Accused arsonist's apparently employer didn't know about his illness--and had no right to know

In today's Contra Costa Times story about Scott David Weinberg, the optometrist accused in arson fires in downtown Walnut Creek, the reporters asked whether his most recent employer knew about "his past," which presumably would include his mental illness and history of hospitalizations.

Weinberg had worked at For Your Eyes Only, a practice in the Ygnacio Valley Shopping Center, from August 2006 until this past July, "when he abruptly quit. When the Times asked senior optometrist Wayne Martin if the practice knew of Weinberg's "past," Martin replied. "Not that I know of. ... He was fine, and got along with all the patients."

When someone has been diagnosed with a mental illness and wants or needs to work--and can work--they face a difficult decision in whether to disclose their illness to a prospective employer, or after they have been hired.

They may not get the job, because of stigma against people with mental illness, or face on-the-job discrimination, meaning they might not win job promotions or raises.

Still they might want to tell, if they feel the need to explain gaps in their resume, or if they think their mental illness--a recognized disability under the federal American With Disabilities Act--would require certain workplace accommodations. For example, someone with schizophrenia may hear voices (a symptom of this medical condition) which may interfere with concentrating on a task for long periods of time.

Most people with mental illness probably would like to tell, because they don't want to hide something so fundamental about themselves. And, some would like to educate or help others when they disclose. However, those good intentions only work up to a point, according to a 2007 article in the Washington Post.

"The vast majority are saying to themselves, 'Why would I ever disclose? Everybody's afraid of people with mental illness.' " So says Stephen Hinshaw, chairman of the psychology department at the University of California at Berkeley and author of The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change, in an interview with the Post. But, he continues, "That only perpetuates shame, ignorance, and an inability to proactively take steps to ease the situation."

The ADA prohibits any kind of descrimination against people with a disability, including a mental illness. It requires employers of 15 or more employees to provide an equal opportunity to qualified individuals, and it prohibits discrimination in various aspects of employment.

But while employers can't discriminate against employees who are qualified to do the job, they are not obligated to hire anyone you cannot perform the essential functions of the job.

It doesn't sound like Weinberg told his employers at For Your Eyes Only. He was not legally obligated to do so, and the practice couldn't ask when hiring, according to this ADA Q&A sheet:

"An employer cannot make any pre-employment inquiry about a disability or the nature or severity of a disability. An employer may, however, ask questions about the ability to perform specific job functions ... "

It sounds like, for the time he was there, he was able to do the work.

For more information about the American with Disabilities Act, visit this information guide from Boston University, the U.S. ADA site, or this FAQ sheet from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Mt. Diablo district after-school sports may go away

I was too uncoordinated or too much of a misanthrope to be a "team player," so I never did sports in high school. I also never went to any football, basketball, or other games in high school. My friends were not jocks, except for one who did cross-country and another who was a star water polo player. These guys were also, like me, theater geeks.

So, high school sports are in not in my blood, shall we say. I'm not sure they will be in my son's blood, either. We'll see.

Still, I think it would be a real tragedy for a lot of student athletes in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District if they cannot keep playing because of lack of funds. And that might be the situation. The Contra Costa Times says that fundraising for after-school sports in the district is falling far short of its target. United Mt. Diablo Athletic Foundation, the nonprofit formed to raise $1.2 million to offset budget cuts the district had to make to sports programs has thus far only collected $320,000 collected by last week.

"Failing to raise the full amount threatens team competition involving 3,000 students in 13 sports, including football, basketball, baseball and softball," the Times says. United Mt. Diablo is raising money for sports at all six high schools in the district, including Northgate in Walnut Creek.

It's a good guess that sports is in the blood of these student athletes, who might lose out on the chance to play.

Sports is their passion. And isn't that what we want? A community of youth who are passionate about something that is beneficial to their bodies, minds, and spirits? Whether that something is sports for these athletes, theater, as it was for me, or art, music, or leadership, as it is for others.

Don't we want kids to find an activity that motivates them and teaches them valuable life lessons--how to get along with others, work together toward a common goal, play by rules and with honor, and how to try, fail, try again, and then succeed?

Personally, I've never bought into this argument among those people who actually loved their high school experience--that high school is a microcosm of life, that it socially prepares people to deal with the real world. The society of high school, with its cliques and hierarchies, to me, is kind of a fake world, not at all like what I encountered when I got out into so-called real world. From my personal experience, I'm betting that only about 10 percent of kids--usually, you know ,the star jocks and popular kids--actually liked high school. For the rest of us, it was a phase we have to get through in order to get on with the rest of our lives.

On the other hand, I believe that those extracurricular activities offered by typical public high schools--theater for me; sports for athletes--prepare us for what we will encounter in the real world of friends, work, family and so on.

With regard to kids who do sports, I'm assuming they do it, like I did theater, because they love it--unless they have obnoxious, pushy parents who are trying to relive their glory days or believe it is the ticket to some kind of college scholarship. These student athletes subject themselves to tough practices and the rigors of competition because they want to get better. They also want to be in the company of others who share their interest.

I hear about kids who feel like they don't fit in to that fake world of high school society, or they struggle academically. They might feel like giving up on school, but they have a gift for football, basketball, tennis, whatever else. They want to be on the team, so they stick with school, and feel motivated to work on their academics, so they can stay on the team and play.

And, of course, sports gets kids moving physically. Exercise is great for your health, and doing sports in high school might instill life-long habits to stay physically active.

These sports programs also give talented high school athletes a chance to shine, to feel good about themselves for displaying their gifts. And, sure, for some of the top athletes, getting a chance to shine in their sport will gain them notice by colleges that might be willing to help pay their way into coming to their school and playing for their team.

If you live in the towns covered by the Mt. Diablo district, and even if you don't have kids, you might consider donating. It's to everyone's benefit to have healthy, positive, motivated young people in the community. And, of course, if you're a parent of a student athlete and want to help out, there are lots of ways to do so. Everyone interested in helping out or donating can visit the United Mt. Diablo Athletic Foundation website.

The foundation will hold a meeting 7 p.m. Monday in the College Park High School multiuse room at 201 Viking Drive in Pleasant Hill.

Here's also where you can find out about their next event, October 18, a 5-kilometer walk/run at Newhall Park in Concord.

No state parks, including Mt. Diablo State Park, to close this year

Following threats to close more than 200 state parks, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a huge turn-around and announced Friday that no state parks will close.

The parks still must find ways to slash $14.2 million from their budget this year, which could include shorter hours that the parks are open and less maintenance in the restrooms (let's not go there, right now).

You can read more about the governor's decision here.

Walnut Creek optometrist charged in arson fires is said to suffer from bipolar disorder

The Contra Costa Times is reporting that Scott David Weinberg, 51, charged with setting fires at a downtown fast-food restaurant and the Comcast cable services hub, had suffered from "recurring episodes of uncontrolled" bipolar disorder throughout his life and was hospitalized at least twice.

Weinberg had also been slapped with a restraining order, to stay away from his second wife and her family, because of numerous reports of threats, including to burn down her house, and stalking.

Weinberg was charged Friday and arraigned on four counts of arson, and one count each of resisting arrest, possession of brass knuckles, and theft of lawn figurines. He was arrested outside hi Walnut Creek home Thursday afternoon. The fire at the Wendy's on North Main Street occurred late Wednesday night, and a blaze at the Comcast building early Thursday morning knocked out cable services to nearly 40,000 people.

Whatever some of you might think of Weinberg and his actions, bipolar disorder is a devastating disease and can be extremely debilitating. And a lot of people have it. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, this chronic medical condition afflicts more than 10 million people in the United States.

I know a little bit about bipolar disorder. As I've said before, my husband has a form of bipolar disorder--along with other illnesses. Fortunately he is very diligent about taking his medication. Weinberg was said to act unpredictably when he was off his medication.

From what I've learned through reading and attending an excellent 12-week Family-to-Family course sponsored by NAMI's Contra Costa chapter, people who are mentally ill often don't see themselves as mentally ill. That's one of the symptoms. And if they don't view themselves as sick, why, they think, do they need to take meds?

Also, the side effects of some of the medications can be almost as debilitating as the illness itself, don't always work, or need constant adjustments, and can lead to long-term health consequences.

According to NAMI, bipolar disorder, or manic depression, "causes extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning. These changes may be subtle or dramatic and typically vary greatly over the course of a person’s life as well as among individuals.

"Bipolar disorder is a generally life-long condition with recurring episodes of mania and depression that can last from days to months that often begin in adolescence or early adulthood, and occasionally even in children. Most people generally require some sort of lifelong treatment."

By the way, the manic phase can be marked by:

--elation, happy mood or an irritable, angry, unpleasant mood
--increased physical and mental activity and energy
--racing thoughts and flight of ideas
--increased talking, more rapid speech than normal
--ambitious, often grandiose plans
--risk taking
--impulsive activity such as spending sprees, sexual indiscretion, and alcohol abuse
--decreased sleep without experiencing fatigue

Hike Lime Ridge Peak this morning or on your own

Sorry to readers and to Save Mount Diablo folks for being late in getting this up...

But Save Mount Diablo has another guided hike scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday of Lime Ridge. Or Save Mount Diablo has information on self-guided hikes that you can take at your own convenience. For self-guided hikes go here on the nonprofit's website.

Here is why Save Mt. Diablo wants to raise awareness about Lime Ridge Peak. The City of Walnut Creek is considering a proposal to grant a cell phone company, Nextel, a lease to allow them to use the peak for an expanded communications facility.

Save Mount Diablo believes that granting the lease would be a threat to this wonderful, natural resource:

This is the City’s opportunity to end this inappropriate use of the open space and to return the area to its natural setting by requiring the removal of the existing facilities.

Learn more about this proposal by joining us on one of our guided hikes through Lime Ridge, taking a self guided hike on your own, or by reading our comment letter to the City. Send a letter to the City to let them know that you support Save Mount Diablo’s position to return the open space to its natural setting.

Two men arrested after Bishop Lane resident catches them in her home

A woman came upon two intruders in her home on Bishop Lane late Friday afternoon, says Sgt. Bryan Hill. Fortunately, the guys left upon seeing her, so she wasn't hurt. Police responded quickly, and caught the two suspected intruders, plus another man, leaving the area in a vehicle.

One of the three men ran, and is still being sought. The other two were arrested and booked into County Jail in Martinez on suspicion of burglary.

The two arrested are identified as Jacob Kunz, 30, of Lafayette, and Rama Cast, 31, of Concord.

An optometrist, who supposedly acts differently when he’s off his meds, arrested in Walnut Creek arson cases

A 51-year-old man who until recently worked at an Ygnacio Valley Road optometry practice has been arrested in connection with setting fire to a fast-food restaurant and the Comcast services building late Wednesday and early.

Walnut Creek police identified the suspect as Scott David Weinberg. He was arrested outside his Walnut Creek home Thursday afternoon and booked into County Jail in Martinez with bail set at $300,000.

Police told KTVU they have a surveillance video that shows Weinberg at the scene of the fire at Wendy’s restaurant on North Main Street late Wednesday night. He is also suspected of started the one-alarm fire at the Comcast on Arroyo Road, which caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to computer equipment and temporarily knocked out power to nearly 40,000 cable customers. According to news reports, police also think Weinberg might have also set a small fire at a Dumpster behind a Walnut Creek bank several weeks ago.

Neighbors told KTVU that Weinberg had an unspecified medical condition and that he behaves differently when he’s not taking his medication for it.

UPDATE: The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office has filed six felony and one misdemeanor charge against Weinberg, Walnut Creek police Sgt. Tom Cashion says. The charges are four counts of arson, one count of resisting arrest, one count of possession of a deadly weapon, and a misdemeanor count of petty theft. Bail has been set at $1.4 million.

Alamo’s Dr. Playboy loves to have fun and to help people feel better about themselves, so why he is being so annoying?

When I first wrote my blog about plastic surgeon Kevin Degnan, losing a lengthy legal dispute with neighbors about the big, sexy parties he was throwing on his Alamo estate, I didn’t get a chance to fully investigate his escapades and the love that surrounds this big, brawny lug of a guy. A friend forwarded me the link to his MySpace page where he proudly displays photos of himself and his philosophy of life:


If you love to play, you will want to play with me. I truly believe that life is about having fun enjoying every day to the fullest. That isn't to say I don't take things seriously, it's just that life is not a dress rehearsal, this is it, so it better be good. Probably the number one passion in my life is my work.

I feel so lucky to get up everyday, and look forward to "work". I'm an artist whose medium is the human body. Every day I help people feel better about themselves. I love to travel, and have been just about everywhere. I am extremely loyal to my friends, but don't waste time on people who are not real, good human beings. I love going out to dinner and clubs, but chillin in the sun by the pool, reading a book, or watching a DVD with take-out is cool too.

Just a regular guy, huh, with a cool, easy-going approach to life. What a sweet, saintly guy. He's so misunderstood!

Then again, if he cares about making people feel better about themselves, why is he being such a jerk? C’mon. He’s pushing his life-style choices down the throats of his neighbors, with the crowds, and the music, and the litter, the helicopter landings (pictured above) and everything else. Then, when his neighbors complain, he talks about how he’s just a free-spirited, free love kind a guy that no one among his straight-laced, middle-aged matronly neighbors understands. And then he chooses to spend $600,000 of his own money, clogging our court system, and wasting people’s time, with his self-indulgent effort to defend his right to be ostentatious and obnoxious.

You know, I agree that what he does on the privacy of his own property is no one else’s concern—as long as it’s not illegal or harmful to others. If he wants to have three-ways, or four-ways, of eight-ways, or he wants to indulge in “water sports”—and not necessarily the kind you enjoy in a swimming pool—or go at it with other consenting adults in his private, sound-proof sex lair—that’s great. Free love, baby. (I do hope, though, that he and his guests are using condoms and getting regular checks for STDs.)

I mean, just keep it within the walls of your 13-acre estate. So, your neighbors don’t have to listen to it while they are trying to sleep, or don’t have to clean up after the debris (don't want to imagine what that could involve) your guests leave. And the rest of us can know that our taxpayer dollars aren’t going to pay for your private snitfit in court.

In the meantime, enjoy these very, uh, interesting photos. Or visit his MySpace page or this other site, which has rave reviews about the rockin' great parties he throws. Dude!

Armed robbery, with shots fired, in church parking lot

A man parked in the lot at St. Vianney Church, and near the Walnut Festival, was robbed by two men of his wallet Thursday night.

Lt. Shelley James said, shortly after 10 p.m., the victim was parked in his vehicle in the parking lot at 1650 Ygnacio Valley Road. That's the address of St. Vianney Church.

The first robber pointed a semiautomatic handgun at the victim and ordered him out of the vehicle. The victim complied and was ordered to hand over his wallet. The suspect then went through the victim’s pants pocket and again demanded his wallet. The suspect then reached inside the vehicle and removed the victim’s briefcase, ran off, discharging his handgun several times in the general direction of where the victim was standing. The victim was not injured.

The two suspects got into an older model , possibly green pickup truck with a camper shell that was parked nearby and drove off westbound on Ygnacio Valley Roard. Officers responded to the scene and searched the surrounding area but didn't find anyway.
The two suspects and weapon are still outstanding.

Anyone with information on this robbery should call the Walnut Creek Police Department at (925) 943-5844.

Suspected flasher and harasser of kids arrested in Walnut Creek Thursday—the second time in two weeks

A 66-year-old Walnut Creek man who had been arrested in early September for allegedly flashing several children in Pleasant Hill has been arrested again.

Walnut Creek police Sgt. Tom Cashion says Henry Friedlander was arrested Thursday on suspicion of two counts of annoying or molesting a child and four counts of indecent exposure. The crimes occurred in Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill. Cashion says that police served an arrest and search warrant at Friedlander’s home in the 1400 bock of Ramsay Circle.

The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office has filed two felony and four misdemeanor charges against Friedlander, who was booked into County Jail in Martinez on $150,000 bail. It was the Mayor of Claycord who reported that Friedlander had been arrested in Pleasant Hill in early September.

Colin Powell said to be “amused” by Walnut Creek’s Neiman Marcus controversy

General Colin Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State, was in town Wednesday night, speaking to a packed house on the Lesher Center about his journey from soldier to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the world’s top diplomat during the presidency of George W. Bush.

According to the Contra Costa Times Lisa Vorderbrueggen, Powell met with reporters before his speech. He was the latest luminary to come to Walnut Creek as part of the Lesher Newsmaker Speakers Series.

During that chat with reporters, he didn’t reveal any detailed advice he would give to President Obama on how to handle the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he did speak broadly about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, commented on the state of racism in America, and called the current “uncivil discourse” on health care “unhelpful.”

A backstage view of Powell, his good humor, his keen intelligence, and his views on a variety of matters come from Steve Lesher, the producer of the Lesher Newsmakers Speakers series. Yes, Steve Lesher is the grandson of the late Contra Costa Times publisher Dean Lesher. He produces the series and writes a smart, lively blog, containing updates and behind-the-scenes chronicles on past and future speakers.

Lesher was at a special pre-speech dinner with Powell, then rode with him from the restaurant to the Lesher Center. It was during that ride, according to Lesher, that Powell saw some humor in our community’s brouhaha over whether to allow a new upscale department store to be built in town. As Lesher writes:

"I talked to him a little about Walnut Creek, and the kind of community we are. He was amused by the Nieman Marcus issue, and also amused by the fact that he was playing opposite the Elvis show at the center."

Lesher is referring to All Shook Up, the Elvis Presley-inspired musical now playing at the arts center name for his grandfather.

You can read more of Steve Lesher’s Behind-the-Scenes notes on the Powell speech here, including the fact that Powell doesn’t watch cable TV, but reads six newspapers a day, and can talk with equal deftness about America’s recent political history and, apparently, Mackenzie Phillip’s daughter-father incest revelations on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Two suspected arson fires strike in downtown Walnut Creek overnight; one knocked out services to some 40,000 Comcast subscribers

UPDATE: Police and Contra Costa Fire investigators are investigating two suspicious fires as possibly being related, says Walnut Creek Lt. Mark Perlite.

The first was a small fire that broke out at about 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Wendy’s Restaurant at 2955 North Main. The second fire, at about 3:45 a.m. Thursday, struck the Comcast Services Building on Arroyo Way off North Broadway. That single-alarm fire caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to computer equipment and the building itself, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Although quickly put out, it temporarily knocked out cable services to nearly 40,000 cable subscribers, including, I believe, yours truly, who couldn’t get online at around 5 this morning, but could a little later this morning.

Police looking for man who robbed the South Broadway Safeway's pharmacy of drugs

Police are looking for a man in a baseball cap, who robbed the pharmacy at Safeway Wednesday afternoon of five bottles of prescription medication, specifically Oxycodone and Norco.

Here are the details from Lt. Shelley James:

On September 23, 2009 at approximately 3:05 p.m., the suspect entered the grocery store at 600 S. Broadway. The suspect approached the pharmacy manager and produced a handwritten note demanding all of the Oxycodone and Norco prescription medication they had. The suspect made off with 5 bottles of medication. No weapon was used or seen during the robbery.

The suspect left the store on foot in an unknown direction. Officers responded to the scene and searched the surrounding area with negative results.

The suspect was described as a white male adult early 20s, 5 feet 10 inches, medium build, clean shaven, dark hair covered by a dark colored baseball cap, and wearing a dark polo shirt with a white stripe and light colored shorts.

Anyone with information on this robbery should call the Walnut Creek Police Department at (925) 943-5844.

Oxycodone is an an opioid analgesic medication. The best known drug containing oxycodone, OxyContin (Rush Limbaugh's drug of choice?). It is "notable for its sales; for controversies concerning its patent status and marketing; and for its potentials for hazardous use, harmful use, and dependence. Norco consists of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, also an opioid, which is commonly sold under the name Vicodin.

Here's one thing that could keep me from blogging: Browsing online the now available archives of Life magazine

Life magazine was still around when I was a kid, but barely. Still, in my own media-interested way, I knew that Life magazine was an icon of American journalism and that, throughout its history, it carried photos and stories of some of the 20th centuries most notable personalities, from royalty to revolutionaries to political figures to movie stars.

I just learned that Life.com and Google Books have partnered to digitize Life's entire run as a weekly, from 1936 to 1972. These decades cover more than 1,860 issues, featuring the words and images of the era's most celebrated journalists and photographers.

For those of you tired of my rants about everything from bikini-clad cheerleaders offering carwashes to raise money to a debate about medical marijuana in Walnut Creek, here could be your salvation: Me immersing myself in the Life magazine photo and story archives. For hours and hours.

Aren't they gorgeous? Marilyn, Gable and Lombard, Bogart and Bacall? And even Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at their most outrageous, excessive best?

Buena Vista Elementary School teacher honored in Contra Costa teacher of the year ceremony

Terryann Satterfield is one of 20 public school teachers who will be honored at the 2009-10 Contra Costa County Teacher of the Year ceremony Thursday.

Contra Costa County's Teacher of the Year will be announced Thursday, at a ceremony at Concord's Hilton Hotel. Satterfield is being honored for her service at Walnut Creek's Buena Vista Elementary School.

Although Satterfield is one of 20 teachers to be honored, she is not among the three finalists. Of those three, one will be named as the teacher to represent the county in the California State Teacher of the Year Program.

Those three county finalists are:

• Mary Alexander, Pittsburg Unified School District, Marina Vista Elementary
• Steven Ernest, Liberty Union High School District, Heritage High
• Joell Marchese, San Ramon Valley Unifed School District, Pine Valley Middle

Here are more details about the event from the Contra Costa County Office of Education:

Close to 500 attendees will be on hand. The assembly will include the 20 nominees, plus numerous educators, business executives, and representatives of local and state government.

The evening's entertainment will be provided by Burton ValleyElementary's Fourth Grade Choir, directed by teacher Carol Kerr.

Joseph Ovick, Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools, will serve as master of ceremonies, as he introduces all 20 of the teachers of the year by sharing "a special story from his classroom visits with each teacher." Each of the three finalists, who will be introduced by a former student, will give a speech. The night comes to a close with the announcement of the 2009-2010 Contra Costa County Teacher of the Year.

With regard to Satterfield, she started teaching in 1985 and has apparently taught all over the world, "but Buena Vista is where her heart is," the school's principal Heather Duncan said.

"She understands how students learn and is a forward thinker," Duncan said. "No one has more strategies for teaching reading than Ms. Satterfield."

Marijuana Paranoia: Our perplexing attitudes about pot and crime, but what about crime and that other socially acceptable mind-altering substance?

I’m sure some opponents of Walnut Creek allowing a medical marijuana dispensary in town are frothing at this local news: How a shooting erupted in Concord Sunday over an attempt by six suspects (er, idiots) to steal marijuana plants being legally grown in someone’s back yard.

Apparently, a man suffered a flesh wound in the leg, possibly at the hands of his own associates, after he or someone from his crew was caught in the backyard of a home where the residents had a legal right to grow marijuana for medical purposes. You can read more about the attempted pot plant theft, the attempted getaway, and the shooting at Claycord.com.

But certainly, the Reefer Madness fearmongers would say, such an incident shows that allowing a medical marijuana dispensary in Walnut Creek will attract similar robberies and other violent crime to our fair city.

And, absolutely, these fear mongers would assert, such an incident provides more evidence that marijuana is a dangerous, destructive, crime- and violence-ridden drug.

It would be silly of me to say that marijuana cultivation, sales, use, and abuse are victimless, crime-free vocations. There is this incident, and, off the top of my head, I can think of two recent homicides in the East Bay suburbs that possibly involved pot deals gone bad. They include the shooting death of 17-year-old Rylan Fuchs of Danville earlier this year and the December 2007 killing of Eric Martin, of Pittsburg, in Walnut Creek over a failed marijuana growing and distribution scheme.

But are there any other mind-altering substances, whose cultivation and/or manufacture, sales, use, and abuse attract crime, including robberies, assaults, and homicide?

Of course!Alcohol!

The stuff of beer, wine, and Grey Goose martinis.

Once again, I’ll repeat that alcohol—mostly in the form of red wine—is my drug of choice. I like it--perhaps too much. But that's a whole other story.

As for pot, I have not tried it since college. I didn't like it much then, and have no desire to use it at any time in the future. The smell? Ick.

And who wants to be around a bunch of stoners? If you're not stoned? Although, I have to say that being around a bunch of people blissed out on weed would be no worse than—and might even be preferable—to being around loud, annoying drunks. Among these drunks, I’m including a very obnoxiously vocal and tipsy silver-haired man in a polo shirt (a lawyer? Bank executive? Real estate entrepreneur?) who was toting a wine glass and making an ass of himself on North Main Street during last week’s Fall Wine Walk. This wine-tasting event, hosted by the Downtown Business Association, was, remember, a fundraiser to benefit local Walnut Creek schools.

Again, what about alcohol and it's connection to crime and destruction? No wait! Alcohol is legal, so it’s harmless, right? It doesn’t cause death, destruction, or crime, right?

Well, of course, we all know it does. We’re familiar with the fact that alcohol is involved in thousands of traffic fatalities every year across the United States. We also know that long-term alcohol abuse is associated with tragic health consequences, astronomical medical costs, and the breakdown of families and communities.

The U.S. government says about both alcohol and tobacco, which are both legal in this country, for recreational use, to people of a certain age: "Alcohol and tobacco cost society a great deal every year in terms of crime, lost productivity, tragedies, and deaths. ... As a result of legal settlements and vigorous public education efforts, many Americans are aware of the dangers of dependence and addiction associated with alcohol and tobacco use. Even so, alcohol and tobacco remain a significant part of the American health problem."

So, we might be aware that alcohol is a major health problem, but most of us probably don't think of it as a major crime problem as well. But it is, and like marijuana and other drugs, it contributes to our local, state, and national crime rates. Alcohol, notably, is a major factor in domestic violence.

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

• About 3 million violent crimes occur each year in which victims perceive the offender to have been drinking at the time of the offense.


• Another Justice Department study found that that alcohol abuse was a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes committed in the United States.


• Among those victims who provided information about the offender's use of alcohol, about 30 percent of the victimizations involved an offender who had been drinking.


• Two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor. Among spouse victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved an offender who had been drinking.

Let's return to alcohol’s contribution to annoying, life-style crimes in downtown Walnut Creek. As I mentioned in a prior story, the Walnut Creek police reported that 1515 Restaurant and Lounge attracted their attention seven times between late July and late August. Police had to come to arrest drunks, and patrons not cooperating with state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents. Police also had to hear from a father who was alarmed that his daughter got so tanked up on booze at 1515 and/or other downtown establishments that she couldn’t talk or walk, and had to be carried to her car.

1515 Restaurant operates legally, as do some nearly 100 other liquor-dispensing establishments in town. After crying about lost profits due to their 12:30 a.m. closing time, the owners of 1515, Jack and Tony Dudum, received permission from the City Council to stay open a half hour later. They needed this extra time so that they could sell more beer, wine, and cocktails--to earn more money. To stay in business. To turn a profit. That is, they were given permission to dispense more mind-altering substances legally, and for recreational purposes, with profit as a prime motive.

But pot? Well, some city leaders and members of the public have gotten huffy and expressed their grave concerns about C3 Collective—just one venue so far—dispensing pot in town. The owners of this pot club, which has been hit with a lawsuit to shut down, claim they are dispending pot, not for recreational purposes or for profit, but to benefit people with serious medical conditions.

C3 owners may or may not be telling the truth. I will assume they are, until someone proves otherwise. Meanwhile, we have plenty of other venues in downtown that are dispensing the mind-altering substance of alcohol—for recreational purposes and, most definitely, for a profit. I could fill a page with their names, but here are just a few. Besides the above-mentioned 1515, which by the way allegedly caters to an “mature, upscale crowd,” there are the upscale restaurants Prima, Va de Vi, Lark Creek Walnut Creek, and the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. There are also markets and drug stores like Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s (Two Buck Chuck!), Safeway, CVS Pharmacy, and 7-Eleven.

I'm sure in the history of any of these establishments--mostly likely the grocery and convenience stores--someone has come in and tried to steal a bottle or two of something. From my police reporting days, this was a fairly regular occurance at grocery and convenience stores: thefts of booze that amounted to a misdemeanor shoplifting. It might involve someone who is dependant on alcohol, shoplifting a bottle, or kids eager to get their hands on a six-pack or a bottle of hard liquor.

How is this kind of theft so much different from what those idiots in Concord were trying to do, when they were attempting to steal a bit of weed from that legally grown backyard crop?

Marijuana and alcohol: Both mind-altering substances. Both legal, with varying restrictions. Both promise to pleasure the senses, including smell and taste. Both offer the promise of relaxation, escape, and an altered mental state. And, both, when abused in terms of sales, distribution or use, become the source of devastating consequnces.

But why is one substance culturally embraced, celebrated as a symbol of the California good life, and used to entice people into donating money to help local school kids? And why is the other substance treated with contempt and mostly outlawed, when there is no evidence, I can find so far, that it causes society any more harm than the other? I'm trying to figure that one out.

Are Walnut Creek's Neiman Marcus foes like Wile E. Coyote?

Contra Costa Times' Tom Barnidge makes an amusing, but probably accurate, comparison in his column today between the “irrespressible” Wile E. Coyote of Road Runner cartoon fame to those Walnut Creek residents who, with the help of a deep-pockets developer, are trying to derail the proposed Neiman Marcus in Broadway Plaza.

Those Walnut Creek residents would be a group with the Acme Corp.-esque title, RAMPART (Residents and Advocates for More Parking and Reduced Traffic). RAMPART’s leaders are Selma King and Ann Hinshaw, but they are receiving financial backing from Taubman Company, the owner of Sunvalley Mall and a developer involved in San Ramon’s effort to build its long-awaited city center.

This is what Barnidge says about Mr. Coyote--and about the RAMPART folks:

When a missile launcher failed to propel him to his target, he hopped onto a rocket sled. When a stick of dynamite couldn't stop his prey, he reached for a hand grenade. When the boulder he dropped didn't flatten the bird, he tried again with an anvil.

Sure, he was a failure, but you need to look past that. He was a study in relentless tenacity.

The only force we've ever seen rival his gritted-teeth perseverance is the group trying to derail the Neiman Marcus project, even as the Walnut Creek City Council beep-beeps its way toward welcoming a new store to Broadway Plaza.

Check out the rest of Barnidge's column here.

Have you or your kids visited RateMyTeachers.com? I have and what do you think about the concept?

RateMyTeachers.com is a website where you or your kids can go online and, Yelp-like, give scores and leave anonymous comments on middle and high school teachers throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It bills itself as "the premier online destination for students and parents to connect and share reviews and ratings of middle and high school teachers. Online since 2000, Ratemyteachers.com currently offers over 10 million ratings of over 1 million teachers."

You can search by school, or teacher’s name.

I don’t think teachers like the concept, and they feel it gives people a place to post anonymous and unfair attacks on their performance. Some parents don’t like it either. I’ve had mixed feelings about the concept, especially since I try to be pro teacher and supportive of the hard work they do. I also come from a family of teachers.

I remember back around 2002, a community news website, based in the Bay Area, started a similar online forum on teachers in the public schools in its town. A big fuss was raised, including by local mainstream media columnists. However, the kids in this town loved it, mostly because it gave them a place to post snarky comments about teachers they don’t like.

I was on the site recently, checking out a teacher whom my son, shall we say, has not clicked with. I found about two dozen comments posted about this teacher, some positive, saying “you’ll learn tons,” and some negative and even personal, describing this teacher as "weird." But there were, I must say, some useful comments, in that they described similar complaints to what my son had. Granted, these are anonymous comments posted by middle schoolers. But: 1) I, as you know, don’t have a problem with anonymous comments; and 2) many of the comments, even by middle schoolers or former middle schoolers, were articulate and decent assessments of performance, as opposed to personal attacks.

I started to feel like my son, and, we as his parents, were less alone in whatever concerns we had.

As for a public forum for rating teachers’ performance? Well, over the years, since this Internet thing took off, I’ve had my work published online and with readers’ comments welcomed. I’ve had to read through my share of comments, positive and negative, about my performance on a piece I’ve published. It’s nice to read the positive comments, or to feel like I’ve written something that has sparked a dialogue.

Of course, it's unpleasant to read negative comments, but often these negative comments are instructive. They were when I first started this site. I took many seriously and made changes. Of course, it’s always hard to read personal attacks, and I’ve received a fair number of those. It hurt the first few times I read them. I guess now I’ve grown a thicker skin, and I’m able to shrug some of those off, because, really, some of those personal comments, I’ve realized, can be more about the person commenting than about me or my work.

Of course, I choose to put myself “out there,” on this blog (albeit under a pen name), and when I write for other publications. But teachers are professionals, too, right? With jobs that affect the learning of our children. So, shouldn’t their work be subject to the same sort of scrutiny?

That teacher whose name I searched: I suppose I could have hunted down other parents whose children also have this teacher and see if their children have similar issues. That’s been the way things were done in a pre-Internet age: parents gossiping amongst themselves.

Now I have a more convenient way of getting the low down. Is that a bad thing?

And we plan to talk to this teacher directly and try to figure out what’s going on and if there is a way to work it all out. Is my son being overly sensitive, exaggerating? Or does he have a point? I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in between.

Wish I had $600,000 to spend on fighting for my “right” to host raucous parties with lingerie-clad women on my 13-acre estate

What a jerk—though I could hurl out some other expletives at this guy named Kevin Degnan,who apparently liked seeing himself as the Hugh Hefner of the East Bay (Hugh, of course, pictured here).

Anyway, Degnan, an, uh, distinguished citizen and plastic surgeon in our East Bay suburbs took his case all the way to the state Supreme Court, according to this report in the Contra Costa Times.

And what was his “righteous cause,” for which he spent lots of his own money, but also wasted lots of taxpayer-funded court time and resources?

Well, he liked to throw big Playboy mansion-style parties on the 13-acre estate in the exclusive Alamo enclave known as Jones Ranch. He moved to this estate in 2003 and would helicopter in some guests and have others park their cars in a traffic turnaround on his property that could accommodate up to 50 vehiles.

Neighbors were not happy, alleging that the parties were cesspools of public sex and underage drinking—and that his guests made lots of noise, shouted obscenities, littered the streets, and parked in front of their driveways. Neighbors went to court, and his Jones Ranch Homeowners Association filed suit.

In his response to the suit, Degnan claimed that the homeowners’ association rules discriminated against his guests, because they included non-whites and lovely young females. Degnan proclaimed, in his court filings, that he was being picked on because he didn’t fit into his neighbors’ “picture-perfect world” and that there was a “bias against his attractive female party guests.” He also noted that many women living in his area are "matronly, middle-aged or elderly."

Snap.

I suppose he would like to think us to he’s fighting for the good old right of property owners to do what they want on their property. He wants to be property owners’ knight in shining armor.

You know, a couple years ago, I might have laughed this one off as yet another ha-ha example of the silly excesses of the local rich and not-so-famous. And yet another example of affluent suburbanites getting all huffy about, as Degnan says, fitting into their “picture-perfect” idea of how their little precious little world should be.

But times have indeed changed. Friends of mine have lost jobs, my 401K has landed in the crapper, my 85-year-old mom lost a lot of her retirement savings, my family’s health insurance premiums are going up. Beyond that, Contra Costa County social workers, who handle child abuse cases, have lost jobs. So have teachers. People around our community have lost homes to foreclosure, and nonprofits that provide a social safety net are struggling for dollars. Oh, and there are more people everywhere in America who are homeless and hungry. Do I need to go on?

Sure, it’s Degnan’s money to use to wage his “righteous” court battle. But he gets my vote as a Keith Olbermann-style Worst Person in the World for choosing to use so much money in such a frivolous, self-indulgent way.

The only justice here? Degnan is out the $600,000 he had to pay in legal costs, including about $280,000 that he, as the losing party in this case, had to turn over to the homeowners association to cover their legal costs.

Jaycee apparently says: Garrido didn't molest my daughters

This is one key question many of us have wondered about but have probably thought too indelicate to ask, at least publicly. After all, we're wondering about a pretty horrific possibility, whether accused kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido also molested the two daughters, 11 and 15, that he fathered with his alleged victim and hostage of 18 years, Jaycee Lee Dugard.

Apparently, he didn't.

"She's saying he didn't touch her kids," says one law enforcement source who is following the investigation. This news is according to the Matier & Ross column in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle.

Garrido and his wife Nancy are suspected of housing Jaycee Dugard, now 29, and her daughters in a hidden lair of tents and sheds in the back of their large property in unincorporated Antioch. During her entire captivity, which started when she was kidnapped at age 11 from her South Lake Tahoe home in June 1991, Dugard never went to school or saw a doctor. This includes when she became pregnant as a young teenager with her two daughters, and when she gave birth to them.

Both Garridos have been charged with raping Dugard. But according to Matier and Ross, "Dugard is telling authorities that Phillip Garrido 'hadn't touched her in years,' one source says."

The mystery of why Joe Loudon died deepens, and his family is not going to "let it pass."

The family of Joe Loudon, the 16-year-old Miramonte High sophomore who collapsed at an Orinda party on May 23 and died, received more heartbreak this week.

It came in the form of a letter than answers one key question about the coroner's findings from his autopsy. Unfortunately, that answer pretty much compounds the mystery even more, over how and why this healthy, athletic boy suddenly collapsed at a party.

This letter also shakes the family's faith in how authorities have investigated Joe's death. Actually, this faith has pretty much eroded to nothing in the months since Joe's death. And despite "extreme pressure" from some members of the Orinda community to "just let this pass," Joe's family will not stop seeking answers.

"We continue to draw strength from the courageous [other] members of the community who share our sorrow and outrage at this terrible situation," says Joe's uncle and godfather, Thomas Payne. "Over and over again, we hear from mothers of elementary school kids--who are frightened that their kids will grow up in a community with no moral compass. Some ask what they can do, and many are taking action. We are very thankful for this."

This above-mentioned letter comes from the Northern California Transplant Bank, and it clears up the mystery of how an unusual prescription drug, papaverine--which is used to help people with circulatory problems--made its way into the Joe's system.

The Contra Costa County Coroner's Office had earlier ruled that Joe did not die of binge drinking, as initially suspected. As has been earlier reported, quite a number of teens were drinking at this party, hosted by a Hillcrest Drive neighbor and rugby teammate.

Rather, the coroner's office concluded that high levels of the drug, combined with some alcohol, but not a high amount, caused Joe to vomit and to choke.

The thing is, no one had any clue as to how or why Joe would have this drug into his system. Back when the coroner's findings were released, Orinda Police Chief Bill French said papaverine is not a drug his department had seen being used recreationally. However, the suspicion of recreational use lingered. Either Joe took it himself or someone slipped it to him, or so the speculation went. His family hired a private investigator and put out a plea to the Orinda community, asking if anyone had a prescription for papaverine. Maybe, the family thought, one of Joe's friends or classmates had found the drug in the family medicine cabinet and decided to give it a try for fun, or they mistook it for another prescription drug to get high on.

It turns out that Joe didn't take the drug himself, and no one slipped it to him. That's what Joe's family learned this week from the letter sent by the transplant bank.

Allen Brown, executive director of the transplant bank, said staffers at the Oakland organization introduced papaverine to Joseph's system to prepare his vessels for the tissue-donation process, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Because the drug is a vasodilator, it relaxes the muscles in blood vessels and makes them bigger.

The blood samples that the coroner analyzed for the autopsy were provided by the transplant bank after staffers had injected the drug into his system. "We take full responsibility for (the autopsy) finding," Brown wrote in a letter to Joseph's mother, Marianne Payne. "I want to formally apologize."

So, now the coroner's findings on cause of death is in doubt. For Joe's mother, Marianne Payne, and her brother, Thomas Payne, news about the mistake related to the papaverine and the blood samples just adds to their grief.

"All I can say is: yes, we have lost all confidence in the Orinda police the corner's office and the Sheriff's deapartment," Thomas Payne said in an e-mail to me. He added that Joe had no physical conditions that would have contributed to his death.

The family also believes that a serious crime or crimes was committed: "Alcohol was provided by adults to Joe who was a minor. In California, a death caused in the commission of a crime is the definition of manslaughter."

So far, police are pursuing criminal charges against three people, including the party's 18-year-old host, Patrick Gabrielli, and Gabrielli's sister. But not for manslaughter--for allegedly furnishing alcohol to minors.

Adding to the Paynes' frustration is that the information in the police report, which they finally received, is "quite sketchy and provides no timeline," Thomas Payne said. "It especially does not provide information on the long period of time after Joe collapsed until 911 was finally called. We believe this time period coincided with at least one visit from the Orinda police who did not enter the [home of the hosts] while Joe was either dead or dying."

I earlier reported that police twice visited the Hillcrest Drive home the night Joe collapsed. French says police first went to the Gabrielli's home at around 10:30 p.m. Gabrielli was hosting the party while his parents were out of town. French says officers, there to investigate a noise complaint, spoke to a girl, supposedly Gabrielli's sister. The officers saw "nothing unusual," including no minors drinking alcohol, and left.

It turns out that there were quite a number of teens at the home, and quite a bit of drinking going on. Payne says the family has learned that kids at the party tried and were successful at reviving Joe after he collapsed in a hallway: "So, in reality he died twice that night."