Community raises $42,000 to aid family By E. CLARK Martinez Tribune The Martinez community has pulled together over $40,000 to help five children whose parents were killed in a traffic accident Sunday. Roberto and Maria Bolanos, along with three of their young children and an adult cousin, were traveling westbound …

MARTINEZ, Calif. – The building that once housed Carrows Restaurant in Muir Station Center will become a pet food store. The location at 500 Center Ave. near Nob Hill Foods, CVS, Kinder’s and Starbucks will become a Pet Food Express, according to petfoodexpress.com. The store will offer pet food and …

MARTINEZ, Calif. – Owners of the popular coffee house Barrelista, and the recently reopened Barrel Aged restaurant have announced their intention to file a lawsuit against their former landlords. Proprietor Arash Pakzad said the Kassel family, who owns the commercial property that once housed Barrel Aged at 823 Main Street …

MARTINEZ, Calif. – Local music shop Good Stuff Guitar has announced its impending closure. The store at 511 Main Street will close its doors April 30. Lessons, however, along with instrument repair, will continue at 535 Ward Street. Limited retail items will also be available at that location, according to …

MARTINEZ, Calif. – Firefighters battled a blaze at a marijuana grow house in Martinez last Thursday, according to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District officials. The fire sparked in the garage of a home in the 1500 block of Ortega Drive just before 5 p.m. March 10. When fire crews …

Participants in the first Martinez Police Department Citizen Academy Class who recently completed their 10-week training. The academy gives participants an inside look at the Martinez Police Department’s operations through a series of lectures and hands-on training. For more information on the academy, visit www.cityofmartinez.org/depts/police. (MARTINEZ POLICE DEPARTMENT)

Dear Mr. Grinch, We are bees, not flies. Our buzz is productive buzz, signifying the telos (goal) of sweet honey. I think you have grown accustomed to the buzz of flies downtown, circling a decaying garden. We are a different creature. This is not the place to discuss why the …

By MANJIT SAPPAL Martinez Chief of Police Feb. 14, 2016, the police department made the transition to a new Neighborhood Policing Area structure. The Neighborhood Policing Areas (NPA) have been in existence for some time, but we have modified the geographic boundaries so that we now have 4 areas for …