Contra Costa leaders will take a pass on mountain road named for James Kirker

Like so many people who have grown up in Contra Costa County, Karen Mitchoff just figured Kirker Pass was named after a rancher who settled near the well-traveled road winding through the hills between Concord and Pittsburg.

“I had no idea,” said Mitchoff, the chairperson of the county Board of Supervisors and whose district includes the western portion of Kirker Pass Road. “I’ve lived here since I was a kid. I had no idea how despicable this person was.”