Los Altos Town Crier

Serving the Hometown of Silicon Valley Since 1947

Weekly Poll

What is the most important development in revitalizing First Street in downtown Los Altos?

See Previous Polls

Inside this week's
Town Crier

Visit Our Town

Los Altos Online

Find it Fast:

Browse or search full directory

Add Town Crier to
your webpage

RSS Feed

Help

This week's Issue: May 7, 2008

Cover Story: Let me count the ways

This Sunday, mom’s kitchen sink will be piled high with dirty dishes, the flowers in her garden will be cut at their heads and crayon-colored cards bearing best wishes will be littered throughout the house as dads and children present mom with breakfast in bed highlighted by a vase of her favorite flowers. May 11 is Mother’s Day.

And if you aren’t a mom, you definitely have one, so it’s pretty likely that you’re either the one sitting up in bed, pretending to like chocolate chips and marshmallows on burnt waffles, or one of the many men who forgot to pick up flowers at a florist and resorted to desecrating the garden.

This week's Highlights

News

Los Altos Hills historian Young Yu named ‘Local Hero’

Acclaimed historian Connie Young Yu of Los Altos Hills is one of five people being honored at the 11th annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Local Hero Awards ceremony 6-8:30 p.m. today at the KQED Public Broadcasting Center, located at 2601 Mariposa St. in San Francisco.

Union Bank of California, N.A., and KQED Public Broadcasting sponsor the event.

LAEF drops district deficit nearly $600K

In an effort to assuage the pain of Los Altos School District’s looming $800,000 deficit, the Los Altos Educational Foundation has pledged $1.92 million for the 2008-2009 school year and will donate additional one-time funds totaling $400,000 to the district.

Randy Kenyon, assistant superintendent for business services, reported the net impact on the bottom line would be $591,000 more than originally expected from LAEF next year, with $266,000 more from the increase in annual funding and $325,000 from the one-time gift to offset program cuts or class-size increases.

More news here

Community

Dream Dinners hosts Relay For Life fundraiser

Dream Dinners has scheduled a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.

Through June 21, Dream Dinners will donate $10 for each order to Relay For Life, when the customer requests the donation. The annual Relay For Life is scheduled June 21 and June 22 at the Los Altos High School track.

In Business

Mommy makeover: Cinderella, meet fairy godmother

For any new mom in the Bay Area trying to shuck maternity wear to create a new look that stylishly meshes with a new lifestyle, self-described “fashion fairy-godmother” Corinne Phipps will overhaul the wardrobe and outfit her Cinderella – no pumpkins involved.

As founder and lead stylist of Urban Darling, Phipps offers wardrobe assessment and style-consultation services for men and women.

Schools

LASD girls learn communication skills

When Los Altos resident Stacy Peña’s daughter comes home upset about a conflict with other girls at school, Peña is well-equipped to speak with her using language she will understand.

Peña and her daughter attended a four-week workshop at Santa Rita School earlier in the school year led by the Girls Leadership Institute. Currently a group of 15 Los Altos School District girls and their mothers participate in the series at Loyola School.

Sports

Eagles rise to the top

The surprise of last week’s SCVAL De Anza Division track and field finals had to be the Los Altos High girls.

It’s no secret that the Eagles have talent – particularly in the sprints, hurdles and jumps – but their lack of depth has dogged them for much of the season.

In this week's On the Road:

Jaguar XKR is one classy cat

With the curves of the narrow road coming quickly, we climb up the edge of Silicon Valley toward the white domes of the observatory on the top of Mount Hamilton.

The top’s down in the early morning sun, but the heater warms us against the spring chill as the 2008 Jaguar XKR convertible torques up the steep switchbacks of Quimby Road, its agile and quick handling belying its size and weight.

A Los Altos Must-See

‘All Kinds of Dance’ coming to Mtn. View

As part of National Dance Week, The Lively Foundation presents a free concert 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the Mountain View Masonic Temple Auditorium.

The concert, “A.K.O.D! – All Kinds of Dance!” will feature tap dance, classical Indian-Bharatanatyam dance, belly dance, tribal dance, jazz, hip-hop and modern ballet.

In Our Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Leo Long earns local honors

In the April 30 issue of the Town Crier, you were right to congratulate and thank Dick Henning from Foothill College for four decades of service to the community. I met him at Foothill as student body president more years ago than I’ll admit. Great guy.