Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Volume ı ı2 Number ı | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 5B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifi eds a 2C

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

| 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

Volume ı ı2 Number ı | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

DREAM MACHINES DELIVERCALLED TO ACTION

COASTSIDE STATE PARKS

REOPENSCATTERED PARKS

RESTORED FOR PEAK CAMPING

SEASONBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Coastside state parks will go all out for camping season on Saturday.

Stymied for months by bud-get cutbacks, California State Parks is reopening all camp-grounds, hiking trails and oth-er services to visitors for the peak outdoor season. Parks of-fi cials promise “99.9 percent” of state parks will be open for summer, when about three

times as many visitors are ex-pected to head out camping and hiking.

Locally, that means popu-lar state parks such as Butano, Cowell Ranch and Burleigh H. Murray that experienced clo-sures or partial reductions are set to be fully reopened by the end of this week.

State Parks District Super-intendent Paul Keel said there weren’t many problems associ-ated with the closure, especial-ly given that many Coastside parks had never been shut-tered before.

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen … with parks these large, how exactly do you close it?” he said. “We thought

[ h i g h s c h o o l ]

Half Moon Bay High School spirit undergoes renaissance

AWARDS PROGRAM TAKES ROOT AT HIGH SCHOOL

By Mark Naock[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

On Friday, the entire student body of Half Moon Bay High School crowded onto the bleachers of the school gymnasium to watch an awards show.

The roar of the hundreds of students was overwhelming, and teachers pleaded with the mass of teenagers to stay quiet. The stu-dents, more than a little excited about not being in fourth period class, reluctantly agreed.

The assembly wasn’t about recognizing students with the top grades or batting averages, but rather the friendliest, the most help-ful, the most energetic, those that try the hardest. The “Outstanding Cougar” awards were part of a new program that school offi cials and student leaders hope will revolutionize the school, and doing that required a high-school renaissance.

School leaders are promoting the new school “Renaissance” pro-gram to rejuvenate school spirit and give more students a stake in the school.

“The whole purpose is to recognize students and faculty who nor-

Lars Howlett / Review

During an assembly on Friday, Half Moon Bay High School students recognized teachers for going beyond the call of duty.

Lars Howlett / Review

California State Parks is opening many facilities in time for the busy summer season – including Butano State Park on the South Coast.

Butano State Park is set to reopen

County may toss eco-unfriendly food containers

By Lily Bixler[ lily@hmbreview.com ]

Squeezed next to oversized cans of tomatoes in the stock room at Mercado & Taqueria de Amigos are two stacks of foam to-go containers. Once the restaurant uses up the re-maining inventory in about two weeks, owner Norman Contreras will replace the plas-tic with compostable contain-ers.

“We aren’t all the way there yet, but we’re trying to slowly make the change,” Contreras said, adding that the switch will cost his Pescadero restau-rant $300 per month, or 20 percent more than it spends

now on the containers.About two months ago, San

Mateo County sent Contreras a letter that mentioned a poten-tial ban on polystyrene — the non-degradable petroleum-based material commonly known as Styrofoam — and suggested that his business make the switch.

The county is attempting to roll out an ordinance to ban more than 200 businesses in the unincorporated county from using nonrecyclable food ware by Jan. 1, 2011. Straws and lids wouldn’t be included in the ban.

At an Environmental Qual-ity Committee meeting on

[ e n v i r o n m e n t ][ p r i n c e t o n ]

200 BUSINESSES IN UNINCORPORATED AREAS COULD BE AFFECTED

See POLYSTYRENE a 7A

American Legion Post 474 puts ‘very unusual’ house up for sale

CLUBHOUSE PLANS STALL, HOUSE

ON MARKETBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Not every real estate listing describes a home for sale as “very unusual.”

But those might be the best words to illustrate a particularly interesting house in Princeton.

The building looks fairly normal from the outside — a two-story house on Cal-ifornia Avenue covered in drab wooden shingles.

But the design of the home is pret-ty odd. The residence has only one bed-room — but four bathrooms. Also, un-like the other homes on the block, this house has a three-story tower that no one can fully explain. Some believe the red-wood water tower was used to store whis-key barrels during the Prohibition era. But now, the top fl oors of the tower are packed with boxes.

Lars Howlett / Review

This building in Princeton was once to be the new home of American Legion Post 474. Now it is being sold.See LEGION a 7A

See PARKS a 7A

Students reach for STAR this weekTeachers, students and administrators all groan

when the annual time for STAR exams rolls around. STAR, the Standardized Testing and Reporting

exam, is a series of lengthy multiple choice tests on math, language, social studies and some science for students in grades 2 through 11. As part of the fed-eral education mandates, school funding is partially tied to how well they do on the rigid testing system.

So this week, school faculty is trying to get their students revved up to do the best they can.

Just to get students ready for the test, Half Moon Bay High School offered students free breakfast on Tuesday. If students do well, they can receive a boost in their grades or other perks, such as an ice cream party.

“If they’re meeting the standards, we want to congratulate them,” said Assistant Principal Alli-son Silvestri. “It’s giving them a buy-in to do well on this test.”

— Mark NoackSee HIGH SCHOOL a 7A

HMB woman signs on with Peace Corps in Peru > 6A

Beautiful day greets huge crowd at airport > 8A