1)Jie Yu (2)Xiaoxia Wang, 24837 Joe Mary Ct, Hay-ward, CA 94541This business is conducted by Married coupleThe registrant began to transact business using the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 1/22/2010.Signature of Registrants:s/: Jie YuThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alameda on November 21, 2014. Ex-pires November 21, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3722. Published December 4, 11, 18, 25, 2014.


FILE NO. 498279The following person(s) do-ing business as: The Prop Shoppe, 809 El Rancho Dr., Livermore, CA 94551, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):(1)Tara Lynn Ives (2)Mark Thomas Ives, 809 El Rancho Dr., Livermore, CA 94551This business is conducted by a General partnershipThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Tara Ives, PartnerThis statement was filed with

the County Clerk of Alameda on November 14, 2014. Ex-pires November 14, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3724. Published December 11, 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 2015.


FILE NO. 498813The following person(s) doing business as: Hitsujikai Shoji, 10013 Tesla Road, Liver-more, CA 94550, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Gregory J. Lynch, 10013 Tesla Road, Livermore, CA 94550This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Gregory J. LynchThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alam-eda on December 3, 2014. Expires December 3, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3725. Published December 11, 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 2015.

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT

OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAMEFILE NO. 491088

The following person(s) has (have) abandoned the use of the Fictitious Business Name: Bright Future Montessori, 4607 Kinsley St., Dublin, CA 94568.The Fictitious business Name Statement for the Partnership was filed on 05/01/2014 in the County of Alameda.The full name of Registrant: Shaivali Parekh, 4607 Kin-sley St., Dublin, CA 94568This business was conducted by: Signature of Registrant:/s/: Shaivali ParekhThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alam-eda on December 3, 2014. Expires December 3, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3727. Published December 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 8, 2015.

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT

OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAMEFILE NO. 454348

The following person(s) has (have) abandoned the use of the Fictitious Business Name: XITRADER, 4034 San Giorgio Ct., Pleasanton, CA 94588.The Fictitious business Name Statement for the Partnership was filed on 07/26/2011 in the County of Alameda.The full name of Registrant: Golden Future Montessori LLC, 4034 San Giorgio Ct.,

Pleasanton, CA 94588This business was conducted by: Signature of Registrant:/s/: Shilpa Parekh - MemberThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alam-eda on December 3, 2014. Expires December 3, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3728. Published December 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 8, 2015.


FILE NO. 499033The following person(s) doing business as: MT Auto Repair, 5715 Southfront Road, Unit B-2, Livermore, CA 94551, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Timothy John Weigel, 161 Barber Street, Livermore, CA 94550This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Timothy John WeigelThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alameda on December 10, 2014. Ex-pires December 10, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3729. Published December 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 8, 2015.


FILE NO. 498968The following person(s) do-ing business as: L. Sorkin Management, 4736 Central Parkway, Dublin, CA 94568, is hereby registered by the following owner(s):Lauren Marie Sorkin, 4736 Central Parkway, Dublin, CA 94568This business is conducted by an IndividualThe registrant has not yet begun to transact business

using the fictitious business name listed above.Signature of Registrants:s/: Lauren Marie SorkinThis statement was filed with the County Clerk of Alam-eda on December 9, 2014. Expires December 9, 2019.The Independent Legal No. 3730. Published December 18, 25, 2014, January 1, 8, 2015.

ANIMALS2) CATS/ DOGS

ADOPT A DOG OR CAT, for adoption information contact Valley Humane Society at (925)426-8656.

Adopt a new best friend: TVAR, the Tri-Valley Animal Rescue, offers animals for adoption every Saturday and Sunday, excluding most holidays. On Saturdays from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm, dogs are available at the Pleasanton Farmers Market at W. An-gela and First Streets. Two locations will showcase cats only: Petsmart in Dublin from 12:00 to 4:00 and the Pet Extreme in Livermore from 12:00 to 4:00. On Sundays, cats are available at Petsmart in Dublin from 1:00 to 4:00, and Pet Extreme in Livermore from 12:00 to 4:00. For more information, call Terry at (925)487-7279 or visit our website at www.tvar.org

FERAL CAT FOUNDATION Cat & kitten adoptions now at the new Livermore Petco on Saturdays from 10:00AM to 2:30PM. We have many adorable, tame kittens that have been tested for FIV & FELV, altered & vaccinated. We also have adult cats & ranch cats for adoption.

EMPLOYMENTBE WARY of out of area companies. Check with the local Better Business Bureau before you send money or

fees. Read and understand any contracts before you sign. Shop around for rates.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS155) NOTICES

“NOTICE TO READERS: California law requires that contractors taking jobs that total $500 or more (labor and/or materials) be licensed by the Contractors State License Board. State law also requires that contractors include their license numbers on all advertising. Check your contractor’s status at www.cslb.ca.gov or (800)321-CSLB (2752). Unlicensed persons taking jobs less than $500 must state in their advertisements that they are not licensed by the Contrac-tors State License Board.”

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10 More Questions and Answers about Real EstateBy Cher WollardHow much do you know about homes, transactions, buyers,

sellers and real estate law? Realtor Magazine in its online edition publishes monthly quizzes aimed at keeping real estate profession-als sharp.

Here is a sample of those questions:1. What do new-home buyers most wish their home had more of?a. Storageb. Bedroomsc. Kitchen spaced. Bathrooms

2. Which home feature saw the biggest jump in buyer popularity since 2004, when NAR conducted its previous buyer preference survey?

a. High-speed Internet accessb. Media room c. Eat-in kitchend. Oversized garage

3. A typical home owners’ insurance policy doesn’t protect against:

a. Floodsb. Injuries to those making deliveries to the propertyc. Damage to buildings not attached to the housed. The theft of a computer

4. The fair housing laws prohibit all of the following, excepta. Refusal to show, sell, or rent a property because of disabilityb. Expressing a preference for young adults in a listing commentc. Evicting a current user of illegal drugsd. Marketing listings exclusively in a religious publication

5. If a seller using a real estate agent refuses an offer because of the buyer's national origin, who may file a federal lawsuit against the seller?

a. The prospective buyerb. The real estate practitionerc. The federal governmentd. All of the above

6. Which of the following features are required in ground floor units of non-elevator multifamily building of four units or more built after March 1991?

a. An accessible building entrance or an accessible route for persons in wheelchairs?

b. Accessible and usable public and common use areas?c. Light switches, electrical outlets, thermostat, and other envi-

ronmental controls in accessible locationsd. All of the above.

7. As a general rule, foreclosed homes sell for less than their market value.

a. Trueb. False 8. In most states, if you bid on a foreclosed property at an auc-

tion, you also may be bidding on tax liens and other debt accrued by the prior home owners.

a. Trueb. False 9. Home owners can sidestep foreclosure by transferring the title

of their home to a foreclosure rescue company for a year or two.a. Trueb. False

10. What do many experts believe is the key to combating the majority of the largest losses from mortgage fraud?

a. Tougher penalties for perpetratorsb. Outlaw property flippingc. Mandatory background checks for all partiesd. Accurate appraisals

Answers:1. a. Most homeowners wish for more storage.2. d. The feature that has seen the biggest jump in popularity in

the past 10 years is the oversized garage. Two- and three-car garages are now the norm, with higher end homes often having room for even more vehicles.

3. a. A typical homeowner’s insurance policy does not protect against floods. This is why it is important to obtain a Natural Hazard Disclosure report from the seller, indicating if the home you are about to purchase is in a flood zone. If so, you likely will want to obtain flood insurance.

4. c. Fair housing laws do not prohibit landlords from evicting current users of illegal drugs.

5. d. The prospective buyer, the real estate agent and the federal government may all file suit against a seller who discriminates based on the buyer’s national origin.

6. d. Multifamily buildings of 4 or more units, built after March 1991, must be handicapped accessible.

7. b. As a rule, foreclosed homes do not sell for less than market value. Deals can be found, but in most cases, properties sell within 5 percent of market value, based on size, condition and location, whether owned by a bank, an investor or a homeowner, according to a study conducted by First American Real Estate Solutions, a Santa Ana company that maintains a national database of real estate data.

8. a. Foreclosure does not wipe out mortgages and liens on the property. Make sure you conduct a thorough and up-to-date title search before purchasing such a property, or you may find yourself burdened by the previous owner’s debts.

9. b. So-called foreclosure rescue companies are only one of the many scams pulled on folks in difficult circumstances. If you find yourself behind on your mortgage payments, contact your lender to see if you can work out an arrangement to catch up. If you can no longer afford the home, contact your local Realtor, who can help you sell it quickly for a fair price. You may even be able to walk away with some money in your pocket.

10. d. Much of the hyper-inflation of the real estate bubble was caused by unscrupulous buyers, sellers, mortgage specialists and real estate agents with the assistance of appraisers willing to create fraudulent reports. "Inflated appraisals are at the root of most real estate scams, including illegal flipping, cash back at closing schemes, and refinancing rip-offs," authors Ralph R. Roberts and Rachel Dollar wrote in “Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud” (Kaplan Publishing, 2007). The authors note that an unbiased and accurate appraisal protects everyone in a transaction -- buyers are assured they're paying fair market value and lenders know the property is worth enough to justify the loan.

How did you do on the quiz? For still more information about real estate matters, consult your

local Realtor today.Cher Wollard is a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home

Services, Drysdale Properties, (formerly Prudential California Realty) in Livermore.


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By Carol GrahamFrom the start, Susi Rios

knew her family wouldn't be financially able to send her to college.

"When I was applying for the Pedrozzi Scholar-ship, I had no idea what I was going to do with college or even if I was going to be able to go, but it was something I wanted so badly," she said. "I put my story on the table and hoped for the best. As the weeks went by I remember thinking I wouldn't be a recipient because so many people had applied, but I always had that voice in my head telling me 'You gave them what you had to offer, you can only hope for the best.' Then hoping turned into reality."

In 2011, the Pedrozzi Scholarship Foundation (PSF) awarded a $1,000-a-year scholarship for four years to Rios, who is pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Nursing at CSU East Bay.

On January 1, the 2015 scholarship application cycle opens, ending on March 2.

"Graduates of the Liver-more Valley Joint Unified School District of any age are eligible to apply for Pe-drozzi Scholarships," said Executive Director Carolyn Siegfried. "Four different types of scholarships are awarded annually: techni-cal-vocational, community college, undergraduate and graduate."

Since 2008, nearly 650 Pedrozzi Scholars have been awarded more than $2.34 million to help fund college or vocational train-ing.

"There were lots of criti-cal decisions to be made in the early years. Those directors made pivotal decisions that have posi-tioned us to be a unique asset to this community for many years to come," said board member and former President Paula Orrell. "I am equally excited about this newer group of board members who recognize that students and their families need support now more than ever before."

In 2014, three additional eligibility criteria were added: Veterans, Opportu-

nity (low income, first-in- family to attend college), and Principal Nominations for which high school principals nominate two students who have over-come challenges, made marked improvements and are thought to have future potential.

"With the infrastructure for awarding scholarships now firmly in place, we are engaging the broader com-munity to determine how else we can help Livermore students reach their educa-tional goals," said Presi-dent Bryan Balazs, Ph.D.

The foundation's Pre-liminary Scholastic Apti-tude Test Initiative pro-vides practice for the SAT by allowing all sophomores in the district to take the test free of charge during the school day.

"Our partnership with the district in providing a free PSAT test to all students is an example of the holistic approach of our current board," said Orrell. "This test can unlock doors that many students haven’t even imagined. It is be-cause of the support of our donors that we are able to provide this type of benefit to students."

Last year, 136 of the 250 applicants earned scholarships totaling $396,000. Recipients are awarded $1,000 per year for one to four years.

Livermore businessman

and philanthropist Mario Pedrozzi, a Swiss immi-grant, actualized the Amer-ican dream. He settled in Livermore where he tended store for his relatives, the Carattis, before establish-ing a grocery store called the Valley Food Center. In 1955, he purchased the Livermore Hotel where he was known to generously open the doors to those in need of housing.

Pedrozzi envisioned his wealth providing a means for students of all ages to achieve their educational and career goals. His objec-tive was to promote higher education for a wide range of students who demon-strate desire, potential and promise. After his passing in 2002, the foundation's Board of Directors have continued carrying out his vision.

"It was a tremendous weight off of my shoulders to know I could count on the scholarship for as-sistance," said Rios. "The foundation gave me the boost of confidence and can-do mentality to not back out of my dream."

Orell added, "Receiv-ing a Pedrozzi Scholarship tells students that their hard work has been recognized, and that when they embark on their chosen path of education the Pedrozzi Foundation believed in them. Many students tell us that this means more

to them than the financial value of the award. We can’t ask for more than that."

As Rios finishes the second year of the nurs-ing program, she has a message for future PSF scholarship applicants.

"Even if you think you don't have a lot to offer, it's something worth trying," she said. "You may not see what others see in you, and this might be just what you need to push you to success."

To apply, or for more information, visit www.pedrozzifoundation.org.

Pedrozzi Foundation Adds New Scholarship Categories

The competition civics teams from Amador Valley and Foothill High Schools in Pleasanton will be going to the state competition for the We the People annual contest.

The tournament will be held Jan. 31 at Golden Val-ley High School in Bakers-field.

Stacy Sklar, an English teacher at Amador Valley since 1999, is in her first year

Amador, Foothill Ready for State Civics Tournament

of coaching the 22-member competition civics team. She has taken over from Brian Ladd, who coached Amador to second place in the national competition for the past two years in Wash-ington, D.C. Ladd is still teaching, but relinquished his civics team duties.

The Amador team placed first in regional competition to qualify for the state tour-nament. "The students have

been working very hard. I am proud of what they have done so far," said Sklar.

The Foothill 23-member team is coached by Jer-emy Detamore, who teaches world history and AP eco-nomics. The team finished second in regionals to qual-ify for the state competi-tion. "We are excited about state. It's a good group, and they are working hard," said Detamore.

Chamber Accepting Nominations for AwardsThe Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for its 52nd Annual

Community Service Awards. Community members are encouraged to nominate deserving businesses, non-profit organizations and individuals for five awards: Business Philanthropy, Excellence in Business, Excellence in Service, Distinguished Individual and Green Service.

Honorees will be recognized at the Community Service Awards Event in March of 2015. The Community Service Awards began in 1963 to recognize good people doing great things in the community and since then hundreds of recipients have been honored.

Anyone may submit nominations for these awards. The efforts of these businesses, organizations and individuals make a real difference in the quality of life for everyone in Pleasanton. Nomination forms and information regarding the criteria for each award category are available on the Pleasanton Chamber website, www.pleasanton.org.

Nominations are due January 16, 2015 and may be submitted online at www.pleasanton.org, via email to [email protected], faxed to 925.846.9697 or mailed to the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce, 777 Peters Avenue, Pleasanton, CA, 94566. Sponsorship oppor-tunities are available.

The Pleasanton Chamber presented six Community Service Awards in 2014: Business Philanthropy Award: Turman Commercial Painters; Excellence in Business Award: The HopYard American Alehouse & Grill; Excellence in Service Award: Pleasanton Military Families; Distinguished Individual Service Award: Greg Thome; Distinguished Individual Youth Service Award: Sarah and Claire Williams; and Green Business Award: Hacienda.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

THE INDEPENDENT • SECTION A

This year’s Annual LVPAC New Year’s Eve Cele-bration at the Bankhead Theater will feature an Ameri-can original, singer-songwriter Dan Hicks and his band the Hot Licks.

As it has been for the past six years, the annual event will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Mew Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2014. The festivities include a complimentary champagne and dessert reception in the Bankhead Theater lobby immediately following the performance.

Tickets are $60 and are available now through the Bankhead Theater ticket office.

Dan Hicks has been called a “national treasure” by the San Francisco Chronicle, a one-of-a-kind en-tertainer who has carved his way through a number of genres, from western swing and country blues to proto-psychedelia, cultivating a signature sound he calls “folk jazz.” Although Hicks started playing drums in elementary school and was playing local dance gigs at the age of 14, he originally planned to pursue a career in broadcasting when he graduated from San Fran-cisco State College. Instead, he became immersed in the San Francisco folk music scene, playing drum for

Tri-Valley Conservancy (TVC) has announced winners of its 2014 Freeze Frame Photo Competi-tion.

The first place photograph of a hummingbird in flight was taken by Kerry Joy McGehee of Liver-more. The winning photo, titled “Touchdown” was lauded by judges as special due to the out of focus elements that make up the backdrop of the photo’s subject.

“I am deeply attracted to nature’s organic per-fection,” McGehee said. This attraction led to her passion for Macro photography. She most often trains her lens on simple things—from the everyday wonders in her backyard garden, to the views and landscapes near her home in Livermore. McGehee credits her move to California and the incredible

Firehouse Arts Center Celebrates Elvis Presley’s

Birthday WeekendPleasanton’s Firehouse Arts Center kicks off its 2015

programming with the return of Jim Anderson & The Rebels with their “Early Elvis” Tribute Show. Celebrat-ing Elvis Presley’s 80th birthday weekend, the Firehouse presents “Happy Birthday, Elvis” on Saturday, January 3 at 8 p.m.

The show includes such songs as "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "Don’t Be Cruel" and "Jailhouse Rock." Along with his band The Rebels, Jim Anderson will recreate the sound, the songs, and the memories of Elvis Presley.

Vocalist Jim Anderson has made a name for himself with his tribute to the early years (1954-1966) and early hits of Elvis Presley. Selling out most venues, including

'Touchdown' Winning Photo in TVC's Freeze

Frame Competition

(continued on page 2)

New Year's Gala Features Dan Hicks and

the Hot Licks



"Touchdown"

Dan Hicks

Jim Anderson as Elvis

2 THE INDEPENDENT • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

For the sixth year in a row, the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House returns to the Museum of the San Ramon Valley as the location for the first Playwrights’ Theatre series of staged readings for 2015.

Written by Eugene O’Neill while living in Danville from 1937 – 1944, Hughie will be seen for only two performances on Saturday, January 10 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, January 11 at 2:00 p.m. The production of Hughie follows the overwhelming community response to the Eugene O’Neill Festival production of The Iceman Cometh last September. The sold-out performances of Iceman should alert theatre-goers of the need to reserve early for the Janu-ary performances.

When it opened in New York in 1964, New York Times drama critic How-ard Taubman wrote that “the theme of Hughie is

natural beauty found in her bountiful backyard with providing the inspiration to share what she is fortunate enough to view each day.

Susan Gerber of Pleas-anton placed second for her photo, “The Farrier.” The third-place photo, “Seren-ity,” was submitted by Jus-tin Trent, and the People’s Choice Award was claimed by Lawrence Piggins’ photo “Wente Vineyards." Both Trent and Piggins also

Aaron Murphy portrays Erie Smith in Hughie for the O’Neill Foundation’s Playwrights’ Theatre in January.

one which O’Neill wrestled with again and again – the pathetic illusions men cre-ate for themselves to fill the glaring voids of their dreary lives.”

Reservations are avail-able online at the Eugene O’Neill Foundation’s web-site www.eugeneoneill.org or by phone at (925) 820-1818. Tickets are $25.00 per person.

Hughie tells the tale of the lonely late night struggles as a traveling man who spends the midnight hours with the world’s most disinterested lobby clerk in a small New York hotel in 1928.

Aaron Murphy, who portrayed Hickey in the September production of The Iceman Cometh returns to play the role of Erie Smith in the Hughie production. He will be joined by Dirk Alphin as the lobby clerk.

“Hughie is a comple-ment to last September’s production,” says Founda-

tion Vice President for Programs Eric Fraisher Hayes. “Hughie, however, provides a lot more humor than most playgoers expect from O’Neill.”

"Audiences loved Aaron Murphy’s Hickey," says Hayes, who is directing the production. “They’re sure to find him quite engaging in this January production."

Hughie is one of the final plays by the Nobel Prize winning playwright created at Tao House in the Danville hills, part of the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site. The one act play is especially appreci-ated by local O’Neill fans.

A revival of the Broadway production featuring Jason Robards was staged as a benefit for the fledging Eugene O’Neill Foundation back in July 1975 when

call Livermore home.Photographers were

invited to submit images of nature that highlighted the diversity of life in the Tri-Valley, focusing on agricul-ture, wildlife, scenic rural locales, and recreational activities in the region’s many parks. Submissions were judged on originality, technical excellence, com-position, overall impact and artistic merit.

“Each year this contest

produces more incredible and varied images of life in the Tri-Valley area. Our finalists truly reflect the diverse nature, influences and the amazing quality of life that prevail in our re-gion,” said Laura Mercier, TVC’s Executive Director. “These photos are the per-fect embodiment of TVC’s mission: to permanently protect the fertile soils, rangelands, open space and biological resources

and to support a viable agricultural economy in the Tri-Valley area.”

Mercier invites area residents and visitors to view the photographs at one of the traveling exhibi-tions planned for 2015, by visiting the TVC’s website at www.trivalleyconservan-cy.org and/or to purchase a 2015 calendar comprised of the top 12 photos from 2014 – also available online.

TVC maintains an ongo-ing exhibit of current and former contest winners in its office located at 1457 First Street, Livermore. It also organizes traveling exhibits of the top 12 and 25 photos from each year. Public exhibits in 2015 are currently slated to include Livermore Public Library for the month of March, Robert Livermore Com-munity Center in April, and Cuda Ridge Winery

efforts were underway to acquire the O’Neill home and property, and save it from the commercial de-velopment expected at the time. Robards, along with

his colleague, Jack Dodson donated their services for performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley and for a two week run at the West-wood Playhouse in Los Angeles.

The January Play-wrights’ Theatre is pro-duced by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House in partnership with the National Park Service and hosted by the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.

This is the nineteenth season for Playwrights’ Theatre which was begun in 1996 to provide audi-ences with an opportunity to become more familiar with O’Neill’s early plays. The series also presents works by other playwrights who influenced O’Neill or by dramatists who were influenced by O’Neill.

Two additional Play-wrights’ Theatre programs are planned for May and will be presented in the Old Barn at the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site.

from May through July. Additional displays of the 2014 finalists will include the Livermore Premium Outlets and Purple Orchid Inn & Spa, dates yet TBA.

For additional infor-mation about TVC or the Freeze Frame Photo Competition, or to order a 2015 Calendar, please visit www.trivalleyconservancy.org, email [email protected] or call 925-449-8706.

FREEZE FRAME(continued from front page)

Eugene O'Neill Foundation

Playwrights' Theatre Series Opens with Reading of 'Hughie'

THE INDEPENDENT • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 3

The NutcrackerVALLEY DANCE THEATRE

DEC 20, 21� 2pm DEC 1�9, 20, 21� 7pm

Big Fat Year End Kiss OffWILL DURST and FRIENDS

Fri DEC 26 8pm

SECOND SHOW ADDED!

Olate Dogs Holiday Rescue TourWINNERS OF AMERICA’S GOT TALENT

Sat DEC 27 7pm

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY!

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks AN AMERICAN ROOTS CELEBRATION

Wed DEC 31� at 8pm

Tango Buenos Aires“SONG OF EVA PERÓN”

Wed JAN 7 7:30pm

George WinstonINSPIRED RURAL FOLK PIANO

Fri JAN 9 8pm

CelebrateThe Season

BUY TICKETS

call 925.373.6800

click bankheadtheater.org

come by 2400 First Street, Livermore

Master Human Figure Photographer Speaks at

Pleasanton Public Library Internationally acclaimed human figure photog-

rapher Ding Hong Wu will speak at the Pleasanton Public Library on Tuesday, December 30 at 3:00 p.m. Wu will share his experiences and techniques while showing his photographs and the stories be-hind them.

The program is free and open to all. No registra-tion is required.

Ding Hong Wu, born in Shanghai, China, studied Chinese music and played the musical instrument Pipa as a child. His studies of Chinese calligraphy, painting and literature laid a solid foundation for his artistic accomplishments as a professional photogra-pher later on. Since the 1980s he has won numerous awards in photography competitions both in China and internationally.

Now residing in New York, he is known as a Master Human-Figure Photographer and has pub-lished books on photographing techniques includ-ing forming artistic concepts, theme construction, picture composition, human-figure body language, shadow arrangement, etc.

The library is located at 400 Old Bernal Avenue.

their appearances at the Firehouse in record-breaking time, the five-member group has been touted by lifelong Elvis fans as, “The most authentic tribute to early Elvis Presley to date.”

According to Anderson, he began performing in 1986 while in high school after being coerced by his football buddies. After about six words of "Love Me Tender," to his surprise, he received a screaming standing ovation and could barely hear the music. The reaction was so positive that Jim was immediately booked for several small venues. The venues continued to grow larger and he became an opening act for such renowned names as: The Platters, The Coasters, The Isley Brothers, and the "Ragin' Cajun" himself, Doug Kershaw.

For those who had the opportunity to see and hear Elvis Presley in the first half of his career, this show will bring back great memories. For those who never had the opportunity to see Elvis when his brand of rock ‘n’ roll was considered “dangerous," this show will take you back in time and introduce the songs that changed the direction of music forever.

Reserved seating tickets are $15 - $25. Tickets can be purchased online at www.firehousearts.org, by call-ing the 925-931-4848, and in person at the Box Office, 4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton. Box Office hours are Wednesday - Friday 12:00 noon-6:00pm and Saturdays 10:00am-4:00pm, and two hours prior to the perfor-mance.

the seminal San Francisco rock band, The Charlatans, before taking up the guitar and forming the Hot Licks in the late 1960s. His creative songwriting and perfor-mance style earned him a reputation for originality and humor with such songs as “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?” His lyrics range from the simply sublime to the sublimely ridiculous, shot through with an eclectic touch.

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks performed together for more than a decade, releasing several Billboard-charting records. Although Hicks performed and recorded solo for a period of time, by 2000 he had revived the Hot Licks for a studio album release. Hicks has appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine three times and continues to release recordings of original songs to critical acclaim. Even as popular music and preferences have changed, Hicks has held to his own unique and eclectic style, satisfying fans both old and new.

“New Year’s Eve with Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks” will bring to a close the festive 2014 holiday season at the Bankhead Theater. Leading off the LVPAC Presents series in 2015 will be Tango Buenos Aires in a perfor-mance on January 7th. “Song of Eva Perón,” a spectacle

The photo works of master human figure photographer Ding Hong Wu are featured in a discussion with the photographer at the Pleasanton Public Library on Tuesday, December 30.

of music and dance, celebrates the epic life story of the former First Lady who is considered the most important woman in Argentinian history. Following Tango Buenos Aires in January will be the return of two local favorites, pianist George Winston on January 9th and the familiar folk harmonies of The Kingston Trio on January 10th.

The Bankhead Theater is located at 2400 First Street in downtown Livermore. Tickets may be purchased at the box office, online at www.bankheadtheater.org or by calling 373-6800.

ELVIS BIRTHDAY(continued from front page)

NEW YEAR'S EVE(continued from front page)



An elegant Christmas Eve party is one of the scenes from The Nutcracker.

By Carol GrahamOn the way to the

Bankhead Theater, the five-year-old girl fairly bounced along while holding her mother's hand. Finally unable to restrain herself, she looked up and half laughing, half speaking said the words that explained it all: "I'm going to see The Nutcracker!"

It was, after all, a night for magic. The Valley Dance Theatre opened its sumptuous 35th annual full-length, classical produc-tion of The Nutcracker on December 13th.

"This is our third an-nual Nutcracker at the Bankhead. We started this tradition when Claire was three," said mother Simona Jackson. "I remember at-tending a few Nutcracker performances as a child with my mom and grand-ma. We didn't have many holiday traditions when I was growing up, but the magical memories of The Nutcracker remained in my mind and I always knew that as soon as Claire was old enough we would make it a special annual event. It is something that we both eagerly look forward to all year long."

Every year, mother and daughter sit in the same seats - front row, center - because Claire loves being close to the dancers and able to peek down to watch the orchestra.

"My very favorite part is the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," said Claire, who has been taking ballet since she was two. "I love her because she is so grace-ful and her costume is so sparkly and gorgeous. Also, the music that she dances to is my favorite music in the show."

It is clear that the

The Nutcracker Continues to Cast Its SpellAnnual Production Performed by Valley Dance Theatre at the Bankhead Theater

wonder and beauty of The Nutcracker has cast its spell on Claire just as it has on countless theatergo-ers since it premiered 122 years ago at St. Peters-burg's Mariinsky Theatre in 1892.

Yet its appeal is neither age nor gender specific. For 14-year-old Zach Stewart, who attended opening night with his par-ents, a favorite scene was when Herr Drosselmeyer performed magic tricks for children at the party. "I had seen The Nutcracker before when I was little, and was curious to see if it was as good as I remem-ber," he said. "It was better because I understood the

play better."The story of The Nut-

cracker, for all its mesmer-izing splendor, is actually quite simple: a young girl named Clara receives a nutcracker from her mysterious uncle during a Christmas Eve party. Ac-cording to German legend, nutcrackers were given as keepsakes to bring good luck. Fierce protectors, nutcrackers bare their teeth to evil spirits and serve as traditional messengers of goodwill.

After the guests depart and Clara has gone to bed, she creeps back downstairs to see her treasured gift. When the clock strikes midnight, Clara is startled

to see mice appearing from all corners of the living room. She watches in amazement as soldiers and the nutcracker come to life to battle the mice. The fighting reaches a climax when Clara strikes the Mouse King to the floor with her slipper. With their leader fallen, the mice disperse. The victory that Clara has brought about transforms the nutcracker into a gallant prince. Turning to her gratefully, the prince invites Clara to accompany him to the Kingdom of the Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy reigns as queen.

What is extraordinary about the Valley Dance

Theatre's production is the combination of charm and finesse with which its dancers perform. The cast, all volunteers, range in age from four to over 80, with the majority still in school. Yet they exquisitely perform the same choreog-raphy that professionals do.

Sixteen-year-old Ga-briel Gonzalez has been performing in The Nut-cracker for seven years. "The best part," he said, "is being part of such an amaz-ing production and feeling proud of all the hard work that goes into the show. I've met many people who have changed my life, and I'm much more comfort-able performing in front of

large crowds as well."One of the most exciting

aspects of The Nutcracker is its blending of classi-cal ballet with elements of other styles of dance, including the playfulness of Chinese dance, the hyp-notic languor of Arabian dance, and the athleticism of Russian dance.

When Jacob Gonzalez performed the robust Rus-sian Cake dance, the audi-ence clapped along and roared its approval. "My favorite memory is when I'm backstage and see all the smiling faces in the crowd," said the 13-year-old, who also performed as the Nutcracker.

The production opened with a delightful perfor-mance by the Harmony Fusion Chorus, a chapter of the Sweet Adelines International, singing carols a cappella, while Tchaikovsky's breathtaking music was played superbly by the Livermore-Amador Symphony.

For little Claire, the fun did not end after the final curtain. "Especially excit-ing for her," said Simona, "is getting to meet all the dancers and take pictures with them after the show."

Upcoming performanc-es are Friday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 21 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets range from $19 (for students and under 18) to $38.

The Bankhead The-ater is located at 2400 First Street in downtown Livermore. Tickets may be purchased at the box office, online at www.bankhead-theater.org or by calling 373-6800.

For more information, visit valleydancetheatre.com.


The Teen Poet of the Month for November is Paxtom Bammer. The program is administered by the Livermore Poet Laureate Kevin Gunn.

About this student, his teacher says, "Paxton is a very caring and sweet kid with such a love of life. He explores and investigates and often takes things apart just to find out how something is made and how he can make it better. He can do anything he puts his mind to and often doesn't realize just how smart he is. He is ex-tremely athletic and active and we often find him play-ing sports in the backyard with his youngest brother, which also brings us to another wonderful attribute. He is a great big brother and loves all of his siblings and truly enjoys spending time with his family. His enthusi-asm for life and his creative nature has translated into a new avenue of exploration through language and poetry. What an accomplishment for him! "

The theme for November was Technology. The win-ning poem reads as follows:

In a world without technologycan you imagine how it would be?To not have any lightsWe would probably stay home during nights

In a world without technologywe will lose many forms of connectionthere will be no wifi or cellulardistance will be as it should

But without technology We will not have people far awaybecause we can only walk by footMost will live at home forever

Without technologyperhaps there will be more friendlinessand more people will be seennot looking at their technology screens

Instead they will stop and listen giving up their attentionto the people by their side.

Perhaps without technologywe would have to do things manuallyLife may be tough physically

This is the horrible ironywhile it gives us great connection

as great as that may beleaves us more detached than we should be

The theme for December is Holiday Hyperbole. En-tries should be 30 lines or less. The deadline to entry the competition is Dec. 31. Send poems to [email protected]. Reference December Teen Poetry in the subject line. Include name, grade, school and interests.

Teen Poet of the Month Selected in Livermore


The annual Big Bike Build took place under the sponsorship of TurningWheels for Kids. On Dec. 6, more than 300 volunteers worked together at the Alameda County Fairgrounds to assemble 750 bicycles. The bicycles were then given to children. In the photo at left, Patsy Ronat and Erin Jackson worked together.


The City of Dublin is accepting nominations for the 2014 Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, and Organization of the Year.

The purpose of these awards is to recognize outstand-ing individuals and groups who have contributed to the quality of life in Dublin in 2014. The Young Citizen of the Year recognizes the volunteer service of a Dublin youth in the 1st – 12th grade.

Nominations for the awards are based on five estab-lished criteria: the Dublin Pride – Integrity in Action Program’s ten characteristics (i.e. Responsibility, Respect-fulness, Caring, Giving, Positive Attitude, Trustworthi-ness, Cooperation, Doing One’s Best, Honesty, and Self-Discipline); originality and uniqueness of the activity/project; overall relevance and importance to the Dublin community; time and effort spent; and challenge(s) in ac-complishing the activity/project.

All nominees will be recognized at the Volunteer Recognition Event to be held at the Shannon Commu-nity Center on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, where the winners will be announced. The Organization of the Year will receive a $500 cash prize, and a $300 donation will be given to each of the Citizen and Young Citizen of the Year’s favorite non-profit organization.

Nominations can be completed online at the City’s website, www.dublin.ca.gov/vre, or by calling the City Clerk’s Office at (925) 833-6650. The nomination dead-line is Friday, January 16, 2015, at 5:00 p.m.

After leaving the Rainbow Festival, Claudia and Josh-ua hitchhiked all over the backwoods of the American Southwest seeking Claudia’s perfect community. They spent time in a survivalist commune in Northern Idaho living in a tepee, sleeping on the ground beneath drying racks of deer innards, battling swarms of mosquitoes, ticks, flies, and fleas. They stayed in a one-room cabin on Guemes Island, in the southeastern portion of the San Juans. The cabin had no running water or electricity. They also found shelter in a most unlikely place: a dilapidated trailer and a decommissioned ice cream truck, a big white refrigerated van that at one time had roamed through sub-urban neighborhoods playing metallic clown music. The truck, thick with spiders and their webs, had blackberry vines snaking through the holes in the windshield. During this time, Claudia worked at menial jobs and tutored, often in exchange for a place to stay.

Claudia had a series of relationships, including one with a Mennonite Rastafarian carpenter and pot dealer, and another with a perpetually stoned Norwegian car-penter. However, the one that would affect her life and the life of her son the most was with a man she met in a ganja-farming settlement.

Leopoldo was a political refugee from the death squads in El Salvador. Joshua describes him as “Che Guevara and Archbishop Romero all in one.” Leopoldo wore a bandana around his shaggy black hair that draped his wispy goatee. His body had knife scars, jagged broken bottle marks, rough patches from being dragged through gravel, and rounded bullet scars. This revolutionary, who had been tortured for fighting for his beliefs, enthralled Claudia with his tales of guerrilla fighting. Soon, he moved into the cabin where Claudia and Joshua stayed.

Joshua saw sides of Leopoldo that his mother did not. For one thing, Joshua discovered that Leopoldo could be extremely manipulative. He witnessed Leopoldo play-ing moments of romantic tenderness and passion against periods of psychological and physical abuse. During the passionate moments, Joshua understood he was not to be seen or heard. Often, either he would hold his bladder for hours or wait outside in the frigid snow rather than disturb the couple. For another, Joshua realized that Leop-oldo was racist, sexist, homophobic, and violent, qualities that went against everything his mother had taught him. However, Leopoldo was casting a spell over his mother. She excused his behavior by saying he had been through many hardships.

Before too long, Leopoldo and Claudia were fighting a lot. He would accuse her of cheating on him and beat her. Joshua would watch helplessly, fearing for her safety as well as his own. After the fights and the beatings, when Leopoldo was usually under the influence of alcohol, the make-up time would follow. Leopoldo would present Claudia with flowers, read her poetry, and sweet talk her into bed.

One day, Leopoldo was arrested for drunk driving.

Claudia bailed him out with money she borrowed from her mother. However, his arrest brought him to the at-tention of the immigration authorities, who threatened to deport him because he was an undocumented alien. If returned to El Salvador, Leopoldo said that as a revo-lutionary he would be shot as soon as the plane landed and his feet touched the tarmac. There was only one thing that could save him. He and Claudia had to marry.

The day before the wedding, they got into a fight. Leopoldo beat Claudia so badly, with Joshua cowering in the loft at the top of the cabin, that the wedding had to be postponed until Claudia’s appearance improved. A week later, after the swelling went down, the couple married. The beatings resumed.

Leopoldo insisted they move up the mountain to a more remote, isolated location. Jealous and possessive, he wanted to make sure his wife had no opportunities to sleep with other men. The site he selected had no physi-cal shelter, so they lived out of cardboard boxes. These lasted only until the rainy season began. After their shelter dissolved in the first hard downpour, Claudia and Leopoldo picked up plastic sheeting and a pile of dirty lumber and crumbling particleboard from a scrap yard and built a lean-to, 7 feet by 5 feet, 5 feet high at its highest point, which they nailed onto a large tree stump. They slept on a mattress and used a camping stove on top of the particle board for their kitchen. This became their home for the duration of the long, wet, freezing winter of 1986. Joshua describes it as the low point in his life. The only respite he could foresee was to get sick and spend time in a hospital.

The unbearable living conditions finally propelled Claudia to take matters into her own hands. With money she earned taking care of an elderly lady, Claudia rented an apartment in the town of Stanwood, in Snohomish County, Washington. It included running water and electricity. Joshua even had his own room. He celebrat-ed his eleventh birthday with a special present he gave to himself. He took a hot shower, washed away the filth and tree sap encrusted on his body, and changed into clean, dry clothes, an ordinary enough hygienic practice most people took for granted.

Leopoldo moved with them, but when the beatings resumed, Claudia finally realized that things were never going to get better between them. She planned to help him get through his immigration hearings and then leave him. Until then, the noisy battles continued. Josh-ua sought a quiet refuge in the town library. He read everything he could about his religious background, Ju-daism, in order to learn about his heritage, about who he was. His wanderings through these literary oases gave him the anchor and the sense of community and identity that had been missing during his early childhood years.

Today, Joshua Safran is an East Bay attorney who champions women’s rights, often offering pro bono legal services to battered women. His work for one such

woman, Deborah Peagler, resulted in her release from a life sentence after having served 26 years, from 1983 to 2009. She had been convicted of the murder of her bat-terer, a pimp and a drug dealer who forced her into prosti-tution when she was 15. The celebrated case was captured in the poignant 2011 award-winning documentary “Crime After Crime,” which was filmed as events unfolded in real time over five of the seven years Joshua represented her.

Joshua feels there are many reasons why he took the case and devoted so much time to it. The most subtle reason, he says, is this: “I think I needed to prove to my 10-year-old self that I had the strength and the courage to stand up for a woman like my mother, because I didn’t when I was 10. I have carried with me a deep shame and a deep trauma.”

____________________Next month: The final part of this profile, an interview

with Joshua Safran, who reflects on why his feminist mother allowed herself to be battered and why she sub-jected both she and her son to such harsh living condi-tions.

By Sarah Bobson

“The Hippie Life” (part 2)

Dublin Taking Nominations for Contributing to Quality of Life


A mix of festive holiday shopping with delicious Livermore Valley wine attended by members Pleasan-ton Military Families produced a room full of smiles and hugs.

During the annual Sip & Shop, Rubino Estates Winery hosted an event to benefit Pleasanton Military Families (PMF), a service and support group for people who have friends and family members in the military. They not only support each other, but also provide sur-prise homecoming’ events when local men and women return from duty and care packages when they are in the field.

Maryann Gleason, Retail Manger at Rubino, came up with idea years ago to choose a local nonprofit or-ganization to highlight and offer them a small funding event. Maryann shared, "It was an honor and a privi-lege to meet and be a small part of PMF. I am grateful to Rubino Estates Winery for allowing us to have the Pleasanton Military families represented at Sip and Shop. It was a memorable night for all."

This year, just under $600 was raised through raffles donated by Sip & Shop vendors. Grace Fields, Grade 6 at East Avenue Middle School in Livermore, was there to help her mom with Downtown Livermore’s Woopsiedaisy Toy Shop’s display table. Grace was excited to be part of the event and shared, "I think Pleasanton Military Families is valuable to people who

Main Street Designs Antique and Christmas Shop at 57 So. L Street in Livermore, is selling See’s Candies as a fundraiser for the Bothwell Arts Center. This is the store’s 3rd year hosting this sweet answer to gift giving.

“The Bothwell Arts Center is a great community asset and we are happy to be able to help raise funds to con-tinue the arts in the Livermore area," says owner Dennis Swanson. “It’s an easy way to help the arts and offer the popular candies. Everybody loves See’s chocolates."

Main Street Designs Christmas Store has merged antiques with vintage and modern Christmas decorating items to create a unique and magical store. Purchasing See's Candies from Main Street Designs Christmas Store raises funds for the Bothwell Arts Center, located at 2466 8th Street. The Bothwell Arts Center is dedicated to giving the arts inexpensive room to grow and reaches Livermore and surrounding towns.

Free area delivery is available for orders totaling over $250. Contact Anne Giancola at [email protected] for more information.

Store hours are Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information, call 371-6234.

Livermore student, Grace Fields, supports Pleasanton Military Families at Rubino Estate Winery’s Sip & Shop.

have friends and family in the military. It can be very scary to have the people you love the most so far away doing dangerous things. My grandpa was a Marine and served in the Vietnam War; he sacrificed a lot for our country. My cousin is a Marine and just finished his second deploy-ment to Afghanistan; I am so relieved he is home."

Pleasanton Military Families had military jackets available for guests to "model."

Eric Pearson, member of PMF and father of two US Marines who have been on deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan, shared that the vest is known by many names -- Flack Jacket, Bullet Proof Vest, and Plate carrier. It is the kind of vest the Marines wear. The vest also cantains areas where holders for Ammo, Knives, Medical Kit, Grenades, and other pieces of equipment can be attached. If the vest were fully loaded with real equipment and ballistic plates, it would weigh about 35 to 45 pounds, however the vest that Grace was trying on has wood ammo, wood maga-zines, with wood dowels instead of real ammo and grenades. Combat troops would also be wearing a backpack containing sup-plies and a water pack over the vest that can bring the weight to 80 plus pounds. Grace said, “The vest was real heavy. I can‘t imagine having to wear that thing while running up hills and carrying weapons.”

Find out more about Pleasanton Military Fami-lies and how you can be part of this homegrown group. http://www.pleas-antonmilitaryfamilies.org/index.html

Pleasanton Military Families Treated to Holiday Festivities

See's Candy Fund-raiser for Bothwell Arts Center


The neighbors living on a part of 6th Street in Livermore provide unique decorations with the theme "Holiday Spirits."


ART/PHOTO EXHIBITSLivermore Art Association Gallery,

located in the Carnegie Building, offers art classes, unusual gifts, painting rentals, art exhibits and information pertaining to the art field, 2155 Third St., Livermore. The gallery has been open since 1974 and is run as a co-op by local art-ists. Hours are Wed.-Sun. 11:30-4 p.m. For information call 449-9927.

Members of the Pleasanton Art League Public Art Circuit are currently exhibiting art at six busi-nesses in the Pleasanton - Dublin Area. Viewing locations are: Bank of America at 337 Main Street, Pleasanton; Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce at 777 Peters Street, Pleasanton; Sallman, Yang, & Alameda CPA's at 4900 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton; US Bank at 749 Main Street, Pleasanton; Edward Jones at 6601 Dublin Boulevard, Dublin; and The Bagel Street Café at 6762 Bernal Avenue Pleasanton. If interested in becoming a member of the Pleasanton Art League or for information regarding the Public Art Circuit, call John Trimingham at (510) 877-8154.

LAA Gallery’s Holiday Boutique Carn-egie Building located at 2155 3rd St., Livermore. Unique art and craft works, wearables and jewelry will be available for holiday gift giving. Artists will be on hand to discuss their work. Refreshments will be served. Regular holiday gallery hours will be Wed. – Sun. 11:30 –4 as well as Mon. 12/22, Tues. 12/23 and Wed. 12/24.

Color, Texture, Form, Expressionism is on display in the paintings of Louise Gray, Lenore Kreit and Marco Rosales Shaw display at Prudential California Realty, 1983 Second Street, Livermore. The show, “Color, Texture, Form,” runs through Jan. 5. The show is open for viewing during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., or by ap-pointment. For information, contact Cher Wollard at 925 784-4679 or [email protected]

Water+Color, California Watercolor Association’s 45th National Exhibi-tion, Harrington Gallery, Jan. 15-Feb. 21, Reception, Jan 15, 6 p.m. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehouse-arts.org or 931-4848.

MEETINGS/CLASSESShow and Tell, Artists are invited to

a monthly function at the Bothwell Arts Center, called “Show & Tell. 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Bothwell Arts Center, 2466 Eighth St., Livermore. Artists bring finished or unfinished work to show and if desired, receive a critique

from the group. Refreshments are brought by some of the artists, and a donation of $5.00 is desired although not mandatory. Contact for this event is D’Anne Miller at [email protected], or Linda Ryan at [email protected]

ACC/Art Critique & Coffee, Discuss and share work with Profes-sional Artists in sketching, painting, exhibiting and marketing your work. ACC members currently working on exhibiting theme works, under the Inspiration of "The Artist's Edge /The Edge of Art & Chosen Pathways." Meets and Critiques Friday mornings in Pleasanton. [email protected]

Figure Drawing Workshop, every Fri-day 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Artists bring their own materials and easels. Open to all artists. Professional artist models (nude). No instructor. Stu-dents under 18 need written parental permission to attend. Cost $20 per session. Bothwell Arts Center, 2466 8th St., Livermore. Coffee, tea and refreshments are available. Call or e-mail Barbara Stanton for more info about the workshop, 925-373-9638 - [email protected].

Preschool Art classes: Thursday mornings 9:45 – 10:45. Children aged 3-5 are welcome to join this class. Classes cover drawing, painting, print-making, sculpture and ceramics. For further information, contact Thomasin Dewhurst at (925) 216-7231 or [email protected] or visit http://childrensart-classesprojects.blogspot.com/

Art Classes, For children, teens and adults. Beginner to advanced. Drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics taught by highly experienced artist and art instructor, Thomasin Dewhurst. Weekday and weekend classes, Homeschool classes, Special classes during school breaks offered. (925) 216-7231 or email [email protected] for further info.

Piano and keyboard lessons, For children to adult. Beginner to early intermediate level. Half-hour private classes or small group classes offered. Twice-yearly recitals. (925) 216-7231 or email [email protected] for further info.

PPL/Pleasanton Poetry League, now meeting the 1st Thursday and 3rd Wednesday of each month 7:00 at The Corner Bakery Cafe in Pleasanton. Join us as we challenge ourselves to poetically relay our thoughts, emotions and experiences through poetry. Become a member & share your work - Contact [email protected] for more info on Theme Challenges, Membership & Opportunities.

Ukulele Circle, Meetings held the

2nd and last Saturday from 12 noon-1 p.m. at Galina’s Music Studio located at 1756 First St., Livermore. Confirm participation by calling (925) 960-1194 or via the website at www.GalinasMusicStudio.com. Beginners are welcome. Bring some music to share with the group. Ukuleles are available for purchase. Small $5 fee to cover meeting costs.

Colored Pencil - Basics and Beyond - Classes are for beginners and intermediate students. Classes start Mon., Jan. 5th 9:30 to noon for five weeks and Tues., Jan. 6th, 6:30 to 9PM for five weeks. Instructor Maryann Kot, Location, Bothwell Arts Center 2466 8th St. Livermore. Sign up, Way Up Art and Frame 925-443-3388

WINE & SPIRITSLas Positas Vineyards, Livermore,

Sunday, December 21, "Sunday Funday" featuring newest wine & cheesecake cups pairing flight. $10 for club members & $15 for non-members. Live music by guitarist Anthony Delaney from 1-4pm, check out his website at www.anthonyo-tisdelaney.com For more information please contact us at 925-449-9463 or email [email protected]

MUSIC/CONCERTSBlacksmith Square, music every Sat-

urday 3 to 6 p.m. in the courtyard, 21 South Livermore Ave., Livermore.

Chris Bradley's Jazz Band appears regularly at: The Castle Rock Restaurant in Livermore/on Portola Avenue-- the 2nd and 4th Tuesday

each month from 7:30-9:30--Dance floor, full bar, small cover.

A Jazzy Christmas Sing-Along, will be hosted by the Catholic Community of Pleasanton (CCOP) at 7 p.m. on Fri., Dec.19. St. Elizabeth Seton Church, 4001 Stoneridge Drive, Pleasanton Tap your toes and sing holiday favor-ites with CCOP's choirs and a lively jazz band. Refreshments and good cheers will follow. Free-will offering.

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, New Year’s Eve Party, 8 p.m. Wed., Dec. 31. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadthe-ater.org or 373-6800.

Happy Birthday, Elvis! The Firehouse Arts Center celebrates Elvis Presley’s Birthday Weekend with The Early Elvis Tribute Show featuring returning hit group Jim Anderson & The Rebels. From Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog to Don't be Cruel and Jailhouse Rock, these are the songs that keep the legend alive. Along with his rockin' band The Rebels, Jim Anderson recreates the sound, the songs, and the memories of Elvis Presley on this special weekend. Saturday, January 3 at 8 p.m. Reserved seating tickets $15- $25. Tickets available at www.firehousearts.org, 925-931-4848, or at the center Box Office, 4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton.

Marc Cohn in Concert. SOLD OUT. Grammy winning singer and songwriter of the hit “Walking in Memphis” comes to the Firehouse Arts Center for the first time on Friday, January, 9, at 8:00 p.m. One of this generation’s most compelling singer/songwriters, Cohn combines

the precision of a brilliant tunesmith with the passion of a great “soul man.” Reserved seating tickets are $35.00 - $45.00; available at www.firehousearts.org, 925-931-4848, or at the center Box Office, 4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton.

George Winston, rural folk piano. 8 p.m. Fri., Jan. 9. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater.org or 373-6800.

Larry Coryell Guitar’s Godfather of Fusion, Jan. 10, 8 p.m. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehousearts.org or 931-4848.

The Kingston Trio, 8 p.m. Sat., Jan. 10. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadthe-ater.org or 373-6800.

Sonic Escape Daredevils with Instru-ments, Jan. 16, 8 p.m. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehousearts.org or 931-4848.

Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council Presents: ‘A Night to Remember’ 8 p.m. Jan. 24, Amador Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton. Featur-ing pianists Tamriko Siprashvili and Temirzhan Yerzhanov in concert to benefit Arts in the Schools. Tickets available at the Firehouse Arts Center, www.firehousearts.org.

ON THE STAGESleeping Beauty, San Ramon Commu-

nity Theater production directed by Lisa Barber. Based on the Fairy Tale by Charles Perrault. Weekends Dec. 5-21, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. n December 5th at San Ramon's quaint Front Row Theater, 17011 Bollinger Canyon Rd., San Ramon. For more information call 925-389-PLAY (7529) , or email [email protected].

My Son Pinocchio Jr., live Holiday youth musical theater production. Amador Theater in Pleasanton. This new musical, which retells the familiar Disney story from Geppetto’s perspective, features the beloved classics songs “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “I’ve Got No Strings (To Hold Me Down),” as well as a host of new songs. Wonderful, timely lessons about what it means to be “the perfect child.” Presented by City of Pleasanton Civic Arts Stage Company in partnership with Bay Area Children’s Theatre. December 12 – 21. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $6-$18, available at www.firehousearts.org, 925-931-4848, or at the Firehouse Arts Center Box Office, 4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton. Tickets are also available at the Amador Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton, 2

hours prior to the performance. The Olate Dogs Holiday Rescue Tour

- Winners of America’s Got Talent. 2 p.m. Dec. 27. Bankhead Theater, 24oo First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater.org or 373-6800.

Tango Buenos Aires, Song of Eva Peron, 7:30 p.m. Wed., Jan. 7. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater or 373-6800.

Bare Bones staged reading of Sharr White's two-hander Annapurna, directed by Bay Area director Phoebe Moyer. Mature language and subject matter. Appropriate for ages 16 and up. Monday, January 5, 2015 at 8 p.m. Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St., Hayward. $10 open seating (510) 881-6777; www.dmtonline.org

19th annual Playwrights’ Theatre series, sponsored by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House, opens in early January with one of the “Tao House Plays” written by O’Neill while he lived in Danville from 1937-1944. Two-character play, Hughie, Satur-day, January 10 at 8:00 p.m., and on Sunday, January 11 at 3:00 p.m. in a staged reading at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley. Reservations for Hughie at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley are available online at www.eugeneoneill.org, or by phone at (925) 820-1818. Admission for adults is $25. A limited number of student tickets at $10 each is avail-able for high school students. The Museum is located at 205 Railroad Avenue in Danville.

Les Miserables, weekends Jan. 17-31, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre at the Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadthe-ater.org or 373-6800.

The Golden Follies 2015, Jan. 18, 2 p.m. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehousearts.org or 931-4848.

Forever Plaid, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Jan. 30-Feb. 15. Firehouse

A Night to Remember concert

The Kingston Trio


Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehousearts.org or 931-4848.

The Taffetas, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Jan. 31-Feb. 14. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Ave., Pleasanton. www.firehousearts.org or 931-4848.

COMEDYBig Fat Year End Kiss Off XXII

Comedy Show featuring Will Durst And Company, 8 p.m. Dec. 26, Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater.org. 373-6800.

MOVIESChristmas Classics showing at the

Vine Cinema & Alehouse in Liver-more: It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 23 at 7:15; White Christmas Dec. 18 at 7:15; Home Alone Dec. 21 at 7:15; ELF Dec. 21 at noon; A Christmas Story Dec. 20 at noon; and, Miracle on 34th Street Dec. 22 at 7:15. Located at 1722 First St., Livermore, 447-2545 or vinecinema.com

Classic Film Series, First Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. through June 2015. Pleasanton Library meet-ing room. The programs are free and all are welcome to attend. Note that some films are mature in content and may not be suitable for children.

DANCEThe Nutcracker - Valley Dance

Theater, annual Tri-Valley holiday event: full production of The Nutcracker,accompanied by the Livermore-Amador Symphony. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. Dec. 20 and 21, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Dec. 19, 7 p.m. www.bankheadtheater.org or 373-6800.

The Lion King, A Dance Revue, Livermore School of Dance, FEb. 6 and 7, 7 p.m. at the Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. Includes jazz, tap, hip hop, modern, contemporary/lyrical, ballet and pointe. www.bankheadtheater.org or 373-6800.

Square dancing for all ages 8 years and up, Thursdays from 7:00-8:30pm at Del Valle High, 2253 5th Street, Livermore. Families and friends welcome. September classes are free to new dancers. Questions? Margaret 925-447-6980.

AUDITIONS/REGISTRATIONSCantabella Registration, Spring

registration for Cantabella Children’s Chorus is now open to new students. Classes begin the week of January 12th in Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton. For more information or to register for the training choirs or schedule an audition for the performing choirs, visit cantabella.

org/register or call 925-292-2663. Registration ends on January 31st for Performing choirs, and on February 7th for Training choirs.

Youth Singers for GGIF, International award-winning Cantabella Children’s Chorus is seeking strong singers in 8th-12th grades who are interested in competing at The Golden Gate International Children's and Youth Choral Festival (GGIF) to be held in Berkeley, July 13-18, 2015. Top American and international choirs will gather together under the batons of eminent guest conductors. Se-lected singers must past the audition and register for Cantabella’s spring semester starting in January. They will be trained by Cantabella’s direc-tors Bee chow and Eileen Chang. For more information or to schedule an audition contact Bee Chow at 925-292-2663 or [email protected] by January 7th.

CHORALA Chanticleer Christmas, 7:30 p.m.

Tues., Dec. 22. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater.org or 373-6800.

MISCELLANEOUSPolitical Issues Book Club meets

the 4th Tuesday of each month, and reads books about issues and trends that are driving current affairs in both the national and interna-tional arenas. Topics that have been covered include politics, governance, economics, military affairs, history, sociology, science, the climate, and religion. Contact Rich at 872-7923, for further questions

We’re Talkin’ Books! Club is a member-centered book group led by a small group of book club veterans, with reading selections based on member recommendations and consensus. No homework required– share your insights or just listen in! Contact Susan at 337-1282 regard-ing the We’re Talkin’ Books! Club.

Storied Nights: An Evening of Spoken Word. 2nd Thursday of each month. Features local authors reading their work 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Peet's Coffee and Tea, 152 So. Livermore Ave., Livermore. Sponsored by LVPAC and Peet's. Information go to http://face-book.com/StoriedNights

Trinity Church, Livermore, traditional Christmas presentation of the birth of Jesus Christ. All new for this year. Presentation will be December 18th through the 21st this year at Trinity Church, 557 Olivina Avenue, Liver-more, 7 to 9 pm each evening. The presentation is free and everyone in the Bay Area is invited.

10th annual Polar Bear Slide will again dare brave souls to take an ice-cold trip down the spiral

waterslide at the Community Center pool from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 3. This free event is open to anyone 48-inches-tall or above. Hot chocolate will be waiting at the bot-tom of the slide to warm up willing participants. For more information, call 925-373-5751.

The Museum on Main 2015 Ed

Kinney Speaker Series An Evening With… at the Firehouse Arts Center: An Evening with Howard Hughes, Tuesday, January 13th, 7pm: The aviator is portrayed by director, play-wright, and theatre director Brian Kral. Firehouse Arts Center, 4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton. Tickets may be purchased online at www.

museumonmain.org, at Museum on Main during regular operating hours or by phoning the museum at (925) 462-2766. For more information about the Ed Kinney Speakers Series visit www.museumonmain.org or phone Museum on Main at (925) 462-2766.

Patrick Hunt: Getting to Know the Iceman: New Science on an Old Mummy. Hunt describes new research on the oldest mummy ever discovered. 7:30 p.m., Jan. 29. Rae Dorough Speaker Series, Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.bankheadtheater.org, 373-6800.

Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association has partnered with Yiftee to create the Livermore Valley Wine Country Gift Pass, a digital gift voucher redeemable at wineries across the region. Yiftee digital gift vouchers are purchased online and sent and received via text or email.

The Livermore Valley Wine Country Gift Pass is currently redeemable at Wood Family Vineyards, Nottingham Cellars, Longevity Wines, McGrail Vineyards and Winery, Steven Kent Winery, Cuda Ridge Wines and Auburn James. More wineries will be added to the program in the near future.

Visit LVwine.org for more information and to purchase the Gift Pass.

For more great gift ideas, wine tasting and shopping are the perfect pairing.

Livermore Valley win-eries have a wide variety of unique gifts waiting to be discovered in their tast-ing rooms.

• Concannon Vine-yard: Lightly scented soy candles made with the

winery’s unique, embossed wine bottles. Various varietals priced at $24.95 www.concannonvineyard.com

• el Sol Winery: Brace-lets, earrings and necklaces made from found objects, semi precious stones, pearls and sterling charms by Sol Sisters. Priced at $15 to $120. www.elsol-wine.com

• Les Chenes Estate Vineyards: Gourmet mustards to complement the winery’s Rhone-style wines. Choose from ten flavors including Cognac & Pepper, Primitivo ‘n Orange and Sesame, priced at $7.65 each. www.leschenesvine.com

• Longevity Wines: A selection of holiday ornaments ranging in price from $3 to $24. Also very popular are flour sack and jacquard kitchen towels for $7.50 each. www.longev-itywines.com

• McGrail Vineyards and Winery: Wine Time Art created by brothers Mike and Rich Boschetti—everything from baskets to barstools made out of wine barrels. Prices start at $50 for a basket. www.

mcgrailvineyards.com• Page Mill: Choose

from more than 25 animal-themed wine aerators priced at $24.95 each. In-dividual boxes make them perfect stocking stuffers. www.pagemillwinery.com

• Retzlaff Vineyards: The TCHO Wine Pairing Kit contains everything needed to host an instant party for four guests - just add wine. Priced at $26.95,

the kit contains 24 flavorful squares of craft chocolates made by TCHO in Berke-ley, one Host Pairing Guide written by renowned food blogger Dina Cheney and four pairing "scorecards" for each guest to take notes about their flavor journey. www.retzlaffvineyards.com

Visit www.LVwine.org for more information about Livermore Valley wineries, maps and holiday events.

2177 Las Positas Ct, Ste. K, Livermore CA 94551

(925) 454-1974www.neptune-society.com

Sam Miller, Branch Director

FD#1823

Winter Gift Pass Available from Livermore Valley Winegrowers


Tamara Thornell, daugh-ter of Art and Carla Bier-mann of Livermore, was crowned Mrs. Hobbs – America 2015. She and husband Tim have three children: Jacqueline (12), Nathaniel (8), and Nicholas (5). They moved from Las Cruces to Hobbs in 2011.

She earned a Math Ma-jor, Spanish minor and Bi-lingual Teaching Degree from the UC Davis and a Masters Degree in Edu-cational Technology from Azuza University in Cali-fornia. She won the title of California State Teacher of the Year in 2002. Tamara taught elementary school for eleven years. She has a temporary hold on teaching while staying at home to raise her children. With the youngest now in kindergar-ten, she is looking forward to teach again, only now it will be in New Mexico.

Tamara enjoys encourag-ing her husband and chil-dren. Her children keep her busy transporting them to soccer and baseball prac-tices and games, gymnastics and dance, tennis and swim-

(Organizations wishing to run notices in Bulletin Board, send information to PO Box 1198, Livermore, CA 94551, in care of Bulletin Board or email information to [email protected]. Include name of organization, meeting date, time, place and theme or subject. Phone number and contact person should also be included. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.)

Livermore Community Blood Drive: Friday, December 19, 1-7 p.m., Asbury United Methodist Church, 4743 East Avenue. Every day, Bay Area hospitals need hundreds of units of blood to keep sick and injured patients alive. Only 3% of the eligible donors in the Bay Area ever give blood, so we need you! Please come donate, and bring a friend or family member to the drive. There’s no easier way to help save a life than donating blood. Register at www.redcrossblood.org and use ASBURY925 as the Sponsor Code, or call Thomas Petty at 925-980-8164 for more information.

Posada, Pleasanton/Tulancingo Sister City Association traditional Christmas celebration “Posada." 7 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21 followed by dessert and refreshments. Veterans Memorial Building, 301 Main Street, Pleasanton. There is no admission charge. This is a fun family event with participation from local school students and the Pleasanton community. For more information, contact Sylvia or Jorge Victoria at [email protected] or 462-6723.

Tea Dance featuring The Mellotones Combo Jazz Band, presented by Veterans of Foreign Wars Pleasant Post 6298, 1 to 3 p.m. Veterans Hall, 301 Main St., Pleasanton. Dates in 2015 include Feb. 18, March 18, April 15, May 20, June 27, Sept. 16, and Oct. 21. Music from the American songbook played for listening and dancing in a variety of ballroom experiences. Cover charge is $8 and includes refreshments. Proceeds benefit needy veterans and their families. Information [email protected] or 443-2224.

Rotarian Foundation of Livermore encourages Tri-Valley residents to purchase gift tickets to the Bella Rosa Ball on February, 14, 2015 from 6 – 10:30 pm at the new event center at the Garre Winery at 7986 Tesla Road in Livermore. The Ball, which is a Foundation fund-raiser for Axis Community Health programs, features a divine three-course gourmet meal with choice of entree, a glass of champagne and wine, dessert, and an evening of dancing to the Cool Tones Big Band. Tickets are only $125 per person. For more details and an online registration link, just visit rotarianfoundationlivermore.org. To learn more about Axis Community Health, visit www.axishealth.org.

Valley Spokesmen Bicycle Touring Club, Sat., Dec. 20, 25 miles Feather Ped-als ride, San Ramon Central Park through Danville and Alamo, meet 9:30 a.m., Linda and Keith Nowell, [email protected]. Sun., Dec. 21, 35 miles from Bollinger Canyon Park and Ride to Sunol and Niles Canyon, meet 10 a.m., Peter Rathmann, 336-0963. Wed., Dec. 24, 26 miles, Carquinez Strait Ride, meet 10 a.m. at the Martinez Waterfront, Peter Rathmann, 336-0973. Anyone planning to go on a ride is asked to contact the leader for details on where to meet and what to bring.

Silent Auction donations, Kings of Columbus, Michael J. Costello Council of Pleasanton hosting 46th annual Crab Feed

Legion is the largest federally chartered veteran’s organization that is the veterans lobby and voice to congress. The Livermore American Legion Post 47 meets the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 PM at the Veterans Memorial Building, 522 South L Street, Livermore. Enter the build-ing from the ramp on the 5th Street side. For more information go to http://www.calegion.org/ or contact Bill Bergmann at [email protected] or (925) 443-2330 or Roy Warner at 925-449-6048.

Crab Feed, Sat., Jan. 31, Shrine Event Center, 170 Lindberg Ave., Livermore, 6 p.m. to midnight. St. Michael's/St. Charles CYO basketball fund-raiser. Includes dinner and dancing as well as raffle prizes. All you can eat crab or chicken, pasta, bread and salad. Adults only please, $45 per person. Purchase online drink and raffle tickets smsccyo.org. Additional information [email protected] or 216-2519.

Crab Feed, sponsored by the Liver-more High School Alumni Assoc. on Friday, March 20, 2015. Event supports programs, students, & faculty at Livermore High School. More info to come. Want tickets? Want to help? Contact [email protected] or Ray at 925-606-5518.

Writing club for young adults, Whether a seasoned writer or just starting out, join published Young Adult author J.L. Powers at Livermore Public Library for the Writing Club for Young Adults, ages 13 through 21 will meet from 6:30 to 8:00 pm on the third Thursday of the month: December 18, 2014. The meetings will be held at the Civic Center Library, 1188 South Livermore Avenue, Livermore. The club is free and no registration is required. For more information, please visit TEEN SPACE on the library’s website: www.livermorelibrary.net, or contact Jennifer at 925-373-5576.

Eric's Corner is a free support group for people who are dealing with a diagnosis of Epilepsy. Meetings are held at 5725 W Las Positas Blvd., second floor, Pleasanton. We meet from 6:30 -8;00 on the third Thursday of each month. For more information please visit us at ericscorner.org

Pleasanton Lions Club- welcomes visitors to come experience a great time while making a difference in our commu-nity & beyond. Dinner meetings every 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm. The Regalia House, 4133 Regalia Ct., Pleasanton. www.pleasantonlionsclub.org

Assistance League® of Amador Val-ley invites all visitors to join this dedicated group of volunteers, reaching out to those in need in the Tri-Valley and having fun doing it. Regular meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Parkview, 100 Valley Ave., Pleasanton. For more information, see our website, www.amadorvalley.assistanceleague.org, e-mail [email protected], or call (925) 461-6401.

Operation: SAM “Supporting All Military” is a 501(c)3 non profit military support organization based in Livermore. S.A.M. has been in operation since January 2004. It is dedicated to the continued morale support of deployed troops. For information or donations, visit www.operationsam.org, email [email protected] or call 925-443-7620.

ClutterLess (CL), This is a nonprofit, peer-based, self-help, support group for people with difficulty discarding unwanted possessions. Meetings room 7 at 7 p.m.

and raffle/silent auction Sat., Jan. 17 at St. Augustine Hall in Pleasanton. Donations are needed for the raffle and silent auction. All proceeds benefit nonprofit charities and ministries. All participating firms will be included in a donors' list. For information, contact Lou Sanero at [email protected].

Job Consultations, Pleasanton Public Library offers free consultations with an experienced Employment Recruiter. Receive help with resume writing, find employment web sites, learn how to search for a job on the web, and get help with online applica-tions. The Pleasanton Library has support materials available to assist you. Sign up at the Reference Desk for a 20 minute consultation. Appointments available on selected Wednesday evenings and Sat-urday afternoons. A new time and format added on Thursday afternoons, for a half or full hour. For appointments call the Refer-ence Desk at 925/931-3400, ext. 4. This is an ongoing service. Library programs are free and open to everyone. The library is located at 400 Old Bernal Ave., Pleasanton.

Livermore Chapter of the National Charity League, Inc., only national or-ganization committed to fostering the mother-daughter relationship through phil-anthropic, leadership and cultural activities together and in peer groups, meeting Wed., Jan. 21, 2015, 6:30 p.m. Livermore Civic Center Library, 1188 S. Livermore Ave. To be eligible for membership in the new NCL Chapter, daughters must reside or go to school in Livermore and currently be in 6th-11th grade. For more information and to be added to the email list, contact Kirsten Sprott at [email protected] or (925) 667-6608

Give a gift that gives twice by supporting Open Heart Kitchen. Unique annual desktop calendars by local photographer Sue Evans, highlight the beauty of the Tri-Valley each month with a new image. The case becomes the holder and they can be customized to create a marketing piece for your business or give them to neighbors, friends, office mates or people who have left the area. A portion of each sale supports Open Heart Kitchen In Livermore. Pricing is from $5-$12 each depending on the quantity ordered. Calen-dars are on sale at Studio 7 in Pleasanton or contact Sue Evans Photography for quantity order pricing at www.Photography-BySueEvans.com or 925-989-4113.

Fertile Groundworks offers op-portunities to volunteer in a community educational garden each Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00-noon and Fridays from 3:00-6:00. Additional volunteer opportunities are available the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Saturdays of the month from 9:00-noon. The organization provides organically grown produce to local food programs for those in need, as well as serving as a teaching garden. Those interested to visit www.fertilegroundworks.org and like us on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FertileGroundWorks) to sign-up for volunteer opportunities. 4743 East Ave., Livermore (directly behind Asbury United Methodist Church).

American Legion Post 47 in Livermore is looking for veterans in the Livermore area who are interested in performing community service for young people and promoting veterans affairs. Interested veterans will meet with other likeminded veterans for camaraderie and support of veteran’s causes. The American

Former Resident Named Mrs. Hobbs for 2015

ming lessons, and to stage plays practices and shows. She also enjoys teaching them the piano and Span-ish. This year she began coaching soccer to the five year olds.

In her community, Ta-mara is currently Vice Presi-dent of PIE (Partners In Edu-

cation) and created a website for the organization; started Succeed with Spanish, an after school program for Spanish learners at Stone El-ementary School; and hosts Encore English, an English conversation time for adult English learners. Her intent is to help everyone to learn to read and write. In so do-ing, she feels this communi-cation with others will help with the understanding of each other. With understand-ing of our fellowman, the hope is it will lead to peace.

She also serves at her Church, Crosswinds teach-ing children from kindergar-ten through the fifth grade on Sunday mornings, and serves at church as a money counter.

Tamara enjoys the com-munity through the Eagle Basketball games, plays, shows at the Event Center, the live concerts, the activi-ties through the Parks and Recreation Department, the Lecture Series, the public pools, parks, golf courses and Farmers' Markets.

Her parents live in Liver-more.

Hope Hospice Medical Directors receive certificationHope Hospice Associate Medical Directors Kuljeet Multani, MD, and Jatinder Marwaha,

MD, have received Hospice Medical Director Certification from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). The certification requires a rigorous examina-tion and extensive knowledge about hospice and palliative care.

“As an agency that holds quality care and outstanding service as top priorities, we believe that this certification demonstrates Drs. Multani’s and Marwaha’s commitment to our patients and their families and the type of care we provide to them,” says Maureen Dudgeon, MD, Hope Hospice Chief Medical Officer.

According to AAHPM, the certification promotes the safety and health of individuals requiring the services of hospice by providing a means of measuring knowledge through a standardized, comprehensive examination.

Community members and other health care providers benefit by being able to recognize hospice medical directors who have demonstrated competence in the knowledge and skills necessary to function as a hospice physician and medical director.

Dr. Multani is board certified in palliative care and family medicine. She is a palliative care physician with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Dr. Marwaha is board certified in internal medicine, hospice, palliative care and sleep medicine. He is currently a hospitalist at San Ramon Regional Medical Center. He has hospital privileges there and at ValleyCare Medical Center.

Hope Hospice is accredited by the Joint Commission, licensed by the State of California Department of Health Services and Medicare/Medi-Cal certified. For more information, call 925-829-8770 or visit HopeHospice.com.

Tamara Thornell


every Monday at the St. Mary & St. John Coptic Orthodox Church. Room 7, 4300 Mirador Drive, Pleasanton. Just come or call our 925-525-3992 or 925-922-1467 or go to www.ClutterLess.org

Shepherd's Gate Thrift Store, 1362 Railroad Avenue, Livermore. Open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Last Friday of every month 50% off most of the store sale. For more information visit www.shepgate.org/holiday

Pleasanton Newcomers Club, open to new and established residents of the Tri-Valley. Activities include a coffee the first Wednesday of the month, a luncheon on the second Wednesday of the month, Bunco, Mah Jongg, walking/hiking groups, family activities, and monthly adult socials. Information, call 925-215-8405 or visit www.PleasantonNewcomers.com

Volunteer visitors, Senior Support Program of the Tri-Valley is looking for Volunteers for their Friendly Visitor Program. The Friendly Visitor Program aims to decrease the isolation of a homebound senior by matching volunteers with seniors who share similar interests. Volunteers may also provide occasional transportation to errands. Contact Mary or Lorie at 931-5388 on how to become a Friendly Visitor.

Alameda County Master Gardeners are on hand on the 2nd Saturday of every month to give advice and guided tours of the Earth-Friendly Demonstration Garden. The Demonstration Garden is located at the Martinelli Event Center, 3575 Greenville Road in Livermore. Information, 930-1130.

Overeaters Anonymous. All are wel-come. Tuesdays, 7 p.m. No weigh-ins, free will donations for rent. St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, 678 Enos Way, Liver-more. Call Nora for further information at (925)337-9118.

Community Resources for Inde-pendent Living (CRIL) offers services to help people with disabilities and supports them to live independently and participate in their community for as long as they are willing and able to do so. CRIL maintains offices in Hayward, Fremont and Livermore to provide information and referrals and provide community education at senior centers and affordable housing complexes to residents of Southern Alameda County. The Tri-Valley office is located at 3311 Pacific Avenue, Livermore 94550 and can be reached by phone at (925) 371-1531, by FAX at (925) 373-5034 or by e-mail at [email protected]. All services are free.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), Tri-Valley Parent Resource and Support Group is a twice-a-month parent support group for parents with children to age 18 diagnosed with or suspected of having bipolar or other mood disorders. It meets First and third Tuesdays of each month from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m at Pathways To Wellness, 5674 Stoneridge Dr., Suite #114, Pleasanton. The group is drop-in, no registration required and is free. Suzi Glorioso by phone: (925) 443-1797 or by e-mail: [email protected]

Pleasanton Military Families is a Pleasanton based support group for those who have a loved one serving in the Military. The group gathers at 7:00 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of each month to share concerns, fears, and to celebrate the joys that are experienced. There is no better support than being surrounded by others who know what you are going through.

Three times per year, the group collect supplies and sends care packages to the troops. Contact [email protected] for the location of the next meeting.

Livermore Military Families, a support group for families in Livermore who have a loved one serving in the Military, is intended to be a safe place for family members to come and share their experiences and concerns with others who understand what they are going through. All family members are welcome to attend meetings. Meetings on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Livermore Veterans Memorial Building, 522 South L Street from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. For more informa-tion, call Tami Jenkins, 925-784-5014 or email livermoremilitaryfamilies@yahoo.

Kiwanis Club of Pleasanton, meets Fridays at noon at Vic's All Star Kitchen, 201 Main St., Pleasanton. This is a Tri-Valley Club with members from Dublin and Livermore, as well as Pleasanton. The motto is "To serve the children of the world." All are welcome.

RELIGIONFirst Presbyterian Church, 2020

Fifth Street, Livermore. 8:30 a.m. Contem-plative Service in the Chapel and 10:00 a.m. Traditional Service in the Sanctuary and children’s program For more informa-tion www.fpcl.us or 925-447-2078.

Tri-Valley Bible Church, 2346 Walnut St., Livermore, holds Sunday worship at 10 a.m. with Sunday school for all ages at 9 a.m. Children's classes during adult wor-ship service. AWANA children's program Wednesdays at 6 p.m. 449-4403 or www.Tri-ValleyBibleChurch.com.

Unitarian Universalist, 1893 N. Vasco Rd., Livermore. 10:30 a.m. Sunday service. Information 447-8747 or www.uucil.org

Congregation Beth Emek, Center for Reform, Jewish Learning, Prayer and Community in the Tri-Valley. 3400 Nevada Court, Pleasanton. Information 931-1055. Rabbi Dr. Lawrence Milder, www.bethemek.org.

Tri-Valley Cultural Jews, affili-ated with the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations (csjo.org). Information, Rabbi Judith Seid, Tri-Valley Cultural Jews, 485-1049 or EastBaySecularJews.org.

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Livermore, services 10 a.m. every Sunday. Sunday School for students (ages 3-20) is held at 10 a.m. every Sunday. The church and reading room are located at Third and N Streets. The Reading Room, which is open to the public, features books, CDs and magazines for sale. For information, call (925) 447-2946.

Sunset Community Church, 2200 Arroyo Rd., Livermore. Sunday worship ser-vice at 9:30 a.m. Hispanic service starts at 2 p.m. Nursery and children's church provided. A "Night of Worship" first Sunday of each month at 6 p.m. Wednesday night program for all ages at 7 p.m. Information, call 447-6282.

Holy Cross Lutheran Church Sunday Service 9:30 a.m. 1020 Mocho St., Liver-more. Information, 447-8840.

Our Savior Lutheran Ministries, 1385 S. Livermore Avenue, Livermore. 9 a.m. worship (semiformal); 10:30 a.m. adult Bible study/Sunday school. For information, call 925-447-1246.

Asbury United Methodist Church, 4743 East Avenue, Livermore. 9 a.m. Sunday worship. Information 447-1950.

Calvary Chapel Livermore, meetings Sundays at 10 a.m. Robert Livermore Com-munity Center, 4444 East Ave., Livermore. (925) 447-4357 - www.calvarylivermore.org.

United Christian Church, www.uccliv.org, a gay-welcoming congregation offering community and spiritual encour-agement for questioners, seekers and risk-takers. Worships on Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. All are welcome. 1886 College Ave. at M St.,, Livermore; call 449-6820 for more information.

Granada Baptist Church, 945 Concannon Boulevard, Livermore. Services: Sunday school – 9:45 a.m.; worship service – 11 a.m. All are welcome. 1-888-805-7151.

Seventh-day Adventist Church, 243 Scott Street, Livermore. 925-447-5462, services on Saturday: Sabbath school 9:30 a.m., worship 11 a.m. www.livermoresda.org/ All are welcome.

Faith Chapel Assembly of God, 6656 Alisal St., Pleasanton, Sunday School 9:15 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Children’s Church 11:15 a.m. Women's Bible study Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Intercessory prayer 1st and 3rd Wednesdays. Senior adult ministries meet every other month. Call the office at 846-8650 for more information.

Trinity Church, 557 Olivina Ave. Livermore. Sunday worship at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m., and Sunday School and Bible study for all ages at 9:45 a.m. Awana is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday night there is adult Bible study, youth activities and children's choir at 6:30 p.m. Child care during all events. 447-1848, www.trinitylivermore.org

St. Charles Borromeo, 1315 Lomitas Ave., Livermore. Meditation groups follow-ing the John Main tradition, every Monday 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. For details, contact Claire La Scola at 447-9800.

St. Innocent Orthodox Church, 5860 Las Positas Rd., Livermore. Sunday Liturgy at 10 a.m. For details, go to www.stinnocent.net or call Fr. John Karcher at (831) 278-1916.

St. Clare’s Episcopal Church, 3350 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, Services on Sunday, 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Chil-dren’s Sunday School & Chapel at 10:15 a.m. All are most welcome to come and worship with us and to enjoy our hospital-ity. For more information call the church office 925-462-4802.

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church , 678 Enos Way, Livermore, (925) 447-3289. Church: Service Schedule: 8:00 a.m. Contemplative Eucharist; 9:15 a.m. Adult Bible Study (check web-site): 10:25 Sunday School (Godly Play); 10:30: Sung Eucharist with choir, child care provided. 1:00 p.m. Youth Group. www.saintbart-slivermore.com

Tri-Valley Church of Christ at 4481 East Avenue, Livermore, worship service 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Sundays, all are welcome. 925-447-4333 ( a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)

Little Brown Church, United Church of Christ 141 Kilkare Road, Sunol. 10:30 a.m. worship. All are welcome here. www.littlebrownchurchofsunol.org 925-862-2580

Pathway Community Church, 6533 Sierra Lane, Dublin. Contemporary Worship Service, Sunday 10:30 am. Children, youth, adult programs. Biblically based practical messages, nondenominational. All are wel-comed. www.pathwaycommuntiychurch.

org (925) 829-4793.Good Shepherd Lutheran Church,

486 S. J Street, Livermore. 9:00 a.m. wor-ship service. Bible Study/Sunday School 10:20. Bible Basics Class, which explores the main teachings of the Bible, meets at 7:00 Sunday night. Call 371-6200 or email [email protected] for more info.

Tri-Valley Church of Christ, 4481 East Avenue, Livermore; 447-433.3 www.trivalleychurch.org. Update on classes for The Story 9 to 10:00 a.m.. Worship Service 10:15 to 11:30 a.m.

Bethel Family Christian Center, 501 North P Street, Livermore, Pastors are Don & Debra Qualls. Weekly ministries: Sunday 10 a.m. - Teaching Sessions; Sunday 10:25 a.m. - Holy Grounds Fellowship; Sunday Worship Service 10:45 a.m. - Elementary aged children go to Kid’s Church following worship, nursery available; Wednesday 7 p.m. - Back to the Point Bible Study; all ages; Friday 7 p.m. - Celebrate Recovery; in the dining hall; 925-449-4848.

Centerpointe Church, 3410 Corner-stone Court, Pleasanton. Services 9 a.m. blended with choir and band. Childcare for infants through age 6 and children start in the worship service with their parents. 10:30 contemporary worship led by a band. Sunday school for children and middle-schoolers. www.centerpointechurch.org (925) 846-4436.

Valley Bible Church, Pleasanton, 7106 Johnson Drive, Services at 9:00 and 11:00. Interpretation for the deaf at 9:00. 925-227-1301. www.thecrossing.org

Valley Bible Church, Livermore, Meeting at Altamont Creek Elementary School, 6500 Garraventa Ranch Road, Livermore. Services at 10:00 a.m.

Cedar Grove Community Church, 2021 College Ave., Livermore. Worship Services 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. www.cedargrove.org or call 447-2351.

St. Francis of Assisi Anglican Church (1928 Book of Common Prayer), 193 Contractors Avenue, Livermore. Sun-day services: 8:45 am (Low Mass) and 10 am (High Mass with Sunday School). Other Holy Days as announced. For information, call msg. center at 925/906-9561.

Chabad of the Tri-Valley, 784 Palomino Dr., Pleasanton. 846-0700. www.jewishtrivalley.com. Rabbi Raleigh Resnick.

Well Community Outreach Center ministry provides meats, canned and dry goods, toiletries, and school supplies (only available prior to the start of the school year). Those with an immediate need or who would like to donate nonperishable food items, call the office at (925) 479-1414 to begin the process. Wednesday and Friday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., and Thursday 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Pick up by appointment only. The Outreach Center will be open every 4th Saturday to distribute bags from Fresh and Easy Market and Sprouts. This will be on a first come first serve basis between 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 2333 Nis-sen Drive, Livermore.

Lynnewood United Methodist Church, 4444 Black Ave. offers a friendly congregation where all are welcome. Worship at 9 or 10:30 a.m. on Sundays with Sunday school for youth and adults at 10:30 a.m. and childcare at both services. Sunday morning worship in December, at 9:00 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., Christmas Or-chestra on Dec. 21. Other special services: Christmas Eve Family Service at 5:00 pm, Candlelight Services with Choir at 7:30 and 9:00 pm; Jan. 1: New Year's Blessing 4:00

pm; Jan. 4: Epiphany services at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Childcare is provided at both services on Sunday mornings, as well as the 5:00 Christmas Eve service. Children are welcome in all services. Contact Rev. Heather Hammer at 846-0221, send an email to [email protected] or visit website at www.lynnewood.org.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 9050 Mocho St., Livermore. 3rd ward 9 a.m., 2nd ward 11 a.m., Mocho branch (Spanish) 2:10 p.m. 1501 Hillcrest Ave., Livermore: 1st ward, 9 a.m.; 4th ward 11 a.m., Springtown ward, 1 p.m.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Pleasanton 1st Ward: Sunday at 1 p.m., 6100 Paseo Santa Cruz. Pleasanton 2nd Ward: Sunday 1 p.m. at 3574 Vineyard Ave. Pleasanton 3rd Ward: Sunday 9:30 a.m., 3574 Vineyard Ave. Pleasanton 4th Ward: Sunday 9:30 a.m., 6100 Paseo Santa Cruz. Dublin 1st Ward: Sunday 9:30 a.m., 8203 Village Parkway.

John Knox Presbyterian Church, 7421 Amarillo Rd., Dublin. Sunday worship service at 9:30 a.m. Sunday school for ages 3-18 during worship. Adult education Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Jr. High youth group Sundays 4:00-6:10 p.m. High school youth group Sundays 5:50-8:00 p.m. www.jkpcdublin.org (925)828-1846.

Livermore Quakers: Unprogrammed worship on 2nd and 4th Mondays each month at 7pm, 1893 N. Vasco Rd. (UU Church). More information: [email protected] or (925) 315-7170.

Unity of Tri-Valley, 7567 Amador Val-ley Blvd., Suite 108, Dublin. 10:00 Sunday service; children’s program available. All are welcome. Ongoing classes, groups, and activities. Rev. Karen Epps, minister. http://www.unityoftrivalley.org/ 925.829-2733.

Trinity Church, Livermore, traditional Christmas presentation of the birth of Jesus Christ. All new for this year. Presentation will be December 18th through the 21st this year at Trinity Church, 557 Olivina Avenue, Livermore, 7 to 9 pm each evening. The presentation is free and everyone in the Bay Area is invited.

Lighting Chanukah menorah: Under the Stars in front of the Bankhead Theater in Livermore, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 20. Celebrating the eight-day festival of lights. The Mall celebration includes holiday games and crafts, live music and Han treats. Both events are sponsored by the Chabad of the Tri-Valley. www.jewishtrival-ley.com/

Grief Workshop, Bi-monthly workshop to help with healing. St. Elizabeth Church, 4001 Stoneridge Dr. Pleasanton. Second and fourth Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. January 8th & 22nd, February 12th & 26th , March 12th & 26th 2015. No per-registration is necessary. These ses-sions are open to all, regardless of religious affiliation. Please call Mary Hagerty at 925-846-5377 for more information.

Tri-Valley Cultural Jews celebrate the meaning of Chanukah while honoring the actual history of the event. Chanukah marks the success of one faction during the Maccabean wars against the Greek Empire in the second century BCE. TVCJ's Chanukah celebration features a candle lighting ceremony honoring freedom fighters of many cultures, and, of course, the traditional fried potato pancakes – latkes. Appropriate for adults and kids, our celebration will be on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 5 p.m. at the Ireland home; 19663 Fremery

Court in Castro Valley. Bring a potato and a side dish to share, along with your Chanukah menorah and dreidles.

A Jazzy Christmas Sing-Along, will be hosted by the Catholic Community of Pleasanton (CCOP) at 7 p.m. on Fri., Dec. 19. St. Elizabeth Seton Church, 4001 Stoneridge Drive, Pleasanton Tap your toes and sing holiday favorites with CCOP's choirs and a lively jazz band. Refreshments and good cheers will follow. Free-will offering.

Eckankar, "The Spiritual Exercises of ECK: Keys to Secret Worlds" is the theme of the next ECK Worship Service, Sunday, December 21, at 11:00 AM. The ECK Wor-ship service is held once a month on the third Sunday at the Four Points Sheridan, 5115 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton. For further information, contact http://eck-ca.org/ by computer.

Christmas Eve Service, Wednesday, December 24, 7:00pm – 8:00pm will feature candlelight and singing, followed by cookies and fellowship. This service is appropriate for all ages. Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore,1893 North Vasco Road, Livermore, CA 94551, 925-447-8747, www.uucil.org

Center for Spiritual Living Liver-more Valley - A Lighthouse to the world. People from all faith traditions, cultures, races, sexual orientations and the spiritual but not religious are welcome. Sunday service at 10:00 a.m. All are welcome. Meeting place 1617 2nd St., 2nd Floor, Livermore. For more information contact [email protected]. Burning Bowl Ceremony, Tuesday, December 30, 2014, 7:30 p.m. 1617 2nd St. Livermore. This is a time for silent reflection followed by a ceremony of releasing the old and setting intentions for the new.

St. Augustine Catholic Church, 3999 Bernal Ave., Pleasanton. Christmas Eve 4 p.m. (no incense), 8 p.m., midnight with musical prelude at 11:30 p.m. Christmas day, 8 and 10 a.m. and noon. 846-4489

St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, 4001 Stoneridge Dr., Pleasanton. Christmas Eve, 4 p.m. (children's choir), 8 p.m. and midnight with musical prelude at 11:30 p.m. Christmas Day, 9 and 11 a.m. 484-5020.

St. Raymond Parish, 11555 Shannon Ave., Dublin. Christmas Eve, 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. children's vigil mass; 4:15 p.m. children's vigil mass in the hall, 8 p.m. Spanish vigil mass, midnight with 11:30 p.m. prelude. Christmas Day Masses - Na-tivity of the Lord, 9 and 10:30 a.m. www.st-raymond-dublin.org.

Centerpointe Church will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with two services focused on the hope of the season on Christmas Eve in its worship center, 3410 Cornerstone Court. The 4 p.m. service is designed for multiple generations. It will include familiar carols led by the Center-pointe worship band, a children’s message with Pastor Mike Barris and a Christmas message for everyone with Pastor Barris. It will conclude with the lighting of candles. The 9 p.m. traditional service features familiar carols led by the Centerpointe choir and musicians, a Christmas mes-sage by Pastor Barris and the lighting of candles. Worship services Sunday, Dec. 21 will be held at 9 a.m. (blended with choir) and 10:30 (contemporary with full Sunday School). For more information, please see www.centerpointechurch.org or call (925) 846-4436.


Army Pvt. Rio T. Castillo has graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Ga.

During the nine-week train-ing period, the trainee received instruction in drill and ceremony, weapons, rifle marksmanship and bayonet training, chemi-cal warfare, field training and tactical exercises, armed and un-armed combat, military courtesy,

The Varsity Cheer Competition team at Amador Valley High School has qualified for the USA Nationals. The regional Winter Classic competition took place at University Of the Pacific Dec. 7th. The team placed 2nd in the intermediate level and will be travelling to Anaheim in March to compete in USA High School Cheer Nationals. Pictured are (back row from left) Katie Heckart, Francesca Tragni, Mary Hinek, Krista Lewis, Maci Manos, Becky Bland, Lauren Shohfi, Emily Mercer, Megan Quinton, and Megan Olson; (front row) Sierra Picone, Claire Chandler, Lauren Luke, Cortney Merrigan, Kayla Fulmer, Loren Curry, and Mckenna Shaffer.

The Amador Valley High School JV Cheer competition team finished in 1st place at the Winter Classic Dec. 7th at UOP. They will travel to Anaheim in March to compete in the USA Nationals. Pictured are (back, left to right) Jessica Hallgrimson, Mackenzie Fields, Adelle DeVries, Ashley Boxberger, Kaitlyn McGarrity, Nicole Witters, Sammi Buscheck, Paige Quinton; (front) (includes girls holding trophy): Taisa Hrynewicz, Allison Mercer, Katherine Jackson, and Emma Clopton.

For the eleventh consecutive year, Cadets at Army and Navy Academy will support Scripps Memorial Hospital in its annual "Disaster Drill" on November 20, 2014. Cadet volunteers will act out different roles as Scripps personnel test their emergency response skills.

Student volunteers, including Nicholas Chung of Dublin, were selected to participate based on high grade achievement in both academics and citizenship.

The disaster drill is state-mandated and designed to test the hospital's response both in terms of healthcare and family care. This year's disaster drill is particularly timely, as it is de-signed to test Scripps Memorial's response to an Ebola outbreak. Cadets will act as patients, family members, and media personnel to test the hospital's preparation and responsiveness.

Music students from Granada

High School in Livermore continue to use their talents after graduating this last June. Sarah Berman-UC Santa Cruz

military justice, physical fitness, first aid, and Army history, tradi-tions, and core values.

Castillo is the son of Richard T. Castillo of Escalon, Calif. and Rosanne T. Tirona-Castillo of Livermore. He is a 2013 graduate of Granada High School.

Alexandra Sawyer (pictured in center of photo), currently

serves in the USAF as an Aero-space Propulsion Journeyman. She is stationed at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM.

On August 29, 2014, she was promoted to Staff Sergeant. At that time SS Sawyer also reenlisted for another 4 year term. Her immediate family was in attendance to celebrate her achievements.

Staff Sergeant Sawyer has been a Livermore resident since 1995. She attended Marilyn Ave Elementary School, Junction Middle School and graduated from Granada High School in 2006. While in Livermore she was known as Alexa Aguiniga. In 2007 she changed her legal name to Sawyer.

Alexa joined the USAF in December 2006. She completed basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas and went on to attend technical school at Sheppard AFB in Texas. In May 2014 Alexa graduated from ALS, Airman Leadership School, an intensive 5 week training program available to Senior Airmen in line for promotion to staff sergeant.

Symphonic Band, Jacob Camp-bell- University of Pacific pianist for Newman on campus masses, Sara Dane- California Bap-tist University Concert Band, Anastasia Goold- UC Santa Barbara Pep Band and Clarinet Choir, Stephanie Hollister- CSU Sacramento Colorguard, Valerie Sommer-UCLA Marching Band.

Livermore resident Emily D. Croasmun will graduate Summa Cum Laude from the Univer-sity of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science degree in Funeral Service along with approximately 1,217 fall 2014 graduates from throughout the country and world during Central’s Commencement Cer-emonies Dec. 12-13. Located just north of Oklahoma City in Edmond, Okla., the University of Central Oklahoma is the state’s largest metropolitan university, serving more than 17,000 stu-dents pursuing degrees in 114 undergraduate and 59 graduate major areas of study, and is accredited by the Higher Learn-ing Commission of the North

Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi has announced that Akshay Joshi of Pleasanton, Calif., was recently initiated into Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's old-est and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Joshi was initiated at University of Southern Cali-fornia.

Joshi is among approxi-mately 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by in-vitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, hav-ing at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff, and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

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