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Mountain View Art & Wine event guide AUGUST 30, 2013 VOLUME 21, NO. 31
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MOVIES | 21
No takers yet for Hangar One NO SIGN OF GOOGLE’S EXPECTED BID TO RESTORE AND PARK ITS PLANES IN HISTORIC STRUCTURE By Nick Veronin
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MAGALI GAUTHIER
Bethany Meloche, who suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disorder, walks arm-in-arm with her aunt Linda Meloche at a fundraiser in Cuesta Park Sunday.
Local woman stands up to neurological disease BETHANY MELOCHE COULD BARELY STAND TWO YEARS AGO, NOW SHE’S WALKING MILES By Nick Veronin
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wo years ago, Bethany Meloche could barely take a step without the help of a walker or an arm to lean on. At 18 she’d been wheelchair bound since the middle of high school. The neurological disorder, which she’d inherited from her father, had twisted her feet and caused the muscles in her lower legs to
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atrophy to the point where even standing was extremely painful. But that was then. On Aug. 25, Meloche stood up to her genetic disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disorder, which affects an estimated 2.6 million people the world See BETHANY, page 10
hile officials with NASA and the U.S. General Services Administration continue their search for someone willing to lease and restore Hangar One, the bones of the hulking structure on Moffett Field are at risk of being damaged by weather and leaving a trail of pollution in the process, according to environmentalists. It’s been a year since the final pieces of toxic siding were stripped from the historic structure in a Navy-led environmental cleanup, which had workers remove the hangar’s asbestos-, lead- and PCB-laden shell. After the shell was removed, Navy contractors sprayed the frame down with an epoxy called Carbomastic-15, according to Lenny Siegel, director of the Mountain View-based Center for Environ-
mental Public Oversight. In theory, the epoxy will keep the structure from eroding and prevent the remaining asbestos, lead and PCBs from seeping into the ground water and the surrounding marsh, Siegel said. However, in order for the coating to remain effective, regular inspections will need to be conducted and touch-ups will have to be applied when cracks in the seal are detected. Keeping Hangar One’s skeleton sealed will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million over 30 years, a recently released Navy study concluded. The problem, according to Siegel, is that the Navy has tried to shift the burden of paying for that maintenance off onto NASA. At a public meeting hosted by the Navy on Aug. 22, NASA officials and members of the See HANGAR ONE, page 7
Rim fire reaches Hetch-Hetchy reservoir YOSEMITE SUPPLY IS MAJOR SOURCE OF MOUNTAIN VIEW’S WATER
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he massive Rim Fire burning in and around Yosemite National Park has reached the area surrounding the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which provides much of Mountain View’s water, according to San Francisco city utility officials on Tuesday. The blaze, which has blackened nearly 180,000 acres, is not expected to affect the quality of
ARTS & EVENTS 14 | VIEWPOINT 16 | GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 23 | REAL ESTATE 26
the Hetch Hetchy water because of the rocky terrain and limited brush along the reservoir, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. About 87 percent of the city of Mountain View’s water supply is purchased from SFPUC, according to the city’s website. See RIM FIRE, page 13