Home Sweet Home

Apparently the San Jose Mercury News is the only paper in the nation that has finally caught onto what I have always known . . . Stories about Antioch will sell newspapers.

Crime Ridden Neighborhood Fights Back
Excerpt - In the past year, police took three girls, ages 12, 13 and 15, into custody, saying they taunted and assaulted a 67-year-old man and his grandchildren in the park. A 10-year-old boy returning from a skate park was beaten by a group of people congregating in the park when he didn't have any money to give them.

Homes and cars were burglarized; trash was strewn everywhere; stolen cars were dumped; property was vandalized.

On his property, Nelson would find drug baggies, brass knuckles and other discarded items. It reached a point where he installed a motion detector video camera, allowing him to view any suspicious activity from his living room television

Pot Growing Scheme May Have Sparked Antioch Apartment Fire
Excerpt - Two young Antioch residents were arrested Sunday night after their apartment was set afire by what police suspect was a small marijuana growing operation.

A lamp used to grow marijuana in a closet likely sparked the fire that led firefighters to evacuate the several apartments in a complex at 1000 Claudia Court at 8:40 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Argument Over "Puff" of Marijuana Leads to Martinez Shooting
Excerpt - St. Onge was smoking marijuana outside the building when the Antioch man, who St. Onge did not know, approached him and "asked for a puff," said Detective Sgt. Jon Sylvia said. St. Onge refused to share and the two got into an argument before separating.

When St. Onge and the Antioch man met a second time in a common area a short time later, the Antioch man brandished a knife, Sylvia said. St. Onge broke a beer bottle to create a weapon of his own before the men parted ways again without resorting to violence.

It was during a third confrontation, when the Antioch man came to the door of a friend of St. Onge, that St. Onge produced a pistol and fired at the victim.

AND AS AN ADDED BONUS:

Cops Name Year's First Slaying Victim
OAKLAND — The city's first homicide victim of 2008 — a man found shot to death Tuesday morning in West Oakland — has been identified as 18-year-old Daryus Wheelock.

Police are not sure where Wheelock lived, as he has listed addresses in Oakland, Antioch and San Leandro in the past.