Palo Alto Weekly 11.23.2012 - Section 1

Vol. XXXIV, Number 9 N November 23, 2012

Special report: Downtown’s growing pains Page 49 w w w.PaloA ltoOnline.com

Celebrating through dance, music, art and activities for the whole family PAGE 25

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

HOLIDAY FUND page 12

Spectrum 22

Title Pages 31

Eating 37 Movies 39

Enjoy! class guide Home 56 Puzzles 61

N News Merchants hope for strong holiday season

Page 3

N Arts Accelerated learning in the kitchen

Page 34

N Sports Stanford football in title tuneup

Page 41

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Upfront

Local news, information and analysis

Local merchants hope for strong holiday season Shop owners across town say, for the most part, it’s been a good year

by Chris Kenrick s they piled their shelves with popular toys and festive treats, and crafted holiday window displays, local retailers this week had little time for crystal-ball gazing.

But a sampling of merchants in four Palo Alto shopping areas

A

agreed it’s been a good year and said they hope for a strong holiday season.

“There’s no way to know specifically what will fly off the shelves,” said Don Lundell, coowner of the California Avenue running and coffee shop Zombie

Runner, on Tuesday.

“You could feel the holiday shopping increase about a week ago, and it will probably continue through this week and explode on Friday.”

Lundell and his partner, Gillian Robinson — former tech workers who love distance running — opened their shop in 2008 after having first launched a successful online business in running-related apparel and products in 2003.

They’ve been working late nights,

attending to inventory and pricing both online and in the shop.

“CyberMonday is now a real thing, sort of the online equivalent of Black Friday,” Lundell said. “You need to take full advantage of it on the one hand and also make sure everything is working properly from a technical standpoint and inventory management standpoint — you don’t want to sell what you don’t have.”

Though their retail opening coincided with the 2008 recession, the

store, popular with tech workers, has been successful, said Lundell, who hopes to open in another city this coming year.

“If you’re going to be somewhere during the recession, this is the place to be, and now we’ve had such a resurgence in technology,” he said.

But even when the tech-fueled local economy is stronger than the national outlook, local sales “tend to track (continued on page 9)

HOUSING

Ban on car dwelling loses support in Palo Alto Council committee recommends exploring a pilot program aimed at helping people who live in their cars

by Gennady Sheyner

P

Veronica Weber

Palo Alto Firefighter Jon Matsumoto holds a festively decorated box, in which children can drop letters to Santa by Dec. 3. Each Palo Alto fire station is accepting letters.

Dear Santa ...

Firefighters tap into kids’ imaginations with ‘Letters to Santa’ program

by Carol alo Alto firefighters have figured out where Santa lives and are planning to contact him directly this year to help Palo Alto children get “real” answers to their letters.

As part of the “Letters to Santa” program, firefighters are asking children to write and drop off letters to the jolly old elf himself at any fire station by Dec. 3.

Children will receive a reply from “Santa” (aka a firefighter) with a postmark from the North Pole (Alaska).

P

Blitzer Jon Matsumoto, a float firefighter with the fire department, started the program a few years ago for families in the department. He got a “pretty good response from parents,” he said, noting that it gave them an opportunity to sit down with their young children and gauge what was on their wish lists. Most children ask for specific things, such as UGG boots, he said.

Last year the department re(continued on page 6)

alo Alto is preparing to abandon a deeply divisive proposal to ban people from living in their cars and to explore instead a program in which businesses, churches and possibly city lots would provide space for the vehicle dwellers.

The City Council’s Policy and Services Committee voted 3-1 on Tuesday night, with Councilman Larry Klein dissenting, to recommend that the council approve a six-month pilot program, which would include direct assistance from the city to the homeless population and outreach to churches, businesses, not-for-profit institutions and Stanford-based organizations for participation. Those who sign up would host up to three vehicles with dwellers on their lots.

The city’s trial program would be modeled on the Homeless Car Camping Program in Eugene, Ore., where people registered to use parking spots at designated churches and businesses.

Vehicle dwelling emerged as a hot topic in Palo Alto more than two years ago, with residents — particularly around College Terrace and Ventura neighborhoods — complaining about homeless people camping out in their cars.

Some residents cited sanitation issues while many complained about a man in College Terrace who they said owns about 10 vans and who routinely moves them from one spot to another to avoid the city’s 72-hour restriction on parked cars.

The council had initially proposed an ordinance banning vehicle habitation, a prohibition that exists in every other city along the Peninsula. Last year, after an outcry from homeless residents and advocates, the city suspended the ordinance effort and began working with a

group of stakeholders, including homeless advocates and residents in the impacted neighborhood, on a compromise.

The pilot program that Palo Alto is exploring would be administered by the Downtown Streets Team, which provides jobs to the homeless. But it gives the city a bigger role than prior proposals did. It involves, for the first time, exploration of cityowned parking lots as possible sites to host car campers — an option council members had rejected earlier. Former Councilman John Barton urged this move and asked the

‘I urge you not to criminalize everyone who’s been living in their cars because of a few bad apples.’

— Trina Lovercheck, former member, Palo Alto Human Relations Commission committee not to do anything that “criminalizes the poor.”

“I think the city needs to get some skin in the game,” Barton said. “If you want to ask the churches and the nonprofits and the businesses to step up, why isn’t the city stepping up?

I think the city needs to show the way on how to help those who need temporary help.”

So far, the city’s outreach efforts have netted underwhelming results.

Despite outreach to 42 faith-based organizations, only one church had agreed to host car campers. Some have indicated that they need more time to reach a decision on whether to participate, Planning Director Curtis Williams said. Staff had determined that the city would need to have at

least three churches sign on for the program to be viable, he said.

“Several congregations expressed interest in doing something, but there were either questions about liability or insurance or a process through their organization that was necessary to develop the consensus to support something like that,” Williams said. “That would take time.”

About 30 people spoke at Tuesday’s committee meeting, sharing opinions across the spectrum. College Terrace and Ventura residents complained about the persistent problem of car camping outside their homes. Homeless advocates urged the city to target unruly and disruptive behavior — not the homeless population as a whole.

Trina Lovercheck, a former member of the city’s Human Relations Commission, was in the latter camp.

She lamented the fact that the commission wasn’t involved in the process and urged staff to address the problems with existing laws.

“I urge you not to criminalize everyone who’s been living in their cars because of a few bad apples,” Lovercheck said. “I think we should be able to use the current codes that are on the books to deal with situations as they arise. I’d urge you to have the Police Department do that.”

Bruce Kenyon, a crossing guard who participated in the community working group on the proposed ordinance, compared the behavior of the few unruly people to the child or two who insists on running across the street despite Kenyon’s admonitions.

“It’s a human-behavior problem, and there’s always going to be one or two bad apples that we can’t control,” Kenyon said. “An ordinance (continued on page 10)

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Upfront

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AL ZHEIMER’ S & DEMENTIA

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City/Zip: _______________________________ Mail to: Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610. Palo Alto CA 94302

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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I think the city needs to get some skin in the game. — John Barton, an advocate for the homeless, on the need for the City of Palo Alto to host car campers on city property. See story on page 3

Around Town

AIR FOR PAWS ... The next time Fido or Prissy have a respiratory emergency, the Palo Alto Fire Department can come to the rescue.

City firefighters were trained the week of Nov. 5 on pet resuscitation and now have 10 breathing kits — enough for all engines and ambulances. The program, called Air For Paws, was started by Morgan Hill real-estate broker Terry Moriyama, who helped teach the classes, along with Gilroy veterinarian Dr. Michelle Griffin and Palo Alto Fire Apparatus Operator Marc Muzzi. More than 40,000 pets die from smoke asphyxiation in fires in the U.S. annually, according to the organization. Moriyama started Air For Paws in memory of her beloved dogs Sammi and Nikki. The nonprofit organization helps equip and train fire and rescue agencies on use of the apparatus. The masks are constructed to properly fit animals ranging from hamsters to large dogs. Air For Paws also seeks to educate pet owners to help respond to pet emergencies.

More information can be found at www.airforpaws.com.

LOOKING AHEAD ... Attention, Palo Alto residents. The Palo Alto City Council wants to know what you want it to focus on in 2013.

The council is preparing to set its priorities for 2013 and it’s asking the public for help. The city defines a priority as “a topic that will receive particular, unusual and significant attention during the year.� Finances and the environment always make the cut, while the rest of the list varies from year to year. Past priorities ranged from the vague and idealistic (remember “civic engagement for the common good�?) while others focused on a concrete and pressing community need (as in 2007, when the council designated building support for a new public-safety building). This year, the council agreed to carry over last year’s additional priorities of “land use and transportation planning,� “emergency preparedness� and “community collaboration for youth well-being.� Councilwoman Karen Holman, chair of the Policy and Services Committee, said the goal is to bring some order and formality to the process and also to give residents a “reasonable expectation� of what the priority-process now entails. Coun-

cil members and residents are asked to submit their suggestions to the City Clerk by emailing them to donna.grider@cityofpaloalto.org no later than Friday, Nov. 30. The council will officially adopt the priorities at its January retreat.

PALO ALTO STOCKING STUFFER ... The City of Palo Alto has a gift for holiday shoppers: Parking restrictions in Palo Alto’s downtown shopping district will be temporarily relaxed through Jan. 1 to allow shoppers and visitors more time for holiday shopping. Visitors can to park up to four hours for free during the holiday season in the following public city parking garages: Alma/High (Garage R), Bryant/Lytton (Garages S/L), Civic Center (Garage CC), Cowper/Webster (Garage WC) and Ramona/ University (Garage B), except in designated permit spaces. All-day parking permits are available from the permit machines located in the Cowper/Webster and Bryant/ Lytton garages if longer parking is needed.

AND THE HONOR GOES TO ...

The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits honored Palo Altan Edie Kirkwood on Oct. 5 with their Everybody Wins Award. Kirkwood is a founding member of the organization and a board member for 15 years. She was the vice president of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing (Leadership) Group and is retired from her career as executive director of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce. She is actively involved in the nonprofit sector and has served on numerous community boards.

A BONE TO GNAW ON ... Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Nature Gallery in Los Altos (formerly in Palo Alto for 17 years at Town & Country Village) will display a 7-foot-long, 65-million-year-old dinosaur bone. The Edmontosaurus (Tyrannosaurus bataar) leg will be on display Dec. 7-9 in the gallery at 296 State St., Los Altos. Other events include a benefit for Peninsula HealthCare Connection, which helps clients at Palo Alto’s Opportunity Center, a geology lecture, mineral and fossil art collage, mineral and stone feng shui lecture. More information is available at www.nature-gallery.com. N

Upfront PARKS AND RECREATION

Palo Alto turns down volume at Lytton Plaza City sets restrictions on amplified sound at popular University Avenue plaza

L

ytton Plaza, downtown Palo Alto’s traditional hub for free speech and impromptu music, will see its volume drop on the weekdays after the City Council voted to restrict amplified sound at the popular gathering spot.

The City Council voted 7-1 on Monday night, with Vice Mayor Greg Scharff absent and Councilwoman Karen Holman dissenting, to set time restrictions on amplified sound at the plaza, which occupies the prominent corner of University Avenue and Emerson Street. Under the rule change, amplified sound will be allowed only from 6 to 10 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, from 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, between noon and 11 p.m. on Saturday and between noon and 10 p.m. on Sunday.

The council’s decision was a

slight adjustment to the proposal offered by staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission. That proposal would have allowed musicians to start using amplified sound at 5 p.m. between Monday and Thursday. Councilmen Sid Espinosa and Larry Klein both argued that the workday these days ends later than 5 p.m. and proposed moving the starting time to 6 p.m.

Amplified sound became an issue shortly after the 2009 renovation of Lytton Plaza, which included new paving, a new fountain, new tables and chairs and electric outlets. The idea was to use the outlets for citysponsored events, like the shortlived Farmers Market that occurred once a week at the plaza between 2009 and 2010. But visitors had their own ideas. Some plugged in and played their music instruments.

File photo/Veronica Weber

by Gennady Sheyner

The new rules for amplified sound at Palo Alto’s Lytton Plaza would limit the hours to no later than 10 p.m.

Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Others used the outlets for stereos, personal heaters and other items, said Daren Anderson, division manager for Open Space and Parks at the city’s Community Services Department.

Anderson said the city has been fielding complaints from downtown businesses, who claimed the music during daytime is too loud, and

downtown residents, who said musicians often play until late at night.

John McNellis, a developer whose buildings include 180 University Ave., located across the street from the plaza, was among those calling for the city to clamp down on sound.

His building includes the venturecapital firm Technology Crossover Ventures on the second floor and

downtown newcomer West Elm, on the ground floor.

“The noise is highly disruptive to the conduct of everyday business, and the last thing we, as a city, should ever do is give a great tenant pause about either locating to or remaining in our downtown,” (continued on page 18)

RECREATION

Palo Alto, Stanford win $10 million for bike bridge, trails Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approves funding for major projects

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s bicyclists, pedestrians and nature lovers had much to celebrate Tuesday, Nov. 20, after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors awarded $10 million to the city and Stanford University for a new bike bridge that will span U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek and for a host of improvements to trails around the university.

The board voted unanimously to spend $10.4 million in funds allocated for recreation on most of the projects that Palo Alto and Stanford asked for in September and to allocate another $400,000 for the Dumbarton Link in the Bay Trail, a project sponsored by the Midpeninsula Open Space District.

The bridge project will receive $4 million, while Stanford trails will get $4.5 million. Another $1.5 million will pay for a new Matadero Creek Trail.

The board reached a consensus despite major reservations from supervisors Liz Kniss and Dave Cortese, who supported the bike bridge but wanted to provide about half of the funding that Stanford requested for its proposed network of campusperimeter trails. After Kniss’ proposal was rejected 3-2 (with Cortese supporting it), the board voted to entirely fund Stanford’s $4.5 million request, which would enhance a 3.4-mile trail along Junipero Serra Boulevard, Stanford Avenue and El Camino Real.

Among the trail’s features would

be a new path on the block of Stanford Avenue between Raimundo Street and Junipero Serra. The Stanford Avenue block ends at the Stanford Dish, a popular hiking spot that attracts about half a million visits annually. The existing Stanford Avenue path, which stretches from El Camino Real to the Dish, ends at Raimundo, requiring visitors to the Dish to either walk on the road or cross the street to take the path on the south side. The proposal to modify Stanford Avenue would eliminate about 20 parking spaces on that block, according to the county’s traffic engineers. Kniss argued that the county should hold a series of meetings before approving the potentially controversial modifications to the heavily used street. The board ultimately directed Stanford to conduct the necessary outreach before it receives the funds.

The $10.4 million was transferred to the county from Stanford as part of an agreement the university made in 2000. In exchange for being allowed to build up to 5 million square feet of development, the university agreed to compensate the community for the potential loss of recreational opportunities caused by the developments. Stanford was required to build two trails, one in Santa Clara County and another in San Mateo County. The latter was ultimately rejected by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors — a decision that remitted the $10.4 million in “recreation funds”

back to Santa Clara County earlier this year.

When considering how to distribute the $10.4 million, the supervisors considered 15 projects from six agencies. Two of these agencies — Palo Alto and Stanford — came out as the clear winners, with the county funding most of the items on their collective wish list. There were a few exceptions. Palo Alto had hoped to get some funding for bicycle improvements, including “sharrows” (road markings reminding drivers to share the road with cyclists) and other traffic-calming features, on Park Boulevard. It also hoped the county would help fund improvements to the Arastradero Road trail.

The county had determined that neither of these projects meet the criteria for the funds because they would merely upgrade existing facilities, not create new ones.

The board also rejected bids from Menlo Park, Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley and the open space district, most of whom proposed improvements to open space.

The Tuesday vote was a huge boost for Palo Alto’s bid to build a new pedestrian and bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101 at Adobe Creek. The bike project, the most ambitious and expensive component in the city’s recently approved Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan, aims to provide a new path to the Baylands in the south part of the city.

The new Matadero Creek trail in

What the $10.4 million funded Stanford Perimeter Trail

Applicant: Stanford University and the City of Palo Alto Description: A trail stretching past Stanford Campus and to the Stanford Dish, with segments along El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard.

Funds approved: $4.5 million Estimated total project cost: $4.5 million Status: Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014

U.S. Highway 101 Bridge at Adobe Creek

Applicant: Stanford University and the City of Palo Alto Description: A bike-and-pedestrian bridge spanning Highway 101 at Adobe Creek in Palo Alto.

Funds approved: $4 million Estimated total cost: $6 million to $10 million Status: Construction is expected to begin in 2015 and end in 2017.

Matadero Creek Trail

Applicant: Stanford University and the City of Palo Alto Description: A 1.3-mile bikeand-pedestrian trail along le-

Palo Alto — a 1.3-mile, east-west path that would cut through the center of the city and link to Stanford through Park Boulevard — will follow Matadero Creek from Alma Street to West Bayshore Road.

Palo Alto City Councilman Sid Espinosa was one of many city residents who urged the board to support the Matadero project, along

vees and access roads of Matadero Creek from Bryant Street to Greer Road in Palo Alto.

Funds approved: $1.5 million Estimated total cost: $1.5 million Status: The city plans to go through the engineering and permitting process in 2013 and 2014 and to begin construction in 2015.

Ravenswood Bay Trail Connection

Applicant: Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Description: A trail link connecting Redwood City to Alviso and providing Dumbarton connection to the East Bay part of the San Francisco Bay Trail Funds approved: $400,000 Estimated total cost: $2.1 million Status: The district plans to secure the regulatory permits for the project from mid-2014 through 2015 Sources: Santa Clara County and “The Stanford and Palo Alto Trails Program: Connecting the Bay to the Ridge”

with others in the city’s joint application with Stanford.

“This proposal would greatly expand the recreational opportunities to Stanford residents and campus users and Palo Alto residents as a whole,” Espinosa said.

He also said that the city is (continued on page 18)

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Upfront DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

Officials ponder new flood-taxing district Local protections from San Francisquito Creek may be cheaper than federal flood insurance mandate

by Chris Kenrick

W

ith the cost of federally required flood insurance expected to rise, local officials may seek taxing authority from residents in flood-prone neighborhoods to build their own protections — and eventually escape the federal mandate.

Currently, about 5,400 residents of Palo Alto, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto pay average annual premiums of $1,300 under the National Flood Insurance Program, which requires homeowners subject to flooding up to once in 100 years to hold insurance as a condition of their mortgages.

Under scenarios floated to a local inter-governmental panel on Nov. 15, single-family-home residents would pay anywhere from $280 to $815 a year to a yet-to-be-created “special finance district.” The district would fund protections against a 100-year flood of the San Francisquito Creek, enabling residents to apply as a group to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to escape the current federal requirement to buy

flood insurance.

Local officials — including representatives from Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and the Santa Clara Valley Water District — gave the go-ahead Nov. 15 for further research and preparation for a possible ballot measure in November 2014. They were acting as the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Board, which oversees joint interests in solving creekrelated problems.

Representatives included Palo Alto City Councilman and JPA Board Chair Pat Burt, Menlo Park Mayor Kirsten Keith, East Palo Alto Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica and Santa Clara Valley Water District Board member Brian Schmidt.

The JPA hired consulting firm NBS to sketch out scenarios for a “special finance district,” which were presented to JPA board members Thursday.

One scenario would address creek flooding only and increase protections from the current 50-year flood

level to the 100-year flood level at an estimated cost of $36 million to $75 million. Annual maintenance costs would be $80,000.

A second, broader scenario would encompass creek flooding as well as tidal flooding, creating a larger tax base to cover project costs estimated between $90 million and $130 million. Annual maintenance costs would be $325,000.

Consultants stressed the cost estimates vary widely depending on the scope of the flood-protection projects and the areas they would encompass.

“Community outreach would be a big portion,” NBS consultant Adina Light told the JPA board.

“You’d want to get their support but also do studies on what are your tolerance levels in the zones, in different areas, and design a tax to fit within tolerance levels.”

Burt said he was worried about a period in which homeowners could have overlapping payments — still buying the federally required flood

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By November 2014, he estimated average local premiums would go to $1,900 a year, increasing annually to cover the expected actuarial value of future loss: $4,500 a year for a $250,000 policy.

Commercial properties, he said, will pay the full, unsubsidized rate under the federal program by 2013.

“This is an estimate of course, and the key point is that people might be asked to vote on a tax that will reduce their risk, and for most it could also eliminate a flood-insurance premium that is substantially higher than the tax,” Materman said.

The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority was created after a 1998 flood damaged some 1,700 local properties. In addition to Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the panel includes representation from the San Mateo County Flood Control District. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.

CRIME

Santa

email him at Jon.Matsumoto@ CityofPaloAlto.org. (continued from page 3) The fire department is partnerceived about 70 letters on San- ing with Palo Alto Firefighters ta’s behalf.

Charitable Fund to raise money “The kids get a reply and keep to meet some of those urgent the image of Santa and Christ- needs. mas going: ‘Oh, there really is The Letters to Santa proa North Pole.’ It’s a small thing gram is open to all Palo Alto kids kind of enjoy,” he said. residents and city employees.

Sometimes he hears directly Parents are asked to supply the from both children and parents child’s full name; home adwho’ve had a challenging year. dress; boy or girl; a present that That’s when he /she would Letters to Santa like; and an turns from a fun email or phone holiday program ‘The kids get a number if verito something of reply and keep the fication of redeeper signifi- image of Santa and ceipt of the letcance. ter is wanted.

“I remember Christmas going: Although the a letter last year “Oh, there really is goal of the prowhere a girl gram is to help wrote that they a North Pole.” It’s parents identify didn’t have a a small thing kids their child’s wish Christmas tree kind of enjoy.’ list, the firefightand lights. It ers would like — Jon Matsumoto, to reach more was a real tough firefighter, needy families Christmas for Palo Alto Fire Department this year, Matthem,” Matsumoto said. sumoto said.

“For us it By opening identified truly needy families the program up to the commuin Palo Alto. We took up a col- nity at large, Letters to Santa lection amongst the Palo Alto helps people “get connected fire family and were able to go with the fire department,” he out and pick up a donated tree said. Parents can even walk and lights,” he said. They also their kids down to the nearest provided grocery gift cards and fire station to drop the letters some presents. off.

“It was a very heartwarming “It sets the tone for another experience for us to reach out tradition that comes up on a and touch a family in need,” he yearly basis. Anything that exsaid. tends their believing in Santa He also received an email and Christmas is good for me,” from a parent who was laid off Matsumoto said. N Associate Editor Carol Blitzer and hadn’t worked in months, asking for help. He suggested can be emailed at cblitzer@ that people with specific needs paweekly.com.

insurance before the local protections are in place.

JPA Executive Director Len Materman said financing firms have indicated there could be a two- to three-year startup period in which homeowners would not be charged, possibly giving them time to gain FEMA approval to escape the federal requirement.

JPA Board members gave Materman the green light to continue research and outreach for a possible November 2014 ballot measure and to include the option of encompassing neighboring communities of Mountain View and Redwood City, if they are interested in joining the effort.

Materman said a recent overhaul of the National Flood Insurance Program is certain to raise premiums for residents in flood-prone areas who are required to buy insurance as a condition of their mortgages.

He said FEMA has told him to “expect annual increases of 20 percent beginning next year.”

Man pleads ‘no contest’ to burglarizing Steve Jobs’ home Kariem McFarlin admits to stealing iPads, iPods, jewelry and champagne from Jobs’ Palo Alto home

T

he Alameda man arrested in August on charges of burglarizing the home of Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs pleaded “no contest” Wednesday morning to a string of home burglaries, including the one involving Jobs’ Palo Alto home.

Kariem McFarlin, 35, did not dispute his involvement in a four-county burglary spree that in addition to Jobs’ home included four homes in San Francisco, two in Marin County and one in Alameda County, according to Deputy District Attorney Thomas Flattery. McFarlin also admitted that he kept “hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property from those burglaries” at his home and storage locker in Alameda. His cache of stolen items included computers, jewelry, furniture and a solid silver bar.

McFarlin could face up to seven years and eight months in prison, Flattery said in the announcement.

This includes the time McFarlin has already served since his arrest on Aug. 2.

Moreover, the sentence could end up being half of what the judge imposes if he gets credit for good behavior. McFarlin’s attorney, James Kellenberger, noted that his client “is still eligible as a matter of law to 50 percent credit.”

“Sometimes it gets taken away or added depending on how inmates

by Pierre Bienaimé perform in custody,” Flattery added.

McFarlin was convicted on eight counts of residential burglary and one count of possession of stolen property, all felonies. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17, 2013.

“This case can serve as a warning to families who may leave their homes for an extended period — either for vacation or while the home is under construction,” Flattery said in a statement Wednesday.

“An empty, unprotected Kariem McFarlin house is like low-hanging fruit to thieves. Lock doors. Use alarms. Take precautions.”

Police believe the Jobs burglary occurred between the night of July 17 and the morning of July 18. The Waverley Street home was unoccupied and was undergoing renovation at that time. McFarlin was charged with making off with a haul of electronic items, including three iPods, three iPads and two iMac computers, a Tiffany necklace, a pair of earrings, a bottle of Cristal Champagne, a Ninja Blender, a Sodastream Soda Maker and a wallet containing Steve

Jobs’ driver’s license, credit cards and other personal items.

McFarlin was arrested after an investigation by Palo Alto police and the regional Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) Task Force, which includes high-tech specialists from various law-enforcement organizations. The agents tracked down McFarlin by following the activity on his iTunes account and tracking down his IP address.

“When the officers executed the search warrant in Palo Alto they recovered evidence that led to the burglaries,” Flattery said. McFarlin admitted that he had burglarized the Jobs home and others shortly after his arrest.

The first of McFarlin’s burglaries was in March 2011. Before then he had “no criminal history,” Kellenberger said.

“He’s a college graduate; he received a football scholarship to San Jose State University. He had a fairly constant work history for about 15 years until he lost his job.”

“It’s the story of a guy who was doing OK, who lost his job and ended up homeless. And that’s not to be used as an excuse, it’s just an explanation,” Kellenberger said. N Editorial Intern Pierre Bienaimé can be emailed at pbienaime@ paweekly.com. Gennady Sheyner contributed to this story.

Upfront EDUCATION

Middle school principals share plans for the year At JLS, ‘Schoology’ software in use campus-wide after pilot last year For example at Terman, Baker said that by next June, the number of students responding positively to the statement “adults at my school and in my community listen to me” would increase from 70 percent to 75 percent; and the percentage affirming that “youth are included in the important decisions made in my school and community” would go from 62 percent to 67 percent.

“Social kindness” and anti-bullying instruction at Terman includes discussions about empathy and inclusion, Baker said.

“We try to empower our students to make a difference and have them take responsibility for creating the climate at the school.”

Baker said the school also would boost the percentages of students

Construction crews placed the finial atop Hoover Pavilion on Quarry Road Tuesday morning, symbolizing the near-completion of the 81-year-old building’s restoration.

Topping it off

C

‘Last year we piloted Schoology with 30 teachers and it was wildly popular. I think it promotes “connectedness” with school through communication.’

— Sharon Ofek, principal, Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School passing tests in aerobic capacity and upper-body strength.

The principals said they meet regularly to exchange ideas.

Jordan’s Barnes said a visit to JLS’ three-day sixth-grade orientation Panther Camp laid the groundwork for Jordan’s “Jaguar Journey” orientation this year, and he borrowed ideas about including specialeducation students in mainstream classrooms after visiting Terman.

“We pulled some common threads and outright stole some other ideas,” he said of Panther Camp.

School board Vice President Dana Tom said, “I fully support the outright theft of great ideas between school sites.”

Tom said the principals’ meeting demonstrated “the power of properly used site autonomy” — an issue of contention in the Nov. 6 school board election as candidates had disagreed over the appropriate balance between centralized decisionmaking and decisions made at individual school sites.

The candidate who made the strongest case that site-based decisionmaking has gone too far, We Can Do Better co-founder Ken Dauber, came in last among the four candidates competing for three spots. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.

Veronica Weber

T

he principal of Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto ordered campuswide use of the school communication software Schoology this fall after a pilot test of the product last year.

Sharon Ofek said she made the move after concluding the software tool “improves our communication between what was happening in the classroom and what parents want to know at home.”

Ofek and her counterparts at Jordan and Terman presented their plans for the year to the Board of Education on Nov. 13.

“Last year we piloted Schoology with 30 teachers and it was wildly popular. I think it promotes ‘connectedness’ with school through communication,” she said. The software allows students, teachers and parents to check on assignments and exchange information.

A tight focus on “connecteness” and academic performance emerged as the middle schools shared their plans with the school board.

Though the principals of Jordan and Terman did not discuss use of Schoology on their campuses, the district has been lobbied by the parent-led group We Can Do Better Palo Alto to order all teachers to adopt the tool.

All three principals said they monitor and discuss specific students earning Ds and Fs or those scoring “basic” or “below basic” on the California Standards (STAR) Test.

They described special “intervention programs” for such students, with “measureable goals” to boost performance.

At Jordan, for example, Principal Gregory Barnes said the school “will reduce the number of students scoring ‘basic or below’ in the areas of English language arts and math by 50 percent during the 2012-13 academic year.” The 39 sixth-graders currently in that category will be reduced to 19 or fewer, and the 27 seventh-graders will be reduced to 13 or fewer, Barnes said in a written report.

Barnes said the 181 Jordan students currently performing below “C”-level work would be reduced to less than 100.

Ofek and Terman Principal Katherine Baker outlined similar goals.

The annual reports, called “single plans for student achievement,” have been required under the California Education Code and the federal No Child Left Behind Act as a condition of certain funding. School officials also use the documents as the basis for gathering principals and the school board for a public discussion.

The principals also described measurable goals in the areas of student social-emotional and physical health.

Veronica Weber

by Chris Kenrick

onstruction crews placed the finial atop Hoover Pavilion on Quarry Road Tuesday morning, symbolizing the nearcompletion of the 81-year-old building’s restoration.

The original Palo Alto Hospital, Hoover Pavilion is part of a massive, years-long expansion of the Stanford University Medical Center, which also includes Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

The Pavilion’s original finial — think a wedding-cake topper — was removed during WWII so that officials could melt what they thought to be a copper architectural finish, according to a project spokesperson. However, it didn’t turn out to be copper after all.

The finial added on Tuesday is a replica.

The restoration project has preserved the building’s historic facade and included modernization of the interior. The facility at 211 Quarry Road will house community physicians and Stanford Hospital clinics as well as the Stanford Health Library.

Hoover Pavilion will open to patients on Dec. 17. A public open house has been scheduled for Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff

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Upfront SPORTS

Lessons from rowing A Palo Alto native lives out her love for crew as coach and mentor

W

hen people hear the word “crew,” they typically think of prep schools or a sport on the East Coast.

But local rowing club NorCal Crew has been making a splash on the California front. At the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston on Oct. 21, the Men’s Youth Fours placed fourth out of 85.

The club’s new executive director, Palo Alto resident Allison Frykman, took over in May and has big plans for the organization, a nonprofit dedicated to developing youth through the sport of rowing.

Membership currently stands at 100 athletes and Frykman hopes to expand it to 160 within three years.

Thirty high schools are represented in the club, with about one-third of the students drawn from Palo Alto.

“A lot of people initially start with the idea that it will help them get into college,” she said. “Rowing is historically a very high GPA sport. By and large, the best rowing programs are the Ivy League schools. Pick a university, and we have alumni there.”

But before parents and ambitious high school students start signing up, Frykman warns about the weekly, 20-hour commitment it requires: “We get a lot of kids thinking they are there for résumé padding, but they find out very quickly, there is a lot of hard work and time involved.

So if you don’t love it, you’re not going to be able to stick with it.”

For Frykman, 28, this love has endured for 12 years, beginning in her junior year of Palo Alto High School, when she started rowing competitively, and spanning to her current role as NorCal Crew executive director.

Born in Santa Rosa, she moved to Palo Alto when she was 3 months old. She went to school at Ohlone Elementary, Castilleja, Paly and Stanford, where she received her

bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s degree in education.

“I’ve never felt like I needed to go anywhere else,” she said.

Frykman was recruited into rowing by a friend of her father’s, Mike Still, who in 2000 founded what was then named Silicon Valley Crew.

She said she enjoyed the opportunities crew presented, allowing her to form friendships outside of high school and offering her relief from the stresses of school.

“I hated my life. I just studied and worked. It was go, go, go, go, go.”

In high school, Frykman had a heavy academic course load, taking five advanced-placement classes her senior year. She was also involved in soccer, cross-country, water polo and track but gravitated towards crew.

“Crew fit with my personality a lot better,” she said. “I love rowing because it’s the ultimate team sport.

I just really like that everybody’s in the same boat doing the same thing at the same time. There are no superstars in rowing.”

Frykman names Still as an important mentor in rowing and through high school.

“He taught me a lot about life, hard work, teamwork and humility that I wouldn’t have learned through my immediate family or my high school experience,” she said. “The lessons you can learn from being a rower apply to so many aspects in life.”

She hopes to impart similar lessons to her students. According to some of them, she already has.

After obtaining her master’s degree in education, Frykman taught physics at Gunn High School. One of her students was Arik Oganesian, now a sophomore at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“She was one of the best teachers I’ve ever had,” Oganesian said.

“When some teachers explain concepts, they explain it like a textbook.

Veronica Weber

by Haiy Le

Allison Frykman directs the varsity and junior varsity men’s teams of NorCal Crew, which practice at the Bair Island Aquatic Center in Redwood City.

But when she explained it, she taught us on a personal level and would change her approach from one person to another.”

In 2009, during his junior year at Gunn, Oganesian and his friend were exploring crew, and Frykman encouraged them to check out NorCal Crew. He joined soon after and continues to row competitively on the crew team at UCSB. “Crew made me tougher mentally and has helped me in school. It helps me stay focused for a longer period of time,” Oganesian said.

He said Frykman’s coaching and mentoring honed his personal and athletic skills.

“She had a good eye for our technique and the mistakes we were making. ... You can’t ask for more as a beginner rower to get that constant feedback.”

After spending four years teaching at Gunn, Frykman decided she wanted to devote herself full-time to NorCal Crew.

Veronica Weber

NorCal Crew’s junior varsity team rows back to the Bair Island Aquatic Center in Redwood City during practice in late October.

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“I particularly enjoy the high school level as a coach because I get to see the kids develop over the four years of high school to grow into young men and women,” she said.

“It’s at an age where they are forming so much of their personality, so I get to see their personality shape over those four years with rowing helping develop who they become.”

Frykman became executive director of NorCal Crew after Still, her coach and mentor of 12 years, stepped down. The nonprofit is overseen by a board of directors that’s chaired by Mark Prioleau.

“Allison has come in with lots of vision, tons of energy and a very good work ethic,” Prioleau said. “In the Bay Area, there are several very strong (crew) programs in Marin County, Oakland and Los Gatos. What we would like to see happen with NorCal is to build a program in the midpeninsula that is on par with the other clubs in the Bay Area, which are on par with the best in the country.”

Prioleau became involved with NorCal Crew through his son’s participation. Luke Prioleau began rowing during his sophomore year at Palo Alto High School.

Prioleau saw a transformation in his son from his crew practice.

“I was worried that my son, who loves to stay in bed as long as possible, was never going to be able to make the 5 o’clock morning workouts. But he did it with absolutely no help from us (his parents).”

Luke is now a freshman at Georgetown University, rowing on the lightweight crew. His father stayed with NorCal Crew and signed on as a board member to help expand the program.

“I think it’s a great sport for kids that teaches a good sense of discipline and puts the onus on them to go and make this commitment to work hard,” he said. “It’s a very demanding sport, and kids who put in the work can really see the improvement.”

James Hindery, a junior at Paly, joined in November 2011.

“The sport showed me that you have to put in a lot of work. Rowing is very painful, but it’s all made worth it with moments like when you cross the finish line with your boat,” he said. “You and your teammates have been suffering through it together, but you know that you had the best race that you could give.”

Hindery’s boat medaled in the Youth Fours at the Head of the Charles, earning them guaranteed entry in next year’s regatta. He said he is excited to see where NorCal Crew goes next.

“Allison is definitely one of the greatest coach I’ve ever had for any sport. I’m hearing that she has been scaring some of the other teams in California with turning us into a very competitive program not only here in California but nationally,” he said.

Not only is Hindery a competitive rower, but he brings that mental focus to the classroom. With 20 hours of practice and commuting per week, Hindery approaches the rest of his time with a similar mindset: “When you get home, you don’t have much time to do homework so you really have to focus up and make sure you’re not procrastinating and get all your studying done if you want to maintain a competitive GPA.” For a person who said she hated her life during high school, Frykman is using crew to transform her students’ resume-padding high school experience into one that instills lessons of hard work, discipline and commitment.

“You can get so far with muscling your way through crew and physically having the body for it, but it does require a huge level of mental focus,” Frykman explained. “I see a lot of kids who come into rowing and they learn about mental focus.

They see that hard work pays off in rowing, and then they can apply that to school later.” N Editoral Intern Haiy Le can be emailed at hle@paweekly.com.

Upfront

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Veronica Weber

Getting ready for Black Friday (and Small Business Saturday), Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World has shelves stocked and ready. Doors open at 6 a.m. on Friday.

Retail

(continued from page 3)

more with the national economy than the local economy,� observed Eric Hager, general manager at Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World. “It seems counterintuitive; it might have to do with psychology,� said Hager, who’s been with the toy store 26 years. “If people are doing well here but the rest of the country is suffering, it may be psychologically negative. So when the national economy is perceived to be strong, we have a good Christmas.�

This year, “the economy is giving mixed signals, and that’s the biggest obstacle to predicting Christmas for us. “If you’d asked me earlier in the year I’d have said it’s going to be very good, but in the last two months everything’s been put on hold,� Hager said. “It could have been the election or the World Series that slowed things down, so we really won’t know until we get into December.�

For the first time in its history, Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World plans to open its doors at 6 a.m. on Black Friday for a “Doorbusters Sale.�

In-demand items this year are Magna Tiles, Strider bikes, Ninjago Legos and Lego Friends, he said.

At Town & Country Village, Douce France cafĂŠ owner Victor Marku had upper shelves brimming with brightly wrapped Panettone.

The traditional Italian Christmas bread was a hallmark of Marku’s childhood in Albania — thanks to his Italian grandmother — and he introduced it to Douce France when he bought the business in 2000. “Now, I can’t have enough of it,� he said.

In December he’ll begin his annual stocking of Buche de Noel, the rolled French cake shaped and decorated like a yule log.

December is his busiest month, Marku said. “There are a lot more parties and events, and we do well on pastries, desserts and cakes. “I think it’s going to be a little

better than last year. The shopping center right now is really at its boom — it’s crowded, almost all the stores are full and more people stop in the afternoon for dessert, a coffee or tea.�

One of downtown’s oldest retailers, the 77-year-old Bell’s Books, had its holiday window display ready before Thanksgiving.

It’s going to be an “Oz� year, said Faith Bell, daughter of Herbert Bell, who launched the business in 1935 to supply textbooks to Stanford University students.

Bell recently acquired two “enormous Oz collections,� including signed limited editions, figurines from the Wizard of Oz, an Oz teapot — even Oz-themed business books

‘If you’re going to be somewhere during the recession, this is the place to be, and now we’ve had such a resurgence in technology.’ — Don Lundell, co-owner, Zombie Runner — that will be on sale at prices from $4 to $850.

Bell also has boosted her supply of new books since the closure last year of Border’s. “There’s nobody else downtown,� she said. “People thought I’d be happy about that, but I’m not. A larger book community is a more vibrant book community. “A lot of people don’t realize we carry new books,� Bell said. “We have 280,000 used and rare books but also tens of thousands of new books. “A lot of people look to bookstores now to be social centers as well as providing them with books.�

On California Avenue, Leaf & Petal women’s dress shop manager Judy Ohki said the staff since October has been helping customers achieve “pulled-together outfits� for holiday parties.

“It’s been a great year, and I have no reason to expect it not to continue through the holidays,� Ohki said.

Popular this year are lace, crochet and mixed metals — silver and gold together in jewelry and on handbags.

For last-minute shopping by spouses and significant others, the shop relies on its customer logs that show the women’s sizes and preferences. “Men come in, and we can look up and see sizes, things (their spouses) tend to buy — taste, color,� Ohki said. “We can almost function as a personal shopper on the fly for the guy who comes in for their partner — especially for those last-minute men. “Every year on Dec. 24 there’s only men in the store. That’s ‘guy day’ — we should just make it official,� she said.

At Stanford Shopping Center, Hair International owner Pam Decharo said December is “a big color time because nobody wants to show their roots at holiday parties.�

December comes behind June — graduation season — as the salon’s biggest month, Decharo said. “We have a customer that’s very practical,� she said. “They may be very wealthy, but they’re very down to earth, in my opinion. They want value. “This customer is very simply done. They don’t want to look like a little doll at the holiday party — they want to look like themselves, only better.�

Decharo, who’s owned the salon since 1990, logged her biggest year before the 2008 recession, which, she believes, changed people’s approaches to spending. “In 2008 the stock market crashed, and everyone in this country changed the way they felt about money and what’s valuable to them,� she said. “When they have extra, maybe they’re giving more away, giving to charities more. “They came to realize it isn’t money that’s important, it’s your family and your values. So, in a way, I thought that was a good thing.� N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.

CHRISTMAS TREES &WREATHS Nativity School will be selling Christmas Trees & Wreaths beginning Friday, November 23rd and ending on Saturday, December 15th.

This is a fundraiser for Nativity School.

HOURS – Closed Mondays Opening day has extended hours from 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday-Thursday .....................4:00 Friday ......................................4:00 Saturday ..................................9:00 Sunday ....................................9:00

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NATIVITY SCHOOL

Corner of Oak Grove & Laurel, Menlo Park For information go to www.nativitytrees.com Fire-Proofing and Delivery Service are available THIS SPACE IS DONATED AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE BY THE PALO ALTO WEEKLY

NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING of the City of Palo Alto Architectural Review Board (ARB) 8:30 A.M., Thursday, December 6, 2012 Palo Alto Council Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue. Go to the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue to review ďŹ led documents; contact Diana Tamale for information regarding business hours at 650.329.2144.

145 Hawthorne Avenue [12PLN-00072]: Request by Zach Trailer for Major Architectural Review of a new development consisting of three detached multi-family residential units. Zone District: RM-15. Environmental Assessment: Exempt per Section 15302(b) (Existing Facilties).

1313 Newell Road [12PLN-00300]: Request by City of Palo Alto Art Center for Architectural Review of new signage for the Art Center. Zone: PF. Environmental Assessment: Exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15301.

Amy French Chief Planning OfďŹ cial ĂœĂœĂœÂ°*>Â?Âœ Â?ĂŒÂœ"˜Â?ˆ˜i°VÂœÂ“ĂŠUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 9

Upfront

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isn’t going to change that.�

But neighborhood residents urged the committee to act on what they said was an urgent and long-neglected problem. Brent Barker, president of the College Terrace Residents Association, asked the committee to support a pilot program as soon as possible. Barker, who participated in the working group, said he has seen the group’s feelings go from optimism into “disillusionment and disheartenment.� “We need a couple of pilots, and they need to be carefully set up and monitored from the get-go so we can see them succeed,� Barker said.

Tom Dittmar, who owns the office building at 944 Industrial Way, said there were two motor homes in front of the building when he and his wife bought it in June. Since then, they have found an adapter screwed into the building’s light socket, suggesting that the motor-home owners are tapping into the building’s power. “I have been calling cops one to two times a week to get the motor homes to move,� Dittmar said. “They do move. But then they come right back.�

The Police Department estimates that there are between 25 and 50 people living in vehicles. Jonathan Brown, a Ventura resident, said between five and 10 have been living in buses and vans near his neighborhood park for months now. They cook their meals in the park and “take away our sense of community,� Brown said. “The sense out there is that there are strangers in the park and that we won’t be able to use the park,�

Brown said.

Councilmembers Greg Schmid, Sid Espinosa and Karen Holman all supported pursuing the six-month pilot program, which was proposed

by Schmid. “Vehicle dwelling is an issue because it’s people who are down on their luck in our community,� Schmid said. “It would be good if there was something that could be done to help them in their situation.�

Espinosa said the committee’s agreement provides a good compromise because it allows staff to fully explore the new pilot program and give staff a chance to consider further action at a later date, if necessary. But he also said he found it “disheartening to me that we haven’t moved further in the past year-plus in finding a solution.�

Klein had another concern — the program’s cost. “For the city to be involved in offering its parking places — it’s going to end up costing us, and not just staff time,� Klein said.

Klein said the city will have to deal with the same issues the churches have been dealing with, but these would be “multiplied because we are a government entity and we have a higher bar that we have to meet with sanitation and public safety.�

The problem of vehicle dwelling, he said, impacts a relatively small number of people. “I just think there isn’t great public enthusiasm, and I think it goes back to the fact that this isn’t much of a problem,� Klein said. N

News Digest Redwood tree removal permit withdrawn The owner of the CitiBank building on the corner of California Avenue and El Camino Real in Palo Alto has withdrawn his permit to have two mature redwoods cut down, Mike Sartor, the city’s public-works director, said Tuesday.

The two stately, 2.5-foot-diameter trees are located near the parking lot behind Citibank, which sits on the south corner of El Camino Real and California Avenue. Notices appeared on Nov. 14 informing the public that the trees were scheduled to be taken down by the Public Works Department sometime after Nov. 28.

The city issued the removal permit after learning that the situation met the Palo Alto tree ordinance. The trees and their roots had caused cracks in the building foundation and walls, had broken a water line, were lifting the public sidewalk, and were likely to make things worse as the trees continued to grow, city officials noted in a Nov. 15 press release.

The trees were to be replaced as part of an overall landscaping and parking reconfiguration for the site, city officials said.

A residents’ group, Friends of California Avenue, emailed a protest letter to city officials, which kicked into gear a requirement for the property owner to hold public-outreach meetings. The issue could have been heard before the City Council, Sartor said.

On Monday, Nov. 19, city officials met with the property owner and an engineer, Sartor said. After exploring their options, the owner indicated that a water line that was damaged by the trees’ roots would be relocated and a gas-service line would also be moved with assistance from the city, he said. N — Sue Dremann

Cleaner arrested following Palo Alto burglaries A house cleaner has been arrested for burglary after three Palo Alto residents who shared the same cleaning team noticed items, including jewelry, hidden money and prescription medication, were missing from their homes.

Martha Quintero-Ramirez, 36, of Redwood City, was arrested Saturday, Nov. 17, after police contacted her and recovered some of her employers’ possessions, including a wedding ring and a bracelet.

Quintero-Ramirez had worked for one of the residents for two years along with another house cleaner — who is not a suspect — who had been employed by the resident for 20 years. After an investigation police concluded that the longer-serving house cleaner had had no knowledge of what her cleaning partner allegedly was doing.

Two of the Palo Alto victims are next-door neighbors in the 700 block of Bryant Street. The third lives in the 1500 block of Castilleja Avenue.

Police initially responded Saturday morning to a Bryant Street resident on a report of a residential burglary that had occurred the previous day.

The victim told police she and her neighbor both had had their homes cleaned Friday, Nov. 16, by their usual house cleaners.

A short time after the cleaning, the victim noticed things in her closet were slightly out of place. She looked further and discovered six items of jewelry, two bottles of prescription medication and hidden money was missing.

She contacted her neighbor, who also discovered missing items, including a wedding ring and an antique watch. They contacted the third person on Castilleja, who discovered several pieces of jewelry and antique coins missing. The items had gone missing over the past two months, but the resident thought she had simply misplaced them.

Police encourage anyone who may have employed Quintero-Ramirez and had property stolen to contact their local police department to report the theft. Detectives from the Palo Alto Police Department will work with other agencies to investigate any additional crimes that may have been committed.

Anyone with information about the Palo Alto cases can contact the police department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984. N — Chris Kenrick

Dryer fire damages home on Margarita Avenue Palo Alto firefighters used a garden hose to extinguish a dryer fire Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 20, at 1:57 p.m. in the 200 block of Margarita Avenue.

After shopping for food for the holidays, the resident returned home and “found her house to be charged with smoke down to the floor,� the Fire Department stated in a press release.

Responding firefighters discovered the contents of the gas dryer were ablaze. “The fire was knocked down with a garden hose, and the dryer was removed from the home,� the department stated. There was smoke damage throughout the house, but fire damage was limited to the dryer and the utility room, officials said.

The department recommends residents have their dryers and ducting cleaned annually, test smoke detectors monthly, change smoke-detector batteries annually and replace smoke detectors every 10 years. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff

Upfront

Chris and Jesslyn Holombo of Mountain View look at the October Glory red maple trees in Palo Alto’s Mitchell Park on Wednesday.

Leaves of red Photographs

by Veronica Weber

T

his weekend may be the best for viewing the vibrant autumn leaves in Palo Alto, according to city arborist Dave Dockter.

“This autumn has produced some of the best seasonal fall color displays,” he said. “The best autumn colors show up when a moderate rainfall occurs in early November.”

The city’s pleasant climate means a late appearance for fall, when cool temperatures cause a deciduous tree

A squirrel perches on a roof next to a persimmon tree on Greenwood Avenue in Palo Alto.

to break down the chlorophyll in its leaves. This “unmasks the more stable yellow to orange carotene of the leaf,” Dockter said.

Some of the best places to witness these seasonal colors, according to Dockter: the fallen gingko leaves at Ramona Street and Addison Avenue; the red oak on Lucie Stern Community Center’s front lawn; and the Boston ivy on the walls of Lanning Chateau at 325 Forest Ave. N —Pierre Bienaimé

An American sweet gum tree on Emerson Street has become a palette of colors.

Lilly Farrell, 9, gets a hearty push from her sister, Olivia, 4, underneath the Maidenhair gingko on Greenwood Avenue. ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 11

Upfront

Holiday Fund Schools try early intervention, so troubled kids become healthy teens

CAMPAIGN NOTES

DOUBLE THE HAPPINESS ... Each tax-deductible gift made to the Holiday Fund is doubled, thanks to matching grants from local foundations, including the Packard and Hewlett foundations and the Peery and Arrillaga family foundations. In addition, the Palo Alto Weekly and its partner organization, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, are absorbing the administrative costs of the Holiday Fund, meaning that 100 percent of donations go directly to the nonprofit agencies.

THREE CHEERS ... Last year’s campaign got an unprecedented boost in the form of a $100,000 gift from a local family foundation whose members asked to remain anonymous. “We grew up in Palo Alto and have always appreciated the extraordinary services provided by the city, the schools and the many community-based organizations. We wanted to support these efforts so they can continue, especially in these times of tight budgets and increasing needs,” the family said in a statement. “The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a great way for us to have that support distributed among the worthy projects and organizations in Palo Alto and our surrounding communities.”

LEGACY OF LIFE CHANGE ... This past year, 55 nonprofits that serve children, families, seniors and others received grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. Through the generosity of the community, nonprofits such as DreamCatchers, a tutoring program, has expanded its healthy-eating program for lowincome Palo Alto middle school students. Groups like Breast Cancer Connections is providing free screening and diagnostic services for low-income, at-risk women and men. More information about the Holiday Fund, and details on how to donate, can be found at www.

PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund.

The campaign runs through early January 2013. N

‘Peer relationships’ top mental health concerns among kids

by Chris Kenrick ncreased attention to mental health among elementary students will pay dividends when students are older, providing coping skills when problems arise, says the director of a local counseling organization.

Liz Schoeben, executive director of CASSY (Counseling and Support Services for Youth), said her agency’s presence in six Palo Alto elementary schools is an outgrowth of such an effort by the Palo Alto school district.

“We’d been reacting and reacting to the high school kids, so they (the district) decided to take a step back and see how we could help these families prior to that 14-year-old.”

Early counseling, she said, arms kids with coping skills and also teaches them how to ask for help if they need it.

Schoeben’s three-year-old agency, which emphasizes on-campus presence by licensed or postgraduate therapists, works not only in Palo Alto elementary schools but also with K-12 students in Los Gatos, K-8 students in East Palo Alto and high school students in Milpitas.

Part of CASSY’s budget was provided through a $15,000 grant from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund.

Peer relationships, including bullying, topped the list of concerns among students who saw on-campus mental health counselors at six Palo Alto elementary schools during the 2011-12 school year.

Other concerns for K-5 Palo Alto students, in descending order, were social skills, anxiety, anger and impulse control and parent divorce, according to CASSY records.

School-based programs are particularly effective because counselors easily can observe children on the playground or in the classroom, said Schoeben, a therapist who has worked in Los Angeles and Seattle as well as at Menlo-Atherton High School.

“There’s no fee, and we have a team — we know the teachers, the parents. We see the kids in their natural, day-to-day environments.

“That’s different than if I see a kid in private practice at 4 p.m., and I don’t know what they look like at school.”

Students can be referred for counseling by anyone, but it’s typically teachers, principals or school psychologists. Parental permission is required.

“Most of the kids we see are not having a good time. Something is not working in elementary school. We start with observations in class and on the playground,” she said.

“If you don’t involve the parents you’re not going to get anywhere. We provide individual and group counseling to the kids but also support for the parents.”

CASSY currently works in 16 Bay Area schools, but that number will rise to 24 in January due to a new contract that will expand services in Milpitas.

Most of CASSY’s annual budget, which Schoeben said will approach $1 million due to the new contract, is paid for by school districts.

“If districts value it, they’ll fund it, and we

I

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Veronica Weber

GOING FOR THE GOAL ... Just how much has the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raised on behalf of local charities since it was launched in 1994? Well, through generous donations from the Palo Alto community, more than $4 million has been raised and distributed in grants over the past 18 years — an annual average of $222,222.

This year’s fundraiser began on Nov. 9 with a goal of $350,000.

Liz Schoeben, left, executive director of CASSY (Counseling and Support Services for Youth), and Darice Funk, CASSY’s Palo Alto clinical director, offer therapy and counseling at six elementary schools in Palo Alto (including Walter Hays Elementary School, pictured here). CASSY also serves East Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Milpitas. want to be just as important and valued as special education, guidance counselors and everything else,” she said.

Services at Costano Elementary/Forty-Niner Academy in East Palo Alto are covered by a government grant, and Palo Alto’s $170,000 program comes from a combination of school district and site funds, she said.

“I make up the differences with grants like the one from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund — without that grant we wouldn’t be able to be in all the schools we’re in,” she said.

In six Palo Alto elementary schools during the 2011-12 school year, CASSY assessed 160 stu-

dents, provided 1,461 “therapeutic sessions,” 866 staff consultations, 545 parent consultations, five student presentations and six staff presentations, according to a year-end report.

Fifty-four percent of the students served were girls. Forty-eight percent were Caucasian; followed by 21 percent who were Latino; 15 percent who were Asian and 10 percent who were African American, the report said.

This year CASSY therapists in Palo Alto are working at Duveneck, Escondido, Juana Briones, Nixon, Ohlone and Walter Hays. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

Upfront HOLIDAY FUND

Making the future profitable for youth Nonprofit teaches lowincome teens life skills, financial savvy

by Haiy Le nvestment counselor Thomas Arrington usually spends his time managing the assets and portfolios of high-profile clients.

But for 50 minutes every Friday afternoon, he, along with other volunteers, manages a classroom full of Menlo-Atherton High School students who are learning about personal financial skills.

On a recent Friday, Arrington was leading them through a budgeting activity that involved listing “needs and wants” on the whiteboard. So far on the list of needs: shelter, food and utilities.

“Clothes,” one student chimed in.

“Very good,” Arrington said.

“And it’s not just because we don’t want to walk around naked.”

Some students laughed.

“I sometimes have to wear a suit.

And I had to wear one today because I was meeting a client, and they expect that of me.

So for your job, sometimes you have to wear certain types of clothes.

Maybe it’s a uniform or a suit, but you have to have clothes.”

Arrington is one of 40 volunteers for nonprofit program FutureProfits, which works with local organizations and public high schools in south San Mateo County to help

Haiy Le

I

FutureProfits volunteer Peter Kidder explains a concept while co-volunteer LeeNette Merino and student Jose Lombera observe. low-income students become more savvy about finances.

This past year, the program received a $5,000 grant from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund.

FutureProfits works on three levels: in the classroom, where volunteers teach the FutureProfits curriculum to about 500 students; in labs, where 200 students apply what they are learning; and through a mentoring program, in which about 30 students are enrolled.

John Liotti, executive director of Able Works, which oversees FutureProfits, established the financial literacy program in 2007 because he felt existing curricula didn’t meet the needs of low-income teens.

“Many of the programs focus on things like how to balance a check-

book or how to make a deposit in the bank,” Liotti said. “What they don’t understand is that our kids will never go in the door of the bank because their parents have never taken them in there. The curricula out there was geared towards suburban kids and not urban kids or where our kids come from.”

Liotti recruited Jenni Ingram, FutureProfits’ program manager, to help write a new, 300-page curriculum.

“Instead of just teaching typical financial literacy, we try to go a

little bit deeper than that and look at the context where the students are coming from, how their community affects the way that they view money,” Ingram said.

The curriculum contains four units, each with six lessons.

“Our first unit talks about money and power and how they are interrelated. That’s the distinct difference between any curriculum out there,” Liotti said.

One of the lessons that seeks to teach this is the bean game, in which students are given a differ-

ent number of beans and they play roshambo (rock-paper-scissors) to win each others’ beans. It becomes clear that students who start off with more beans are able to accumulate beans more quickly than those who had fewer.

“It’s a picture of how in our society when you enter the workforce with more beans and when you have more resources that can help you move forward in the workforce or just in life in general, (the game) (continued on page 17)

THE NEW YEAR IS FAST APPROACHING! YOUR FLEX DOLLARS ARE EXPIRING! TO W

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BEST OF 2009

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Haiy Le

FutureProfits volunteer Thomas Arrington assists Nana Teu with a budgeting worksheet.

1805 El Camino Real, Palo Alto | 650.324.3937 | www.luxpaloalto.com ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 13

Last Year’s Grant Recipients 10 Books A Home .......................................$5,000 Able Works..................................................$5,000 Adolescent Counseling Services ..........$10,000 Art in Action ................................................$5,000 Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula........7,500 Break Through the Static..........................$2,500 Breast Cancer Connections .....................$5,000 Canopy .........................................................$3,000 CASSY ........................................................$15,000 Children’s Center of the Stanford Community ..................................$4,000 Cleo Eulau Center.......................................$5,000 Collective Roots .........................................$7,500 Downtown Streets Team ........................$15,000 DreamCatchers ........................................$15,000 East Palo Alto Center for Community Media ................................$3,000 East Palo Alto Charter School .................$7,500 East Palo Alto Children’s Day ..................$5,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation ................$5,000 East Palo Alto Youth Court ........................$3,000 Environmental Volunteers ........................$3,000 Family Connections....................................$7,500 Foothill College Book Program ................$5,000 Foundation for a College Education ........$7,500 Hidden Villa .................................................$5,000 InnVision ......................................................$7,500 JLS Middle School ....................................$5,000 Jordan Middle School ..............................$5,000 Kara ............................................................$15,000 Mayview Community Health Center .....$10,000 Midpeninsula Community Media Center.........$5,000 Music in the Schools Foundation ............$5,000 My New Red Shoes ...................................$3,000 New Creation Home Ministries ...............$5,000 Nuestra Casa ..............................................$5,000 Pacific Art League .....................................$2,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation ..............$5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care ..............$6,500 Palo Alto Council of PTAs .........................$2,128 Palo Alto High School Get Involved!.......$1,500 Palo Alto Housing Corporation ................$5,000 Palo Alto Library Foundation ..................$17,500 Palo Alto Youth Collaborative.................$10,000 Peninsula Bridge Program .......................$5,000 Peninsula Youth Theatre ...........................$3,000 Project Safety Net....................................$20,000 Project WeH.O.P.E. .....................................$7,500 Quest Learning Center ..............................$5,000 Ravenswood Education Foundation .......$5,000 Silicon Valley FACES..................................$7,500 South Palo Alto Food Closet .....................$1,000 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club ...............$5,000 St. Vincent de Paul.....................................$6,000 TEDxGunnHighSchool ...............................$2,000 TheatreWorks .............................................$5,000 Youth Community Service .......................$10,000

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund.

E

ach year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to suppor t programs ser ving families and children in the Palo Alto area. Since the Weekly and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation cover all the administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to suppor t community programs through grants to non-profit organizations ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

And with the generous suppor t of matching grants from local foundations, including the Packard and Hewlett foundations, your taxdeductible gift will be doubled in size. A donation of $100 turns into $200 with the foundation matching gifts.

Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help us reach our goal of $350,000 by making a generous contribution to the Holiday Fund.

With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our community helping kids and families.

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled.

You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community. It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

CLICK AND GIVE

Donate online at siliconvalleycf.org/paw-holiday-fund

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________ Name __________________________________________________ Business Name __________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________

Please Make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation and send to: Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040

City/State/Zip ___________________________________________ E-Mail __________________________________________________ Phone ______________________

Q Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX) _____________________________________________ Expires _______/_______ Signature _______________________________________________________ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: (select one)

Non-profits: Grant application and guidelines at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund

Q In my name as shown above – OR –

Q In name of business above:

Q In honor of:

Q In memory of:

Q As a gift for:

________________________________________________ (Name of person) For information on making contributions of appreciated stock, contact Bill Johnson at (650) 326-8210.

The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

All donors and gifts amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

Q I wish to contribute anonymously.

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Q Please withhold the amount of my contribution.

Upfront

Neighborhoods

A roundup of neighborhood news edited by Sue Dremann

AROUND THE BLOCK

NOT ENCHANTED WITH CHANNING ... As neighbors of Channing House in downtown Palo Alto have discovered, construction projects and parking problems sometimes go hand in hand. Some residents who live near the retirement community, which is building a new health care center, have contacted the city, upset by the amount of construction traffic and parking of construction vehicles along residential streets. Linda Clerkson, the city’s spokesperson, acknowledged the neighborhood has experienced frustrations, but she said a number of strategies have helped ease parking woes. Since August 2010, Channing House has employed valet parking service to maximize the use of its on-site parking lot by filling all parking spaces and stacking cars between aisles. The city issued 20 parking permits to the construction company for the Cowper/Webster garage. Work on the garage over the last few months, however, might have temporarily exacerbated the parking situation, she said, but that work was completed last week.

City staff and Channing House continue to investigate additional solutions. Channing House construction should be completed by the end of June, she said. N

Send announcements of neighborhood events, meetings and news to Sue Dremann, Neighborhoods editor, at sdremann@paweekly.com. Talk about your neighborhood news on Town Square at www.PaloAltoOnline.com.

Veronica Weber

HELPING PERRY RECOVER ... Former Palo Alto Weekly Editorial Assistant Karla Kane, a musician and animal lover, has created a benefit album of music with her band, The Corner Laughers, to help pay for injuries sustained by Barron Park donkey Perry. Perry, 18, was bitten on the face, legs and abdomen by a dog Nov. 6, head donkey handler Bob Frost said. The extended-play album is called “To the Donkeys of Barron Park” and contains a song about the famous animals. It is available at cornerlaughers.com/album/ to-the-donkeys-of-barron-park-ep.

Tax-deductible donations to help Perry can also be made through the Palo Alto Donkey Project, Acterra, 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303. Checks should be made out to Acterra Palo Alto Donkey Fund. Perry is improving and is starting to eat a little, Frost said. The German shepherd mix was relinquished to animal control officers in lieu of being euthanized and was moved out of the city, according to Palo Alto Animal Services.

Retired aeronautics engineer Norm Stein talks with Isabel Wu, center, her sister Libbi Wu, left, and Isabella Pissanetzki about the sequence of steps necessary for testing the lift of a model airplane in a wind tunnel during a class taught at his home.

DUVENECK/ST. FRANCIS

Teaching kids to take flight Aeronautical engineer Norman Stein helps kids learn to build planes and wind tunnels

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he contraption in Norm Stein’s Palo Alto driveway could be straight out of a Monty Python skit. The sky-blue structure looks something like a catapult. On its wooden platform sits a primitivelooking, full-size, cloth-and-wood aircraft. It is a replica of the 1898 Langley Aerodrome glider that was built before the Wright Brothers’ first flight.

Stein said the plane will reach 13 mph when it soars along a zipline strung from a backyard tree to the contraption. The fact that the glider has truncated wings does not disturb him. There’s no room in the driveway for a 32-foot wingspan, he said.

Large plastic barrels stop the aircraft. But nothing will stop Stein, 86, from manning the plane for a test flight along the zip line. First, though, he must perfect the shock absorbers and other modifications his daughter, Sandy, is requiring before he takes off, he said.

Stein, a retired Silicon Valley aeronautics engineer, has found a way to share his knowledge and en-

by Sue Dremann thusiasm for flight. Since January he said. The students learned about 2011, he has taught 15-week aero- aerodynamic drag. nautical engineering classes in his “They had to add extra fins on the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood 747 to interact with the turbulence,” garage to middle- and high school- he said of engineers. age students, whom he refers to as a In summer 2011, students built “squadron.” Each week the students a primary glider and the Langley apply math and physics to hands-on glider. They learned not only how projects. and why something flies but, in the During the school year, Introduc- case of the Langley, why it failed. tion to Aeronautical Engineering “It has wings in the front and back class members have made and tested but no control system. The pilot has small-scale aircraft and built their to shift his weight to control it,” own wind tunnels.

Stein said.

Stein said the instruction isn’t Although work on the glider is like that found through model-plane not now part of the regular class, the clubs. plane is still being modified through “There have been a lot of classes Stein’s 511th Aero Engineers Squadwhere kids build model airplanes ron Club. Students enrolled in and fly them, but none on the en- classes automatically qualify to be gineering behind designing the air- members. The club meets outside craft,” he said. of regular class and includes model When the space shuttle made its building and flying, field trips and farewell tour over the Bay Area, other activities.

Stein and the students discussed Besides listening to lectures and its design and why it worked. They performing calculations, students in also looked at modifications to the all classes work on a three-dimen747 on which it piggybacked, which sional project and learn how to cremade it possible to transport a shut- ate engineering drawings. tle that weighed almost the same, This fall they designed hand-

built wind tunnels. A model plane was attached to a moveable platform and connected to digital load cells, which collect wind-tunnel data. The students use the data to solve equations, such as air velocity, height and drag, as a fan blows air across the plane and gently lifts the platform.

They’ll have a competition to build their own airfoil shapes and tunnel-test them, he said.

“It will be competitive, and that really gets exciting,” he said, smiling.

As a boy growing up in Los Angeles, Stein recalled that he was surrounded by influences of the pioneering days of flight. Charles Lindbergh became the hero of the trans-Atlantic flight one year after Stein was born in 1927, and barnstormers were touring all over the U.S. showing off the marvels of airplanes.

Stein worked for Ryan Aeronautical Company in San Diego, Lockheed Corporation (now Lockheed Martin) and McDonnell Douglas (continued on page 16)

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Upfront CRIME

Thousands of pieces of stolen jewelry recovered Police have bagfuls of personal property allegedly stolen by two women

by Sue Dremann

Courtesy of Los Altos Police Department

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os Altos police released photographs of totes and bags full of jewelry and other loot that have been confiscated from two women accused of burglarizing at least 15 to 20 homes. Some of the burglaries took place in Palo Alto and involved “thousands” of pieces of jewelry, a Los Altos police spokesman told the Weekly.

Police found electronics and jewelry at the East Palo Alto residence of Ana Lauese, 35, and Malinda Ladson, 33. The women were arrested Oct. 29 and are suspected of being involved in burglaries going back as far as June, Los Altos police spokesman Sgt. Scott McCrossin said.

Police did not release photos of the pieces of jewelry and other stolen property. Only the victims have seen those pictures in order to prevent other people from falsely claiming the valuables, he said.

But police photos showed a pile of bulging backpacks and bags, stuffed with allegedly stolen goods.

“Each of those bags is filled with jewelry,” McCrossin said.

Since announcing the arrests on Nov. 6, Lauese and Ladson have been charged with nine additional counts of burglary along with the three original charges, he said.

Police have been able to match much of the property with victims, but owners aren’t likely to receive their property for some time. It must remain as evidence for the cases, he said.

Investigators were not able to recover everything for every victim, however. Some of the electronics are missing, and it is likely that the

Los Altos police confiscated a pile of backpacks, totes and bags from two women accused of burglarizing more than a dozen homes in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties since June. most expensive items have been ly 2 p.m. The woman gave a false a home in the 2300 block of St. and Kensington. sold, he said. name to the officer and “exhibited Francis Drive in Palo Alto, police McCrossin said residents should McCrossin said he did not have a suspicious behavior,” according to said. Methamphetamine was also mark their property and store the total value for the ill-gotten booty, police. found in the vehicle. information in a safe place. If items but one victim reportedly lost items The other woman was found Lauese and Ladson have been are stolen, police will have an easier amounting to $100,000, he said. nearby on Higgins Avenue and connected to residential burglar- time of reconnecting owners and A Los Altos officer broke the had a different account of her ies in Santa Clara, San Mateo and their property when the information burglary cases after noticing one reason for being in the neighbor- Contra Costa counties, police said. is looked up in a database. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can of the women sitting in a vehicle hood. A search of Ladson’s ve- They have been tied to thefts in Los parked in the 600 block of Almond hicle turned up jewelry that had Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View, be emailed at sdremann@paweekAvenue on Oct. 29 at approximate- been stolen earlier in the day from San Jose, Redwood City, Belmont ly.com.

Aero

(continued from page 15)

Corp., Bechtel Corporation and Hiller Helicopter.

A helicopter he helped design hangs in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos.

The students perform pretty much the same tests he performed, only scaled down, he said.

“It’s very safe,” he added.

Students are organized into research teams, and each has a turn to be director, platform manager, loadcell manager, data taker and quality program manager. They have squadron titles such as “lieutenant” and “captain.”

Stein said so far one child out of about 14 was definite about a career in aeronautical engineering. But that’s not his main goal. He hopes to awaken the potential in each child, he said.

“It really is something I think about when I see somebody 10 to 12 years old and they do something at the graduate school level,” he said.

Stein has been surprised and delighted by the students’ ingenuity, Page 16ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

he said. One 9-year-old girl, Ana, a fourth-grader at Duveneck Elementary School, even invented a retractor that pivots the propeller so it doesn’t block the driveway when the Langley isn’t being tested.

Ana’s accomplishments were transferred onto a model she built and flew. She and the other students held a flight contest at Rinconada Park with planes they built.

He recalled her reaction after the contest — a response that would warm any teacher’s heart.

“We gave her an extra propeller blade as a recognition of her accomplishment. She held that thing like it was her favorite doll,” he said.

Stein’s winter classes in January 2013 will involve building a model airplane and designing a propeller.

Students can view a video of Stein and the building of the glider at www.aeroengineeringeducation. com. Stein’s daughter, Sandy, has a master’s degree in communications and is helping him develop a video version of the classes, which will soon be available. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

Upfront

Online This Week

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

Audit prompts changes in Palo Alto’s purchasing The City of Palo Alto is re-examining its purchasing policies and switching office-supply providers after a critical audit found that the city could have saved close to $350,000 if it had better contract management. (Posted Nov. 21 at 9:50 a.m.)

HP stock falls on news of acquisition fraud Palo Alto-based HP said Tuesday, Nov. 20, that “accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures� caused it to massively overpay for the British software company Autonomy Inc. last year, which it bought for nearly $11 billion. (Posted Nov. 21 at 9:44 a.m.)

Phone call scams claim to offer utility deals Two scams targeting Palo Alto utilities customers are circulating around the city, and the City of Palo Alto Utilities Department is alerting residents to beware. (Posted Nov. 20 at 3:47 p.m.)

Court triples bail for Elarms’ weapons charges A San Mateo County Superior Court judge has tripled the bail for Gregory Elarms Sr., the suspected killer of East Palo Alto community activist David Lewis. Police said on June 9, 2010, Elarms, 60, lay in wait for Lewis at San Mateo General Hospital where Lewis worked and followed him to a shopping center where he confronted him and shot him once. (Posted Nov. 20 at 3:33 p.m.)

Cooler weather brings carbon monoxide warning As temperatures around the Bay Area start to cool and heaters are turned on, residents are being reminded to have working carbon monoxide alarms at home to prevent accidental gas poisonings. (Posted Nov. 20 at 9:02 a.m.)

Man hit and killed by Caltrain in Palo Alto Caltrain service was back on schedule Tuesday morning, Nov. 20, after a train fatally struck a man on the tracks in Palo Alto earlier in the day, an agency spokeswoman said. (Posted Nov. 20 at 7:04 a.m.)

Two men robbed at gunpoint at Foothill College Two men were robbed at gunpoint Monday morning, Nov. 19, at Foothill College, a campus spokesman said. According to law enforcement officials, no one was hurt during the robbery. (Posted Nov. 19 at 2:37 p.m.)

Palo Alto reflects on Ellen Fletcher’s legacy The life of Ellen Fletcher, a longtime Palo Alto councilwoman who helped transform the city into one of the nation’s most bikefriendly communities, was celebrated Sunday, Nov. 18, at a memorial service, where city leaders, bike advocates and members of Fletcher’s family paid tribute to the iconic leader. (Posted Nov. 19 at 9:42 a.m.)

Man shot and killed in Menlo Park is identified Early Saturday evening, Nov. 17, gunshots left a dead man in their wake on Ivy Drive in Menlo Park. His wife survived. The man was identified as Carey Cudlip, 42, of Newark, according to the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office. (Posted Nov. 18 at 8:05 p.m.)

FutureProfits (continued from page 13)

helps to develop and figure out what resources you have,� Ingram said.

FutureProfits’ volunteers come to classrooms where the curriculum can be relevant, such as economics or business math classes. In some classrooms, the students are evaluated on participation. Other classrooms tie students’ grades to their performance on FutureProfits’ pre- and post-tests, which are given for each of the four units. Lowperforming students have improved by 44 percent, and all students on average have improved 19 percent, according to staff.

Liotti acknowledges that FutureProfits’ outcomes have to be observed beyond test scores. “That’s the challenge. To make a culture shift in the lives of a student like this takes a long time,� he said.

The 300-page curriculum has sold about 500 copies and has been implemented in a few cities across the nation. There have been discussions about expanding, but Liotti wants the program to make deep inroads

into the local community first. FutureProfits is currently at five local high schools. “We would like to be in every school that has low-income students in the Peninsula,� Liotti said. “So talking about local scale, absolutely.

National scale, we don’t know yet.�

Before co-founding Able Works, Liotti worked with runaway children in Hollywood and with refugees in Mexico. These experiences showed him his desire to start addressing issues at the systemic level. “It began with a frustration, with really wanting to see the systems of poverty broken,� he said. “We felt like we wanted to take a step back and try to create programs and projects that dealt with the systems of poverty and the systems of injustice.�

It’s why volunteers such as LeeNette Merino joined FutureProfits. “I want people to learn that they can be free from being a slave to money, especially for kids,� Merino, a mechanical engineer, said.

During the budgeting activity, Merino shared her experiences living abroad, comparing the cost of living to that of San Francisco.

“The cost of living, where I come from in Southeast Asia, is ridiculous because to meet your basic needs, it’s only about one dollar a day for the poorest of the poor,� Merino said.

FutureProfits program manager Ingram encourages the volunteers to share these types of stories. “We find that students will remember a smaller percentage of the information they are taught, but they will almost (always) remember stories and things that relate to them,� she said. “And so we try to encourage volunteers to share their personal stories so that they are able to build a personal relationship with the students.�

Business math teacher Peter Taryokis appreciates the insight that the volunteers bring into the classroom. “It’s nice to have examples from the community who are actually in business to say that, ‘Hey, this isn’t just something in the book. This is people from the community who really think you need these same skills we are talking about,’� he said. N Editorial Intern Haiy Le can be emailed a hle@paweekly.com.

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PUBLIC NOTICE FORMER NAVAL AIR STATION MOFFETT FIELD Restoration Advisory Board Meeting

East Palo Alto man shot in leg A man was shot in the leg in East Palo Alto Friday night, Nov. 16, according to police. Officers received a 911 hang-up call from Hibiscus Court at 7:19 p.m. They responded to the area and found evidence of a shooting. (Posted Nov. 17 at 11:16 a.m.)

Downtown parking enforcement eased for holidays Parking restrictions in Palo Alto’s downtown shopping district will be temporarily relaxed through Jan. 1 to allow shoppers and visitors more time for holiday shopping, the City of Palo Alto has announced.

(Posted Nov. 16 at 10:51 a.m.)

Ronald McDonald House expansion wins key vote A bid by the Ronald McDonald House to build a three-story addition at its Palo Alto facility scored a major victory Wednesday night, Nov. 14, when the Planning and Transportation Commission voiced enthusiastic support for the project. (Posted Nov. 16 at 9:02 a.m.)

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November 2012 The next regular meeting of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) for former Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field will be held on:

Thursday, November 29, 2012, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at: Mountain View Senior Center Social Hall 266 Escuela Avenue Mountain View, CA 94040-1813 The RAB reviews and comments on plans and activities about the ongoing environmental studies and restoration activities underway at Moffett Field. Regular RAB meetings are open to the public and the Navy encourages your involvement.

To review documents on Moffett Field environmental restoration projects, please visit the information repository located at the Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin St., Mountain View, CA 94041, (650) 903-6337.

For more information, contact Mr. Scott Anderson, Navy Base Realignment and Closure Environmental Coordinator at (619) 532-0938 or scott.d.anderson@navy.mil.

Visit the Navy’s website: http://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/basepage.aspx?baseid=52&state=California&name=moffett ĂœĂœĂœÂ°*>Â?Âœ Â?ĂŒÂœ"˜Â?ˆ˜i°VÂœÂ“ĂŠUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ ÂœĂ›i“LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 17

Upfront

Looking for a

Holiday Party Venue?

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• Company Parties •Weddings •Business Off-sites

inquiry@womansclubofpaloalto.org 650.321.5821 475 Homer Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301

CITY OF PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT NOTICE OF CITY MANAGER’S PUBLIC HEARING CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Palo Alto City Manager will consider the application of Stanford Yellow Cab Inc. for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate a taxicab service in the City of Palo Alto under the business name of Stanford Yellow Cab Inc., at a special meeting on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 9:30AM, at Cubberley Community Center, located at 4000 Middlefield Road Room A-7, Palo Alto.

Lytton Plaza (continued from page 5)

McNellis wrote. “That is the situation now.”

Palo Alto has been struggling with the issue for more than a year.

Staff has held stakeholder meetings in hopes of reaching a compromise with downtown workers and musicians on possible sound limits. The Parks and Recreation Commission considered various proposals, including one that would have required permits for all amplified sound, but decided in August to support a less stringent rule change. Plugging in will remain free on a first-come, firstserve basis, but users will now have to purchase permits if they wish to reserve an outlet for a specific time slot.

The other change that the council made to the staff proposal is the permit fee. While staff and the

Trails

(continued from page 5)

COMMUNITY MEETING Safe Routes to School for Duveneck & Escondido Review and comment on Draft Walk and Roll Maps and Route Improvements

Tuesday, November 27, 7:00-8:30 PM Duveneck Elementary, 705 Alester Avenue

Wednesday, December 5, 7:00-8:30 PM Escondido Elementary, 890 Escondido Road The Palo Alto Safe Routes to School program is documenting suggested routes to school and identifying opportunities for engineering improvements and enforcement which, when combined with safety education and promotion activities, will encourage more families to choose alternatives to driving to school solo.

More info: Contact Sylvia Star-Lack at saferoutes@cityofpaloalto.org or (650) 329-2156

center for russian, east european & eurasian studies

committed to seeking other funding sources and spending its own money to supplement the county’s contributions.

The bike bridge could cost up to $10 million, though Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez said the city is now in the midst of preliminary design work and should have a better idea of the price tag within six months.

Rodriguez also praised Stanford’s trail proposal and called the Stanford Avenue trail “the single most important element of the trail program because of its nexus to Stanford residents.”

Stanford officials and campus residents asserted that the projects would create a pristine trail network for area cyclists and employees while, at the same time, greatly enhancing recreational opportunities for the university’s population. James Sweeney, president of the Stanford Campus Residential Leaseholders — an elected board representing the campus population — urged the board to support the perimeter-trail proposal.

“The Stanford perimeter trail will give opportunities to people of all ages — and I want to emphasize

commission proposed a $90 fee, the council directed staff to set a fee at such a level as to reach “full cost recovery” for the city, with the amount not exceeding $200.

The initial proposal to ban amplified sound at the popular plaza drew criticism from musicians, who use the plaza both on an ad hoc basis and for organized jam sessions on Friday evenings. But after months of meetings, the merchants, the musicians and the city reached the compromise that was reflected in the most recent proposal. Susan Webb, who organizes the Friday jam sessions, asked the council not to shift the starting hour for amplified sound from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. but otherwise supported the new restrictions. These include having the city remotely shut off the power at the plaza outlet at 11 p.m.

“We need music. We need culture in town,” Webb told the council, though she added that she supports

turning down the music when it gets late enough.

“It helps me to get the power shut off at 11 p.m.,” Webb said. “That means I don’t have to rail at those pesky musicians who want to play until 3 a.m.”

Russ Cohen, executive director of the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association, also praised the restrictions. Like Webb, he stressed the importance of having music at the plaza. But acoustic music could do the trick, he said.

“That’s what we’re talking about — the difference between amplified music and acoustic music during daylight hours,” Cohen said.

“What you have before you is a very reasonable program. It does not prevent musicians from coming to Lytton Plaza and playing, as long as it’s not amplified.”

The council generally agreed with Cohen.

all ages — for adequate recreation suitable to their physical capabilities,” Sweeney said, noting that campus residents include seniors and parents with children.

“It’s part of an integrated set of trails in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so I urge you to support the whole StanfordPalo Alto proposal,” Sweeney said.

Penny Ellson, a leading advocate for bike improvements along Palo Alto’s routes to schools, said the proposals from Stanford and Palo Alto would greatly enhance commuters’ abilities to shift from cars to other means of transportation.

The Palo Alto Unified School District also voted to back the city’s and Stanford’s proposal. Dana Tom, vice president of the school board, urged the supervisors to support the application.

The biggest disagreement on the board was over the Dumbarton Link in the Ravenswood Open Space Preserve. Kniss said the proposed Ravenswood trail would provide recreational opportunities for East Palo Alto, a city that she said currently has a shortage of parks.

“This would considerably add to that community’s ability to have more access, especially to the environment along the bay,” Kniss said.

She and Cortese both supported

giving the project $2 million. It would have built the last 0.6-mile segment in the South Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay Trail, connecting Redwood City to Alviso.

When their proposal failed, they grudgingly voted along with the board majority to give the project $400,000.

“It’s all good, but it’s a classic case of ‘the rich get richer and the poor stay where they’re at,’” Cortese said.

Kniss, who is about to conclude her term on the board and return to her former position on the Palo Alto City Council, agreed and said it’s “very regrettable that we didn’t fund more of the Bay Trail connection.”

Supporters of funding Stanford’s entire perimeter-trails proposal said they were swayed by the fact that the university had agreed to designate the existing trails for public use.

The list of projects that the board ultimately approved was proposed

by Supervisor Ken Yeager and immediately endorsed by board President George Shirakawa. Supervisor Mike Wasserman was the swing vote, while Kniss and Cortese voted along with their colleagues when it became clear the Yeager proposal would pass. N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

(continued on next page)

The Legacy of

Alexander Herzen on the th anniversary of his birth

a roundtable discussion Tue., November

ENCINA HALL WEST, ROOM stanford university Page 18ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

Upfront (continued from previous page)

“I think this is an appropriate compromise,” Klein said. “I like the spirit in which this was conducted. I do think this will require a certain amount of self-policing by the music groups, and I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Klein compared the first-come, first-serve process at the plaza to basketball courts: Demand frequently exceeds supply, but teams have a way of sorting out who will play when. Espinosa supported Klein’s proposal for full-cost recovery and agreed with the downtown businesses that amplified music should be turned down. He recalled visiting some downtown offices and said the music from the plaza made it feel like he was at a rock concert.

Karen Holman was the sole councilmember who felt the resolution didn’t go far enough. She called for an outright ban on amplified sound at Lytton Plaza, though her proposal didn’t win the support of any of her colleagues.

“I hear our community getting louder and louder,” Holman said, adding that this becomes particularly apparent when she goes to another town.

“Sometimes, the difference is stunning to me,” Holman said. “I’m a supporter of music and the arts and the free speech and all that. But I don’t know if from my perspective all of that is dependent on amplification.” N

Candlelight Service

CityView A round-up of

An Annual Community Gathering of Remembrance

Palo Alto government action this week

Please Join Us

City Council (Nov. 19)

For an evening of remembrance where readings on the themes of Love, Hope, Memory & Courage come together with live music and culminate in the candle lighting ceremony to honor those we have loved and lost.

Parking: The council voted to extend the moratorium on a parking exemption for downtown developments for 30 days, with the expectation that it will be further extended in December. Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Price, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh Absent: Scharff Lytton Plaza: The council voted to set time restrictions on amplified sound at Lytton Plaza. Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Klein, Price, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh No: Holman Absent: Scharff

Council Policy and Services Committee (Nov. 20)

Vehicle habitation: The committee voted to create a pilot program for vehicle dwellers that would consider using city-owned lots to provide space for them. Yes: Espinosa, Holman, Schmid No: Klein Office: The committee discussed the recent audit of the city’s process for purchasing office supplies and heard from Administrative Services Department staff about its response to the audit. The committee voted to accept the audit. Yes: Unanimous

Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 7pm

Public Agenda

(directly behind the Kara office on Kingsley Avenue)

Generously hosted by:

First Presbyterian Church 1140 Cowper Street, Palo Alto Parking can be a challenge. We urge you to arrive early.

A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week

For more information on Kara or our Candlelight Service, call 650-321-5272 or visit www.Kara-Grief.org

CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no meetings scheduled next week.

PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss the development proposed for 27 University Ave. and its impact on recreation; and discuss the draft scope for the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss the proposed reconfiguration of the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, which is being modified to accommodate the San Francisquito Creek flood-control project. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

ANNOUNCING T H E 2 7 TH A N N U A L PA L O A L T O W E E K L Y

MEDIA SPONSORS

JUDGES: ADULT/YOUNG ADULT

PRIZES

Tom Parker, Award winning novelist and short story writer, UC Extension and Foothill College Instructor and former Stanford Instructor Meg Waite Clayton, is the nationally best selling author of The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, and The Bellwether Prize finalist The Language of Light.

Ellen Sussman Author of New York Times best selling novel French Lessons and San Francisco Chronicle best seller On A Night Like This

CHILDREN/TEEN Katy Obringer, Former supervisor of Palo Alto Children’s Library Caryn Huberman Yacowitz, Playwright and Children’s book author Nancy Etchemendy, Children’s book author

New online submission

ENTRY DEADLINE:

All Writers: December 28, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

FOR ADULTS: $500 Cash - FIRST PLACE $300 Cash - SECOND PLACE $200 Cash - THIRD PLACE FOR YOUNG ADULT/CHILDREN/TEEN: $100 Gift Certificate - FIRST PLACE $75 Gift Certificate - SECOND PLACE $50 Gift Certificate - THIRD PLACE Certificates are from co-sponsoring area bookstores.

Bell’s Books (*ages 15-17) Kepler’s (*ages 12-14) Linden Tree (*ages 9-11) *age as of entry deadline

All adult winners and first place young winners in each category will be announced in the Palo Alto Weekly in February 2013.

All winning stories will be published online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

CONTEST RULES

1. The contest is open to anyone who lives, works or attends school full-time in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Stanford, Portola Valley, Woodside, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and East Palo Alto.

2. Limit of one entry per person.

3. Stories must be typed, double-spaced. Maximum 2,500 words. Longer stories will be disqualified.

4. $15 entry fee, along with 2 hard copies, for all ADULT stories; $5 entry fee for YOUNG WRITERS under 18. Make checks payable to “Palo Alto Weekly.”

5. Entries may not have been previously published.

6. Signed entry form must accompany story. Author’s name should NOT appear anywhere on pages of story.

7. All winners are required to email their story to the Palo Alto Weekly in a Microsoft Word Document as an attachment.

Mail manuscripts to: Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302 or deliver to 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto Questions: shortstory@paweekly.com ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 19

CITY OF PALO ALTO NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Palo Alto City Council will hold a public hearing at the regular Council meeting on Monday, December 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. or as near thereafter as possible, in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, To Consider Extending through December 20, 2013 a Moratorium on the Use of Certain Parking Exemptions contained in Section 18.52.060(c) of of the Zoning Ordinance Related to the Downtown and California Avenue Parking Assessment Areas; and Consideration of Potential Exceptions from the Moratorium for Proposed Projects at 135 Hamilton Avenue and 636 Waverley Street.

DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC City Clerk

CITY OF PALO ALTO NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Palo Alto City Council will hold a public hearing at the regular Council meeting on Monday, December 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. or as near thereafter as possible, in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, to consider Approval of a Record of Land Use Action for a Preliminary Parcel Map with Exceptions to Subdivide an oversized Single Family Residential lot into two lots, resulting in parcels having a width of 55.845 feet where the R-1 Zone standard minimum width is 60 feet and Approval of a Negative Declaration at 827 Chimalus Drive.

Pulse

Atherton Nov. 15-19

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

POLICE CALLS

Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/ property damage . . . .2 Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Miscellaneous Construction complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .3 Town ordinance violation . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Weapons charge violation . . . . . . . . . . .1

Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Other/misc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Palo Alto Nov. 15-20 Violence related Child abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Checks forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Residential burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Vehicle related Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .6 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lost/stolen plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .5 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .6 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Animal call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Menlo Park Nov. 15-19 Violence related Spousal abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Murder/homicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Vehicle related Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .3 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .3 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Alcohol or drug related Drug activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Concealed weapon in vehicle . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

VIOLENT CRIMES Palo Alto 700 block Middlefield Road, 11/15, 4:09 p.m.; child abuse/neglect.

Unlisted block Laguna Way, 11/17, 12:45 p.m.; domestic violence/battery.

Menlo Park 700 block Coleman Avenue, 11/17, 1:54 p.m.; spousal abuse.

300 block Ivy Drive, 11/17, 6:33 p.m.; murder/homicide.

A NNOUNCING

THE 27 TH A NNUAL PALO ALTO WEEKLY

DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC City Clerk

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING of the City of Palo Alto Historic Resources Board [HRB] 8:00 A.M., Wednesday, Decembere 5, 2012 Palo Alto Council Chambers, 1st Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue. Go to the Development Center at 285 Hamilton Avenue to review filed documents; contact Diana Tamale for information regarding business hours at 650.329.2144.

261 Hamilton Avenue: Study session for a presentation, public comment and HRB discussion regarding a historic rehabilitation of the building at 261 Hamilton Avenue (University Arts. Rehabilitation work would occur at the exerting storefronts, title roof, decorative metalwork, and life-safety components of the building. The project would include conversion of the existing basement floor area (approximately 10,000 square feet) to automobile parking and the transfer of the basement floor area to a new three-story addition at the rear of the building. ). The project would include a historic rehabilitation floor area bonus of 2,500 square feet that would be sold through the City’s Transfer Development Rights program.

27 University Avenue: Study session for a presentation, public comment and HRB discussion of urban design concepts, land use and modifications to sites of and adjacent to historic resources, related to a potential Arts and Innovation District project involving establishment of a performing arts theater and contemporary office space. The site is within the area bounded by El Camino Real, University Avenue, the improved areas of El Camino Park, and the Caltrain Station/Mitchell Lane Right of Way. The site concept includes: (1) removal of two buildings from the site; the 1918 Julia Morgan building (a.k.a. Hostess House/Veteran’s Memorial Building/first Palo Alto Community Center), Category 1 Resource #399 on the Palo Alto Historic Inventory, a National Register of Historic Places Landmark (#895), and listed on the State Historic Register, and the 1947 American Red Cross Chapter House building (not listed on inventory/not registered), (2) relocation of the Intermodal Transit Center from Mitchell Lane to a transit circle “Ring Road” (involving expansion of the University Avenue Underpass bridge (c. 1941) width) and Urban Lane in order to enhance transit accessibility and capacity, and (3) improved pedestrian connections across the site including those from the CalTrain Depot (aka Southern Pacific Depot, Category 1 Resource #400 on the Palo Alto Historic Resources Inventory).

Steven Turner, Advance Planning Manager Page 20ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

JUDGES:

PRIZES FOR ADULTS:

ADULT/YOUNG ADULT Tom Parker, Award winning novelist and short story writer, UC Extension and Foothill College Instructor and former Stanford Instructor Meg Waite Clayton, is the nationally best selling author of The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, and The Bellwether Prize finalist The Language of Light.

Ellen Sussman, Author of New York Times best selling novel French Lessons and San Francisco Chronicle best seller On A Night Like This

CHILDREN/TEEN Katy Obringer, Former supervisor of Palo Alto Children’s Library Caryn Huberman Yacowitz, Playwright and Children’s book author Nancy Etchemendy, Children’s book author

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All adult winners and first place young winners in each category will be announced in the Palo Alto 7ii ÞÊ Ê iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÓä£Î°Ê ÊÜ }ÊÃÌ À iÃÊÜ ÊLiÊ«ÕL à i`Ê iÊ>ÌÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

Transitions

Births, marriages and deaths

Deaths Shelly Thorwaldson A memorial service was held Saturday, Nov. 17, for Michelle “Shelly�

Thorwaldson, a longtime resident of the Midpeninsula who “mothered� literally scores of young persons through the youth group of the Peninsula Christian Center of Redwood City and her home-based preschool child care business.

She died Oct. 24 following a year’s battle with ovarian cancer and related complications and following two weeks of visits — with joking, talking and singing as her condition allowed — by family, friends and even a number of young persons she had nurtured at some point in their lives, mostly through the Peninsula Christian Center of Redwood City.

She and her husband, the Rev. Ben Thorwaldson, raised in Menlo Park, were the parents of three children: Matea, 12, Logan, 9, and Nicholas, 6.

For the past four years, they were engaged in founding a new branch of the church in El Dorado Hills, suspended due to her illness.

In an unusual gesture, she and Ben decided to share the cancer experience through Facebook and an email list, chronicling in some detail the ups and downs, hopes and disappointments, and painful episodes, of the cancer and treatment.

Citing her “fierce love and support� in his life, Ben in announcing her passing at the Roseville Kaiser Permanente Hospital summed up a major part of her life: “All who knew Shelly loved Shelly, and her legacy will live on in all of our lives. She has been another mother to a generation of children and young adults, and radiated God’s love to all who came in contact with her.�

A native of San Bernardino, she moved with her family to Fresno at a young age before settling in the Bay Area and becoming involved in the Peninsula Christian Center, where she was deeply involved for more than 30 years. She also did church work around the world, including in Hong Kong, the Philippines, China, Ireland, Alaska and Mexico.

She and Ben met through the church school, where she taught, and they became best friends. They married in 1991 and spent the next 16 years growing the youth group many times over, often involving young persons confronting difficult situations at home.

She was known in the church for her beautiful singing voice.

They also organized the annual pre-Christmas “Living Bethlehem� on a vacant lot on Middlefield Road across from the church complex, attended by many thousands of persons from throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Real livestock, from camels to donkeys, sheep and horses, were a major feature, along with a choir of angels and Roman soldiers on patrol.

For four years prior to her cancer diagnosis they had been establish-

ing a small discussion-based church in El Dorado Hills, convening in homes and coffee shops — reminiscent of early Christianity in the first centuries after the crucifixion of Christ.

In addition to their children, she is survived by her mother, Heidi Woodward, and stepfather, David; her father, Wesley McAllister, and stepmother, Roberta; and her older sister, Vicki Gravell, and husband, Ron, and family.

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Births David and Erin Sobota of Los Altos, a son, Oct. 18.

Christopher and Leanne Leibman of Palo Alto, a daughter, Oct. 26.

Kyle and Lucretia Peschel of Menlo Park, a son, Oct. 29.

Prashant Ramanathan and Priya Subramanian of Mountain View, a son, Oct. 30.

Eric and Wendy Altman of Menlo Park, a daughter, Oct. 31.

Bradley Weill and Michelle Manning-Weill of Mountain View, a daughter, Nov. 3.

Knute and Rachel Ream of Menlo Park, a son, Nov. 5.

Richard and Krystal Holm of Portola Valley, a daughter, Nov. 8.

John and Kathryn Simpson of Woodside, a son, Nov. 8.

Okan Arikan and Leslie Ikemoto of Mountain View, a daughter, Nov. 12.

!

Khaled Hosseini Author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

Fri., Nov. 30 | 7:30 p.m.

Adult: $10, Student: $5

Enjoy a Private Reception with the Author!

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Includes a personalized copy of “A Thousand Splendid Suns� with inscription, appetizers and a reserved seat at 7:30 presentation.

Visit

Lasting Memories Entry Deadline Dec. 28 For details, go to PaloAltoOnline.com

Photo by John Dolan

An online directory of obituaries and remembrances.

Search obituaries, submit a memorial, share a photo.

Go to: www.PaloAltoOnline.com/obituaries

RSVP Required

Tickets: www.harker.org All proceeds from both events will be donated to the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.

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Editorial Holiday Fund gifts focus on those in need

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eyond the trim, tree-lined streets of Palo Alto are families with children who may not have enough to eat, or adequate clothing or may have a shortage of appropriate books to read. These and many others who just need a helping hand are among those reached every year by one of the 50-plus nonprofit organizations that are supported by the Weekly’s annual Holiday Fund drive, which last year raised more than $350,000 from readers and generous foundations.

We urge readers to continue their strong support of the Holiday Fund, which is underway now, for despite the slowly improving economic conditions in the Silicon Valley, there is need for help right here in our own community or in neighboring East Palo Alto. Donations received before mid-January will help us reach our goal of $350,000.

A key advantage of supporting the Holiday Fund is knowing your gift will be doubled by matching funds provided by the Hewlett, Packard, Peery and Arrillaga foundations, as well as proceeds from the Weekly’s Moonlight Run. Due to this generous help the Holiday Fund can help make a significant difference in a broad array of organizations, like the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula and Breast Cancer Connections.

The successful grant applications received last year survived a thorough vetting process conducted by the Weekly. Fifty-five organizations made the final cut and received grants ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 all the way up to $20,000 for Project Safety Net for a specific project.

We believe our readers are up to the task. In terms of value, both human and financial, there is no better investment. All grants benefit children and families, and there are no overhead costs — so 100 percent of every donation goes to grants, and matching funds double the value of the donations. Make this the year that you either continue donating to the Holiday Fund or begin a lasting relationship that will help support more than 50 nonprofit organizations in our community.

For example, Collective Roots received $7,500 to teach adults in East Palo Alto about self-sufficiency, nutrition, cooking and how to start a home garden. Other grants went to Mayfield Community Health Center ($10,000) for an obesity prevention program using a new electronic health records system that can monitor patients at risk of obesity and related health problems; East Palo Alto Youth Court ($3,000) for an alternative youth-run mock court program for first-time juvenile offenders referred by the East Palo Alto Police Department with youth serving as attorneys, judge, jury and bailiffs; and Palo Alto Youth Collaborative ($10,000) to stage youth-oriented events and forums designed to train students in ways to respond to friends in crisis, and to develop an online youth calendar of events.

Whether through the Holiday Fund or directly in other ways, we hope our readers will pause to help those in need and support the good work of our local nonprofits.

Spectrum Editorials, letters and opinions

Outdated vision of city Editor, Only in Palo Alto will you find “environmentalists” whose main goal is to preserve the city in amber as it was in the 1970s. In the same edition, a letter-writer complained that traffic is a “virus” destroying the city.

Traffic is the byproduct of Palo Alto’s desirability as a place to live and do business. The truly environmental approach to reducing traffic would involve increasing density and investing in better transit. This would put more residents within walking distance of shops and amenities, reduce car trips, and strengthen our city center.

How sad, then, that the City of Palo Alto opposed transforming El Camino into a Rapid Transit corridor, and that a proposal to increase height limits has generated such controversy. Those who complain about tall buildings and oppose better transit are short-sighted hypocrites: They won’t support improved transit, yet they kvetch about cars clogging our streets.

They cling to an outdated vision of their city as a small town when lack of density exacerbates every problem about which they complain.

Sergio Bacallado Tasso Street Palo Alto

Careless city spending

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund.

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________ Name __________________________________________________ Business Name __________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________________ E-Mail _____________________________________Phone __________________ Q Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX) ___________________________________ Expires _______/_______ Signature ___________________________________ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: (select one) Q In my name as shown above – OR – Q In name of business above: Q In honor of: Q In memory of: Q As a gift for: ________________________________________________ (Name of person) For information on making contributions of appreciated stock, contact Bill Johnson at (650) 326-8210.

The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

All donors and gifts amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

Q I wish to contribute anonymously. Q Please withhold the amount of my contribution.

Please make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation and send to: Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040

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Editor, I’m writing in response to the article (Palo Alto Weekly, Nov. 16) titled, “Audit: Palo Alto spends too much on office supplies.” Quite frankly, the facts reported in this article were a disgrace. Not only does the city waste hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money, they then spend thousands of dollars to audit an obvious problem that any second grader could have discovered on their own. Then they blame the mistake on Staples instead of the people paying the bills. Finally, the auditor concludes with assurances that the city is addressing these problems by putting in more controls, policies and procedures that will likely cost even more taxpayer money.

If this is what goes on in Palo Alto’s office supply expense account, imagine how much waste is going into the multi-million dollar projects that the city is involved in.

More importantly, the auditor and the reporter don’t address the core issue: Whenever people are tasked with spending other people’s money, you can be sure they are not paying attention to how much they are spending. This is a fact of government and explains the huge amounts of waste that occurs in our local, state and federal government.

The only real solution is to eliminate this conflict by taking

the money out of city bureaucrats’ hands. Any other type of solution will result in more waste of hardearned taxpayers’ money.

Seavan Sternheim Ross Road Palo Alto

A simple solution?

Editor, Am I naive? Why not simply designate an existing downtown garage with free parking for lower-paid downtown employees like sales persons, service workers, nonmanagement and non-professional out-of-town commuters who work in Palo Alto? Wouldn’t it be less expensive than the costs of more meetings, more studies, more residential parking permit initiatives (not to mention the cost of salaries to plan and police them); planning process costs; the design and then the building of more new garages when those we have aren’t being fully used? It strikes this former Palo Altan as both a simple and immediate solution.

Anne Hillman Alamos Road Portola Valley

Dine for Kids’ success Editor, We would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone in this great community who supported Palo Alto Community Child Care and its Ninth Annual Dine For Kids event. Thirty-seven Palo Alto restaurants, several generous business sponsors (including the Palo Alto Weekly), Palo Alto Community Child Care’s terrific staff, board of directors, devoted families, and hundreds of diners ate well while supporting Palo Alto Community Child Care on Nov. 8. All proceeds of the event support Palo Alto Community Child Care’s Family Partnership Program, which provides quality childcare to low-income families in our community.

Thank you to all of our supporters and we look forward to celebrating our 10th Annual Dine For Kids on Nov. 14, 2013.

Janice Shaul Executive Director PACCC

WHAT DO YOU THINK? The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

?

Should people be allowed to sleep in their cars in Palo Alto?

Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com.

Submit guest opinions of 1,000 words to editor@paweekly.com. Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you.

We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted. Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.

For more information contact Editor Jocelyn Dong or Editorial Assistant Eric Van Susteren at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.

Check out Town Square!

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

On Deadline

‘Spillover parking’ has plagued some neighborhoods for decades

by Jay Thorwaldson ong-ago City Manager George Morgan summed it up about 40 years ago: “There will always be a parking problem” in downtown Palo Alto, he told me during one of our regular briefing sessions.

Morgan added that when he was hired as assistant to the city manager in 1952 that then-City Manager Jerry Keithley assigned him to “fix the downtown parking problem.”

Despite Morgan’s best efforts, the problem was still there 20 years later. Growth in jobs and new developments overwhelmed efforts to alleviate the parking situation.

And the problem’s still there, as the City Council acknowledged at its Nov. 13 meeting.

Council members sent city staff back to the “more study” school with a three-month timeline to return — with some brilliant solutions.

Several council members cited an urgency to do something, and the council voted 8-to-1 to move forward. The lone dissenter was Councilwoman Karen Holman, who objected that there were no firm deadlines attached.

The problem has multiple facets, some dating back decades, particularly (but not exclusively) in the hard-hit “Professorville” area south of downtown.

First, there have nearly always been more employees in the downtown area — once estimated at about 6,000 in the mid-1980s — than there are long-term parking spaces. Time limits become their own problem.

Employees either have to rush out every two

L

or three hours to move cars, at significant cost in productivity for their company and at a high risk of getting an expensive parking ticket if their timing is off. Permit parking is available, but it’s pricey and (shudder) involves dealing with city bureaucracy.

Second, shoppers from all over Palo Alto and neighboring communities regularly complain about finding parking when they want to go to stores or restaurants in downtown. Being Americans, many find walking more than a half block to be unacceptable — eliminating use of the parking structures sprinkled around the area.

Some shoppers or diners have vowed never again to visit downtown Palo Alto after they were caught by the time limits or parking restrictions of the color zones with odd color names, such as teal, coral and others. For many years, parking meters were used to keep spaces turning over, but those were removed years ago and replaced with color zones. Some merchants used the posts to support flowerpots.

Third, many employees (and owners) of the 800 or so businesses estimated in the area have discovered that walking isn’t so bad if you can park all day for free in an adjacent neighborhood, without risking a parking ticket — which seem to have inflated over the years greater than gasoline. Some persons have reported spending up to $100 or even $200 some months on parking fines. That makes walking look better and better.

Fourth, but parking in neighborhoods and walking to work doesn’t look so good to residents in single-family residential areas of Downtown North or South of Forest Avenue (SOFA). During some periods of severe spillover there have been confrontations between residents and parkers, and residents have left

testy notes on windshields. In some areas, small homes lack offstreet parking or garages, making the problem particularly irritating.

Years back, residents were polled on whether they wanted to have “resident permits” for curbside parking, but so far most residents have resisted that concept.

There’s a smaller scale but just as stubborn spillover-parking problem in the California Avenue business district between El Camino Real and the CalTrain tracks — and there are pockets of spillover cars parked elsewhere in town.

Finally, there’s an underlying issue of city approval of large developments, one of the largest of which is still pending: the Arrillaga proposal for office towers and a live-theater complex.

Past efforts to address the problem have included a 1980s “Parking/Transportation Task Force” under the Chamber of Commerce and a follow-up committee to advocate adding new parking structures.

The idea of the task force, which I co-chaired, was that parking overflow and how one gets to work are opposite sides of the same coin and need to be addressed as one problem. City staffer Marvin Overway had crews restripe the 1950s-size on-street parking spaces to smallercar spaces, creating about 140 new spots at virtually no cost.

The parking-structure initiative was pushed by developer Chop Keenan, who was skeptical of “alternative transportation” efforts. He aggressively and successfully pushed for new structures, and remains a strong advocate.

Two residents in particular — one each from north and south of downtown — have raised critical voices about the city’s approach this time around.

Ken Alsman of Professorville, a professional planner by background and current owner of an

antique store, says the effort to find solutions “has been horribly mismanaged and horribly planned.” He says there is a “systemic deficit” with “no viable data” about it.

Neilson Buchanan, a resident of the 100 block of Bryant Street north of downtown, questions the adequacy of staff efforts to address, or even define, the systemic deficit. A parked-vehicles study is underway this month (November) that could give some answers, but perhaps not enough. And the area studied should be extended, he advocates.

An informal “parking committee” of residents who are working with city staff needs to be formalized and strengthened, he says: “If the traffic and parking situation is as critical as some council members indicated (Nov. 13), then the informal parking committee is an example of inadequate due process being applied to a major public issue.”

And he feels the city should link parkingoverflow to approval of new projects, through assessing the “parking impact of every new development project.”

Ironically, both Buchanan and Alsman have past experience with spillover parking on neighbors. Buchanan was once CEO of the El Camino Hospital District, and Alsman worked with him as a Mountain View planning-staff member on parking issues relating to the hospital.

But the overriding question remains: Can the city this time prove George Morgan’s prediction wrong?

Or will there always be a downtown parking problem? N Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson can be e-mailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly. com with a copy to jaythor@well.com. He also blogs at www.PaloAltoOnline.com (below Town Square).

Streetwise

Which charities are you donating to this season, or which would you recommend?

Asked on Homer Avenue and California Avenue, Palo Alto. Interviews and photographs by Pierre Bienaimé and Haiy Le.

Earl Dworkin

Owner of a medical insurance agency Otterson Court, Palo Alto “The All Saints Church on Hamilton and Waverley. They do an outstanding job with the food closet throughout the area.”

Lauren McDonnell

Operations at a software startup Stanford Park/Allied Arts, Menlo Park “The Ronald McDonald House. They provide housing for families whose children are getting medical treatment at Stanford Hospital. It really helps them out financially.”

Mark Garcia

Retired Willow Road, Menlo Park “You know, I give to whichever organized charity is on the corner working for it.”

Sharon Jordan

Tripiano Court, Mountain View “Second Harvest Food Bank. I like what they do. They actually take what they get and give it to the needy without much of a middle man.”

Eric Day

Scientist Emerson Street “I always donate to Special Olympics because I think sports are great for all kids, especially those with disabilities.”

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Spectrum

Home is where the heart is.

Guest Opinion

Will Palo Alto rise up to defeat mega projects?

By Dick Rosenbaum eptember was quite a month for development proposals in Palo Alto. First there was Jay Paul’s proposal for 311,000 square feet of office space in the California Avenue area, and two weeks later, Stanford proposed 263,000 square feet downtown. Each of these proposals is larger than any commercial development that has ever been built here.

It has been over 40 years since any developer dreamed that projects of this size might be approved. You have to go back to the 1960s to find anything comparable. A number of large office buildings were built then, but opposition soon developed to what was called the “Manhattanization of Palo Alto.�

In 1970, a council-approved proposal for an 18-story hospital in Professorville was defeated in a referendum election, and in 1971, a proposal for two 10-story buildings at University and Bryant, dubbed “The Superblock�, was turned down by the voters. After a new council was elected in 1971, growth limits, including a 50-foot height limit, were approved and Palo Alto has enjoyed 40 years of relative peace on the development front.

That is, until now. Developers, perhaps emboldened by recent council decisions, and certainly encouraged by the city planning staff, now feel that Palo Alto is once

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again open for super-sized development.

The Jay Paul proposal is straightforward. He has developed large office complexes in other cities and sees a good opportunity here, even if he has to give the city a building shell for a new police station. On the other hand, the audacity of the Stanford proposal boggles the mind. They not only want to exceed the height limit by a factor of three, they want to convert parkland to commercial use. In addition, the traffic from a thousand new workers would be added to the campus. All this for a development that has no relationship to the academic mission of the university. What can they be thinking?

My sense from listening to council comments is that they will approve both projects. Councilmembers will express concern about one thing or another, and the developers will respond with cosmetic changes. But in the end, a majority of the council will vote “aye.�

If I am correct, these projects will only be stopped by referendum. The residents who fought the battles 40 years ago are elderly or no longer with us. Where do today’s Palo Altans stand? Do many support the view articulated by former planning commissioner Owen Byrd who said about the Stanford proposal, “I look forward to this project being a part of a pattern to urbanize Palo Alto?� Or is there a critical mass of residents who will come together to do the hard work required to organize a successful referendum campaign?

I certainly hope so, because otherwise the Owen Byrd vision will surely come to pass. N Dick Rosenbaum served on the City Council from 1971-75 and 1992-99.

This week on Town Square Town Square is an online discussion forum at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

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Posted Nov. 17 at 8:54 a.m. by Paul Losch, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood: I received this week a couple emails about openings for various commissions in Palo Alto for which there have not been enough candidates.

Engagement in our community takes multiple forms — I was truly disappointed to receive information that critical positions on commissions that advise city staff and the City Council lack such an interest in our city.

After three terms on the Palo Alto Parks and Recreation Commission (PARC), I am stepping down.

I appreciated the honor of serving the community in this capacity. I feel that I was part of a group of seven that got things done, and helped our City Council make better-informed decisions.

We are blessed in Palo Alto with an outstanding Community Services Department, with which I and my fellow commissioners spent countless hours dealing with matters that lead to commission and to council hearings and action. I will miss working with them.

I was naive about local affairs before I was appointed to PARC. I was involved as a parent with my kid’s stuff, as many of us are. We have many fantastic organizations that care for our community, from little league, soccer, gardeners, open space, youth welfare, to many others....

I learned a great deal about the depth and breadth of what keeps Palo Alto vital. I fear that too many in this little rarefied world in which we live do not appreciate what they have.

And as importantly, what is truly involved in making it happen.

I am stepping down, who is stepping up?

Posted Nov. 20 at 12:01 a.m. by R Kurtz, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood: I’m glad they put some restrictions on the sound (at Lytton Plaza), but they should have gone a little further and took away any amplified sound.

Don’t get me wrong here folks, I play guitar and pia-

no and love all music, but the one guy who plays electric blues out there always has that amplifier cranked up while on slide guitar. It’s the same old songs over and over and not to mention he plays for tips (by the way, does he pay tax for that income?).

In any event, let them play but take away the amps and percussion.

Posted Nov. 21 at 1:13 a.m. by Cedric de La Beaujardiere, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood: I’m pleased to see the 101 overcrossing get funded, and the Matadero creek trail. I think both will prove to have long-term value. The Matadero creek trail is a relatively easy one, as there is already a maintenance access road alongside most of the creek, which I used to use when I was volunteering as a creek monitor with Acterra.

I believe that giving people access to their natural resources helps build connections to the natural world and foster a desire to protect and restore ecosystems.

It is my long-term hope that eventually Palo Alto will restore our creeks to a more natural form that fosters native wildlife, rather than the concrete channels we have today that, for instance, hamper native frogs’ ability to reproduce.

It would have been good and fair to more fully fund the Bay trail in East Palo Alto, especially as these funds were originally meant for San Mateo County’s use. That link is of value to Palo Altans as well.

Most of my career I have commuted to San Mateo, often by bike, and that gap has a significant impact on connectivity, seriously limiting access from Palo Alto to the Bay Trail north of University and the frontage road east of 101, and causing a big detour through somewhat sketchy neighborhoods. Riding that stretch of University from Bayshore to downtown East Palo Alto is really dangerous, with poor pavement, lots of debris in the roadway, very little room for bikes, poor visibility and cars going freeway speeds. Super sketchy.

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

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Holiday events in the arts world include ballet, theater, comedy, family festivities and a wealth of concerts

by Rebecca Wallace here’s no reason to have a silent night during the holiday season. Local arts groups provide all manner of soundtracks, with styles of sound as diverse as classic carols, Baroque music, Latin jazz, Low Countries music, Hanukkah songs and gospel.

Revelers who are more visually oriented can also choose from holiday home tours, puppet shows, model-train displays and, of course, the ballet. For a sampling of the many holiday options on the Midpeninsula, keep reading.

T

Music Young voices from Brentwood Academy in East Palo Alto will provide the soundtrack to the annual tree-lighting at the Four Seasons Hotel on Nov. 26 at 2050 University Ave. in East Palo Alto. A toy and shoe drive will also be part of the free event, which is planned from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Call 650-4702828.

The Baroque ensemble Musica Pacifica, with viola da gamba, recorder, violin, organ, harpsichord, oboe and voice, performs Christmas music from 18th-century Italy, France and Germany at 8 p.m. Nov. 30. The concert is in the First Lutheran Church at 600 Homer Ave.

in Palo Alto. Tickets are $12-$35.

Go to sfems.org.

The Ragazzi Boys Chorus welcomes winter with carols, Native American chant, Hanukkah music and other songs in a concert at 5 p.m. Dec. 1 at the First Congregational Church, 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto. Composers will include Allen Gordon Bell, Randall Thompson and Mendelssohn. Tickets are $10-$27. Go to ragazzi.org or call 650-342-8785.

“Christmas in Antwerp and Amsterdam” features 16th- and 17th-century music from the Low Countries, presented in Latin and Dutch by the California Bach Society and various instrumentalists. The program will be performed locally at 8 p.m. Dec. 1 at All Saints Episcopal Church, 555 Waverley St., Palo Alto.

Tickets are $10-$30. Go to calbach. org or call 650-485-1097.

Singers from the Palo Alto High School choirs hark back to history with their annual Madrigal Feaste, featuring 16th-century music and costumes, along with food and drink. The events are planned for 2 p.m. Dec. 1 and 2 at the high school’s small gym at 50 Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto. Admission is $15-$80.

Go to palymadrigals.com.

“’Twas the Night Before Christmas” performed by Dancers Repertory Theatre and the Menlo Park Academy of Dance.

The women’s choral group Kitka will perform “Wintersongs,” a program of “seasonal harmonies from Eastern Europe,” at 4 p.m. Dec. 2 in St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, 2650 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park.

Tickets are $15-$27 in advance and $15-$32 at the door. Go to kitka.org or call 650-854-6555.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto; and 4 p.m. Dec. 16 at St. Patrick’s Seminary, 320 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park. Admission is $10-$30. Go to pwchorus.org or call 650-327-3095.

The Stanford Chamber Chorale and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra play their free annual “Holiday Musicale” at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 8 in Memorial Church on campus, presented by the Friends of Music at Stanford. Go to music.stanford. edu.

Stanford’s Memorial Church hosts the annual Festival of Lessons and Carols, with the Memorial Church Choir directed by organist Robert Huw Morgan and the Stanford Chamber Chorale directed by Stephen M. Sano, at 8 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8. The events are free. Go to music. stanford.edu.

Five centuries of Christmas music, with a focus on nature, are represented in the San Francisco Choral Artists program planned for 8 p.m. Dec. 8 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. Music by Howells, Poulenc and Kodaly is on the bill. Tickets are $12-$25 in advance and $15$30 at the door. Go to sfca.org or call 415-494-8149.

The Bay Choral Guild looks at the Roman Catholic liturgy’s Great (continued on next page)

“Winter Dance with Bay Bells” features the handbells group in a free holiday concert at 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 7 at Grace Lutheran Church, 3129 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Go to baybells.org or call 877-76-BELLS. Charpentier’s “Nativity Pastorale” is the focus when the Magnificat Baroque ensemble performs at 8 p.m. Dec. 7 at First Lutheran Church at 600 Homer Ave. in Palo Alto. Also on the program are several French Christmas carols in settings by Charpentier. Admission is $12-$35. Go to magnificatbaroque. com.

Chanticleer returns to Stanford’s Memorial Church for this year’s holiday concert on Dec. 11.

“Star of Wonder” is the theme this year for the Peninsula Women’s Chorus’ holiday concerts, with the programs including the Roches’ “Star of Wonder” along with music

by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and Baroque composer M.A. Charpentier. Performances are 2:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 4 p.m. Dec. 15 at

CalBach

Lisa Kohler

Soli Deo Gloria will give a Palo Alto audience one big Christmas present on Dec. 8: J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, performed with Orchestra Gloria. Soloists and choristers will bring on the angels and shepherds at 2:30 p.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Church at 505 E. Charleston Road. Tickets are $30 general and $25 for students and seniors, with discounts for advance purchases. Go to sdgloria.org or call 888-SDG-SONG.

Recorder player Claudia Gantivar will perform with the California Bach Society on Dec. 1 in Palo Alto. ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 25

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S ticleer men’s chorus return to Stanford’s Memorial Church for an 8 p.m. concert on Dec. 11, presented

by Stanford Live. Gospel and holiday classics are on the bill along with Gregorian chant. Tickets are $54. Go to live.stanford.edu or call 650-725-ARTS.

(continued from previous page)

“O” Antiphons in its holiday concert this year, singing contemporary settings by various composers.

Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” is also planned for the Dec. 9 performance, which is 4:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 305 N. California Ave., Palo Alto. Tickets are $5-$25. Go to baychoralguild. org.

John Rutter’s “I wish you Christmas” is on the bill for Schola Cantorum’s holiday concert at 1:30 and 3 p.m. Dec. 9, along with Kirke Mechem’s “Seven Joys of Christmas” and other offerings. The concert is at the First Congregational Church of Palo Alto at 1985 Louis Road; tickets are $25 general and $10 for students and children. Go to scholacantorum.org or call 650254-1700.

Stanford pipe organist Robert Huw Morgan plays his annual organ recital in Stanford’s Memorial Church at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 9. The event is free. Go to music.stanford.

Curtis Finger

The young musicians of the California Youth Symphony play holiday and classical classics at a 2:30 p.m. concert on Dec. 9 at Foothill College’s Smithwick Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.

Tickets are $15 general and $10 for students and seniors. Go to cys.org or call 650-325-6666.

The Ragazzi Boys Chorus sings songs of winter Dec. 1 in Palo Alto. edu.

Schola Cantorum’s lengthy “Messiah Sing” includes many choruses and solos not as commonly heard.

The Messiah-thon is planned for Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. A chamber orchestra will accompany singers, and Gregory Wait will conduct. Tickets are $24 general, $20 for seniors and $18 for students. Go to scholacantorum.org or call 650-903-6000.

The ethereal voices of the Chan-

Guest conductor Masaaki Suzuki of Bach Collegium Japan conducts the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Christmas cantata “Christen, atzet diesen Tag” and other works by Bach on 8 p.m.

Dec. 13 at the Center for Performing Arts at 555 Middlefield Road in Atherton. Tickets are $30-$105. Go to philharmonia.org or call 415-2521288, ext. 302.

Stanford’s cheerful “Messiah Sing & Play-Along” is at 8 p.m. Dec. 14 in Memorial Church, conducted by Stephen M. Sano. Trumpeters always get a big hand. Admission is $10 general, $9 for seniors, $5 for non-Stanford students and free for Stanford students. Go to music.stanford.edu or call 650-723-3811.

It’s 30 years for the Gryphon Carolers, a 35-voice ensemble known for singing an eclectic array of holiday music (Celtic, Brazilian, modern jazz and other styles). This year’s festive concert is 8 p.m. Dec. 15 at Spangenberg Theatre, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto.

Admission is $10-$25. Go to gryphoncarolers.org or call Gryphon Stringed Instruments at 650-493-2131.

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Festive harp solos and ensemble pieces are planned for the Harpeggio group’s annual holiday concert, “20 Harps for the Holidays,” 4 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Los Altos United Methodist Church, 655 Magdalena Ave., Los Altos. Admission is $15 general and $12 for seniors and children. Go to harpeggio. com or call 408-366-8810.

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The classical and jazz student ensembles of the Community School of Music and Arts present a free holiday concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 in Tateuchi Hall, 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View. Go to arts4all.org or call 650-917-6800.

HaShirim, a community choral group, performs a Hanukkah concert of Jewish songs from 3 to 4 p.m.

Dec. 16 in the Schultz Cultural Arts Hall at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. Admission is $5 general and free for JCC members. Go to paloaltojcc.org or call 650-223-8664.

Carols ring with gospel soul as the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir sings its annual holiday concert at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. This year’s performance is Dec. 21 at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $36 general, $31 for seniors and students, and $28 for children ages 12 and under. Go to oigc.org or call 650903-6000.

Dance

The Celtic/medieval ensemble Broceliande fetes the winter solstice with a concert at East West Books at 8 p.m. Dec. 15. Instruments include voice, recorders, mandolin and fiddle.

Tickets are $15 through Dec. 14 and $20 on the day of the concert at 324 Castro St. in Mountain View. Go to eastwest.com or call 650-988-9800.

The Pacific Ballet Academy kicks off “Nutcracker” season at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, with afternoon and evening showtimes on Nov. 23, 24 and 25. Tickets are $24/$28, and the venue is at 500 Castro St. Go to mvcpa.com or call 650-903-6000.

The 40-voice Silicon Valley Boychoir sings family songs for the holidays at a 5 p.m. concert on Dec. 15 at First Baptist Church, 305 N. California Ave., Palo Alto. Go to svboychoir.org or call 650-424-1242.

Santa hats, feather boas and saddle shoes are all part of Smuin Ballet’s “The Christmas Ballet, 2012 Edition,” which dances across the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts Stage from Nov. 28 through Dec. 2 this year. Both after-

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The Portola Art Gallery is focusing on smaller works in its December exhibit, with an eye to art that could make a good holiday gift. “Small Works & Treasures� runs the whole month, with paintings and fine-art photos by its member artists. The gallery is at the Allied Arts Guild, 75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Go to portolaartgallery.com or call 650321-0220.

Recently reopened after its major facelift, the Palo Alto Art Center welcomes kids and parents for a free holiday family day from 2 to 4 p.m.

Dec. 2, with hands-on art activities for youngsters ages 5 and up. The center is at 1313 Newell Road in Palo Alto; go to cityofpaloalto.org/ artcenter.

Keith Sutter

Smuin Ballet dancer Jonathan Powell in “Drummer Boy� in the holiday program. noon and evening shows are planned at 500 Castro St., with tickets ranging from $23 to $68. Go to smuinballet.org or call 650-903-6000.

Western Ballet brings its 50th annual rendition of “The Nutcracker� to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. from Dec. 7-9. Admission for the afternoon and evening performances is $30 general, $25 for seniors and students, and $23 for children ages 12 and under. Go to westernballet. org or call 650-903-6000.

pany’s “A Winter Fairy Tale,� performed Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m., and Dec. 16 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are $30 general and $25 for seniors and students; performances are at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts at 500 Castro St. Go to bayerballetacademy.com or call 650-903-6000.

Arts & crafts and exhibits

“The Nutcracker� also comes to Spangenberg Theatre at 780 Arastradero Road in Palo Alto Dec. 7-9, presented by Dance Connection of Palo Alto. Afternoon and evening performances are planned; tickets are $14-$25. Go to danceconnectionpaloalto.com or call 650-3227032.

Palo Alto’s Fibre Arts Design gallery is holding a design and gift show through Nov. 25, showing such artistic creations as jewelry, ceramics, handbags and clothing in hopes of having them adorn holiday shopping lists. The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from noon to 4 p.m., at 935 Industrial Ave. Go to fibreartsdesign.com or call 650-485-2121.

Santa is scheduled to make an appearance at the winter showcase of new students dance works presented by the Foothill College Repertory Dance Company at 7 p.m. Dec. 7. A toy drive will be part of the evening in the college’s dance studio (Room 2504) at 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. Admission is free.

Go to foothill.edu or call 650-9497354.

Gallery House hosts its annual holiday show, with longer hours for showing and selling its members’ artistic creations from Nov. 23 through Dec. 24. During the time, the gallery at 320 S. California Ave. in Palo Alto will be open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Go to galleryhouse2.com or call 650-326-1668.

“’Twas the Night Before Christmas� will be performed Dec. 9, 15 and 16 by Dancers Repertory Theatre and the Menlo Park Academy of Dance in 1 and 4 p.m. shows at Woodside High School’s performing-arts center, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside. Tickets are $12-$20. Go to twasthenight.org.

Hundreds of Nativity scenes from around the world are on display Dec. 1-5 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 3865 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The annual Christmas creche exhibit also includes marionette shows and performances by the Menlo Minstrels and other groups. Admission is free to the exhibit, which is open each day from noon to 9 p.m. Go to christmascreche.org or call 650856-3781.

A fairy tale from the Russian forest, set to music by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, comes to the stage in the Bayer Ballet Com-

Handmade toys, fine art, ornaments, strolling singers and ecofriendly gifts are among the offerings at Peninsula School’s annual December craft fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2. Admission is free, with proceeds from the sales benefiting the school and its students.

Go to peninsulaschool.org or call 650-325-1584.

The Cubberley Artists open their studios at the Cubberley Community Center at 4000 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto to the public for a free open house. The event is set for Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 650650-327-2371.

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Kids and families The Westwind Community Barn hosts its annual holiday barn-lighting on Dec. 2, with cookies and hot cider; children’s games, crafts and pony rides; student groups singing; and Pony Club and 4-H members demonstrating horse grooming and management skills. The free event happens from 1 to 4 p.m. at 27210 Altamont Road, Los Altos Hills. Go to losaltoshills.ca.gov.

Life on the prairie, Yuletide-style, comes to life in Peninsula Youth Theatre’s production of “A Little House Christmas,� presented on the SecondStage at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., on Dec. 7 at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and Dec. 8 at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 on Friday and $10 on Saturday. Go to pytnet. org or call 650-903-6000.

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The model trains roll and the LEGO skyscrapers climb in the annual LEGO and train holiday display at the Museum of American Heritage at 351 Homer Ave. in Palo Alto. The sweeping display is open Dec. 7 through Jan. 13, Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is $2 general (free for museum members). Go to moah.org or call 650-321-1004.

More trains can be seen at the annual Christmas show presented by the West Bay Model Railroad Association from noon to 6 p.m.

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File photo/Veronica Weber

Noble firs are the most common trees available at local Christmas tree lots; this one is from an earlier year at the Menlo Park Kiwanis Club lot.

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or many families, selecting the just-right Christmas tree is an early segue into the holiday season. Should it be the classic Noble fir or a stretch — maybe a Nordmann fir?

Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, several nonprofits will open their annual Christmas-tree lots, with some offering snow-flocking and flame-proofing, as well as delivery service and set-up at home.

New this year at Webb Ranch in Portola Valley, which is celebrating its 50th season, are “Cookies with Santa,” a free gift for return customers. The gift includes a jar of in-

gredients that makes just under two dozen chocolate-chip cookies, R.J. Rudikoff, managing partner with Webb Ranch, Inc., said.

On Fridays, after school, kids can sample cookies and get their photos snapped with Santa himself.

“We’re trying to have a picture environment,” with snowmen, penguins and sleigh cutouts, Rudikoff added.

But true tree aficionados might want to make a day of choosing and cutting, then picnicking in Los Gatos at the Patchen California Christmas Tree Farms. N — Carol Blitzer

Sea Scouts Christmas Trees Location: Palo Alto Little League Park, 3672 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto Dates, hours: Nov. 23 through Dec. 23, weekdays 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., weekends 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Douglas, Grand, Noble and Nordmann firs, 2 to 11 feet Other items: Garlands, wreaths, table-top trees (1 to 2.5 feet). Also sells stands; delivery varies by size and location: $15 to $40, with a discount for same address

Enjoy the ride.

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29th Annual Festival f Trees Luncheon

Prices: $16-$250; 6- to 7-foot tree is $45-98 Benefits: Supports Sea Scouts programming; manned by volunteers

A Benefit for AchieveKids

Information: 650-493-6614 or www.sssintrepid.org

Holiday Boutique, Silent Auction And Fashion Show

Palo Alto High School Sports Boosters Tree Lot

Fashions presented

by Chico’s

Location: northwest corner of Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, just behind the corner sign

Date: Boutique & Auction: Luncheon: Place:

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

10:30 am 12:00 pm Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club 3000 Alexis Dr, Palo Alto Tickets: $90.00 per person Contact: 650.306.0462 www.pcafestivaloftrees.org Valet Parking Available

Dates, hours: Nov. 24 through Dec. 22, weekdays 4 to 8 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Noble firs File photo/Veronica Weber

Other items: Garlands and wreaths; also will help tie tree to vehicle or place in car Prices: $20-$300 Benefits: benefits Palo Alto High School Sports Boosters, supporting more than 750 student athletes who participate on 45 sports teams Information: palytrees.com

Extra Christmas trees sit bundled up before being displayed at the Menlo Park Kiwanis Club lot on El Camino Real. http://lakc.netfirms.com/TreeLot. htm

Information: www.menloparkkiwanisclub.org

Location: 1250 Laurel St., Menlo Park

MVLA High School Sports Booster Christmas Tree Lot

Santa’s Village

Dates, hours: Nov. 23 through Dec. 15, Tuesday-Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m.; Friday, 4 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Opening day 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closing day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: 1035 El Monte Road, Mountain View, Corner of El Camino Real and El Monte Road (in the Blockbuster/CVS parking lot)

Nativity School Christmas Tree Lot

Kinds of trees: Douglas, Fraser, Grand and Noble firs from Oregon, 2 to 14 feet (fresh cut and stand available) Other items: Wreaths (20 to 30 inches in diameter), candy cane wreaths, Advent wreaths and garland. Delivery to Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto and Redwood City; discount on multiple trees to same address.

Flame-proofing available.

Benefits: educational and extracurricular programs at Nativity School; staffed by parent and community volunteers

Dates, hours: Nov. 23 through Dec. 17, weekdays 4 to 7 p.m., weekends 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Noble firs from Oregon, 3 to 11 feet Extras: Free bagging, fresh cut. Trees are guaranteed; if dry out early, free tree next Christmas season Prices: $25-$200, tax-deductible (6to 7-foot tree is $75) Benefits: supports athletics and after-school programs in the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District; buyers can direct up to 20 percent of purchase to any school or organization

Prices: $20 to $409 (pre-order form on website); 6- to 7-foot tree is $49$72

Information: mvlatrees.com or reindeer@mvlatrees.com

Information: 650-275-3750 or www. nativitytrees.com

Menlo Park Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lot

Kiwanis Christmas Tree Lot

Location: on Stanford University campus next to the football stadium on El Camino Real south of Embarcadero Road

Location: Lucky Market parking lot, Foothill Expressway at Arboretum (2175 Grant Road, Los Altos) Dates, hours: Nov. 23 (opens 10 a.m.) through Dec. 16; weekdays 3 to 7:30 p.m.; weekends 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Noble firs, 2 to 13 feet Other items: Tree stands, wreaths, garlands, table decorations; set up and delivery for a fee Prices: $19-$359; 6- to 7-foot tree is $75 Benefits: Kiwanis Club of Los Altos Foundation Information: 650-988-9900 or

Dates, hours: Nov. 23 until sell out, weekdays 2 to 8 p.m., weekends 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Noble firs from Oregon Other items: Wreaths, swag, stands; delivery available Benefits: Kiwanis Club of Menlo Park, which provides scholarships for Menlo-Atherton High School students, and donations to St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room, Rebuilding Together, Project Read/Menlo Park Library, Stanford intramural sports program

Location: Webb Ranch, 2720 Alpine Road, Portola Valley Dates, hours: Nov. 23 through Dec. 24, daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Douglas, Grand, Noble and Silvertip firs from Washington and Oregon Other items: Wreaths, garlands, poinsettias, boughs, mistletoe Extras: Help choosing, wrapping, loading, plus delivery available; snow flocking, fire retardant, free net wrap and tie down Prices: $14.95-$700 (18-foot range); 6- to 7-foot trees $47-$98; live ones from $9.99 Information: 650-854-5417 or www. webbranchinc.com

Patchen California Christmas Tree Farms Location: 22217 Old Santa Cruz Highway, Los Gatos Dates, hours: Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Kinds of trees: Redwood, Pine, Fir, Cedar, Cypress, Exotics Other items: Stands, wreaths, gift shop, picnic tables, free hot mulled cider and candy canes Prices: Choose and cut: Coast or Sierra Redwood, Monterey Pine, $6/foot, $40 minimum; Douglas Fir, Incense Cedar, Cypress, Exotics, $8/foot, $55 minimum; fresh cut: Noble or other true fir, $8/foot, no minimum Information: 408-353-1615 or www. patchencalifornia.com/

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2710 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94306 /i \Ê­Èxä®ÊnxÎÊ£ÓÎnÊUÊÜÜÜ° ` V iÌ > °V ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 29

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

Décor without dazzle

By Eric Van Susteren

C

hristmas has come to be associated with spectacle and glitz. With their deep-colored shimmering tinsel, endless strings of dazzlingly bright multi-colored lights, and increasingly (and disturbingly) realistic depictions of playful cherubs and pious seraphim, house and tree decorations may be the worst offenders of the wintertime gaudiness arms race.

Why not try ornaments that are more reserved and subdued? Using soft, tasteful colors and simple and easy-to-create designs, the restrained crafter can make ornaments that keep up with the Jones’, but won’t induce headaches when looked at.

Nancy Van Susteren has been creating homemade decorations for years; she contributed the following instructions for paper stars:

Home-made ornaments can become part of the holiday tradition Paper stars

These easy-to-make holiday stars are constructed with paper temporary blinds found at Lowes or Home Depot for less than $5 each. They filter light nicely and look elegant hanging in front of a window. If allowed to hang freely from a skylight or cathedral ceiling, they will twist and turn gently in the wind.

Supplies: temporary paper blinds cutting surface straight edge box cutter with new cutting blade single-hole punch hole reinforcements (not shown) glue or glue stick heavy-duty white thread and needle scissors

Holiday events (continued from page 27)

in the former baggage building near the Menlo Park train station at 1090 Merrill St. Admission is free. Call 650-322-0685.

Holiday puppet shows for families are planned at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 8 in the Carriage House at Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto. Registration is required for the shows, which are put on by Nick Barone Puppets.

Tickets are $15 general and $10 for garden members. Go to gamblegarden.org or call 650-329-1356.

Potpourri The Filoli mansion and gardens hosts its annual nine-day “Holiday Traditions” event from Nov. 23 through Dec. 1 at 86 Canada Road in Woodside. Holiday decorations and gifts are planned, along with a holiday shopping evening and a Nov. 24 performance by the Joe Sharino Band. Go to filoli.org or call 650364-8300.

Visitors tour holiday-decorated homes in Atherton as part of “Finishing Touches: A Holiday Tour of Fine Homes & Boutique”, put on by the Junior League of Palo Alto/Mid Peninsula. Tours and related events are Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; tickets are $40 and up. Go to juniorleaguehometour.com.

1. Using a cutting surface (the pictures show a quilt cutting board, but a kitchen cutting board would work, as well), place a straight edge on top of the folded blind at a very sharp or acute angle, and slowly and gently slice through all the layers of folds, a few folds at a time, moving the cut layers out of the way.

2. Cut one peak in half for gluing star together.

3. Punch holes on bottom, straight edge of star, about a quarter inch from edge and roughly in the middle of the fold a couple of folds at a time. You can use a previous hole as a template to make the hole locations consistent.

4. Put a thin coat of glue over the entire surface of the half peak you cut in step 2.

5. Roll paper blind into loose cylinder shape and glue half peak to full peak on other end, matching edges so that they form another corresponding peak. If edges don’t quite match, trim with scissors.

6. Thread white heavy-duty thread or light string (using a large needle makes it easier) through all the holes.

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7. Hold both ends of string in one hand and gently press the star flat.

8. Gently (but snugly) tie the two ends of the string together, and cut the string close to the knot.

Using paper punch, punch hole in one peak or valley, reinforce with a hole reinforcement.

Hang and enjoy.

It’s important to remember that the length a blind is cut will be half the diameter of the actual star, so a 3-inch cut will make a 6-inch star. Different sized stars have different uses: a small star (3 to 6 inches in diameter) might work well for a Christmas tree ornament, while a larger star could be perfect for hanging in a window.

One blind can make quite a few stars, depending on the size of the blind and the stars. In order for a star to look its best, there should be between two and four times as many “ridges” as the length of the cut. For example, a star with a 3-inch cut (which will make a 6-inch star) would need between six and 12 ridges, plus a half ridge for gluing.

That means a single cut could yield two to three smaller stars or a single larger star.

A special screening of the 1943 Elizabeth Taylor film “Lassie Come Home” is planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 6 as a holiday fundraiser for the Palo Alto Humane Society. Admission is a retro $2 and includes popcorn and a small drink; the event is at the Aquarius Theatre at 430 Emerson St. in Palo Alto. Call 650424-1901.

Hanukkah: It’s not just for dreidels anymore. Hillel at Stanford hosts “Light It Up! ‘Casino Royale’ Style, a black-tie Hanukkah party for young adults ages 21 and up, starting at 9 p.m. Dec. 8. The event at 565 Mayfield Ave. on campus will include a DJ, dancing, blackjack, food, a bar and even dreidel games; tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door. Go to paloaltojcc. org or call 650-223-8605.

Palo Alto Stanford Heritage leads walking tours to six homes in Palo Alto’s Crescent Park neighborhood from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 9.

Tickets to the holiday tours are $25 before Nov. 27 and $30 after. Go to pastheritage.org.

Los Angeles comedian Avi Liberman headlines the annual evening of comedy and Chinese food known as “Chopshticks” starting at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 24. He’s been on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, as well as E! and Comedy Central.

“Chopshticks” is at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center at 3921 Fabian Way in Palo Alto; tickets are $50 general and $47 for students and JCC members in advance, and $55 for everyone at the door. Go to paloaltojcc.org or call 650-223-8664. N

Book Talk PALO ALTO’S FAIRY GODMOTHER ...

A new monograph, Lucie Stern, Palo Alto’s Fairy Godmother, has been published by the Palo Alto Historical Association. It describes her early years, marriage, life in Palo Alto and how she became “Aunt Lucie,” funding some of Palo Alto’s most beloved icons, including the Children’s Theatre, Community Center, Children’s Library and Boy Scout House. The book was written by Michael Litfin, the late Palo Alto Children’s Theatre associate director. The book is available at Bell’s Books, 536 Emerson St., Palo Alto.

Title Pages A monthly section on local books and authors

A fine and

dangerous thriller

HELPING HAND OR NOT? ... Local psychologists Anna Ranieri and Joe Gurkoff have written a book called How Can I Help: What You Can (and Can’t) Do to Counsel a Friend, Colleague or Family Member with a Problem. It will be coming out on Dec. 12. More information is available at www.thehowcanihelpbook.com.

CROSSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ... Stanford University Press has published Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages: HewlettPackard’s $15 Million Race Toward Social Justice, a book by David Fetterman, former director of evaluation in the School of Education and School of Medicine. The book is about Hewlett-Packard’s large-scale community initiative to bridge the digital divide in communities of color, including East Palo Alto. Information: www.sup.org/ HOUSE OF HEALING ... Palo Alto resident Elizabeth Johnson Lee has published The House at 844 1/2, a novel about a woman and her son who have Tourette syndrome in Palo Alto. They get no respect. But when she walks through the gate at 844 1/2, she enters an alternate world where she develops supernatural powers. In his perfect world, she no longer has disabilities, but she learns that even he cannot accept her for her true self. The story is ultimately about self realization and acceptance. Available at Amazon.com.

MEET THE AUTHORS ... Upcoming authors at Keplers, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, include Dominique Renda and Blake Horsley, “Midnight Daydreams — Poetry of Heart Tales and Mindscapes” (Nov. 29, 7:30 p.m.); Tom Reiss, “The Black Count: Glory, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo” (Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m.); Julie Metzger, R.N. and Robert Lehman, M.D., “Will Puberty Last My Whole Life? REAL Answers to REAL (continued on page 33)

Keith Raffel’s novel takes readers to the precipice of the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Sue Dremann “A Fine and Dangerous Season,” by Keith Raffel, self-published e-book, 216 pp., $3.99 (from Barnes & Noble and Amazon)

I

t’s Oct. 24, 1962, and a mildmannered Hewlett-Packard oscilloscope salesman has just picked up his telephone handset.

Robert Kennedy is on the other end of the phone.

For most people, a call from the U.S. Attorney General — and a Kennedy no less — would be a thrill. But not so for Palo Alto resident Nathan Michaels.

In “A Fine and Dangerous Season,” a novel by Palo Alto author Keith Raffel, President John. F. Kennedy is summoning Michaels to the White House.

The last time they met was in 1940. JFK was a student who spent the fall semester auditing classes at the Stanford University School of Business, and the two young men were friends. Kennedy took the young Michaels under his wing, and introduced him to the rarefied world of glamorous Hollywood stars.

But Michaels never wants to see Kennedy again. The charismatic future president violated a code between friends. Predictably for JFK, he couldn’t keep his pants on. Michaels stumbled upon a tryst between Kennedy and Michaels’ girlfriend, Miriam.

Enter the countdown to the Cuban Missile Crisis 20 years later.

Michaels and his late father have a decades-long connection to Maxim Volkov, the top Russian KGB agent in North America. Kennedy needs Michaels and Volkov to shuttle messages to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to diffuse the nuclear crisis.

Suddenly Michaels is on an Air Force T-39 out of Moffett Field, headed for the District of Colum-

bia. His peaceable life with his wife and twin sons is about to become a wild race against a ticking time bomb. And war-hungry generals want him dead.

Veteran techno-thriller author Raffel has turned to history and his real-life experience as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee to craft this cloak-and-dagger tale.

It is as hair-raising in its fiction as the historical events that nearly ravaged the planet 50 years ago.

Raffel deftly weaves the threads of Michaels’ life with the crisis at

hand, from his Stanford encounters with Kennedy to his World War II flashbacks.

Through Raffel’s crisp, muscular prose the dialogue unfolds with frightening veracity. In drawing his characters and their voices, Raffel does not stumble. The White House conversations the author created between Kennedy and his heavy hitters could plausibly have taken place.

Here are the real-life Cold War players: Secretary of State Dean Rusk, the robotically calculating

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, the brainy National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy, the trigger-itchy Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay. Each man sees the dilemma through a mixture of intelligence information and his own lenses.

The president must weigh fact and fiction against Soviet posturing and the single-minded machismo of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro.

It’s a lethal cocktail. (continued on page 33)

Veronica Weber

BABY NOIR ... Palo Alto author Michael Fertig has created a new genre: Baby Noir Mystery, children’s books for adults that lure parents into a secret infant hoodlum world.

Little Trouble in Tall Tree is set in Palo Alto and introduces readers to Squeezy the Cheeks and his mob of infant thugs, who plan a heist to keep control of their territory from the Poopypants Gang. First in a series.

Published by Tall Tree Enterprises. http://ltitt.com/shop.

Palo Altan Keith Raffel, author of “A Fine and Dangerous Season,” sits in his home office. ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 31

Title Pages

*O QSBJTF PG

UPNPSSPX

John Perry’s quest to make life easier for the procrastinator

by Gennady Sheyner

I

t’s a real shame that most of the people John Perry targets in his new book, “The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing,” will never get around to reading it because they’re too busy scrubbing clean pots, finishing last Sunday’s crossword puzzle or sweeping crumbs and pennies from beneath their couch cushions.

It’s a shame not just because Perry’s book offers plenty of simple and practical tips to the chronic delayer. The witty, breezy volume also serves as a support group of sorts, a warm hug and a pat on the back to those of us all too skilled at tuning out that annoying sound of time’s winged chariot hurrying near. He calls his book of musings “a sort of philosophical self-help program for depressed procrastinators” and he doesn’t disappoint.

The scope of the book is mercifully limited.

A veteran procrastinator himself, he knows his readership well and he points out in the conclusion that most self-help books for procrastinators look down on the habit. Perry’s doesn’t try to plumb the deeper mysteries of the procrastinator’s psyche or engage in the type of neuroscience jargon that characterizes much of today’s pop science. As the title makes clear, procrastination to Perry is an art, not a science — a fact that offers little comfort to those of us looking for a quick fix. No magic pill can cure us of our affliction (if one existed, we’d pop it first thing tomorrow). No surgery can fix us up (even if it could, we’d spend a year weighing its pros and cons). We can’t even pin the blame on some obscure virus whose Latin name would at least lend our paralyzing condition a shred of dignity and legitimacy. No, when it comes to chronic procrastination, the enemy is within and defeating him typically involves an intricate chain of self-deception, self-flagellation and a rack of dishes that sparkle mischievously after repeated washings while a story lies unwritten or the manuscript lies unedited or the homework lies uncompleted while the clock ticks away.

Perry, a Stanford University philosophy professor, is here to guide us through the endless cycle of deception, disappointment and deadlines. The key, Perry claims, is to

become a “structured procrastinator,” which he defines as “a person who gets a lot done by not doing other things.”

“Oddly enough, once we realize that we are structured procrastinators, not only do we feel better about ourselves but we also actually improve somewhat in our ability to get things done, because, once the miasma of guilt and de- Stanford philosophy professor John Perry, author of “The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to spair clears, we have a better un- Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing,” sits in his office at Stanford University. derstanding of what keeps us from doing those things,” Perry writes.

To cope with the problem, Perry prescribes conquerable increments and to pat himself on with non-procrastinators, who as Perry points a series of simple solutions with complicated the back at every increment. He finds similar out “will likely have already started on many names. Chief among these is “task triage,” the guidance in Kaizen, the “Japanese philosophy tasks by the time you are ready to plunge in.” art of sorting your list of tasks according to of continuous improvement through small, His solutions are clear, easy to implement and urgency and determining which of these tasks implementable steps.” He encourages his dis- demonstrate a deep, nuanced understanding demand perfection and which can be relegat- ciples to lean on these ancient teachings from of the procrastinator’s inner dilemmas. He ed to the just-good-enough pile. The exercise the East. doesn’t chide or slap wrists. You are who you is offered as a treatment for a symptom (or “If you say you are adopting the Kaizen are, gentle procrastinator, Perry seems to say. possibly the cause) of procrastination — the Way, rather than simply that you’re trying to Live with it and let me help you. self-defeating drive toward perfection that procrastinate less, you will sound like you At certain points in the book, Perry comes keeps one from getting anything done. The have adopted a martial arts regimen,” Perry close to but stops just short of glorifying protask triage, Perry explains, gives the tortured writes. “That’s kind of cool.” crastinators. He acknowledges that procrastiprocrastinator the permission to do an imperA cousin of the to-do list is the “not-to- nation is a “flaw, not a well-hidden virtue,” but fect job right at the outset of the activity. By do” list — Perry’s preemptive strike against then spends much of his treatise praising this consciously deciding which tasks can be ac- foreseeable distractions. His examples, which flaw with faint damning. The goal, he writes, complished without perfection, the paralyzed likely sound familiar to procrastinators and “isn’t to find a philosophy of life that makes perfectionist effectively turns down the pres- regular people alike, include “do not check procrastinators into heroes (although it might sure and frees himself up to proceed with no email” and “do not start surfing the web.” The be fun to try to work out the principles). I sim(or at least little) delay. latter habit, as the perpetual delayer knows too ply want to note that it’s not the worst flaw in While task triage is Perry’s solution to prior- well, is particularly vexing, and Perry help- the world; you can be a procrastinator and still itizing projects, he relies on a more traditional fully devotes an entire chapter to the love-hate get a lot of work done. Plus, with good selftool for planning daily activities — the to-do relationship between the procrastinator and deception skills and the little bit of willpower list. To him, however, these lists are palliatives the computer. His solution? Surf only when that allows you to manipulate yourself, you as much as directives. The Stanford philoso- you know you’ll be interrupted. can become less of a procrastinator.” pher understands the giddy comfort that comes “I log on when I’m already hungry or I’m The problem he diagnoses is all too real and, with checking a box on a list, regardless of sure my wife is going to pop in with some for some of us, far too familiar. The solutions the activity being checked off (“It helps us to urgent task before too long or I am already sound plausible and comforting. But desperate think of ourselves as doers, accomplishers, and feeling the first signs of a full bladder,” Perry cases and those looking for more substantive not just lazy slugs. It gives us psychological writes. “If you use a laptop, another ploy is changes (perhaps making that astronomical momentum,” Perry writes of checking boxes). to unplug it before you start your email; the leap from “structured procrastinator” to “acHis own to-do lists, which he says he tries to spell will be broken when the battery dies — tual achiever”) might need heavier medicamake before he goes to bed, are far from im- although as batteries improve, this technique tion. Reading “The Art of Procrastination” posing. The first seven items on the list — turn becomes less useful.” made me want to get crazy with checkmarks, off the alarm, don’t hit the snooze button, get Perry’s prescriptions, whether for finish- compose a not-to-do list, flip my alarm-clock out of bed, go to the bathroom, don’t get back ing projects or getting through the day, tend radio to a station that plays something jollier in bed, go downstairs, make coffee — get ac- to target symptoms rather than the disease, than static, close my browser and meet a few complished by the time he sits down with his which in his mind isn’t such a bad one to have. more go-getters. These things will get done. first coffee cup, as he points out.

It’s good, for example, to play lively music in First thing tomorrow. N The detailed to-do list is a particularly use- the morning (even if it’s bad music) to get out Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be ful tool because it allows the procrastinator to of bed and inject some momentum into your break down large, daunting tasks into small, day. It’s also useful to collaborate on projects emailed at gsheyner@paweekly.com.

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Veronica Weber

“The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing,” by John Perry, Workman Publishing Company, 112 pp., $12.95

Title Pages

26th Annual Palo Alto Weekly

Keith Raffel

Book Talk

Michaels and Volkov meet openly at first to pass messages between Kennedy and Khrushchev. But soon Michaels is running for his life and Volkov is nowhere to be found.

Michaels receives a call that is ostensibly from the Soviet Embassy’s Miss Leontieva, a mysterious secretary whose iciness gives him the creeps. Volkov wants to meet with him. But it is a setup. The GRU, Soviet military intelligence forces, are out to prevent a peaceful solution, and Michaels narrowly misses being assassinated. It is the first of many tries.

On top of this, Michaels hasn’t forgiven Kennedy for stealing Miriam away. He doesn’t really want to be in Washington. If this is the end of the world, he wants to spend it with his wife and family, he reasons.

But JFK’s wife, Jacqueline, implores him to help the president. And the truth is, Michaels realizes, he is also hooked on ending the madness. His and Volkov’s voices are among the few that seem reasoned.

But where is Volkov?

Finding the Russian again is the only way to Khrushchev, but that proves hard to accomplish. Michaels is still dodging GRU assassination attempts, including a fiery shootout near the White House.

The Soviet brass isn’t the only group itching to play hardball. Tension mounts as General LeMay and the U.S. military prepares reconnaissance flights over Cuba. Already one U-2 spy plane has been shot down. If the Cubans fire upon another jet, that will lead to bombing the Russian missile sites and invasion of Cuba. The Soviet Union would respond with an invasion of West Berlin, and nuclear missile launches by both countries would begin.

It’s two hours before the showdown when Volkov and Michaels finally meet again in a secret hideaway. Volkov sends Kennedy’s final offer to Khrushchev and tensely awaits his reply.

Will the jovial Russian spy finally light that celebratory cigar he’s offered to Michaels if the crisis is averted?

Disaster strikes just as Khrushchev sends his reply.

What happens next is a breathtaking dash to get to Kennedy, with 20 minutes left in the countdown to war. The president is praying for a miracle in a pew at St. Stephen’s Martyr Church.

The book’s title borrows from a quote by Trappist monk, author and pacifist Thomas Merton. Forty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the public has come to know just how close the two countries came to all-out nuclear war. McNamara revealed that precipice in the 2003 documentary film “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.”

Raffel’s novel is a grim reminder of the folly of hubris and how chillingly close to the edge we came. N

Questions from Preteens About Body Changes, Sex, and Other Growing-Up Stuff” (Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. Free, but registration required at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/297870); Robin Sloan, “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.) Information: www.keplers.com. Upcoming authors at Books Inc. at 74 Town & Country Village in Palo Alto include Jeanne Sauvage, “Gluten Free Baking for the Holidays” (Nov. 26, 7 p.m.) N

(continued from page 31)

Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@ paweekly.com.

(continued from page 31)

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

Entry deadline is December 28th Today’s news, sports & hot picks

See PaloAltoOnline.com for details

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

THE CULINARY ARTS —

compressed 4

M

Author Tim Ferriss will speak in Palo Alto on Nov. 29.

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Tim Ferriss speaks on his new book, which brings accelerated learning to the kitchen

by Rebecca Wallace

any Silicon Valley entrepreneurs speak fluent Tim Ferriss. They’ll swiftly tell you the difference between being “busy” and “productive”; cite precedent for Parkinson’s Law; and apply the 80/20 Principle to any topic you throw at them.

Ferriss is known as a business innovator and lifestyle designer. That Aeron office chair may be comfy, but the old business model of sitting in it eight hours a day is sagging, he argues. He’s all about experimenting to increase productivity in less time, whether that means outsourcing tasks, cutting off the least-profitable customers, or crafting new work schedules and locations. Laptops, after all, do work away from desks.

The goal is not productivity for income’s sake, but for the sake of a fulfilling life. If you can do your 9-to-5 job by 3, why would you sit around shuffling papers for two hours every afternoon? (Parkinson’s Law: “A task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.”)

Lots of folks in the valley have used Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Workweek” as business inspiration.

People who have praised it in print include local venture capitalist Tim Draper, who wrote, “With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal workweek.”

Now it will be interesting to see if that experimental spirit extends to cooking sea bass in hotel sinks and making tequila-infused hot chocolate.

Ferriss, a 35-year-old Princeton graduate, lecturer and angel investor in Facebook and Twitter, among others, published “The 4-Hour Workweek” in 2007. Follow-up “The 4-Hour Body” was also a New York Times best-seller.

With the second book, Ferriss explored ways that people can transform their bodies. After years of experimentation, Ferriss — often described as a human guinea pig — wrote about how “to hack the human body” in such ways as sleeping less and still being productive, tripling

testosterone, and losing weight on the “Slow-Carb Diet.”

Now he’s focusing even more keenly on the kitchen. Ferriss’ new book is “The 4-Hour Chef,” which he’ll speak about in Palo Alto on Nov. 29. He describes it as partly a cookbook for people who hate cookbooks, partly a collection of recipes, and partly a handbook on quickly mastering new skills including steak-searing and languagelearning.

As is his wont, the author traveled widely for his research, meeting and observing chefs and other foodies all over the world. (It helps that he speaks five languages.)

“My readers have been asking me for a book on accelerated learning for four or five years now,” Ferriss said last weekend in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “I thought of possible titles: ‘The 4-Hour Mind, The 4-Hour Expert.” Those might be accurate for this obsessive learner, but they weren’t very snappy.

“Learning really only comes to life when you have exciting or unusual examples,” he said.

Then, about two years ago, Ferriss found himself weighed down with a “digital malaise” of always working in his head and on his computer. It bothered him that he didn’t create actual things with his hands. He thought about learning to weld, or woodwork, but what really struck him was watching his girlfriend create beautiful meals in the kitchen.

Beautiful — and daunting. Ferriss had always loathed cooking.

“It just hit me that I could use food as my sort of sculpture,” he said. In addition, “I realized that perhaps the most interesting way to present all these learning techniques was to take something that had intimidated me my whole life, cooking, and to show my readers the process from start to finish. ... What were the steps? How did I course-correct?”

In “The 4-Hour Chef,” Ferriss took what he had absorbed over the years about what he calls “metalearning” and applied it to cooking.

This type of accelerated learning, he says, is a blueprint that can work for a multitude of skills. To start,

Arts & Entertainment

simplify, with the help of Ferriss’ beloved 80/20 Principle, which was devised by the economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923).

“The 80/20 Principle, the idea that 20 percent of your activities or choices will produce 80 percent of your result, applies everywhere,” Ferriss said. “If you want to compress culinary school, you have to choose the most powerful and versatile techniques to focus on, which we did.”

New cooks should also use 80/20 when shopping and choosing ingredients, Ferriss added: Pick the fewest ingredients that are the most versatile and can be used in the most types of dishes and cuisines. Choose a few versatile tools, such as quality kitchen knives, as well.

“As it applies to cooking, so it applies to learning,” Ferriss added. “If you want to speak Spanish in eight to 12 weeks, one of the most important steps is doing an 80/20 analysis of vocabulary and grammar, so you can choose what are the 1,200 to 1,500 words that will allow you to sound fluent.

“You choose auxiliary verbs that allow you to unlock all of the other verbs so you don’t have to memorize

a hundred conjugation tables. You’re looking for the Archimedes lever.”

In business, the 80/20 Principle can be seen in many situations. One example Ferriss has written about is: If only a handful of clients are bringing in most of your income, focus on them. Think about cutting loose some — or all — of the others.

In researching his new book, Ferriss said he gained not only technical abilities in cooking, but a new appreciation for its aesthetics.

“Because cooking, unlike almost anything else, engages all of your senses, your experience of life in general goes into HD,” he said. “I smell things that I never could have smelled before. I hear things that I never could have heard before.”

Chefs like Marco Canora, whom Ferriss observed at his New York City restaurant Hearth, have heightened senses, Ferriss said.

“If a duck breast is being overcooked, and there’s a particular crackle to the skin, they will hear that from 20 feet away,” he said.

“Some of these men and women are like spider-men to me.”

And yet Canora himself is quoted in Ferriss’ book as saying repeatedly, “Cooking is not hard.” It’s apparently all in how you approach the art.

One of Ferriss’ favorite cooking experiences he had while researching his book happened in Chicago in 2011. After feasting on sea bass in a restaurant, the author was convinced he could replicate the dish in a minimalist way, as long as he had the right ingredients. And he did. He bought the bass, ham, watercress, butter and olive oil and brought them back to his hotel room, then cooked the dish with scalding tap water, Ziploc bags and a thermometer.

“As a finishing touch, I took my iron out of the closet and gave it a nice crust,” Ferriss said, laughing.

“Then I grabbed some wine out of the minibar.”

That kind of research for his books is the fun part, Ferriss said.

The writing is tougher. “I cut 250 pages from this book and still it’s 672 pages,” he said. “Taking all of those notes and then converting them into something that is simple yet appears sophisticated is really challenging.”

Ferriss said he’s looking forward to speaking in Palo Alto later this month. He’s long felt a kinship with the Bay Area. Based in San Francisco, he lived in Mountain View for four years and has also spent a lot of time in Palo Alto.

“I’ve been to 30-plus countries and I’m asked all the time what my favorite city is. I say San Francisco, and more precisely the Bay Area.

There’s a culture of experimentation and innovation and a habit of looking at things differently,” he said. “I could not think of a more perfect audience.” N Info: Tim Ferriss is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. The event is presented by the Commonwealth Club; tickets are $20 general, $12 for club members and $7 for students. An 8 p.m. book signing is planned. Go to commonwealthclub.org.

Worth a Look Photos ‘Cuban at Heart’

Foothill College photography instructor Ron Herman is making it a mission to educate his students about Cuba — firsthand. He’s now taken groups of students from his advanced courses to the island nation three times to capture the faces, free enterprise, vintage cars and general everyday life.

Next Wednesday, Nov. 28, a new show of works from the third trip, called “Cuban at Heart: A Photographic Exhibition,” goes up at the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) Gallery, spotlighting the photos of 16 students and their teacher. Local participants include Le Lu, Susan Neville and Lisa Van Dusen of Palo Alto and Ann Eddington of Menlo Park.

On their blog, which is at cubanatheart.wordpress.com, the students wrote about being warmly and openly received by the Cubans. They also said they felt this is a momentous time to visit the country.

“Newly introduced free enterprise, entrepreneurship and redevelopment are taking hold ... These changes are impacting the look of Cuba, which has appeared frozen in time since the 1950s. A Ford automobile from the ‘50s and an age-old game of dominoes might be seen right next to a modern skyscraper,” they wrote. “We felt an obligation to capture this romantic, timeless Cuba of contradictions before it is gone.”

The show of 39 photos will be up through Jan. 16, with an opening reception set for Nov. 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. The gallery is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 to 5 (closed Dec. 17 through Jan. 6 for the holidays). The college is at 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills; go to foothill.edu.

Before the show opens, visitors have one last chance to check out

“Havana Market” by Palo Alto photographer Susan Neville is part of an exhibit on Cuba that opens next week at Foothill College. a show of photo-based works by on paper, sometimes on clayboard, Cuban artist Jose Manuel Fors in she wrote in an artist’s statement.

“No painting ever ends up the the KCI Gallery: on its closing day, way it was planned,” she said.

Monday, Nov. 26.

Meanwhile, Stanford Art Spac- “Somewhere during the process es also has a Cuban theme to its the painting asserts itself and takes current exhibit. Bay Area photog- over and I have to be ready to take raphers who have taken trips to advantage of this moment and folthe country with Redwood City low where it leads.”

Calhoun’s paintings, which also photographer Charles Anselmo in recent years are showing their include images of bears, will be up work through Jan. 17 at the Center in the gallery at 315 State St. from for Integrated Systems at 420 Via Dec. 4 through Jan. 5. A reception Palou, the adjacent David Packard is planned for Dec. 7 from 5 to 8 Building, and the psychology of- p.m. The gallery is open Monday fices at Jordan Hall, all at Stanford through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 to 3. Go University.

The spaces are open weekdays to viewpointsgallery.com or call from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admis- 650-941-5789. sion is free. A reception is planned for Nov. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. Go to http://cis.stanford.edu/~marigros/.

Art

Nancy Calhoun

Californians may not be that familiar with the vivid combination of snowy days and sudden bursts of sun, but Nancy Calhoun’s new painting exhibition can give them a taste of it in watercolor. Her solo show, called “Winter Sun and Bear Trails,” will be up next month at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos.

Calhoun has often been inspired by the Southwest, and many of her paintings in the series depict Santa Fe scenes, with warmhued buildings and pueblo views. With a background in oil painting, she switched to watercolor Snowy days and glowing buildings in Santa Fe inspired for its “freshNancy Calhoun’s new series of watercolors, including ness,” and now works sometimes this painting, “Winter Sun.”

Music

The New Esterházy Quartet Turkey and pie will be followed by healthy helpings of Beethoven and Haydn this Sunday afternoon for audience members at All Saints’ Episcopal Church.

The Bay Area-based New Esterházy Quartet is serving up a post-Thanksgiving meal featuring Beethoven’s six-movement Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130, which includes the renowned, expressive “Cavatina.” Also on the program are Haydn’s Quartet in G, Op. 17, No. 5; and Anton Ferdinand Titz’ Quartet No. 5 in D Minor.

The musicians note that the “Cavatina” was chosen as part of the “golden record” sent into space in 1977 with samplings of music, languages and other sounds from Earth.

The four musicians — violinists Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violist Anthony Martin and cellist William Skeen — founded their quartet in 2006. Its name is a tribute to the noble Esterházy family, patrons to Haydn.

The concert begins at 4 p.m. at 555 Waverley St. in downtown Palo Alto. Tickets are $25 general, with discounts available for students and seniors. Go to newesterhazy. org or call 415-520-0611.

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Palo Alto Weekly

Arts & Entertainment

Brother-and-sister team Hermione and Ben Way seek funding for their start-up.

Fired up over ‘Start-Ups’ Peninsula pair star in Silicon Valley reality show

by Nick Veronin

A

Inspirations a guide to the spiritual community FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC £ nxÊ Õ ÃÊ, >`]Ê*> Ê Ì ÊUÊ­Èxä®ÊnxÈ ÈÈÈÓÊUÊÜÜÜ°vVV«>° À}Ê Sunday Worship at 10:00 a.m and 5:00 p.m. Church School at 10 a.m.

This Sunday: Geoff Browning United Campus Christian Ministry at Stanford Guest preaching An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

new reality show centered on the lives of several young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs has locals buzzing. Two of the people profiled in the show “StartUps: Silicon Valley” say that they, and their business, are serious, but Valley denizens are expressing doubts.

The show, which kicked off Nov. 5 on the cable network Bravo, has Randi Zuckerberg as executive producer — she’s Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s sister. The show features a main cast of six attractive young men and women working to get their fledgling, tech-oriented businesses up and running.

In addition to showing vignettes to introduce the cast members, the first episode follows brother-sister duo Ben and Hermione Way as they attempt to secure a half-million dollars in start-up money for their company, Ignite Wellness, in a pitch meeting at Mountain View’s 500 Startups.

Ignite makes a small piece of hardware that users stand on while it links to accompanying smartphone apps, which may run the user through a series of exercises and Wii Fit-like video games, or just weigh them and help them keep track of their fitness goals.

“It’s definitely our experience of trying to make it in Silicon Valley,” Ben Way said in an interview. He and his sister said none of the show was scripted and that they were handed no favors from being on it. In fact, Ben said, when it came to raising capital he estimated that half of the venture firms they approached said no simply because he and Hermione had cameras following them around.

Some locals are shaking their heads at the program as well.

“When I first heard of a reality show coming out on Silicon Valley, me and most of the people I know were a little apprehensive about

Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com Join today: SupportLocalJournalism.org Page 36ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

it,” said Priyanka Sharma, product marketing manager for Outright, a Mountain View-based financial management applications company that began as a start-up and was recently acquired by GoDaddy.com.

Sharma said she has lived the start-up life, and that there is nothing glamorous or all-too entertaining about it. That’s why she said she was disappointed with the premiere of “Start-Ups.” While Ben and Hermione set out to seek venture funding in the first episode, they did so only after a long night of drinking at the glitzy mansion they share with other techies in San Francisco.

‘Unfortunately all the drama is actually real.’

–Ben Way, a cast member on “Start-Ups: Silicon Valley.”

“I have to tell you, I couldn’t even complete the episode,” Sharma said.

Hermione said the mansion — which they call The Villa — isn’t a perk of the show but an emerging trend. If she is going to pay the notoriously high San Francisco rent, she wants to get more out of it than a one-bedroom. She and Ben decided to rent a much larger house with four roommates. The arrangement means they have a yard and laundry facilities, while having the added benefit of bouncing ideas off of their tech-minded roommates.

Sharma, who is currently on the hunt for a place to live in the city, agreed that it is not uncommon for people to look for a house and bring together a load of roommates. Even so, The Villa and the costume party Ben and Hermione threw during the first episode seemed very “Beverly Hills,” she said.

As someone who has lived and worked in Silicon Valley for seven years, Sharma said the entire episode seemed “fantastical and unrealistic.” At times it even seemed scripted, she said.

She said she worries that some may get the wrong idea about the tech industry, thinking it’s a place where anyone can waltz in with a half-baked idea, score some venture

funding and then get rich. “Somebody working in manufacturing in the Midwest might get the wrong idea,” she said.

Ben and Hermione see things differently. “Unfortunately all the drama is actually real,” Ben said. “Everything you see on the show — it’s not scripted in any way. It couldn’t be scripted if they tried.”

They all work hard, he said, and there are very stressful aspects to their lives. But there are also social aspects — “going out and enjoying yourself,” as Ben put it. “What Bravo wanted to show was both sides of that.”

Hermione said she would be pleased if the show inspired someone from Middle America to give it a serious go in Silicon Valley. She said she has received messages from some of the show’s fans, particularly fellow women she has inspired, who may may end up doing just that.

“I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry,” she said.

“There is a worldwide interest in what is going on out here right now,” she added.

Sharma said it is good for those who have the requisite drive to try their hand at starting a business in Silicon Valley, but that she worries the show makes everything look too easy. It may be less likely to produce serious tech entrepreneurs and more likely to bring out people who aren’t sufficiently prepared for the tough reality of the start-up scene, she said.

Ben actually tends to agree with Sharma on at least one score.

“There’s not that much glamour” in what he does, he admitted. But he doesn’t worry that the show is going to cause a mad rush of unqualified people to head for Silicon Valley.

“A lot of people have been saying, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to have so many wannabe entrepreneurs coming to Silicon Valley.’ But there is no such thing as a wannabe entrepreneur. If you don’t have what it takes, you just won’t make it,” he said.

Network officials aren’t entirely surprised by the push-back that “Start-Ups” has encountered, according to a Bravo spokeswoman.

The network has produced a lot of reality shows about industries and subcultures, and whenever it does, there is almost always some backlash from the community the show is focusing on.

One of the most pointed criticism of “Start-Ups” is about the way the cast looks. The show’s three men and three women all appear young, attractive, physically fit and white.

Sharma said she thought this was the most ridiculous aspect of the show. “Silicon Valley is an incredibly diverse place,” she said, adding that many of the people working hard at a start-up have neither the time nor the inclination to stress too much about their appearances.

Ben and Hermione said they never expected everyone to love the show, and that they expected that some within the industry would be critical. The backlash has added extra stress to their already stressful lives, the two said, but they aren’t going to change who they are because of it.

“We’re not trying to pretend to represent all of Silicon Valley,” Ben said. “We’re just trying to represent our experience.” N

Eating Out FOOD FEATURE

Suds and spirit Jane’s Beer Store in Mountain View is a tribute to community

by Tyler Hanley pristine Harley-Davidson motorcycle glimmers in the front window of Jane’s Beer Store in Mountain View while rows of bottled beers, ciders and meads rise behind it like sentinels.

The store’s founder, Jane Thipphavong, used the Harley in a promotional video she posted on Indie gogo, an online funding platform that helped her drum up the financial support she needed to get the shop afloat. Now the bike serves as a symbolic reminder of how public support allowed the beer connoisseur’s entrepreneurial dream to become a reality.

“I wanted to build a community beer store,” she said. “To give people the opportunity to feel like they were part of the store.”

Michelle Le

A

A Harley-Davidson motorcycle is used as a storefront design element at Jane’s Beer Store, located on Villa Street in Mountain View.

The store itself is something of a beer-lover’s paradise, modest in size but well stocked. Shelves stacked with a variety of single-bottle beers make up the store’s centerpiece, flanked by two large refrigerated cases on each side. Patrons eager for a diverse selection of brews can create their own six-packs or buy single bottles.

Quirky quotes written in chalk adorn the tops of the refrigerated cases, such as W.C. Fields’ tonguein-cheek comment, “A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.” Another quote from an anonymous author exclaims, “I don’t get drunk, I get awesome.”

A display highlighting holiday brews, such as the Bad Elf Winter’s (continued on page 38)

DINNER BY THE MOVIES AT SHORELINE’S

Cucina Venti

ations

reserv epting

able l i a v a ng cateri c Now ac

It is in this spirit that we will continue sharing our classic recipes with you each week.

“Sorrento Watermelon” Salad Cocomero con fichi e rucola Ingredients:

Ripe watermelon Feta cheese (full block in brine) Fresh Arugula Fresh figs Sicilian olives

1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View (650) 254-1120 www.cucinaventi.com

Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Slice watermelon into a 5”L x 3”W x 1” H rectangle. Cut a 4” x 2” piece of feta cheese into 1” square pieces and place evenly over watermelon slice. Top with a large pinch of arugula and 1/2 sliced whole fig. Pour ribbons of Vidalia onion dressing over salad. Place 4 Sicilian olives around the plate and lightly drizzle olives with extra virgin olive oil to finish dish.

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Eating Out

What school is meant to be.

Open Houses: Upper School Oct. 28, Dec. 2 Middle School Oct. 7, Nov. 4

Michelle Le

www.menloschool.org/admissions PENINSULA

Jane’s Beer Store carries hundreds of brews. (continued from previous page)

Discover the best places to eat this week!

AMERICAN

CHINESE

Armadillo Willy’s

Chef Chu’s

941-2922 1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos www.armadillowillys.com

948-2696 1067 N. San Antonio Road www.chefchu.com

The Old Pro

Ming’s

326-1446 541 Ramona Street, Palo Alto www.oldpropa.com

856-7700 1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto www.mings.com

STEAKHOUSE

New Tung Kee Noodle House

Sundance the Steakhouse

947-8888 520 Showers Drive, Mountain View www.shopmountainview.com/luunoodlemv

321-6798 1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto www.sundancethesteakhouse.com

INDIAN

Janta Indian Restaurant Read and post reviews, explore restaurant menus, get hours and directions and more at ShopPaloAlto, ShopMenloPark and ShopMountainView

462-5903 369 Lytton Ave. www.jantaindianrestaurant.com

Thaiphoon 323-7700 543 Emerson Ave, Palo Alto www.ThaiphoonRestaurant.com

powered by

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Ale (capped with a tiny Santa hat), dwells near the Harley. Meads and ciders are at the rear of the store, as are other beer-related goodies: glassware, coasters and handcrafted items such as beer soap and bottle-cap earrings.

“Eventually I want to start selling more beer schwag,” Thipphavong said. “Right now we’re just brimming with beers.”

Brimming, indeed. Jane’s Beer Store carries hundreds of brews, both domestic and imported. Thipphavong said about half of the domestic brews are from Californiabased breweries. A sampling of some of the beers available at the store on a recent Wednesday come from as diverse locales as their names might suggest: Dogfish Head from Maryland, Hopageddon from Napa, Three Philosophers from New York and Yeastie Boys from New Zealand, to name a few.

Familiar beers like Spaten and Anchor Steam are available, but don’t expect to find Coors Light or Budweiser. Fans of non-alcoholic beers will also be disappointed — the store doesn’t carry any. The store specializes in craft-style, artisan beers. And while Thipphavong herself favors darker beers, she knows everyone’s preference is a little different.

“Beer is all personal taste,” she said.

That personal taste might lean more toward lighter, pilsner-style brews like Spaten; medium-colored ales and IPAs (India pale ale); or the darker stouts, à la Guinness. Belgian ales and hop-heavy beers with high alcohol content — such as the Sierra Nevada-produced Hoptimum or Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas Brewing Co. — are also gaining popularity.

The soft-spoken Thipphavong has a warm, comfortable demeanor. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and went to school in New York before moving to the Bay Area nearly 10

years ago. She said that initially she wanted to start a beer-oriented, speakeasy-style bar that she and her friends could enjoy. But funding challenges forced her to take a different route, and soon the idea for Jane’s Beer Store was percolating.

Thipphavong, who said she has done a fair amount of home-brewing with a friend, is consistently expanding her knowledge of the craft and enjoys sampling various beers when venturing outside of the Bay Area.

“I’ve always made it a point in my travels to visit different breweries,” she said.

Her store opened in June but she said it is still “in open-house mode,” with an official grand opening expected in the coming months. Thipphavong, who also works at NASA, is discovering new difficulties and benefits in owning the store, such hiring the right staff. She still considers her affection for beer a hobby, albeit a hobby that has evolved.

“There are many hats you wear being a small-business owner,” she said. “When you’re young you ‘play store.’ This is the adult version.”

The personal touch she brings to the store is evident as she talks to customers about different ales and stouts they might find enticing. And the community undertone is clear as she points out wooden coasters made by a staff member’s father and beer glasses etched by Thipphavong herself. Back by the Harley, a plaque hangs on the wall as a thank-you to those whose contributions were paramount to the store’s opening. “(Community) embodies the spirit of the store I was trying to create,” she said. N

Jane’s Beer Store, 720 Villa St., Mountain View; 650-440-JANE (5263); www.janesbeerstore.

Movies

OPENINGS

Suraj Sharma with a tiger in “Life of Pi.”

Life of Pi ---1/2

(Palo Alto Square) In Ang Lee’s exhilarating “Life of Pi” — based upon the bestselling novel by Yann Martel — a boy adrift reads a “Survival at Sea” manual. “Telling stories is highly recommended,” it says. “Above all, do not lose hope.”

The same might be said of a life lived existentially “at sea.” Martel’s fable of faith serves as a Rorschach test of belief, one that the faithful can enthusiastically embrace but one that also leaves itself open to a purely rationalist interpretation. In the hands of Ang Lee, a true film artist, “Life of Pi” elegantly walks Martel’s philosophical line while also brilliantly using every modern cinematic tool to tell an epic yarn.

Most prominent among these tools is 3D. Lee joins the ranks of auteurs reinvigorated in their craft by the playful promise of the new 3D cameras, and he gainfully employs the technology for its full ViewMaster “pop” effect, but also in more magical ways. Lee’s typically innovative visual approach here extends, in one sequence, to tricking the eye with flying fish that leap out of the frame vertically at the same time as they appear to approach the eye with 3D depth.

“Life of Pi” also qualifies as a tour de force for its newly minted star, 17-year-old discovery Suraj Sharma. Sharma plays the teenage Piscine Molitor (a.k.a. “Pi”), who, having been raised in South India, winds up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, warily sharing a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger. A framing device establishes the adult Pi (the great Irrfan Khan) telling his remarkable story to a Canadian novelist (Rafe Spall), understood to be a Martel surrogate, who has come to hear “a story that would make (him) believe in God.” As a boy, Pi (Ayush Tandon) becomes something of a “Catholic Hindu,” who sees the gods of various religions as his “superheroes.” His zookeeper father sternly cautions, “Believing in everything at the same time is the same as not believing anything at all.” Pi’s spiritual picaresque shifts into a high gear once he’s fighting for survival on that “life”boat. Pushed to the limits of endurance, Pi stands at an intersection of madness and reality, a liminal space that finds him susceptible to desire for “salvation” but also possibly open to unique insight.

Pi’s attempts to reach detente with the tiger (dubbed “Richard Parker”) create a fearful intimacy analogous to some people’s experience of God. “I have to believe there was more in his eyes than my own reflection staring back at me,” Pi says, but the film’s visual motifs of mirrored surfaces (including astonishing imagery of sea reflecting sky) might just as well suggest that people under sufficient emotional duress see what they want to see.

“Life of Pi” succeeds as a grand adventure, but also as a provocation, about what we need to believe. And, given what we do accept — even in science — it’s about what we may as well believe in to adapt to our everyday absurd circumstance of finite existence. As Spall’s character says, “It is a lot to take in,” but that’s a good thing where moviegoers are concerned.

Rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril. Two hours, seven minutes.

— Peter Canavese

READ MORE ONLINE

www.PaloAltoOnline.com To read Weekly critic Peter Canavese’s interview with “Life of Pi” director Ang Lee, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies.

Rise of the Guardians --1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) Weary shopperswith-kids could do worse for a break than “Rise of the Guardians,” the flashy new animated adventure now playing at a mall near you.

Based on William Joyce’s “The Guardians of Childhood” book series, Peter Ramsey’s film takes Joyce’s high concept — a superheroic team-up of kid-myth characters — and runs with it, allowing surly teen Jack Frost to discover himself and locate his vocation with the help of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. Though not religious, it’s a faith-based tale of sorts, with baddie the Boogeyman (Jude Law) — aka Pitch, the Nightmare King — threatening to make kids believe only in fear and no longer in the heroes who “guard” them.

Santa, or “North” (Alec Baldwin), turns out to be a tattooed, muscle-bound Russian, and the Guardian of Wonder. He leads a mot-

“Rise of the Guardians”: a flashy new animated adventure now playing at a mall near you.

The director of “Atonement” and “Pride & ley crew that includes Australian boomerangflinger Bunnymund (Hugh Jackman), the Prejudice” turns his attention to Tolstoy for Guardian of Hope; half-hummingbird Tooth this year’s awards season, that time of year (Isla Fisher), the Guardian of Memories; and when size does matter. And no one has a bigSandy, the wide-eyed, close-mouthed Guard- ger concept this year than Wright, who — in ian of Dreams. Jack Frost (Chris Pine), who’s collaboration with eminent playwright and invisible and therefore a practiced loner, re- screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard — has transsists joining the Guardians. But if he’s to formed Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” overcome his own personal darkness, he into something conspicuously theatrical.

Set amongst the aristocracy of Imperial may just need to stop Pitch from plunging the Russia circa 1874, the novel concerns parallel world into what could be literal darkness.

All this talk of darkness — plus the in- romantic strivings and the pitfalls that threatvolvements of Pulitzer Prize-winning drama- en the maintainance of the respectable and tist David Lindsay-Abaire as screenwriter and stable lifestyle to which the the upper crust Guillermo del Toro as Joyce’s fellow execu- have become accustomed. One storyline foltive producer) — signify something slightly lows the titular socialite (Keira Knightley), weightier than a “Shrek” or “Madagascar,” whose dull marriage to government official which is wise. But Ramsey is no Tim Burton. Karenin (Jude Law) pales in comparison to The results are sufficiently mainstream, and a passionate affair with young Count Vronat times even merry, as when Frost brightens sky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The plot thread the day of a group of kids by enabling some given lesser attention finds fretful landowner icy extreme sports on a smalltown Main Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) pining after the reticent Kitty (Alicia Vikander), who is AnStreet.

The knock against “Rise of the Guardians” na’s brother’s sister-in-law.

With a dozen filmed versions already on is its loose narrative’s lurching pace, but at a trim 97 minutes, the story’s awkward patches the shelf, Wright obviously felt the heat to don’t do much damage. Those bred on the do something different. And so this “Anna warmer classic Disney style may also find Karenina” begins with an orchestra tuning this DreamWorks venture a bit icy in its near- up, then plays out entirely in a derelict theater photo-real CGI, but one can’t deny the film symbolizing the Russian aristocracy’s graspis frequently visually resplendent and imagi- ing attempts to maintain its delicate world, its native, as with the dancing sand imagery of illusions of social superiority and aesthetic Sandy and the creeping shadows of Pitch. (As perfection. (It’s a magical theater, of course, per modern standards, Ramsey overdoes it which gives way to a horse race and skating a bit with his swooping and/or “handheld” on a frozen lake.)

It’s also possible that Wright had in mind “camera.”)

So even if the cause and effect of the plot literary critic Viktor Shklovsky’s Russian proves fairly impenetrable (expect a fair Formalist notion of “making strange,” which amount of “What’s happening, Mommy?”), in turn inspired dramatist Bertolt Brecht’s focus attention on the peppy vocal perfor- theatrical “alienation effect,” designed to mances, the eye candy and the cute critters: stifle audience emotion and, as per Brecht, puttering elves and flitting fairies straight out press the viewer “to be a consciously critical observer.” There. Now who’s for 130 minutes of CGI Central casting.

Rated PG for thematic elements and some of alienation?

Wright employs boldly colorful costumes, mildly scary action. One hour, 37 minutes.

— Peter Canavese twirling cameras, tableaux vivants, and whoosh-y, thump-y sound effects as if to say, “Take that, Baz Luhrmann!” This “Anna” is Anna Karenina -(Aquarius) Directors — especially theater nothing if not show-offy, and on that level, it directors, or those tackling classic material is something to behold, as it were. (Karenin — live under the pressure of hatching the remarks of horse racing, “It’s not the sport big idea, or as it’s known in show biz, the itself; it’s the spectacle — making a cruel “concept.” But there’s a peril that, in chasing spectacle.”)

In particular, the ballroom sequence techa fresh concept, a director will come up with something foolhardy (like doing “Macbeth” nically marvels. But I’d trade in an instant on the starship Enterprise) ... which brings us (continued on next page) to Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina.” ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 39

Movies MOVIE TIMES

(continued from previous page)

All showtimes are for Friday through Sunday only unless otherwise noted. For other times, as well as reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies.

A Royal Affair (R) (((1/2 Guild Theatre: 2, 5 & 8:15 p.m.

The Scarlet Claw (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 7:30 p.m.

Anna Karenina (R) (( Aquarius Theatre: 1, 2:30, 4, 5:30, 7, 8:30 & 9:55 p.m.

The Sessions (R) ((( Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 1:50, 4:40, 7:50 & 10:20 p.m.

Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:40, 5:05, 7:30 & 9:55 p.m.

Argo (R) (((1/2 Century 16: 12:20, 3:40, 7:20 & 10:30 p.m. Century 20: 12:55, 3:50, 6:45 & 9:30 p.m.

Bon Jovi (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Tue. at 8 p.m. Century 20: Tue. at 8 p.m.

Chasing Mavericks (PG) ((1/2 Century 20: 5:50 p.m.

Chip Off the Old Block (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 6:05 & 9:30 p.m.

Crazy House (1943) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri. at 6 & 8:55 p.m.

Flight (R) ((( Century 16: 11:30 a.m.; 3:10, 6:50 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2:30, 5:35 & 8:40 p.m.

Follow the Boys (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m.

Life of Pi (PG) (((1/2 Century 20: 11:40 a.m. & 8:40 p.m.; In 3D at 10:40 a.m.; 12:40, 1:40, 2:40, 3:40, 4:40, 6:40, 7:40, 9:40 & 10:40 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 5:30 & 8:30 p.m.; In 3D at 1, 4 & 7 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 2:30 p.m.; In 3D Fri. & Sat. also at 10 p.m.

Lincoln (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 16: 11 a.m.; 12:50, 3, 4:30, 7, 8:30 & 10:30 p.m.

Century 20: 10:50 a.m.; 12:20, 2:10, 3:35, 5:45, 6:55, 9:05 & 10:15 p.m.

Silver Linings Playbook (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 10 a.m.; 12:45, 4:05, 7:40 & 10:45 p.m.

Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 2:15, 5, 7:45 & 10:35 p.m.

Skyfall (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 16: 10 & 11 a.m.; 1:40, 2:40, 5:20, 6:10, 9:10 & 9:50 p.m. Century 20: 11 a.m.; 12:45, 2:20, 4, 5:30, 7:20, 8:45 & 10:30 p.m.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Celebration of Season 2 (PG) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Thu. at 7 p.m. Century 20: Thu. at 7 p.m.

Palo Alto Square: Thu. at 7 p.m.

The Suspect (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat. & Sun. at 4:15 & 7:30 p.m.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (Not Rated) (( Century 16: 10:20 & 11:10 a.m.; 1:20, 2:10, 4:20, 5:20, 7:30, 8:50 & 10:40 p.m. Century 20: 10:30, 11:10 & 11:45 a.m.; 1:20, 2, 2:35, 3:25, 4:20, 4:55, 5:15, 6:20, 7:15, 7:50, 8:25, 9:15, 10:10 & 10:45 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 12:25 p.m.

Wreck-It Ralph (PG) ((( Century 16: 10:10 a.m.; 1:10, 2:50, 4:10, 7:10, 9:20 & 10:10 p.m.; In 3D at 11:50 a.m. & 6:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 12:05, 1:50, 2:45, 4:30, 7:10, 8:10, 9:50 & 10:45 p.m.; In 3D at 5:20 p.m.

( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding

The Metropolitan Opera: The Tempest (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: Wed. at 6:30 p.m.

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

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m. Century 20: Wed. at 2 & 7 p.m.

Century Cinema 16: 1500 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View (800-326-3264)

Netherlands Dance Theatre: An Evening with Kylian/ Inger/Walerski (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: Sun. at noon; Tue. at 7 p.m. Palo Alto Square: Sun. at noon; Tue. at 7 p.m.

Century 20 Downtown: 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City (800-326-3264)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (PG-13) ((( Century 16: 10:30 a.m.; 1:20, 3:50, 6:40 & 9:30 p.m.

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

Phantom Lady (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Sat. & Sun. at 5:50 & 9:05 p.m.

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

Red Dawn (PG-13) (1/2 Century 16: 10:40 a.m.; 1:30, 4:50, 7:50 & 10:40 p.m.

Century 20: 12:50, 3:10, 5:35, 8 & 10:30 p.m.

Rise of the Guardians (PG) ((1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m.; 1, 4, 7 & 10:05 p.m.; In 3D at 10:50 a.m.; 2, 5, 8 & 10:45 p.m. Century 20: 10:55 a.m.; 1:25, 3:55, 6:25 & 8:55 p.m.; In 3D at 12:30, 3, 5:25, 7:55 & 10:25 p.m.

Stanford: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto (324-3700) Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

.

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all this tiresome artificiality for some potent empathy. We’re able to intellectualize why we should care (those social strictures are crushing hearts!), but we’re too distracted to be moved.

Certainly, the production design blunts the actors, but Knightley’s not much help giving what increasingly seems to be one of two performances in her repertoire (and still-callow Taylor-Johnson’s a bit out of his depth). Suckers for fashion shows and cinematic dazzle, have at it, but others be warned: “Anna Karenina� may have you longing for the sweet release of a speeding train.

Rated R for some sexuality and violence. Two hours, 10 minutes. — Peter Canavese

Red Dawn -1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) Oh boy, are we in for it. A second recession here, a bit of cyberterrorism there, and we’ll be weak enough for North Korea to invade Spokane, Wash. Or so the new remake of “Red Dawn� would have it.

Then again, maybe it’s only those who go to see “Red Dawn� who are in for it. John Milius’ 1984 original may not have been a paragon of clear-headed foreign policy, but it did have a certain thematic rigor.

Dan Bradley’s remake predictably sidesteps — and, in one case, mocks — its source material’s most interesting moments, favoring dullwitted and conventional action-flick sensation.

In the two years “Red Dawn� has sat on the shelf (due to MGM’s bankruptcy woes), two of its stars have gotten hotter: Chris Hemsworth (“The Avengers�) and Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games�).

Hemsworth plays Jed Eckert, a Spokane-bred Marine recently returned

++++ ONE OF THE YEAR’S “

MOST CAPTIVATING FILMS�.

REX REED, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER

.

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ACADEMY AWARDÂŽ NOMINEE

JOHN HAWKES

ACADEMY AWARDÂŽ WINNER

HELEN HUNT

ACADEMY AWARDÂŽ NOMINEE

WILLIAM H. MACY

AND

from Iraq. Having barely checked in with brother Matt (Josh Peck) and their father Tom (Brett Cullen), Jed steps up to lead the local Resistance against North Korean occupiers, training scrawny boys (like Hutcherson’s Robert) to become militarized men while finding his relationship with Matt sorely strained.

Since Jed accomplishes his task with the relative ease of a montage — followed by numerous successful raids that give new meaning to “Lucky Strike� — “Red Dawn� swiftly loses dramatic tension. To be fair, the picture kicks off with one helluva invasion sequence that delivers scary, visceral thrills, but one would have to go a long way to suspend disbelief at the premise’s numerous implausibilities, which swiftly pile up.

North Korea’s puzzling might owes to a last-minute CGI scrub: The invaders were Chinese, before someone realized there’s a lot of moolah to be made in the Chinese market.

And so we get exactly the slick “Red Dawn� remake you’d expect for today’s cinema. The first scene is emblematic: Where Milius literally opened his film with a history lesson (in a high-school classroom), Bradley opens on a high school football game (go Wolverines!).

Bradley and screenwriters Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore incorporate the “V for Victory� hand sign, and broadcasts from “Radio Free America,� but the more interesting notion that Americans used to being occupiers have now become homeland-defending insurgents (hiding out in a mine — read “cave�) remains either comfortably subtextual or deliberately muddled. (“Now we’re the bad guys,� Jed instructs. “We create chaos.�)

The women folk (including Adrianne Palicki as Jed’s love interest) remain demonstrably less toughminded than the foregrounded men.

Milius gave his Robert a more interesting and unsettling arc from bumbling child to scary war machine, but the new “Red Dawn� would rather turn the original’s deer-blooddrinking scene into a joke than deal seriously with the notion of initiation into an ancient, masculine warrior cult.

Of course, “Red Dawn� was always jingoistic, macho b.s. destined to add up to the NRA’s favorite movie, and it’s still that. But now it’s as desensitizing as the first-person shooter one of the teens says he misses. “Dude,� his friend replies, “we’re living ‘Call of Duty’ — and it sucks!�

Rated PG-13 for intense war violence and action, and for language.

One hour, 33 minutes. — Peter Canavese

B A S E D O N T H E I N C R E D I B L E T R U E S TO RY

Century Theatres at Palo Alto Square EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS NOW PLAYING

XCLUSIVE NGAGEMENT OW LAYING

Anna Karenina Pride & Prejudice Atonement

www.iTunes.com/FocusFeatures

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Wed thru Thurs Life of Pi 3D - 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 11/21 - 11/24 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 Sun & Mon Life of Pi 3D - 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 11/25 - 11/26 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 Tues 11/27

Life of Pi 3D - 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30

Weds &Thurs Life of Pi 3D - 1:00 11/28 - 11/29 Life of Pi 2D - 2:30, 5:30, 8:30

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

Sports Shorts

A chance to play for title Cardinal kicker ready for UCLA after beating Oregon in OT

by Rick Eymer

J

Craig Mitchelldyer/isiphotos.com

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Harvard senior captain Taylor Docter from Castilleja has been named to the All-Ivy League women’s volleyball team. Docter was tabbed by the conference’s coaches as a first-team selection. Docter finished the season ranked third in the Ancient Eight in points per set (3.63) and was fourth in kills per set (3.12) while led the Crimson in kills for a third straight year. The Los Altos native posted a career-best 12 doubledoubles and also set career-highs in kills per set, digs (264) and digs per set (2.93). Her 23 kills at Dartmouth on Sept. 21 represented a new singlematch high, while her 20 digs against Holy Cross on Sept. 25 were the most in her career. Docter was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 16 after averaging 5.00 kps and 2.57 dps while hitting .280 in wins over Cornell and Columbia and was named to the conference’s honor roll four times. Additionally, the human developmental and regenerative biology concentrator was selected to the Capital One Academic All-District first team. Docter will graduate in May as one of the most celebrated studentathletes in Harvard women’s volleyball history. She is the first Crimson to be named to the All-Ivy League first team since 2004 and was also named to the second team as a junior a year ago. Docter ranks fourth all-time at Harvard in attack attempts (3,455), sixth in service aces (98), seventh in kills (980) and eighth in kills per set (2.67) . . . Palo Alto High grad Allison Whitson played her final home match of her UC Davis career on Saturday, but didn’t get the ending she wanted as the Aggies dropped a 25-17, 2523, 25-17 decision to nationally No. 7-ranked Hawaii in Big West Conference action. Whitson, one of three seniors honored, finished with 10 kills, seven digs and two aces for the Aggies (10-7, 16-14) against the Rainbow Wahine (16-0, 24-2). . . . Grinnell College’s Graham Fisher, Class of 2016, has been named to the All-Midwest Conference football team for the 2012 season. Fisher, a 6-4, 233-pounder from Gunn High, was named to the All-MWC honorable mention squad at a punter spot. He was among the MWC leaders in punting with a 36.2yard average. He had five kicks of over 50 yards and put 18 inside the 20-yard line.

STANFORD FOOTBALL

Stanford tight end Zach Ertz, who caught a career-high 11 passes in a 17-14 overtime win over then-No. 1 Oregon last Saturday, will shift his focus on UCLA this weekend when the Cardinal can wrap up the Pac-12 North Division title.

ordan Williamson constantly wears his Fiesta Bowl hat to remind himself of the challenges of being a placekicker and that complacency has no place in football.

“I didn’t know what it was like to miss in a do-or-die situation,” Williamson said. “I didn’t understand the situation until it happened.”

He also understands what it’s like to succeed in a do-or-die situation.

As last weekend’s game at Oregon progressed, Williamson became increasingly aware that he may be called upon to attempt the gamewinning field goal. He was ready.

“Every game I always hear from people that it might come down to me,” Williamson said. “For some reason, a lot more people came up to me before the Oregon game said that, so I carried that mindset throughout the game.”

When the game entered overtime, Williamson knew he would be called upon.

“It was my chance to help the team out,” he said. “I felt good during warmups. I think I kind of redeemed myself.”

Williamson’s game-winning 37yard field goal not only helped the Cardinal beat the Ducks, 17-14, in overtime but preserved Stanford’s hopes of advancing to the Pac-12 championship game.

That hope could become a reality should No. 11 Stanford (7-1, 9-2) win at No. 15 UCLA (6-2, 9-2) on Saturday, in a game to be televised (continued on page 44)

NORCAL VOLLEYBALL

NCAA SOCCER

ON THE AIR

M-A, Priory and SHP all reach semifinals

Stanford, UCLA women meet in Elite Eight

Friday

by Andrew Preimesberger

Women’s volleyball: Stanford at Cal, 8 p.m.; Pac-12 Networks

he girls’ volleyball season will continue into the weekend for Menlo-Atherton, Sacred Heart Prep and Priory after all won their respective CIF Northern California playoff openers on Tuesday night.

While the Gators and Panthers remain at home for the semifinals, the Bears will hit the road.

In their last home game of the year, Menlo-Atherton advanced to the Division I semifinals with a sweeping win over No. 5 seed San Ramon Valley (31-11).

Versatile senior Katelyn Doherty led the Bears with 25 assists and 15

Saturday College football: Stanford at UCLA, 3:30 p.m.; FOX (2); KNBR (1050 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)

Sunday Wednesday Men’s basketball: Seattle at Stanford, 7 p.m.; Pac-12 Networks; KNBR (10-50 AM)

READ MORE ONLINE

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

T

(continued on page 46)

M Jim Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

Women’s basketball: Long Beach St. at Stanford, 2 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

by Rick Eymer

Nina Watkins (14) gets a hug from Stanford teammate Mariah Nogueria after scoring a goal in a 3-0 NCAA victory over Denver on Sunday.v

idfielder Nina Watkins comprises exactly one-tenth of the senior class playing for Stanford’s top-ranked women’s soccer team. She hopes to end her career as a part of the most successful senior class in Cardinal history.

Watkins did her part Sunday, scoring a goal in Stanford’s 3-0 victory over visiting Denver in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. It was her first game in 11 games.

“There are 10 of us seniors and we have all the girls together on the same page,” Watkins said. “We’ve gone through all this the past four (continued on page 43)

ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 41

Sports CCS FOOTBALL

The tests get tougher for Menlo and SHP After outscoring their first-round opponents by a combined 90-29, the Knights and Gators face explosive offenses in Division IV semifinals

by Andrew Preimesberger

telling scores. Menlo beat Jefferson, fter blowing out their first- 56-14, and defeated Monte Vista round opponents by a com- Christian. Seaside defeated Jefferbined score of 90-29, the son, 47-0, but got by MV Christian, Menlo School and Sacred Heart 12-7.

Prep football teams will face more Menlo is relying a lot on Heneghan difficult tasks in the semifinals of these days and the junior has rethe Central Coast Section Division sponded. He has thrown for 2,458 IV playoffs. yards, completing 65.4 percent, and Fourth-seeded Menlo 29 touchdowns and has (9-2) will have its hands run for another 371 with full with top-seeded nine more scores.

Seaside (11-0) on Friday Turner is nearly identinight (7 p.m.) in Monterey cal to Heneghan, having County. Second-seed Sathrown for 2,459 yards cred Heart Prep (10-1) and 25 touchdowns while will match running games running for 438 yards and with No. 6 Soquel (9-2) on six scores.

Saturday at 1 p.m.

Menlo, obviously, needs The four winning teams to control Turner while from last weekend aver- Jay. Gates-Mouton Seaside needs to put the aged a combined 48 points clamps on Heneghan. If a game while advancing to the semi- neither team can do that, look for a finals. very high-scoring game that either The Menlo-Seaside game has of- team can win. fensive explosion written all over it.

Seaside’s defense has been much The Knights are averaging 49 points better than Menlo’s this season, ala game and Seaside is averaging lowing just 96 points. The Knights, 33.9. Menlo features quarterback meanwhile, have given up 210.

Jack Heneghan, who threw for 320 On Saturday, it will be a battle of yards and two touchdowns last week the run games in Atherton. Soquel’s in a 42-14 win over No. 5 Monte offense revolves around senior runVista Christian. Seaside also has a ning back Fabiano Hale, who rushed dual-threat quarterback in Michael for 375 yards and six touchdowns in Turner, who threw for 289 and ran a 49-42 first-round win over No. 3 for 129 more on just nine carries in a Carmel. The teams also met during 56-21 blowout over No. 8 Capuchino the regular season and Soquel won of the PAL Lake Division. that, 48-20.

Both teams faced two common While Sacred Heart Prep also is opponents this season, with very run-oriented on offense, its the Ga-

A

OPEN DIVISION First round St. Ignatius 49, Palma 14 Mitty 24, Oak Grove 0 Serra 52, Palo Alto 35 Bellarmine 33, Terra Nova 14

Saturday’s game No. 6 St. Ignatius (8-3) vs. No. 7 Mitty (8-3) DIVISION I First round San Benito 28, Alisal 0 Salinas 35, Fremont 0 Sequoia 27, Menlo-Atherton 7 Milpitas 56, Silver Creek 7 Semifinals Friday’s games, 7 p.m.

No. 6 San Benito (6-5) at No. 2 Salinas (7-4) No. 5 Sequoia (9-2) at No. 1 Milpitas (8-3) DIVISION II First round Wilcox 38, South San Francisco 14 Los Gatos 38, Pioneer 12 Aragon 35, Leland 21 St. Francis 42, Overfelt 0

DIVISION III First round Aptos 28, Saratoga 24 Monterey 41, Soledad 0 Valley Christian 56, Burlingame 14 Sobrato 40, Riordan 17 Semifinals Friday’s game, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Aptos (9-2) vs. No. 1 Monterey (9-2) at Monterey Peninsula Saturday’s game, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Valley Christian (5-6) vs. No. 2 Sobrato (8-3) at Live Oak, 7 p.m.

DIVISION IV First round Soquel 49, Carmel 42 Menlo School 42, Monte Vista Christian 14 Seaside 55, Capuchino 21 Sacred Heart Prep 48, Pacific Grove 15 Semifinals Friday’s game, 7 p.m.

No. 4 Menlo School (9-2) at No. 1 Seaside (11-0) Saturday’s game, 1 p.m.

No. 6 Soquel (9-2) at No. 2 Sacred Heart Prep (10-1)

Page 42ÊUÊ Ûi LiÀÊÓÎ]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

tors’ defense that likely holds the key to success on Saturday. SHP is allowing just 9.5 points a game, best in the CCS this season. The Gators have given up 20 or more points just twice.

The Knights of Soquel are averaging 43 points a game and giving up 18.4.

“They (Soquel) have a really good running back,” said SHP coach Pete Lavorato. “They also might be a little bit more stout on defense, so we’ll have to mix it up a bit and throw a little more.”

Sacred Heart’ Prep ran for 424 yards and seven touchdowns in its CCS opener last Saturday against No. 7 Pacific Grove (7-4).

“It’s our running game, it’s what we do,” said Lavorato. “I felt like we needed to get back to basics and run the ball; the kids blocked it well.”

The Gators came right out of the gate. On their third drive of the game, junior Andrew Segre burst down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown putting Sacred Heart up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The touchdown was the Gators’ third rushing touchdown of the quarter.

“We’re a running team,” said Segre. “We just need to put the ball on the ground and we did that.”

Sacred Heart senior quarterback Kevin Donahoe did some running of his own and ran for a 21-yard touchdown to put the Gators up 28-0 at the end of the first half. Donahoe finished with 65 rushing yards, including two touchdowns.

Segre gave the Gators some insurance points in the third quarter when he ran in for a two-yard touchdown to give Sacred Heart the 34-0 advantage. The junior finished with 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Sacred Heart sophomore Andrew Robinson ran in for a five-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Gators. Robinson, who was brought up to varsity for CCS, finished with 76 yards and a touchdown.

A night earlier, Menlo’s Heneghan threw two touchdown passes in the first half and Heru Peacock scoring

Keith Peters

Semifinals At Independence High, 7 p.m.

Friday’s game No. 5 Serra (9-2) vs. No. 1 Bellarmine College Prep (10-1)

Semifinals Friday’s games, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Wilcox (8-3) at No. 2 Los Gatos (7-4) No. 5 Aragon (8-3) at No. 1 St. Francis (6-5)

Grant Shorin/THE VIKING

2012 CCS FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

Palo Alto junior Keller Chryst (10) had to scramble more than usual, but turned two runs into touchdowns during a tough 52-35 loss to Serra in a CCS Open Division opener last Friday night that ended the Vikings’ season.

Ryan Gaertner heads into the CCS semifinals as Sacred Heart Prep’s leading rusher this season with 888 yards and 12 touchdowns. three of his four TDS in just the first quarter as the Knights rolled in their opener.

Heneghan finished with 320 yards on 16-of-24 passing while leading the Knights to a 35-0 halftime lead as they scored on all five of their possessions. Senior Max Parker had four catches for 124 yards for the Knights with Connor Stastny grabbing five for 83 yards and one TD. Will King had seven tackles to pace the defensive effort with Peter Bouret, Matt Bradley, Hank Strohm and Brock Burgess all adding five.

While Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo School were advancing, Palo Alto and Menlo-Atherton were not.

The first-ever meeting between Palo Alto and Serra in the CCS playoffs won’t be one the Vikings will want to remember after the visiting Padres held them to a single touchdown after halftime and rolled to a 52-35 victory in the opening round of the Open Division playoffs.

Fourth-seeded Palo Alto (8-3) had been allowing just 19.1 points (continued on page 47)

Sports

NCAA soccer

STANFORD BASKETBALL

(continued from page 41)

Ruef’s return shows up big in upset of Baylor Redshirt junior forward helps make Cardinal women No. 1 in nation after stunning victory over defending national champion

by Rick Eymer

Jim Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

years. We know what it takes and it means to us. We’ve lost and won and know what both feels like. I don’t want to go without a national championship.”

Stanford would have to win the national title for a second straight year to surpass last year’s senior class and the Cardinal is certainly capable. The seniors are 93-3-4 in their careers, including a 51-0-1 mark at home.

There’s still a tough road ahead, beginning with a rematch against Pac-12 rival UCLA. The sixthranked Bruins (18-2-2) defeated San Diego State, 3-0, Saturday and will visit Stanford for a match Friday night at 7 p.m. Sacred Heart Prep grad Abby Dahlkemper is one of the Bruins’ standout starters.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Watkins said. “It will be two top teams going at each other. They’ve grown so much and we’ve grown a lot. We’ll play the game we know how to play.”

The Elite Eight will also include No. 13 North Carolina and No. 2 BYU, unranked Notre Dame and No. 7 Florida State, No. 19 Duke and No. 5 Penn State — according to the NSCAA coaches’ poll.

“We have a deep team,” Stanford senior defender Rachel Quon said.

“Anyone on the bench can come in and play. The past four years have been incredible, and each team has been different. I hope we can finish this season right.”

The Cardinal was much more organized and disciplined than it was two nights earlier, in a 2-1 win over Santa Clara. Denver never got a shot on goal and took five shots overall. With senior defender Alina Garciamendez, who made her 100th career start, clogging the middle, the Pioneers found it difficult to penetrate deep into Stanford territory. Garciamendez broke the

Chioma Ubogagu had a goal in Stanford’s 3-0 win over Denver on Sunday that put the Cardinal into the NCAA Elite Eight. team record, held by Lindsay Taylor (2008-11) on Friday in a win over Santa Clara.

“We needed to be at our best and for them not to be at their best,” Denver coach Jeff Hooker said.

“They are well-coached with a lot of talent. They are good athletes and good soccer players.”

Alex Doll and Chioma Ubogagu also scored for the Cardinal. Doll scored her sixth goal of the season, tying her with Garciamendez for third on the team behind Courtney Verloo (10) and Mariah Nogueira (7).

Doll’s goal, in the ninth min-

Grant Shorin/stanfordphoto.com

Stanford’s Nina Watkins (14) scored a goal Sunday and is part of a senior class that is 51-0-1 at home in four years.

ute, was assisted by Verloo and Ubogagu. Watkins scored just over 11 minutes into the second half, using her left foot to one-time a bullet into the net from 25 yards out.

Lo’eau LaBonta put the pass right on her foot.

Ubogagu’s goal came late. She finished a through ball from Sydney Payne.

Hooker and Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe both played soccer at UCLA, though never at the same time. The Pioneers reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history.

Stanford, meanwhile, has won nine straight NCAA matches, and 19 straight tournament matches at home.

The Cardinal is seeking its fifth straight trip to the College Cup. Stanford carries a 151-match unbeaten streak when scoring a goal, a 101-match match home winning streak when scoring a goal and a 66match home unbeaten streak into its match against the Bruins.

“UCLA always has a great team,” Quon said. “We look forward to playing them. We know what UCLA is like and they know us. It will be tough but we have to play to our strengths.”

Stanford and UCLA have combined for 18 of the 19 possible conference championships and are frequent rivals in the postseason.

This will be their third tournament meeting in four years.

Stanford leads the series with UCLA, 11-9-3 and has won its past six meetings since 2009 while outscoring the Bruins 15-3 during that span.

The teams last met on Oct. 28 with Stanford winning, 2-1, with goals in the 77th and 79th minutes to clinch a fourth consecutive Pac12 title. The last time the teams met in Cagan Stadium, Stanford came away with a 4-1 victory in 2011. N

Mikaela Ruef didn’t get to play much last year, losing all but three games to a foot injury. She didn’t get a chance to guard Baylor’s 6-foot-8 center Brittney Griner during last year’s Final Four loss.

Ruef returned to action this year like she had something to prove. In a sense, she does need to show she’s healthy and capable of playing at a high level.

So far, so good for the 6-foot-3 redshirt junior from Beavercreek, Ohio, as top-ranked Stanford (5-0) prepares for Sunday’s 2 p.m. nonconference meeting with visiting Long Beach State (2-2).

Ruef made her first collegiate start in Friday night’s stunning 7169 victory over the national defending champion Bears and made a difference. She was part of a defensive scheme that limited Griner and gave the Cardinal the chance to win.

“Last year, although I didn’t guard her, I watched Nneka (Ogwumike) and what we did against her and we doubled her and were pretty successful at that,” Ruef said.

“I just focused on she’s one of the best players in the nation, she’s going to score on me, it’s gonna happen. I don’t have any false thinking that I was going to shut her down completely.”

Ruef averaged seven minutes a game entering this season and with so many people returning, she knew something had to happen to see her playing time increase. So, what did happen?

“Mikaela, as a young player, struggled in that she didn’t really understand how hard you have to work in college,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “A lot of our players are sensational high school players who think they don’t have to work that hard because theyíre bigger, stronger or quicker, and then they go from being the big fish in the little pond to being the little fish in the big pond and psychologically I think that’s hard for people.”

Ruef also came into the season as healthy as she’s been, a little more motivated and certainly more agile.

“To her credit, she worked very hard,” VanDerveer said. “She did what we asked her to do, she guarded Brittney Griner. She knew what she had to do and she did a really good job.”

In addition to her defense, Ruef also produced a career-high 12 rebounds in a career-best 30 minutes against one of the toughest front lines in the nation.

“It was hard not playing last year,” said Ruef, who is second on the team in assists with 11. I think we prepared really hard for this year and I felt really prepared.”

The Cardinal, playing Long Beach State for the first time in 19 years, is getting solid contributions from the post players. With reigning con-

ference Player of the Week Chiney Ogwumike and Rainbow Wahine all-tournament pick Joslyn Tinkle (Ogwumike was named MVP), Ruef doesn’t have to carry the load.

Sunday’s game is just the second home game of the season for Stanford, which has an 80-game home winning streak to defend. The last time the Cardinal and 49ers met, Stanford set a single-game team scoring mark with 122 points.

After Sunday, the Cardinal doesn’t play at home again until Pacific visits on Saturday, Dec. 15. Connecticut comes in two weeks later.

Junior guard Toni Kokenis also made her first three starts of the season in Hawaii, scoring 15 points against Baylor. She’s made 12 of 13 free throws on the year.

Ogwumike averages a doubledouble with 11.9 rebounds and 20.6 points, both lead the team.

Men’s basketball The shooting woes for Stanford guards Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright continued Sunday and this time the defense was not able to pick them up.

Randle and Bright combined to shoot .095 (2 of 21) from the floor and the Cardinal fell to visiting Belmont, 70-62, in a nonconference contest.

The good news is that Stanford’s guards can’t possibly get any worse and it’s likely they will get a whole lot better as the season progresses.

Freshman guard Christian Sanders had the best game of his young college career and that’s also promising. He was 5 of 7 from the floor and scored 11 points.

“Individual efforts for us are important,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We’ve got to get better. Defensively we weren’t so bad but it’s tough when you shoot 31 percent. You have to be able to reward yourself on offense.”

The bad news is despite a talented roster, the Cardinal must rely on guard play and keeping the tandem of Josh Huestis and Dwight Powell in for the majority of the game.

Huestis set career highs with 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

Powell missed both of his shot attempts and all but seven minutes of the contest because of foul trouble.

Huestis set a goal of becoming one of the top defensive players in the Pac-12 and he took a significant step toward that against the Bruins.

“He is starting to come into his own,” Dawkins said. “He’s figuring things out.”

Powell’s absence led to a void in the middle, of which the speedy Bruins took advantage.

“He’s been playing so well too,” Dawkins said of Powell. “He’s a difference maker and he does so many things well. We learned a lot about ourselves with him out like that.” N

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Sports

By Rick Eymer basketball game. hen Stanford quarterShaw and women’s coach Tara back Kevin Hogan gets VanDerveer talk every week. excited, at least those in “I’ve also talked to Dick Gould the media, he’ll smile a little and and Skip Kenney,” Shaw said. continue answering questions in “The biggest topic is how to a bland manner, never changing coach these highly-motivated, expression. highly-skilled athletes.”

After the 11th-ranked Cardi* * * nal (7-1, 9-2) beat then No. 1 and Stanford heads south to face undefeated Oregon in Eugene UCLA on Saturday, in what could on Saturday, he was be a tuneup for a reexceedingly dull in turn visit in January his answers to the for the Rose Bowl sideline reporter and game. even more so in the A victory over the postgame interview Bruins, who already room. have clinched the “He’s like that all South Division title, the time,” Cardinal will put both teams linebacker Shayne in the Pac-12 ChamSkov said Tuesday. pionship Game on “We always kid him Nov. 30 at Stanford about sitting down Stadium at 5 p.m. for an interview in Should the Cardinal ‘Talladega Nights.’” Kevin Hogan win that, it will reIt’s in reference to turn to the Rose Bowl the comedy featuring Will Fer- (site) and play in the Rose Bowl rell who gives one-word answers (game) for the first time since the in his first major interview.

1999 season (2000 game).

Two starts into his major college Thus, Stanford controls its career, Hogan has maintained a destiny. All it has to do is beat cool, calm demeanor that defies UCLA twice and it’s on to Pasahis alert, hyper personality on dena — again. With a victory the field. That’s probably how he Saturday, Stanford would record likes it. Cool on the inside while three straight 10-win seasons for dissecting the defense with laser the first time in school history precise inside. and Shaw would become the first The most animated he got dur- head coach at Stanford to reach ing the weekly press conference 10 wins in each of his first two was describing his fumble during seasons. the overtime period. * * * “I dove in there and got my The Cardinal has won 11 of its hands on it,” Hogan said in a past 12 games played in Novemmonotone. “Then I heard the refs ber dating to 2009. In its three yell “white ball, white ball” and November games this season, breathed a sigh of relief.”

Stanford’s defense has allowed His best contribution in the only eight third-down conversions game? “Getting us into the right (19.1 percent) against Oregon, Orplays,” he said. “I made some mis- egon State and Colorado. takes and turned the ball over.” * * * By facing No. 15 UCLA, Stan* * * On Friday night, the Stanford ford will be taking on its third women’s basketball team knocked straight nationally ranked oppooff No. 1 Baylor, 71-69. Chiney nent following wins over Oregon Ogwumike then tweeted to the State (then No. 13) and Oregon football team: “You’re up.” (then No. 1). The last time the The Cardinal football team Cardinal played three consecuwas watching their usual movie tive ranked opponents was 2007. together when coach David Shaw However, Stanford has yet to dereported the news about the win. feat three ranked teams in three “The room erupted,” Shaw straight games. said. “I think it is special. They * * * lost one of the best players in the Stanford currently ranks first country and are trying to prove to in the NCAA in tackles for loss themselves they are good and we (9.27 per game) and is second nalost one of the best players in the tionally in both rushing defense country and we still want to prove (71.18 yards per game) and sacks to ourselves we’re good.”

(4.18 per game). The Cardinal The No. 1 ranked Stanford also owns the 10th-best scoring women’s soccer team and No. 1 defense (16.91 points a game). ranked women’s volleyball team * * * also won over the weekend.

Stanford beat UCLA last seaShaw encourages his players son in Stanford Stadium, 45-19. to support other sports. Football In the last meeting in the Rose players were seen at both Sun- Bowl, the Cardinal prevailed, day’s soccer match and men’s 35-0, in 2010. N

W

Craig Mitchelldyer/isiphotos.com

Stanford placekicker Jordan Williamson provided himself and his team with a huge lift with a 37-yard field goal in overtime to beat then-No. 1 Oregon last Saturday, 17-14, and put the Cardinal in position to win the Pac-12 North.

Stanford football (continued from page 41)

Craig Mitchelldyer/isiphotos.com

by FOX at 3:30 p.m.

Williamson stood out in Stanford’s overtime loss to Oklahoma State in last year’s Fiesta Bowl because he missed a relatively easy kick at the end of regulation. Pinning the loss on him alone was unfair, though.

“To see him have to go through so much undeservedly and then to see him get his shot at redemption was awesome,” Stanford linebacker Shayne Skov said. “I was ecstatic.”

As Williamson was taking the field for the attempt, Stanford coach David Shaw was over on the sideline, praying silently.

“I said a little prayer just for him,” Shaw said, “that he would be able to relax and do his job. He stepped up and his swing was smooth. I don’t even think we can measure how important it was for him. It was big. On that last kick he was in a zone and looking forward to it.”

After the game, Williamson made his way to the Stanford rooting section, found his father and gave him a hug.

“He’s always given me a huge amount of support,” Williamson said.

Williamson didn’t think of himself as a football player growing up.

He was a soccer player and fooled around playing football at the middle school level.

“Kicking the football was OK but I was not high on it,” Williamson said. “A friend of mine told the high school football coach to get me to kick. When he asked I said I would kick for the freshman team if I could still play soccer.”

Stepfan Taylor As he became more successful, he began to enjoy it more and ultimately kicked for the varsity that season.

Williamson credits Rocky Willingham for teaching him the technical aspects of placekicking, but it wasn’t until he began attending camps run by kicking gurus Chris Sailer and Jamie Kohl where he drew major attention.

“That’s where you compete against the best in the country,” Williamson said. “It was more pressure.”

Should the opportunity arise again, neither Shaw nor Williamson will hesitate.

The Bruins are also coming off a big win, handing USC its fourth loss of the year last weekend. They are no fluke under coach Jim Mora, who, like Shaw, has NFL experience and a famous coaching father.

“I admire what he has been able to do there,” Shaw said. “Those kids are playing hard every snap, playing physical and making big plays.”

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UCLA running back Jonathan Franklin ranks sixth on the Pac-12 Conference all-time list with 4,110 yards. Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor follows closely behind. He’s eight yards away from 4,000 and could surpass Darrin Nelson (fifth all-time in the Pac-12) for the Stanford record with just 42 yards against the Bruins.

“His entire demeanor, everything about him says success,” Shaw said of Taylor. “His attitude, his work ethic, his unselfishness . . . there’s nothing he can’t do from the running back position.”

Skov, named the national Defensive Player of the Week, also will play a big role for Stanford. The senior middle linebacker said he had his best game mentally and physically he’s almost there after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee 14 months ago.

“There’s a point when a player just feels locked in,” Skov said. “That was my state of mind. Getting the opportunity to to contribute and then have that success was satisfying. I felt good playing.”

Senior tight end Zach Ertz, named one of three finalists this week for the John Mackey Award , continues his impressive season. He had a career-high 11 receptions for 106 yards, including a touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone that needed to be confirmed by instant replay. He also was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.

“He always finds ways to get open,” Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan said. “He puts his body in a good position to catch the ball. We do a scramble drill with all the receivers and he does a great job with it during games. He makes it easy for me.” N

Sports CCS WATER POLO

Sacred Heart Prep teams reach goals again

by Keith Peters he paths they took in the postseason were decidedly different, but the results were the same for the Sacred Heart Prep boys’ and girls’ water polo teams this season as each squad successfully defended their Central Coast Section championships.

The girls relied on a solid defense while defeating three opponents by a combined 29-12. The boys also had a solid defense, but used an explosive offense to outscore three opponents, 52-10. When all was said and done last Saturday at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara, both Sacred Heart Prep teams hoisted CCS first-place trophies.

The top-seeded SHP boys (25-4) pulled away by halftime and coasted to a 19-7 victory over No. 3-seeded Los Altos in the Division II finals.

The goal total for SHP is the highest in section history, boys or girls, while eclipsing the 17 scored by the Santa Clara boys in 1981.

More important, the Gators won their second straight CCS title, the fifth in six years and their sixth overall in their 10th appearance in the section finals.

The top-seeded SHP girls (21-8) didn’t pull away until the fourth quarter before finally defeating stubborn No. 2 seed St. Ignatius, 7-5 in another Division II finale.

The title is the Gators’ sixth straight, the most consecutive championships ever won in the girls’ division.

St. Francis won the Division I girls’ title, 8-3 over Leland, to win its seventh CCS title — the most by

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any girls’ team.

SHP’s latest senior class of P.J. Bigley, Kate Bocci and Bridgette Harper followed the previous five in similar championship fashion. The trio definitely didn’t want to be the first class to end the streak.

“If was definitely in the back of our minds,” Bigley said of the streak. “Coach (Jon) Burke talked about making history . . . It was a great accomplishment. We’re all excited.”

Bigley provided the winning goal with 3:59 left in the fourth quarter and later had another waived off by an offensive foul. Bocci made up for that with a late goal while the Gators were running out the final 29 seconds of the match.

Then it was time to celebrate as Burke got pulled into the pool by junior goalie Kelly Moran, with the rest of the team following.

“It was an opportunity to make history and put a successful end to a great season,” said Burke, who graduated five seniors last season and had to nearly start over in terms of experience. Yet, everything came together at the right time once again for the Gators.

“One thing that is special about our Sacred Heart team throughout all the years, it’s that there is no one individual star player,” said Harper.

“We all contributed our part as a team and it leads to a lot of success.

So, it’s really special.”

The championship matchup may have looked like just another West Catholic Athletic League match, since SHP had beaten SI to open the league season. The Gators got off to

Keith Peters

Tough preparation during regular season set up both Gator squads for repeat section championships

Sacred Heart Prep boys’ coach Brian Kreutkamp (in black) joins with his players in the ritual dunking after the Gators successfully defended their CCS Division II water polo championship with a 19-7 win over Los Altos. a 5-2 start after junior Morgan McCracken made a nice spin move and scored her second goal after junior Caitlin Stuewe scored all three of her goals in the first half.

But, as Burke noted, “Championship water polo is completely different. Anything can happen.”

Sacred Heart Prep missed on seven 6-on-5 situations and at times had trouble just getting shots off.

The Gators, in fact, were out-shot in the first half, 11-7.

“Our nerves showed,” Burke said.

“And, they (SI) played great 5-on-6 defense. That really wore us down, our inability to score on 6-on-5s.

But, our girls, they found a way to

Keith Peters

Sacred Heart Prep girls’ coach Jon Burke gets pulled into the pool by Kelly Moran as the Gators celebrated their sixth straight CCS Division II water polo championship last Saturday with a 7-5 win over St. Ignatius.

get it done . . . it’s a great way to end it.”

While the girls’ match was close, the SHP boys made sure that didn’t happen in their finale against Los Altos. Gators’ coach Brian Kreutzkamp subbed four players in midway through the first quarter to keep his starters fresh.

After holding only a 3-1 lead after one period, the SHP starters were back for the start of the second quarter. Eight goals later, SHP held an 11-3 halftime lead and the match effectively was over.

“The game plan was to wear them down with our depth,” said Kreutzkamp, “and turn it into a swim meet.”

SHP outscored Los Altos 8-2 in the deciding second period, with senior Zach Churukian scored all three of his goals in the quarter and junior Harrison scoring two of his three.

The second quarter also offered up one of the more bizarre scenes after SHP’s Nelson Perla-Ward lobbed in a goal over the head of Los Altos goalie Cameron Putnam, who vehemently protested contact on the play and was ejected. That gave SHP a five-meter penalty shot, which Churukian made for an 8-2 lead.

The Gators continued to use an effective counter attack in the second half, allowing Kreutzkamp to have all his starters but senior goalie Will Runkel on the bench to start the final quarter.

Ten players scored for Sacred Heart Prep, including six of seven seniors — Bret Hinrichs, Alex Swart, Scott Jollymour, Zoltan Lazar, Michael Holloway and Churukian. The only senior not to score was Runkel. His contribution showed up in 10 saves and giving up just six of the Eagles’ seven goals.

While his 2007 team won the section crown with a 26-3 record, Kreutzkamp said 2012 also held a

special place in program history.

“It’s the best season we’ve ever had,” Kreutzkamp said. “We played the best teams in the United States just to prepare for this week. That was the goal from the beginning of the season.”

The Gators played probably the toughest schedule in program history this season, winning the NCS vs. CCS Challenge and holding their own against the nation’s best in the North-South Challenge. SHP won the WCAL regular-season and playoff titles and didn’t lose to any NorCal team — making the CCS tournament all the more easier.

“By the time CCS comes, it’s almost not as hard as the teams that we’ve been playing all year,” said Runkel.

Kreutzkamp agreed.

“They’re certainly going to remember this the rest of their lives,” he said of his seniors. “They came out and made it memorable.”

In the boys’ CCS Division I finale, No. 3-seeded Menlo-Atherton (14-13) gave No. 1 Bellarmine (1811) all it could handle before finally dropping a 9-8 decision. The Bears were shooting for their second section title in their fourth-ever appearance.

Morgan Olson-Fabbro scored five goals and Zach Deal added two for the Bears, who were deadlocked at halftime, 6-6, but then were outscored in the third period, 2-0, and trailed by 8-6. Olson-Fabbro got the game to 8-7 with a backhand goal with 4:22 left and later converted a 6-on-5 goal to tie it at 8.

An offensive foul by the Bears led to a counter by the Bells, and the winning goal.

The match marked the end of M-A coach Dante Dettamanti’s coaching career, at least with the Bears. The veteran is stepping aside and his assistant, former Paly head coach Giovanni Napolitano, is taking over. N

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Volleyball (continued from page 41)

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digs in the 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 victory.

Fourth-seeded Menlo-Atherton (28-7) l while San Ramon ended its season at 32-11. The Bears next will face No. 1 seed St. Francis of Sacramento (36-2) on Saturday at 7 p.m. M-A beat SF-Sac last year in the NorCal semifinals before losing to Palo Alto in the finals.

“They’re going to be a good team,” said Doherty. “We just have to be solid all around and know how to pick each other up.”

San Ramon Valley began the match on 6-0 run with senior Emily Reder leading the way with three kills. The Bears would climb back with a 6-1 run of their own with three kills from senior Ali Spindt.

Junior Paulina King, who turned 16 on Monday, took over the rest of the match with four kills to close on Game 1. She finished with a teamhigh 10 kills plus 15 digs.

Spindt, who had missed a good portion of the season with a lower back injury, had seven kills in the game and finished with 27 digs. She had two matches with triple-doubles in the Central Coast Section playoffs last week.

“I’m at like 80 percent right now,” said Spindt. “I just have to ease my way back in right now. I’ll play anything coach wants me to play; whatever I can do to help the team . . . we want to win; we want to go to state.”

Doherty, who led the Bears with 375 assists this season, contributed with nine assists in Game 2 to lead M-A. Doherty connected with King four times in game three. The Bears went on an impressive 12-5 run near the end of the match with sophomore Alyssa Ostrow knocking in three kills. The visitors got to within 24-22 in Game 3, but Spindt found Doherty on the final point of

the game and she smashed it past the Wolves’ defense to finish off the sweep.

“She took a big swing at that,” said said M-A first-year coach Ron Whitmill. “She’s been a great player all year. If we didn’t have someone as versatile as her on the team, we would’ve never gotten through all the injuries we had this year. She’s been the person to fill in that gap this year.”

Whitmill also got 24 digs from Virginia Lane on Tuesday.

Should The Bears get by St. Francis-Sacramento, they would stay on the road for the NorCal finale — either at No. 2 Granite Bay (40-6) or No. 3 Cal High (30-3) of San Ramon.

“We’ll take it as far as we can go,” said Whitmill. “Our motto all year has been not to worry about wins or losses — just come out and try to be in the moment.”

Just a few miles away, top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep opened the Division IV playoffs with a 25-20, 2522, 25-14 victory over visiting No. 8 Ripon Christian.

The Gators (31-5) were led by senior Ellie Shannon (10 kills, four blocks), senior Sonia Abuel-Saud (10 kills, nine digs), sophomore Victoria Garrick (eight kills, eight digs), senior Payton Smith (eight kills, four blocks), senior Helen Gannon (13 digs), and senior Cammie Merten (31 assists).

Sacred Heart Prep, which has the home court advantage throughout the playoffs, next will host No. 4 seed Bear River (31-12) of Grass Valley on Saturday in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Bear River produced a 2025, 25-15, 30-28, 25-20 winner over No. 5 Cardinal Newman (25-9) of Santa Rosa in its opener.

Should the Gators win Saturday, they’ll host the NorCal finals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The likely opponent would be No. 2 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo.

In Portola Valley, Priory earned a berth in the semifinals of the Divi-

Stephanie Brugger (11) and Marine Hall-Poirier (5) put up the block against Le Grand in Priory’s 3-0 NorCal Division V opening win. sion V playoffs with a 25-23, 25-13, 27-25 first-round victory over No. 7 Le Grand.

Senior Briana Willhite had a great night with 13 kills and only one error while hitting .571. She added four solo blocks and four digs. Junior Marine Hall-Poirier had another good night with 17 kills and 11 digs. Michaela Koval and Emily Tonogai had 18 and 17 digs, respectively, while Clara Johnson and set-

ter Stephanie Swan also had solid matches for Priory.

The No. 2-seeded Panthers (22-8) next will host No. 3 St. Joseph-Notre Dame of Alameda (27-11) on Saturday at 7 p.m. St. Joseph-ND advanced wit a 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 win over No. 6 Hamilton (23-10).

Should Priory reach the NorCal finals, it likely would face No. 1 Branson at College of Marin on Tueday at 7 p.m. N

CROSS COUNTRY

Local runners heading to the State Meet

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wo teams and nine individuals will be busy in Fresno on Saturday looking to cap their cross-country season at the CIF State Meet at Woodward Park.

The teams competing are the Priory boys and Castilleja girls in Division V. Priory will send Chris Gregory, Andrew Christensen, Joe Farned, Leo Berez and Ross Corey as its scorers from the Central Coast Section Championships two weeks ago.

Castilleja’s scorers from CCS are Fiona Maloney-McCrystle, Alina Brown, Abby Holsten, Julia Lodgen, and Teni Amos.

The Menlo-Atherton boys will be represented by senior George Baier, who was seventh at the CCS Division I finals.

In the girls’ Division I race, Paly sophomore Katie Foug earned a state meet berth with a third-place

Sacred Heart Prep’s (L-R) Gillian Belton, Steven Glassmoyer and Daniel Hill will run in the CIF State Meet on Saturday. finish of 18:57 and Gunn freshman Gillian Meeks also earned a trip.

In the boys’ Division IV race, Sacred Heart Prep will send two runners to the state meet after senior Steven Glassmoyer took third in 16:07 and sophomore Daniel Hill was seventh in 16:26 at CCS. They are the first SHP boys to reach the State Meet in five years.

In the Division IV girls’ race, Menlo freshman Zoe Enright earned

a state meet berth by taking fourth at CCS and teammate Lizzie Lacy, a sophomore, also earned a trip following her seventh-place finish.

Joining them will be Sacred Heart Prep’s Gillian Belton, who finished eighth at CCS. She’ll be making her second straight trip to the state finals.

Also advancing to the state meet as an individual was Eastside Prep’s Christian Rosales. N

Sports (continued from page 42)

a game and had given up more than 30 just once this season until facing Serra.

“We had a good season,” said Paly coach Earl Hansen. “We’re still De Anza champions and we have a lot of good juniors ready for next year.”

The Palo Alto offense looked strong while starting off its third drive of the game when junior quarterback Keller Chryst threw a dump pass to senior Matt Tolbert for a 28yard touchdown, putting the Vikings up 7-0 in the first quarter.

The Padres’ offense started to come alive in the second quarter when senior running back Eric Redwood flew past the Vikings’ defense for a 43-yard touchdown, putting the Padres up 21-14. Redwood had 143 yards in the first half alone and set a single-game school record for 288 total yards, including four touchdowns.

“He (Redwood) is a good player,” said Hansen. “I thought we had a good scheme there, but we didn’t execute as well as I thought we could.”

Redwood would score again on Serra’s next possession with a twoyard dive up the middle to tie the game at 28-28 at the end of the first half. The Serra running backs racked up 227 yards in the first half and 499 total. The Padres attempted only two passes and completed neither.

The Paly offense had no answer for a tough Serra defense in the second half as the Vikings made it to the red zone only one time out of five possessions. Chryst was limited to only 82 passing yards after intermission and was sacked three times.

Chryst finished with 12-of-25 passing for 229 yard and two TDs. Tolbert had 100 rushing yards on 13 carries.

Serra senior Angelo Arco dashed down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run, giving the Padres some breathing room at 45-28.

“We played hard and fought every game,” said junior defensive back Andrew Frick. “All of my teammates this year did a great job all year long. I’m proud to be on the field with all of them.”

While Paly was falling, MenloAtherton was doing likewise just a

ER V IN

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

S

CCS football

G TH

OR E CHILDREN OF THE W

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.FOMP 1BSL ,JXBOJT $MVC $ISJTUNBT 5SFFT Our 41st Year!

Beautiful Noble Fir Trees delivered FRESH WEEKLY from Oregon Located: On the Stanford Campus next to the Football Stadium on El Camino Real near Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto Opens: Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 Hours: Daily - 2 PM to 8 PM Weekends - 9 AM to 8 PM

Ali Spindt

Will Runkel

Menlo-Atherton High

Sacred Heart Prep

The senior outside hitter produced 32 kills, 51 assists and 21 digs in two volleyball victories, including one over No. 2 seed Salinas, as the Bears captured their first-ever Central Coast Section championship.

The senior goalie sparked a defensive effort, which allowed just 10 goals in two CCS Division II water polo matches, as he came up with 19 saves to help the Gators successfully defended their title.

Honorable mention Katelyn Doherty* Menlo-Atherton volleyball

Victoria Garrick

Harrison Enright* Sacred Heart Prep water polo

Jack Heneghan*

Sacred Heart Prep volleyball

Marine Hall-Poirier* Priory volleyball

Menlo football

Bret Hinrichs Sacred Heart Prep water polo

Payton Smith

Heru Peacock

Sacred Heart Prep volleyball

Caitlin Stuewe

Menlo football

Andre Segre

Sacred Heart Prep water polo

Briana Willhite

Sacred Heart Prep football

Zach Churukian

Priory volleyball

Sacred Heart Prep water polo * previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

few miles away — 27-7 to Sequoia in a Division I opener.

Quarterback Zack Moore threw for a career-high 266 yards on 17of-34 passing, but the host Bears turned the ball over three times inside the 20 and suffered a seasonending loss. The No. 4-seeded Bears finished 6-5 while the No. 5 Cherokees improved to 9-2 and will face No. 1 Milpitas in the semifinals.

Menlo-Atherton managed just six yards rushing and was forced to punt on its first five possessions.

The Bears also lost a fumble inside Sequoia’s 20-yard line. Despite all the problems, M-A trailed by only 10-7 at halftime afterl a nine-play, 78-yard drive was finished off by an eight-yard touchdown run by Tasi Teu. After that, it was all Sequoia. N

Delivery Available Proceeds from your tree purchases goes to support many local organizations: ❃ Scholarships for Menlo Atherton Graduates ❃ Saint Anthony’s Dining Room ❃ Local Adopt-a-Teacher

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Preschool - 4th Grade 2 0 13 - 2 0 14

Ventana is an Episcopal school taking its inspiration from the schools of Reggio Emilia and other progressive models which encourage artistic expression, critical thinking and hands-on investigative learning.

Elementary School Information Night November 29, 2012 Kindergarten: 6 – 7pm Elementary: 7– 8pm

Kindergarten Readiness Discussion Panel January 10, 2013, 6:30 – 8pm

Elementary School Open House January 17, 2013, 7 – 8:30pm

Limited spaces available for current year.

Young 5s, Grades 1-3

To RSVP, or schedule a tour, call 650.948.2121 or email:ventanaschool@ccla.us 1040 Border Road, Los Altos

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