The New York Mets today announced that they acquired minor league outfielder Chris Carter from the Boston Red Sox. Carter was added to the Mets 40-Man roster which is now at 38. Carter, 26, hit .294 (126-428) with 50 runs scored, 25 doubles, 16 home runs and 61 RBI in 116 games with Pawtucket (AAA) of the International League this year. From July 1st through the end of the season on September 7th, Carter batted .333 (67-201) with nine home runs and 32 RBI. The 6-0, 230-pounder went 0-5 with the Red Sox in four games earlier this season in April. Carter batted .333 (6-18) with three RBI in nine games with Boston in 2008. He made his major league debut on June 5, 2008 vs. Tampa Bay at Fenway Park. He also hit .300 (141-470) with 25 doubles, 24 home runs and 81 RBI in 121 games with Pawtucket in 2008. Carter was acquired by the Red Sox on August 21, 2007 to complete the trade that sent outfielder Wily Mo Pena and cash considerations to Washington. Carter doubled home J.D. Drew in the fourth inning with the first run of the contest in the Mets first ever exhibition game at Citi Field ...

A revised Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed reuse plan for the closed Concord Naval Weapons Station is now available for a 45-day review period, Concord officials said Friday. The revised DEIR addresses the Preferred Alternative — Clustered Villages — as well as the Concentration and Conservation Alternative and the No Project Alternative. The Concord City Council unanimously approved the Clustered Villages alternative as the Preferred Reuse Plan Alternative in January 2009. The 45-day public review period begins Aug. 28 and ends Oct. 15. Written comments should be directed to Michael Wright, Director of Community Reuse Planning, City of Concord, 1950 Parkside Drive, MS/56, Concord, CA 94519. The comment period will close at 5 p.m. on Oct. 15. The document is available for review at the Concord Community Reuse Project Office at Concord Civic Center, 1950 Parkside Drive, Wing A, or at the Concord Public Library, 2900 Salvio St., or on the Concord Community Reuse Project website, www.concordreuseproject.org. After the public review and comment period is completed, a Final EIR, which includes response to all submitted comments, will be prepared. The Final EIR will also include a response to all comments received on the May 2008 draft EIR that covered the original seven reuse alternatives. ...

The driver of the big-rig that crashed on the connector ramp in Concord, CA,  yesterday morning has been booked for DUI according to authorities. His truck overturned on the ramp, spilling about 12 scrap cars he had transporting. Humberto Hernandez will face misdemeanor DUI charges for a crash that caused traffic backups but no injuries. One other car crashed as a result of the accident when the driver attempted to avoid the spilled cars on the road. Neither man was hurt, however.

I was going through my morning routine and fell into a new local blog in Concord. Straight Outta Concord looks like it was started back in April based on the first post. The site is described as. "This blog is created as a radical alternative to the number of moderate to conservative blogs from the concord area. for better or worse, the interwebs have become an important part of our society, and we feel the need to represent our points of view on these interwebs. as we all know, if it isnt on the interwebs it doesnt exist." Some of their posts may be a bit edgy from some of the readers but it's great to see more local blogs popping up.

Head over to the Myrtle Drive blog and read the most recent post. The blogger's attention was called to a strange car in front of their house yesterday with the people inside snorting drugs in the front seat. I envy the fact that they have external camera on their house and capture stuff like this on video. There are always going to be drug users and doing the hardcore crap like meth or coke or whatever they were doing is just a ruined life in the making. What I don't understand is why people would pull into a random neighborhood in front of a strange house and o this in full view of people. Are they looking to get caught? On a side note, I'm not sure about the timing but could this be the same SUV involved in the fatal Pleasant Hill Crash yesterday?

Cellular Sales is located in Concord, CA 94520, in front of Fry's Electronics in Concord Park and Shop. Being the areas largest cellular retailer, they get targeted by dishonest people from time to time. Good thing they have a bazillion cameras and a special YouTube channel where they post all of the videos of the criminals. This video was sent to me today from Gary. It shows a couple of cell phone thieves caught on camera taking a phone out of the display case. What I don't understand is why this guy's mom is there. She seems to be the mastermind and he's just doing the deed. Either this store has a great covert security system of these people are blind since the camera seems to be right in their face. Yeah...Real slick guy.

I had to read this email from a reader a few times to make sure I wasn't missing anything. The email explained how a single Concord family has become the victim of numerous crimes in just the span of a few days. The message starts off with a strong statement. (The email was in CAPS and I'm lazy and just cut and paste it) CONTRARY TO COMMON BELIEF,REGARDING THE GOOD REPUTATION OF LAW & ORDER SITUATIONS IN THE U.S. IN GENERAL,IT IS ASTONISHING & APPALLING TO SEE THE REALITY IN THE CITY OF CONCORD. HOUSE BURGLARY SEEMS THE ORDER OF THE DAY HERE. Next this Concord resident describes the story of a single family in their neighborhood and the crimes committed against them. (I have removed specific address info from the email.) THIS IS IN INFERENCE TO SERIES OF INCIDENCES IN HOUSE [removed] CONCORD CA-94521, WITH IN SPAN OF ONE & HALF MONTHS, WHICH SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE PRESENT STATE OF AFFAIRS. FIRST, ON 14th.MAY,09, CONCORD POLICE CHASED A CAR (PROBABLY WITH A DRUNKEN DRIVER) WHICH SMASHED INTO & RANSACKED THE GARAGE & LIVING ROOM OF ABOVE HOUSE , CAUSING LOSS OF PROPERTIES WORTH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. FORTUNATELY, THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE LIVING ROOM, ...

FIRST UFC GYM TO OPEN IN CONCORD, CALIFORNIA Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The UFC® Octagon™ isn't just for fighters anymore. Now, for the first time in the 15-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, anyone - no matter how young or old – can experience what it's like to train in the most exciting sport in the world thanks to the launch of the UFC® Gym™. UFC and New Evolution Fitness Company (NEFC) announced today that Concord, California will be the first home to the ultimate fitness destination, one that combines a complete UFC experience with mixed martial arts and fitness. "We are excited to open our first UFC Gym, it's going to have something for everyone in the family, from traditional mixed martial arts classes, to all-around fitness classes, personal training and a gym just for kids," said Dana White, UFC President. "We are going to redefine the fitness industry, and get everyone excited about fitness again, starting with the first UFC Gym in Concord, California." NEFC Co-founders, Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley, both from the East Bay, believe that Concord, CA is the ideal location for the first UFC Gym. "Born, raised and now residing in the East Bay, we ...

Nick Montana, the son of legendary quarterback Joe Montana, has committed to the Washington Huskies, according to reports Wednesday. The younger Montana, a rising senior quarterback at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, CA), selected UW over offers from the likes of Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Washington, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Ohio State. As a junior, Montana, who stands 6-foot-3 and 186 pounds, threw for 2,404 yards and 33 touchdowns. He earned newcomer of the year, first-team all-CIF, first-team all-county, first-team all-state, and first-team all-league after completing 55 percent of his passes as a junior. Last season was his first year at Oaks Christian after spending two years at legendary De La Salle H.S. in Concord, CA, where he was the starting quarterback on the junior varsity team. Montana is considered a four-star high school prospect and the No. 12 pro-style quarterback in the nation, according to Rivals.com. He is the ninth commitment for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and is the most decorated recruit thus far. I hear Joe Montana pulled his boy out of De La Salle because they wouldn't be starting him his Senior year. Second string quarterback was not in Nick Montana's future. That's the ...

Everyone in the Concord Ca. area has heard about Lexi the dog and the $10,000. reward Debbie Brown paid for it's return. The dog was stolen out of the owners car in the Elephant Bar parking lot. After a few days the dog thieves contacted the owners and sent a text message showing proof of life and the deal was arraigned. Who really cares about the stolen dog story? Is a dog really worth $10,000. I don't have 10 Grand but I think if it came down to it I would pay a reward to get my dog back. People seem to treat their pets like members of the family and can you put a price on your family? The owner recognized the thieves as people hanging around the Elephant Bar parking lot when they arrived. Debbie's boyfriend paid the crooks $10,000 in cash and brought the dog home safely. Concord Police wants to find out who the thieves were but the boyfriend is not talking and keeping to their word that they do not wish to prosecute. Is there more to this story? Claycord sent a message to the dog owners on his site. I have a message to the owners of the ...

After the recent news of Karen Perez being the first Swine Flu related death in Contra Costa County, it appears there are more cases of the H1N1 virus being reported from the El Monte Elementry School. Claycord is reporting that a message accidentally went out to parents of kids attending El Monte saying that other kids have been admitted to hospitals with Swine Flu symptoms. The message was meant for staff and not parents. In the most recent message from the principal, she said the two students were "rushed" to the hospital with swine flu symptoms, and also told her staff to call her on her cell if they didn't plan to come to school on Monday. The kids have not been confirmed cases of Swine Flu but it sounds like the school is preparing for the worst case scenario. If this turns out to be true, this would be the largest outbreak of H1N1 in Contra Costa County.

Autopia car wash is located at 4524 Clayton Road in Concord, CA. I typically get my car washed here when I am too lazy to wash it myself. The service is always good and I never leave wishing they did a better job. If you are familiar with Autopia of Concord then you remember that the first station you would drop your car off into was for vacuuming. It was convenient for me since I always have a Starbucks cup or half empty water bottle in the backseat that I need to throw away before they start vacuuming. I went today to get my car washed and the entire rack for the vacuuming station had been removed from the front and put right in front of the car wash building. It couldn't have been an easy thing to move since the posts holding the vacuum rack have to be implanted into the ground for safety. I asked the employee why they moved the enormous structure and he said the company was sued by some people that ran into the legs of the rack and the company had to move it to limit further liability. The reason for moving it to the front ...

A liquor license is sort of like the holy grail for bars and resteraunts. I was always under the impression they were hard to get approval for with all of the local government forms and waiting for validation but I guess I was wrong. Turns out you can just buy a liquor license right off of craigslist if you have $25,000 dollars to spend. I couldn't find any reference online to what a [type 21] license was and maybe one of my readers could educate me. Is this legit? Can anyone really just buy a liquor license online?

Because of the media named Craigslist killer in Massachusetts who is suspected of killing a few women he met using the popular classified website Craigslist, the company has been forced to make some changes. Its about time I think. The problems of Craigslist and their obvious ads for prostitutes is nothing new. I wrote about Hookers on Craigslist a few months ago focusing on the listings just for Concord Ca. I heard about the changes Craigslist was making earlier in the week. Its about time. I mean, I understand that Craigslist isn't directly responsible but they should have known this day was coming. There have been so many stories about people getting robbed and defrauded from Craigslist ads that it's really a shame someone had to die in order for them to make this decision. In states like Nevada where prostitution is legal they could keep listing the offers but the company should adhere to the laws of each state. As of May 12 no more listings were being added to the Craiglist Erotic Services section. But the newly added Adult Services section doesn't look much different. Instead of the blatant hookers, they are now just refering to themselves as massage therapists. They might ...

I had just updated Twitter with the traffic mess on Treat and Clayton Rd from the stop lights flashing red then as I drove past Safeway and the Mormon temple, I saw traffic backed up again. I have no idea what happened but I saw a boy probably about 15-17 with a couple girls on the sidewalk. On  the corner of Dekinger and Wilson at the stop sign.The guy was bleeding from his face and it was a lot of blood. His pants were down covered in blood and his shirt was covered as well. He was staggering around trying to stay up. I thought it was a car accident at first but there were no vehicles wrecked. I pulled over for a minute so I could call the Concord police and there were other people getting out of their cars on cell phones walking to the boy. I called the CPD who transferred me to dispatch. The person who answered asked  me if I had an emergency. I guess I took too long to answer because he put me on hold for 3 minutes. I hung up. I figured of all the commuters driving down Dekinger looking at this poor ...