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Thursday, September 09, 2010
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Tree Planting Honors Murdered Youth
|  | | This image of Chaz Bettencourt, killed in an argument over car keys, appears on a T-shirt worn by family members who attended the planting of a memorial tree on Thursday. The back of the shirt carries a picture of the young man and his father Kreig at Chaz’ favorite sport of racing motorcycles.
JOHN BRANCH/THE NEWS |
Family and friends of a young man killed because he wouldn't hand over some car keys planted a tree in his memory at a Riverbank city park on Thursday.
Chaz Bettencourt, 21, of Riverbank died of multiple gunshot wounds on Aug. 5 outside the Arco am/pm mini mart at Oakdale and Patterson roads when he was attacked by three teens.
Police have arrested Jah-Kari Phyall, 15, of Turlock as a suspect in the killing. But Daniel Pantoja, 18, of Riverbank and Turlock Diaz, 14, of Turlock are still at large.
"All he did was drive with a friend to the store late at night to get a soda and his life was taken. He would have turned 22 today. He was such a sweet kid," said Bettencourt's mother Michelle, as she led family members and city officials in planting an 18-foot sequoia redwood at Silva Park.
Her son had been through a rough time with drugs and alcohol addiction, but had been attending a Salvation Army rehabilitation class, getting "clean and sober," and hoped to attend college to become a counselor and help the same sort of people who took his life, she added.
The pretrial hearing for Phyall on charges of murder and attempted carjacking is set for today, Sept. 8, in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
Faced with a personal situation in which under age youths killed her son, Bettencourt said she has joined the Carrington Foundation in opposing a legislative bill (SB 399) brought by State Senator Leland Yee to allow modification of the sentence for murderers under 18 years after they have served at least 10 years.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 |
News for week of 09/08/2010 to 09/15/2010
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| Opinion
| | Dawn's Column
The Newsroom | The newsroom at our office is what my colleagues and I call our "classroom." We sit with our desks lined up facing the "teacher" - our editor, Marg, who is in an office - and we do our "homework," a.k.a. producing material for the newspaper.
Well, most of the time we produce material.
On Wednesdays after the papers are out, we come down off the stress of deadline and we have what we call episodes of "The Newsroom." It's basically our own make-believe version of "The Office," that television reality show that really isn't a reality show.
You see, we think we're so amusing and interesting that we should have our own reality show and people would actually tune in to watch the inner workings of a newspaper office. There is drama and comedy, conflict and resolution. It's a perfect recipe for entertaining TV - and probably lawsuits.
I should explain, we have a tendency to get a little jaded in this line of work and we sometimes make jokes about serious topics because it's a release. But we think we're hilarious.
Wednesdays start off with our morning staff meeting, where we straggle in and take our "reserved" seats around a large table. Whenever someone, usually a new person, sits in one of our seats, it throws off the entire balance of the meeting. So, sometimes we tell them to move. They're also hazed into bringing donuts for the group to their first meeting. In these meetings, each of us tells the editor the articles we have planned for the week. This method frequently evokes commentary and discussion from the peanut gallery. And this is when things really start to get interesting.
Some of our unorthodox, and some would probably say undisciplined, behaviors include interrupting the person who's talking to pepper them with questions about what they're working on - because it's news to us, chiming in with our own two-cents about their topic, veering off on tangents, and, believe it or not, we're even helpful to each other when one of us provides back-story or relays the latest scuttlebutt. We occasionally have side conversations, sometimes related to the topic. In the group, we have a doodler, a spot-on and hilarious impersonator of cricket sounds when the group falls strangely silent, and a Brit - there's one of those in every good sitcom or spy drama - we especially like the accent and foreign expressions. Amazingly, these meetings are typically quite productive.
Once we return to our desks, we continue with provocative, lively, and often loud discussions about current local and world events. For certain offices, some of these topics would be off limits. But we're in the news business, so we consider it all our business. We can't help it, we all have inquiring minds.
We also tell each other what to do when it comes to dealing with people, whether they're interview subjects, sources, or family members. No one is off limits. The reporters come to a consensus, sometimes with input from the production folks, and problem solved. Although, much of this advice is strictly for the purpose of operating in a fantasy world and doesn't really work in the real world.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 |  |
| Sports
| | Bruin Turnovers Spell Trouble Against Denair |  |
Three stalls within the five-yard line and six total turnovers proved too much to overcome in a 50-6 Riverbank High loss to visiting Denair on Friday.
The Bruins saw sparks of offensive success, but costly fumbles and mishaps in the red zone allowed the Coyotes to snare momentum and hold it in Riverbank's second consecutive loss to start the season.
"We just have to learn to play a full game and fight through adversity," Riverbank football coach Aaron Thurman said. "Football is not an easy game, and if we think we are going to get anything handed to us, we are wrong."
Denair found success with their fly offense and attacked the perimeter for big gains along the sideline. The Coyotes led 27-0 at the half, surrendering a third quarter score when Alex Reynaga scampered into the end zone on a quarterback keeper.
Reynaga passed, ran and returned kicks for a total of 189 yards in the defeat, showcasing his athleticism despite early game woes and a one-sided scoreboard.
"Alex had a Herculean effort in that game," Thurman said. "He was by far our best guy on the field, and he made some great game decisions."
The Riverbank defense switched from a three-down front in the trenches to four D-lineman at the point of attack. Thurman said the move allowed Riverbank to put more pressure on the quarterback, but noted his team must contain the edges to prevent big plays.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 | | | Lady Bruin Golfers Post Sharp Scores | When Riverbank High golf coach John Bartlett realized three of his returning seniors had opted not to compete on the links this year, his optimism for a bright 2010 season took a serious nosedive.
Since then, Bruin golfers have seen huge improvements and low scores, both showcased over the past week in a pair of matches against last year's No. 1 and 2 programs of the Valley Foothill League - Bret Harte and Escalon.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 | |
| Obituaries
| | Henri Ethier, Jr. | Henri David 'Hank' Ethier, Jr., 87, died peacefully on Sunday, Aug. 15 at home after a hard fought battle with Alzheimer's disease, surrounded by his loving family.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 | | | Veronica Patron | Veronica Rose Patron, 56, of Riverbank died Monday, Aug. 9 at Oak Valley Hospital.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 | | | Henry Medrano | Henry Medrano, 62, of Riverbank died Wednesday, July 14, while enjoying one of his favorite hobbies, fishing, in Sonoma County.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | | | Lorna Hansen | Lorna Helen Hansen, 80, died Saturday, July 3 at her Oakdale home.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | |
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