By GERARDO RECINOS Martinez Tribune Alhambra boys volleyball is in the second year of a rebuilding plan that has gone just about perfectly. Last year they went from the bottom of the league to a playoff team and fourth place in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League. They won a playoff …

By GERARDO RECINOS Martinez Tribune For months you all probably got tired of hearing me say how competitive the Diablo Foothill Athletic League is when it comes to basketball. But when I glanced at the North Coast Section brackets and saw what I saw, I felt vindicated. It’s rough to …

By GERARDO RECINOS Martinez Tribune The Bulldog tennis team powered through rainy conditions in their Diablo Foothill Athletic League opener against Miramonte, but the weather wasn’t the only foe they had to deal with. The Matadors have a stout program that has given the Bulldogs problems in recent memory. That …

By GERARDO RECINOS Martinez Tribune In the first two years of John Sasaki’s time at the helm of the Lady Bulldog lacrosse program, the team had won a total of four games. Last season the team matched that total in a full season. And now, with five games having been …

The Grinch Slowly comes the gossip, Quickly comes the yack. The more you treat a grinch right, The more he shows his back. – Harlan Bailey

Dear Mr. Rishell, Thank you for illustrating my point so beautifully (see the March 4-10, 2016 edition). All that yapping about bees buzzing, feasting off organically grown fruit in the garden … going “paleo.” Your letter reminded me of the old radio broadcasts, full of metaphors and sound effects. Only …

Our neighbors in Pleasant Hill are reaching out to help Melody Massuk, the 4-year-old Martinez girl recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. When Martinez residents told their employer at Melo’s Pizza & Pasta about Massuk, the manager offered to help fundraise, giving a percentage of sales to help fund Melody’s …

By JONATHAN B. LANCE After a number of speeches made by coaches and individual awards were presented to exceptionally performing students, the 35th annual Contra Costa County High School Mock Trial awards ceremony concluded with the naming of this year’s championship team: Miramonte High (Orinda). Miramonte beat Acalanes High Feb. …

By PAUL CRAIG Special to the Tribune Elizabeth Koehler-Pentakoff is one of Martinez’s best-known writers. Her latest book has lessons for all of us. “The Missing Kennedy” is the story of Rosemary Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy. Rosemary was born in 1918, with intellectual disabilities. Despite the best …