By Aimee Strain
May 6, 2008
Clean-up of spill now a federal effort
A 20-person crew from Clean Harbors Environmental Services is pumping out toluenediamine from a drainage ditch, using booms to absorb the chemical and has set up a carbon filter system today to clean up after Monday’s spill in Richmond that leaked an unknown amount of the flammable liquid into the San Pablo Bay.
The clean-up effort is now a federal effort being led by the U.S. Coast Guard, it was announced at a morning news conference held by the Unified Command for Chemical Spill Response in San Pablo.
Although officials have found no dead or injured animals, the spill has threatened at least three endangered species and possibly as many as five, according to Joe GiDonato with the East Bay Regional Parks District.
The California Clapper Rail, the Black Rail, the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and possibly the Salt Marsh Wandering Shrew and the San Pablo Vole all live in the marshland near the site of the spill.
It is nesting season for a lot of water and song birds who live in the marsh, GiDonato said.
Contra Costa Health Services hazardous materials specialist Maria Duazo said that the liquid material called toluenediamine spilled at Reaction Products, 840 Morton Ave.
Coast Guard Lt. Lauren Kolumbic said they received a report of the incident at about 11 a.m. and later created a safety zone in the area.
A community-warning siren was activated at the request of the Coast Guard and a shelter-in-place warning was issued for residents in the Parchester Village neighborhood at 2:06 p.m. before being canceled about 50 minutes later, said Steve Morioka, assistant director of Health Services Hazardous Materials Program.
“We evaluated the material that has been released and determined it does not pose a threat to the general public,” said Morioka.
Initial reports indicated that little to none of the chemical spilled into San Pablo Bay but the Coast Guard confirmed that some of it went into a storm drain and reached the bay.
The spill was fully contained by booms and absorbent pads but it is not known how much of the chemical seeped into the surrounding marsh and washed into the bay, the Coast Guard reported.
The toluene is expected to dissipate in the bay and will not affect shipping lanes, the Coast Guard said. The California Department of Fish and Game will assess the impact of the chemical on fish, wildlife and vegetation.
Duazo said that somebody broke into the company over the weekend and compromised one of its storage tanks.
Police investigating early morning fatal shooting
Menlo Park police are searching for clues in a shooting that killed a 19-year-old East Palo Alto man early this morning.
At 1:23 a.m. police received reports that a victim with a single gunshot wound had arrived at Stanford Hospital. Jose Antonio Contreras arrived at the hospital, but was pronounced dead soon after his arrival, according to police.
Preliminary investigation shows that the shooting occurred on state Highway 84, between University Avenue and Willow Road, near the Dumbarton Bridge, police reported. The motive has not been determined and there is no suspect information.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call the Menlo Park Police Department at (650) 330-6300 or the anonymous tip line at (650) 330-6395.
This is the first homicide in Menlo Park this year.
Police serve felony search warrant at home in Excelsior
San Francisco police remain at a home in the Excelsior neighborhood this morning where they served a high-risk felony search warrant just after 7 a.m. today, Sgt. Steve Mannina said.
Three men and two women were detained at the house in the 800 block of Vienna Street and taken to the Ingleside Station for questioning, however as of 9:45 a.m., nobody had been arrested, Mannina said.
He said police are not releasing information about why the individuals were detained or whether any evidence had been ceased.
“It’s still very early on in this investigation,” Mannina said.
Officers remain at the residence processing the scene, according to Mannina.
Suspect expected to be arraigned today for student murder
Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield is expected to be arraigned today on charges stemming from the stabbing death of University of California, Berkeley student Christopher Wootton in a late-night confrontation on fraternity row near campus.
However, Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers said charges haven’t yet been filed against Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, because prosecutors haven’t yet received a report from Berkeley police about the incident in the 2400 block of Warring Street in Berkeley about 2:45 a.m.
Saturday.
Rogers said he expects the police report to be delivered soon and that Hoeft-Edenfield will be arraigned at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland sometime after 2 p.m. today.
According to Berkeley police, Hoeft-Edenfield and Wootton a 21-year-old senior from Bellflower who was due to graduate with a nuclear engineering degree later this month, were part of a larger group that was involved in a verbal exchange that quickly developed into a physical fight.
Police say that during the fight Hoeft-Edenfield stabbed Wootton.
Berkeley police spokesman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said Hoeft-Edenfield complained about having a headache on Monday while he was in custody without bail at the Berkeley City Jail so police took him to Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley.
Kusmiss said Hoeft-Edenfield was treated by a physician who determined that he was medically fit to be incarcerated, so he then was transferred to Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
Kusmiss said he understanding is that Hoeft-Edenfield is well enough to appear in court today.
Court orders asylum proceedings for vet’s daughter raped in Philippines
A federal appeals court ruled in San Francisco today that a woman who was raped in the Philippines because her father was a World War II veteran is entitled to apply for asylum.
Rosalina Silaya, 39, who now lives in Millbrae and is a health care worker, says she was kidnapped and repeatedly raped and abused over a three-day period in 1982 by soldiers from the New People’s Army, a violent revolutionary group opposed to the Philippine government.
Silaya’s father had served in World War II under General Douglas McArthur.
At the time of the assault, Silaya was 23 and had been living in Manila with a sister for her protection, but had come home for a visit to her parents in a small town called San Mateo Sur.
She said the men New People’s Army told her they knew about her father and kidnapped her from the family home after overpowering her parents.
Silaya came to the United States in 1985 to work as a nanny and applied for asylum in 1991, but during years of proceedings was turned down by an immigration judge and the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.
In today’s decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned those ruling and sent the case back to the immigration board for further proceedings.
The court wrote, “The facts of this case compel a conclusion that members of the New People’s Army kidnapped, raped and abused Rosalina because her father was a World War II veteran.”
The court ordered the board to consider granting asylum on either of two grounds – either because of fear of future persecution or under a doctrine known as humanitarian asylum.
Humanitarian asylum can be granted when a person has suffered “atrocious forms of persecution” in the past, even when there is no reason to fear future attacks.
Stacy Tolchin, a lawyer for Silaya, said, “This is the sort of case humanitarian asylum was created for. No person who has suffered such past abuse should be required to go back to the country where it happened.”
Suspect sought in bank examiner fraud
San Carlos police today are searching for a man who posed as a bank examiner and convinced an elderly woman to turn over more than $9,000 in cash.
The victim was contacted Friday by a male caller who identified himself as a bank examiner, police said. The caller apparently told the woman that an error occurred with her account.
The victim was instructed to withdraw more than $4,000 and bring the cash to a bank security officer in downtown San Carlos, according to police. The victim complied and then received another call in which she was asked to turn over more money, this time more than $5,000, according to police.
A third call from the suspect instructed the victim to meet with the bank examiner and the county district attorney Monday, police said. The suspect gave the victim instructions for her withdrawals and answers to possible questions from her bank, according to police.
The suspect is described as a white man in his 50s standing about 5 feet 10 inches tall, police said. He was last seen wearing a dark colored hat resembling a baseball hat.
The bank examiner fraud is apparently a common scheme, according to the Police Department. Anyone contacted in a similar manner is asked to contact local law enforcement.
Boy sustains serious head injury in hit-and-run
Salinas police today announced that they are seeking information about a hit-and-run accident that left a 10-year-old boy hospitalized with a serious head injury.
The accident occurred at approximately 9 p.m. Monday night on Paseo Grande near La Paz Middle School. The boy was crossing the street when he was struck by an unidentified vehicle. The driver and vehicle fled the scene before officers arrived, according to the Salinas Police Department.
Witnesses describe the vehicle as being a red 1990s sedan. The driver is described as being either a Hispanic or Filipino male, between 30-35 years old with a medium build.
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call Salinas police at (831) 758-7250.
Man accused of hitting father in head with hammer pleaded not guilty
A 57-year-old Foster City man accused of hitting his 81-year-old father in the head with a hammer pleaded not guilty during his arraignment today in San Mateo County Superior Court.
Jayantibhai Patel is facing charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse in the case, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. Foster City police were called to a home on Port Royal Avenue on Oct. 6 after receiving reports that someone had fallen. They found Patel’s father with an injury to his head.
Patel was reportedly a caretaker for his paralytic father and wanted his father to return to India with him. When his father refused, Patel decided to put him in a nursing home, the district attorney’s office reported.
Patel later admitted to authorities that he had struck his father with the hammer, but allegedly said he did not want to kill him, but only to injure him because he believed hospitalization was the only way his father could be admitted to the rest home.
His father’s wounds required about six staples to close, according to the district attorney’s office.
Patel is out of custody on a $500,000 bail bond. He is scheduled to return to court for a jury trial on Sept. 29.
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