w w w . P a l o A l t o O n l i n e . c o m

Consultants urge fire-station merger

Page 3

Spectrum 10 Eating Out 24 ShopTalk 25 Movies 27 Title Pages 29 Puzzles 49

Palo Alto

Arts Exhibit shows the Duvenecks’ lasting legacy Page 21

Sports Women’s tennis streak will be tested Page 31

Home Just where are Greendell, Walnut Grove? Page 37

Fading BordersNeighboring cities

eye regional servicesPage 16

For a complete list of classes and class fees, lectures and health education resources, visit: pamf.org.

Community Health Education Programs

Palo Alto Center, 795 El Camino Real

Bariatric

650-281-8908

Cancer

650-342-3749

CPAP

650-853-4729

Diabetes

650-224-7872

Drug and Alcohol

650-853-2904

Healing Imagery

for Cancer Patients

650-799-5512

Kidney

650-323-2225

Multiple Sclerosis

650-328-0179

Support Groups

Adult Weight Management Group

Thursdays, 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Bariatric Orientation

Every second Tuesday of the month,

4 to 6 p.m.

Bariatric Pre-Op

Every second Tuesday of the month,

2 to 4:30 p.m.

Bariatric Shared Medical Appointment

Every first Tuesday of the month,

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Healthy eating. Active lifestyles.

Orientation, Tuesday, Feb. 15, class starts

on Tuesday, Mar. 8, 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Healthy Eating

Type 2 Diabetes

Third Wednesday

of every other

month,

5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Heart Smart Class

Tuesdays, Feb, 15 & 22, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Living Well with Diabetes

Tuesdays, 4:30 to 7 p.m.; Fridays,

9:30 a.m. to noon.

Living Well with Prediabetes

First Monday of the month,

9 to 11 a.m., and third Wednesday of

every other month, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Every other fourth Wednesday of the

month, Redwood Shores Health Center,

290 Redwood Shores Pkwy., Redwood

City

New Weigh of Life

Thursdays, Feb. 3, 2 to 3:15 p.m., Red-

wood City Center, 805 Veterans Blvd.,

Suite 201, Redwood City

Sweet Success Program

(Gestational Diabetes)

Wednesdays, 2 to 4 p.m

Nutrition and Diabetes Classes 650-853-2961

Pregnancy, Breastfeeding & Child Care ClassesBreastfeeding – Secrets for Success

Thursday, Feb. 24, 7 to 9 p.m.

New Parent

ABC’s –

All About

Baby Care

Mondays,

Feb. 14 & 28,

7 to 9 p.m.

PAMF Partners in Parenting

Monday, Feb. 7, 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Preparing for Birth/Fast Track

Three-session class starting Wednesday,

Feb. 2, 7 to 9 p.m.

Prenatal Yoga

First Thursday of every month,

6:30 to 7:45 p.m.

Your Baby’s Doctor

Thursday, Feb. 17, 7 to 9 p.m.

For all, register online or call

650-853-2960.

Mountain View Center, 701 E. El Camino Real

HICAP Counseling; Advance Health Care Directive Counseling;

General Social Services (visits with our social worker)

Free Appointments 650-934-7373

Pregnancy, Breastfeeding and Child Care ClassesBaby Safety

Basics

Thursday, Feb. 10,

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Breastfeeding

Your Newborn

Monday and Tues-

day, Feb. 7 & 8 and

Mar. 7 & 8, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Childbirth Preparation

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Feb. 3, 4,

5, Mar. 3 & 4, 6 to 9 p.m. (Thursday &

Friday), 9 a.m. to noon (Saturday)

Feeding Your Young Child

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 7 to 9 p.m.

Infant Care

Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,

Feb. 23, 26 & Mar. 1, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

(weekdays), 10 a.m. to noon (Saturdays)

Infant Emergencies and CPR

Wednesday, Feb. 16, Mar. 2 & 16,

6 to 8:30 p.m.

OB Orientation

Wednesday or Thursday, Feb. 9, 17 & 23,

6:30 to 8 p.m.

What to Expect with Your Newborn

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 7 to 8 p.m.

For all, register online or call

650-934-7373.

Bariatric Surgery Orientation Session

Third Tuesday of every month,

4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Diabetes Management

Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays,

dates vary by referrals and registrations,

1:30 to 5:30 p.m. (Monday & Wednesday,

or 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Tuesday)

Healthy eating. Active lifestyles.

Thursdays, 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Heart Smart Class

Mondays or Tuesdays, dates vary by

referrals and registrations,

2:30 to 6 p.m.

Living Well with Prediabetes

Tuesdays or Thursdays, dates vary by

referrals and registrations,

1:30 to 5 p.m.

New Weigh of Life

Mondays, 6 to 7:15 p.m.

Sweet Success

Gestational Diabetes Class

Wednesdays, dates vary by referrals and

registrations, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Nutrition and Diabetes Classes 650-934-7177

Free orientation session. Tuesdays, noon to 1:30 p.m., and

Thursdays, 5 to 6:30 p.m.

HMR Weight Management Program 650-404-8260

The Obesity Epidemic

For Your Health Lecture SeriesPresented by Lynn Bennion, M.D.,

PAMF Weight Management,

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 7 to 8 p.m.

Third Floor Conference Center

Lecture and Workshops 650-934-7373

AWAKE Bariatric Surgery Breastfeeding Chronic Fatigue

Support Groups 650-934-7373

Lecture and Workshops

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Nine-session program, Mondays starting

on Feb. 7, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Living Well Classes 650-934-7373

Getting Back in Rhythm: New Treat-

ments for Atrial Fibrillation

Presented by Shaun Cho, M.D.,

PAMF Cardiology

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 7 to 8:30 p.m.,

Hearst Center for Health Education,

Level 3, 650-853-4873

Hypertension, Salt

and Chronic Kidney Disease

Health Lecture SeriesPresented by Toby Gottheiner, M.D.,

PAMF Nephrology

Monday, Feb. 28, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

San Carlos Library, 650-591-0341 x237

Thursday, Feb. 10, 4 to 6 p.m.

Post-Stroke Caregiver’s Workshop 650-565-8485

Page 2

T he Palo Alto Fire Department should merge its Hanover Street and Arastradero Road

fire stations, reorganize top man-agement and end the “minimum staffing” requirement in the fire-union contract, outside consultants are recommending in a new study.

The 190-page report, which the City Council will discuss Monday night, characterizes the city’s Fire Department as one that provides top-notch emergency services but has major organizational deficien-cies, particularly in areas such as fire prevention and training.

The study was conducted by ICMA, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes “best prac-tices” in local governance, in part-nership with TriData, a division of System Planning Corp., a Northern Virginia research and electronics company.

“The PAFD provides excellent service when responding to emer-gencies,” the consultants concluded. “However, the PAFD, once consid-ered a ‘best example’ fire orga-

nization, has become a stagnant organization and management is struggling, due in part to insuffi-cient support staff.”

Using data analysis and face-to-face interviews, the consultants evaluated fire-department response times; fire and emergency medical services (EMS) workloads; services and agreements with Stanford Uni-versity; fire station and staffing lo-cations and the use of overtime and auxiliary personnel.

The report includes 48 recom-mendations, including a new organi-zational structure in which a “public safety director” oversees both the police and fire operations; a single location for the Fire Department’s senior staff to operate in; merging of Station 2 and Station 5 into a new station near the intersection of Aras-tradero Road and Hillview Avenue; and staffing Station 8 in the foothills

UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

Sketch by Vicki Ellen Behringer

Report also recommends new ‘public safety director’ position, scrapping Station 8 staffing and regionalizing training

by Gennady Sheyner and Chris Kenrick

B ulos “Paul” Zumot, the Palo Alto man facing murder and arson charges, took the

stand in his own defense Wednes-day afternoon and, fighting back tears, testified that he loved Jen-nifer Schipsi and was not respon-sible for her death.

Zumot, who was arrested Oct. 19, 2009, became emotional as he recalled his relationship with Schipsi, a 29-year-old real-estate agent whose body was found four days before the arrest. Police be-

lieve Zumot had strangled Schipsi and then burned down their Ad-dison Avenue cottage to hide the crime.

Earlier in his San Jose trial, the prosecution pointed to the history of domestic violence between Zu-mot and Schipsi and witnesses testified about an argument the couple had on Oct. 14, 2009, just after Zumot’s birthday party. Po-lice believe Zumot killed Schipsi the following day.

Zumot, 37, began his testimony

by telling the jury he was inno-cent.

“I did not kill Jennifer Schipsi,” Zumot said, when asked by de-fense attorney Tina Glandian why he agreed to take the stand. “I did not burn the house.

“There are a lot of things that need to be answered that we haven’t covered yet.”

Zumot said he met Schipsi in 2007 when both exercised at a San Jose gym. They became friends and then started dating, Zumot

testified.“I fell in love with her,” he said.

“I still love her.“We loved each other. We had

our problems, and we had our ups and downs like everyone else.”

Zumot said he and Schipsi got into their first serious argument on Feb. 7, 2008, at which time he said he kicked her car, causing dam-age to the side. But one week later, they were back together. Glandian

Zumot breaks down on stand: ‘I still love her’Palo Alto man recalls arguments with girlfriend Jennifer Schipsi but says he did not kill her or set fire to their cottage

by Gennady Sheyner

Caltrain: ‘The crisis is

at hand’Board could declare fiscal emergency at or following March 3 public meeting

by Sue Dremann

T he board that oversees Cal-train is calling for a public hearing on March 3 to declare

a fiscal emergency and to consider cutting service and closing stations, a move that would turn the West’s second-oldest passenger line into a daytime commuter train that would operate only during peak business hours.

Rail proponents and commut-ers urged the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board on Thursday to stay the hearings and consider a variety of possible interim funding options, including taking $5.5 mil-lion earmarked for the Dumbarton Rail project and getting two other transit agencies in Santa Clara and San Francisco counties to help make up the $30 million shortfall. But board members decided to move ahead with plans to reduce service, citing the need for a wider public discourse on the future of the rail line.

Thursday’s unanimous vote push-es forward a key component of the draconian cuts: a board vote on or shortly after the March 3 meeting to declare the fiscal emergency. An emergency declaration would al-low officials to make the cuts with-out need for longer-term analysis through the California Environ-mental Quality Act (CEQA) regard-ing impacts, board members said.

Caltrain proposes to cut weekday trains from 86 to 48 to run during commute hours only, along with any necessary adjustments to shuttle-bus services. All weekend, night, holiday and special-event service would be eliminated. Up to seven of 10 stations could be closed be-

Bulos ‘Paul’ Zumot breaks down as he testifies in his own defense Wednesday, Feb. 2, in San Jose.

TRANSPORTATION

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Merge Palo Alto fire stations, consultants say

(continued on page 9)

(continued on page 9)(continued on page 7)

1ST PLACEBEST LOCAL NEWS COVERAGECalifornia Newspaper Publishers Association

Page 3

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Around Town

‘‘‘‘

FOND FAREWELL ... Full dis-closure: Jay Thorwaldson had spent the last 10 years of his five-decades-long journalism career at the Weekly before he retired last week. On Monday night, the City Council sent a clear message that Thorwald-son’s departure will be felt not only in the Weekly’s newsroom but also in the community at large. Mayor Sid Espinosa read aloud a special proclamation, listing some of Thorwaldson’s most notable achievements, including a five-part investiga-tive series in 1971 that led to the creation of the Palo Alto Fire Department’s paramedic unit; a 1970 editorial that resulted in the creation of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District; and the Family LifeSkills pro-gram he set up at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which focused on communication be-tween parents and teenagers. The official proclamation also states that Thorwaldson “knows the AP Style Book backwards and forwards and can recite every page by memory” and has “made unforgettable contribu-tions to Palo Alto and to the en-tire Bay Area.” Councilman Larry Klein praised Thorwaldson for his ability to advocate for issues he is passionate about, includ-ing his support for the open-space district in 1970 (Klein was part of that effort). At the time, Thorwaldson was a young writer at the Palo Alto Times, and he had to convince his editor to run the editorial. “Jay is not just a critic — he’s one who uses his journalistic soapbox to make this place and other places a better place to live,” Klein said.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? ... After wrestling with California’s high-speed-rail project for two years, Palo Alto officials now face a more pressing problem: keep-ing Caltrain alive. On Thursday morning, a City Council com-mittee recognized this change in priorities and offered to change its own name. If the full council agrees, the council High-Speed Rail Committee would be rechristened as the Rail Committee. The committee considered other alternatives, including the High-Speed Rail/

Caltrain Committee — a mouth-ful of a proposal that ultimately faltered. The new name is meant to signify a “changed strategy” for the committee now that the high-speed-rail project is slated to start in Central Valley. The project has galvanized the Palo Alto community and the council, which last year joined a lawsuit against the California High-Speed Rail Authority. By contrast, the council is deeply concerned about Caltrain, which is facing steep budget shortfalls and service reductions. “Why don’t we divorce high-speed rail?” committee Chair Larry Klein asked as the meeting concluded. “Or get a pre-nup,” Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd quipped.

VET GETS THE GOLD ... U.S. Army Combat Medic Stephen Evans, who grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Los Altos High School, was severely wounded a year ago in Iraq, when the truck he was riding in was attacked. Evans suffered a broken skull, jaw, leg and eye socket, along with a traumatic brain injury, severe burns and lacerations. But Evans didn’t let his considerable injuries get him down for long. After months of rehabilitation, Evans was se-lected to compete in canoeing in the para-athlete division (for athletes with physical disabilities) of the Slalom Pan American Championships held in Mexico in January. He not only partici-pated but paddled away with the gold medal. “He’s come a long way since he was on life support,” proud father and Palo Alto resident Henry Evans said.

TOUR OF TRIUMPH ... Base-ball fans all over the Peninsula cheered last fall, when the San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers and claimed the 2010 World Series Trophy. On Feb. 15, baseball’s greatest prize will make an appearance in East Palo Alto, where fans will have an opportunity to see and take photos of it. The trophy will be displayed between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. at the city’s newly re-modeled Youth Activity Center, 550 Bell St.

I did not kill Jennifer Schipsi.

— Bulos ‘Paul’ Zumot, who testified in his own defense Wednesday during his murder-and-arson trial. See story on page 3.

PUBLISHER William S. Johnson

EDITORIAL Jocelyn Dong, Editor Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor Keith Peters, Sports Editor Tyler Hanley, Express™ and Online Editor Rebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment Editor Rick Eymer, Assistant Sports Editor Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers Sue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special Sections Editor Karla Kane, Editorial Assistant Veronica Weber, Staff Photographer Dale Bentson, Colin Becht, Peter Canavese, Kit Davey, Iris Harrell, Sheila Himmel, Chad Jones, Kevin Kirby, Jack McKinnon, Jeanie K. Smith, Susan Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors Sarah Trauben, Zohra Ashpari Editorial Interns Vivian Wong, Photo Intern

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The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is pub-lished every Friday by Embarcadero Media, 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals postage paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a news-paper of general circulation for Santa Clara County. The Palo Alto Weekly is delivered free to homes in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto, to faculty and staff households on the Stanford campus and to portions of Los Altos Hills. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 326-8210. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302. Copyright ©2010 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Printed by SFOP, Redwood City. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: www.PaloAltoOnline.comOur e-mail addresses are: editor@paweekly.com, letters@paweekly.com, ads@paweekly.com.Missed delivery or start/stop your paper? Call 650 326-8210, or e-mail circulation@paweekly.com. You may also subscribe online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Subscriptions are $60/yr.

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Page 4

A s a police officer, April Wagner has re-sponded to countless calls from desperate Palo Alto parents whose teenagers have

run away, shoplifted, pulled weapons on family members or collapsed from the effects of drugs and alcohol.

“Parents think they’re the only ones going through it. It’s horrible,” Wagner said.

“It’s heartbreaking, and it tears families apart.”Last month, Wagner and fellow officer John

Alaniz convened a group of such parents for the launch of a strictly confidential class on how to handle strong-willed teens.

Two rooms full of parents — one English-speaking, one Spanish-speaking — gathered on a weeknight at Greendell School.

For three hours with no break — fueled by Sub-way sandwiches, candy and Peet’s coffee — the parents bonded over stories about their kids, ac-cording to a mother who was present.

The mother’s child — a popular Palo Alto High School student — has had multiple contacts with police, including a citation for possession of mari-juana.

“Traditional parenting can be effective with com-pliant kids, but with strong-willed kids traditional parenting isn’t effective so you need ways to be ef-fective without shutting them down,” she said.

The 12 parents in the English-speaking room interviewed one another and then introduced their interview partners to the larger group.

“It was completely open — you could share things if you want to, but you didn’t have to,” the mother said. Parents pledged to maintain confi-dentiality about discussions of particular children and the identities of other parents.

They received a homework assignment to report back the next week on how their teens reacted when the parents “showed them love in a tangible way every day” through notes, hugs or verbal ex-pressions.

“It sounded pretty obvious to me, but there was someone in the class who said, ‘I don’t want to tell my kids I love you,’” the mother said.

“There are definitely kids out there who aren’t getting that regular dose of verbal or physical love from their parents.”

The Parent Project class is now in the fourth week of a 12-week series. A joint project of the police department and the Palo Alto Adult School, it has been offered twice a year in Palo Alto for the past five years.

Parents are referred to the class either by the school district, the police or, occasionally, by a juvenile-probation officer. Police said they typi-cally reach out to parents of teens who have had multiple, serious contacts with the department.

“I send a letter not to every, but close to every, family whose child has been arrested more than once in that year,” Wagner said.

“For example, if a child has no discipline his-tory with the school district and shoplifted a soda at Long’s, I’m not going to send a letter. But if a child has a discipline history at school and was cited for smoking weed at 11 p.m. out on a corner, it’s a case where, if the parents made a bigger ef-fort, everyone could benefit.”

The Paly mother received her invitation from Police Department School Resource Officer Nanelle Newbom.

After recounting police contacts involving the woman’s child, Newbom’s letter said: “I’m not writing to you as an officer but as another parent of teenagers. Most of what I’m talking about here is not a matter for police to address, beyond safety

concerns.“It is for you to handle as a family.”Newbom said she sent 42 personal letters to so-

licit enrollment for the current class and circulated 400 fliers.

The Paly mother had already initiated an in-formal support group of parents of her child’s friends.

“Palo Alto is in denial about these things,” she said.

“We have this image to uphold.”The mother said she was pleased the first ses-

sion had focused on the importance of parents ex-pressing unconditional love for their children.

“Instead of making you feel like you’re doing something wrong, they focus on the fact that while we cannot control our kids, we can manage them in a different way,” she said.

“We talked a lot about short-term consequences, taking away things they enjoy for a short period of time.”

Police officers, all too familiar with middle-of-the-night youth busts, said the Parent Project is one of the most effective tools in their arsenal to improve out-of-control teen behavior.

Calls for police to respond to the households of parents who have taken the class are elimi-nated or sharply reduced, Newbom said. Those parents who still call the police, she said, “tend-ed to be the ones who were inconsistent in their attendance and participation.”

Beyond coaching on steps toward “active, en-gaged parenting,” a key goal of the course is to foster longer-term bonds among parents.

“Many parents comment that what they like most is being able to talk to other parents who have the same problems,” Newbom said.

“They feel alone because their next-door neigh-bors — who can hear all their family arguments — appear to have perfect children who are attend-ing school and on their way to Harvard.”

In addition to the 12 parents in the English sec-tion, 14 are enrolled in the Spanish section.

Forty-two couples had been invited.“I think there’s a time commitment issue and

maybe a feeling of, ‘Oh, I don’t need that,’” Wag-ner said. “It may be hard to admit that you need some skills.”

The Parent Project is a “high-commitment class,” she said. Consistent participation is criti-cal because the curriculum builds from week to week.

“The parents want all the answers the first night — they just want to go home and read the book. But you can’t just read the book. It’s about the facilitation, the other learning tools, the parents interacting — that’s what you get from it, as well as the support group.”

Kara Rosenberg, principal of Palo Alto Adult School, a class co-sponsor, said she audited the first series of The Parent Project and was initially skeptical.

“I think the parents felt the same way. ... But what I saw at the end was that the parents were confident. Not all their problems were solved, but they had strategies to help them.

“And it’s nice for the parents to have these con-nections with the police department outside of their kids being in trouble.

“It may be trite to say, ‘It takes a village,’ but that is to some extent what this does. It helps par-ents create a network to help each other out and to know they’re not in it alone.”

Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be e-mailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

Upfront

Parents of strong-willed teens gain strategies, hopePalo Alto Parent Project caters to families

whose kids have had brushes with lawby Chris Kenrick

YOUTH

A celebration of life will be held Saturday for George Flath, a popular fifth-grade teacher at

Hoover Elementary School in Palo Alto who died unexpectedly Jan. 30 after flu-like symptoms rapidly devel-oped into a severe infection.

The celebration will be from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the school at 445 East Charleston Road.

It will include a “welcome reunion,” slide show and voluntary sharing time.

Flath, a teacher at Hoover since 1994, was 43. He taught his class as usual Friday (Jan. 28) and was hospi-talized during the weekend.

A cause of death has not been deter-mined, but school officials said tests were underway to explore the possibil-ity of meningococcal disease.

Some members of the Hoover com-munity were taking antibiotics as a preventive measure. Representatives from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department held a meeting at the school Monday afternoon.

A health department physician said few members of the Hoover commu-nity had the type of contact with Flath that would put them at risk for acquir-ing the meningococcal bacteria. How-ever, prophylactic antibiotics were of-fered “out of an abundance of caution,” and most parents of Flath’s students took them for their children, a health department spokeswoman said.

“Mr. Flath was an uplifting, vibrant teacher who cherished his work here,” Hoover School Principal Susanne Scott said in a letter to the Hoover community.

“His sense of humor added to the joy and enthusiasm in his work with stu-dents. He will be missed by all of us.”

School district staff and Hoover School parents were notified of the death in an e-mail, Assistant Superin-tendent Scott Bowers said.

Students were told about it, class by class, Monday morning, with counsel-ors on hand, Bowers said.

School psychologists and staff from the grief counseling organization Kara were available to support staff mem-bers and students, Scott said.

Meningococcal disease comes from a bacterium that can cause both men-ingitis, inflammation of brain and spi-nal cord tissue, or sepsis, a severe in-fection of the blood, according to Sara Cody, a physician and communicable disease control officer with the health department.

“There are very few people in the Hoover school community who may have had the type of close contact that would put them at risk of acquiring the bacteria,” Cody said in a memo to Hoover staff members and parents.

While meningococcal disease is contagious, Cody said, “it is not easily spread from person to person.”

Meningococcal bacteria are “not as contagious as things like the common cold or the flu, and they are not spread

by casual contact or by simply breath-ing the air where a person with menin-gitis has been...

“For those with casual contact, pre-ventive antibiotics are not recommend-ed,” Cody said.

The bacteria can live outside the body for only a few minutes, and do not live on environmental surfaces or in the air, she said.

At Monday’s meeting with Hoover parents, students and staff, public health officials offered prophylactic antibiotics to those who wanted them.

“Most of the parents did end up taking them for their children,” health depart-ment spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said.

“But it’s extremely unlikely that any-body else will get sick.”

Symptoms of meningococcal disease may develop within several hours or over a period of one to two days, and include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, discom-fort when looking into bright lights and mental confusion.

A friend of Flath’s, Lewis Weaser, said the teacher, who lived in San Fran-cisco, was socializing with friends Sat-urday afternoon.

“A group of five of us had dinner plans on Saturday night when he started to mention that he wasn’t feeling well,” Weaser said in an e-mail Monday.

“That was around 6:30, before din-ner.”

Weaser said he received word about noon on Sunday that Flath was in the emergency room of Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco.

Flath’s family was at his side in the hospital, school officials said.

Rather than sending flowers, those who wish are asked to consider donat-ing to The Companion Animal Rescue Effort at P.O. Box 111474, Campbell, CA, 95011-1474; or the San Francisco SPCA; or the Humane Society of Sili-con Valley.

Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be e-mailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

SCHOOLS

Celebration of life for fifth-grade teacher George Flath

Saturday event at Hoover School to include reunion, slide show and sharing time

by Chris Kenrick

Hoover Elementary School teacher George Flath at a 2008 fifth-grade picnic.

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Page 5

Upfront

Palo Alto Realtor target of ‘grandparents’ scamAnn Griffiths a well-known real-estate agent, wants everyone to know

about a scam to which she fell prey on Jan. 25 — one that can devastate the life savings of seniors.

Griffiths was scammed out of nearly $11,000 after con artists imper-sonating her grandson led her to believe he had been arrested in Barce-lona, Spain.

“I’m lucky. It could’ve been worse,” she said Thursday (Feb. 3).“I had saved some money for a trip to Paris this summer with my

granddaughters. It’s gone now.”Griffiths said she was in a board meeting at Coldwell Banker, where

she is a broker, when her phone rang. The voice on the other end sounded like her grandson, Ryan.

“Hey, Grandma,” the voice said.But Griffiths said her supposed grandson’s voice didn’t sound quite

right.“Ryan, you don’t sound OK,” she said.“Well, I’m in Barcelona, Spain,” the voice said.The real Ryan is a student at U.C. Santa Barbara, but the Ryan on the

phone explained that he’d won a radio contest for a trip to Barcelona and he had taken a friend along. Griffiths pointed out that he didn’t have a passport. “Ryan” said the radio station had taken care of the problem and he had checked into a five-star hotel.

But he said he and his friend were in a Spanish jail after having met two young people from Canada on the beach. The young men went back-packing and got into the Canadian youths’ car to do some sightseeing, the impersonator said. Police pulled them over and found drugs in the car, he claimed.

Griffiths said “Ryan” made her promise not to tell anyone in the fam-ily. But he handed the phone to a policeman named Ted Peterson who said he handled law-enforcement issues for the U.S. embassy in Spain. He assured Griffiths that “Ryan” and his friends had not been in posses-sion of drugs but he needed her to wire $2,500 bail to get her grandson out of jail.

Griffiths said she wanted to protect Ryan at all costs, and the idea that he was being held in a foreign country played deeply to her emotions. Griffiths said she wasn’t suspicious because $2,500 wasn’t much money for bail, since her late husband had been an attorney.

Two further phone calls asked for more money, including $5,600 in “legal fees.” Ultimately, Griffiths smelled a rat and called the Palo Alto police.

Griffiths called her real grandson’s cell phone and he answered. The real Ryan said he knew nothing about the scam and had been in Santa Barbara the entire time taking a physics exam, Griffiths said.

Police told her the con artists get hold of cell-phone numbers and use another number to cover their tracks.

“You feel violated. But I’m not angry, I’m thankful,” she said, happy that she did not lose more.

Griffiths is a former president of Peninsula Volunteers at Little House in Menlo Park, which caters to seniors. She said she wants people to know how easy it is to be taken advantage of and to never provide im-portant information that can lead to identity theft.

“If I can save just one grandparent …,” she said of her decision to come forward.

— Sue Dremann

Alcohol, speed caused Stanford scholar’s fatal crashA Stanford University visiting scholar who died in a car crash on rain-

slicked Middlefield Road Dec. 18 had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and was driving at 50 to 60 mph on the 25 mph road, according to Palo Alto police.

Rune Thode Nielsen, 25, was driving southbound on Middlefield when his vehicle struck a sign on the west side of the street, then slammed into a tree and ricocheted off a parked vehicle before coming to rest in the front yard of a home near the intersection at Hawthorne Avenue at 12:50 a.m., according to police. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office told Palo Alto police investigators that Nielsen’s blood-alcohol level was 0.212, according to police spokeswoman Lt. Sandra Brown. The legal limit is 0.08.

Police investigators also determined Nielsen was traveling at approxi-mately 50-60 mph.

“This is determined by the damage to the vehicle (crush), the damage to the tree and the resting location of the vehicle. Fire personnel were on scene and tried life-saving measures to no avail. He was apparently at a party earlier in the evening and was observed drinking,” Brown said.

Nielsen, a Danish national from Copenhagen, studied nanotechnology and “had a huge network of friends,” a source said after his death.

He was a resident of the St. Claire Gardens neighborhood in Palo Alto.

— Sue Dremann

News Digest

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Page 6

Avenidas celebrates seven outstanding local seniors

by Karla Kane

A former mayor, a career-development expert, an en-vironmental and education

volunteer, a gifted speaker, a voter advocate and a pair of senior-housing leaders are the recipients of the 2011 Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement Awards.

Jim Burch of Palo Alto, Betsy Collard of Mountain View, Jan Fen-wick of Los Altos Hills, Dick Hen-ning of Los Altos, Veronica Tincher of Palo Alto and Bill and the late Carolyn Reller of Palo Alto were selected by the nonprofit senior-ser-vice organization Avenidas for their contributions to the community. The honorees, who are required to be older than 65, were announced at a

reception at the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto Thursday.

“Caring and commitment are two hallmarks of each of these outstand-ing nominees. They all have made their mark on their community and for that we are grateful,” Avenidas CEO Lisa Hendrickson said in a statement.

Former Palo Alto Mayor Burch has been active in community service since the 1950s, when he worked with such organizations as Boy Scouts of America, United Way, NAACP and Urban Coalition, which he co-founded. He volun-teered for 36 years with Founda-tion for Global Community, until its closure in December 2010, and, along with his wife Wileta, has also produced educational seminars and television documentaries.

Betsy Collard, former Stanford

University alumni volunteer rela-tions director, served for 21 years as program director for the Career Action Center, a job-search non-profit; and is the author of “The High-Tech Career Book.” She’s also volunteered with Communi-ty School of Music and Arts, the Mountain View School Board, the American Red Cross, the Moun-tain View Human Relations Com-mission and the Day Worker Cen-ter of Mountain View.

Over the past quarter-century, Jan Fenwick has worked and vol-unteered for environmental organi-zations such as the Purissima Hills Water District, the Peninsula Con-servation Center and Environmental Volunteers, as well as educational organizations including the Com-munity School of Music and Arts and the Foothill-De Anza College

Foundation board. Dick Henning, in addition to

founding the Foothill College Ce-lebrity Forum Speakers Series, which he has directed since 1968, has delivered hundreds of speeches to clubs, schools and businesses. He served on numerous community boards and personally raised funds for and delivered wheelchairs to the needy in Third World countries.

Fifty-two-year League of Wom-en Voters leader Veronica Tincher works on outreach to new and young voters and has also volun-teered with Legal Aid and AARP Tax Aide. She’s also chaired the Santa Clara County Mental Health Board and served as treasurer for the boards of Keddem Congrega-tion and the Palo Alto Jewish Com-munity Center.

Bill Reller and his late wife, Car-

olyn Reller, are responsible for the creation in 1990 of Palo Alto Com-mons, a south Palo Alto residence for seniors, which Carolyn operated until her death in 2010. She is the first posthumous recipient of the Lifetimes of Achievement honor. Both the Rellers are known for their years of active community service, including Bill’s work with the Palo Alto Community Fund, Peninsula Open Space Trust, the Palo Alto Board of Realtors and the Mid-Pen-insula YMCA.

The seven honorees will be cel-ebrated at a public reception Sun-day, May 15, from 3 to 5 p.m. at a garden party at a local home. The event is sponsored by Avenidas, Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Online.

Tickets can be purchased for $75 by contacting Avenidas at 650-289-5445 or online at www.avenidas.org. Proceeds from the reception benefit senior programs at Avenidas.

Editorial Assistant Karla Kane can be e-mailed at kkane@paweekly.com.

showed a screenshot of text messag-es they exchanged on Feb. 14, 2008. She wrote: “Miss you... Love you!”

Zumot also recalled a March 2008 altercation. He said he had spit at her outside a Starbucks in San Jose. Schipsi then filed charges against him, and he pleaded guilty to making harassing phone calls. He received three years of probation and had to take 52 classes for perpe-trators of domestic violence.

Zumot said he and Schipsi got back together in October 2008, shortly after Schipsi visited him at his University Avenue café, Da Hookah Spot and told him she was sorry for what happened. On Oct. 26, 2008, she had allegedly sent him an e-mail telling him she loved him and saying that she couldn’t wait to spend her life with him. She also modified her restraining order against him to allow “peaceful con-tact.”

When Glandian showed the e-mail on the projection screen, Zu-mot cried for several minutes.

Zumot said Schipsi had e-mailed him at the end of October, but he didn’t want to talk to her until the courts modified the restraining or-der. He said he tried to keep his dis-tance from her until things cooled off.

“She wanted to be back together and work it out at any cost at that time,” Zumot said.

Zumot testified that they got back together in December but continued to have their fights. He said Schipsi became jealous whenever she found him in contact with other women. In one case, she became angry when an ex-girlfriend sent him a text message wishing him a merry Christmas. Zumot said Schipsi broke his phone into pieces and hit him over the head with his keys, causing blood to gush from the side of his face.

He then went to the police, who took photos of his cut. The photo was shown in court Wednesday.

But the fight didn’t last long, he said. Zumot said Schipsi received

an arrest warrant because of the in-cident, but he ended up bailing her out, changing his story and making sure the charges against her would be dropped.

Zumot said in early March 2009 he realized the relationship wasn’t working out and asked Schipsi if they should go their separate ways. Glandian read an e-mail from Zu-mot to Schipsi in which he tells her, “I’ll be praying for us whether we continue or split.” He signed off, “Love you, Paul.”

A few days after that he once again told her he didn’t think the relationship was going well because they had “different goals.” He said she agreed.

“It’s like a roller-coaster,” he said. “Every day, up and down.”

Nevertheless, the relationship continued and so did the arguments. Zumot said he and Schipsi got into a fight on Aug. 23, 2009, after Schipsi’s friend, Heather Winters, showed her a picture of Zumot at the café with a female friend. He said he came home and found Schipsi had packed away all of his belong-ings and left some of his clothes in a bag. He said he slept at the café that night.

Zumot said he tried again to end the relationship. He said Schipsi threatened to go to the police any time they had an argument and he proposed splitting up. Because he was on probation, he took the threats seriously.

On Aug. 24, 2009, the day after their argument, Schipsi called the police and claimed that he drove into her car, Zumot said. When the police investigated, they found no damage marks on his car and took no action, he said.

“She thought I was cheating, so she lied to the police,” Zumot said.

In early September, he and Schipsi were once again back together, Zu-mot said. She e-mailed him photos of the two of them together, includ-ing one of them at a camping trip at Lake Camanche. In the photo they are sitting together, his arm around her. She sent him another photo of herself, which he planned to frame and hang at the house.

But Zumot said Schipsi was also feeling depressed because of the fal-tering economy and the rough real-estate market.

Zumot also said the two of them planned to get engaged in mid-Oc-tober. They had plans to go to Palm Springs on the weekend of Oct. 17, 2009. In one text message, she re-quested “no ring, please.”

Zumot said Schipsi surprised him on Oct. 14, 2009, by taking him to his favorite restaurant for his birthday party. They went to the DishDash Restaurant in Sunnyvale,

where about 10 other friends were waiting.

Zumot said the group had a great time. He said he had a couple of drinks, while Schipsi had four or five.

After DishDash, they went back to Palo Alto, where they were plan-ning to relax at Da Hookah Spot. His friend Victor Chaalan was driving them back to Palo Alto when Schip-si received a text message from her friend Jaber Al-Suwaidi. Zumot said she showed him the phone with the message. He said he looked at the message and tossed the phone back toward her because he didn’t want to talk to Al-Suwaidi at the moment.

Zumot also said he told Schipsi to “shut up” at one point during the car trip. He said he meant it jokingly, but she took it very seriously. She was in the back seat, crying.

They arrived at Da Hookah Spot, and Zumot said he went straight

into the café. He said he tried to call Schipsi a few times but she didn’t call back. He assumed she went home.

“She’d done that a couple of times — when we argue, she’d walk home,” Zumot testified.

“It was not a big deal at all.”Earlier this week, witnesses re-

called hearing that Zumot threat-ened to burn down both Da Hookah Spot and the Addison cottage. Then the defense began its case with tes-timony, focusing on Zumot’s where-abouts on the evening of the fire.

Zumot was scheduled to con-tinue his testimony Friday, after the Weekly’s press deadline. For updates on the trial, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com. To follow the trial live on Twitter, go to twitter.com/#!/paw_court.

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

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2011 ‘Lifetimes of Achievement’ honorees announced

Zumot trial(continued from page 3)

Read more about the trial — including Schipsi’s friends’ concern that she was in danger, a video placing Zumot at his lounge just after the fire, and Zumot’s friend recollection about the night before the fatal fire — on Palo Alto Online by searching under “Zumot.”

READ MORE ONLINEwww.PaloAltoOnline.com

Page 7

Upfront

Is bankruptcy looming for Borders?Retail bookseller Borders Group, Inc., has announced that it plans

to undergo a major restructuring that will close many stores and ask vendors and some landlords to work with the company on its debts. (Posted Feb. 2 at 4:31 p.m.)

Google executive goes missing in EgyptThe day before Google executive Wael Ghonim went missing last

week from Egypt’s protests, he tweeted, “We are all ready to die.” His family hasn’t heard from him since Friday (Jan. 28). (Posted Feb.

1 at 5:16 p.m.)

Tech firms pledge to help fund Stanford expansionA corporate-philanthropy program that aims to raise as much as

$150 million for the proposed Stanford Hospitals & Clinics expansion project has launched with six founding companies, Stanford Hospital announced Tuesday (Feb. 1). (Posted Feb. 1 at 3:33 p.m.)

DA won’t prosecute on Brown Act violationMenlo Park Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson will not face criminal

charges for a Brown Act violation, the district attorney’s office an-nounced Tuesday (Feb. 1). In a written statement, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said that since Fergusson’s serial meeting didn’t re-sult in any action taken by the council, her violation didn’t violate the criminal provision of the Brown Act. (Posted Feb. 1 at 12:19 p.m.)

Couple arrested for DUI at Palo Alto golf courseA man and woman who allegedly had a drinking rendezvous at the

Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course netted double DUI arrests for Palo Alto police Monday evening (Jan. 31), but not before the man allegedly caused three accidents, police said. (Posted Feb. 1 at 11:55 a.m.)

Powerline catches fire in Palo Alto, people evacuateA fire on a transmission pole temporarily shut down Cambridge

Avenue in Palo Alto Tuesday morning (Feb. 1) and severed phone and Internet service to some Comcast and AT&T customers into the afternoon. Editor’s note: This story included video content. (Posted Feb.

1 at 10:25 a.m.)

Stanford, city close to deal on hospital expansionStanford University’s ambitious expansion of its hospital facilities

will come with an equally ambitious traffic-management program that university officials hope will unclog some of Palo Alto’s busiest intersections and smooth Stanford’s path toward the city’s approval. (Posted Jan. 31 at 10:37 p.m.)

Palo Alto braces for rising water ratesPalo Altans could face years of steep water-rate increases, includ-

ing a 12.5 percent jump in July, because of regional efforts to repair aged water infrastructure and spiking water-supply costs. (Posted Jan.

31 at 10:11 p.m.)

Dumbarton Bridge lanes to close for constructionDue to long-term construction underway on the Dumbarton Bridge,

Caltrans began closing lanes in each direction on the bridge Monday night (Jan. 31) to facilitate the seismic retrofit that is expected to be completed by August 2012. (Posted Jan. 31 at 12:42 p.m.)

Skelly: Parents wrestle with expectations of kidsPalo Alto parents often fear that their children will not stand out

in the sea of high-achievers, but Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Skelly told a group of Barron Park neighbor-hood residents Sunday (Jan. 30) that district students are prepared for excellence. (Posted Jan. 31 at 9:55 a.m.)

Group seeks to stem Caltrain ‘death spiral’More than 200 Friends of Caltrain met on Saturday (Jan. 29) to find

ways to keep the Peninsula railway from going into what one transpor-tation official called “a death spiral” that threatens to shut down the West’s second oldest passenger train service. (Posted Jan. 31 at 8:50 a.m.)

Police ID victim of fatal East Palo Alto shootingThe man who was shot and killed in East Palo Alto early Saturday

morning (Jan. 29) has been identified as Ernesto Benites Valverde, 37, a dishwasher at a Peninsula country club, police reported. There is no indication of gang involvement in the shooting, police said. (Posted Jan.

29 at 4:51 p.m.)

Online This WeekThese and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News” in the left, green column.

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tween San Francisco and San Jose: Bayshore, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Burlingame, Hayward Park, Belmont, San Antonio in Mountain View, Lawrence, Santa Clara and College Park. All service south of Diridon station in San Jose would end. Base fares would rise 25 cents.

“We all know that the crisis is at hand,” board member and Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yea-ger said.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, new to the board, said she hoped detailed studies of the impacts on roads and communi-ties around the stations to be closed could be done.

In terms that were often pained and impassioned, board President Michael Scanlon spoke about the costs of losing Caltrain service.

People look at the costs but don’t understand the greater impacts. With more people driving instead of taking the train, more car accidents

will occur, Scanlon said. “The fact is that more people will

die,” he said.Scanlon said public perceptions

of where funding comes from make it hard to make the case for saving public transit.

“Our society quite frankly is un-enlightened. There is a widespread belief that highways are free,” he said, pointing instead to gas and other levies that support roadways.

But subsidies Caltrain receives are criticized.

Kniss said the human costs could resonate with the public.

“We’ve got a terrific case to make. It’s enormously important,” she said.

Scanlon blamed SamTrans, which has announced it must reduce its share of subsidies to Caltrain by $10 million, for causing much of Cal-train’s current problem. SamTrans is facing a crisis of its own and could halve its service in three years, he said.

More than half of SamTrans’ long-term debt is for the BART extension into San Mateo County,

he said. The agency is trying to amortize the $13 million over 25-30 years, he said.

Four public meetings are planned prior to the March 3 meeting in San Jose, San Francisco, Gilroy and San Carlos. The March 3 hearing will take place at 10 a.m. at the Caltrain Administrative Office, 1250 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos. Comments can be sent prior to the hearings to changes@caltrain.com, or mailed to Peninsula Corridor Joint Pow-ers Board, JPB Secretary, P.O. Box 3006, San Carlos, CA 94070. Phone 800-660-4287.

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweek-ly.com.

only during “high fire” days, rather than throughout the summer.

The consultants’ recommendation to merge the two stations was based on data showing “significant overlap in service coverage,” according to the report.

Retaining the two stations is “not merited by current and projected demand and (there are) indications that existing locations no longer match current needs of the city as it has been built out since the sta-tions were built in the 1960s,” the report said.

The consultants also criticized the “minimum staffing” provi-sion in Palo Alto’s contract with its firefighters union. The provi-sion, which has been in place since the late 1970s, requires the city to always have at least 29 firefight-ers on duty. The report stated that this provision has led to “decreased staffing flexibility as service needs change.”

The lack of flexibility has meant the elimination of many administra-tive staff positions, some of which should be reinstated, the consultants said, including the Geographic In-formation System (GIS) data ana-lyst and a battalion chief to plan and manage the training program.

But efforts to scrap the provision have been shot down in the past. The firefighters union, Palo Alto Professional Firefighters, Local 1319, has consistently fought efforts to end “minimum staffing,” and it continues to resist job reductions in the department. Last year, the union petitioned to have Measure R placed on last November’s ballot, which would have required any change in fire-department staffing levels to be approved by the electorate. It was shot down by 75 percent of voters.

“Though we understand the con-cern of the union to maintain an adequate staff to maintain safety, we disagree that the total minimum staff should be in the contract,” the

consultants wrote.It would be reasonable, they wrote,

to establish staffing guidelines for a fire engine or a ladder truck. But they wrote that the city “should nev-er agree to a minimum staffing re-quirement that establishes the total force as this equates to establishing the level of service provided.”

The new report also addressed another issue with a contentious history: staffing of Station 8 in the foothills. It recommends staffing the station only during “high fire” days, as determined by Cal Fire. Alternative staffing options include contracting with Cal Fire or another agency as well as investigating the use of infrared technology to moni-tor hot spots in the area and deploy-ing staff as appropriate.

The station is currently open be-tween July and November for 12 hours a day. Consultants found that in all of 2009, the station’s Engine 8 responded to 17 calls and that the total workload for these calls was 12 hours. The cost to staff Station 8 was $188,000.

“The demand for services in Sta-tion 8’s area is too low to justify the cost and other options may be avail-able,” the report stated.

Other recommendations are less divisive and are already being im-plemented by the city. The consul-tants urge Palo Alto to “regionalize” its fire and EMS training program and work with Los Altos, Moun-tain View and Sunnyvale toward a

“boundary-less response network” — a project the four cities are al-ready pursuing.

“There is opportunity to improve service delivery and efficiency if Palo Alto and other jurisdictions combined to not only share stations but also to implement a boundary-less response model such that re-sources from any jurisdiction would respond regardless of the political boundary,” the report states. “This approach would more than likely result in more service-sharing op-portunities and improve efficiency because cities could share resources more than they do under the existing automatic-aid agreements.”

Consultants also recommended that the city create a “public-safety director” position to oversee both police and fire operations. The fire chief position is currently vacant and Police Chief Dennis Burns has been serving as the interim fire chief since last July. The report recommends that the city make his dual-role permanent.

The report was released at a time of tension between the city and its firefighters. City Council members have frequently expressed frustra-tions about the rising costs in the Fire Department at a time when other departments are facing bud-get cuts. At last month’s council retreat, City Manager James Keene talked about the need to bring the city’s public-safety employees “into alignment” with other labor groups that have faced salary freezes and benefit reductions over the past two years.

The city and the firefighters union are currently negotiating a new la-bor agreement.

Keene said in a statement Wednes-day that the consultants’ review “al-lows us to benchmark our operations to other agencies and objectively as-sess what is working well and what needs refinement for us to provide responsive and cost-effective ser-vice to this community.

“I believe this report is an impor-tant step for us to identify ways to enhance the effectiveness of the Fire

Department and better position it for the 21st century,” he said.

Tony Spitaleri, president of Palo Alto Professional Firefighters, Lo-cal 1319, said Wednesday evening he was just beginning to read the voluminous report.

“There are a great many sugges-tions that would make the fire de-partment a stronger one and would

help the department meet the needs of the community,” Spitaleri said.

However, he said, “The issue of minimum staffing is a real concern to us. We don’t support staffing re-ductions that could lead to killing a firefighter or a citizen.”

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

City Council (Jan. 31)Thorwaldson: The council passed a resolution in honor of journalist Jay Thowaldson, who retired this week. Yes: UnanimousStanford: The council discussed the Stanford University Medical Center hospital-expansion project and the status of negotiations between the city and Stanford on a development agreement. Action: None

City Council (Feb. 1)Interviews: The council interviewed candidates for three positions on the Library Advisory Commission. Action: None

Finance Committee (Feb. 1)Refuse rate: The committee discussed the city’s ongoing study analyzing the rate structures for refuse collection and the compatibility of the city’s conservation pricing with Proposition 218. Action: NoneFinances: The committee discussed the city’s long-term financial forecast. Action: None

Utilities Advisory Commission (Feb. 2)Photovoltaic: The commission discussed the implementation of feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaic customers. Action: NoneWater rates: The commission recommended approval of staff proposal to raise water rates by an average of 12.5 percent this year, with the exact rate increase vary-ing by customers. The commission made several amendments, including a recom-mendations that no customer class gets a rate reduction at the same time as other customer classes get rate increases. Yes: Eglash, Foster, Keller, Melton No: Berry, WaldfogelStrategic Plan: The commission approved the Utilities Department’s 2011 Strategic Plan. Yes: UnanimousSmart Grid: The commission approved a pilot project focusing on Demand Re-sponse for commercial customers. The program aims to provide customers with information about peak electricity-usage days and give them financial incentive to reduce usage on those days. Yes: Berry, Foster, Kelly, Melton, Waldfogel Recused: Eglash

High-Speed Rail Committee (Feb. 3)Rail: The committee heard updates on Caltrain and high-speed rail from the city’s Sacramento lobbyist. Action: NoneLetters: The committee approved sending four letters to rail officials and legislators expressing the city’s concerns about high-speed rail. Action: None

CityViewA round-up of Palo Alto government action this week

LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations. The council will then discuss the Fire Department Services, Resources & Utilization Study. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

CITY COUNCIL ... The council plans to discuss the recruitment of city attorney. The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The Feb. 8 meeting of the school board has been canceled.

INFRASTRUCTURE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ... The committee will discuss the city’s infrastructure backlog. The meeting is sched-uled for 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, at the Lucie Stern Community Room (1305 Middlefield Road).

HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION ... The commission plans to hear an update on Project Safety Net and discuss ways to honor youth achievements, and hear an update on the Human Services Resource Allocation Process. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

Public AgendaA preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

Upfront

Fire stations(continued from page 3)

What do you think of the recommenda-tions to change how Palo Alto’s fire de-partment works? Engage in a discussion on Town Square, the online forum on Palo Alto Online.

TALK ABOUT ITwww.PaloAltoOnline.com

Caltrain(continued from page 3)

The cost to staff Station 8 was $188,000, and the total workload was 12 hours.

t

CALL FOR ENTRIESwww.PaloAltoOnline.com

Page 9

Ebook errorsEditor,

I count five times the Weekly has repeated its misconception that library ebook collections re-quire physical space.

This error first appeared in a Nov. 19 editorial wondering whether the public would like to remove books in the library to make space for ebooks.

Then the Weekly repeated this misconception in a thread on Town Square. When a reader re-plied online that this was absurd, you’d think the Weekly would not repeat the mistake. Of course, there is no need to remove any-thing from a library to make space for ebooks because ebooks don’t take up physical space.

Then you posed the meaningless question in your online poll, and you asked it again in your “Street-wise” feature. You repeated this pseudo dilemma last week on Jan. 14 in “Around Town” wondering whether “to reduce shelf space at the new libraries and to make more room for ebooks, possibly at the expense of traditional books.”

Ebooks are downloaded by the user from a remote location, not even from the library. Nothing in our library needs to be removed for them to continue to offer even more ebooks. They already offer thousands.

Your misunderstanding of the nature of ebooks confounds the ongoing discussion about the big reduction in the collection at Main.

Elaine MeyerKingsley Avenue

Palo Alto

Get it right, PAPACEditor,

Usually when a community is invited to vote as to what they would like, the majority rules. I guess this is not the case now.

The Palo Alto Public Art Com-mission rules. Not in my day. When we asked the citizens to vote we honored the vote. Perhaps some of us did not agree but the end result is what counts.

What’s wrong with giving the community what it wants? The commission looked at many works and chose three for the commu-nity to pick from.

They did.Give the Palo Alto citizens what

they want. It’s their tax dollars.Get it right, commissioners.

Paula Z. KirkebyEly PlacePalo Alto

Sham vote?Editor,

Is anyone else still feeling in-sulted that after being asked to

vote on three fountain designs for California Avenue our votes were ignored?

Is anyone else wondering why city resources were wasted on set-ting up a website for a sham vote? And why were votes from nonresi-dents counted?

I’d say the whole exercise was a farce and a waste of everyone’s time and resources.

This fiasco is also a reminder of the inept and tragic loss of our California Avenue trees and the more recent shocking decision to narrow California Avenue in spite of a strong preference from both merchants and neighbors to keep it a four-lane street!

Has city leadership noticed we have a problem?

Shannon McEnteeSheridan Avenue

Palo Alto

Fountain-vote flawsEditor,

The Palo Alto Public Art Com-missioners have spoken. Those anointed ones claiming aesthetic perceptions far superior to those of us, the unwashed, have de-

clared the winning new fountain for California Avenue.

Of course, their choice came in second in the balloting to the first choice by the public, which they disregarded with arrogant, Olym-pian disdain.

Clearly their letter of Dec. 21, 2010 (“We want to hear from you ... Choose your favorite pro-posal”), was an empty charade because they had a preconceived choice for the Szabo proposal over the traditional Reed-Madden choice.

The commission was appointed by the City Council members who, like Pontius Pilate, would like to wash their hands of the outrageous breach of public confidence. But they owe us voters a reexamina-tion of the scandalous hoax.

Surely this council wants to avoid being linked in history to an unpopular, reviled art exhibit.

California Avenue has suffered the tragic loss of stately trees. It does not deserve another embar-rassment by the city.

Vic BeferaHigh Street

Palo Alto

SpectrumEditorials, letters and opinions

MTC must act to help save Caltrain

Railroad’s financial crisis mobilizes Silicon Valley businesses, transit advocates, environmentalists, riders

and even car commuters to prevent a ‘death spiral’

The late-January announcement that Caltrain must cut $30 mil-lion by July has created a huge concern among a broad range of interests in Silicon Valley and on the Peninsula.

The severity of cuts (from a $100 million annual budget) is unprecedented. Caltrain would be virtually eliminated as a significant commute alternative south of San Jose and crippled on the Peninsula, limited essentially to rush-hour service: no more train rides to Giants’ games.

Participants in two large “save Caltrain” conferences in the past two weeks warned that the cutbacks could well kill Caltrain, dumping most of its 40,000 average daily riders onto already congested north-south freeways. Turning Highway 101 into a parking lot would also jam cross-bay bridges.

One speaker at Saturday’s “Friends of Caltrain” conference warned that Caltrain would plunge into a “death spiral” — sensational-sounding but probably accurate. Similar concerns were voiced a week earlier at a “save Caltrain” conference sponsored by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, primarily representing large businesses in the valley that rely heavily on Caltrain to get employees to work and home. It will severely impact Stanford University’s ability to achieve its mandate of zero new trips due to its Medical Center/Hospital expansion.

This train wreck simply must not be allowed to happen. The primary cause of the crisis is the recession, which has

resulted in a severe drop in revenues for the three transit agencies that have been subsidizing Caltrain for years: Santa Clara County’s VTA, San Mateo County’s SamTrans, and San Francisco’s Muni system. SamTrans alone, facing a $23 million deficit, has announced it must cut its contribution to Caltrain by $10 million. The others are expected to make equivalent cutbacks.

It is not a question of Caltrain’s success. It has the highest farebox return, at about 47 percent this year, at the lowest administrative-overhead cost of any transit entity in the Bay region. What it lacks is a dedicated source of reliable subsidy funds.

Yet conference participants, including numerous city and county and other officials, voiced more concerns than they did solutions.

Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, called for regional funding of regional transit, breaking down barriers between the respective transit agencies and streamlining administrative operations to focus on top priorities. One speaker warned that Caltrain would be long dead by the time voters might approve sales tax or other additional funds.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) warned at both conferences of the economic and congestion consequences of losing either all or part of Caltrain.

But the crisis cannot wait for long-term solutions. Unless a funding source (or sources) can be identified in the next three or four months Caltrain will have to implement deep cuts by July 1, the new fiscal year.

Virtually everyone involved agrees this would be catastrophic. The impacts would stretch throughout the region and touch thousands of businesses. It would be terrible for individuals and families trying to get to and from work, either by train or car. It would increase air pollution and health problems.

We see one avenue of hope: The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) was created in 1970, initially as a planning agency to study and coordinate transit and transportation services. It evolved into having some powers in assigning priorities and even funds to areas of greatest need.

If there is ever a time to flex its powers it is now. It could, for example, reassign $5.5 million in the long-stalled Dumbarton Rail project to Caltrain funding, on the grounds that a dead-stop Highway 101 would soon result in a backup halfway across Dumbarton Bridge, as well as San Mateo and the Bay bridges.

The MTC could itself declare a funding emergency and take the initiative in finding funds to fill the Caltrain deficit before July 1. Perhaps the state Legislature could establish some mechanism for major corporations to make interest-free loans to keep Caltrain sound and effective.

We don’t think the existing transit agencies can solve this situation. They have their own deficit problems right now.

But the MTC, with key state and federal legislators behind it, might be able to stave off a short-term crisis as it continues seeking longer-term restructuring for transit operations throughout the region.

Editorial

The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

What do you think? What do think should be done to fund Caltrain?

YOUR TURN

Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be ac-cepted. You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any time, day or night. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of per-mission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Publishing Co. to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.

For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Online Editor Tyler Hanley

at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

Page 10

Which film should win this year’s Oscar for best picture?Asked on California Avenue. Interviews and photos by Zohra Ashpari.

Nancy Cutler CowallInterior DesignerEvergreen Park, Palo Alto“’127 Hours’ because of our Palo Alto son, James Franco. James Franco all the way!”

Ari LachmanGraduate StudentEmerson Street, Palo Alto“I think ‘The Social Network’ because it was overall the most interesting movie.”

Michael HarrisonTrainerCrescent Park, Palo Alto“Definitely ‘The Fighter’ because Chris-tian Bale’s portrayal of Dickie Eklund was amazing.”

Sharon NelsonLab TechnologistBarron Park, Palo Alto“’The Black Swan’ because I love Nata-lie Portman and loved the costumes and acting.”

Greg ScharffPalo Alto City Councilman/AttorneySeale Avenue, Palo Alto“I think ‘The King’s Speech’ should win because of the dialogue and acting. Although it was a relatively low-budget film, it was still a powerful movie.”

A few weeks ago, all of our hearts were pierced again, to learn of the death, by her own hand, of a Palo Alto student.

She was a senior. We mourn her passing; we have mourned them all. We would all say some consoling words, if we could only think of them, to those who knew and loved this 18-year-old girl best, who knew of her despair and sought to help her. Theirs is the bitterest cup, full of bewilderment, full of sorrow and frustration.

We understand their sense of futility. We had all hoped we were doing enough, and now we wonder anew if we can ever do enough, or even know what to do.

We have all been trying hard. Palo Alto’s clinicians — sleep doctors, family practitio-ners, psychiatrists and other therapists — are working daily with the repercussions of the past 20 months. Project Safety Net is laboring to weave its protections. In police cruisers, our officers keep up their after-hours vigilance toward youth. Our schoolteachers bear the extra load of their students’ sadness. Every worker in the district, from maintenance staff to board members, librarians to nurses, coun-selors to coaches, feels each new pang. And the district’s parents, worried daily for their children, are shaken by this latest loss.

As a community, we’re still gathering to-gether the pieces of our expanding, mysteri-ous puzzle. The inquiry into the causes of our teenage deaths, begun last fall by the Stanford School of Medicine, is ongoing. The study will consider whether each of these deaths was singular, or whether perhaps they all par-took of our culture somehow. All of us should think of pitching in. All who can contribute, whether friends, family, neighbors, teachers, coaches, or counselors, should add any use-

ful piece of evidence they have — memory or fact or observation — to the assembling of the puzzle. Our best chance to answer our haunting question “Why is this happening?” lies in this study.

Palo Alto’s moms and dads, understandably, are more than ever anxious to know what their teenagers are thinking, know their secret lives. But it’s in the developmental nature of teenag-ers to stake out a separate domain from their parents, as a useful step — and often the only step they can imagine — towards the inde-pendent identity they know they’ll need, with adulthood rushing toward them. Every par-ent fears intruding on a teenager too much, or too little. As much as is consistent with safety, let your child be your guide into his or her concerns. If, because of a barrier of silence, you feel heartsick and fear you’re losing your child, that’s all right; be patient. Mother Na-ture is at work to give you back an adult.

Our high-school counselors, not long into second semester, will have a chance that’s all their own to offer guidance. As the ones who possess an overview of our kids’ schedules, activities, lives, when the counselors meet with students to go over registration for next year, they can encourage kids to “play within themselves,” take on realistic course loads,

balance sleep and play and school, and talk through a few of Project Cornerstone’s “41 Developmental Assets” with their parents in order to mull over how well, or not, things are developing. And those counselors who pass out copies of “On Being Unchosen by the Col-lege of One’s Choice,” a reassuring, charming essay by American writer Joan Didion, will be helping our kids to make curricular choices based on hope, not on fear.

Moms and dads, don’t let your child think of herself as defined by grades and SAT scores. Don’t think of him this way. Don’t measure your child by his minutes of playing time on the field or court, or whether she gets the loudest applause at the piano recital, or by the length of his résume. It is best that we all consider ourselves, and each other, and espe-cially those in our care, from the point of view of what good we may add to the world, how meaningful our work is to us, and whether we can adjust to the unexpected, tolerate un-certainty, be patient and faithful, independent and dependent, collaborative and daring. It takes longer to assess these things than to note a GPA, but it’s worth it. Is your child learning as the years go by, along with the rest of us, to love? And perhaps paramount is that our teenagers should have feelings of self-worth — that they feel good about themselves.

If your child cheats in school, wonder first why. Yes, cheating is not ethical and calls for consequences, but it is fostered by the pres-sures that our young people bring to school and find there, and is many times, in my expe-rience, a cry to be heard. To students’ dismay our schools are troubled by a culture of cheat-ing, which we grown-ups have yet to check; and so it’s understandable that they become susceptible to the artful dodge, even though

it always comes at the expense of their sense of integrity and self-confidence. Their sense of self-worth is also harmed, of course, when they’re encouraged to let others write their college essays for them.

If you’re a parent, guardian, aunt or uncle, read some of the best books about the inner world of teens. Start with Mark Salzman’s hi-larious and fond memoir of his own suburban 1970s youth, “Lost in Place” — a tale of teen-age misadventures with the cello, kung-fu, marijuana, automobiles, Zen, and grown-ups. You’ll suddenly be reminded of everything that you yourself, long ago, worried about and were ecstatic about and then immediately brought you down.

In two letters to parents during our crisis, our district Superintendent has wonderfully sung the praises of sleep and of play. Sleep that knits up the unraveled sleeve of care; and play that brings families together in games, frivolity, nonsense — and halcyon relief from each tiny choice implying consequences for the Future. These lifegiving commodities, play and sleep, are in short-supply among our teens. We must supply them.

With the second semester starting, midyear fatigue here, and some teachers learning 100 new names and faces, it would be churlish to expect our teachers to reflect on practice. All we educators can be as sensitive about all tasks we impose. With our texts that deal with loss or murder, bloody revolution or genocide or war, we know that the trick is in how and when we teach these things; and we’ve all got good-sized bags of tricks, which we can share. No child, in any case, should have to lament as one girl did last school-year — only three days after one of our deaths. A sad-sack soph-omore, trudging between class periods, ap-

Beyond this winterby an anonymous teacher

Guest Opinion

As much as is consistent with safety, let your child be your guide into his or her concerns.

Check out Town Square!Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on

Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our com-munity website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments, ask questions, read the Editor’s blog or just stay up on what people are talking about around town!

Streetwise

Page 11

SpectrumWould you like to be a control in a study? Dr. Jose G. Montoya, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford, is conducting a

study looking for pathogens that may be associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. His team is looking for controls of the same age and sex as patients in the study.

Participation in the study involves doing a 20-minute phone screening interview.

If you are eligible, you will be invited to come to Stanford for a 60-minute study visit, including a blood draw.

There is no cost to participate in the study.You will be compensated with $100

upon completion of the study visit to reimburse you for your time and inconvenience.

If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please contact the study coordinator,

Jane Norris, at (650) 723-8126.For general information about participant rights, contact

1-866-680-2906.Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital offers classes and seminars designed to foster good health and enhance the lives of parents and children.

V I S I T W W W . L P C H . O R G T O S I G N U P F O R C L A S S E S

LU C I L E PA C K A R D

C H I L D R E N’SH O S P I T A L

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SIBLING PREPARATION CLASS

GRANDPARENTS SEMINAR

INNOVATIONS IN MINIMALLY INVASIVE PEDIATRIC SURGERY AND TECHNOLOGY

YOUNG CHILDREN AND ALLERGIES

ing “The Killing Fields.” As much as our kids can let us

know how they’re doing, though, in a larger sense they don’t really know, and can’t. They won’t really know the nature of their present experience for perhaps 10 years, or 20 — and so we need to make nec-essary adjustments, now, for them. Unacknowledged has been our kids’ special handicap: they’ve been com-peting for GPA’s and SAT scores against a nation of high-schools that have not had our trauma. It’s as if, in the race toward college, our teenag-ers have been the only ones lugging 100-lb. boulders. It’s been enough of a jolt for many of them, on their first forays to the nation’s campuses, for college visits, to find the name of their high-school already known, and not happily known, to tour-guides, parents and students from far away, and admissions person-nel.

Because our students know no other high-school experience but this one, theirs, and because teen-agers tend to feel as if everything’s happening for the first time (and in fact, it is), our teenagers take this experience to be the norm. It is not. For their emotional well-being they need to hear this from us — and have us make adjustments to what we expect and ask of them.

In the broadest sense, we should bear in mind that to be a teenager is perhaps always to be anxious. One has been wrenched from the haven of childhood and the next looked-for haven, adulthood, seems distant. One is fording a fast-flow-ing river, and neither shore offers prospects for immediate relief. No wonder each step threatens to seem a matter of life-and-death. Not get-ting into a prized college can feel this way to a teen, or failing to win the game, or being taunted online,

or having a friendship crumble, or getting caught at cheating, or being rejected in romance, or not getting an “A” in a course, or even not get-ting an “A” on this week’s exam, or even today’s quiz. We must do what is in our power to help our kids see things in other ways, and to know that nothing is the end of the world — not in the way they think it is. If we discover ourselves ratcheting up the inevitable anxieties of the teen-age years, we must pull back. We must comfort our kids in their wor-ries, making clear to them that there is no end to the world as they think there is, and there will be no end to our acceptance of how they feel.

When it comes to families truly in crisis, of course, no “tips” here or lists of reminders can help — and parents need to steer themselves and/or their teenager into therapy. Opening oneself to the help of a stranger will at first, of course, feel strange — because the therapist will refuse to participate in the family’s private and familiar cycle of hurt, disappointment, demand. The first step is a scary one. But families must step outside their own “com-fort zone” — which is really a zone of discomfort, of unhappiness — and seek help.

As a closing benediction on our individual, family, and community efforts, the last word, here, goes to a theologian: “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; there-fore, we are saved by love. No virtu-ous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”

The author is a Palo Alto teach-er who also wrote the essay “High school life: To whom it may con-cern,” which published Sept. 3, 2010, in the Weekly.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

20th Annual

Photo Contest

ENTRY DEADLINE: April 8, 2011New: Digital Submission Only

ENTRY FORM & RULES AVAILABLE at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Guest Opinion(continued from previous page)

Two Children’s Concerts with Nancy Cassidy

The Palo Alto Woman’s Club presentsNancy Cassidy in Concert

at 1:00 p.m.Please note that the 10:30 a.m. Concert is Sold Out

Saturday, February 5thWoman’s Club of Palo Alto

475 Homer Avenue, Downtown Palo AltoProceeds will benefit local charities through

the Philanthropy Committee of the Woman’s Club

Tickets are $10 per person and will be sold at the door or:To order tickets send a check payable to the

Woman’s Club of Palo Alto to Diana Wahler P.O. Box 1059, Palo Alto, CA 94302 by Feb. 2

Tickets will be held at the door the day of the concert Call 650-855-9700 for more information

This space donated by the Palo Alto Weekly as a community service

Page 12

TransitionsBirths, marriages and deaths

DeathsSteven Geiger

Steven Thomas Gei-ger, 79, a resident of Palo Alto, died of pneumonia Jan. 18.

He was born was born Jan. 23, 1931, in Buda-pest, Hungary. When he was 13, he and his fam-ily survived the Nazi occupation by hiding with 3,000 other Jews for almost three months inside the infamous Glass House. Because he faced imminent death more than once and at such an early age, he no longer feared it but rather felt that the remainder of his life was a bo-nus, loved ones said. After another decade of Communist rule, he also learned the value of freedom, his wife recalled.

In 1956, he graduated from the Technical University in Budapest with a degree in electrical engineer-ing. By late October of that year, the Hungarian Revolution erupted in the streets. On the night of Nov. 11, 1956, he escaped into the freedom of Austria. After a two-year stay in Australia, he immigrated to the United States. He worked as an elec-

trical engineer in the field of satellite communica-tion at various companies, retiring in 2001 from CPI in Palo Alto.

The anchor of his large extended family, he was kind, steadfast, intelligent, handsome, funny, eccen-tric, philosophical, and extremely lovable, loved ones said. He valued open minds and respect for oth-

ers. He loved classical music, his-tory, desserts (especially the pies his wife made him nearly every week of their 30-year marriage), birding, ping-pong and films. His greatest love, however, was his family. In the weeks before his death, he said, “This is what I have done best and am most proud of.”

He had friends all over the world, including several who made the trip from Switzerland just to attend what would have been his 80th birthday party.

He is survived by his wife, Kris-tin of Palo Alto; son Marc Geiger of Sherman Oaks; daughter Nicole Geiger Laddish of Berkeley; step-daughters Jennifer Morrill of Emer-ald Hills and Jessica Prentiss of San Carlos; and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Eva

Horvath of Budapest, Hungary; and several nieces and cousins.

A memorial service is being planned. In lieu of flowers, a dona-tion to Second Harvest Food Bank or www.KDFC.com would be ap-preciated by the family.

Clarice Vaughan

Clarice Haylett Vaughan, 88, for-mer medical-program director of the San Mateo County Department of Mental Health, died Oct. 5, 2010.

She was born July 22, 1922, and grew up in Long Beach, Calif. She graduated with honors from both Stanford University (1949) and Stanford Medical School (1951). She worked for the Marin County Health Department as a public health officer for a number of years before returning to school to com-plete her psychiatric training at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. She re-turned to California and became the medical-program director of the San Mateo County Department of Men-tal Health at Chope Hospital. She retired in 1985.

She was married to Dr. Warren Taylor Vaughan, Jr. Together they traveled the world, attending con-ferences, visiting clinics and pre-senting lectures. She also as a board

member on a number of institutions, including the Common College of Woodside.

Her hobbies included photogra-phy, fly fishing, bird-watching, gar-dening and music. When not orga-nizing photos, checking her garden on Farmville or planning a dinner party, she could often be found with her numerous cats or enjoying the squirrels who shared her bird-feed-er, loved ones said.

She is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Anne Vaughan of Portola Valley; son, Richard Vaughan of Redwood City; and five grand-daughters.

A memorial celebration will be held in Portola Valley Feb. 5, 2011. For information on this event, con-tact rvaughan@mpcsd.org.

Any donations may be made in her name to Pathways Hospice Foundation.

P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Bob was a native of San Francisco and a third generation Californian, born to Ella Dowling Campbell and Elmer G. Campbell. He was a beloved spouse of 67 years to Jeanne Martell Campbell and devoted father to Diane Campbell and Susan Campbell. Known as “Papa,” he was a proud

grandfather of Jeannie Campbell-Urban, Edie Campbell-Urban, and Mackenzie Campbell. He was the loving brother of William C. Campbell of San Rafael, CA and adored Uncle Bob to five nephews and nieces.

Bob was the great great grandson of Benjamin Campbell, founder of the town of Campbell, CA, a fact that made him very proud. He was a graduate of Lowell High School in San Francisco, the University of California at Berkeley, class of 1941, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, class of 1947. As part of the Greatest Generation, Bob served in World War II as Commanding Officer of a Navy minesweeper during the New Guinea and Philippines invasions.

His entire business career was spent in the property and casualty insurance business. At the time of his retirement in 1984 (on the

day his first granddaughter was born) he was President of Rathbone King and Seeley, a firm of Insurance Company Managers, and President of the American Star Insurance Company. In insurance company activities, he served as President of the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Property and Casualty Underwriters (CPCU), President of the Insurance Company Managers Association, President of the Insurance Forum of San Francisco, and Chairman of the San Francisco Insurance Educational Association.

Bob’s community activities included serving as Foreman pro tem of the 1974-75 San Mateo County Grand Jury, Vice President and board member of Sequoia Hospital Foundation, and Charter member of Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club (former vice president and board member).

Bob was an avid gardener, spending countless hours landscaping his homes as well as those of his daughters. He leaves behind many beautiful gardens for all of us to enjoy. Bob also enjoyed the hobbies of golf, fishing, tennis, dominoes and traveling. Most of all, Bob loved the time he spent with “his girls,” who will miss him terribly.

A memorial mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 29, at St. Denis Church, 2250 Avy Avenue, Menlo Park, with a reception following. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room, Hanna Boys Center, or Sequoia Hospital Foundation.

Robert George Campbell (Bob)Born March 12, 1919; died January 24, 2011

Hermann Richard Ebenhoech Hermann Richard Ebenhoech, 78, died unexpectedly

on January 6th, 2011 at his Palo Alto home of 45 years.

Many will miss his generous smile and sparkling

eyes including his loving wife, Lisa Ahorner-

Ebenhoech, children, Adelheid (Daniel Thomas),

Gebhard and Otmar, grandchildren, Theo and

Lauren, and his former wife, Johanna Liebmann.

Hermann’s life will be celebrated at St. Bede’s

Episcopal Church in Menlo Park on February 6th at

2 PM. Please join with us to celebrate his memory.

In lieu of flowers please donate to Santa Cruz Chorale,

Chanticleer or a charity of your choice. P A I D O B I T U A R Y

Funeral Home FD132

The Peninsula’s Premier Funeral and Cremation Service Provider

980 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto, California 94301(650) 328-1360

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Amy DiFabio and Mason Still-well of Palo Alto, a son, Dec. 3.

Kym Le and Carter Young-blood, Jr., of Los Altos, a daugh-ter, Dec. 14.

Jennifer and Douglas Hirzel of Menlo Park, a daughter, Dec. 18.

Jennifer and Artur Tekiel of East Palo Alto, a son, Dec. 28.

Tracy and Nathan Luehr of Stanford, a son, Jan. 4.

Minliang Zao and Christoper Schilling of Menlo Park, a daugh-ter, Jan. 4.

Rachel and Knute Ream of Menlo Park, a son, Jan. 4.

Davina Brown and Kendal Peters of East Palo Alto, a daugh-ter, Jan. 11.

Anne Sophie Beraud and Jean Marc Olivot of Menlo Park, a daughter, Jan. 27.

BIRTHS

Today’s news,

sports & hot picks

Page 13

Palo AltoJan. 18-Feb. 2Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Assault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Sexual assault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedCommercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Credit card forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Vehicle relatedAbandoned Auto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Bicycle recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Suspended license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . 12Vehicle accident/property damage. . . .19Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Disturbing the peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Drunk driving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1MiscellaneousLost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .2Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Warrant/Other Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Menlo ParkJan. 18-Feb. 1Violence relatedSpousal Abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedFraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle relatedAuto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Abandoned Auto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .9Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .5Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .4Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Alcohol or drug relatedDrug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3MiscellaneousDisturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Annoying phone calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Disturbing the Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Found property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Info. case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .2Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .4

Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

AthertonJan. 18-Feb. 1Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedBurglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Vehicle relatedAbandoned bicycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vehicle minor injury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Misc. Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Vehicle accident/ property damage . . . .6Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Alcohol or Drug relatedDrunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Traffic hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6MiscellaneousAnimal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Be on the lookout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Citizen assist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Disturbing the peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Hang-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Meet citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Perimeter check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .5

Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . 13Tree or wires down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Welfare check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Building check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Special detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Foot patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

VIOLENT CRIMESPalo AltoMiddlefield Road, 1/18, 1/20, 9:20 p.m.,

4:45 p.m.; child abuse.

Colorado Avenue, 1/18, 7:38 p.m.; child

abuse.

Coyote Hill Road, 1/18, 9:24 p.m.; domes-

tic violence.

El Camino Real, 1/20, 2:52 p.m.; sexual

assault.

Moreno Avenue, 1/22, 11:10 p.m.; battery.

El Camino Real, 1/27, 3:17 p.m.; assault

with weapon.

Henderson Avenue, 2/1, 10:47 a.m.; bat-

tery.

Pierce Road, 2/1, 9:44 a.m.; domestic

violence.

Menlo Park Callie Lane, 1/19, 8:01 p.m.; spousal

abuse.

Windermere Avenue, 1/20, 1:21 p.m.;

spousal abuse.

Henderson Avenue, 2/1, 10:01 p.m.; spou-

sal abuse.

Atherton Middlefield Road, 1/19, 3:03 p.m.; battery.

PulseA weekly compendium of vital statistics

Sunnyvale1080 Enterprise Way, Ste 150Enterprise Way & 11th Ave

San Jose1090 Blossom Hill Rd

Blossom Hill Rd & Almaden Expy

Palo Alto3903 El Camino Real

El Camino Real & Ventura Ave

Cupertino10991 N De Anza Blvd

De Anza Blvd & Homestead Rd

San Jose3136 Stevens Creek Blvd

Stevens Creek Blvd & S. Winchester

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WeddingsStober-Tuck Katharine Stober and Robert Tuck were married July 31, 2010, in Walnut Creek. A sec-ond ceremony was held Dec. 27 in Newport, England. The bride is the daughter of Daniel R. Stober and Joan Mendel-son of Palo Alto and Victoria Emmons and the late John L. Emmons of Pleasanton. A graduate of Castilleja High School, Washington University and Columbia University, she works as a communications associate at International Co-alition of Sites of Conscience in New York, NY. The groom is the son of Amanda Tuck of Orwell, England, and Anthony Tuck of Newport, England. A graduate of Oxford University and Columbia University, he is currently a doctoral candidate in the field of Japanese litera-ture. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii and resides in New York.

Page 14

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ENTRY DEADLINE: April 8, 2011Entry Form and Rules available at:

www.PaloAltoOnline.com/photo_contestFor more information call 650.223.6508 or e-mail

photocontest@paweekly.com

www.PaloAltoOnline.com

20th Annual Palo Alto Weekly Photo ContestCall for Entries

Judges VERONICA WEBERVeronica Weber, a Los Angeles native, first began working at the Palo Alto Weekly in 2006 as a photography intern. Following the internship, she was a photographer for The Almanac in Menlo Park. She is currently the Weekly staff photographer responsible for covering daily assignments and producing video and multimedia projects for PaloAltoOnline.com. She has a BA in Journalism from San Francisco State University and currently resides in San Francisco.

ANGELA BUENNING FILOAngela Buenning Filo, a Palo Alto resident, photographs changing landscapes, most recently focusing on Silicon Valley and Bangalore, India, during their respective tech booms. Her photographs are in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and were included in the book "Suburban Escape: The Art of California Sprawl." Her installation titled "1,737 Trees," focusing on one of the last orchards in Silicon Valley, is on permanent display in the lobby of the San Jose City Hall. Photographs from her Silicon Valley and Bangalore series are on view in the new terminal of the San Jose airport.

DAVID HIBBARDDavid Hibbard, a Menlo Park resident, has photographed natural landscapes and wild places most of his life. He is the author of "Natural Gestures," a book of images from the beaches and coastal forests of northern California. A major retrospective of his work was shown last year at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto. Website: www.davidhibbardphotography.com.

BRIGITTE CARNOCHANBrigitte Carnochan's photographs have been exhibited at galleries and museums nationally and internationally and has recently been featured on the covers of Lenswork, Camera Arts and Silvershotz and in Color, View Camera, Black and White UK, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Zoom magazines. Brigitte's newest series, Floating World: Allusions to Poems by Japanese Women from the 7th to 20th Centuries, will be on view at Modernbook Gallery at their new location at 49 Geary Street, San Francisco, until February 26.

PORTRAITS 1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place – $100 Cash, One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center

1st Place - $100 Cash2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

VIEWS BEYOND THE BAY AREA1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place – $100 Cash, One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center

1st Place - $100 Cash2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

AD

ULT

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ULT

YO

UTH

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UTH

1st Place – $250 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to Bear Images2nd Place – $200 Cash, $100 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place – $100 Cash, One-year Membership to Palo Alto Art Center

1st Place - $100 Cash2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate to University Art3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate to University Art

20th Annual Photo Contest

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★ ★ WE’VE GONE ! ★ ★

Page 15

Cover Story

W hen the lavish, 26-room Barron Mansion went up in a blaze on Thanksgiving evening in 1936, firefighters from surrounding towns raced to unincorporated Barron Park to save the 80-year-old Victorian structure, which had just been

converted into a school.Palo Alto firefighters, who were stationed closest to the blaze, were the first to arrive,

but rather than charge forth, they looked on from El Camino Real, about 100 feet away from the flames. The Palo Alto Times reported that the department had “refused to go beyond the city limits,” pursuant to orders from the city’s board of public safety. Residents of Barron Park, which had not yet been annexed to Palo Alto, had to summon firefighters and equipment from Menlo Park, Los Altos, Redwood City, Los Altos and the Moffett Field army air base. Firefighters tore down fences and positioned their engines near the

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Stanford

by Gennady Sheyner

Lean times force Palo Alto to look

for answers beyond city lines

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Page 16

Cover Story

school’s swimming pool to ensure a water supply.

“Half a dozen streams were soon playing on the fire, under the direc-tion of Chief Thomas Cuff of the Menlo Park department, but the blaze had already swept the dry and weathered old mansion from end to end,” the Times reported.

The loss of Barron Mansion, and Palo Alto’s conduct during the blaze, helped sour relations between the neighbors. Barron Park Historian Doug Graham recalled the incident in a 2005 newsletter, quoting a for-mer Barron Park resident who had told him in the 1980s, “They only were there to keep the fire from spreading into Palo Alto — they didn’t give a damn what happened in Barron Park.”

The Barron Mansion fire was by no means an isolated incident. The following August, a blaze at 2821 Waverley St. destroyed the new home of Mary Porter. Despite a valiant ef-fort from neighbors, who pulled out everything but the piano and the stove, the flames quickly ate up the building. This time, no one bothered

to call the Fire Department.“None of the local fire depart-

ment’s units was summoned since Mrs. Porter’s residence is outside the city limits,” the Times reported.

These days, borders aren’t what they used to be. Those that sepa-rated Palo Alto from the two burned structures have disappeared. Others have merely become more porous. Palo Alto began signing mutual-aid agreements in 1951, and it’s not uncommon these days to see fire engines and police cruisers from neighboring towns routinely cross-ing city lines to assist their neigh-bors. Called “border drops,” cities send their firefighting resources to incidents near the city line, regard-less of the jurisdiction, said Dennis Burns, Palo Alto’s police chief and interim fire chief.

The trend isn’t limited to firefight-ing or, for that matter, emergency response. Palo Alto is involved in partnerships with its neighbors in fields as dissimilar as water treat-ment, library books, garbage dis-

posal, animal services and transpor-tation planning. Palo Alto belongs to a six-city coalition dedicated to keeping up with California’s high-speed rail project and a five-agency group tasked with protecting Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park from the flood-prone San Francis-quito Creek.

While “Shop Local” may be the mantra of downtown Palo Alto mer-chants, city officials are thinking regionally more than ever before.

T he trend is by no means new, but it has steamed ahead thanks to the Great Recession. With

local tax revenues dropping, Palo Alto has been eliminating positions and reducing employee benefits to balance budgets. Over the past two years, the City Council has cut about 60 positions from the General Fund budget. Another 46 remain vacant to save money. At a recent council retreat, City Manager James Keene illustrated the current situation with a slide showing a slice of cheese full of holes — each hole representing a major staffing vacancy.

At the same time, Palo Alto is pre-paring to deal with a host of prob-lems, from the city’s stalled quest for a seismically sound public-safety building to the impending closure of the city’s composting facility to the implications of Caltrain’s potential financial implosion. In each of these arenas, Palo Alto is banking on a little help from its friends.

Most of the work has been taking place behind the scenes, at routine meetings between city managers, law-enforcement agencies and waste managers. But on Jan. 18, Palo Alto’s council publicly announced its de-sire to see more consolidation when it unanimously passed a resolution directing Keene to explore sharing a wide range of services — includ-ing public-safety communications, emergency planning, fire prevention, records-management and arson-investigation programs, evidence facilities and office and field equip-ment — with the cities of Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Los Altos.

The resolution, which passed with

no discussion, also directs Keene to include funds in his next budget for a study of a joint public-safety com-munication center.

The resolution is “saying that we take the issue of more regionaliza-tion and sharing services seriously and it authorizes me to see if there are economies of scale or other ad-vantages to doing that,” Keene told the Weekly.

This was by no means the first time Keene has spoken publicly about the need to rely on neighbors to get through the lean times. Last June, when the council discussed the city’s options for a new public-safety building, Keene spoke in favor of sharing resources.

“In general, we’re in an era now where local governments, just as businesses have for a long time, are having to look at really different ways to organizing themselves and providing services,” Keene said at a June 7 meeting. “We don’t have the luxury of individually designed ap-proaches to providing services when we don’t have sufficient funding.

“I think increasingly we will see more efforts at looking at opportu-nity to share.”

Since then, Keene has been at the center of these efforts. Last year, he regularly met with city managers Kevin Duggan and Doug Schmitz, from Mountain View and Los Altos, to discuss cities’ upgrades of their respective dispatch equipment. The three city managers wanted to make sure they would upgrade to the same dispatch system so that each city could coordinate emergency calls across city lines.

During the course of the conversa-tions, they started talking about full-on consolidation of dispatch servic-es, fire-prevention programs, record management and other services to reduce overhead costs. Sunnyvale City Manager Gary Luebbers ulti-mately joined the discussions.

This week, the city released a new study by two consulting firms that analyzed the resources in the Fire Department. The consultant recom-mended that Palo Alto “regionalize the city’s fire and EMS training pro-gram.”

M ayor Sid Espinosa, one of the council’s most adamant proponents of regionaliza-

tion, credited the dismal economy for spurring these talks along.

“The recession is sparking conver-sations that I don’t think would’ve happened without the pressures of cost-cutting,” Espinosa told the Weekly. “I’m not sure the conver-sations between the city managers would’ve happened several years ago, but necessity calls for us to think outside the box and work with other jurisdictions to cut costs.”

Espinosa likes to use the word “artificial” to describe city borders along the El Camino Real corridor. But not everyone wants to abandon those boundaries altogether.

Last summer, when the council’s Finance Committee was wrestling with a $6.4 million hole in the city’s Refuse Fund, then-Vice Mayor Es-pinosa suggested closing the city’s Recycling Center in favor of a re-gional approach. The committee quickly shot down the idea.

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Author Sarah RoseFor All the Tea in ChinaThursday, February 10 at 7:00 PM

From Brahms to Piazzola ConcertSaturday, February 12 at 8:00 PM

Books as Works of ArtExhibit ReceptionSunday, February 13 at 4:00 PM

Esn: Songs From the KitchenSunday, February 13 at 7:30 PM

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Suska VardaPart of Women’s MonthThursday, March 3 at 7:30 PM

Tango Dance ParySunday, March 6 at 7:30 PM

FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS

(continued on page 19)

It’s not uncommon these days to see fire engines and police cruisers from neighboring towns routinely crossing city lines to assist their neighbors.

Veronica Weber

In December, the Palo Alto Fire Department responded to a fatal accident on University Avenue in Palo Alto, where a woman was struck by a SamTrans bus.

Page 17

Cover Story

Amit Narayan and Shiva Swa-minathan arrived at their partnership from opposite

directions.Narayan, an inventor, entre-

preneur and visiting professor at Stanford University, spent the bulk of his career designing complex computer systems and supercon-ductor chips for devices such as smartphones and video games. He later focused his research on ener-gy efficiency and began directing Stanford’s Smart Grid program.

He is on the frontlines of re-search in the growing field of “de-mand response” — a mechanism that encourages electricity con-sumers to voluntarily reduce their usage during peak hours.

Swaminathan, a senior resource planner at City of Palo Alto Utili-ties, has been thinking about prac-tical ways to bring Smart Grid technology to the city’s electric-ity customers. Given that the local utility doesn’t have the size or re-sources of Pacific Gas & Electric, which already uses smart meters, city utility officials want to inte-grate brand-new, state-of-the-art technology without taking a ma-jor risk or betting the bank. The project also brought Swaminathan to demand response.

The Stanford researcher and the Palo Alto utilities engineer are now working together to bring the city its first rebate-based smart-grid program — an 18-month pilot project targeting major com-mercial customers. If things go

well, the program would later be expanded to the city’s masses.

Narayan describes smart grids currently used by major utilities such as PG&E as “Demand Re-sponse 1.0.” He wants to develop what he calls the “2.0 version,” which would give customers ad-ditional information about peak days and electricity usage. The program would anticipate the days of greatest electricity use (mostly during the summer) and offer customers rebates if they cut back on electricity on those days. If everything works out, the customer would save money because of lower electric bills. At the same time, the city would no longer have to operate inefficient (“dirty”) generators that remain idle for most of the year but only get harnessed during peak times. Thus, the environment would also win, Swaminathan said.

The partnership is exactly what Palo Alto officials are talking about when they call for the city to look beyond its borders for re-gional approaches to sustainabil-ity. At the council’s Jan. 22 retreat, Councilman Greg Scharff pointed to the city’s municipal utilities and the brainy, green university next door and concluded that there should be plenty of opportunities for the two to collaborate.

Mayor Sid Espinosa reiterated the point during his State of the City speech two days later, when he called for Palo Alto to serve as a “test bed” for sustainability pro-

grams and technologies emerging from Stanford.

“We have the incredible oppor-tunities to test emerging technolo-gies and practices right here in the city,” Espinosa said in the address. “We must explore those opportu-nities.”

So far at least, most of the col-laborative efforts have occurred from the bottom up. Narayan be-gan collaborating with the city staff through Steve Eglash, who as a member of the city’s Utilities Advisory Commission and execu-tive director of Stanford’s Energy and Environmental Affiliates Pro-gram, personifies the bridge be-tween the school and the city on issues of sustainability (The com-mission discussed and endorsed the project at its meeting Wednes-day night).

Eglash said the school and the city already collaborate on several issues relating to utilities. In re-cent months, for example, officials from the two institutions have been talking increasingly about possible ways to provide backup power to one another. Stanford also regularly sends graduate stu-dents on internship assignments in the city’s Utilities Department.

“Most of what’s been happening up until now has happened based on mutual respect between two individuals or a small group of in-dividuals, where one professor at Stanford and one staff member in Palo Alto realize while conducting their normal work responsibilities

that there is something they can work on together that falls within the scope of their jobs and could help their institutions,” Eglash said.

In the case of Palo Alto’s smart-grid initiative, Narayan said he reached out to the city because he wanted to test his research work in a real-life environment.

“I was trying to connect with utilities so we could basically do something not in a vacuum but in real collaboration,” Narayan told the Weekly.

For the Utilities Department, the partnership means world-class expertise and resource sharing. If the council approves the project, Narayan and his team of Stanford researchers and interns would analyze the results of the pilot program and help the city proceed with the next phase. The adminis-trative cost for the city would total about $15,000 in the current fiscal year and $10,000 in 2012, accord-ing to a staff report.

“We’re not investing too much in hardware,” Swaminathan said. “We’re focusing mainly on soft-ware tools to assess the custom-ers’ potential and to give them the tools to get involved in better man-aging their usage.”

Narayan said the tools’ features could expand in later phases. For example, the software could func-tion much like Netflix, a popular entertainment service that allows

users to rent and stream movies and television shows and then recommends similar programs. In the case of utilities, the smart-grid software could analyze the customer’s profile and then alert the user to ways to save money and get better energy efficiency.

Espinosa told the Weekly in a recent interview that sustainability is just one of many areas where the city wants to work more closely with Stanford. Last year, city offi-cials met with Stanford University President John Hennessy to dis-cuss possible partnerships. More recently officials from the city and from Stanford’s School of En-gineering met to discuss a variety of Stanford’s clean-tech, parking-management and bike-share pro-grams, which the city could soon participate in.

Collaborations with Stanford on sustainability issues are but one of many possible regional partner-ships the city is exploring, with the goals of reducing costs and im-proving services (see main story), Espinosa said.

“Could we become more struc-tured in thinking about policy questions that we want answered, or technologies we want har-vested, or projects that we want to explore so that we can have di-rect relationships with professors, graduate students and undergrads to benefit both Stanford and Palo Alto?” he asked.

Stanford, Palo Alto forge ‘smart’ partnerships

City, university collaborate on smart-grid pilot, look for other partnerships in the future

by Gennady Sheyner

Amit Narayan, a visiting professor at Stanford University, stands outside Stanford’s cogeneration plant, which converts natural gas and steam to electricity and powers most of the campus. He is working with the city of Palo Alto to create a Smart-Grid system to better monitor energy usage.

Shiva Swaminathan, senior resource planner for City of Palo Alto Utilities, stands outside the city’s electrical substation on Colorado Avenue. The substation receives electricity from nearby PG&E transmission towers.

Veronica Weber

Veronica Weber

Page 18

Cover Story

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How Palo Alto works with neighboring cities

With Whom:

Mountain View, Sunnyvale

Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills

Menlo Park, Atherton

Libraries in California and Nevada

Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Stanford University and the East Palo Alto Sanitary District

With Whom:

Atherton, Menlo Park, Belmont, Burlingame, Brisbane

Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, San Mateo County Flood Control District

With Whom:

Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos

Stanford

Study to be released in spring

Unknown

What:

Sunnyvale Materials and Recovery Transfer (SMaRT) station

Palo Alto Animal Services

High-speed rail lobbyist

LINK+ library book-sharing service

Regional Water Quality Control Plant

What:

Peninsula Cities Consortium (high-speed rail project)

San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority

What:

Public-safety communication center (dispatch services, emergency planning, fire prevention, records-management and arson-investigation programs, evidence facilities and office and field equipment)

Smart grid, sustainability

Composting

Caltrain

Joint services:

Collaborations:

Possible partnerships:

Regionalization is already the norm in most areas of waste manage-ment. Palo Alto, Mountain View and Sunnyvale all ship their garbage to the Sunnyvale Materials and Recov-ery Transfer (SMaRT) station, where it gets sorted on conveyor belts, stripped of salvageable recyclable matter, and trucked to landfills. The SMaRT station also includes a recy-cling center where residents from all three cities are allowed to drop off materials at no charge.

But when it comes to compost-ing, the drive to regionalize has encountered a wave of opposition from some of Palo Alto’s greenest environmentalists.

The city’s composting facility at Byxbee Park is set to close next year, after which time Palo Alto’s yard trimmings and food scraps are set to go to the Z-Best station in Gilroy. Palo Alto’s Zero Waste Operational Plan, which the council adopted in

2007, specifically recommends us-ing a regional facility for local or-ganic waste.

Many, however, feel Palo Alto should take care of its own yard waste, rather than ship it elsewhere. A coalition of environmentalists led by Bob Wenzlau and former Mayor Peter Drekmeier is leading a charge for a local solution to the compost-ing problem.

In late 2009, a special taskforce recommended that the city explore building an “anaerobic digestion” plant — a waste-to-energy facility that would convert local yard trim-mings, food waste and sewer sludge into electricity.

Last April, after a four-hour de-bate featuring dozens of public speakers, the council voted 5-4 — with Espinosa, Karen Holman, Greg Schmid and Yiaway Yeh dissenting — to fund a feasibility study for a waste-to-energy plant in the Bay-lands.

Minutes later, the council voted on

Fading borders (continued from page 17)

(continued on next page)

Page 19

Cover Story

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a separate motion, directing staff to pursue regional solutions for com-posting. The motion also passed by a 5-4 vote, with Pat Burt, Larry Klein,

Nancy Shepherd and Gail Price dis-senting (Greg Scharff voted in favor of both).

The feasibility study will be re-leased in the spring, at which point the city’s most passionate local vs. regional debate is likely to resume.

O ther resource-sharing op-portunities have proven less divisive. Last month, the

council agreed to extend the city’s participation in LINK+, a service the city joined in 2008 that allows local libraries to swap books with hundreds of others in California

and Nevada. The program, which is projected to cost the city about $200,000 over the next two years, will give customers access to about 18 million volumes from dozens of libraries.

So far, only 0.7 percent of local library customers have used LINK+

— a smaller rate than the city had projected. But library officials be-lieve it will become more popular in the coming years and unanimously recommended renewing the city’s participation.

The nonprofit group Friends of the Palo Alto Library also signaled its support for LINK+ and committed $100,000 to pay for the service.

Espinosa said as the city’s budget woes continue, other opportunities for regional cooperation will almost certainly crop up. In some cases, this will involve sharing municipal services like emergency dispatch and record management. In others, it will entail forming partnerships with other communities to help in-fluence state policy.

Palo Alto launched one such partnership in 2008, when former Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto helped co-found the Peninsula Cit-ies Consortium to give the city and its neighbors a greater voice in California’s high-speed rail system. The coalition now includes elected leaders from Atherton, Menlo Park, Belmont, Burlingame and Brisbane. The city also shares a high-speed-rail lobbyist with Menlo Park and Atherton and has joined its two Midpeninsula neighbors in a lawsuit against the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The challenges of a new year are expected to present cities with other opportunities to team up. One major area of potential cooperation lies in securing permanent funding for Cal-train, Espinosa said. Another one is finding a way to meet stringent state mandates requiring each community to zone for its “fair share” of hous-ing (in Palo Alto’s case, city officials agree that the “fair share” is neither fair nor possible).

In his view, thinking regionally isn’t so much an option on these is-sues but a necessity.

“There are specific issues where communities will have to come to-gether to come up with solutions,” Espinosa said.

Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be e-mailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

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Page 20

Arts & EntertainmentA weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace

Exhibit features the Duvenecks’ influential efforts in founding Hidden Villa and Peninsula School

by Rebecca Wallace | Photos by Veronica Weber

There’s a lot more to real estate than “loca-

tion, location.” The heart of a property often

comes from what you do with it.

Few Peninsulans have illustrated this philos-

ophy better than Josephine and Frank Duveneck. In 1924,

they bought a pretty piece of land in a Los Altos Hills val-

ley, and ended up turning it into the summer camp, farm

and gathering place now known as Hidden Villa.

Around that time, the Duvenecks and other parents

also transformed Menlo Park’s Coleman Mansion and

its environs into the progressive Peninsula School.

In their spare time, the pair also helped found the

Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club, and Josephine

served a term on the Palo Alto City Council.

“She had incredible energy and was able to enlist

people to support her,” Nan Geschke said. “We are

just in awe of everything she did.”

Geschke has done quite a lot herself. She’s co-chair of

the exhibit “Touching Lives: The Duvenecks of Hidden

Villa” that opened last month at the Los Altos History

Museum. Through old photos, newspaper clippings, vid-

eos, clothing and other artifacts, the exhibit traces the

couple’s lives. Visitors follow the Duvenecks from their

privileged East Coast upbringings to their philanthropic

decades on the San Francisco Peninsula after they fell

in love with California.

A centerpiece is a re-creation of the dining room at

“The Big House” that the Duvenecks built at Hidden

Villa. Within the wooden walls are historic photos; a

copy of a painting by Frank’s father, the artist Frank Du-

veneck Sr.; and a set table complete with candlesticks.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

(continued on page 22)

YY Exhibit visitor Carolyn Tucher reads about the Duvenecks’ family history in the company of a large black-and-white photo of Josephine and Frank Duveneck.

A photo of Cesar Chavez sits in a re-creation of the Big House dining room at Hidden Villa. The house was a gathering place for both relatives and activists.

Page 21

The room also gives a taste of the couple’s politics. A photo of Ce-sar Chavez is prominently placed at one table setting, providing a reminder that the Big House was not just a warm hearth for fam-ily and friends, but a community gathering place where Chavez and other Mexican-American activists planned farm workers’ strikes and boycotts.

Another area recalls the support the Duvenecks gave to their Japa-nese-American friends who were interned during World War II. A stack of small suitcases shows the limited amount of belongings that internees were allowed to bring, while an exhibit card tells about the Duvenecks bringing relief sup-plies to the internees and storing their possessions for them during the war. A quote from Josephine reads: “Intolerance is too costly for any of us.”

Other exhibit areas include rep-licas of the fireplace at the Big House, Frank’s blacksmith shop, and the writing cabin behind the Big House where Josephine wrote books including her autobiogra-phy, “Life on Two Levels.”

A section on Peninsula School features a poem by Josephine about the school, a decades-old yearbook, and a large photo of the graceful Coleman Mansion that became the school’s “Big Building.”

The school, Geschke said in an interview at the museum, had its roots in Josephine’s own “non-traditional education.” Josephine said that traditional public schools could be crowded and restrictive, and also complained that “the girls had to wear dresses,” accord-ing to an exhibit card.

After Josephine and other

parents researched progressive schools and studied the ideas of education reformers including Maria Montessori, they opened The Peninsula School for Cre-ative Education in the fall of 1925 with 45 students, according to the exhibit. Today the school has 255 students in nursery school through eighth grade. Its website still talks about the founders’ original val-ues: “an environment in which learning was joyful and exciting, where children were challenged to learn by doing, and where both independence and group coopera-tion were highly valued.”

Besides being Peninsula’s co-founder, Josephine was also di-rector and teacher, among other roles. Frank taught math, science and shop, and served on the board. A photo in the exhibit shows chil-dren taking part in one of the Greek festivals that Josephine liked to stage at the school.

The couple’s legacy also lives on in the Palo Alto Unified School District, where Duveneck Elemen-tary School is named after them.

As for Hidden Villa, the pair bought its land while they were living in Palo Alto. They had be-come drawn to the picturesque valley in neighboring Los Altos Hills, and one day saw a “For Sale” sign on Moody Road, Ge-schke said. “It just became the center of their lives.”

Irene Sasaki, one of the exhibit researchers, added, “Once they had this lovely property, they de-cided to share it with people.”

The Duvenecks built the Big House, a three-story, 5,000-square-foot home roofed in hand-made green tiles, for $33,564.42, according to an exhibit card. Then they opened it, and Hidden Villa, to the world, establishing a hostel, a pioneering multiracial summer camp, and an environmental-edu-

cation program. Thousands of people visit Hid-

den Villa every year, in tune with the Duvenecks’ original vision for the place. Of the Big House, an exhibit card states, “It was a gath-ering place for politically minded people, a spawning ground for so-cial justice, a safe haven and the scene of countless festivities.

“The Duvenecks never locked the door of the Big House or the gates to the property.”

Arts & Entertainment

Date: Saturday, March 5, 2011Time: 8:30 a.m. - Registration, Breakfast 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.- ProgramLocation: Stanford Univerity School of Education – Cubberley Auditorium Near the main quad and The OvalAdmission: $20 pre-registration/$25 at the door

Duvenecks(continued from page 21)

What: The exhibit “Touching Lives: The Duvenecks of Hidden Villa” traces the lives of Peninsula philanthropists Josephine and Frank Duveneck.

Where: Los Altos History Museum, 51 S. San Antonio Road

When: Through June 27, open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Cost: Free

Info: Go to losaltoshistory.org or call 650-948-9427. Special programs include a panel discussion on the Duvenecks and Hidden Villa, with such speakers as Palo Alto musician Nancy Cassidy, who was an early camp director; and David Duveneck, grandson of Josephine and Frank. The free panel is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. March 16 at the Hillview Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos.

A model of one of the Duvenecks’ horses peers into the Los Altos History Museum exhibit.

INSPIRATIONSA resource for special events and ongoing religious

services. To inquire about or make space reservations for Inspirations, please contact

Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

This Sunday: A Super SermonRev. David Howell preaching

Page 22

Arts & Entertainment

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The Bowman program builds confidence, creativity and

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‘Private Eyes’ and truth and liesThe audience has to figure out the action in

Dragon’s fast-paced, twist-and-turn productionby Jeanie K. Smith

You may not know that Steven Dietz is one of the most pro-duced playwrights in the U.S.,

only slightly behind Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. That might be a good enough reason to go see the cur-rent Dragon Theatre production of his play “Private Eyes” — to see what all the fuss is about.

But an even better reason is the quality of Dragon’s production. It’s an excellent evening’s entertainment, sure to generate laughter and post-show discussion.

The play begins with Lisa (Kelly Rinehart) auditioning for a role in a play for a director named Matthew (Fred Pitts). It’s a bit of meta-theater that’s delicious satire, poking fun at directorial pomposity and the hapless actor at his mercy. But suddenly an-other director named Adrian (Martin Gagen) appears, and everything you just saw is thrown into question.

In order not to write a review full of spoilers, I can say no more, except that we meet two more players in this complex plot: Frank (Vic Prosak), a therapist and more; and Corey (Sara Luna), a waitress and more. Who is related to whom and how is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, along with the rest of the action.

Once the first plot twist happens, we realize that we can’t trust our per-ception of what we’re watching, as re-ality ground zero — what’s real and what’s imagined and what’s lied about — is continually shifting. Just when

you think you have it all figured out, you’re in for another surprise revela-tion. Equally in doubt is truth. Who’s telling it? Who isn’t? Who’s lying to whom? Again, you’re on your own here.

Along the way there are some fabulously funny scenes, and Dietz’s witty dialogue. The characters brave-ly schlep through the comic twists, themselves somewhat hapless at the author’s pen. There are a few serious moments that perhaps give a clue as to Dietz’s intended message, but nothing too heavy-handed or obvious.

The play does tend to sag some-what in the middle of each act, a little bloated with its own plot twists, but it’s a minor quibble in an otherwise fast-paced show. Director Lennon Smith has done a good job of staging

to maximize the comedy and clarify the complex plot.

Rinehart and Pitts are spot-on in their respective roles, marvelous at the quick changes required of their characters. They have an ease with each other that works well. Gagen is equally at home in his various incar-nations: classic directorial stereotype, pathetic wannabe, miserable husband. These three actors carry the bulk of the action, and it’s dizzying to watch them but enjoyable to see how they manage the complexity.

Emily Hagen’s costumes add nicely to the characters, and Henry Sellen-thin’s set manages several totally dif-ferent locales with minimal changes. Jeffrey Lo’s music choices mostly capture the mood, although there’s a critical moment when less might have been more.

Kudos to the Dragon for kicking off its new season with a terrific show. Be sure to plan for some fun discussion after the show, preferably over a glass of Merlot. (OK, that’s all the spoiler you’re getting.)

What: “Private Eyes,” by Steven Dietz, presented by Dragon Productions The-atre CompanyWhere: Dragon Theatre, 535 Alma St., Palo AltoWhen: Through Feb. 13, with 8 p.m. shows Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. matinees on SundaysCost: Tickets range from $15 to $30.Info: Go to www.dragonproductions.net or call 650-493-2006.

We can’t trust our perception of what we’re watching, as what’s real and what’s imagined is continually shifting.

Fred Pitts and Sara Luna in Dragon Productions’ “Private Eyes.”

James Kasyan

Sign up today at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

THEATER REVIEW

Page 23

Eating Out

I n the noontime line at Ike’s Place at Stanford University, a line that curves around the

spacious, light-filled Forbes Fam-ily Cafe of the Jen-Hsuan Huang School of Engineering, you’ll have plenty of time to eavesdrop on conversations such as:

“I just figured out I don’t have to go to class anymore.”

“Dude! Next quarter I only have two classes!”

Aha! Now we know why elite students have 40 minutes to spend waiting for sandwiches. At least they’re getting the best.

Soon, so will Burlingame, downtown San Jose near San Jose State University and Santa Rosa Community College, where new Ike’s Places are scheduled to open. Ike Shehadeh is all about spread-ing the love.

His sandwiches are behemoths, but you can get a half-sandwich, which still comes with your choice of fruit or a bag of Dirty’s All-Natural Potato Chips, and a per-fect little caramel-apple lollipop. Build your own or choose a local hero like John Elway (turkey, ba-con and Swiss cheese).

Vegetarians flock to flavor fes-tivals such as the Chelsea Clinton ($6.96 half, $9.99 full), with vegan turkey, French dressing, avocado

and smoked gouda. There are 16 vegan combinations. Vegan Chel-sea employs sesame dressing and vegan soy cheese.

Ike Shehadeh has been featured on the Travel Channel and drawn customers from as far away as Si-beria to his original store in San Francisco. That store has moved once, and is about to move again, into a 3,000-foot space, which is seven times its original size. Now he has 71 “phenomenal” employ-

ees, half of whom have been with him over a year, a long time in this business. The second store is just off U.S. 101 in a Redwood Shores office park, with, Shehadeh notes, 500 free parking spaces. By March he expects to employ 150 people.

Ike originally wanted to open a full-serve restaurant, but didn’t have the money for it. So, he says, “I changed all my recipes into sandwiches.” His goal with a sandwich is that you take a bite, “and hit as many taste buds as possible.”

Bread choices include Dutch crunch, French, sourdough roll and gluten-free. Whatever your bread, keep in mind that it is slathered in fresh ingredients and Ike’s Secret Dirty Sauce. The Huang complex offers lots of comfortable seating indoors and out, but if your lunch hour is not unlimited, just try to eat soon.

You have to wonder, does wait-ing 40 minutes for a sandwich cause you to overrate the experi-ence? Um, no.

No. 85, the Super Mario ($7.97 half, $11.11 full), is spectacular. Warm all-beef meatballs nuzzle with thick, chewy mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce. Regu-lar condiments are lettuce, tomato, pickles and peppers but you are free to subtract. Or add, for ex-ample, grilled mushrooms.

Ike’s uses halal chicken. Instead of the usual hunk of dry chicken breast, the chicken is shredded. It’s still moist and tender, but mar-

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RESTAURANT REVIEW

For the love of sandwiches Ike’s Place is all about spreading the love —

on sourdough rolls, Dutch crunch, gluten-free bread ...By Sheila Himmel

Veronica Weber

Veronica Weber

The Herbert Hoover sandwich features ham, bacon, American cheese, mozzarella sticks, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, banana peppers and a double helping of the Ike’s “dirty sauce.”

The Paul Reubens includes pastrami and coleslaw.

(continued on next page)

Page 24

Ike’s PlaceJen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, 650-322-1766ilikeikesplace.comHours: Daily 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Reservations

Credit cards

Lot Parking

Alcohol

Takeout

Highchairs

Wheelchair access

Banquet

Catering

Outdoor seating

Noise level:Fine

Bathroom Cleanliness:Very good

www.valleywater.org

Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection PlanIndependent Monitoring Committee

Robert Baldini Jeffrey Cristina Nancy Hobbs

Teresa AlvaradoJim Foran

David Ginsborg

Jane Kennedy

Mark Lazzarini

Marc Berman Patrick Waite

Charles Taylor

Terry Trumbull

Lonnie Gross

Year 9 of Your Program

Members of the IMC take this voter-mandated oversight responsibility very seriously. As described in this year’s report, the local parcel tax funds only a portion of several major flood protection projects. Unfortunately, the anticipated share of federal and state funds needed to complete these projects on time has been lacking. As a result, some of these projects are in jeopardy of not being completed on time or at all. If you are as concerned as we are about flood protection initiatives not proceeding as scheduled, I urge you to read our report and contact district staff and their board of directors, as well as your federal and state representatives.

To learn more about activities in your area or for a copy of the annual report, please contact Karna DuQuite at (408) 265-2607, ext. 2944 or visit www.valleywater.org. I would also like to extend an invitation to members of the public to attend our next evening meeting on May 5, 2011.

Sincerely,

David Ginsborg, ChairIndependent Monitoring Committee

OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY

January 25, 2011

Dear Santa Clara County Residents:

This year marks the completion of the ninth year of the fifteen-year Clean, Safe Creeks & Natural Flood Protection Plan, a November 2000 ballot measure that received strong support from Santa Clara County voters creating a “pay as you go” countywide special parcel tax to fund initiatives to protect properties from floods, add trails and safeguard creeks and ecosystems.

As part of the plan, implemented by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, voters approved the formation of an Independent Monitoring Committee (IMC) to monitor the plan’s progress and ensure the outcomes of the plan are met in a cost efficient manner. Consistent with that objective, the IMC meets as a full committee bi-annually and relies on four working subcommittees to produce an annual oversight report that details the status of each of the four major outcomes promised to voters in 2000.

Homes, schools, businesses and transportation networks are protected from floodingThere are nine flood protection projects to protect approximately 16,000 homes, businesses and schools. The water district also removes sediment from creeks to maintain stream capacity so flood waters are conveyed safely to San Francisco and Monterey Bays.

Clean, safe water in our creeks and baysThe water district is implementing projects to improve the quality of water in our creeks and bays as well as remove trash and graffiti from our stream corridors.

Healthy creek and bay ecosystems are protected, enhanced or restored Initiatives are underway to enhance the health of creeks and the surrounding habitat. These efforts go beyond a waterway’s banks to reflect the conditions throughout the watershed, including the health of its birds, wildlife and fish.

Trails, parks and open space along waterwaysThe water district works to create trails and open space within surrounding watersheds, stream corridors and on flood protection levees, for the community to use and enjoy.

1.

2.

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4.

ShopTalkby Daryl Savage

STAINED GLASS, SPINNING CLASS ... This unlikely combina-tion works. The stained-glass windows, eight of them, create a dramatic backdrop for a variety of exercise classes in Palo Alto’s newest fitness center. Located in the former University AME Zion Church at 819 Ramona St., Uforia Studios opened Feb. 1 and offers spinning and many other classes. The building itself, nestled in a quaint residential neighborhood and classified as an historic structure, underwent a $150,000, 90-day renovation that helped turn the old site into a virtual work of art. Uforia is the brainchild of Sarah Lux and her husband, Robert Hanson, a nationally ranked track athlete. Also joining the venture is Jessica Gilmartin as Uforia’s consultant/investor. She is the former co-owner of Fraiche, and sold her stake in the Palo Alto/Stanford yogurt shop last year. “We’ve been planning this for three years. We’ve done

our homework,” said Lux, who is also a competitive athlete. Other offerings include weight-training, Pilates, ballet-conditioning, Zum-ba and hip-hop. Chilled towels and free fruit are a few additional perks at Uforia. A grand-opening launch party is scheduled for Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. “Everyone who comes will get a free class,” Lux said.

7 6 4 9 3 1 2 8 51 2 9 5 8 7 4 3 63 5 8 4 2 6 7 9 19 7 6 3 1 4 8 5 28 1 5 2 7 9 3 6 42 4 3 8 6 5 9 1 75 9 7 6 4 8 1 2 36 3 1 7 9 2 5 4 84 8 2 1 5 3 6 7 9

Answers to this week’s puzzles, which can be found on page 49

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ries much better with all the other ingredients.

No. 7, Pizzle ($5.95 half/$8.98 full), is chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese and ranch dressing. Which doesn’t sound all that special, but it is.

No. 111, Menage a Trois ($6.96, $11.11), features halal chicken, hon-ey, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, pepper Jack, Swiss and smoked gouda. It is a fabulous mess.

Ike’s was invited to Stanford, helped design the space, and opened Sept. 1.

Note to the non-Stanford commu-nity: Maps are nearly non-existent. The bike shop at Tressider Union has a map on the wall, and the clerk there very kindly gave me a map to take, even highlighting directions to Ike’s. Which happens to be very close to the parking lot off Via Ortega, which runs 75 cents per half-hour.

Here is the good news: Parking is free after 4 p.m. and on weekends. The Stanford Ike’s is open every day.

(continued from previous page)

BARGAINS IN ART ... The Palo Alto Art Center at 1313 Newell Road, preparing to undergo its first major renovation, is holding a pre-closing sale at its Gallery Shop, with all items reduced in price by at least 25 percent. The shop features hand-crafted ar-tisan work, including necklaces made of zippers and earrings made of recycled Legos. The shop is scheduled to close Feb. 19, with the art center as a whole shutting its doors April 1 for year-long renovation work.

Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business mov-ing out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. She can be e-mailed at shoptalk@paweekly.com.

Page 25

Search a complete listing of local

restaurant reviews by location or type of food onPaloAltoOnline.com

AMERICAN

Armadillo Willy’s 941-2922

1031 N. San Antonio Rd., Los Altos

Range: $5.00-13.00

Hobee’s 856-6124

4224 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Also at Town & Country Village,

Palo Alto 327-4111

Burmese

Green Elephant Gourmet

(650) 494-7391

Burmese & Chinese Cuisine

3950 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto

(Charleston Shopping Center)

Dine-In, Take-Out, Local Delivery-Catering

CHINESE

Chef Chu’s (650) 948-2696

1067 N. San Antonio Road

on the corner of El Camino, Los Altos

2010 Best Chinese

MV Voice & PA Weekly

Jing Jing 328-6885

443 Emerson St., Palo Alto

Authentic Szechwan, Hunan

Food To Go, Delivery

www.jingjinggourmet.com

Ming’s 856-7700

1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto

www.mings.com

New Tung Kee Noodle House

520 Showers Dr., MV in San Antonio Ctr.

Voted MV Voice Best ‘01, ‘02, ‘03 & ‘04

Prices start at $4.75

947-8888

CHINESE

Peking Duck 321-9388

151 S. California Avenue, Palo Alto

We also deliver.

Su Hong – Menlo Park

Dining Phone: 323–6852

To Go: 322–4631

Winner, Menlo Almanac “Best Of”

8 years in a row!

INDIAN

Darbar Indian Cuisine 321-6688

129 Lytton, Downtown Palo Alto

Lunch Buffet M-F; Open 7 days

Janta Indian Restaurant 462-5903

369 Lytton Ave., Downtown Palo Alto

Lunch Buffet M-F; Organic Veggies

ITALIAN

Spalti Ristorante 327-9390

417 California Ave, Palo Alto

www.spalti.com

JAPANESE & SUSHI

Fuki Sushi 494-9383

4119 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Open 7 days a Week

MEXICAN

Palo Alto Sol 328-8840

408 California Ave, Palo Alto

PIZZA

Pizza Chicago 424-9400

4115 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

This IS the best pizza in town

Spot A Pizza 324-3131

115 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto

Voted Best Pizza in Palo Alto

www.spotpizza.com

POLYNESIAN

Trader Vic’s 849-9800

4269 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Dinner Mon-Thurs 5-10pm; Fri-Sat 5-11pm;

Sun 4:30 - 9:30pm

Available for private luncheons

Lounge open nightly

Happy Hour Mon-Fri 4-6 pm

SEAFOOD

Cook’s Seafood 325-0604

751 El Camino Real, Menlo Park

Seafood Dinners from

$6.95 to $10.95

Scott’s Seafood 323-1555

#1 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto

Open 7 days a week serving breakfast,

lunch and dinner

Happy Hour 7 days a week 4-7 pm

Full Bar, Banquets, Outdoor Seating

www.scottsseafoodpa.com

THAI

Thaiphoon Restaurant 323-7700

543 Emerson St., Palo Alto

Full Bar, Outdoor Seating

www.thaiphoonrestaurant.com

Best Thai Restaurant in Palo Alto

5 Years in a Row, 2006-2010

Siam Orchid 325-1994

496 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto

Organic Thai

Free Delivery to Palo Alto/Stanford/Menlo Park

Order online at www.siamorchidpa.com

STEAKHOUSE

Sundance the Steakhouse 321-6798

1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 am-2:00pm

Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:00-10:00pm

Fri-Sat 5:00-10:30pm, Sun 5:00-9:00pm

www.sundancethesteakhouse.com

of the week

Siam Orchid is an

organic fine dining

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offering modern Thai

fusion. We provide

dine-in, private

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496 Hamilton Ave.Palo Alto, CA 94301

Phone: 650.325.1994Fax: 650. 325.1991

Page 26

Movies

Another Year 1/2(Aquarius) Does time truly heal all wounds? Or

does it only exacerbate the pain of living? It’s a little from column A and a little from column B in “An-other Year,” the 11th feature film from British master Mike Leigh (“Happy-Go-Lucky”).

Leigh hit his stride in the 1990s as he firmed up a narrative style involving ensemble casts, rigorous character work and ample improvisation. No excep-tion, the gently moving dramedy “Another Year” ob-serves a sprawl of friends and family linked by their emotional dependence on the happily married Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen). Geologist Tom and counselor Gerri are enjoying days of wine and roses: chatty dinners and satisfying hours spent gardening their community allotment. They’re liter-ally down-to-earth.

They also spend plenty of quality time with their affable son Joe (Oliver Maltman), unhealthy old friend Ken (Peter Wight), Tom’s taciturn brother Ronnie (David Bradley) and, above all, Gerri’s un-shakeable work colleague Mary (Leslie Manville), whose neediness knows no bounds. Tom and Gerri prove to be a couple for all seasons, and Leigh struc-tures the film accordingly, with acts set in spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Though Tom and Gerri hold the film’s mostly se-rene center, the dominant personality belongs to the blustery Mary, who never refuses a drink. Her rest-less self-examination and bluff outbursts of optimism (which mask an aching social desperation) effectively keep Gerri on the clock. Though Mary shows no sign that she’s aware of her increasing imposition, she does sum up the service provided by her married friends: “Everybody needs someone to talk to, don’t they?”

Leigh’s approach is “slice of life,” eschewing direct exposition in favor of eavesdropping on significant days in the lives of the characters. A summer bar-becue, for instance, finds the romantically available at cross-purposes: Though Ken is interested, Mary wants nothing to do with him. Instead, she’s rather hopefully set her sights on the conspicuously younger Joe. But this is no Hollywood romantic comedy. In achieving a credible realism, Leigh and his actors refreshingly avoid the tidy and obvious.

With winter comes a darker movement involv-ing an off-screen death but also unexpected hope of deliverance for despairing souls. As such, the final

act serves as something of a rebuke to the character we meet in the film’s prologue, a depressed client (Imelda Staunton) of Gerri’s who insists, “Nothing changes.” Gerri’s patient empathy (“Life’s not always kind, is it?”) — and that of her husband — reflects the inclusiveness and generosity of Leigh’s humane storytelling.

Gary Yershon supplies fittingly lovely music, and Leigh’s longtime director of photography Dick Pope evocatively expresses the changing seasons in cin-ematographic language. But above all, Leigh’s films rise on the strength of his performers. In her seventh Leigh film, Manville skillfully embodies Mary’s frantic yearning, and Broadbent and Sheen are posi-tively darling: as seemingly real and inviting as one’s own best friends.

The film makes no overt reach for profundity, but it does quietly affirm that there’ll always be another year — with or without us. It’s reason enough to be hopeful, and to make the most of what and whom we have while time still belongs to us.

Rated PG-13 for some language. Two hours, 10 minutes

— Peter Canavese

Sanctum (Century 16, Century 20) Ignore the marketing de-

cision to use executive producer James Cameron’s name to sell tickets, and the promise of the 3D pro-cess to deliver spectacle (while boosting admission prices). What remains is an amateurish action-ad-venture film that first-time feature screenwriters John Gavin and Andrew Wight and sophomore director Alister Grierson (“Kokoda”) sent spiraling deep into the abyss.

Despite the “inspired by a true story” tag, the nar-rative retains only the most basic incident of Wight’s real-life Pannikin Plains cave-diving expedition of 1988: A flash flood traps a team in a large subter-ranean chamber of a vast underwater cave system. The near-disaster that actually occurred in Australia becomes an unbelievable underwater drama set in the world’s largest unexplored cave system, Esa Ala, situated in Papua New Guinea.

Master diver Frank (Richard Roxburgh of “Van

OPENINGS

(continued on next page)

Rhys Wakefield and Richard Roxburgh in “Sanctum.”

Page 27

Movies

127 Hours (R) Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 1:55, 4:30, 7:10 & 9:40 p.m.

Another Year (R) Aquarius Theatre: 1, 4, 7 & 9:50 p.m. 1/2

Barney’s Version (R) Guild Theatre: 2:30, 5:30 & 8:30 p.m.

Biutiful (R) 1/2 Palo Alto Square: 1:15, 4:30 & 8 p.m.

Black Swan (R) Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 2:20, 5, 7:40 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 12:05, 2:45, 5:20, 8 & 10:35 p.m.

Blue Valentine (R) Century 16: 12:55, 4:15, 7:05 & 10 p.m. Sat 12:55, 4:15, 7:05 & 10 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m.; 2, 4:45, 7:35 & 10:20 p.m.

The Company Men Century 16: 2:30 & 7:55 p.m. Century 20: 11:55 (R) 1/2 a.m.; 2:35, 5:05, 7:40 & 10:10 p.m.

The Dilemma (PG-13) Century 16: 11:50 a.m.; 5:15 & 10:35 p.m. Century (Not Reviewed) 20: 3:45 & 9:25 p.m.

The Fighter (R) 1/2 Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 2:25, 5:10, 7:50 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:55, 5:45 & 8:30 p.m.

From Prada to Nada Century 16: 12:45, 3:45, 7 & 9:35 p.m. Century 20: (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) 11:45 a.m.; 2:25, 5, 7:40 & 10:10 p.m.

The Green Hornet Century 16: 4 & 10:05 p.m.; In 3D at 1 & 7:20 p.m. (PG-13) 1/2 Century 20: 12:45, 4, 7 & 9:50 p.m.; In 3D at 2 & 7:30

p.m.

Hood To Coast Event Century 16: Thu. at 7:30 p.m. Century 20: Thu. at (Not Rated) 7:30 p.m. (Not Reviewed)

Justin Bieber: Never Century 16: Thu. in 3D at 12:01 a.m. Say Never (G) (Not Reviewed)

The King’s Speech Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 12:55, 2:10, 4:55, 6:35, 7:45 & (R) 1/2 10:25 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 1:30, 4:20 & 7:15 p.m.;

Fri. & Sat. also at 10 p.m.

The Mechanic (R) Century 16: 12:05, 2:40, 5:05, 7:45 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 1:05, 2:15, 3:30, 4:40, 5:50, 7:15, 8:20, 9:35 & 10:45 p.m.

No Strings Attached Century 16: 11:30 a.m.; 2:10, 4:55 & 7:35 p.m.; Fri.-(R) (Not Reviewed) Wed. also at 10:20 p.m. Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 1,

3:40, 4:50, 6:15, 8:55 & 10:15 p.m.

The Rite (PG-13) Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 2:05, 4:50, 7:30 & 10:10 p.m. (Not Reviewed) Century 20: Noon, 1:15, 2:40, 4:05, 5:25, 6:50, 8:10,

9:35 & 10:45 p.m.

The Rocky Horror Picture Guild Theatre: Sat. at midnight. Show (R) (Not Reviewed)

The Roommate (PG-13) Century 16: 11:55 a.m.; 2:15, 4:45, 7:25 & 9:55 p.m. (Not Reviewed) Century 20: 12:30, 3, 5:30, 7:55 & 10:30 p.m.

Sanctum (R) Century 16: 1:05, 4:05, 6:45 & 9:20 p.m.; In 3D at 11:45 a.m.; 2:35, 5:20, 8 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20:

11:15 a.m.; 1:50, 4:25, 7:10 & 9:45 p.m.; In 3D at 12:15, 2:50, 5:25, 8:05 & 10:40 p.m.

The Social Network Aquarius Theatre: 2, 5 & 8 p.m. (PG-13) 1/2

Tangled (PG) Century 16: 12:30 & 6:20 p.m.; In 3D at 3:30 & 8:45 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 4:15 & 9:10 p.m.; In 3D at 1:45 & 6:45 p.m.

Tron: Legacy (PG) 1/2 Century 16: 12:15 & 3:20 p.m.; Fri.-Wed. also at 6:50 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: In 3D at 11:45 a.m.; 2:40, 5:35 & 8:25 p.m.

True Grit (PG-13) Century 16: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:40, 7:15 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m.; 1:55, 4:35, 7:20 & 10 p.m.

MOVIE TIMES

Skip it Some redeeming qualities A good bet Outstanding

Aquarius: 430 Emerson St., Palo Alto (266-9260)

Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View

(800-326-3264)

Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City

(800-326-3264)

CinéArts at Palo Alto Square: 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto (493-3456)

Guild: 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (266-9260)

Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700)

Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more informa-

tion about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com.

The Stanford Theatre is at 221 University Ave. in Palo Alto. Go to www.stan-fordtheatre.org or call 650-324-3700.

The Leopard Man (1943) Murders in a New Mexico town are blamed on an escaped leopard, but a human culprit may be fram-ing the cat. Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The Ghost Ship (1943) A sailor suspects his captain of being a psychopath. Friday at 6:10 & 8:50 p.m.

Dinner at Eight (1933) A social-climbing couple puts on a dinner party for high-profile guests. Sat.-Mon. at 7:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun. also at 3:15 p.m.

You Can’t Take It With You (1938) Jimmy Stewart courts the daughter of a family with a style all its own. Sat.-Mon. at 5:15 & 9:30 p.m.

STANFORD THEATER

biutiful-themovie.com

WINNERBEST ACTORJAVIER BARDEMCANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Cinemark3000 El Camino 800/FANDANGO 914#

“A MODERNMASTERPIECE.”

-Matt Holzman, NPR

“BRAVO BARDEM!

-Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

UNQUESTIONABLYONE OF

THE YEAR’S BEST.”-Betsy Sharkey, LOS ANGELES TIMES

ACADEMY AWARD®

NOMINATIONS2BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM PALO ALTO

GRAND PRIX

For more information go to: www.paloaltogp.org

ROAD RACE SERIES

RUN, HAVE FUN & JOIN US FOR THE 2011 SEASON

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CITY OF PALO ALTO RECREATION PRESENTS

MOONLIGHTRUN&WALK

Fri & Sat 2/4-2/5 The Kings Speech 1:30, 4:20, 7:15, 10:00

Biutiful 1:15, 4:30, 8:00Sun thru Thurs 2/6-2/10

The Kings Speech 1:30, 4:20, 7:15 Biutiful 1:15, 4:30, 8:00

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Movie times for the Century 20 theater are for Friday through Wednesday only, unless otherwise noted.

Helsing” and “Moulin Rouge!”) is the gruff, no-nonsense expedition leader who can feel the cave but seemingly has few feelings for hu-man beings. The cave exploration provides the long-absent father op-portunities to yell at his resentful teenage son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield of “Broken Hill”). He also gets to demean adrenalin-junkie financier Carl (Ioan Gruffudd of “Rise of the Silver Surfer”) and dismiss the two females (Alice Parkinson and Al-lison Cratchley) as panic-stricken liabilities. The cave system emerges as the fatal attraction.

Roxburgh deserves praise for his performance, the only credible one in the entire film. Even when re-peatedly saddled with reciting the same lines from Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” the Australian actor lends an

air of reverence to the poetry of a sa-cred river running through “caverns measureless to man down to a sun-less sea.” Frank may have ice water running through his veins, but he’s the only person capable of guiding the group through the labyrinth with dwindling supplies and no contact with those above ground. Roxburgh looks and acts the part.

The other cast members elicit laughter for all the wrong reasons, although Wakefield’s acting im-proves as the movie wears on. Flat characters spewing inane dialogue don’t have a chance, particularly when the 3D camera captures their wooden performances in close-up. The over-the-top Gruffudd is better hidden behind a diving mask.

Grierson’s direction hinders the

visual look, since his choice of close-ups, medium shots and a mov-ing camera don’t make for good 3D images. Although a few extreme long shots present the natural land-scape in breathtaking deep-focus views, most of the movie takes place in inky waters or brown-walled caves — not the best subject for 3D technology.

“Sanctum” is nothing sacred, and perhaps the worst film of the new year to surface in the darkness of the theater.

Rated: R for language, some violence and disturbing images. 1 hour, 43 minutes.

— Susan Tavernetti

(continued from previous page)

Page 28

“Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World,” by Jane McGonigal; The Penguin Press, New York; 388 pp.; $26.95

T here’s a reason why many people who play video and computer games are always calling things epic, Jane

McGonigal says.The most popular games are played on

an enormous scale. The role-playing game World of Warcraft, for instance, has some 12 million subscribers. Countless other people favor different games, from your mother duking it out with Spider Solitaire to what McGonigal calls “the largest army on earth” making more than 10 billion kills of evil aliens in Halo 3.

More than simple numbers, though, is the epic possibility that McGonigal sees in games and gamers. In her new book, “Re-ality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Bet-ter and How They Can Change the World,” McGonigal makes a nearly 400-page case that game-playing can fix society.

Such an assertion can seem silly at worst and overly ambitious at best. But McGoni-gal, the director of game research and de-velopment at Palo Alto’s Institute for the Future, makes a clearly written and sur-prisingly compelling case.

McGonigal begins by illustrating why games make players feel happy, productive and part of something larger than them-selves, then moves ahead to detail several ways that games are already changing the world. By the time she’s finished, she’s imagining “The Long Game” that would last a thousand years: People would play for their entire lives, solving crowdsourced challenges and connecting with others through social rituals.

Along the way, McGonigal offers up 14 “fixes” to improve reality based on lessons learned in the game world, including: “Ac-tivate extreme positive emotions” and “De-velop massively multiplayer foresight.”

McGonigal, a longtime game designer, brings authority and passion to her subject. Her conviction is evident when she writes: “The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures, the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by virtual envi-ronments. Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively. Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential.”

The author also has a personable, per-suasive voice that makes the reader open to looking at games, even old familiar ones, in new ways. Using the example of the popular puzzle-pieces-falling game of Tetris, McGonigal points out that not all games are about winning. In fact, in Tetris you will always lose.

And yet you still keep playing, she writes, because you get immediate feedback of three kinds: visual (com-pleted rows of pieces disappear), quantitative (your score goes up), and qualitative (the game feels more and more difficult over time).

“In other words,” she writes, “in a good computer or video game you’re always playing on the very edge of your skill level, always on the brink of falling off. When you do fall off, you feel the urge to climb back on. That’s because there is virtually nothing as engaging as this state of working at the very limits of your ability — or what both game design-ers and psychologists call ‘flow.’”

Reality, McGonigal argues, is rare-ly so engaging. It doesn’t always give us clear goals, like getting the high score in Tetris or completing a quest in World of Warcraft. “Playing World of Warcraft is such a satisfying job, gamers have collectively spent 5.93 million years doing it,” she writes.

McGonigal brings in other voices to back her up, like that of the psy-chologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. As early as 1975, he was writing that the type of rewarding work and goals provided in the game world could help with feelings of depression and helplessness. McGonigal also gives examples of how game designers to-day use positive psychology in their creations.

The author then takes the next step: If gamers feel motivated to complete tasks that feel meaningful in the game world, why not create games that get us to accomplish societal goals?

Enter Chore Wars, one of McGoni-gal’s most entertaining examples. This is an alternate reality game (one that’s played in real life as well as online) in which players create avatars and gain experience points for completing “adventures” such as emptying the real-world dishwasher. When roommates or siblings are es-pecially competitive, that house can get really clean.

McGonigal plays this game with her husband, Kiyash, and includes a

funny anecdote about Kiyash sneaking out of the bedroom early on a Saturday morning to be the first to scrub the bathtub. In a small but very con-crete way, this game has improved their house-hold reality.

“I’ve lived in this alternate reality long enough to have developed a highly effective counterstrat-egy,” she writes. “I clean the bathroom at odd hours in the middle of the week, when he’s least expecting it.”

As the book continues, McGonigal’s examples get larger, with games that change the world in increasingly dramatic ways.

SuperBetter, the author’s own creation, helps people cope with chronic health conditions by enlisting allies and setting goals. Fold It! allows players to solve protein-folding puzzles to aid the advancement of science. In the forthcoming Lost Joules, players will be able to bet against each other to see who can reduce their real-world en-ergy consumption more.

The book suffers a bit from anecdote overload, but for the most part McGonigal succeeds in con-veying both the games’ entertainment value and importance. These games have made a difference, she writes, because they’re designed to do so, and because they take advantage of the huge potential of the engageable hordes of gamers across the world.

“Gamers aren’t just trying to win games any-more,” she writes. “They have a bigger mission. They’re on a mission to be a part of something epic.”

And so are game designers, she adds. “Right now, it’s easier and more fun to be a superhero in a video game than it is to help solve real global problems in everyday life.” But many games, she writes, “are starting to tip the balance: soon, we may find ourselves able to do both at the same time.”

McGonigal makes thorough, reasoned argu-ments. But the book might have benefited from a more thoughtful treatment of the problems as-sociated with gaming.

Gamer addiction and “happiness burnout” — the exhaustion that can come after overplaying — are real problems, as is the “gamer regret” some people feel after having spent big chunks of their lives in a virtual universe. There’s also an argument against turning everything into a game: People risk forgetting how to enjoy an activity for its own sake. McGonigal makes a few references to these issues, but they feel glossed over.

But she also gives readers a chance to make up

Title PagesA monthly section on local books and authors, edited by Rebecca Wallace

Book TalkAUTHOR, AUTHOR ... Kepler’s Books at 1010 El Camino Real in Menlo Park hosts free author talks this month, including: Kelli Stanley, “The Curse-Maker: A Mystery” (Sunday, Feb. 6, 2 p.m.); Ellen Hopkins, “Fallout” (Tuesday, Feb. 8, 7 p.m.); Wal-ter Bortz, “Next Medicine: The Science and Civics of Health” (Wednesday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.); Sarah Blake, “The Postmistress” (Thursday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m.); Marie Lawson Fiala, “Letters from a Distant Shore” (Saturday, Feb. 12, 3 p.m.); Andrew Foster Altschul, “Deus Ex Machina” (Wednesday, Feb. 16, 7 p.m.); Jessica Harper, “The Crabby Cook Cookbook” (Thursday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m.); Siddhartha Mukherjee, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biog-raphy of Cancer” (Friday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.); Maxine Hong Kingston, “I Love a Broad Margin to My Life” (Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m.); Peggy Orenstein, “Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture” (Thursday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.); and Stephen Winner, “The Silverado Story: A Memory-Care Culture Where Love Is Greater Than Fear” (Saturday, Feb. 26, 3 p.m.). Information: keplers.com.

STANFORD READINGS ... Free February author talks at Stanford University include: Deborah Hark-ness, “A Discovery of Witches” (Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m.) in Geology Corner (Building 320), Room 105. Information: continuingstudies.stanford.edu. Barbara Almond, “The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood” (Thursday, Feb. 17, 6 p.m.) at the Stanford Bookstore, 519 Lasuen Mall. Information: stanfordbookstore.com.

BOOKS INC. ... Dayna Macy gives a free talk on “Ravenous: A Food Lover’s Journey from Ob-session to Freedom” (Saturday, Feb. 12, 3 p.m.) at Books Inc., 74 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto. Information: booksinc.net.

TEA TIME ... Palo Alto’s Osh-man Family Jewish Community Center hosts Sarah Rose, “For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History” (Thursday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m.). General tickets are $17 in advance and $22 at the door and include tea and re-freshments; JCC members and students pay $12. The event is in room E104 at the center, 3921 Fabian Way. Information: paloal-tojcc.org.

CANDLESTICK HISTORY ... The Museum of American Heritage is hosting an author talk with Ted Atlas, “The History of Candlestick Park” (Thursday, Feb. 24. 6:30 p.m.). Admission is $5 general and free for museum members. MOAH is at 351 Homer Ave., Palo Alto. Information: moah.org.

Palo Alto

researcher

argues

that video

and computer

games can

lead to

sweeping

societal

change

A case for

(continued on next page) (continued on next page)

GOODGAMING

“Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively” as games do, Jane McGonigal writes. “Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential.”

Bart Nagel

Page 29

Title Pages

their own minds about gaming by ending with an appendix titled “How to Play,” giving links to the games she’s promoted. In a book that seeks to enlist the crowd in problem-solv-ing, connecting and seeking out epic wins through games, the message is clear: Experience it for yourself.

Where age is just a number

Call (650) 289-5400 or visit Avenidas.org!

Embrace Your Potential!· Dabble in an art class· Try Pilates or T’ai Chi· Discover digital photography· Learn a foreign language· Experience mindful meditation· Find your inner author

(TENTATIVE) SPECIAL COUNCIL AGENDA- COUNCIL CHAMBERS - FEBRUARY 7, 2011 - 6 PM

1. Closed Session: Labor

7:30 p.m. or as soon as possible thereafterSPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY

2. Presentation by Palo Alto Art Center Foundation

3. Appointments for the Library Advisory Committee

CONSENT CALENDAR

4. Resolution Setting Council Vacation for 2011

5. Ordinance Authorizing the Closing of the Budget for

FY 2010; Approval of 2010 Comprehensive Annual

Financial Report

6. Maze & Associate Audit of Financial Statements as of

June 30, 2010 and Management Letter

7. Resolution Amending Utility Rate Schedules G10 and

G3

8. Upgrades to Palo Alto Art Center Renovation Project

and Date Extension of MCA Design Contract

9. Phase II Environmental Site Assessment Work at the

Palo Alto Airport

10. Resolution Adopting New Water Shortage

Implementation Plan

11. Study Session: Fire Services, Resources & Utilization

12 Study Session: Urban Forest Master Plan

(TENTATIVE) SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM

FEBRUARY 8, 2011 - 2 PMCLOSED SESSION

1. City Attorney Recruitment

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL

CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUEBROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT

ACCESS CHANNEL 26*****************************************

THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN BE VIEWED AT THE

BELOW WEBPAGE: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp

Jane McGonigal is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. March 9 at the Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Moun-tain View. To register for the event, go to computerhistory.org or call 650-810-1898.

2011 Wallace Stegner LecturesSeries Sponsor: Jean Lane, in memory of Bill Lane

Annie Leonard

Peninsula Open Space Trust222 High Street, Palo Alto, California 94301(650) 854-7696 www.openspacetrust.org

UNICORN TALE ... Palo Alto au-thor Robin Ymer has published “Mythical Voyage,” a children’s storybook about unicorns. Ymer both wrote and illustrated the book, which is available at Ke-pler’s Books in Menlo Park. Information: savantbooksand publications.com.

Items for Book Talk may be sent to Associate Editor Carol Blitzer, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 93202 or e-mailed to cblitzer@paweekly.com by the last Friday of the month.

Book Talk(continued from previous page)

Gaming(continued from previous page)

Page 30

SportsShorts

1ST PLACEBEST SPORTS

COVERAGECalifornia Newspaper Publishers Association

FridayPrep basketball: Burlingame girls at

Menlo-Atherton, 6:15 p.m.; KCEA (89.1 FM). Boys’ game to follow at approxi-mately 7:45 p.m.

SaturdayWomen’s basketball: Stanford at Ari-

zona, 1 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

Men’s basketball: Arizona St. at Stan-ford, 3 p.m.; Fox Net Bay; XTRA (860 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)

ThursdayWomen’s basketball: Washington St.

at Stanford, 7 30 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

Men’s basketball: Stanford at Wash-ington St., 7 p.m.; XTRA (860 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)

ON THE AIR

READ MORE ONLINEwww.PASportsOnline.com

For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, please see our new site at www.PASportsOnline.com

Stanford freshman Josh Huestis (24) helped his teammates rise to the occasion last weekend during a Pac-10 Conference victory over Oregon State.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Jim Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

Stanford senior Hilary Barte and her tennis teammates will defend the team’s home winning streak of 167 dual matches on Saturday.

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALLSTANFORD ROUNDUP

Zach Sanderson/stanfordphoto.com

Stanford’s youth movement

is on the riseWith nine freshmen and no seniors, Cardinal

prospects can only get better in timeby Rick Eymer

A nthony Brown became the third of nine fresh-man to start for Stanford’s men’s basketball team over the weekend. The Cardinal youth

movement is in full swing.Brown joined Dwight Powell and Aaron Bright as

freshmen starters this season. John Gage, Josh Hues-tis, Robbie Lemons, Stefan Nastic and walk-on Chris Barnum have all seen action.

Nastic is out for the rest of the season with an in-jury and Andy Brown has yet to see any playing time, having been forced to sit out three consecutive years (including his senior year in high school) with a torn ACL.

Gabe Harris is the only true sophomore on the team.

Without a senior presence on the team, Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins has had to be particularly pa-tient with his young players as they learn from mis-takes, trying to make the big play when it’s not there and generally run around the court without much di-rection.

“You have to find a balance,” Dawkins said. “You have to know how hard to push them and when to pat them on the back and encourage them. There are moments when they are unsure of themselves and mo-ments when they are doing really well.”

Stanford completes its first four-game conference homestand in nine years with Saturday’s 3 p.m. con-test against Arizona State, and the freshmen are dif-ferent players from the first time they played the Sun Devils in Tempe.

“I don’t feel like a freshman any more,” Anthony Brown said. “I started feeling that way when the Pac-10 season started. It was the second half of our schedule and I think I earned some respect from my teammates.”

Brown is indicative of the rest of his classmates. Powell began the season as they most polished of the

(continued on page 32)

Women’s tennisstreak will be

tested by UCLAby Rick Eymer

T he Streak is once again on the line and Stanford has no intention of letting it go down

without a fight. After all, it’s been almost 12 years since The Streak began and the Cardinal women’s tennis team has survived plenty of close calls over the years.

Top-ranked Stanford (3-0) hosts No. 5 UCLA (4-0) at noon Saturday. For a nonconference match, this is about as big as it gets.

The Bruins handed Stanford its only loss last year and it came in the first meeting of the season by a 6-1 score on the road. The Cardinal came back to beat UCLA later in the year en route to the national title.

Stanford won its first three match-es, the last two in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, by a 17-1 margin. Okla-homa earned the doubles point, the first time the Cardinal lost the doubles point at home in nearly two

All-state honorfitting finish

for Paly’s Winnby Keith Peters

W hen Dave Winn walked off the court at the San Jose State Event Center in De-

cember with a state championship in hand, he was completely satis-fied. It was mission accomplished for his Palo Alto High girls’ volley-ball team as the Vikings defeated heavily favored Long Beach Poly for the CIF Division I state crown.

It has been nearly two months since that historic victory by Winn’s team, yet the ripples from that huge splash in the volleyball world can still be felt.

Winn recently was named the MaxPreps California Coach of the Year in girls’ volleyball and two of his players, junior Melanie Wade and senior Megan Coleman, were named to the all-state team.

“I didn’t even know about it until a fellow coach at City Beach sent it to me,” Winn said of the honor. “I

(continued on page 32) (continued on page 34)

CARDINAL CORNER . . . Redshirt senior Allyse Ishino, fresh off a top performance in Stanford’s win at Utah last week, leads the second-ranked Cardinal (8-0) into Saturday’s 4 p.m. performance against visiting San Jose State. Ishino was named Pac-10 Gym-nast of the Week after recording a career-best all-around score and winning three events . . .Brad Lawson recorded a season-high 23 kills and fourth-ranked Stanford downed visiting Pa-cific, 25-20, 25-12, 22-25, 25-22, Wednesday in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball action at Burnham Pavilion.This is the same Cardinal team that has rallied from fifth-set deficits twice to win and then, unpredictably, fell easily at Long Beach State last week. Against Pacific, Stanford (5-2, 6-2) was in command of the match after winning the first two sets and led, 22-19, in the third set. Lawson hit .929 with 13 kills in 14 attacks in the first two sets and finished with a .487 hit-ting percentage with five blocks and four digs. Stanford travels to Chicago, and severe weather, for matches Friday at Lewis and Saturday at Loyola. The matches will conclude a seven-match, seven-city stretch in which the team will have traveled 9,227 miles stretching from Hawaii to Illinois . . . Stanford senior guard Jeanette Pohlen was added to the State Farm Wade Watch List, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), on behalf of the Wade Trophy Coalition, announced Wednesday. The an-nouncement unites Pohlen with Stanford teammates Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Kayla Pedersen, who were named Wade Trophy hopefuls during the preseason . . . In its first competitive action since November, the Stanford women’s golf team travels to the Arizona Wildcat Invitational for a three-day tournament that begins Monday.

Page 31

Sports

group, but both Bright and Brown have shown significant improve-ment.

Gage and Huestis are getting more playing time and Lemons doesn’t seem so lost any more.

“There’s not a finished product anywhere,” Dawkins said. “But all the kids have been contributing. Ste-fan, unfortunately, in injured but he was in our rotation. John and Josh show you glimpses of what they can be and I’m excited about how Rob-bie is progressing.”

Brown came to Stanford as a highly prized recruit in a class that was supposed to be the school’s best basketball recruits in a long time. All they needed was time, and their time is at hand.

“Every kid is different but for some of these freshmen it’s become a long season, with a lot more de-mands on their time in terms of the offseason, the preseason and the regular season,” Dawkins said. “Like any player, they hit a wall not only athletically but also with the rigors of academics. All that to-gether can be draining mentally and physically.”

Even junior team leader Jeremy Green tried to do too much, play-ing through an illness on the road in an intense, overtime battle. Over-come from fatigue, he slumped to the ground moments after the game ended.

“You see things like that and it becomes crystal clear,” Dawkins said. “You want to stay healthy, eat properly and get your rest. There are no do-overs. Once these games are played, they are gone forever.”

The leadership roles have fallen to Green and fellow juniors Josh Ow-ens, Jack Trotter, Jarrett Mann and Andrew Zimmerman by default. In many ways it’s been a little unfair to them. They’re still trying to learn themselves.

“Excluding Jeremy, no other play-er has a reference point to how good he can be,” Dawkins said. “There is still some uncertainty with them too.”

Something that Brown and other freshmen take into consideration.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played without a senior,” Brown said. “The juniors are acting like leaders but they still don’t know it like seniors who are in their last go-around.”

Brown served notice he could be a star with his breakout performance against Oregon State last weekend. Now he wants to show he can per-form on a consistent basis.

“When I came here I set goals for myself and one of them was to start,” Brown said. “I was projected as a top recruit and I was going to make a significant contribution.”

Brown is convinced this fresh-man class will help Stanford recover some of the lost luster from the days of the Lopez twins, and that could happen sooner rather than later.

Stanford hoops(continued from page 31)

years.The Bruins, who play Friday

at California, won their first four matches by a 20-2 margin as both teams qualified for the final four rounds of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships that begins Feb. 18 in Charlottesville, Va. The draw will be held Feb. 15, using the latest rankings for seeding pur-poses.

Stanford sophomore Mallory Burdette is expected to play against UCLA after missing two matches as a precautionary measure with a shoulder problem.

If Burdette plays at the No. 2 spot, that would set up a match between two of the top freshmen in the coun-try in Stanford’s Kristie Ahn and UCLA’s Courtney Dolehide at No. 3 singles.

Stanford senior Hilary Barte like-ly will meet UCLA junior McCall Jones in the top singles match.

“We’re definitely not at our best, but everyone is in the same boat,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Web-ster said. “It’s a great opportunity for us. We’re just going to go up there and hope to do our best. Hope-fully we will have a chance to beat both teams.”

Burdette’s return would give Car-dinal coach Lele Forood the kind of problem every coach would like to have: what to do at the bottom of the singles ladder, where senior Carolyn

McVeigh and junior Veronica Li are two of the team’s most experienced players.

Freshman Nicole Gibbs has been playing in the No. 3 slot with Bur-dette out and sophomore Stacey Tan was at No. 4.

Stanford has not lost at the Taube Tennis Center since Feb. 27, 1999, before the current scoring structure was put in place. California ended what was then a school record 42-match home winning streak.

The current streak is up to 167 matches, the longest running streak of any sport in NCAA Division I athletics.

Women’s water poloTop-ranked Stanford opened the

season with four victories at the Michigan Invitational two weeks ago. The Cardinal hopes to contin-ue that success this weekend in the Stanford Invitational.

Stanford opens play Saturday with an 8:30 a.m. contest against Arizona State and then meets California at 4 p.m. The tournament continues Sun-day with an 8 a.m. match against San Jose State and concludes with the placement games in the after-noon. The title match is scheduled for 3 p.m.

The Cardinal outscored its first four opponents by 57-11 margin, with junior Pallavi Menon, a Sa-cred Heart Prep grad, leading the way with nine goals. Junior Melissa Seidemann, a member of the U.S. senior team, has seven goals.

Amber Oland, Kate Baldoni and

Kim Hall shared goalkeeping du-ties in Michigan, combining for a 2.75 goals against average and a 7.50 saves average.

The tournament will bring togeth-er a lot of familiar faces from the lo-cal prep ranks. In addition to Stan-ford’s Menon, Kim Krueger (Menlo School) and Vee Dunlevie (Sacred Heart Prep), UCLA has Megan Bur-meister (Menlo), KK Clark (SHP) and Rebecca Dorst (Menlo-Ather-ton); Cal has Lindsay Dorst (SHP); San Jose State has Adriana Vogt (SHP); USC has Constance Hiller (Priory); and Arizona State includes Morgan Leech (M-A).

Men’s swimmingThird-ranked Stanford hosts its

final two meets of the season this weekend, meeting Cal State Bakers-field at 2 p.m. Friday and swimming against Pac-10 opponent USC at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Cardinal (4-0) swept a pair of meets at Arizona State and Ari-zona last weekend and heads into this weekend with an eye toward the Pac-10 championships in Long Beach coming up next month.

Austin Staab’s return has bol-stered Stanford’s chances to com-pete for a national title. The school recordholder in the 100 fly, he was also the NCAA champion in the event two years ago.

Other seniors participating in their final home meet are Jake Allen, Josh Charmin-Aker, Alex Coville, John Criste, Brent Eichenseer and David Mosko.

Stanford roundup(continued from page 31)

STANFORD FOOTBALL

Palo Alto High senior Kevin Anderson signs his national letter of intent to play football at Stanford next fall while his father, Peter, and mother, Anne, watch during a special signing ceremony on Wednesday at Paly.

Keith

Pet

ers

Paly’s Anderson the start to a top recruiting classCardinal signs up 19 highly regarded players expected to

play a big role in the continued success of Cardinal footballby Rick Eymer

P alo Alto High senior Kevin Anderson tops the list, liter-ally, of 19 recruits who signed

national letters Wednesday to play for the Stanford football team be-ginning in the fall.

Listed alphabetically, the 6-4, 245-pound defensive end, a member of the Vikings’ state championship team, is the first one named, just ahead of offensive lineman Brendon Austin out of Colorado, who is con-sidered the 14th best prep lineman.

Of Stanford’s 19 recruits, seven were named PrepStar All-Amer-icans or were listed as four-star recruits by either Scout or Rivals.com. Anderson is the lone Bay Area representative.

Stanford signed one of the top linebacker prospects in the nation in James Vaughters of Georgia. He’s listed as the fourth-best linebacker in the nation by Rivals.com and 44th on ESPNU’s Top 150 recruits. A three-year varsity player, he re-corded 95 tackles and four sacks among his 18 tackles-for-loss as a senior at Tucker High.

Vaughters is also one of three Stanford recruits, along with Wayne Lyons (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Remound Wright Fort Wayne, IN), who are finalists for the Franklin

D. Watkins Award, which honors the top African-American scholar-athlete in the nation.

This is the first time in the history of the award that one school has had three Watkins Award finalists in the same recruiting class.

“This signing class is one that will play a big role in the success of Stan-ford football,” Cardinal coach David Shaw said. “Our coaches and staff have worked a lot of long hours over the last year or more with most of these young men, and they fill a lot of voids for our football team. We wanted to get faster and more ath-letic. At the same time, we wanted to bring in players who demonstrate a certain level of toughness that has been established throughout our program. I feel we have success-fully met all of our goals with this recruiting class.”

Lyons, a defensive back, is a Prep-Star All-American who is listed as the sixth-best safety prospect in the nation by Rivals.com. He is also listed as the 16th top recruit in the nation according to MaxPreps and CBS College Sports recruiting ana-lyst Tom Lemming.

Wright is listed as the 16th-best running back prospect in the nation and top recruit in the state of Indi-ana by Rivals.com after he rushed

for 2,100 yards and 34 touchdowns for Bishop Dwenger in the fall.

Atlanta’s Ronnie Harris, Geor-gia’s Ra’Chard Pippins and Folsom’s Jordan Richards complete the list of signed defensive backs. Kelsey Young (Norco), who attended the same high school that produced 2009 Heisman Trophy runner up Toby Gerhart, is listed as the 12th-best running back in the nation and 21st top recruit in California by Ri-vals.com. He rushed for 2,008 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior.

Prep All-American Charlie Hop-kins (Spokane, WA), ranked the 15th-best strong side defensive end in the country by Rivals.com and 31st overall defensive line prospect

in the nation by SuperPrep, is an-other of the five defensive linemen signed by Stanford.

Baton Rouge’s Lance Callihan, Brooklyn’s Anthony Hayes and Newport Beach’s J.B. Salem were also signed as defensive linemen.

Prep All-Americans Evan Crower of San Diego and Virginia’s Kevin Hogan were signed as quarterbacks. Crower, the 23rd-best quarterback in the nation by Scout.com, threw for 2,232 yards and 32 touchdowns as a senior at St. Augustine. Hogan, rated the 13th-best overall quarter-back prospect in the nation by Scout.com, passed for 1,820 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior at Gonzaga College High School in Washing-

ton, D.C.Devon Cajuste of Seaford, NY

and Dallas’ Ty Montgomery signed as wide receivers for Stanford. Ca-juste, the fourth-best overall recruit in New York by SuperPrep, caught 47 passes for 864 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior. Montgom-ery, a four-star recruit by both Ri-vals and Scout.com, is listed as the 27th-best wide receiver prospect in the nation by Scout.com.

Stanford also signed Patrick Skov, a fullback-linebacker from The Lawrenceville (N.J.) School, the younger brother of current Cardinal linebacker Shayne Skov. Patrick is rated the fifth-best fullback prospect in the nation by Scout.com.

Page 32

Sports

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PREP ROUNDUP

Eastside Prep sophomore Hashima Carothers (44) came up with 13 points and 15 rebounds in a 44-40 overtime win over Pinewood.

Rivalryis just

startingEastside Prep’s win over

Pinewood just sets up bigger showdowns ahead

by Keith Peters

I t’s two down and perhaps three to go for the Eastside Prep and Pinewood girls’ basketball teams

in their season-long head-to-head battles that often lead to one of the squads reaching the state finals.

The teams are done with their regular-season showdowns in the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) and, to no one’s surprise, the Panthers have appropriately split their two games with each other.

Three more games remain on their league schedule, mere formali-ties based on this season’s results, so Eastside and Pinewood can be-gin looking forward to the WBAL playoffs and their expected meeting in the finals on Feb. 19 at Menlo School.

Due to a change in the WBAL bylaws, the winner of that game will get the league’s No. 1 seed for the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. In all likelihood, that doesn’t mean that much to either Eastside Prep or Pinewood. Each team has much bigger things in mind.

“They (Pinewood) are the state champs and that’s what I tell my kids every day we come here; we’re trying to take our program where they are,” Eastside Prep coach Don-ovan Blythe said after his team’s 44-40 overtime win over visiting Pinewood on Tuesday that left the teams tied for first place with 6-1 records.

Said Pinewood coach Doc Schep-pler: “We still can win the state; we still can get it done.”

Should either team attain their goal, it most likely will be done without a key starter.

Eastside Prep lost four-year start-ing guard Leanne Martin to a first-quarter knee injury that was report-ed as an MCL tear. An MRI could reveal worse and Martin could be sidelined the remainder of the year instead of just 2-3 weeks.

For Pinewood, senior Jenna McLoughlin is done for the season after re-injuring her ACL on Dec. 11, the same injury that forced her to miss 16 games last season.

“She had a relapse,” Scheppler said of McLoughlin, his team’s tall-est player at 5-foot-10. “This (East-side Prep) game was going to be her comeback. She’s having surgery (on Friday). So, this is who we are.”

Both teams will have to make some adjustments after this week’s personnel losses and game.

Eastside Prep will have to find a way to prevent Pinewood senior Hailie Eackles from scoring 27 points again, and Pinewood will have to do a better job with its pe-rimeter shooting and knowing who

to foul and when.Pinewood held a 38-35 lead on

Tuesday with just 8.5 seconds to play. The Panthers were instructed by Scheppler to make sure East-side’s Ahjalee Harvey did not get off a three-point shot. Pinewood had three fouls to take and could have run out the clock while fouling.

When the ball was inbounded to Harvey, however, Pinewood didn’t foul. Despite being trapped in the corner by two players, Harvey fired up a 3-pointer that swished just be-fore time expired — sending the game to overtime.

Baskets by seniors Ausjerae Hol-land and Takara Burse plus two free throws from Harvey in overtime handed Pinewood its first WBAL loss in 15 games dating to last season. Pinewood is now 164-2 in league games since 1995, with both losses to Eastside Prep.

“All things happen for a reason, and this was our time,” Harvey said.

The victory moved Eastside (6-1, 15-6) into a tie for first place with Pinewood (6-1, 15-5) and avenged Eastside’s loss to Pinewood in the opening round of league play this season.

“This was a statement game,” Harvey said. “We had to come out strong after losing to them this sea-son. Every time they beat us, they

gain confidence and momentum.”Perhaps Eastside Prep now has

that momentum, thanks to Harvey’s remarkable game-saving shot.

Harvey finished with 15 points while sophomore Hashima Caroth-ers added 13 and proved crucial on the boards with 15 rebounds. Burse added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto took care of business and opened a two-game lead with a 50-35 drubbing of host Monta Vista on Wednesday night in Cupertino. The Vikings improved to 8-0 in league (15-4 overall) and moved two games ahead of second-place Gunn, which was upset by previously winless Mountain View.

Palo Alto wrapped things up in the first half by jumping to a 16-5 first-quarter lead and extending its advantage to 28-11 by halftime. The Matadors (1-7) scored the first six points of the third quarter, but never could get their deficit to single dig-its. Paly was led by Sydney Davis, Shamelia Clay and Lindsay Black — all with 10 points.

Gunn, meanwhile, likely took it-self out of the championship picture in the division following a 49-42 up-set loss to last-place Mountain View in the Titans’ gym. Gunn (6-2, 14-4) was held scoreless in the second quarter and was held to a season-low six halftime points.

by Keith Peters

T he goals will be similar and the potential results identical when the Palo Alto High and

Sacred Heart Prep boys’ basketball teams take the floor on Friday night in showdowns that will go a long way in determining their respective league titles.

Both teams need victories. Should they achieve them, the Vikings and Gators all but mathematically wrap up regular-season championships.

Palo Alto (7-1, 14-6) will put first place in the SCVAL De Anza Divi-sion on the line when it plays host to second-place Cupertino (5-2, 13-6) at 7:45 p.m. The Pioneers are the only team to beat the Vikings in league play this season, 45-40, on Jan. 14.

First-year Paly coach Adam Sax would like nothing better than to prove that loss was a fluke, especial-ly in a game with so much at stake. A win by the Vikings will give them a two-game lead over Cupertino and Gunn with only three games to play. Gunn (5-3, 13-7) was upended by host Homestead, 55-43, on Tuesday night, opening the door wider for a possible Paly title. Jack Hannan scored 16 points for Gunn.

“Friday’s the big one,” Sax said. “We have to win that one, otherwise we’re tied.”

The Vikings took care of business Tuesday night with a 60-38 win over host Los Altos. Paly senior Davante Adams tallied 17 points and grabbed six rebounds with five assists to lead the way. He made some nice passes to sophomore post E.J. Floreal, who finished with 13 points as did Max Schmarzo. Alec Wong missed the second half due to illness.

Before Paly takes on Cupertino in the final game of a quad, Sacred Heart Prep will visit second-place Pinewood at 6 p.m. The first-place Gators are 9-0 in the West Bay Ath-letic League and 17-2 overall while the second-place Panthers are 8-1 (16-3).

A victory will give SHP a two-game with games against four teams the Gators already have beaten quite easily. While Friday will be too early to be celebrating, a victory will pro-vide quite a cushion for SHP, which routed Pinewood in its first meeting, 87-71.

The Gators tuned up for Pinewood as senior Will McConnell poured in a season-high 26 points and his twin, Reed, returned to the lineup follow-ing a sprained ankle in a 73-54 romp over host King’s Academy. Tomas O’Donnell added 10 points and Pat McNamara contributed eight. Reed McConnell scored five in his first game back as he prepared for the Pinewood game.

The Panthers, meanwhile, got 19 points and eight rebounds plus four steals from senior Kyle Riches in an 81-56 victory over host Crystal Springs on Tuesday night. Junior

Solomone Wolfgramm added 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while junior Cameron Helvey con-tributed 18 points and seven boards.

In San Jose, Menlo School came up with one of its best defensive ef-forts of the season in holding off host Harker, 36-27, to move into sole pos-session of third place in the WBAL. The Knights (5-4, 9-10) scored just four points in the first quarter and trailed by 15-9 at the half after hold-ing Harker to just two points in the second period.

In East Palo Alto, host Eastside Prep got its long-awaited first victory in WBAL action with a 51-37 drub-bing of Priory. The host Panthers (1-8, 6-13), who last won on Dec. 17 and had lost 11 straight, ended that streak of futility by jumping out to a 17-8 first-quarter lead and maintain-ing it throughout.

Senior Leslie Gray led Prep with 21 points and seven rebounds while junior Bryan Walker added nine points, seven rebounds and six steals.

Also in East Palo Alto, Mid-Pen-insula moved closer to the Private Schools Athletic League title with an 86-62 thumping of host East Palo Alto Academy. The Dragons (8-0, 14-2) were led by Lydell Cardwell’s 26 points and 20 from Reggie Wil-liams.

In the PAL Bay Division, Men-lo-Atherton continued to win the close ones, going into overtime on Wednesday before holding off vis-iting South San Francisco, 47-43. The second-place Bears (5-2, 12-9), who won two games last week by a combined three points, got 14 points from Ian Proulx and 13 from Myles Brewer while Michael Culhane pulled down 15 rebounds. M-A re-mains two games behind first-place Burlingame (7-0). The Bears will host the Panthers on Friday (7:45 p.m.) in a must-win game for M-A.

Boys soccerSacred Heart Prep maintained a

solid four-point lead over second-place Priory in the West Bay Ath-letic League race with a 2-0 victory over host Harker on Wednesday. Christian Thaure and Joseph Bolous provided the goals for the Gators (8-0-1, 13-0-1) while Alec Mishra and Brendan Spillane contributed the assists.

Sacred Heart, which has outscored its opposition by 65-7 this season, will host Priory on Friday at 3 p.m., and can take a commanding lead with a triumph.

In Portola Valley, host Priory tuned up for a big showdown with Sacred Heart Prep routing visiting Pinewood, 10-0, on Wednesday. The victory moved Priory to 7-1 in league (8-4-1 overall). Priory senior captain John Jernick scored three goals while senior captain Evan Fil-ipczyk added two goals and two as-sists to lead the way.

Palo Alto, SHP boysare close to clinching First-place hoop teams can clear big obstacles on Friday;

Sacred Heart Prep boys’ soccer remains unbeaten, atop WBAL

Keith Peters

Page 33

Sports

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Julia DresselMenlo soccer

Hailie Eackles*Pinewood basketball

Ahjalee Harvey*Eastside Prep basketball

Kelsey MoreheadPinewood basketball

Natasha von Kaeppler*Castilleja basketball

Adrienne WhitlockPinewood soccer

Myles BrewerMenlo-Atherton basketball

Michael CulhaneMenlo-Atherton basketball

Dante FraioliPinewood basketball

Pat McNamaraSacred Heart Prep basketball

Max SchmarzoPalo Alto basketball

Colin SchreinerWoodside Priory soccer

Honorable mention

Abby DahlkemperSacred Heart Prep

The senior scored both goals in a 2-1 soccer victory over second-place Priory, including the winner on a header in the 73rd minute, and added an assist on the tying goal in a 1-1 deadlock with Menlo to remain atop the WBAL race.

E.J. FlorealPalo Alto High

The sophomore forward helped the Vikings’ basket-ball team go 3-0 by scoring 70 points and grabbing 31 rebounds, getting 51 points and 23 boards in two SCVAL De Anza Division victories to keep Paly atop the stand-ings.

* previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

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HIL

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didn’t even know it existed. I think it’s pretty cool that a couple of my players received that recognition, too. I’ve got all the recognition I can handle for one season.”

The 6-foot-5 Wade, who led the Vikings to their first-ever state title with 537 kills, 69 blocks and 53 aces during a remarkable 41-1 season, was named to the 11-player Divi-sion I first team. Coleman, a libero who had 543 assists this season, was named to the all-state second team.

Sacred Heart Prep junior Sarah Daschbach, who helped lead the Ga-tors to the Division IV state cham-pionship match, was named to the Division IV all-state first team. She had 440 kills, 61 aces and 441 digs this past season. Sophomore team-mate Sonia Abuel-Saud (380 kills, 308 digs) was named to the second team.

In Division V, Castilleja junior middle blocker Hannah Boland was named to the first team. She capped her career with 366 kills, 105 blocks and 40 digs.

For Winn, meanwhile, it has been a remarkable five years at Palo Alto. He has compiled a 52-8 record in the SCVAL De Anza Division and is 164-33 overall. He hasn’t won fewer than 27 matches in any season — winning 27 twice before going 33-7, 36-5 and 41-1 this past season while earning a No. 10 national ranking from prepvolleyball.com.

“It has been such an amazing ex-perience,” he said.

Winn, of course, was pleasantly surprised by the coaching honor.

“I think those who made the se-lection figured it’s pretty hard for a public school to win a state title,” Winn rationalized.

Winning such an honor next sea-son might be even more special, giv-en what the Vikings accomplished this season and what’s awaiting them next fall.

“We have to have a new motiva-tion every year,” Winn said. “Our challenge next year is to build for the future, establish that spirit of ex-cellence with this program. I want to see how deep we can get. We’ll lose a lot of seniors and we need to make sure the program is strong for years to come.”

Winn figures he was eight play-ers deep this past season and wants that number to grow despite the return of Wade, Kimmy Whitson, Maddie Kuppe, Caroline Martin, Jackie Koenig — all seniors next fall — plus junior-to-be Shelby Knowles.

Winn wants to make every play-er better. To accomplish that, he’s planning a much-tougher schedule that almost guarantees the Vikings won’t be undefeated in 2011.

“We finally got invited to the Mit-ty Tournament,” Winn said. “I guess you have to win a state champion-ship to do that. And, we’re hoping to get into the Santa Barbara Tourna-ment of Champions.”

“We’re not going to go 42-0 for the season,” he said, noting that it’s just not realistic to set that as a target goal. But, the team can get better, despite seemingly having accomplished everything there is to accomplish.

Dave Winn(continued from page 31)

Real Estate MattersADJUSTING THE

SEASONING There are three basic ingre-

dients in the recipe for selling a home: location, condition, and price. Sellers have the most control over price. If a home isn’t selling after a couple months, that element will likely need some adjustment.

Generally, if your home isn't selling in the average time that oth-ers are, overpricing is the probable culprit. Deciding how much to ad-just your asking price will depend on a local market reevaluation.

Even if you're confident that you priced fairly and correctly from the beginning, you may now find yourself overpriced. Now may be the time to consult with your real estate professional and ask for a

new Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).

The CMA will report the cur-rent asking prices, current selling prices, and prices for homes whose listings have expired. Forget about comparing asking prices, because the market has not yet shown if those will sell or not.

Prices at which homes did sell are a good figure to heed, but you'll learn the most from the prices at which homes did not sell. After your agent's explanation of the CMA, make sure your new price reduction is in line with the final sales prices and well below the expired listing prices.

Call Jackie & Richard for real estate advice.

Richard (650) 566-8033 Realtor, Architect, Contractor

Jackie (650) 855-9700 Realtor, CRS, SRES jackie@apr.com richard@apr.com schoelerman.com DRE # 01092400 DRE # 01413607

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Page 34

Sports

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Paly athletes signing a national letter of intent on Wednesday included (L-R) Alex Kershner (Duke soccer), T.J. Braff (SCU baseball), Tony Panayides (Colgate soccer), Kevin Anderson (Stanford football), Zach Spain (Presbyte-rian College lacrosse) and Davante Adams (Fresno State football).

Courtesy Anne Anderson

Local prep athletes takebig step toward college

by Keith Peters

I t was a special day for thousands of high school athletes around the nation as they signed their

national letter of intent on Wednes-day to continue their playing careers in college next season.

Palo Alto High had its own share

of recruited athletes sign, as well, during a ceremony likely duplicated around the country.

Six featured athletes, joined by their family and coach, signed up with the college of their choice — Davante Adams with Fresno State football, Kevin Anderson with Stan-

ford football, TJ Braff with Santa Clara baseball, Alex Kershner with Duke women’s soccer, Tony Panay-ides with Colgate soccer and Zach Spain with Presbyterian College lacrosse.

“I am proud of our athletes,” said Earl Hansen, Paly’s athletic director and football coach. “They represent a small fraction of a larger group of talented scholar-athletes who are going on to play at the collegiate level.”

It was perhaps a special day for Adams, Anderson and Braff. All played on Paly’s CIF Division state championship football team in the fall. Braff and Adams are currently teammates on the Vikings’ first-place basketball team. In the spring, Braff will be playing baseball on a squad hoping to win a Central Coast Section title.

All three athletes could be instru-mental to one of the finest overall athletic seasons in school history.

Panayides and Kershner, mean-while, are close to finishing their prep careers while trying to help their respective squads reach the CCS playoffs. Spain still has his fi-nal lacrosse season coming up.

Paly could have 30 student-ath-letes who will be heading off to college and competing, not all with scholarships. Swimmer Sarah Liang is just one of many athletes head-ing to the Ivy League (she’ll swim at Princeton), which doesn’t offer scholarships. Quarterback Chris-toph Bono is another without a letter of intent. He’s expected to walk on at UCLA in the fall.

Sacred Heart Prep, meanwhile, announced 13 student-athletes who will continue competing in col-lege.

Reed and Will McConnell have been together all of their lives. That will change next fall, however.The basketball twins will continue their careers in college, but on different sides of the country. Reed has com-mitted to play for UC Irvine while Will will play for Dartmouth.

Water polo standout Philip Bam-berg is headed to USC and will be joined by soccer standout Geena Graumann. Joining Will McConnell at Dartmouth will be Pedro Robin-son, who will go as a football player despite also being a talented tennis

player.Staying in California will be

Abby Dahlkemper (UCLA soccer), Robert Dunlevie (Stanford water polo), Andrew Malozsak (UC San Diego tennis) and Andrew Savage (Pomona swimming).

Heading out of state will be Nick Caine (Trinity University swim-ming), Eliza Henderson (George-town swimming), Alec Mishra (Kenyon soccer) and Joe Wise (Loyola-Maryland swimming).

Sacred Heart Prep’s graduating class of 2011 marks the fifth con-secutive class where at least a dozen SHP student-athletes have been able to continue their playing careers as recruited athletes.

COLLEGE RECRUITING

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