YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 18, No. 32
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Ballfield added to rec center
Cops and kids night out
by Aly Brown
Meet The Water Guy Photo courtesy of City of Oakley
O
akley Police Captain Eric Christensen, seen here with Oakley City Councilmember Doug Hardcastle, visited dozens of neighborhoods Tuesday, Aug. 7, for National Night Out. The community event is designed to create better relationships between residents and law enforcement.
see Center page 30A
Farmers adjusting to area heat waves by Aly Brown Staff Writer
This summer, as recordbreaking temperatures and unprecedented wildfires have engulfed parts of the state and Pacific Northwest, East County farmers have been fighting their own battles against the heat here at home. “Fortunately, we had a lot of water, and that’s your only line of defense: making sure the crops are hydrated,” said Bloomfield Cherries owner Tom Bloomfield, whose family has been farming in the area for more than 100 years. Bloomfield’s crops include grapes, cherries and almonds, and the most delicate of the three were already harvested before the rash of heat waves.
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“ Fortunately, we had a lot of water, and that’s your only line of defense, making sure the crops are hydrated.
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Tom Bloomfield, Bloomfield Cherries “So far, I don’t really see any damage. Grapes are generally very tolerant to heat and so are almonds, and our cherries are already harvested,” he said. “We didn’t really have any warm weather until the end of the cherry cycle, but the trees still have to endure the summer even without the cherries on the branches. You can’t have sunburn on the wood.” Combating tree sunburn again comes back to water supply and making sure the plants
stay hydrated enough to develop a canopy of healthy leaves, which protect the trunks from the sun’s rays. The heat also impacts how and when the crops are tended and harvested. “The laborers get up earlier and some of the crews only work eight hours instead of 10,” Bloomfield said. “The hourly people get up earlier and hope to finish by 2 or 3 o’clock.” For Vornhagen Farms Cherries owner Kevin Vornha-
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gen, who is still the rookie on the farming scene, that labor force consists of himself. “I don’t have any employees … so I get up early in the morning or go out in the evening – whenever I can,” Vornhagen said. Kelli Nunn of the wellknown Nunn farming family said farmers have reported the obvious: being tired and grumpy. “There is a lot of harvesting happening, and they try to get most of it done before or after the most severe heat – very early mornings and after the sun goes down,” Nunn said. In a sign of the times, local farmers can expect more heat waves in the future. “With greenhouse-gas insee Farmers page 30A
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East County Sports
Football, cheer, gymnastics and more are inside this week’s special sports section. Page 1B
Staff Writer
The Oakley City Council recently amended the recreation center project agreement to include an athletic field, and officials say the project is moving full-steam ahead. At its July 10 meeting, the council approved the amendment to an agreement with Woodland Construction Builders. The agreement will now include $740,239 for the addition of an add-alternate part of the project to construct an athletic field. The project includes rough grading and earthwork for the field, intersection and traffic signal construction at O’Hara Avenue and Chianti Way, dry utility infrastructure along with the construction of the rec center
August 10, 2018
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CONNECTING PARKS TO PEOPLE www.ebparks.org/features/rin
LOOK INSIDE FOR THE NEW
Activity Guide
Applications are now available for the 2019 Graduates of Distinction Program.
Casey Wichert, wastewater operations manager, helps keep the city’s water clean. 7A
Enjoying Wine In The Bay
Popular annual fundraiser is coming to St. Anne Church Aug. 18. Page 10A Calendar.............................31A Classifieds..........................26A Cop Logs.............................29A Entertainment..................11A Food.....................................10A Health & Beauty...............15A Milestones.........................12A Opinion...............................22A Pets........................................ 8A Sports..................................23A
MLK Jr. Day
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County’s 41st commemoration of Dr. King’s life and legacy is coming up.