Maxed out

By Lauren McSherry

Town Crier Staff Writer

Another condominium proposed for El Camino corridor may trigger neighborhood action

The Los Altos City Council may face another “5100 El Camino” debate in the wake of a new condomium project planned just a few blocks away.

A developer has been meeting with city staff about plans to construct a multistory building on the former Red Lobster property, near Round Table Pizza.

Cell tower permit approved despite residents’ discontent

Los Altos Hills Town Hall was standing-room only at Thursday’s council meeting as residents voiced concerns over planned cell-phone improvements that included erecting a tower at Westwind Barn.

Cell-phone representatives responded to questions from the council and the public before the council voted 3-0 to approve site and conditional use permits for a tower. Councilmen Mike O’Malley and Dean Warshawsky abstained due to possible conflicts of interest.

Arrest made in alleged rape on Halloween night

Police have arrested and charged a San Jose man with rape for an assault on a female employee of a Main Street business in Los Altos last week.

Thirty-four-year-old Jose Mestizo, the woman’s co-worker, allegedly sexually assaulted the woman Halloween night after the Main Street business closed.

New sewer connections, higher fees for Hills

Constructing a sewer on the north side of town got more expensive for Los Altos Hills homeowners Thursday when the city council approved a connection fee increase to $7,950.

The former $800 fee to connect homes in the Palo Alto basin on the north side of town hadn’t been updated for decades.

Hospital eyes Grant pumpkin patch, gives CEO Domanico 36 percent bonus

Officials of El Camino Hospital are looking into acquiring Mountain View’s popular pumpkin patch - part of the estate of the late Paul and Anne Mardesich - the only sizable piece of property still available near the medical facility now expanding on its campus at 2500 Grant Road.

The board of directors of the El Camino Hospital District met in special closed session Nov. 2 to discuss price and terms for purchasing some part of the 15 acres on Grant Road at Levin Avenue.

Keep Cuesta Park Annex open space, MV council agrees

The message sent by Mountain View City councilmembers regarding the 12.5-acre Cuesta Park Annex seems to be: leave it alone. Keeping the annex free of any development was the clear sentiment of the council and residents attending an Oct. 25 study session on the large plot.

The annex is bordered by Cuesta Park and located near the El Camino YMCA and El Camino Hospital. The remaining questions over land use focus on the best use of the open space. Based on council directive, staff aims to develop a framework for a master plan for the site.

LA council approves $50,000 assessment district study

How much are businesses willing to pay? That’s the question the city of Los Altos will investigate in coming months as it studies how to finance downtown beautification projects.

The city council Oct. 25 approved spending $50,000 on a study to look at forming an assessment district.

Letters to the Editor

Goodbye from longtime TC reporter
Linda Taaffe

Some of you may have noticed my name absent from the newspaper the past two weeks. After eight years of writing for the Town Crier and my hometown community, it is time for me to say goodbye. I recently moved from my parents’ Los Altos Hills house […]

Back flab blues

When my husband sent family pictures to his cousins in the Midwest, I was mortified that one of them was a side shot of me in what I thought was a perfectly cute orange stretchy T-shirt. What I didn’t realize was that from any angle but the front, what you’d notice is my back flab. It was time for corrective measures and perhaps a ceremonial burning of the offending garment.

Stepping up my Rancho hikes did wonders in strengthening my lower body and aerobic fitness but did nothing to address my fleshy back. Nor did it do anything for the upper arms my teenage son likes to jiggle when he wants to tease me.

Editorial

After more than three years in the making, the city of Los Altos has its sanitary sewer master plan before the city council and public. Now what?

Nothing until Nov. 29. That’s when the council is expected to give one final look at the plan before adopting it. Members postponed adoption Oct. 24 to allow residents an opportunity to examine the 300-page document and provide feedback.

Mario Gemello, distinguished valley winemaker, loved family, community

Mario Gemello, 89, died of bone cancer at his Los Altos home Oct. 31, surrounded by his family.

Mr. Gemello was proud of his Italian heritage and of his roots in this Valley of the Heart’s Delight. As a boy, he enjoyed overlooking the “solid white valley,” covered with snow-like apricot blossoms, from his home above the dam in Cupertino. He attended Mountain View elementary and high schools.

Obituary Notices

H. Edward Beckmeyer
H. Edward Beckmeyer, of Los Altos, at rest in Palo Alto October 26, 2005. Husband of Honora Beckmeyer. Father of James E. Beckmeyer and his wife Shirley of California. Grandfather of Kyle and Hillary Beckmeyer. He was also survived by a Sister-in-Law, Suzanne Braun.
Born October 6, 1920 […]

Noteworthies

Los Altos painter Marilyn Bourbon has been selected from more than 10,000 artists worldwide as one of the launching artists for the new online gallery artforallofus.com. The gallery, which features signed limited-edition prints, went online in September.

“Being selected as one of the inaugural artists is a testimony to Marilyn Bourbon’s amazing talent,” said Pamela Ward, director of marketing for Art for All of Us. “She incorporates all the design principles in her watercolor media.”

Wedding

Amy Cole and Derek Brown
Amy Cole and Derek Brown were married July 23 at First Baptist Church in Los Altos. A reception for the couple was held at Nestldown in Los Gatos.
The bride is the daughter of Brad and Christy Cole of Los Altos Hills.
She graduated from Gunn High School […]

Good health means get back to basics, UCSF doctor tells Morning Forum crowd

There’s no magical solution to preventing heart disease other than implementing the basics: take a walk, eat right and don’t smoke.

So says Dr. Rita Redberg, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Redberg, who spoke to the Los Altos Morning Forum on Nov. 1, is also the director of Cardiovascular Women’s Services for the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.

Local restaurant continues to support Red Cross

Armadillo Willy’s nine Bay Area locations have designated today and Dec. 13 to donate 100 percent of their profits and all proceeds of specially marked bottles of Armadillo Willy’s BBQ sauce to The American Red Cross local chapters and hurricane relief funds.

Armadillo Willy’s locations include 10100 S. De Anza Blvd., Cupertino; and 1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos.

Los Altos History Museum participates in relief effort

The Los Altos History Museum announced its participation in “Museums Helping Museums: A National Relief Effort for the Gulf Region.”

The museum’s board challenged the museum’s membership to meet or exceed the board’s donation of $1,000 to the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), the regional non-profit museum association and a major coordinator in museum recovery and conservation efforts in the aftermath of recent hurricanes.

Chefs Who Care meets at Tied House

Chefs Who Care has scheduled seatings for 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Tied House Café & Brewery, 954 Villa St., Mountain View.

The menu will include Petite Caesar Salad with a choice of Tied House Homemade Chicken Sausages, Barley Crusted Trout or Tortellini Alfredo as an entree. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream will be served for dessert. Coffee or hot tea is included.

St. Simon Church community enjoys golden jubilee

San Jose Bishop Patrick J. McGrath joined hundreds of parishioners Oct. 29 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of St. Simon Church in Los Altos. A special jubilee Mass commemorated the event.

The current pastor, the Rev. Anthony Mancuso, recognized the contributions of the founding pastor, the Rev. James Spooncer, and his successor, Monsignor Ludwig Andre. Mancuso announced that the church’s parish center would now be named the “Monsignor Andre Parish Center” and the hall, “Spooncer Hall.”

Calendar

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.
Mountain View Parks and Recreation Commission, 7:30 p.m., 201 S. Rengstorff Ave.
Monday
Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Board of […]

Pet of the Week

Kitten season 2005 is at an end, but Palo Alto Animal Services is still overcrowded with homeless kittens that need loving, stable homes. Kittens are already spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. You can adopt a kitten or an adult cat by visiting Palo Alto Animal Services, 3281 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, or by calling 496-5971.

Horsing around with Halloween theme

Martina Elworthy, dressed as The Great Pumpkin and Snoopy, rides on horse Penny during a “Painted Pony Party” Oct. 22. Families and horses turned out in costume for the event, sponsored by the Los Altos Horsemen’s Association at the Los Altos Hills Town Riding Ring on Purissima Road. The event was free and open to the public, and association members volunteered their horses for decoration and riding. The party gave pony painting - a Native American tradition - a Halloween twist with masks, feathers and hats for the patient horses. Horses volunteered by the association were joined by special guest Cloud, a white miniature pony from the neighborhood.

Last chance to visit local gem

The next few months mark the final time to visit Yamane Jewelers. After 55 years in the jewelry business, the Yamane family has decided to retire and sell all their remaining stock.

“It was a very hard decision to make,” said Ellen Flanagan, daughter of founder Tom Yamane and manager of the business. “We’ve known that our lease was going to be up next year. I’ve been looking for five years for a spot to move to, but it’s really hard to find another spot that gives you the same feeling.”

Former NASA Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board meets

The former NASA Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board meeting is scheduled 7-9 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Mountain View City Hall, Fourth Floor Gallery, 500 Castro St.

Topics on the agenda include Site 29 (Hangar 1) EE/CA Schedule, South of Highway 101 Groundwater Sampling Data, Orion Park Housing Groundwater Sampling Data and site 27 Remedial Design.

CSMA’s McConnell leaving for family reasons

Angela McConnell, executive director of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center, has announced her resignation, effective next year.

Under McConnell’s leadership, CSMA waged a $12 million capital campaign culminating in the January 2004 opening of Finn Center, the school’s first permanent home since its founding more than three decades ago.

CSMA offers free concerts Sunday

The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center in Mountain View continues its free children and family concert series with Pan Caribe and Steel Pan Trio, 2 and 4 p.m. Sunday.

The 2 p.m. Concert4Kids performance, presented by The Willemsen Family Fund, is suitable for preschool through elementary-aged children. The 4 p.m. family concert performance, sponsored by Applied Materials, is suitable for school-age children through adults.

Community Briefs

AAUW schedules bullying program
The Los Altos-Mountain View branch of the American Association of University Women has scheduled Philippe Rey, Psy.D., executive director of Adolescent Counseling Services, to speak on bullying and what schools and parents can do to make schools safe for everyone.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Thursday in […]

Lemony Snicket suffers unfortunate event en route to Gunn’s Spangenberg Theatre

The notorious, mysterious Lemony Snicket of children’s-book fame failed to make an appearance at a talk and book signing last week, but he sent his alter ego, Daniel Handler, as replacement. Never has an author’s alias been so integral to his plot than in Snicket’s 12 books, “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

As his arcing narrative develops throughout 13 volumes, the story behind the mysterious (and fictive) author becomes entwined with the plot itself. This was evident at the book event last week celebrating the release of the 12th book, “The Penultimate Peril.” Snicket’s books reach readers from early elementary school to adulthood.

Schools

The award-winning Los Altos High School Eagle Marching Band and Color Guard will compete against 38 top West Coast bands in the Western Band Association Championships Nov. 19 in Long Beach. The Eagles will perform “Journey to Kashmir,” based on the music of Led Zeppelin.

“The music of Led Zeppelin is immediately identifiable,” said Ted Ferrucci, LAHS director of instrumental music. “The three pieces we are using in our show - ‘Kashmir,’ ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘When the Levee Breaks’ - are real attention getters. The exceptional performance by the LAHS marching band holds the audience’s attention from beginning to end.”

Schools Briefs

Local LEGO robots try to qualify
Twenty-three teams of fourth- through eighth-grade students are scheduled to compete in the sixth annual Los Altos Robotics FIRST LEGO League qualifying tournaments 1:15-5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Covington and Oak Avenue schools multipurpose rooms. The public is invited to cheer the teams on, watch […]

Noteworthies

Annie Donahey, daughter of Mary and Scott Donahey of Los Altos, will play The Kid in 42nd Street Moon’s production of “The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd,” opening Thanksgiving weekend at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco.

Annie attends Egan Junior High School, where she is in seventh grade. The 12-year-old is an alumna of Santa Rita Elementary.

‘Snow White’ visits Eagles

Julie Walz, left, plays Queen Brangomar, and Alison Harrigan plays the title role in Broken Box Theatre Company’s production of “Snow White,” scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 and 2 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Eagle Theater, Los Altos High School, 201 Almond Ave. Tickets cost $5 in advance, $8 at the door. For more information or to reserve tickets, call 960-8301.

Students honored in October

The Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District honored five teens with the title “Student of the Month” in October.

Moffett Independent Study Program

PTAs get out the vote

Covington Elementary School PTA co-president Ann Woolf was among local PTA members handing out flyers and talking to parents and children about yesterday’s election. The Los Altos-Mountain View PTA Council opposed Proposition 76, saying its passage could mean drastic cuts to school budgets in midyear. Here, Woolf discusses the possible effects of the bill with a Covington parent after school last Thursday.

Girls change communities and themselves

The Girls For a Change team from Los Altos High School reported last week that the organization’s summit Nov. 3 was a great success.

More than 1,300 Bay Area girls converged on the San Jose Convention Center to learn about social change, body image, self confidence, respect and even hip-hop moves.

St. Nicholas students live up to their name

Students at St. Nicholas School in Los Altos take a unique and effective approach to reaching out to the community by sponsoring monthly outreach projects.

Last month, fourth-grade students held a coat drive for Sacred Heart Community Center in San Jose. Students planned and coordinated every task related to the effort, from painting signs to marketing to advertising to sorting. The entire class hand-delivered the coats to the needy.

Students pitch tents for quake survivors

Bullis Charter School students learn of the challenges homeless earthquake victims in India and Pakistan face as winter draws near. They also learned that they can make a difference. They are donating $5 each to provide one winterized tent per classroom to a family in need. Community members are urged to help by sending a check made out to “Adopt-a Tent”/”Save the Children” to the school office at 103 W. Portola Ave. or taking outerwear, sleeping bags and blankets in good condition to the school office by Friday.

Local volleyball teams receive award

The girls volleyball teams from Los Altos and Mountain View highs recently received 2004-05 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Awards.

Initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, the award honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average. Los Altos posted a 3.780, the 26th-best team GPA among the qualifiers. Mountain View recorded a 3.610 GPA (56th).

Good things come in threes for Graham girls

The Graham Middle School eighth-grade softball team learned Oct. 13 that good things do come in threes. The girls had just completed a “threepeat” as Valley Junior High School Athletic League champs, beating Columbia 11-3 in the final.

In 2003 as sixth/seventh-graders and again in 2004 as seventh-graders, the Graham Bears of Mountain View went undefeated to obtain the titles. In 2005 it was a different story. At season’s end the Bears found themselves in a three-way tie for first with Colombia and Cupertino middle schools. For the purposes of seeding the teams in the playoffs, the league held a draw in which Colombia was seeded first, Cupertino second and Graham third. This meant, Graham needed to win three games to be champions, while Cupertino and Colombia received first-round byes.

VC Warriors capitalize on SF Lancer missteps

As is so often the case in big-time football games, the St. Francis-Valley Christian showdown was decided by turnovers.

Despite a solid first-half performance against the defending Central Coast Section champions, St. Francis threw two costly interceptions in the third quarter that proved the difference in its 20-7 road loss on Nov. 4.

Local teams compete in CCS Volleyball Championship

With the Central Coast Section Volleyball Championships already underway, the following is a preview of four local teams that qualified for the field. School enrollment is the sole determining factor in which division a school is placed.

St. Francis

Santa Clara Bruins clip Eagles’ wings

Now Los Altos knows how its El Camino Division opponents must have felt all season long. A physical running game and stout defense, normally the Eagles’ recipe for success, were exactly what Santa Clara used to defeat Los Altos 10-0 on Nov. 5.

The Eagles’ loss was costly. The result knocked Los Altos (6-3, 4-1 El Camino) from a tie with Santa Clara atop the lower division, denying the Eagles the league title and the resulting automatic bid to the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Week’s upward trend balances concerns over mortgage tax relief

Stocks ended the week on a quiet note Friday, capping a week of robust gains. The Nasdaq Composite had its strongest week in over a year posting a 3.8 percent gain, while the small cap S&P 600 moved ahead by 3.5 percent. The large cap S&P 500 was up four out of five days last week. More importantly, third quarter earnings as reported by 85 percent of the companies are averaging about 15 percent growth over last year, and fourth quarter estimates are still in the midteens. Trading volume was bullish, with a pickup on advancing days and an easing on declining days.

As I have mentioned in this column before, higher volume can confirm a market rally. Productivity statistics were up, indicating that businesses can produce more goods and services without increasing head counts. Meanwhile, 56,000 new jobs were created in October. Bond yields trended slightly higher and oil and gas retreated to pre-hurricane levels.

Adobe’s Geschke offers keys to success

It was Adobe Systems’ innovative, revolutionary products that powered the company like “a rocket ship” to astounding success, according to co-founder Chuck Geschke. But it was the company’s respectful treatment of customers and employees that sustained that success, he said, especially during bad times.

Geschke addressed the 15th annual regional business luncheon Nov. 2 at the Crowne Plaza Cabaña Hotel in Palo Alto. Chambers from Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Cupertino and Sunnyvale co-sponsored the event.

Liquid Gold

Legend has it that when Athens was founded, a fight broke out between Poseidon, god of the sea, and Athena, goddess of wisdom, over who would be the new city’s patron. Zeus, king of the gods, declared that the city would go to the god who created the most precious gift to humanity. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident, and a horse appeared. Athena struck the ground with her wand, and an olive tree sprang up. Zeus named the city after Athena because it was clear that the olive tree and its fruit would become the lifeblood of humankind.

Latter-day science has backed Zeus’ choice. Loaded with antioxidant polyphenols, olive oil has been found to protect against cardiovascular disease. Women who replace polyunsaturated fat with olive oil’s monounsaturated fat are less likely to get breast cancer. A diet rich in olive oil can even lower levels of some blood fats in diabetics and help control the illness.

Thanksgiving in ’50s Los Altos meant canned veggies but lots of turkey and fun

We certainly had the perfect setting for Thanksgiving in Los Altos in the late 1940s. My parents and my aunt and uncle traveled from St. Paul, Minn., with hopes of starting a new business and a new life in the Los Altos-Mountain View area. We moved out west together not on a Mayflower ship but in two woody station wagons, more “Grapes of Wrath” than “Pilgrim’s Progress.”

They chose Los Altos as their home. Conservative by nature, they did not know if they would like this new life far away from family and friends in the Midwest; nor did they know if their business would succeed.

Array of choice in wines for turkey

Days before the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims took their muskets into the woods and were probably happy to get any wild turkey, regardless of age, size, color or weight. I am sure they did not sit around wondering whether a pinot noir or a gewürztraminer would be more suitable for dinner. A flagon of mead would have been a treat!

Today, we have our choice of many types of turkeys and wines. In addition to the pre-stuffed, self-basting and boneless varieties, we now have special birds. Free range and organic both are roamers, but organic eat only organic feed, and free range might have more flavor. Heritage turkeys have funny names like Bourbon Red and Jersey Buff and are raised on small farms like they were in the old days. They have lots more flavor than the big-breasted turkeys we’re accustomed to and, naturally, are more expensive.

Caution: These puzzles are addictive

“Addicted” is when you tell yourself, “I shouldn’t be doing this now,” and then you go ahead and do it anyway. Sudoku puzzles are entirely too addictive. I hesitate to even tell you about them because I know you are busy.

On the other hand, maybe you could use some cheap mental health.

Local author-editor teams with internship expert to produce useful guide

“The Internship Advantage: Get Real-World Job Experience to Launch Your Career” by Dario Bravo and Carol Whiteley (Prentice Hall/Penguin 2005) should interest local residents for two reasons. First, it tells you everything you need to know about taking advantage of internships. Second, co-author Whiteley lives in Los Altos and is a “writing doctor”; she can edit and proof your book.

Bravo, manager of the UCLA Internship Services, may be the world’s expert on internships. By teaming with book-pro Whiteley, Bravo produced a well-organized book, easy to browse through for the information you want.

Books

We had started at 8 a.m. and now, well into the ride, my handlebar-mounted altimeter shows about 2,000 feet. If we were climbing Page Mill Road, I’d be done now. But this is not the Bay Area, and we have hardly scratched the surface. Mont Ventoux (Windy Hill in Provençale language) is 1,912 meters high - 6,271 feet, or roughly the equivalent of climbing Mt. Hamilton and Page Mill Road. The climb is approximately 12 miles long, at an average grade of 10 percent.

At least the weather is good! The winds on Ventoux can be so strong that it is sometimes scary to drive up in a car. But today, the air is relatively still. Actually, my biggest concern had been the heat. Last night, I covered myself with a wet towel just to fall asleep but by this morning, things have cooled down a bit and it is actually quite pleasant.

Datebook

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. The deadline is noon Tuesday for the next week’s paper. Notices must be typed and include a contact name and phone number. Items may be submitted via e-mail (peteb@latc.com); fax (948-6647) or post (138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022).

THEATER