Undergrounding utilities explored

Los Altos Hills city officials are refusing to throw in the towel on the issue of undergrounding major town utilities. They formed a new committee last month to further investigate the feasibility of the project.

Two years ago, a similar committee spent approximately $200,000 on legal and engineering fees in consideration of the project.

Judge dry-docks pool plans

A Superior Court judge last Thursday ordered Los Altos to put plans for a community pool center on hold until the city completes more detailed environmental studies. How extensive those studies should be remains up to the Los Altos City Council.

“The proposed project, as revised, may have a significant effect on the environment, and for that reason the mitigated negative declaration must be set aside,” Judge Leslie Nichols said about the three-pool complex that the city approved for Rosita Park last year. Under Nichols’ decision, the city must “suspend all activity that could result in any change or alteration to the physical environment” until the city has conducted more studies. The court did not direct the city “to exercise its lawful discretion in any particular way.”

Efforts to calm traffic

Marlis McAllister crosses her fingers every time her 11-year-old son gets on his bicycle for the mile ride to the Almond Camp School on the Egan campus. The route takes him from his home on El Monte Road and across San Antonio Road - two of Los Altos’ busiest streets. McAllister said she has counted as many as one accident a month near her home. Impatient commuters have nearly struck her son twice while he was in the El Monte bike lane, to pass cars waiting to turn left, she said.

“I can’t put him in a bubble,” she said. “I cross my fingers every day he goes out the door and hope nothing happens to him.”

Los Altos Police arrest 2 men for attempted murder

Los Altos Police arrested two men for attempted murder and were searching for a third suspect last week following a shooting spree along El Camino Real Feb. 13. The incident started at 9:50 p.m. near Showers Drive in Mountain View and ended on Los Altos Avenue.

Police said four Mountain View men allegedly fired three shots from their car at a man who was driving to pick up a co-worker from work at Bridgepoint Senior Center, shattering his vehicle’s front and rear windows and piercing the left rear fender.

Stream of controversy unfolds over Adobe Creek

Adobe Creek improvement projects planned for Los Altos Hills have some residents looking forward to additional flood protection while others see an overblown scheme that will cost them millions in property value.

For more than three years, Santa Clara Valley Water District officials have tried to persuade the town council to approve two easement transfers to the district for construction on a quarter-mile stretch of creek labeled Reach 5. The easements involve most of West Edith Park and a portion of a property belonging to D.J. Rogez.

Waiting around for war

Arguments for and against are strong: those for it see war as a must to prevent dictator Saddam Hussein from producing weapons of mass destruction that could kill millions, if not now, then later.

Those against it say there is not enough proof that such weapons exist, and war would incite even more terrorist activities.

LETTERS OF FEBRUARY 19, 2003

This letter serves as a reaction to the charter school effort put forth by the Bullis School parents in Los Altos Hills. I attended the recent local school board meetings where the board voted to close Bullis School.

OBITUARIES FOR THE WEEK OF FEB. 26

There were no paid obituaries submitted for this week.

History museum to host lecture on toys of past

The Los Altos History Museum has scheduled programs related to its “Toys and Pastimes” exhibit.

“Collecting Toys,” an informal presentation on collecting American toys, will be held 7:30 p.m., March 6. Speaker Jim Friedman is employed as the toy specialist at Bonhams and Butterfields auction company. He has been in the appraisal business for over 30 years. His specialties include bears, children’s books and trains.

Pianist Nakamatsu offers forum his keys to fame

Famed concert pianist Jon Nakamatsu not only told the Morning Forum audience about his love for the piano - he showed them as well.

Along with the personal narrative, the Feb. 23 audience enjoyed several moving and beautifully executed piano selections and the one piece that projected Nakamatsu into piano lessons and his career.

Simitian asks governor to withdraw proposal to take property tax revenues

Assemblyman Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, has formally requested Gov. Gray Davis to withdraw the administration’s proposal to take local property tax revenues from Basic Aid school districts.

The 21st district assemblyman representing the Los Altos area, who chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, received bipartisan support from members throughout the state for his Feb. 18 letter to the governor regarding school funding.

Meetings begin for proposed Bullis Charter School

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees and a group of Bullis-Purissima School families have scheduled meetings to address the future of the school site on Fremont Avenue.

Bullis is slated to be vacated this fall when the students and staff are incorporated into Covington School. Covington will open as the sixth district elementary school replacing Bullis as a result of the Feb. 10 board decision.

Group contests CUSD superintendent’s contract renewal

A group of concerned parents and other residents staged a Feb. 11 press conference in front of Cupertino Union School District offices calling for the board of trustees not to renew Superintendent William E. Bragg’s contract for another three years.

The group originally planned to discuss the issue during the “Delegation” agenda slot, usually scheduled late in the board meeting.

Prejudice over physical appearance reveals skin-deep attitudes

I stood, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Incoming freshmen acted as if they didn’t even know their own friends. But being a transfer student from Miami, I knew no one anyway.

This is lame, I thought. But as our pod leaders leaped over each other in “Leap Frog,” and lay on top of one another in the “Memory Game,” I, as well as other newcomers around me, began to loosen up.

Eagles clamp down on Spartans, 75-68

Trailing by six points early in the fourth quarter, the Los Altos High boys basketball team turned up the heat defensively against visiting Mountain View Feb. 12.

The Spartans wilted under the full-court pressure, allowing the Eagles to rally for a 75-68 victory that guaranteed them at least a share of the SCVAL El Camino Division championship.

Volatile Iraqi situation casts pall over good stock market news

On Friday the market closed up for the second consecutive week. Good news for market participants, who might have begun to wonder when the market would begin to value equities rationally again, as opposed to emotionally. Still, the Iraqi situation is unsettling, as evinced by the 15 percent drop in daily average volume at the Big Board.

Because of war worries, the International Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast of growth in Europe from 2.3 percent five months ago to 1.3 percent today. This uncertain state of affairs is creating indecision and postponement among consumers, business managers and investors.

Buzz in the air over confetti

Corinne Wayshak of Los Altos has two degrees, in computer science and media and film, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So what is she doing heading a company that makes confetti?

Wayshak, 35, is president and CEO of a 2-year-old company called Confoti, which produces a special kind of confetti - one with personalized images. The product is apparently a hit with event planners looking for something a bit different for their celebrations.

Father and son share a passion for cars

People often say Americans, and in particular Californians, have a love affair with their cars. This is true, in the best sense, of Joe Reitmeir and his son, Jeff. Joe, 69, and 39-year-old Jeff have spent the better part of their lives repairing and racing finely engineered European cars. Father and son have nurtured their love of cars into a successful family business and a satisfying lifelong hobby.

As a youngster living in Munich, Germany, Joe received a life-changing invitation from his uncle who had moved to the United States. His uncle wanted to sponsor Joe to come to the United States to live. Joe eagerly accepted, and after his arrival he asked his uncle to recommend a suitable business career. According to Joe, “My uncle said Americans like sweets and cars. Pastry chefs have to get up at 3 a.m. every day, so I chose cars.”

An alternative for easy access

Two and a half years ago, a health crisis left Avram Goldstein in a wheelchair. A retired Stanford professor, Goldstein was accustomed to free reign around his house. But when an operation left him unable to walk, even the simplest chore became a challenge.

A sudden illness or accident can leave once able-bodied adults stranded in their own homes, unable to walk upstairs, reach a high countertop or cabinet, or cross the threshold of their own front door. Suddenly, what once was a familiar haven of comfort and convenience becomes a hostile environment. Everyday activities like bathing and cooking become arduous, and sometimes impossible, tasks.

Love at first site

When Toni Cupal suggests to her children that they all take a stroll to the park, it’s not immediately obvious to an outsider that she’s referring to the unlandscaped garden area of their north Los Altos home.

The “park” is where the children - Marco, 4, and Alessandra, 2 - spend their downtime. There is a swing set there as well as Marco’s “cabin,” a tiny wooden house replete with a stove (spaghetti and lemonade are favorites, according to Cupal) and a red rocking chair. Not to mention the miniature deck currently being constructed with salvaged moss-covered bricks from the main home’s original porch.

Plant, insect mysteries to unlock? Understand the cycles, friends

Five years ago …

My mother called me in a panic - there are bugs (big, nasty, man-eating ones by the description) in her yard. As it turns out, there is actually a rather large infestation of (yuck) aphids throughout her garden. Now, I love my mother. However, just as I am not driving across the Bay Area to kill the occasional bathtub spider, I am not going over there to “get those icky little vampire things OUT!”

Send your wedding, engagement or anniversary announcements to Richard Billings at the Los Altos Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022.

Bridge seems to be the formula for long and happy marriages for four couples who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries: Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Barnes of Stanford, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Madsen of Palo Alto, Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hamilton of Santa Clara and Dr. and Mrs. Melvin Stevens of Los Altos Hills.