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Volume 50, Number 4, Published on 01/27/1997

News

A fresh voice for residents

Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos outages over weekend

The first one, at 2:41 a.m. Jan. 25, lasted for several minutes, said PG&E spokesman Scott Blakey. The second outage, from 3:58-6:30 a.m., left 1,864 users in the dark. Blakey said a tree caught in a power line along Summerhill Avenue triggered the second outage.

Speaker salutes prison reformer

Dr. Estelle Freedman, architect of feminist studies at Stanford University, lectured about the female reform tradition in modern America and the part Miriam Van Waters contributed to feminism at last week's Morning Forum program in Los Altos.

El Camino Hospital board halts funding for day workers

Fearing legal repercussions, El Camino Hospital District board members agreed last week not to pay the final installment of a grant for a Mountain View job center to help mostly Latino day workers until the center can show it is not supporting undocumented workers.

Los Altos police in seventh month without contract

Because of what he called an "outstanding impasse" in labor negotiations, attorney Alan Davis planned to talk to the city council last night about police officers working seven months without a contract.

Ex-Los Altos officer found guilty of sexually assaulting women

After only three hours of deliberation, a jury last week found a former Los Altos Police officer guilty of all 12 charges he faced, five felonies and seven misdemeanors, stemming from sexually assaulting women while on duty.

Computer thieves raiding local schools

Thieves stealing computers and computer parts have broken into five area schools since Jan. 4 and taken hard drives, modems, memory chips, ether net cards and other computer equipment valued at more than $20,000.

Parents begin suit against nursery school where Stiritz worked

A group of parents has filed a complaint against the Los Altos Parent Preschool where their children were allegedly molested during the 1995-1996 school year.

City 'vision' document looks to future

When 56 residents pictured the ideal Los Altos in 2020, they saw safe neighborhoods, quality education, communication and understanding among community members.

Letters to the Editor

I was encouraged to read about Conrad Heintzelman losing 70 pounds (Town Crier, Jan. 15). I was especially impressed with the fact that he has incorporated serious exercise into his weight loss program. His story will definitely inspire quite a few people to try to lose their own extra weight.

Job center may still be best solution in controversy over loitering day workers

It's been a lingering controversy for years: Aggregations of mostly Latino men, standing along sidewalks at the southeast corner of the San Antonio Road-El Camino Real intersection, presumably looking for work.

The unwritten laws of Los Altos

Other Voices

A tentative welcome to 1997

Reflections

Pages of the Past

As reported in the Feb. 2 1972, issue of the Town Crier, a wooden marker, bearing the initials J.B. had lain in the dirt for three years in the vicinity of Moody Road. It was finally set upright again by the Santa Clara County Department of Public Works as a reminder of the early-day history of Los Altos Hills.

Almanac

Los Altos Senior Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 97 Hillview Ave.

Adopt-a-Home looking for sponsors in Los Altos

Project Match, the recipient of the City of Mountain View 1996 Mayor's Award in human services, provides affordable housing options for seniors.

Los Altos Weather

Great Decisions programs to start next Monday

The Los Altos Mountain View League of Women Voters, The American Association of University Women and the Los Altos Library will present "Great Decisions" programs from 10 a.m. to noon at the Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, in Los Altos. The first program starts next Monday.

Morning Forum of Los Altos announces spring schedule

The Morning Forum of Los Altos has announced its spring program comprising 10 speakers.

Every Christmas tree counts when it comes to Los Altos Kiwanis Club contributions

The Los Altos Kiwanis Club sold 1,200 Christmas trees this past holiday season at the Bank of America parking lot in the Loyola Corners shopping area.

February's Chefs Who Care at new French restaurant

The restaurant will offer a choice of five entrees: Ling cod in teriyaki sauce; sea bass fillets grilled with sake; French steamed boneless, skinless chicken thighs with olive oil; lemon chicken breast, baked in broth with fresh lemon sauce and parmesan cheese; or rib-eye steak with fresh mushroom sauce or black pepper sauce.

Planning commission OKs 76-seat restaurant

Town Crier Staff Wrier

City manager lists LAH goals

Los Altos Hills City Manager Jeff Peterson gave a six-month progress report on town goals at the Jan. 15 council meeting.

Library News

The discussions are sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the library.

Unusual approaches make for exciting art at Los Altos Hills exhibit

Special to the Town Crier

Community Briefs

The California Youth Symphony's percussion ensembles, directed by Kenneth Piacik, will perform a free concert 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Room A41 at Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.

1997 Chamber of Commerce guide distributed this week

The 1997 Chamber of Commerce Community Guide and Membership Directory will be hand-delivered to all 16,000 residents and businesses in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills this week, according to chamber officials.

Chamber honors local leaders at 'banquet'

Town Crier Staff Writer

Special guest speakers at Sister Cities annual meeting

The Los Altos Sister Cities Inc. invites the public to its annual meeting from 7-9 tonight in the Garden House in Shoup Park, 400 University Ave., Los Altos.

P.I.E. to hear insights from LAH author

Kjos will offer goals, vision, ideology and strategy involved in this system. She describes the system as socializing children for a collective society and training children to think as a group, not as an individual.

How to host an exchange student

Each year, thousands of American families welcome YFU students into their homes. Many kinds of families are selected to host YFU students: married couples with or without children and single parents. YFU host families provide room, board, guidance and the experience of what everyday life is like in America.

Los Altos School District finalizes ballot language for new parcel tax measure before voters June 3

Los Altos School District trustees OK'd final wording Monday for a ballot statement asking property owners to approve a $96 parcel tax increase that would put the tax rate at $264 annually. The proposal is set to come before voters June 3.

In Brief

Foothill College presents its annual African-American Heritage Month celebration with a performance by the internationally renowned Dallas Black Dance Theatre at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Robert C. Smithwick Theatre.

St. Joseph School library receives 'book challenge' grant

Officials at the new St. Joseph School library in Mountain View announced they have received a "book challenge" grant donation from a Mountain View couple who will double all other donations the library receives up to the limit of the grant.

Class size reduction plan working in LASD - for now

Special to the Town Crier

Santa Rita says thanks to outgoing principal

Special to the Town Crier

This week in sports

Boys Soccer

Athlete of the Week

This senior guard for the Mountain View High boys basketball team averages 3.4 assists a game and has led the Spartans to a 5-0 start in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division.

Tharp scores TD with PALO Club

Joining Tharp on the 1996 All Mid-Peninsula Football Team from St. Francis were Bryan Beall, Mike Gross, James Lentz, John Powell, Greg Smith and John Tanforan.

Spartans dribble to a 5-0 start in El Camino

Special to the Town Crier

Palo Alto washes out Los Altos, 60-45

A recent fire in the Palo Alto High gym forced the Vikings' boys basketball team to play a "home" game at Los Altos last Wednesday. But the recent heavy rains, plus a leak in the roof of the gym, looked to wash Palo Alto out of Los Altos as well.

Los Altos, St. Francis on the ball

Boys soccer

Hoopsters shooting into top gear

Prep roundup

Owls notch big victories

Guard Krista Knapp scored 25 points and forward Diana Villegas added 15 as Foothill College's women's basketball team cruised to a 71-51 victory over City College of San Francisco last Wednesday.

Montoya is set for the MLS

Montoya, 21, has everything on his side, including a recent fourth-place finish in the NCAA player-of-the-year voting. As a member of the West Coast Conference-winning Santa Clara University team this season, he netted four goals and five assists.

Soccer may be low-scoring, but it's certainly not boring

Each time I leave the Town Crier office to cover a high school soccer match, one of my co-workers sarcastically remarks that the score will probably be 0-0 and that I'll have a boring time. This will never happen, because I'll always find excitement in games that either end scoreless or are 5-0 blowouts.

Sports Shorts

The purpose of the event is to recognize the positive influence of sports participation and the struggle for equality and access for girls and women in sports. Twisters is located at 2639 Terminal Blvd. For more information, call 967-5581.

Mtn. View, Pinewood kicking hard

Girls soccer

How to take the stress out of job changing

This is the second part to an article that ran Jan. 15.

Wall Street comes to Loyola Corners with Edward Jones

One of the nation's largest and strongest investment firms, Edward Jones, has opened an office in Los Altos. A formal ribbon-cutting by the Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Friday, at 1000 Fremont Ave., in the Loyola Corners shopping area.

Real estate forecast may signal several good years ahead

There's plenty of reason to smile these days if you're working for Coldwell Banker in Los Altos.

Transactions

Los Altos

Noteworthies

In order to become a member of the academy, a person must first attain the IIMC Certification CMC designation, attend a minimum of 30 hours of graduate courses at an IIMC recognized municipal clerks institute, or complete similar educational programs relating to the responsibilities of the municipal clerk's office.

Anniversaries

George and Lorraine Pantages of Los Altos recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with an elegant party hosted by their children at The Fisherman Restaurant in Burlingame, one of the couple's favorite spots.

Obituaries

Helen Tucker Conder, a member of several local bridge groups and the Mid-Peninsula Widow and Widowers Association, died Jan. 1 at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View after a long illness. She was 76.

London: A city of the dying in 'The Living'

Special to the Town Crier

Foothill, De Anza College pioneer Arnold Christiansen an early local leader

In the early 1940s, Arnold "Pete" Christiansen was a volunteer from Los Altos who served as a lookout for Japanese planes after the Pearl Harbor bombing. He spent many a midnight to 2 a.m. shift with his long-time friend Jake Nauman. It was the start of a strong commitment to the community where he lived.

Renowned publisher, person, George Pfeiffer III, dead at 82

As a native of Merchantville, N.J., George Pfeiffer III composed a history of his hometown and then took the chronicle and serialized it into a weekly newspaper. That was his first introduction to writing and publishing.

Resident, 105, recalls better life in America

Special to the Town Crier

Gough digs into the '70s for Bus Barn

Theater preview

Spurr gives the lowdown on shopping in France

Special to the Town Crier

New villa rises from earthquake debris:

Special to the Town Crier

Make a 'heart box' for your Valentine

Special to the Town Crier

Planning to remodel? Building expert gives tips

Special to the Town Crier

Home Briefs

Speakers include experts on Feng Shui, the Chinese art of positioning the home and furnishing to ensure good fortune; fix-up projects; and wallpapering. Also on display: more than 400 exhibits of home products, from paving to roofing and everything in between.