Safety

Parks fire prevention plan makes headway

As flames continued to rage elsewhere in the state, a local voter-approved wildfire prevention project for the East Bay hills moved toward implementation in Oakland last night.  In the fifth in a series of six public hearings on the brush-clearing, wood-chopping Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Resource Management Plan, three dozen citizens listened without major objection as a draft plan of the project and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) draft were discussed. Voters in western Alameda and Contra Costa counties originally…

No charges against Hassani foster dad

Authorities have declined to charge either of the foster parents jailed last week on suspicion of murdering five-year-old Hassani Campbell, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office canceled a scheduled afternoon arraignment of the boy’s foster father today. The Fremont boy’s foster parents, his biological aunt Jennifer Campbell and her fiance Louis Ross, had been arrested and held last week on suspicion of murder.  But Jennifer Campbell was released Monday. This afternoon, after police said there was insufficient evidence to…

Child abduction cases by strangers are rare

Police said Friday that child abduction cases in some East Bay cities are “exceedingly rare.” “Ordinarily, they’re short-lived and have to do with some kind of custody battle,” said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley Police. Abductions by strangers occur even more infrequently. “The harsh reality is, most abduction cases are by somebody [the child] knows,” said Anthony Gonzales of Child Quest International, a non-profit that deals with missing and exploited children in the Bay Area. The last time a…

Foster father of missing boy leaves home with police

The foster father of missing five-year-old Hasanni Campbell was questioned by police today and left his home in Fremont with officers, said a prominent Oakland attorney who has been consulting with the foster parents. Attorney John Burris could not confirm where the police and Louis Ross, the foster father, were going, but said that they were in a car, driving around the area.  The home is on the 5900 block of Roxie Terrace in North Fremont. The missing boy, who…