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Danville Mayor Mike Shimansky began his monthly coffee yesterday morning on a sad note, saying that one of “our soldiers,” Army Pfc. James Coon, had been killed in Iraq on Wednesday.
“He lived in Walnut Creek but his mother is a member of our Blue Star Moms,” Shimansky said.
Coon, 22, was a graduate of Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek and enlisted in the Army before his 21st birthday. He was in the 1st Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, and was deployed to Iraq in October.
The Blue Star Moms are a visible force in Danville, regularly setting up booths by the Veterans Hall on Hartz Avenue to collect items for care packages to send to troops overseas. They meet at the hall at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month.
The Moms receive an outpouring of support from the crowds as they march down Hartz Avenue in the Fourth of July Parade holding photographs of their offspring who are in the service.
Shimansky holds a free coffee at 7:30 a.m. the first Friday of each month at Father Nature’s on Prospect Avenue for residents to meet him and share their concerns about Danville. No signup is required.
– Dolores Fox Ciardelli
– Dolores Fox Ciardelli
