City of Pittsburg: Contra Costa County Gun Buyback Event in Pittsburg

Contra Costa County Gun Buyback Event in Pittsburg

Posted Date: 11/20/2014

Contra Costa County gun buyback event this Saturday in Pittsburg

By Nate Gartrell Contra Costa Times

POSTED: 11/20/2014 12:52:36 PM PST0 COMMENTS| UPDATED: 75 MIN. AGO

PITTSBURG -- The city will host an anonymous gun buyback program Saturday and will crush the guns into scrap metal to be donated to a charity that reforges the metal into jewelry.

The gun buyback will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Pittsburg City Hall. Target gift cards with values of $50 to $350 will be given for firearms turned over to police. Pittsburg police Capt. Michael Perry said the program will be completely anonymous. Officers won't check warrants, IDs or gun serial numbers and won't ask any questions, he said.

"This is one tool we can use to remove unwanted or illegal firearms off the street," said Perry, who helped organize the event with the Contra Costa County district attorney.

The event will be open to all Contra Costa County residents, but participants must show proof they reside in the county, like an ID or a gas bill. To ensure the program's anonymity, the person assigned to check residency will be a civilian, not an officer, Perry said.

Two years ago, the city hosted a similar countywide event, and, Perry said, they obtained and destroy 291 firearms in Pittsburg alone, though he didn't have the numbers for the entire county.

All the metal will be crushed into scraps, which will then be donated to a group called Jewelry for a Cause, which creates jewelry out of the scrap metal. The organization was founded by jewelry designer Jessica Mindich and has partnered with law enforcement agencies across the nation.

Police ask that folks ensure the guns are unloaded, and they request the firearms are carried in the trunks of their cars

A flier for the event says the payout will be up to $50 for nonoperable firearms, up to $100 for small caliber rifles, up to $150 for shotguns, up to $200 for handguns and large caliber rifles, and up to $350 for assault rifles. Rather than money, the city will be issuing Target gift cards for the proper amount of money, and Perry said the gift cards were left over from a previous countywide gun buyback event.

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PRIVATE MENTOR / TECH TIP / Free Computer Automation Tools (#1)

Posted:  20 Nov 14
Change #1:  30 Nov -- Added para.3, to accumulate other useful sources, as encountered.

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Make Your Computer Do Repetitive Routines For You
To help optimize the precious minutes and hours, turn your system into a robot (of sorts)

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1.  Statement of the Technical Problem Solved

Quoted, verbatim, from the GIZMO.COM article, "Best Free Hotkey or Macro Recorder Utility"

"Do you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again? Do you open the same program, then start another utility to help with that program, time after time, day after day? Are you visiting the same websites, or checking your email so many times a day that you lose count? Do you type the same text information so often that you could do it in your sleep?

For those of you who answer “Yes” to any of those questions, there are programs that make those tasks fast, simple, and easy to perform called Hotkey and Macro Recorder utilities."

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2.  A Few Alternative Solutions

2.1   Click here to read the rest of the article and discover simple FREE AUTOMATION UTILITIES

2.2  Click here to see VIDEO TUTORIALS that quickly acquaint you with easy macro concepts and more optional solutions, 

2.3  Click here for a Google search for sites that offer defensible REVIEWS of  a wider range of free solutions

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3.  More Helpful Sources (an accumulator)

A Review Guide: Top 10 Free Macro Automation Software for Computers to Perform Repetitive Tasks (www.Raymond.cc)

David Nelson

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All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved. BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but, hopefully soonest.

CIVIC MENTOR / HUMAN MISERY / A Concerted Effort to End Street-Beggary, Everywhere (#1)

Posted: 20 Nov 14
Change #1: 22 Nov -- added link to bulletin concerning the power of dialing: "211" -- para.3, below

SHOULD WE GIVE MONEY TO PEOPLE 

WHO BEG FOR IT ON THE STREETS?

It's way past time to work out a sensible common world-view, seasoned with a lot of compassion and empathy

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1.  Key Definitions:

Compassion -- sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

Empathy -- the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

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2.  Statement of the Problem:

   2.1  Until we fix it (AND WE SHALL), we will continue to encounter the disturbing spectacle of sad people on our nation's and world's streets and alleys, begging for any meager contribution we might be willing to make -- out-of-pocket -- to help them with their most basic human needs of the most pressing kind.  

   2.2  Civilizations have endured this sad situation since there first began to be civilizations.  But, until recently, there was no Internet.  NOW, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS TO CONTINUE TO BE THE CASE.

   2.3  This is a state of human affairs that is obviously crippling human progress -- and is, therefore, utterly unacceptable and almost entirely correctable.  This very generation can fix this situation.  AND, BECAUSE WE CAN -- WE MUST -- for we are moral creatures by our reasoning natures.  There are already so many wonderfully compassionate souls are out there, working hard on so many needful things.  BUT OBVIOUSLY, THERE ARE NOT NEARLY ENOUGH OF US ON BOARD WITH THIS.

    2.4  The Civic Mentor Project seeks to discover all such kindred spirits -- and create even more of them -- and help to coordinate the cooperation between us all -- until there is nothing left that needs doing on the subject.

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3.  Purposes of This Bulletin

This bulletin exists:

• To try to start another public conversation about short-term solutions, immediately available to ALL of us -- if we choose to see it that way.
• Along that line, please tell ANYONE in need of rescue (indigent or otherwise) to call "211."  (Click here to see more)
• To aid long-term, FINAL resolution -- beginning with an orderly process for accumulating web-links and all other sources of pertinent information -- all in one convenient place -- so that this matter will rise and be kept before us -- on our very busy lives' lengthy "to do" lists -- and enable us to THOROUGHLY address it, together, with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
• To PUBLICLY DECLARE that complete elimination of this horrid spectacle is an official, fundamental, determined reason, among thousands, for the very existence of this Civic Mentor project.

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4.  Exploration of the Problem:

A GENERAL SITUATION ASSESSMENT -- AS I SEE IT

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SHOULD WE GIVE MONEY TO PEOPLE WHO BEG FOR IT ON THE STREET?

Oh, you must surely mean the homeless, the down and out, the confused, the crippled --the ones with no successful role models to copy -- no escape from exposures to life's nastiness (and the corruption this would inflict on any soul, under the same TOTAL circumstances) -- no physical and mental and dental health care -- no sure next meal -- no sure, secure, comfort in the night (or day) -- exposed to the cruelties in those who haven't yet learned or matured a logical concept as to what it means to be HUMAN? They are what I mean.

Let's examine the matter:

   4.1  A HIGH-PAYING "JOB?" -- After all, it's been said (by someone) that they can make huge salaries doing this -- as if this is somehow exploiting others who envy a "dream-job" they weren't "lucky" enough have.  And, what a lousy "dream-job" to have to worry about being paid, each and every day -- but unable to predict, at all -- degraded by having to be so utterly dependent on the whims of others -- exposed to the indignities that are in the "job description."  If this is the very best they can do -- else they would be doing something else -- then, they can do nothing more (without a lot of help) -- but, at least they're not ALL stealing it -- as far as we can fairly determine (though, desperate times call for desperate measures).  I wonder -- if one has no home and thus, has no secure place to keep their paltry accumulation of stuff -- then, what are they to do with it, if they should find a job and have to be somewhere else?  With no phone or permanent address -- so vital to getting and keeping most any job.

   4.2  MIS-ALLOCATION OF FUNDS?  Okay, but what might they do with it?  Buy drugs?  Wine, booze?  Perhaps -- such might be the only thing that might approximate happiness in their world -- with no wholesome model to tell them that this is a false, dead-end -- and what a better life looks like -- how are they to know, if no one shows them -- against odds stacked so overwhelmingly?  Not everyone can beat the odds, especially without the benefit of wholesome family and social life to teach practical success-strategies -- and to provide the all-important support structures, resources, and "breathing room."  Among equally distressed friends, who end up reinforcing the negatives in the situation -- further trapping everyone who ventures too close, with no escape avenues in the wings.

   4.3  WHAT DOES "BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT" REALLY MEAN?  Here's a very big "maybe" to consider:  Maybe that money goes directly into something of value.  At least some surely have hungry partners and children, dirty, with sad eyes and empty bellies.  Are we really in the business of judging another's circumstances -- without even close to sufficient information?  To the point where we turn the other way, close our ears to pleas and our hearts to pity, on the slightest off-chance that we will have made a mistake with our pennies?.

   4.4  THERE FOR THE TAKING?  Well, why don't they "just go and get a job." Ha!  They're going to need a lot more than "just going out to get a job."  Such is spoken by someone without empathy, looking through binoculars from atop a very tall ivory tower.  But, oh, if the shoe were on the other foot -- how the tune would surely change.

   4.5   COMPASSION IS A COMFORTABLE COAT:  Here's to giving people every chance we can -- giving them the benefit of the doubt -- and helping social organizations whose job it is to rescue our fellow humans and turn them into productive, self-fulfilling, happy systems -- which they surely desire -- rather than being written-off as lost souls, if they are able to think and understand the concept at all.  And if their thinking machines are malfunctioning (no surprise, here), does this not make their need for succor even deeper, perhaps?

   4.6  THE BALL'S IN OUR COURT: If we don't take this matter seriously, someone's gonna pay (in fact, the paying has been going on for centuries) -- and that someone is the rest of us, in a very real and true and direct and most unpleasant sense.  IF WE DON'T, THEN WHO WILL? (Our children's children?  What a sad legacy to pass down)

   4.7.  WE CALL THE SHOTS:  IS THIS NOT AMERICA, LAND OF THE FREE? -- Well, freedom FROM WANT (has to be part of any sensible definition of the term) and it needs to be seen as a basic human right -- or we will corrupt our higher principles -- principles which I think distinguish us among nations -- if anything does.

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5.  A Public Call to Private Action

   5.1  So, friends, I say reach into those pockets, without reservation (TEMPORARY FIRST AID) -- share your advantages to increase theirs and raise them to a higher plane of existence.  On hot days, be sure to give water and money (or anything else useful).  On cold days, give heat and money (or anything else useful).  On every day, give HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT and every KINDNESS -- for they are an aspect of human existence and a test of what we think that means.

Share of yourselves to lift others up -- as if your very well-being depended on it -- for it does.  Risk being taken advantage of, confident that this is not really the case at all.   What you are really doing is saying something about the kind of person you are. You are helping others, materially, of course -- but you are also COMMUNICATING (to them and yourself and any witnesses) that this is one more person who cares, empathizes, and wishes ALL fellow humans well. People can go a long way on the power that GOOD ACTS inject into the sorrowful chain-reactions that shape their lives.  And good examples are contagious.

   5.2  And, on the other side of that coin -- the longer-term solution (PERMANENT CURE) -- start (or continue) helping those organizations that are working on the problem. Many are already doing so.  But, never enough, as long as the situation endures.  In future bulletins, I will make these kindred spirits better known to you in such a way, that you will never accidentally overlook them again.  Once you know what's being done, you can see what's left to do -- so you can help the doing.  

This is a CRUCIAL CIVIC DUTY as clear as day.

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6.  John Bradford is credited with authoring this most profound, eye-opening statement, which brings to our doors, the meaning of "empathy & compassion," a sensible, motivating foundation for the needful work toward human well-being and betterment:

"There, but for the grace of god, go I"

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MUCH, MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW....

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David Nelson


All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved. BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but, hopefully soonest.

CIVIC MENTOR / HUMAN MISERY / Ending Veteran Homelessness by 2015?

Posted: 19 Nov 14

2015 -- THAT'S THE OFFICIAL GOAL DEADLINE

And, it is a wonderfully significant one, indeed

 In 2009, the President and VA declared the goal to end Vet Homelessness by 2015. 

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Posted on Facebook by Jacqui L. and passed forward by my FB friend, Mitch -- thanks to them both!

Cartoons like these reflect human compassion and I think, big, caring hearts.  But, these are pieces of a huge puzzle -- and LOTS of other pieces are coming together because of the sensitization of the people and their government (through such posters AND all the other things that move us from blindness into the light).

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WE are the government -- AND THE GOVERNMENT IS US.

1.  You'll be pleased to know that the momentum we need, so desperately, is building. I've seen it with my own eyes -- I've volunteered for three glorious, extremely successful life-salvaging regional events -- with similar ones going on, all over the nation -- and more are a-building.  They are called "Veteran Stand-downs (click here)" -- and are significant puzzle-pieces, among the other pieces being fitted -- to produce a much more beautiful social picture than we now have.

Here is one of my reports on my personal experience of one of the three stand-downs, I've participated in -- in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.   

I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER SEEN A FINER EXECUTION OF AN IDEA THAT IS SO WORTHWHILE.

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2.  It's frustrating (and harmful) that Veteran Homelessness (or any homelessness) is still a "fact of life" -- for now (till we fix it) -- and the sometimes very limited, but essential, good we each do -- may not always feel like it, but it adds SIGNIFICANTLY, without the slightest doubt, to the problem-solving chain-reaction that unites us. And, it makes us better people -- in the trying -- in displaying our compassion to ourselves and others -- in hopes of stimulating more of the same -- and because it FEELS SO GOOD, SO RIGHT!

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3.  NOW, TAKE HEART.  In 2009, the President and VA declared the goal to end Vet Homelessness by 2015. 

One day in January 2014, there were just under 50,000 homeless vets. I don't yet know its exact progress, but from the indications I am seeing, progress is moving in the right direction  -- and it will be achieved, I have no doubt --  I'm still checking for any revisions to the planned time-frame -- so, success may be sooner than expected -- or later.

And, so much more that is favorable is going on -- still beneath many "radar screens" -- and is accelerating, with 2015 looming so large and so very near.

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4.  The link, below, opens up the VA's plan -- and by our knowing what's been done, so far -- and what is intended -- we can see what's left to do -- and, perhaps, how we can best help to push "the boulder" over the hill -- and achieve a much-coveted national triumph.

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Here is the story of the 2015-Goal -- on the VA website:

 http://www.va.gov/homeless/about_the_initiative.asp

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WE CAN DO THIS -- AND WE MUST.

Got any ideas?  I sure do.

David Nelson

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All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved. BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but, hopefully soonest.

City of Pittsburg: "MAYA CARES PROGRAM" at Maya Cinemas 11/22/14/SAT

Maya Cares Program at Maya Cinemas

Date: 11/22/2014 9:00 AM

Cost: FREE

Location: Maya Cinemas
4085 Century Blvd
Pittsburg, California (925) 753-1788

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City of Pittsburg: Maya Cares Program at Maya Cinemas

Maya Cares Program at Maya Cinemas

Date: 11/22/2014 9:00 AM

Cost: FREE

Location: Maya Cinemas
4085 Century Blvd
Pittsburg, California (925) 753-1788

To change your eSubscriptions preferences, click the following link:
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OATH OF OFFICE AS SWORN BY Pittsburg, CA Police Officers

Posted: 18 Nov 14

Pittsburg, CA Police Department's
SACRED OATH OF OFFICE

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Thanks to the typically kind responsiveness of Pittsburg Police Chief Brian Addington, we now have in our hands, the special oath which all of our police officers solemnly pledge their sacred word to strictly observe during their terms in office -- an oath I alluded to in the Civic Mentor bulletin, entitled "CEREMONY REPORT: Pittsburg Police 2014 Swearing-in & Awards (#2)" -- click here. 

Please note the clause, in red, which highlights this oath's significant distinction from the more familiar public oaths:

“I (state your name) solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I will never betray my profession, my integrity, my character, or the public trust; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

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A RATIONALE

Public delivery of this magnificent oath of office is sufficient reason, alone, for this bulletin.  However, I wouldn't be true to the Civic Mentor's implicit two-way civic-educational function, in service to fellow humans, as well as to my own self, were I to fail to use this opportunity to provide a general discussion of this fundamental and crucial aspect of public service.

Here are fascinating discussions of oaths, in general, as well as those of the United States and its public institutions -- how, when, where, and WHY they came to be -- (thanks to Wikipedia --which has become a major, living, dynamic, reliable, practical, incredibly convenient, and highly accurate window and doorway -- into the vast, ever-expanding Human Knowledge and Experiential Bases -- upon which virtually everything about being HUMAN, versus other known forms of life, depend). 

These two fascinating articles are most enlightening and are offered as clickable links to their sources:

• Oaths of Office, in general
• Oaths of Office in the United States

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David Nelson

All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved. BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but, hopefully soonest.