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Archives » 2002 » Volume 55 , Issue 21, Published on Wednesday, May 22, 2002News55th Pet Parade goes to the dogs
Town Crier Staff Correspondent 55th Kiwanis event features showcase for schools, musical tribute to canines Rotary ‘Fine Art’ fund-raiser outshines rainTown Crier Correspondent Saturday was one of the best days in Rotary history for art sales at its annual Fine Art in the Park fund-raiser at Lincoln Park in Los Altos, but despondency set in Sunday with all the rain. The Rotary Club has held the event for the past 27 years. Pet Parade WinnersBest Overall, First Place: The Magnolia-MacKenzie wedding party won Best Overall costume. Dressed in a veil and a white gown, Magnolia, a 3-year-old Shih Tzu accompanied her groom, MacKenzie, a 3-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel down Main Street. MacKenzie wore a black tuxedo with a bow tie. The wedding party included flower girl, Chrissie, a 3-month-old Cavalier, and dog walkers, LoAnn Stone, Suzie West, David West, Jill Allen, Phyllis Lynch, Dan and Scott Allen, Pastor David Bonde and Larry and Sue Ellen Reeves. Bridget, a 4-year-old mixed breed served as minister. The wedding party was from the Los Altos Lutheran Church. Springer to camp at Covington for a yearThe Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted at its May 13 meeting to delay the opening of Covington School for one year. The decision comes one month after voters failed to pass a parcel tax increase that would have added $4.4 million to the district’s budget. The board agreed last week to ask voters to raise the parcel tax a second time this fall during the Nov. 5 general election. The board was scheduled to decide how much to raise the parcel tax Monday night after the Town Crier’s press deadline. ‘Type’ rather than location is key to movie theaterMembers of the Los Altos City Council said last week they would remain committed to the idea of bringing a movie theater downtown depending upon the business’ type of operation. Theater developers have proposed several options including a small art theater to a six-screen megaplex with a bar. Hospital takes early survey of receptiveness to bond measureThe El Camino Hospital District Board of Directors authorized a survey of 600 district residents during the weekend of April 20-21 to gauge public interest in a number of issues important to the hospital, among them, whether there is enough public support to carry a bond measure to build a new hospital. Hospital officials felt it “premature” to give results of the survey, but questions involved the level of willingness to support a bond issue if hospital officials decide to do it and the level of taxes at which people would be willing to support it. News BriefsLos Altos added the $3.5 million Los Altos History Museum building to its inventory last week. The Association of the Los Altos Historical Museum gifted the building to the city May 14 as part of an operations agreement. Under the agreement, the city will be responsible for maintaining the building and the association will be responsible for managing museum programs and funding exhibits. The city must maintain $10,000 in reserves in its Facility Replacement Fund for the museum. Police ReportMay 14, 8:52 a..m., El Camino Real and Jordan Avenue: A vehicle and a bicyclist were involved in an accident. The cyclist received minor injuries. Juvenile disturbance Los Altos City Council to decide how much space to allow Walgreens to occupyTown Crier Correspondent The Los Altos City Council is scheduled to decide May 28 whether the Walgreens retail drug store proposed for 301 Second St. in downtown Los Altos should be allowed to take over the entire multiretail building. This would eliminate a restaurant and a computer store that city officials required in 1993 as part of the McWhorter’s project to encourage pedestrian traffic and discourage the creation of a big box retail store. Council changes town’s standing committee rulesLos Altos Hills Following heated controversy over a sudden shift in the pathways committee leadership last month, the Los Altos Hills City Council has voted to adopt several changes to the rules regarding standing town committees. LA and MV high schools celebrate theater openingsTown Crier Correspondent It was a night of superlatives for the Los Altos High School Eagle Theater last Friday night. From the moment Mark Andrew Shaull, chairman of the performing arts department, cut the ribbon, to the last person leaving, it was a performance the community won’t forget. OpinionLetters to the EditorThirteen is an unlucky number. It was an unlucky day for California the day that Proposition 13 was implemented. California went from having the best schools in the nation to the bottom of the list. Los Altos is lucky because it is a beautiful place with a small town atmosphere. We are lucky to have dedicated teachers who teach and live in our community despite the high cost of housing. Perhaps our luck has just run out. On May 6, the Los Altos school board approved a $4.6 million budget cut for the 2002-2003 school year. What does this mean to our schools? It means losing 48 teachers, larger class size, one elective at the junior highs, no school supplies, and fewer janitorial services. Is this really happening in California, a state with the world’s sixth largest economy? A few years ago we had a budget surplus. Where did that money go? Old threads weave into a family reunionBlue Jeans and Jelly Beans As the plane lifted off from SFO, I pinched myself. Was I really flying away on a vacation alone, without my husband and kids? Amazingly, yes. Special rights for illegals?Other Voices One of the differences between our country and any number of third world countries is that we follow the rule of law. At least we think we do. CommunityLAH pathways run/walk event draws a mobile crowdThe first Los Altos Hills Pathways Benefit Run/Walk brought more than 180 people, according to organizers of the May 11 event. The event, at Bryne Preserve and Westwind Barn on Altamont Road, included a challenging 5K trail course and a 1-mile Kids Fun Run through Bryne Preserve. Council member Emily Cheng started the 5K event and then walked the 5K course with her daughter, Serena. Bicycling through Los AltosLocal cyclist group celebrates, participates in Bay Area Bike to Work Day It was a beautiful spring morning last Thursday, but the weather wasn’t the main reason there were more than the usual number of bicyclists pedaling through residential streets and along Foothill Expressway. Thursday was the eighth annual Bay Area Bike to Work Day, meant to encourage commuters to cycle to their jobs as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to driving. Community BriefsChefs Who Care and Armadillo Willy’s will present “Picnic in the Park,” 5:30-7:30 p.m., June 11, at the Cuesta Park barbecue area, at Cuesta Drive near Grant Road, Mountain View. Proceeds from the event benefit the Community Services Agency, which helps needy individuals and families. The picnic buffet menu includes ribs, chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, cornbread muffins and ice tea. Pet parade also dominated front page 50 years agoLos Altos - Celebrating 50 Years The year 2002 marks the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of Los Altos. During the year, this column will cover what our predecessor newspapers reported 50 years ago. Community service awardee Bob Adams honored for his work with local youthTown Crier Correspondent Bob Adams was the recipient of the 39th Community Service Award, presented last Thursday at Michael’s at Shoreline Restaurant. High-flying, well grounded Chris Brown used to handling, coping with emergenciesResident Profile As a longtime flight attendant on Trans World Airlines, Chris Brown was a pivotal figure on flights that demanded all her skills as she coped with life and death at 40,000 feet and survived a takeoff that terminated with a crash into a muddy ditch in Frankfurt. Local mayors to be honored at May 31 banquetThe 19th Annual Los Altos Chamber of Commerce “Salute to the Mayors Banquet” will be held May 31, at Crowne Plaza Cabana, 4290 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. The black-tie-optional affair starts with no-host cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. The event will bring together two communities, honoring Mayor Francis La Poll of Los Altos and Mayor Toni Casey of Los Altos Hills. SchoolsLAHS student launches peer literary magazineLos Altos High School student Adam Miller has a monkey on his back - The Monkey, to be exact. The Monkey is the name of the new literary magazine Miller started at the high school. Springer fourth-grade students pan for ‘gold’ in Adobe Creek
Shouts of “Eureka!” could be heard from the banks of Adobe Creek at Redwood Grove in Los Altos May 15. Students from Judi Hultberg’s fourth-grade class from Springer School in Los Altos had staked their claims and begun panning for gold - or, in this case, pyrite or “fool’s gold,” which is found naturally in the creek - as part of Redwood Grove’s first “Gold Rush Program,” run by resident naturalist Keith Gutierrez. Los Altos Police adopt alternative correctional program for first-time juvenile offendersLos Altos Police have cracked down on juvenile lawbreakers with a program that closely mirrors correctional guidelines for adult offenders set by the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice two years ago and reviewed last month. The city received its first federal grant for the program last week. A portion of the $5,039 Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant will go toward the program. Considered experimental about five years ago, restorative justice programs, such as the one Los Altos recently put in place, have trickled down from adult justice systems and are becoming widespread in the juvenile system as alternative correctional programs intended to make lawbreakers repair the damage done by their crime outside of traditional court. County Superintendent forms ‘Blue Ribbon Task Force’ to look into school fundingSanta Clara County Superintendent Colleen Wilcox announced in a speech addressing the state of education in Silicon Valley, May 7, that she would be forming a Blue Ribbon Task Force to look at how to increase resources for public education in Silicon Valley and throughout the county. “Even if we rely on Sacramento for increased funding, we know that any revenues would be equalized and our share would stretch only half as far as elsewhere in the state,” Wilcox said. “This is a local problem, specific to Silicon Valley, specific to Santa Clara County. Therefore, we must seek Santa Clara County solutions.” Schools BriefsFoothill College has scheduled an open house at its Middlefield Campus 2-5 p.m., May 30, at the Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The aviation and pharmacy labs will be open, and there will be music, dancing, art, refreshments and giveaways. For directions, call 949-6950. Spartan Theater opens at Mountain View HighThe Spartan Theater at Mountain View High School is ready for its encore performance, after the grand opening May 18. The opening gala highlighted the completion of the 350-seat theater, which had been in the planning stages and under construction for the last seven years. Spartan Theater is identical to the new Eagle Theater at Los Altos High School, which celebrated its opening May 17. SportsLancers’ depth carries them to CCS titleSt. Francis High last week became the first gymnastics team to win three consecutive Central Coast Section championships. The Lancers scored 177.250 points at the May 15 meet, with Los Altos (172.975) and Gunn (171.575) finishing a distant second and third, respectively. Sports On The SideAnnelies Geelan of Los Altos was recently featured in Inside Tennis Magazine for her community involvement in the sport. Geelan 18 years ago started the intermediate school tennis league that local junior highs Blach and Egan compete in. Geelan, who coaches the Egan team, recently won the Community Tennis Committee’s Most Valuable Volunteer Award. Get your kicks Mtn. View Open swings into action SaturdayOrganizers of the annual Mountain View Open say this year’s tennis tournament should be as competitive as ever. “We have a lot of top-ranked players in Northern California,” said Kathy Wheeler, Mountain View Open co-director, “and it should be really exciting.” Late surge helps MV girls place 2nd
Eagles just miss top 10 Los Altos coach Dan Dye expected his boys and girls to finish among the top 10 Saturday, but both teams came up a little short. MV resident makes SFSU Hall of FameMountain View resident Don McPhail was recently inducted into the San Francisco State University Athletic Hall of Fame. “This has been a great year for some of us old guys,” said McPhail, a 1958 graduate of Palo Alto High School. “As a captain on the SF State championship football team in 1964, it is nice to be recognized again, nearly 40 years later.” Lancers claim CCS golf titleSines misses NorCal cut Prior to last week’s Central Coast Section boys golf championships, St. Francis High coach Dave Ferriera predicted his squad would need to shoot 290 to claim the team title. Miller jumps at chance to make CCS meet; Eagles fall in softball playoffsSpring Sports Report Softball BusinessTelevision’s ‘Ally McBeal’ goes for bully broadsI was dumbfounded when I got a call from a friend in Washington, D.C., telling me to watch “Ally McBeal” two Mondays ago. I don’t watch the show, but I trust the friend, so I did. She, of course, had seen it three hours before me. It was a whole two-hour segment on Bully Broad workshops, just a week before we were going to New York to do one for Candice Bergen and her Oxygen Cable show, which airs in the summer. The “Ally McBeal” show began with a story about a Bully Broad who had been asked by her company to attend a boot camp. She had refused and had been fired. No one had contacted us, but someone on the show had obviously read my book or articles about it. In spite of love affairs with Matthew Perry and Jon Bon Jovi, Ally managed to spend most of the show on the woman who objected to attending a seminar for intimidating women. Business BriefsInclusion Inc., a Los Altos-based supplier of software and e-business services, announced April 17 that it initiated the process to become a wholly owned subsidiary of I-Incubator.com, Inc., based in Miami. Incubator plans to change its name to Inclusion Technologies, Inc. and base its corporate headquarters in Los Altos. “Inclusion CEO Martin Nielson said the merger will bring together “complementary companies to offer our customers a powerful, easy-to-use suite of technologies, together with a full range of engineering and consulting services.” Nasdaq has its biggest weekly increase in a year - so what?The Nasdaq composite, consisting mostly of technology stocks, posted its largest weekly gain in about 13 months. After weeks of sell-offs and fears of an anemic economic recovery, investors were lured back into the market. Transactions20727 Celeste Circle - C. Knight to J. & S. Eastman for $274,000.00 11120 Chadwick Place - A. & M. Platt to S. Chi for $1,015,000.00 Main Street Bar & Grill files bankruptcy, shuts doorsTown Crier Correspondent Loren Masters, owner of the Main Street Bar & Grill, closed the business permanently two weeks ago. Earlier last month, Masters filed a personal Chapter 13 bankruptcy because of a $51,000 debt. Your HealthShould you just say no to drugs?When your doctor prescribes medication for you, do you think first of the side effects that drug may cause? While that may be a valid concern, the real issue is more complex. The next time you consider taking any medicine, vitamin or supplement, consider the following questions. What is this medicine supposed to do? Is it intended to treat an ongoing problem or prevent one in the future? If you have pneumonia, you want an antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria. If you are in pain, you may want medicine to relieve it. Sit, roll over, ‘heal’Therapy dogs help patients and staff at El Camino Hospital Hospitals can be stressful places for both staff and patients. The staff at El Camino Hospital stay busy attending to the many needs of the patients they care for. Patients may feel ill, in pain or incapacitated, yet the days can seem long and monotonous, away from the comforts of home. New Web sites geared for eye careUsing three new easy-to-use Web sites from Novartis Ophthalmics, consumers can get help in learning how to treat dry, itchy eyes, discover a safe and convenient way to remove eye makeup and even learn the best procedure for applying eye drops. In addition, consumers can get regular regional allergy alert updates. By going to the sites, consumers can receive free samples as well as coupons for discounts on Novartis Ophthalmics products. ALS Association to honor Al Hart at Trader Vic’sThe Bay Area Chapter of the ALS Association is scheduled to hold its inaugural “All Star Award Gala” 6 p.m., June 1, at Trader Vic’s, 4261 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Awards will be presented to Al Hart of KCBS and John Madden for their contributions in raising awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Searching for diseasesThree-dimensional body scans may help find hidden medical conditions While CT scans have been used for medical diagnosis for the past 20 years, the concept of scanning the torso of a person who has no obvious medical conditions or symptoms is a more recent concept. The whole-body scan is a procedure that has yet to gain widespread acceptance among doctors and one for which health insurance carriers do not currently compensate. Yet some who have undergone a whole-body scan have said they appreciate either knowing that they are in good health or that they have learned about a serious medical condition before it became life-threatening. Health BriefsStanford Hospital’s Partners in Caring program needs volunteers to provide friendly visits, transportation, shopping and meal assistance to people who are homebound. Training sessions for new volunteers are held once a month. For information, call 725-4137. Healing imagery for cancer patients Heart attack victims share their experiencesDid you know that, worldwide, 23 people each minute have a heart attack? This adds up to about 12 million heart attacks a year. More than 1 million Americans will have a heart attack each year, and 14 million Americans now living have had a heart attack or angina. In fact, if you live in an industrialized country, heart disease is either the number one killer there or a major cause of death. These stark statistics are from the opening paragraph of “Heart Attack! Advice for Patients By Patients,” a book that, as the title indicates, is written from the perspective of the patient who has had a heart attack and has recovered. |
In Our OpinionLetters to the Editor
Leo Long earns local honorsIn 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. |
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