http://www.theriverbanknews.com en-us Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:17:53 GMT Daily feed of articles http://www.theriverbanknews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=37218 Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueno will deliver the annual State of the City address on Thursday Feb. 9 at the Galaxy Theatre, 2525 Patterson Road. The public event will begin at 6 p.m. with a reception for the Riverbank City Council and newly appointed City Manager Jill Anderson and be followed at 7 p.m. by the Mayor's address. News Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT http://www.theriverbanknews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=37217 Riverbank's choice for its new city manager, Jill Anderson, is the former assistant city manager of Seaside, a city of about 34,000 located on the coast south of Monterey. Seaside eliminated her position in 2010 during budget cuts and several layoffs necessitated by the poor economy. Chosen out of three finalists from an initial field of more than 40 applicants, Anderson is now negotiating her contract with Riverbank city officials. Given a successful outcome she is due to start work here on Monday, Feb. 27 at a proposed pay rate of $137,500 per year. Residents will have a chance to meet her on Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Galaxy Theatre where Mayor Virginia Madueno will lead a 6 p.m. reception for the city council and at 7 p.m. give her State of the City address. News Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT http://www.theriverbanknews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=37220 Foreign exchange student Marie Lamo of Norway, who is attending Riverbank High School this year, was crowned Winter Homecoming Queen during Friday evening ceremonies at the school. Lamo said after finishing high school here, she plans to go back to Norway and finish her education. She plays on the basketball team for RHS. Her favorite quotation is "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." Her favorite memory is deciding to become an exchange student. It's the best decision she's ever made, she added. Last year's queen Alisha Borges returned to crown Lamo at halftime of the Bruins' varsity basketball game against Modesto Christian. Lamo was escorted by her host mother Lynee Baldonado. Other competitors who appeared in the high school gym to compete for the queen title included Jessica Guerrero, escorted by her father Bonifacio Guerrero; Brenda Gonzalez, escorted by Elisco Gonzalez; Monica Guzman escorted by her father Polo Guzman; and Dominique Jennings escorted by Mario Moreno. News Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT http://www.theriverbanknews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=37219 Concerned at the prospect of long, slow trains of railcars loaded with quarry rock bringing noise, dust and vibration besides snarling traffic at road crossings, Riverbank City Council hosted a special meeting at the Community Center on Thursday, Jan. 26 to hear public opinion but drew less than a score of residents. Mayor Virginia Madueno commented perhaps residents had not heard about the meeting and its 5 p.m. start was too early for workers to attend. The city must do a better job in communicating with the public especially through contacting the schools and by hiring a public information officer, she said. The City of Riverbank filed legal action last May, its attorney Doug White explained, when it discovered Tuolumne County had approved a plan by land owners Jack and Patricia Gardella and the Resource Exploration & Drilling Inc. Company to dig a quarry a few miles southeast of Knights Ferry and ship the rock by rail to the valley through Oakdale and Riverbank. Cooperstown Quarry proponents anticipate trains could include as many as 60 rail cars and make up to 20 trips per week on the Sierra Northern Railway tracks. The permit allows the extraction of 56 million tons over the next 75 years. White emphasized the city is not trying to stop the project but to gain a more detailed environmental review that would provide mitigation of the project's effects and protect communities along the tracks. He is working on a settlement of the case he hopes to finalize within a few weeks and in the meantime wanted to hear Riverbank residents' concerns. "I lost three relatives to silicosis. Every time the trains went through there was dust. You could see the railroad ties moving up and down and pushing up dust," said Leon Cantwell of Riverbank who used to live in a foothills town through which railcars carried ore. "It was so bad you couldn't raise a garden there. What would it do here to the school kids and all the people living along Patterson Road?" News Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT