Happy New Year East County!
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 18, No. 53
Funds approved for local events
Choosing The Right Wine
Do you want to build a snowman?
Explore the differing varieties of champagne and sparkling wines for New Year’s Eve. Page 8
by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
East County residents filling out their 2017 calendars can already plan for six key community events in Brentwood. The Brentwood City Council recently approved $54,000 for priority events – the Holiday Parade, Summer Concert Series, Brentwood Art, Wine & Jazz Festival, the annual Christmas tree lighting, Hometown Halloween and Movies in the Park. “These events are the ones that residents have really responded to,” said Mayor Bob Taylor. The grants will be the first of several awarded under the city’s Economic Development Grant Program, which sets aside 20 per-
Hometown Heroes
Photo courtesy of Jun Gandia
T
his colorful Brownie snowgirl was a group project created by Brentwood Brownie Troop 37796 for participation in the city’s first snowman-building contest. See page 4 for contest winners and story about the park and recreation department’s transformation of City Park into a winter wonderland.
see Events page 22
Students offer advice for new first lady by Amy Schrader Correspondent
Alexa Negrete and Allison Kim, two former Bristow Middle School students, recently gave advice to the incoming first lady on how to prevent cyberbullying.
Since incoming first lady Melania Trump announced her platform to focus on social media cruelty, experts have been sharing advice on how she can help combat cyberbullying. Besides teaching students to stand up against cyberbullying, experts advised the incoming first lady to call attention to positive things kids are doing online, such as an Instagram page started by two former students of Bristow Middle School. The duo’s efforts were used as exam-
Photo courtesy of Alexa Negrete
ples given to the incoming first lady. Former Bristow Middle School students Alexa Negrete and Allison Kim created Bristow Compliments, an Instagram page where they anonymously post compliments about students, to combat negativity on campus and online. “Cyberbullying was becoming a bigger problem, and I wanted to do something about it, so I thought of making the Instagram account Bristow Compliments to make sosee First Lady page 22
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December 30, 2016
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California Highway Patrol and PG&E urge safe driving this holiday season.
Get to know one of East County’s first responders in this week’s Meet the Beat. Page 7
Patriots Take Down Amador
Heritage defeats Amador Valley at the one-day West Coast Jamboree Challenge. Page 15 Calendar................................23 Classifieds.............................18 Entertainment.......................9 Food..........................................8 Milestones............................11 Pets.........................................13 Sports.....................................15
Capital Fellows go to news/press releases
The Capital Fellows Programs, announces the availability of applications.