High tops and high hopes

Like the start of almost every high school basketball season, the 2005-2006 campaign poses more questions than a curious 6 year old. Among the most compelling queries involving the local teams as the season tips off:

• Can the Pinewood School girls repeat as state champs?

Increase in fire protection contract stuns council

The cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills face some “sobering” cost projections as they continue joint contract negotiations for fire protection from the county.

The Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District has proposed charging the cities approximately $2.6 million more for fire services, a 66 percent increase.

High schools chief Fischer announces retirement

Rich Fischer, superintendent of the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District for the past eight years, is leaving the district at the end of the school year, June 30. Fischer made his announcement official today.

Fischer, named the 2004 Los Altan of the Year last December, said he’ll be retiring at age 62 and a half to spend more time with his wife, Sheri, at their home in Mount Pleasant in the Sierra foothills. His wife, a landscape designer, is starting a nursery business, and Fischer wants to support her in that. He has been commuting for the past five years from Mountain View to the mountain community.

Area cyclists request access to LAH trailhead

Local mountain bikers are asking the Los Altos-based Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District this month to include them among the user groups allowed on the Rhus Ridge and Black Mountain trails.

Hikers and equestrians are the only user groups currently permitted on Black Mountain Trail, which twists up to the mountain’s 2,800-foot summit. It links to the popular Rhus Ridge trailhead on Moody Road in Los Altos Hills.

Red Cross volunteers stand ready to respond to local needs

After a Los Altos residential fire displaced four people earlier this month, Red Cross officials are reminding local agencies and residents that they should be among the first called when disasters strike.

In the case of the fire that occurred on the morning of Nov. 8 on San Antonio Road, emergency responders failed to call in the Red Cross’ Disaster Action Team.

El Camino Hospital releases details of CEO’s compensation

El Camino Hospital’s chief executive officer earned a base salary of $492,291 in 2004, according to IRS Form 990, released by the hospital last week. In addition, CEO Lee Domanico received a bonus of $173,306, $9,000 in expenses and allowances and $249,127 in deferred compensation and contributions to his benefit plan. In 2002, the hospital lent the CEO $850,000 at 6 percent simple interest on a 10-year loan. Annual interest forgiveness is treated as additional compensation. In 2004, $19,380 in interest was forgiven.

Jon Friedenberg, vice president for strategy and external relations as well as president of the El Camino Hospital Foundation, said the board of directors retains a compensation consultant who surveys comparable hospitals across the nation and sets parameters for executive salaries. Hospital officers’ and directors’ salaries totaled $1.2 million on Form 990 for 2004. The board has been working with the consultant to determine Domanico’s compensation for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which it plans to decide in its next regularly scheduled meeting Dec. 7.

News Briefs

LA council meetingset for Nov. 29

This month’s statewide special election and Thanksgiving holiday have changed the regular schedule and agendas of Los Altos City Council meetings in November and December. The council typically meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. This month the council’s second meeting will be held Nov. 29.

LAH council weighs in on house-size limits

By Eliza Ridgeway

Town Crier Staff Writer

Thanksgiving, always

Winston Churchill described human history as “one damn thing after another.” I admire his bull’s-eye assessment; I also respect him for having an affinity for pigs.

Taken in context with today’s headlines, Churchill’s quote is apt. Our planet is being bombarded by ODTAA: war, hurricanes, an inevitable avian flu pandemic. France resembles post-Rodney King trial L.A., and in Pakistan, there are three million displaced by the recent earthquake while U.N. officials despair over the onset of winter and weak donor response.

Letters to the Editor

Sewer management changes required
Gerry Madea

Your Nov. 9. editorial, “A sewer plan at last, but action necessary,” does a good job of alerting Los Altos citizens about the $47 million plan for “a much-needed overhaul of the nearly 50-year-old system.” The editorial touches on some of the reasons the system is in such […]

Editorials

Help in narrowing achievement gap
Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District officials report a widening achievement gap between Hispanic and Title 1 (low-income) students on the one side and the rest of the student body on the other in several core areas.
That’s news. What’s also worth noting is the way district-level and […]

George Tucker, 78: Former Los Altos resident was avid camper, member of Foothills Congregational

George K. Tucker, 78, of Medford, Ore., formerly of Los Altos, passed away Nov. 5, surrounded by his family.

As a youth Mr. Tucker explored the limestone caves near his Virginia home, which led to a lifelong interest in the outdoors. He camped and hiked with his family throughout the United States. An avid reader, he enjoyed books on history, archeology, adventure tales and science fiction.

Obituary Notices

JULIA BICKERTON
Dr. Julia Elizabeth Bickerton passed away at home on November 3, 2005 after a brave battle with cancer. She was born in Concord, California on July 28, 1953 and she attended Oakland High School. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from California State University at Hayward and her […]

Weddings & Engagements

Kristi Harrington and Jonathan Cannon
Kristi Harrington and Jonathan Cannon were married Nov. 19 in Santa Cruz. Their reception was held at the Chaminade.
The bride is the daughter of Bob and Debby Harrington of San Diego. She graduated from Clovis West High School in Fresno and received a bachelor’s degree in marketing […]

Noteworthies

Former longtime Los Altos residents Keith and Ruth Koehler are recovering from serious injuries sustained in an Oct. 28 automobile accident on California Street in Mountain View.

Ruth Koehler, a former Los Altos mayor, said she is recovering from three broken ribs at the health center in the Sequoias retirement community in Portola Valley where she currently lives. Keith is still in the intensive care unit at Stanford Medical Center recovering from seven broken ribs.

Town Crier launches sixth annual Holiday Fund to aid needy families

This holiday season, local non-profit groups are struggling more than ever as donations are down in the aftermath of a string of natural disasters in 2005 - the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Pakistan.

That’s where the Town Crier Holiday Fund, now in its sixth year, comes in. Local philanthropists have provided $80,000 in challenge matching funds.

Family honors loss through rebuilding ‘Build-a-Box’

Some local families who have never met will make each other’s Thanksgiving special. Two year’s ago, Eva Scott’s husband, Art, passed away. This year, in his memory, Eva and her sons, A.J. and Gabriel, have set the goal of providing Thanksgiving dinners for local families in need.

This week, as part of the Build-a-Box program that Art founded, the Scott family and a host of other dedicated volunteers and donors put together the ingredients for 180 festive meals, which will be hand-delivered to local low-income families. A turkey, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, vegetables, potatoes, dinner rolls and even a pumpkin pie will fill each delivery. Albertson’s provided the food at a discount and stored it for the program free of charge.

Judge fosters programs for families in need

Judge Leonard Edwards, a leader in reforming the family court system, spoke to the Los Altos Rotary Club Thursday about innovative new programs that support troubled parents and their children who are tossed into the foster care system. A Los Altos Hills resident, Edwards is the supervising judge of the Family Resources Division of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, and he has spent 25 years on the bench.

Edwards pioneered mediation, drug treatment and advocacy programs within the court system, and last November he became the first juvenile judge to receive The William Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, which honors a state judge each year for excellence, integrity and ethics.

Pet of the Week

A pair of Russian tortoises, among the more exotic species left with Palo Alto Animal Services, seek a new home. For more information about the tortoises or other animals available for adoption, contact the shelter at 496-5971. The shelter is located at 3281 E. Bayshore Road in Palo Alto.

Calendar

Ongoing
Los Altos Senior Center, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, 97 Hillview Ave.
Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving.
Sunday
Festival of Lights Parade, 7 p.m., Main and State streets, downtown Los Altos.
Monday
Los Altos School District Board of Trustees, 7 p.m , district offices, 201 Covington Road.
Tuesday […]

Community Briefs

Lecture highlights de Young exhibit
de Young Museum docent Sharon Walton is scheduled to speak Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Los Altos library program room on “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh,” the inaugural exhibit at the newly reopened museum.
Walton’s illustrated lecture will tell the story of Hatshepsut’s reign, a […]

In time for Thanksgiving

Members of the Kiwanis Club of Los Altos, along with help from the California Water Service Company, delivered more than 1,300 pounds of turkey to Bread of Life in East Palo Alto on Friday. Pictured from left to right, top row: Victor Castellanos, Howard Bischoff, Bread of Life executive director Jeri Hill, Melinda Ray, Randall Hull and Bob Cardoso.

Bottom row: Bob Galen and Peter Bergsman.

Noted artist Jim Smyth featured in first ‘Main Street Holiday Collection’

A new art exhibit, the “Main Street Holiday Collection,” is scheduled to open Sunday at Main Street Cafe & Books in downtown Los Altos.

“It will feature paintings and fine art from many prominent local artists,” said coordinator Will Maller.

‘Herd and Scene’ at Viewpoints Gallery

Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos spotlights Betty Dennis as its December artist, with “Herd and Scene,” her unique collection of watercolors featuring country vistas and farm animals.

“Herd and Scene” can be viewed Friday through Dec. 31, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.

Holiday Briefs

Parade marches into downtown
The 28th annual Festival of Lights Parade is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday along Main and State streets in downtown Los Altos.
The parade, put on by volunteers, draws approximately 20,000 spectators every year, according to organizer Nancy Schneider. This year’s parade, themed “A Child’s Holiday Fantasy,” features floats, […]

Ode to Wilma

Wilma, a longtime fixture at Los Altos True Value Hardware, 441 First St., died Nov. 6 after a life estimated at 19 to 20 years. An employee reminisced thatWilma showed up at the back door at about four weeks old and had been there ever since. The cat enjoyed hanging out in the plumbing section and taking naps in the sinks on display, as shown here.

Future Brain Cancer Institute hosts fund-raiser

The Future Brain Cancer Institute has scheduled its annual holiday fund-raising reception Dec. 2 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Borel Private Bank and Trust Company, 245 Lytton Ave., Palo Alto.

The institute, founded by Meredith Warshaw of Los Altos Hills, is a partner with the UCSF Medical Center and their goal is to raise $2 million for brain cancer research.

Bus Barn receives $5K grant

The Bus Barn Stage Company of Los Altos received a $5,000 Community Investment Grant from Community Foundation Silicon Valley to help to support this intimate, professional quality theater.

Bus Barn Stage Company reaches thousands annually in its 99-seat theater. The organization offers six productions a year by local artists, including a summer festival with one-person productions and an annual benefit show.

Menzo Loucks: Recalling a Civil War veteran and early pioneer of Los Altos

Note: This article will be added to the Los Altos History Museum’s “Family Tree,” a computer display with touch-activated stories and photographs of people and places important to Los Altos history. The Family Tree is designed to allow additions such as this one about Los Altos pioneer Menzo Loucks, and visitors are encouraged to suggest others to museum staff.

Menzo Loucks (1849-1924), farmer, orchardist and horse broker, was one of Los Altos’ pioneers. He served in the Union Army during the last year of the Civil War. Various jobs in Minnesota and Illinois followed until he decided to take the train west in the early 1880s.

City appealing to public for funds to supply rescue trailer

Afund-raising drive to outfit a new mobile emergency response trailer is currently under way.

Volunteers are being trained to operate and deliver emergency search, rescue and medical equipment from the trailer to any location in Los Altos. The trailer would be stocked with a wide range of rescue supplies. Police Chief Bob Lacey said the city needs approximately $8,000 to “do a really good job on this. We’re well short of that now.”

Conduct quake hazard hunt

Every family should conduct an earthquake hazard hunt in the home. Look for items of furniture or appliances that are tall or top-heavy. Smaller unsecured items may become flying missiles or windows may break, causing glass fragments to fly across the room. The risk of injury and loss of property can be reduced by assessing the potential dangers in your home and securing or relocating hazardous objects. Keep your exit routes clear in an emergency. Have rope ladders in second-story rooms. Designate an outdoor family meeting place.

From Page 3 of the Los Altos Emergency Preparedness Manual. For more information, visit www.ci.los-altos.ca.us.

High schools focus on achievement gap

Although most local teens are faring well, Hispanic and Title 1 students are lagging from 10 to 25 percent behind the highest performers in several core subjects, according to the 2004-2005 progress reports released by Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District staff last week.

Superintendent Rich Fischer said Monday, “When a significant percentage of students who are underachieving are represented by one ethnic group, the discussion of our methods for working with those students must include a conversation about ethnicity. … Each school has also designed initiatives to assist underachieving students as the result of such conversations.”

City hails outgoing Los Altos trustees

At the Nov. 7 board meeting of the Los Altos School District, Mayor David Casas (second from left) presented proclamations to the three trustees whose terms end Dec. 12. From left, Vice President Victor M. Reid III, longtime board member and former President Duane Roberts and current President Jay Thomas display their framed certificates. The city proclaimed Nov. 7 Board Members Shared Day.

Schools Briefs

Blach Holiday Faire set for next week
Blach Intermediate School has scheduled its annual Holiday Faire 12:30-4 p.m. Dec. 2 in the multipurpose room. Blach students design and produce all the handcrafted items. More than 75 booths will offer holiday decorations, jewelry, hair accessories, candy, food items, toys, candles and more.
For […]

St. Joseph students help disadvantaged celebrate

Eighth-grade students at St. Joseph Catholic School set up for the annual homeless Thanksgiving dinner that served approximately 400 homeless and disadvantaged persons last Sunday. In the days before the event, the children collected toiletries, which they packaged to give to their dinner guests. The younger classes made placemats and decorations for the dinner. Older students also welcomed guests and cleaned up after the meal. The students, who recently helped survivors of Hurricane Katrina, said they feel honored to aid people in their own community. Here, eighth-grader Kevin Mould and seventh-grader Andrew Barton help set up for dinner in the parish hall.

Oak capitalists aid hurricane survivors

Oak Avenue School second-

graders learned about economics when they raised money to benefit the American Red Cross and survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Sixty students designed greeting cards, selected five designs to print and sell to friends and family and sorted the final product into packs for delivery. The students learned that goods take many steps to market, and the Red Cross received $1,900. Emma Korobkin, (middle row) Cristian Scotti and Maddie Forkner, (back row, from left) Eric Dyer and Radhika Gupta work on their designs.

Linden Tree events showcase local talent

Los Altos native Judy Pauli Bayse is scheduled to sing selections from her first CD, “Purple Cow,” 11 a.m. Dec. 10 at Linden Tree Children’s Recordings & Books, 170 State St., Los Altos. Bayse sings and plays guitar and dulcimer, accompanied by mandolin, violin and trumpet.

“Purple Cow” contains 13 original songs, 11 written by Bayse and two by Karen Szybalski, on a wide range of subjects, from the title track about the magic of a Purple Cow to a blues song on getting ready for school in the morning.

Local robotics teams head to regional event

Eight teams of local fourth- through eighth-grade students have earned berths in the Northern California FIRST LEGO League Tournament Jan. 14 in San Jose. More than 100 students on 23 teams vied for the chance to advance to the regional event in the Los Altos tournament held last Saturday at Covington Elementary and Oak Avenue schools.

Teams from Blach, Loyola, Oak and Springer schools participated at Oak. Teams from Almond, Covington, Egan, Santa Rita and Bullis Charter schools competed at Covington.

Opposite The Big Game, the Owls notch big win

As The Big Game kicked off last Saturday afternoon, two other college football teams finished up a bowl game played in near obscurity just a few miles down the road in Los Altos Hills.

Unlike Cal vs. Stanford, however, the community college game between host Foothill and Feather River had a dramatic ending - though only a few hundred spectators were there to see it. The Owls survived a late surge by the Golden Eagles to hold on for a 35-33 win in the ninth annual Silicon Valley Bowl.

Market on the rise as chips lead technology stocks

Volume on the stock exchanges was robust last week, giving the monthlong rally in stock more credibility. Chips led technology stocks higher as the Philadelphia semiconductor index marched ahead more than 2 percent. The Nasdaq ended its fifth straight week higher, rising 1.1 percent. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent while the Dow Industrials moved up 0.7 percent.

Many investors are leery of investing in bonds because they simply don’t understand them. But bonds, sometimes called fixed-income securities, can be an important component of an investment portfolio. They have a fixed maturity and interest rate. You know what your income is and when they mature. The issuer is obligated to pay the principal back at maturity, so selecting a creditworthy issuer is critical.

Marie Callender’s beefs up menu

For years, it was all about the pies, hamburgers and other standard lunchtime fare. But improvements are in the offing at the long-standing Marie Callender’s restaurant on El Camino Real in Los Altos.

Business hasn’t been bad, mind you. A steady stream of diners has kept the Los Altos eatery in business continually since 1968, back when much of Los Altos was still covered by orchards. But when new owner Ron Garald took over last July, he decided it was time to shake things up a little.

Local entrepreneur Kathy Down-Logan transfers color-matching technology

Kathy Down-Logan of Los Altos announced Monday that DSSC, headquartered in Silicon Valley, has completed the transfer of its color-matching products, technology and other associated intellectual property and customers to X-Rite Inc. of Grandville, Mich. The transfer included DSSC’s E-Z-Color, Digital Style and Web-based Advanced Color Search software and SDK.

“Product color is the major criteria for the consumer in a major segment of the U.S. retail industry, and statistics show that a majority of the 50 percent of shoppers who leave a store without making a purchase would have bought something if they had found the right color,” said Down-Logan, CEO and founder of DSSC. “The products X-Rite has acquired from DSSC have created an innovative breakout, sales and marketing service in the home furnishings sector because they remember and match colors to products in inventory, which takes the guessing out of the selection process for consumers.”

Modern Thoreau takes to the Oregon wilderness

A few weeks after the 2000 presidential election, poet and award-winning writer of literary nonfiction John Daniel took to the Klamath Mountain woods to “live the simple life in my Spartan but comfortable cabin in the wilderness, with no phone to answer, no traffic to fight, no groceries to buy or bills to pay, no damnable election or anything else of the human world to grab me by the collar and boil my blood. A garden to eat from, a river to fish, backcountry to hike, wild animals where wild animals belong, a vast silence to soothe me, and no human light at night except the occasional satellite slipping inconspicuously between the stars.”

As he chronicles in the lyrical “Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone” (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005), he was anything but alone. Daniel intersperses scenes of his Thoreauvian life with scenes from a childhood spent in the shadow of a talented, complicated and fallible father - Franz Daniel, a hard-driving, hard-drinking labor activist. Daniel mixes a poet’s ear for language with a journalist’s investigative skills. He arrives at his winter homestead having interviewed his father’s friends, relatives and associates as well as his mother, who shared her husband’s passion for the labor movement. He has read correspondence and documents and clippings - his own and those in the Reuther Library in Detroit and the George Meany Archive in Washington.

Spreading soccer diplomacy on travels through Egypt

A while back I promised my two eldest grandchildren, Natasha and Jason, a tour in Egypt, the country of my birth. But unrest in the Middle East and last year’s sporadic attacks on tourists forced us to postpone the trip several times. A lull in violence and a relatively long period of calm in Egypt encouraged us to embark on our 24-day trip July 5.

I contracted a travel agency in Egypt that promised competent tour guides and reliable, safe transportation. I selected the safest possible route: San Francisco to Cairo via London’s Heathrow. I wanted to avoid stopping in Madrid, Rome or Athens, where either serious incidents had occurred or lapses in security could endanger my grandchildren. In spite of my careful planning, things did not go as planned.

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).

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