With the exception of Rossmoor, Walnut Creek is slacking off on the Census

I filled out our family’s U.S. Census form and mailed it back. What a good citizen I am. I guess.

I happen to be a census geek, digging around different data tables, trying different queries. The census is a  goldmine for data about the United States and local communities. It provides a picture of who we are, where we come from, and how we live. 

Cities are particularly keen on making sure the census gets accurate numbers of the people who live within their borders. There are big bucks at stake, which are especially crucial for geographic areas in these tough economic times.

“When you fill out your 2010 census form, you help determine how more than $400 billion a year is distributed to communities," the census website says. On Walnut Creek’s website it reads: “Census participation is important, especially in today's tight economic environment, because per-capita federal funding is tied to census count. Our community stands to lose about $11,450 in federal funding for each person who goes uncounted.” 

So far, on National Census Day, Walnut Creek’s participation stands at only 59 percent. We might have our very civic-minded residents of Rossmoor to thank for scoring just a bit better than the 52-percent national participation rate. According to the Contra Costa Times, more than 75 percent of households in the Walnut Creek retirement community already have mailed back their 2010 census forms, the highest rate of any Bay Area neighborhood.

The city as a whole is doing a bit better than those bigger slackers in San Ramon (52 percent); Danville (57 percent); Pleasant Hill (55 percent); Martinez (57 percent); and Concord (51 percent). But we’re not keeping up with those Lamorinda overachievers: Lafayette, 61 percent; Orinda, 61 percent; and Moraga, 63 percent. You can view this map to see how communities are doing. 

Those Lamorinda numbers are up there with the top five states in census participation rates: the Dakotas, North and South; Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa. (To be snarky, one might say that there’s not a lot else to do in some parts of those states than to fill out a Census form. )You can view maps showing regions and communities and their participation rates at the U.S. Census website.

Starting in May, federal census workers will start walking the streets, visiting the homes of those who have not completed their forms.

If you didn’t receive a Census form in the mail, and want to avoid that visit and participate in this once-in-a-decade count, you can pick up forms in the City Hall lobby, 1666 North Main Street.  

  

Death penalty for the accused killer of Rylan Fuchs? Wouldn’t be usual, says DA

The 19-year-old Berkeley man, arrested in the January 20 pot-robbery killing of Danville teen Rylan Fuchs, is facing murder charges that carry special circumstances, because the killing took place during the commission of an attempted robbery. Authorities believe that Fuchs was selling marijuana, and Walter Bell went to his home to rob him of his pot. The special circumstances mean that if Bell were convicted of murder, he could face the death penalty.

Prosecutors have not decided yet whether they will seek lethal injection for Bell, who is being held without bail.

However, Harold Jewett, the prosecutor in charge of the D.A.'s office homicide division, says, in an e-mail to me, that it would be “unusual for us to do so in a case where the defendant is young and where the shooting may not have been intentional.”

Jewett told the Contra Costa Times that Bell says he fired the single, fatal shot--which struck Fuchs in the throat—as Bell was trying to rob Fuchs of marijuana.

“Put it another way,” Jewett continued in his e-mail. “A jury is unlikely to impose the death penalty unless they know beyond question that the defendant intentionally and personally took the victim’s life.”

I appreciate Jewett getting back to me. Actually, I didn’t contact him to ask him specifically about whether his office would seek the death penalty against Bell, but on a closely related issue.

I read about the special circumstances charges against Bell, and the possibility of the death penalty, and that got me thinking and wondering.

Fuchs’ father, Bill Fuchs of Alamo, questions whether his son was selling pot and whether police are using the marijuana-deal-gone-bad excuse to preserve Danville’s image.

I’m sorry for Mr. Fuchs loss, but, unfortunately, it does look like Rylan, a senior at San Ramon Valley High, in fact died in a drug deal gone bad.

And that drug-deal-gone bad scenario is what got me ruminating about the death penalty issue, possibly in this case, but in general. Drug deals gone bad are regular occurrences, if not in safe, affluent suburbs like Danville, then in tough neighborhoods in towns like Oakland, Richmond, and in the unincorporated community of North Richmond. Some of those drug deals gone bad result in homicides, and, more likely than not, the killers and their victims are minorities.

I contacted Jewett because I began to wonder if the special circumstances and the death penalty talk was being applied to the Fuchs case because 1) the killing happened in Danville; 2) the victim is white; and 3) the defendant is African-American. Yes, I wondered if race and class bias were coming into play in this case.

Racial disparity in death penalty prosecutions and in sentencing is a huge issue, in California and around the United States. Many of us have probably heard that minorities are more likely to be executed than whites for murder in the United States. But what many might not know is that more recent studies have pointed to another racial difference between who lives and who dies at the hands of the state: the color of the victim. As a USA Today editorial says:

While blacks and whites are murdered in roughly equal numbers in the United States, the killers of white people are six times as likely to be put to death, according to a statistical analysis by Amnesty International USA. It found that of 845 people executed since the United States resumed capital punishment in 1977, 80 percent were put to death for killing whites, while only 13 percent were executed for killing blacks.

So, my mind was on this track yesterday morning, and I wondered whether this racial disparity applies in Contra Costa special circumstances prosecutions, and whether it would apply to the prosecution of Walter Bell case. Would an African-American defendant, who shot and killed an African-American victim, in a similar kind of drug-deal-gone bad in North Richmond, be charged, like Bell, with special circumstances and face the death penalty. The racial breakdown for defendants and victims in Contra Costa capital cases was not available yesterday, and may not be readily available.

But I e-mailed Jewett, and he provided this response:

“Walter Bell is a young black male. Rylan Fuchs was a young white male. In this county, we have prosecuted white defendants for killing white victims; white defendants for killing black victims; black defendants for killing white victims; and black defendants killing black victims. Of course there are also permutations with other ethnic groups, primarily Hispanic and Asian. I would say imposition of the death penalty is roughly equal between cases with white and black defendants, and cases with white and black victims. I don’t see a pattern there.”

And then he addressed Bell’s prosecution specifically and how “I cannot whether this office will seek the death penalty in the Bell case.”

Are you going to buy Sully's book?

I don't know. In all honesty, Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger' autobiography, sounds like a bit of a snooze fest.

The book was released today to much fanfare and press.

No doubt, the Danville hero pilot is a nice, straight-arrow fellow, a true professional who, in his own words, used all his decades of training--studying the science of crashes, his stint as a military fighter pilot--to land that crippled jet on the Hudson River last January.

But 320 words (er, PAGES!) of Sully's wit and wisdom? And haven't we heard the story of the miracle landing in his own words before? In that interview with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes?

I don't know. Tell me I'm wrong, and I do need to rush out and spend $25.99 to acquire a copy. Maybe you already have a copy and have read it and can set me straight.

I have been a bit wary of the book ever since the book deal was announced. The $3 million deal will allow Sully to publish not one but two books. Sully will follow up this autobiography with a book of, um, his inspirational poetry and writings.

Okay, okay, with regard to Sully's poetry, maybe he is the next Robert Frost or Wallace Stevens or Richard Bach. Remember Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a best-selling totally '70s inspirational novella about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection?

How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!

Then again, I started to wonder if I had jumped to a wrong conclusion about what the 58-year-old father of two has to say about his life and his flying career.

I was intrigued to read in accounts in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times that Sully might give insight into the current woes of the airline industry, from a personal and professional perspective.

Apparently, Sully, like many of us, was facing serious money woes, in the current economic climate. His salary had been cut in half, he had lost half his pension, he was looking for side jobs, and he and his wife were talking about selling their house. Very relatable, right? The book, according to the Times, paints "an ominous picture of an atmosphere where cost-cutting is increasingly valued over safety, and passengers are largely unaware of the implications."

I was trying to find reviews of it, and, so far all I could come across was this from Entertainment Weekly. The reviewer says that he has nothing but admiration for Sully, but he has few nice things to say about his "drearily written book."

The reviewer makes a recommendation I can go with. It is to instead turn to a fresh take on the crash, written by William Langewiesche. He's an award-winning journalist for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair; Actually, he's an amazing writer, one of the best writers of long-form investigative and narrative journalism around these days. His book is called Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson and it's due out next month.