Wednesday Mixed Bag
First off, some REAL news...
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Teenager arrested in shooting
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Police arrested a teenage boy on suspicion of attempted murder Tuesday in connection with a shooting that seriously wounded a man last weekend in the Atchison Village neighborhood of Richmond.
The suspect, whom police did not identify because he is a minor, critically injured 24-year-old Paul Redondo Jr. on Saturday night during an aborted attempt to buy marijuana at a house in the 200 block of Collins Street, Detective Sgt. Mitch Peixoto said.
The suspect, who turns 14 today, rode in a Honda Accord with three other teenagers about 11:45 p.m., looking to buy drugs in and around the Iron Triangle neighborhood, police said. The suspect was acting as a "guide" for the others, all older teens who live in San Pablo, police said.
But when the group slowly rode up to the house on Collins, they apparently met a group of men standing in front, who approached the car with handguns, police said.
Someone fired the first shot. When all parties were finished shooting, Redondo and about two dozen shell casings lay in the street, police said. Redondo was flown to a trauma center in critical condition.
"Officers arriving on scene saw obvious signs of a shootout," Peixoto said. "The casings indicated that most of the shots were coming from (the house) out into the street."
Detectives identified nobody in the group standing in front of the house other than Redondo, but a security guard working at the St. John's apartments on nearby Macdonald Avenue saw the Honda leaving the area and got its license plate number.
Early Sunday, police traced the car back to the address of its registered owner in the 2000 block of Stanton Avenue and found it parked in the driveway, pockmarked with bullet holes. The three older teens were nearby.
Police questioned and released the teens. Later Sunday, they served a search warrant on Collins, where they recovered three handguns and about 1 pound of marijuana and arrested two residents: 27-year-old Miguel Cerda and 19-year-old Joaquin Cerda.
The elder Cerda was the victim of a shooting in front of the house on Nov. 4, when someone attacked him as he worked on his car. He was inside at the time of the more recent shooting, Peixoto said.
On Tuesday morning, police served a warrant at the Moran Avenue home of the teenage "guide" and arrested him without incident. They found two handguns in his bedroom, Peixoto said.
The suspect was booked into Juvenile Hall in Martinez on suspicion of attempted murder and possessing a firearm.
Both Cerdas were booked into County Jail in Martinez on suspicion of drug and weapon offenses.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
HOW TO HELP
Police ask anyone with information about Saturday's shooting in the Atchison Village neighborhood of Richmond to call Detective Aaron Mandell at 510-620-6622.
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The only consolations we can think of in this story are that a suspect was apprehended, there were no fatalities, and these thugs can't shoot worth a darn.
Now for some UNREAL news...
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Some races hinge on absentee ballots
Votes mailed in or dropped off at polls prove key to deciding half a dozen seats in Bay Area
By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Candidates in a half-dozen tight Contra Costa and Alameda county races, such as those seeking a seat on the Antioch City Council and mayoral hopefuls in Pleasanton and Richmond, may have to wait days or weeks for the outcome.
An unprecedented number of absentee ballots turned in at the polls has left Contra Costa election officials with 40,000 ballots -- about 13 percent of all the ballots cast -- to count this week.
Alameda County experienced a similar deluge, though its clerks counted most of its 70,000 absentee ballots during the weekend.
Its staff is now counting as many as 5,000 absentees that were rejected by the county's scanning equipment because they were mismarked or torn.
"We got one ballot with an apology note from someone because his dog got a hold of the ballot," said Alameda County spokesman Guy Ashley. "We will examine each of those ballots and see if we can determine the voter's intent and record those votes."
After absentees have been rounded up, Contra Costa officials must count another 9,000 provisional ballots, while Alameda County has 15,000.
Provisionals are ballots in which the voter believes he or she is eligible but whose name does not appear on the voter rolls. The voter fills out the ballot and clerks confirm eligibility after the election.
What does all this mean?
It's time-consuming to examine and process thousands of ballots individually, especially when voters drop them off by the truckloads on Election Day. Clerks must open every envelope, check every signature and scan every ballot themselves.
Contrast that with votes cast in the polling place, where the voter marks it, inserts it into an optical scanner and clerks download the results into the computer.
As a result, in races where a few dozen or a few hundred votes separate winners from the losers, it could take days or weeks to finalize results.
In most of the close races in Contra Costa, Clerk-Recorder Steve Weir hopes to have answers by Thursday or Friday.
"We're hoping to finish the absentee counts by Thursday or Friday, and we'll update our results," Weir said.
But in exceptionally tight races, outstanding provisional ballots could affect the outcome.
Clerks hope to finish counting these ballots next week or, at the latest, after the Thanksgiving holiday. Counties have until Dec. 5 to certify the election results.
In particular, the 900 provisional ballots in Richmond could be a factor in the outcome of its mayor and council races. Residents unwilling to vote at a community center in the Iron Triangle contributed to the higher-than-usual numbers of provisional ballots in the city, Weir said.
It's unclear why so many absentee voters waited until Monday and Election Day to cast their ballots.
But this trend, say election officials, is here to stay. Vote-by-mail rolls have expanded steadily, either out of convenience or a growing distrust of voting equipment.
For the second election in a row, more people voted absentee than went to the polls in both Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
By the time all ballots have been counted, Weir estimates that turnout in Contra Costa will reach 63 percent, about average for the county. About 52 percent of the ballots were absentee while 48 percent were cast at the polls.
Alameda County reported a lower turnout rate of 55 percent, but it reported a similar split between absentee and voting at the polls.
Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers politics. Reach her at 925-945-4773 or lvorderbrueggen@cctimes.com.
election 2006: too close to call
Races with close margins include:
[....]
• Richmond mayor: Gayle McLaughlin leads incumbent Irma Anderson by 192 votes.
• Richmond: Myrna Lopez has a 160-vote lead over Corky Booze in the competition for the third opening on the City Council.
[....]
Source: Contra Costa and Alameda County election departments
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Once again: RIDICULOUS!
We at the Tazer sincerely hope that the correct mayor and council were elected last Tuesday.
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Teenager arrested in shooting
By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Police arrested a teenage boy on suspicion of attempted murder Tuesday in connection with a shooting that seriously wounded a man last weekend in the Atchison Village neighborhood of Richmond.
The suspect, whom police did not identify because he is a minor, critically injured 24-year-old Paul Redondo Jr. on Saturday night during an aborted attempt to buy marijuana at a house in the 200 block of Collins Street, Detective Sgt. Mitch Peixoto said.
The suspect, who turns 14 today, rode in a Honda Accord with three other teenagers about 11:45 p.m., looking to buy drugs in and around the Iron Triangle neighborhood, police said. The suspect was acting as a "guide" for the others, all older teens who live in San Pablo, police said.
But when the group slowly rode up to the house on Collins, they apparently met a group of men standing in front, who approached the car with handguns, police said.
Someone fired the first shot. When all parties were finished shooting, Redondo and about two dozen shell casings lay in the street, police said. Redondo was flown to a trauma center in critical condition.
"Officers arriving on scene saw obvious signs of a shootout," Peixoto said. "The casings indicated that most of the shots were coming from (the house) out into the street."
Detectives identified nobody in the group standing in front of the house other than Redondo, but a security guard working at the St. John's apartments on nearby Macdonald Avenue saw the Honda leaving the area and got its license plate number.
Early Sunday, police traced the car back to the address of its registered owner in the 2000 block of Stanton Avenue and found it parked in the driveway, pockmarked with bullet holes. The three older teens were nearby.
Police questioned and released the teens. Later Sunday, they served a search warrant on Collins, where they recovered three handguns and about 1 pound of marijuana and arrested two residents: 27-year-old Miguel Cerda and 19-year-old Joaquin Cerda.
The elder Cerda was the victim of a shooting in front of the house on Nov. 4, when someone attacked him as he worked on his car. He was inside at the time of the more recent shooting, Peixoto said.
On Tuesday morning, police served a warrant at the Moran Avenue home of the teenage "guide" and arrested him without incident. They found two handguns in his bedroom, Peixoto said.
The suspect was booked into Juvenile Hall in Martinez on suspicion of attempted murder and possessing a firearm.
Both Cerdas were booked into County Jail in Martinez on suspicion of drug and weapon offenses.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.
HOW TO HELP
Police ask anyone with information about Saturday's shooting in the Atchison Village neighborhood of Richmond to call Detective Aaron Mandell at 510-620-6622.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only consolations we can think of in this story are that a suspect was apprehended, there were no fatalities, and these thugs can't shoot worth a darn.
Now for some UNREAL news...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some races hinge on absentee ballots
Votes mailed in or dropped off at polls prove key to deciding half a dozen seats in Bay Area
By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Candidates in a half-dozen tight Contra Costa and Alameda county races, such as those seeking a seat on the Antioch City Council and mayoral hopefuls in Pleasanton and Richmond, may have to wait days or weeks for the outcome.
An unprecedented number of absentee ballots turned in at the polls has left Contra Costa election officials with 40,000 ballots -- about 13 percent of all the ballots cast -- to count this week.
Alameda County experienced a similar deluge, though its clerks counted most of its 70,000 absentee ballots during the weekend.
Its staff is now counting as many as 5,000 absentees that were rejected by the county's scanning equipment because they were mismarked or torn.
"We got one ballot with an apology note from someone because his dog got a hold of the ballot," said Alameda County spokesman Guy Ashley. "We will examine each of those ballots and see if we can determine the voter's intent and record those votes."
After absentees have been rounded up, Contra Costa officials must count another 9,000 provisional ballots, while Alameda County has 15,000.
Provisionals are ballots in which the voter believes he or she is eligible but whose name does not appear on the voter rolls. The voter fills out the ballot and clerks confirm eligibility after the election.
What does all this mean?
It's time-consuming to examine and process thousands of ballots individually, especially when voters drop them off by the truckloads on Election Day. Clerks must open every envelope, check every signature and scan every ballot themselves.
Contrast that with votes cast in the polling place, where the voter marks it, inserts it into an optical scanner and clerks download the results into the computer.
As a result, in races where a few dozen or a few hundred votes separate winners from the losers, it could take days or weeks to finalize results.
In most of the close races in Contra Costa, Clerk-Recorder Steve Weir hopes to have answers by Thursday or Friday.
"We're hoping to finish the absentee counts by Thursday or Friday, and we'll update our results," Weir said.
But in exceptionally tight races, outstanding provisional ballots could affect the outcome.
Clerks hope to finish counting these ballots next week or, at the latest, after the Thanksgiving holiday. Counties have until Dec. 5 to certify the election results.
In particular, the 900 provisional ballots in Richmond could be a factor in the outcome of its mayor and council races. Residents unwilling to vote at a community center in the Iron Triangle contributed to the higher-than-usual numbers of provisional ballots in the city, Weir said.
It's unclear why so many absentee voters waited until Monday and Election Day to cast their ballots.
But this trend, say election officials, is here to stay. Vote-by-mail rolls have expanded steadily, either out of convenience or a growing distrust of voting equipment.
For the second election in a row, more people voted absentee than went to the polls in both Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
By the time all ballots have been counted, Weir estimates that turnout in Contra Costa will reach 63 percent, about average for the county. About 52 percent of the ballots were absentee while 48 percent were cast at the polls.
Alameda County reported a lower turnout rate of 55 percent, but it reported a similar split between absentee and voting at the polls.
Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers politics. Reach her at 925-945-4773 or lvorderbrueggen@cctimes.com.
election 2006: too close to call
Races with close margins include:
[....]
• Richmond mayor: Gayle McLaughlin leads incumbent Irma Anderson by 192 votes.
• Richmond: Myrna Lopez has a 160-vote lead over Corky Booze in the competition for the third opening on the City Council.
[....]
Source: Contra Costa and Alameda County election departments
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Once again: RIDICULOUS!
We at the Tazer sincerely hope that the correct mayor and council were elected last Tuesday.
posted by Plunda Claus @ 8:46 AM
2 Comments:
At November 15, 2006 4:34 PM,
Anonymous said…
"We consider it our duty to defend humanity from the scourge of intolerance,violence and fanaticism"-Ahmed Shah Massoud
Afghanstan Leader/ Freedom Fighter against the Communist Russians, Taliban and Al-Qaida
The war on violence still continues, the current Mayor Anderson is helpless even more helpless if she returns, the other wannabe McLaughlin is so out of touch with this community she claims to represent, God bless this community if she becames Mayor and that is still a big 'if'!
The men and women of faith will still be on the frontlines of this war to end the violence! God truly bless each and everyone of you for your true commitment to youth at risk!
At November 16, 2006 2:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
Was the Richmond Mayor and City Council race hacked and hijacked? That is a question that Richmond political and community activists are asking!
Over the next several weeks, HBO will be airing "HACKING DEMOCRACY" a stunning and timely documentary about how easy it is to tamper with LOCAL, regional and national elections with computers and redirect who will be elected to office, regardless of who the voters voted for and who the actual winner was of the popular vote. It shows step by step how an election can be hacked and hijacked!
Airtimes will be as follows: November 18, 20, 21, 24, 27, and 29; December 2, 9, 17, 16, 17, and 19 For more information go to hbo.com and look to the right under the category of DOCUMENTARIES!
WE HAVE THE RIGHT AND DEMAND TO KNOW: WAS THE RICHMOND ELECTION HACKED AND HIJACKED?!
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