By 'Avoid the 13' set for Labor Day

Local police will be on the lookout for drunk drivers on Labor Day weekend. Santa Clara County police are scheduled to find and arrest drunk drivers during an “Avoid the 13″ crackdown that runs from 6 p.m., Aug. 31, through midnight, Sept. 3.

Santa Clara will join crackdowns in Alameda, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties for a Bay Area-wide effort, featuring nine sobriety checkpoints and 30 departmental DUI teams.

Police said Labor Day weekends are historically the worst of the holiday weekends celebrated throughout the year in terms of injury crashes. A five-year average of holiday weekends shows about 162 people are hurt in DUI crashes per day, according to police studies.

“Avoid the 13″ is sponsored by the Santa Clara County Police Chiefs Association and funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Los Altos

Permit needed for Walgreen’s

Peninsula

Los Altos city officials said that Walgreen’s Drug Stores will need a conditional use permit before it will be able to open at the former McWhorter’s site at 303 Second St. in downtown. The national drug store chain bought the McWhorter’s lease last month at a liquidation auction in San Francisco.

At the time of purchase, Los Altos Planning Director James Walgren was unsure whether Walgreen’s would need to apply for a use permit or if the McWhorter’s permit would automatically transfer to Walgreen’s with the lease.

Walgren said if Walgreen’s decides to open a drug store at the site, the city can regulate its hours of operation, alcohol sales and delivery times through a special use permit. City law prohibits a drive-thru window, he said.

-Town Crier Staff Report