– Persian Proverb

Move over cherry, there’s a new berry in town.

Thousands of cherry lovers throughout the Bay Area make their way each spring to one of dozens of U-pick farms in Brentwood for the plump, juicy round fruits, but now – for the first time – there’s another option that is arguably just as sweet: the Himalayan purple mulberry, which looks a bit like an elongated blackberry with tiny clusters of fruit.

Not only is Habitera Farms the only one allowing visitors to partake in the picking of the tasty, dark-colored fleshy fruit — the season lasts about eight weeks — but it appears to be the only business selling mulberries on such a large scale commercially in the United States.

Habitera’s organic Very Mulberry business opened for its first U-pick season on May 13, and by all accounts, it has been a great success, according to Harvest Time spokeswoman Nancy Mai. Mai’s marketing company helped promote the unusual fruit and also promotes the other farms in the nonprofit farming organization.

“Opening weekend was phenomenal,” Mai said. “It was beyond the owners’ expectations.”

Farm founder Anil Godhwani of Fremont counted some 500 visitors the first day and another 700 on Mother’s Day, including a 100-year-old Chinese grandmother who recalled climbing mulberry trees in the 1930s and 1940s in China, where the fruit originated.

RELATED: Pick-your-own cherries season has arrived in the Bay Area; here’s where to go

Godhwani thinks the mulberries were a hit because many people from around the world are familiar with them from childhood.

“People have had mulberries, whether it’s in the United States from a tree in the backyard or a neighbor’s yard,” he said. “Be it Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Europe or even South America.”

Godhwani said on the first weekend they met visitors who hailed from some 30 different countries all waxing nostalgic about the glorious mulberry and “how much they had missed it.”

Co-founder Smita Sadana encouraged Godhwani to follow his dream to reintroduce mulberries to the public. A financial investor in the farm, along with Godhwani’s brother, Gautam, who also is a co-founder, she said she understands why the mulberry is so popular.

“Mulberries, the way I look at it, are a very easy-to-love fruit,” she said. “It has a really nice taste, it has a very incredible texture and it has a consistent taste.”

A native of Punjab in Northern India, Sadana grew up eating mulberries or “shahtoot” as they are called in Hindi – the same variety at Habitera – plucked fresh from the tree. Godhwani, who grew up in Delhi, also recalled pilfering the tasty berries from his neighbor’s tree. And while there are many ways to eat them – in baked goods, smoothies, chutneys, jams and more – both of them recall simply enjoying them fresh.

“Every year when these mulberries would come, we would share it with friends … it is the most incredible fruit,” Sadana said. “We would stop eating all the other fruits just to accommodate the mulberries for the eight to 10 weeks they are here.”

Godhwani liked mulberries so much that 15 years ago he planted his first tree in the backyard of his Fremont home. He would later plant six more as well as three Himalayan white mulberry trees along with other fruit-bearing trees.

A lover of fresh fruits and vegetables, Godhwani often traveled to Brentwood farms on spring weekends, mainly for cherry and apricot picking, even sometimes renting 55-passenger buses to transport family and friends – just for fun.

“Brentwood was an area I was familiar with; I had gotten to know the farmers,” said Godhwani, who works as a serial entrepreneur.

The Fremont businessman said he was thinking about starting a farm and began researching options with Sadana and others in 2015. That took them to UC Davis, where they tasted some of the 100 varieties of mulberries that exist.

“We got a chance to taste a lot of mulberries and let me tell you, all mulberries are not alike, from cotton puffs – tastes like you’re eating a puff of cotton – all the way to Himalayan mulberry that tastes incredible,” Sadana said.

“So, we wanted to get a mulberry, which has nutritional benefits, but it also has a taste benefit,” she said.

A few years later, Godhwani learned that 84 acres “with really good soil” was up for sale in Brentwood in 2018. He was hooked but before he could plant anything, he had to choose the variety.

“This is the one we fell in love with,” Godhwani said of sweet purple mulberry. “Because it’s exquisite, its taste and flavor. It’s known as the Himalayan Mulberry.”

Also called the Pakistani mulberry – it appears on both sides of the border between India and Pakistan – the Himalayan proved to have a pleasing sweetness yet a hardier skin so it is easier to transport than some other varieties, the cofounders said.

As for the nutritional value, the mulberry is known for its high levels of iron and Vitamin C, and high concentrations of the antioxidant anthocyanin, thought to combat coronary heart diseases.

“It’s also full of resveratrol (antioxidant), like red grapes, but have way more resveratrol, which is great for anti-aging,” Sadana said.

Godhwani planted the first 10 acres of Himalayan mulberries in 2020, added 60 acres the next year and more in 2022 to fill out his 84-acre ranch, as well as six additional acres he leases nearby. The trees, which are largely drought-resistant, start producing small amounts in the second year but don’t become economically viable until year three, Sadana said.

The bulk of the trees were propagated from cuttings off the original mulberry tree in Godhwani’s backyard, and they “are doing fantastic,” he said.

“It takes about four or five years for the tree to be fully mature,” Sadana said. “When our trees are fully mature, we are probably looking at a million-plus pounds every season.”

With few farmers out there growing mulberries, most doing research and development — and none to the extent of Habitera — the Brentwood entrepreneurs had to get inventive with much of the operation, including deciding how to get the juicy fruits off the trees, which can grow more than 50 feet tall.

Their innovative techniques to harvest the berries include a pushcart they loosely modeled after the Rehri cart Indian street vendors push around. The farm’s carts are pushed close to the trees and one person gives the branches a shake with a pole, causing the ripe fruits to fall down into an attached netting.

“The beauty is that when you shake the tree during the two-month season and give it just the right amount of shaking, 90% of the mulberries that drop on the nets are ripe ones, which is wonderful,” Godhwani said, noting they are shaken manually every other day during harvest.

Last year, the farm also hired Luis De la Garza as general manager, a 10-year veteran of the berry industry. “He brought with him a wealth of knowledge not just about farming, but specifically about berries,” Sadana said.

In addition, they hired 10 high school students to serve as U-pick guides and assist visitors in finding ripe fruits.

“We’ve got lots and lots and lots of mulberries on those 60 acres,” Godhwani said. “So, when people came this past weekend, they absolutely loved it.”

The entrepreneurs said they have begun sharing recipes on their website, VeryMulberry.com, to use berries in everything from pie and jams to smoothies, mojitos and more. They are also working with Sunnyvale’s Pints of Joy to develop a mulberry ice cream, he said.

In addition, their mulberries, including both purple and a limited number of white mulberries, are sold at area farmers markets and soon at online direct-to-customer sites, GoodEggs.com and SayWeee.com.

With​ the difficulties ​of ​shipping the delicate fruits long distances, for now Godhwani considers 99% of his market to be the greater San Francisco Bay Area, but he said he might consider going to other areas down the road.

“It’s early days for us right now because we want to learn more about how to grow mulberries commercially​ — successfully and profitably​ — but our longterm goal very much is to really be a catalyst to reintroduce mulberries to America,” he said.

Habitera Farms, at 501 Hoffman Lane, is open for U-pick on weekends, with the mulberry season usually lasting through late June. For more information, go to www.verymulberry.com.

As the formerly homeless woman waited at the Pittsburg Walmart Supercenter, she decided to buy one Lottery scratcher ticket, and to her great surprise, she won the top prize: $5 million.

“I only bought one ticket,” Forseth said, according to a California Lottery lottery news release.

“I closed my eyes and picked that one, and it won!” she told lottery officials. “I first thought I’d won a free ticket, but I checked, and it said I won $5 million!”

California Lottery officials said that Forseth is one of the state’s newest millionaires after buying the lucky Scratchers ticket at the Pittsburg Walmart.

Forseth told the officials that she was homeless in 2017 before turning her life around. And now, the lucky win will add even more to her life.

“This year I am getting married, getting my associate degree and won $5 million,” she said. “You never think you have a chance to win it. It is just random. Being homeless just six years ago, I never thought it would happen to someone like me.”

Forseth said she will buy a house and invest the remainder of her winnings.

Contra Costa County public schools were also the winner as schools receive a portion of ticket sales to supplement education. Public K-12 schools and community colleges in the county received nearly $56 million last year and more than $1 billion since 1985, according to officials.

For a report on what districts received, go to https://www.calottery.com/who-benefits.

Check back for updates.

Unveiled Thursday morning, Antioch’s first-ever non-congregate shelter will be located at the former Executive Inn motel at 515 E. 18th St. and provide wraparound services geared toward the chronically homeless, many of whom have survived for years living in encampments along the riverfront or railroad tracks or under freeways.

“It’s different when you know people and have built relationships with the people on the streets,” Gardner said, noting her excitement over the new center. “They’ve been there for a dozen years and I’ve seen them in the cold and the rain and in the extreme heat without water or food and seen them struggle.”

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe, who advocated for transitional housing, was on hand Thursday, along with Gardner and others, to help cut the ribbon for the 33-room center, which will begin accepting clients on Monday. Dubbed “Opportunity Village,” the center can house up to 45 residents at a time – up to 135 a year – who will stay there anywhere from 120 to 180 days.

The program is geared for adults without children who have been staying outdoors or in vehicles. Referrals will primarily come from the city, which will oversee the program.

“Antioch of today is a place for everybody, including our neighbors without houses,” Thorpe told the large crowd gathered. “This spirit of prosperity and growth has transformed our city from a tiny town right off the Delta to a major player in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

Thorpe said Antioch having its own transitional housing center and soon providing a mental health crisis response team are ways to place resources into the community “instead of defaulting to the old way of doing things,” which was sending out police to handle situations that are best left to others.

“Police departments aren’t nonprofit service providers, they’re not homeless outreach workers,” Thorpe said in an interview before the ceremony. “They’re not mental health experts.”

No other city in Contra Costa County has its own transitional housing center, Thorpe told those at the ribbon-cutting, noting others rely on the county to help their unhoused.

“We actually decided to go into our pockets to fund these types of services.”

Under the terms of the lease, the motel owner, Rudram LLC, will be paid $1.17 million a year, with the money coming from American Rescue Plan Act funds. The agreement allows two two-year lease extensions. The agreement includes furnishings for the motel – minus phones and TVs. The owners also will provide maintenance, repairs and landscaping upkeep.

Bay Area Community Services will run the 24-hour supervised program, enrolling clients and helping them connect with substance abuse programs and mental health services, providing conflict resolution, de-escalation and other safety protocols and ensuring everyone is following the motel’s rules. The city will pay some $2 million over two years for those supportive services, money that also will come from American Rescue Plan  Act funds it has received.

“Housing is a right that we should all have, just like food and water,” Gary Tia of Bay Area Community Services told the crowd. “I’m grateful for this opportunity to work with you. I think the need is great, but the laborers are few. What we lack in numbers we will make up with effort and strength and true collaboration.”

Antioch began actively looking at ways to address its homeless encampments in 2019, led by then-Councilwoman Joy Motts, with the mayor later joining her in her efforts. Both agreed there had to be a better way to help the city’s unhoused than simply having code enforcement move them from one place to another — at a cost of about $1 million a year.

But Thorpe also admitted he had a lot to learn about homelessness, and he credited several residents for educating him and pushing for housing. To honor them for their efforts, he presented keys to the city to Gardner, Motts, homeless advocate Vicki Proctor and former Assistant City Manager Rosanna Bayon Moore, who oversaw the motel project from its inception.

“These women have impacted and shaped my understanding of public service,” Thorpe said, “and they have reaffirmed using my faith as a guiding principle in the process of making decisions.”

Thorpe recalled meeting Proctor of Extending Hands Ministries several years ago when she was feeding the homeless from the trunk of her car and he told her it was illegal. Her response: “ We need to pray for you because you need to see what we see. We need you to get these people off the streets.”

“Sometimes it takes a while,” Thorpe said. “But that moment will never leave my life, ever. Because I know that that prayer is why we’re here today. We’re here because of Vicki. She kept coming back to push us forward and advocate.”

Thorpe also called Gardner “relentless,” urging the council to act to help the city’s more than 300 homeless residents.

“She kept coming back, she kept pressing this city, asking, ‘What are you going to do about the homeless situation?’ ” Thorpe said. “She transformed my understanding of people on the streets.”

In accepting her award, Gardner said she was reminded of how one homeless man kept asking for help, encouraged by others who had made changes after participating in the county’s Delta Landing interim housing in Pittsburg.

“He kept saying, ‘I really want to change my life,’ ” she said, noting she learned this week that he has been given a spot in the city’s new program. “I’ve never seen such a look, like he could see a light at the end of the tunnel walls.”

“It’s just all about compassion and love and trying to instill that within the community to break some of these stereotypes,” Gardner added. “I think today is a good day for Antioch….Today is a good day for me, and I’m just so thankful.”

On the council, Motts was also a formidable advocate for the homeless and was relentless in her efforts to help them even when it hurt her politically, Thorpe said.

“She’s the reason why we were able to politically move on the city council, to get to where we’re at today,” he said.

In accepting the award, Motts agreed nobody wanted to take on the issue of homelessness.

“It’s incredibly complicated,” she said. “You have people with mental illness challenges, families and children. There’s just no easy answers.”

What she did discover through her research was the importance of having shelter, a first step in getting off the streets, she said.

“There’s only one answer — it’s to put a roof over somebody’s head, because as long as they are living in chaos and crisis, you will never be able to help them,” she said. “So, I am proud to have been part of starting all of this. It was the right thing to do.”

The partial remains were discovered by volunteer searchers on Highway 49 a week before a celebration of life for the Oakley woman, but the family did not know if they were connected to the case until recently. Rowena Gabe, Alexis’ mother, thanked the search-and-recovery teams and said, “There will be no stopping us until we bring her home,” on her Facebook page.

Gwyn Gabe, Alexis’ father, said in an interview that searchers found his daughter’s torso and other remains confirmed by DNA as well as other evidence.

The finds could bring them another step closer to determining the manner of her death and whether the killer had any help afterward.

“We’re still trying to find her green purse, the rest of her phone and other stuff,” Gabe said, noting he hopes that will lead to more evidence in he case.

“My wife just doesn’t want to stop,” he added. “She wants to find everything. She won’t even return to work. She says I’m not going back to work until I find all of her.”

Alexis, then 23, disappeared on the evening of Jan. 26, 2022, after she left her Oakley home to visit her ex-boyfriend Marshall Curtis Jones in Antioch. Police later determined Marshall killed her, but before they could arrest him at the Seattle-area apartment where he had relocated, he charged at the arresting officers and was fatally shot.

The Gabes have said they will not rest until they bring all of Alexis home for a proper goodbye. Her skull was found in November in a remote area of Amador County by a visitor who was metal detecting there. The area had not been searched previously.

The Gabes and others are hoping the new remains will bring more clarity to the case. When the latest remains were found they were first thought to be animal bones, but a searcher’s veterinarian husband went back to the site and determined they were not, Gwyn Gabe said.

Amador County Sheriffs Office then requested DNA tests, and now that they are complete, the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office will be bringing the remains back to Martinez for an autopsy, Gwyn Gabe said.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Simon O’Connell had said last fall that the remains would help them determine the manner in which Alexis was killed and be able to better assess who else might be chargeable in the case.

On Wednesday, Ted Asregado, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, indicated they are still working on the case.

“We are continuing to confer with the other involved law enforcement agencies regarding what insights, if any, can be determined from Alexis Gabe’s remains,” he said. “We are also continuing to review the evidence and will discuss its impact on the case with the victim’s family before any decision is announced.”

The family has also announced that the city of Oakley will install a plaque on a bench at City Hall, 3231 Main St., in her honor on Friday, which would have been her 25th birthday.

Oakley Chief of Police Paul Beard will be presenting the plaque at 6 p.m. and a priest will preside over a dedication ceremony.

For more information, go to the Help Bring Alexis Home Facebook page  at https://www.facebook.com/groups/224250809922824.

Weather permitting, the closures between Koopman Road and Sunol Boulevard will begin at 10 p.m. Friday and continue through 5 a.m. Monday so crews can work to remove and replace the entire roadway sections of the freeway, according to a Caltrans representative.

On Presidents Day weekend, the road will be closed longer, from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. the following Tuesday in the northbound direction between Sunol Boulevard and Bernal Avenue.

Regional detours will be activated to advise motorists coming from the South Bay to take I-880/SR-238/I-580 instead of I-680.

For closures between the Koopman Road and Sunol Boulevard interchanges: I-680 North traffic should exit at I-680 at Calaveras, take Paloma Way, take Pleasanton Sunol Road and re-enter northbound I-680 at Sunol Boulevard.

Traffic coming from I-580 east, should take eastbound SR-84 to I-580.

For closures between Sunol Boulevard and Bernal Avenue, traffic going 680 north should exit I-680 at Sunol Boulevard, take Bernal Avenue and re-enter the freeway from Bernal Avenue.

For those going 580 east, take eastbound SR-84 to I-580.

The roadwork is part of a project that encompasses northbound Interstate 680 between Sunol and San Ramon to improve safety and provide a smoother ride for motorists, according to Caltrans.

Caltrans originally had scheduled to do the Interstate 680 paving work on three holiday weekends starting with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but rain canceled those plans.

In the case of rain or unanticipated developments, the closures will be rescheduled.

Southbound I-680 meanwhile will remain open and will not be affected by the closures.

For more information on detours, click here: https://dot.ca.gov

The 19-year-old Antioch resident and fast-food assistant manager was honored on Tuesday at City Hall for standing up to a man who was allegedly bullying a teenage customer who had special needs and was unable to protect himself. A scuffle ensued and the man made racial comments and hit Palomera several times in the face, which resulted in her right eye being so badly damaged that it couldn’t be saved.

Weeks later, Isaac White-Carter, 20, was arrested at a Hayward home for his role in the incident at The Habit. He is being charged with felony mayhem and aggravated assault causing great bodily injury, police said.

“In my book, Bianca is a hero,” Mayor Lamar Thorpe said shortly before the presentation. “She truly reflects the spirit of who we are as a community. This community is an open community that welcomes everybody.”

Antioch’s honorary poet laureate, Jose Cordon, also sung Palermo’s praises before launching into a poem in her honor.

“It’s an honor to be here with you,” he said. “After the way you stood up, and I can only hope that I’m able to have that same bravery – you feel me – whenever I’m presented with a situation like that.”

Antioch Unified School Board President Antonio Hernandez said he was well aware of how special needs children are often bullied and harassed and applauded Palomero for coming to the boy’s aid.

“Bianca came to the defense of this child,” he said. “Bianca was able to save this child from the harassment, but unfortunately this group proceeded to attack her instead. I don’t know many people who would have acted as courageously as Bianca did.”

“What Bianca did was not just in defense of one child, but in defense of all children who have ever been bullied,” he added. “Her actions send a message that this community cares about protecting special needs students.”

Hernandez added that he was inspired by Palomera to do better with special needs students.

“It’s not enough for us to be kind and polite in our interactions with others, but rather we must be ready to stand up for a more just community, even when it’s easier to just say nothing,” he said.

Elizabeth Soleyman-LaVasse, founder and CEO of We Get It Foundation, which supports autistic and neurodiverse individuals, also commended Palomera for her “heroic and selfless efforts.”

“Those efforts impacted a community and I speak for us all when I say that there should be more Biancas in this world,” she said before presenting the group’s Hero of the Year Award for 2022.

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce meanwhile presented her with a certificate, a $500 check and a promise to donate another $500 to an organization of her choice in her honor.

Representatives for state Sen. Steve Glazer, Assemblyman Tim Grayson and Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover also honored her with certificates before the Antioch mayor presented her with a key to the city.

“I don’t just give these out lightly,” he said. “I bestow them upon people who truly reflect the values of our city, in the spirit that guides us as a city toward the future,” he said. “And, so we’re exceptionally proud to be here. I’m proud to honor you today.”

Thorpe noted that giving a key to the city is a medieval tradition that conferred trust in the honoree in places where walled cities gates were locked shut at night. And though far from those times today, the mayor said in the city of Antioch, everybody is welcome.

“Irrespective of what your abilities are, who you love, where you came from or how you got here, Antioch is a place for all people of all abilities,” Thorpe said, noting that the city is committed to being inclusive with all recreation programs and city park play structures available to people of all abilities.

A shy Palomera was visibly overcome by emotion over all of the attention.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody that has reached out in one way or another, whether it’s in person or interviews,” she said. “I don’t think I could show how grateful I am for everyone’s support. It just touches my heart.”

Alexis, an Oakley resident, disappeared the evening of Jan. 26 after visiting her ex-boyfriend, Marshall Curtis Jones, at the home he shared with his stepdad on Benttree Way in Antioch. Her light blue Infiniti was found the next day on Trenton Street in Oakley, but there was no sign of Alexis.

Alexis’ father, Gwyn Gabe, released the new timeline in a Facebook post late Tuesday night, warning readers they might find some of the pages “shocking and upsetting.”

“We were actually horrified when Antioch PD went over this with us because ours came with images and videos,” he said, noting it was the first he’d heard of some of it.

Five months after Alexis’ disappearance, on June 1, a knife-wielding Jones was killed by Washington police who were attempting to make an arrest at a Seattle-area apartment where he had relocated in early February, forever quenching hopes that he would reveal her whereabouts.

What happened the night Alexis disappeared remains a mystery but police from Oakley and Antioch have since pieced together a massive amount of details through car GPS, cell phone records, surveillance video, forensic evidence and interviews, some of which they shared with the Gabe family in recent days. The evidence revealed, among other things, that Jones behaved like someone who was covering up something, which included the dumping of large garbage bags and the purchase of a new phone shortly after Alexis’ disappearance, according to police.

The timeline showed that though police ran into Jones near his home on Jan. 28 and he consented to let them search – everything but two bedrooms – they had no probable cause to obtain a warrant at the time. He did allow them to take his phone for a few hours, though, which provided some valuable evidence, they said.

In a heart-wrenching visit with police on Friday, Gwyn and Rowena Gabe and family were shown the Jan. 28 home surveillance footage from Jones’ mother’s home in Antioch as the 27-year-old hospital security guard unloaded “several large, heavy garbage bags” into the garage or back yard. The location was not clear as the video was recorded via motion sensors in 30-second clips, police said.

“We were horrified to see that video of him unloading those bags,” Gwyn Gabe said. “I mean, just the thought of it. My wife and I looked at each other and I said, ‘What did he do?’”

That and more evidence has now convinced the couple that their daughter was killed, even though earlier wife Rowena strongly felt that she was still alive, her husband said.

In a letter to the Gabes shared on Facebook this week, Antioch Police Detective John Cox said the list of dates, times, locations and sources of information was “not all-inclusive” and certain details were intentionally left out.

Alexis was last seen in security footage at a gas station on Lone Tree Way in Antioch in the early evening of Jan. 26, police said. From her car GPS, they know someone – later determined to be Jones – drove to Oakley using a route that Alexis did not normally take. But before he left, he called his father in Washington and left the line open and phone at home, police said.

Security footage and phone evidence revealed Jones walked back to his home in Antioch, with Alexis’ phone – the subject of several recent volunteer searches – still on for part of the time.

Police, using information later extracted from his phone, know that Jones sent Alexis a text that same night at 11:16 p.m. saying “Did you make it home?” That was followed by an unanswered phone call to her 15 minutes later. And the next day, he texted with Alexis’ mother, suggesting his ex-girlfriend might have gone to see a friend, who actually was out of town.

“He obviously was pretending he didn’t know anything,” Gabe said, noting that they had no idea of Jones’ dark side though Alexis dated him for almost three years.

“The family liked him a lot, he came to parties… they had fun together,” he said.

But Gabe said he later learned of his daughter’s troubles with Jones.

“I guess she just couldn’t get away from him because even though (no matter) how much she tried to break up with him, I heard from our friends, that he would say that he would kill himself (if she did),” Gabe said.

Two days after Alexis went missing, Jones returned to Oakley police to retrieve his phone, and then went with his mother to buy a new phone with a new number. Surveillance footage reveals he later returned to his mother’s home to retrieve the heavy garbage bags as his mother prepared to host a karaoke party, Gabe said.

According to police, Jones then traveled to his sister’s home in Vacaville that same night and left 30 minutes later for Pioneer where he got lost after missing his exit and briefly turned his phone on to find his way. Police recovered video from a gas station at Bradshaw and Jackson roads that showed a vehicle similar to his, a black Ford Explorer he borrowed from his stepdad.

Evidence suggests Jones returned to his mother’s house at 1 a.m. on Jan. 29, then went back to his sister’s in Vacaville, though she later said she “kicked him out” on Jan. 31 when she realized Alexis was missing. Police say he was seen on video carrying an extended firearm magazine and likely had a firearm on him when he was at his sister’s. He was also seen with a firearm while staying with his mother the next day.

On Feb. 1, police served a search warrant at Jones’ home on Benttree Way where they found a sample of blood later learned to contain Alexis’ DNA. They also seized his vehicle, the back of which contained her DNA, and they noted that the shower curtains were missing.

The next day Jones flew to Washington to stay with his dad. In the following days, police searched his mother’s home extensively. She was brought in for questioning on May 19 but released after the district attorney found there wasn’t enough to charge her with a crime.

Jones’ sister’s home was also searched and hand-written, crumpled-up directions to Pioneer were found. Authorities believe he likely didn’t want to use a phone that could be tracked the night he traveled there.

Police have since conducted extensive searches of the Pioneer area where they believe Jones disposed of Alexis’ body, but they have turned up nothing. They even drained an eight-million-gallon pond after searching with sonar and a cadaver dog to no avail.

Locally, the KlaasKids Foundation and numerous volunteers have conducted searches for the case that has drawn national attention.

“We’re really, really grateful to every one of our ‘Help Bring Alexis Gabe Home’ Facebook members (and volunteers),” Gabe said.

Gabe plans to meet with police soon to go over items collected during searches to be sent to a lab for further analysis. While he still hopes to find Alexis some day, Gabe and his family must now make the difficult decision whether it’s time to hold a memorial service. The family plans to meet this weekend to decide.

In the meantime, Gabe has one last request. He wants anyone who knows anything — including Marshall’s mom — to come forward.

“I wish she would just tell us everything – whatever she knows – because we need to find Alexis. We want to bring her home.”

Check back for updates.

The larger reward is thanks to a recent $50,000 contribution from an anonymous donor, Oakley police said in a statement on Monday.

“The donor was at the Oakley City Council meeting and heard my plea for help,” Gwyn Gabe, the missing woman’s father, announced in a Facebook post.

Oakley police first announced a $10,000 reward on April 28 for information leading to the whereabouts of Alexis Gabe, a recent nursing school graduate, who was last seen on Jan. 26 in Antioch. Gabe had gone to her ex-boyfriend’s home that night, and a key piece of evidence, her custom phone case, was later discovered nearby, her family has said.

A second search of her ex-boyfriend’s home on Benttree Way was conducted on Thursday but police did not say why. The first was on Feb. 1.

“The Oakley Police Department and partner agencies are relentlessly working on this case and investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance,” Oakley Police Chief Paul Beard said in a statement on Monday. “Our hope is that the reward funds will bring us closer to finding Alexis and bringing resolution to the Gabe family.”

Beard also noted that police were grateful for “the donor’s generous contribution and to the community for their continued support.”

Oakley Police Detective Tyler Horn urged those with information to come forward.

“We continue to comb through all the tips received and are working on this case around the clock,” he said. “We ask that anyone with information please contact us.”

Those with information as to Gabe’s whereabouts are asked to call 925-625-7009 or write to Alexistips@ci.oakley.ca.us

And now after a lifetime of doctor’s appointments and medical treatments, the two have received the life-saving gift of kidney transplants, miraculously all within hours of each other at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco.

The elder sibling learned of a possible match on a Friday. Carswell was finishing dialysis when a nephrologist asked “Would you like a kidney?” Dad Kelly Ouimet was across the room, heard the commotion and thought something was wrong.

“I thought it was for medical reasons, and it was all because they were celebrating,” he said. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Is this real?’ ’’

Mom Kristi Ouimet was cautiously optimistic because she knew from past experience with her son, that things don’t always work out even when a kidney is donated. “I was trying to be calm about the whole thing,” she said, noting their bags have been packed for months in anticipation of a transplant.

Dr. Marsha Lee, director of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital’s pediatric dialysis unit and the kids’ primary nephrologist, said earlier that it was uncommon for siblings with the same disease to be on dialysis and be awaiting a transplant at the same time.

But the chance that both kids would find donors at nearly the same time after waiting a year or more is rarer still, Kristi Ouimet learned. Neither the surgeon who had performed nearly 2,000 such operations, nor any of the other medical professionals involved, had seen anything like it before with siblings having nearly back-to-back kidney transplant surgeries.

Uncannily, Matthew had earlier that day said he felt they would get a call with an “offer,” the term used for an organ donation. The next day he told his uncle he knew he would get another call that day, and indeed a few hours after Carswell’s surgery, a match had been found for him.

The same surgeon at UCSF, Dr. Ryutaro Hirose, would end up performing both siblings’ surgeries one day apart on April 9 and 10.

“A lot of things have happened in our family that are unique, and you just kinda roll with it,” Kristi Ouimet said. “Some nurses have joked that, ‘We have the Ouimet wing here.’ ”

The siblings’ kidney troubles stem from a rare genetic liver condition called primary hyperoxaluria Type I. Another son, Patrick, 16, does not have the disease.

The disease had progressed differently in each, with first Matthew being diagnosed at 5 months old, and having to undergo dialysis and a double liver/kidney transplant at 2½ years old. But over the years, his kidney began failing, and by February 2021 he was back on hemodialysis.

His sister meanwhile had enjoyed a mostly normal teenage life, her father, Kelly Ouimet, said. But in 2020, Carswell’s condition worsened and required hemodialysis.

Over the past year, the Ouimets have traveled nearly 50 miles to San Francisco for dialysis treatments at a pediatric clinic and back to their Antioch home at least three times a week.

Having new kidneys means the world to them, their mother said, noting it will be the first time in a long while the siblings won’t be tethered to dialysis.

Both children are now recovering doors away from each other – and comparing notes. Their scars are nearly identical and mirror one another, their mother said.

“He (Matthew) asked about his kidney, and I told him the doctor said it was nice and big. Bigger than the one Carswell received,” Kristi Ouimet said. “He thought that was funny and stuck his tongue out.”

The kidney was placed next to his original donor kidney from a young soldier Brandon Burnett, who died in a car accident years ago. Matthew also received Burnett’s liver. The youngster calls him “his hero.”

“Matthew wanted to see his scar so I took a picture and showed him,” his mother said. “I told him his new kidney was under that scar and next to Brandon’s kidney. … He’s like, ‘I’m gonna relax because you know, Brandon’s here and he can help get this new kidney settled in. I’m just gonna rest now.”

The family doesn’t know Matthew’s new donor nor the person who donated to his sister, but they say they are grateful for their “selfless acts” and hope to find a way to honor the donors.

“It’s always a really tough thing to know that someone is dying, you know, someone’s death is going to affect the availability of the organ,” Kristi Ouimet said.

“But they’re not just organs to us. They are people who have lives, and we’re very fortunate to know Matthew’s previous donor’s family. I think that connection is what’s really helped me process and get through this aspect of it,” she said.

If caring for two sick children and advocating for organ donors were not enough, since last summer, the Ouimets have been helping a Nepalese man who suffers from the same disease. Govinda Regmi and his wife, Mira Basnet, are temporarily staying with the Ouimets as he receives experimental drugs, dialysis and also waits to get on a transplant list.

It’s all in a day for Kristi and Kelly Ouimet who have been fierce advocates for their children and others who suffer from the same disease or need organ transplants. Sharing their story is not only therapeutic and educational but it helps to encourage people to become organ donors, they said.

“It’s watching our story unfold and seeing how far we’ve come,” Kristi Ouimet said. “It’s pretty remarkable, and if there’s ways that we can prevent people from going through those hardships that we went through, it’s a no-brainer. It’s just when people need something, you help them and it’s not just in our neighborhood, you know, it’s globally.”

“The impact of commissioner Turnage’s statements on his Facebook post have caused unnecessary damage during a time of extreme difficulty for this community and for the state and our nation as we deal with extreme consequences, loss of life, severe illness, economic fallout,” Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts said during the three-hour meeting, which drew about 100 public comments, most of them denouncing the planning commission chairman’s views.

Turnage, 47, a local home contractor and former Antioch citizen of the year, recently wrote on his personal Facebook page that society should adopt a herd mentality, and although that means the weak, elderly, homeless and others would perish, “the nation and planet would strengthen when this is all settled.”

He also wrote that “this virus is like a human version of a forest fire, a forest fire will burn through and burn off all the dead trees, old trees, fallen brush, and scrub shrub-sucklings that drain the resources of the forest and causing it to be unhealthy.

”We would have significant loss of life, we would lose many elderly, that would reduce burdens in our defunct Social Security System, health care cost (once the wave subsided), make jobs available for others and it would also free up housing in which we are in dire need of,” he added.

In a phone call to the council during the Zoom meeting, a defiant Turnage stood by his words, reiterating his belief in “ecological balance,” which he said he wrote about to “spark debate.”

“My personal opinion had nothing to do with the city or my position on the planning commission, so to try to somehow link them or create a nexus to further your political agenda is shameful,” Turnage told the council, adding his ouster would amount to a violation of First Amendment rights.

“Being removed from the planning commission because my opinion is not liked or agreed with is not a fair reason to be removed,” he said. “In fact, in a country where we value free speech, it is unconscionable and sends a message that only like-minded people can serve this city.”

When he finished speaking, several residents called in to express their opinions and officials read 92 emails into the record. The comments ranged from support for Turnage’s character and his right to free speech to comparing his viral post to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

Lucas Stuart Chilcote said that despite Turnage’s service to the community, “that activism doesn’t provide you a get-out-of-jail card” for making such insensitive comments.

Leslie May called Turnage’s Facebook post “unfathomable.”

“No, this is not the way of the world,” she said. “We are not sacrificial lambs or any of the negative connotations he alluded to. We are original offsprings of the pioneers of this nation.

“Many of us have served in the military to protect the very land of the people who enjoy it now, whether young or old.”

Mary Dunrose called Turnage’s views “sociopathic” and “a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

“This is a person who helps promote senior housing, and he thinks all seniors should be dead,” she said. “He is not impartial — he promotes discrimination.”

Laura Gilbert wrote that Turnage’s musings “bear a troubling resemblance to the sentiments espoused by the man my 94-year-old father fought to defeat in World War II. … Letting remarks like these slide is how the unthinkable becomes possible.”

Antioch homeless advocate Nichole Gardner wrote that Turnage and his supporters “need to understand that this is not a freedom of speech issue. We should not have people calling to reopen the government so that we could allow nature to run its course and have people who have strong immunities go out and infect the weak, the poor, and the elderly so that they could die, while also representing those same individuals.”

But Ron Zaragoza urged the council to let Turnage remain on the commission.

“Society has become much too quick to demonize and punish each other,” he wrote. “We should not throw stones in the big glasshouse that we all live in together.”

Retired police Chief Allan Cantando also supported Turnage, noting other council members have written questionable posts. “Let’s call it like it is — it’s a critical attack,” he said in a call to the council, suggesting the proposed removal was politically motivated.

Longtime volunteers Beverly Knight and Michele Kuslits also defended Turnage, saying he has “a right to freedom of speech.”

But City Attorney Thomas Smith said freedom of speech wasn’t the issue.

“The focus is what is the reaction and impact that this speech has had on the residents of Antioch and the confidence and the trust in the government,” Smith said. “This has incited an impact and you as policymakers will have to determine what that impact is.”

Councilman Lamar Thorpe called the situation “unfortunate” before making a motion to remove the commissioner. “This is sad for the entire community,” he said, noting he had lost confidence in Turnage’s ability to lead.

Mayor Pro Tem Motts called the post “absurd,” adding that she has received emails from around the country about the viral posting.

“It should be noticeably clear to all of us that the words you put out to the public, even on social media, can have grave consequences,” she said.

Councilwoman Monica Wilson, who had called for Turnage’s resignation Tuesday, simply reiterated that he must go.

Mayor Sean Wright, who had called for the special meeting after Turnage rejected his request to resign, got the last words in before the council voted.

“City officials are held to a higher standard,” he said. “When our words as public servants undermine the city’s overall position and cause the citizens to lose confidence in us — especially in a pandemic when people are losing their lives and families are victims to illness — it’s something that must be examined. … The only way out of this crisis is to support one another with our words and our actions.”