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Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_10.03.08 - Index

YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
National Award Winning Newspapers
Vol. 8, No. 40 Antioch, California www.antiochpress.com October 3, 2008
Mayoral contest
takes ugly turn
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
The bad blood between City
Councilman Jim Davis and Mayor
Don Freitas boiled over at last
week’s council meeting as Davis accused
Freitas of sabotaging Davis’
preferred job title on the ballot and
Freitas calling Davis a liar for making
the charge.
The attacks included Davis accusing
Freitas of bullying and belittling
people, and Freitas responding
that Davis’ accusations were sad and
an embarrassment to Davis.
Davis is making his third attempt
to become Antioch’s mayor.
He was beaten by Freitas in 2000
and 2004 and is again challenging
him this November. The dispute
stems from Davis’ attempt to identify
himself on the ballot as “Mayor
Pro Tem.”
Davis is in fact Antioch’s mayor
pro tem, which is short for mayor
pro tempore (Latin for “mayor for
the time being” or temporarily). Af-
Boys’ charter school impresses board
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
A couple of Antioch Middle
School teachers seeking to open a
charter school focused on teaching
math and science to African-
American boys (but open to all
boys) received praise from Antioch
Unifi ed School District Board
members last week.
Karla Branch and Lawrence
Rasheed made an impressive
presentation for their proposed
RAAMP Charter Academy of
Mathematics and Science. RAAMP
stands for Reaching African-
American Males’ Potential, which is
the name of the student group that
Rasheed mentors at his school.
The board room at the recent
meeting was packed with charter
school supporters, many of whom
spoke after Branch and Rasheed’s
slide presentation.
Branch pointed out that “the
achievement gap is huge for minority
populations.” In AUSD schools,
ter each council election, the highest
vote getter is appointed mayor pro
tem, the duties of which consist of
running the council meeting when
the mayor is absent.
Davis was denied that title
designation by City Clerk Jolene
Martin, who consulted with City
Attorney Lynn Tracy Nerland to determine
that it would be in violation
of the state election code because
mayor pro tem is an appointed, not
an elected, position. After Davis
objected, Nerland hired an outside
law fi rm specializing in election law,
which, in a 14-page letter, rendered
the same opinion.
At the Sept. 23 council meeting,
Davis said that it could cost
the city as much as $10,000 for that
outside legal opinion. He blamed
Freitas for being behind the denial
of his preferred ballot designation
and demanded that Freitas repay
the city for the cost of the outside
legal opinion.
see Fight page 25A
60 percent of whites are profi cient
in English compared to only 29
percent of African-Americans and
27 percent of Latinos. In math,
53 percent of whites are profi cient
compared to only 30 percent of
Latinos and 24 percent of African-
Americans. At the same time, the
United States lags far behind other
industrialized countries in math
Finally finished
Photo by Chavean Yarbrough-Orr
Lawrence Rasheed and Karla Branch are proposing to open a
charter school focusing on teaching math and science (along
with other required subjects) to minority boys.
(25th) and science (21st) education.
Their proposed charter school
is “designed to engage our minority
students into math and science,”
said Branch. They plan to make it
a K through ninth-grade school to
provide an extra year of study that
includes biology and geometry.
“We feel they need that extra
year in an environment where they
Photo by Richard Wisdom
Led by the California Highway Patrol, motorists make
their way southbound on Segment 3 of the Highway
4 Bypass for the fi rst time Tuesday afternoon. The
long-awaited completion of the link between Vasco Road
and Highway 4 is expected to reduce travel time between
the two points from around 40 minutes to 15.
can focus on academics and not
worry about the pressures of high
school and not getting behind in
credits,” said Branch. “So when
we release them back into the
comprehensive high schools, they
will be on track and ready to excel
through graduation and hopefully
onto college.
“We want to get those deemed
at risk for failure, the ones who are
removed for behavior sometimes
because they are simply boys. Also
… sometimes there’s a very good
reason why the student doesn’t
go to college. If that’s the case, we
have to make them workforce ready.
We want them ready to at least do
meaningful work.”
Rasheed said that the learning
will be more hands-on than in a
regular classroom and the all-boys
environment will allow the students
to drop what Rasheed called “the
mask of masculinity … that we
need to be macho, super macho.
see Charter page 25A
THIS WEEK
Prize for
preservation
The governor deemed the
Antioch Historical Society’s
restoration of a venerable edifice
worth an award.
Page 5A
The great
gate debate
The public gets to weigh in on
a plan to install water-control
gates in the Delta.
Page 7A
Terror of
the fairways
The Deer Valley varsity golf team
keeps drilling drives and draining
putts – and keeping the L
column free of clutter.
Page 1B
INSIDE
Calendar ..........................23B
Classifieds ........................17B
Community .......................3A
Education ..........................9A
Entertainment ................22B
Food .................................12B
Health & Beauty................9B
Opinion ...........................18A
Public Notices ..................20B
Siren Sounds ...................19A
Sports .................................1B