ISO town hall discussion panel tonight

The city of Benicia is the only refinery town in the Bay Area not protected by an Industrial Safety Ordinance. In Contra Costa County, the Hazardous Materials Division of the Health Department is responsible for enforcing an ISO that governs the three refineries in the county’s unincorporated areas – Shell, Tesoro and Phillips 66. The city of Richmond has an ordinance that mirrors the County’s and contracts with Contra Costa County for enforcement activities concerning facilities that include the Chevron refinery. Tonight at the Benicia Public Library, 7 p.m. in the Dona Benicia Room, you can learn from a panel of Contra Costa County officials and other experts from Cal EPA and Cal OSHA how a local ISO and state regulations already work together in Contra Costa County and the City of Richmond, and also discover why and how the community of Benicia can be better protected by an ISO implemented by the city. I hope to see you at the Town Hall tonight.

Ralph E. Dennis;
chair, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Appreciation of Harold Bray and other veterans

A big thank you to all the veterans who kept all of us safe. We all owe you a lot.
Another great veteran, and survivor of the USS Indianapolis, is Harold Bray who lives in Benicia. We really owe a lot of thanks to all these survivors who were in the water for days as they watched their buddies get eaten up by sharks. The USS Indianapolis ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the war in 1945. Harold Bray, the Benicia native, has been telling people from all over the country what happened to all his friends who died for all of us. They will all go down in history as brave men.
I know Harold has been living with this horrible memory, which has affected his life. Bray, who was sleeping top side at the time of the blast, was one of 317 survivors of the sinking. No distress signal was ever sent, leaving Bray to endure roughly five days of more torture by battling dehydration, hypothermia, sun exposure and shark-infested waters before being discovered.
Harold Bray just turned 90 years old and is very lucky to be alive. After the war, Harold joined the Benicia Police Department to continue protecting people. We owe Harold and all his friends who died a lot. To those survivors of the USS Indianapolis, including Harold Bray, we the people of Benicia really love you and thank you and your buddies for all you did for the people of our country.

Michael Escobosa,
Benicia

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