Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_05.09.08 - Index

Traffi c congestion on Highway
4, Vasco Road and many
other major thoroughfares in
East County will continue for
decades, despite the best efforts
of local leaders and more than
a billion dollars being spent on
improvements.
That’s one of the conclusions
of a new study entitled
“East County Action Plan for
Routes of Regional Signifi -
cance.” The study was done for
Transplan, the East County
transportation planning agency,
as one of the requirements for
receiving a share of $3 billion in
half-cent sales tax funds for road
improvements.
The congestion will continue
because the current pattern
of East County residents commuting
elsewhere to work will
continue, despite an expected infl
ux of businesses and jobs into
this area, according to the study.
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 8, No.19 Antioch, California www.thepress.net May 9, 2008
Traffic
woes to
continue
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
Best of the best
Currently, only a third of
East County residents work
in East County. About 87,000
workers commute elsewhere
each day, half of them using
Highway 4 to get to work. Onequarter
of East County residents
drive more than an hour to get
Photo by Columbus Ledger-Enquirer photographer Shannon Szwarc
East County native Staff Sgt. Michael Broussard, left, and his teammate Staff
Sgt. Shayne Cherry, hold up Colt 45 pistols they were awarded after winning
the Army’s Best Ranger competition at Ft. Benning, Ga. on April 21. For more
on this story, see page 15A.
to their jobs and another quarter
need 30 minutes to an hour
to arrive at work or get home
from there.
The bad news in terms of
road traffi c is that East County’s
population is expected to grow
by 34 percent by 2030 – an ad-
ditional 94,000 residents. The
good news, however, is that the
number of jobs in East County
is expected to nearly double – an
additional 58,000 new jobs.
The bad news: by 2030,
there will still be 71,000 fewer
see Traffic page 25A
Alert city worker helps nab suspects
Photo by Dave Roberts
Renee Souza went above and beyond
the duty of a code enforcement offi -
cer when she helped apprehend suspects
involved in a shooting at a shopping
center.
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
On a Tuesday morning in March, Antioch
Code Enforcement Offi cer Renee Souza
was driving down Buchanan Road when she
heard a call over the police radio of shots being
fi red nearby in a shopping center at the
corner of Buchanan and Delta Fair Boulevard.
The shooting occurred after two females
and two males were involved in a confrontation
in a store. They separated after leaving
the store but then two groups of males
showed up and started shooting at the males
that had been involved in the confrontation,
according to police.
An off-duty police offi cer witnessed shots
being fi red from one of the vehicles and followed
it into Pittsburg. A dispatcher put out
a description of the other vehicle and the suspects
inside it, but no other offi cers were in the
immediate area.
Although she doesn’t carry a gun and is
not a police offi cer, Souza, a former community
service offi cer in Brentwood, has police
training. Despite the potential danger, she decided
to take action, knowing that it might be
the best chance to apprehend the suspects.
“I did a check of the area to see if I could
locate the vehicle and suspects,” she said. “I
drove down one of the side streets and positioned
myself to see oncoming traffi c. About
20 to 25 cars passed by.
“I saw a vehicle matching the description
with the suspects approaching me. As they
were driving by me there were no police offi
cers nearby, so I pulled behind them and followed
them and observed them pulling into
the back of a building to hide. At that point
I went back to the main street and fl agged
down an oncoming police offi cer. Because of
that they arrested the suspects and recovered
a fi rearm.”
see Worker page 25A
National Award Winning Newspapers
THIS WEEK
Pillars of
character
Orchard Park’s Students of
the Month for April were
recognized for displaying the
character trait of Fairness.
Page 11A
Doling out
the dough
City Council members agree:
deciding which social service
groups get funded is an agonizing
process.
Page 4A
Surf City
Slam dunk
Tenacious D helped the West
Coast Fusion AAU take home
the trophy at a recent tournament
in Santa Cruz.
Page 4B
INSIDE
Calendar ........................27B
Classifieds ......................20B
Community .................... 3A
Education ....................... 9A
Entertainment ..............15B
Food ...............................14B
Health & Beauty ...........10B
Home & Garden .............8B
Milestones .....................25B
Opinion ........................18A
Public Notices ................21B