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Published on 01/11/1999 All articles from this issue

News Briefs

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Felony car stop nets a glitch

Officer Matt Hartley's sharp eyes noticed that the registration on the U-Haul truck that rolled past him had expired.

When the Los Altos motorcycle police officer "ran the plates" about noon on Jan. 6, they came up as reported stolen by the San Francisco Police Department. A stolen car is an automatic felony car stop with officers pulling the driver over at gunpoint.

Hartley and his partner Paul Arguelles called for backup. But the other Los Altos officers were in the middle of a welfare check at a local residence. They had a locked front door half off its hinges, trying to get inside, so couldn't leave.

Mountain View sent an officer. Together they pulled over the truck at Sherwood Lane and San Antonio Road.

"You're on your little motorcycle and here are these 300 pound guys," Hartley said.

Turns out, U-Haul had recovered the stolen truck and "rented it out again and didn't take it out of the computer," police said.

So here's these guys, "driving merrily along, stopped at gunpoint," police said.

The two 17-year-olds, who were driving the truck, had rented it the day before for cash and were on their way back to Redwood City to turn it in.

Police did not give them a ticket. And they said they hoped U-Haul wouldn't charge the teens for the truck.

Day worker task force holds last meeting

The next meeting of the two-city task force that is considering day worker issues is at 7 p.m. tonight, in the Mountain View Civic Center.

Layne Long, assistant to the city manager in Los Altos, said this will probably be the last meeting of the joint Mountain View-Los Altos committee. Recommendations will be coming back to the Los Altos City Council, he said.

The task force began in the fall in response to resident concerns about day laborers, mostly Hispanic men, hanging out on street corners along El Camino Real.

Search continues for finance director

The search for a new director of finance for the city of Los Altos continues long past its announced completion date.

The search is "ongoing," said Layne Long. "We have not yet made a choice."

The person will be filling the job left vacant by the sudden death of Sherry Lambach last summer.

Four-way stop approved in LAH

The Los Altos Hills City Council approved last week the installation of a four-way stop at the intersection of Altamont and Taaffe roads and Byrne Park Lane.

Area neighbors requested the creation of a four-way stop intersection after several near-miss traffic incidents occurred there because of poor visibility.

- Town Crier Staff Report