Local vets still serving

Memorial Day means another visit to the cemetery for members of American Legion Post 558, serving Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. The commemoration at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos has been scheduled for more years than anyone can remember. The traditional program remains the same each year - an opening prayer, lowering the American flag to half-staff, a bugler playing “Taps” - but the thoughts and prayers are freshly heartfelt as Legion members pay tribute to fallen colleagues.

Memorial Day services aside, Legionnaires see their involvement as looking ahead and helping the community, rather than looking back and “sharing old war stories,” as one member put it. The local Legion’s involvement proves wide reaching and diverse. Members’ actions defy stereotypes of vets recalling their younger days.

Hills couple robbed at gunpoint

A Los Altos Hills couple are recovering after a terrifying armed robbery in their home Tuesday night left them shaken but unharmed. The gunman - still at large when the Town Crier went to press - forced his way into the residence off Moody Road at about 9:30 p.m. and escaped with $300 in cash and jewelry worth less than $100.

“It was very frightening,” said the woman resident, who requested anonymity. “The closest I’d ever come to something like this was in cop movies.”

Council restricts more parking for neighborhood around Los Altos High

Continuing complaints from neighbors of Los Altos High School, who find their streets clogged with students’ parked cars during school hours, prompted the Los Altos City Council to impose further parking restrictions.

The city council voted May 23 to implement restricted parking on Frederick Court in Los Altos in the wake of a petition residents submitted last month to bar high school students from parking in front of their homes.

LAH creates Westwind steering committee

A public committee of Los Altos Hills residents will get a chance to plan the future of Westwind Barn in the coming year. As town programming increases at the town-owned barn, renovations to the building and the site’s usage plan are expected.

At the May 25 city council meeting the council agreed to form a new standing committee, with meetings open to the public. Candidates will be solicited over the summer, with the council planning to elect members by Labor Day.

Gas lots running on empty

Even downtown eyesores can eventually be forgotten - including the Los Altos gas station lots that have remained abandoned for years.

The former Chevron lot at San Antonio Road and First Street and a second lot at the San Antonio Road and Main Street remain undeveloped.

Funding met for parade

The city of Los Altos’ will fund half the estimated $16,500 cost of Sunday’s Gay/Straight Alliance parade in accordance with a longstanding city policy, officials said. The policy covers any non-profit organization applying for a special-event permit.

According to President Roy Lave of the Los Altos Community Foundation, the supporting groups have raised the remaining half of the expenses.

Cost of mile-long LAH path rises to $1.1 million

Escalating construction costs and an expensive design demand from Santa Clara County are among factors that have increased the cost of a 1.5-mile Los Altos Hills pathway from Foothill College to Francemont Road by a third - to $1.1 million.

To pay the higher price tag, the town is considering using $200,000 more from the general fund, seeking more Valley Transportation Authority funding

News Briefs

MV residents rate performance high
A professional survey of Mountain View residents has found that 95 percent of those responding were “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the city’s performance, up from an 87 percent rating in a similar poll in 1995.
Similarly, 97 percent of the respondents were “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the […]

Letters to the Editor

Where do Palo Alto schools’ kids belong?
Regarding Katharine Lang’s May 3 Letter to the Editor, recommending against redistricting and instead “keeping the Los Altos Hills kids part of the wonderful greater Los Altos community where they belong”: I’m unclear about what she proposes for the 30+ percent of Los Altos Hills kids who […]

Measure A is a good investment

We are proud to support Measure A - the health care, transportation and local accountability initiative on the June 6 ballot. Measure A is not only good for our county, it is also important to everyone who lives or works in the north county, as well.

Over the past four years, Santa Clara County has had to close a $640 million budget gap-a deficit equal to 30 percent of this year’s budget. As a result, the county has had to make deep service cuts. This means fewer sheriff’s deputies patrolling our neighborhoods and fewer medical professionals on duty at the county hospital and clinics. It has meant longer waits at the emergency room and the suspension of improvements to our county expressways.

Just like it was yesterday

Time flies whether we are having fun or not. Another Mother’s Day has passed, and this one has been bittersweet for me. Last year on Mother’s Day, I rounded up my children for a family photo, the first in probably 10 years.

After breakfast, we met with a photographer who ignored the smirks and whining to obtain the portrait. I requested that instead of gifts, each would write what they had learned from me over the years.

Obituary Notices

DONALD A. “DICK” JACOBSON
Donald, a retired American Airlines Captain, died on May 11, 2006 at the age of 91 in Los Altos, California after a long illness.
He was born and raised in the small town of Montrose, Kansas where his family ran a grain elevator and livestock feed business. Dick learned to […]

Weddings & Engagements

Sondra Siri and Daniel Harding
Sondra Siri and Daniel Harding were married Oct. 1, at city hall in San Francisco.
The bride is the daughter of Laeta and Gene Siri of Danville. She graduated from San Ramon Valley High School, received a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly in speech and communications and minored […]

Noteworthies

Red Cross to honor Los Altos volunteers
Several Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents are among the volunteers to be honored at the annual meeting of the Palo Alto Area American Red Cross 6 p.m. Thursday at Mountain View City Hall.
The annual meeting is an opportunity to recognize volunteers who have […]

Kiwanis speakers warning parents about predators

School Resource Officer Susan Anderson of the Los Altos Police Department teamed up with veteran Detective Frank Swaringen of the San Jose Police Department’s Sexual Assault unit to deliver a potent and cautionary message at the Kiwanis Club meeting May 23.

“The Internet has become a child molester’s fantasy,” said Swaringen, who has interviewed hundreds of convicted sex molesters and pedophiles. “We have to educate our children on how to protect themselves, because we can’t protect them.”

Judge Edwards honored by Rotary Foundation

The Los Altos Rotary Club honored Judge Leonard P. Edwards with a Paul Harris Fellowship May 25, an unusual distinction for a non-Rotarian. The judge, set to retire at the end of the month, led the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s family court to national distinction with his innovative programming, including the court appointed special advocates (child advocates) and Dependency Drug Treatment Court.

Rotarian and child advocate Bud Oliver introduced Edwards to the club, where the judge, a Los Altos Hills resident, has given many presentations. “The Fellowship is Rotary’s way to express our appreciation for your contributions to our community,” Oliver said.

MVLA receives $600,000 from fundraising

The Mountain View-Los Altos High School Foundation presented Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Superintendent Rich Fischer with a check for $600,000 May 16 at a dinner held at Chef Chu’s.

“The money we have raised is an indication of the value our community places on sustaining and improving the quality of our schools and on the value we place on education,” said Dee Gibson, foundation president.

Mrs. Holland’s Opus: Beloved teacher retires

When Ryan Kull’s mother asked him about his second-grade teacher, his eyes lit up as he said, “She’s the best.”

That teacher is Joanne Holland, who, after 37 years in the Montclaire Elementary School classroom, plans to retire at the end of the school year.

Schools Briefs

Loyola K-Kids help school hit by Katrina
The Loyola Elementary School K-Kids, a service club of second- through sixth-graders sponsored by the Los Altos Kiwanis Club, is scheduled to hold a root beer float sale June 9 after school.
Proceeds will be used for school supplies for the St. Martin North Elementary School in […]

Alta Vista students FLY toward success with legal education program

“Thank you for giving us this amazing gift of knowledge and understanding,” said an Alta Vista senior at her recognition ceremony for the Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) program.

Alta Vista, a continuation school in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, is one of only five schools in which FLY operates its legal education program for youth on probation or at risk. The school’s latest 22 participants celebrated their recognition ceremony at the Isaac Newton Center in San Jose May 11.

LA’s Fafek challenges No. 1 seed

The luck of the draw didn’t work in Denny Fafek’s favor at last week’s Central Coast Section individual boys tennis championships.

The Los Altos High junior, unseeded in the singles portion of the tournament, drew the top seed in the opening round.

Los Altos High gymnasts finish second at CCS meet

Although they weren’t among the top scorers, three girls brought up from junior varsity are largely responsible for Los Altos High’s second-place finish at the Central Coast Section gymnastics championships.

“They came through,” Eagles coach Lina Slack said of Lily Donovan-Seid, Josefa Leonard and Kristine Lee. “Without them, we wouldn’t have had a team score. I’m proud of how they stepped up.”

Corporate profits trickle down - and an inside tip on a lifetime

You’ve read about capital spending and what it means to the economy in this column before. As companies generate more profit and grow their businesses, they put that profit to work building plants and additional facilities, adding technology for more efficiency and hiring more employees. Each of these activities puts more people to work who then pay more income taxes. Further, they buy more stuff and pay sales tax, which puts more people to work who pay more taxes.

Every few weeks I tell you a similar story. But I have an excuse this time. The news about corporate profits is good. With more than 80 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting, first quarter earnings are up 16.8 percent, according to Kudlow & Co. Meanwhile capital spending has averaged 11.5 percent since mid-2003.

Hybrid healing for the weary soul

Walking through a gray labyrinth of corporate offices, in the Packard, Packard & Johnson building in downtown Los Altos, you might be surprised to meet the affable Patricia Rupert in her brightly painted office with scented candles and plush sofa at her Advanced Wholistic Healthcare Center.

Her seemingly incongruous environment is as unique as her medical practice. Rupert, who opened a practice in March, specializes in a dual blend of acupuncture and chiropractics.

Private equity investment may increase returns

Private equity (PE) investing is a type of alternative investment that may be used to reduce your portfolio’s volatility while enhancing returns. However, the true value of the investment may be more volatile than it appears because a lack of current data can create the mistaken appearance of a “smoothing” effect on returns.

Venture capital and leveraged-buyout funds are the two main areas of private equity. Leveraged-buyout funds are used to take a publicly traded company private. The advantages are cost savings, flexibility and the ability to make rapid decisions - for example, allowing a firm to buy distressed property quickly at fire-sale prices, which can be crucial to making an above-average profit.

Book on 20th century is lovely to look at, easy to read

When a book is written to mirror a television program, the book may be a bit odd. “Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century Art” by John Carlin and Jonathan Fineberg (Yale University Press, 2006) is a bit odd but nonetheless good. It was published as a companion to a PBS film.

The images are striking, the best of 20th century America, although some important works and artists have been left out. As the subtitle suggests, the art and artists represented are the well-known icons, familiar to anyone who follows art.

Australia holds many attractions on one cheerful continent

What are the best things about Australia? Whether you’ve been there or not, the answers are surprisingly similar and always upbeat.

Town Crier Train Tours heads for Australia Sept. 3-14 with an itinerary guaranteed to include all the things would-be travelers dream of seeing, as well as sights recommended by people who have examined the country’s varied features.

Pioneer home

It was 1909 when the Altos Land Co. distributed an illustrated brochure advertising “the Loveliest Place on the Peninsula” as an Eden for new homesteaders.

“The town bears the surname of the Crown of the Peninsula,” the brochure reads. “Whether or not it is the most beautiful townsite in California, is left confidently for the reader to decide after viewing it.”

County urges residents to save water

Even though Santa Clara County is enjoying the second consecutive year of above-normal rainfall, the Santa Clara Valley Water District reminds residents that water conservation is still needed.

The water district is launching a campaign called “Save it while we’ve got it” to encourage saving water now, while it’s plentiful, to ensure more availability if dry times return later.

Coastal sages adapt well to garden conditions

One trade secret of landscape designers is knowing which plant combinations grow well and look good together. Grouping plants according to their sun/shade and water requirements is the first step. A shortcut is to look at plant communities.

For example, the coastal sage scrub plant community is especially adaptable to garden conditions. Coastal sage scrub plants grow in well-drained loose soils in full sun on the coast, where they are sculpted by the wind into rounded shapes and absorb moisture from the fog. They have tenacious root systems that are great for stabilizing slopes and controlling erosion.

Arts & Crafts expert speaking at Gamble Garden

Paul Duchscherer, an expert in Arts & Crafts design, will discuss “Outside the Bungalow: America’s Arts & Crafts Gardens” 2-4 p.m. June 4 at Gamble Garden in Palo Alto.

Duchscherer is a San Francisco lecturer, writer and architectural consultant whose specialty is historical period-style design, with an emphasis on the Arts & Crafts style of the early 20th century.

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

2006 Historical Essay Contest Winners

About The 2006 Margaret Thompson Historical Essay Contest
The 2006 Margaret Thompson Historical Essay Contest, sponsored by the Los Altos Historical Commission and the Los Altos History Museum, challenged students with the theme: “Recreation Remembered: Toys, Books and Games from the past.” Essayists had to interview an older person about […]