Horses at heart

The future is becoming clearer for Westwind Barn, the hilltop landmark at Los Altos Hills’ heart. The town and Friends of Westwind Barn approved a new management agreement last month, staving off the city council’s threats of a lease-breaking lawsuit. In the power-sharing agreement between the two entities, Friends will continue to operate the barn with increased involvement from nonhorse-owning residents.

This year marks the 30th anniversary for Friends of Westwind, the non-profit social group that manages the barn.

New building proposed for former Bank of the West site on Third Street

The former Bank of the West building, 240 Third St. in downtown Los Altos, has been left empty and untouched since the bank vacated the site several years ago and moved its operation to 176 Main St.

Now, an ambitious proposal to construct a three-story building, replete with retail, office and housing space, will likely spur city officials to rethink the bulk and overall size of buildings downtown and set a precedent for how officials redevelop older buildings.

LAH looks to future with development survey

Los Altos Hills residents expressed a preference for the status quo in a development poll the city council commissioned this spring. The poll, conducted by Godbe Research in April, explored the permutations of how large a house is acceptable on a parcel of land in the Hills.

“There is a lot of support in town for continuing things as they are with respect to development issues,” City Councilman Jean Mordo reported at the last council meeting.

Los Altos family mired in legal battle with airline

A Los Altos family’s tragedy has taken a bizarre and stressful turn in their legal battle with American Airlines.

Kathy Williams, 54, an international banker, was killed Nov. 12, 2001, in the American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Belle Harbor, N.Y. All 260 people aboard the flight and five people on the ground died in one of the largest aviation crashes to date. The airline has six cases yet to settle with victims’ families, including the case with Williams’ family.

Police Blotter

Trespassing

April 26, 1:38 p.m., 200 block of Almond Avenue: Two nonstudents were admonished and removed from the high school campus.

Commercial burglary

April 27, 2:18 p.m., 900 block of N. San Antonio Road: A masked subject entered the AM/PM store, brandished a handgun at the cashier and ran off with an […]

CHASE program educates teens about drug abuse

Mountain View High student Chase Rogers, like many of his peers, had diverse interests ranging from collecting war memorabilia to acting in school plays and watching baseball.

His life was cut short Dec. 6 when he overdosed on cocaine and was found dead lying facedown on a playground. In the wake of his death, the Rogers family can now see the seeds of the CHASE (Community Hope and Sober Events) program impact and motivate local teens to withstand the dangers posed by alcohol and drugs.

PARC members soliciting feedback on dog park

After years of sporadic discussion about the possibility of opening a dog park in Los Altos, members of the Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission are seriously considering sites and have sent out a survey to gauge residents’ interest.

Current city ordinance prohibits owners from having their dogs off leash, a rule that many continually defy.

Letters to the Editor

Boundary link to Bullis Charter

Mark Goines deserves credit for being the only LASD board member who voted against keeping Bullis Charter School (BCS) in temporary portables at Egan. It is time to acknowledge there is a link between the current boundary issues and the question of where to locate BCS.

Siblings

When my older sister was about 10, she liked to pick up the harmless garter snakes that slithered around our rural Wisconsin backyard in the summer. One time, instead of letting it go, she thought it would be funny to stuff the snake down my pants. Since I was terrified of snakes, I screamed. This added to her glee, I’m sure.

Oddly enough, she has been afraid of snakes ever since. When we reminisced about this episode recently, she said, “The snake didn’t bite you in the butt, but I think karma bit mine.” Since that little act of sibling spite, she has stepped on not one, but two snake nests teeming with dozens of squirming reptiles. She’s had snakes appear by her head while lounging in her yard and once found one swimming beside her in a pool. My sister has more snake tales than Indiana Jones.

Obituary Notices

HILDA GUSTAFSON EATON

Hilda Gustafson Eaton, a resident of Los Altos for 49 years, descendant of Ellis Island immigrants from Sweden, an active community member, an avid bridge player, and beloved mother of four with six devoted grandchildren, quietly passed away peacefully on April 20, 2007 at the age of 89. She was […]

Challenge Team to honor MV-LA administrator Sarraf

The Mountain View-Los Altos Challenge Team has scheduled its 20th annual Champions for Youth Breakfast Thursday morning at Michaels at Shoreline in Mountain View. This year’s guest of honor is Brigitte Sarraf, associate superintendent for educational services for the Mountain View/Los Altos Union High School District.

Sarraf has worked in the district for 37 years, 17 years teaching or serving as principal or vice principal. She has been the associate superintendent for educational services since 1994.

Portraits of poverty

When Los Altos High School student Sarah Birrell had to select an activity for her senior class project, she knew she wanted to draw attention to the plight of impoverished children around the world and the ineffectiveness of economic aid. Birrell didn’t have to search very far to find a way to demonstrate her theme.

A senior interested in international economics, the 17-year-old has traveled to China, Italy, France, the Dominican Republic and Japan. She uses her photographic talent to illustrate the lives of the poor who are surrounded by the riches of a country. Among her collection of photos, Birrell easily found the faces of poverty that would demonstrate her point.

Silicon Valley artists open studios this weekend

Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View artists are showing off their art this weekend as part of the annual Silicon Valley Open Studios, a program of the non-profit Silicon Valley Visual Arts.

The local artists are among more than 300 artists throughout the Peninsula and Santa Clara County who will open their studios to the public. Visitors can meet the artists, view their latest works, converse with them about their works and purchase art directly from the artists. Artists in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale will have their studios open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

LA resident receives Junior League award

Los Altos resident Mary Sanbrook received the Crystal Bowl Award for outstanding volunteer at the Junior League of San Jose’s annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon April 27.

Sanbrook, nominated by Trish Bubenik, executive director of the Palo Alto Area Chapter, American Red Cross, was among 16 recipients of the award. Sanbrook’s mother, Fran Theiss, was also honored with a certificate for her volunteer service. Theiss donates an average of 20 hours per week to Vision Literacy as a tutor at the Santa Clara County Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas.

LASD teachers step up as interim principals

Sixth-grade teachers Joe McCreary and Lynn Boskie have accepted positions as interim principals at Almond and Loyola schools next year.

McCreary, currently teaching at Covington School, said he is looking forward to getting to know the community at Almond next year. He replaces Jeff Baier, named district assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Schools article

Loyola K-Kids surpass
eyeglass collection goal

The Loyola Elementary School K-Kids Club, sponsored by the Los Altos Kiwanis Club, have set a club record by collecting more than 1,000 pairs of glasses during its third annual “Share Old Spectacles” drive.
The K-Kids Club, second- through sixth-graders, collected 1,060 pairs of glasses with the help […]

Camp Galileo’s approach to science inspires local students

The year: 2017. The crisis: A magnitude 8.4 earthquake has damaged bridges around San Francisco Bay. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Create models of bridges to replace those damaged in the earthquake, and test them on an earthquake shake table.

What at first glance might seem like a college engineering project is in fact a group challenge that children will tackle this summer at Camp Galileo, an Oakland-based program run by Galileo Educational Services. The company has 15 sites around the Bay Area, including a location in Los Altos, and employs a hands-on approach to science and engineering.

Los Altos students shadow Santa Clara County supervisor Liz Kniss

It’s not every day that sons and daughters get the opportunity to ditch school and go to work with their parents. But when the annual “Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day” approached in April, Girls’ Middle School students Emma Winer and Emily Geiger had been there, done that.

“My mom said, ‘You’ve been with your dad before,’” Winer said. “‘It will just be boring.’”

Bullis Charter School students perform ‘The Wizard of Oz’

The drama department at Bullis Charter School in Los Altos is scheduled to present “The Wizard of Oz,” featuring students in kindergarten through fourth grades. The community is invited to attend.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. May 16-19. Tickets are $6. The charter school is located at 102 W. Portola Ave.

LAHS Talon editor named 2007 Presidential Scholar

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the selection of Scott A. Levin-Gesundheit of Los Altos, who attends Los Altos High School, as a 2007 Presidential Scholar.

Levin-Gesundheit is one of 141 outstanding American high school seniors who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship and service at school and in their communities. A special program scheduled June 23-27 in Washington, D.C., will recognize the scholars’ accomplishments.

LAEF meets goal for 2006-2007 school year

The Los Altos Educational Foundation has raised $1.55 million, its financial commitment to the Los Altos School District for the 2006-2007 school year.

Allocation of the funds enables the district to support teachers and aides to maintain smaller class sizes and enrichment programs such as technology, science, art, music and physical education for children in grades K-8.

A sweep of the Spartans

Sometimes it takes the right words at the right time to get a team going.

Los Altos High baseball coach Sandy Wihtol apparently found such words as his Eagles came in from the field trailing Mountain View 5-0 in the third inning last week.

Eagles advance in tennis playoffs

There were few surprises in Friday’s boys tennis playoff match between Los Altos High and Harker Academy. The sixth-seeded Eagles handled unseeded Harker 5-2 in the second round of the Central Coast Section team tournament.

“It went as I expected,” said Los Altos coach Cuong Duong, whose team drew a bye in the first round.

Los Altos will have third volleyball coach in as many years

The recent departure of Christine Matteucci leaves Los Altos High in search of a girls volleyball coach for the second year in a row.

Unlike Dave Winn, who was not asked back after the 2005 fall season, Los Altos High athletic director Kim Cave said Matteucci wasn’t able to return.

Taking the bull by the horns

There aren’t too many people who can retire at age 41 and live the rest of their lives in Los Altos. But that’s exactly what Los Altos resident Kirk Lindstrom did nine years ago when he left the high-tech world to become the new Charles Schwab for investor wannabes.

“What he (Schwab) did for the investment companies, I’d like to do for the individual,” Lindstrom said.

Social Security: Borrow now, pay later

A recent survey found that only 17 percent of respondents could name three U.S. Supreme Court justices, but a whopping 67 percent could name the Three Stooges - Larry, Curly and Moe. You’ve got to love that Moe. He could batter those guys mercilessly and somehow get away with it. The survey found that 28 percent of respondents think Social Security will be there for them in their golden years, and 46 percent believe in UFOs.

The trustees of the Social Security system recently published a report that claimed the fund was in trouble. Now there is an eye-opener. Who would have thought it?

Tips on how to balance home and business

Finding the delicate balance between work and a home life can be challenging. Following are tips to restore your equilibrium.

• Do volunteer work on the side. This may sound preposterous, but Alison Davis, managing partner at Belvedere Capital and mother of five, insists that her volunteer work has provided a sounding board for ideas and a network for opportunities.