East Bay Troops Honored While Home For Holidays

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Posted: 10:58 pm PST December 27, 2010Updated: 12:13 am PST December 28, 2010

DUBLIN, Calif. — A ceremony at the Dublin Civic Center Monday night honored East Bay troops from Dublin, Danville, San Ramon, Alamo and Blackhawk who came home for the holidays.

“It’s good to know people are home welcoming us back home,” said Marine Corps Private First Class Matthew Mahone.

“It’s nice getting honored,” Marine Corps Private First Class Jordon Dorrance said. “It makes you feel good about what we’re doing and just makes you know people back home are thinking about you.”

Mike Conklin, founder of the Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation, started the event five years ago.

“My brothers had gone into Vietnam. No one knew who they were when they left. No one knew who they were when they came back,” Conklin said. “I just decided I wasn’t going to let that continue to happen”

Conklin said he understands the emotional stress. His three sons are Army Rangers. One was wounded in Iraq.

“This has been almost 10 years for my family and multiple deployments and you still build up some armor. We’re all vulnerable and it doesn’t get easier,” Conklin said.

Army Sergeant Pete Sullivan, who’s been deployed to Iraq three times, said he is happy to be home with his pregnant wife.

“I fell really honored that there’s actually people that are really thinking about us,” Sgt. Sullivan said.

“To have him gone for 12 months and only see him for 2 weeks out of the year, it’s truly a blessing to have him here and hold him as much as I can,” said his wife, Chantee Sullivan.

Monday night, it was a whole community reaching out.

‘It’s the community, it’s other veterans in the area, everyone saying, ‘We care,’ ” said San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson.

More than 100 local troops have been honored since this welcome home for the holidays program began. The foundation gives scholarships to military men and women who have been severely injured in service. They currently provide scholarships to 60 service members across the nation, Conklin said.

I wish these men the best and much strength to get through this time. I can only imagine what they are going through. Great to know they are home for the holidays.

Blizzard cancellations frustrate SFO travelers

Monday, December 27, 2010

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  By John Alston

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KGO) — The blizzard that shut down airports on the East Coast for the second day is affecting flights across the country. At least a 1,000 flights have been canceled. The New York area took a beating from the storm with more than two feet of snow.

There was some progress on Monday afternoon at San Francisco International Airport after a few flights took off for the East Coast and some red eyes are scheduled for 10:30 p.m. But nearly 40 flights were cancelled and a lot of travelers are finding out they may not get out for San Francisco for days.

Vic Moruzzi is struggling to get back home to New Jersey and at SFO, he found his flight to Newark had been cancelled, even though when he left the hotel it was still a go.

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“I can’t say what I want to say on TV,” he said. “Now I’ve got to wait for a half an hour to wait to half to somebody and they are going to tell me, ‘well, what can we do.’”

Passengers waited in line and used their cell phones to grab a seat.

“I can’t get on a flight until Friday and I am supposed to leave on Tuesday. I think that is kind of ridiculous,” passenger Michael Lister said.

Lister really needs to get back to New York where he is about to start at stage production

“We need to rehearse because it opens next week, so I am hoping to be there for them. So, we will see,” he said.

Nearly three dozen departing flights were scrubbed at SFO due to uncertainty over whether New York’s airports would be open.

“The process of getting their flight crews, their passengers and their aircrafts in position to where they normally are and in normal operation then we are not going to be able to know. It is probably going to take a few days,” SFO Duty Manager Dan D’Innocenti said.

Hotels around the airport picked up a lot of extra business. Aya Ito of Tokyo will spend two nights in Burlingame because she could not get to New York, but she will get to San Francisco for the first time.

“I will go sightseeing in San Francisco and I have never been there,” she said. “It’s my first time so I am very ready.”

Due to all of the cancellations, there are not a lot of people at the gates because they are probably at the hotels or with family and friends.

On Monday morning, there was also a fog problem in San Francisco and about 30 flights had to be diverted to other Bay Area airports.

Is there busses these passengers can get on or can the airlines do something to get them closer to their destination?

Fighting Words: Danville Express‘ Reason NOT To Go To San Francisco

Forest Home Farms’ much-ballyhooed sheep. (Credit Erin Collins)

Well, this is downright adorable. Glenn Wohltmann of Danville Express compiled a list of reasons why you should not spend time San Francisco — 25 of them, too! — and instead visit Danville (a village buried somewhere in the East Bay, we think) for a day of, er, fun.

Wohltmawnn explains, “You know [Danville] is great. That’s why you moved here. So the next time your snooty friend in San Francisco [Hi!] calls and wants you to come up to the city for the day, tell him (or her) to come here instead.”

If you’ve finished spewing Blue Bottle coffee out of your nose, read these few examples and see if you’re convinced. Ahem:

“People are actually nice. That one comes from San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson, who lived in San Francisco before moving here. Not that San Franciscans are mean, but we could name some names…”

“Forest Home Farms and the David Glass house. Forest Home Farms has tours, antique tractors and sheep, plus activities on summer weekends. Show the kids how much work the old folks used to do.”

“Dining. We have great restaurants here, for everything from old-fashioned breakfasts to midday repasts to fine dining that rival anything in more urban areas. Walk around, read reviews and enjoy.”

“Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, Tao House. O’Neill wrote some of his most important works here, like “The Iceman Cometh” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” It’s easy to see why this home, with its distinctive architecture, which was miles from anywhere at the time, could provide such inspiration.”

“Village Theater in Danville. Local talent at its best, and lots of family-oriented entertainment.”

Okay, we might be down with checking out the O’Neill National Historic Site, but only because we’re raging literary snobs. And there is that deep-seated fetish for sheeps and tractors we can’t seem to shake. But, in the end, we probably won’t make it to D-ville anytime soon. Let’s face it, neither will you.

Interesting and funny article. Both cities are great.