Coming home

This month’s rain and cooler temperatures have been a pleasant homecoming for Los Altos resident Ryan Bernacchi, 29. He spent nearly a year in 80 degree-plus heat aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed to the Persian Gulf as a U.S. Navy jet fighter pilot. Lt. Bernacchi, who arrived home April 9, was part of the first large military unit involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom to return home, after nearly 10 months at sea — longer than any other U.S. carrier battle group on duty since the Vietnam War.

“It was a never-ending summer. I missed the seasons we have here in California,” said Bernacchi, bundled in a sweater at his home last week with Bosco, the family dog, at his side.

LAH council reinforces support for Bullis Charter School

Los Altos Hills City Council voted unanimously April 17 to adopt a resolution in support of turning the Bullis-Purissima site into a charter school, despite strong opposition from the Los Altos School district.

Though the final say rests with the district, scheduled to make a decision about the charter school May 16, many residents hope the endorsement will sway the district to keep the town’s only public school alive.

LAH council, residents opt for rural look for new town hall

After months of deliberation, Los Altos Hills residents narrowed down a preference last week for a new town hall design.

Results from town-issued surveys mailed out to residents last month favored the “rural” look: a simplistic wooden design characterized by low pitch roofs, wide-eave overhangs, exposed rafters and numerous casement windows.

SWAT teams practice school evacuation

Students and parents volunteered to spend their spring break trapped in a classroom with a mock gunman at Los Altos High School last week as part of an evacuation training for emergency workers. The daylong training program April 16 was the first time police, fire and school officials came together to coordinate an emergency plan, Los Altos Police Sgt. Bob Lacey said.

The training included 35 officers from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s SWAT team and the Los Altos SWAT and Hostage Negotiation teams, as well as fire, medical and school personnel.

LA police nab two suspected car thieves on Crist Drive

A cat-and-mouse chase between police and two alleged car thieves in south Los Altos ended hours later when the suspects returned to a stolen car they had abandoned, only to find Los Altos police waiting for them.

Sgt. John Hughmanick said the chase began at around 2:22 a.m., April 15, after Officer Scott McCrossin decided to follow two cars driving “suspiciously slow” near Grant Road and Crist Drive.

LA agency’s coastal annexation plan does little for agricultural lands

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s proposed plan to annex San Mateo County coastal land in its boundaries would do much to preserve recreational open space but little to maintain agricultural lands, a San Mateo Civil Grand Jury concluded April 7 during a review of the Los Altos-based agency’s Coastal Annexation Area Draft Service Plan.

“The public may have assumed that the district has assured agricultural lands would be preserved in the Coastal Annexation Area, but the EIR (draft plan) does not specifically provide for such preservation as a priority.

County issues SARS warning to local schools

Los Altos teachers returning to school from spring break this week received health notices advising them what to do should students become exposed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a recently discovered respiratory illness that has been reported worldwide since February.

These are the first guidelines federal officials have issued to school administrators regarding SARS.

Drivers should leave cell phones off, survey says

A majority of Los Altos residents appear to support a proposed bill to ban motorists from using handheld cell phones in California, based on a Town Crier survey conducted last month.

Survey respondents supported Assemblyman Joe Simitian’s bill 3-to-4. If approved, Assembly Bill 45 would fine motorists $20 for using handheld cell phones while driving.

LETTERS OF APRIL 23, 2003

questions on charter

On saying goodbye

Every day we see pictures and read stories of families saying goodbye to loved ones going to fight in Iraq. Because of this new kind of reporting, we are pulled into a war that has already divided our own country and much of the world. It used to be that slapping a sticker saying “Support Our Troops” was analogous to giving support to the war itself. As a contributor to several Air Force and other military groups asking for financial support, I am bombarded with address stickers, flag decals, and even T-shirts that reflect patriotic symbols.

I am slightly uncomfortable with these exhortations to back my country’s effort at war. Even the stamps with flags that I put on every outgoing envelope seems to be an exhibition of nationalism. Yet I am a firm believer that our country is as grand as the lyrics in “America The Beautiful.” We have daily reminders of the sad toll this war takes on individual families saying goodbye to their loved ones who leave with hidden fears that they may not return. I feel part of their sacrifice when pictures of those who have died appear on TV screens every night. Brave parents speak to us, and I can empathize with their sad faces.

OBITUARIES FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 23

founder of Grimes Natural Landscape, Inc., died on April 8, 2003, at age 83. Douglass was raised in Palo Alto and moved his family to Los Altos in the early 1950’s and Los Altos Hills in the early 1960’s. He leaves behind four daughters, two sons, fifteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He surely will be missed.

Weddings

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

Photos are welcome. If you want your photo returned, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For more information, call 948-9000, ext. 318, or e-mail

10th annual gospel festival helping at-risk youth

The Los Altos-based Interfaith Network for Community Help (INCH) will be holding its 10th Annual All Faiths Gospel Music Festival from 7-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Like every year, director, INCH president, and Los Altos resident Stewart Wobber, is excited. “It’s a great feeling,” he says, “People come and have a joyous experience being together, sharing faith, listening to beautiful voices and great music.”

This year’s anniversary festival will feature both new and veteran performers of the festival. The first night will have the Grace Lutheran Children’s Choir; the Taylor Eigsti Trio, led by the young “genius composer and next big star,” according to Wobber; the Foothill Gospel Choir; and the Stanford Gospel Choir, whom Wobber says “we are very lucky to have.” Saturday night, the program consists of the San Jose Jazz Society All Stars; the Oakland Jazz Choir, who are coming for their third year; the Avery Stafford Impact Worship Team; and the Marantha Hope of Glory Mass Choir.

Theater group stages short stories for Los Altos Morning Forum audience

The professional theater company Word for Word which stages short stories, came to the Morning Forum of Los Altos April 15 to strut its stuff. And what a performance it was.

The actors, two women and two men, all equity actors, performed the short stories of Sandra Cisneros, author of “The House on Mango Street.” The performers assumed a variety of roles, changing character seamlessly — almost midsentence — while performing the very urban and very modern stories.

High school district facing budget cuts

The Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District has been feeling the effects of the state budget crisis, with teacher layoffs and potential budget cuts for next year that could reach $2.5 million.

At the center of this budget crisis is Governor Gray Davis’ proposal to eliminate Basic Aid funding from the state over a three-year period. According to 21st District Assemblyman Joe Simitian’s office, the bill was expected to be voted on by the Budget Subcommittee of Education Finance in the state senate yesterday, after the Town Crier deadline. Look for an update in our April 30 issue.

Foothill-De Anza chancellor finalists

After a five month national search to find a chancellor for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the board of trustees announced the four finalists.

Two of the candidates presently work for the district: Foothill College President Bernadine Fong and De Anza College President Martha Kanter; the other two are Joe D. May, president of the Colorado Community College System, and Yolanda Moss, president of the American Association for Higher Education in Washington, D.C.

Lancers looking to set new CCS mark

The St. Francis High gymnastics team entered this season seeking more than just a fourth consecutive Central Coast Section championship.

“We intend to post the highest team score ever recorded in 26 years of CCS gymnastics history,” said assistant coach Nancy Kludt, looking ahead to next month’s championship meet.

Lancers rolling in boys tennis

Brian Garrow isn’t one to brag about his tennis accomplishments. But letting his St. Francis High boys tennis players know their new coach once played on the pro tour — competing in prestigious tournaments such as Wimbledon and the United States Open — has proven beneficial.

“The initial respect I got from the players is nice to have; I didn’t have to really work for it,” said Garrow, who played professionally from 1989 to 1992. “But with the group of players I have, I don’t think that would have been a problem, anyway.”

KLA-Tencor dedicates dollars to diverse charities

San Jose-based KLA-Tencor, the world’s fourth largest semiconductor equipment provider, hosted an awards dinner April 8 to honor selected employees for exceptional service to the company throughout 2002. Chief Executive Officer Ken Schroeder of Los Altos Hills acknowledged the efforts of the company’s award-winning employees.

Consistent with its strong commitment to the community, KLA-Tencor asked its 70 award winners to nominate a favored charity, to which the company pledged a $1,000 donation. A diverse list of 28 organizations was identified - from the Make a Wish Foundation to Amnesty International - each of which will benefit from a portion of the $70,000 KLA-Tencor pledge.

No men allowed

The Spa of Los Altos is a sanctuary for women. It’s a private health club that caters to women’s wellness in the community. The only thing men can look at is the plate glass fish tank stocked with colorful fish at the entrance.

“From a conversation about dieting to weight training exercise, women like to talk about health issues with other women,” said Rosie Ruiz, co-owner of Spa of Los Altos. “A large percentage of women will not use coed facilities because of the male dynamic. Some women cannot use co-ed facilities because of religious reasons.”

Still living in fat city

As hordes of fad diets, exercise trends and nutritional supplements flood the U.S. fitness market, one might be quick to label the United States a nation of health nuts.

Not quite, according to recent studies.

Now that’s really Italian

Since Nelly Capra’s latest class series, “The Way We Cook in Italy,” is taking place during the time of Italy’s Carnivale celebration, she has included bugie, a traditional treat of Carnivale, as an option for her students to make.

These knotted cookies are deep-fried in oil and then smothered with powdered sugar. The cookies are called bugie, meaning “lies” in Italian, since the frying process makes the dough curl up into curious shapes. For the more healthfully inclined there is a thick vegetable, meatless minestrone soup and a lentil stew, among other simple but delicious items on the batch of recipes Capra hands out.