Countdown to kick off

This is the time of year when optimism reigns in high school football. Every team is still undefeated, and all have dreams of remaining that way well after the season begins.

The five local teams - which kick off their respective seasons either this weekend or next - are not immune from such good vibrations. Each of them is holding out hope that this will be a playoff year.

Los Altos resident claims 1/3 of $100 million lottery

Los Altos resident Walter F. Tracey claimed one-third of the $100 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot Saturday night. He will receive $33.3 million for his winning ticket.

Tracey’s son, Paul Tracey, purchased the ticket at J.P. Liquors while his father sat in the car. Paul spent $40 on tickets and gave his father two of them.

Birds infected with West Nile Virus found in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills

The first nonhuman cases of West Nile Virus in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills were confirmed last week after a dead sharp-shinned hawk, found near the intersection of Foothill Expressway and Grant Road, and a raven, found on Burke Road, tested positive for the disease.

In total, 21 infected birds have been identified in Santa Clara County. No hu-man cases or West Nile Virus positive mosquitoes have been reported in the county.

LAH candidates agree no election signs, minimum mailers

In light of the 2002 Los Altos Hills City Council race rife with campaign sign vandalism and theft, and anonymous last-minute mailers that served as inflammatory hit pieces, the five 2004 city council candidates pledged not to use yard signs and not to overdo mailings.

Last week, via e-mail the candidates agreed to a no-sign and civility pledge.

LA council will consider changes to child-care law

State officials reportedly have asked Los Altos to drop a city law limiting enrollment at home child-care centers with more than eight children. The local law allegedly violates state health and safety regulations, according to a letter from the Department of Social Services. City officials were unavailable for comment.

The ordinance requires centers with more than eight children to operate on at least one acre of land and to obtain a conditional use permit. California law allows family facilities to be licensed to care for up to 14 children each, based on health and safety issues.

Blaze injures two firefighters, destroys Los Altos home

Fire investigators earlier this week still had not determined the cause of the two-alarm blaze in Los Altos that left two fighterfighters injured Aug. 24.

Officials from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms could be seen sifting through the rubble at 594 Magdalena Ave. Thursday and Friday.

Los Altos police arrest male prostitute who advertised sexual services on the Internet

Los Altos police arrested a Mountain View man who allegedly offered sex to an undercover officer at a local hotel last week.

Police zeroed in on Gurinder Singh, 26, after receiving a tip that the man was advertising sexual services on an online message board.

Emergency ban on new nail salons fails

No one was more surprised than the Los Altos City Council to learn that another nail salon is scheduled to open on Main Street next month. Until Pinkies Nail Salons filed for a business license to open at the former Rancho Bottle Shop, councilmembers believed they had passed a law prohibiting more personal grooming services from opening on Main Street. There are 19 salons on the five-block street.

“I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed. I thought we had a restriction in place,” said Mayor John Moss when he learned that he and the council had put the proposed law on hold until further city review. Months later, the law still hasn’t come back to the council for final approval.

Editorial

Current child-care limit appropriate
Child-care providers and supporters want the city to change a longstanding ordinance that limits child-care sites on less than an acre to accommodate no more than eight children. We think the ordinance should stay as it is.
Supporters pleaded with Los Altos City Council members last week to amend […]

Letters to the Editor

Stem cell forum favored one side
Ronna Devincenzi

I attended the League of Women Voter’s Forum about stem cell research at Foothill’s Congregational Church on Aug. 10.
Contrary to the Aug. 25 Town Crier headline, it was not a debate. Both panelists were strong supporters of Proposition 71 that comes to voters […]

Friendly neighbors and neighborly friends

As gated estates proliferate and established ranch houses crumble beneath relentless bulldozers, Los Altos Hills seems akin to a grande dame undergoing extreme makeover.

We vintage hillbillies recall acres of apricot orchards, where, in summer our children joined hoards of migrant workers, toiled with them for a pittance and enjoyed themselves hugely.

Obituaries

NANCY ANNE FREER RODGERS
Nancy Anne Freer Rodgers, born April 3, 1929, passed away at home overlooking the 7th hole of Rancho Deep Cliff on Monday, August 16, 2004.
She was born in Oak Park, Illinois lived for a time in Westchester County, NY and moved to Santa Clara County in […]

Weddings and Engagements

Amanda Hall and Barry Lubarsky
Amanda Susan Hall and Barry Leonard Lubarsky were married June 26 at the Saratoga Foothill Club. The bride’s grandfather, Bill Dildine, officiated.
The bride is the daughter of Donna and David Hall of Houston, Texas. Her grandparents, Bill and Genee Dildine, have been Los Alto residents since 1970. […]

Anniversary

John and Edna Pear
John and Edna Pear of Los Altos celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June.
Their sons, Mark of Alameda and Matt of Mountain View, hosted their party at the Hilton Garden Inn. Family and guests from as far away as Los Angeles and Costa Rica attended the event.
John […]

CSA, Assistance League deliver backpacks to needy students

Thanks to the generosity of the Assistance League of Los Altos, Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos (CSA) have distributed 277 backpacks filled with school supplies and back-to-school shoes to children of families hit hard by the continued sluggish economy.

Nancy Jelincich, Coordinator of the Operation School Bell Project, said, “Despite the challenging fund-raising climate, the Assistance League was committed to meeting the increased need for back-to-school supplies this year. It is critical that in these difficult economic times children have the tools to prepare them to take on the challenges of the classroom.”

Museum wants women to share stories

Town Crier Report

The Los Altos History Museum Exhibit Committee, in preparation for the fall exhibit “Votes for Women: Unfinished Business,” is seeking stories and photos from local women who have experiences to share such as working as a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II; or reading Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” in the mid-1960s and finding it changed their lives in some way.

Looking for firsthand views of Iraq

The Town Crier invites residents with family and friends serving in Iraq to share letters or e-mails about their experiences.

These would be used, with discretion, for a possible story offering a collection of firsthand accounts of the U.S. occupation from the point of view of Los Altos-Mountain View servicemen and women.

Experts to discuss open space district’s conservation efforts

Town Crier Report

Two experts with the Los Altos-based Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD), Cindy Roessler and Kirk Lenington, are scheduled to discuss the district’s resource management and plant conservation efforts, including vegetation mapping, invasive plant control and protection for rare and endangered species, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 17, in the program room of the Los Altos main library, 13 S. San Antonio Road.

Calendar

Today
Mountain View Planning Commission, 7:30 p.m., City Hall, 500 Castro St.
Thursday
Los Altos Hills Town Council, 6 p.m., Town Hall, 25890 Fremont Road.
Los Altos Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1 N. San Antonio Road.
Mountain View-Whisman Elementary School District Board of Trustees, 7:30 p.m., district offices, 750-A […]

Who holds the record for consecutive years lived in Los Altos? Find out here

Lucille Liewer, who was 97 on July 22, holds the record for consecutive years lived in Los Altos. Her parents built their house on Cherry Avenue in 1913 when she was 6 years old, and she has lived the 91 years since in that house or the one built later across the street.

The oldest business in Los Altos still run by the same family was founded in 1934 by Larry Nelson. It is the Los Altos Pharmacy, run today, 70 years later, by sons Kent & Nelson.

Community Briefs

Big houses workshop
Reservations are now being accepted for an in-depth workshop focused on remodeling, building or permitting of large custom homes scheduled 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 10, at Hidden Villa Hostel, 26870 Moody Road in Los Altos Hills.
Sponsored by Hidden Villa and County of San Mateo RecycleWorks, the all-day […]

Bees sting Los Altos family at farmers market

Town Crier Report

It was supposed to be a pleasant trip to the Los Altos Farmers Market. But for Jill Borlik’s family, the Aug. 19 trip downtown proved a nightmare only someone like Alfred Hitchcock could have imagined.

Los Altos boy scores top honors at Pokemon trading card championships

Town Crier Report

Reed Weichler of Los Altos finished second in the 10 and younger category among more than 300 competitors at the 2004 Pokemon Trading Card Game World Championships, held Aug. 20-22 at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Fla.

Pinewood plans to expand primary school

Pinewood School plans to expand its primary-grade facility at 477 Fremont Ave. by building one-story classrooms for 50 more students and two-story administrative offices on its adjacent property at 450 Covington Road, Pinewood President Scott Riches said last Wednesday.

The project will be done in two stages. When construction on the Covington Road site is finished, all but the rearmost structure on the Fremont Avenue site will be replaced with a one-story building in the same residential, clapboard-sided style as those on the Covington site, Riches said. He estimated that the completed construction will comprise 20,000 to 23,000 square feet on almost three acres.

Cupertino students’ STAR rising

The results of the two major annual assessments of student achievement, the California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6), and the California Standards Test (CST), the key components of the California State Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, are the subjects of reports to the first board meeting of the new school year in districts up and down the state. Cupertino Union School District Board of Trustees heard its 2003-2004 STAR report last week and felt encouraged.

Superintendent Bill Bragg said, “We’re very pleased about the results. It’s an indication that our students are continuing to do very well. The CST scores are even more significant because we’ve made a real concerted effort to improve our instructional program to accurately reflect standards. … We’ve been seeing a nice, steady improvement each year. I think it’s because we make sure all our students are successful.”

Sign of the times

Parents wave goodbye to their kindergartners on the first day of school at Montclaire Elementary last Thursday. The big day went smoothly. Principal Todd Shimada presided over students’ return to an extensively renovated facility that looked, in his words, “brand spanking new.” Montclaire boasts a new roof, new lighting, new fire alarm, new air conditioning and resurfaced blacktop. New teachers were on hand as well. Kelly Ewing is the new third-grade teacher and Christy Masegian is the new second-grade teacher.

Local teen a scholastic triple-crown winner

Getting into the college of your choice is a horse race these days. Scrappy long shots sometimes surprise us, but it takes steady training and strength to finish first in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

The SAT I and II and the ACT exams are the equivalent scholastic tracks for high school students. In Los Altos, a St. Francis High School student has led the field in all three.

Noteworthy

Morgan Freret of Los Altos has been named Rensselaer Medal Winner by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The medal is awarded to the junior whose high school has named him or her its most promising science and math student. Each medalist who is accepted and enrolls at Renesselaer receives a scholarship of $60,000, payable in four yearly awards of $15,000 each.

MVLA restricts but does not ban cell phones

While the San Mateo Union High School District bans camera cell phones and other electronic devices that can take photos or make any other kind of recording, the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District has a policy that should be easier for students and administrators to live with.

Electronic devices, including beepers, CD players and any kind of cell phone, can go to school as long as they’re kept turned off and stashed out of sight, except before school, during lunch and after seventh period. The exception does not apply to Alta Vista, which has a shortened day.

Schools Briefs

Woodside Priory to hold family barbecue
Hawaiian dress is optional and a tropical menu guaranteed at “The Priory Goes Hawaiian!” — the theme for this year’s family barbecue at Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley. The event is set for 3:30-6:30 p.m., Sept. 12, on the campus soccer field. The National Honor Society […]

Gunn senior translates memoirs from Japanese into English

A senior at Gunn High School is looking for Japanese immigrants who have written or are writing their memoirs and need help bridging the language gap between themselves and their children who grew up speaking English.

Nicole Adams has been translating such memoirs at no charge since she started her non-profit organization, Your Memoir, while a freshman at Gunn. Her work began as the result of serendipity when her mother, Midori Adams, a Japanese immigrant, met elderly Miyuki Oka in a porcelain painting class. Oka told her she needed someone to translate the memoir she wanted to leave her children, who could neither speak nor read Japanese. Adams suggested that Nicole take on the challenge.

Recent Graduate

Nicholas Camm Williams of Los Altos Hills graduated from the Army ROTC program at the University of Arizona and was commissioned a lieutenant in the infantry. Williams attended Palo Alto public schools through middle school and graduated from Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton.

He comes from generations of Army officers.

Kicking it in California

The men’s soccer team at Washington University in St. Louis arrives in the Bay Area this week to play in California for the first time in more than 10 years.

The trip is more than head coach Joe Clarke’s rewarding Jeff LaBoskey of Los Altos Hills and the two other Bay Area natives on his team, who will get two chances to compete in front of family and friends.

Investors on vacation as Republicans invade New York City

Unless we have an unexpected terrorist strike, don’t expect much from the stock market this week. Peace protesters and police in New York are prompting those who work in the financial markets to take cover. That drains the market of volume and stock direction.

August is typically the slowest month for Wall Street. Because of the Republican convention, everyone will sit on the sidelines.

MV cartridge refilling store offers big printer savings

A new inkjet print cartridge operation may give Hewlett-Packard a run for its money with discounted refills about half the cost of HP’s cartridge replacements.

Last Wednesday, Chin-Chai Low opened Caboodle Cartridge in Mountain View, where customers can have their print cartridges either refilled or exchanged and save at least 50 percent over cartridge purchases at computer printer stores.

Los Altos home prices show decline

The California Association of Realtors unsold inventory index, which measures the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate, increased to more than a three-month supply for the first time in 17 months. While that is still dramatically low by historical standards, the increase in inventory has mitigated some of the upward pressure on home prices, which declined 1.1 percent in July compared with June.

For home buyers, that means a more balanced market and a less stressful buying process. If you have been losing out on making offers, try again. For sellers, if prices continue to decline, you will need to adjust the selling price.

This minivan comes up big

Chrysler shook up the hidebound automotive industry when it introduced the first minivans. Moms and dads of growing families would be forever grateful for the space, ease of entry and practicality of these groundbreaking vehicles.

Since then nearly every major manufacturer has entered this niche. Chrysler has moved back into its familiar trend-setter role with its Stow ‘n Go seating innovation in the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country vehicles.

Motoring highlights of Monterey & Big Sur

With a luxury sedan to test, we decided it was time to spend a few days in that priceless back yard envied by the rest of the world known as Monterey and Big Sur.

An overnight stay in Pacific Grove, a day’s run down Highway 1 through Big Sur to Nepenthe and some wine-tasting on Carmel Valley Road seemed just the thing.

College district seeks vehicles for foundation

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District is asking area residents to donate their vehicles to the Foothill-De Anza Foundation, which funds programs and services at both community colleges.

Used cars, trucks, RVs, boats and planes may be donated.

As school starts, AAA warns drivers to watch out for children

As schools open, the American Automobile Association advises motorists to be on the alert for school-age pedestrians.

“Children get caught up in the excitement of the back-to-school season and forget to look out for cars,” said Cynthia Harris, spokeswoman for AAA of Northern California. “Many children have difficulty judging a car’s speed or distance. This puts them at great danger as pedestrians.”

Test your IQ for dialing and driving

There are an estimated 111 million wireless phone users in the United States, with 85 percent of them using their cell phones while driving.

But how many of these drivers use their wireless phones responsibly while on the road?

Librarian shares books for young and old

Olympic intrigue

Jeffery Deaver, author of the Lincoln Rhyme series and other contemporary thrillers, takes a historical departure in his most recent work, “Garden of Beasts: A Novel of Berlin, 1936″ (Simon & Schuster, 2004).

Two authors not enough to manage ‘The Rule of Four’

Co-creator and star of the Tony Award-winning physical comedy, “Fool Moon,” mime Bill Irwin has been heard to lament on the irony of aging. He speaks of watching younger men at the gym with more athletic prowess than he, but far less idea how to capitalize on it.

The same seems to be true for “The Rule of Four” (The Dial Press, 2004), written by two twenty-somethings, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Where a more experienced writer might pause and hunt for an elusive word, then be granted exactly the right one; Caldwell and Thomason have the opposite problem. Words and metaphors pour forth on every page, along with a Harvard’s and a Princeton’s worth of acquired knowledge; but without the discipline to stem the torrent and shape the whole.

Singapore proves a paradise for the palate

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Singapore is a food lover’s paradise. There are food courts, hawker centers (open-air food stalls) and restaurants throughout the island to suit every budget and taste. You see people eating from dawn to well past midnight.

On a recent 10-day family trip to the city-state, our hosts and we ate practically every meal out, without busting our wallets - and even then, we didn’t get to visit some of the popular places.

Datebook

THEATER

“A Little Princess.” On the eve of a hazardous journey, a renowned adventurer consigns his spirited daughter to a London girls school. TheatreWorks. 8 p.m., Wednesdays-Fridays.; 2 and/or 8 p.m., Saturdays; 2 and/or 7 p.m., Sundays; and 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays, through Sept. 19. Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. $20-$50. 903-6000; www.mvcpa.com.