Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 25

LOCAL SUNDAY July 22 2007 METRO 3 THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE Reach Tom Lochner at (510) 262 2760 or tlochnercctimescom 5 County Bay Area Contra Costa County Oakland Alameda County IBayAreaNewsGroup In partnership with YkHoOt hot jobs1 Th i ri AIU CURREXTIA IMVIIIOXS K) CHOOS! from: Annalee ALLEN works department that they could di rectly supervise was says Castle remark ably visionary and Castle's 2007 version of of the Hills" features a purple dust jacket and a photograph (she took herself) of the ele gant 1911 period Revival style Piedmont City Hall with its Mediterraneanesque water fountain in the foreground She chose purple for the purple thistle Pied official symbol Several new pho tographs some in print for the first time from private collections also are fea tured Through the eyes of Evelyn Craig Pat tiani and her niece Rosamond Craig Castle local history lovers can experience early Alameda County and the city of Piedmont from the present day back to the late 19th century when settlers first came to the rolling foothills cast of the Bay shore hope people will use this asa refer ence and to augment their own Piedmont family histories" Castle says She is dedicating the proceeds from sales of the book to the Piedmont Chapter of the Boy Scouts To reserve a place at the July 28 picnic event go to wwwalamcdacounty historyorg or leave a message at 339 2818 Reservation deadline is Monday and the cost is $15 per person Copies of of the will be available for sale at the event organizers say Mil JQM Santa Clara County facts of early settlement as the coming of transportation (with horse drawn trolley lines and later cjible cars) the struggle to find adequate sources of water in the dry hills and the rural way of life (In the early days Pattiani writes dairy farms and chicken ranches predominated) The challenges faced by home builders hauling loads of timber to building sites far from the lumber mills along the wharves on the estuary and the spectacular fires that occurred from time to time the scarcity of water to stave off destruction was a fact of life during i the early days are also vividly de scribed Although she never knew her grandfa ther Mayor Craig (he died before she was born) Castle is proud of his role in founding Piedmont "On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the founding" she writes in of a granddaughter in her preface "most of us must have a feeling of awe To think that from its modest beginnings we now live in and enjoy this rare and beautiful residential community" At the turn of the past century as longtime Piedmont hill residents watched Oakland leaders move to annex more and more unincorporated Alameda County territory and then experienced a brisk influx of new arrivals following the 1906 earthquake and fire the proactive deci sion Craig and others took to establish their own separate community with a school district police force and public ftftto Rose A short time later Alegria asked the officer in Eng lish for his name and badge number He eventually asked for backup you know who I am?" Alegria asked according to the memo told her I did not the officer wrote at this point it was irrelevant because she was deterring me from my primary duty and interfering with a lawful order by a peace officer" Presently another officer arrived followed by a sergeant) In their memos both officers and the sergeant reported symptoms indicating Alegria was drunk She says she was''not that was the case they could have conducted a field sobriety Alegria said had halj a glass of Two Richmond City Council members who met Alegria for dinner at the bistro Jan 1 7 agreed she had had only a fraction of a glass 1 Rose said there is a different threshold for drivers and nondrivers such as Alegria that night can do a field sobriety test any time we feel a person can't care for their own safety or someone else's safety that's the trigger point" But that was not the case with Alegria on Jan 17 he said The bistro server had to leave the SUV which was regis tered to another man at the scene Rose said Alegria has since apologized to the officer who made the? traffic stop although she maintains he misinterpreted her actions She has said she went outsideto translate and did not interfere She also has said she did not know the memos existed and has accused Councilwoman Mary Horton and Coun cilman Pete Murray of orchestrating the release as rv payback for Alegria's part in a 3 2 vote in May not to renew the contract of then City Manager Belinda Espinosa During closed session discussions Horton and Murray Alegria said late last month said i something out I asked 'What are you talking1 I had heard rumors They insinuated something "1 felt intimidated" Alegria continued "I felt that if I 1 didn't renew the city contract something was 1 going to happen" Alegria said that after meeting with Rose sometime after the incident she believed the matter to be resolved really feel that those council members knew about these memos" Alegria said trying to put two and two together Why were they threatening me in closed Horton said the city attorney briefed the entire council about the memos months before the Espinosa contract 7 talks Murray said Alegria was putting a spin on the situa tion all began with her taking on three police officers in the street" Murray said think we all know she's not the type of person to be easily intimidated" THE ALAMEDA COUNTY Historical summer picnic in celebration of Piedmont's 100th anniversary is Saturday in Piedmont Park This aerial view of the city was shot in the 1 930s San Jose Mercury News Contra Costa Times Oakland Tribune Daily Newspaper Group Silicon Valley Community Newspapers Jobs Careers Il's now easier than ever to conduct job searches learn about the companies and their open positions as well as submit your resume with just a few clicks VIUR Pinole police: No 1 break for mayor erno STOP from Metro 1 KI PTA 1 Picnic to feature story of Piedmont ft 'ft ft ft ft ft (ft Ta OSAMOND CRAIG Castle author of the centennial anni Bk versary of of the Hills the Story of Pied is the featured speaker at the Ala meda County Historical Society Summer Picnic on Saturday The event will begin at 10 am: in Pied mont Park with Castle the grapd daughter of Hugh Craig first a mayor leading a stroll of the of History" markers in the park Participants will enjoy a box lunch fol lowing the walk and hear how Castle went about updating and revising the "Queen of the book (originally pub lished in 1954) especially in honor of Piedmont's 100th anniversary this year: According to the history files on Sept 5 1907 Pied montresidents voted to up 1 hold an earlier vote cast in January of that year to incorporate and to elect a board of trustees to govern the new city News ac counts of that era show 1 1 7 votes were cast the first time around 79 voting for 38 voting against The second vote held nine months later and called by a disgruntled citizen faction that felt Pied mont instead should be annexed to neigh boring Oakland needed a two thirds majority vote to pass This time 154 votes were recorded with 92 voting to (and join Oakland) and 62 voting against ailing to achieve the two thirds number by a mere 10 votes the disgruntled group threw in the towel and Piedmont re mained an independent municipality The original version of of the Hills" was researched and written by Ro ft samond paternal aunt Evelyn 1 Craig Pattiani 1876 1954) who was Mayor Hugh daugh ter The Craig family had settled in the hills north of downtown Oakland in the 1870s and ac counts of Aunt childhood recol lections and eyewitness experiences make this volume truly come alive aunt Evelyn was such a lover of says Castle who selected her fa ft vorite photo of her aunt for the new book's dust jacket is wearing her 1 favorite kimono that she had purchased on one of her many world travels It is the way I like to remember her" In addition to anecdotes about the Craig family and other early residents of the outlines such basic vwrw vvuuym uu I euill Introducing the new improved Bay Area Virtual Job air Employers can post jobs to hire or job seekers can search throughout 5 counties in the Bay Area ne One Inst Xpert Counsc Job Placemen vocational Training Commmunity College Courses MTmur' mi Tn 73' OAY 'AKbA' VIKII IAI ft IK TAI ft IB PBMXI Mk 1 LI DIC LI RE 1 I Var ft rTi a oiin i mbh i I I 1 i 1 I 1 'LIUJJi lLL'LI MJ A hvcj MM MM HISliKttM 11 Ml 1 Ifl tt this 1 1 1 tiH (hii icpiescnlatiw at i he Alameda I Newspaper Group Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News or email us ai arecr I vein Mei cur New co tn.