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Vol. 16, No. 41
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Bringing Safety Town to campus Jordan Rice, a teacher at Antioch’s Turner Elementary Special Education School, has been named a finalist of the 2016 Farmer Insurance’s Dream Big Challenge, under the $100,000-grant category. Along with so many national politicians these days, the special-education teacher is looking for votes. But, as all political parties will agree, Rice’s campaign is certainly worthy of everyone’s votes, because her platform will empower her students. Due to her creative vision and impressive application, Rice’s Safety Town project has the chance to be one of six projects funded. “Safety Town is a different and creative way to motivate and engage students who have significant learning needs,” said Rice. Housed on the school’s campus, Safety Town will be a miniature city, featuring about eight small playhouses that the students and adults can enter. Each playhouse will be designed as a miniature town landmark, such as a bank, police station, fire station, school and grocery store. Safety Town reinforces concepts that begin in the classroom by bringing them to life in a new, relatable environment. This setting closely resembles one that they will encounter in the real word and allows for easier generalization, or transition, of the skills learned in class. “For example, the grocery store will include learning objectives, such as money concepts, answering questions, sorting, colors, matching, and collaborative learning,” said Rice.
October 7, 2016
Shattering The Ceiling
Women-owned businesses are on the rise. Meet some of them in this week’s edition. Page 1B
Closing In On Centennial Photo courtesy of Jonathan Lance
Participants and supporters of the Safety Town project include, in the back row, Leonardo Xavier (Farmers Ins), Ruben Herrera Jr. (Farmers Ins), Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Karen Sakata, Turner Elementary Principal Lisa Ecker and Elias Herrera (Farmers Ins), seen here with Jordan Rice, center. Those 18 or older can cast their vote once a day, through Oct. 31, at https://goo.gl/a338sp. There are no district precincts in this national vote. “Please vote for our Safety Town proposal,” said Rice. “It will give our students the
resources and skills they need to become meaningful, engaged, active participants in our community.” For more information, visit https://goo.gl/ c3FJTE. To comment, visit www.thepress.net.
Brentwood resident Jerri Brillhart celebrates milestone 99th birthday. Page 4A
Heritage Takes Bowl
Oakley UPS distribution center to expand by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
The Oakley United Parcel Service distribution center is gearing up for the holiday rush of packages. The facility, on Live Oak Avenue, just north of Orchard Park Elementary School, will add 3,880 square feet of modular buildings to its 2,500-squarefoot building to store overflow packages. The Oakley City Council recently approved the additions. “Part of the deal is that af-
ter the New Year, we will pave the site and become a more permanent site right there,” said Nelson Ye, UPS representative. The extra 14-foot-high buildings on the 4.8 acre site, will mean 50 trucks, as opposed to the current 30, will enter and exit the facility daily. School traffic isn’t expected to be impacted since the trucks exit around 6 a.m. and return between 6 and 8 p.m. at night, Ye said. “The idea is that the trucks will be off-site early in the morning before school,” Ye said. As part of the additions,
UPS will make frontage improvements by September of next year that are slated to include a 42.5-foot, right-of-way dedication along Live Oak Avenue, additional lanes, on-street parking and trees. The existing modular units onsite will be painted to match the new tan and white buildings, said Oakley Senior Planer Kenneth Strelo. “Long term plans, according to the applicant, are eventually, if they decide to stay on this site, to do a more comprehensive site development and possibly
even replace the modular buildings with a more permanent building structure.” Ye also said the company’s plans are to eventually add a customer counter at the facility to allow people to pick up or ship packages on-site. The council’s approval of the additions was a milestone of sorts for the city, since it was the first completed with the assistance of the citizen planning advisers program. The program was launched earlier this year see UPS page 30A
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