Discovery Bay is being treated to a Crime Prevention Meeting next week, however, emails between Supervisor Mary Piepho and Amanda Dove of the Delta Sun Times highlight that the Supervisor was not pleased over a last minute invitation and the overall planning of the April 24 event.
Supervisor Piepho apparently did not appreciate a last minute invite to a meeting in her own town which did not allow her enough time to adjust her schedule. Simultaneously, she didn’t appreciate the accusations at increased crime when it has actually been reduced according to sheriffs statistics.
Lea Castleberry of Supervisor Piephos office informed me that their office was not included in any of the planning and was out of the loop.
The event was announced via the Delta Sun Times website dating back on March 11, however, the Supervisor just received her invitation on April 15 via an email—just one week prior to the event.
Editorial Comment here: A word to the wise, you should always give public officials as much notice as possible considering in the Supervisors position, she is traveling back and forth between San Francisco and Sacramento (and everywhere in-between) a majority of the time.
Supervisor Piepho also backed the Sheriff’s Office regarding the misleading media reports in local newspapers about crime on the rise in Discovery Bay and the purpose for the proposed community event.
It was also stated that sheriffs office had to ask more than once to have their name removed from a flyer which labeled them as a co-sponsor.
According to Lt. Alan Johnson, they had requested the flyer be changed to remove the “co-sponsor” title because they are not allowed to co-sponsor these types of events without a proper protocol followed. He stated this event was set up and sponsored by the Delta Sun Times.
“We are going to the crime prevention meeting as guest speakers to talk about everything form doors and locks to how to make cars safer to personal safety,” said Lt. Johnson.
While the Community Crime Meeting is a great idea, given the emails and newspaper articles flying around I wanted to ask Amanda Dove and Jim Mattison some questions on the meeting and their claims about crime.
Jim Mattison wrote an editorial about an increase in crime and provided comments to the Contra Costa Times in an article about the community meeting stating that:
“(Thefts are) a lot more prevalent lately,” resident Jim Mattison said. “It seems like everyone I know, or friends of people I know, have told me they’ve been burglarized.”
Well, it may seem that way, but that is not true and in the process he has made an issue out of a non-issue. Yes, he is entitled to his opinion, but he is not entitled to his own facts which show crime has had a slight decrease in incidents which is more than you can say about the City of Brentwood who reported last week their crime has increased by 18%.
According to the Discovery Bay Sheriffs stats, here are the reported burglaries in Discovery Bay over the past four months:
- 9 reported burglaries in March
- 9 reported burglaries in February
- 10 reported burglaries in January
- 12 reported burglaries in December
If crime is increasing and the sheriff’s office doesn’t know about it, it’s because people are not picking up the phone and calling for “help”.
Ms. Dove disagrees.
“There’s so much more to why the reporting is happening the way it was. In short, these are busy people that were having things go missing but didn’t have hours to wait for the sheriff to come and take a report. Now we know, there is an online reporting system for non-violent Crimes like that. Something I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been organizing this meeting,” said Dove in a Facebook Post on my wall.
When I challenged Mr. Mattison on the sheriff’s figures, he didn’t really have a response.
“The stats will show that January was about double and robberies such as bikes, open car doors and crimes of opportunity generally go unreported. Funny thing is I was just having dinner with some friends tonight who’s neighbors just got robbed a month ago and she has a home based business and watches people in her neighborhood casing houses during the day. Crime is everywhere, my point is to lock up all your valuables and confront crime whenever you can,” said Mattison.
I read him the figures from the Sheriff’s office to correct his statement. His reply was that he had seen the numbers.
“Oh I have seen the reports Mike,” said Mattison.
I asked him that I was trying to figure out how crime was going up if the numbers say otherwise. He ignored the question and the conversation ended after he gave another two examples of a friends boat being ripped off and another friend had $45k worth of jewelry and guns stolen.
According to sheriff’s Lt. Alan Johnson, he states that a worst case scenario shows that crime has remained the same and in a best case scenario, crime has gone down depending on the numbers being looked at.
“When I read the numbers, calls for service for suspicious behavior showed a slight spike in January,” explained Johnson.
But one has to remember, calls for suspicious behavior does not mean a crime has occurred. It appears that calls for service have translated into a rumor mill that crime has also increased—that is false.
Over a period of 5-years, property crimes are down
- 2008 – 119
- 2009 – 97
- 2010 – 84
- 2011 – 92
- 2012 – 84
Lt. Johnson also explained the breakdown of how Discovery Bay is protected
- Resident Deputy (2) – cover Discovery Bay and rarely leave. He explained its very rare as the only time they leave Discovery Bay is if officer needs assistance or life threatening emergency.
· Beat Deputy (2): Covers unincorporated areas from Antioch to San Joaquin County border
- School Resources Officer – stays at school
Here is the emails back and forth between Piepho and Dove.
Date: April 15, 2013, 5:16:08 PM PDT
Subject: Invitation for MaryInvitation for Supervisor Piepho…
I spoke with Lea Castleberry about this a couple of weeks ago, but I would like to formally extend an invitation to Supervisor Piepho – to speak at the April 24, Discovery Bay Crime Watch and Public Safety Meeting. This meeting is intended to be a proactive approach to crime in Discovery Bay. It is sponsored by the Discovery Bay Chamber of Commerce and Delta Sun Times, with the assistance of the Byron-Delta Lions Club.
While our community can boast one of the lowest crime rates in Contra Costa County, it is never a bad idea to take a proactive approach to crime prevention. It has been five years since our last community crime meeting, and our population has overturned quite a bit since then and our crime statistics have improved! Our hope is to keep it that way. Sheriff Crime Prevention Specialist, Anthony Fontenot explained that is precisely why he was station at the Discovery Bay Sheriffs Annex, to host meetings such as this one.
We have asked our speakers to share information and suggestions that encourage our residents to be vigilant in their approach to crime…. report all suspicious activity, start a neighborhood watch program, use common sense, etc.
It’s true that in small towns, word spreads quickly and so do rumors. The objective here is to dispel rumors, inform, and correct. We have encouraged the Sheriff’s Department to share success stories – moments of success in picking up suspects and what those suspects said was their reason for targeting Discovery Bay. It’s interesting stuff!
Ultimately, this is NOT an attack the Sheriff meeting, and we will make certain this is so. This is an opportunity to inform the community about how the Sheriff works. How to report a crime (online is an option in non-violent, non-urgent situatons). How we can help ourselves and each other from becoming a community with crime problems, like those to the East and to the West.
We are excited about this opportunity for our community to stand together, and hope Supervisor Piepho will join us, as our greatest local advocate!
Thank you!
Amanda Dove
Interesting that the meeting was announced March 11 and Supervisor Piepho is just now receiving an invite. More importantly, the fact that she states the objective here is to dispel rumors, inform, and correct–while that is a good goal, that was not the original intent of the meeting which was created on the premise that crime was increasing. It was only after the crime stats were pointed out did the meeting become “educational”.
Supervisor Piepho issued the following response to what she deemed as a last minute invite.
In a message dated 4/16/2013 1:16:21 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Amanda,
A few things. First, I greatly appreciate your ongoing commitment to Discovery Bay. As you know, I have worked very hard to successfully represent and protect our community for over 8 years now on the Board of Supervisors. During that time, we have asked you repeatedly to work with our office as you schedule community events and outreach, yet we consistently are invited in at the last minute. Often times my office needs to assist with education, health department or other county permit issues in order for an event to occur.
As you know, David and I took the heat for many years for the “Zip Code” celebration that was originally planned by my office and the CSD to be a small intimate gathering but was “redesigned” into a Zip Code and Paddle Wheel Guinness Book of World Record event by you on behalf of the Discovery Bay Chamber. Great for the community, but significantly and politically painful for both David and I. You had a significant role in that event and its outcome and never once stood up to take credit or responsibility. Even when directly asked to.
And, when the Zip Code events initial funding and support fell through, you looked to the CSD and the County to pay the bills. Again, we absorbed that expense, both politically and practically.
The recent headlines about crime increasing in Discovery Bay belies the truth and accuracy in the Sheriff’s office reports. This misinforms the community and does a great disservice to our residents.
Planning a community event centered around crime without the Discovery Bay CSD, the P-6 Committee, the Sheriff’s Department and my office, who are all directly responsible and accountable to Discovery Bay, is irresponsible.
I am happy to represent the County Board of Supervisors and my office at appropriate venues, with appropriate planning and accurate information being shared with the public. I only ask to be included early on so that we have ample opportunity to make sure all appropriate individuals, departments and stakeholders are able to attend and program content can be thoroughly prepared and successfully delivered.
Again, I am more than happy to work with you on behalf of our mutual community interests, I only ask that we be brought in early so that appropriate planning and preparation can be achieved. Since my schedule is extremely busy, running from San Francisco to Sacramento on county and Delta issues on a regular basis, fitting something in at the last minute is not always successful.
You are welcome to call me to discuss this or any other matter of importance to you. My office number is 925-252-4500.
Thank you,
Mary
I am not sure why the zip code incident was included, but apparently there is a history. In reply, Ms. Dove admits she dropped the idea sometime between January and March before setting the schedule for the April meeting.
Date: April 16, 2013, 2:33:41 PM PDT
Thank you, Mary. I very much appreciate all that you do for Discovery Bay and the Delta.
As a little background, I did start reaching out to Bob Mankin in January about the idea of hosting a meeting, because of his involvement with the P-6 committee. At that time I had expressed to him my concern that public perception was declining and that a meeting involving the Sheriff might improve that. Due to both of our busy schedules, and multiple attempts to get together, I let the idea drop.
I first approached Anthony Fontenot, DB Crime Prevention Specialist, in mid-March about hosting a crime prevention meeting after I had a stranger at my home. After sharing my experience with others, it again seemed to me that the public perception was that crime was on the rise. Tony explained that was precisely why he is here in Discovery Bay, but that the Sheriff’s Department could not host the event. However, if I was able to set it up and spread the word, he would create a presentation and invite others from the department to speak also. I wouldn’t have created a meeting without the Sheriff, that would be ridiculous.
It is a meeting that was put together quickly, and I apologize that it didn’t occur to me to ask for your blessing and participation until I spoke with Lea a couple of weeks ago when she called with questions. I figured this to be something we simply needed the Sheriff to speak at. It is very nice when we have our elected officials present to show support for community concerns, but the crime prevention meeting is about neighborhood watch, being vigilant in reporting suspicious activity, and creating a better understanding of how the sheriff works.
I’m not sure where the idea came from that I’m inflating crime statistics. I’ve never said that crime is up in Discovery Bay. I’ve said the perception is there and that there is a need to communicate better, which is why I reached out to Tony. There is confusion at the yacht harbor about how to report property theft – as tenants there have been reporting to the harbormaster rather than the Sheriff’s Department.
I’m sorry the zip code celebration is still an issue. More than once I have publicly accepted my share of the responsibility for that event – in my own newspaper. The last time we met on this topic, at the Town offices, it was my belief we all agreed that there was an unfortunate misunderstanding in the planning meetings that preceded the event. I followed that meeting with a statement in my newspaper.
I am truly grateful for all that you do for our community, and if you would like to speak at the crime prevention meeting, I am happy to add you to the agenda. If you are unable to attend, then again I apologize for the short notice and promise to reach out in a more timely manner in the future.
Thank you!
Amanda Dove, publisher
Delta Sun Times
Supervisor Piepho then replies:
Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 1:16 PM
Amanda,
My staff contacted you on April 4th after reading the misleading media reports in local newspapers about crime on the rise in Discovery Bay and your proposed community event. Prior to that, you had no contact with our office on this matter until we received the email below of Tuesday, April 16.
Mary
Ms. Dove
Date: April 17, 2013, 1:59:38 PM PDT
Thank you, Mary.
That’s correct, as I stated in the 3rd paragraph of my previous email below.
I believe we are on the same team here, Mary. I’m not sure why it feels as though we are arguing about a crime prevention meeting that will stop rumors of a crime-rise, and better inform our residents as to how to protect themselves. Certainly it’s better to be proactive than reactive, and I am not responsible for any of the recent editorials that inflame the perception local crime statistics.
I own a community newspaper and it is certainly appropriate for a newspaper to sponsor and host community events that are of interest to it’s readers. Anthony Fontenot is Discovery Bay’s Crime Prevention Specialist, and presentations like this one are the reason he is here.
7 years ago we had a bump in the relationship but I like to think we’ve moved past that. Since that time, I have tried to be very supportive of your efforts and the work you are doing. I like to think I’m on the right track as well.
All my best,
Amanda
In this final email, Ms. Dove highlights a need to better communicate. Couldn’t she use her own community paper to educate the public on crime prevention techniques while explaining the crime stats? Why not interview Mr. Fontenot? That is no knock on her, but something to think about going forward.
Ultimately, the emails highlight how better communication with public officials and stakeholders is better for the overall community. Informing them where you are in the process will save headaches later as shown above. Most importantly, it reduces confusion and correct information is provided to the public the first time instead of rumors.
While I fully support the idea of a community event to better prevent crime, the rhetoric got out of hand pretty quickly with mass confusion over crime increasing when that was simply not true per the Lt. Johnson.
In this case, the rumors got ahead of facts and Discovery Bay needs to remember to work with real statistics instead of mystery crimes. It’s easy to knock what “should have” or “could have” been done, lets focus going forward on the reality which is working on better preventing all crime.
“I’ve been considering this for a long time. It’s been a few years since our last community crime meeting and much of our population has turned over since then. Discovery Bay works in a unique way, being served by the county sheriff, as opposed to a city police department. It’s helpful that residents understand how our resident deputies work… how they are funded, how they respond to crime reports of different kinds, and also hear about success stories when the sheriff’s do pick up suspects,” explained Amanda Dove.
There is a list of programs available that residents may be able to take advantage of if they are better made aware of them such as Neighborhood Watch, vigilance in reporting, common sense in our daily lives.
“I hope the community will leave the meeting with a better understanding of what the real issues are, and aren’t, in Discovery Bay and feel they are better equipped to keep Discovery Bay the safe place to raise a family it is today,” explained Dove.
Ultimately, Amanda Dove is correct that by attending this meeting, you become better educated on Discovery Bay crime and the new reality facing the town of Discovery Bay.
Meeting Details
Wednesday, April 24 at 7:00 pm
Discovery Bay School Gymnasium
36 comments
Stats look pretty clear to me that Discovery Bay is a safe place to live which is not what had been stated or reported over the last few weeks from the Times and social media posts. Thank you for bringing common sense to that cuckoo nest of a town.
Nice piece and appreciate the emails being shared but the stats don’t tell the entire story as not all crimes are reported because they occur in the harbor. I think we all agree, regardless of oversights, this meeting will help reduce crime.
It really is “Dysfunctional Bay” and we can see it in writing. Someone needs a course in dealing with public officials as this is how not to do it. Not a Piepho fan at all but she is right in this case which pains me to say that. Not going to all the players prior to scheduling an event is irresponsible. Does she think this is field of dreams, build it they will come?
That is an excellent response, Mr. Simmons. I reached out to the Town of Discovery Bay and P-6 Committee in January about the notion of holding a meeting like the one we have planned now, but at that time I’ll admit I was just responding to communty sentiment and so I didn’t pursue it agressively. In my business, this is true of a number of subjects every month. In March, I asked the Sheriff’s Crime Prevention Specialist if he could speak at a public information meeting and he agreed. I own a newspaper, and it is absolutely appropriate for us to hold an event at which the Sheriff speaks about something of interest to our readers. I am very much looking forward to this meeting and look forward to learning more about how I can help KEEP Discovery Bay a safe place to live, work, and raise my young family.
I don’t think my community is “dysfunctional” – I think we are outstanding. We have two California Distinguished Schools, one that is up for the national blue ribbon. We have an amazing volunteer community, an involved business community, and a great sense of community pride. This Town is amazing and I’m proud to be a part of it.
With all due respect Amanda, you facilitated the rumor about a rise in crime based on publishing Jim Mattisons letter. If you have the connection with the sheriff as you claim, wouldn’t you have fact checked to protect the sheriffs credibility? You now claim its about providing information which you could have nipped in the butt from the start. You lit the fire and now claim you want to put it out and claim you didn’t do anything wrong. Please just take some responsibility. Also, please don’t take it personal, its simply just dealing with facts and not a personal attack.
Is this really news? Maybe Piepho should clear her schedule and attend instead of trying to control everything. A simple “I can’t attend” would have done the trick. Instead, childish behavior occurs. Way to make Discovery Bay look bad on an event that should be positive. Can’t people simply dot their “i’ and cross their “t”?
Welcome to the crash course in Discovery Bay event planning where screw ups run rampant and people wonder what happened.
I like the authors suggestion that if Ms. Dove really wants to educate, then run the information in her paper. Instead there is a giant production about crime that isnt even true. This article proves we do not have a crime problem and I will not be wasting my time at this event.
Jim just proved why he was not elected.
What garbage. At least some try and better our community. This is from a piepho lap dog trying to make her look good for a no show. I expect better from this site which usually provides good info. Must be a slow news day.
Amanda has her issues, but her heart is in the right place. I agree with the poster above, just clear your schedule and support your home town.
What does piepho showing up have to do with crime prevention anyway? The meeting can still go on and it won’t effect anyone. The sherriff will still be there and people will get the info. So some toes were stepped on in the process, who cares. Lets get it done and lower crime. This is one authors opinion, the press and times said crime was increased and so did those living in the commungity
With the crime stats posted in the paper how can two people in the know of discovery bay get this wrong? All they have to do is open up her paper LMAO! Not very bright to rock the boat when the data is out in the open like that. Is she really blaming crime on not being reported because people are too busy? What a freaking joke!
http://qkme.me/3tzecs
Pretty much sums it up.
Sounds like spilled milk to me about a lack of an invite fast enough. If Piepho and her staff were paying attention they would have known aobut the event anyway. I say good job on an event that is much needed for the community. Piepho is on the cover of this site, you think the author will bad mouth her? Doubt it. Just change the schedule and attend if it matters that much to her.
Discovery bay voter,
If any milk was spilled it came from someone the size of a dairy cow (figure it out).
Read the posts and email. Piepho & staff did know about the event. How did you possibly miss that. Were YOU not paying attention? Idiot.
Event needed for the community? Why? Because Amanda dove let Jim Maddison write a fictitious column in her paper? I think its so amanda or Jim could feel relevant but I’m not sure which one. They both seem to be attention whores. Can you say dysfunctional behavior?
Of course Piepho is on the cover. She is an elected official…….just like all the other elected officials on the cover. And your point was?
Change the schedule? Whatttttt? I’m sure all other individuals that properly scheduled their meetings with the supervisor will not take issue with her “changing her schedule” To accommodate the one that didn’t. Nice try Forrest Gump. Lol!
Life is hard. It’s even harder when you are stupid!
@Mark Solonut
Watch the comments going forward, very close to have this removed.
I see several reasons to remove Mark Solonut’s comment, yet you issue a stern warning and keep the comment there.
Clearly you will support Piepho and her minions regardless of how despicable they become.
One thing is obvious: Many Piepho supporters self-define themselves with their words and tone. It’s an ugly sight, but one we are better served having seen.
As for the community meeting, Piepho has nothing to do with how the Sheriff’s office deploys resources and there is no need for her to attend (or be invited). The Sheriff is an elected official and is responsible to the citizens, not the Board of Supervisors. If Piepho did have any control, don’t you think she would have told the Sheriff to reschedule or cancel?
This is a forum, I issued his one and ONLY warning. If Piepho supporters wish to reflect poorly, that is their choice. If you want me to call it down the middle, I suggest you not refer to people as “minions”.
Yes the Sheriff is elected, but the BOS control his budget which by default, since its her district, should be invited. The case could be made an invitation should also have been sent to the Chair of the Board.
Also, in speaking with Mary Piepho at the Discovery Bay Earth Day event, they have been speaking directly with the Sheriffs office regarding this event since the official invite came out. For the record, the “sheriff” that is being referred to is not technically a sheriff, rather he is crime prevention specialist and not a sworn position.
Dolly,
I’m sorry cupcake, but my post was not meant to offend you. It was simply an expression of my opinions using euphemisms in hopes that you might better understand. Some of the people here seem a little s-l-o-w and I thought it would help. I state this, simply because Burk posted basic points and it was so easily lost on those few attacking the Supervisor for doing her job. My post was meant for those wearing big boy pants so please let me reword it for you:
Ms. Dove caused this issue by bad planning & apparently there is history to her doing so. Piepho is doing her job which includes overseeing the community and working with the sheriff. Ms. Dove seems to struggle with both.
According to the emails that Burk posted, Piepho’s office had to contact Ms. Dove. The poster (Discovery Bay Voter) whom I was responding to had it completely backwards. He stated that Dove contacted Piepho’s office. I cannot find his allegations to be true based on the information presented. It appears he made it up. (Does that make him an Amanda Dove “minion”?)
If this event was so needed, why wasn’t the Supervisor informed? (let’s not forget Discovery Bay is unincorporated and is under county control). You do understand that control is the 5 board of supervisors right? You may want to seek out an organizational chart.
But most importantly, Why isn’t the Sheriff hosting the meeting? Why do the Sheriff’s own statistics directly oppose what Mr. Maddison posted in the local papers? If Ms. Dove wants to clear up “rumors” why is her paper printing them? Dolly, the majority of us “minions” want to know.
I would be ticked off (and I’ll wager you would be too), if the Supervisor canceled a standing meeting with you because another person (Dove) did not plan properly. I think it is called professional courtesy. It really isn’t rocket science, just common sense.
You see sweetheart, I (along with a large majority) voted for Supervisor Piepho and I appreciate all of the work she does for east county (including her work on the delta issues, job creation, transportation, public safety and east county agriculture). I guess that makes me a supporter……or how did you put it…a Minion? Squarely put; I voted for Piepho, I did not vote for Ms. Dove. Is it really that difficult to understand?
If you were so gosh darned offended by my post I would have thought you would have been exponentially outraged at the one directly below, posted by “jb” attacking Ms. Piepho. But instead of being incensed you actually plagiarized him. Double standards maybe? This is not only odd behavior but qualifies as dysfunctional. I believe jb has the market cornered when it comes to the term “Minion”. I hope in the name of fairness you will read him and DB voter the riot act since they played so loosely with the facts and angry words in an attempt to discredit an individual. Or am I the only one that sees you as a minion for Amanda Dove?
Thank you Dolly for allowing me to clarify. I also believe we are better served with straight forward information regardless of our minion status.
any forum on preventing crime would be way better off without piepho…who needs more political BS.
how crazy was her email dredging up that years ago silly zip code party that was just a bunch of politicos patting the themselves on the back for simply doing what they get paid for. everyone involved should have been fried for that nonsense.
I was at the fist DB crime forum held several years ago, it was called by a citizen that got robbed and I commend him for doing it. It happened when the bos was chopping the sheriff’s office funding and in the same time period piepho was spending money on soda pop abatement. At that meeting it was a citizen who informed the public about the P6 money that was accumulating and not being spent. it was not piepho who initiated the P6 money to be put to use….she could have but she didn’t, it was a guy named Walter.
That first crime meeting put several good things in motion not the least of which was the accumulation of a significant amount of donated funding to be put toward a community video surveillance system. the sheriff was totally on board with it but some piepho minions went to great lengths to see that it never happened and ultimately the money was returned and DB has no surveillance system and likely never will.
To me it is splitting hairs to say property crime is up or down in DB. The crime rate is 100% if you happen to be a victim and to me, for a place like DB, having in the avg range of 100 or so home burglaries a year is way too many especially when you never read that anyone is caught or convicted. I don’t recall ever reading about a convocation. But I did read someone, not too long ago, robbed the Dash with a long gun of some sort. to me accepting that the numbers are not going up and are less than other places is just plain lazy. piepho is lazy on crime and amanda/others are not. this has always been the case and when others step up she only emerges to save her political bacon.
the fact that private citizens have to organize these things is a shame…..they should be given props not a hard time.
I think Amanda Dove and Supervisor PIepho are both right. No big deal other than a simple disagreement over a process. End of the day, residents win with a crime meeting. Amanda and Jim may not like this article, but the author does have valid points on process to be followed for a higher impact event. This was on a whim based off a few break ins, nothing wrong with that, but the community alert was overboard.
Burkforoakley, your 100% correct, but your tact is awful which is the problem here. I believe you uncovered a theme as Supervisor Piepho pointed out that this has been an ongoing issue, but to bring attention to it was uncalled for. It could have been handled offline. While I see you support the event, why bring negative attention to it?
Does Delta Sun Times realize Jim was talking about Amanda not being irresponsible? Then admits the ball was dropped in January and schedules meeting and expect people just to show up? Someone is confused. Kudos to burk for providing facts to dispute typical discovery bay gossip from people who want to appear important but take no responsibility for their actions.
Can’t shoot the messenger for pointing out facts, the focus should be on the gossip queens. About time someone called these people out for acting wreckless.
Piepho – There is nothing to be gained by confirming a grudge against a member of the community and David’s political “pains”. Next time just say “Thank you for the invitation but I will not be able to attend. Best of luck on a very successful meeting.”
Dove – The key person for this meeting is the Contra Costa County Sheriff Office’s Crime Prevention Specialist, and he will be there because he won’t allow himself to get caught up in Mary’ pettiness. It sounds like Mary will not attend, which is addition by subtraction!
Editor – Who shared these emails with you? If it was Dove then it was petty of her; If it was Piepho then was petty and stupid.
Mary Piepho stated that Mr. Burkholder asked for these emails in a public records request. Of course, he had to know they existed first, so they had already been shared.
Can you prove that Ms. Dove?
I would feel sorry for Ms. Dove if she was sponsoring this event as a citizen. Instead, she is doing it under the Delta Sun Times. Follow the money because from where I stand she is not doing it for the community but instead she is doing it to self-promote her newspaper and gain advertising dollars. People need to chill out, look at facts then decide if they believe rumor crime or the statistics by the Sheriff’s office. The article was fair and Ms. Dove has no one to blame but herself for poor planning.
Ironic that someone mentioned dysfunction and the one that should have been listening all along (Amanda Dove) dismisses the idea. The person that pointed this out should’ve added denial to the list of dysfunctions out in Discovery Bay. It is obvious Ms. Dove/Delta Sun Times and the few trying their very best to defend her, just don’t get it.
The issue of dysfunctional behavior is basic: Dove doesn’t have to like Supervisor Piepho, but she is a fool to think she can disrespect the Supervisor’s position. The suggestion that the Supervisor should change her schedule to accommodate the individual who botched things up, is ludicrous and a prime example of dysfunctional behavior emanating from Discovery Bay.
According to the posted emails and Amanda Dove’s own admissions, it is easy to surmise that Ms. Dove has a habit of “dropping the ball” and making excuses. From the tone of the exchange between the two, there is history of this occurring before and it appears the Supervisor is drawing the line. Can’t say I blame Supervisor Piepho for growing tired of dealing Dove’s lack of professionalism.
Dove’s attempt to justify her position with the comment “I own a newspaper…” actually lost her even more credibility. I’m not sure if readers here have seen the Delta Sun Times (her publication) but it is not a newspaper. I’ve seen it. It’s an advertiser. It is ridiculous.
Common sense would dictate that if Amanda Dove really wants to help her community she should put down the shovel and quit digging.
Thanks Burk for once again bringing out the story behind the story. I hope you will add more focus to Brentwood in the future. I understand crime is actually up in Brentwood and that is not just a rumor!
So sad………..what a mess.
This entire fiasco with dysfunctional progressives in Discovery Bay and the Queen who has no real connection with the citizens except for those who she controls. Such a simple subject that is good for all has turned out to be another Piepho failure to stay in touch with her community. Remember her staff was called weeks prior and told of what was going on. In addition, Mankin who is a very outspoken P6 member was also aware. Piepho needs to get her puppets to talk to her more ansd stop the grandstanding. She also needs to focus on local issues rather travel around to state issues trying to further her political career. The zip code party was not paid for by the community. Piepho was responsible for questionable charge to a fund paid by users of Keller Landfill not intended for public parties. That is something she should not brag about. This issue is being turned into something that only gets publicity for Piepho. You are right Julio. So sad….. what a joke.
@DDB (Dysfunctional in Discovery Bay),
Ding, Ding, Ding….we have a winner! Just one mention of dysfunction and the kooks from DB come out from underneath the baseboards like the coach roaches that they are.
Such a simple subject and yet you cannot get past basic fundamentals. So sad.
DDB, did you not bother to read the entire post? This wasn’t piepho failing to stay in touch, it was Amanda dove failing to do so. That was the main point dummy! Piepo’s staff wasn’t contacted, it was the other way around. From Dove’s keyboard:: “It is a meeting that was put together quickly, and I apologize that it didn’t occur to me to ask for your blessing and participation until I spoke with Lea a couple of weeks ago when she called with questions.”
Your advice is that Piepho should “focus on local issues rather travel around to state issues trying to further her political career.” Do you have a reading problem or is it just the comprehension that is evading you?
From Piepho’s keyboard:: “Since my schedule is extremely busy, running from San Francisco to Sacramento on county and Delta issues on a regular basis, fitting something in at the last minute is not always successful.”
DDB, you need to focus on reality and stop trying to put your own demented spin on things.
Thank you for demonstrating what dysfunction really looks like. You did a bang up job. So sad, you are the joke.
@DDB,
This whole thing is silly and comes down to poor planning. According to Supervisor Piepho, her staff reached out to Ms. Dove weeks before the invite went out. Burk claims Piepho staff was out of the loop along with others. I see the event was announced March 11 meaning even before it announced it should have been discussed with CSD, P6 and other CSD staff inlcuding not only Supervisor Piepho’s office, but Assemblyman Frazier, Congressman McNerney and others who represent Discovery Bay. If your going to do a big meeting, might as well go big or people can stay home and watch network tv
Prior to it being announced, it would have been smart to reach out to all stakeholders and say “hey, we are tentatively looking to host an event on ___ date. Are you free”. From there, everyone is in the loop on their roles and speaking arrangements can be made. It’s called proper planning.
My question is who is paying for the facility? I see a private company is sponsoring the event along with a couple other groups? Someone is benefiting from the exposure of this meeting.
ITK,
Maybe the entire event should be planned again for a few months down the road and address every mistake that has been commented. My experience is that there will still be drama and finger pointing because that’s how discovery bay politicians work. Too bad it just can’t be a simple positive community group thing.
@DDB, that we can agree on. Discovery Bay politics is the worst case of sour grapes in all of East County when two people disagree. There will always be finger pointing no matter what the issue is. People need to grow up on all levels and just agree to disagree. Glad I live elsewhere and don’t have to read about it daily like some of you out there do. Considering the communication flaw, you may be onto something about postponing it so it can be done right. For instance, I can recall the county sheriff touring all the cities with a crime update recently. Why couldn’t they have just attended the CSD meeting and get the info or ask questions then? Seems a bit lazy to me on behalf of the people who are putting this on and crying wolf.
The focus should be on Antioch and Pittsbug with their crime and now apparently we have to worry about Brentwood. Discovery Bay crime is the least of East County’s worries right now.
Wish I’d of seen this a few days ago as this conversation is interesting. Having lived in Discovery Bay for many years, I give the author a lot of credit because he called it right. Not a fan of his politics during the election, but Discovery Bay has a bunch of goofballs out there who have little to no business planning meetings. I say this because all the events are the same with a different title. They are hyped only to let down. Sometimes food runs out because they didn’t plan well. The award ceremony are typically rigged, the music is not appropriate or way to loud, and it’s the same people every time and they don’t even say hello or thank you for coming. The tone of Amanda Dove and Jim Mattison over the years has been embarrassing to this community and glad that the author highlighted what our crime is in Discovery Bay because my tone would have been a lot worse and attack the snobby gossip, bullying, and gadfly’s of our town which all come out of that group. These people blindly follow one another and would probably jump off a bridge together because its what they do even when wrong they continue down that path. I for one don’t care how the author got the emails because it highlights the clear communication problem between a town newspaper who is supposed to be sharing information and a supervisor who should be contacted at each step of the way as she has direct input on our public safety. I would encourage everyone to learn from this and stop with the pettiness and lets make discovery bay better for everyone, not an attempt for a few to use this event to self promote.
Captain
Your last says it all. That seems to be the motive for those few snobs in Discovery Bay that thinks their s.. doesn’t stink.
@ DDB
Pssssst…..You are not in the income bracket to qualify to be a snob but when they were talking about Dysfunctional in Discovery Bay they were talking about YOU. Look to your 4/20 post and all the others you have posted under different pseudonyms. You are nuts. Just remember jackwaggon, what goes around comes around.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I’m positive that you are deeply in denial so this probably won’t bother you much. Ask Ms. Dove. She is just as clueless. You are the same fools that drove her father in law out of office! I could go on but you are such a waste of time. Perhaps follow your little buddy jb, and relocate. His s.. still stinks (and he is still a crybaby) but at least he is someone else’s problem now.
Looks like a lot of the discovery bay folks who attacked Brian Dawson and attack Piepho came out of nowhere. They must have a serious case of thin skin going on or its something in the water. There is nothing wrong with this article and is pretty much a sharing of facts and information via emails. Do people really care how he got it? Seriously people need to get out of the conspiracy gibberish and focus on something more important about how a community newspaper mislead the residents of discovery bay.
thank you for the laugh this morning, now time to go be productive at work.
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