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$5 Golden Gate toll sparks FasTrak signups 

Like last-minute Christmas shoppers, Bay area motorists rushed to sign up for FasTrak this week before the toll on the Golden Gate Bridge increases on Sunday. 

The toll goes from $3 to $5 but will cost FasTrak users only $4 – a $1 increase. 

More than 400 people signed up for FasTrak on Wednesday, more than the number of people who signed up for it during the last two weeks in August 2001, according to Mary Currie of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. 

Since FasTrak started in July 2000, 71,379 FasTrak accounts have been opened, Currie said. 

Boy tells court church counselor molested him  

FAIRFIELD — A Vacaville church counselor allegedly molested a 12-year-old boy three times at the Vacaville First Baptist Church, the boy testified in court. 

The boy testified Thursday in Solano County court that Richard Rearden, 34, molested him three times in 1999. He said the molestations happened on nights when the boy came for Bible study classes. 

The boy said it started when Rearden patted him on the crotch one day, and weeks later touched him inappropriately again as the boy stood in front of a church bathroom urinal. 

Eventually, the boy testified, Rearden took him to a private room in the church, stripped him of his pants and underwear, then tied his hands and legs to a chair before molesting him as the boy screamed repeatedly.