YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 18, No. 36
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Former BVAL star Marcus Lee signs NBA contract by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
Former basketball player Marcus Lee has fought to achieve success at every step of his roundball journey. So it’s no surprise that he’s right at home entrenched in a battle for a roster spot on the NBA’s Miami Heat. “Fighting isn’t new for me, so I might as well keep going with it,” said the 6-foot-10 forward this week. Lee became the first Deer Valley High School player to sign an NBA contract when he netted a deal with the Miami Heat in mid-August. He’s now part of an 18-man Heat roster that will eventually be whittled down to 15 with two additional players spending most of their season in the NBA’s developmental G League. “I have a long way to go,” said Lee, who spent three years at the Uni-
versity of Kentucky before transferring to Cal his senior season. “Right now people are waiting to see about all of these new guys. Are they going to be the best of the worst and go to the G League, or go to the NBA and be the best of the best?” Lee took control of his NBA destiny in July as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Summer League team, where he averaged 6.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in seven games – after going unselected in June’s NBA draft. He inked a deal with the Heat about a month later. “I just kept working out and kind of getting myself to where I needed to be (after the draft),” Lee said. “Cleveland ended up giving me a chance in the summer league, and I ended up doing pretty well there.” see NBA page 30
Community Steps Up
Despite its cancellation, recipients of the Art, Wine & Jazz Festival will still benefit. Page 5
Kings Of The Equine World
Press file photo
Marcus Lee recently became the first East County graduate to land an NBA contract when he signed a deal with the Miami Heat last month.
Sand Creek land-use plan approved by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
About a month after the Antioch City Council adopted an initiative governing a portion of 2,712 undeveloped acres in the town’s southeast, city leaders have approved a similar, slightly more restrictive one instead of sending it to voters. The now-adopted Let Antioch Voters Decide initiative will zone the 1,800-acre stretch between Deer Valley Road and Black Diamond Mines for rural, residential, agricultural and open-space uses with a minimum parcel size of 80 acres. It also requires a vote for more intensive development and voter approval for all urban limit line changes.
“ I think the future residents will be drawn to Brentwood and its businesses.
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western and southern boundaries of the Sand Creek Focus Area, west of Deer Valley Road, by designating it for open-space, agricultural and rural uses. Both measures had garnered enough signatures to appear on a future ballot, forcing the council either to adopt them outright or to send them to ballot. In the end, both competing initiative groups emerged victorious: the housing project is approved, and a large portion of open
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Mayor Bob Taylor It largely overrules the competing, but similar, West Sand Creek initiative, adopted by the council about a month ago, but it won’t affect a 550-acre, 1,180-unit housing project west of Deer Valley Road and east of Empire Mine Road that was approved as part of that initiative’s adoption. The overruled initiative called for the housing project to be approved, along with 1,244 acres preserved – about 30 percent less than the one recently approved – at the
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land in the city’s southeast corner will be preserved. City officials had considered building as many as 4,000 homes in the entire 2,712-acre Sand Creek Focus Area – bounded by Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve to the west, city limits to the south and the City of Brentwood to the east – but the initiative will reduce that number to 2,100, according to preliminary city estimates. “As I see this and I look at both initiatives, the only difference as I understand from all the reading I have done now, is the (West Sand Creek Initiative) allows The Ranch (housing project) to be built,” said Antioch Mayor Sean Wright.
Exotic, mysterious and royalty in equine circles, meet the Arabian horses of East County. Page 4
Making An Impact
Brentwood’s Impact Soccer Club takes all in Huntington Beach Tournament. Page 23
see Plan page 30
Calendar................................31 Classifieds.............................25 Cop Logs................................29 Education. ..............................6 Entertainment.....................11 Food........................................10 Kid Scoop. ..............................9 Opinion..................................20 Pets...........................................8 Sports.....................................21
Polling Honors
Safety Upgrades
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County Elections Division wins award for polltraining class on voter accessibility.
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(FEMA) has awarded BART $6.8 million for continued police patrols on trains.