Leo Long earns local honors
In the April 30 issue of the Town Crier, you were right to congratulate and thank Dick Henning from Foothill College for four decades of service to the community. I met him at Foothill as student body president more years ago than I’ll admit. Great guy.
However, you evidently went to press too soon to report on another local honoree. On Sunday, April 27, the track at Los Altos High School was named for legendary high school track and field coach Leo Long. Another great guy. And for the old-timers who remember when: among the speakers were Rick Brown and Chris Adams, who led Los Altos to a state title in 1970.
Gary Wesley
Mountain View
Landlords refute tenant’s claim
We must take exception to the Town Crier article, “Acacia C. closes abruptly” (April 9), in which owner Lynda Newlon said she was ordered to move out within 48 hours and claimed this was very unexpected. This is simply not true.
As her landlords for 21 years, we have supported Lynda through several years of economic hardship in her business, to our own substantial financial loss; this cannot be news to her.
We made every attempt to negotiate a fair arrangement with Lynda that would enable us to recoup some of our losses in unpaid rent and allow her to continue operating Acacia C. When that agreement fell through, we had no choice but to move on.
Most people know eviction proceedings take two to three months to process through the courts. On Feb. 29 a court ordered her eviction, and on March 12 she was served papers by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department. This is all on public record.
Lynda came to us and implored that she be allowed to remove her inventory and we sympathetically complied with her request. In a written letter, we gave her five days to remove inventory without interfering with her efforts.
Our decision was not an easy one to make; regrettably, this was a decision Lynda very possibly should have made for herself long ago.
Bruno Marcel Gulati
Ida Gulati
Los Altos
Reunited with our cockatiel
We were so happy to get a phone call recently that reunited us with our cockatiel, who had flown away two weeks earlier. We greatly appreciate the kindness of Los Altos residents Terra DeHart and Elizabeth Chienhale and the caring workers at Petsmart on Charleston Road, all of whom helped us find our lost bird. We also thank Parrot911 for helping our bird find her way back home.
Earth Day event a success
I would like to thank everyone who helped make the recent 2008 Earth Day Celebration at Westwind Barn such a smashing success.
This year’s crowd was estimated at between 500 and 600 people. The weather did its part in providing a beautiful day, and families turned out as never before.
Nearly 30 groups participated with exhibits and demonstrations, and many more individuals provided volunteer support at the event. We hope you all agree that it was well worth the effort, as it was a great opportunity for both adults and children to learn about being better environmental citizens.
Thanks again to everyone for helping make this year’s Earth Day such a successful community event.
Roger Spreen
Chairman, LAH Open Space Committee
Weeding out native plant myths
I’ve been following the conversation about California native plants in the Town Crier with a mixture of astonishment and amusement. The latest letter by Pam Walatka, while informative in some respects, essentially promotes the same misconceptions as the original article, that “California natives are hard to keep alive and often look like a brown weedy mess by July.” I hope you will allow me to refute both myths.
1. California native plants are easy to grow and care for, provided you meet their needs and not treat them like East Coast/Northern European plants.
Some of our most beautiful native plants (oaks, sages, buckwheats, etc.) are averse to summer water. Many other plants are not. Informed gardeners know that each plant is different, and know to care for each appropriately.
2. A well-designed garden contains a mix of annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines and trees. Native annual wildflowers set seed and die by July; if you grow them, you need to cut down the dry stalks and shake well to scatter the seeds for next year. This is the only maintenance native annuals require: they will come back on their own next year.
California poppies bloom in the garden all year long with the help of a simple trick known to all native gardeners: cut them to the ground whenever they turn pasty, and water them lightly (about once a month). The root will resprout and flower again and again.
By choosing a variety of native plants appropriate to your site, you can have an attractive, organic, water-conserving, pest- and pesticide-free garden that has something in bloom 10 months of the year. Besides looking nice, it will provide sustenance to butterflies, bees, insects and birds, and endless enjoyment to you.
Arvind Kumar
San Jose
