The Castro Valley Forum

The big band era is in full swing every Wednesday night at Rooster’s Roadhouse in Alameda, thanks to a San Leandran who’s been in the business for half a century.

The Bob Enos big band Soundwave celebrated their 50th anniversary this week at Rooster’s — the band’s regular gig for the past 12 years.

On a night in late August of 1959, the band had their first rehearsal in the back of the Best Music Store in San Leandro where Enos taught. Read more

Almost one-third of San Leandro’s current full-time city employees make over $100,000 per year, but what some people might not realize is that many city workers continue to take home six-figure salaries years after they retire.

Fourteen former employees, including recently retired City Manager John Jermanis and Police Chief Dale Attarian, are drawing over $100,000 per year in pensions (See list below). Read more

As they were dropped off by their parents on their first day of school Tuesday, a few Assumption School students looked as if they might like their moms to stay with them all day.

Those kids had to reluctantly say goodbye, but three young teachers at the school do get to keep their moms close all day — because they also work at the school. Three sets of motherdaughter pairs work at Assumption. Read more

It will no doubt be a bittersweet moment for the staff of the Castro Valley Library at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13, when the doors will close to patrons for the last time.

The library, at 20055 Redwood Road, has been a haven for readers and a venue for hundreds of community events since it opened in 1962 with a collection of some 23,000 books at a cost of $230,000. Today, it has over 100,000 books. Read more

Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Castro Valley man last Wednesday for being in possession of a substantial amount of child pornography at his home.

Michael Ames, a 41-year-old unemployed security guard, is being held at Santa Rita Jail on $100,000 bail. He faces felony charges for having some 20,000 pornographic images including DVDs of pre-teen girls involved in sex acts. Read more

Something interesting was bound to happen when Chanel Johnson of Castro Valley received three email notificat-ions to apply for an internship with President Barack Obama’s staff at The White House.

“One was sent to me and two others were forwarded from friends,” Johnson told the Forum last week. “I guess I had a lot of people rooting for me.” Read more

Hundreds of thousands of BART commuters were spared the nightmarish prospect of finding other ways to get to work Monday morning after the transit district reached an 11th hour tentative deal Sunday night with the union that represents train operators and station agents, ending the threat of a disastrous strike, at least for the time being.

“I probably would have had to call a friend for a ride,” said a relieved Barbara Raymond who was making her way back to her Castro Valley home Monday morning from a trip to Las Vegas. Read more

After more than 50 years of cutting and styling women’s hair, Castro Valley’s legendary tress-tousler Eduardo Carrasco is planning to sell his little shop on the boulevard and go into semiretirement in a couple of weeks.

The high-energy Carrasco, a familiar, smiling face around town, turns 85 at the beginning of September. Read more