Director leads Main Street Singers to vocal glory

The Main Street Singers celebrated 20 years of making beautiful music together with a reunion last month that brought 100 singing alumni back to Los Altos High School to rehearse, perform, party and honor the pillars that sustained the program through two successful decades: founder and director Mark Shaull and organist extraordinaire Virginia Hebel.

Hebel accompanied the group through most of its history, even as she quietly kept lung cancer at bay through a 10-year battle that she lost on New Year’s Day 2004. In gratitude for her dedication and many kindnesses, Main Street alumni are raising money to buy a high-quality portable organ for the Eagle Theater, which has no keyboard. By the end of June, they had raised about half the estimated $40,000 purchase price and hoped to have the organ in time for the annual winter concert.

Recent ruling extends recovery of attorney fees to homeowners

A botched remodel on a Los Altos home set a legal precedent in court June 29 that could make contractors liable for more than damages and repair work.

A three-judge panel of the Sixth Appellate District Court of Appeal ordered Van-Catlin Construction to pay damages as well as attorney fees to a Los Altos couple who hired the firm to remodel their home. This is the first time a court has ordered a contractor to pay legal fees in a case that arose from a standard home improvement contract, which does not include an attorney fee provision.

Los Altos family survives gas explosion that leaves house a pile of rubble

David Hu was counting his blessings from a hospital bed at Stanford Friday where he was recovering from minor injuries following a natural gas explosion that ripped through his Los Altos home leaving nothing but splintered rubble piled 15 feet high on the property.

By all accounts, no one should have survived the blast - especially without serious injuries. Hu and his two children, who were asleep in the house when the explosion occurred Thursday morning, escaped with minor injuries. All three were released from the hospital by the weekend.

Downtown could see more eateries, larger developments

Larger shops and more takeout restaurants are among the suggested changes the Los Altos Downtown Zoning Committee will recommend that the Los Altos City Council consider as part of the city’s push to improve downtown’s shopping district.

The eight-member committee is scheduled to hold a public study session to hear resident input Thursday before bringing a list of recommendations to the council for final approval.

LAH considers swapping open space land for ranch home in quest for new school site

Selling city-owned land and chipping in $2.5 million of city funds have entered the mix of possibilities as Los Altos Hills pursues purchasing a property that could serve as the Bullis Charter School’s future campus.

The city wants to buy a white ranch-style house and the 3.3-acre site that it sits on across the street from the Little League fields and riding ring on Purissima Road.

El Camino Hospital Officials: Lawsuit to cost $4.3 million in construction delays

The impending appeal of a lawsuit challenging a voter-approved bond measure to rebuild El Camino Hospital has forced officials to delay groundbreaking on the project, a delay that will prove costly.

Plans for a September groundbreaking on new 325-bed hospital building will be postponed until spring 2006, costing the hospital district an estimated $4.3 million in construction delays.

Hospital separates public from the private in presentation

Addressing accusations that they have something to hide, El Camino Hospital officials sought to educate the public last week about the hospital’s complex structure and governance that has a public district board presiding over the equivalent of a private business.

The hospital board and administration, led by CEO Lee Domanico, told an unusually large audience at the hospital district’s July 6 board meeting that the hospital operates in an “enterprise district.”

Editorial

Last week’s El Camino Hospital District board meeting posed an important question: Just where do you draw the line with public access to hospital information?

There remains no direct answer to that question. But the fact that the district board and hospital CEO Lee Domanico were willing to address it head-on with substantial discussion is commendable and represents a step forward.

Coping with the London terrorist attacks

At a quarter to 9 this morning, with Guardian newspaper and Metro (the free publication found underground) in hand (both of which covered London’s winning the 2012 Olympic bid extensively on the front-page), I seated myself at Great Portland Street station. As usual, signs indicated tube delays on both Metropolitan and Hammersmith lines.

Gallows humor

It had been a great day. I was with three other women, two of whom I liked very much but didn’t yet know well. We were at the beach for a girls’ weekend and had spent the day window shopping and gabbing. At one point when the women were talking about their parents, one of them asked me where mine were. I burst out laughing because I figured they were expecting me to say something like “Sunnyvale,” but what I was thinking was “6 feet under,” and I couldn’t very well say that. And so the giggling began.

There is, after all, no cheerful way to tell people about loved ones dying in plane crashes. On the scale of jaw-dropping, conversation-stopping topics, it ranks right up there. After 30 years, I have had plenty of time to get used to the idea, but for everyone else, it is horrific news that can’t help but be mood dampening. I admit that it’s not always easy to instantly switch from chipper to dour to accommodate the sudden conversation shift.

Frank Draeger, attained success through hard work, zest for life

Joany Draeger choked up at the memory. It turned out to be the very last thing her 86-year-old father said to her.

“You know, Joany, you never have to worry about a thing,” he had said a week before his sudden death. “Things always work out in the end, and you just need to remember to just be happy.”

Weddings

Laura Rusch and Marcus Chen
Laura Rusch and Marcus Chen were married May 28 at the Los Altos Methodist Church.
The bride is the daughter of Natalie Rusch of Los Altos and Peter Rusch of Mountain View. She is a Los Altos High School graduate, received a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College, Mass., […]

Los Altos native wins Emmy

Growing up in Los Altos, Janie Sykes Lidey loved music and often sang to her sister, Carol. Now this Los Altos High School graduate, a mom and high school music teacher in Anchorage, Alaska, is making a name for herself with her music. Lidey won a Northwest Regional Emmy Award June 25 for a composition, “Change of Heart,” about the wrongs of prejudice. An Anchorage television station used her song for a public service announcement.

“Change of Heart,” recorded on her first CD, “On Solid Ground,” offers the words, “The world is full of all kinds of people / Inside our blood flows the same / Let’s tear down all the walls that we build / And start a brand new game.”

Calendar

Ongoing
Los Altos Senior Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, 97 Hillview Ave.
Today
Los Altos Hills Planning Commission, 7:30 p.m., town hall, 26379 Fremont Road
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Board of Directors, 7:30 p.m., district office, 330 Distel Circle, Los Altos.
Mountain View Parks and Recreation […]

Community Briefs

Harry Potter movie night
The Los Altos Village Association is showing “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” Friday on Main Street, sponsored by Shelly Potvin of Coldwell Banker. The scheduling of the movie coincides with release of the latest Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” at the stroke […]

Owls take flight at Westwind Barn

Two of three orphaned barn owl nestlings discovered at Westwind Barn in May were released in Byrne Preserve in Los Altos Hills Friday night.

The third owl will be released once it puts on more weight and is deemed strong enough to survive in the wild.

Recalling a ‘Glorious 4th’ celebration

Ye Olde Towne Band serenades the crowd during Independence Day celebrations at Shoup Park in Los Altos. The Glorious 4th celebration sponsors included American Legion Post 558, City of Los Altos, Los Altos Boys and Girls Scouts; Los Altos Community Foundation, Los Altos Town Crier, Ye Olde Towne Band and the Los Altos Big Band.

LA Rotary’s ‘World’ projects go a long way

The Los Altos Rotary Club’s World Community Service committee is helping people by the thousands, Supporters said the overall investment is only 50 cents per person.

In poor countries such as Kenya, Nepal, Afghanistan and Guatemala, Los Altos Rotarians are active participants, providing needed basics like clean water and creating a climate for jobs to help people in remote villages meet survival needs and beyond.

Montclaire students dig into electronic waste

Montclaire Elementary School students wrote a proposal to computer makers Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard in May, recommending that they make their products easier to recycle by removing toxic components like PVC plastic, providing bonuses - such as upgrades - for recycling, and supporting local efforts to recycle computers.

Their teacher, Amy Huang, taught the fourth- and fifth-graders about the environmental harm caused by computer parts that end up in landfills. She assigned students the task of researching electronic waste and what computer makers are doing to recycle computers.

Budgetary caution pays off for local school districts

Local school finance officers and trustees apprehensive of further reductions in state aid for public education cut district budgets still more at the end of the 2004-2005 school year. Their caution paid off in minimal damage from the budget approved by the legislature July 7.

Its basic aid status protects the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District from most of the reductions in state aid. Strong local property tax revenue acts as a shock absorber that keeps the district from feeling most of the ups and down that affect revenue limit districts.

Schools Briefs

Foothill students need homes
Hosts are needed for Foothill College students for three or more months. Students will arrive in late August. Hosts will be paid $700 per month to provide students room, board and TLC. For more information, call Kristi Clarke, 949-3091.
Hosts needed for foreign students
The Foundation […]

CSMA features award-winning children’s artist Cain

The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center in Mountain View continues its Applied Materials Concerts4Kids series with a performance featuring the award-winning children’s recording artist and guitarist, Tim Cain, at 4 p.m. July 24.

This free sing-along concert provides an opportunity for both children and parents to participate in a musical experience of singing and movement.

Summer gala at Foothill

Foothill-De Anza Foundation supporters gather last year for the annual gala at Foothill College. The next summer gala is scheduled for July 24, with an alfresco dinner and matinee performance of Foothill Music Theatre’s “Brigadoon.” A portion of the gala proceeds will benefit the construction of Lohman Theatre, scheduled for completion in 2007. For reservations and more information, call 949-6230 or visit the foundation at www.fhda.edu.

Opponents, doctors can’t stop Morales

It wasn’t just how he played, but what he played through that earned Mike Morales the St. Francis High Male Athlete of the Year Award.

The Los Altos resident endured a hernia - along with shoulder and back injuries - during the football season. Then he contracted mononucleosis during the wrestling season.

Markets surged Friday despite the unusual sequence of events

European markets recovered Friday, after the deadly terrorist bombings, as shocked Londoners went back to business as usual. In the United States, falling oil prices combined with the 146,000 jobs created in June to help the Dow Jones Industrial Average move up 146 points to 10,449. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 37 points to 2,112 and the S&P 500 was up just shy of 14 points to close at 1,211.

The dividend yield on the S&P 500 has increased from 1.75 percent last December to almost 2 percent as of late June. The dividend is the amount a company pays out of its earnings directly to shareholders. Increasing dividends can be a sign of a healthy company and often improving earnings. Dividend yields typically were 3 percent to 5 percent during the 1980s and even through part of the 1990s, in part because of higher interest rates. But actual dollars paid in dividends to shareholders is at a record high mark.

Conferencing company opens Los Altos office

Tired of long, ineffective meetings? If so, you are not alone.

According to a 2004 poll by Genesys Conferencing, most meetings don’t convey the information that employees need. Thirty-four percent of the 1,000 workers surveyed said they consider more than half of all meetings unproductive.

Worldwide produce selections arrive in Mountain View

Local residents don’t have to own a restaurant or drive 50 miles to San Francisco’s docks to get fresh, hard-to-find produce at wholesale prices anymore. There’s a new market in Mountain View that imports fresh produce daily from all over the globe for the local restaurant industry - and sells the leftovers to the public at significant discounts.

Wholesale Produce, located at 391 San Antonio Road, is scheduled to hold its grand opening this month, though the doors have been open for two weeks. Mornings at the market are reserved for restaurant professionals; but after 10 a.m., the market opens to the public. Several Los Altos restaurants have already purchased produce from the store, the manager said.

What is a ‘Super Tuscan’?

No one is really sure. A “Super Tuscan” really is defined by what it isn’t! If the wine does not conform to any of the blending rules of Tuscany, is red and full bodied, you have a Super Tuscan.

Chianti used to require white grapes, and these grapes often diluted the character of the primary red grape, Sangiovese. The old-time Italian wine-making family Antinori decided in the 1970s to eliminate the white grapes and make a bigger, richer wine. The result was the now famous Tignanello named after its Sangiovese vineyard of origin. The next year they added Cabernet grapes, and since the wine could not be classified as Chianti, it was put in the Vino de Tavola or table wine group, Tuscany’s lowest and poorest rating. Eventually the IGT class was created, which calls for the grapes to be typical of the geography of the area - and if it is grown there it is typical.

‘Blink’ goes beyond locked door of mind

A giant, inverted steel pyramid is perfectly balanced on its point. Any movement of the pyramid will cause it to topple over. Underneath the pyramid is a $100 bill. How do you remove the bill without disturbing the pyramid?

This type of puzzle is almost impossible to solve logically. Rather, it requires a flash of insight to figure out that the $100 bill must be destroyed in some way.

Turkey’s Mediterranean coast a beautiful bargain

With the euro high and the dollar low, Americans looking for travel value in an exotic locale are finding it in Turkey.

“It’s like Europe, without the euro - plus beautiful Mediterranean beaches where swimming starts as early as April, ” the Wall Street Journal reported recently.

Los Altos resident Toppel brings international business experience to position at Menlo College

Menlo College President Carlós López announced the appointment of John Toppel of Los Altos as the new director of the John Russell Center for International Management and Global Studies.

“Toppel has the experience, tenacity and vision to lead the Center to become a pre-eminent academic, cultural and business program within the academic community at Menlo College and the business community in the Bay Area,” said López.

Noteworthies

Joseph Dara-Abrams, son of Joseph and Benay Dara-Abrams of Los Altos, has been selected for membership in both the Phi Beta Kappa Society and Sigma Xi, the national honor society of students who have demonstrated research potential in a field of pure or applied science. He is a senior cognitive studies major at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Kevin Stanek of Los Altos has been awarded one of two annual Barbara Emerich Scholarships by the Sixth District PTA, of Santa Clara County. Stanek, who graduated from Mountain View High School in June, received the $750 prize for his academic achievements and community service. While an MVHS student, he volunteered as a teacher’s assistant for special needs children at Arbor Bay Preschool, was a member of the MVHS Peer Mediation program, tutored Spanish-speaking students at Castro Elementary School and served as a mentor for the conflict mediation program at Oak Elementary. He also played varsity tennis.

Foothill astronomy star wins innovation award

Astronomy instructor Andrew Fraknoi’s Physics for Poets course has been winning friends for science for the past four years. Now it has won the 2005 Innovation of the Year Award by the League for Innovation in the Community College.

The chairman of the Foothill College astronomy program is not new to prize winning. In 1994, Fraknoi received the Annenberg Foundation Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the highest honor in the field of astronomy education, and the Klumpke-Roberts Prize of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, given for a lifetime of contributions to popularizing astronomy. He was the first recipient of the Carl Sagan Prize, given to a San Francisco Bay Area scientist whose activities in public education have been especially noteworthy.

Teens - and adults - turn to community colleges for fast route to jobs

Many seniors will face the trials of the college application process next year.

However, a growing number of new graduates are not interested in four years of college after high school.