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Published on 12/14/1998 All articles from this issue

News Briefs

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Worker center receives grant

The St. Joseph the Worker Center received a $60,000 grant from Community Foundation Silicon Valley. The funds will help the center, which serves day laborers who congregate on El Camino Real, with job development, training and placement.

The center, located on El Camino Real and Jordan Avenue in Los Altos, offers courses in computers and English as well as support groups for women, and health information and referrals to jobs.

Currently, a two-city task force, with members from Mountain View and Los Altos, has been meeting to consider solutions to the problems resulting from large numbers of day workers on the streets.

The present site needs more room, supporters say. Many cities fund day-worker centers. Some have suggested city funding as a possibility for the St. Joseph Center. The task force will be bringing recommendations to the two city councils sometime in January or February.

Councilman donates salary to city

Los Altos City Councilman Francis La Poll donated his council salary to the city for the third year in a row.

Ever since he was elected in 1995, he has been donating his council salary, of $3,600, to the city.

The donation is not designated for a specific purpose. Previous donations have been placed in a special "seed capital" account to encourage other donations for future park development, said Dave Standridge, accounting supervisor.

Smith named sheriff early

Due to the early retirement of Sheriff Charles P. Gillingham, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors appointed newly elected Sheriff Laurie Smith last week to serve out the remainder of Gillingham's term.

Smith's Dec. 15 appointment made her the first woman in California history to become a sheriff. She begins her own term Jan. 4.

Smith beat challenger Ruben Diaz in the Nov. 3 election.

- Joanne Griffith Domingue