Classic Hudsons rev up festival

A case of mistaken identity led Lee Cherry to his 1934 Hudson. And although the car was nothing to boast about when he towed it home, Cherry admits it was one of the best mistakes he ever made.

Cherry’s car is among the eight Hudsons highlighted in the Classic Car show at the Celebrate Los Altos Fall Festival this weekend. This year’s event pays tribute to the Hudson, a car known worldwide for its speed and innovative engine designs.

Fall Festival launches autumn for young and old

For two days every October, Los Altos’ downtown parking plazas overflow with scarecrows, pumpkins, classic cars, children’s games, food, drink and fall revelers during the Celebrate Los Altos Fall Festival. This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

Ever since the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce launched the annual weekend festival in 1991, more and more residents have embraced the event as a traditional way to kick off the fall season. An estimated 20,000 people converged downtown and more than 100 volunteers participated in the event last year.

Task force recommends smaller pools

Los Altos is still considering a center with two swimming pools and a wading area at Rosita Park - but this time on a smaller scale than the one that neighbors challenged in court.

The Rosita Pool task force - a mix of swimmers, neighbors and city officials that convened last month to look at alternative pool layouts - recommended Monday night that the Los Altos City Council move forward with two pools 20 percent smaller, or 2,040 square feet less than the city can legally build at the site.

More details emerge in machete attack case

Details continue to surface about what prompted a 23-year-old landscaper to bite off part of his co-worker’s ear and assault two other people with a machete, police said.

Gerardo Casillas-Rodrigues was working on Terrace Drive in unincorporated Los Altos when he allegedly attacked his co-worker, biting off the top of his ear and striking him with a machete, police said. The victim received serious gashes on his forearm and finger when he raised his arm in self-defense. He was trying to flee to his truck at the time, Lt. Luther Pugh said.

Real estate still strong despite school closure, realtors say

General consensus among local real estate agents contradicts “anecdotal evidence” in this month’s “Los Altos Hills Town Newsletter” that property values in the town have been hurt by the 2003 closing of Bullis Elementary School

The September newsletter reports that Hills home values have not risen at the same rate as other affluent Peninsula cities such as Portola Valley, Woodside and Los Altos. Statistics from the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors on the change in median property values since the Bullis closure show Portola Valley with a 19.3 percent increase, Woodside with an 11.2 percent increase and Los Altos with a 16.5 percent increase. Los Altos Hills, on the other hand, experienced a 0.3 percent decrease in property values during that same time.

Electrical fire damages downtown flower shop during late night blaze

An electrical short sparked a fire in a downtown flower shop late Thursday night long after most businesses had already closed and shoppers had deserted the street. Firefighters credit a sprinkler system for preventing the flames from spreading.

Kendall Pearson, a Santa Clara County firefighter, said the store’s sprinkler system had extinguished the flames at Something Special Flowers & Gifts at 363 State Street before the arrival of the two engines, a Hazmat truck and a battalion chief but not before smoke seeped into Peet’s Coffee & Tea, adjacent to the shop.

Residents plan to file lawsuit over condo

The Los Altos neighborhood group opposed to the three-story condominium project approved last month along El Camino Real is preparing to file a lawsuit against the city, council candidate and resident Chris Croudace confirmed.

“They are going to continue to challenge it,” said Croudace, a tax attorney whose name will not appear in the lawsuit but who has given informal legal advice to the group of neighbors called the North Los Altos Neighborhood Association, of which he is a member.

Letters to the Editor

Bullis flip-flop
Joan Mellea

I am thrilled that the Los Altos School District has finally come around and acknowledged that offering “school choice” is important to our community. LASD families will be tremendously fortunate to have three great choices: their neighborhood school, the Bullis Charter School and eventually a magnet school offered by […]

Katrina: A watershed moment

CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour is, in my opinion, one of the bravest and most astute women on the planet. She travels to dangerous, squalid and forgotten corners of the globe, often to investigate the human misery attendant with government apathy and mismanagement. She has been the voice for literally millions of the voiceless worldwide, for people who are too poor, too starving, too uneducated or too hated to speak for themselves.

Three weeks ago, Amanpour broadcast from Louisiana, USA.

Do school candidates have best interests of all the children?

I am pleased and heartened by the individuals who are running for three school board seats in November. All the candidates should be congratulated for their willingness to take on public service and expose themselves and their families to the challenges of a campaign and, potentially, four very busy years ahead.

It has been many years since the community has had the opportunity to so strongly affect how our school district is governed. We are, in essence, electing a board majority. I urge you all to know for whom you are voting. Ask: What do these individuals know about the district? How have they served the school district already through parent involvement activities in the classroom or PTA or school or district committees? Why are they running - are they satisfied or dissatisfied with the status quo or decisions that have been made? Do their children attend our Los Altos School District schools - now or in the past? How have they educated themselves about curriculum, facilities and financial issues? Are they clear on what the commitment is, or will work or family obligations hinder full participation? Have they attended board meetings recently - and often? How have they conducted themselves during the campaign? Who are their endorsers - are they teachers, current or recent board members or district voters?

Millie Gallo, popular local artist, LAH resident

Mildred “Millie” Gallo, a longtime local artist and Los Altos Hills resident, died unexpectedly Sept. 19 while vacationing in Mexico. Mrs. Gallo was 80.

A longtime member of the Los Altos Art Club, Mrs. Gallo also was active in the West Bay Iris Society and in civic affairs in Los Altos Hills.

Obituary Notices

ALEXANDER WAKEFIELD BERGER
Alexander Wakefield Berger passed away peacefully on September 14, 2005. Born in Fredericksburg, Va on January 30, 1916, Alex and his family soon moved to Beverly Hills, CA where he and his brothers, Donald and Charles, were raised. Alex graduated from Stanford University in June 1937, with a degree in […]

How can a woman who loves clothing work one-on-one with a designer and buy pieces fitted to her exact body type, without investing in a Paris penthouse on the Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré?

Closer to home, and to the lifestyle of a busy local woman, is the world of trunk shows and direct clothing lines. Last Sunday women and designers gathered at the home of Katherine Wurzburg to sip wine and check out the newest fashion offerings in a private setting.

Community Briefs

Forums for schools, LA council candidates
The Los Altos-Mountain View League of Women Voters will host an election forum 7 p.m., Oct. 17, in the Los Altos City Council chambers, 1 N. San Antonio Road, for Los Altos City Council and Los Altos School District candidates.
The local league will also sponsor an […]

Pathways Hospice Foundation to honor LA residents

Los Altos residents Marilyn and Tig Tarlton will receive the Pathways Hospice Foundation Francis C. Arrillaga Humanitarian Award on Oct. 20 during a 7:30 a.m. breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Cabaña Hotel in Palo Alto.

Actress and humanitarian Linda Dano, who is a passionate advocate for caregivers, will be the guest speaker and will present the award as part of the organization’s 15th annual One From the Heart Awards.

Send in the clowns: When the big top came to Los Altos

It was a unique attraction - the only visit to Los Altos of a genuine under-the-big-top circus. The Yankee-Patterson Three-Ring Circus performed here just 56 years ago. It arrived in special cars, hauled by the Southern Pacific Railroad. They hired some of the local kids to help erect their big top and two smaller tents in the large vacant field adjacent to the SP Passenger Station at First and Main streets, where Draeger’s now stands. The circus complex included other traditional midway features on a modest scale.

Getting this event to come here was the brainchild of the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of Bill Powell, its president. They conceived it as a way to bring traditional, wholesome family entertainment to town, as well as to serve as a fund-raiser. For this, they struck a deal where part of the show’s profits would be given to a worthy civic enterprise, specifically the campaign to raise money for the Los Altos Youth Center Fund.

Campbell: Spending limit initiative about ‘living within our means’

Former congressman and state senator Tom Campbell underlined the virtues of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state initiatives on the November ballot during a Friday visit to Los Altos Hills.

Speaking before more than 100 members of the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition (SPARC), Campbell focused on his mission to promote Proposition 76, which proponents title the “Live Within Our Means” initiative. Campbell said the initiative proposes, in its simplest term, “You don’t spend more than you got.”

Second Rick Bell Memorial Golf Tournament set for Oct. 10

The second annual Rick Bell Memorial Golf Tournament is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 10 at Los Altos Golf & Country Club.

Up to 144 golfers will compete for prizes for chipping and putting and for a trophy donated by Tom and Sue Harrington.

Los Altos soldier back from Iraq, reunites with family, home town

Capt. Ben Closs, a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq, returned from the worn-torn country recently to warm greetings and a gathering of family and friends at his parents’ home in Los Altos. He was also welcomed with a reception at Foothills Congregational Church on Sept. 18.

After graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., Closs accepted a commission in the Marine Corps in 1999, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

Tech legend Moore featured at Thursday museum event

Mountain View’s Computer History Museum, the world’s largest museum dedicated to preserving and presenting the artifacts and stories of the information age, hosts a conversation between two Silicon Valley titans, Gordon Moore and Carver Mead, at 7 p.m. Thursday at the museum.

The program, “Computer History Museum Presents: The 40th Anniversary of Moore’s Law,” is co-hosted by SEMI and features Moore, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel, and Mead, chairman and founder of Foveon, informally discussing the impact of “Moore’s Law” - which states that transistor density on integrated circuits will double about every two years - on technology, business and society.

Pet of the Week

Crystal is one of the many cats awaiting adoption at Palo Alto Animal Services. Crystal is an indoor cat who is described as an ideal match for a quiet cat lover wanting companionship. Residents can adopt her today by coming into the shelter located at 3281 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto. For more information, call 496-5971.

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 offices, 330 Distel Circle, Los Altos.
Monday
Foothill-De Anza Community College […]

Senior center offers talks on keeping the brain fit, new Medicare drug program

Seniors, their families and caregivers can learn about “Total Brain Fitness” and the new Medicare drug benefit at two lectures scheduled Oct. 11 at the Los Altos Senior Center.

Social worker Susan Diamond will offer tips to keep the brain healthy and active in the Senior Health Chat 10:30 a.m. to noon. She will cover nutrition for the brain, mental aerobic workouts, managing stress and depression and “laughing yoga.”

How to help Katrina relief efforts

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Los Altos-area businesses, organizations and residents have come together to aid the devastated communities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Here are ways to lend your support at the local level:

Los Altos Community Foundation

Historic Los Altos calendar available

Created as a fund-raiser for local non-profits by the Los Altos Cultural Association for the second year in a row, the 2006 calendar features scenes of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills in the early 20th century.

Painted by area artists this past summer using old black-and-white photos as a guide, the calendar depicts Main Street Los Altos in the 1920s, the elegant Winbigler home in Los Altos Hills that has now been razed and a fanciful color rendition of what an Ohlone Indian village might have looked like. A total of 15 unique paintings are included.

Third time’s the charm?

Reopening Bullis-Purissima as an elementary school is once again under discussion by staff and trustees of the Los Altos School District, as it has been each fall since the school closed in June 2003. But this time, it just might happen.

At last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Tim Justus presented a “very preliminary” proposal for a K-6 school to open in fall 2007 with an innovative instructional program to draw about 225 students from across the district.

LASD reinstates full funding for library aides, gardener

Libraries at Los Altos elementary and middle schools can now stay open all day for students’ use, playing fields will soon be groomed by a gardener and principals will buy some of the supplies on their lists, thanks to the unanimous vote of the three trustees present at the Los Altos School District board meeting last week. A less-than-unanimous vote would have referred any agenda item to a second round of voting by the full board at the Oct. 10 meeting.

The $200,000 allocated for necessities emerged from the closed financial books at the end of June. Of that sum, $75,000 will restore full-time staffing of the libraries, $75,000 will reinstate the gardener’s position with salary and benefits and $50,000 will buy paper, pencils, non-textbook instructional materials and books, custodial supplies for eight schools and continued use of their copiers. When balancing the budget for this year last June, trustees cut the entire $100,000 budgeted for school supplies.

Noteworthies

Ten Mountain View High School students were recently designated semifinalists in the 2006 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students are among the 16,000 who will compete for approximately 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards.

The students achieving semifinalist status are Eric Bruins, Abigail Damm, John Doty, Andrew Gordon, Stephen Hess, Evan Jeng, Justin Li, Kevin Mueller, Prashant Rai and Samuel Sherman

Schools Briefs

Halloween starts early for marchin’ Spartans
Mountain View High School Marching Band has scheduled its annual Community Thank You and Giant Garage Sale for 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Spartan Stadium, 3535 Truman Ave. Garage sale donations can be taken to the site 5-9 p.m. Friday.
Come for the […]

Los Altos Art Docents go back to school

At their back-to-school seminar last week, returning Los Altos Art Docents met trainees over lunch after a warm welcome from trustee Victor Reid III and an inspiring presentation by Cathy Kimball, executive director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Kimball told the docents that she was once timid about asking for attention for arts programs. Her attitude now is, “We are doing really important, really critical work, and you (the public) should come and find out about it.” Here, Reid shows docents a painting by one of his daughters, who as a child was taught by the art docents.

St. Francis High student shares stage with heroic manager of Hotel Rwanda

Yasameen Raissinia was the only local resident on a panel of four Bay Area students during a community presentation by Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” Sept. 19. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which an estimated 800,000 people were murdered in the course of 100 days, Rusesabagina risked his life to shelter more than 1,000 Rwandans.

As the St. Francis High School junior shared the stage with Rusesabagina last week, she spoke to 2,300 people about the concepts introduced in the course “Facing History and Ourselves,” offered at St. Francis and other schools.

Loyola students’ party helps others

Eight Loyola Elementary School third-graders sharing the September birthday month held a “September Birthday Bash” for the entire third grade Sept. 18. The children gave up the opportunity to open presents, asking their guests to come to their party with money for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The party raised $919 for the Red Cross. Enjoying their birthday festivities are, from left (front row) Abby Foss, Madison Taylor-Hawk, Alex Haggart, (back row) Maegan Nevalsky, Lauren Weldon, Steven Walter, Diana Katchour and Savannah Buchner.

They called me Ma’am

In August, I taught graphic arts at Smt. Kamla Saklecha Gyan Mandir and discovered how effectively this school prepares its students - not only academically, but also in all areas of life.

When my father came home from India early in January, he amazed me with an account of his stay at this school. I immediately resolved to teach there. My subject would be what I knew best: computers and graphic arts. After sending several letters to the founder of the school, Sharad Uncle, and Principal Sharma, I obtained permission to teach high school students for 10 days.

Redemption for Eagles

With his Los Altos High football team holding a comfortable lead with three minutes left in Saturday’s game at Mountain View, quarterback Rich Rullo was still playing as if every second mattered.

“They’re stopping the clock!” he yelled toward his sideline, calling out the home team’s timekeeper. “We lost at least five seconds there!”

Lack of oil-refining capacity a fundamental, not windblown, problem

Strength in the stock market on Friday helped stem the downtrend but was not enough to pull the major indexes into positive territory for the week.

The Nasdaq slid 2 percent while the S&P 500 sustained a 1.8 percent loss and the Dow Jones industrial average edged lower by 2.1 percent. The small cap index, the S&P 600, also showed strength late but lost 2.2 percent for the week.

All the style and none of the pain

Hungry for high heels that don’t hurt? On Thursday, Main Street boutique Crimson Mim previewed the spring collection of shoe designer Anyi Lu, which featured a series of heels and flats that specialize in bringing comfort to high fashion.

“My shoes target career women ages 25 to 45. They want beautiful, stylish fashion shoes, but they need a good fit that they can wear to work,” Lu said. Lu learned the importance of shoes as a professional ballroom dancer, and her line is inspired by the practical design elements that improve high heels made for dancers.

Local residents rally to save Kepler’s

After giving bookworms palpitations early this month, Kepler’s Books appears to be going into a second edition. A rescue effort by investors and a renegotiation with the landlord may save the literary landmark The New York Times once placed on its map of Silicon Valley. Hundreds of book lovers rallied in Menlo Park Sept. 6 to show support for the 50-year-old independent bookstore. Here, Rick

Opaterny of Mountain View chats at the rally with Kelley Jandro of Los Altos.

Local residents’ rollicking adventure in Indonesia makes engaging read

Los Altos residents Pat and Bob Maximoff went on vacation and wound up having a rollicking adventure. Luckily for us, Pat kept good notes, wrote a long letter about the adventure, saved a carbon copy of the missive and now tells the story in “Going to Nias, an Indonesian Adventure” (iUniverse, 2005).

Nias (pronounced nee-ass) is a small island west of Sumatra, the big island of the country Indonesia, a vast archipelago.

Books Briefs

Rushdie, Afghan author events at Books Inc.
Nelofer Pazira, author of “A Bed of Red Flowers,” a portrait of the author’s family and life under occupation in Afghanistan, is scheduled to appear at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Books Inc.
Salman Rushdie, the celebrated author of “The Satanic Verses” and “The Moor’s Last Sigh,” […]

LA hiker goes the distance: 2,650 miles

Los Altos resident Mike Hon hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through California, Oregon and Washington with his friend, Michael Lissner.

They started on April 22 in Southern California and finished Sept. 12. The hiking partners traversed the high desert, crossed snow-covered mountains, encountered rattlesnakes and poison oak and had an unusual adventure when they found a dead body just off trail.

A cozy piece of local history

How could such a good idea have disappeared? What homeowner would not want a cozy nook by the fire, with a window seat, built-in padded bench and built-in bookshelves?

The Craftsman-style house owned by Los Altans Annie Lin-Johnson and Jim Johnson on Maynard Court boasts such a room. Called an “inglenook” or “chimney corner,” the area has an open fireplace flanked by comfortable benches snuggled against the walls and windows. The room contains only the fireplace, the two benches and two bookcases with glass-door fronts (to keep the soot off the books).

Firm offers savings on hardwood floors

It begins with a tickle in your throat. Then your eyes begin to water.

Before you know it, you let loose an explosive sneeze, blowing out of the way all that dares cross your path. The culprit? Allergens in the carpet.

A sunny spot is all you need for restaurant-caliber herb gardens

Out my back step is my secret to better eating: my beloved herb garden. I don’t have much room in the backyard. It’s maybe nine feet between our house and the neighbors’. From my herbs I harvest intense flavor. Gone are the days of bland chicken breast and boring pasta. Now we have homemade marinara sauce and last-minute rosemary potatoes.

There are many joys in growing herbs. They’re pretty and easily contained. They don’t need a lot of water or fertilizer. The beneficial insects like them, and the convenience of having what you need without another trip to the market can’t be beat.

Here are strategies for conquering the messy season

As winter looms, we face another round of the messy season - rain, mud and kids and pets running in and out tracking it all into the house. Floors take the most abuse during this time, but there are ways to make sure they stand up to the challenge.

Ed Howes of Circus Floors Carpet One in Los Altos recommends durable laminate or ceramic flooring for high-traffic areas of the home.

Tips for removing leaves

Even though the leaves are aesthetically pleasing, they can become an annoyance when removing them from your yard.

One of the best weapons is a blower/vac. Look for a machine with at least two air speeds - a lower speed for sweeping out the garage and gathering leaves into smaller piles and a higher speed to tackle the heavy, wet leaves. Blower/vacs with infinitely variable speed control offer ultimate flexibility in both blower and vacuum modes.

Now’s the time to get serious with ants, whiteflies and fleas

The summer has been a difficult one for homes plagued by bugs.

Ants are a particularly persistent problem. Mosquitoes, whiteflies and aphids can also be hard to get rid of.

Datebook

Items are run on a space-available basis for entertainment, non-profit events, low-cost classes and groups of wide interest in our circulation area. Deadline is noon Tuesday for the next week’s paper. Notices must be typed and include a contact name and phone number. Submit items via e-mail (peteb@latc.com); fax (948-6647) or post (138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022).

THEATER