AP

Guns for Fun

  Buffy the cowboy glares at the closed door, his feet set apart, the bandolier round his belly loaded with red shot-shells. His ten-gallon is pulled down over his forehead, and his neckerchief is snugged up tight under a steel slide, which depicts a lewd act between two hogs. It is morning, and the sun has not yet pierced the fog draped on the outskirts of Richmond. The ground is dew-darkened, with lighter scars of dry dust from boot scuffs….

Forum addresses issues facing Richmond youth

At the end of two hours of often emotional, powerful discussion Saturday on youth issues in Richmond – covering education, outreach, violence and fear — the resounding consensus was a need for more: Richmond needs more outlets for talking with, to and about its youth.

Oilers still looking for first win after loss to Amador Valley

Two matches into the 2012-13 boy’s soccer season, the Richmond High School soccer team is struggling to find its identity. The Oilers, who suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Amador Valley High School Dons Saturday, are still searching for their first win. But coaches said the loss didn’t matter as much as the team’s lackluster play. “We were playing very soft and with no sense of urgency,” said Oiler co-head coach Jasko Begovic. “Out of 80 minutes,…

Identity theft on the rise in Richmond

The white-collar crime of identity theft, which has increased dramatically nationwide in the last decade, has not spared Richmond.   Richmond Police Detective Jeffrey Whitson calls Richmond one of the identity theft epicenters of the West Coast. With the technological advances that come with smart phones, online banking, and other exploitative tools, Whitson said he’s getting far more cases across his desk. “It’s an epidemic,” Whitson said. Whitson said that from last November to the present he has seen more…

Richmond homicide count rises to 18, 3 killed over the last week and a half

Over the last week and a half Richmond has seen a spike in homicides, adding three more killings to a relatively quiet year. Andre Cross, 34, of Fairfield stepped outside of a home on the 2800 block of McBryde Ave. around 10:30 p.m. to make a phone call and was shot multiple times by someone waiting outside, said Richmond police spokeswoman Lieutenant Bisa French. “It was not random,” said French. “We believe he was an intended target. There was a…

Sureño gang members stand trial for Norteño shooting

The trial for a 2009 double homicide in a Richmond restaurant opened Wednesday in Martinez with District Attorney Aron DeFerrari describing a brutal execution motivated by rivalry between Norteño and Sureño gang members, and attorneys representing the defendants describing their clients as having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Steven Miranda and Ignacio Ruiz are charged with two counts of murder plus conspiracy to commit murder and gang offenses for their roles in the shooting of Alvaro…

Of the Street

The ground of my second-floor room trembled as trains rumbled over the tracks and horned their approach at every minute. Dogs barked continuously from someplace in a distance and what sounded like a series of rapid gunshots went off. All within the first five minutes of my arrival.

Richmond High girls soccer falls to Mt. Diablo 3-2

If coaching was solely about wins and losses, Felipe Franco would not be here. Although his Richmond High School girl’s soccer team was defeated 3-2 by the Mt. Diablo Red Devils Tuesday night, Franco was reminded about why he enjoys the job. “You know what I like about coaching? They enjoy doing this,” Franco said about his team. “They know that they lost, or may lose the game, but they put a lot of effort in.” The match was the…