New school year begins with an emphasis on ‘new’

The school year begins today for many local elementary and high school students, and with it comes new technology and programs, revamped menus and changes in administrative personnel. There are also major decisions looming for board members that could impact future years.

Here’s what happening in the districts serving a majority of Los Altos-area public school students:

LAHS grad among 2 kidnapped in Gaza

The Bay Area family members of Fox News reporter Steve Centanni, kidnapped Aug. 14 in Gaza City, are still waiting anxiously to hear word from his abductors.

The 60-year-old veteran reporter graduated from Los Altos High School in 1964 and worked for local radio stations, KRON-TV and CNN, before joining Fox News. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor’s degree in television and radio.

Bullis Charter School drops lawsuit against school district

Bullis Charter School dropped its lawsuit against the Los Altos School District last week, citing progress in its negotiations with the district. The district in turn agreed not to sue Bullis to recoup legal costs.

The lawsuit, initiated in 2004, was on appeal after being dismissed in two separate rulings in 2005. Bullis alleged that the portable classrooms on the Egan Junior High campus provided by the district equated to unequal housing for the charter school.

News Briefs

Court reviews sewer dispute
The Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District in San Jose, is expected to rule within 90 days on local resident Dr. Tom Burns’ seeking more than $1 million in damages from the city of Los Altos.
The district court heard oral arguments Aug. 8. A three-judge panel will deliberate, […]

Commission approves cell antenna at St. William Church

After nearly two hours of intense discussion last week, the Los Altos Planning Commission voted 4-3 to approve a MetroPCS plan to erect a wireless antenna and conceal it within a cross atop St. William Church on South El Monte Avenue.

In the end, despite a flurry of health concerns offered by opponents, commissioners were constrained by federal guidelines that require a decision based solely on design criteria. A city

Sheriff to target bicycle infractions in LAH

Cyclists have an extra reason to follow road rules this week as they whiz through Los Altos Hills - the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office will be extra vigilant for biking violations.

Bicyclists are required to follow many of the same rules as cars, such as obeying stop signs and red lights, signaling turns and using lights at night. There are also bike-specific regulations, such as helmet regulations and riding single file. Cyclists are bound by regulations that prohibit riding while intoxicated.

El Camino Hospital raises rates

Thanks to an across-the-board 7 percent rate increase at El Camino Hospital, a one-night stay in the critical care unit will now set you back $8,334.

The hospital board approved the overall increase, which impacts almost all hospital services, July 12, and it went into effect retroactively July 1.

Variety of voter choices in November

There will be plenty of local races for voters to consider come the Nov. 7 election.

Besides the news that Los Altos School District officials have put a $597 parcel tax renewal on the ballot (see related story, page 16), it’s all quiet on the schools front.

Letters to the Editor

Wildlife a danger to Hills residents
Obviously, Steve Bristow, in his letter to the editor in the Aug. 16 issue, did not carefully read the letter I wrote in the recent townwide newsletter sent out by the Los Altos Hills Civic Association. This letter can be viewed at our Web site, www.lahca.com.
As […]

Me? Old?

I woke up last week and found out I’m old! I discovered it by accident when I joined a few friends for coffee. Sheila kept using words like old, aging, elderly, senior - and she was talking to us! People have flattered me for years when I admit my age. They say, “You’re kidding! You’re not that old.” Come to think of it, When was the last time someone said that?

Old! How can I be old? I’ve never been old. I looked younger than my age at five. I was so small, my first-grade teacher, Sabrina Fellmeyer, sent the custodian to kindergarten for a smaller desk and chair.

Corrections

• Contrary to last week’s cover story on chloramine in the water supply, the group Citizens Concerned about Chloramine has no immediate plans to launch a class-action lawsuit against local water boards, according to president Denise Johnson-Kula. Any lawsuit would be filed against the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Also, chloramine is used as a residual disinfectant, not as a primary disinfectant, according to the EPA Web site.

• Last week’s editorial criticizing the city of Los Altos for hindering expansion plans for Adventure Toys contained an inaccuracy. It was the city planning department that turned down the store owner’s application for a building permit.

Pardon his French

You would assume that any politician - particularly a white man from the South - running for re-election would know better than to call a person of Indian descent “macaca,” and then add, “Welcome to America,” especially when S.R. Sidarth (alleged macaca) is pointing a video camera directly at him.

I don’t know what Sen. George Allen was thinking, but as a member of the short list of top GOP presidential hopefuls for 2008, one could argue that maybe he isn’t anymore.

Tony Look, pioneer of open-space conservation

Former Los Altos resident Claude A. “Tony” Look, the environmentalist responsible for many of our area’s treasured open spaces, died Aug. 5 in Davis. He was 88.

Mr. Look revived the inactive Sempervirens environmental club as the Sempervirens Fund in 1968 with several other environmentalists.

Obituary Notices

JAMES EDWIN WESTENBERGER
James Edwin Westenberger of Palo Alto, CA went to Heaven on August 10, 2006 at age 69. He passed away peacefully at the Washoe Medical Center in Reno, NV following cardiac arrest and a deep coma suffered in Lake Tahoe on August 2, 2006.
James Edwin Westenberger was born […]

Wedding

Ashley Bjorklund

and Jesse Semler

Art is in the ‘Air’ Inaugural Plein Air Art & Music Fest set for Los Altos

The inaugural Plein Air Art & Music Fest is scheduled Sept. 30 in downtown Los Altos.

Local musical groups will join local artisans in a day of outdoor painting in the “Paint the Town” tradition. The artists can paint a scene of their choice within the downtown triangle: First, State and Main streets.

Musical scholar, 95, still has thirst to learn

Mention 95-year-old Denes Agay’s name in the classical music world to a beginning music student and virtuoso alike, and you’re likely to draw a nod of recognition at the least and even a burst of enthusiasm from the initiated.

Agay moved from Baltimore to Los Altos two years ago to live with his daughter Susan Rothschild. His age keeps him indoors most days, Rothschild said, but her father still manages to entertain the occasional visitor and fan.

LASD begins campaign to renew parcel tax

As children in the Los Altos School District go back to school this fall, a committee of community members will go to battle in an effort to gain renewal of the $597 parcel tax on the November ballot.

The parcel tax, which will appear on the ballot as Measure H, would contribute toward keeping class sizes small at each grade level, hiring and retaining high-quality teachers, maintaining and strengthening academic programs at all grade levels and providing junior high students with electives in music, foreign language and technology.

Foothill instructor wins Science Foundation grant

The National Science Foundation awarded Foothill College instructor K. Allison Lenkeit Meezan a $450,000 grant for a project that brings leading-edge Web-mapping technology to high school and college classrooms.

Meezan leads the project “Using a Web-Based GIS to Teach Problem-Based Science in High School & College” in partnership with San Jose State University professors Richard Taketa, Kate Davis and Cindy Schmidt.

State budget brings good news to LASD

The state budget brings good news for the Los Altos School District this school year.

Though the district’s net increase in state revenue is up $490,000, part of that revenue comes from one-time grants, guaranteed only for the 2006-2007 school year.

Krueger, Team USA get even with Canada in water polo final at Jr. Pan Am Games

Los Altos resident Kim Krueger and her U.S. teammates couldn’t wait to get in the pool to face Canada for the women’s water polo championship at the Junior Pan American Games.

Their anxiousness went beyond wanting to avenge an earlier loss to the Canadians; this was personal. Krueger said the Canadians had disrespected the national anthem, exuded overconfidence and were anything but gracious hosts during the 10-day tournament in Montreal.

Local relay team finishes third at Hershey’s meet

It wasn’t the Flying Cheetahs’ best effort, but it was still good enough for them to finish third in the 4×100-meter relay at the recent Hershey’s North American Track and Field Finals.

The team of Adam Sorensen, Thomas Burch, Pascal Purro and Stefan Lemak - all Los Altos residents - bagged the bronze in the under-12 boys division with a time of 56.41 seconds.

More single women buying homes

It used to be practically unthinkable: a single woman buying a home. Imagine Harriet landing that three-bedroom rancher without Ozzie Nelson. Or, for the current generation, Marge Simpson getting into a nice Victorian sans Homer.

But times have changed. Spurred by changing demographics, a healthy real estate market, a variety of new loan options and more buying power than they had in the past, single women are buying real estate like never before.

New pizza place hits the Spot on Main Street

Beer and hot pepper usually accompany a pizza, but at Spot - A Pizza Place, scheduled to open today, they are in the pie.

Owner Kelly Marik described Spot’s style as a medium-crust pizza, not New York or Chicago.

Whole Foods Market Los Altos set to open next month

Whole Foods Market, a natural and organic foods supermarket, is scheduled to open a Los Altos store in September on El Camino Real at Showers Drive.

Whole Foods Market states its goal as providing the highest-quality, best-tasting and freshest natural and organic foods. Part of a multiple-store strategic growth plan, the Los Altos market will be the first of 12 stores currently in development to open.

Identifying flawed genes

Veronica Moran-Diaz was only 24 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer, the same disease that had killed her mother the year before.

Suspecting a link, her doctor referred her to Stanford Hospital, where genetic counselor Kerry Kingham, M.S., suggested she be tested for a newly discovered gene that carries an 80 percent lifetime risk of colon cancer and a 50 percent chance of uterine cancer. Moran-Diaz agreed to the test. When the result came back positive. she talked with Kingham about her options.

Fight pain by using the right treatment

One of the most common reasons people come to see me is because of complaints of pain. Whether it’s a strained muscle or a chronic condition, taking the right pain reliever is paramount in getting relief. What are the safest, most effective medications, and which alternatives might be worth trying? Let’s look at the most common types of pain and their appropriate treatments.

Osteoarthritis. More than 20 million Americans suffer from this degenerative disease, wherein cartilage breaks down, causing bones to rub together. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen can relieve the pain and inflammation but can also cause gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.

Introducing my Ounce-for-an-Ounce Diet

I’ve been losing some ounces. I am decades beyond the age when I could drop pounds at will, but I can do ounces.

Pounds are too big a unit. Losing a pound is too hard. An ounce is doable.

Dubious sojourn in the cave with the Wave

“The Wave” (Warner, 2006) by Walter Mosley is a bad book by a good writer. Mosley writes with lyrical grace and is loved by readers and critics. He has written tremendously successful detective novels (the Easy Rawlins series) and writes in other genres as well. “The Wave” is science fiction.

I should recuse myself from reviewing this book because I hate science fiction. The book jacket - which says Mosley transcends genres - lured me into taking a chance. I loved the first 88 pages, which were basically realistic with the exception of one unexplainable phenomenon.

Book examines the effects of happiness

In “Stumbling on Happiness” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert explains why little annoyances are more difficult to stomach than life’s larger traumas.

Having just been asked to pay $45 for a technician to look at my garage door and tell me it’s not covered by my home warranty, then stonewalled by a customer service rep, who informed me that on top of being a freelance writer apparently I should be a garage door parts expert, then asked if he could “help” me with anything further, I was curious why this relatively minor incident left me seething.

After ‘Physical,’ comedian Burleigh out to prove laughter is best medicine

When comedian Dave Burleigh, a Los Altos native, opened for Olivia Newton-John at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga a couple weeks ago, he thought he’d finally made it. That is, until he stuck around for the show.

“I knew it was time to leave after the fourth song, when Olivia Newton-John busted out with an acoustic, barbershop quartet rendition of ‘Let’s Get Physical,’” he joked. “That’s when I quietly said to myself, ‘Suburban Comedy Tour, take me away. Take me far, far away!’”

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