Fremont hosts prehistoric weapons contest

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:21:12 +0000

FREMONT — Chris Smith paused for a moment, left arm extended like a shot-putter’s and the atlatl balanced over his right shoulder. His arm then flashed forward, and the dart flew toward its target.

Smith and other fans of the atlatl — a hunting weapon used in prehistoric times — came Sunday to Coyote Hills Regional Park on Sunday to compete in the World Atlatl Association’s International Standard Accuracy Contest.

“I’ve only been doing it for a year now, and it’s all I think about,” Smith said. “‘The atlatl ate my brain’ is a common refrain.”

The atlatl (pronounced at-latal or atal-atal), whose name comes from the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, is a throwing stick about 2 feet long with a grip at one end and a spur at the other. The rear of a 6- to 7-foot dart is notched onto the spur, and the thrower brings their arm forward in a sweeping motion, flinging the dart.

Developed in Europe as much as 40,000 years ago, the weapons were used to hunt Pleistocene “megafauna” such as mammoths and mastodons; they were used in the Bay Area from about 10,000 years ago until they were replaced by the bow and arrow about 2,000 years ago, said Dino Labiste, a naturalist at Coyote Hills, which is part of the East Bay Regional Park District.

“These things were pretty much easy to make but difficult to master, while the bow and arrow was difficult to make but easy to master,” he said.

The competition was created in 1996 to allow modern-day

atlatl enthusiasts worldwide to compare skills. Competitors throw 10 darts at the target, five from 15 meters and five from 20 meters. Points range from six for a hit in the outer ring to 10 for the bull’s-eye, which is 24 centimeters in diameter. In case of a tie, the thrower with the most hits in an “X-ring” 10 centimeters in diameter at the center of the bull’s-eye wins.

Bruce Weidman topped the men’s category Sunday with 51 points; his wife, DeAnne, scored highest in the women’s category with 26 points.

“The thing I like about this is the competitive aspect — to learn a skill, practice and improve,” said Mark Dellinges, of Belmont, who organized the event. “I started by flintknapping with obsidian, and began getting more and more interested in primitive technology. … All of a sudden, it started becoming an obsession.”

Sunday’s event also included a demonstration of flintknapping, the art of shaping flint, obsidian and other stones into tools and weapons.

“This is what we’re all trying to achieve,” said Richard Baugh, of Palo Alto, pointing to a poster with the image of a spearhead dating from 9,500 to 7,000 years ago. “How did they do it?”

Early knappers used simple hammers made of wood or antlers to shape their tools.

“Some people think it’s easy — it takes a lot of practice and a lot of broken stones,” Labiste said. “It was an art in itself.”

Baugh has been flintknapping for nearly 40 years and coming to Coyote Hills for about a quarter-century.

“These are the most incredibly generous people in the whole world in terms of sharing their knowledge and sharing their materials and time,” he said.

Dellinges plans to create a regular atlatl contest at Coyote Hills. Anyone interested can contact him at markdellinges@comcast.net.

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Pleasant Hill utility tax ballot measure draws support, derision

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:31:51 +0000

By Lisa P. White
Contra Costa Times

PLEASANT HILL — The battle over raising the utility tax in Pleasant Hill pits residents who believe the city needs more money for police and road maintenance against those who say the council should instead cut spending.

The debate encompasses themes playing out in elections across the country in the fall, including the economy, taxes, pension reform and government spending.

Kevin Gregory started a website, www.nopleasanthilltax.weebly.com, in July to recruit people interested in defeating Measure T, which would raise the utility tax from 1 percent to 1.5 percent and apply it to landline and cell phone service, cable, electricity, gas, water and sewer bills.

With the recession dragging on, the timing couldn’t be worse, Gregory said.

“For the city to come and in the middle of this ask to raise taxes people pay when they’re trying to pay their mortgage, stay afloat and keep a job is the wrong thing to do,” he said.

“It seems to me that the city hasn’t gone far enough to see how they can cut their own expenses before asking everyone else to pony up.”

The Pleasant Hill Taxpayers Association and Pleasant Hill Citizens for Responsible Growth also oppose the tax increase.

Organizers of the “Yes on Measure T” campaign say opponents are missing the point. They argue that the utility tax would provide a steady source of income that the state can’t take away. The

money could be used to pay for police, more library hours, crime-prevention programs and road repairs.

“The city is losing money. We’re in the red for the next two budget years. (The city) is doing everything as far as I can tell to adjust costs,” said campaign Chairman Tim Flaherty, who serves on the city’s planning and civic action commissions.

“I think the opposition is saying it’s not a good time. “… Well then, when is a good time? When we have to close City Hall for two days a week or furlough employees? Is that when we go forward and ask?”

Currently, the utility tax only applies to intrastate landline phone service, and brings in about $189,000 per year. The city estimates the higher tax would generate about $1.2 million annually, which amounts to an average of $86 per household. It would apply to residential and business customers, but public schools, Diablo Valley College and residents participating in rate reduction programs for low-income households would be exempt. The ordinance gives the council the authority to reduce or suspend the tax without voter approval.

Critics of the tax hike say city employees’ salaries and benefits are too generous. They believe the city should do more to cut personnel costs, such as making employees contribute to their retirement. Pleasant Hill paid about $840,000 to cover employees’ CalPERS contributions in the 2009 fiscal year, according to Mary McCarthy, finance director.

Supporters note that the most recent budget froze 22 vacant positions, including several top management posts. They also point out that the contract police officers agreed to last year tied raises to the city meeting revenue targets, which didn’t happen.

Ultimately, both sides agree, voters will have to decide whether they believe the city needs more money to maintain basic services. Wendy Lack, who opposes Measure T, said the council has offered a “false choice” between raising taxes and laying off police officers. They should do more to cut spending, she said.

Flaherty disagrees. “It’s not all about limiting costs, you also have to address the revenue side of the ledger,” he said.

Lisa P. White covers Martinez and Pleasant Hill. Contact her at 925-943-8011. Follow her at Twitter.com/lisa_p_white.

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Man, woman charged in separate Oakland bank robberies

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:45:28 +0000

OAKLAND — A man and woman have been charged with separate Oakland bank robberies that they told investigators they committed to get money for drugs, police said Friday.

In both cases police were able to identify them as suspects from bank surveillance photographs provided to local media that resulted in tips from the public.

Derek Goudeau, 45, who police said has a lengthy criminal record, has been charged with the Aug. 25 robbery of the Bank of the West, 4900 Telegraph Ave. Police said he acted alone and presented a teller a note demanding money and indicated he had a gun in his waistband although none was seen.

Kenyonna Farr, 22, has been charged with the Aug. 16 robbery of the Montclair branch of the Bank of America, 1959 Mountain Blvd. She was wearing a mask when she gave a demand note to a teller, but the mask slipped down before she got the money and her face was captured on a surveillance camera, police said.

Investigators said both have admitted their involvement in the robberies, which are not related.

Goudeau was arrested Tuesday at his residence in the 3100 block of Harrison Street. He told police he needed money to pay for his heroin addiction.

Farr was arrested Aug. 24 at a motel on Hegenberger Road by the Violent Crimes Unit commanded by Sgt. Randy Brandwood. She told investigators she used the money to pay for cocaine and other drugs and to purchase a car.

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admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:55:19 +0000

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Police find bodies of missing Vallejo women linked to dead Hercules slaying suspect

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:47:50 +0000

Up to four homicides connected to suspect, who was killed by police; victim’s son still missing

The tally of bodies linked to murder suspect Efren Valdemoro grew to four after a ghastly discovery in a Vallejo home, police revealed Wednesday.

There on Upland Court, police found the bodies of two women: 63-year-old Segundina Allen and 60-year-old Marcaria Smart, both friendly with Valdemoro, a San Pablo resident.

But what rage prompted their deaths may remain forever undisclosed.

Police shot Valdemoro to death Tuesday night after a wild chase that ended at a fish counter in Richmond’s Pacific East Mall. He snatched up a cleaver and attacked a security guard, police said, prompting two California Highway Patrol officers to shoot.

The 38-year-old left the body of his strangled ex-girlfriend in

the parking lot.

“We were dealing with a very unstable individual,” CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said Wednesday. “He fled from the vehicle to the market, had a meat cleaver, and put the officers in a position where they were in fear for their lives.”

Vallejo police Lt. Abel Tenorio said Wednesday that his department has not concluded beyond doubt that Vademoro killed Smart and Allen. On Tuesday afternoon, Hercules police did name Valdemoro as their suspect in the beating death of 73-year-old Ricardo Sales, found Saturday in the bedroom of a Hercules home. Sales’s son and housemate, 35-year-old Frederick Sales, remains missing.

All the victims knew Valdemoro. Detectives remained mum Wednesday about the details of those relationships,

or a motive for the killings.

The strangled victim, 46-year-old Cindy Tran, owned and lived in the Hercules home on Crepe Myrtle Drive with the Saleses. She also owned the dark-colored Acura that Valdemoro used in the police chase.

Hercules police, investigating the Sales death, reported that he was last seen driving a pearl white Cadillac Escalade — Allen’s car. Police recovered the Escalade at a business park in Hercules on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s chase began about 7:40 p.m. in Pleasant Hill. CHP officers pursued the car onto Interstate 680 and then to Richmond, at speeds over 100 mph, before it exited at Central Avenue and drove into the mall parking lot.

During the chase, police sources say, witnesses saw Tran waving frantically through the window for help. She also made a phone call about 20 minutes before the end of the chase, pleading for help.

Sandra Le of Vallejo said she thinks she may have heard Tran, her friend and co-worker at a Vallejo hair and nail salon, being killed on the phone.

“The (salon) owner was upset because the police were here (asking about the Sales slaying) and may have upset the clients, so he called Jennie — we also called her Jennie — on her cell to tell her not to come in until the matter was resolved,” Le said.

“But he couldn’t understand her, so we called her from the salon phone and he handed it to me, and I could hear sirens, and Jenny screaming, ‘No! Stop! Honey, I love you, please, no!’

“And I could hear the car accelerating and he was yelling at her, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and I yelled for someone to call 911, and then, suddenly, it was silent.”

Police sources said that Valdemoro managed to strangle Tran with a length of rope during the chase, before he ran into the mall.

A security guard saw Valdemoro running with officers on his tail and joined the chase. He tried to grab Valdemoro near the fish counter in the 99 Ranch Market, but the suspect threatened him with the cleaver.

Two CHP officers ordered him to drop his weapon, Cross said, but he didn’t. So they shot him.

While authorities investigated in Richmond, Vallejo police followed leads Tuesday night to the Upton Court home where Allen lived. Investigators had gone to the home in the morning and observed flies inside the home in the window. They returned around 5 p.m. and observed a strange odor; they talked to Allen’s husband, 72-year-old Charles Rittenhouse, and “froze” the house while seeking a search warrant. Authorities found the women’s bodies after executing the warrant about 10 p.m. They also found bomb-making materials.

Rittenhouse was taken into custody in connection with the explosives ingredients, including C-4 and dynamite, but not the deaths, Vallejo police said. Police also found a small amount of explosives at a South Vallejo storage unit that Valdemoro rented.

Vallejo police Detective Les Bottomley said it was unclear how the women died, but they had been dead for some time. Bottomley declined to comment on whether Rittenhouse was aware of the bodies’ at his home — one inside, one in the back yard — but said there was nothing to suggest that he had been away for any extended period.

Valdemoro was an acquaintance of one of the women and stayed at the Vallejo home “off and on,” and may have been involved in disturbances there that prompted police calls, authorities said.

Domestic disturbances also were seen in the Hercules investigation. Officers visited the house on the 1000 block of Crepe Myrtle Drive on Aug. 22 to break up a fight between Valdemoro and both Saleses.

A neighbor said that a group of four or five mostly older adults had moved into the house about a month and a half ago. He said he had not heard sounds or other evidence of any disturbances at the house since then.

“It was a surprise to us,” the neighbor said of the tragic turn of events. “We came out and the police were here, and we were wondering what was going on.”

On Saturday, a housemate went to the Police Department to report both Saleses missing. Officers found the bedroom door of Ricardo Sales locked. Upon entering, they found signs of a struggle and Sales’s badly beaten body.

Detectives found no sign of Frederick Sales. Other neighbors said they heard loud music at the house Friday night, when police believe the elder Sales died.

The younger Sales, still missing Wednesday evening, was a nursing assistant at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo. Co-workers and patients there feared for him.

“He got hired the same day I did, three months ago,” nursing assistant Mary Kay Burnett said. “He’s very friendly, very talkative.”

Patient Daryl Myers, a paraplegic, saw Sales nearly every day the past couple of months.

“He was looking forward, nothing but up. He was going to make something of his life,” Myers said. “He was never mad, depressed or quiet on certain days. You would always see him smile. You would always see his front teeth.

“I am devastated,” Myers said.

Staff writer Tom Lochner and Rachel Raskin-Zrihen of the Vallejo Times-Herald contributed to this article. Contact Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728. Follow him at Twitter.com/kfischer510.

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Boy, 4, paralyzed as Antioch man faces felony child abuse charges

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:18:55 +0000

Click photo to enlarge

Aaron Handy, 28, of Antioch, is suspected of felony child abuse after his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son was taken to the hospital last week with serious head injuries. (Antioch Police Department)

MARTINEZ — An Antioch man was arraigned Tuesday on felony child abuse charges in the beating of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son, who suffered a brain injury and has lost the function of one arm, a prosecutor said.

“He is suffering at least partial, maybe total paralysis in one arm,” Contra Costa County deputy district attorney Dara Cashman said. “Whether that will be permanent or not, I don’t know at this time.”

Aaron Handy, 28, was charged Monday with one count of felony willful injury to a child and two charge enhancements: inflicting great bodily injury on a child younger than 5 and inflicting great bodily injury resulting in brain injury, paralysis or coma.

Handy was ordered to return to court Sept. 16 to enter a plea. He faces as much as 17 years in prison if convicted; he remains behind bars in lieu of $240,000 bail, Cashman said.

The child’s mother came home to the residence she shares with Handy on Peppertree Way on Aug. 20 and found her son unconscious. Antioch police said that Handy, who had been watching the boy, tried to persuade her not to call an ambulance. When she did, he fled, officers said.

The boy was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, and doctors put him into a medically induced coma while surgeons removed a portion of his skull to alleviate swelling. The boy, who remains hospitalized, has been unable to describe how he was injured to police.

Handy was arrested Aug. 25 in Stockton. His

ex-wife told investigators that she has banned Handy from seeing their two children.

Police said that Handy told them that he became angry at the 4-year-old and pushed him forcefully. Cashman said that statement is inconsistent with the boy’s injuries, but she declined to go into further detail.

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Two Alameda County
transit agencies to merge

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:23:33 +0000

For 19 years, Alameda County has had two transportation agencies to fund and oversee transportation projects, each with a similar mission, a board, a staff and an office in the same Oakland building.

The two agencies now are merging in a move that leaders of Alameda County and its 14 cities say will save money and provide the county a unified political voice as it seeks seeking funding to improve mobility for those in cars, buses and trains, on bicycles and on foot.

The new agency is called the Alameda County Transporation Commission.

“We can streamline operations, save money, and give Alameda County a unified voice on transportation matters,” said Union City Mayor Mark Green, chairman of the new commission’s 22-member board. “That’s especially important when we go to Washington or Sacramento looking for money to improve our transportation system.”

Green said the merger better prepares Alameda County to deal with the challenges of maintaining and improving roads, highways and public transit during a sour economy, tight state funds and political pressure to reduce auto use and limit greenhouse gases.

The Alameda County Transportation Commission was officially born June 24 after nearly two years of study and a series of votes by the county and its cities.

The merger, which will happen in stages over the next 18 months, will blend two agencies with different funding sources: the Alameda County Transportation Improvement

Authority and the Alameda County Congestion Management Agencies.

The improvement authority has overseen about $100 million annually collected from the county’s half-cent sales tax measure to help local public transit operators and fund a variety of voter-approved projects. Those projects include soon-to-open toll lane on Interstate 680 between Fremont and Pleasanton and BART’s planned rail extension to the Oakland International Airport.

Alameda County voters approved the sales tax in 1986 and renewed it in 2000.

Alameda County leaders created the congestion management agency in 1991 in response to a state law that requires counties to set up organizations to oversee transportation planning and efforts to fight traffic jams. In this last decade, the congestion agency has been able to raise about $100 million a year largely because of state and federal funds allocated to the county.

Merging the two agencies is expected to save $500,000 to $900,000 a year, mainly by streamlining operations, and merging and trimming jobs, according consultant studies for the two agencies. The new agency’s mission is similar to the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority, which oversees both county sales tax spending and congestion planning.

The top executives of the two old agencies — Dennis Fay of the congestion agency and Christine Monsen of the improvement authority — say they will retire from their posts.

On Wednesday, Art Dao, a deputy director of the improvement authority, starts as boss of the new agency.

“One of the challenges will be creating and building an organization from two very different cultures and staffs,” Dao said.

Fay said Alameda County political leaders decided two decades ago to have two separate agencies in part because the sales tax agency had so much work to do in delivering voter-approved projects.

The congestion agency also had a lot to do aggressively seeking out state and federal funds to improve transportation.

“I think the merger will benefit the public because it will bring out the best of the two agencies into one,” Fay said.

Contact Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267. Follow him at Twitter.com/deniscuff.

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Orinda man celebrates birthday in unusual way

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:39:18 +0000

MT. DIABLO STATE PARK — Most people don’t celebrate their 47th birthday — or any birthday, for that matter — riding to the top of Mount Diablo on a unicycle.

But, as friends and even his wife admit, Steve Meagher is not like most people.

“Steve’s always been a little on the nut side,” said Ralph Gowen, one of about two dozen friends and family waiting for Meagher at the summit Sunday. “This is very typical.”

Meagher’s ride, from the Athenian School in Danville to the observation deck at the mountain’s peak, took him just over two hours.

Twelve miles, 3,500 vertical feet — and one wheel.

“It’s a long way,” Meagher said at the top. “I was just nervous that I wasn’t going to make it.”

The Orinda resident and native bought his unicycle three years ago, when his wife, April, left him alone with the credit card and told him to buy himself a toy for his birthday.

“It was just so different,” Steve Meagher said. “It was just so goofy that I had to do it.” He took one lesson shortly afterward from Danville resident Chris Hopkins, who had recently rode up Mount Diablo for charity.

But it wasn’t until last December when Meagher started talking about making the trip himself. For the past few months, he’s been practicing, first in the backyard, then the driveway, then the local park and eventually at Mount Diablo.

“Steve is one of those people who if he sets his mind to do something he’s going to do it,”

April Meagher said. “He certainly makes life fun.”

And that was the entire purpose of Steve’s Sunday ride, which he called a “fun-raiser, no ‘d.’ “

“The best thing is when people are coming up or down and they see you and they just (get) a big smile, it’s like, ‘How the hell did you do that?’” he said. “That’s really fun. That part’s really cool.”

Other than leaning forward for balance, Steve Meagher said, riding a unicycle up a hill is not much different from riding on flat ground. The challenge, he said, is that unlike a bicycle, you must keep pedaling to keep moving and avoid falling off.

Meagher, a physical therapist, is no stranger to athletic challenges. He’s run about 20 marathons, completed four triathlons and participated in 15 Alcatraz swims. He’s a member of the Danville-based running group Forward Motion, and many of the group’s members ran or biked up the mountain Sunday to lend their support and encouragement.

Sunday’s trip was also a family effort. April drove their two daughters, Bridget, 5, and Bailey, 3, to Mount Diablo when Steve practiced so they can have a picnic lunch together. And when Steve first began riding, Bridget would use chalk to mark how far he went on each try.

“Come on, Dad, you can do it!” Bridget called out to her father as he climbed the last few feet Sunday. Once at the top, Steve lifted Bailey high in the air in celebration.

“Our daughters have watched him go from start to finish with this process,” April Meagher said. “They watched him (go from) not knowing how to do this at all to being able to do it, and I think that’s a huge life lesson for a child to see.”

Sitting in their Orinda backyard last week before the ride, April said her husband has always been a little quirky.

“I think I need attention,” Steve replied. “It’s fun to do things that most people don’t do and just try something different. Because you kind of get in a rut so if you try something different, it’s kind of fun. And it’s nothing that anybody else can’t do, it’s just I’m doing it.”

Contact Jonathan Morales at 925-943-8048.

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Officer-shooting suspect arrested just feet from Mexican border

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:02:42 +0000

UNION CITY — The suspect in the shooting of a veteran Fremont police officer has been arrested in a Southern California border town, one exit north of Mexico, as he tried to flee the country, San Diego police said.

Investigators received information that Andrew Barrientos was headed to Mexico when a sergeant spotted him with another man driving in a vehicle about 3 p.m. Saturday in the 5700 block of Camiones Way, a street that runs parallel to the border, said San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown. The officer pulled over the car and held the men at gunpoint until Barrientos was arrested without incident. He was found with a 9 mm handgun, police said.

No information about the other man was immediately available.

Earlier in the day, police identified the critically injured officer as Todd Young, a 16-year veteran of the Fremont and Newark police departments. The 39-year-old father of two was shot twice in the pelvic area and rushed to a hospital, where he underwent surgery. He remained in critical but stable condition Saturday afternoon, police said.

As the Fremont resident was taken into custody near San Ysidro, feet from the Mexican border checkpoint, East Bay police agencies knocked down doors and served search warrants in Union City, searching for Barrientos.

Investigators had shut down Eighth and Ninth streets between C and E streets in Union City this afternoon, about four miles from Tennyson Park in Hayward, where

police had recovered the stolen car Barrientos, 20, is accused of using to escape the scene of the shooting.

Investigators searched several homes, including one in the 33400 block of Eighth Street.

Ines Mercado, who lives at the home with her parents and siblings, said she thought police were looking for a man who lived in the other half of the duplex.

“They just told us, ‘You have to get out,’” Mercado said. “They asked, ‘Do you know him?’”

As police scoured the neighborhood, Fremont Mayor Robert Wasserman released a statement Saturday, saying, “The citizens of Fremont and the City Council wish to extend our thoughts and prayers for Officer Todd Young and his family.

“The council wishes to extend our most sincere appreciation for the doctors and staff of Highland Hospital for the outstanding medical care that has been extended to Officer Young.”

The shooting occurred Friday after two Fremont police officers tried to serve a search warrant on Barrientos. They found him outside a bungalow in the 2000 block of Auseon Avenue near Bancroft Avenue, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.

Barrientos fled on foot, firing a gun at both officers and hitting one of them twice, Thomason said. After shooting at and failing to carjack a driver, Barrientos then fled on foot to a liquor store in the 8600 block of Bancroft Avenue, where he carjacked a 1999 green Mazda, Thomason said.

“On behalf of Todd’s family, and the Fremont Police Department, we would like to thank everyone for their continued support,” Fremont police spokesman Bill Veteran said in a statement.

During his lengthy surgery, Young required 60 units of blood, Fremont police said. He is expected to need more procedures in the next few days and police are asking for donations.

The Mazda suspected to be the getaway car turned up parked near Tennyson Park in Hayward about 2 a.m. Saturday, Thomason said. He declined to state the condition of the car or whether Barrientos has family in the area.

Thomason issued a stern warning to anyone who may have helped Barrientos hide or escape.

At the time of the shooting, Barrientos was on probation for resisting police and was wanted on domestic violence charges.

“He was wanted for pointing a firearm at the mother of his child on Aug. 12,” Thomason said.

Oakland investigators are handling the shooting investigation and led the search for Barrientos, Thomason said.

“The fact he could do this, shoot at a police officer, shoot at innocent people, speaks to his state of mind right now,” Thomason said.

Contact Sean Maher at smaher@bayareanewsgroup.com or 510-208-6430. Staff writer Ben Aguirre contributed to this story.

donate blood
Injured Officer Todd Young may need blood for future surgeries and police are asking for donations. Anyone wishing to donate blood in Young’s name is asked to call the American Red Cross at 800-448-3543 or their local blood bank.

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Roadshow: Lower the fine for rolling through a red light on a right turn?

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:56:56 +0000

Q So the state is thinking of reducing fines for California stops — drivers who roll through red lights on right turns. I say fines should be increased. I see more drivers out there doing this, and have almost been in several accidents because of this. Decreasing fines would be telling drivers it’s OK to blow through a red light.

Al Parks

Salinas

A Those are the overwhelming sentiments I’ve heard to legislation introduced by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that would lower the fine from around $450 to $219. The bill is before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Q This may seem naive, but if the intent of the fine for traffic violations is to stop drivers from breaking the law and for safety, then why reduce the fine for the California stop? Apparently many of those complaining about the amount of the fine are breaking the law, but just don’t want to pay so much when caught. I have nearly been hit while walking numerous times and only have remained safe by making sure that the driver recognizes my existence and motions me forward. If pedestrians were as careless as drivers, we would have many injured or dead.

K.A.

A When I’m out walking the Roadshow retrievers, my big fear is a driver turning right on red. So many don’t look for pedestrians and don’t stop.

Q People rolling

through the red light as if it were green is why I quit riding a motorcycle. I never knew if they could see me or if they would actually stop. I don’t have any sympathy for people who do this. “… Lowering this fine is irrational. “… So more scofflaws are demanding lenient treatment for their blatant crime of failing to make a full stop before turning right on red. Most of the time these drivers only look for cars coming from the left and as soon as it’s clear or perceived by them as clear, they jump on the gas and turn the wheel. I say to our Legislature: Scrap any bill to lessen the punishment for this infraction. “… Is the punishment for failing to make a full stop before turning right at a stop sign equally severe?

John Thompson, Forrest West, Perry Castagnetto, Khoi Bui and more

A No, the fine for rolling through a stop sign on a right turn is around $219. In 1997, legislation inadvertently amended the vehicle code to apply to right turns on red-light violations, making the fine the same as running straight through an intersection on a red light.

Q After almost being run over walking my dog by a driver who rolled through a red light on a right turn, I have to throw my two cents in. I live off Santa Teresa Boulevard in San Jose, or as many of us refer to it — Santa Teresa Raceway. At least once a week some moron will not stop for the red and make a right. One day I was two steps into the crosswalk when I see a car coming and I know she isn’t going to stop. I had to jump back onto the curb and yank my 17-pound mix breed Pekingese Mia by the leash to get her out of the way. People complain that running a red to make a right is not the same as just running a red and should be treated different. I agree. The fine should be double, not half. By the way, the car that almost ran us over was a Prius.

Thomas Bougher

San Jose

A There is one embarrassing member in every Prius family. But we need to hear from another side.

Q I got a rolling right-red light ticket, and went to the San Mateo County courthouse Monday and counted 11 people there for the same issue. The judge was offering $25 off fines to persuade people to plead guilty.

Cory Narog

Belmont

A Cory was traveling near Whipple Avenue in Redwood City when he heard a siren and rolled through a red light to get out of the way. That’s when the camera flashed and a few days later a $446 ticket arrived in the mail. San Mateo County courts are so jammed with cases like this that his court date won’t take place until March. This was his first ticket in 37 years. Said Cory: “Had there been a police officer there, I’m sure he would have understood and not ticketed me. I am so disappointed in this system.”

Q I was one of those unfortunate ones caught on camera in Fremont. My fine was $476, which I find ludicrous. Are we having to pay for the budget our leaders cannot balance? What what can I do? What would you do?

Noel Garza

A If there were unusual circumstances, I might go to court. If not, I’d pay the fine and go to traffic school to keep it off my record.

Q A couple of weeks ago I was driving down Ralston Avenue toward El Camino Real with no traffic when I slowed but didn’t stop on a right turn. I said to myself: Why did I do that? I didn’t think any more of it until Tuesday, when I got a citation in the mail for $446. I think it’s pretty rotten to charge people so much. The ticket said I was going 15 mph. Is that fast? I went to the hall of justice and a person there said I could fight it, but I’m too old for that, so I just paid the $446.

Anna Kordick

San Mateo

A Anna is 80. This was her first ticket since she was 21 — for rolling through a stop sign.

Coming Monday: A British man says Americans are terrific drivers. Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5335. The fax number is 408-288-8060.

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