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Palo Alto

Nor

bert

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Vol. XXVII, Number 75 • Wednesday, June 21, 2006 ■ 50¢

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

Council turns blind eye to Utilities scandal? Page 3

Palo Alto

■ Upfront Romic shut down by state officials Page 3■ Schools Out Have wheels will travel Section 2■ Sports A new face at Stanford Page 27

Palo AltoPalo Alto

CITY LEADERS TARGET GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PAGE 14

• Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Palo Alto Weekly

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Palo Alto Weekly • Wednesday, June 21, 2006 •

A year after the City Council funded a $300,000 investiga-tion into misconduct by Utili-

ties Department employees, only one of the governing group’s nine members asked to see the findings of the six-month effort.

“As a representative of the people I kind of feel I need to understand, the best I can, what’s happening be-hind the scenes,” said Vice Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto, whose request to see the documents was denied by city staff.

Nineteen employees were disci-plined — including six who quit or were fired — for their actions. The reports detailed the misconduct.

Last year, the Weekly asked to see the paperwork but was denied by city officials, who claimed the documents were protected because they were private personnel files. City officials told Kishimoto the same thing.

“I just remember just being told that I didn’t have to see the person-nel files,” Kishimoto said.

Asked how she felt about the de-nial, Kishimto said: “I suppose the truth is I felt probably as frustrated as many citizens did.”

The Weekly then sued the city in September, arguing that the egregious nature of the employees’ actions overwhelmed any rights of privacy because of the public’s right to know how their city is be-ing run.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kevin E. McKenney ruled June 7 that most of the pa-

perwork the newspaper requested would be released — after the names of the employees were re-dacted (blacked out) — but that two documents are still private be-cause they fell under attorney-cli-ent protection.

The Weekly on Monday request-ed to argue the attorney-client-privilege point with full legal brief and a hearing, to which McKenney agreed. Judy Alexander, represent-ing the Weekly, has until June 30 to

UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis

Norbert von der G

roeben

(continued on page 10)

Only one, Yoriko Kishimoto, requested information about $300,000 Utilities scandal

investigation — and was deniedby Bill D’Agostino and Jay Thorwaldson

E ffective immediately, Romic Environmental Technologies must stop all operations for

blending hazardous waste to make fuel, the California Department of Toxic Substance Control has or-dered.

The department (DTSC), the reg-ulatory agency overseeing Romic’s operations in California, issued a consent order to the company re-garding a June 5 hazardous materi-

als accident at its Palo Alto head-quarters.

At least four chemicals are known to have been mixed together, and a chemical reaction released a hazard-ous plume over endangered-species habitat near San Francisco Bay.

The order specifically cites Romic “for failure to operate the facility in a manner to minimize the possibil-ity of a release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents ...

which could threaten human health or the environment.”

Romic must submit a written report to DTSC within 30 days, detailing the company’s preliminary findings and corrective actions, and submit a comprehensive report within 60 days. The order prevents Romic from add-ing bio-sludge into any fuel blending vessel and from accepting any waste containing the explosive chemical hydroxylamine until it has completed the written report.

Hydroxylamine, a reactive chemi-cal involved in the June 5 incident, has been implicated in at least two non-Romic factory explosions since 1999 that resulted in injuries and deaths, according to various re-ports.

Romic spokesman Chris Stampo-lis said the company only accepts hydroxylamine in a diluted state.

Romic is looking into whether the concentration of the chemical it

received from a company for waste recycling may have been greater than what it normally accepts. The accompanying manifest Romic re-ceived with the waste stated it was within the accepted range, Stampo-lis said.

Contrary to previous media re-ports, the chemical releases oc-curred in two locations: a fuel-blending tank on the Romic site; and a parked tanker truck, where the fuel blend had been loaded.

Two acres of land, including a PG&E substation, were originally reported to be covered with fall-ing liquid from the plume; but that area has now been expanded to in-clude more wetlands — including the Laumeister and Faber tracts, two large parcels of marsh owned by the City of Palo Alto, according to Janet Yocum, U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency emergency

Romic ordered to cease mixing fuels

Order comes after chemical plant released toxic plume over East Palo Alto, wetlands

by Sue Dremann


Classic Communities

gets council OK Residents’ appeals fail

to sway officialsby Bill D’Agostino

Shortly after Monday night tripped into early Tuesday morning, the Palo Alto City

Council gave the go-ahead to a de-veloper’s plan to demolish two office buildings and construct 96 units of housing on West Bayshore Road.

Four sets of residents had appealed the planning director’s decision to approve the 6.5-acre development planned by Classic Communities. They and other critics who spoke during Monday’s three-hour public hearing argued the project, on the corner of Loma Verde Avenue, would negatively impact the area’s traffic and overwhelm nearby schools with new students.

Many also argued the city was only taking a piecemeal look at in-dividual housing projects rather than considering the cumulative effect of it and numerous other large nearby developments.

Since the council was primarily re-viewing the project’s design, neigh-bors spoke about the development’s look too. They complained Classic Communities was using cheap-look-ing materials, including corrugated steel. Some had derisively called the design “futuristic.”

“It’s totally out of character with our neighborhood,” Loma Verde Av-enue resident Stiv Ostenberg said.

“Not so long ago being called futuristic would have been a com-pliment,” replied Scott Ward, vice president of Classic Communities.

The city’s Architectural Review Board had narrowly approved the project’s design earlier this year,


Just me and myselfA window washer dangles from a line outside the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto Friday morning.

CITY COUNCIL

EAST PALO ALTO

Council members don’t want to know

by Don Kazak


OurTown

by Don Kazak

Inviting Romic to leave

For years, Romic Environmental Technologies was East Palo Al-to’s largest employer and most

successful business. The company, which recycles hazardous industrial wastes, predates the city’s incorpo-ration in 1983.

Located near the end of Bay Road near the tip of Cooley Landing, large tanker trucks go to and from the industrial complex, a hard-hat type of place that deals with highly dangerous chemicals.

But the city has grown up in the last decade. The Four Seasons Hotel opened earlier this year as part of University Circle while IKEA and Home Depot draw shoppers to the city in droves.

A neighborhood of new homes has been built behind the shopping center as the city continues its matu-ration.

A plant processing hazardous chemicals, long tolerated by city officials, is no longer seen as desir-able.

And not just because of what hap-pened June 5, either.

Late that night, a chemical reac-tion occurred in a tanker truck hold-ing 4,000 gallons of volatile organic compounds. The chemicals spewed out in a cloud that drifted over the adjacent Baylands. People living near Romic were advised to shelter in place — stay inside with doors and windows closed.

The next day, a platoon of federal, state and county officials descended on the plant, investigating what hap-pened.

The federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency later released a re-port stating that the mist of chemi-cals dissipated quickly into the air. But a sticky residue of tiny black dots was left on the nearby baylands that “is not likely to be harmful un-less one comes in direct contact with the material.”

For Mayor Ruben Abrica and oth-er East Palo Alto officials, enough is enough.

“It’s time for them to leave,” he said. “It’s another reminder that things can go wrong. We are con-cerned over what can happen to our residents. It poses a danger to resi-dents.”

The City Council sent a letter last year to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, the state agency regulating Romic, oppos-ing the company’s application to the state to expand its operation by

adding more storage and treatment tanks. The permit for expansion is still pending.

In 2005, Romic paid the state $849,500 to settle 53 safety viola-tions between 1999 and 2004. Many of those were seemingly minor in-fractions, such as mislabeling some-thing, but how minor can an infrac-tion be when dealing with dangerous chemicals?

Romic also paid the state $106,000 in fines in 1996 after an accident badly injured a worker.

In November 1995, Romic ac-cidentally discharged cyanide into the treatment system of the Palo Alto Wastewater Treatment Plant, leading to protests from community groups about Romic’s continued presence in the community.

One of the more frightening as-pects of the June 5 tanker-truck dis-charge is that more than a week later Romic officials still weren’t sure what was in the truck or why the reaction occurred. Chris Stampolis, Romic’s director of community rela-tions, said the company is still figur-ing out what happened.

“We know what was on the (truck’s) manifest,” he said.

There’s a second irritant to city of-ficials. In 2004, East Palo Alto vot-ers passed a tax on any company that deals with hazardous wastes (there being one such company in town). Romic has refused to pay and has appealed the tax administratively to the city. It’s a hefty tax, amounting to 10 percent of the company’s an-nual gross revenues.

A legal battle may be brewing.“We don’t want to get into a legal

dispute with them,” Abrica said. But he would like the city, the company, the state and Romic’s client corpora-tions to sit down and cooperatively find a new location for Romic, away from population centers. A military base might be one possibility, he said.

“We need them to leave, in a good way, that won’t cost them,” Abrica said.

Romic has become a pariah.“The community in no way bene-

fits from having Romic here,” Coun-cilwoman Pat Foster said. “It needs to go somewhere else.” ■

Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak can be emailed at [email protected]. A forum topic on Romic is being started at Town Square, www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

INDEXPulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

PUBLISHERWilliam S. Johnson

EDITORIALJay Thorwaldson, EditorMarc Burkhardt, Managing EditorJocelyn Dong, Associate EditorAllen Clapp, Carol Blitzer, Assistant EditorsKeith Peters, Sports EditorRick Eymer, Assistant Sports EditorRebecca Wallace, Arts & Entertainment EditorDon Kazak, Senior Staff WriterBill D’Agostino, Alexandria Rocha, Staff WritersNorbert von der Groeben, Chief PhotographerNicholas Wright, Staff Photographer Adam Heyman, Photo InternTyler Hanley, Assistant to the Editor &Online EditorSue Dremann, Staff Writer, Special SectionsCammie Farmer, Calendar EditorJeanne Aufmuth, Dale Benson,Lynn Comeskey, Tim Goode, Jill Slater, Susan Tavernetti, Robert Taylor, Contributors Anabel Lee, Andrew Thompson, Editorial InternsBrooke Thomas, Arts & Entertainment Intern

DESIGNCarol Hubenthal, Design DirectorDiane Haas, Lynda Lumish, Sue Peck, Senior Designers;Royd Hatta, Dana James, Paul Llewellyn, Charmaine Mirsky, Scott Peterson, Designers

PRODUCTIONJennifer Lindberg, Production ManagerDorothy Hassett, Brooke Fox,Sales & Production Coordinators

ADVERTISINGMichael Howard, Advertising ManagerCathy Norfleet, Display Advertising Sales AssistantJasbir Gill, Janice Hoogner, Sandra Valdiosera, Display Advertising SalesKathryn Brottem, Real Estate Advertising SalesJoan Merritt, Real Estate Advertising Asst.Linda Franks, Classified Advertising ManagerJustin Davisson, Evie Marquez, Irene Schwartz, Classified Advertising SalesBlanca Yoc, Classified Administrative Assistant

ONLINE SERVICESLisa Van Dusen, Director of Palo Alto OnlineShannon White, Assistant to Webmaster

BUSINESSIryna Buynytska, Business ManagerMiriam Quehl, Manager of Payroll & BenefitsPaula Mulugeta, Senior AccountantValentina Georgieva, Judy Tran, Business AssociatesTina Karabats, Cathy Stringari, Doris Taylor,Business Associates

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EMBARCADERO PUBLISHING CO.William S. Johnson, PresidentMichael I. Naar, Vice President & CFO; Robert D. Thomas, Vice President, Corporate Development; Walter Kupiec, Vice President, Sales & Marketing; Frank A. Bravo, Director, Computer Operations & WebmasterConnie Jo Cotton, Major Accounts Sales Manager; Bob Lampkin, Director, Circulation & Mailing Services; Alicia Santillan, Circulation Assistant; Chris Planessi, Joel Pratt, ChipPoedjosoedarmo, Computer System Associates

The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is published every Wednesday and Friday by Embarcadero Publishing Co., 703 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94302, (650) 326-8210. Periodicals post-age paid at Palo Alto, CA and additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circu-lation 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 cur-rently 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 ©2003 by Embarcadero Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohib-ited. Printed by SFOP, Redwood City. The Palo Alto Weekly is available on the Internet via Palo Alto Online at: http://www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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This ad is co-sponsored by The Palo Alto Weekly and The City of Palo Alto, Arts & Culture Division

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Upfront

In its initial review of a task-force recommendation to rebuild the city’s police headquarters, the

Palo Alto City Council praised the group’s report, asked a few ques-tions but gave little indication of its feelings about the thorny po-litical issues surrounding the $38 million to $55 million project.

The council appointed the blue-ribbon task force in December, and the 15-member group spent six months researching the project and writing its 14-page report.

After determining the need for the building — the report states it “recommends in the strongest possible terms that the City pro-ceed expeditiously to build a new Public Safety Building” — the task force studied the size and lo-cation of the new building. It con-cluded it should be 49,600 square feet and be located on private land on Park Boulevard, near Page Mill Road.

Although council members praised the group’s report — call-ing it “so logical,” “compelling,” “very impressive” and “superb” — they did not signify which site or size they preferred.

The council is set to vote on the proposal next Monday.

Councilman John Barton asked how many years of growth the group had planned.

The 49,600 square feet projects 20 years of growth in the person-nel of the police department. Task Force Co-chair Lanie Wheeler also said the plan built in some flexible spaces, such as balconies, that could be expanded later.

As for the Park Boulevard loca-tion, Councilwoman Dena Mossar questioned whether the building should be so “isolated.”

“I like having police around,” she said of the current downtown location.

Mossar also asked how the city should acquire the private land. Wheeler responded the city should immediately begin negotiations with the site’s two landowners.

During its meetings, the task force preliminarily discussed us-ing eminent domain if the land-owners were not interested in selling.

Three other less-preferred op-tions for the police building in-clude: city-owned parking lots near California Avenue and on Gilman Street near downtown or simply rebuilding on the current site. Although the city would not need to purchase the public lands, those options would be more ex-pensive because officials would need to replace public parking or find a temporary home for the Po-lice Department during construc-tion.

The city has no money set aside for the project and the task force did not give a recommendation on how to secure funding. Possible options include a bond measure or a parcel tax.

“Whatever method we use, it will be expensive,” Wheeler said.

The council has set aside June 2008 for any possible ballot mea-sure to approve the funding. It’s also set aside that same ballot for funding for improved library ser-vices, staff and facilities.

According to the task force, the current 40-year-old, 24,000-square-foot police headquarters on Forest Avenue is “marginally adequate.” Problems include its small size, inadequate wiring and ventilation and potential inabil-ity to continue operating after a strong earthquake.

The building also houses the city’s 911 call center and emer-gency operations center.

Former Mayor Jim Burch, who convened the task force while still on the council last year, implored current city leaders to make a de-cision soon so the city would not have a substandard police head-quarters for much longer.

“Just do it,” he said. ■Staff Writer Bill D’Agostino can be reached at [email protected].

SCHOOLS

Council praises police report, offers few specifics

June 26 vote scheduled for police building by Bill D’Agostino

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Wing and a prayerRobert Williamson, a computer-science major, dons a pair of wings he made for last year’s Halloween costume during the Stanford graduation ceremony Sunday morning.


Upfront

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Around Town

—Vice Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto, the only City Council member who asked to see the results of the city’s $300,000 investigation into Utilities Depart-ment wrongdoings. Her request was denied by city staff. See story on page 3.

I just remember just being told that I didn’t have to see the personnel files.‘‘

ON THE DEFENSIVE . . . Both commencement speakers at Stanford University last week-end — Vartan Gregorian and Tom Brokaw — began their addresses sounding defensive about being the school’s pick. Students had criticized both in the student newspaper, the Stanford Daily. One called Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former presi-dent of Brown University, “not as big a rock star as Tom Brokaw.” So, in response, he put on dark sunglasses on Saturday to show how “rock star” he could be. Brokaw, on Sunday, also cited the Daily article at the start of his speech. “One student of the graduating class said, ‘Tom Brokaw? That’s like getting a contemporary radio station, adult radio station as a speaker — has a soothing effect but there’s not much to get excited about,’” he said, according to a transcript provided by the university. “So here’s the deal that I’m prepared to make. That student, Natalie, if you’ll just turn around — you get Michael Bolton going on your iPod right now and I’m going to invite the rest of you to listen to me ... while I’m giving my speech here.” One speaker who might have gotten a warmer recep-tion from students, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, turned down an offer to give a commence-ment address at Stanford, the Washington Post reported Mon-day, “because he tries to spend

Sundays at home in Chicago with his wife, Michelle, and their two young daughters.” Stanford University had two ceremonies this year — one for the gradu-ate students on Saturday and another for the undergraduates on Sunday — because the usual site of the joint commencement, the football stadium, is under construction, and the festivi-ties had to be relocated to the smaller Elliot Field.

SCHOOL’S DEFINITELY OUT . . . During last week’s Palo Alto school board meeting, student board member Susan Wu told those in attendance about Gunn High School’s recent “Paper-Throwing Day.” Apparently, graduating seniors bring all the old tests, homework, and proj-ects they’ve saved over the last four years to school and engage in a massive loose-leaf cleans-ing by throwing the paper all over campus. “It definitely took hours to clean up,” Wu said. Since Gunn was certified as a Green Business by the Bay Area Green Business Program for its efforts to reduce waste and pro-mote energy conservation earlier this year, the seniors’ papers were surely recycled.

A STAIN ON THE LAND . . .A photograph of the extent of contamination from the June 5 Romic hazardous-chemicals accident materialized on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site this week. The black swath spread across tracts of land into the marsh lands, and into endangered spe-cies habitat. The photograph can be viewed at http://yosem-ite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/

‘‘

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Best of 2006Coming June 2ndVote online today at: www.PaloAltoOnline.com

A Palo Alto man and a San Jose man were arrested on charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets and on five counts of theft of trade secrets, according to the U.S. attor-ney’s office.

Lan Lee, 42, of Palo Alto, and Yuefei Ge, 34, of San Jose, were arrested Friday for allegedly con-spiring to steal trade secrets from their former employers, NetLogics Microsystems, which is based in

Mountain View, and Taiwan Semi-conductor Manufacturing Corpo-ration, which has facilities in San Jose, Taiwan, Singapore, and the state of Washington.

The two men allegedly stole trade secrets, or proprietary busi-ness information, related to the de-velopment and design of computer chips. ■

—Bay City News Service

Palo Alto man charged in trade secrets case


Upfront

L ocal developer Chop Keenan’s plans for a four-story office and retail building on the cor-

ner of Hamilton Avenue and High Street will end the parcel’s 30-year-long vacancy with what Keenan calls “a little jewel box.” In addi-tion, he is proposing to construct a 146-space parking structure on the city’s Lot P, across the street on High, as a public benefit.

Monday night, the City Council agreed to schedule a pre-screening of the project for its July 10 meet-ing.

Depending on the council’s pref-erences for the run-down corner lot, Keenan’s project could move for-ward as a four-story building — or as a scaled-down two-story build-ing with accompanying no parking structure.

“I’m excited about the bigger project, but the city will have to see whether it’s in their interests or not,” said Keenan.

Plans for both buildings are ba-sically done, and whichever one is preferred will go before the Ar-chitectural Review Board. The four-story building is slated to be 30,000 square feet, and the two-

story, 12,000. If the former is ap-proved, construction would begin next spring; if the latter, construc-tion would begin in the fall.

The taller building, however, would likely need Planned Com-munity zoning, which means the Keenan Land Company project would exceed some of the city’s nor-mal zoning standards. City Planner Amy French said it is undetermined which features of the building would require the flexible zoning.

Stylistically, the building will display “a very upscale retail façade with stone and glass,” Keenan said. The ground floor will be construct-ed of stone and glass, while the up-per levels will be built entirely of glass, with the structural steel show-ing through. Keenan has opted for clear glass because he says it better shows the tenant’s livelihood, which he thinks is critical for retail. He has hired San Francisco architect Rich-ard Brayton.

The ground floor will be strongly retail-oriented. Keenan is currently working with a couple apparel re-tailers. If the four-story building is approved, he plans to include a cof-fee shop.

Keenan hopes his upcoming ven-ture will do for High Street what his previous projects — Whole Foods and Peet’s Coffee and Tea — have done for Emerson Street.

“When we developed the first stuff on Emerson, we turned Em-erson Street into a really powerful street retail-wise,” said Keenan, “My 30,000 foot plan would have the same stimulative effect for High Street.”

He also said that the key to retail is parking since “more parking means more power in retail.” According to Keenan, the combination of a retail building and a parking structure will spur investment and retail ac-tion and subsequently “anchor this end of the downtown.”

Planning and Community En-vironment Director Steve Emslie agreed. “We think the proposal is going to strengthen our retail as it expands to the south of University Avenue,” he said, “The conditions are right for retail to be successful in the area. It has the foot traffic and visibility that retailers need.” ■ Editorial Intern Anabel Lee can be e-mailed at [email protected].

LAND USE

Breathing life back into a vacant lotPlans for development at Hamilton and High could extend retail’s reach downtown

by Anabel Lee

“Mother” Onedia Branch needs your help. She and a group of volunteers serve

local, low-income families and seniors, year-round,

distributing clothing, food and household goods. But

cash donations at the center are quickly depleting, and

donations for operating expenses are needed now.

If you can help, please send your contribution to:

THE EAST PALO ALTO COMMUNITY CENTER

2584 Farrington Way, East Palo Alto, CA 94303For more information, please call

650-325-2848The East Palo Alto Community Center thanks you!

Community ServiceCommunity ServiceThis year, the need is greater than everThis year, the need is greater than ever

This space donated by the Palo Ato Weekly

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A t first glance, Heidi Ember-ling’s classroom looks a lot like a typical summer camp

on Wednesday afternoons: The teacher busily preparing materials for an art project while children play in the room.

Take another look, however, and you might notice that one difference — each child bears a remarkable resemblance to another child in the room. Whether it’s the same T-shirt, same curly hair, or the same smile, there is a common link among Emberling’s students: They’re all twins.

The Parents Place on Channing Avenue kicked off its first Twins Summer Camp last week, and so far, four sets of twins and their moms are enrolled. Because parents of twins face a multitude of issues that parents of singletons may not (including overly judgmental teach-ers and doctors who constantly compare the children’s develop-ment, and extreme — make that extreme exhaustion) the child-care and educational center decided to launch the camp as both a support and recreational service.

“You’re raising two babies at the same time. If they’re identical, they may be on the same sleep schedule. But most here are fraternal so their sleep schedules, temperaments and social skills all may be very differ-ent,” said Gloria Moskowitz-Sweet,

coordinator of Parents Place Ex-press and a mother of 17-year-old twin boys. “Parents come here and they support each other.”

While the children, who are all ages 2 to 5, play, do art projects and enjoy story time with Emberling, the mothers gather in a separate room with Moskowitz-Sweet to discuss and learn about twin devel-opment and the characteristics that make raising twins so different from bringing up singletons.

“It’s the exhaustion. You are tired. It’s hard to get anything done. You have to have a level of vigilance. When they mobilize, it’s in two dif-ferent directions,” Moskowitz-Sweet said. “You think: ‘I need to break into two to make sure I’m getting the job done.’”

Although last week’s camp was the first of eight sessions this sum-mer, the parents’ discussion quickly hit an intimate level more common among close friends than strangers. The moms sat in chairs in a half circle facing Moskowitz-Sweet, who asked them to share their twins’ de-velopmental milestones and chal-lenges.

“Being a new mom is hard enough itself, but when everything is double. . . . It’s just everything times two,” said Pam Riley, whose twins are 2 years and 9 months old. “Right now we’re potty training. There are dia-pers everywhere.”

Stories leapt to the surface about raising two children who look a lot alike, but whose personalities are drastically different. This has presented problems for most of the moms.

Whenever one twin does something earlier than the other — whether it’s learning the alpha-bet, walking or being more social — there are people, including teach-ers, doctors and relatives, who al-ways assume something is wrong with the other twin.

“There’s this constant level of comparing that we do and that the world does to us,” Moskowitz-Sweet said.

For one of the moms, this has led to an especially difficult time. Because one of her twins is more social and verbal than the other, a pediatrician suggested the less so-cial twin be observed for autism. He wasn’t diagnosed, but the doctor told the mom to do the impossible: Con-tinue to watch the one twin closely for signs, and, oh, relax.

The moms shared a moment of disbelief. Moskowitz-Sweet reas-sured them that such experiences are common.

“The bar is set so high in this area that what just looks different becomes almost a disability,” she said.

For Kerry Yarkin, whose twins

SCHOOLS

Two is the magic numberNew camp provides activities for twins, support for mothers

by Alexandria Rocha



Upfront

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Eight children using the new children’s pool in Menlo Park’s Burgess Aquatics Center last

week suffered from a range of harsh physical symptoms that brought fire district paramedics rushing to the scene and prompted an environ-mental health department inspec-tion.

The source of the problem, which sent one youngster to the hospital for observation, remains a mystery. But the June 16 incident appears to have been triggered by the ac-cidental shutdown and subsequent startup of the system that circulates water in the small pool.

The pool reopened within an hour after the incident occurred; both the health department and pool opera-tor found no problem with the wa-ter.

Emergency services were called in around 3:15 p.m. that day af-ter the eight children experienced burning eyes and throats and other symptoms, according to Tim Camp-bell, a battalion chief with the Men-lo Park Fire Protection District.

While some at the scene, includ-ing Campbell, suspected a prob-lem with the chlorine flow into the pool, aquatics center operator Tim Sheeper refuted such notions and asserted that panic was a more likely suspect.

At least one mother on the scene, a registered nurse who didn’t want to be identified, said the children seemed to be under real physical distress. She said some of them were gasping for air, coughing and vomiting.

One little boy was lethargic and appeared to be losing conscious-ness, she added.

Campbell said he was told some of the children were stricken while in the pool, but Sheeper said that was not the case. He asserted the children had been taken out of the pool before any physical symptoms were reported.

The pool evacuation, he noted, was due to a child hitting an emer-gency stop switch that shut down a pump circulating water in the pool.

Sheeper said a likely scenario is that they were still near the pool when the pump was turned back on, allowing the water to flow again; the strong smell of chlorinated wa-ter returned to the air, causing kids and their parents to think something was amiss.

Campbell said at least one wit-ness reported seeing a vapor cloud over the pool when the water flow resumed, a claim Sheeper again re-futed.

“Those people don’t have an in-tricate understanding of the pool or the chemical content of the water,” he said. “We deal with this pool 14 hours a day, and it was fine.”

The incident, he said, arose “more from a sense of panic, (from) just not knowing what was actually go-ing on.

“Parents get scared, and end up scaring their kids,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m a parent of three kids, and I understand the parenting instinct (to protect one’s children).”

Sheeper and Michael Taylor, the city’s acting director of community services, said the chlorine level of the pool’s water was manually test-ed immediately after the children started complaining of symptoms, and there was nothing unusual in the chemical balance.■

Mysterious illness hits kids at Burgess pool

Operator said symptoms caused by panic, not waterby Renee Batti

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Giovanna Ortiz (far left), Rebecca Siegel, Jonathon Morag, Pris-cilla Jang and Valerie Chao were announced this month as five of eight Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund college-scholarship recipi-ents. The $1,000 scholarships were given to notable students at Palo Alto, Gunn, Menlo-Atherton and Woodside high schools. Not pictured are Neida Lazo, Francisco Olivares and Alexandra Snell.

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Upfront

file a brief and Senior Deputy City Attorney Donald Larkin was given until July 14 to respond.

McKenney set a hearing date for July 31.

He also ruled that the materials to be released should include here-tofore confidential declarations by City Manager Frank Benest, Assis-tant City Manager Emily Harrison and City Attorney Gary Baum.

The council was scheduled to consider whether to file an appeal of the lawsuit Monday night in a closed session on litigation, but Larkin told McKenney on Mon-day morning an appeal is “very unlikely.”

The Weekly hasn’t decided its own course of action, Alexander told the judge.

McKenney said information that may be redacted on individual employees includes their names, titles, Social Security numbers and home addresses.

Up to this point, the only pub-lic information released about the scandal was a two-page sum-mary stating there were numer-ous alleged problems, including employees using city equipment for private work, charging the city overtime for private work, harass-ing other workers and failing to properly manage subordinates.

The eight other council members said they did not request the files for a variety of reasons.

Some said they believed the investigation was done well and saw no reason to double-check the work of the investigator or Benest, who oversaw the effort.

“Based on the disciplinary ac-tions announced it seems to be a comprehensive investigation and response,” Councilman Bern Bee-cham said.

Mayor Judy Kleinberg said if she thought the probe covered up problems within the city, it would “shake my sense of my govern-ment to the core.

“That would require a radi-cal course of action,” Kleinberg added. “I don’t believe that’s the case.”

The city risked a lawsuit from the employees if it revealed the files, the mayor added.

“Sometimes it may be costly, very costly. Your risk level is go-ing to be higher to err on the side of open government,” Kleinberg said.

Councilman Jack Morton refused to say whether or not he requested the information. He argued that a reporter’s questions about whether he did so were inappropriate.

Asked how he could review Ben-est’s performance if he didn’t see the files, Morton sounded shocked at the question.

“When I review an employee I don’t go and review everything he does,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Morton compared such a request to a newspaper editor going back

and re-interviewing a subject of a story to make sure a reporter is be-ing accurate.

Councilwoman Dena Mossar said she didn’t think to ask about the files because the matter was a personnel issue.

Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell also said she felt the investigation dealt with personnel issues, but added she may ask questions about broader organizational issues.

Three new members joined the council this year, after the investi-gation had been completed.

All said the files reported on matters that happened before their tenure, and therefore were not of high importance to them.

“I’m not going to go back and redo things another council has done,” Councilman Larry Klein said.

“I never thought to look into that,” Councilman Peter Drek-meier said. “Perhaps I should or perhaps I should let bygones be bygones.”

Councilman John Barton said he was interested in the files, and still might seek them, but hadn’t yet be-cause the indiscretions “happened not on my watch.”

Nevertheless, Klein said he was pleased with the judge’s decision.

“I didn’t like the idea that the city was keeping all that stuff secret,” he said. “I’m glad to see some of it coming of out.” ■

Talk about this topic at Town Square at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Utilities scandal (continued from page 3)

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are 2 years old, getting out of the house with both children is diffi-cult. Yarkin was relieved when she discovered the camp, which is close to their home.

“It’s a challenge socializing them,” she said. “I’m really glad we found this resource.”

Setting up play dates for twins is also tough, the parents said, consid-ering the ratio of children. Speaking as if she were the parent of a single-

ton, Moskowitz-Sweet said: “You mean you get one, and I get two?”

Moskowitz-Sweet reminded the moms they had, in fact, made it out of the house and to the camp.

“You’re doing it. Your kids are in that room socializing right now,” she told them.

For more information about the Parents Place Twins Summer Camp, call 688-3040 or visit www.parent-splaceonline.org. ■ Staff Writer Alexandria Ro-cha can be e-mailed at [email protected].

Twins(continued from page 7)

with a 3-2 vote. “This did not receive a resound-

ing A+ approval, but it did receive a passing grade,” architectural board vice-chair David Solnick said. The board had asked for some minor de-sign issues to return for its approval later, which will now happen.

Councilman Bern Beecham hoped to have planning staff again review the design, to make it more “traditional.” But most other council members decided they did not want to be judging aesthetics.

“It’s not our business,” Council-

woman Dena Mossar said. “It’s not good community planning.”

The council’s vote was 8-1, with Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell voting against the project. She agreed with appellants that the project should have had a more complete analysis of the environ-ment impacts.

Over the last year, the council has been taking steps to address residents’ concerns that numerous south Palo Alto housing projects will overwhelm the area with new residents. It’s updating sections of the city’s long-range land-use plans to examine such new developments’ impacts. It’s moving toward exempt-

ing housing from commercial zones in the city.

Last October, the council made it more difficult for housing to be built on industrial land, such as on West Bayshore Road. However, that ac-tion “grandfathered” in applications that had already been submitted, such as Classic Communities

“If we set up rules, we have to follow them,” Councilman Larry Klein said.

Supporters of the Classic Commu-nities project included the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto and the Housing Action Coalition. ■Staff Writer Bill D’Agostino can be reached at [email protected].

Council(continued from page 3)

on-scene coordinator.Federal inspectors were investi-

gating possible impacts on marsh-land wildlife Friday morning.

Two endangered species, the clapper rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse, live in the affect-ed wetlands, according to Debbie Schechter, environmental and eco-nomic development coordinator for the City of East Palo Alto and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee on loan to the city.

The chemical residue, a fine spray similar in appearance to black spray paint, is visible as a wide swath from aerial photographs. One of the chemicals, toluene, is on the state’s

Prop. 65 list of toxic substances, and is a high fire hazard that causes chemical pneumonia and reproduc-tive abnormalities.

Methyl cyanide, a third substance in the accident, can be fatal if swal-lowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin, according to industry data.

It is not yet known if the plume’s residue has any toxic components, since it may have been chemically changed by heat during the chemi-cal reaction, Wendy Chavez of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.

More information and a photo-graph of the site can be found on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov. ■

Romic(continued from page 3) RECYCLE

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POLICE CALLSPalo AltoJune 8-16Violence relatedAssault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Elder abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Family violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Sexual assault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Theft relatedCommercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Vehicle relatedAuto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .3Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Lost/stolen license plates . . . . . . . . . . . .3Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .6Vehicle accident/property damage. . . .19Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . . . . .1Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . .1MiscellaneousFound property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .6Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Noise ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .3Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .1Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Menlo ParkJune 12-18Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft relatedCommercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Theft undefined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle relatedAuto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .1Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Tow request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Vehicle accident/major injury . . . . . . . . .1Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .2Alcohol or drug relatedDrug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1MiscellaneousCoroner’s case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1CPS referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Info. case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Prohibited weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

AthertonJune 12-18Violence relatedBattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Theft relatedCommercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Vehicle relatedAbandoned auto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Parking problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .4Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Alcohol or drug relatedDrunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1MiscellaneousAnimal call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Citizen assist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Construction complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Follow up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Juvenile problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Patrol request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .8Suspicious person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .8Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

VIOLENT CRIMESPalo AltoUnlisted location, 6/8, 10:46 p.m.; domes-tic violence.Unlisted location, 6/9, 10:25 p.m.; domes-tic violence.2700 block Embarcadero Road, 6/10, 6 p.m.; assault.200 block University Avenue, 6/12, 2:07 p.m.; battery.Unlisted location, 6/12, 8:30 p.m.; family violence.Unlisted location, 6/13, 2:56 a.m.; domes-tic violence.Unlisted location, 6/13, 7:58 a.m.; sexual assault.Unlisted location, 6/13, 6:35 p.m.; elder abuse.Unlisted location, 6/14, 11:47 a.m.; sexual assault.

Menlo Park1000 block El Camino Real, 6/15, 12:40 a.m.; battery.

AthertonUnlisted block Stockbridge Avenue, 6/12, 10:51 p.m.; battery.Unlisted location, 6/13, 5:20 p.m.; battery.

PulseA weekly compendium of vital statistics

Stratford SchoolPreschool and Elementary School

in Palo Alto!To learn more about Stratford or to schedule a tour,

please call (650) 493-1151 or email [email protected].

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Frank W. Charles

Frank W. Charles, 79, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died at his home on May 4.

He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Upon graduat-ing from high school, he worked as a police officer with the Vancouver City Police.

In 1960 he moved to Palo Alto, where he did house painting and bartended at Ethan’s, formerly known as The Island. He enjoyed gardening and woodworking, proving himself to be a jack-of-all-trades. He also loved watching his grandson, Tony Hockings, play football. He could often be seen rid-ing his bike on El Camino and was described by family as “a lovable, real California nut.”

He is survived by three children, Lynn Sater of Abbotsford, British Columbia; Nick Charles of Port Co-quitlam, British Columbia; and Bil-lie Boyd of Vancouver, British Co-lumbia. In addition, he is survived by eight grandchildren. Family will celebrate his life with a picnic on the shores of English Bay, where he was a lifeguard growing up.

Stanley Thomas Dixon

Stanley Thomas Dixon, 87, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died on June 12.

He was born on Jan. 25, 1919 in San Francisco. During his 49 years in Palo Alto, he was an associate engineer at SRI International. He was a member of the SRI Alumni Association.

In WWII he served as a chief ra-dioman in the U.S. Navy.

He is survived by his wife, Jo Ann Dixon; his sister, Dolores Semereau; his children Joelle Nunes, Stephen Dixon, Donna Bellucci, Lisa Dixon; and his stepchildren, Beth Jones and Boyd Arnold II. He is also survived by his five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Private funeral services has been arranged.

Helen Carter King

Helen Carter King, 98, a resident of Los Altos, died on June 14.

She was the winner of nearly 100 poetry prizes, including the Ina Col-brith Award and the First Prize in 1972 from the New York Forum. The classical sonnet was her spe-cialty, for which she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Warsaw. She was a member of the National League of American Penwomen, the Chapar-ral Society, the World Poetry Soci-ety and the California State Poetry Society. She was awarded an Honor-ary Lifetime Membership in the Ina Colbirth Society. She also devoted her time to helping many younger poets and struggling publications. Her lighter verse was seen often in

the Los Altos Town Crier. Born in New York City on April

3, 1908, she spent most of her youth in Washington, D.C. At 19, she was the youngest member ever admitted to the prestigious Washington Arts Club. She was already a published poet, a violinist and a budding ac-tress as well. In 1942, she had a poem published in the Saturday Review.

In 1932, she married Phillip B. King, a geologist at the U.S. Geo-logical Survey. A city girl, she be-gan a peripatetic existence as he did research in West Texas and various locations in the Southern Appala-chians. She was active in the Par-ent Teacher Association and helped set up a school lunch program and a textbook-distribution program in the elementary school in Gatlin-burg, Tenn., where her husband was stationed for eight years.

The couple settled in Los Altos in 1955 when her husband came to work at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Menlo Park.

She became active again as a poet. Most of her awards were earned af-ter she was 60. She also taught small classes in art and poetry and vol-unteered at the Los Altos Library. Denied a college education in her youth, she enabled several young people to achieve degrees. She was widowed in 1987.

She is survived by her daughter, Gertrude “Myrrh” Reagan of Palo Alto; and two grandsons, Jeffrey Reagan and Russell Reagan. Memo-rial gifts can be made to the Truck of Love, P.O. Box 269, Los Altos, CA 94023.

Richard Keith Petty

Dr. Richard Keith Petty, 55, a na-tive of Palo Alto and a resident of Hayward, died at his family home on June 16 from mantle-cell lym-phoma.

He and his wife Christine moved to Hayward in 1981 to begin his medical career as a family-practice physician, which grew into an ex-tensive practice. A doctor for more than 28 years, he served as the chief of staff at Eden Hospital and as the president of the Eden medi-cal staff.

A graduate of Palo Alto High School, Stanford University and Northwestern Medical School, he was also an active member in the Hayward First Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There he served in many capacities, including Sunday-school teacher, counselor in the bishopric and mem-ber of the High Council. He was a gifted singer, speaker and writer, and as such was often called upon to share his talents with others, rela-tives said.

He is survived by his wife of more than 33 years, Christine (née Ses-sions) of Hayward; four children,

Jeremy Petty of Sherman Oaks, Emma Addams of Manhattan, N.Y., Alice Petty of Palo Alto, Samuel Petty of Berkeley; two sisters, Kaye Paugh of Palo Alto and Jane Taylor of Los Altos; and a brother, Scott Petty of Salt Lake City, Utah.

He is remembered by loved ones as a devoted and loving grandfather to his two grandsons and a beloved son-in-law of Dr. and Mrs. Sterling Sessions.

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, June 20 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hayward. Memorial donations may be made either to Stanford Universi-ty for Lymphoma Clinical Research at 326 Galvez Street, Stanford, CA 94305-6105 attn: Gift Processing or to the Perpetual Education Fund c/o The Church of Latter-day Saints at 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84105.

Barbara Jean Smith

Barbara Jean Smith, 51, a long-time resident of Palo Alto, died May 30.

She was born in 1954 in Santa Cruz and graduated from Cubberley High School.

Relatives recall her as a caring and loving wife, mother and grandmoth-er who loved to cook, sew and take care of others and always remem-bered birthdays and anniversaries. With her artistic flare, she enjoyed arranging floral decorations, craft-ing blankets and making Halloween costumes for her family.

She also devoted time to her com-munity, volunteering at her chil-dren’s school and spending hours planning events and parties.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Carole Robertson.

She is survived by her husband of 27 years, Kevin Smith of Palo Alto; her children, Justin Smith of Pacific Grove, Melinda Smith of Modesto, and Collin Smith of Palo Alto; her father, William Lipp of Palo Alto; her stepmother, Soon Lipp of Palo Alto; her stepfather, Earl Robertson of Clearlake; her brother, Bill Lipp of Discovery Bay; her sisters, Le-anne King of Castro Valley and Ju-lie Kohls of Rio Vista; and a grand-son, Trevor.

A memorial service was held at Valley Presbyterian Church in Por-tola Valley. In lieu of flowers, dona-tions may be made to the Barbara Jean Smith Memorial Fund set up for her son, Collin, at Washing-ton Mutual Bank, Palo Alto, acct. #3110645378.

TransitionsBirths, marriages and deaths

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by Sue DremannPhotos by Norbert von der Groeben

W hen City Council candidates run for of-fice, they traditionally focus on issues of immediate concern to citizens, such

as traffic, libraries and other services. Last fall, however, some Palo Alto council candidates decided to take on something slightly larger: global warming.

“Overwhelmingly, it’s the most significant problem we face,” said Palo Alto City Council Member Larry Klein, one of those who in-cluded the topic in his campaign platform.

Environmentalist Peter Drekmeier, who also succeeded in gaining a governing seat, made climate change a focus of his election bid as well.

It’s not only council candidates who are tak-ing a hard look at the global problem. Mayor Judy Kleinberg, as part of her state of the city address in March, announced the formation of a new committee, the Mayor’s Green Ribbon Task Force on Climate Protection. The group held its first meeting May 25.

The Palo Alto City Council also recently voted to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan to include the reduction of greenhouse gases as a major goal, according to Drekmeier.

Why all the fuss? Global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which elevate the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. The gases act like glass in a closed car: They pass light, but trap heat.

WARMINGTO THE CHALLENGECITY LEADERS TARGET GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AS IMPORTANT LOCAL ISSUE

Continued on facing page


Across the globe, glaciers are melting and weather patterns are changing, causing floods and hurricanes to increase in some regions and droughts to occur in others, according to scientists.

California is predicted to suffer decreases in snow-pack levels of 30 percent to 90 per-cent by the end of the century, massive heat waves, temperature elevations, and decreases in precipitation, affecting the food supply and drinking water, according to an August 2004 National Academy of Sciences report.

Palo Alto is certain to be affected by those climate changes. Existing models for Bay Area 100-year floods are being revised by some scientists to 10-year intervals, as sea levels rise. In short, thanks to global warm-ing, the lower areas of the city could one day be under water.

Around the country, other cities have been taking on the challenge. Spurred by an inter-national environmental agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol — which has been signed by most major industrialized countries except the United States and Australia — the mayors of 243 cities have signed the U.S. Mayors’ Cli-mate Protection Agreement. They’ve pledged to lead their cities to meet or beat Kyoto Pro-tocol goals by 2012 by reducing carbon-diox-ide emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels.

Kleinberg signed the pledge in January.Seattle, Wash. and Portland, Ore. are fre-

quently cited as leaders in the anti-warming crusade. Seattle City Light — the city’s utili-ties division — became the only utility in the country to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in November, by investing in wind and hydroelectric power, divesting in coal-

fired energy and embarking on an aggressive conservation program, according to Steve Nicholas, director of Seattle’s Office of Sus-tainability and Environment. The aggressive use of environmentally friendly (so-called “green”) building methods, mass transit, re-cycling and sustainable forest programs has reduced carbon-dioxide emissions.

Portland became the first U.S. city to adopt a sustainable-development plan in 1993, ac-cording to Michael Armstrong, Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development conserva-tion-program manager.

Carbon-dioxide emissions there have fallen 12.5 percent per capita despite rapid popula-tion and economic growth — an achievement likely unequalled in any other major U.S. city, according to a 2005 city progress report.

“I CAME AWAY FUNDAMENTALLY UNDERSTANDING THERE IS CLEARLY A PROBLEM. WE HAVE 10 YEARS TO SOLVE IT, OR WE’VE HITA TIPPING POINT. IT’S HARD TO GO BACK.”

—COUNCIL MEMBER DENA MOSSAR

Continued on page 18

How involved do you think the city should get in easing global warming? Talk about it at TownSquare on Palo Alto Online, www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

City Utilities Senior Resource Planner Karl Knapp practices what he preaches, driving an electric vehicle to work, below. Windmills at the Shiloh Wind Farm in Solano County began providing Palo Alto with clean power on June 1, at left and below.

• Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Palo Alto Weekly Palo Alto Weekly • Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Page 17

The Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life has been awarded a $10,000,000 grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. The grant is the largest to a capital project to be awarded in the San Francisco Federation Endowment Fund’s history.

“The Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life will be the cornerstone of a dynamic, growing, diverse Jewish community that will welcome and enhance the entire community,” said Federation CEO Thomas Dine. “For that reason, building the Campus is a top priority for the entire Federation.”

The Federation gift brings the total raised through the Campus capital campaign to $90 million. The $150 million campaign supports the purchase of the 8.5-acre site as well as construction of the new Oshman Family Jewish Community Center and 899 Charleston senior residences being developed in affiliation with the Jewish Home of San Francisco. The 340,000-square-foot Campus is the first in the nation to fully integrate 193 units

of independent and assisted living with Jewish Community Center facilities, as well as offices for Federation and other nonprofits providing essential local services.

“As Chair of the Endowment Fund Committee, I believe that development of the Taube-Koret campus must be a top priority for our entire Jewish community. I urge others to join in helping to make the compelling vision for a multi-purpose, intergenerational Jewish environment in the heart of Silicon Valley a reality,” said Richard Rosenberg.

The Federation-sponsored 2004 Jewish Community Study, the first comprehensive demographic analysis of the Jewish community from Sonoma to Sunnyvale in two decades, reported more than 72,000 Jews in the South Peninsula area, out of a total 228,000 in the West Bay Area. The South Peninsula’s increase of 248% during the past 20 years represented the fastest rate of Jewish population growth in the region. An estimated 13% of South Peninsula Jewish households are of Israeli origin.

“This generous gift abundantly demonstrates the Endowment Fund's commitment to, and confidence in, the Oshman Family JCC – and the vitality and growth of the Jewish community in our neighborhood,” said JCC President Steven Bauman.

The Campus is in the process of completing required approvals from the City of Palo Alto and is scheduled to make a formal appearance before the Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission on June 28, 2006. A draft Environmental Impact Report for the project was published in February 2006. Construction could begin in early 2007 and is expected to take two years to complete.

Jewish Home Chairman David Friedman sees the grant as affirmation of the Jewish Home’s vision for the future. “The Endowment Fund grant is especially meaningful as an endorsement of how the Home is expanding geriatric services throughout the Bay Area,” he said.

Jewish Community Federation’s Endowment Fund Awards $10 Million Grant

"Building

the Campus

is a top

priority for

the entire

Federation.”

COMMUNITY UPDATESince acquiring the site in June 2002, the partners in the Taube-

Koret Campus for Jewish Life have created an innovative plan for a

pedestrian-friendly, village environment that will welcome people

of all ages and backgrounds. The senior residences at the campus

will be named “899 Charleston.” The new JCC at the campus will

be named the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center.

Thomas A . Dine,CEO, Jewish Community Federation

SUPPORTING FOUNDATIONJames Koshland, PresidentCarol Saal, Fundraising ChairSteven BaumanNeill BrownsteinJohn FreidenrichDavid FriedmanJohn GoldmanStuart KleinMark LeslieLarry MarksDavid SteirmanDon Seiler, SecretaryPhyllis Cook, Treasurer

Shelley HébertExecutive Director, Campus Development

Daniel RuthPresident & CEO Jewish Home of San Francisco

Alan SataloffCEO, Albert L. SchultzJewish Community Center

Project ManagementSares Regis Group of Northern California

ArchitectureSteinberg Architects

Structural EngineerForell/Elsesser Engineers

City ApprovalsJim Baer

Land Use AttorneySandy Sloan

The social/cultural hall of the new Oshman Family JCC is shown at right, adjacent to the front entrance of the senior residences (to be known as 899 Charleston). A stairway leads up to the plaza level and pedestrian main street.- Steinberg Architects.

OSHMAN FAMILY JCC HIGHLIGHTSMembership will be open to the entire community.

■ Health, fitness and recreation for children, teens,

adults and seniors

■ Early childhood education

■ Youth and family life activities

■ Adult and senior enrichment programs

■ Jewish arts, culture, literacy and learning

■ Israel culture and connection

899 CHARLESTON HIGHLIGHTSFor information on applications and reservation deposits,

call 1-800-650-1192.

■ Independent and assisted living

■ Uniquely designed 1, 2, and 3 bedroom unit plans

■ Kosher fine dining, casual café and carryout available

■ Comprehensive range of amenities/services, including valet

parking & scheduled transportation

■ Private courtyards, fireside lounge and spa/salon

■ JCC membership included

For more information, please call (650) 691-0100or visit us online at www.campusforjewishlife.org


The addition of two major light-rail lines and the Portland Streetcar have boosted pub-lic-transit ridership 75 percent since 1990, Armstrong said. More than 750,000 trees and shrubs have been planted since 1996 to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The city also is close to finalizing an agreement to sup-ply 100 percent wind power near the end of 2007, he added.

And yet, Armstrong said: “It’s not enough.”

P alo Alto's leaders would love to achieve results like Portland's or Seattle's, and quickly. Global warming and sustain-

ability have been priorities for Kleinberg for many years, she said, but seeing the images of glaciers crashing into warming Arctic seas in an HBO television special, and reading former Vice President Al Gore’s book, “An Inconve-nient Truth,” made it imperative to her that Palo Alto become a model of climate protection.

Council member Dena Mossar, who recent-ly returned from a Cambridge, Mass. confer-ence on cities and energy, agrees Palo Alto needs to urgently address the issue.

“I came away fundamentally understanding there is clearly a problem. We have 10 years to solve it, or we’ve hit a tipping point. It’s hard to go back,” she said.

The city spews more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually — and that figure doesn’t include emissions from liquid fuels, such as gasoline, according to a recent city utilities-department document.

Fortunately, the city has a base of innova-tion to build on, having received high marks for its energy programs.

The city has enrolled 14 percent of its utilities customers in PaloAltoGreen, a renewable-ener-gy program through which customers pay a bit more on their utility bills to support the city’s purchase and development of clean and renew-able energy, such as wind and solar power.

The program has cut greenhouse emissions by nearly 19 million pounds, the equivalent of planting 2,257 acres of trees or taking 1,652 cars off the road, according to the program’s Web site.

A two-hour ride showcases what the pro-gram helps buy.

In the Montezuma Hills overlooking San Pablo Bay, windmills whoosh in the wind. On the rolling hills, sheep graze on grasses beneath the crackling power lines carrying wind-powered electricity to Palo Alto.

PPM Energy, a Portland-based company with wind farms throughout the country, is providing the energy through long-term contracts to customers including Palo Alto, Modesto Irrigation District and PG&E. Palo Alto, a repeat customer, also obtains wind power through PPM’s High Winds farm and its new Shiloh facility.

On June 1, Shiloh began providing Palo Alto with one-sixth of the power the farm generates. The Shiloh electricity is enough to power 9,500 Palo Alto homes.

The city now receives 13 percent of its power from wind at the two sites. Plans are in the making for another 13 percent in new contracts, according to City Utilities Senior

Resource Planner Karl Knapp.The City had a stated goal of buying 10 per-

cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2008; that figure has been surpassed. Knapp expects to meet — as early as next year — the 20 percent goal the City Council wants by 2015.

In comparison to conventional energy sources, wind power costs a bit more. But with rising prices for fossil-based fuels such as natural gas, and as more clients buy in to wind power and more facilities come on line, the price is coming close to at par with natural gas, according to Knapp.

In addition to wind energy, the city has also explored solar — although power from large-scale solar farms costs three times as much as natural gas, landfill gas and wind, and power from photovoltaic panels costs nearly eight times as much.

Still, solar power hasn’t been ruled out completely. Knapp hopes to see solar panels installed at the Municipal Service Center on Embarcadero Road, Cubberley Community Center and the Baylands Interpretive Center. And there is a small solar site at Escondido Elementary School.

C arbon-dioxide reduction won’t come from renewable energy alone, Knapp said. A large portion of carbon-dioxide

savings — and financial benefit — comes from improving efficiency.

The city has converted traffic signals to LEDs, reducing wattage by 80 percent and saving $120,000 annually. It retrofit light-ing systems in 60 city buildings. An energy

management system that manipulates tem-peratures in the buildings has reduced energy demand by 10 to 15 percent during peak times annually. Adding software to put computers to sleep after 10 minutes of non-use, the city saves enough energy to power 35 Palo Alto homes for one year.

Eighty percent of Palo Alto’s energy use comes from business and industry, and Sili-con Valley firms are big users of electricity, according to Knapp. The city is working with businesses to upgrade to energy-efficient equipment and offering them incentives to adopt environmentally friendly practices.

So far, through efficiency, the city itself has reduced its energy load by nearly 4 per-cent since 1999. Combined savings from re-duced gas and electricity consumption saves more than 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide an-nually, according to an April 17 report to the council.

Meanwhile, another city initiative, the Zero Waste program, could also significantly re-duce carbon-dioxide emissions in the city. Its task force is currently developing an opera-tional plan to divert up to 90 percent of the city’s waste from landfills. Seattle credits its aggressive recycling program with being one of the biggest factors in its dramatic green-house-gas reductions, since landfill decom-position creates gases.

T ransportation remains the biggest cul-prit in greenhouse-gas emissions, ac-counting for an estimated 6 million

pounds of carbon dioxide from Palo Alto

Two of the Palo Alto City Council members who are trying to make global warming a local issue, Dena Mossar, at top, and Peter Drekmeier, at bottom, regularly employ pedal power to help cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Mossar is chairperson of the National League of Cities Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Drekmeier cuts pollution by working from home twice weekly and using compact fluorescent lights and other home improvements.

Continued on page 20

Continued from page 15

ABOUT THE COVER Photo by Norbert von der Groeben

Cover Story

Palo Alto Weekly • Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Page 19

Join PaloAltoGreen. Visit www.cpau.com/programs/green/gindex.html.

Switch to energy efficient appliances and take advantage of city-sponsored Smart Energy Program rebates for refrigerators, dishwashers, furnaces, boilers, air conditioners, insulation and more. Visit www.cpau.com/programs/smtenergy/smtindex.html.

Contribute to the urban forest by planting trees. Trees reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Also, one large street tree has the cooling power of 10 air conditioners operating 20 hours per day. Visit Canopy at www.canopy.org.

Join the Cool It! Campaign and use the Cool It! personal carbon-dioxide emissions calculator to reduce emissions and purchase renewable-energy certificates (green tags) to offset your emissions. Visit www.acterra.org.

Recycle. Visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/ to learn more about the city’s solid-waste diversion plan.

Build green. Remodel your home using green upgrades. Calculate your home’s green report card by using the Architectural Review Board’s Green Points rating system. Visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/planning-community/arb_index.html.

Don’t drive. Walk, bike or use public transportation, such as the Palo Alto Free Shuttle, or Stanford’s Marguerite. If you’re shopping for a car, purchase a hybrid vehicle. Visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/transportation-division/shuttle-index.html.

—Sue Dremann

Got tips to share about how to help the environment? Post them at TownSquare on Palo Alto Online: www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO EASE GLOBAL WARMINGMayor Judy Kleinberg, above, has convened the Mayor’s Green Ribbon Task Force on Climate Protection, a coalition of public and private individuals and groups hoping to create a master plan for carbon dioxide reduction for the city. Walt Hays, at left, chaired the June 8 meeting. Below, residents participate in a renewable-energy program, PaloAltoGreen.

Cover Story

City facilities and an estimated 500 million pounds citywide, according to Knapp’s calculations. Statewide, transportation accounts for 41.2 percent of greenhouse-gas emis-sions, according to the California Energy Commission.

Getting people out of their cars is one solution, and closely related would be creating a blueprint for making home and work spaces eas-ily accessible without driving.

Drekmeier believes new ideas for housing and land-use planning, such as the town-square model in many European cities, would encourage people to drive less. Europeans use one-quarter to one-half as much gas as Americans. Their cities were designed to function so that people can get around by using highly effi-cient public transportation, or shop in close proximity to their homes, he said.

Higher-density housing, such as the 800 High St. development, can build more energy efficiency into housing, according to Knapp. Drek-meier agrees.

“A lot of people say the best thing we can do through land use is to grow up versus out,” he said. One working model is at Stanford Uni-versity, where priority in housing is given to people who work there. At Stanford West, people who work at the hospital can bike to work.

High housing prices are a con-tinuing obstacle to reducing trans-portation-related greenhouse emis-sions, Drekmeier said.

“Proximity is more important than the efficiency of a vehicle. Our biggest impact on climate change is driving. The challenge is to make housing affordable. It can be con-troversial. People don’t want (lower income and high-density housing) in their area, but we can put it in downtown,” he said.

Klein said reducing the effects of transportation raises its own sets of problems.

“We don’t have a good handle on what emissions are now. How do you know if you’ve reduced things, if you don’t have a way to measure them?”

The Mayor’s Green Ribbon Task Force is looking at ways to quantify those numbers, such as doing an in-ventory of the number of gallons sold at gas stations.

G etting residents and busi-nesses to buy in to making changes in their lives is an

obstacle Kleinberg hopes the task force will help solve, as they exam-ine ways to educate residents and businesses. The task force includes Stanford University officials and private sector groups, including the Palo Alto Parent-Teacher As-sociation, faith groups, environ-mental organizations, businesses, architects and builders.

To get people to buy in, solu-tions will have to be practical, and achievable, she said.

“Everybody has their particular focus and obsessions: finances, home. Getting people’s attention to something that is so incremen-tal is difficult, but the changes are now unavoidable. To make behav-ior changes will be a challenge. People abhor change — it’s human nature. When people see some-thing changing, (they perceive) it will make things better or make them afraid. It’s human nature to want stability, and stability means no change,” she said.

At its June 8 meeting, the fledg-ling group considered the feasi-bility of following the Kyoto Pro-tocol.

Given there are only six years left to meet the Kyoto challenge, the group voted to recommend adopting Gov. Arnold Schwar-zenegger’s Climate Action Report rather than the Kyoto Protocol. The governor’s plan calls for re-ducing carbon-dioxide emissions to year 2000 levels by 2010, and 1990 levels by the year 2020, with an 80 percent reduction by 2015.

Task-force subcommittees plan to meet throughout the summer, researching other cities’ plans and developing baseline measurement for each area of concern. Based on the members’ areas of expertise, they will develop solutions and a strategic plan along with possible targets, and develop methods for measuring the results of carbon-dioxide reductions.

The group plans to make recom-mendations to the larger group by September. A complete report is expected to be presented to the City Council by early November. Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at [email protected].

Cover Story

Page 20 • Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Palo Alto Weekly

Continued from page 18

ispel the myths of remodeling and learn the facts and how-to’s of the process ina workshop designed specifically for homeowners.

Whether you are undecided about remodeling or ready to go, the class will provide an overview ofUniversal Design—what it is, who it's for, why it's important, and what it looks like.

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SpectrumEditorials, letters and opinions

Editorial

Ready for a ‘third way’Editor,

I am shocked and deeply con-cerned about the decision to close Hidden Villa’s 12-day residential camp. As a conflict-resolution spe-cialist, I trust that a “creative third way” is possible — whereby the camp for adolescents could be saved and Hidden Villa’s other vital pro-grams can prosper.

I envision a collaborative process, involving representatives of the Hidden Villa board, administration and devoted camp stakeholders. A groundswell of former Hidden Villa counselors is organizing an intensive and impressive effort to save the camp (visit their Web site at www.savehvcamp.org).

Their campaign includes a peti-tion, request for financial pledges and calls/e-mails to the Hidden Villa board/executive director before Hid-den Villa’s June 22 board meeting.

With hundreds recently attending the 60th anniversary Hidden Villa camp reunion, engagement of the camp-support community is vital to charting the future of Hidden Villa’s camp. What an opportunity for Hid-den Villa’s leadership, as well as for 60 years (and generations) of camp supporters, to join with the activated group of ex-counselors.

Josephine Duveneck’s spirit, val-ues and unstoppable energy live on in these inspiring young leaders of today’s and tomorrow’s world. They are gifting Hidden Villa camp and the community with their S.O.S.

Let’s not disappoint them and ourselves in neglecting to respond immediately to their “call for com-munity help.”

Larissa KeetBriones Way

Los Altos Hills

Diamond shinesEditor,

Thanks to the Weekly for hiring Diana Diamond. She will add stat-ure to its coverage of Palo Alto.

While I didn’t always agree with her, I thought her articles (in the Palo Alto Daily News) were well-researched and thoughtfully presented. It will be a pleasure to read her penetrating analyses of the foibles of our city government.

George BrowningSutherland Drive

Palo Alto

Gunn bus possibilitiesEditor,

The Palo Alto Unified School District has a great chance to re-spond to “An Inconvenient Truth.” A project to provide bus service to Gunn High School students from the Stanford campus has been care-fully crafted and is on the district’s desk. There is no bus service at present.

This project uses existing resourc-es to furnish mass transit instead of having individual cars drive from the campus during commute hours. This bus would not cost the district money — instead it would bring in additional thousands in revenue.

The “Reconfiguration of the J Route” for next fall is one positive action to prevent global warming. Our Web site is http://users.arczip.com/gmieg2/SAFBG/SAFBG-Home.html.

Joan MarxStanford Area Families

Bus Group La Para Avenue

Palo Alto

Parental guidanceEditor,

Thanks to Nancy McGaraghan for her column underscoring the need to let fathers know that they count (Weekly, June 14). The Dads Count Breakfast she described was a joint effort of San Mateo County Super-visor Jerry Hill and the San Mateo County Health Department in sup-port of the Fatherhood Collaborative of San Mateo County. The keynote speaker was Mike Nolan, Head

Coach of the San Francisco 49ers.It is the goal of the Fatherhood

Collaborative to ensure that all fa-thers are involved in the lives of their children, not only on Father’s Day but throughout the year. It is criti-cal to let fathers know that they are important, that their children will thrive and prosper so much more successfully if they have close and warm relationships with both par-ents.

As a collaborative, we work to eliminate the barriers that some-times prevent fathers from getting involved. Some of those barriers, in addition to the ones McGaraghan alluded to, include cultural issues, economic challenges and legal questions.

The Dads Count Breakfast is the day on which we showcase a suc-cessful father, in this case Mike Nolan, and encourage others to fol-low his lead. For more information about the Fatherhood Collaborative, please visit our Web site at www.fatherhoodcollaborative.org.

Eve M. Agiewich Coordinator, Fatherhood

CollaborativeEl Camino Real

San Mateo

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

What do you think? Do you believe the city should release full information about the city Utilities Department investigation or keep information secret to protect privacy of key employees?

YOUR TURN

Letters: Address to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or hand-deliver to 703 High St., (at Forest Avenue), Palo Alto.Fax: (650) 326-3928E-mail: [email protected]

No anonymous letters or “open letters” to other organizations or individuals will be printed. Please provide your name, street address and daytime telephone number. Please keep length to 250 words or less. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length and style and for factual errors known to us.

Council should demand utilities-scandal report

Veil of secrecy and protectiveness extends to withholding costly investigative reports from City

Council members, who seem generally unconcerned

P alo Alto has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investi-gating a scandal in the city’s huge Utilities Department, but the public has seen only generalities about the investigation

and actions to correct the serious problems found.It now turns out that most City Council members have not

seen the investigative reports — a sweeping indictment of an operation as large as the rest of the city combined, in terms of budget. Those reports are being withheld even from council members because they contain personnel-related materials, which are the purview of the city manager.

The fact is they contain far more than personnel references. They describe an entire culture of intimidation and sexual harassment that existed in portions of the Utilities Department, which includes electric, water, gas and sewer services. The council has received only the carefully worded generalities about the investigation that were released to the press and public, and reportedly not much more in verbal briefings.

One council member even seemed to believe that most of the personnel matters related to lower-level staff, apparently forgetting that 19 employees and managers were disciplined and six of those were either fired or forced to resign. In addition, both Utilities Director John Ulrich and Assistant Director Scott Bradshaw left under clouds: Ulrich retired soon after the investigation and Bradshaw announced his resignation on the day the investigator’s report was submitted to the city.

This lack of interest on the part of council members is as appalling as the conditions that existed — for years — within the Utilities Department that led to the investigation.

The scandal began to surface in the fall of 2004 when a curious Menlo Park police officer wondered why a City of Palo Alto utilities truck was parked in front of a house in Menlo Park. He found “moonlighting” utilities employees.

Palo Alto hired an outside investigator. But a “whistleblower” letter alleging numerous violations and a hostile work environment exploded the investigation into new areas, ultimately costing the city more than $300,000, not including high-level management time. The six-month investigation revealed inadequate managerial oversight, sexual harassment, threats and intimidation in addition to the moonlighting.

The Weekly, after first requesting and being denied the investigator’s report and other records, sued the city in September 2005. Superior Court Judge Kevin E. McKenney ruled June 7 that the city must produce two out of three sets of records sought by the Weekly, with names and identifiers of individual employees deleted — not sought by the Weekly.

A third set, relating to Ulrich and Bradshaw, is protected under attorney-client privilege, Judge McKenney ruled — because the investigator was hired by the city attorney.

So some of the secrecy will be lifted and we, the council and the public may be better able to understand how such a situation occurred and what it will take to assure it will not recur.

Judge McKenney also upheld a vitally important point: “This court acknowledges and understands the (privacy) concerns expressed by those employees whom this order affects, but the controlling law dictates that the public interest must prevail.”

The dilemma “must be resolved in favor of public access to information about how the public’s government operates, including misconduct by its employees and what was done about it,” he ruled.

But attorney-client privilege is not a proper screen for the top-level people, who carry a vastly greater degree of responsibility than do the lower-level employees. Judge McKenney agreed Monday to reconsider that point by accepting full legal briefs, as he indicated earlier he would do.

It makes no sense to disclose details of workers and middle managers but conceal the shortcomings of the top managers.

The hard work of Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison and Budget Director Carl Yeats, who have been rebuilding the department for much of the past year, seems to have changed much there. But it is the council’s responsibility to know the full details of what happened and to exercise its authority to find that out, not blandly accept the blanket “personnel” or “attorney-client” screen. Who is the ultimate client here if not the council, representing the public?



Guest OpinionA wake-up call on preparing for emergencies

StreetwiseHave you seen or do you want to see Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’?Asked outside a Starbucks at Midtown. Question and interviews by Andrew Thompson. Photographs by Adam Heyman.

Erica AtkinsonEnglish teacher at CastillejaMiddlefield Road

“I definitely am interested in seeing it. Global warming is something I’m definitely concerned about. I have a lot of respect for Al Gore and his passion on that topic. I wish he had shown that sort of passion during the election.”

Austin LeeResearch and developmentColorado Avenue

“I’d be willing to see the film. America is, like, 5 percent of the world’s popula-tion, and 25 percent of the pollution is caused by us. So that’s kind of a prob-lem. You got SUVs here in America, and it's just killing the environment.”

Dick CiapponiRetiredOregon Avenue

“Don’t have much of an opinion on that. I haven’t paid much attention to it. There’s too much from both sides that I don’t agree with.”

Morgann TrumbullSanta Clara University studentLincoln Avenue

“I would like to see the film. I’ve heard good things about it. I’m from a family that’s really interested in the environ-ment, so it’s right up my alley.”

Neil SalemFinancial consultantColorado Avenue

“I think it was great; I think everyone should watch it. It’s important, and it really makes you want to get out and do something.”

by Annette Ashton

T he minor earth-quake early last Thursday morning

did more than wake me up — it was a wake-up call that we need to be better prepared for all kinds of emergencies, not just the potential avian-flu pandemic that the Weekly featured in its issue the day before.

The topic is critical. For me the real ques-tion is how we can we persuade others to take time out of their busy lives to address such a topic that none of us wants to think about: that “IT” could happen here.

My interest in “being prepared” intensified two days after 9-11, when as neighborhood leader I was overwhelmed by phone calls from Midtown residents asking things like, “Can it happen here?” or “What can I do to help?

I have been involved with emergency medi-cal systems since the mid-90s, including a stint of working for the county EMS agency, and for over six years have taken the lead for EMS as a Commissioner on the Santa Clara County Health Advisory Commission.

Two days after 9-11, I suggested to City Manager Frank Benest that we hold a series of “robust” emergency-preparedness work-shops in Palo Alto, starting with south Palo Alto, with support from the Midtown Resi-dents Association and Charleston Meadows Association.

The response wasn’t encouraging. Mick McDonald, the city’s emergency coordinator at the time, contacted me to inform me about PANDA training — not at all what I was try-

ing to do. I wrote him that I suggested sev-eral citywide, city-sponsored workshops to be held around town focusing on what residents needed to know and be prepared to do in case of a major fire, flood, earthquake or biologi-cal disaster.

Over the years, the Midtown association has held multiple emergency prep meetings; our experience was that few came due to the scary topic. Folks are in denial when they do not see a disaster on the immediate horizon.

But I kept on. I called my friend Judy Kleinberg, and we forged a relationship on this topic that has continued for several years. We agreed there was a need for professionals in public safety and the city to come together and discuss gaps in the system: If there was a disaster in Palo Alto everyone would rush to the same area, and there would be many places not covered.

Judy formed a stakeholders group. Her in-vitation to the brainstorming meeting in De-cember 2001 emphasized that the idea was to leverage what the Fire Department was al-ready doing “in ways that will involve greater numbers of volunteers, people from neighbor-hoods (and) local businesses.”

Also in 2001, we formed Palo Alto REDI (Resources for Emergencies and Disasters Initiative), involving Judy for the city, myself

for neighborhoods and Henry Neugass for the schools. After a year of planning, PA REDI held one of the most successful emergency-preparedness events and product sales ever, with almost 300 folks attending. We had pow-erful speakers from the city, the Red Cross, PTA and medical representatives from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Stanford University, focusing on what YOU can do. Vendors included the Red Cross, ham radio suppliers, hardware stores and others. It was sponsored by 21 neighborhoods, the city and the PTA’s Emergency Preparation Team.

That was the beginning, and we have continued working on this issue. Recently the Palo Alto Neighborhoods (PAN) group formed special-interest committees. I volun-teered to chair the committee on disaster and emergency preparation — our goal was to de-velop plans for each neighborhood working neighbor-to-neighbor, block-by-block to raise awareness and involvement. We have had ex-cellent participation, with 15 to 18 neighbor-hoods presently involved.

As the Weekly’s cover story noted, “the city’s (disaster) plan will address all city departments and critical services, but little beyond that. The expectation is that each in-dividual needs to be ready to handle this on their own.”

The real challenge is how to break through the apathy or denial that we all have for emer-gency preparation. We all KNOW we should prepare, but when the sun is shining (no floods in sight), school is out, and life is good it is hard to think about preparing for the worst.

Two other wake-up calls — besides last week’s little earthquake — have happened re-cently that should spur all of us to refocus our efforts on preparedness.

First, the spike in neighborhood crime re-ally brought home the message that know-ing your neighbor and your neighborhood is vitally important. Midtown has had its share of crime, although not as visible as in Duve-neck/St. Francis since folks write me directly and for some reason are shy about using the Midtown Association listserv. Privacy is key after a crime — many people feel violated and vulnerable.

Second, in north Palo Alto, the scare about the safety of Addison School and more recent-ly Walter Hays students mobilized parents and residents in a big way.

Last Thursday’s 5:30 a.m. earthquake was a third wake-up call, encouraging me to step up the effort in emergency planning. The co-incidence was too great, just one day after I read the Weekly’s cover story on planning for pandemic flu and one week before our PAN meeting on this subject.

It is clear that we can no longer take a Pol-lyanna-ish attitude and stick our heads in the sand. We must find ways to engage Palo Al-tans (and residents of neighboring communi-ties and the greater Bay Area).

But it is more than just preparing for a flu pandemic. The Weekly article states, “If pan-

Chance favors those who are prepared. If you are not prepared emotionally or lack basic food, water and emergency supplies, then you and your family will be desperate if a disastrous event occurs.

(continued on next page)

Send us letters — check out Town Square!The Weekly accepts letters of approximately 250-300 words.

We reserve the right to edit for length, libel, poor taste or personal attacks. E-mail to [email protected], or mail to 703 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94302. Submitting a letter constitutes a granting of permission to include the letter in the Weekly’s online archives and to include it as a posting in Town Square, the new feature of the Weekly’s community Web site, www.PaloAltoOnline.com.


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demic flu never happens, there will be some sort of disaster in the future ... and we will not have wasted one minute of planning.”

Chance favors those who are pre-pared. If you are not prepared emo-tionally or lack basic food, water and emergency supplies, then you and your family will be desperate if a disastrous event occurs. You might not use the exact plans you develop, but thinking through the process and taking a few steps will put you way ahead of the crowd as medical sys-tems, food supply networks, power and emergency teams are disrupted or overwhelmed.

And we can have some fun along the way: Plan or attend a block party on neighborhood preparedness. Get to know each other better. We’re all in this together. As pandemic expert Peter Carpenter notes, we must be ready to help ourselves in order to be resilient as a community, neighbor-hoods, families and individuals.

We are the fiber, the heart of the city. We will need to help our neigh-bors (or be helped) when that critical incident occurs. ■ Annette Glanckopf Ashton is retired from a career focusing on strategic planning, business devel-opment and information technol-ogy in health care. She has been active in neighborhood issues and emergency preparation. She chairs the emergency medical ser-vices committee of the Santa Clara County Health Advisory Commis-sion. She can be emailed at [email protected].

Check out the emergency pre-paredness topic — and share your own thoughts — on the Town Square section of the Weekly’s community Web site, www.PaloAltoOnline.

Guest opinion(continued from previous page)

Connect the dotsEditor,

“Once we had a president who lied to congress to start a war. We drove him from office. Once we had a president whose campaign com-mitted crimes to reelect him. We drove him from office.

Now we have a president who did both. We know what to do: Impeach him.” — Velvet Revolution.us.

However, recently the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission (HRC) declined to support a group of 25 people who asked them to give wings to a well-written resolution to impeach. Please read it for yourself and let the HRC know how you feel about its decision (www.impeach-bush.tv/impeach/res_city.html).

According to the National Priori-ties Project Web site, Palo Alto has forgone at least $133.8 million due to war expenditures. And we are told we will be challenged by future “revenue plunges.”

Once we connect the dots, how can we as a city not take a few hours to challenge the perpetrators?

We understand that the balance in Congress is skewed mainly due to Tom DeLay and changes in rep-resentation from Texas which he manufactured. So impeachment is

Letters(continued from page 22)

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Board of ContributorsHelping mentally ill the right way helps entire community

by Jeff Blum

Read enough of my Guest Opin-ions and you may discover that o c c a -

sionally I can be practical. Perhaps it is luck that makes me somet imes hit the nail on the head, or, per-haps, to the amazement of my children, I have learned some practical answers from living 55 years.

I had real concerns about Palo Alto hiring a police auditor. I took a hard look at pluses and minuses and looked for alternatives. I wondered whether there is a serious enough problem with the department to jus-tify spending the money for an audi-tor. The City Council in May agreed to a one-year trial, a cautious step.

A recent opportunity I had to be practical was when the HRC was asked to adopt a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. I thought it was not worth pursuing because Senator Russell Feingold got nowhere with his attempt to censure President Bush in the Senate and I believe our time personally is more productively spent in supporting bet-ter candidates for office.

My latest attempt at being practi-cal is to suggest that Palo Alto and Santa Clara County adopt the San Rafael Police Department’s Mental Health Liaison program.

This progressive and seemingly successful effort was born out of a terrible situation: Merchants, residents and visitors to San Rafael were so displeased with mentally ill homeless individuals in the commu-nity that police were charging them with “nuisance crimes” to get them off the street — not unlike some of the allegations made in the past about Palo Alto police.

The traditional approach to deal-ing with mentally ill homeless per-sons failed in San Rafael as it has everywhere else. According to the United States Bureau of Justice, one in five inmates in local jails report mental health problems but less than half receive treatment, and there is a high ratio as well in state prisons

Without proper treatment the of-fenders commit the same nuisance crimes once they are released from jail. Simply put, we cannot reason-ably expect most of the mentally ill to make a clear connection between crime and punishment. Cities waste a lot of money and resources in book-ing, fingerprinting and incarcerating mentally ill homeless offenders.

Now, the San Rafael Police De-partment’s Mental Health Liaison program keeps most mentally ill of-fenders from going to jail. Instead, they are put into housing and pro-vided treatment and access to other

community services. San Rafael’s program is run by

Joel Fay, a police officer who holds a degree in psychology. He describes himself as a part-time police officer, social worker, detective and friend to the homeless.

Officer Fay’s job starts with gain-ing trust with the mentally ill home-less. He befriends them, which in some cases can take him months. Once he has built some trust he of-fers them basic services, such as food, clothes or a hot shower. He helps persuade them to take their medication and to seek treatment for their physical ailments.

When he believes the time is right, instead of arresting a homeless of-fender or throwing him or her into a psychiatric ward, Officer Fay wraps the person into the countywide arms of a Forensic Multidisciplinary Team — more than 25 mental health, homeless advocacy and law enforce-ment agencies, including represen-tatives from the district attorney’s office, probation, public defender’s office and sheriff’s offices.

Each month team members meet to discuss tactics and develop treat-ment plans for individuals in the pro-gram. They discuss the person’s life and what contributed him or her to become homeless. A detailed game plan is created for each person.

The team focuses on specific goals, from getting the person to wear socks to getting the person a job. Sometimes, the team has to take drastic measures, such as by hospi-talizing or jailing people or tak-ing control of their Social Security disability checks until they get the treatment they require.

Apparently, no other police force in the country has a program quite like San Rafael’s. The success it has had in reducing service calls about the mentally ill and in motivating courts to hand down sentences em-phasizing treatment, rather than pun-ishment, is motivating Officer Fay to tell other jurisdictions about it.

I heard his presentation in Palo Alto as the HRC’s liaison to the Off The Streets Team.

I like the idea of a program that emphasizes the human spirit’s abil-ity to recover with the assistance of experts rather than emphasizing punishment. But what really sells me on the San Rafael program is its focus on seeking practical solu-tions.

Since I am starting to feel ever more practical these days, with age and new opportunity, I am going to ask for support and help in instituting San Rafael’s program in Palo Alto and perhaps neighboring communi-ties, or a customized program very much like it in conjunction perhaps with the soon-to-open Opportunities Center. ■ Jeff Blum, a family law attorney practicing in Redwood City, is a member of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission. He can be e-mailed at [email protected].

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not likely to pass. We also under-stand that we could end up with Condi or worse, if we do get rid of Bush and Cheney.

But somehow, given that elec-tions are coming up, not to make our knowledge and values clear is reprehensible.

Barb Allen DawsonEmerson Street

Palo Alto

Web freedomEditor,

Our Representative Anna Eshoo voted against the majority in Con-gress to keep net neutrality. Now, Senator Boxer sits on the key com-mittee that will vote on a bipartisan Internet Freedom Act, S.2917.

We need Boxer to vote yes. Com-pare beloved local bookstores like Menlo Park’s Kepler’s and Berke-ley’s Cody's Books that understand and support Bay Area culture to large franchises such as Amazon or Borders that seek to homogenize us into one big consumer group.

Internet operators are lobbying Congress to give them more control over what we can see and do online. Please urge Boxer to help us keep the World Wide Web free by voting yes on S.2917.

Stewart HylandAzalia Drive

East Palo Alto

‘Sacred’ broadcastingEditor,

President Bush is not in touch with the American people anymore, so you can’t tell anything to some-body who is not listening.

But all the people who want to be elected next election should know that public broadcasting should neither be tampered with nor suppressed and it is considered sacred.

NPR and PBS funding and global warming will be the two questions around which people will vote for or against their candidates.

Evelyne ColeGreenoaks Drive

Atherton

The fate of NPR and PBSEditor,

The Republican-led Congress has an agenda to end funding for NPR and PBS in two years. This would be a tragedy for the country.

Some of the best programs for adults and children are carried on these networks. Commercial television and cable do not supply the need for probing and inspiring broadcasts.

Ending funding by the Republi-can-controlled Congress is a way for the far right wing to stifle dis-sent and uplifting cultural program-ming.

I urge my fellow citizens to op-pose the Republican Congress ve-hemently.

Eugene P. DeForrestWoodland Avenue

East Palo Alto

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Letters(continued from page 24)


SportsShorts

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SSportsportsLocal sports news and schedules, edited by Keith PetersLocal sports news and schedules, edited by Keith Peters

A newface at

StanfordTeenager Vaidisovajoins a veteran castin Bank of the West

by Rick Eymer

W hile crowd favorites Kim Clijsters and Lindsay Davenport will return to

the Bank of the West Classic this summer, perhaps teenager Nicole Vaidisova will draw the most inter-est when the event gets under way at Stanford’s Taube Tennis Center beginning Monday, July 24.

Vaidisova, of course, splashed on the scene with her remarkable run through the French Open. The 17-year-old defeated top-ranked Amelie

Mauresmo and reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams to reach the semifinals of a grand slam event for the first time ever.

She’s ranked 13th in the world these days, but it’s not just the French Open. Vaidisova won a tournament at Strasbourg earlier this year and is 19-8 on the season, including a 6-3 record on hardcourt.

Vaidisova has won six WTA Tour titles in her career, so it was no sur-prise to many observers that she did so well at Roland Garros. She also reached the fourth round of the Aus-tralian Open.

Vaidisova will get another chance to display her tennis talents when Wimbledon gets underway on June 26.

Seedings for the 120th All-Eng-land Championships will be an-nounced on Wednesday. Qualifying for Wimbledon began on Monday.

Centre Court underwent a major redevelopment since last year, get-ting a nifty facelift which should add a sparkling new luster to the atmo-sphere.

Since winning the title last year, Williams has been limited in her playing time because of an elbow injury. She played — and lost — one match through the first four months of the season.

Williams rebounded to win nine of her next 12 matches (and is 1-1 against Martina Hingis, another former Bank of the West champion) but she’s still looking for her first title of the year. Williams has three Wimbledon titles to her credit, and usually plays well on the grass sur-face.

PRO TENNIS

Whitney Allen of the Stanford Water Polo Club 18-under A team scores during Saturday’s opening rounds of the girls’ Junior Olympic water polo qualifying tournament. Allen’s team won its division with a 5-0 mark.

Keith Peters

Kyle Utsumi provides instruction for his Stanford 18-under A team, which on Sunday qualified for this summer’s Junior Olympics.

Successfulstart for

JO qualifyingby Keith Peters

An ice cream social is all set for mid-week, a time for members of the Stanford Water Polo

Club to get together and celebrate a great start to the summer season.

The club qualified five teams for the 2006 Junior Olympics last week-end at various sites around the Bay Area. The 18-under girls grabbed first place with five straight victo-ries and the 16-under girls did like-wise by sweeping its competition.

Both championship teams fin-ished up Sunday at Campolindo High in Moraga.

The 14-under team earned a JO berth with a fourth-place finish while the 18-under B squad joined them with a fifth place and the 16-under squad qualified by taking sixth.

For Stanford 18-under A coach Kyle Utsumi, the weekend was just the start of a busy summer of coaching.

In addition to coaching his Stan-ford Water Polo Club team, Utsumi is the head coach of the U.S. Junior National Team. While his Stanford

WATER POLO

Keith Peters

(continued on page 28) (continued on page 29)

TRACK CHAMP . . . East Palo Alto’s Caprice Powell put herself in position to earn a berth in the Hershey National Track and Field Championships in August by win-ning the 100 and 200 meters last weekend at the a regional qualify-ing meet at San Jose City Col-lege. Powell, who just graduated from the eighth grade at Costano School, competed in the girls’ 13-14 age division Saturday. She won the 100 in 12.79 and took the 200 in 26.30. She competed against athletes from California, Nevada, Hawaii and Arizona. Powell is hoping to qualify for na-tionals for a third time. Two years ago, she finished fourth in the 200. Last year she took second in the 100. Powell has to wait until the remaining regionals are fin-ished to see if her winning times hold up. Only the top eight times from the eight regionals advance to the national finals in Hershey, Pa. Powell competes for the Al Julian Track Club in East Palo Alto, which is sponsored by the EPA Kiwanis Club and the EPA School District.

ALL-LEAGUE LACROSSE . . . Eleven of the 12 players who made the 2006 All-Peninsula Ath-letic League girls’ lacrosse team are from the local area. The first team includes: Shannon Chung (Menlo), Liz Daly (Sacred Heart Prep), Sarah King (Sacred Heart Prep), Kelly Schryver (Castilleja), Molly Lapolla (Menlo), Kayla Ush-man (Menlo-Atherton), Laurren Dunec (Castilleja), Melissa Irvine (Sacred Heart Prep),Julie Tisdale (Gunn), Erica Swanson (Menlo) and Melissa Wegenstein (Menlo). The second team includes: Gabi Bressack (Menlo), Megan Power (Menlo-Atherton), Samantha Bassin (Menlo-Atherton), Megan Teixeira (Menlo), Marion Cohn (Castilleja), Lauren Boyle (Sacred Heart Prep), Alaina Flaherty (Menlo-Atherton), Tenley Breen (Menlo-Atherton) and Michelle Benevento (Sacred Heart Prep).

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Sacred Heart Prep water polo and bas-ketball standout Hannah Ste-phens has left the school and transferred to Mitty. Stephens currently is playing with Mitty’s AAU summer basketball team and playing for her former water polo coach, Ed Samuels, on the Nor-Cal age-group club that compet-ed in the Junior Olympics qualify-ing tournament last weekend.

Sports


team competes in the Commerce tournament this weekend in South-ern California, Utsumi will be a short trip away in Los Alamitos with his junior national squad.

Utsumi’s job will be to run his squad through a training camp. At the end of the camp, he’ll have to select 14 players from a 19-player roster for a team that will partici-pate in two European tournaments in Greece and Italy. The junior team also will travel to Athens, Greece for the Pythia Cup between July 18-24.

Stanford freshman Lauren Silver is on the junior team along with two of Utsumi’s Stanford Water Polo Club players, Palo Alto grad Phoebe Champion and Menlo-Atherton grad Kelly Eaton.

Both Champion and Eaton were

instrumental in helping the JO team finish 5-0 last weekend. The squad opened with a 16-2 victory and an 18-2 rout at St. Francis High on Saturday.

The Stanford Water Polo Club boys’ teams will hold their Junior Olympic qualifying tournament beginning Friday, with two teams in each the 18-under, 16-under and 14-under and one 12-under team.

The Stanford 18-under A team is loaded with plenty of high school talent in Brian Benedetti, Travis Bickham, Brian Bishop, Kyle Ger-tridge, Ben Hohl, Matt Hudnall, Brandon Johnson, Matt Johnson, Brian Roach, Elliott Samuels, Ty-ler Smith, Mike Sorgenfrei and Eric Vallone. Hohl was the 2005 Central Coast Section Player of the Year from Menlo School.

The Stanford 18-under B team features Will Agramonte, Tom Avery, Tyler Fischer-Colbrie, Matt

Hale, Matt Heagy, Tim Hendrick-son, Josh Minnis, Marko Pance, Chris Preston, Rodrigo Rengifo, Will Simon, Eric Stewart and Paul Winterbotham.

The Stanford 16-under A team includes Alex Avery, James Bal-assone, Michael Bausback, Ryan Brown, Tom Cole, Evan Dellinger, Toby Espinosa, Mark Hudnall, Miguel Martin de Bustamante, Tim Norton, Scott Platshon and Paul Rudolph.

USA Men’s National Team The United States lost to Hunga-

ry, 13-6, in its first official match of the summer two weekends ago.

Team USA spent the previous week in Europe for a training trip in which they have competed and prac-ticed with other teams. Among 14 scrimmages, four were against Ser-bia and Montenegro, which recently split into two separate countries.

Stanford senior Peter Varellas and Cardinal grad Tony Azevedo each scored a goal against the Hun-garians. Hungary scored the first five goals of the contest.

“It’s been a good training session for us,” U.S. coach Richard Aze-vedo said. “We have improved tre-mendously since we arrived.”

Stanford grads Thomas Hopkins and Peter Hudnut are also on the squad.

Stanford freshmen Jimmie Sand-man and William Hindle-Katel are members of the junior national team along with Stanford’s Ryan McCarthy and Stanford Club mem-ber JP MacDonnell.

The junior team will be training in Los Alamitos before traveling to the Memorial Tournament in Italy on June 29.

Menlo School’s James Balassone is on the national youth cadet team which will begin training in July.

USA Women’s National Team Stanford’s Alison Gregorka, Ka-

tie Hansen, Christina Hewko and Jessica Steffens were all named to the senior ‘A’ team, joining Stan-ford grad Brenda Villa, a two-time Olympian.

A total of 20 players were se-lected to the team, with seven joining the ‘B’ team at the FINA World League preliminary round in Quebec City, Canada between July 7-9.

Following the prelims, the Se-nior ‘A’ Team will compete in the FINA World League Semifinals in Los Alamitos between July 12-19 and the FINA World League Super Final in Athens, Greece between July 26-30.

Following the Super Final, a team of 13 players will travel to the World Cup in Tanjing, China be-ginning Aug. 8.■

Menlo School senior Megan Burmeister had plenty of scoring opportunities on Saturday during the Stanford Water Polo Club 18-under A team’s 16-2 and 18-2 wins to open the Junior Olympic qualifying tourney.

Paly grad Phoebe Champion (with ball) will miss this weekend’s tourna-ment while training with the U.S. Junior National Team.

Keith Peters

Keith Peters

Water polo(continued from page 27)

Menlo-Atherton grad Kelly Eaton scored numerous goals and played solid defense for the Stanford 18-under team, which went 5-0 during the weekend to win its division in the NorCal JO qualifying tournament.

Keith Peters

Keith Peters

Stanford starting goalie Elise Ponce wasn’t too busy during the opening two matches, allowing no goals during her time in goal.

Sports


Davenport withdrew from the tournament on Monday with a sore back. She hasn’t played since the middle of March. Serena Williams withdrew from Wimbledon in late May because of a sore knee.

The Bank of the West generally features a strong field of ranked players. The event, now in its 36th year, boasts former champions like Clijsters, Davenport, Williams and Martina Hingis.

Clijsters is currently ranked sec-ond in the world while Davenport is sixth.

The Bank of the West is the opening women’s event for the U.S. Open Series, which leads up to September’s U.S. Open in New York, the final grand slam event of the season.

Most of the participants in the Bank of the West will be compet-ing at Wimbledon.

Adam Barrett, who also runs the NASDAQ-100 Open tournament in Miami (Roger Federer won this year’s event) every March, was named the Bank of the West Tour-nament Director in May.

“Leading off the U.S. Open Series enables the Bank of the West Clas-sic to set the tone for a great sum-mer of tennis,” Barrett said. “We look forward to an exciting week of tennis on the most impressive col-lege campus in the country.”

Stanford’s Amber Liu, a two-time NCAA singles champion, hopes to make the Bank of the West one of her first professional tournaments. Liu went through graduation cer-emonies at Stanford on Sunday.

Liu lost to Clijsters, then-ranked first in the world, in her first ap-pearance at the Bank of the West.

Clijsters is the defending Bank of the West champion and went on to win the U.S. Open Series and the U.S. Open to become the 12th woman to surpass $10 million in career earnings.

Several other Stanford products usually play in the Bank of the West as well. Lilia Osterloh, an NCAA singles champion, is the top Ameri-can in the USTA Pro Circuit with 77.5 points while Laura Granville, a

two-time NCAA singles champion, is third with 49.5 points.

Men’s tennisThe upper bracket of the Recoat-

ing West USTA 15K tournament in Rocklin last week had a Stanford feel to it, as three former Cardinal All-Americans reached the quarter-finals and two made it to the semi-finals.

David Martin and Scott Lipsky were Stanford teammates between 2000-03 and Sam Warburg was their teammate in 2002-03. They

ended up beating each other, with Martin reaching Sunday’s champi-onship match.

Martin, who won three qualify-ing matches just to make it into the main draw, dropped a 7-6 (3), 7-5 decision to Brendan Evans in the finals.

Martin beat the fourth-seeded Lipsky, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in the semifi-nals.

Martin also advanced in a walk-over when the top-seeded Warburg was unable to play the quarterfinal match.■

by Rick Eymer

Stanford grad Kerri Walsh “turned” 50 in May and she just keeps adding to the total.

She’s hoping to make it 53 this week when she joins her women’s beach volleyball partner Misty May-Tre-anor at the 1to1 Energy Open in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Walsh and May-Treanor comprise the women’s top women’s beach volleyball team. The Olympic gold medalists pocketed a cool $20,000 for winning the AVP Sacramento Open on Sunday, their 52nd title. Next stop: the Swiss Alps.

“The AVP is strong,” Walsh said. “There are great, great teams.”

The duo claimed their 50th tournament title at the AVP Santa Barbara Open in late May with a 21-14, 21-14 win over their closest rivals Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder.

“It’s a good milestone and I’m happy with the way we’re playing,” May-Treanor said. “I don’t really keep track of numbers. We don’t even think about that stuff. That’s not why we play. We play because we love it.”

The prize money from the Sacra-mento victory pushed Walsh closer to the one million dollar mark in ca-reer earnings. She’s over $950,000 heading into this week’s event in Switzerland. May-Treanor became the second American female beach volleyball player to join the million dollar club when the pair won the title at the Huntington Open earlier this year, joining Holly McPeak.

“Kerri is going to be the third person,” May-Treanor said. “She got me to the million dollar mark so I’m going to have to get her there, too.”

The 1to1 Energy Open, which begins Wednesday, is the first of four Grand Slam events in the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour. Walsh and May-Treanor won three consecutive titles there between 2002-04. They also have a silver medal for 2000 and a bronze for 2001.

The finals are slated for 4:30 p.m. (local time) on Saturday.

“We want our sport to grow,” May-Treanor said. “Definitely, the attention helps.”

There was a reunion of sorts of the 1997 Stanford men’s volleyball team at the Sacramento Open as Mike Lambert, Matt Fuerbringer and Larry Witt, all with different partners, participated in the event. The trio was part of Stanford’s only men’s volleyball national champi-onship team.

Lambert and partner Stein Metzger won the men’s title, split-ting the $20,000 prize money. Fuerbringer and partner Casey Jennings shared $9,500 for reach-ing the semifinals. Witt and partner Karch Kiraly finished ninth.

Lambert and Metzger are the only

team to reach the men’s semifinals in all six events this year.

Walsh and May-Treanor has reached the championship final in all six events, winning five.

Menlo CollegeAn NFL football team owner

highlights this year’s selection of 11 individuals into the Menlo College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Bud Adams, who played football and baseball at Menlo between 1940-42, owns the Tennessee Ti-tans.

The Titans began football life as the Houston Oilers in the old American Football League, which Adams helped to establish. The Oilers won the AFL title in its first two years of existence in 1960 and 1961.

The Oilers became a franchise in the NFL following the 1970 merger of the two leagues. The Oilers were relocated to Tennessee in 1997.

Adams will be joined by former football and basketball coach Leroy Hughes (1946-49), cross country runner Donna McKennon (1989-92), soccer players Charles Seifert (1964-65), Ricardo Hill (1966-69) and Alejandro Orvananos (1975-78), basketball player Byron Van Alstyne (his brother Bruce will be re-inducted and both were at Men-lo between 1946-48), and football players Micah Kane (1987-91) and the late Rick Carlos (1973).

Menlo Director of Alumni Re-lations Dorothy Skala will also be inducted. Skala has assisted Menlo athletic programs in a variety of ways since 1957.

Menlo grad Derek Kinzler signed a free agent contract with the Colo-rado Rockies and will play for the Rockies’ rookie league affiliate in Casper of the Pioneer League. Kinzler recorded 140 hits during his four-year career as the Oaks’ short-stop, third best in program history.

Kinzler was one of four Oaks to be named to the All-Independent Division III baseball team this sea-son. He was joined by outfielder Mike Taylor on the first team while first baseman Brandon Woolard was named to the second team and outfielder Jefferson Bradshaw was a third-team pick.

Stanford women’s volleyballWhile the seniors (except Katie

Goldhahn, who was with the team) were taking their bow at Stanford’s Elliott Field on Sunday, Stanford was winning its third straight ex-hibition match in Nocera Umbra, Italy.

The Cardinal beat the Italian Ju-nior National Team, 18-25, 25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13 as Kristin Rich-ards had 15 kills and Foluke Akin-radewo added 12.

Stanford will be in Maribor, Slo-venia on Wednesday to take on the Croatian Junior National Team.■

Tennis(continued from page 27)

Michael Baz

Teenager Nicole Vaidisova, ranked 13th in the world this season, will be a new face at the Bank of the West Classic this summer.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Stanford grad Walsh a winner on beach

She and partner win $20,000 in AVP Sacramento Open for their 52nd beach volleyball tournament championship

Veteran Venus Williams, who was upended by 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova in the French Open this season, may get another shot at the newcomer at the Bank of the West Classic in July at Stanford.

Norbert von der G

roeben

Sports


Norbert von der G

roeben

Surfacing in Santa ClaraFormer Stanford All-American Tara Kirk of Palo Alto, who still ranks No. 3 all-time in U.S. history in the 100-meter breaststroke, will head a large contingent of local swimmers for the 39th annual Santa Clara International Invitational that runs Thursday through Sunday at the Santa Clara International Swim Cen-ter. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. each day with finals starting at 5 p.m.

Sports


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Stanford graduate Jill Camarena heads into this week’s USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in In-dianapolis after moving to No. 9 all-time in the U.S. in the women’s shot put with a PR of 61-6 3/4 in May.

Norbert von der G

roeben

Menlo Park’s Grace Upshaw ranks No. 2 among American women in the long jump this season with a best of 22-1 3/4.

Norbert von der G

roeben

TRACK AND FIELD

Camarenawill give it

her best shotby Keith Peters

T alk about bad timing. It was just two year ago that Stan-ford’s Jill Camarena qualified

for the 2004 U.S. Olympic track and field team in the women’s shot put. Unfortunately for Camarena, she didn’t reach the qualifying standard to compete in Athens, Greece, and stayed home.

This season, Camarena finally broke the 60-foot barrier with a lifetime best of 60-11 1/2 in April. She followed that with a throw of 61-4 on May 6 and reached another personal record of 61-6 3/4 on May 20. That put her No. 9 on the all-time U.S. in the women’s shot put.

Camarena will be among the favorites this week at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis. Unfortunately for the Stanford grad, there are no teams for the World Championships or Olympic Games to this summer.

The best Camarena can do is make the U.S. team for the IAAF World Cup of Athletics, set for Sept. 9-16 in Stuttgart, Germany. The 2006 USA Outdoor Junior Championships take place concur-rently with the Outdoor Champion-ships, as the selection meet for the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, China.

Camarena is one of many local athletes who will be competing this week in Indianapolis.

On the women’s side, Menlo Park’s Grace Upshaw is among the favorites in the women’s long jump; Stanford employee Kristin Heaston will challenge Camarena in the shot put; Stanford grad Lau-ren Fleshman has the top qualify-ing mark in the 5,000 and will be joined by former teammate Sara

Bei-Hall; Stanford grad Summer Pierson will challenge the best in the discus and recent Cardinal grad Sarah Hopping will compete in the hammer.

On the men’s side, Cardinal grad and 2005 Olympian Toby Stevenson goes in the men’s pole vault; Stanford grad and 2003 U.S.

champ Jason Lunn is in the 1,500 along with a handful of Farm Team runners like Chris Estwanik; Ryan Hall and Ian Dobson, who went one-two in the 5,000 last year, are back to defend those finishes; Car-dinal grad Nick Welihozkiy is set in the hammer; and Stanford’s Nef-talem Arai will go in the 10,000.■


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