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Published on 03/02/1998 All articles from this issue

Harassment continues on Fallen Leaf Lane

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Town Crier Staff Report

Claudia Montalbam watched the big white Explorer, the Eddie Bauer model with gold trim, stop in front of her home on Fallen Leaf Lane in southern Los Altos.

Out hopped two to three teens. As Montalbam looked on in horror, the kids began ripping the sprinklers up out of her yard. One rang the doorbell.

"Then he bolted and took off to the waiting car," she said.

Her call to the police came at 4:12 that March 3 afternoon.

This is the first harassment incident at the Montalbam home since a pipe bomb blew up their mailbox on New Year's Eve, she said. She and her husband felt the pipe bomb was intimidation and retaliation for their efforts to calm the traffic in front of their house.

She admits they may be known in the neighborhood for their yelling and gestures at motorists to "slow down."

This recent incident, "It could be random or it could be connected," Montalbam said. "It could be someone we've yelled at to slow down.

"If we shut up and didn't say anything, we'd probably be safer. We talked about it as a family," she said.

The Montalbams have three small children.

"But we have not stopped. Our presence is still out there."

Now Montalbam said she is more likely to gesture at a mom in a van to slow down.

"I'm more frightened to do it to a young person," she said.

One visitor in the neighborhood tells of a time she was chased home by Montalbam's husband when he thought she speeded. Montalbam said they don't do that any more.

Montalbam has joined the city's traffic-calming task force. "I'm hoping to see some of these issues addressed," she said.