Season’s giving

Christmas is spent quietly in the psychiatric ward at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital. Behind locked doors live men and women who now, far from the battlefield, fight another war recovering from their injuries.

“War isn’t pretty. These people feel like they have been left behind,” said Monica Davis, who works at Los Altos’ Coldwell Banker office on San Antonio Road. She and a group of friends and co-workers throw a Christmas party for the veterans in Building 2 every year.

LA Council directs revised pool design

The Los Altos City Council last week directed fund-raisers for the Rosita community pool project to submit a more comprehensive design by the Feb. 27 council meeting.

After a heated discussion at the Dec. 12 council meeting over two conceptual designs for a community pool at Rosita Park, the council approved a site plan more in line with the one-pool plan members approved in April.

Full-day kindergarten to stay on Bullis-Purissima campus - for now

The Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted Dec. 11 to continue housing the full-day kindergarten program on the Bullis-Purissima campus during the campus renovation project.

The board examined several options for the 2007-2008 school year, including spreading the full-day program among other LASD campuses, moving the entire program to the Covington campus, suspending the program for a year or keeping the program on the Bullis-Purissima campus.

News Brief

Sexual assault suspect in custody
Los Altos police detectives, with the assistance of the Milpitas Police Department, located and arrested Ramon Garcia, 37, at his Milpitas home Dec. 12.
On Dec. 11, Los Altos police received a report that Garcia had sexually assaulted a 13-year-old victim in the early morning hours of […]

Commission ‘cleans up’ ordinances

Los Altos planning commissioners made some major edits to local zoning laws in the hope that such modifications could help the city’s efforts to be more business-friendly.

The commission addressed the city’s legally obtuse set of zoning laws known as Title 14 at its Dec. 8 meeting.

City council nixes bank drive-through

Bank of the West lost its fight to continue drive-through teller services on Main Street Dec. 12 when the Los Altos City Council denied the bank’s request to extend the service.

The issue is the city’s intent to support and encourage the development of retail businesses and pedestrian foot traffic in that area. The council by a 4-1 vote, with newly returned Councilman Lou Becker dissenting, confirmed its policy to encourage retail on Main and State streets.

Editorials

Rosita pool plan must include big picture
Los Altos City Council members had their hands full at last week’s meeting, wrestling with design options for the long-awaited, always-controversial community pool project slated for the end of Rosita Avenue.
The option of a second rectangular pool, 4.5 feet deep, took us by surprise because […]

Letter to the Editor

One less option, but bell ringing continues
One of my greatest joys during the holiday season is ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. It is a wonderful charity that helps many needy people throughout the year.
For a number of years I have stood outside Andronico’s Market in the Rancho Shopping Center. […]

Where the word ‘electricity’ comes from

The word “electricity” comes from the Greek word “elektron,” or amber. In ancient Greece it had been first observed that amber, when rubbed, attracts all articles toward it.

• Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers were all invented by women.

Sharing December moments

What I really love about December are the smiles and happy faces all around us. OK, I don’t enjoy the brisk weather that keeps me from my water aerobics mornings at the Y. I try to overcome this loss by an abundance of energy, wiggling my legs in time to music, doing leg lifts and lunges while my green tea warms in the microwave. Every few minutes help, and I do drink a lot of tea. I went to the pool this week and enjoyed the release of energy and the lively holiday feeling.

December moments have to be treasured; they are over so quickly in this busiest of months. We spent two exciting hours watching Smuin Ballet’s Christmas performance. Those leaps, those charming costumes, first white, then red, those comic moments - all the young, graceful dancers made my heart soar, if not my body.

People

Elisabeth Marie Edelstein

and Roy Carlton Walton

People

Sheryl Wolcott

and Gregory Devitt

Community

The Town Crier Holiday Fund annually disburses donations to area non-profit organizations that benefit those in need. This year, 15 organizations will receive funds. This week, we profile two of these groups, Challenge Learning Center and Bayshore Christian Ministries.

Challenge

Jesuit Retreat director takes circuitous route back to Bay Area

The latest executive director of the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos (JRC), Thomas J. Carroll, S.J., in a sense has just returned home.

Carroll was born in San Francisco in 1950, attended St. Ignatius High School in the city, then the University of San Francisco before entering the Jesuits. He studied at Santa Clara University for two years and taught at Bellarmine College Prep early in his ministry.

The tale of the tape ends happily for Eagles

The video evidence was compelling. It wasn’t just the array of errant shots but also the defensive breakdowns that made the Los Altos High boys basketball team cringe while watching tape of lopsided losses to Gunn and Mills.

“They took it to us, and that got our attention,” said coach James Reilly, whose Eagles were outscored 117-72 over the two recent games at the Burlingame Tournament. “After we watched the video, we practiced hard to correct our mistakes - especially on defense.”

Mtn. View girls take pride in blue badges of courage

When players on the Mountain View High girls basketball team have the blues, it’s a good thing.

The Spartans proudly display the bruises on their knees to show their coach - and each other - that they’ve been diving on the floor for loose balls.

Strong economic growth a matter of interest (rates)

I’m going to talk about interest rates and the Federal Reserve Bank again this week. So if you’re tired of the same old subject and want to pick up the funnies, I will understand.

By now you realize that there are a few key components to the macroeconomic scene, and interest rates is one of them.

Local business improves home spaces

For homeowners left scratching their heads trying to make a space work more efficiently, Valet Organizers Inc. offers a helping hand.

The firm, with a showroom in downtown Los Altos, offers services in space design and custom furniture installation for almost every room in a house.

A Really Happy Holiday

“People have this image of the holidays and try so hard to make everything perfect,” said Wendy Fortino, healthy lifestyles director at the El Camino YMCA in Mountain View. “It can be so easy to get caught up in romantic images of a fantasy holiday where everyone is happy together.”

Instead of harboring visions of a Norman Rockwell Christmas, be realistic in your expectations and don’t try to make this the perfect holiday. Fortino suggested setting simple measures of success, such as “May everyone feel some happiness.”

New treatment offers hope for menorrhagia sufferers

Menorrhagia is an elusive, somewhat cryptic-sounding word for a medical condition that afflicts approximately 10 million women per year in the United States.

It may seem relatively benign, but for women who suffer from excessively heavy menstrual cycles, it’s a serious problem. Teresa Acosta, a Los Altos employee, was one of them.

Look beyond Tahoe for ski venues large and small

Despite enough rain in the Valley to raise skiers’ hopes, the snow season is off to a slow start in the Sierra. Most resorts have enough snow to open a few lifts, but truly ideal skiing conditions may not happen until after Christmas.

For some of the best snowpack in the Sierra, venture off the beaten path, south of Tahoe, to family-friendly resorts such as Kirkwood and Bear Valley. Even farther afield is Mammoth, a picturesque and high-end mountain village on the eastern side of the Sierras.

God’s command to love requires forgiveness

We have seen quite a few articles lately about Rev. Ted Haggard, the pastor involved with a male prostitute and methamphetamine. There are those who find it titillating and there are those who use the scandal to validate their belief that all conservative Christians are hypocrites, even though this incident represents a small minority.

In truth, this is quite a tragic story. We have a man of God who will have to deal with his own hypocrisy and mental acrobatics to justify a dual and duplicitous life. We also have an innocent wife and five innocent children whose lives will be forever disrupted. We must not revel; rather, we must pray for all of them.

Datebook

THEATER

“The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue.” TheatreWorks. West Coast premiere of award-winning playwright David Grimm’s comedy, adapted from Molière’s “Les Femmes Savantes.” 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 31. Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. $20-$56. 903-6000; www.theatreworks.org.